How ultrasonic sensors will change the world in the next 50 years

Since the birth of the sensor, the ultrasonic sensor has become the most important infrastructure in the digital society because it can help humans turn information that was once unknown and difficult to judge into easily accessible and more accurate data. In 2011, the founder and venture capitalist of Netscape, it put forward a very creative and already-realized view: "Software is eating the world." To this day, if you replace "software" with "ultraonic sensor" in a sentence, the same argument applies.

　　From smart phones to smart voice devices, from energy platforms to industrial equipment, sensors naturally“avail” as the extension organs connecting humans to machines, humans themselves, and the natural environment.With the development of sensors and related hardware and software technologies such as data storage, energy storage, new materials, and network infrastructure, as well as the continuous decline in costs, ultrasonic flow transducers application scenarios will become more and more abundant.

　　It is predicted that by 2020, there will be 300 billion sensors in our daily lives all over the world, the market size will reach 10.5 billion US dollars, and the market size of printable flexible sensors will reach 7.3 billion US dollars.

　　 So, what are the uses of ultrasonic sensors today? In the future, and even in the next 50 years, what kind of evolution will sensors undergo and how will they change the world?

　　 1. Sensors everywhere today

　　 From consumer electronics to agriculture, from transportation to medical, from energy to aerospace, from industry to city management, sensors have been deeply integrated into human production and life.

　　 1. Consumer electronics

　　In the field of consumer electronics, as humans continue to increase their functional requirements, more and more custom ultrasonic transducer sensor are integrated into various products. For example, a smart phone is equipped with more than ten sensors such as light sensor, distance sensor, gravity sensor, gyroscope, GPS, fingerprint sensor and so on.

　　 2. Agriculture

　　In the agricultural field, through ultrasonic sensors installed on animals or in farm buildings, we can monitor animal health and various risks in real time to minimize animal disease and mortality, and increase productivity and fertility. Through sensors in the field, we can accurately understand the weather and soil data in order to determine the best time for planting, irrigation, fertilization and harvesting.

　　 3. Architecture

　　In intelligent buildings, ultrasonic sensors can monitor the air quality, light intensity, smoke concentration, temperature changes and other data in the building in real time, allowing us to better manage indoor air quality, reduce energy consumption, and improve living and working environments.

　　 4. Healthcare

In health care, the ultrasonic sensor can be used for the management of drugs and lifestyles of patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. It can also help children or caregivers to monitor the elderly with Alzheimer's disease and other diseases in real time. When abnormalities are found, you can immediately seek medical help or call emergency services.

　　Through ultrasonic sensor, the doctor can remotely monitor the patient's heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, electrocardiogram and other health indicators, and can take electronic pills to understand the patient's medication and treatment, and give timely advice. In general, sensors can reduce hospital costs, improve medical quality, and reduce the frequency of expensive emergency admission costs and hospitalization costs.

　　 5. City management

For city management departments, ultrasonic sensors can help managers to understand the operation of underground lines and equipment such as gas, electricity, water, sewage, etc. they can monitor road vehicles and pedestrian flows in real time, and adjust transportation strategies in time to reduce traffic congestion; you can tell where do car drivers have free parking spaces to avoid unnecessary waste of time and reduce carbon emissions; they can even detect and track the outbreak and spread of diseases.

　　 6. Other fields

　　 Without ultrasonic sensors, there would be no internet of Things and no Industry 4.0. In the fields of industry, energy, military, etc., sensors can achieve predictive maintenance of equipment. By analyzing the data collected by ultrasonic sensors, they can respond to potential problems, thereby minimizing the cost of equipment downtime.

　　 Second, a more exciting future

　　 In the future,ultrasonic sensors will become smaller, cheaper, more accurate, more flexible, more energy-efficient, and more environmentally friendly, capable of collecting more types of data and integrating more and more new technologies.

　　 1. Smaller and cheaper

With the application of various new platforms and new materials, manufacturers can manufacture smaller ultrasonic sensors whose performance can be as high as millimeter-level and microwave-level electronic components, and with the application of less silicon, the cost will be substantial reduce. At the same time, the new platform will also reduce sensor design, development and manufacturing costs. In the long run, self-calibrating ultrasonic sensors are very cost-effective. Through automatic calibration, the number and time of sensor maintenance can be reduced, and the maintenance cost can be greatly reduced. In addition, self-healing sensors will have a wider range of applications and lower maintenance costs, especially in the event of various disasters and risks.

