Smart Flow Measurement & Innovation on the Exhibition Floor: Sciosense and COMPUTEX 2026

Speaker A: The challenge is that you have to do this with super high resolution in time measurement. So we talk about picoseconds of precision and the whole at very low power consumption because all those meters are battery driven. This is exactly what we offer with our front ends. And the, uh, UC23 is the latest product that's topping, let's say, with respect to performance and power consumption here.

Speaker B: In this episode of Embedded Insiders, Ken sits down with Norbert Breyer, Director of Marketing and Product Management at Siosense, to discuss the company's new UFC 23 ultrasonic flow converter. Next is a special segment recorded live from Computex 2026. Ken sat down with James Huang, Chairman of Tightra, to discuss the vision behind this year's trade show and exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, and the trends shaping the future of technology. But first, Ken provides a recap of some of his recent travel and some of the upcoming events hosted by Embedded Computing. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Embedded Insiders Podcast. I am Assistant Managing Editor Tierra Oliver, joined as always, with our Editor in Chief, Ken Briota.

Speaker C: Hi, uh, Tierra, how's it going?

Speaker B: Going good. I just realized. I said, as always, but you weren't here last week, so.

Speaker C: Well, you got to keep them guessing. You know, the, the people love a mystery.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker C: Yeah, last week I was, uh, taking, uh, a little bit of time off, uh, because I've been doing a bunch of traveling. I mean, uh, let's see, uh, Pat Hopper, our president, and I were in, uh, Taiwan for Computex in the first week of the month, uh, which was a great show this year, man. It felt good. It was big. It was busy, uh, as you might imagine, tons of AI at the edge stuff. But, um, really positive in that it felt like it was about practical solutions, not about just prototypes or proofs of concept or whatever. It was like, really focused, um, building things that are actually going to be workable and functional in existing products. So that felt really great. Uh, I had a really great interview with, um, one of the heads of the Taiwan Excellence Corporation, Tightra, who runs Computex. Uh, I think that's on this episode, if I remember correctly. Um, and, uh, uh, so we had a great talk about Computex and sort of about some of the tech that, uh, he was excited about from the show. So, uh, that's coming up for you folks hanging out there. Um, and then just the last, uh, uh, this week, uh, at Time of Listening, Monday and Tuesday, I was in Chicago for Automate, uh, which is. Has become a really. It's A really big show. 50,000 people there. Um, yeah it was, it was in Detroit the last bunch of years and then this year in uh, Chicago, um, at the uh, McCormick center and then next year it's going to be in Vegas. So this show just keeps growing and growing. Uh, obviously it's about industrial automation, it's about robotics. But again I had some great conversations with folks about AI and automation. Specifically with reference to this um, uh joining of the IoT and embedded and AI and edge and um, in sort of one functional layer that some folks are calling physical, uh, AI, uh, with the adding in of these new agentic and agent tools. Um, I don't love that term as everybody knows. I've done a million rants about it now. But the idea of um, all of this compute and function being built to the custom solution to solve the problem is what every conversation was. And it was really really great. Uh, there's going to be some uh, some highlights in this week's in case you missed it episode uh on Friday so folks can check that out on, on uh, YouTube if they want. Um, but uh, and, and uh, some great, great interviews and videos that are already up on YouTube that folks can check out on our, on our YouTube channel. But really, really good stuff from Automate also

Speaker B: awesome. I mean it sounds like June has been quite the month for you.

Speaker C: Oh yeah, well I mean it's not over yet. Uh, when folks are hearing this. I am in the process of hosting our uh, CRA virtual summit. Uh, the EU's Cyber Resilience act is coming up fast in terms of uh, I think the next uh, compliance deadline is in September. Um, and that's a disclosure deadline for anyone doing any uh, Internet related business in Europe. So functionally everyone um, uh, unless they are already uh, regulated to adhere to standards that are higher than cras. So like a lot of automotive stuff is already regulated to a higher cybersecurity standard. Even this is for folks who have not previously uh been regulated to such a high standard. But that is still a lot of companies. And so we're doing this whole virtual event right now. Uh, you can still register and join uh the, the Sessions began at 10am Eastern time here in the U.S. but we're running all day with great sessions, great uh, information. So if you're doing business in Europe you should probably think about joining. It's free. Check it out. Hope to see you on the call. Let me know uh, in your uh, in the chat if you're joining us because you heard this podcast.

