ams’ TMF8701 true direct time-of-flight (ToF) sensor wins “Best of Sensors Innovation” and the company scores “Best Engineering Team” at Sensors Expo 2019

San Jose, California (27 June, 2019) -- ams (SIX: AMS), a leading worldwide supplier of high performance sensor solutions, announced it was awarded two highly coveted awards at Sensors Expo: the Best of Sensors Expo Innovation Award for its TMF8701 true direct time-of-flight (ToF) sensor system and the Design & Engineering Team of the Year. The awards, presented yesterday at the Sensors Expo show, which runs through June 27, highlight advances in sensor innovations and excellence among engineers.

“Our teams work hard every day, driving innovation and building differentiated solutions for our increasingly connected world,” says Alexander Everke, CEO at ams. “Earning these important awards from the Sensors Expo judges is both a great honor and a strong testament that the work we are doing truly has a positive impact on the day-to-day lives of people around the globe.”

“For more than three decades Sensors Expo has been bringing together the most exciting technological advancements and cutting-edge applications from across the industry,” noted Cal Groton, Event Director, Sensors Expo & Conference. “The winners of this year’s Best of Sensors Awards underscore just how far-reaching the impacts of these innovations have become. ams personifies the commitment to engineering excellence and overall ingenuity we look for and we are thrilled to recognize their efforts in an extremely competitive field.”

Design & Engineering Team of the Year

ams’ global design engineering team – spanning 18 design centers across Europe, Asia and the US – was nominated and took top honors at the industry’s largest event dedicated to sensors, connectivity and the Internet of Things.  

Specific highlights of the team’s work cited in the award included the following:  

• “Behind OLED” TCS3701 , a high sensitivity Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) that helps maximize the smartphone display area by relocating sensor from front-facing bezels to behind the OLED display;   
• “Enabling Small Form-Factor Earbuds,” with the POW:COM AS3442/47 interface technology that uses only two pins per device for simultaneous battery changing and communication, reducing the mechanical design constraints of true wireless earbuds; 
• “World Smallest 1D Time-of-Flight Sensor for Proximity Sensing,” the ams TMF8701, for accurate proximity sensing and distance measurement in smartphones.

The design team leaders named in the award included Mario Manninger, Senior Director of Engineering; Stefan Dineci, Director of Research and Development; Bernd Janger, Director of Engineering; and Dr. Markus Noren, Director of Engineering.

Best of Sensors Expo Innovation Award

The Innovation Award was presented to ams for its true direct time-of-flight (ToF) sensor. The award recognizes specific advances in sensor and sensor-related technologies, either in the form of novel technologies or significant improvements to existing technologies.

The TMF8701 ToF sensor, unveiled by ams in January, is offered as a single modular package with highly accurate depth accuracy detection through a sub-nanosecond light pulse and an antialiasing “stop-watch” method to measure round-trip time of pulse. It provides single zone detection of an object irrespective of the color, reflectivity and texture of the object. The single module with VCSEL emitter offers high dynamic range and operates in either a proximity mode (0 – 10 cm) or a ranging mode (10 – 60 cm) for detection sensing. 

The TMF8701 uses highly sensitive SPAD detection with fast compact time-to digital converters to make highly accurate distance measurements to enable operation in dark environments.

A built-in histogram is featured to detect cover glass and objects behind glass to select the object with highest SNR while compensating for dirt and smudges on cover glass to produce artifact free measurement of multiple objects. 

Grahame Cooney, Vice President and General Manager of the Business Line Integrated Optical Sensors at ams accepted the awards on behalf of ams.

ams is exhibiting at booth #1130 at the show, and has demo rooms in the Marriott Hotel, 301 South Market Street, San Jose, showcasing solutions for automotive sensing, optical sensing in the mobile phone, medical and industrial optical sensing, image sensing, and audio sensing in wireless earbuds.

About ams

ams is a global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced sensor solutions. Our mission is to shape the world with sensor solutions by providing a seamless interface between humans and technology. 

ams’ high-performance sensor solutions drive applications requiring small form factor, low power, highest sensitivity and multi-sensor integration. Products include sensor solutions, sensor ICs, interfaces and related software for consumer, communications, industrial, medical, and automotive markets. 

With headquarters in Austria, ams employs about 9,000 people globally and serves more than 8,000 customers worldwide. ams is listed on the SIX Swiss stock exchange (ticker symbol: AMS). More information about ams can be found at https://ams.com 

ams is a registered trademark of ams AG. In addition many of our products and services are registered or filed trademarks of ams Group. All other company or product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information provided in this press release is accurate at time of publication and is subject to change without advance notice.