Sophia Antipolis: SENSeOR, world leader in wireless sensors

Interview with Gerhard Heider, CEO of SENSeOR who aims to increase turnover fivefold by 2015

Gerhard HEIDER has been SENSeOR's CEO since its creation in 2006 after the buy-out of TEMEX. Before the creation of this technology company, Gerhard HEIDER held management positions both internationally and in Sophia Antipolis, notably at Digital Equipment, VLSI Technology–Philips and TEMEX.

Can you describe your business and your company's development?  

Our expertise focuses on wireless and passive sensors using SAW (Surface Acoustic Waves) technology.

SENSeOR designs, develops and markets highly-innovative, bespoke systems based on our sensors without cables or batteries. We offer our customers (factories, integrators and manufacturers) bespoke, temperature, pressure and strain measuring solutions. Our sensors are used in automation, transport, energy, health and chemistry.

Our company currently employs 18 people based in Sophia Antipolis (head office), Besançon, and one based in our German subsidiary.

Can you explain how sensors without cables or batteries work in practical terms? 

We use SAW technology and the piezoelectric properties of quartz to design the sensitive elements (chips in the sensors) that are interrogated using radio frequency.

The principle is similar to a radar.

The transceivers that we have developed send a pulse to the chip and the sensor "responds". The change in the properties of the wave received and sent back by the sensor reflects the variation in the physical quantity being monitored (temperature, pressure, strain). The interrogation methods that we have patented are unique.

How is SAW technology, and as a result your product range, innovative?

SAW technology is used to manufacture sensors that are unique because they combine "wireless" with the absence of a battery and can also be placed in inaccessible locations where it would be impossible to put batteries (for example in the concrete core of a building or the steel of an industrial facility), or run cables (for example, moving or rotating parts) or even in places where the electronics in a traditional sensor would not work, such as in powerful electromagnetic fields.

Thus, the company's strategy is based on innovation, which has resulted in us lodging over 20 patents up to now.

As a technology company, R&D accounts for 80% of our business and is essential for our development. Our R&D investments have enabled us to be more than a year ahead of our competitors with the most mature products.

For example, we manufacture sensors that have been used to monitor the temperature of ships' engines for 5 years with no breakdown (over 25,000 have already been sold. Using our sensors, our customers can detect any malfunction. For example, an impurity in an engine bearing will lead to an increase in temperature that will be detected by our sensors, allowing maintenance to be carried out and thus avoiding breakdowns and costly repairs.

Our solution satisfies manufacturers' reliability requirements by providing measurements for the critical points in their products.

Our sensors can be described as revolutionary because they are wireless, with no battery and very robust.

These are the three characteristics of Surface Acoustic Waves technology (SAW) and our solution is the only one with these characteristics on the sensor market.

So our products can even operate in extreme electromagnetic fields, in conditions that traditional sensors cannot withstand or environments subject to radiation or extreme temperatures. Our simplest sensor can withstand a temperature of 165 degrees.

Examples of applications: wind turbines and all motors (temperature monitoring on the rotor), trains (strain monitoring on rails and catenary systems), tyre pressure monitoring and instrumented industrial valves but sensors can also be integrated into cooking utensils for an accurate temperature measurement during cooking.

Why have you headquartered SENSeOR on the Côte d’Azur? What aspects of the region were determining factors in your decision to develop your operation here?

The Sophia Antipolis and Côte d’Azur ecosystem is highly stimulating for our research and development activity. Here we have found partners and projects enabling us to advance our research.

We have benefited, during the first two years of our activity, from the valuable support of the PACA EST Incubator.

We have worked with the Nice Public Hospital on the CATEAM project for which we developed and experimented the first skin-contact temperature sensor. This is a patch without cables or batteries that can measure human temperature in real time and remotely to provide the most reliable and continuous information to medical teams.

The SCS (Secure Communications Solutions) worldwide competitiveness cluster has also enabled us to work on many projects, with for example, a project on implantable blood pressure sensors.

We have also established a strong partnership with the Laboratoire d’Electronique, Antennes et Télécommunications (CNRS – LEAT) for antennas and are working with the CNRS teams based in Besançon on acoustic waves.

These partnerships are very important because they enable us to share our experiences with new technologies. With my international experience, I think that it is an opportunity for companies based in France to be able to work with these institutes.

What about the recruitment of talent on the French Riviera?

Since 1980 and my arrival in Sophia, we have always been able to take advantage of qualified, multi-lingual personnel. The region helps to attract much talent and encourages them to stay because it is an area with high added-value. Furthermore, the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis educates very good professionals, particularly in the fields that directly concern us, electronics and software. Until now we have found it easy to recruit the necessary skills for our business.

Like Silicon Valley, the sun is almost always shining. Even if we work more in this region, the free time that we have is more valuable than anywhere else in the world thanks to the opportunities that the French Riviera offers throughout the year.

What are your prospects for growth and development?

We are aiming for a TO of €32M in 2015. We are present on an emerging market. This objective has been set on the basis of our current developments and customer projects.

SAW technology is going to grow on the sensor market for two main reasons:

• SAW technology can be used for any type of measurement (accelerometer, chemical or biological sensors,...) which suggests an extended range of applications.
• The accuracy of the measurements taken by SAW technology is incomparable; frequency measurement is more accurate than physical measurement.

Our primary development sectors are transport, automation and the energy market because our products also withstand very high currents. We are also targeting the industrial sector, particularly the food & beverage industry (measurement of container temperatures, cold chain control).

To ensure our development we are seeking investors, strategic partners who have global sales and/or production structures. A company that itself manufactures sensors may want to expand its product portfolio with our solutions.

En savoir plus : www.senseor.com