Electronics For You 05 - 2017

Nexte Issu

Contents ce igen Intell icial onics tr c • Artif le E tegic Best • Stra t the turing to Ge fac • How for Manu n Desig

May 2017 Vol. 06 | No. 01 ISSN-2454-4426

Editor

: ramesh Chopra

Editorial : Editorial Secretary CorrESpondEnCE phone: 011-26810601; E-mail: [email protected] (technical queries: [email protected]) SubSCriptionS & : phone: 011-26810601 or 02 or 03 E-mail: [email protected] miSSing iSSuES baCk iSSuES, bookS, Cds, pCbs etc.

: kits‘n’Spares, new delhi phone: 011-26371661, 26371662 E-mail: [email protected]

nEwSStand diStribution

: ph: 011-40596600 E-mail: [email protected]

advErtiSEmEntS : ph: 011-26810601 or 02 or 03 nEw dElhi (hEad offiCE) E-mail: [email protected]

Green Mobility Focus

50

GUIdES

78 Drones: Show me the money 80 What’s facial recognition got to do with marketing

26 RENEWABLE ENERGY: Which type of solar cell is the best for your application

81 How drones are providing more impact to marketing

98 eStyle DIY: Facebook tips and tricks you should know

82 How artificial intelligence is shaping the healthcare industry

100 eStyle BUYERS’ GUIDE: Smartwatches: Complexity Simplified

rESEarCH & dEVEloPmENt

Do-It-Yourself

: ph: 022-24950047, 24928520 E-mail: [email protected]

bEngaluru

: ph: 080-25260394, 25260023 E-mail: [email protected]

34 MATERIALS: Materials providing invisibility to electronics

punE

: ph: 08800295610, 09870682995 E-mail: [email protected]

54 DESIGN: Processors undergoing changes to save power

gujarat:

: ph: 079-61344948 E-mail: [email protected]

62 TECH FOCUS: One small step for AI, one giant step for Robotics

China

: power pioneer group inc. ph: (86 755) 83729797, (86) 13923802595 E-mail: [email protected]

72 INNOVATION: Winkel Board: A Powerful, Integrated Solution for Makers

japan

: tandem inc., ph: 81-3-3541-4166 E-mail: [email protected]

EVErYtHING YoU WaNtEd to KNoW aBoUt…

SingaporE

: publicitas Singapore pte ltd ph: +65-6836 2272 E-mail: [email protected]

18 SECURITY: Taking on terrorism with technology

taiwan

: j.k. media, ph: 886-2-87726780 ext. 10 E-mail: [email protected]

unitEd StatES

: E & tech media ph: +1 860 536 6677 E-mail: [email protected]

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May 2017 | ElEctronics For you plus

Globally

Smart World

mumbai

printed, published and owned by ramesh Chopra. printed at international print-o-pack ltd, C-4 to C-11, hosiery Complex, phase-ii Extension, noida-201305, gautam budh nagar, uttar pradesh, on the first day of each month and published from d-87/1, okhla industrial area, phase-1, new delhi 110020. Copyright 2017. all rights reserved throughout the world. reproduction of any material from this magazine in any manner without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited. although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility whatsoever is taken for any loss due to publishing errors. articles that cannot be used are returned to the authors if accompanied by a self-addressed and sufficiently stamped envelope. but no responsibility is taken for any loss or delay in returning the material. EfY will not be responsible for any wrong claims made by an advertiser. disputes, if any, will be settled in a new delhi court only.

Powering Automotives

44 SOFTWARE: An introduction to MicroPython 58 AUTOMOTIVE: Self driving cars platform and their trends (Part 1 of 2)

INdUStrY 40 AUTOMATION: Camouflaged past, omnipresent future 48 TEST & MEASUREMENT: The need for calibration and how to improve it 76 INTERVIEW: Venkat Matella, Redpine Signals: Wi-Fi is the only technology that can prevail… 77 INTERVIEW: Vaidya Subramaniam, GreyOrange: The robot is artificially intelligent and has… 88 MARKET SURVEY: How lucrative is the IoT market in India 91 EVENT: India Electronics Week 2017: For those who value technology

102 105 107 109

Make Your Own Remote Controlled Robot Precision Stopwatch Water pump dry run guard Configurable DC-to-DC Converter Module Using Three Ics 112 Contactless battery charger 113 Arduino based Windows PC volume remote control 116 Electronic voting machine demo using MATLAB GUI

NEWS 12 84 94 96

Tech News Industry News New Products eStyle: First Look

EFY Plus DVD Tools to introduce intelligence into your machines..70 Build thinking machines with OpenCog ................ I Machine learning with TensorFlow .....................IV Brew some deep learning using Caffe .................. VII Regulars 08 Feedback: Your Suggestions 10 Q&A: Things You Wanted to Know

www.EFyMag.coM

Feedback Your suggestions

ElEctronics industry dirEctory I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of Electronics Industry Directory 201617. It is getting better every year. Keep up the good work! Sarabjit Singh General Manager - Materials NTL Electronics India Ltd, Noida (UP) EFY. Thanks for the pat on our back! Look forward to your feedback on how we can make it even more useful for the industry.

thErmostat For FridgE Congratulations! ‘Electronic Thermostat For Fridge’ DIY article published in May 2016 issue is a good project and well explained. How about adding defrost, on-delay and over/under voltage protection? All that could be added easily, and is essential for a practically-viable circuit. Vishwa Through email The author Sundar B. replies: Thank you, Mr Vishwa, for deeply probing the circuit and finding the additional possibility! A defrost detector can be interfaced with the relevant sensor. I am not clear about what you mean by on-delay. Please elaborate on that so that I can work on it. Regarding over/under voltage protection, indeed, it can be built, and I will be publishing that as a separate article with more system integration such as remote monitoring of the refrigeration. I am also building a wireless monitoring system with multiple features using a 16-bit microcontroller. Once I am done with the system integration and field testing/commissioning, barring proprietor data and systems, I will be scaling down the same for an 8-bit microcontroller with ZigBee interface. 8

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

From electronicsforu.com

Electronics Projects Thanks Fayaz Hassan for your article ‘12V Battery Charger-Cum-Variable Power Supply’ published in November 2016 issue! It is great work that you have brought through this article. Vinay Patole EFY. Thanks for the feedback! We have forwarded your message to the author Fayaz Hassan.

Please wait until then. I am very glad about your inputs. These are a true source of encouragement.

two-watt aF amPliFiEr I am interested in ‘Two-Watt TBA820M AF Amplifier’ DIY project published in September 2016 issue. But TBA820M and potentiometer are not available in my local market. Please suggest an alternative option or the source from where I can buy these. Rigil Gracious Through email EFY. You may buy TBA810M from element14.com. For the potentiometer, you need not use the exact value. You can replace it with a 22k, 47k or 100k potentiometer for testing.

imagE ProcEssing In ‘Basic Image Processing Using MATLAB’ DIY article published in July 2016 issue, how can we test for different images? Shivani Through email The author Ismail Taibani replies: For testing images other than the example given in the article, simply copy and paste the path of the image to imread

syntax in the source code. For example, to test paris.jpg image, your code will be: originalimag=imread(‘C:\Users\ anas\Download\paris.jpg’); Exact path of the image can be found at Properties\General\Location by right-clicking on the image.

iot ProjEcts Please give a list of IoT based projects published in EFY. Kanchan Kumari Through email EFY. You may refer to the following IoT based projects published in EFY: • IoT- Smart Alert Notification Using Android App, March, 2017 • IoT Based Smartcamera Using Android App And Raspberry Pi, November, 2016 • IoT Wi-Fi Temperature-Logging System, March, 2016 • Introduction To Smart Wi-Fi, March 2016 You can buy Electronics For You magazine from various online stores including magzter.com, lulu.com, amazon.com and scoop.com

Fm radio In ‘Short-Range FM Radio Station’ DIY project published in April issue, pin numbers of the FM module for positive supply and ground are different in the article and the circuit diagram. Please check. Nayaz Ahmed Chennai EFY. Thanks for the feedback! If you refer to the actual FM transmitter module shown in Fig. 1 in the article, you will notice that there is no pin number as such. Numbers in the text are serial numbers with no particular order, and pin numbers shown in the circuit are indicative. www.EFyMag.coM

Q&A

Things You WanTed To KnoW!

Ques. How can I Interface a laser dIode wItH arduIno uno? Please lIst tHe dIfferent tyPes of lasers avaIlable In tHe market? Pamarthi kanakaraja

ans. There are various ways to interface a laser with Arduino depending on the application. A laser diode finds applications in CD/DVD reading and recording, optical-fibre communications, laser printing and scanning, laser pointers, directional lighting, barcode readers and so on. A laser diode can be interfaced with Arduino

Fig. 1: A laser pointer

Fig. 2: KY-008 laser module

Uno using photoresistors, photodiodes, phototransistors or similar sensors and detectors. Laser diodes and modules are available in various sizes and shapes. For example, a 3V to 5V DC, 5mW laser module is available in a metal case (Fig. 1). It produces a laser of about 650nm wavelength and a tiny red dot. It comes with three 1.5V button cells. Remove the cells and connect two wires: the positive wire to its body and the negative to the spring inside it. Connect the positive terminal to any one of the digital pins of Arduino board, and the negative wire to GND pin. Write a simple sketch (software) to turn on/off the laser torch through Arduino board. Laser modules like KY-008 (Fig. 2) can also be connected directly to Arduino digital pins. This module can draw a current up to 30mA only, 10

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

so it can be directly powered from an Arduino board. You may refer to the use of KY-008 laser module with Arduino from the following link: http://henrysbench. capnfatz.com/henrys-bench/arduinooutput-devices/ky-008-arduino-lasermodule-guide-and-tutorial/ This link gives not only pin connection details but also Arduino code. You can also interface SF02 module directly with Arduino. SF02 is a lightweight laser rangefinder used for distance measurements ranging from 0 to 50 metres. Another interesting laser module from STMicroelectronics is VL53L0X. It works off 2.6-3.5V operating voltage and has I2C interface. Types of lasers. There are many types of lasers available for various applications. Depending on the lasing medium used, these are solid-state, gas, excimer, dye or semiconductor lasers. • Solid state lasers emit infrared light at 1.064 micrometres. • Gas lasers have a primary output of a visible red light. CO2 lasers emit energy in the far-infrared 10.6 micrometres, and are used for cutting hard materials. • Excimer lasers produce light in the ultraviolet range. • Dye lasers are tunable over a broad range of wavelengths. • Semiconductor lasers are generally very small and use low power. These are used as the writing source in some laser printers, CD/ DVD players and the like.

Q2. wHat languages can be used for aurdIno uno and rasPberry PI? Pournima P.r.

a2. C/C++, Python, Java, JavaScript and Perl are some popular program-

ming languages for embedded systems, Arduino Uno and Raspberry Pi. According to a recent study, more than 95 per cent of programming languages used in embedded system today are written in C or C++. C programming language is currently the most popular for the Internet of Things (IoT) and embedded system programming. It is because with C you have easy access to physical hardware, good control over memory management and better performance as compared to other programming languages. According to another report, the fastest-growing programming language for embedded computing is Python. Some Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects may be highly compact, so simple program environments or languages like B# (or B sharp) are more suitable. Arduino Uno. Arduino Uno works on Arduino integrated development environment (IDE), which supports C and C++ using special rules of code structuring, based on Wiring Project. A program written with Arduino IDE is called a sketch. There are also other programming languages in use for Arduino projects, like Python, Ardublock and Snap4Arduino. Raspberry Pi. GCC, Scratch, Java and Ruby come pre-installed on Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi Foundation recommends Python and Scratch as the programming languages because these are easier to pick up. However, any language that can compile for its processor like ARMv6 can be used with Raspberry Pi.

Answers compiled by Sani Theo, senior assistant editor (technical). Letters and questions for publication may be addressed to Editor, Electronics For You, D-87/1, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi 110020 (e-mail: [email protected]) and should include name and address of the sender www.EFyMag.coM

Tech News Technology UpdaTes

Indian TAL BRABO robot ready for Europe After successfully demonstrating India’s first made in India Robot called BRABO at Make in India Week held last year, TAL Manufacturing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors, has received CE certification for BRABO, for the commercial sale of the robot in European markets. An innovative concept developed from an industrial user perspective to automate micro, small and medium enterprises, TAL BRABO now complies with essential requirements relevant to European health, safety and environmental legislation, permitting export of TAL BRABO

robot to customers in Europe. Designed indigenously, BRABO can be used to create efficiencies right from raw material handling, until packaging of the finished product. It can be programmed to operate 24/7 in all situations, for continuous production, with a high degree of flexibility, and even perform complex functions cost-effectively. BRABO can be used for varied applications for tasks like pick and placement of materials, assembly of parts, machine and press tending, as a sealing application, camera and vision based jobs. The robot can also complement human workforce by taking over dull, dangerous and monotonous jobs. With BRABO, TAL Manufacturing will focus on automotive, electronics, logistics, food, packaging, pharmaceutical and other industries. The current list of BRABO customers includes TATA Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Diebold, CPG Industries, Hydromatik, SGK Industries, RTA Spa Italy, BITS Dubai Campus, Suparna Plastics, Micromax Systems, Twin Engineers, AM Ecosystems and BRABO was designed and styled in-house at TAL Manufacturing and Tata Elxsi, respectively, while manufacturing of some critical parts was done at Tata AutoComp (Image courtesy: www.tal.co.in) Kaziranga University.

Robot skin that is more sensitive than a human hand Engineers at University of Glasgow, Scotland, who had previously developed an electronic skin covering for prosthetic hands made from graphene, have found a way to use some of graphene’s remarkable physical properties to use energy from the Sun to power the skin. Graphene is a highly-flexible form of graphite which, despite being just a single atom thick, is stronger than steel, electrically-conductive and transparent. It is graphene’s optical transparency—which allows around 98 per cent of the light that strikes its surface to pass directly through it—that makes it ideal for gathering energy from the Sun to generate power. The new skin requires only 20 nanowatts of power per square centimetre, which is easily met even by the poorest12

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quality photovoltaic cells currently available in the market. Although, currently, the energy generated by the skin’s photovoltaic cells cannot be stored, the team is already looking into ways to divert unused energy into Prof. Ravinder Dahiya showing off a prosthetic batteries, allowing hand covered with his new, highly-sensitive the energy to be used graphene skin (Image courtesy: www.forbes.com) www.EFyMag.coM

Tech News as and when it is required. Dr Ravinder Dahiya from University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering adds, “The next step for us is to further develop the power-generation technology that underpins this research and use it to power the motors that drive the prosthetic hand itself. This could allow the creation of an entirely energy-autonomous prosthetic limb.”

Graphene based electrode that increases solar power storage Researchers at RMIT University, Australia, have developed a groundbreaking prototype that could be the answer to the storage challenge that still holds solar back as a total energy solution. The new type of electrode could boost the capacity of existing integrable storage technologies by 3000 per cent.

The electrode prototype can be combined with a solar cell for on-chip energy harvesting and storage (left); a western swordfern leaf magnified 400 times, showing the self-repeating fractal pattern of its veins (right) (Image courtesy: www.rmit.edu.au)

The graphene based prototype also opens a new path to the development of flexible thin-film all-in-one solar capture and storage, bringing us one step closer to self-powering smartphones, laptops, cars and buildings. The new electrode is designed to work with supercapacitors, which can charge and discharge power much faster than conventional batteries. Supercapacitors have been combined with solar, but their wider use as a storage solution is restricted because of their limited capacity. Min Gu, professor at RMIT, has said that the new design draws on nature’s own genius solution to the challenge of filling a space in the most efficient way possible—through intricate self-repeating patterns known as fractals.

Solar-powered device that can pull water from dry air Over the years, researchers have developed ways to grab a few trickles, such as using fine nets to wick water from fog banks, or power-hungry dehumidifiers to condense water 14

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out of the air. But both approaches require either very humid air or far too much electricity to be broadly useful. To find an allpurpose solution, a team of researchers led by Omar Yaghi, a chemist at University of California, Berkeley, USA, turned to a family of crystalline powders The new water harvester is made of called metal organic metal organic framework crystals pressed into a thin sheet of copper metal and frameworks, or MOFs. placed between a solar absorber (above) Yaghi developed the first and a condenser plate (below) (Image courtesy: www.phys.org) MOFs—porous crystals that form continuous 3D networks—more than 20 years ago. The networks assemble in a Tinkertoy-like fashion from metal atoms that act as hubs and stick-like organic compounds that link the hubs together. By choosing different metals and organics, chemists can dial in the properties of each MOF, controlling what gases bind to these, and how strongly these hold on.

Scientists create self-repairing smartphone screen material Scientists, including several from University of California, Riverside, USA, have developed a transparent, self-healing, highly-stretchable conductive material that can be electri-

The polymer invented by Chao Wang is the first of its kind in terms of electrical conductivity (Image courtesy: (www.sciencedaily.com)

cally activated to power artificial muscles and could be used to improve batteries, electronic devices and robots. The project brings together the research areas of self-healing materials and ionic conductors. Inspired by wound healing in nature, self-healing materials repair damage caused by wear and tear, and extend the lifetime and lower the cost of materials and devices. Chao Wang, an adjunct assistant professor of www.EFyMag.coM

Tech News chemistry and chief researcher behind this invention, developed an interest in self-healing materials because of his lifelong love of Wolverine, the comic book character who has the ability to self-heal. Conventionally, self-healing polymers make use of non-covalent bonds, which create a problem because those bonds are affected by electrochemical reactions that degrade the performance of materials. Wang helped solve that problem by using a mechanism called ion-dipole interactions, which are forces between charged ions and polar molecules that are highly stable under electrochemical conditions. He combined a polar, stretchable polymer with a mobile, high-ionic-strength salt to create the material with the properties the researchers were seeking. The material has potential applications in a wide range of fields. It could give robots the ability to selfheal after mechanical failure, extend the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries used in electronics and electric cars, and improve biosensors used in the medical field and environmental monitoring.

ISRO to share lithium-ion battery technology for electric vehicles Batteries are the key components of any electric vehicle. At present, all lithium-ion batteries are imported and are quite expensive. Such batteries have high power but weigh less, and their volume is much less as compared to conventional batteries. Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre under Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India, has developed indigenous technology to manufacture high-power lithiumion batteries for automobiles and their feasibility tests in vehicles have been successful. Now, the government has asked ISRO to allow interested players, including from private sector, to obtain their technology for mass production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. More than half a dozen major automobile companies, battery manufacturers and public sector undertakings have already approached ISRO. These include Mahindra Renault, Hyundai, Nissan, Tata Motors, High Energy Batteries, BHEL and Indian Oil.

RUUUH by Microsoft is an AI chatbot that talks entertainment Microsoft has launched an artificially-intelligent chatbot called RUUH. It is targeted at young Indians who are interested in Bollywood, entertainment, music and travel. The bot speaks English and you can interact with it via Facebook Messenger. 16

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Microsoft has been investing in AI and chatbot technologies. A company spokesperson has said, “At Microsoft, we are focused on helping people and organisations achieve more through new conversation models. We are excited about the possibilities in this space and are experimenting with a limited pilot program of a new chatbot that is focused on advancing conversational capabilities within our AI ambition. We hope to expand this chatbot to a broader audience in the future.” RUUH joins the family of chatbots launched by Microsoft, following Tay and Zo. Microsoft had earlier launched Xiaoice, a special chatbot for Chinese audience. It also became very popular and made an appearance on Dragon TV’s Morning News.

Coffee Cookie, a rechargeable device that keeps the coffee warm Coffee Cookie is a small drink warmer that can heat up to 90°C. It is rechargeable and portable. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) students Gabe Alba and Victoria Gregory came up with this idea, which they believe will bring a major change in people’s A lightweight disc that attaches to the bottom disposable coffee cups, the Coffee Cookie coffee consumption of is rechargeable for daily use (Image courtesy: http://news.mit.edu) habits. The new device is circular and can easily fit in beneath a disposable paper coffee cup. Whether it is coffee or any other drink, the device heats up to maintain its temperature. Usually, the energy required to keep a drink hot exceeds the battery power capacity for a small portable device, but after conducting an online survey of 300 people, Alba and Gregory found there was a narrower niche to fill. They noted that a number of survey respondents, particularly millennials, tend to abandon takeout coffee when it loses heat, tossing the final third. In a single day, they designed and 3D-printed, in fast mode, a raw proof of concept. The first prototype lacked a circuit board, and parts of it were held together with hot glue. Next came a series of more sophisticated prototypes that fit a wide variety of takeout cups and included a circuit board, an injection-moulded outer shell, component parts and an official patent-pending status. www.EFyMag.coM

security

Taking On Terrorism WiTh Technology

I Deepak Halan is associate professor at School of Management Sciences, Apeejay Stya University

Fig. 1: The 9/11 terrorist attack on American soil killed almost 3000 people (Image courtesy: http://stevetilford.com)

n his book Cybershock, Winn Schwartau mulls over some possible effects of a well-orchestrated electromagnetic pulses (EMP) attack upon Western infrastructure. Wall Street or other banking systems could be attacked, resulting in successive failures and huge financial losses. Aircraft avionics and guidance systems could be overloaded by targeted high-energy radio frequency, leading to potentially fatal conditions. Medical equipment could malfunction under the attack of intense energy spikes, putting several human lives at risk. Municipal emergency services could be terminated by devastating wide-band microwave jamming, and power lines and transformers could act as highlyefficient conductors to transmit massive currents to businesses and sub-stations, leading to regional blackouts. Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. Terrorist groups are becoming international, dedicated, organised and

“The Internet is a prime example of how terrorists can behave in a truly transnational way; in response, States need to think and function in an equally transnational manner.” —Ban Ki-moon, eighth secretary general of the United Nations, from January 2007 to December 2016

structured and, year after year, emerging as a big threat to peace and prosperity. They are relying increasingly on technology to become more lethal, dangerous and difficult to combat. Their motives are not limited to political but include religious or ideological objectives, too. Modern technologies are being adapted to effectively coordinate and support their activities, collect money and spread information and propaganda. For example, using IT and the Internet, terrorists have developed sophisticated and versatile communication techniques. Bill Clinton, former president of the USA, once stated, “Our security is challenged increasingly by non-traditional threats from adversaries, both old and new, not only hostile regimes, but also international criminals and terrorists who cannot defeat us in traditional theatres of battle, but search instead for new ways to attack by exploiting new technologies and the world’s increasing openness.”

Current technologies being used to combat terrorism There is an urgent need for leveraging internationally the expertise and research programmes to develop new and improved technologies to combat terrorism. This is expected to help prevent terrorist attacks and provide militaries with improved capabilities to detect, disrupt and pursue terrorists. There is also a need to provide the capability to deal with the effects of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear 18

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www.EFyMag.coM

security weapons. Presently, various technological tools and techniques have been deployed to combat terrorism. Some of these technologies are fairly mature, while others show great potential but still require some years of research and development before these are fully operational. Yet, all technologies share a common characteristic; these offer significant potential solutions to address the most pressing antiterrorism concerns. The technologies are: • Directed-energy weapons • Non-lethal weapons • Nanotechnology • Biometrics • Data mining and analysis technologies • Network-centric operations Directed-energy weapons. These weapons generate very high-power beams such as lasers and microwave radiations that are precisely focused to hit targets with sub-atomic parti-

Well-known terrorist attacks in recent years September 11, 2001, the USA. Four coordinated terrorist attacks by Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda on the USA killed 2996 people, injured more than 6000 others and caused at least US$ 10 billion in property and infrastructure damage and US$ 3 trillion in total costs. July 13, 2011, Mumbai, India. A series of three coordinated bomb explosions took place at different locations, namely, Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar West localities, between 18:54 and 19:06 IST, leaving 26 killed and 130 injured. November 13-14, 2015, Paris. Multiple shootings and grenade attacks at a music venue, sports stadium and several bar and restaurant terraces lead to the killing of 130 people, and injuring 352. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.

cles, both to track and destroy. Directed-energy weapons have the capability to cause casualties, damage equipment, disable targets on ground, air and sea, and provide active defence against threats from artillery, rockets, mortars, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. Non-lethal weapons. These are employed to incapacitate personnel or material while minimising fatalities and undesired damage to property and environment. Their functions include preventing or neutralising the means of transportation such as vehicles, vessels or aircraft including those for weapons of mass destruction. The technologies used include acoustics systems, chemicals, communications systems, electromagnetic and electrical systems, entanglement and other mechanical systems, information technologies, optical Fig. 2: A laser with US Naval Sea Systems Command (NSSC), devices, non-penetrating which is an electromagnetic gun prototype (Image courtesy: projectiles and munitions, www.occupycorporatism.com)

Fig. 3: Face recognition technology identifies individuals by analysing several features such as the upper outlines of eye sockets and sides of the mouth (Image courtesy: www.extremetech.com)

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Fig. 4: Al-Qaida created by Osama Bin Laden relies heavily on IT (Image courtesy: www. independent.co.uk)

and more. These can be integrated with systems to make these more effective and discriminate. Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology involves developing materials and complete systems at atomic, molecular or macromolecular levels where dimensions fall in the range of one to 100 nanometres. Fabrication at such nano scale offers unique capabilities, and materials can be made to have specific properties. Among antiterrorism applications, sensors using nanotechnology are most important. Nano-scale sensors form a weak chemical bond with the substance and then change their properties in response (such as colour change, or a change in conductivity, fluorescence or weight). As an antiterrorism tool, nanotechnologies are relatively in their infancy stage vis-à-vis other technologies. Biometrics. This refers to recorded unique physical or behavioural characteristics of individuals. These are more reliable and more difficult to forget, lose, get stolen, falsified or be guessed. Biometrics can be used for verification or identification. For identification, a person’s presented biometric is compared with all biometric templates within a database. Five major types of biometric technologies available today are: 1. Iris recognition that relies on distinctly-coloured ring surrounding the pupil of the eye 2. Hand geometry that relies on measurements of fingers, distances between joints and the shapes of knuckles 3. Fingerprint recognition that rewww.EFyMag.coM

security lies on features in the impressions made by distinct ridges on fingertips 4. Face recognition that identifies individuals by analysing facial features such as the upper outlines of eye sockets or sides of the mouth 5. Voice recognition that is based on the differences in voice Fig. 5: Telegram is an app widely used by ISIS since it offers double encryption (Image courtesy: www.bidnessetc.com) Data mining and analysis technologies. Data mining and analysis technologies are used for analysing historical and current online data for prediction and description by identifying patterns and anomalies from the vast database. Prediction involves using variables in the database to predict unknown or future values Fig. 6: Facial thermographs, a biometric technology likely to of other variables of interest. become popular in the near future (Image courtesy: http:// biometrics.mainguet.org) Description involves increasing knowledge about a variable or dataset by finding related tions such as internal communication information to obtain human-interand coordination, propaganda and pretable patterns describing the data. misinformation, recruitment and fiThe trail of terrorists is often innancing, information and intelligence distinguishable from mass commergathering with the final objective of cial and government data. Traditional spreading hate and violence. investigation techniques follow an Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaida intricate process of seeking out created by Osama Bin Laden relies information related to an individual. heavily on computers and other This becomes increasingly problemmodern communication tools. By atic as more and more information the early 2000s, Islamist terrorbecomes available. ists had started using chat rooms, Network-centric operations. pornographic sites and other Internet These operations increase the opera- utilities to masquerade maps and tional effectiveness and efficiency by photographs of their targets, and for networking sensors, decision makers, sharing directions and information law-enforcement agencies and disfor their operations. aster managers to achieve increased US officials stumbled upon speed of operations, increased messages that were encoded using security and safety, reduced vulnerfree encryption programs set up by ability to hostile action and self-synInternet privacy groups. Images were chronisation. Systems from local to formed via a series of dots inside national levels can be integrated into which were strings of letters and a network to address antiterrorism. numbers that computers could read to reconstruct images. These are just How terrorist groups a few examples of how IT has been are using IT used by terror groups. Irish terrorists took help of conTerrorist groups all over the world are widely using IT for various func- tract hackers to penetrate computers 22

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to get the home addresses of law-enforcement and intelligence officers. In March 2000, an investigation by Japanese police forces showed that a software system had been bought by Aum Shinrikyo cult, which is notorious for poisoning Tokyo subway in 1995. This software system was used to monitor more than 100 police vehicles, and was also sold to several Japanese companies and government agencies, thus, making them vulnerable to cyber attacks by this cult group. Today, terrorists from the infamous ISIS group meet openly on Facebook or Twitter. They ensure their discussions remain highly confidential by using encryption technology to encode their messages. ISIS has a technology cell that consists of five to six members offering 24/7 support on encrypting communications, disguising personal details and using apps like Twitter while avoiding surveillance. ISIS is known to use an app called Telegram, which offers two layers of encryption, and claims to be faster and more secure than the more commonly-used WhatsApp. The issue of hunting out terrorist communication is almost like finding a needle in a haystack. It is not possible to scan every voice call, message or email, given the very high volume of communication. Then, there are problems related to the right to privacy and confidentially of certain communication such as business plans and banking transactions.

