What's New at CES2020 | Location Data as an Enabler for New Tech
What's New at CES2020 | Location Data as an Enabler for New Tech
This year at CES, Kolmostar has observed that with the growth of 5G and LPWAN (low power wide area network) networks, high precision positioning and ultra-low power positioning is becoming an enabler for many applications. Location data is without doubt one of the most fundamental type of data in today's connected world.
CES 2020 took place once again in Las Vegas from Jan 7 to Jan 10 last week and has attracted over 5100 exhibitors and 170,000 visitors from all over the world. Kolmostar attended this year’s CES and would like to share with you what we saw at the show and what we think would be the major trends in the technology industry in 2020.
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Vehicle Technology Innovations In Every Space
In the air, Hyundai Motor showcased an air taxi that they developed with Uber with the intention to create a future aerial ride share network. This four-seater all-electric aircraft concept called SA-1 is said to be created in part through Uber’s open design process.
On the ground, self-driving continues to be a big hit. Big players such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz have all entered this battleground. Sony reveals a new Vision-S electric car prototype and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida emphasized that, “As vehicles become more connected, autonomous, shared and electric in the coming years, they will also bring about positive social and environmental impacts.” Autonomous vehicle startup AutoX announced their partnership with FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) to roll out a fleet of self-driving robotaxis for China and other countries in Asia.
In the water, drones and underwater scooters are changing our traditional concept of underwater vehicles. Japanese startup FPV Robotics is leveraging drone technology to help inspect aging infrastructure like bridges to avoid potential major issues like bridge collapses. Sublue, a L.A. based Chinese startup showcased a new line of underwater scooters Seabow that allows you to grip it with two hands and reach 1.8 meters per second underwater.
Smart Wearables for Literally Everyone (or Every Pet)‍
Some of you might still think that smart gadgets are only for a specific group of users, many companies at CES 2020 are trying to prove that wrong. Smart wearables are there for everyone (or should we say every pet?). There are many smartwatches targeting sports enthusiasts and self-caring people. Smartwatch manufacturers including Garmin, Amazfit, Suunto all revealed their newest models of smartwatches at CES. Almost every smartwatch has features including GPS tracking, offline maps, heart rate monitoring and activity tracking. Smartwatch companies are constantly improving their products, hoping to have a better design with longer battery life and more features catering to the needs of almost everyone.
There is a smart cane for blind people. CES2020 Innovation Awards Honoree Seed Lab creates a smart SEED Cane that is embedded with different sensors to help blind people walk safely. It has infrared sensors to detect obstacles nearby and alerts its users using vibration and sound. It also has a GPS positioning function that could help notify users of their current location and navigate them.
There are many smart trackers for pets. Smart pet tracker is not a new thing but brands such as Tractive, LinkAKC, Cube GPS, TCL are still working on releasing new models of trackers, showing their belief in the huge potential of this market. They are all working to make pet trackers even smaller in size and longer in battery life. GPS function is a necessity for pet tracker but its battery life has always been a big problem, especially when the size of the battery is very limited. Most pet trackers can last no longer than a week if GPS is turned on.
“Every Company is Truly a Tech Company”
Surprisingly, besides all the tech companies, we also notice that traditional companies like USPS also had a booth at CES. Traditional industries like logistics have also been greatly impacted by the development of technology. USPS showed off their “Informed Delivery” system that aims at creating a better user experience via features including real-time location of packages and forecast of incoming mails. Other fleet management companies are also looking to implement devices like asset trackers, vehicle trackers to help grow their business. “This week at CES illustrated that every company is truly a tech company,” said Karen Chupka, executive vice president, CES. “Global technology brands blended with non-traditional tech companies to showcase how innovation is furthering business across all markets – setting the stage for the decade ahead.”
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From autonomous driving to all kinds of smart wearables like smartwatch and pet tracker, location data is without doubt one of the most fundamental types of data in a connected world. Internet-of-Things turns from a future trend to a solid reality. GPS/GNSS tracking ability has become a must-have feature for many consumer electronics. With the growth of 5G and LPWAN (low power wide area network) networks, high precision positioning and ultra-low power positioning is becoming an enabler for many applications. Kolmostar specializes in GPS/GNSS positioning solutions and is ready to deliver our ultra-low power positioning solutions for IoT devices. For example, with our newest ultra-low power GPS/GNSS positioning module JEDI-200, the battery life of a tiny-sized pet tracker can easily last for months even with GPS turning on all the time.
JEDI-200 is optimized for LPWAN such as LoRaWAN® and NB-IoT and can reduce the energy consumption to get one position fix by up to 120x compared to traditional modules. Contact us today to learn more about our products and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay tuned for more exciting news!
See you soon!
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Reference:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/07/sony-reveals-electric-car-prototype-at-ces-2020.html
https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/07/autox-and-fiat-chrysler-are-teaming-up-on-a-robotaxi-for-china/
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