Embedded World Announces Award Winners

The Embedded Award jury has announced this year's winners for outstanding innovations in the field of embedded system technologies at Embedded World in Nuremberg, Germany. Of the eight winners, three were startups, with judges highlighting the important role young companies are playing in the embedded industry.

Two new categories were introduced at the 2023 event: artificial intelligence (AI) and system-on-chip (SoC) design. The categories join the existing areas of hardware, tools, software, embedded vision, safety and security, and startup.

"The fact that in both the categories with the greatest number of entries – namely hardware and software – the two winners were startups, demonstrates the high level of innovation with which start-ups enrich the embedded industry," said jury president Professor Axel Sikora.

The winners included an AI-enabled shower monitoring sensor from AITAD, designed to optimize water usage and improve safety features according to a user’s size and movement patterns, as well as control water temperature in response to a user’s body temperature. The system is particularly targeted at elderly or disabled users who may typically struggle with controlling water usage without assistance.

The wireless solution allows battery-powered, remote mounting on walls, ceilings or in fittings, and uses a low-resolution sensor rather than a camera to maintain user privacy.

Other winning products include the GAP9 processor from GreenWaves, an audio processor with features including active noise cancellation, neural network-based noise reduction, and 3D sound. GreenWaves describes the processor as “a perfect solution for battery-powered smart security systems and smart building sensors.”

Under the startup category, Epishine’s OneCell took the title, with its flexible, high-performance solar cell to power small wireless electronics. Emproof won the software category with its Nyx device that offers users advanced security protections – including against reverse engineering and exploitation attacks.