Safeguard technologies for the future Current levels of technology available are actually inadequate to deal with the scope and potential severity of the terrorism threat. You need to always remain one step ahead of the terrorists and develop security systems that are capable of protecting the public, www.EFyMag.coM

security safeguarding their liberties, travel and commercial activities, in a proactive manner. This requires vision, strategy and optimisation to enable selecting the most crucial technologies capable of providing maximum security for the resources invested. Utmost flexibility to address a wide range of threats is also required. Aviation giant Boeing and other major aircraft manufacturers together are in process of developing a remote-control technology for flying a commercial aircraft. Had this technology been available in 2001, perhaps the 9/11 terror attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon that killed nearly 3000 people could have been prevented. Biometrics. There is research and development work going on for useful biometric options that include vein scans, facial thermographs, DNA matching, odour sensing, blood pulse measurements, skin-pattern recognition, nail-bed identification, gait recognition and ear-shape recognition. The surest way to stop terrorists from hijacking or bombing planes from within is perhaps to stop attackers from boarding the planes in the first place. Hence, researchers have also envisioned combining sophisticated video surveillance at airports with software that analyses, for example, facial expressions for signs of lying. Researchers are also developing devices that can remotely scan for irregular blood pressure and heart rates, to serve as supplementary data. Clothing. In the future, it is possible that flight marshals and crew would be adorning uniforms that also serve as body armour. A team of chemical engineers is researching the possibility of developing a thin but super-strong fabric by bonding 300 alternating layers of clay and polymer. Some scientists in the USA, Europe and China have joined ordinary cotton with super-hard boron to create a boron nano-tube fabric that is 24

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Fig. 7: Prof. Hany Farid, the father of robust hashing (Image courtesy: www.concordmonitor.com)

Fig. 8: Given the severe threat of ISIS across the world, there is need for various countries to have a common vision (Image courtesy: http://abcnews.go.com)

light and flexible enough to be put on as an undershirt, and could even shield the body from a bullet. Robust hashing. Robust hashing is an innovative futuristic tool against online video of violence, beheadings and anti-Western criticism that are used to get new people into the terrorists’ fold, and extend hate and violence. These videos are being widely used by groups such as ISIS and Taliban. These are multiplying at lightning speed on social media sites. A software tool is being developed that creates an exclusive fingerprint for any video that can be used to automatically find copies as soon as these are uploaded, and this does not require human intervention or judgement. Videos get edited or even altered. For example, an advertisement may be inserted making the video a little longer. However, the new technology beats that since it works by matching little snippets of the

video. Once a video has been tagged as related to terrorism by a viewer, a robust hash is created and positioned in a database, overseen by Counter Extremism Project. This database is used by various social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter so that they can automatically prevent uploading of this content. While today several online and social media services are removing terrorism-inciting videos manually, it is hoped that in time to come it will be done automatically, making the whole process much more efficient and effective. However, such software comes with its own problems since it can also automatically erase harmless videos such as a clip from a movie that has violence. Also, one man’s terrorism could turn out to be another man’s social protest.

Endpoint The terrorist threat against the free world is global, serious, challenging and persisting. The means and technologies that are practical, affordable and can counter the serious threat of terrorism are required to be developed using joint efforts globally. There are many impediments and challenges such as the tremendous expenditure involved, given the high cost of procuring and adopting a technology and scarcity of required resources, especially human skills as well as facilities and equipment. Any new technology may also create unintended consequences, bring unexpected liabilities, and produce environmental pollution and adverse public reactions. Also, new technologies and systems will have significant training and leader development challenges. Obstacles to creating antiterrorism technologies that are steps ahead as compared to those used by terrorists are many. Hence, various countries need to create a vision and develop policies that will help overcome the barriers to innovation. www.EFyMag.coM

renewable energy

Which Type Of Solar Cell Is Best For Your appliCation

A Prof. Arjav A. Bavarva is working as assistant professor at Department of Electronics & Communication, School of Engineering, RK University, Gujarat. His areas of interest are electronics, wireless communication and networking

Maulik Vyas is an electronics hobbyist. His areas of interest are electronics and networking

solar panel is made up of solar cells that convert solar energy (sunlight) to electricity. This conversion is known as photovoltaic effect. Solar energy is the best alternate energy source as it is renewable, easy to produce and saves the environment. The government of India too promotes it by providing remarkable subsidies.

Basic structure of a solar cell and its working principle A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell, works on the principle of photoelectric effect—ability of an object to emit electrons when light falls on it. To generate electricity from a solar cell, a material is required that emits electrons and is raised to a higher energy state by the absorption of light. These electrons have enough energy to drive the connected device or load. The cells are made of a semiconductor material that is used in the form of p-n junctions. A solar cell consists of n-type (having electrons as a majority charge carrier) and p-type (having holes as a majority charge carrier) semiconductor materials. The depletion region is formed between n-type and p-type

materials. The depletion layer is made up of positive and negative ions. Electrons and holes are not present inside the depletion layer. Light travels in the form of packets of energy called photons. These photons (sunlight) are applied on the depletion region. Photons are absorbed in depletion regions and generate electron-hole pairs. These free electrons and holes have enough energy to jump out of the depletion zone. If a wire is connected from the cathode (n-type material) to the anode (p-type material), electrons flow through the wire. The electrons have negative charge and, hence, get attracted by ptype material (positive terminal), travel through the external load (device) and create a flow of electrons (current), as shown in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 2, the sunlight concentrator focuses sunlight on a small part and tracks the Sun throughout the day for higher efficiency. The solar panel generates unstable or fluctuating electricity and, thus, has to be regulated. The power-conditioning block gives regulated stable electricity that is stored in the battery or a battery bank. The battery gets damaged if a proper power-conditioning

Load

t

ligh

Photons

n Su Electron Flow

Hole Flow

Fig. 1: Working principle of a solar cell

26

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Sunlight

Current

N-Type Semiconductor PN - Junction P-Type Semiconductor

Electron Flow

Hole Flow

Photons N-Type P-Type Silicon Silicon PN-Junction

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renewable energy SUN

Sunlight Concentrator Power Conditioning

Solar Panel

Energy Storage (Battery Bank)

Electrical Load (Device)

Tracking Fig. 2: Block diagram of a solar system ai metallic contacts gaas n+ n p p+

alinP ingaP ingaP

n+ n p p+

ingaP ingaas ingaas ingaP

n

ingaas ingaP

n p

ge ge

algainP

Solar Spectrum Band-Reflect Filter (1.18-1.38 eV, 900-1050 nm)

ar CoaTiNg

wiNDow EmiTTEr BaSE BSF

ToP CELL ingaP 1.86 eV

TUNNEL JUNCTioN

wiNDow EmiTTEr BaSE BSF

miDDLE CELL ingaas 1.4 eV

Si Cell (1.1 eV)

BoTTom CELL ge 0.65 eV

Colours are indicative only

TUNNEL JUNCTioN

BUFFEr HETEro LayEr BaSE BSF

Fig. 3: Structure of a multi-junction solar cell

circuit is not used. The device gets energy from the battery. Sometimes, a solid copper foundation is laid over the solar panel that gives it massive strength. Solar panels may have anti-reflective (AR) coating over the surface to produce more energy and increase efficiency. AR layer usually has NaOH surface texturation with several tiny pyramids. The layer’s thickness should be designed for better efficiency.

Multi-junction structure of a solar cell A few years ago, late Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said that, we are not utilising solar energy efficiently. Researchers are working hard and have come up with different solar structures and technologies to increase the efficiency of solar cells. Till now, we have depended on single-junction solar cells that 28

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monolithic TJ cell stack gainP (1.88 eV) gainas (1.41 eV) ge (0.67 eV)

Fig. 4: Concept of a triple-junction cell that targets discrete bands of incoming sunlight using a combination of three layers

give an efficiency of about 20 per cent. To improve this efficiency, the concept of multi-junction solar cells has been adopted. These are solar cells with multiple p-n junctions made up of different semiconductor materials. The gap between valance band and conduction band is called forbidden gap or energy gap (Eg). In an energy band diagram, electrons jump from valence to conduction band and become free when electrons absorb enough energy. These electrons are considered free electrons and take part in current flow. If an applied photon has wavelength greater than or equal to hc/Eg (h is Plank’s constant and c is velocity of light), electrons gain enough energy and jump from valence to conduction band. Electrons that belong to con-

duction band take part in current flow and are thus responsible for generating electricity. In the abovementioned relationship, h and c are constant, which means the number of free electrons depends on Eg. This Physics fundamental has been used in the structure of solar cells. A multi-junction structure (material with different values of Eg) absorbs maximum sunlight (broad range of wavelengths), generates more free electrons or current and, ultimately, increases the efficiency of solar cells. The top-most junction has the widest band gap and, as we go down, it decreases. It is necessary to find the best semiconductor materials in terms of band gap to increase efficiency. Fig. 3 shows the different semiconductor materials used in a multi-junction solar cell. As photons (sunlight) strike the solar cell, highest energy-level photons are absorbed by the top-most layer, and photons with low energy are absorbed in the lower layers. A window layer is used to reduce surface recombination velocity, and the back surface field (BSF) layer reduces the scattering of carriers towards the tunnel junction. It simply functions as an electrical contact and, thus, covers the entire back surface of the cell structure. It is always made of metal. Researchers of the University of New South Wales, Australia, have developed a mini-module that combines a silicon cell on one face of a glass prism, with a triplejunction (TJ) solar cell on the other, as shown in Fig. 4. This research has achieved the world record for the highest efficiency, which is approximately 34.5 per cent. This novel model was also tested and confirmed by US National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The triple-junction cell targets discrete bands of incoming sunlight using a combination of three layers. As sunlight passes through each layer, energy is extracted by each juncwww.EFyMag.coM

renewable energy Table I

VarIous TechnologIes used In The sTrucTure of a solar cell

Table II

ManufacTurers, Models, Type and effIcIency of solar cells Manufacturers

Model

Type

Module efficiency (per cent)

Spectrolab

XTJ Prime

Next triple junction

30.7

XTJ

Next triple junction

29.5

UTJ

Ultra-triple junction

28.3

245-235

Monocrystalline

20.1

Technology

efficiency at laboratory (per cent)

Organic cells

11.50

Dye-sensitised

11.90

Perovskite cells

21.00

SunEdison

Silvantis R-Series

Monocrystalline

17.7

Multi-crystal silicon

21.30

Yingli Solar

YL225C-24b

Monocrystalline

17.1

CdTe

21.50

REC

Twinpeak Series

Monocrystalline

16.7

CIGS

22.30

Ja Solar

JAM6 48-220/SI

Monocrystalline

16.6

SunPower

Single-crystal silicon

25.00

Suntech

STP265/WEM

Polycrystalline

16.3

Ga As

27.50

Trina

PA05

Polycrystalline

16.2

Multi-junction (non concentrator)

38.80

Multi-junction (concentrator)

46.00

(Courtesy: www.synergyfiles.com)

Jinko Solar

JKM265P

Multicrystalline

16.2

Canadian Solar

CS6P

Polycrystalline

15.9

Yingli Solar

YL205P-23b

Multicrystalline

15.8

Solar World

SW 260

Monocrystalline

15.5

Sharp

NU-U23F1

Monocrystalline

14.4

Yingli Solar

YL 235 P-29b

Polycrystalline

14.4

Kyocera

KD210GH-2PU

Polycrystalline

14.1

(Courtesy: www.theecoexperts.co.uk)

Fig. 5: Four-junction mini module embedded in a prism

tion at its most efficient wavelength, while the unused part of the light passes through to the next layer, and so on. Apart from the prism structure, logic remains the same as of a multi-junction solar cell.

Efficiency of a solar cell Efficiency of a solar cell can be represented in many ways, namely, thermodynamic, charge carrier separation, quantum and conductance. Several factors and parameters are difficult to measure directly and, hence, other parameters are measured to calculate quantum efficiency. Quantum efficiency can be measured in terms of internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and external quantum efficiency (EQE). IQE is the ratio of the number of charge carriers 30

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(free electrons and holes) collected by the solar cell to the number of photons of given energy that shine on the solar cell from outside and are absorbed by the cell. EQE is the ratio of the number of charge carriers collected by the solar cell to the number of photons of given energy shining on the solar cell from outside (incident photons). IQE is always greater than EQE. Efficiency of a traditional solar cell can be in the range of 14 to 24 per cent. A solar panel (that converts sunlight to electric energy) and a thermal panel (that converts sunlight to heat energy used to produce hot water) are completely different. The latter is designed with an efficiency of up to 90 per cent. Efficiency of a solar cell also depends on parameters like area of the cell, intensity of sunlight, wavelength of the photons, ambient temperature and so on. Typically, efficiency is represented as energy at output/area of cell/ time; for instance, 4.5 kWh/m2/day.

This means that a solar panel of 1m2 size generates 4.5kWh electric energy per day. It may be more or less depending on environmental conditions. Tables I and II give show the different technologies used to make solar cells, models, types, manufacturers and efficiencies.

Types of solar cell Solar cells can be broadly classified as: Monocrystalline. Made up of a single crystal of silicon Polycrystalline. Made up of many small crystals of silicon Amorphous or thin-film. Made up of non-crystalline structure of silicon; has four types, namely, CIGS, Cdte, amorphous si and polymer organic

Advantages of solar cells Main advantages of using solar panels to generate electricity are: • A solar plant is a renewable power source and is not harmful to the environment. • It is easy to operate and costwww.EFyMag.coM

renewable energy Table III

coMparIson beTween dIfferenT Types of solar cells bulk type/wafer based (crystalline) Type

Mono-crystalline

poly-crystalline

Thin-film type amorphous si

cdTe

cIgs

polymer organic

11-13

9-11

—

Area (in m2) 6-9 required for 1kW

8-9

13-20

Typical length of warranty

25 years

25 years

10-25 years

Temperature resistance

Performance drops 10 to 15 per cent at high temperature

Less temperature resistant than monocrystalline

Tolerates extreme heat

Additional details Oldest cell technology and most widely used

Less silicon waste in the production process

• Tend to degrade faster than crystalline-based solar panels • Low availability on the market

Pros

High efficiency

High efficiency with respect Low price to price

Cons

Increase in manufacturing cost caused by the supply shortage of silicon

Relatively low impact on performance

• Low price • Able to automate all manufacturing processes

—

• Less manufacturing • Can be more efficient (still under research)

Low efficiency

(Courtesy: www.solarlove.org)

effective as compared to other renewable power sources. • It requires less capital investment and low maintenance.

Disadvantages of solar cells However, there are also some disadvantages such as: • Solar cells cannot be used in the absence of the Sun. • Power generated during cloud cover is less. • A large geographical area is required to deploy solar panels.

Applications Solar cells are extensively used in calculators and watches. Many people arrange solar panels on the rooftops of their homes or in open areas to generate electric power to operate various devices. Solar cells are also widely used in Space applications. Researchers have developed multi-junction solar cells especially for spacecraft power systems to increase their power efficiency. Spectrolab, a California based company, is the world’s leading manufacturer of high-efficiency multi-junction Space solar cells and panels, and currently provides power to hundreds of satellites and interplanetary spacecrafts. 32

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

Fig. 6: Solar panels

Mono

Poly

Thin Film

Fig. 7: Types of solar cells

Solar cells are connected in series and parallel to form solar panels that provide more voltage and current. Figs 6 and 7 show solar panels

and different types of solar cells, respectively. Table III shows the pros and cons of the different types of solar cells. www.EFyMag.coM

futuristic

Materials Providing InvIsIbIlIty to ElEctronIcs

T

hough development and use of invisibility cloaks may not have been possible till now for largescale objects, the technology towards invisibility based on the exotic properties exhibited by meta-materials is now well understood by scientists, engineers and technologists. So we are no longer unaware of the use of invisibility in electronics. As components on computer chips get smaller, we have to come up with strategies to control electron transport, and use of invisibility characteristics of materials in electronics might be one useful approach. The concept could also lead to a new kind of switches for electronic devices. The switch could operate by toggling between transparent and opaque states of electrons, thus turning a flow of these on and off. This article briefly summarises the developments towards the applications of the concept of cloaking to the domain of electrons that is giving rise to more useful, efficient,

Dr S.S. Verma is a professor at Department of Physics, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sangrur, Punjab

smart and lightweight electronic devices. The new invisibility cloak combines metamaterials and leads fancy electronics to be thinner, lighter and invisible.

Invisibility fundamentals The last few years have seen a lot of research in invisibility cloaks. These cloaks are mostly based on meta-materials—special, man-made materials that bend radiation in ways that should not technically be possible—allowing for cloaking devices that bend radiation around an object, hiding it from view. The problem with these cloaks is that meta-materials are tuned to a very specific frequency. So while that specific frequency passes around the object, every other frequency scatters off the cloaks. In a beautiful twist of irony, most invisibility cloaks actually create more scattered light, making the cloaked object stand out more than if it was just standing there uncloaked. This is a fundamental issue of passive invisibility cloaks, and

Fig. 1: What meta-material looks like

34

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futuristic

Fig. 2: Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak is close to becoming a reality

the only way to get around it is to use cloaks fashioned out of active, electrically-active materials. This might change in the future with more advanced passive metamaterials, but for now, active designs are the way forward. Research into active invisibility cloaks is currently being carried out by multiple research groups all over the world, but none have yet been built. Invisibility cloaks are supposed to hide things by bending light around these that would not allow any to be reflected back at a potential viewer, which would allow the invisible thing to be seen. Invisibility cloaks, which are very successful in movies and are so close to being successful in labs, have a crucial weakness. These make things invisible to the perception of the audience their creators had in mind. Previous work on cloaking objects from view has relied on so-called meta-materials made of artificial materials with unusual properties. The composite structures used for cloaking cause light beams to bend around an object and then meet on the other side, resuming their original path, making the ob36

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ject appear invisible. The great unappreciated weakness of invisibility cloaks is that these only make things invisible to human eyes. A cloak made to hide things from humans would be able to bend all colours of visible light, but might not be able to do the same with waves of heat or sound. It has never been clear whether it was even theoretically possible to make an invisibility cloak that could hide the same object from light, heat and sound. The problem is not just that the cloak material has to bend light, but that it has to have an effect on the light, powerful enough to change its behaviour in very specific ways. A mirror can change the behaviour direction of a beam of light dramatically, and can hide a person standing behind it, for example, but does not do those things with enough subtlety to convince anyone that it is not there. An advanced meta-material from the category of meta-materials often used in attempts at invisibility might have a powerful, innate ability to scatter light, but could melt when exposed to a lot of heat, or catch fire when in contact with electricity.

Researchers have addressed the need for a material that could manipulate more than one type of material by making a cloak out of two different layers of material with different properties, but each has to be able to shield the other from view within its own slice of the energy spectrum. A team of researchers has built a double layer of material as a cloak that can keep objects from being seen using either heat or electricity as a viewing medium, using a layer of silicon that attracts and concentrates both electrical current and heat flow, and an inner layer that is actually an empty cavity that scatters both current and heat away from itself. So when an object is placed within the invisibility zone, heat and electricity are diverted around it and scattered around the inside of the cavity. The outer shell then pulls both heat and electricity towards itself, removing the means of being seen from the neighbourhood of the object being hidden. Holes are drilled in the outer layer and filled with a material called polydimethylsiloxane, which conducts heat and electricity little or not at all compared to silicon. The combination of two materials scatters heat and electricity randomly enough to make the accumulated energy difficult to notice.

Invisibility to electronics The combined effect of invisibility on heat and electricity could be used to help eliminate unwanted electrical and heat energy from sensitive electronic components, which could eliminate much of the source of static that make radio reception less clear or sap the performance of the devices themselves. The technique, which boils down to protecting an object from heat and electricity by scattering it away, might also be useful in overcoming the performance barriers that have made it difficult to increase the efficiency of www.EFyMag.coM

futuristic thermo-photovoltaic cells in solar power systems. A dual-purpose cloak that scatters electricity and magnetism could also make low-frequency signals clearer. A powered device that accomplishes the same thing could make the technique useful at a more macro level as well. The goal is to find an efficient way to solve the fundamental problems on the undesired electricalthermal entanglement, for example, turning dissipated heat into a useful source of energy. This is very exciting work that expands the concept of cloaking to the domain of electrons and, thus, uncovers an interesting approach that may be very useful to thermoelectric applications. Researchers are applying technology developed for the visual cloaking of objects to enable particles hide from passing electronics, which could lead to more efficient thermoelectric devices and new kinds of electronics, thus, making invisibility a key for better electronics. The new concept could improve the flow of electrons by orders of magnitude and eventually lead to more efficient filters, sensors and thermoelectric devices, and new kinds of electronics. As the components on semiconductors get smaller, the new concept could be used as a better strategy for electron transport. The concept could also lead to a new kind of switches for electronic devices.

Technological advances Normally, electrons travel through a material in a way that is similar to the motion of electromagnetic waves. In the new electron-cloaking material that has been developed, the process is slightly different. Researchers wanted to carry on further research on how to make some real devices out of this strategy. They developed the idea of harnessing the cloaking mechanisms developed to shield objects from view, applying it 38

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to the movement of electrons. Researchers are now applying the technology developed for visual cloaking of objects to enable particles to hide from passing electronics. The probability flux of electrons is a representation of the paths of electrons as these pass through an invisible nanoparticle. While the paths are bent as these enter the particle, these are subsequently bent back so that these re-emerge from the other side on the same trajectory these started with—just as if the particle was not there. The electronic switch could operate by toggling between transparent and opaque states of electrons, thus, turning a flow of these on and off. The concept appears to work in computer simulations, according to the researchers, as they move on to building actual devices to see whether these devices perform as expected. The initial concept was developed using particles embedded in a normal semiconductor substrate. Now, researchers would like to see if the results can be replicated with other materials, such as 2D sheets of graphene, which might offer interesting additional properties. They modelled nano-particles with a core of one material and a shell of another. But in this case, rather than bending around the object, electrons actually pass through the particles. Their paths are bent first one way, then back again, so these return to the same trajectory these began with. The researchers’ initial impetus was to optimise the materials used in thermoelectric devices, which produce an electrical current from a temperature gradient. Such devices require a combination of characteristics that are hard to obtain—high electrical conductivity (so that generated current can flow freely), but low thermal conductivity (to maintain a temperature gradient). But the two types of

conductivity need to coexist, so only a few materials offer these contradictory characteristics. Simulations show this electroncloaking material could meet these requirements unusually well. The simulations uses particles a few nanometres in size, matching the wavelength of flowing electrons and improving the flow of electrons at particular energy levels by orders of magnitude compared to traditional doping strategies. This might lead to more efficient filters or sensors.

Latest development status A researcher at University of Texas at Austin, USA, has devised an invisibility cloak that could work over a broad range of frequencies, including visible light and microwaves. This is a significant upgrade from current invisibility cloaks that only cloak a very specific frequency, say, a few hertz in the microwave band, and, more importantly, actually make cloaked objects more visible to other frequencies. This cloak could achieve the goal by being active and electrically-powered, rather than dumb and passive like existing invisibility cloaks. Another proposed design consists of a conventional metamaterial base, but with CMOS negative impedance converters (NICs) placed at the corner of each meta-material square. An NIC is an interesting electronic component that adds negative resistance to a circuit, injecting energy rather than consuming it. NICs are not widely used as researchers are not entirely sure how to use these. This seems to propose that, by interspersing NICs (which must be powered) with the meta-material, multiple frequencies can be cloaked. The proposed cloak is invisible over a large range of frequencies, while a standard passive cloak is only invisible for a small range, and more visible than non-cloaked devices in other ranges. www.EFyMag.coM

automation

Camouflaged Past, Omnipresent Future

A

utomation is defined as carrying out a set of predefined procedures to achieve a specific outcome. Introduction of engineering automation can be dated back to the time when command-line interfaces (CLIs) were overtaken by graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Automation has passed technical barriers from engineering to medicine to commerce to entertainment. Automation is necessitated due to the infinite amount of data being spilled over by the information age. Every data set has different specs, requirements, objectives and outcomes. Fig. 1 sheds some light on the various automations embedded in our lives. Scripting languages like Python, TCL, PHP, Perl and PowerShell are utilised in all fields of engineering. These provide a basis for you to carry out complex tasks easily. These languages are sometimes referred to as very-high-level languages, as these are used to direct various tools and software to work. Scripting languages are commonly interpretable rather than compilable. Primitive scripting can be seen in the form of Windows batch files (.bat), which run a set of codes sequentially to perform a task from opening MSPaint to shutting down Windows.

Vijaykumar Sajjanar is assistant professor, Department of Electronics & Communication, BLDEA’s VP Dr P.G.H College of Engineering and Technology, Karnataka

Fig. 1: Various automations embedded in our lives

User interfaces inherently use scripts. A simple example to summarise scripts for automation is a single-line batch file as shown in Fig. 2. The file, when executed, copies all .png images from an external device on G:\ to C:\ images\ with one click. In electronics, integrated circuit (IC) designs require scripts to translate designs from one technology to another. An often-used script is Tool Command Language (TCL). Timing analysis, power analysis and floor planning all require scripts to analyse the behaviour of complex circuits being cramped into smaller semiconductor dies to satisfy Gordon Moore’s first law. Embedded systems use small scripts to embed more functions, thus blurring the barriers between general-purpose systems and application-specific systems—smartphones are the best example of this transition. With the introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT), embedded systems have entered a new era. Crunching large data (Big Data) provided by millions of IoT devices is a task simplified by Python scripting. Sensors and actuators with networking capability being put on a single board require scripts to operate. MicroPython is an example being utilised by various designers.

EnginEEring fiElds Electronics

information technology

design engineering

Embedded systems

Testing

Programming

FPGA

The IoT

SQL

C/C++/C#

ASIC

Microcontroller

Oracle

Java

Scripting

Scripting

Scripting

Scripting

Scripting

Scripting

Scripting

Device prototypes

Smarphones

Apps

Operating systems

Rockets

Buildings

Earthmovers

Emulators

Wearable techs

Simulators

Websites

Aeroplanes

Architectures

Drilling rigs

40

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

Automobiles

Constructions

fields

Integrated circuits

Machines

CAD/CAM

Technology

Applications

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automation

Fig. 2: A single-line batch file

Instructions/Statement

1000

100

Scripting

TCL/Perl

10

Assembly

Visual Basic

C

Java C++

System programming

1 None

Strong

Degree of Typing

Fig. 3: Functionalities of different computer languages

In information technology, Python is one of the scripting languages used for carrying out tasks from local machines to servers and the Internet. Perl, PowerShell and other scripting languages help testing and debugging errors from programs. Scripts help automate the process of searching and suggesting solutions for syntax or semantic errors. Data crunching and providing meaningful results is possible with minimal efforts using scripts. Architectures, structures and buildings are designed using computer-aided technologies like computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing tools. Tools like SolidEdge and AutoCad use VBscripts for designs. In the article ‘Scripting: Higher Level Programming for the 21st Century,’ from IEEE Computer magazine, March 1998 issue, John K. Ousterhout describes how scripting languages glue applications. Interdisciplinary researches require coding, which is indifferent across applications, hence reducing the necessary time to market for products. Fig. 3 by John K. Ousterhout describes the functionality of different computer languages. In a stronglytyped language, the programmer declares how each piece of information will be used, and the language prevents the information from being used in any other way. Instructions/statements present the number of machine instructions carried out by a particular statement. 42

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automation As illustrated in the earlier batch file, scripting languages need not work from scratch for application development as opposed to programming languages that are more suited for dictating algorithms and procedures. A script assumes that useful components are already present in some other language and it has to plug together the components. The IoT, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics are spilling new interdisciplinary areas. Automation snooping into commerce and entertainment is providing better customer experience, which otherwise would be a very tedious task. As quoted by Thomas Devenport and Julia Kirby from ‘Beyond Automation’, Harvard Business Review, June 2015 issue, automation is seen as a concern to human jobs because of the path travelled in the three eras, discussed next.

Three eras of automation If this wave of automation seems scarier than previous ones, it is for good reason. As machines encroach on decision making, it is hard to see the higher ground to which humans might move. Era One: 19th century. Machines take away the dirty and dangerous—industrial equipment, from looms to cotton gin, relieves humans of onerous manual labour. Era Two: 20th century. Machines take away the dull—automated interfaces, from airline kiosks to call centres, relieve humans of routine service transactions and clerical chores. Era Three: 21st century. Machines take away decisions—intelligent systems, from airfare pricing to IBM’s Watson, make better choices than humans, more reliably and faster. Machines/computers have evolved from doing jobs hazardous to humans (waste management and hostile environment works) to jobs that require decision making (flight ticket booking and weather predictions). Humans are forced to step up and embrace technology. Automation can be viewed as an aide to humans rather than as competition. As mentioned by Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning (SINTEF), May 2013, 90 per cent of the world’s data was generated in the preceding two years. Actively or passively, everyone is feeding data to the Internet. To produce meaningful conclusions and draw new schemes to benefit mankind is a herculean task. These tasks require cognitive ability held by humans. Teaching the systems to work efficiently allows time for future researches in medicine, science and industry. For tech enthusiasts, this is the best time to learn and, for companies, the best time to invest in automation. www.EFyMag.coM

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software

An Introduction To MicroPython

T Ayan Pahwa works as an embedded software engineer at Mentor Graphics

he MicroPython project is an open source implementation of Python 3 that includes a small subset of Python standard libraries, and is optimised to run on microcontrollers with constrained environments like limited ROM, RAM and processing power. It came about after a successful Kickstarter campaign by Damien George.

