SAN JOSE, Calif. – This year’s Sensors Expo showed the continuing fan out of new technologies seeking real markets in sensors and the networks connecting them.

Among more than 220 exhibitors, we met Rob Frizzell (below) chief executive of OmniPresense, pioneering a market for short-range radar. “No one was looking at radar as a sensor, there is just one other radar company here as far as I can see,” said Frizzell, co-founder of the self-funded startup based here.

The company used off-the-shelf chips to design a 24 GHz radar module that can run off a smartphone’s USB jack. It draws up to 1.4W active, costs $169 and can track a person up to five meters or a car up to 10 meters.

Early targets are collision avoidance systems on upscale robots and drones. Frizzell notes a local community lost electricity here recently when a drone accidentally fried itself running into utility wires.

“When you spend $500 for a drone, you want it back,” said Frizzell whose background includes a stint at SiBeam, a 60 GHz startup.

Long term, Frizzell sees a wide variety of target markets in the smart home and industrial Internet of Things. The company plans to expand the APIs on its module to deliver data on object motion, speed and other parameters to enable a growing range of smart inferences.

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