The new SFH 4055 from Osram Opto Semiconductors is based on the company’s proven Firefly platform, used widely for LEDs in the visible spectrum. The new transmitter, Osram’s smallest side-looking infrared LED to date, has a wavelength of 850 nm and is primarily targeted at eye-tracking systems in augmented and virtual reality headsets.

Hughey & Phillips (H&P), a global manufacturer in the obstruction lighting industry, is introducing the new HORIZON™ HALO™ IR Modification system.  The HALO system comprises of a medium intensity mounting bracket, junction box and IR Light Source.  Incandescent and Xenon-Strobe technologies produced a light source that allowed the fixture be to seen with the naked eye and NVG.  With the emergence of LED based lighting systems over the past 15 years, the visible spectrum of lighting for Night Vision Goggles (NVG) has been diminished.

The 2017 Optics & Photonics International Exhibition (OPIE ’17) took place in Yokohama, Japan from April 19 to 21, which gathered leading technology providers and manufacturers who are seeking solutions. OPIE ’17 and IR+UV Expo were co-located with LASER EXPO, LENS EXPO, Positioning EXPO, Medical & Imaging EXPO, Space & Astronomical Optics EXPO and Industrial Camera EXPO. According to the organizer, exhibitors were mostly laser, lens, IR and UV packaging and application manufacturers. Attendees were buyers and manufactures who aimed to better understand the latest technologies and market trends. The Expo is considered a barometer of the state of the art in the industry.

High Power Lighting (HPLighting) is a major UV and IR LED vendor. Over the years, HPLighiting has worked closely with chip vendors and focused on LED packages and optical design. The company has successfully developed UV and IR LEDs based on its competitive advantages. At OPIE’17, LEDinside interviewed Charles Wei, General Manager of HPLighting, to learn about HPLighting’s progress of UV and IR LED technologies.

LiteOn has cultivated Infrared (IR) LED and automotive markets for many years. As its LED technologies advance, market demand penetration rate improves, and application categories expand, LiteOn proactively collaborates with customers to enhance LiteOn's product lines when growing together with the customers. 

Taiwan International Lighting Show (TILS) in 2017 has been jointly-held by Bureau of Foreign Trade (a unit of Ministry of Economic Affairs "MEA", R.O.C.), Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), and Taiwan Lighting Fixture Export Association (TLFEA). LED Taiwan in 2017 has been co-organized by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI Taiwan) and TAITRA. TILS and LED Taiwan had the joint opening ceremony at 10am on April 12th in Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1. (a. k. a TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall).

Reolink, a global innovator in home security and camera solutions, has launched Argus – world's first 100% wire-free weatherproof 1080p HD security camera on crowd-funding site Indiegogo.

Osram Opto Semiconductors is expanding its offering of high-power infrared LEDs for illumination solutions to include a new wavelength (810 nm). This development will benefit camera systems, such as those used to read license plates. They can use this additional wavelength to improve image contrast making it easier to read patterns from recorded images. Moreover, camera sensors have higher sensitivity at 810 nm. At the same optical output, the new device therefore extends the range of camera systems as compared to 850 nm. 

Researchers have developed a cheap, portable camera that can photograph the retina without the need for pupil-dilating eye drops.

Organized by SEMI and Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), LED Taiwan and Taiwan International Lighting Show (TiLS) will be collocated and held on April 12-15, 2017 at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1, showcasing a wide range of technology innovations and solutions in six themed pavilions.

    Along with Nikkei Inc., Japan Lighting Manufacturers Association (JLMA), the major contributor of the development and promotion of Japan’s lighting industry, last week organized Lighting Fair 2017 at Tokyo Big Sight, gathering industry professionals specializing in a multitude of lighting applications at West Hall 1 and 2 to provide an outlook of Japan’s lighting market and the joint future of the industry and the forthcoming global sporting event 2020 Summer Olympics.

Facial recognition is considered a highly secure form of biometric identification. The system records the user’s face and detects typical features independent of facial expressions. However, to identify these features accurately and reliably, the software requires high-quality images. This means illuminating the face brightly and evenly, without shadows – and for this method to safeguard laptops and tablets, it also has to work in a wide variety of lighting conditions. The solution lies in additional illumination of the face with infrared light. 

Organic Response Lighting Control Systems are designed to operate wide area lighting installations with maximum energy efficiency while still maintaining a high level of comfort. The key lies in a distributed intelligence which enables the system to react to the presence of persons in the immediate vicinity, as well as to those further away.

The respective additions of 3D Sensing and iris recognition into the next-generation iPhone devices and Samsung Galaxy S8 will generate a new wave of demand for IR (infrared) LEDs used in optical sensors. LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, has recently published its 2017 IR LED/IR Laser and Optical Sensor Market Report. In the report, LEDinside states that that the global market scale of IR LED and IR laser components used in iris and facial recognition solutions will grow from US$145 million in 2017 to US$827 million in 2025. The CAGR in the forecast period is estimated at 24%.

