For my very first time outside of the United States I had the privilege to attend electronica 2014 in Munich, Germany.
Upon arrival, my colleagues and I drove to Austria to enjoy a hike in the countryside, participate on a boat tour, and attend the grand opening of RECOM’s new headquarters (more on that to come).
After the grand opening, we headed back towards Munich, stopping by the Rhode & Schwarz facility for a quick tour of their 2015 product portfolio.
At each facility I met some of the most intelligent and innovative minds in the industry. I also had a chance to hear about the solutions that they provided for some of today’s toughest engineering challenges.
I had the same experience at the show. With each visit, companies showcased their most exclusive products that they had to offer that could help consumers solve their toughest design challenges.
While I experienced many many great new designs, here are some of the best new products that I saw on my trip overseas:
1. Spider Family
OriginGPS broke the size barrier with its new Spider family of GPS/GNSS modules. These tiny, fully-integrated, and highly sensitive modules are designed to support ultra-compact applications, such as smart watches, wearable devices, trackers, and digital cameras.
GPS Origins was also debuting their Multi Spider product, which is a miniature multi-channel receiver that continuously tracks all satellites in view, providing real-time positioning data in standard NMEA format.
2. Extension-of-Life
Sporting a vintage diner look, Rochester Electronics had one of my favorite booths at the show. While enjoying a traditional German hotdog, the director of marketing and communications shared the company’s philosophy on semiconductor availability.
With its Extension-of-Life scope of solutions, semiconductor buyers and system design engineers are guaranteed a legitimate and stable continuous supply of authorized and certified devices for the duration of a system’s life cycle.
Ranging from in-stock, factory-direct finished inventory to continued manufacture of devices from both OCM and Rochester wafer/die, as well as OCM authorized Rochester re-created devices, these solutions are available as long as a system’s production continues.
3. Reduced to a Whisper
Fox Electronics upgraded its XpressO configurable oscillator line with its new XpressO-ULTRA, which offers a reduction in both jitter and phase noise. According to Fox, the XpressO-ULTRA does not replace the original XpressO line, but gives user a new option for all their application needs.
4. Family Lifestyle System
The smart home is a topic that I am extremely interested in, so when Cees Links from GreenPeak Technologies invited me to their booth to discuss the Family Lifestyle System, it wasn’t hard for me to say ‘yes’.
These new sensor- and cloud-based intelligent systems are built around a set of wireless ZigBee sensor nodes located throughout the home and connected via an internet gateway to a cloud-based self-learning algorithm with advanced behavior pattern recognition capabilities. The system learns the normal day-to-day activities and behavior of people in their home. When irregular behavior or exceptional situations are identified, family or friends will be notified via a smart phone application that can be integrated with online messaging and social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, WeChat, and QQ.
It’s about keeping loved ones and friends informed without the need to wear devices or use cameras.
5. HD Oscilloscopes
Rhode & Schwarz (R&S) demonstrated its high-definition oscilloscope, which increases the vertical resolution of the R&S RTO and RTE oscilloscopes to up to 16 bits. The HD mode provides sharper waveforms and shows signal details that would otherwise be masked by noise. Users benefit from the precise analysis results that the HD option provides.
I learned a lot from the trip, and I am extremely excited for what’s to come in the next two years when we can all rendezvous in Munich once again for electronica 2016.
What were some of your favorite products at Electronica? Which company had the best booth and why? What were some of the things that were predictable, and what things were unexpected? Post your comments below, or send them to meaghan.ziemba@advantagemedia.com.