What MicroPython is MicroPython includes the standard Python interpreter that runs on small embedded development boards. With MicroPython you can write Python scripts to control hardware. For example, you can make LEDs blink, communicate with a temperature sensor, control motors and publish a sensor reading on the Internet. It is worth noting that the firmware for such embedded devices is generally coded in Assembly, C or C++, but by using MicroPython you can achieve almost the same results as with high-level Python.

What MicroPython is not

Fig. 1: MicroPython Kickstarter campaign

Unlike the desktop version of Python, MicroPython is a stripped-down version for microcontrollers; therefore it does not support all Python libraries and functionalities. In the world of microcontrollers, the firmware is directly burned to the ROM (also known as pro-

gram memory), and there is no file system. MicroPython implements a minimal type of file system directly on the flash memory of the microcontrollers. If the device has 1MB or more of storage, then it will be set up (upon first boot) to contain a file system. This file system uses FAT format and is stored in the flash memory by MicroPython firmware. This gives you the benefit of being able to access, read and write files within the main Python program for flexible storage operations. There are two files that are treated specially by ESP8266 when it starts up: boot.py and main.py. The former script is executed first (if it exists), and once it completes, the latter script is executed. You can create these files yourself and populate these with the code that you want to run when the device starts up. boot.py generally contains boot parameters like whether to have serial debugging on or off, which Wi-Fi AP to connect, main code to run and so on. Looping stays in main.py, for example, the logic for blinking LEDs. It is also worth noting that microcontrollers are generally programmed in C, wherein direct registers are accessed and manipulated to use the peripherals of microcontrollers. Firmware code is cross-compiled and built for the target microcontroller architecture, and is flashed using a suitable programmer. MicroPython abstracts all these steps, but the constraint here is the real-time feature of microcontrollers, in general. Hence, MicroPython is not suitable for strict real-time applications.

Boards supported by MicroPython There are numerous boards/chipsets supported by MicroPython, and more are expected to do so in the near future as the project matures. The current board support list is given below. pyboard. This is the official MicroPython board, which comes with full 44

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software

Fig. 2: The pyboard

Fig. 3: ESP8266 microcontroller chip

Fig. 4: BBC micro:bit

MicroPython support out-of-the-box. It features STM32F405RGT6 ARM Cortex M4 based processor. MicroPython supports APIs for almost all hardware peripherals of the chip like GPIO, I2C, SPI and UART. ESP8266. MicroPython support for the low-cost Wi-Fi development ESP8266 microcontroller is excellent. Wi-Fi and Internet accessibility are made available within MicroPython using a special network library. There is also a Web based read-evaluate-print-loop (REPL) that allows you to run MicroPython code on ESP8266 using a Web browser within a local network. BBC micro:bit. This is a new board aimed at teaching kids computer programming. Using MicroPython on micro:bit, you can access

the board’s peripherals like LEDs and accelerometers. Note. The full list of supported boards can be found at MicroPython website.

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Library stacks supported by MicroPython Python supports a variety of libraries on desktop computers, but porting these directly to a microcontroller is not an easy task as these are not optimised for running on machines with less RAM. Instead of making existing useful Python libraries available in MicroPython, these are stripped in order to be better optimised to run on constrained hardware. Current libraries supported by MicroPython are named with the initial u, which stands for Micro

Library implementation: • ucollections - collection and container types • uhashlib - hashing algorithm • uheapq - heap queue algorithm • uio - input/output streams • ujson - JSON encoding and decoding • uos - basic operating system services • ure - regular expressions • usocket - socket module • ustruct - pack and unpack primitive data types • utime - time-related functions • uzlib - zlib decompression Functionalities specific to MicroPython implementation are available in the following libraries: • machine - for functions related to the board • micropython - to access and control MicroPython internals • network - for network configuration • uctypes - to access binary data in a structured way Following libraries are specific to pyboard: • pyb - for functions related to the board • Time-related functions • Reset-related functions • Interrupt-related functions Note. The full list of supported libraries can be found at MicroPython website.

Loading MicroPython on ESP8266 board ESP8266 is a cheap Wi-Fi development board. Since MicroPython exposes all required APIs including the networking stack, this chip is the preferred choice for learning how to load MicroPython. ESP8266 raw chip modules require a USBto-TTL converter and a 3.3-volt stable power source to interact with the computer. Hence, you can use a complete ESP8266 board like NodeMCU or Adafruit Feather HUZZAH, which has all necessary components on the same board. ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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software To flash MicroPython firmware binary on ESP8266 board, a handy command line tool known as esptool can be used. It can be downloaded directly from Python package manager using the following commands:

enable it over serialREPL:

sudo pip install esptool

> E

Check for the serial port after connecting the board it is /dev/tty. SLAB_USBtoUART in our case

>>> import webrepl_setup WebREPL daemon auto-start status: disabled Would you like to (E)nable or (D)isable it running on boot? (Empty line to quit)

Fig. 5: NodeMCU

To enable WebREPL, you must set password for it New password: python

ls /dev/tty* can help you identify it.

baud rate of 115,200, as follows:

esptool.py --port “serial_port” erase_

sudo screen /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART

Changes will be activated after reboot

flash

115200

Would you like to reboot now? (y/n) y

or

esptool.py --port “serial_port” --baud 460800 write_flash --flash_size=detect 0

sudo minimum -D /dev/ttySLAB_USBtoUART

iAyan:~ iAyan$ esptool.py --port /

For Windows, use Putty, for which the serial to be used is COMMxx (xx=COMM port number under Device Manager) and the baud rate is 115,200. If everything goes well, you will see the familiar Python prompt, at which point you can write Python commands and view the immediate outputs. Type ‘print (“Hello World!”)’, and yes, it is the same old Python that you love.

dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART --baud 460800

sudo screen /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART

write_flash --flash_size=detect 0 esp8266-

115200

20161110-v1.8.6.bin

“press enter”

esptool.py v1.2.1

>>> print(“Hello, MicroPython!”)

Connecting...

Hello, MicroPython!

Auto-detected Flash size: 32m

>>> 2+5

Running Cesanta flasher stub...

7

Flash params set to 0x0040

>>>

“firmware_file”

Here, .bin firmware file should be kept in the current working directory: iAyan:~ iAyan$ sudo esptool.py --port / dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART erase_flash esptool.py v1.2.1 Connecting... Running Cesanta flasher stub... Erasing flash (this may take a while)... Erase took 10.8 seconds

Writing 569344 @ 0x0... 569344 (100 %) Wrote 569344 bytes at 0x0 in 14.1 seconds (324.1 kbit/s)... Leaving... iAyan:~ iAyan$

Using the serial REPL Just like flashing MicroPython to the board, its REPL can be accessed over the serial port. Simply connect your MicroPython compatible board, ESP8266 board in this case, and it will mount as a serial device (COMMxx in Windows and /dev/ttySiLabs in OSX and Linux). Use any serial emulator like Putty on Windows, or minicom or screen on Linux/OSX to access the serial REPL, using the 46

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Using WebREPL One unique feature of MicroPython on the boards that support networking (like ESP8266) is a WebREPL (REPL like a Python command line) that is accessible through a Web page. Instead of using a serial connection to the board, you can run Python code directly from your browser in a simple terminal. You do not even need to connect the board to a Wi-Fi network; it can create its own network, which you can use to access WebREPL. The new releases of MicroPython come with WebREPL disabled by default, so use the following commands to

Confirm password: python

Once enabled, ESP8266 will start in AP mode and create a hotspot. You can connect to it with the password micropythoN and access WebREPL using the IP ws://192.168.4.1:8266/. Enter the password that you set earlier. WebREPL client can be accessed at http://micropython.org/webrepl/ or downloaded from GitHub (https:// codeload.github.com/micropython/ webrepl/zip/master).

Tools to make life easy Adafruit MicroPython Tool (Ampy). This utility is used to interact with MicroPython board over a serial connection. Ampy is a simple command line tool to manipulate files and run code on MicroPython board over its serial connection. With it, you can send files from your computer to a MicroPython board’s file system, download files from a board to your computer and send a Python script to a board to be executed. Download Ampy using Python Pip. sudo pip3 install adafruit-ampy

Transfer files from a PC to the board using Ampy and vice versa, as follows: ampy --port “serial_port” put “file_name. py” ampy --port “serial_port” get “file_name. py” iAyan:~ iAyan$ ampy --port /dev/tty. SLAB_USBtoUART get boot.py # This file is executed on every boot www.EFyMag.coM

software (including wake-boot from deepsleep)

the ground pin.

#import esp

import machine

#esp.osdebug(None)

import time

import gc import webrepl

pin_number = 15

webrepl.start()

pin = machine.Pin(pin_number, machine.

gc.collect()

Pin.OUT)

iAyan:~ iAyan$ ampy --port /dev/tty.

while True:

Fig. 6: Connecting to ESP8266

SLAB_USBtoUART put main.py

pin.high()

iAyan:~ iAyan$ ampy --port /dev/tty.

time.sleep(1)

>>> AP_NAME = “ “

SLAB_USBtoUART ls

pin.low()

>>> PASSWORD = “ “

boot.py

time.sleep(1)

>>> ap = network.WLAN(network.STA_IF)

webrepl_cfg.py main.py

This is handy to transfer main.py file to board and will run as soon as the board boots after boot.py file.

Hardware tinkering with MicroPython Hardware hacking - GPIO. Connect the positive side, that is, anode of the LED to pin 15 on ESP8266 board via a 330-ohm resistor and the negative side or cathode (shorter leg) to

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Networking with MicroPython Networking is a powerful feature of microcontrollers, thanks to the Internet of Things. ESP8266 is a lowcost Wi-Fi development board and, because of MicroPython, it exposes the required APIs to access networking on ESP8266. A script to connect your board to your router and open the gate to the Internet is: >>> import network

>>> ap.active(True) #5 ets_task(4020ed88, 28, 3fff9708, 10) >>> ap.connect(AP_NAME, PASSWORD) >>> ap.ifconfig() (‘192.168.1.127’, ‘255.255.255.0’, ‘192.168.1.1’, ‘192.168.1.1’

Congratulations! ESP8266 is now a device on your local network with just five lines of Python code. Now you can access WebREPL over this IP address. Reproduced from February issue of Open Source For You magazine.

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47

test & measurement

The Need For CalibratioN And How To Improve It

M Saurabh Durgapal is working as technology journalist at EFY

istakes are an integral part of human life. Some mistakes can have a larger impact than the others, and this calls for an application to be tested, inspected and certified before handing it over for usage. This has led to a lot of standards and regulations to come up. Electrotechnical Assessment Scheme (EAS), for example, governs the requirements of a suitable system to ensure consistency of instruments. Since most test instruments involve electronics, a lot can go wrong due to the sensitive components involved. This requires regular calibration of equipment to keep these up to date. However, the bigger issue is the compromise of performance in handheld equipment over benchtop ones.

Handheld vs benchtop equipment “There are certain challenges in reducing the form factor while providing better performance and specifications,” says V. Mahadevan, managing director, VigVen Tech

Points to remember Some factors that can help in improving measurements are:  Ensure calibration of every measuring instrument used for testing, including the ones used at the design stage.  Concurrent approach to engineering and design for testability must be followed. This means using the right tools without any handicap.  Use of advanced simulation tools and ensuring integration of board design with EMI/EMC as well as mechanical CADD packages.  Quality over compromise should be the order of the day with each individual onboard the design bus.

Mark Pvt Ltd. Reducing the form factor means removing certain components and compromising in certain areas. Handheld equipment minimise board design and, hence, avoid components that generate too much heat. This allows removal of heat-sinks and helps the

Proper calibration requires fine-tuning the measurements

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test & measurement equipment in field usage. Field equipment go through much worse conditions than benchtop ones and therefore ruggedising these is necessary. From performance perspective, these are equally efficient, generally. Calibrating the equipment is important. “While on a mission to planet Mars, you do not want to accidently land up on the Moon,” says Mahadevan. Often, calibration is either hyped or completely ignored as a technical jargon by government departments to dissuade new suppliers. Calibration is important as equipment begin to develop marginal errors over time. Establishing an effective method to define the accuracy of test equipment becomes paramount when an incorrect measurement could lead to drastic results down the line. Post calibration, a certificate is provided that mentions the next calibration due date. However, the equipment can start having accuracy issues earlier, depending on usage. Prioritising ISO certifications over calibration. ISO certifications are often given importance over calibration, according to Mahadevan. The role of calibration is of prime importance when you consider long-term usage of the equipment. It is only natural for the test equipment to deviate from accurate measurements over time. With improved access to calibration facilities there can be reduction in return on investment period for the equipment. However, a lot of focus still needs to be given to improving calibration standards. Points to consider. Calibration labs are the Mecca for test and measurement. These are supposed to be decked with the best and brightest to ensure reliability. The calibration equipment must be of top quality and maintained regularly. However, there is litwww.EFyMag.coM

High-resolution equipment are good for precise measurements

tle to no information available on calibration facilities. Need for regular calibration arises out of various phases that the equipment goes through. A certificate of calibration is usually valid for a period of 12 months, but the instrument may require regular assessments in between calibrations as well. On the other hand, faults develop over time due to rough usage, too. This process is especially fast in field test equipment. Some faults develop over time. Fused test leads are an interesting solution to look at in terms of safety and usage. Besides ease of handling, fused leads have the advantage of allowing standard connecting clips, probes and adaptors to be used for measurements. Fuses within the test leads operate in the event of a fault between the test leads external to the instrument or between a test lead and earth, both of which are faults that could have very serious consequences. Additionally, leads could go faulty due to the various pressures put on these over the course of time, namely, coiling, twisting and squeezing into boxes. Faulty leads play a major role in inaccurate measurements. Hence, it is advisable to change cables at regular intervals. Fuses in test equipment are also an area to be looked at. High breaking capacity fuses, usually not exceeding 500mA, are more

prevalent in test leads. Fuses in test equipment are commonly rated at 440V, 10kA. Together, these act as dual protectors for the equipment so that more sensitive parts of the device stay unharmed. However, high power is not the only cause for unreliable measurements. Low-powered devices like handheld equipment often work on batteries. Even with the best of test equipment, if batteries are insufficiently powering the device, unreliable measurements are bound to occur. A low battery symbol usually gives the warning. It always helps to use fresh batteries in such cases.

Improving performance for tomorrow For improving equipment quality and improving measurements, “Unlearning what we did yesterday to transition for what we need tomorrow is important,” says Mahadevan. The needs are changing and the equipment need to be designed keeping in mind the current requirements. Demolition of cross-functional silos that exist between the software and hardware teams is critical to achieve relevance. Calibration standards must also improve in India. For this, huge impetus in the form of government investments in standards labs is a must to have a reliable community for the test and measurement industry. ElEctronics For you | May 2017

49

Decision Makers’ connect

green mobility Powering Automotives Globally

Have you ever looked at tHe world from above? one tHing tHat defines its beauty and grandeur is tHe movement down under. tHis movement, in tecHnical terms, is called mobility. wHat our world needs today is green mobility

Trains, buses, taxis and trucks are always on the move, forming the networks that lead to the growth of cities and towns. Mobility and the supply chain are important to many businesses, to deliver goods and services. In fact, mobility has become the lifeline of human existence. Yet, it comes with its own hazards – living spaces can become noisy, congested, polluted and give rise to airborne viruses, which can impact human life for years to come. That’s the reason why alternate forms of fuel, power and mobility drivers are now being explored. Research dollars are being spent in these fields to drive growth and create new business lines that will take the automotive sector into

new realms. And one domain that is showing the maximum promise in terms of delivering sustainable transportation and mobility is electric vehicles (EVs).

Global trends in the EV segment Growing business opportunities in green mobility, increased government understanding, reduced costs, higher demand and changing consumer habits are giving a fillip to the EV industry. As per industry trends and estimates, global EV sales are slated to touch 41 million by 2040 and constitute 35 per cent of new car sales. This could happen because of wider acceptance of the technology and allied industrial support.

Countries like China, USA, Japan, the Netherlands and France are currently the prominent markets for investments in EV. The growth drivers in these markets are: increased collaborative IP sharing, stakeholder interest, funding, advocacy for the technology, development of infrastructure to support EVs in terms of adequate charging facilities, and continuous investments in R&D. Government policies are being driven to adapt to these changes, which is encouraging. And it is expected that the global mass markets will follow the trends set by the early-adopter countries. Industry bodies and early adopters have succeeded in delivering practicality, sustainability, safety and

250

25%

200

20%

150

15%

100

10%

50

5%

0

2010

Market share (2015)

New electric car registrations (thousands)

EV sales and market share in a selection of countries

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2015 market share

0% China

Norway United The States Netherlands

United Kingdom

Japan

Germany

France

Sweden

Others

The two main electric car markets are China and the United States. Seven other countries reached over one per cent EV market share in 2015 (Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, France, China and the United Kingdom). Source: Global EV Outlook 2016

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Decision Makers’ connect cost effectiveness to the EV sector, but it still needs support in terms of governance, which can help wider deployment and faster adoption. China is now adopting the EV culture in a big way, supported by government initiatives like restrictions on the use of conventional fuel engine vehicles in certain major cities, a step taken in the public interest to reduce pollution. Allied industries like the manufacturers of batteries, components and electronic accessory manufacturers have been given tax holidays to catalyse this growth. These are bold moves that are expected to drive exponential growth in the segment, setting an example for others to follow. One major move made by China is in public transport. Today, more than 200,000 buses on China’s roads are electrically powered, and 20 per cent of all new orders annually are being equipped with EV features. After the climate change conference held at Morocco in 2016, it is widely believed that EVs are the future for a sustainable transport system, and that’s why there is a global impetus to shift public transport systems towards optimal adoption of EVs. There is a consensus that by 2020, twenty million cars globally must be electrically powered—this is being championed under the Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI). Prior to the Morocco convention, the Paris Declaration on electro– mobility and climate change focused on the fact that transport contributes almost 23 per cent to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and this is increasing at a faster rate than in most sectors. If the right steps are not taken in time, it could contribute to 50 per cent of GHG emissions by 2050. This will lead to rising temperatures and global imbalances. Are we ready to counter this trend? Therefore it is advisable for governments to invest in sustainable energy sources that can impact human life in a positive way. The steps that can lead to this transition are: a dramatic change in the transportation portfolio, with a set target to replace fossil fuel powered vehicles with EVs; investment in global research to understand the dynamics across temperature zones; incentives to manufacturing industries with EVs in their product portfolio; and creation and implementation of global agreements as well as policy frameworks to drive change. There are various encouraging government initiatives, too, for this sector. The Indian government has set up a Green Urban Transport Scheme (GUTS) with an initial investment of Rs 250 billion. This will help propel green energy initiatives and infrastructure at the national, state and city levels, all of which will impact the EV market. Another promising policy initiative is the National Electric Mobility Mission – 2020, mandated under the FAME scheme. This is 52

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Green Mobility ThE IndIa STory India today is at a stage in the EV adoption lifecycle that is similar to where we were with computers and the Internet during the 1980s and 90s. We could call it the take-off point. There is a huge opportunity for us to leapfrog ahead of the early adopters due to the sheer power of our buyer base. What we need today is the willingness to try and explore the ways in which we can increase the adoption of EVs in the country. We need to check what our strengths are in terms of technology and provide an ideal investment climate. We also need to harvest home-grown talent as well as give the foreign brands a level playing field, to encourage them to venture into this space under the Make in India platform. The introduction of the ’Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles’ or FAME scheme by the government in 2015, to promote hybrid vehicles and EVs, is a step in the right direction. And with governments in major states thinking of replacing their fleet vehicles with EVs, there are some things to cheer about. India is currently estimated to have 500,000 electric two-wheelers, about 200,000 e-rickshaws, 100,000 e-powered buses and a few thousand e-cars, which is a miniscule slice of the entire Indian auto industry. As per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data, the auto sector today contributes to 7.1 per cent of India’s GDP, with the two-wheeler segment accounting for 81 per cent of the growth. So, what are the factors that are expected to change the dynamics of the automobiles industry and the EV sector in India, in particular? Here is a list. • Global investments in India: Tesla, a global giant in the EV segment, and South Korea’s Kia Motors currently want to enter India with their EVs. KIA has gone a step further and narrowed down its choices for a potential manufacturing location to Maharashtra or Andhra Pradesh. • Toyota and Nissan also have plans of coming in with a larger bouquet of offerings. • Suzuki Motor Corp is eyeing the lithium-ion battery segment, and is planning a JV with Denso Corp and Toshiba Corp to produce batteries for the Indian market. • Hero Motor Corp is eyeing the EV segment and has invested US$ 31 million to acquire a controlling stake in Bengaluru based tech firm, Ather Energy, which is the brain child of two IIT Madras students (who were covered under the government’s FAME-2015 scheme). • Ford Motors is planning to invest US$ 200 million in India, to build a global technology and business centre in Chennai. This will be a product design hub that will propel the EV segment and other mobility services across global markets. • Ola Cabs, one of India’s leading car rental service companies, is planning to introduce one million EVs in collaboration with an Indian manufacturer within the next few years starting 2018 – this has been reported in the investment report of Softbank Group, investment partners to Ola Cabs.

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Green Mobility

Decision Makers’ connect

El ectric cars in the vehicle stock (million)

The stock and deployment of electric cars by 2030: A projection 160 140

Historical

120

IEA 2DS

100

Paris Declaration

80

IEA 4DS

60 40

EVI 2020 target

20

Cumulative country targets

0

2010

2015

2020

2025

2030

Individual country commitments would bring 13 million electric cars on the road by 2020. The EVI aims at a deployment of 20 million electric cars by 2020. In both cases, reaching 2020 deployment targets for Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) requires a sizeable growth of the electric car stock. Meeting 2030 decarbonisation and sustainability goals requires a major deployment of electric cars in the 2020s. Source: Global EV Outlook 2016

an ambitious plan launched by the Ministry of Heavy Industries, which is set to change the way transportation is perceived in India. It aims to get seven million electric and hybrid vehicles plying on Indian roads by 2020. To drive this change, the government is offering incentives to new manufacturing units interested in the technology; R&D support is being provided for players who want to get into segments like EV technology, power electronics, motors, systems integration, testing infrastructure; and help is provided to the EV industry to participate and represent India at various trade shows. Nationally, the government is aiming to set up charging infrastructure with the help of local electric supply units, and is encouraging retrofits wherever possible.

initiatives in sustainable transportation. For the global automobile segment, the forecast is a CAGR of more than 7 per cent over the next two years.. This figure, backed by the right government initiatives, should make the EV segment attractive to any Indian entrepreneur. Send us your feedback at: [email protected] By Sanjay Banerjee The author is passionate about how businesses can benefit from technology. He is a tech enthusiast and a senior business leader at EFY

The battery for EVs, the largest component in the vehicle, currently accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the overall cost, which is substantially lower than what it was six years ago, and prices are dropping even further. One area of concern is that China, Argentina, Australia and Chile have the highest lithium reserves across the world, while India doesn’t have any viable lithium deposits. So, if we need to grow Indian businesses and make them competitive, much more research needs to be done to find lithium alternatives. One potential option is the aluminium battery, which Stanford University has reported can reduce charging time and mitigate the various health hazards associated with lithium-ion batteries. In short, while India is at the cusp of growth in the EV segment, it would need to introspect and invest in newer technologies.

What to expect in the future With new players coming in, backed with adequate funding, we should see some cost-effective, integrated and innovative solutions. Knowledge-sharing will be critical in speeding up technology development and adoption. Collaborative commerce will be a building block for the industry, and it will be championed by government References: SIAM, Global Outlook on E – Vehicles report – 2016, Government Policy Declaration sheets and Documents

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ElEctronics For you | May 2017

53

design

Processors Undergoing Changes To save Power

P Saurabh Durgapal is working as technology journalist at EFY

ower versus performance is an ongoing battle, with the best involving a compromise between the two. High-performance system(s)-on-chip (SoC) designers often struggle to achieve the best possible performance-power balance. Customers’ user experience is an important aspect to consider as it determines performance improvements. However, this calls for increasing the battery size as most devices are battery-powered. Memory tracker technology from Performance-IP, for example, enables products to operate at higher efficiency, while reducing power consumption.

Power reduction techniques for processors

Fig. 1: Zen Core block diagram

54

A typical SoC design consists of processors, memory clients, interconnects and memory systems. Processors are one of the major power consumers in a device, so switch-

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

ing off the CPU when idle helps. This includes turning off the processor when all processes are blocked, when processes appear to be busy waiting and extending real-time process sleep periods. Studies have shown these to increase battery lifetime by approximately 20 per cent in Apple systems. These tricks are often used by processor designers as well. Dynamic power consumption in a processor arises from circuit activity. As performance, that is, speed and frequency, of the IC increases, the amount of dynamic power also increases. Dynamic power is datadependent and closely tied to the number of transistors that change states. A hidden component of dynamic power is loss due to dynamic hazards. This must be taken care of while designing powerconscious processors. Architectural changes to reduce power. Crusoe from Transmeta is a very long instruction word (VLIW) processor designed for low-power applications including mobile PCs and Internet devices. It allows microprocessors to emulate Intel X86 instruction set. Instead of the instruction set being implemented on the hardware, Crusoe runs a software abstraction layer known as code morphing software. This has brought about a reduction in required power. Intel processors at 400MHz used to consume about 7.4 watts, or AMD clocked at 700MHz at the time consumed 34 watts. The 700MHz Crusoe uses one watt, which was a revelation when introduced. LongRun in Crusoe monitors the precise performance level needed by an application and dynamically adjusts the processor’s operating speed and voltage to match it. This increases the battery life by a significant amount. Following this, there is SpeedStep www.EFyMag.coM

design Some PoPular ProceSSorS Name

Features

Intel Xeon E7-8894 v4

2.4GHz with turbo boost to 3.4GHz with 60MB cache

Intel i7-7700

3.6GHz with turbo boost to 4.2GHz with 8MB cache

AMD FX series

2.8GHz to 4.5GHz with up to 8MB L3 cache

AMD Ryzen 7 1800X

3.6GHz base clock and 4GHz boost clock

Microchip ATtiny1617

16KB flash; sleep currents up to 100nA

NXP i.MX 6ULL

528MHz with 128KB L2 cache

NXP LS1028A

64-bit ARM Cortex V8 processor core

Omni Vision OV788& OV798

32-bit RISC MCUs with 32KB data cache and 32KB instruction cache

Analog Devices ADuCM4050

40μA/MHz with 680nA in hibernate mode Fig. 2: Cortex M4 has been very popular with low-power processors for the IoT

from Intel that allows clock speed of the processor to be dynamically changed by the software. It allows the processor to meet the instantaneous performance needs of the operation being performed, thus minimising power consumption and loss through heat. LongHaul is a speed-throttling technology developed by VIA Technologies that helps reduce power consumption. It uses specialised instructions utilised by the software to exercise control on bus-to-core frequency ratio and CPU core voltage. When the system boots up, ratio and voltage are set to hardware defaults. Depending on the load on the CPU, a CPU driver controls the throttling during operation. Following a similar course, AMD’s dynamic frequency scaling and power saving known as PowerNow (mobile chips) and Cool‘n’Quiet (desktop and server chips) allowed adjusting clock speed

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under varying loads and idle conditions to save battery power. These power-saving techniques allowed power saving but, caused problems with the operating systems. Microsoft also reported problems previewing video files with SpeedStep enabled under Windows 2000 or XP. This called for making further changes, resulting in newer protocols that are being implemented today. Power saving for the present. Building up on PowerNow, AMD launched Turbo Core beginning with Bulldozer architecture. The architecture focused on reducing power consumption over the earlier K10 architecture for higher performance per watt. Bulldozer processors are based on GlobalFoundries’ 32nm silicon on insulator, which reuses DEC approach for multitasking computer performance. By eliminating redundant elements that creep into multi-core designs, it aims to take advantage of its hardware capabilities while using less power. This is followed by Zen architecture that looks to define balance between power and performance. As per multi-threaded Cinebench R15, performance per watt is more than double than it was for Piledriver architecture. Zen architecture includes a complex stack engine that can eliminate certain stack manipulation instructions. This coupled with the

core design, which is optimised to use less power, is something to look out for. It has an integrated power management controller that monitors and adjusts the voltage used by each core according to the temperature and loading. Unlike previous versions, power management roles are baked directly into silicon and are out of the control of the software and operating system. The hardware on the chip can respond in a matter of milliseconds, allowing much tighter control over voltages and clock speeds. Balancing power and performance. Intel Turbo Boost draws a parallel with Turbo Core from AMD. However, Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology is more power conscious and allows the system to dynamically adjust processor voltage and core frequency, decreasing average power consumption and heat production. Design strategies in SpeedStep involve separation between voltage and frequency changes. Varying voltages in small increments separately from frequency changes allow the processor to reduce periods of system unavailability occurring during frequency changes. The system can transition between voltage and frequency states more often, hence providing improved power-performance balance. Clock partitioning and recovery is another method for reducing powwww.EFyMag.coM

design er consumption. The bus clock runs during state transition between the core clocks, and phase-locked loops are stopped while the logic remains active. The core clock can also restart more quickly under SpeedStep than under previous architectures.

