Synaptics’ new line of Selene fingerprint sensors will be featured in Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 notebook. The ultra-thin Selene sensors boast a unique oval shape and will be built into the ThinkPad’s power button to authenticate users when they turn on their computer.
The Selene module is a complete hardware and software solution that can perform all of the functions associated with biometric authentication. That covers everything from image capture all the way through to matching. The fully encapsulated Match-in-Sensor solution has its own microprocessor and firmware, and is isolated from the rest of the rest of the PC. As a result, the user’s biometric data remains safe even if the rest of the device gets compromised.
Lenovo’s Power-on Touch Fingerprint Reader will allow users to turn on the computer and log in with a single press of the power button. Synaptics’ Selene module is FIDO certified, and is compatible with the Microsoft Secure Bio standard. It can also be placed on the outer edge of a notebook if manufacturers are looking for a different form factor.
My distinguished guest in this week’s Fish Fry podcast is Intrinsic-ID CEO Pim Tulys. Pim and I discuss the role of hardware-based security in today’s EE ecosystem, where physical unclonable functions are headed in the future, and what Intrinsic ID’s PUF Cafe is all about. Also this week, we take a closer look at the details of a new experiment that might finally bridge the gap between robotics and quantum mechanics. (Spoiler Alert: robots can learn faster with the help of quantum mechanics!)
Image sensors cover an expanded field of applications, ranging from smartphones to machine vision and automotive. Soon the day will come when artificial intelligence (AI) — both AI sensing and AI processing — takes place very close to the source of sensor data, if not directly at the sensor level.
The CMOS imaging sensor (CIS) market follows a continuous growth trend. According to market research firm Yole Développement, the CIS market revenue reached $19.3 billion in 2019, neared $21 billion in 2020 and is expected to get to $27 billion in 2025. It will also represent 5.1% of the global semiconductor sales in 2021, “becoming a very significant sub-segment,” said Pierre Cambou, principal analyst at Yole Développement, in a session at SEMI’s recent MEMS & Imaging Sensors Forum, as part of the Technology Unites Global Summit.
Looking at the different applications, CMOS image sensors started as webcams and mobile phones with the low-end, high-volume markets. They have gradually reached other segments such as automotive, broadcast, medical, and industrial segments. In 2019, for reference, the mobile segment represented almost 70% of the CIS revenue, while consumer photography accounted for about 5%, computing (i.e., PC and Tablets) for almost 8%, automotive for 7%, and industry around 3%. Last year, Cambou indicated, all these segments had a 25% growth, except for consumer photography.
Data protection is on everyone’s mind these days. The news cycle seems to contain a story about hacking, intrusion or cyber-terrorism on a regular basis. The cloud, our hyperconnected devices and the growing reliance on AI-assisted hardware to manage more and more mission critical functions all around us make data protection a front-of-mind item for many. There are many approaches to address data security, some hardware-based and some software-based with many approaches blending both. All of them have a common liability – the cryptographic key that unlocks data access. Just like an impenetrable vault, having the key to that vault neutralizes its protection. An upcoming webinar outlines a way to implement this all-important key in a unique way, one that doesn’t require storing the key at all. Let’s explore how to protect sensitive data with silicon fingerprints.
First, a bit about the company holding the webinar. Intrinsic ID is a unique company that focuses on security IP. Their stated mission is to make it easy to secure any smart device and make the connected world safer. It’s hard to argue with that. At the core of their strategy is something called a physical unclonable function, or PUF technology. This is where the silicon fingerprint comes in. I’ll get back to that in a moment. If you want more background on the company you can see my recent interview with their CEO, Pim Tuyls.
Advances in artificial intelligence now enable sufficient accuracy in voice biometrics that it can be used for not just identification and personalization, but for applications such as payment authentication. A new solution from Synaptics and ID R&D offers AI-powered voice biometrics and anti-spoofing algorithms that can run on a Synaptics SoC in the edge device. Specifically, the software has been optimized for the neural processing unit (NPU) in Synaptics’ VS600 series for smart home devices such as set-top boxes (STBs), smart speakers and security systems.
Synaptics sells its AI-capable SoCs into smart home products which need to process video streaming, audio streaming and imaging. A typical use case might be a STB incorporating cameras for video conferencing, for example.
Voice biometrics is now accurate enough to enable payment authentication in smart home devices
“What’s common across the set top box application and becoming more common as time goes on is the ability to use voice as an interface,” Vineet Ganju, vice president of marketing at Synaptics told EE Times. “Remote controls can be voice enabled so you can talk into it to navigate your Netflix account and search for movies… voice as an interface is almost becoming standard in these applications.”
According to Hootsuite’s latest Digital Statshot Report, more than half of the world’s population is now on social media. Not ever in human history have we had such vast access to information, people, news and interconnectivity. The implications of this are numerous in terms of human communication, how people interact with brands and businesses worldwide and how companies extract consumers’ insights.
When I started building Potloc in 2014, I recognized the power social media had to gather people’s thoughts about what was going on in their immediate vicinity. We helped local businesses identify what offering, location and combination of customer experiences would appeal to their trade area. It didn’t take us long to realize we were sitting on a real gold mine of insights. The samples we were getting through social channels were on point, with relevant respondents answering our surveys with no other incentive than their desire to be part of the conversation. Through testing and trying different approaches, we soon discovered that we could leverage the targeting capabilities social platforms offer to reach any person with a social account, anywhere in the world. This realization allowed us to scale our operation and offer our services anywhere you could find someone “thumbing-up” through their social feed. This approach might seem obvious but the reality is that sampling in social media as a methodology has been largely overlooked as a great way to reach niche audiences and fresh respondents on a global scale.
Scottish technology provider Ceres Holographics announces a strategic partnership with Covestro to commercialize Bayfol® HX photopolymer films for transparent automotive display applications. Ceres Holographics uses them to create specialty solutions with customized holographic optical elements (HOEs) designed to enable a new generation of transparent display applications for automobiles and commercial vehicles.
The new partnership represents the next stage in what has already been a long-standing cooperation between the two companies.
Bayfol® HX film from Covestro is a transparent and thin film featuring a light-sensitive, self-developing photopolymer. It is ideal for the reproducible production of highly efficient volume holograms. Throughout their collaboration to date, the two partners have customized the film to meet the specific requirements of this application.
Synaptics shares are trading sharply higher Wednesday, hitting a new all-time high after Morgan Stanley analyst Craig Hettenbach picked up coverage of the Internet of Things chip specialist with an Overweight rating and Street-high $173 price target.
Biometric devices for consumer authentication on and offline is the most prevalent theme in the week’s biometrics headlines, whether in the form of smartphone-based health passes, new native capabilities on mobile devices, or fingerprint-enabled payment cards.
The year 2020 has hurled unprecedented challenges at us. We have responded with unprecedented changes in the ways we work, study and play. But these changes — substituting connectivity for physical presence — have had massive unintended consequences.
One of the most important consequences has been to move the devices we use (PCs, primarily) off the physical premises of our workplaces and schools, exposing them to whole new categories of attacks. And through the PCs, it has made enterprise and institutional data centers more vulnerable as well. Realizing this stark fact, PC vendors are beginning to appreciate security as a powerful differentiator.
Once, we counted on antivirus software to protect us. But at this new level of risk, antivirus software just isn’t enough. We must take a whole-system approach to defense, from the user to the peripheral devices in the PC to the CPU.
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