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Scaling up the world’s highest performance MEMS microphone

Project description

New miniaturised high-performance microphone to make a big splash in the market

Α miniaturised high-performance microphone, with 10 dB less noise and larger dynamic range than other state-of-the-art micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) microphones, has been developed and patented by Norwegian start-up sensiBel. Reinventing the microphone, this patented optical MEMS technology uses a tiny laser and integrated photodetector to measure the motion of a silicon-based membrane in an extremely accurate way. The EU-funded OptiMEMS2 project will bring this new microphone to the market, helping sensiBel become the top MEMS microphone supplier for the voice-first user interface, high-fidelity audio and sound capture markets. The feedback from the market is that the new microphone technology fills a clear gap.

Objective

"sensiBel is a Norwegian deep-tech start-up specialized in optical MEMS microphone technology. The company spun off from SINTEF, Norway’s largest independent research organization in 2016. Based on 10 years of research, sensiBel has developed and patented a unique technology for a high-performance miniaturized microphone, with 10dB times lower noise than other state-of-the-art MEMS microphones. We reinvented the microphone! For decades, the performance of microphones has seen only incremental improvements. The dominating technology is capacitive MEMS microphones, with multi-billion € markets, but their sensitivity is not sufficient to handle voice user interfaces in complex environment, and lack performance for high-quality sound and audio recordings. sensiBel’s patented optical MEMS technology uses a tiny laser and integrated photodetector to extremely accurately measure the motion of a silicon-based membrane. This ultra-low selfnoise readout principle results in very high SNR and resistance to distortion at very high sound pressure level, yet in a small, MEMS package with low power consumption. In short, we have a studio-grade microphone with an ultra-small form factor. Our microphone is ideal for natural language voice-controlled user interface, teleconferencing systems, sound detection & recognitions systems, high-quality audio recordings and in Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) headsets. The unison feedback from the market is that sensiBel’s microphone fills a clear gap in the market. The mission of sensiBel is audio capture excellence to enable natural language conversation with machines and high-fidelity audio and sound capture in a small package. The company aims to become the global #1 MEMS microphone supplier for the voice-first user interface and highfidelity audio and sound capture markets."

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

SENSIBEL AS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 500 000,00
Address
OSLO SCIENCE PARK GAUSTADALLEEN 21
0349 Oslo
Norway

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 4 669 046,25
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