标签: Displays

1) Wearables: In 2015, Wearable devices garnered the most attention from multi-functional smart watches with brands like Samsung, Motorola and Apple fighting for a place on the Wearable computing bandwagon. We now see a shift on the landscape of wearable technology, with the focus mainly on fitness-related wearables. Health monitors, pedometers and fitness activity trackers have changed the way we move, exercise, communicate and stay connected. Wearable Technology is still in its infancy and can expand to do even more impressive things in the near future.   2) UAV Drones   Drone technology has taken a massive leap forward in the last few years and we are now seeing a greater demand for unmanned aerial vehicles for both consumer and commercial purposes. DJI, 3DRobotics, and Yuneec are some companies offering high-end drones that consumers can buy and fly. In addition to this, the personal camera giant, GoPro has also announced plans to launch a quadcopter in the first half of 2016.  Drones are currently being used for various purposes like security and surveillance, event coverage, inspections and surveys, environment assessment and more.  Shell, the petrochemical giant uses drones in some of Europe’s largest energy plants to access hard-to-reach places because it is safer and more efficient than physically sending people.  With the hope of several exciting applications, it seems clear that drones will seem much more ubiquitous in 2016.    3) 3D Printing   2015 saw a rapid rise in popularity in 3-D printing which we believe will continue into 2016. Advances in 3-D printing technology have enabled new practical applications in several sectors including aerospace, medical, automotive, energy and the military. Companies like Tesla are using 3-D printing to build engine parts, while NASA is testing out 3-D printed parts for its systems. A group of Carnegie Mellon researchers are working on producing models of a variety of human organs and body parts using 3-D printing technology. Their work could one day lead to a world in which transplants are no longer necessary to repair damaged organs. According to Gartner, in 2016, better applications of the technology for biological material and food will follow.   4) Flexible Displays   Development in Flexible Electronics has spanned over the last few years and has led to several interesting innovations such as the OLED range of electronic displays.  There are several benefits to flexible displays such as ruggedness, light-weight, portability and reduced brittleness which have contributed to the rise of flexible electronics. In June 2015, LG had revealed its bendable, paper-thin TV panels which could be rolled up like a newspaper to a radius of just 3 centimeters. According to various unconfirmed reports, Samsung is also reportedly working on a flexible, bendable mobile screen to be released by early 2016. With a recent sharp rise in the number of patent applications for flexible display technologies, the market for various types of flexible displays is expected to broaden in the coming year.   5) Big Data   Big Data, cloud services and predictive analytics are continually innovating fields which offer holistic insights into the way businesses are run. The biggest challenge facing big data is the method of capturing data and proper utilization of the captured data. In 2016, businesses will move away from irrelevant data noise and will take a more strategic approach to analyzing the copious amount of data received. The Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 is expected to  create new opportunities for data visualization and real-time analysis with the explosion of connected devices.   6) Video Analytics   The need for enhanced security and the availability of mature analytic engines is driving the Video Analytics market globally.   Video Analytics Technology has been playing a crucial role in security and surveillance and has been actively contributing to fields like retail analytics, transportation, business intelligence, public safety, intrusion detection and more. With advancement of technologies like machine vision and data analytics the use of high speed cameras along with the powerful video content analysis (VCA) will soon become inherent part of industrial automation and object modelling.   By, Mistral Solutions Pvt.Ltd.

