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Cellular IoT: Can a Startup Revive a Stagnant Market?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
The growth of the cellular IoT market did not stall for lack of trying. But repeated failures to launch have left system designers and users in the lurch, leaving the segment ignored, even discredited. At stake are billions of “things” left unconnected, unable to self-report their status. That makes it impossible to monitor the devices, intervene or fix them, when needed. Who will step up to the plate?

Starting from the top, what exactly is cellular IoT? Who wants it? If there is demand for it, then why does cellular connectivity rarely make the headlines? What issues, if any, prevent the scaling—and commercial viability—of cellular IoT?

Meet Blues Wireless.

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Omnitron Sensors’ test structure for process verification of its step-scanning MEMS actuator

Claiming a New MEMS Topology, Startup Promises ‘Disruption’

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
The performance of MEMS devices has stagnated because MEMS manufacturing process technologies have failed to advance significantly. An Los Angeles-based startup believes it can fix that. Omnitron Sensors claims to have proven its new process technology through development of an optical subsystem for MEMS lidar. Industry experts want to see Omnitron’s patents before judging whether “disruptive” is the word that applies to the new manufacturing process technology.

The semiconductor industry has Moore’s Law and process nodes. Both help chip developers gauge progress and advance chip designs.

But what about micro-mechanical systems, or MEMS?

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Eliyan founders (from left): Syrus Ziai, Ramin Farjadrad, Patrick Soheili

Eliyan Goes Do-or-Die with Die-to-Die Interface Technology

By Junko Yoshida.

What’s at stake?
Chiplets are emerging as the go-to technology for advanced SoCs designed for AI accelerator, data center and cloud computing applications. Despite years of implementation, these chiplets still face many challenges, including interconnect interfaces and protocols, packaging and quality control. Startup Eliyan is confident it has a technology that helps chipmakers overcome those hurdles.

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smart glasses for augmented reality

Kelly Peng Sees Smart Glasses in Your Future

By Rebecca Day

What’s at stake:
While augmented-reality smart glasses have found adopters in industry, thus far consumers have largely failed to see the appeal. Kura Technologies asserts that its Gallium glasses overcome the performance, comfort and privacy hurdles that earlier entries failed to clear, and it is confident that the expanding metaverse will enable applications that will convince the public of smart glasses’ utility. Whether consumers will find smart glasses as indispensable as they now view their phones by the end of the decade, as Kura’s CEO predicts, remains to be seen. But they will get an early glimpse of the Gallium glasses in limited public demonstrations over the next couple of years.

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