Since its inception in 1999, the Best of Sensors Expo Awards has sought to recognize those new products that meet our criteria for timeliness, distinctiveness, potential impact, application, and relation to the scope of Sensors. In other words, Is the product commercially available and has it been introduced since the last Sensors Expo? Is it unique, or at least markedly different from what's out there? Does it have the potential to change the way people work? Does it fulfill a real need? And is it a sensor or related to sensing in some way? We think that this year's winners are excellent examples of devices that meet these criteria; let me introduce you to them.
Gold Award Winners
 The AS5410 3D Hall sensor from austriamicrosystems |
 The Tunable Microspectrometer Detector Model LFP-80105-337 from InfraTec Infrared |
 The EPIC electric potential integrated circuit from Plessey Semiconductor |
 A prototype of Synkera Technologies' MikroKera chemical sensor |
Silver Award Winners
 Meggitt Sensing Systems' Endevco Model 72 Series high-G shock accelerometer |
 MicroStrain's mXRS extended-range wireless sensing system |
 MicroStrain's SensorCloud sensor data storage, visualization, and remote management platform |
Bronze Award Winners
 The SLICE MICRO IEPE tiny stand-alone data recorder from DTS |
 The Radiation Sensor Board from Libelium |
Honorable Mentions
 The iPad vibration analyzer from GTI Spindle Technology |
Hoffmann + Krippner earned an honorable mention in the Sensors category for its Moog QuieSense noiseless thin-film membrane potentiometer. The sensor is formed by printing highly sensitive resistive ink on Kapton and then linearizing the readings, resulting in a linearity of 0.1%. In what is a very crowded field, Hoffmann + Krippner have achieved 0.1% linearity, a fact that impressed the judges tremendously.
 The Thermobility WPG-1 thermal energy harvester from Nextreme Thermal Solutions |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melanie Martella is the Executive Editor of Sensors. She can be reached at 603-924-3246, [email protected].