the-top-consumer-electronic-articles-of-2019

According to Statista, the consumer electronics industry is expected to grow by around 2.2 percent between 2018 and 2019. While this rate is significantly less than in previous years, it still shows a strong upward trend. 

Design News covered all of the leading growth areas in both consumer electronics and product manufacturing trends. Below are 12 of the editor’s top picks for 2019.

Image: Vectorfusionart/Adobe Stock

Which companies were naughty—and which were nice—in 2019?

It’s time to draft the naughty and nice lists for 2019 and see which companies deserve to be rewarded and which ones will get a lump of coal in their stocking.

printed circuits, Linköping University, RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden, Campus Norrköping, organic transistors

Image source: Thor Balkhed

Complete integrated circuits fabricated using printing press

The breakthrough eliminates the need to use multiple manufacturing methods to create an integrated circuit with more than 100 organic transistors.

Image Source: Adam Traidman, Turkey

What does every engineer want for the holidays?

Skip the presents and go for the (engineering) experience.

During the holiday season, one tends to think of presents. But today’s designers, manufacturers and sellers tell us the product is but a commodity and what we really want is the experience.

10 Technologies That Can Make You Into a Superhero

There are technologies that exist today that aren’t far off from what you’ve seen in superhero movies and comic books.

digital twin, Altair, physics-based testing, simulation testing, crash test dummies

Image source: Altair

Save Your Crash Test Dummy

The blend of physics-based testing and data-based simulation has an impressive impact on the ability to shorten the time-to-market of new designs. Add simulation, but don’t throw away the dummy.

Image Source: Netflix

8 Popular Products You Didn’t Know Were Built with Open Source

A popular streaming service, video games consoles, and mobile messaging all owe a debt to FreeBSD.

Image Source: Cisco

The 7 Best LoRaWAN Devices on the Market

Whether you’re building a DIY project, or attempting to manufacture something for market, there are ready-made LoRaWAN gateway products to support your efforts.

New Material Could Transform How Electronics Are Built

A new family of crystal materials can serve a dual purpose in electron movement in electronic devices, potentially changing how they will be designed in the future.

Image source: Clarke Lab/Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Method for Soft Actuation Eyed for New Devices, Robots

A new method for actuation can change the shape of a flat sheet of elastomer with rapid and reversible action for new designs in robotics and other applications.

Image source: NürnbergMesse

3 Trends from Embedded World 2019

Embedded World revealed a number of trends that we can expect to see in the mass markets over the next six months to two years.

e-bandage

Image source: UW/Sam Million-Weaver

Electronic Bandage Can Speed Wound Healing 

An e-bandage dramatically speeds wound-healing using electrical energy harvested from a patient’s body.

smart textile

(Image source: The Laboratory of Monica Craciun, University of Exeter)

Graphene-Based Electronic Fibers for Wearable Textiles

Graphene could be used to incorporate electronics directly into fabric for next-generation smart textiles.

John Blyler is a Design News senior editor, covering the electronics and advanced manufacturing spaces. With a BS in Engineering Physics and an MS in Electrical Engineering, he has years of hardware-software-network systems experience as an editor and engineer within the advanced manufacturing, IoT and semiconductor industries. John has co-authored books related to system engineering and electronics for IEEE, Wiley, and Elsevier.