Hybrid Printed Sensors for Customizing the IOT

Abstract

The future Internet of Things (IOT) will require custom solutions to sense and interpret the world. Technologies are needed that are able to serve thousands of ever-changing, specialist deployments, many of them short lived. Digital printing is a promising approach to both mass produce and customize sensor systems for the IOT. Printing can address both the desired form factor and create the exact sensing modality for a variety of applications. Flexible, hybrid sensor systems have a great potential for structural monitoring or wearables, where the form factor of devices is important. Arrays of sensors can be readily fabricated through printing, whilst data acquisition and communication are best performed by thin silicon microcircuits. Printed sensor arrays with combinatorial capabilities are especially powerful for accurate detection and selectivity. PARC has a long history of developing large area sensor arrays for detection of light, radiation or acoustic signals. More recently, our team has been focusing on the integration of printed hybrid electronics with sensors and microchips. Powering sensors systems wirelessly with printed energy harvesting is also an interesting proposition. The resulting technologies now enable specialized smart labels, chemical sensors in cold chain logistics. Similar sensors can also be deployed in a network for use in infrastructure monitoring. A key enabler of these hybrid sensor systems is the ability to produce them configurable, on-demand, at low cost.