Speaker B: Yeah, I Mean, everyone, as always, can hear that, how much we're doing over here, our videos, our podcasts, our virtual events, and all the traveling. So just remember we're, we're staying at the forefront to get all the latest information, news and technology to you guys. So just keep up.

Speaker C: Well, I mean, that's, that's our, our sort of mission statement, isn't it, Tierra? We're, we're trying to present the information that helps you folks out there listening, you engineers do your jobs better. So, uh, always feel like you could reach out to us. I mean, this is a little bit of a call, uh, to action to you, but we want to hear from you. What do you want to hear about? You know, we, we do our best to cover as much as we can that's relevant and interesting and uh, and important with all of our coverage. But, uh, if you've got something that you're curious about, you want to learn about, we will find the expert and we will bring them to you. So, uh, so shoot us a note anytime. My email is everywhere. Tiara's is too. So, uh, uh, send us an email, shoot us a message on LinkedIn however you want to reach out. We're easy to find.

Speaker B: Yep. And with that being said, you know, stay tuned for the rest of the interviews and this podcast. We have, um, an interview you did a while ago with siosense. I won't say too much, but.

Speaker C: Oh yeah, that's coming up too soon.

Speaker B: Or it's coming up real soon. And then your previously recorded segment live from Computex 2026. So if you missed it, um, there's also a video version of it on our YouTube. Always check out the YouTube for some of the video versions of our interviews.

Speaker C: And yeah, yeah, if you, uh, if you missed it, that must mean m, that you aren't subscribed. So, uh, join uh, us over on YouTube uh, after you finish listening to this podcast episode.

Speaker B: Now here's Norbert Breyer of psyosense.

Speaker C: Hello, friends. Welcome to another episode of Imperial Embedded Insiders. I am Ken Briota, Editor in Chief of Embedded Computing Design, and I am very excited to be here talking with Norbert Breyer of siosense. Did I say that right?

Speaker A: Yeah, perfectly, perfectly. Thanks.

Speaker C: Well, Norbert, thank you so much for joining me today.

Speaker A: Yeah, my pleasure. Thank you for giving, uh, me the chance to present our product here, the UC23, which it just introduced now.

Speaker C: Well, I'm so excited to hear more about this. It's really, really an interesting approach and um, the broad Scope of it, correct me if I'm wrong, is that this is sort of an environmental, a broad scope environmental sensor product that can be really used almost anywhere. Is that right?

Speaker A: Uh, not fully. Nez Indeed. We are targeting flow applications and there's a strong trend in the market to replace mechanical flow sensors by ultrasonic flow sensors. There's a good reason ultrasonic flow flow sensors are um, static. Means there's no moving part, so there's no turbine rotator propeller that turns around and got stick. Especially in the world of smart metering, when you do the cost calculation for the water consumption in apartments and things like that, it's a lot about leakage detection. So we're detecting the very small flow rates. And you can imagine that a turbine sensor stacks and stops reading when the flow is very low. While the ultrasonic meters can measure down to very flow rates, even a dropping water tap can be detected. And that sounds um, very interesting of course to all the people using flow sensors. So no moving parts, very high sensitivity. Um, the challenge is that you have to do this with super high resolution in time measurement. So we talk about picoseconds of precision and the whole at very low power consumption because all those meters are battery driven. This is exactly what we offer with our front ends. And UC, uh23 is the latest product that's topping, let's say with respect to performance and power consumption here.

Speaker C: So um, it sounds like, because no moving parts, things like that, it'd be really great in, you know, for smart home kind of things. Really simple, easy to set up for homeowners, but also all the way up to like industrial uses. It's going to be resilient, it's not going to break down things like that. Is that right?