Ultra-low-power MCUs for wearable devices

Apollo 2 integrates up to 1MB flash with 256kB RAM to accommodate radio and sensor overhead. The ARM Cortex-M based processor has a power consumption of under 10µA/MHz. It is an improvement over Apollo 1, with current usage of about 35µA/MHz with sleep modes as low as 143nA. MAX32630/MAX32631 from Maxim Integrated is another ARM Cortex-M based processor suitable for the wearable market. It has a power consumption of 106µA/MHz

A lot of power is also being saved by reducing consumption in MCUs. The requirement is to have processors that can increase battery life. This has led to a lot of processors with power consumption in µA/ MHz, and it is further reducing. STMicroelectronics’ STM32L496 and STM32L4A6, for example, work at 37µA/MHz. Kinetis L series MCU from NXP work at about 75µA/MHz. Among the wide range of ultra-low-power MCUs, Fig. 3: Focus is now shifting towards power-performance balance however, ARM Cortex-M processor seems to be the common link. Certain modifications in 600nA low-power mode. It sits in are added to the underlying Cortex the higher edge of low-power procescore to further improve consumpsors. Clocked in at 96MHz, the 32-bit tion. For instance, a bit manipulaprocessor sports 512kB SRAM with tion engine improves time and code 2MB flash. An interesting part of the size in the architecture. processor is the trust protection unit Kinetis from NXP employs it to with encryption and security feathe highest effect. Low-power boot is tures. These features include a moduanother power-saving option where lar arithmetic accelerator for fast battery chemistry limits allowable ECDSA, a hardware PRNG entropy peak currents. The L series allows generator and a secure boot loader. the peripherals to operate autonoBut it is not just about reducmously in deep-sleep mode with ing power. As seen in MAX32630/1, an alternate-power source without removing encryption features could involving the core or main system. result in reduced power consumpThe ultra-low-power MCU tion, but the need for encryption is

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prime in today’s world. With every person holding multiple devices daily, securing data also becomes important. So a better fit, instead of just reducing power consumption, is to look at a scenario where the requirements are met with the lowest possible power.

Focus shifting towards powerperformance balance AMD Ryzen based on Zen architecture has been recently released. Apart from one processor model, it focuses on powerperformance balance. So, the move towards extracting the most out of the processor seems to be well underway. Reducing power consumption comes at a price, and it can only be done until a certain point, post which the performance dips below expectations. We will always look towards processors that consume low power to run more processes and allow extended battery life. Personally, getting an Intel or AMD processor to run off an AA battery would be the dream, but there is only so much that can be done. For wearable devices, this is a whole different power struggle. With ARM Cortex M4 being the choice for major designs, future solutions should be interesting to look at. However, at present, balance between power consumption and performance looks to be the focus for processors of the future.

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AUTOMOTIVE Part 1 of 2

Self-Driving CarS Platform And Their Trends

C V.P. Sampath is a senior member of IEEE and a member of Institution of Engineers India. He is currently working as technical architect at AdeptChips, Bengaluru. He is a regular contributor to national newspapers, IEEE-MAS section, and has published international papers on VLSI and networks

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ar companies have developed a design for universal data format that will allow for standardised vehicle data exchange, making the crowd sourcing paradigm available for self-driving automobiles. Sharing data such as real-time traffic, weather and parking spaces will be much faster and easier. The design is called sensor ingestion interface specification (SENSORIS), and it has been picked up by ERTICO - ITS Europe. It is a UK body overseeing the development of globally-adopted standards related to future automotive and transportation technologies. The aim is to define a standardised interface for exchanging information between in-vehicle sensors and a dedicated Cloud as well as between Clouds that will enable broad access, delivery and processing of vehicle sensor data, enable easy exchange of vehicle sensor data between all players and enable enriched location based services that are key for mobility services as well as for automated driving. Currently, 11 major automotive and supplier companies have signed up for SENSORIS innovation platform. These are AISIN AW, Robert Bosch, Continental, Daimler, Elektrobit, HARMAN, HERE, LG Electronics, NavInfo, PIONEER and TomTom. Pooling analogous vehicle data from millions of vehicles around the world will allow for a fullyautomated driving experience. Each vehicle will have access to near-real-time info of road conditions, traffic data and various hazards that will help these self-driving vehicles make better decisions on the road. Many of today’s futuristic projects—from self-driving cars to advanced robots to the Internet of Things (IoT) applications for smart cities, smart homes and smart health—rely on data from sensors of various kinds. To achieve machine learning and other complex technical goals, enormous quantities of data must be gathered, synthesised, analysed and turned into action, in real time.

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

A self-driving car uses complex image recognition and a radar/lidar system to detect objects on the road. The objects could be fixed (curbs, traffic signals, lane markings) or moving (other vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians). The scope involves validating the data of more than 1000 hours of car camera and radar/lidar recordings. At three frames per second, there are almost 11 million images to analyse and correct, which is too many to do using off-the-shelf tools. Architecture for a tool enabling the car system is meant to validate large amounts of information provided by real, direct observations—also known as ground-truth data. Creation of the tool provides a way to validate the accuracy of sensor-derived data, and to make sure that the car would respond appropriately to actual objects and events, and not to sensor artefacts. The future self-driving vehicle value chain will be driven by software feature sets, low system costs plus high-performance hardware. Simulation software based on agent based modelling methodology, which is used to create real-world driving scenarios to test complex driving situations for autonomous vehicles in agent based simulation in terms of advancing virtual testing and validation, will be used to test future autonomous vehicle concepts. This method of testing puts agents (vehicles, people, infrastructure) with specific driving characteristics (such as selfish, aggressive, defensive) with their connections in a defined environment (cities, test tracks, military installations) to understand complex interactions that occur during simulation testing. Benefits to car manufacturers and their suppliers that this approach aims to deliver are faster product development cycles, reduced costs related to test vehicle damage and lower risk of harming a vehicle occupant under test conditions. The goal has always been to find a home for this specification that is open, global and www.EFyMag.coM

AUTOMOTIVE accessible to all. This is a vital step on the path to creating a shared information network for safer roads. If a car around the next corner hits the brakes because there is an obstruction, that information could be used to signal to the drivers behind to slow down ahead of time, resulting

Fig. 1: Paths

related to one or multiple locations. Sensor data messages may be time-critical and submitted nearreal-time but also may be of informational value and submitted with an acceptable delay accumulated within other data. Neither priority nor requirements on latency are part of the specification. The content and format of sensor data messages is independent of submission latency (in near-real-time or delayed). Vehicle metadata provides information about the vehicle that is valid for the entire path. This includes vehicle type information and vehicle

Fig. 2: Path events

in smoother, more efficient journeys and lower risk of accidents. But that can only work if all cars can speak and understand the same language.

SenSoriS Vehicles driving on the road are equipped with a magnitude of sensors. This sensor data may be transferred over any kind of technology from the vehicle to an analytic processing backend. Between individual vehicles and the analytic processing backend, an OEM or system vendor backend may be located as a proxy. The sensor data interface specification defines the content of sensor data messages and their encoding format(s) as these are submitted to the analytic processing backend. However, the specification may be used between other components as well. Sensor data is submitted as messages with various types of content. It is common to all kinds of submitted messages as these are www.EFyMag.coM

reference point. All absolute positions (longitude/latitude) that are reported to the sensor data ingestion interface are expected to be at the centre of the vehicle. All offsets that are reported are expected to be offsets from this centre point of the vehicle. Altitude that is reported to the interface is expected to be the altitude on ground (not altitude of the location of GPS antenna). Instead of providing the altitude on ground, it is possible to report a different altitude with a constant offset. This offset from the ground must be provided through the vehicle metadata. Vehicle dynamics are measurements beyond the position of a vehicle. Typically, vehicle dynamics information is measured by the vehicle using onboard sensors at high frequency as compared to positions (for example, 5Hz or 10Hz). Depending on the set of sensors in the vehicle, different values could be provided. In order to keep the complexity at a manageable

level, these raw measurements must be converted into meaningful values and, hence, are a result of calculations either in the vehicle or in the OEM or system vendor backend. The fundamental data element for rich data sensor submission is a path, which is a list of position estimates, which are ordered starting with the oldest position estimate. A path can be very short, for example, for nearreal-time events that are transmitted immediately after these occur. It can be very long, for example, like an entire drive over many hours that records the vehicle trace and events for later submission. Vehicles may have different collection policies for different types of sensor data. According to individual priorities of sensor data information, a message could be compiled and sent out the moment specific sensor data reading is detected, or events could be accumulated into one message and submitted after a given amount of time. By way of example, this could be due to reducing computational performance in critical moments while driving due to reduction in transmission volume through mobile phone connection, or due to accumulation and, thus, referencing all detected path events onto one single path. The latter may happen if referencing of multiple path events to one single vehicle is needed and usage of transient vehicle ID is not supported or not wished.

Self-driving cars A self-driving car is capable of sensing its environment and navigating without human input. To accomplish this task, each vehicle is outfitted with a GPS unit, an inertial navigation system and a range of sensors including laser range-finders, radar and video. The vehicle uses positional information from the GPS and inertial navigation system to localise itself and sensor data to refine its position estimate as well as to build a 3D image of its environment. ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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AUTOMOTIVE laser beams diverge as these travel Data from each sensor is filtered through Space, it is difficult to obto remove noise and is often fused tain accurate distance readings from with other data sources to augment more than 100 metres away using the original image. The vehicle the most state-of-the-art laser rangesubsequently uses this data to make finders, which limit the amount of navigation decisions, determined by reliable data that can be captured its control system. on the map. The vehicle filters and The majority of self-driving discretises data collected from each vehicle control systems implement sensor and often aggregates the ina deliberative architecture, meanformation to create a comprehensive ing that these are capable of making intelligent decisions by maintaining an internal map of their world and by using that map to find an optimal path to their destination that avoids obstacles (for example, road structures, pedestrians and other vehicles) from a set of possible paths. Once the vehicle determines the best path to take, the decision is dissected into commands, which are fed to the vehicle’s actuators. These actuators control the vehicle’s steering, Fig. 3: Autonomous vehicles braking and throttle. This process of localisation, mapping, obmap, which can then be used for stacle avoidance and path planning is path planning. repeated multiple times each second For the vehicle to know where on powerful onboard processors until it is in relation to other objects on the vehicle reaches its destination. the map, it must use its GPS, inertial navigation unit and sensors to preMapping and localisation cisely localise itself. GPS estimates can be off by many metres due to Prior to making any navigation decisignal delays caused by changes in sions, the vehicle must first build a map of its environment and precisely the atmosphere and reflections off nearby buildings and surrounding localise itself within that map. The most frequently-used sensors for map terrain, and inertial navigation units accumulate position errors over time. building are laser range-finders and cameras. Laser range-finders scan the Therefore localisation algorithms often incorporate maps or sensor environment using swaths of laser data previously collected from the beams and calculate the distance to nearby objects by measuring the time same location to reduce uncertainty. As the vehicle moves, new positional it takes for each laser beam to travel information and sensor data are used to the object and back. Where video from camera is ideal to update the vehicle’s internal map. for extracting scene colour, with obstacle avoidance laser range-finders depth information is readily available to the vehicle A vehicle’s internal map includes for building a 3D map. Because the current and predicted location of 60

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all static (buildings, traffic lights and stop signs) and moving (other vehicles and pedestrians) obstacles in its vicinity. Obstacles are categorised depending on how well these match with a library of pre-determined shape and motion descriptors. The vehicle uses a probabilistic model to track the predicted future path of moving objects based on its shape and prior trajectory. For example, if a twowheeled object is travelling at 60 kilometres per hour versus 15 kilometres per hour, it is most likely a motorcycle and not a bicycle, and will get categorised as such by the vehicle. This process allows the vehicle to make more intelligent decisions when approaching crosswalks or busy intersections. The previous, current and predicted future locations of all obstacles in the vehicle’s vicinity are incorporated into its internal map, which the vehicle then uses to plan its path.

Path planning The goal of path planning is to use the information captured in the vehicle’s map to safely direct the vehicle to its destination while avoiding obstacles and following the rules of the road. Although vehicle manufacturers’ planning algorithms will be different based on their navigation objectives and sensors used, the following describes a general pathplanning algorithm that has been used on military ground vehicles. The algorithm determines a rough long-range plan for the vehicle to follow while continuously refining a short-range plan (for example, change lanes, drive forward ten metres and turn right). www.EFyMag.coM

AUTOMOTIVE It starts from a set of short-range paths that the vehicle would be dynamically capable of completing, given its speed, direction and angular position, and removes all those that would either cross an obstacle or come too close to the predicted path of a moving vehicle. For example, a vehicle travelling at 80 kilometres per hour would not be able to safely complete a right turn five meters ahead, therefore that path would be eliminated from the feasible set. Remaining paths are evaluated based on safety, speed and time requirements. Once the best path has been identified, a set of throttle, brake and steering commands are passed on to the vehicle’s onboard processors and actuators. Altogether, this process takes on average 50 milliseconds. It can be longer or shorter depending on the amount of collected data, available processing power and complexity of the path-planning algorithm. The process of localisation, mapping, obstacle detection and path planning is repeated until the vehicle reaches its destination. Currently, vehicle sensor data exists in multiple different formats across automakers. Pooling analogous vehicle data from millions of vehicles will be a key enabler for highlyand fully-automated driving, ensuring that each vehicle has a near-real-time view of road conditions and hazards, which can lead to better driving decisions. The development is on for required location where Cloud technology that can detect and process changes in the real world as these happen, including on roads in dozens of countries, on an industrial scale and in high quality. If a car around the next corner hits the brakes because there is an obstruction, that information could be used to signal to the drivers behind to slow down ahead of time, resulting in smoother, more efficient journeys and a lower risk of accidents. Standardised vehicle data exchange will enable the crowd-sourcing paradigm to spread across the fragmented automotive ecosystem, leveraging the synergies between connectivity and sensor data to provide smart mobility services such as real-time traffic, weather and parking spaces in the short term, while holding the promise to power selfdriving cars with critical high-accuracy real-time mapping capabilities in the future. ERTICO - ITS Europe includes in particular Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Interface Specifications (ADASIS), a forum that defines how maps connect and interact with the advanced driver assistance systems of a car. Part 2 of the article will cover Lidar, GPS modules, MEMS devices and a distributed solution used for selfdriving cars, next month. www.EFyMag.coM

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tech focus

One small step fOr aI, One Giant Step for Robotics

T Janani Gopalakrishnan Vikram is a technically-qualified freelance writer, editor and handson mom based in Chennai

Robot asks questions to clarify confusing instructions (Image courtesy: Brown University)

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here have been immense and innumerable developments in robotics in recent times—some significant, some not so. Right from form factor and flexibility to motion, sensing and interaction, every aspect of robotics has brought them closer to humans. Robots are now assisting in healthcare centres, schools, hospitals, industries, war fronts, rescue centres, homes and almost everywhere else. We must acknowledge that this has come about not merely due to mechanical developments, but mainly due to the increasing intelligence, or so-called smartness, of robots. Smartness is a subjective thing. But in the context of robots, we can say that smartness is a robot’s ability to autonomously or semi-autonomously perceive and understand its environment, learn to do things and respond to situations, and mingle safely with humans. This means that it should be able to think and even decide to a certain extent, like we do. Let us take you through some assorted developments from around the world that are empowering robots with these capabilities.

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

At a glance  Deep learning is expected to help robots learn, think and decide like humans.  Researchers are attempting to run deep learning on small, low-power chips so robots can be independently smart without relying on the Cloud.  Smartness together with social presence makes robots suitable for tasks like care-giving and education.  Interaction with robots is getting more natural— through gestures, questions and thoughts.  Neuromorphic and analogue computing are expected to make a comeback in the fields of AI and robotics.  Robots are getting closer to thinking like humans. So what is the possibility of revolt?

Understanding by asking questions When somebody asks us to fetch something, and we do not really understand which object to fetch or where it is, what do we do? We usually ask questions to zero in on the right object. This is exactly what researchers at Brown University, USA, want their robots to be able to do. Stefanie Tellex of Humans to Robots Lab of Brown University is using a social approach to improve the accuracy with which robots follow human instructions. The system, called FETCH-POMDP, enables the robots to model their own confusion and solve it by asking relevant questions. The system can understand gestures, associate these with what the human being is saying and use this to understand instructions better. Only when it is unable to do so does it start asking questions. For example, if you signal at the sink and ask the robot to fetch a bowl, and if there is only one bowl in the sink, it will fetch it without asking any questions. But if it finds more than one bowl there, it might ask questions about the size or colour of the bowl. When testing the system, the researchers expected the robot to respond faster when it had no questions to www.EFyMag.coM

tech focus ask, but it turned out that the intelligent questioning approach managed to be faster and more accurate. The trials also showed the system to be more intelligent than it was expected to be, because it could even understand complex instructions with lots of prepositions. For example, it could respond accurately when somebody said, “Hand me the spoon to the left of the bowl.” Although such complex phrases were not built into the language model, the robot was able to use intelligent social feedback to figure out the instruction.

smart sensors and radios. Amongst these is a micromote that incorporates a deep learning processor, which can operate a neural network using just 288 microwatts. There have been earlier attempts to reduce the size and power demands of deep learning using dedicated hardware specially designed to run these algorithms. But so far, nobody has managed to use less than 50 milliwatts of power and the size too has never been this small. Blaauw

Learning gets deeper and smaller than you thought Deep learning is an artificial intelligence (AI) technology that is pervading all streams of life ranging from banking to baking. A deep learning system essentially uses neural networks, modelled after the human brain, to learn by itself just like a human child does. It is made of multi-layered deep neural networks that mimic the activities of the layers of neurons in the neocortex. Each layer tries to understand something more than the previous layer, thereby developing a deeper understanding of things. The resulting system is self-learning, which means that it is not restricted by what it has been taught to do. It can react according to the situation and even make decisions by itself. Deep learning is obviously a very useful tech for robots, too. However, it usually requires large memory banks and runs on huge servers powered by advanced graphics processing units (GPUs). If only deep learning could be achieved in a form factor small enough to embed in a robot! Micromotes developed at University of Michigan, USA, could be the answer to this challenge. Measuring one cubic millimetre, the micromotes developed by David Blaauw and his colleague Dennis Sylvester are amongst the world’s smallest computers. The duo has developed different variants of micromotes, including www.EFyMag.coM

Tiny micromotes developed at University of Michigan can incorporate deep learning processors in them (Image courtesy: University of Michigan)

and team managed to achieve deep learning on a micromote by redesigning the chip architecture, with tweaks such as situating four processing elements within the memory (SRAM) to minimise data movement. The team’s intention was to bring deep learning to the Internet of Things (IoT), so we can have devices like security cameras with onboard deep learning processors that can instantly differentiate between a branch and a thief lurking on the tree. But the same technology can be very useful for robots, too.

A hardware-agnostic approach to deep learning Max Versace’s approach to lowpower AI for robots is a bit different. Versace’s idea can be traced back to 2010, when NASA approached him and his team with the challenge of developing a software controller for ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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tech focus robotic rovers that could autonomously explore planet Mars. What NASA needed was an AI system that could navigate different environments using only images captured by a low-end camera. And this had to be achieved with limited computing, communications and power resources. Plus, the system would have to run on the single GPU chip that the rover had. Not only did the team manage it, but now Versace’s startup Neurala has an updated prototype of the AI system it developed for NASA, which can be applied for other purposes. The logic is that the same technology that was used by Mars rovers can be used by drones, self-driving cars and robots to recognise objects in their surroundings and make decisions accordingly. Neurala too bets on deep learning as the future of its AI brain, but unlike most common solutions that run on online services backed by huge servers, Neurala’s AI can operate on the computationally low-power chips found in smartphones. In a recent press report, Versace hinted that their approach focuses on edge computing, which relies on onboard hardware, in contrast with other approaches that are based on centralised systems. The edge computing approach apparently gives them an edge over others. This is because the key to their system is hardwareagnostic software, which can run on several industry-standard processors including ARM, Nvidia and Intel. Although their system has already been licensed and adapted by some customers for use in drones and cars, the company is very enthusiastic about its real potential in robot toys and household robots. They hope that their solution will ensure fast and smooth interaction between robots and users, something that Cloud systems cannot always guarantee.

Analogue intelligence, have you given it a thought Shahin Farshchi, partner at investment firm Lux Capital, has a radically 64

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AI and robotics. Neural networks and deep learning algorithms that researchers are attempting to implement in robots are more suitable to analogue designs. Such analogue systems will make roAutomated inspections by an intelligent drone with deep learning launched bots faster, smaller by Neurala, Aerialtronics and NVIDIA (Image courtesy: Neurala) and less powerhungry. Analogue circuits inspired by nature will enable different view of AI and robots. He feels that all modern things need not robots to see, hear and learn better while consuming much less power. necessarily be digital, and analogue He cites the examples of Stanford’s has a great future in AI and robotics. Brains in Silicon project and University In an article he wrote last year, he of Michigan’s IC Lab, which are buildexplained that some of the greating tools to make it easier to build est systems were once powered by analogue neuromorphic systems. Some analogue, but it was abandoned for digital systems just because analogue startups are also developing analogue systems as an alternative to running was rigid and attempting to make it deep nets on standard digital circuits. flexible made it more complex and Most of these designs are inspired by reduced its reliability. our brain, a noisy system that adapts As Moore’s law played its way into our lives, micro-electro-mechan- according to the situation to produce the required output. This is in contrast ical systems and micro-fabrication to traditional hard-coded algorithms techniques became widespread, and that go out of control if there is the the result is what we see all around slightest problem with the circuits us. He wrote, “In today’s consumer running these. electronics world, analogue is only Engineers have also been able to used to interface with humans, achieve energy savings of the order capturing and producing sounds, of 100 times by implementing deep images and other sensations. In nets in silicon using noisy analogue larger systems, analogue is used to approaches. This will have a huge physically turn the wheels and steer impact on the robots of the future, as rudders on machines that move they will not require external power us in our analogue world. But for and will not have to be connected to most other electronic applications, the Cloud to be smart. In short, the engineers rush to dump signals into robots will be independent. the digital domain whenever they can. The upshot is that the benefits Training an army of robots of digital logic—cheap, fast, robust using AI and exoskeleton suits and flexible—have made engineers practically allergic to analogue proKindred is a quiet but promising cessing. Now, however, after a long startup formed by Geordie Rose, hiatus, Carver Mead’s prediction of one of the co-founders of D-Wave, the return to analogue is starting to a quantum computing company. become a reality.” According to an IEEE news report, Farshchi claims that neuromorKindred is busy developing AI-driven phic and analogue computing will robots that can possibly enable one make a comeback in the fields of human worker do the work of four. www.EFyMag.coM

tech focus Their recent US patent application describes a system in which an operator wears a head-mounted display and an exoskeleton suit while doing his tasks. Data from the suit and other external sensors is analysed by computer systems and used to control distant robots. The wearable robotic suit includes head and neck motion sensors, devices to capture arm movements and haptic gloves. The operator can control the robot’s movement using a foot pedal, and see what the robot is seeing using a virtual reality headset. The suit might also contain sensors and devices to capture brain waves. The robot is described as a humanoid of 1.2-metre height, possibly covered with synthetic skin, with two (or more) arms ending in hands or grippers and wheeled treads for locomotion. It has cameras on its head and other sensors like infrared and ultraviolet imaging, GPS, touch, proximity, strain sensors and radiation detectors to stream data to its operator. Something that catches everybody’s attention here is a line that says, “An operator may include a non-human animal such as a monkey… and the operator interface may be… re-sized to account for the differences between a human operator and a monkey operator.” But what is so smart about an operator controlling a robot, even if the operator is a monkey? Well, the interesting part of this technology is that the robots will also, eventually, be able to learn from their operators and carry out the tasks autonomously. According to the patent application, device-control instructions and environment sensor information generated over multiple runs may be used to derive autonomous control information, which may be used to facilitate autonomous behaviour in an autonomous device. Kindred hopes to do these using deep hierarchical learning algorithms like a conditional deep belief network or a conditional restricted Boltzmann www.EFyMag.coM

machine, a type of powerful recurrent neural network. This is what possibly links Kindred to D-Wave. The operation of D-Wave’s quantum computing system is described by these as being analogous to a restricted Boltzmann machine, and its research team is working to exploit the parallels between these architectures to substantially accelerate learning in deep, hierarchical neural networks. In 2010, Rose also published a paper that shows how a quantum computer can be very effective at machine learning. So if Kindred succeeds in putting two and two together, we can look forward to a new wave of quantum computing in robotics.

Robots get more social It is a well-known fact that technology can help disabled and vulnerable people to lead more comfortable lives. It can assist them to do their tasks independently without requiring another human being to help them. This improves their self-esteem. However, Maja Matarić of University of South California, USA, believes that the technology can be more assistive if it is embodied in the form of a robot rather than a tool running on a mobile device or an invisible technology embedded somewhere in the walls or beds. Matarić’s research has shown that the presence of human-like robots is more effective in getting people to do things, be it getting senior citizens to exercise or encouraging autistic children to interact with their peers. “The social component is the only thing that reliably makes people change behaviour. It makes people lose weight, recover faster and so on. It is possible that screens are actually making us less social. So that is where robotics can make a difference—this fundamental embodiment,” Matarić mentioned while addressing a gathering at American Association for the Advancement of Science. ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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tech focus the rooms at the university’s Robotics, Perception and Learning Lab, and maps these in detail. It uses a depth camera (RGB-D) to grab points of physical space and dump these into a database, from which 3D models of the rooms can be generated. Using MIT’s new system, supervisors can correct a robot’s mistakes According to a by simply thinking about it (Image courtesy: MIT) news report, “The system KTH researchers use detects Matarić is building such robots objects to learn by modelling the through her startup Embodied Inc. Research and trials have shown prom- static part of the environment and extracting dynamic elements. It then ising results. One study found that autistic children showed more autono- creates and executes a view plan around a dynamic element to gather mous behaviour upon copying the additional views for learning. This motions of socially-assistive robots. autonomous learning process enaIn another study, patients recovbles Rosie to distinguish dynamic elering from stroke responded more ements from static ones and perceive quickly to upper-extremity exercises depth and distance.” This helps the when prompted and motivated by robot understand where things are socially-assistive robots. and negotiate physical spaces.

Robots can mingle in crowded places, too

Movement of robots was once considered a mechanical challenge. Now, scientists have realised it has more to do with intelligence. For a robot to move comfortably in a crowded place like a school or an office, it needs to first learn things that we take for granted. It needs to learn the things that populate the space, which of these things are stationary and which ones move, understand that some of these things move only occasionally while others move frequently and suddenly, and so on. In short, it needs to autonomously learn its way around a dynamic environment. This is what a team at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm hopes to achieve. Rosie (yes, we know it sounds familiar) is a robot in their lab that has already learnt to perceive 3D environments, move about and interact safely in these. Rosie repeatedly visits 66

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Just a thought can bring the robot back on track It is one thing for robots to learn to work autonomously, it is another for them to be capable of working with humans. Some consider the latter to be more difficult. To be able to co-exist, robots must be able to move around safely with humans (as in the case of KTH’s Rosie) and also understand what humans want, even when the instruction or plan is not clearly, digitally explained to the robot. Explaining things in natural language is never foolproof because each person has a different way of communicating. But if only robots could understand what we think, the problem would be entirely solved. As a step towards this, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and Boston University are creating a feedback system that lets you

correct a robot’s mistakes instantly by simply thinking about it. The experiment basically involves a humanoid robot called Baxter performing an object-sorting task and a human watching it. The person watching the robot has to wear a special head gear. The system uses an electroencephalography monitor to record the person’s brain activity. A novel machine learning algorithm is applied to this data to classify brain waves in the space of 10 to 30 milliseconds. When the robot indicates its choice, the system helps it to find out whether the human agrees with the choice or notices an error. The person watching the robot does not have to gesture, nod or even blink. He or she simply needs to agree or disagree mentally with the robot’s action. This is much more natural than earlier methods of controlling robots with thoughts. The team lead by CSAIL director Daniela Rus has managed to achieve this by focusing the system on brain signals called error-related potentials (ErrPs), which are generated whenever our brains notice a mistake. When the robot indicates the choice it is about to make, the system uses ErrPs to understand whether the human supervisor agrees with the decision. According to the news report, “ErrP signals are extremely faint, which means that the system has to be fine-tuned enough to both classify the signal and incorporate it into the feedback loop for the human operator.” Additionally, the team has also worked on the possibility of the system not noticing the human’s original correction, which might lead to secondary errors. In such a case, if the robot is not sure about its decision, it can trigger a human response to get a more accurate answer. Further, since ErrP signals appear to be proportional to how bad the mistake is, future systems could be extended to work for more complex multi-choice tasks. www.EFyMag.coM

tech focus This project, which was partly funded by Boeing and National Science Foundation, can also be useful for physically-challenged people to work with robots.

