Emza Announced Ultra-low Power IoT Visual Sensor

2 January, 2018

Emza Visual Sense from Kfar-Saba, Israel, have developed sub-milliwatt, trainable, low-cost, autonomous, tiny computer-vision IoT sensors that are smaller than a coin and consume less than 1mW

emza iot visual sensor

DSP Group and Emza Visual Sense from Israel, together with the Taiwanese fabless semiconductor provider Himax Technologies plan to launch the their  ultra-low power, always-on, intelligent visual sensor called WiseEye IoT, in CES 2018, January 9-12, in Las Vegas. The new device is based on DSP Group’s ULE and SmartVoice solutions, Emza’s machine vision algorithms, and Himax’s low power CMOS Image Sensor

When integrated into consumer appliances such as home assistants, TV sets, heating and cooling systems or security systems, WiseEye IoT enables battery-powered human awareness in the vicinity of the appliance in an extremely efficient and cost-efficient manners. The sensor is designed to avoid storage or transmission of images to protect customers’ privacy. When it comes to industrial applications, WiseEye provides intelligent occupancy detection and people counting in a battery powered sensor, it has applications in the factory floors and wherever motion detection is required.

Himax to acquire Emza

Emza Visual Sense from Kfar-Saba, Israel have developed sub-milliwatt, trainable, low-cost, autonomous, tiny computer-vision IoT sensors that are smaller than a coin and consume less than 1mW. It proprietary algorithms are embedded at the edge and are specially designed for extremely thin computing cores and a unique ultra-low power CMOS image sensor. The WiseEye IoT device consists of Emza’s SoC, Himax CMOS Image Sensor HM01B0, and two chips from DSPG: Communication chip to operate the ULE protocol (Ultra-Low Energy) which is a DECT based low power, low latency and long range communication standard. The second DSPG chip is an HDClear voice processor.

The cooperation between Himax and Emza is now on the path to become a merger. On April 13, Himax announced that it has made a strategic investment in cash in exchange for a 45.1% equity ownership of Emza Visual Sense. The agreement included an option to acquire the remaining 54.9% of Emza’s equity and all outstanding stock options. It means that the deal shoul be completed in the coming months. Jordan Wu, CEO of Himax, said the the agreement is a “strategic investment” in the effort to deliver “turn-key solutions for ‘always-on’ smart camera that enables devices capable of real-time.”

Share via Whatsapp

Posted in: IoT , News , Semiconductors

Other articles you might like

Wi-Fi 6 plus Bluetooth LE 5.4 Wireless SoC

"Competitors Have Called to Express Concern and Solidarity"

Olive Diagnostics extends seed round to $7.3 million