3-D face-recognition technology advances
Iris International (Chatsworth, CA) announced that its Advanced Digital Imaging Research (ADIR; League City, TX) subsidiary received authorization from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for testing of its 3-D Face Recognition technology on public populations.
Under an Advanced Technology Program (ATP) grant from NIST, ADIR is developing 3-D face-recognition technology intended to provide convenient and unobtrusive personal identification for air travelers and for personnel who work in secure environments. The three-year project is being carried out in conjunction with academic collaborators at The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, and Indiana University.
This amendment to the grant award authorizes an exemption for human subject research and allows ADIR to move forward with its plans to begin testing on contractors, local volunteers, and routine airport passenger traffic, in addition to Iris employees.
Siemens acquisition targets machine vision
Siemens Energy and Automation (Atlanta, GA) has completed the acquisition of the assets of RVSI Acuity CiMatrix, a division of Robotic Visions Systems, headquartered in Nashua, NH.
Siemens manufactures factory automation equipment and has made a commitment to strengthen its position in factory-automation sensors. RVSI Acuity CiMatrix is a manufacturer of machine-vision devices and is expected to enhance Siemens’ position in this key market segment. Siemens will likely invest in the Nashua location, which will become the center of competence for machine-vision sensors.
Quantum-dot market growth is ‘Evident’
The recent addition of a top sales executive and expansion of its own sales force and global distribution network for Evident Technologies (Troy, NY), a developer of quantum-dot (QD) nanomaterials, may be an indication of the solid commercial potential of QD technology.
Currently, Evident has six major product lines in development or on the commercial market. These products-dots, resins, particles, powders, tags, and fluorescing probes-have applications across several markets. The company also announced the release of its new non-heavy-metal quantum-dot T2-MP EviTags. These QDs are coated with an outer layer of zinc sulphide that produces a bright, stable fluorescent label for applications in clinical diagnostics and cell microscopy, in vivo imaging, and biothreat detection. Because they do not contain cadmium or lead-which are found in traditional quantum dots-they are not subject to the restrictions that Japan and European countries have imposed on the use of heavy metals, particularly for consumer devices.
E Ink and Philips partner on flexible display
E Ink (Cambridge, MA), a supplier of electronic paper display technology, has partnered with LG.Philips LCD (Seoul, Korea), manufacturer of thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal-display (TFT-LCD) technology, to build what they are calling the world’s first tablet-size (10.1 in.) flexible electronic-paper display.
“We all need flexible displays,” said Russ Wilcox, CEO of E Ink. “They are 80% thinner and lighter than glass displays, and they do not break like glass displays. You can roll them up and put them in your pocket. Or you can throw them in your briefcase like a newspaper. As Galileo famously told us, the world is not flat.”
Omron launches R&D company in China
Omron (Kyoto, Japan) announced the establishment of a new R&D company, Omron Institute of Sensing & Control Technology (ORS), located in Zizhu Science-based Technology Park in Shanghai, China. Staff at ORS will focus on facial-recognition technology and vision-sensing technologies that can identify the shape and condition of various objects.
The establishment of this new company represents an investment of $9.7 million, including real estate, construction of the building, and infrastructure. Initially, approximately 100 researchers will be assigned to conduct research around 30 themes, with plans to double both the number of researchers and themes by the end of FY2007.
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Also in the news . . .
Universal Display (Ewing, NJ), manufacturer of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for display and other applications, was ranked number 152 on the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in North America. . . . View Engineering (Simi Valley, CA), provider of video and laser-based coordinate measuring systems for process control, has acquired the assets of Micro-Metric (San Jose, CA), manufacturer of dimension and coordinate metrology systems. . . . QinetiQ (Farnsborough, England) has developed a machine using a color camera, a hyperspectral imager, metal-detecting array, and data-fusion and classification software that can automatically identify and sort recyclable domestic waste.