Calling robots electronic persons, is it a slip or the scary truth Astro Teller, head of X (formerly Google X), the advanced technology lab of Alphabet, explained in a recent IEEE interview that washing machines, dishwashers, drones, smart cars and the like are robots though these might not be jazzy-looking bipeds. These are intelligent, help us do something and save us time. If you look at it that way, smart robots are really all around us. It is easy to even build your own robot and make it smart, with simple components and open source tools. Maybe not something that looks like Rosie or Baxter, but you can surely create a quick and easy AI agent. OpenAI Universe, for example, lets you train an AI agent to use a computer like a human does. With Universe, the agent can look at screen pixels and operate a virtual keyboard and mouse. The agent can be trained to do any task that you can achieve using a computer. Sadly, the garbage-in-garbageout principle is true for robotics and AI, too. Train it to do something good and it will. Train it to do something bad and it will. No questions asked. Anticipating such misuse, the industry is getting together to regulate the space and implement best practices. One example is Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society, comprising companies like Google’s DeepMind division, Amazon, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft. The website speaks of best practices, open engagement and ethics, trustworthiness, reliability, robustness and other relevant issues. The European Parliament, too, put forward a draft report urging the www.EFyMag.coM

creation and adoption of EU-wide rules to manage the issues arising from the widespread use of robots and AI. The draft helps us understand the need to standardise and regulate the constantly mushrooming variety of robots, ranging from industrial robots, care robots, medical robots, entertainment robots and drones to farming robots. The report explores the issues of liability, accountability and safety, and raises issues that make us pinch ourselves and understand that yes, we are really co-existing with robots. For example, who will pay when a robot or a self-driving car meets with an accident, when robots will need to be designated as electronic persons, how to ensure they are good ones and so on. The report asserts the need to create a European agency for robotics and AI to support the regulation and legislation efforts, the need to define and classify robots and smart robots, create a robot registration system, improve interoperability and so on. However, it is the portion about robots being called electronic persons that has raised a lot of eyebrows and caused a lot of buzz among experts. Once personhood is associated with something, issues like ownership, insurance and rights come into play, making the relationship much more complex. Comfortingly, one of the experts had commented that since we build robots, these are like machine slaves, and we can choose not to build robots that would mind being owned. In the words of Joanna Bryson, a working member of IEEE Ethically Aligned Design project, “We are not obliged to build robots that we end up feeling obliged to.” When equipped with self-learning capabilities, what if they learn to rebel? Remember how K-2SO swapped sides in Star Wars movie Rogue One? Is there such a thing as trusted autonomy? Well, another day, another discussion! ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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Tools To Introduce IntellIgence Into Your MachInes ShanoSh Kumar

idealCircuit (design and simulation) Engineers often search for lightweight software that has an intuitive interface, fewer components, and models for ease of design and saving time. When designing a faster prototype within limited time, idealCircuit design tool allows you to design schematics and simulate these for specialised applications. While it was initially used for designing power supplies, today it works along NL5 analogue electronic circuit simulator on ideal and piecewise-linear components. This software lets you evaluate and simulate the exact same schematics you see in textbooks.

DesignLab (design and simulation) DesignLab is equipped with functionalities, and you can see your projects lift off the ground in no time. It works on Windows and Linux operating systems and is supercharged by adding circuits. This helps you push your projects into production through faster design creation. Like all integrated development environments (IDEs), Papilio DesignLab lets you develop a hardware description language by typing the code into the IDE, which, in turn, generates a file that is loaded into the field-programmable gate array. Papilio IDE includes a text editor, libraries, revision control, syntax highlighting and a compiler. The unique selling point is the dragand-drop interface for designing field-programmable gate arrays using Arduino IDE. The tool is limited to Papilio boards only. 70

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Some popular resources jEdit. Get used to one of the best text editors designed for Java programmers. This software suppor ts Unicode, text encoding sniffer, customisable syntax colouring, customisable key bindings and object embedding such as an image or a movie file. Like other text editors, it has better appeal while working with Java and XML due to the powerful search engine for regular expressions, syntax highlighting and auto-indentation. Pinn. Pinn makes it easy to select and install operating systems for Raspberry Pi. It comes with the advantage of not having to manually launch an image of the operating system from the SD card and going through the whole installation process. Cyberfox Portable. This portable browser intelligently uses 64-bit system resources, giving you a faster running seamless Internet surfing experience.

PCB123 (PCB) PCB123 helps you take advantage of all enhanced user controls for faster rendering, smoother drag and drop, more zoom control and unified control panels while designing PCB boards. The upgraded version included in this month’s DVD lets you access a fully-defined set of parts library, with over 500,000 parts with schematic symbols, footprints, manufacturer and digi-key ordering information and links to data sheets.

ECAVA IGX (SCADA) IGX SCADA is your answer to how modern SCADA software works. Watching over your factory floor round the clock, this software intelligently tracks and sends out emails and SMSes based on hierarchy and access levels. The software runs and links smoothly to any modern Web browser to provide a bird’s eye view

on supervisory control. Its reporting system is very real-time, and presentation of production or monitoring data is built in a comprehensive mathematic functionality to increase accuracy of readings. It decreases downtime and increases productivity with multi-level role based supervision and trackable event based audit trail.

OpenCog (utility) In the race to create artificial intelligence, OpenCog finds itself as the most unique and ambitious open source project that aims to impart intelligence to machines. You can join the community and develop codes and software applications that are at par with or beyond human intelligence. Prime areas of focus are the practical applications used for interacting with humans such as natural language processing and speech.

CoreOS (utility) This utility software is created as an operating system to be operated in large clusters of servers-supporting Cloud. It is based on open source Linux containers and supports container systems out-of-the-box. CoreOS has been designed to produce, maintain and utilise open source software for Linux containers and distributed systems. If you are a computer engineer and researcher who likes programming and providing solutions on Cloud based applications while you make use of emulator, debugger and flash programming utilities, this software is for you. Shanosh Kumar is technology journalist at EFY. He is BCA from Bangalore University and MBA from Christ University, Bengaluru www.EFyMag.coM

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Build Thinking Machines With Opencog Priya ravindran

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veloping cognitive capability at the he human mind is arguably human level. the most complex in this OpenCog has been developed by world. Utterly fascinating, it is OpenCog Foundation under GNU an object of admiration to everyone. Affero general-public licence and is Some people take this admiration to supported by Artificial General Intela higher level and try to understand how the brain does what it does. Others go even further and attempt to replicate this marvel of a creation. While this is no mean task, science is a lot closer to creating artificial intelligence (AI) today than it was a few years ago. This article takes you through a tool that provides an environment for R&D in AI domain. Be it to make a software application smarter or to create your own clone, this tool provides the very basic raw materials you need to start with, and may be carves out a path and guides you along. But, it is no cake-walk. Fig. 1: MicroPsi architecture, an implementation of OpenPsi The tool we are talking about is OpenCog. ligence Research Institute (AGIRI), Apt for research in AI Google Summer of Code project and others. It is written using a combiOpenCog is an open source software nation of C++, Python and Scheme, project, which aims to create an and is built for Linux platform. The open source framework for artificial software is currently under an early general intelligence. The developers stage of development, and is mostly state, “We are undertaking serious useful for building applications that effort to build a thinking machine.” require significant AI capability. While this is stretching it too far for This is an interesting and powerful the present, the team behind OpenAI platform, but you will need to Cog presently aims at nurturing the make significant customisations and R&D environment and creating a integrations to get your projects up code that can help make smarter and running. systems, and working towards dewww.efymag.com

Keeping the first foot forward Prime inspiration for the project is the artificial general intelligence theories by Dr Ben Goertze. The concept of probabilistic logic networks is made extensive use of, to robustly handle uncertainty and perform effective reasoning in real-world circumstances. The idea is a novel conceptual, mathematical and computational approach to uncertain inference. Well, you have seen what to expect from this tool, but it is still not clear as to how you can go about working with it. Building a cognitive system is easier said than done, and certainly that much more complicated for someone just beginning to work with AI. Let us begin by trying to understand how OpenCog goes about creating AI. The knowledge base. The first step is to create a system that stands for the knowledge inside the memory of an intelligent system, called knowledge representation. While this details the basic nature and organisation of knowledge components, it could be highly complex and dynamic, or simple, static and easy to describe. The catch here is how explanatory you want the knowledge representation to be. Does it have to be a repeated looping of a basic element, specialiselectronics for you Plus | may 2017

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The current OpenCog implementation While present implementation requires work on scalability, the existing basic system is capable of the following: • AtomSpace can be accessed using C++, Scheme, Python, Haskell, a Web interface (REST) or ZeroMQ. Low-level access via C++ is about 40 times faster than access with Scheme or Python. Thus, Scheme and Python are better suited for invoking high-level functions (such as pattern matcher, which can take a fair amount of time to search large AtomSpaces.) REST and ZeroMQ interfaces are another order of magnitude slower than Scheme/Python interfaces and are, thus, usable only for casual inspection. • Access to AtomSpace via C++ is completely thread-safe. Access via Scheme is thread-safe, but seems to somehow serialise to only one thread, presumably due to some currentlyunknown design bug/feature. Python interface is not thread-safe. • AtomSpace contents can be saved/restored as string s-expressions (that is, Scheme), and in an SQL database. • SQL storage backend allows a weak form of dynamic, ondemand saving and loading of hypergraphs. Contents of AtomSpace can be bulk-saved/restored. In addition, individual atoms can be saved/restored on request. This is intentional; forcing all atoms to be automatically mirrored to the database would require a large CPU overhead, especially for workloads that rapidly create and destroy a lot of transient atoms, or modify truth values at a rapid clip. Store-back queues for SQL

ing for different situations? Or, does it have to be based on a learning algorithm that develops knowledge representations as time progresses?

database are fully-parallel and asynchronous; the current design uses four store-back threads by default. • Multiple AtomSpaces on multiple network-connected servers can communicate via SQL backend. That is, these can share common atoms. User algorithms must explicitly push atoms to the database in order for these to become visible to other AtomSpaces. This is intentional; trying to maintain constant synchronisation across multiple AtomSpaces would be extremely CPU-intensive, especially since many workloads create and destroy atoms at a rapid pace, and there is no need to share such atoms. • A generic pattern matcher has been implemented. Queries may be specified as hypergraphs themselves, using SatisfactionLink, BindLink and GetLink. Procedures may be triggered using ExecutionOutputLink. Low-level access to the pattern matcher is possible by coding in C++, Scheme or Python. • Six hard-coded indexes are kept by AtomSpace. User-defined indexes are not yet supported (due to lack of demand). • AtomSpace contents may be viewed with several different visualisation tools including AtomSpace visualiser. • AtomSpace benchmark tool measures the performance of a dozen basic atoms and AtomSpace operations. A diary in the benchmark directory maintains a historical log of measurements.

In OpenCog, they call this knowledge representation AtomSpace. AtomSpace, the very basic. It is in AtomSpace that different compo-

nents of the intelligent system you have in mind are held, and this is also the query/reasoning engine that fetches data, manipulates it and performs reasoning on it. Effectively, AtomSpace is a kind of graph database, where graphs are representations of data and procedures. What this means is that graphs can be data, executable programs or data structures. AtomSpace could also have hypergraphs. The vertices and edges of the graphs are atoms, which essentially capture the notion of an atomic formula in mathematical logic.

How to use these to develop your system

Fig. 2: An example of OpenCog workbench

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What you have to do is use atoms to form small portions of the mind, which when put together form the complete system. You cannot code line-by-line per se, as the system is built for use by automation and machine learning engines. Automated sub-systems manipulate, query and inference over data or programs, www.efymag.com

efy and work to manipulate networks of probabilistic data by means of rules, inferences and reasoning systems. These are similar to an extension of probabilistic logic networks to a generalised system where data is automatically managed. Atomese, the programming language. The above programminglike language is informally referred to as Atomese. Developers describe Atomese as a strange mash-up of SQL, prolog/datalog, lisp/scheme, haskell/caml and rule engines. Most engines provide basic atoms that represent relations like similarity, inheritance; logic like Boolean or, there-exists; for Bayesian and other probabilistic relations; intuitionist logic like absence and choice; thread execution; and expressions including variables, mapping or constraints. As a programming language, Atomese is probably inefficient, slow and not scalable, but powerful as an input to automation sub-systems. Putting the better of the two together. AtomSpace and Atomese together let you integrate your needs for dependent systems like machine learning, natural language processing, motion control and animation, planning and constraint solving, pattern and data mining, question answering and common-sense systems, and emotional and behavioural psychological systems. You can start off with the examples section in OpenCog to get a hand over Python and Scheme bindings, pattern matcher, rule engine and other different atom types, and learn how to use these for solving various tasks.

AtomSpace, a boon in disguise Simplifying things a little further, you have to work with these AtomSpaces instead of individual atoms, as there are advantages of de-duplication, fast searches by atom type or name, automated attention-allocation management and automated atom fetch and save to a persistent database, and automatic sharing of this database by www.efymag.com

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Atomese, the programming language Atomese is the provisional name given to the concept of writing programs with atoms, that is, defining functions and structures using FunctionLink, ExecutionOutputLink, PutLink, GetLink and so on. It vaguely resembles Prolog but with types and kind-of functionalprogramming. One motivation for Atomese is the need to implement procedural scripting and behaviour trees within OpenCog. Some exploratory work is being done on making more elegant or powerful frameworks for coding Atomese, for example, syntactically sugaring Scheme or Python shells for making Atomese more concise and transparent when coded in those languages, or doing something more radical like making AgdaAtomese exploiting dependent-type theory. —Courtesy: http://wiki.opencog.org/w/Atomese

multiple machines in a cluster. You can put together multiple AtomSpaces as different threads on the same machine, to perform complex tasks. Atoms can be uniquely identified by handles, and AtomSpace has signals that are delivered when an atom is added or removed, which can then be configured to trigger other actions. A persistence backend allows multiple AtomSpaces on multiple networked servers to store atoms on a disk or different machines, and communicate and share atoms.

Managing generated data While dealing with any kind of system, memory management becomes very important. How do you handle the vast expanse of data that is generated? What do you do when there is a lot of old data already? How do you prioritise? OpenCog terms this entire process as attention allocation. Pieces of knowledge are weighed relative to one another, taking into account how important a certain piece of data has been in the past and how important it is currently. This calculated analysis then guides the processes of: Storing knowledge. What to store in memory, what to store locally on a disk and what can be off-loaded to other machines Deleting information. To guide the process of forgetting data that is no longer needed or what has been integrated into the system in other ways Reasoning. To prioritise which

OpenCog MindAgents (Applications)

OpenCog Framework

GNU/Linux

CPU

Memory

Devices

Fig. 3: OpenCog framework

threads of data should be taken into account while making any kind of decision, to analyse the combinatorial explosion of potential inference paths and cut off the ones with very low importance. OpenCog uses available hardware resources to run software, taking a cue from neuroscience, cognitive psychology and computer science. One principle that OpenCog works on is that, intelligence is not owned by a single algorithm. Instead, it is a culmination of a large number of algorithms that work in cognitive synergy. The intelligent agent’s motivations, drives, emotions and decisions are driven, higher-level features of cognition emerge based on the way the system is setup and its interaction with the environment. Priya Ravindran is M.Sc (electronics) from VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu. She loves to explore new avenues and is passionate about writing electronics for you Plus | may 2017

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Machine Learning With TensorFlow Priya ravindran

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he Google Brain team developed a software library to perform machine learning across a range of tasks. Their aim was to cater to the needs of their machine learning systems, those that were capable of building and training neural networks. The software was meant to help such systems detect and decipher patterns and correlations, just like the way human beings learn and reason. In November 2015, Google released this tool under Apache 2.0 licence, making it open to use and providing everyone an opportunity to work on their own artificial intelligence (AI) based projects. By June 2016, 1500 repositories on GitHub mentioned the software, of which only five were from Google. The tool under discussion is TensorFlow. What is it about this tool that makes it suitable for machine learning applications? How do you use the tool? Why does Google hold it at such high regard, and why are so many people contributing to it? This article gives you an overview of how TensorFlow flows.

Working with TensorFlow When you import TensorFlow into Python environment, you get complete access over its classes, methods and symbols. Take TensorFlow operations and arrange these into a graph of nodes called the computational graph. Typically, each node takes tensors as inputs and produces a corresponding output tensor. Values for the nodes get evaluated as and when a session is run. ComiV

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Fig. 1: A fully-configured TensorBoard

About TensorFlow Developed by: Google Brain Team Last stable release: 1.0 Held on: GitHub Repository Written in: Python and C++ Supports: Linux, Mac and Windows Under: Apache open source licence Can be found at: www.tensorflow.org

bine nodes with operations—also nodes in a certain form—to build more complicated computations. Customise and improvise. To tune this for your machine learning application, you need to construct the model such that it can take arbitrary inputs and deliver outputs accordingly. The way to do this with TensorFlow is to add variables, reflecting trainable parameters. Each of these has a type and an initial value, letting you tune your system to required behaviour. How do you know if your system is functioning exactly the way you intended it to? Simple, just introduce a loss function. TensorFlow provides optimisers that slowly change each

variable so that loss function can be minimised. There are also higher abstractions for common patterns, structures and functionality.

Multiple APIs for easier control As a new user to any software, it is important to enjoy the experience. TensorFlow is built with that mindset, with the highest-level application program interface (API) tuned for easy learning and usage. With experience, you will learn how to handle the tool, and what modification will result in what kind of change to the entire functionality. It is then obvious to want to be able to work around the model and have fine levels of control over the same. TensorFlow core API, the lowest-level API, helps you achieve this fine control. Other higher-level APIs are built on top of this very core. Higher the level of the API, the easier it is to perform repetitive tasks and to keep the flow consistent between multiple users. www.EFymag.com

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MNIST is ‘Hello World’ to machine learning Mixed National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) database is the computer vision dataset that is used to train the machine learning system. It is basically a set of handwritten digits that the system has to learn and identify by the corresponding label. Accuracy of your model will depend on the intensity of your training. Broader the training data set, better will be the accuracy of your model. One example is Softmax Regression model, which exploits the concept of probability to decipher a given image. As every image in MNIST is a handwritten digit between zero and nine, the image you are analysing can be only one of the ten digits. Based on this understanding, the principle of Softmax Regression allots a certain probability of being a particular number, to every image under test. Smart handling of resources. As this process might involve a good bit of heavy lifting, just like other compute-heavy operations, TensorFlow offloads the heavy lifting outside Python environment. As the developers describe it, instead of running a single expensive operation independently from Python, TensorFlow lets you describe a graph of interacting operations that run entirely outside Python.

A few noteworthy features Using TensorFlow to train your system comes with a few added benefits.

Fig. 2: Embeddings in TensorFlow

Visualising learning. No matter what you hear or read, it is only when you visually see something that the concept stays in your mind. The easiest way to understand the computational graph is, of course, to understand it pictorially. A utility called TensorBoard can display this very picture. The representation is very similar to a flow or a block diagram. Graph visualisation. Computational graphs are complicated and not easy to view or comprehend. The graph visualisation feature of TensorBoard helps you understand and debug the graphs easily. You can zoom in or out, click on blocks to check their internals, check how data is flowing from one block to another and so on. Name your scopes as clearly as possible in order to visualise better. The graph also includes series

A thing or two that might help  Background in Python programming, machine learning and working with arrays will help you use the tool better.  The project can have nodes as data queues.  Multiple threads can be handled easily by Coordinator class.  Place pre-processing operations on the CPU instead of the GPU to speed up the process.  TensorFlow debugger lets you see the internal structure and states if running TensorFlow graphs. This comes in handy while debugging various types of model bugs during training and inference.  Some other stuff you can use TensorFlow for, apart from machine learning: • Simulate the behaviour of a partial differential equation • Visualise Mandelbrot Set

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collapsing—names with number indexes are condensed to a single line on the graph, which can be expanded at your will. There are also special icons for different types of nodes to help you distinguish these easily. You can dump statistical information like time and resource usage data if you need. Other than viewing the graphs pictorially, TensorFlow lets you plot quantitative metrics about the execution of your graphs and also shows additional data like images that pass through it. The base for TensorBoard is the event file generated while running the tool. This file contains summary data from nodes that you select for generating a summary. Embedding visualisation. Embedding Projector, the built-in visualiser of TensorFlow, aids interactive visualisation and analysis of highdimensional data like embeddings. The projector reads the embeddings from a model checkpoint file and loads any 2D tensor or embeddings.

Begin with the smallest unit, the tensor Data in TensorFlow is based on its central unit, a tensor. A tensor is an array of a primitive set of values, and can have any number of dimensions. Loading data. Sending data into a TensorFlow program can be ElEctronics For you Plus | may 2017

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done in three different ways. It can be fed directly via Python code, read from input files or preloaded into a constant or variable. The last comes of use for small data sets. Choose the method most suitable for your purpose.

Large-scale numerical computation made easy TensorFlow offers powerful support for implementing and training deep neural networks, owing to its highly-efficient C++ backend. The support this software offers has acted as the foundation stone for many other developmental projects. DeepDream is an automated image-captioning software based on TensorFlow. Another application is RankBrain, which was built to replace and supplement static algorithm based search query results. RankBrain is the brainchild of Google. Google also went on to build

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Fig. 3: Graphs and statistics on TensorFlow

Tensor Processing Unit, a custom application-specific integrated circuit for machine learning. The unit is a programmable accelerator for AI based projects and is tailored for TensorFlow. Google announced that they had been running these inside

their data centres for over a year and had achieved better results for machine learning applications. Priya Ravindran is M.Sc (electronics) from VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu. She loves to explore new avenues and is passionate about writing

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Brew Some Deep Learning Using Caffe ShanoSh Kumar

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hen a human being starts learning in the early stages of life, every vision or simulation that takes place is recorded, compared and analysed almost instantaneously in the mind. It is complex, and we are gifted with a framework that helps us connect, recall and act to events. In the machine world, intelligence must be taught to otherwise dumb machines. It is now possible to create a framework for them to think like us. Engineers have been working round the clock to perfect this, and as a result, software such as Caffe provide a gateway to deep learning. Deep learning is a machine learning framework. To imbibe intelligent decision making into machines, deep learning smart algorithms must be devised. In short, it is the class of machine learning algorithm that forms a machine learning framework using which it obtains and processes real-life events. Techniques include teaching and eventually creating a medium of interaction between man and machine. Machine vision and natural language processing are hot topics today, and any developer can play around with Caffe.

It is Caffe and it is brewed Caffe is a deep learning framework. Its mantle circles around improving visual based image and video processing in optical devices such as cameras. Deep learning techniques can be combined with Caffe framework, and there are limitless possibilities that visual analytics provide. These could be your virtual eyes and brain, among others, for which www.efymag.com

Fig. 1: Caffe installation

the credit goes to advancements in sensor technology, high-performance graphic processing and evolving neural networks using advanced algorithms in this field. How Caffe is brewed. Data in the form of images and videos is what Caffe dines on. Data enters Caffe through data layers that lie at the bottom of nets. In some cases, it is sourced from databases (LevelDB or lightning memory mapped database) directly from memory or from files on the disk in HDF5 format, depending upon the use cases, and Caffe could be used to build models on it. The models of Caffe work on deep networks that are made up of interconnected layers comprising chunks of data. Caffe has blobs or blob arrays that are used for storing, communicating and manipulating the information. It defines it in a net layer-by-layer model schema. The details of blob describe how information is stored and communicated in and across layers and nets because it is an N dimensional array. The net follows the collection and connection of layers, which have two key responsibilities: constituting

Elements of the brew      

Blob, layers and nets Forward and backward passes Loss function and loss weights Solver snapshotting and resuming MatCaffe Data for model creation

a forward pass for taking inputs and producing an output. The backward pass takes the gradient with respect to output, and computes the gradients with respect to parameters and to inputs, which are, in turn, back-propagated to earlier layers. All you need to do is define the setup, forward and backward passes for the layer, and it is ready for inclusion in a net.

Vision based use cases Various uses cases of Caffe include surveillance and vision based alerting using Cloud and computer vision. Vision layers make room for the images from the real world as inputs and analyse colourations and spatial structures. These layers work by applying a particular operation to a region of the input and a corresponding region of the output, treating electronics for you Plus | may 2017

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Fig. 2: Caffe deep learning framework

fies the goal of learning by mapping parameter  Image data layer for reading raw images settings to a scalar  Database layer for reading data from LevelDB or value. Now, the goal of lightning memory mapped database learning in machines  HDF5 input layer for reading HDF5 data is to find a setting of  HDF5 output layer for writing data as HDF5 weights that minimise  Window data layer for reading window data file the loss function.  Memory data layer for reading data directly from memory In Caffe, loss is  Dummy data layer for static data and debugging computed by the forward pass of the network where each layer takes a set the spatial input as a vector with a of input (bottom) blobs and produces specific dimension. Getting down to the basics of vid- a set of output (top) blobs. In simple eo capturing, layers such as convolu- words, the model works by comparing the loss while generating the tion get into action and are responsible for producing one feature map in gradient and then incorporating the gradient into a weight update that the output image. Convolution is an important operation in signal and im- tries to minimise the loss. This is age processing, and in Caffe, pooling, done by a solver in Caffe. cropping, edge detection and transSignificance of deep learning formation processes take place in a sequence, followed by deconvolution Machines have made our lives easier and loss of learning. and now we are one step closer to making these think. With deep Caffe learns about the real world learning, deep networks and tools like Caffe, it is now possible to make Software like Caffe learn about the real world by specifying a certain level machines learn the way we humans have learnt in practical applications of badness, driven by a factor called of speech recognition and image clasloss function. A loss function speci-

Various layer types

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sification, among others. In reality, we are building features into machines using such specialised software and letting these connect to smart, artificial neural networks and frameworks to learn for themselves. Significantly, these machines not only learn the features but run based on real-world events, where Caffe could work on cameras for combining, classifying and, to an extent, making intelligent decisions like informing concerned authorities through email or message alerts in places like a bank ATM, in case of unrecognised movement or threat. With improvements in processing power and graphics, the bottlenecks of computation are being overcome over the years. Deep learning has already branched out to many other use cases. Text analytics, time-series analytics, image processing and realtime threat detection using video or motion detection are areas that are using deep learning techniques. Shanosh Kumar is technology journalist at EFY. He is BCA from Bangalore University and MBA from Christ University, Bengaluru www.efymag.com

InnovatIon

Winkel Board: A Powerful, Integrated Solution For Makers

W Ankita K.S. is audience development editor at EFY, and secretary of IEEE-YP. She is an engineering graduate, and writes articles on technology for electronicsforu.com

hile building an Internet of Things (IoT) product, there is one thing that consumes a lot of time. Despite being a vital part, finding the right components to use and figuring out ways to interface these is always a huge task. To get started, it requires knowledge of various chips and libraries, a powerful set of input/output (I/O) pins and a simple integrated development environment (IDE). Any engineer at some point or the other has yearned for a magic wand that can quickly accelerate the initial design stage so that he or she can quickly get on with actual building or prototyping. This wish was heard by Rishi Hedge, a maker from Pune and founder of Mintbox Technologies, who built a unique Arduino-compatible open source hardware development platform for makers and hardware hackers, called Winkel Board.

Overcoming the usual mess

Fig. 1: Winkel Board

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Arduino has proven its usefulness to most makers and product developers in the recent past. The actual problem arises when a project demands various shields. In all IoT projects, connecting to the Internet is the vital part. Connecting Arduino to the Internet requires an Ethernet or Wi-Fi shield. You may require accurate timing in your project so that the controller can fulfil the tasks at particular intervals, which means that your controller should be connected to a realtime clock. If you want to create a mesh network using radio nodes, you need to know how to get started with NRF24l01 or, alternately, a radio shield. Similarly, interfacing Bluetooth requires a separate Bluetooth shield. In India, shields are expensive, and sourcing these from abroad affects the speed of prototyping to a huge extent. Despite that, you can imagine the number of wires and modules and space used and, of

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

course, the mess created in a project that uses all these shields. This was, in fact, one problem faced by the makers of Winkel Board, which they soon found out to be a common problem among makers. “Some suggested Raspberry Pi 3 to be the answer to many projects. But not every project needs an operating system and not every project can be housed with Arduino with all its shields. Some projects require too many communication protocols at once and need to perform a lot of I/O operations,” says Hedge.

