Tech Insights on Fran Kuo | R&D Leadership

[Tech Insights] The Astounding Athletic Power of Quadcopters

Sun, 14 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Weeks ago, my colleague saw a very interesting video on Ted. He sent me the link and I’m really excited. The reason why he sent me was because we ever discussed the future of the video system month ago. Everyone raised different ideas of the device and my idea is the quadcopters with camera on it.

Why I wanna do such kind of device is oriented from my study in university. I’ve been studied the mechanics in Aeronautics and Astronautics department, bachelor plus master are total 6 years. There is less such kind of career opportunity in Taiwan because of the environment. Lots of my classmates join the semiconductor industry to be equipment engineers in the company like TSMC, CMO…etc. A little part including me choose different road to be R&D engineer in other industry.

[Tech Insights] ccHDtv Study

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

What is ccHDtv?

Closed Circuit HD TV (ccHDtv) is a newly developed solution for transmitting full HD digital video in a surveillance system. The core concept of ccHDtv is to deliver high-definition video using digital TV (DTV) transmission. With ccHDtv, high-definition digital video can be transmitted easily over coaxial cables, twisted pairs, or simply over the air. Multiple 1080p30 and 1080p60 video streams can be easily transmitted using ccHDtv over a single 3C2V/RG59 cable up to 500 meters without any repeater.

[Tech Insights] Panasonic Color Splitter Sensor

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There is a new sensor structure that introduce by Panasonic to replace color filter by color splitter. This kind of sensor remove general color filter and add the color deflector before the diode. The conventional color filter would cause 50%~70% light loss and new sensor reduce lots of the light loss. The following pictures show how it works.

The device can also be manufactured using current semiconductor fabrication processes. It doesn’t use special materials or processes. It’s a great news to bring this sensor to realization.

[Tech Insights] Firefox OS - Liberate the App Stores

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I saw a news on TV today that about Firefox OS for mobile phone and it got my curiosity. So I go Mozilla’s web site to see what’s that about. See the link: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/partners/#

The first page have the overview of the Firefox OS. The point to me is following picture. Some of telecommunication operators and device manufacturer get involved in the Firefox OS. It shows that the operators and manufacturer want to liberate the apps stores from the providers like Apple, Google.

[Tech Insights] Panasonic's 3D CMOS Image Sensor

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

3D image and video has been booming in recent years due to the entertainment industry — movies and gaming. Many kinds of 3D devices have appeared, including 3D cameras and 3D TVs. The early approach to capturing 3D images was simply to strap two cameras together and post-process the two photos into one.

GoPro had a similar structure for their Hero camera — you’d buy two cameras with some accessories to create it.

[Tech Insights] Google Glass Launch

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

After I wrote the Vuzix Smart glasses for just hours, Google launched their glass and built a new web site for this product. Maybe google do not want to be left behind when Vuzix award from CES. http://www.google.com/glass/start/

The page is simple and clear. We could see a video in the link to sense how it feels. All the functions that describe in what it does are totally from audio, video and gesture recognition. We can take the photo, record the video, translation, search the information, navigation…etc in real-time. All of the recognition technology have to link with the requirements of people and that’s why google raise a competition for people to write down “what would you do if you had Glass”. Once the idea is adopted, we could become the Glass Explorer and buy Glass with USD $1500.

[Tech Insights] Vuzix Smart Glasses M100

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I saw a news that about the Vuzix Smart Glasses M100 and it get a recipient of the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) Innovations 2013 Design and Engineering Award BEST OF INNOVATIONS, and selected as Best Technology in the Wireless Handset Accessory category. More information in following link. http://www.vuzix.com/consumer/products_browse.html#video-eyewear

It’s an interesting device but there are still challenges behind. Since Google launch their project glass, Vuzix is the 2nd company to make the similar product. So M100 get a lot of discussion even google guys go their booth to have it a look. According to the hardware specification from Vuzix web sites. It’s totally an android based smart phone and the difference is the glasses appearance only. It’s not special by just hardware specification only.