　　 2. Higher accuracy

　　 At present, the research of multi-channel cooperative spectrum sensing is still in its infancy. In the future, once the technology is mature, it will provide more accurate monitoring data than current single-channel sensors.

　　 More accurate, reliable and reproducible ultrasonic sensors will have more application scenarios in medical equipment and other fields, and the functions they achieve are also more powerful.

　　 3. More flexible and more flexible

　　Flexible sensors are an important direction for future sensor development. At present, flexible light sensors, PH sensors, ion sensors and biosensors are still in the early development stage. In the future, these flexible sensors will have more innovative applications, such as artificial skin, wearable sensors and micro-motion sensing.

　　Through microwire technology and magnetic field, ultrasonic sensor can be as slender as hair and elastic, without power supply,which can measure temperature, pressure, tension, stress, torsion and position without contact.

　　 4. Better perception and more data

　　Future sensors will more effectively mimic human senses to detect, process and analyze complex signals, such as biological hazards, odors, material pressure, pathogens and corrosion. For example, these advanced ultrasonic sensors can not only sense a large number of single analytes (such as carbon dioxide), but also decipher every component of the odor.In addition, intelligent dust is a microscopic sensor driven by vibration, which can monitor various situations such as battlefields, high-rise buildings or clogged arteries.

　　 5. More medical applications

　　 At present, many health-related sensors are mainly used in the entertainment and lifestyle fields, and their functions cannot meet the requirements of medical grade. In the future, more medical-grade sensors will pass strict regulatory approval and realize medical applications.

　　With the miniaturization of laboratory systems, the development of emerging technologies for biohazard perception will be accelerated, and ultrasonic sensors will become true medical-grade devices rather than simple life and entertainment uses. Medical testing will be easier. One testing instrument can analyze more substances and reduce the need for testing samples. For example, health testing can be completed through body fluids such as sweat and tears.

　　 Swallowable pills is an application of miniaturization of laboratory systems. For example, many health technology startups have used sensors to replace traditional endoscopy to reduce patient pain. There are also some swallowable or implantable pills developed by technology companies that can be continuously administered in the body for a long time, making the daily treatment of patients easier.

　　 6. More energy saving

　　 Currently, most ultrasonic sensors are not very energy-efficient because they are always on. In the future, sensors will become smarter and driven by specific conditions, and can only be activated when a certain condition is reached, and when they are in standby mode, there is almost no power consumption.

　　 In addition, the ultrasonic sensor can also obtain energy from the surrounding environment to achieve longer operation. For example, exercise, pressure, light, or the difference between the heat of the patient's body and the surrounding air can be the energy source of the sensor.

　　 7. More environmentally friendly

　　 In the future, environmentally friendly and biodegradable ultrasonic sensors will become increasingly popular.For example, the ultrasonic sensor can be a bacteria-driven, degradable paper-based battery. Such ultrasonic sensor can be used in fields such as farmland management, environmental monitoring, food circulation monitoring, or medical testing without polluting the environment.

　　 8. Higher complexity and better compatibility

　　By coordinating the work, the ultrasonic transducer sensor will gain additional complexity. Sensor clusters can better coordinate the work between sensors and determine the content and location of work through an autonomous learning system.In addition, the adoption of various new technologies will also make the ultrasonic sensor more diverse. For example, through laser technology, the ultrasonic sensor can identify the material composition through the unique spectrum of the material; the time-of-flight sensor can measure the distance between two objects through infrared light pulses; made of pzt materials such as piezo crystals, special ceramics, bones, DNA, proteins, etc. Piezo sensors can better respond to external pressure and latent heat.

In the future, advances in various basic sciences will further promote the rapid evolution of sensor technology. Ultrasonic sensor will become more miniaturized and user-friendly, and human-computer interaction will be more friendly; at the same time, they will become more invisible and less noticeable. As ultrasonic sensor are more deeply integrated into our daily lives, as well as integration with new technologies such as AI, in the future interconnected and automated world, ultrasonic sensor will make our lives better.