What Winkel Board does Winkel shows up as a standard board under Arduino IDE. All you need to do is perform a standard board’s manager installation. It also provides support to non-IDE users with avrdude programming, which runs on AVR command lines. Unique and efficient. While other Arduino boards help you learn the basics, these do not offer what is really needed to get started with a real-world project prototype. Other boards also require you to find, add and configure other components yourself—a time-consuming, expensive and frustrating process. Work together flawlessly. Winkel Board has a seamless working system. When you power on the board, the Wi-Fi module automatically goes into configuration mode, allowing you to connect the ESP module to your Wi-Fi network and retrieve an IP address assignment. Then, all you have to do is send a code to the module from any connected device. A huge number of peripherals and modules on the board bring up the design challenge of bulkiness. The makers of Winkel Board have tried to pull off a twosided PCB to fit everything in a form factor of 5cm×5cm, thereby making the board compact and handy. www.EFyMag.coM

InnovatIon

ANAlOGuE

ISP header pins have been provided for burning hex files on m128 or for uploading your custom bootloader In case you are not using over-the-air programming over Bluetooth, you can upload sketches through Arduino IDE using VCC, GND, DTR, RXDO and TXDO

Fig. 2: Pin diagram of Winkel Board

The secret By bringing together all basic components that may be used for an IoT project and interfacing these to a powerful ATmega core, Winkel Board was created with the aim of being not just compact but also cheap. The new powerful microcontroller core. The core of Winkel Board is Atmel ATmega128 microcontroller, which is accompanied by onboard Wi-Fi controller, radio transreceiver, Bluetooth Low Energy, real-time clock, accelerometer, gyroscope and more. It is an all-inone module that provides all basic peripherals needed for a prototyping idea. The board is equipped with 38 digital input pins, seven pulsewidth modulation digital I/O pins and eight analogue input pins. It also has a connector input for power and programming port wired micro-USB, thereby facilitating numerous operations. Use only what you need. Onboard peripherals are built with Smart Opt, which helps you power down the components that are of no use to the project. This selective turn-off feature is a big boon for battery-powered devices for saving power. 74

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Code travels over the air. Winkel supports over-the-air programming, which helps you burn the code to ATmega128 and ESP8266 wirelessly. “This is accomplished by pairing the board’s HC-05 Bluetooth module to a laptop and then using Bluetooth’s serial COM port to upload the new program,” says Hedge. Dual microcontroller units. ESP8266 being a Wi-Fi module with a system-on-chip, ATmega128 and ESP8266 ESP12E combination on Winkel Board provides dual microcontrollers. The two universal asynchronous receivers/transmitters of ATmega128 are connected to ESP8266, thereby helping these communicate with each other at the same time these run their own code. Ease of programming. Winkel Board can be programmed with Arduino IDE via a micro-USB cable, but you could also program ATmega128 over Bluetooth and ESP12 module over Wi-Fi wirelessly. This makes it easy to update the firmware while the board is inside a case or is hard to access. Winkel Board also supports conventional wired serial programming.

Open source hardware platform The best part of Winkel Board is that it is completely open source. The

Technical SpecificaTionS Specifications

Value

Microcontroller

ATmega128

Output voltage

5V

Digital I/O pins

38

PWM digital I/O pins

7

Analogue input pins

8

Flash memory

128kB

SRAM

4kB

EEPROM

16MHz

Onboard Wi-Fi

ESP8266-ESP12E

Onboard Bluetooth

HC-05

Onboard radio

NRF24l01

Real-time clock

DS3231

source code and the pin diagram are available at Github, Instructables, crowdsupply.com and other forums. This is a huge contribution to the open source hardware community, which facilitates makers like you to make your own Winkel Board. Winkel Board is truly a boon for makers who work on electronic projects that involve a lot of I/O operations, and involve using different communication protocols to fulfil different tasks. It gives you more time to focus on actual building and completing the important parts of your project rather than wasting it on routine, common-place, low-level tasks. www.EFyMag.coM

IntervIew Wireless:

“Wi-Fi Is The Only TechnOlOgy That Can Prevail The lOngesT” Venkat Mattela founder, chairMan and chief executiVe officer, redpine SignalS inc.

With the Internet of Things (IoT) being the buzz word these days, umpteen choices of ultra-modern wireless technologies have cropped up. How do these stand up to Wi-Fi? Venkat Mattela, founder, chairman and chief executive officer, Redpine Signals Inc., speaks with Dilin Anand from EFY

Q. What is the most robust wireless technology available to engineers?

Q. how has Wi-fi evolved for autonomous cars?

A. We started Redpine Signals in 2012 with an intent to converge nine wireless technologies on the same silicon die. Fast forward 15 years, a couple of wireless protocols like DVBH and UWB did not make it even. Ethernet is the best proven and known networking technology but the equivalent to it in wireless is wireless local area network (WLAN), or Wi-Fi. It is the only wireless technology developed for networking. Wi-Fi has been able to deliver good throughput at much lower power consumption than any other wireless technology. It provides the required throughput and power profile at the right price point for varied applications in the IoT space.

A. There are two aspects: safetycritical communication and entertainment-purpose communication. For the former like collision avoidance, you need robust communication. Also, the connection between the wireless onboard unit and the roadside unit must be very deterministic and have low latency. This is why Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) 802.11p came into the picture. It is a modification of the existing Wi-Fi technology with a software stack and hardware changes that only guarantees determinism as compared to regular Wi-Fi.

Q. do you think it will survive over the long term?

A. 802.11p is basically a V2V or V2X technology. This wireless technology is used to connect a car to roadside units, which connect to the infrastructure. It functions almost like Wi-Fi connecting to an access point, except that OBU Wi-Fi moves much faster than regular Wi-Fi station cards. This requires extra signal processing to provide proper reception for robust communication.

A. Wi-Fi is the only technology that can prevail the longest because it is the easiest and cheapest way to implement wireless technology in a device. Wi-Fi is the only tech that can give you a US$ 1 wireless chip and below 100-micro-ampere level of standby associated state. This was not possible five years ago with Wi-Fi, which is why other technologies came into the picture. For vehicular communication, 802.11p is there, but ZigBee will thrive in the long term. Technologies like LoRa may not be viable in the long term because of throughput-related challenges. 76

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Q. could you elaborate a bit about 802.11p?

Q. What do engineers need to know about Wi-fi? A. The main challenge with WiFi is latency. Wireless also has an intrinsic problem that you can block it with external interference.

On the other hand, the level of validation of wireless technologies today ensures that you can reliably use applications that consume a lot of data like a video call from a village or from below the ground. The level of maturity and mitigation knowledge that have gone into this technology is noteworthy. This makes wireless technology a default part of any new device.

Q. Vendors keep coming out with new low-power solutions. Where will this end, or will it? A. The concept of low power is psychological. Ten years ago, 100 milli-watts was considered low power. Today, one milli-watt is low power. The aim for low power should be the ability to run without power. It should be able to harvest what little energy it needs to run so that an external power source is not required. This is what we have achieved with our WiFi circuits for certain applications.

Q. how were you able to use an unsuspecting technology for a completely-unrelated application? A. Surprisingly, Wi-Fi itself has turned out to be a great example of unexpected technology that can be used for energy harvesting. It was designed for networking with pluggedin devices. However, we were able to do an energy-harvesting project using it by choosing an application that did not require a heavy dose of data in frequent intervals. www.EFyMag.coM

IntervIew Industrial Internet of Things:

“The robot Is artificially intelligent And Has Machine learning capabilities” Vaidya Subramaniam S.

head - product management, greyorange

People often talk about how advanced robotics can make factories and distribution centres more efficient. Vaidya Subramaniam S., head - product management, GreyOrange, talks about the effort that goes into designing these robots, through GreyOrange’s experience in designing their own IIoT products— Butler and Sorter, in a conversation with Dilin Anand from EFY

Q. tell us about the communication technologies used in butler? A. Butler possesses a variety of communication technologies, with sensing and security technologies at its core. The robot not only moves around in the warehouse based on programmed logic but also communicates continuously with the control unit. Butler uses two wireless technologies for communication, Wi-Fi and ZigBee, to address the unique needs of low-cost, low-power wireless M2M networks.

Q. how do you ensure butler moves about without hindrances? A. The sensing technology involves image processors and barcode scanners that communicate with control systems and respond automatically. For example, Butler can effectively move around at a speed of 5km/hour on a path fed into it through an algorithm. It can scan barcodes and place racks at the right place using its sensing technologies. However, if there is an obstruction in Butler’s path, it immediately stops. Butler charges through a smart charger, and assesses the current charging level and optimises battery consumption. It utilises the central control system to monitor charging levels.

Q. What is special about the way butler moves? A. Butler moves in a grid. It operates in a way so that the speed is optiwww.efymag.com

mum. Following this grid avoids any obstruction and mismanagement. Dynamic path planning is another feature that allows Butler to quickly adapt itself to the environment and change its functioning according to the changing needs. An operator will not need to wait or sit idle, since Butler moves quickly and effectively from point A to point B.

Q. are there any analytical features that butler uses in its movement? A. Butler picks and puts the racks at the best spot so that inventory can be accurately traced and tracked. It leaves no chance for error in inventory management. The robot is artificially intelligent and has machine learning capabilities. This means that it can understand demand patterns. It places the racks with high-demand products near the operator workstation and lowdemand products at the back. Therefore warehouse space and inventory turnaround time is optimised.

to be fixed in a stipulated period of time. So selection of drivers had to be such that it could support this process and let operators function effectively.

Q. any peculiar challenges that you faced with Sorter? A. At the lowest speed, Sorter sorts 3000 packets per hour to a maximum of 15,000 packets per hour. The product needs to be robust enough to handle such high speed. India being a huge and diverse country makes it a challenge to sort products on the basis of the number of destinations, cities, pin codes, etc. If delivery has to be made to 125 destinations, Sorter cannot have 125 arms to sort packets. So we divided sorting into primary and secondary.

Q. What hardware design challenges did you face while creating these robots in india?

A. One challenge was to make sure that we could manufacture on a large scale. For manufacturing, getting the right kind of quality on a sustained basis is vital. So we set up in-house Q. any hardware design challenges quality-control teams that inspect the faced while creating Sorter? A. Sorter has moving conveyers and quality of products. Additionally, effective implementaarms. The most important challenge tion of products at the customer site was to ensure prolonged life of these parts as there is a risk of wear and tear. was extremely critical. The product needed to be engineered in a way that We had to integrate a lot of functions in Sorter. Operators need to have a real- could ensure easy installation. Thus, a functional layout was made through time view of the number of products Design for Manufacturing and Assemthat are placed over the belt, the ones that are sorted and the errors that need bling process. electronics for you | may 2017

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1. Drones: Show Me The Money 78

3. How Drones Are Providing More Impact To Marketing 81

2. What’s Facial Recognition Got To Do With Marketing 80

4. How Artificial Intelligence Is Shaping The Healthcare Industry 82

Drones: Show Me The Money Aerial mapping using drones (Image courtesy: Airpix)

 UAVs are expected to be available for mass consumption by the end of the next decade  While globally, drones are used for aerial mapping extensively, India is still at a nascent stage

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he CIA first used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over Afghanistan in 2000, and post the 2001 terror attacks in the USA drones have become a part of the US military. However, since then the consumption of drones has evolved considerably. From military to commercial sectors, drone technology is fast being adopted by individuals, corporates and governments. In fact, experts are hopeful that the commercial use of drones will soon turn it into a booming sector, thus making these available for mass consumption. According to a report by Pricewaterhouse Cooper LLP last year, the global commercial market for drones is expected to reach US$ 127 billion by the year 2020. Currently, the global commercial market for drones is at US$ 2 billion. While this is something that will happen in the future, there are a few business opportunities 78

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that have already caught the eye of drone enthusiasts.

UAV training UAVs are expected to be available for mass consumption by the end of the next decade. With industries across the globe betting big on this technology, it has become imperative to create engineers who are professionals in operating UAVs. Thus, a lot of drone technology firms are venturing into the UAV training space, which will ultimately create demand for the technology. And with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) expected to come up with a clear set of regulations for operating drones commercially, India is expected to witness a sharp rise in the number of drone enthusiasts. According to a report by 6Wresearch last year, the Indian UAV industry is projected to hit US$ 421 million by 2021. “Drone technology is the future,

but we cannot expect everyone to have access to auto-operated drones as these are very expensive. Hence, we need professionals who understand how to operate drones, their technicalities and features, among others,” says Jagadesh Chander Munivel, director at Maavan Aeronautics, a drone training institute in Chennai. Currently, the institute has more than 50 engineers training on the various aspects of operating a drone. The institute has courses in UAV design and manufacturing, flight dynamics, pilot training, autopilot training, aerial mapping and imagery. The initial cost (to set up an institute, which includes buying drones, rent among others) is estimated to be US$ 38,000, with an additional investment of US$ 30,000 to US$ 40,000. Across the globe, the biggest challenge continues to be the high prices of drones, which make it difficult for training institutes to impart hands-on www.EFyMag.coM

smart world experience to their students. Most institutes initially train their students on simulators as handling of drones is an unwarranted cost.

Aerial mapping In the commercial space, a lot of sectors such as mining, real estate, infrastructure, agriculture and oil have been relying on drones for data that is otherwise difficult to access. As per a study by Allied Market Research, aerial photography via drones is estimated to reach the US$ 2.8 million mark worldwide by 2022. For instance, Mumbai based drone startup Airpix specialises in using drones for aerial mapping of areas that are otherwise difficult to reach. “We provide data acquisition and analysis solutions using UAVs for multiple industries. The solutions and reports provided by the company help its clients in project design, progress monitoring, volume calculations and inspection of critical assets,” says Shinil Shekhar, co-founder of Airpix. Shekhar adds, “Drones are just a platform. What you make of them depends on how you select the sensors based on your project requirement and what kind of insights you derive after processing that data.” Currently, the company’s client portfolio includes the Indian government and the Indian Railways as well as a few private firms such as Larsen & Toubro, Shapoorji & Pallonji and JSW Steel. While globally, industrial use of drones for mapping is done extensively, India is still at a nascent stage. Industry players hold the current regulations responsible for the slow growth in this business category. “For drones to become a great business, healthy regulations have to be in place—regulations that will promote the technology, safeguard national security and ensure public safety,” notes Shekhar.

Aerial cinematography and photography This is one category that took flight immediately after drones made their www.EFyMag.coM

debut commercially. Drones are being extensively used in filming, news reporting, real-estate and wildlife photography. In India and the rest of the world, high-profile events such as weddings have been using drones to capture UAV training in action (Image courtesy: Maavan Aeronautics Pvt Ltd) aerial views of the event for quite some time. And with Federal Aviation Adbrands in the West are more experiministration (FAA) legalising the use mental and are prepared to shell out of commercial drones last year, drone more on a new technology, the same photography and cinematography are cannot be said for brands in India. anticipated to grow. However, with the technology Currently, drone photography is expected to become cheaper in the being pursued on an amateur level. future, it may not be too far-fetched to But with the guidelines in place, say that drones would be the next logithis category is expected to gain cal step after digital media, and drona lot of attention from industries, evertising may be the biggest trend in as photography is pivotal to aerial marketing in the future in India. mapping as well. Drones for delivery At present, the initial cost of proper drone photography is less We cannot ignore the most basic functhan US$ 10,000. tions of a drone—delivery. Amazon is developing a fleet of drones for its Dronevertising airborne service, Amazon Prime Air Delivery. The e-retailer’s drone delivMarketers across the world are ery service has successfully delivered always looking at connecting with goods to two of its customers in the their consumers innovatively. And UK. And while it is still in its nascent since drones are relatively a new stage—drones can only deliver goods technology in the commercial space, brands are looking at ways to explore that weigh less than 2kg and need a it. In fact, the advent of social media helipad to land—we can expect drone has made it mandatory for brands to manufacturers to come up with new user-friendly designs that will soon try something new. make deliveries easier. Interestingly, a few marketing Since India along with the rest of agencies have been mushrooming the world is moving towards digiacross the world that specialise in drone advertising, which is popularly talisation, and it is one of the fastest growing online retail markets, cheap called dronevertising. DroneCast, airborne delivery may just be the next Hoovy and Intel are three major idea waiting to be commercialised. players in the segment. Big shots Cost of infrastructure for drone such as PepsiCo, Coco-Cola and GE delivery is a major challenge as comhave already used drones in their panies in this space have to invest in brand campaigns to connect better additional infrastructure support such with their consumers. The initial as helipads. However, drone delivery investment is somewhere between is expected to be a core part of the US$ 20,000 and US$ 25,000. The mindset of marketers in differ- logistics sector in the future. ent regions is a huge challenge. While —Purba Das, senior business journalist, EFY ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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What’s Facial Recognition Got To Do With Marketing  The facial analytics market is projected to be US$ 2.7 billion by 2022

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lan UK, a charity foundation, never thought it would garner so much attention for its campaign ‘Because I Am A Girl.’ The organisation had received several complaints and the campaign was accused of promoting gender bias. The reason was simple. The organisation had displayed its ad campaign at a bus stand in Oxford Street and the billboard showed the ad film only if the viewer was a girl. However, if a boy was watching the billboard, it would display only the statistics and not the film, thus excluding them of their choice to see the complete ad. But how did the organisation manage to do that? Well, no points for guessing. The charity foundation tied up with a digital advertising company and deployed facial recognition software in the billboard to identify the gender of the viewer, thus being successful in sending its message across to the viewers.

Global scenario: betting big According to a report by Transparency Market Research, the facial analytics market is projected to be US$ 2.7 billion by 2022, growing at an estimated ten per cent per annum. While a huge chunk of the pie belongs to the surveillance segment, demand from categories such as 80

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retail is also growing. “Facial recognition is the next biggest trend, one that digital marketers need to pay strong attention to, as it is taking the front stage in marketing trends. Recently, MasterCard announced selfie payments—a payment method using a selfie from a smartphone to pay for a bill. A clear indication that facial recognition will also play a huge part in digital marketing with consumers,” says Ivan Temelkov, chief executive officer and chief human marketer, Razor Sharp Digital. He adds that in the next five years new facial recognition technology will allow users to personalise their shopping experience. A vast majority of this has to do with authentication and also added security. For instance, Bank of New Zealand, one of the largest banks in the country, uses EmotionScan, which is a facial recognition technology for reading the emotions of users in a bid to get more people into the banking system. Videos of the campaign were made—these got nearly 100,000 views. Besides, more than 200,000 people, who accounted for six per cent of all adults, participated in EmotionScan experience. The agency claims that the campaign helped the bank become the second most preferred bank in the country. Going back to Plan UK’s campaign, the promotion got more than 29,000 viewers during the campaign period, with nearly 2500 viewers each day.

What it means for India While we can list the success stories of facial recognition technology across the globe, the Indian market tells a different story. On speaking to technology firms that provide such software, most remained clueless about the use of facial recognition software in marketing campaigns. “How can brands use facial recognition technology in marketing campaigns? It is a pretty expensive technology and is widely used in security systems,” the head of an Indian

Plan UK’s ‘Because I Am A Girl’ campaign when viewed by boys (top) and when viewed by girls (bottom) (Image courtesy: Flickr)

software company that specialises in facial recognition technology tells EFY on the condition of anonymity. Thus, brands in India are missing out on the advantages of using this technology when compared to their global counterparts. Besides, like in the case of every new technology, facial recognition software is still expensive and brands are not willing to take the risk. Marketers in India are still not ready to shell out the money for any new technology. “More than the cost of the technology, brands will experiment if the technology is made available widely and if the benefit is established in the industry,” says Naresh Gupta, managing partner at Bang In The Middle, a New Delhi based creative agency. To conclude, industries across the globe are betting big on facial recognition technology to play a huge role in daily consumer engagement. What remains to be seen is whether Indian brands will realise its potential and use it to create a place in the minds of their target audience before it becomes a run-of-the-mill technology. —Purba Das www.EFyMag.coM

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How Drones Are Providing More Impact To Marketing  Intel Corp. used 500 drones to create a light show in the night sky in Germany, creating a world record

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ack in 2015, when Pepsi came up with the first global brand campaign, Genius, for Pepsi Max, the social media went abuzz. PepsiCo used drones in each of its campaign in the series to create an experience for its target audience. In fact, in one such campaign, Drone Friend-Finder, Pepsi used three GPS-enabled drones in a crowd of nearly 50,000 people at New Look Wireless Festival for people to find their lost friends in the crowd. And according to the statistics provided by Live Nation, a live concert company, the campaign received 2.5 million YouTube views and more than 25,000 Facebook likes in the first week itself. Another campaign from the series that created quite a buzz was Drone Football. The campaign began with a group of young boys coming together to play a pickup game of football when a drone flies over and drops the ball. It goes on to project a virtual football field (30,000 reactive LED lights were used for the projection) with a goal post on the either side, and a drone as a referee handing out yellow cards when a player fouled. But PepsiCo is not the first brand to use drones in its marketing campaigns. In fact, several brands across

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the West have used this technology to promote their brands, and have been successful in creating a brand recall, while some have seen a positive impact on their sales as well.

The current scenario Drone advertising, or dronevertising, is a fairly new concept in the marketing fraternity across the globe. And while brands in India have been using drones to fly their banners, use of this technology in advertising is slowly evolving in the West. Drones are now used for creating amazing visual content as it ups the novelty factor instantly. Technology giant Intel, which is betting big on drone technology, created a stunning show of drones, demonstrating to the world how this technology can up the game of promotions by notches. “We are looking forward to using this new fleet of Intel Shooting Star drones publicly soon,” says Anil Nanduri, vice president - New Technology Group and general manager - Unmanned Aviation Systems, Perceptual Computing Group, Intel Corp., in his blog post. The tech major used 500 drones to create a light show in the night sky in Germany, creating a world record. So what exactly can drone technology achieve for marketers?

Shooting the sales up A marketing campaign is created to either strike a brand recall in the minds of the consumers or to ensure that it kicks up the sales. So when Moscow based restaurant Wokkers used drones to carry its banner that promoted its offers during lunch hours in nearby office areas, it expected to strike the right cord with hungry office goers. But what it did not expect was to see a spike of a whopping 40 per cent in its sales in the same month.

Striking the right chord National Football League (NFL) Superbowl, one of the biggest football

PepsiCo logo shown at Pepsi Zero Sugar SuperBowl Halftime Show using drone technology (Image courtesy: Intel Corp.)

events, was one of the top trending topics on social media early this year. Apart from the game, Lady Gaga’s halftime performance was much talked about. NFL had approached Intel to take it to the next level. Intel used 300 drones to create a backdrop of colourful formations in the sky, including twinkling stars that changed into red-and-blue moving stars, eventually creating the American flag before bringing Lady Gaga to the centre stage. Pepsi sponsored the halftime performance and also had its share of branding when the drones came together to create the brand’s iconic logo. During the event, reports suggested that there were 2.2 million real-time tweets about Pepsi Halftime Show, giving the iconic beverage brand the chance to engage with its target consumers, as well as a total of 5.1 million tweets about the performance. NFL’s twitter account drove 47,000 retweets and 29,000 likes. The event also got more than 49 million video views, and more than five million views on Facebook, in addition to reactions, comments and shares. Ultimately, the show garnered nearly 118 million viewers, making it the most-viewed content on NFL’s digital platform, thus giving both NFL and Pepsi the opportunity to strike the right chords with their consumers. ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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Intel using drone technology to create the American flag (Image courtesy: Intel Corp.)

The challenges It is interesting to note that marketing experts across the globe are hailing drone technology as the next big thing. However, the Indian industry will have to overcome a few challenges before the technology is adopted by brands at a mass level. In the West, mostly Fortune 500 companies have been investing in exploring new channels of advertising. They understand the need to change with the times, and dronevertising definitely fits the bill. They understand that they are creating an extraordinary experience for their consumers, and such initiatives will be on the higher side of the costs. However, that is not the case with Indian marketers. Brand expert Harish Bijoor feels that drone advertising will gain popularity in India only if the cost of the technology slashes significantly. He points out that, brands are successfully connecting with their consumers through traditional media such as broadcast, print and now digital and, hence, have not explored this technology in advertising. Nevertheless, with Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) planning to come up with a clear set of guidelines, drone technology companies are expected to come up with more sophisticated versions of drones, thus making the existing ones a little cheaper in cost. —Purba Das

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How Artificial Intelligence Is Shaping The Healthcare Industry  The need for Big Data analytics is huge, as it is expected to change the way healthcare works

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ack in 1970s, when MYCIN— an early backward chaining expert system for identifying bacteria that caused severe infections and for recommending the right dosage of antibiotics in accordance with the patient’s body weight—was developed using AI in Standford University, USA, healthcare experts knew they had achieved a milestone in the history of healthcare. Since then, there has been no looking back. Enterprises have since been focusing on using AI in healthcare. “The global healthcare industry is making significant strides in the field of AI. There are many startups as well as large players like IBM and Google who are working in the space,” says Dr Pinak Shrikhande, principal at HealthQuad, a venture capital fund that specifically invests in early-stage healthcare companies in India. AI in India is gaining popularity as many startups have been mushrooming in the healthcare space.

enormous amounts of data. Thus, the need for Big Data analytics is huge, as it is expected to change the way healthcare works. Douglas Adamson, chief technology officer - CSO, Health Catalyst, says that, most of the data that is collected is not used entirely. “In healthcare, we have large volumes of data coming in. Electronic medical records alone collect huge amounts of data. But neither the volume nor the velocity of data in healthcare is truly high enough to require Big Data today,” he explains in his article published in Health Catalyst. However, that does not mean that he is suggesting Big Data analytics to be written off completely. In fact, it is just the opposite. Let us talk about IBM Watson for Oncology. “IBM Watson for Oncology has an advanced ability to analyse the meaning and context of structured and unstructured data in clinical notes and reports that may be critical to selecting a treatment pathway. Then by combining attributes from the patient’s file with clinical expertise, external research and data, the program identifies potential treatment plans for a patient,” Dr Shrikhande points out. Interestingly, world-renowned oncologist Dr Lukas Wartman, assistant director of cancer genomics at Washington University in St. Louis, USA, turned to Watson, IBM’s AI system, to get rid of his own cancer, which he had developed while studying this disease. Dr Wartman had developed acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and

Reading Big Data Healthcare industry is probably one of the few industries that generates

AI in healthcare www.EFyMag.coM

smart world was at a loss when he ran out of all traditional treatment options. It is then that he and his team used Watson to conduct a full genome sequencing of his healthy and cancer cells. The sequencing also revealed the best possible medicine that could be used to treat his cancer. The outcome was quite stunning. Dr Wartman was cured but with a few side-effects. AI had detected the exact nature of the cancer and had recommended a drug that is normally used for kidney cancer as the cure. Since then, Watson for Cancer is being looked upon as a saviour in cancer cases. In fact, Manipal Hospital in India has adopted this technology to offer the best cancer care to patients. Oncologists at the hospital upload the patient’s DNA fingerprint of the tumour along with an indication towards cancerous cells. Watson scans through the entire sequence to detect the cancer-causing mutation and suggests a plausible cure. This way Watson is helping doctors offer the most effective treatments to cancer patients at the hospital. A technology such as IBM’s Watson can be a game changer in a country like India if it is available at an affordable price, as almost 700,000 people die of this deadly disease every year.

Diagnostics Many healthcare startups are using deep learning to minimise the need for expertise in using technologies. Ultrasound technology is widely used in the diagnosis and monitoring of one’s health condition. However, after almost 80 years of its invention, ultrasound machines continue to be expensive and cumbersome, and their usage requires extensive training. A few startups that have been toying with AI have used deep learning to substantially change the way medical imaging is done. For instance, New York based Butwww.EFyMag.coM

terfly Network has used deep learning in developing a single silicon chip that takes images and is portable. The chip’s onboard deep learning configuration allows it to guide technicians and clinicians to use ultrasound easily while also making it inexpensive for healthcare centres. Another startup that has IBM Watson for Oncology (Image courtesy: IBM) been using deep learning in its products is Imagen Technoloand other crucial information that gies, a medical imaging diagnostic makes the final report extremely group. The company is developing informative. “The intended use of a software that will use AI to detect this software in our laboratory is to and reduce diagnostic errors in the analyse all cases for which slides images it scans. The software will are made and viewed on the comdetect clinically-meaningful patholoputer (instead of a microscope). The gies within the images to help docimages and other morphological tors prepare a more accurate report. parameters are correlated with the There are several other startups counts obtained by the cell counter. that are enabling software with In most cases, a good correlation can deep learning that could considerbe found. For example when the cell ably improve diagnostics segment, counter-flags for monocytosis and thus making way for better and Shonit shows a high monocytes count effective treatments. along with images of monocytes, the report can be finalised at this level. If AI in India there is a discrepancy or suspicion of Taking a cue from its global counter- abnormal or atypical cell, the slide is viewed under microscope,” she adds. part, the Indian healthcare sector is Another startup Practo is betwitnessing a gradual adoption of AI ting big on AI to better assist doctors in its services. For instance, Sigin their clinical assessments. The Tuple, an AI startup, was founded company, which has raised US$ 55 in 2015 with the aim of improving million, will be using part of its funddiagnostics and treatments offered ing for research and development in by healthcare centres in the country. AI for doctors. The company has created Shonit, an Then there is healthcare startup AI based digital system that analyses HealthGenNext that uses AI to detect the images of blood cells to diagdiseases using deep learning technose the disease. niques. “When I first heard about digital However, while several startups are image analysis using AI and its coming up with solutions using AI for intended use in routine haematolthe healthcare industry, the willingness ogy reporting, I was very excited, to accept these solutions is still nasbut simultaneously I had my critical cent. Besides, affordability is a major views,” says Dr Preethi S. Chari, factor in adoption of these solutions. consulting pathologist, Anand DiagTo conclude, once startups are able to nostics Laboratories, in her blog. provide these solutions at an affordIn her blog, she explains that able price, we will witness a paradigm Shonit views and then analyses the shift in our healthcare industry. morphology of blood cells, identifies large platelets, malarial parasites —Purba Das ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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Industry News Make in india

Government initiatives and falling prices On The Move driving India’s LED lighting market Snapdeal names Jason Kothari According to a report titled ‘India LED Lighting Market (2017-2023)’ by 6Wresearch, India’s LED lighting market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 26.6 per cent during 2017-23. India’s LED lighting market is projected to witness robust growth owing to government initiatives such as UJALA, Housing for All and Deendayal Upadhayaya Gram Jyoti Yojna. Further, missions like Smart Cities would also drive the LED lighting market in the coming years. Ravi Bhandari, assistant manager research and consulting, 6Wresearch, says, “Streetlight LEDs hold the major share in the overall LED lighting market and are expected to dominate the market in the forecast period. The government of India, under Street Light

National Programme, has to replace 35 million conventional streetlights with LED lights by March 2019, thus increasing the demand for LED bulbs in streetlight applications. “Further, demand for LED downlighters has also increased due to growing adoption in the areas of hospitality, retail, educational institutions, commercial offices and others. “Profit margins of the market players have decreased due to growing competition and entry of new players in the country in the last few years. And, the government is encouraging domestic manufacturing, which would further lead to price competition in the industry,” adds Kanika Sharma, research associate - research and consulting, 6Wresearch.

