Electronics and Communication Engineering: 5 Trends to Disrupt the Industry

It all started with the invention of the transistor in 1947, Electronic Engineering has played a key role in shaping the state of modern technology that we have access to. And Electronic Engineering is only going to evolve with new innovations to make technology more efficient and useful.

Here are the 5 latest electronic trends:

1. Organic electronics

Soon, the way people interact with technology is going to change with the advent of organic electronics. As the name implies, organic electronics is the practice of using conductors made from polymers or organic carbon-based molecules using chemical synthesis.

What’s interesting is that organic electronics is not limited to just polymers but also includes other organic materials such as organic charge-transfer complexes and variety of dyes which could find use in electronic circuits. The main advantage of organic conducting materials over the conventional inorganic ones (such as copper and aluminium) is that they have low production cost, are able to adapt synthesis processes, and have mechanical flexibility.

As of now, organic materials cannot come on par with their inorganic counterpart and several research is still being done.

2. Molecular electronics

The main objective of modern Electronic Engineering is to shrink the size of electrical/digital circuits. So much so, the goal is to use single or collection of molecules as electronic building blocks.

Molecular and organic electronics have a lot in common and in some aspects, they overlap each other. But the main difference is that organic electronic is based on bulk application while molecular electronics is based on nano-scale, single-molecule applications.

The main objective behind shrinking electrical circuits to nano-scale is to reduce power consumption and increase efficiency and performance. Molecular electronic solutions such as single-molecule transistors, rectifiers, and molecular wires are already being developed.

3. Memristors

Memristor is the portmanteau of the two words ‘memory’ and ‘resistor.’ American electrical engineer and computer scientist Leon O. Chua had proposed a theory that there should be a fourth electronic circuit board element, the memristor (in addition to inductor, capacitor, and resistor).

Interestingly, researchers at Hewlett Packard (HP) found out that memristors can find use in nano-scale systems under certain conditions. The purpose of memristors is to improve the way modern electronics store information, to make novel memory devices efficient, faster, and safer.

4. IoT platforms

The Internet of Things is one of the biggest trends in embedded electronics and there are a plethora of devices that are being built with built-in networking capabilities. Microcontroller platforms such as Edison and Photon come with Wi-Fi radio integrated on them.

So, the surging availability of IoT-focused development boards has sparked innovation in IoT devices.

5. Smart machines

Smart machines such as autonomous vehicles and virtual personal assistant are benefiting from advancement in algorithms to understand and learn from the environment around.

The availability of low-cost sensor systems, more powerful processors and artificial intelligence have made it possible for machines and systems to be more intelligent.

Electronics and communication engineering

Are you interested in the latest innovations in the electronics world? If yes, then pursue your career in Electronics and CommunicationEngineering at IST (Institute of Science & Technology).