Osram Opto Semiconductors’ new SFH 4787S infrared LED (IRED) for iris scanners illuminates the eyes so evenly that the software identifying the iris pattern now hardly needs to correct artefacts. 

While InGaN-based LEDs (normal LEDs for Lighting and backlight) continue to face oversupply, IR LEDs have been in the limelight in 2017 with various applications boosting demands. 

Osram’s spokeman told Reuters it foresees a rapid increase in demand for its infrared components in the light of the introduction of the state-of-the-art iris-scanning identification in mobile devices. Osram plans to recruit around 1,000 new talents at its factory in Regensburg, Germany.

Nepcon Japan 2017, dashingly large and vibrant, hosted expositions regarding diverse technology of up to 15 fields that are intertwined with one another. Considered as the biggest trade show ever hosted, it invited 2,270 manufacturers, both international and local Japanese companies, for the showcase of R&D and electronics manufacturing technologies. Apart from Nepcon Japan 2017, the longest-running main show consisting of 6 expositions, LED/OLED Lighting Technology Expo –Light-Tech–, WEARABLE Expo, RoboDEX Expo and Smart Automotive Factory Expo are also the highlights of this year. The AUTOMOTIVE WORLD covers the most-discussed automotive technologies, including car electronics, EV/HEV/FCV technology, connected car technology, lightweight techniques, and processing. 

With sensors being a critical component for mushrooming smart Internet-based devices amid the IoT current, optical sensors have emerged as the mainstream item, boasting widespread applications, in smart mobile devices, wearables, and security equipment, among others.

ANU scientists have designed a nano crystal around 500 times smaller than a human hair that turns darkness into visible light and can be used to create light-weight night-vision glasses.

The new IR Topled D5140 photodiode from Osram Opto Semiconductors requires considerably less pc board space than before. It enables more compact sensors to be produced for monitoring fitness levels, for example in fitness armbands. The spectral sensitivity of the D5140 has been optimized for visible light and allows precise heart rate measurements using red or green light. The component is also ideal as an ambient light sensor. 

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturers that successfully transitioned from blue LEDs to red LEDs have set new revenue records from their budding AlInGaN LED business.

Exiting from cut-throat price competitions in the blue LED lighting segment, LED epitaxial wafer and chip manufacturer Arima Optoelectronics (Arima) has halted manufacturing of blue LED chips altogether and shifted to AlGaInP production, reported DIGITIMES.

Imagine using your smartphone to analyze your breakfast, lunch and evening meal. Now you can, thanks to the new broadband infrared LED from Osram Opto Semiconductors. The company is using converter technology for infrared emitters for the first time. The result is an LED that emits broadband infrared light in a wavelength range from 650 to 1,050 nanometers (nm), opening up infrared spectrometry for the consumer market. One option would be a compact sensor – like a USB stick – which would be used with an appropriate smartphone app to measure calories, freshness or nutritional content.

A new infrared LED from Osram Opto Semiconductors reduces the size of lighting units for camera-based assistance systems in cars. Compared to the Platinum Dragon previously used, Synios SFH 4770S A01 offers 25 percent higher optical output and needs only about one tenth of the footprint. 

The new versions of the PointLED and Firefly LEDs are Osram Opto Semiconductors’ latest additions to its portfolio for use in mobile applications such as fitness tracking and health monitoring. Osram can therefore offer its customers a greater selection of products – to supplement its integrated sensors. Thanks to their greater brightness, the PointLEDs in true green offer better performance and provide better signals than comparable solutions on the market. The Firefly E 1608 in hyper red has a special narrow-band wavelength range around 660 nm so it also offers optimized signal recognition. It is suitable for measuring oxygen levels in blood, while the true green version is ideal for use in pulse monitors. Both color versions of the Firefly have the advantage of compact dimensions, giving customers greater flexibility in designing their products.

Fingerprint recognition will soon become outdated in smartphone applications, in its place iris recognition will emerge as the new trending technology, and might even drive mobile payment developments, according to ABI Research’s latest report.

Osram intends to transfer some of the funds it earmarked for a LED chip fab to making IR LEDs for iris-scanning applications as demands from bankers, smartphone makers and VR systems rise, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

To promote the sports model MX-5, Mazda created “Mazda Drives: The Sound of Tomorrow” campaign, the highlight of which is a special DJ concert by DJ Vicious, six-time Tomorrowland DJ, with flair as the Mazda MX-5 made music on a large vinyl record in place of a pick up needle. 

Diehard fans of Star Wars that have dreamed of deflecting laser light beams with Jedi light sabers might get a chance in a future Disneyland.