- Delivering the Best Consumer Experience
- The Rise in 5G Devices and Consumer Expectation
- Smart Sensors Are the Answer
Jul 24, 2022It's time to reflect: how many electronic devices do you own? I'm guessing you have at least one mobile phone, one family computer, your work laptop, and maybe another tablet or two. Am I right? As of 2020, an average American household had one dozen consumer electronic (CE) devices and growing.
Nearly five years ago, annual consumer technology spending was at $1.6 trillion in the United States, and that number is expected to reach $2.06 trillion by 2023. However, during that time, our lives were interrupted by a global pandemic. The initial uncertainties of COVID-19 forced millions of Americans to stay indoors and overhaul how they interacted daily with the technology products inside their homes. Many of us worked remotely and school moved online into virtual classrooms. This change in work, school and play made many of us purchase new CE devices to work better, and to help keep ourselves and families entertained.
David Wong
Delivering the Best Consumer Experience
The manner in which we use our consumer devices—tablets, laptops or smartphones—is essentially the same. We expect that these devices will always deliver exactly what is asked of them. You might stream a movie on your smartphone and expect no network breakdowns, or you might require your laptop to function at peak performance while you're managing a fully remote career. Whatever the situation, when you use these devices, you expect (and deserve) nothing less than an optimal experience.
Consumers need not worry about the performance of their devices. You can rest assured that the industry's leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) design the highest-performing products with consumers' best interest in mind. OEMs integrate intelligent sensors inside their connected devices to provide always-on connectivity, longer battery life and high-performance experiences.
The Rise in 5G Devices and Consumer Expectation
The top U.S. carriers have launched 5G networks, with 5G smartphone revenue expected to reach $337 billion by 2025. To ensure that these smartphones work with the fastest 5G networks and support the higher bandwidths, OEMs must add more radio frequency (RF) antennas into the design without hindering the device's battery performance or form factor. The connectivity challenge is also prevalent with laptop and tablet manufacturers. These devices need to support many different wireless protocols from 5G sub-6 to Wi-Fi 6 that can add complexity to product designs.
As consumers, we have become accustomed to (and require) the premier experiences that our devices deliver. We rarely think about the design challenges manufacturers face when creating these products. What industry regulations are required during design? How do OEMs balance the performance and connectivity with industry compliance requirements?
For today's connected devices, OEMs must design and bring to market devices that are compliant with global Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) standards. SAR is a measure of the amount of RF energy absorbed by the body when a person uses a connected device. Manufacturers are required to ensure that wireless devices such as smartphones, tablets or laptops meet SAR standards required by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) before they can be shipped into U.S. markets.
When we talked earlier about all the devices in your household, consider that each of them is regulated and must be compliant before it can be shipped. In the United States, SAR compliance is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 gram of tissue) with a separation distance of 25 millimeters. For Europe, the SAR limit is 2 W/kg (over 10 grams of tissue) with a separation distance of 5 millimeters.
More than 65 percent of Americans have found a new way of working that doesn't require a visit to the office daily—and six out of 10 U.S. workers are still able to do their jobs remotely. Instead, with our laptops at the ready, any place can become our office. And because we can work from anywhere, we now also take video calls regularly. We expect to have the best possible connectivity regardless of our location. The impact of this requirement is twofold: will your laptop be able to support these workloads while also remaining SAR-compliant?
Smart Sensors Are the Answer
Smart sensors intelligently ensure devices deliver the best experience at all times. Consumers can expect that their devices will remain connected, and that the battery life will be extended for any demands placed on the product. When designing 5G-enabled devices, for example, an increase in antennas is required to improve connectivity, yet the device must remain SAR-compliant.
These sensors can detect human presence and allow RF emissions to be adjusted to maintain optimal performance. Smart sensors are highly accurate and can distinguish an inanimate object from a human, ensuring that the device is always operating at peak performance. For example, a pen next to your laptop keyboard will not result in lower RF performance. However, if you were to move the laptop from your desk to the couch and work from your lap, you can be assured that your laptop senses your proximity to the device and will self-regulate for compliance.
How many CE devices did you count in your home? Six, or maybe seven? It's important that each of your devices provides the functionality and performance that you require at all times. Smart sensors can ensure that every device in your home is connected, compliant and top-performing. Smart sensors can deliver that for you.
David Wong is the senior director of consumer sensing products for Semtech's Wireless and Sensing Products Group. He is responsible for the newly launched PerSe intelligent sensor platform for enhanced connectivity and SAR compliance in mobile devices (5G/Wi-Fi) and intuitive control in wearables applications.
