Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award Honours Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG

This advanced battery monitoring chip provides a low-cost solution to measure parameters, such as voltage, current and temperature, in order to monitor the health and state of a vehicle battery. It marks ZMDI's entry into the battery sensor IC market. Although other similar battery sensing solutions are available in the market, ZMDI's ZSSC1856 stands out due to its; high resolution, superior noise performance, low standby current consumption and small form factor complemented by its significant cost-saving capabilities.

Its advanced features, such as its small casing and its energy-saving capabilities, make it an ideal battery sensing device for a start/stop system in a vehicle engine, notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Robin Varghese. The product has generated considerable interest in the European and the Asian markets. ZMDI is also planning to expand the products' application area from the automotive sector to the industrial, communications and the healthcare sectors.

The ZSSC1856 measures the voltage, current and temperature of a vehicle's battery at intervals, which can be programmed by the user, even while the vehicle's engine is turned off. Whenever the voltage, current or the temperature level exceeds a certain threshold, which can be set by the user, the chip sends off a wake-up alarm to the vehicle's engine control unit (ECU). Using this innovative battery sensing chip, end-users can save up to 0.5 litres of fuel for every 100 kilometers travelled by the vehicle, remarks Varghese. This results in significant savings in terms of fuel consumption, which effectively leads to lower emission of environmentally harmful gases, such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

This attribute helps automobile companies efficiently adhere to and address strict emission norms. Superior energy saving features also helps to optimise the performance levels of automobiles, specially hybrid and/or electric vehicles.

Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in developing a product with innovative elements that leverages leading edge technologies, that offers valued added features and benefits, supports increased customer ROI and has the potential for enhanced customer acquisition/penetration.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.