IIoT connections to surge to 66 million global connections in 2017 Though industrial manufacturers are lagging in their adoption of Cloud based services and connecting their legacy systems to digital networks, vision for a vast Internet of Things (IoT) market is starting to take shape. Industrial manufacturing applications will generate more than US$ 138 million in 2017 from mobile and satellite connectivity fees, forecasts ABI Research. The industrial IoT (IIoT) market will add more than 13 million new wireline and wireless connections worldwide in 2017 to an installed base exceeding 53 million connections. “Costs for data storage and compute processing has dropped significantly in the past few years, making the digitisation of industrial equipment 84

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

now possible for nearly every manufacturing business,” says Jeff Orr, research director at ABI Research. “New applications are possible, including predictive analytics, digital twin simulation modelling and gaining insight that enable new business models and sources of revenue,” he adds. Asia-Pacific region has the largest concentration of new IIoT connections with more than five million additional expected in 2017. Global opportunity will continue to grow over the next four years with a forecast of 18 million new IIoT connections annually by 2021, though some compression is expected for connectionrelated revenues, which will decline to US$ 122 million in 2021.

as FreeCharge CEO

Jason Kothari, chief strategy and investment officer of Snapdeal, has taken over as chief executive office of FreeCharge, the digital payments platform owned by the online marketplace.

Rejig at Samsung Mobiles Samsung has rejigged the roles of senior executives for its mobile phone business to effectively counter Chinese competition. Mohandeep Singh has been promoted as senior vice president for the mobile phone business where he is in charge of sales and retail marketing, and is responsible for all major operations for the business. Asim Warsi has been brought back to the mobile phone arm after he was given the responsibility to create the online product portfolio and product plans for all categories last year. Warsi, a senior vice president, will now head the mobile business product marketing team that plans all new launches and activations around it. Manu Sharma, who was vice president - product marketing at Samsung’s mobile business, will head sales for north and east.

Ericsson appoints Nunzio Mirtillo as India market head Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson has appointed Nunzio Mirtillo as head of market for South East Asia, Oceania and India.

Lenovo India appoints Vivek Sharma as director - data centre business Lenovo India has appointmented Vivek Sharma as the company’s new director, Data Centre Group, India. He will be based in Bengaluru, and will report to Sumir Bhatia, vice president, Data Centre Group, Asia-Pacific, Lenovo. Sharma will also be part of Lenovo’s India Leadership Team, which is led by India managing director and chief executive officer, Rahul Agarwal. www.EFyMag.coM

Industry news Calendar of Forthcoming Electronics Fairs/Exhibitions/Seminars/Events Name, Date and Venue

Topics

Contact address for details

Consumer Electronics China (CE China) May 4-6, 2017

Global IFA event, designed to be China’s premier trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances brands in China

Berlin Exhibition (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd [email protected]

Worldwide semiconductor revenue forecast to increase 12.3 per cent in 2017 According to Gartner Inc., worldwide semiconductor revenue is forecast to total US$ 386 billion in 2017, an increase of 12.3 per cent from 2016. Favourable market conditions that gained momentum in the second half of 2016, particularly for commodity memory, have accelerated and raised the outlook for the market in 2017 and 2018. However, the memory market is fickle, and additional capacity in both DRAM and NAND flash is expected to result in a correction in 2019. PC DRAM pricing has doubled since the middle of 2016. A 4GB module that cost US$ 12.50 has jumped to just under US$ 25 today. NAND flash ASPs increased sequentially in the second half of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017. Pricing for both DRAM and NAND is expected to peak in the second quarter of 2017, but relief is not expected until later in the year, as content increases in key applications such as smartphones have vendors scrambling for supply. Unit production estimates for premium smartphones, graphics cards, video game consoles and automotive applications have improved and contributed to the stronger outlook in 2017. In addition, electronic equipment with heavy exposure to DRAM and NAND flash saw semiconductor revenue estimates increase. This includes PCs, ultramobiles, servers and solid-state drives.

China Coil Winding and Electronic Professional exhibition for small motor, Transformer Expo 2017 magnetic material, electronic transformer, coil May 18-20, 2017 winding and insulation material Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, China

Wise Exhibition (Guangdong) Co. Ltd Website: www.motor-expo.cn/En/

Computex Taipei 2017 May 30-June 3, 2017 Taipei, Taiwan

B2B ICT/Internet of Things trade show

Computex Taipei organising team Website: http://www.computextaipei. com.tw

E3 2017 June 13-15, 2017 Los Angeles, California, USA

Annual video game conference and show

Entertainment Software Association Website: www.e3expo.com

TechXLR8 June 13-15, 2017 ExCeL, London, UK

Festival of technology for a journey between networks, tech and consumer services

TechXLR8 Website: https://tmt.knect365.com

IFA 2017 September 1-6, 2017 Berlin, Germany

Meeting place for key retailers, buyers, and experts from the consumer electronics industry and the media

The German Association for Entertainment and Communications Electronics and Messe Berlin Website: http://b2b.ifa-berlin.com

AI World 2017 September 18-20, 2017 Boston, USA

Artificial intelligence (AI) world conference and expo

AI World 2017 Website: https://aiworld.com

TechXLR8 Asia October 2-4, 2017 Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Festival of technology that brings together Asia’s telco and tech ecosystem to discover technologies that are enabling and shaping our connected future

TechXLR8 Asia Website: https://tmt.knect365.com/ techxlr8-asia/

Taitronics Taipei October 11-14, 2017 Taipei, Taiwan

International trade fair for electronics and electronic components

Taiwan External Trade Development Council Website: http://www.taitra.org.tw/

Open Source India October 13-14, 2017 NIMHANS Convention Center, Bengaluru, India

Asia’s annual convention to celebrate open source computing

Open Source India Website: http://opensourceindia.in/ osidays/

Big Data London November 15-16, 2017 Olympia, London, UK

The UK’S largest data and analytics event

Big Data London Website: http://bigdataldn.com/

CeBIT INDIA 2017 November 30-December 2, 2017 White Orchid Convention Centre, Hebbal, Bengaluru

Expo powered by technology, with focus on five hot trends, namely, the Internet of Things and security, Cloud and Big Data, mobile and 4G, artificial and virtual reality, and artificial intelligence and machine-to-machine communication

CeBIT INDIA Website: www.cebit-india.com

ELEXCON 2017 December 21-23, 2017 Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center, China

Annual expo for the electronics industry based in Shenzhen

ELEXCON 2017 Website: www.elexcon.com/elexcon/en

CES 2018 January 9-12, 2018 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

World’s gathering place for those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies and where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace

Consumer Technology Association Website: www.ces.tech

NEPCON Japan January 17-19, 2018 Tokyo Big Sight, Japan

Asia’s leading exhibition for electronics design, R&D and manufacturing technology

Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd Website: http://www.nepconjapan.jp/en/

Electronics West February 6-8, 2018 Anaheim Convention Center, California, USA

North America’s largest annual design and manufacturing event

Electronics West Website: http://electronicswest. designnews.com/

IBM launches enterpriseready Blockchain service

Embedded World 2018 February 27-March 1, 2018 Exhibition Centre, Nuremberg, Germany

Trade fair for IT security for electronic systems

NürnbergMesse Website: www.embedded-world.de/en

ELCERAMA March 10-14, 2018 India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Flagship showcase of the Indian electrical industry ecosystem and the largest congregation of power sector ecosystem in the geography; brings together the complete spectrum of solutions that powers the planet

IEEMA Website: http://elecrama.com, http://ieema.org

International Business Machines Corp. has launched a service that will allow businesses to build applications on its Cloud using Blockchain code from Hyperledger Project, the cross-industry group led by Linux Foundation. The technology company has said that its new

Since this information is subject to change, all those interested are advised to ascertain the details from the organisers before making any commitment.

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Snippets

Industry news

Google, MeitY announce digital awareness initiatives Google and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have announced Digital Payment Security Alliance initiative that aims to create community awareness on safe and secure digital practices. Under this initiative, banks, Fintech companies and the government will work together to create awareness as users adopt digital and mobile payments.

EY to open first AI centre in Mumbai London-headquartered professional services firm EY is set to open its first artificial intelligence (AI) centre in Mumbai to help its clients figure out the best way to use these emerging technologies. The centre will bring together teams of multi-disciplinary practitioners, combining expertise in areas such as AI, robotics, machine learning and cognitive technology, along with domain experience in sectors.

Samsung, Intex are top OEMs in India Samsung, Intex and Rising Star are the top three original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in India, according to market research firm CyberMedia Research. According to the report, 48 OEMs and third-party manufacturers made mobile handsets in India during the fourth quarter of 2016 and 40 original design manufacturers (ODMs) supplied to brands selling in India for the same period.

IIT Patna launches incubation centre The incubation centre, nestled within the sprawling campus of IIT Patna, is a not-forprofit institution that focuses on innovations through startups and projects based on electronic system design and medical electronics. The project is associated with Make in India initiative and has received funding from MeitY and the government of Bihar.

Cisco to make India hub for global hardware export Networking giant Cisco has plans to make India a global export hub for its products, after recently having started manufacturing access points and routers at a facility in Pune. The USA based company also expects to complete 50 digitisation projects by the end of the year across India, which is part of its US$ 100 million investment announced last year.

Russian firms invest US$ 80 million in solar power project Miyota Power India, a joint venture of two Russian firms, has tied up with Chennai based Al Ameen Green Energy to set up a 100MW solar power plant near Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu. Miyota Power will be investing US$ 80 million in the project.

product called IBM Blockchain was the first service for developers to build enterprise-grade technology using Hyperledger Fabric, the first code set to be released by the open source group. Fabric Blockchain can process more than 1000 transactions per second and has the necessary features to be used by large enterprises to build their applications. The company is working with technology company SecureKey Technologies and a group of Canadian banks to build a digital identity network using its Blockchain services. The network, to be launched www.EFyMag.coM

later in the year, is aimed at making it easier for consumers to prove their identities when accessing services such as new bank accounts, driver’s licences or utilities. IBM has also tested a Blockchain based asset management platform for carbon assets with Chinese company Energy-Blockchain Labs. The companies aim to release the platform, built using the new IBM Blockchain, later this year.

Bharti Airtel to acquire Tikona Networks’ 4G business Bharti Airtel has entered into an agreement with Tikona Digital

Networks to acquire the latter’s 4G business including Broadband Wireless Access spectrum and 350 sites, in five telecom circles. The acquisition is subject to requisite regulatory approvals. Tikona currently has 20MHz spectrum in 2300MHz band in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh circles. Airtel plans to roll out high-speed 4G services on the newly-acquired spectrum in the five circles immediately after the closure of the transaction. As per the agreement, acquisition of the 4G business in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Himachal Pradesh will be undertaken by Airtel, while in Rajasthan circle it will be accomplished through Airtel’s subsidiary Bharti Hexacom Ltd. Post-acquisition, the combined spectrum holding of Airtel in these five circles will be within the spectrum caps prescribed by the government.

Hindustan Power contributes 10 per cent to Bihar’s installed solar capacity The clean energy arm of Hindustan Power had commissioned a 10MW solar plant at Shergati, Gaya, in Bihar to power the cumulative solar capacity in Bihar to ~100MW. The plant, commissioned at an investment of ` 810 million, is spread over 56 acres of land using 34,920 modules. It has been generating 45,000 units of clean energy per day since its commissioning in November 2016. The PPA for the 10MW project has been signed with Bihar State Power Holding Corp. Ltd, and the power is evacuated to 33kV Sherghati sub-station. With a current solar capacity of ~600MW, the company is one of the key players championing the adoption of solar on mass scale in India. The clean energy arm of the company is generating carbon savings of approx 720,000 tonnes per year. ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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make in india Market Survey:

How Lucrative Is The iot Market In India

I Sudeshna Das is senior executive editor at EFY

n the last couple of years, instead of exports and manufacturing, India’s growth story has been more dependent on the services industry, domestic consumption and the rise of small and medium enterprises and startups. Considering these trends and the strong push from the government for Digital India, the market for emerging technologies like Internet of Thing (IoT)-related components, products and solutions is bound to grow significantly. This, in turn, may represent a significant growth opportunity for organisations offering such related components, products and solutions. Senior executives from such organisations were surveyed as part of our monthly industry poll. In this article, we take the pulse of the IoT market in India.

Growing market The global IoT market will exceed US$ 300 billion by 2020. According to a NASSCOM study, the Indian IoT market is poised to Hardware Communications 31 and Networking Computing and Storage 18

Methodology For the survey, ten senior professionals involved in the Indian IoT industry ecosystem were randomly selected to share their inputs. This sample is a microcosmic representation of India’s IoT industry. Survey participants were requested to share their insights on the following: • Anticipated growth of the Indian IoT industry in FY 2017-18 • Expected growth per cent • Major demand-generating applications • Customer categorisation • Hindrances that impact growth of this sector • Technology trends in this sector Responses obtained from the interviews were then collated and analysed.

reach US$ 15 billion by that year, accounting for five per cent of the global market (Fig. 1). India’s IoT market is expected to grow exponentially over the next couple of years. According to 6Wresearch, the Indian IoT market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 28.2 per cent during the years 2016-22. Key drivers of

IoT opportunity for technology and service providers: 2020 in US$ billion

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US$ 328 billion

Software Capabilities, 262 Services and Analytics

Driver: Personal Interest Health and Fitness Monitoring Consumer IoT Home Automation

Process Linking relevant information with the right person at the right time

People Providing a valuable platform for people to connect

Fig. 1: Size of the IoT market (Source: Deloitte Analysis, Gartner, Technavi, Arc Advisory Group)

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The Internet of Things

Things Developing an ecosystem of connected physical devices

Industrial Automation

IoT Applications

Data Utilising data to get useful and actionable insights

Industrial IoT Driver: Business Value

Retail Automation

Connected Vehicles

Smart Cities

The IoT provides a unique connectivity that enables businesses to turn data into actionable insights

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make in india this market are government initiatives, growing acceptance of smart applications and increasing Internet penetration across the country. The Indian government has launched various projects (such as 100 Smart Cities project) and is encouraging organisations to implement the IoT. The smart cities project is expected to play a vital role in the overall growth of the market. World Bank and Asian Development Bank are expected to provide loans of US$ 500 million and US$ 1 billion, respectively, to India for this project. Amongst all IoT applications, industrial applications account for the maximum revenue share in the Indian market, owing to their growing usage in energy management, smart buildings, manufacturing and the environment. In sync with the above-mentioned projections, all executives we interviewed stated that the IoT business across the country will see positive growth in the financial year 2017-18. However, there are mixed opinions about the percentage of expected growth. Sixty-seven per cent of the respondents expect 20 to 30 per cent year-on-year growth (Fig. 2).

67%

10-20% growth 20-30% growth 33%

Fig. 2: Forecast for YoY growth of the IoT industry in FY 2017-18

55% 77% 85% 70% 36% 100% 50% 18% 25% 7% 0

20

40

60

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100

Retail

Industrial

Medical/healthcare

Building and home automation

Energy (smart grid)

Agriculture

Urban management

Wearables

Automotive

Others

Fig. 3: Growth of the IoT industry within the main application sectors in India

33%

33%

Growth drivers At present, growth of the IoT business is primarily driven by consumers shifting from using devices such as laptops and tablets to smart sensors, wearables and clustered systems like fitness trackers or smart homes. However, with the goal of improving human productivity, safety and overall quality of life through a network of smart connected devices, the potential of IoT technology lies far beyond just consumer electronics. It shows promise in other markets and application areas including energy, water and traffic management, industrial IoT, surveillance and security, and so on. High growth in this market is anticipated on account of ongoing

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Business intelligence Connectivity Professional services

25%

9%

Security-level management

Fig. 4: Expected revenue generation options in the IoT business in India

developments in IoT technology, which provide better connectivity and coverage as well as real-time monitoring/tracking of services and systems across diverse industry verticals to reduce operational and manpower costs. Apart from smart cities, various other government projects such as smart transportation and smart grids are also expected to propel the adoption of IoT technology across the country. Therefore the initial

smart product-oriented applications in white goods, cars and the like will be extended to improve factors like supply chain agility, manufacturing and operations efficiency. Survey participants anticipate maximum growth in IoT business from the following sectors (Fig. 3): • Industrial • Energy • Medical/healthcare Organisations in industries such as consumer durables, automotive, electricity supply, manufacturing, logistics and retail, that can effectively harness and exploit the data generated by the IoT, will enjoy a significant competitive advantage. The IoT market offers immense revenue-generation opportunities in the following areas: • Business intelligence and analytics for decision support • Security-level management and performance management • Professional services like consulting, integration and software development • Connectivity and communication services, associated hardware, devices and components In a market survey that Electronics Bazaar conducted last year, around half the survey participants believed that smart services like business intelligence and analytics would account for a major share of the market. However, this year, survey participants gave almost equal importance to business intelligence and analytics, professional services, and connectivity and communication services (Fig. 4) with respect to their share of the overall revenue pie. This trend may result in additional opportunities for the electronics industry. According to 33 per cent of the survey participants, value creation will also stem from hardware, software, services and integration activities provided by technology companies that enable the IoT (Fig. 4). Device connectivity is the fundamental aspect of any IoT apElEctronics For you | May 2017

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make in india Survey participants          

Anand T., managing director, KNEWRON Technologies Pvt Ltd Bhaskar Rao, chief executive officer, Technosphere Labs Pvt Ltd Chandrashekhar Gampawar, ESDM consultant, Lets Win Globe Dileep Jain, sales head, Rajguru Electronics Hemant Kamat, chief technology officer, Shalaka Technologies Pvt Ltd Kaustubha Parkhi, principal analyst, Insight Research Rajesh Sola, core faculty, C-DAC-ACTS Srinivasa Moorthy, chief executive officer, Andhra Pradesh Electronics & IT Agency Suniel Kumar G., director, Nexiot Yogesh Borhade, director and chief technology officer, YUPS Tech Solutions

plication. So the sheer volume of deployment will generate a huge demand for communication hardware, devices and also services. And this is where electronics plays a big role. Each IoT device will require, at the minimum, a microcontroller to add intelligence to the device, one or more sensors to allow for data collection, one or more chips for connectivity and data transmission, and a memory component. Connected devices that transmit information across relevant networks rely on innovations from semiconductor players—highly-integrated microchip designs, for instance, and very low-power functions in certain applications. Semiconductor companies that can effectively deliver these and other innovations to original equipment manufacturers, original device manufacturers and others that are building IoT products and applications will play an important role in the development of the market. That market, in turn, may turn out to be a significant growth opportunity for semiconductor players and their customers.

Technology trends Wide adoption of the IoT may need customised technology solutions that are suitable for the country. According to the survey participants, low-power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies like LoRa are an excellent fit in the Indian context of smart cities and smart agricul90

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ture. Sigfox, NB-IoT and the like are also gaining importance for the same reasons. A new class of system(s)-on-chip (SoC) based devices, with optimal power and connectivity features as well as with sensor integration, will be in demand. First generation of such chips is already on its way, although it will probably be a few generations before the chips can deliver all the required functionality. Energy-harvesting, wireless integrated circuits can enable self-powered sensor nodes, which are easy to deploy without the need for power or signal wiring. Additionally, a new array of sensors based on micro electromechanical systems technology is rapidly being developed to enable IoT applications beyond motion and image sensing, to include those that measure humidity, altitude, food calorie composition and various human health indicators. This is a result of the increasing variety of consumer IoT applications such as wearable and clustered systems. With connectivity being a key capability required in IoT applications, multiple communication standards and protocols are being supported by consumer electronics and industrial devices, like low power and personal area wireless mesh networks, which are primarily suited for sensors. IoT applications usually require a single chip in an acceptable form factor and low power consumption

for battery-operated devices. This requirement is a factor for growth in SoCs with embedded cores, GPUs and integrated wireless connectivity in a single package. Progress in these technologies has allowed the development of such IoT devices as sensors that have compute, storage and network capabilities built into extremely-small form factors, yet with low energy requirements. On the services front, one emerging requirement will be asynchronous data transmission by the device. This will lower the cost of the device and the entire infrastructure. This will also need security in order to prevent tampering with the data transmitted by the device. And a reduction in ISO-OSI stack will help—working closer to the PHY layer will be better suited in terms of cost, power, carbon dioxide emissions, etc.

Moving forward Like any other innovative concept, growth of the IoT also depends on several factors. We asked the survey participants to suggest the possible challenges that could derail the growth of the IoT sector in the country. Here is a collation of their opinions: • Lack of awareness and limited availability of real products and services • High cost of connectivity • Inadequate security and privacy protection for user data • Lack of consistent standards • Technological limitations that affect functionality • Discontinuous and fragmented IoT value chain • Lack of cost-effective solutions • Extended decision making cycles • Lack of standardisation • Regulatory overheads However, the hope is that these problems are not insurmountable, particularly if the electronics industry players are willing to take an active role in solving these. www.EFyMag.coM

post-show report

event

IndIa ElEctronIcs WEEk 2017: For Those Who Value Technology KEY FACTS Show dates: March 2-4, 2017 Location: Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Number of exhibitors: 160+ Brands represented: 400+ Unique visitors: 10,367 Number of conferences: 11 Number of workshops: 20+ Number of speakers: 150+

W

hat sets India Electronics Week (IEW), organised by the EFY Group, apart from other technology shows? Through this brief report we attempt to share key highlights of what transpired at IEW 2017, with the hope that it will motivate you to experience the show first hand next year, rather than read about it here. The theme for IEW 2017 was ‘Invest In India,’ which is in line with Central government’s ‘Make In India’ initiative. The latest avatar of this annual event comprised a large exhibition of electronic products, 11 conferences addressed by 150+ speakers and attended by 3000

Number of major buyers invited to Buyer-Seller Meet: 11

delegates from India and abroad, and 20+ workshops for those who wanted to update their tech knowledge. IEW recognises the remarkable achievements of India’s electronics industry and showcases its capabilities to the world. This year it provided an excellent platform for those in the electronics industry who wanted to network and interact with each other in order to grow their businesses.

Networking Platforms At IEW 2017 CEO Summit

Inaugural session at the CEO Summit www.efymag.com

CEO Summit on the theme ‘The Roadmap For Enhancing Value Addition In Electronics Manufacturing’ was put together with the help of ELCINA—India’s leading trade association representing the electronics industry. The chief guest at the summit was Sunil Kumar Barnwal, IAS (secretary to the chief minister; secretary, information technology and e-governance; as well as secretary, industries, mines and geology, Jharkhand). Other eminent guests included S.K. Marwaha, senior director, MeitY, and Deepthi Ravula, joint director - electronics and electronics for you | may 2017

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event semiconductors, government of Telangana. In the welcome address of the inaugural session, Vikram Desai, president, ELCINA and managing director, Desai Electronics, urged the Indian electronics industry to come forward. Ramesh Chopra, executive chairman, EFY Group, gave the vote of thanks. The first session was on ‘Market Growth And Demand Drivers.’ Eminent speakers for this session were T. Vasu, director, Tandon Group; Dr Ravi Bhatkal, managing director, Alpha and MacDermid Performance Solutions (India); Neeraj Pandita, senior director - sales and marketing, ISOLA Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong); Vinod Chippalkatti, vice president - SEBU, Centum Electronics Ltd; and Biswapriya Bhattacharjee, vice president, IMRB Technologies. The second session was on ‘Advanced Manufacturing And Industry 4.0 Technologies.’ K. Vijay Kumar Gupta, managing director, Kwality Photonics Pvt Ltd; N.K. Mohapatra, chief executive officer, ESSCI; and Anil Kumar Muniswamy, managing director, SLN Technologies Pvt Ltd, shared valuable information on the subject.

LED Lighting Summit This summit was co-organised by ELCOMA, the apex body for lighting manufacturers in India, and EFY, on the second day of the event. The conference brought together around 100 participants representing all stakeholders in the LED lighting industry, top LED lighting and components manufacturers, government end users (leading municipalities), bulk buyers, regulatory and standardisation authorities, consultants, lighting architects, representatives from testing and certification bodies, and more. Experts from the LED industry and government bodies discussed various business and technology trends in this conference. The chief guest at this summit was N. Manjunath Prasad, commissioner, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike. He talked about the needs of Karnataka government with respect to better streetlighting and what the government was looking for in this respect. Shyam Sujan, secretary general, ELCOMA; and D. Christopher, general manager, ELCOMA, gave the welcome and the inaugural addresses, respectively, in the first session of this conference. They spoke about what ELCOMA had done and what it proposed to do in the coming years for the Indian LED lighting industry. Topics of other interesting sessions included: • ‘The Future Of LEDs Is Beyond Lighting’ by Bhaskar Nayak, lead - specification sales and lighting application services, Philips Lighting India • ‘Wireless Lighting Control By Naveen Tumula, product marketing, ECG, OT and LMS, APAC, Osram • ‘Intelligent Lighting For The Domestic Sector’ by Mohit Sharma, global business head, Jaquar 92

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Techies were joined by robots from Mitra and Universal Robots, and assisted the support staff distribute delegate bags and give directions

• ‘Smart Street Lighting’ by Devashish Ganguli, assistant general manager - lighting division, Havells India Ltd • ‘EESL National Plan For Streetlighting’ by N. Mohan, manager - technical, EESL • ‘BEE’s Labelling Programme For LED Lamps And Tubes’ by Manjeet Singh, deputy director, Bureau of Energy Efficiency • ‘Importance Of Testing And Conformance In LED Manufacturing’ by Gautam Brahmbhatt, manager, ERDA

EFY Conferences at IEW The Internet of Things (IoT) mega convention conducted at BIEC in Bengaluru helped more than 10,000 techies to get going with IoT technology and business models, as part of the IEW 2017. Thousands of engineers engaged with each other through six parallel tracks on various topics and themes happening at the event as part of IoTshow.in, leading the way to help them get better at building IoT and embedded systems technologies. Delegates to the event were able to brush up their maker and engineering skills by attending more than 24 workshops under Electronics Rocks banner. Dr Andreas Middendorf, Fraunhofer-Institut für Zuverlässigkeit und Mikrointegration, delivered the opening keynote at the event, and later moderated a panel discussion on ‘Optimally Leveraging Electronics And Digitisation To Transform Manufacturing Through Industry 4.0.’ Other exciting talks included those that delved on building business and revenue models for the IoT, smart retailing and more. EFY conferences at IEW 2017 covered the following topics: Analytics, Algorithms and AI. This was all about artificial intelligence (AI), which is the next stage after the IoT. While the IoT lets you control and monitor machines www.efymag.com

through the Internet, AI enables the machines to figure out when to turn on or modulate devices around you, based on your previous interactions with them. Cyber Security. What is more dangerous than machines that have the capability to think and control other machines? Machines that can be hacked and controlled by malicious fringe elements! This topic focused on how to prevent this. IoTshow.in: Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The one area that sees the most activity in terms of directly implemented IoT deployments is the IIoT, or Industry 4.0. This track looked at the technologies and services that power the IIoT. IoTshow.in: Smart Humans (Medical IoT). What if the highly-scalable intelligence and control of the IoT can be used to increase a human being’s life span and quality of life? That is what our smart humans track explored. IoTshow.in: Smart Homes and Cities. Smart cities and e-governance have the capability to completely revolutionise and improve our nation. This conference covered talks that focused on e-governance, smart villages and more.

IoTshow.in: Profit from the IoT. No business model survives unless it figures out how to profit from its operations. This conference looked at how the IoT can improve efficiencies enough to improve profit margins, or move a business from red to black. IoTshow.in: Smart Automotive. Smart cars and connected vehicles have the potential to change transportation completely. This track looked at various technologies that are available as well as the products and services that can help those building solutions for this sector. Electronics Rocks. Our ever-popular event for design engineers was back. With a treasure trove of 20+ amazing workshops, the event truly rocked, with most workshops running at full house.

Buyer-Seller Meet This event provided a unique platform for exhibitors to meet 11 large buyers of electronic products, components, manufacturing equipment, LED lighting components and IoT hardware, among others. This year more than 100 meetings took place between buyers and sellers, over a period of three days.