Speaker A: Correct, Correct. So we get a lot of interest from manufacturers of cooling systems, of uh, AC DC converters everywhere, even medical equipment, everywhere where you cool, for example, systems. And you want to be sure that the cooling liquid is really flowing into your sensor. Think of all the big data centers for AI. So they have to cool their processors and of course they want to be sure that they really get cooling, uh, get cooled. And there is an increasing interest in flow sensors. And of course then you want to have ideally a reliable one that runs for 20 years if possible. And that's exactly where the ultrasonic technology comes in. And yeah, we offer, let's say with the UC23 we have a pure IC that can manage the whole thing, but we also offer modules that provide a complete sensor. If you look for that, well uh,

Speaker C: uh, you read my mind. Because I absolutely want to talk about the data center use case little bit with you because, you know, so many of the data centers are trying to, you know, avoid the, the overuse of water, you know, in the newer designs by having these closed loop systems. But that's reliant upon the, the uh, amount of fluid in those systems remaining constant. Is that sort of one of those. I mean, you, you said it already. So as, as a use case, you're seeing that monitoring these closed loop systems, making sure that they're not losing fluid to evaporation or leakage or anything else as they maintain their, uh. Temperature.

Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. That's one aspect. Another aspect is also to keep, let's say, uh, to have a high efficiency of those cooling systems. So it means, of course, you don't want to overrun the pump so that they're pulling the cool liquid in the system while it's not needed. So indeed, what you do is you monitor the amount of liquid and the temperature of the liquid. And from that you can calculate how much energy do I get out of my processors. And by that you can optimize it. And I know that, uh, customers, pump manufacturers, for example, did calculations and they found that the power consumption of the pumps can be reduced by something like 10 to 20% while measuring the flow. So that the efficiency of this coding systems really can be optimized. And with the high power consumption, this is of course a relevant element in the calculation for such a data center.

Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. Um, I want to get a little bit esoteric here just simply because, um, fluid dynamics are really interesting to me and uh, the idea of, you know, every. All gases are fluids in a sort of chemistry and physics sense is. So how, how far can such a, uh, flow meter, you know, be stretched if it's ultrasonic? Are we talking about being able to monitor not just, you know, liquids but gases? And uh, is it going to be sensitive enough to sort of measure things beyond flow, like chemical makeup, you know, oh, this is denser than I expected and things like that.

Speaker A: Yeah, no, no, no, indeed. So sensors that the front ends are used in gas flow sensors like the residential one, the residential gas meters, even industrial gas meters, you could build also, let's say the flow rate monitors in heat, in building ventilation systems, things like that. Um, but in the end it's really the flow rate that you can measure. So you can. It's hard to detect the gas itself. So what, what could be an option? This is something that is evaluated like in gas meters. For example, that you at least measure the concentration of, for example, hydrogen that is added to the natural gas. Such things would be possible because we measure, let's say in the end the travel time. And from the travel time we can calculate on one side the flow rate, but on the other side also the speed of sound. And when we know the speed of sound and we know the temperature, then we can do an estimation on the concentration within the gas at least around, for example, concentration ratio between hydrogen and natural gas, things like that. This could be measured. So, but it's not a, let's say detailed gas sensor.

Speaker C: That's awesome. Um, and so this is available for folks to find out more about now, right? Yep.

Speaker A: Yeah, right.

Speaker C: Uh, and where should folks go to find out more?

Speaker A: Let's primarily to our website, science.com so there we will, um, you will find then all the information, the data sheets, we have nice evaluation kits where you can connect your transducers, uh, your sensors directly to the PCB and then play around with our evaluation software, which is a nice graphical user interface where you can do all the settings of the configurations. Of course there are some easy to use startup configurations so that customers really quickly can make a first measurement and then analyze the data, exporting data, graphically, displaying them, things like that.

Speaker C: Uh, that's awesome. And of course we'll put that link down description so folks can check that out. Um, thank you so much for joining me today, Norbert. This has been really great.

Speaker A: My pleasure was a great pleasure to

Speaker C: present folks out there, uh, who are watching this on YouTube. Make sure you're subscribed and if you're listening to this on your favorite podcasting platform, uh, and uh, you're not subscribed, make sure that you, uh, subscribe to us there so you never miss any of our episodes here on Embedded Insiders. Uh, I've been Ken Briona, Editor in chief of Embedded Community Design and your host and you've been marvelous. Thanks again Norbert. And uh, we'll talk to you again soon.

