We foresee a lot of opportunities in the area of building automation: OMRON

OMRON has been in the business of sensors since 1960 with what was referred to as a non-contact switch. Over the past six decades, OMRON has become a leading global name in sensors. OMRON sensing components detect, measure, analyze, and process various changes that occur on productions sites. They also contribute to predicting and preventing future events. In this exclusive interaction with T&D India, we have Manoj Kodakkatery, Manager – Business Development, OMRON Electronics & Mechanical Components Business Division, taking us through OMRON’s capabilities in this fascinating world of sensors, and the criticality of sensors in the IoT regime.

Let us start by understanding in general terms what a sensor is. When did sensors make their first appearance in the field of electronics?

A sensor is a device that is designed to detect and respond to a certain kind of input present in the environment such as heat, light, motion, moisture, pressure, etc. When it is made part of an electrical system, it converts this measurement and detection into an electric signal and the most important trait is it does not modify the measured phenomenon during the measurement process. Today, sensors form the bedrock of millions of connected devices across the globe, which is to say the whole ecosystem of the Internet of Things.

Talking about the timelines, sensors made their presences felt in the field of electronics around 1930s with introduction of temperature sensing resistors.

OMRON entered the sensor business in 1960 with the non-contact switch

Since when has OMRON been in the business of sensors?

Since 1960, with introduction of the non-contact switch.

 

What are the different types of sensors in OMRON’s current portfolio? How has OMRON’s competence in the field of sensors evolved over time?

Centered upon ‘Internet of Things’ based solutions, OMRON has been working on presenting offerings in the sensors arena that have utility across varied aspects of building  & home automation. These are highly compact and durable sensors which when embedded in equipment/devices, collect data and contribute in the proper functioning of the complete solution. This is possible owing to the technologies they come imparted with, such as human sensing, condition sensing, heat sensing, flow sensing, object sensing, distance sensing, vibration sensing to name a few presented in the form of Omron environmental sensor, dust sensor, thermal sensor and earthquake sensor, etc. in our portfolio.

 

What would you regard as OMRON’s most complex or sophisticated sensors, today?

We have multiple sensors developed from our core technologies of MEMS and light/signal analysis technologies. The sensors vary from sensing fundamental parameters like pressure, temperature, etc to more complex ones like human gender, age category and expression estimation, to name just a few..

OMRON has been working on presenting offerings in the sensors arena that have utility across varied aspects of building  & home automation.

When it comes to building and home automation, what are the various sensors used?

A smart home or premise runs with the strong support of intelligent and smart solutions that comprise of devices bringing in sustainable value around varied aspects such as energy management (for example, Heating Ventilation & Cooling infrastructure- HVAC), waste management, environment control, mobility (smart parking management systems) , e-governance, disaster management, citizen services like surveillance, et al. The backbone of this ecosystem is a sturdy and advanced information technology network integrating all key functions of the building in order to deliver an enhanced living experience to the residents.

The notable technology which forms the foundation of this is Internet of Things (IoT). It interconnects embedded objects / devices of which sensors make one of the most important constituents.

They form an integral part of the automated centralized control tracking and transmitting data on varied important factors such as temperature, humidity, level of lighting, human presence, to name just a few, over to the controllers which in turn transmit it ahead in the cycle.

This is the communication that manages the key functions such as the building’s heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, etc. with a bigger goal to make it safer, convenient, energy efficient, cost efficient, comfortable and future ready for the residents to live in.

 

Over the recent years, how has sensor technology (capabilities) become more sophisticated in the field of home and building automation?

The overall objective of using sensor technology has evolved over the years. It has taken an overarching appeal. Hence, creating smarter homes and buildings is no longer limited to only creating a better quality of life for the citizens but also to aim for comprehensive development of the country/region to contribute towards economic growth via enabling local area development and harnessing smart technology. A development of this kind gives great quality of life along with creating more employment, and thus enhancing the state of living for all concerned leading to creation of inclusive cities. Hence, at the individual level, the idea is gaining acceptance as a desire to have decent quality of life, a clean and sustainable environment with application of ‘smart’ solutions. And at the government level, the idea is becoming mainstream in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive development.

One smart city acts as a model which could be replicated to other cities. A smart building is a playground of varied interconnected systems helping the building to work efficiently and thus saving lot of energy and resources than a traditional building operating mainly in silos. Studies suggest smart buildings help in saving up to 30 per cent of water usage, 40 per cent of energy usage and thereby help reduce building maintenance costs by 10 to 30 per cent.

We foresee a lot of opportunities for us in the area of building automation

We understand that sensors are also capable of storing data. Please discuss.

Yes, some of our sensors come with in-built memory. For example, our environmental sensor with 8 functions can store up to 52,000 lines of data.

 

Given that building/home automation is an emerging area, how do you see the business opportunity for OMRON sensors?

We foresee a lot of opportunities for us in the area of building automation. In India, it’s the nascent business stage for sensors in this market. The smart home business is expected to grow to $6 billion by 2022. According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, ‘India Home Automation Market by Product Type, Technology, and End-User: Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019 – 2026’, the India home automation market size was valued at $1,790.9 million in 2018, and is expected to reach $13,574.1 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 29.8 per cent during the forecast period 2019-2026. However, it is sans the impact to be created by the Corona outbreak.

(Key to product photographs in order of appearance: OMRON vibration sensor; OMRON thermal sensor; OMRON light convergent reflective sensor.)