Smart sensors for home, office, vehicle & IoT applications

Measuring environmental conditions

To optimise the environment and improve living comfort in a smart home or connected office building, a smart sensor can integrate the monitoring of ambient conditions such as air quality, light and noise intensity with the building's HVAC and lighting systems. Bosch’s ambient sensor meets this need, in a small form factor with two-year battery life, making it easy to position anywhere.

It includes integrated sensors to determine the indoor air quality by VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) analysis and measuring temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure and light and noise levels. It can be operated independently or as part of a smart home ecosystem. Concentration can often affected by poor air quality, particularly in meeting rooms. The ambient sensor alerts the participants, helping to improve work productivity.

Improving automotive safety

When a car has an accident, if it is fitted with an eCall system, this can automatically and quickly contact the emergency services – speeding the response and potentially saving lives.

The Bosch Retrofit eCall plug is a smart sensor device that uses acceleration sensors and intelligent embedded algorithms to detect an accident and then send data to a smartphone app via Bluetooth. This data is sent to a back-end IT system that can determine actions, such as a call centre calling the driver to provide assistance, or in extreme cases making an emergency call.

The Retrofit eCall is a cost-effective solution and plugs into a standard 12V DC socket, so can be easily and quickly retrofitted to any type of car.

Rapid prototyping and fast product development for IoT applications

To save time in developing IoT projects, quickly creating a demo or proof of concept is key. Bosch’s new XDK, or Cross Domain Development Kit, is a rapid prototyping tool that enables developers to bring their IoT designs to life swiftly and easily.

XDK is a fully integrated hardware and software product, including a MEMS accelerometer, magnetometer and gyroscope, as well as humidity, pressure, temperature, acoustic and digital light sensors. The kit includes Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, an MCU, integrated antennas, a micro SD card slot and a rechargeable battery.

The software development environment offers access to different API layers which allow the user to programme at their preferred depth. An algorithm library and sample applications are provided, as well as access to an online community to share information and support projects. The XDK was designed to allow users an easy transition from prototype to mass production by providing a clear road to product development.