Category Sensors

A new, safe, and quick method for detecting 13 different kinds of cancers has been developed by Toshiba Corporation with a 99% accuracy rate and only requires one drop of blood for the process.

The method works by examining the types and concentration of microRNA molecules that are secreted into the bloodstream from the cancer cells.

The diagnosis method was developed together by the National Cancer Center Research Institute and Tokyo Medical University.

https://interestingengineering.com/toshibas-newly-developed-technology-can-detect-13-cancers-with-one-drop-of-blood

The amount of light detected by the camera’s image sensor inherently has some uncertainty, called “shot noise,” which causes images to look grainy. The visibility of shot noise decreases as the amount of light increases; therefore, it is best for the camera to gather as much light as possible to produce a high-quality photo.

Sky Processing
When images of very dark environments are viewed on a screen, they are displayed much brighter than the original scenes. This can change the viewer’s perception of the time of day when the photos were captured. At night we expect the sky to be dark. If a picture taken at night shows a bright sky, then we see it as a daytime scene, perhaps with slightly unusual lighting.

This effect is countered in Night Sight by selectively darkening the sky in photos of low-light scenes. To do this, we use machine learning to detect which regions of an image represent sky. An on-device convolutional neural network, trained on over 100,000 images that were manually labeled by tracing the outlines of sky regions, identifies each pixel in a photograph as “sky” or “not sky.”

The truly smart home future is near as more and more companies invest into technologies that enable seamless smart home experiences. At the moment, the experience is finicky at best, but they may change in the future as an Apple patent posted on February 13th describes a truly smart home that can configure itself without user intervention.

At the moment, the smart home space is a mess, with multiple standards, communication protocols and different brands coming with their won designs that are fundamentally incompatible with others. This has led to a lot of confusion and unsatisfactory experiences for users. Apple, a company that is known for its products that “just works”, clearly believes in a future that will let users live in a smart home where all devices speak to each other in a seamless manner that enhances the users lives.

https://www.fonearena.com/blog/305024/apple-patent-home-system-automatically-configure-itself.html

Application of NFC technology in the retail sector

Retailers are starting to acknowledge the role of IT as an enabler. Basically, it can speed up processes and deliver cost-saving benefits to companies

NFC technology is now accessible on most smartphones. Also, cheap NFC tags can be simply added to any physical object to turn it into an interactive experience.

NFC technology is also a key motivating force behind the quick rise in digital wallet payments such as Google Pay and Apple Pay. Mobile payments are fast, simple and handier. Moreover, the fact that NFC payments do not need biometric features, such as fingerprint scans, makes them even more secure vis-a-vis chip and PIN.

Thermal imaging

Thermal imaging cameras operate in the infrared (IR) range of the electromagnetic spectrum (roughly 9000 to 14,000 nanometres, or 9µm to 14µm) and generate images of that radiation, known as thermograms. Every object emits IR radiation, which is more than absolute zero, and quantum of radiation emitted by an object goes up as its temperature increases.

These systems are generally based on embedded technology and are placed at a height for precise results. Since these systems detect heat emitted by people, they are able to count well even in varying intensity of lighting. Moreover, they do not need to employ complex background removal algorithms, which is a pre-requisite for computer vision systems. This results in a more precise individual human count. However, such systems are likely to fail in cold weather when customers are wearing thick woollens that help in insulating their body heat.

https://www.electronicsforu.com/market-verticals/retail-2030-future-holds

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/self-powered-surface-may-evaluate-table-tennis-play

Drones help scientists weigh whales at sea