On my way back from the the EE Live! 2014 conference and exhibition, whilst waiting for my plane at San Jose International Airport, I was ambling around seeing what there was to be seen when I passed one of those "Cool Electronic" booth-type stores that tempt you with products you didn't even know you wanted. In this case, one item that really caught my eye was a cylindrical Bluetooth loudspeaker, about 10" tall, whose entire surface formed a spectrum analyser display based on tri-coloured LEDs. "Ooh, Shiny," I thought. I was, of course, captivated. As I've mentioned before, if you show me a flashing LED, I'll show you a man drooling. Eventually, I managed to drag my eyes away. "That's interesting. How much might it be?" I said to the young lad behind the counter. Without looking up from his very important texting, he grunted "$199.95." (He was obviously a man of few words who liked to make each one count.) Well, Mother Maxfield didn't raise any fools (apart from yours truly, of course). "It's not that interesting," I thought to myself, so I thanked him for all of his help and strolled on my merry way. The problem is that now my head is full of visions of mega-cool LED displays. Actually, that's the least of my problems, because I'm a digital logic designer by trade. I really know very little about the audio side of things, so I would be grateful for any advice anyone cares to offer. My first move was to bounce over to YouTube to see what was out there with regard to audio spectrum analysers. The first one I saw looked sort of interesting.   One thing I like is the two alternative display modes—either solid bars or just showing the "top of the envelope," as it were. One thing I don't like is the fact that the bulk of the display is formed using only blue LEDs, with a couple of red LEDs at the top of each column. The next video I saw was of a rather tempting coffee table display. The main thing of interest here was the way in which its creator starts off by varying the colour of the LEDs from left-to right, with red at one end of the frequency spectrum, blue at the other end, and green in the middle, as opposed to having the colours vary with amplitude as in the first video.   Actually, it's really worth watching the above video all the way through, because there are a lot of very interesting effects that make you (well, me) squirm in my seat with desire. But wait, there's more, because I next ran across this little beauty. As you will see, this little scamp boasts a cornucopia of LEDs (32 x 32). On the downside, they are once again fixed in colour, with blue on the bottom, green in the middle, and red on the top.   The thing that really caught my eye in the above video is what I think of as the "trailing dot effect." This is where a vertical bar on LEDs "collapses" leaving the uppermost pixel (LED) illuminated, and this uppermost LED then slowly "falls" until it's "overwritten" by the next pulse of sound (is there an official/technical name for this effect?). I cannot help myself. Quite apart from the fact that these things look so cool, I think I can have hours... days... weeks... months of fun playing with different algorithms and display modes. My plan is to build what I am tentatively calling "Max's BADASS Display." What do you mean, "What does BADASS stand for?" I would have thought that was obvious; it stands for Bodacious Acoustic Diagnostic Astoundingly Superior Spectromatic, of course. I'm so excited about this, that I'm already planning on entering it in one of the Gadget Smackdown sessions at EE Live! 2015. Now, I don't want to spoil your fun, so I'm going to leave you to ponder this a little. I will be posting another blog tomorrow telling you what I'm thinking of building and where I'm going with this little beauty. In the meantime, any suggestions—including links to other cool YouTube videos—will be very gratefully received.   My own BADASS display (Part 2)

A few weeks ago, I went to the the EE Live! 2014 conference and exhibition. Whilst waiting for my plane at San Jose International Airport, I was ambling around seeing what there was to be seen when I passed one of those "Cool Electronic" booth-type stores that tempt you with products you didn't even know you wanted. In this case, one item that really caught my eye was a cylindrical Bluetooth loudspeaker, about 10" tall, whose entire surface formed a spectrum analyser display based on tri-coloured LEDs. "Ooh, Shiny," I thought. I was, of course, captivated. As I've mentioned before, if you show me a flashing LED, I'll show you a man drooling. Eventually, I managed to drag my eyes away. "That's interesting. How much might it be?" I said to the young lad behind the counter. Without looking up from his very important texting, he grunted "$199.95." (He was obviously a man of few words who liked to make each one count.) Well, Mother Maxfield didn't raise any fools (apart from yours truly, of course). "It's not that interesting," I thought to myself, so I thanked him for all of his help and strolled on my merry way. The problem is that now my head is full of visions of mega-cool LED displays. Actually, that's the least of my problems, because I'm a digital logic designer by trade. I really know very little about the audio side of things, so I would be grateful for any advice anyone cares to offer. My first move was to bounce over to YouTube to see what was out there with regard to audio spectrum analysers. The first one I saw looked sort of interesting.   One thing I like is the two alternative display modes—either solid bars or just showing the "top of the envelope," as it were. One thing I don't like is the fact that the bulk of the display is formed using only blue LEDs, with a couple of red LEDs at the top of each column. The next video I saw was of a rather tempting coffee table display. The main thing of interest here was the way in which its creator starts off by varying the colour of the LEDs from left-to right, with red at one end of the frequency spectrum, blue at the other end, and green in the middle, as opposed to having the colours vary with amplitude as in the first video.     Actually, it's really worth watching the above video all the way through, because there are a lot of very interesting effects that make you (well, me) squirm in my seat with desire. But wait, there's more, because I next ran across this little beauty. As you will see, this little scamp boasts a cornucopia of LEDs (32 x 32). On the downside, they are once again fixed in colour, with blue on the bottom, green in the middle, and red on the top.   The thing that really caught my eye in the above video is what I think of as the "trailing dot effect." This is where a vertical bar on LEDs "collapses" leaving the uppermost pixel (LED) illuminated, and this uppermost LED then slowly "falls" until it's "overwritten" by the next pulse of sound (is there an official/technical name for this effect?). I cannot help myself. Quite apart from the fact that these things look so cool, I think I can have hours... days... weeks... months of fun playing with different algorithms and display modes. My plan is to build what I am tentatively calling "Max's BADASS Display." What do you mean, "What does BADASS stand for?" I would have thought that was obvious; it stands for Bodacious Acoustic Diagnostic Astoundingly Superior Spectromatic, of course. I'm so excited about this, that I'm already planning on entering it in one of the Gadget Smackdown sessions at EE Live! 2015. Now, I don't want to spoil your fun, so I'm going to leave you to ponder this a little. I will be posting another blog tomorrow ( Part 2 ) telling you what I'm thinking of building and where I'm going with this little beauty. In the meantime, any suggestions—including links to other cool YouTube videos—will be very gratefully received.