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Watch! Edge sensor fusion comes on fast in SoCs, new products
Sensors have moved from their historic role as commodity hardware to critical intelligent edge infrastructure, especially important to physical AI (think robots) and autonomous systems (think self-driving vehicles).
The transition to the critical intelligent edge infrastructure means big companies like Intel and Qualcomm see the sensor as central to a modern System-on-Chip design alongside AI capabilities and memory, but also fused with radio access chips and low power capabilities.
With that end in mind, it’s interesting to see how several companies traditionally focused on the sensors hardware space have begun supporting sensor fusion with partners in some cases and have worked to create supporting software. At Embedded World 2026 in Germany this week, many companies disclosed new products, and here are a few—both comprehensive solutions with AI connections or pinpoint products that are sometimes upgrades of older hardware but with greater power savings and a smaller footprint. Embedded World 2026 was projected to have more than 1,000 vendors with up to 40,000 attendees.
Intel launched its Core Series 2 processor and expanded its Edge AI portfolio in Health & Life Sciences. Fierce also covered that news.
Renesas announced general availability of Renesas 365, Powered by Altium, a development platform to unite device exploration, system development and early concept validation. It is pitched as a way to bring silicon and systems together across an open ecosystem. Microcontrollers for touch sensing, for example, can be integrated with e2 studio and the Renesas toolchain.
Mikroe launched Clicker 4, a dev board, to build new products with a Renesas microcontroller at the heart.
Infineon Technologies laid out a number of announcements at Embedded World, including a single-port power delivery microcontroller for lithium ion battery charging. The EZ-PD PMG1-B2 is described as ideal for high-voltage charging in embedded systems, from consumer home power tools to drones and robots.
STMicroelectronics announced a new ST64UWB chip series to support the 802.15.4ab standard, and it is already sampling with automotive suppliers. The chip family comprehensively supports UWB for localizing and tracking devices at up to several hundred meters.
Nordic Semiconductor announced availability of its first NPU-enabled SoC, the nRF54LM20B, which features lower energy consumption and faster performance for edge intelligence.
GigaDevice announced greater density for its GD25UF series 1.2V ultra-lower Power SPI NOR Flash, now spanning from 8 Mb to 256Mb. It is designed for storage across HPC and lower power battery operated devices, including wearables.
Ligna Energy showcased energy solutions to help engineers build smaller connected devices such as indoor sensors. Gwen is a battery free indoor climate sensor reference design. It harvests energy from ambient energy.
Digid GmbH, typically a maker of printed force and temperature sensors, announced it will provide comprehensive engineering and integration support.
MediaTek unveiled its newest Genio IoT platforms– Genio Pro, Genio 420 and Genio 360– for IoT and embedded applications. The Genio 420 and 360 are for AI performance in small home, retail, industrial an commercial IoT. CPU cores are Arm Cortex with an 8th generation MediaTek NPU. Genio Pro supports up to 16 cameras for drones and robotics. Genio Pro also won Best in Show in the IoT and Connectivity category at Embedded World.
NEURA Robotics and Qualcomm formed a strategic collaboration to advance robotics and physical AI using Qualcomm Dragonwing Robotics processors with NEURA’s robotics systems.