Speaker B: Now here's james huang of tightra.

Speaker C: Hello friends, engineers, developers and all the embedded professionals out there, welcome do a very special segment of Embedded Insiders podcast. I am Ken Briota, Editor in Chief of Embedded Computing Design, as always and I am so excited to be here with my special guest, James Huang, chairman of Tightra and host of the amazing Computex 2026. Welcome, welcome to the show.

Speaker D: Thank you for having me.

Speaker C: Oh, the pleasure is entirely mine. And as uh, the listeners are about to find out, theirs so let's start out. This is the biggest Computex ever. Computex is reaching all new heights. What are some of the primary highlights regarding the exhibition scale and, and the core focus areas this year?

Speaker D: Sure. Uh, this year's Computex is exceptional. Uh, it's the largest ever. Yeah. Uh, Computex was uh, first launched in 1981. That was the era of PC. Yeah. And we have come through uh, the age of Internet, mobile and cloud, uh, all the way to artificial intelligence.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker D: And this is exactly uh, what makes uh, computer this year the biggest ever because of artificial intelligence.

Speaker C: All of this interesting compute and exciting, uh, uh, innovation that is going to be showcased this year. What did I hear? 1500 uh, exhibitors this year and in 16,000 booths.

Speaker D: Right, right.

Speaker C: Incredible. It's wild. Now the focuses this year are on AI computing, robotics and next gen connectivity. How do these three pillars sort of interconnect in what is becoming a deeply interconnected industry?

Speaker D: Sure. Computer. This year's Computex is actually the story of uh, artificial intelligence, uh, in the 21st century century. So uh, we focus on three areas. First is, uh, AI and computing. So please think of AI and computing as your brain, uh, that's the core essence. And uh, robotics and mobility. Please think of it as your physical body. Yeah. Because what you think or what you want to achieve has to be executed by your physical body. Right. And the third one is next generation technology. And it has everything to do with 6G communication. Right. Satellite communication. So uh, think of the next gen tech as the nerve system of your body. Yeah. So, uh, the three has to synchronize,

Speaker A: uh,

Speaker D: and uh, we are trying to present the entire uh, ecosystem of artificial intelligence applications in modern life.

Speaker C: Yeah, it's, it's really fascinating to me how these three disparate, uh, systems are, are interconnecting now to create a, uh, to use your metaphor, a body of, of uh, a system of systems. The term that we've used for a long time, but now we're really sort of seeing it come together.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker C: And so if you had to define the sort of core essence of Computex 2026 in just one sentence, I know this question is impossible. What would that one sentence be? What's the, what's the real message?

Speaker D: The real message is AI together. And by AI together, ah, we are trying to tell everybody that uh, in the future we are going to build a new society, a new civilization,

Speaker A: uh,

Speaker D: humans and AI working together. For instance, I am using AI every day and starting from this year I am using again to AI it's amazing what agentic AI can do for you. And so, uh, we, we are going to create a new civilization, humans and AI together and Taiwan in the world together. Taiwan is the global hub of AI industries. We are going to support every nation on Earth to realize our, uh, future ambition in the era of AI.

Speaker C: So if AI is the brain, robotics are the muscle muscles, and connectivity is the nervous system. Does that make Taiwan the heart? Do you have a message just for our listeners and viewers, uh, at Embedded Computing Design, all our engineers and developers who are out there working hard building all the things that you and I are always talking about. Do you have a special message for them?

Speaker D: Oh, yes, absolutely. I, uh, think Taiwan is the most trusted partner of, uh, our global stakeholders. So, uh, we would be more than willing to work with you no matter where you are.

Speaker C: That's amazing. Thank you so much, James. Really appreciate having you here on the program. Folks out there listening and watching, make sure you stick with us. We are bringing you so much content from here at Computex in Taiwan all this year and all the time. So stay with us because we've got a lot more to bring to you.

Speaker B: Thanks for listening to this edition of Embedded Insiders. For more daily news, videos and podcasts, visit our website@eddedcomputing.com.