Buyers’ FEEdback

Exhibitors’ FEEdback

“This is the fifth time I have participated in EFY Expo. Since the last five years we have been able to find a lot of good suppliers in India. Currently, we are working with about 25 global and Indian suppliers that we got through EFY, from product/service categories like metal sheets, connectors, ESD and cleanrooms. I wish to continue participating in this event to meet more suppliers and to learn about new technologies.” Shanaka Perera, purchase manager, Variosystems Pvt Ltd

“We have been participating in EFY events for last six to seven years. This event has been very good for us, and we eagerly look forward to come back next year.” Chris Palin, EMEIA manager, HumiSeal

“This is a very good platform for buyers and sellers. It is more focused than the meetings we have in our office or at other places.” Manoj Dhawan, assistant general manager, Luminous Power Technologies “With ‘Make In India,’ such platforms where buyers can meet sellers have become essential for both. It is difficult to bring people having the same understanding together and to approach intangible benefits. I feel this type of forums should come up in bigger ways, both implementation and application wise.” Gururaj. V. Hiremath, senior deputy general manager (CSC/IED-CMS), Bharat Electronics Ltd “It is a great approach and is really impressive. This is my first time here, and I found it to be really good.” Sai Vinesh, manager, Tecno Systems India Electronics Pvt Ltd “One-on-one meetings are very important, especially at the start of a financial year. I had a good response while talking to suppliers here because they will be talking to their principals and giving us some numbers so we can start finalising things by April first week. This forum is really good for such activities. I am quite satisfied; I met the right sellers and at the right time.” Narayan Kumar J., managing director - technical, Sanjay Technologies

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“Thanks EFY for organising this wonderful exhibition! We came across some serious visitors. We wish to push our legs into the industrial segment, and have got some contacts from the industry segment.” Manish Joshi, Scientech “IEW is a good platform for having quality conversations with customers. This time there was a lot of IoT talk. Quality of conversation was very good this time!” Amit Agnihotri, marketing manager, RS Component “The show has been great this time! We came across a lot of manufacturers, suppliers, customers and IoT startups. The conferences were very informative. Overall, it was a very good networking event.” Ranga Prasad M.A., director, Semikart “We participated for the first time. I am very happy to be a part of this wonderful show. The reach and personal touch of EFY team gave us a lot of comfort and has made us want to exhibit with EFY again.” Rashi Gupta, director, Vision Mechatronics “As far as the event is concerned, we saw quality this time, which is very important to us.” Sanjay Malla, chief executive officer, Toradex

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New Products Make in india

test & measurement Oscilloscope

DC-milli-ohm meter

SIGLENT’s new SDS1000X-E series super phosphor oscilloscope is available in one bandwidth, 200MHz. It has a maximum sample rate of 1GSa/s and a standard record length of 14Mpts. For ease-of-use, the most commonly used functions can be accessed with its user-friendly front panel design. The SDS1000X-E series employs a new generation of super phosphor oscilloscope technology that provides excellent signal fidelity and performance. It comes with a minimum vertical input range of 500µV/div, an innovative digital trigger system with high sensitivity and low jitter, and a waveform capture rate of 400,000 frames/sec (sequence mode).

Kusam-Meco has introduced a DC-milli-ohm meter that has 4½-digit LED display with comprehensive parameter indication, which makes the reading clear and simple. Readings can be taken during the day and in the dark. Due to its simple design, it is very easy to operate. It has eight measuring ranges, namely, 20mΩ, 200mΩ, 2Ω, 20Ω, 200Ω, 2kΩ, 20kΩ and 200kΩ, with an accuracy of 0.05% + 2 digits. It features very high stability and gives accurate readings owing to four-wire measurements. Its unique feature is that percentage error is selectable in three steps: one, two and three per cent. Auxilary power required is AC 220V ±10%.

Siglent Technologies Co. Ltd www.siglent.com

Kusam Electrical Industries Ltd www.kusamelectrical.com, www.kusam-meco.co.in

Multichannel power probe

Wireless connectivity test set Anritsu has introduced MT8862A instrument with industry-first network mode for evaluating IEEE802.11ac WLAN devices. This new model strengthens the company’s products for testing WLAN equipment. With built-in communication protocols supporting IEEE802.11ac/ n/a/g/b as standard, MT8862A uses network mode to measure the performance of the target WLAN device under test in the actual operating state. RF performance characteristics such as Tx power and Rx sensitivity (PER) can be measured using this network mode, which helps with the configuration of a simpler test environment and eliminates the need for dedicated vendor-provided test modes required for WLAN device inspections. Anritsu India Pvt Ltd www.anritsu.com

Fuel gauge

The new digital lux meter (model 930T) from Meco comes with a flexible sensor that can be used to measure light intensity of even remote places where a human hand cannot reach. It comes with user-selectable units of lux and fc from range 0.1 - 200,000 lux and 0.0 - 20,000 fc with special functions, namely, Max, Min, Backlight and Auto Power Off with Disable and Data Hold features. It is widely used because of its portability, light weight and accuracy.

The new R&S RT-ZVC02/04 multichannel power probe can measure across large current and voltage ranges without having to switch ranges, making it possible to monitor the power consumption of chipsets, radio modules and wearables such as smartwatches. When used in combination with an R&S RTE or R&S RTO oscilloscope, the current drain can be clearly correlated with analogue and digital control signals, enabling developers to optimise the battery life of such wearables and wireless devices early in the development cycle.

MAX17055 is a new, low-7µA operating current fuel gauge that implements Maxim ModelGauge m5 EZ algorithm. ModelGauge m5 EZ makes fuel gauge implementation easy by eliminating battery characterisation requirements and simplifying host software interaction. ModelGauge m5 EZ robust algorithm provides tolerance against battery diversity for most lithium batteries and applications. MAX17055 provides precision measurements of current, voltage and temperature. Temperature of the battery pack is measured using an internal temperature measurement or external thermistor. A two-wire I2C interface provides access to data and control registers.

Meco Instruments Pvt Ltd www.mecoinst.com

Rohde & Schwarz www.rohde-schwarz.com

Maxim Integrated www.maximintegrated.com

Digital lux meter

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New Products

COmPOnents Accelerometer Kionix, a ROHM Group company, announces the release of KXTJ3, a new 3-axis accelerometer offering unprecedented value while providing the performance of a much more expensive accelerometer in a tiny, 2mm×2mm×0.9mm form factor. KXTJ3 offers g-ranges of 2g, 4g, 8g or 16g, and resolution modes up to 14g. It supports I2C protocol up to 3.4MHz and has a built-in voltage regulator offering stable operation from 1.71 to 3.6V. ROHM Co. Ltd www.rohm.com

Spring contact probes The latest probes from M.S.B. Electronics have applications in PCB testing, in-circuit testing, fixtures making, mobile phones, connectors, telecommunication equipment, medical equipment, automobiles and others. M.S.B. Electronics [email protected]

applications such as IoT devices and smart watches. There is also up to 1Mbyte flash, an extra CAN interface, a camera interface and crystal-less full-speed USB OTG. A new high-pincount UFBGA169 package option gives extra flexibility to exercise these new peripherals, which join the rich digital and smart analogue features shared with STM32L476/486. STMicroelectronics www.st.com

LED chip Kwality Photonics has launched high-performance, medium-power KLSL5630W 150mA LEDs in 65/70 lumens output that deliver exceptional brightness, thanks to the specially-designed lead frame profile and improved heat dissipation of the device. Kwality’s high-power KLHP3535, medium-power KLSL5630 and 2835, and low-power 3014 and 3528 LEDs enable you to bid for all EESL, government tenders and BIS based LED indents. Kwality Photonics Pvt Ltd www.kwalityphotonics.com

mIsCeLLaneOus

Microcontrollers

Inverter solution

The latest STM32L496 and STM32L4A6 microcontrollers from STMicroelectronics extend the unique fusion of ARM Cortex-M4F core performance and proprietary ultra-low-power technologies, adding larger memories, enhanced graphics support, extra peripherals and increased powersaving flexibility. Bigger on-chip RAM, up to 320kbytes, complements the newlyadded ST Chrom-ART Accelerator graphics engine for smoother display performance in energy-conscious

Renesas Electronics has announced its new 100kW-class inverter solution that achieves industry-leading small design class of 3.9 litres for high-power 100kW class motors in mid- to largesized hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), including SUVs and mid- to smallsized electric vehicles (EVs). Renesas will provide the new solution as a kit that includes software to maximise the HEV/EV motor performance and of hardware components such as microcontrollers, insulated gate bipolar transistors and fast-recov-

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ery diodes, and other power semiconductor devices. Renesas Electronics Corp. www.renesas.com

Charge controller Systellar Innovations has launched high-voltage MPPT based charge controllers for 96V to 240V battery banks with 50A charging current. Salient features are: • Maximum PV input Voc (open circuit voltage) of 750V DC. Connects up to 15 solar panels of 24V in series per string to minimise power losses. • PCU type functionality: Maximum battery charging current can be restricted and any excess solar power goes directly to the inverter to run load. • Selectable battery bank voltage from 96V up to 240V; 50A maximum charging current. • IGBT based MPPT product produces up to 30 per cent more power. • Four-line LCD display to show battery, PV panel and DC load status. • Remote monitoring facility on computer through RS232 port. Systellar Innovations www.systellar.co.in

OTA prototype for Verizon 5G NI has given the world’s first public demonstration at 28GHz of a realtime, over-the-air (OTA) prototype aligned with Verizon 5G specification at IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference in San Francisco. The system uses OFDM with eight component carriers in a 2×2 downlink MU-MIMO configuration with hybrid beam-forming and a self-contained sub-frame, yielding a 5Gbit/s peak throughput, and is scalable to over 20Gbit/s with eight MIMO streams. National Instruments www.ni.com ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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EFY BuREAu

Kingston unveils SSDs Enterprise-class reliability with advanced data protection Kingston has announced Data Center 400 (DC400) SSD, the latest solid-state drive to its range of enterprise solutions. DC400 SSD is an entry-level enterprise drive designed for server use in data centres, especially for customers who deploy a rip-and-replace strategy. It is ideal for read-intensive applications such as boot, Web servers and lower data Price rate operational ` 19,999 databases and ana(for 480GB lytics—especially capacity) in data centre mixed-workload environments where endurance and reliability are important.

OPPLE introduces innovative light for children A unique star-shaped light with marvellous light effects Twinkle Star, Opple’s newest addition to their range of home luminaries, has been designed keeping in mind the company’s healthy lighting motto. It protects a child’s sensitive eyesight by ensuring maximum visual comfort. The light comes fitted with a three-level brightness switch dimmer that controls brightness in the room. Its six-colour decorative sensor dimmer makes the environment beautiful and relaxing. This product is enabled with a power capacity of 33W and comes in white colour with yellow edges.

Price ` 10,950

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ASUS launches ZenBook UX330 Supremely thin, enduringly elegant

Price ` 76,990

ZenBook UX330’s elegant aluminium-alloy unibody chassis is 13.5mm thin and weighs only 1.2kg. With up to 12 hours battery life, ZenBook UX330 takes even the longest working day in its stride. The laptop has more than enough performance to cope with all your on-the-go productivity needs, with a powerful 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor. The wide-viewingangle display is a real treat for your eyes, too, with its pin-sharp 3200×1800 resolution enhanced by exclusive ASUS Splendid and ASUS Tru2Life technologies for vivid, life-like colours and clear, sharp videos.

Video door phones from Panasonic Laced with characteristics like wireless and smartphone connectivity options Panasonic has expanded its video door phone portfolio with the launch of VL-V590 and VL-V900 in the market. The products are designed to enhance the surveillance and security needs of consumers, and come bundled with features like location monitoring, electric lock release, multiple household connectivity and wireless connectivity. VL-V590 comes embedded with characteristics like electric lock release and a connectivity of up to 20 households. It enables the connection of any combination of 17.8cm (7-inch) wired monitors and six wireless monitors with intercom calling facility, respectively. VL-V900 is a multi-door video intercom system, a combination Price of PBX and cameras that can ` 29,990 connect up to 18 lobby sta(for VL-V590 model) tions and 560 monitors for large apartment buildings. It follows the concept of the Internet of Things, and enables you to answer the visitors after looking at them through the connected smartphone. The phone lets you record images of visitors, monitor common surveillance rooms and notify accidents to the reception or another station via a PBX. www.EFyMag.coM

first look

DataWind launches Punjabi education tablet Price ` 2999

ubislate 7DCX with Vismaad apps

This sleek Vidyatab Punjabi tablet offers you an experience like never before with Android KitKat operating system. Now click pictures, take videos, play games and music—pack all your entertainment with 32GB expandable memory. The tablet features dual-core A7 CPU, 512MB RAM, 4GB ROM, capacitive 5-point touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity and more.

Sennheiser releases headphones A heavyweight in sound, as light as a breeze on your ears Ultra lightweight and compact, HD 2.10 can be folded together when not in use. Sennheiser dynamic drivers deliver thoroughly satisfying sound reproduction with powerful bass response. With its closed-back on-ear design, HD 2.10 offers ample isolation from ambient noise, mustering a powerful bass without compromising the territories of mids and highs. It delivers a vibrant, rock-solid sound that you can enjoy for hours on end, thanks to the excellent comfort of the premium leatherette earpads.

Price ` 3990

Smartphone from Sony Super-slow motion, super wow expression The new Xperia XZs has a smartphone camera that can capture all moments. The Motion Eye camera has a memory stacked sensor and records 960 frames per second, for super-slowmotion video that reveals what you would otherwise miss. Using Predictive Capture technology, it senses movement in front of you and starts to buffer images Price while you are ` 51,990 preparing to shoot. So if you clicked too late, just go back in time and choose from up to four photos taken before you pressed the camera button. It also features SteadyShot with intelligent active mode that reduces shake, with image stabilisation that compensates for movement in five directions. This means that video footage looks smoother, even if you record while you are moving or when close to your subject. The phone has durable IP65/68 rated construction, which means rain and dust will not damage it.

GizMo ByTes Focus Timer Reborn, a productivity app Focus Timer Reborn works by helping you time the parts of your work day where you are productive. You can set the work timer for as long as you want. When it goes off, set the break timer so you do not dilly dally. The idea is to help you stay on track and be as productive as possible without burning yourself out. It also keeps a log so you can track how you have been doing.

A chat based language learning app Bilingua-Language Exchange is a chat based language learning app where you can learn new languages not by interacting with some AI but with real people who know that language. It connects you by asking which language you are most proficient in and the language you want to learn. You can select your areas of interest, and the app will connect you with like-minded users. You can check your skills using in-app games and quizzes. The app also supports conversations in Indian languages such as Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil.

Apple introduces a new way to create expressive videos Apple has introduced Clips, a new app that makes it quick and fun for you to create expressive videos on iPhone and iPad. The app features a unique design for combining video clips, photos and music into great-looking videos to share with friends through Messages app, or on Instagram, Facebook and other popular social networks.

An expense management app, IQBoxy As the name suggests, this app helps you track expenses. It features OCR support to help you digitise your receipts for future reference. It has a simple material design interface. The app boasts no humans behind the curtain, so there is no one reading your receipts when you scan these. It does not replace large expensetracking suites, but it is a great tool to augment these.

The prices, features and specifications are based on information provided to us, or as available on various websites and portals. EFY cannot vouch for their accuracy. www.EFyMag.coM

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Facebook Tips and Tricks You Should Know efy bureau

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hances are you are already familiar with one of the most popular social networks, Facebook. And if you use it on a regular (or, occasional) basis, you must be aware of the regular features like add/delete friends, update statuses, walls and profile, add and explore pages and applications, among others. However, Facebook is no longer just a friendly little blue website you post your photos to. Gazillions of development hours have been put into making it what it is today. Read on to find out some of the latest and not-so-known tips and tricks in the world of Facebook. Animated profile pic. From Facebook mobile app, select your profile picture and then select Take a New Profile Video to upload a short video loop of yourself. The result looks like a mix between an animated GIF and a moving picture. Unfollow but not unfriend. If you want to stop seeing someone’s posts in your News Feed without unfriending them, you can unfollow them to hide their activity. From someone’s profile in the Facebook mobile app, tap on Following under their profile picture and then Unfollow to get rid of their posts completely. On the desktop, click on the drop-down arrow to the right of a post to unfollow a person. Play basketball. Hidden away within Facebook Messenger, the basketball based plaything lets you challenge your friends to shoot 98

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

some hoops directly within the chat window. But this is not something you are likely to stumble across either. To play, you need to send your friend a basketball emoji and then click on the sports-themed pictogram. This will launch the game over your chat, with both players’ high scores being logged in the feed. Download your entire Facebook history. You can actually download your entire Facebook history, to savour every last party photo, posts and your 4387 selfies for all eternity. But this could end up being a pretty big download if you are a real Facebook victim. It includes pictures and other media as well as text based posts. To back it all up, go to Settings and click on Download A Copy Of Your Facebook Data at the bottom of the page. Make separate groups of people you are friends with. Creating separate groups can be useful to filter between what everyone is talking about in your News Feed. For instance, you may want to see what everyone from your hometown is sharing or just your friends from college. Facebook creates a list of friends by default based on common affiliation, whether it is the same hometown, school and so on. On Facebook’s desktop site you can see all of your friend lists from this page and then add people to individual lists. This creates individual News Feeds within Facebook for you to browse.

Get alerted every time a login attempt is made. Facebook Login Alerts and Login Approvals can be enabled under Security Settings in the mobile app and desktop site. You can choose to get a Facebook notification or email whenever a login is made. Login Approvals mean that you will have to enter a secondary code sent to your phone before logging into Facebook on a new device. Customise profile for public and individual friends. This is good for seeing what on your profile is visible to others, including individual friends you may have hidden certain information from in the past. When you are logged into Facebook on the desktop website, go to your profile, click on the ellipsis and then ‘View as...’ Tell people how to pronounce your name correctly. Tired of people pronouncing your name wrong? Now you can teach them on Facebook. While editing your profile on the desktop, go to Details About You section to get started. You can also add a nickname or maiden name for yourself to display with your profile. Stay on top of the hottest news with What’s Trending. The topics that are currently being talked about the most on Facebook are featured on Trending list, which is accessible from the right of News Feed on the desktop and under the search bar in Facebook’s mobile app. www.EFyMag.coM

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SmartwatcheS: Complexity Simplified

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smartwatch has become a frenzy that is sweeping the consumer electronics world, as people are clamouring to get their hands on the best fully-capable smartwatch. At an affordable price point, small form factor and impressive computing power, this hot toy is more than your regular activity tracker or GPS.

Shanosh Kumar is technology journalist at EFY. He is BCA from Bangalore University and MBA from Christ University, Bengaluru

Coin-sized chipboard Inside the elegantly-designed casing of the smartwatch lie about 1000 electronic components on a coin-sized PCB board. Components includes everything that a typical smartphone has, starting from microphone, power management unit, capacitive touch controller, graphic processor, central processing unit, signal processor and gyroscope. Since a smartwatch is in constant contact with the human body, it also has health-sensing components and sensors such as pulse oximeter and MEMS. All vital information is displayed on the touchscreen, which is the size of a regular dial of the watch. Wireless connectivity features include Wi-Fi, NFC and GPS. And, the entire smartwatch works on the dedicated system-on-chip (SoC) principle.

The active ingredients Components of a smartwatch (Image courtesy: cellphones. com.vn)

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There are some active ingredients that go into the smartwatch that need to be understood.

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Open source operating systems. Android is the most popular platform in this segment. Built around Android operating system, watches based on it provide the standalone capability of Android smartphones. In the long list of operating systems, there is Sailfish that bases itself on Linux. It is also found on bigger smart devices such as TVs and refrigerators. Asteroid OS is an open source firmware replacement found in cost-effective smart wear devices focussed on community development. Tizen was developed by Samsung for their smartwatch range, and Ubuntu Touch was developed by Canonical Ltd and Ubuntu community for smart devices. WatchOS is a proprietary mobile operating system with open source components developed by Apple for their smartwatch platform, though it does not expose many features to the developer. Development platform. The hardware runs on the development platforms created by developers. This forms the central unit on which the watch rests. Some key features that the developers are working on are wireless connectivity using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFS using WICED. Balancing power consumption and performance while maintaining small form factor is done using platforms like Newton and Edison. Sensors that stumble upon vital information. Sensors on a smartwatch can detect anything from heart rate and temperature to humidity, among others. Sensors that help accomplish this include motion sensors that detect acceleration and orientation using gyroscopes, geomagnetic sensors www.EFyMag.coM

buyers’ guide Breaking open If you try to break open a standard smartwatch, it will split into approximately seven parts apart from the main casing and strap. These seven parts are:  Antenna  Battery  Main board component  Casing and charging connectors  Waterproof seal  Screen  Vibration unit

for added navigation capabilities, and atmospheric pressure sensors for adventure seekers. Then, there are bio sensors that sense calorie consumption, blood pressure, ECG, EMG, temperature and brain waves to measure activity patterns. Processing nerve centre. This consumes very little space and power. There are many players in this arena such as ARM and MediaTek that provide chipsets. A processor with quad-core architecture shelling out 1.2GHz is powering today’s smartwatches. Wireless chipset. Data transmission is done using NFC, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Watches need to remain on and active so that these could be synchronised to get the most accurate information. Screen. The only way to interact with a smartwatch is through its screen. A watch also takes voice commands but may need the connected phone around. Smartwatch screens have the display and the capacitive touch panel layered onto each other. For now, four types of screens are used in smartwatches: liquid crystal display (LCD), sharp-memory LCD, E-ink and OLED. E-ink and LED screens are preferred more as these consume less power. Battery types and wireless charging. Lithium-ion and lithiumpolymer are the most preferred battery types. Life of these batterwww.EFyMag.coM

ies is around two years. Wireless charging is also coming around, but it does not guarantee battery life. These are designed for convenience but the story ends there.

Popular recommendations for you The all-rounder Moto 360 (2nd generation). With an improved processor and an impressive screen and visual quality, this watch gives you about 48-hour battery life. The watch comes with a wireless charging dock. The incomparable smartwatch from Apple. In its latest instalment, Apple is seen moving towards fitness, and with its second-generation smartwatch and iPhone, it is segmenting itself to a specific range of customers who are adventurers. Better software, hardware and design perfection is making it a smartwatch that everyone would want their hands on. Thinner and light-on-pocket LG Watch Style. This watch weighs just 46 grams. It does not have tons of non-useful features. The watch works on Android Wear 2.0 and packs a good punch with Snapdragon processor, more than one day of battery backup and 4GB of internal storage. The performance watch, Sony smartwatch 3. It looks like a regular watch but packs in a quad-core 1.2GHz processor that makes it a great performer—better than its predecessor. It doubles up as a GPS and a fitness tracker, and is weatherand waterproof. Tickle and activate Ticwatch. Compatible with iOS and Android, Ticwatch is available at half the price of most other smartwatches available today. The watch can be tickle-started with a swipe on the bezel of the watch once you unbox it. It has a mic and a speaker for you to receive calls in case there is no phone nearby. ElEctronics For you | May 2017

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Make Your Own Remote-ContRolled Robot

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M1, M2 = 5V/9V DC MOTOR

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R15 1.5K

R14 1.5K

LED3 LED5

LED4 CON4 FOR ISP PORT

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R16 1.5K CON1

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Fig. 1: Circuit diagram of the remote-controlled robot

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AGND

16 PB2

15 14

13

R8 1.5K

IRRX1

OFF

TSOP

18

17 PB3/MOSI

PB4/MISO

PD6

PD5 11

12

19

23 PC0

PB5/SCK PB7/XTAL2

PB6/XTAL1

CON3 FOR J2

P3 4

S4

3

S3

3

TP2

S2

2

ON

6

5

P2

PLAY/ RECORD

9

PD4 6

PD3 5

10

24 PC1

25 PC2

PC3

IC2 PD2 4

ATMEGA8A

26

C3 0.1u

R11 1.5K

MISO

5V

RST

GND

LED6 R10 1.5K 27

21

28 PC5/SCL

PC4/SDA PD1/TXD

PD0/RXD

3

2

AVcc

AVREF

Vcc

PC6/RESET 1

P0 P1 7

8 1

DIP1 4−WAY DIP SWITCH 5V FOR J1 9V

CON2

TP3

USE J2 FOR RECORD AND DO NOT USE J2 FOR PLAY

14 11

R13 1.5K RECORD

PLAY LED7 R9 1.5K 20 7

R6 10K R1 − R5 = 4.7K R1 R2 R3 R4 R5

LED8

3 6

OUT2 OUT4 OUT3

15

IN4

10

IN3

M2

4

5

GND OUT1

12

GND

GND

GND

IC3 L293D 2

IN2

IN1

8

VCC2

16

VCC1

1

EN1

9

EN2

C5 0.1u C4 0.1u S6 RESET

Circuit and working The circuit diagram of the remote-controlled robot is shown in Fig. 1. It is built around 5V voltage regulator 7805 (IC1), ATmega8A MCU (IC2), motor driver IC L293D (IC3), two DC motors (M1 and M2), IR receiver module TSOP1738 (IRRX1), 4-way DIP switch (DIP1), 5mm LEDs (LED1 through LED9) and a few other components. Once the circuit (or hardware) is ready, burn Remote_Robot.hex code to ATmega8A. When power switch S1 is switched on, LED2 through LED7 glow for a while and turn off (selftest). Then, either LED6 or LED7 glows, indicating record or play mode, respectively. The mode depends on the setting of jumper J2. In record mode, J2 is connected to the circuit and in play mode J2 is open. Press the required button on the remote once to record it. Then, permanently set J2 to play mode (that is, remove J2). If you want to change the code to other buttons, connect J2 to record mode. For initial setup, either disconnect motors M1

7

T

o control a robot, the signal is usually sent through a wireless system using radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR). To send an IR signal, you need a transmitter and a receiver with an encoding and decoding system. The simple circuit presented here can control the movement of a robot using an IR remote that is used for a TV or DVD player, or an equivalent IR remote. The basic working principle of this project is that the signal sent by the IR remote on pressing Play/Record button on the remote is saved in EEPROM of the microcontroller (MCU) in record mode. It plays back the same code (signal) when you press the same button in play mode. The program for the MCU can save 4-bit code (0 to F hex code) in record mode and output the same 4-bit code when the button is pressed in play mode. Using the combination of these four bits, two motors installed on either side of the robot (third one being the caster wheel) can be controlled through a motor driver IC. Thus, different codes are used to control different movements of the robot.

13

Fayaz Hassan

www.EFyMag.coM

Do-it-yourself and M2, or remove 5V/9V supply from J1 and then connect J2. Now, set the address code for the data (remote key) to be stored in the MCU using DIP switch DIP1 (using S2 through S5). After setting the 4-bit address in hexadecimal code (say, 0101h), switch on the power using S1. After self-test, LED6 will glow, indicating the mode as recording. Press a button (say, 2) on the remote. LED9 will blink, indicating that a signal/

Table I

RemoTe buTTons and codes assIgned foR vaRIous funcTIons button/key

function

code

2

Forward

0101

4

Left turn

0100

5

Stop

0000

6

Right turn

0001

8

Backward

1010

data is received by IRRX1 sensor. This signal is fed to the MCU, which processes and saves data in its inbuilt EEPROM. At the same time, a visual indication of the address being assigned for each data is indicated by the glowing of corresponding LED2 through LED5 in equivalent hexadecimal format. Data being saved is acknowledged by the blinking of LED7. This process can be repeated for up to 16 required codes (0 to F hex). For easy control of the robot, we have assigned the code (or bits) to five buttons of the remote control as listed in Table I. For any other button, the code is set as stop (0000). So to stop the robot in an emergency case, press any other button on the remote. After recording the required codes, remove J2 and press reset switch S6. After self-test, LED7 will glow, indicating that it is in play mode. Now, press the programmed remote button randomly and check that LED2 through LED5 indicate the required code. LED8 will blink for a while if there are errors like a button not pressed properly or signal not received properly.

Software Fig. 2: Screenshot of fuse bit settings

www.EFyMag.coM

The software (remote_robot.c) is written in C

efy Note

The source code of this project is included in this month’s EFY DVD and is also available for free download at source. efymag.com

Parts List Semiconductors: IC1 - 7805, 5V voltage regulator IC2 - ATmega8A MCU IC3 - L293D motor driver LED1-LED9 - 5mm LED - 1N4007 rectifier diode D1 Resistors (all 1/4-watt, ±5% carbon): R1-R5 - 4.7-kilo-ohm R6 - 10-kilo-ohm R7 - 330-ohm - 1.5-kilo-ohm R8-R16 Capacitors: C1, C2 - 4.7µF, 16V electrolytic - 0.1µF ceramic disk C3-C5 Miscellaneous: CON1 - 2-pin terminal connector - 3-pin connector CON2 CON3 - 2-pin connector - 6-pin berg strip male CON4 connector S1 - On/off switch - Tactile switch S6 DIP1 - 4-way DIP switch (for S2-S5 setting) IRRX1 - TSOP1738 receiver module or equivalent - 5V/9V DC motor M1, M2 J1, J2 - Shorting jumpers - Single-strand wire J3-J7 - Small caster wheel - Two small wheels for the motors - 9V battery - 28-pin IC base

language and compiled using Atmel Studio. AVR PROGISP programmer is used for programming the MCU during testing. However, you can use any suitable programmer for the same. Burn remote_robot.hex file to the MCU through ISP port. Since the MCU uses an internal oscillator, set

ElEctronics For you | May 2017

103

Do-it-yourself Table II

TesT poInTs

Fig. 3: Actual-size, PCB layout of the remote-controlled robot

Test point

details

TP0

0V (GND)

TP1

9V

TP2

5V when S1 is on

TP3

9V/5V based on J1 setting

TP4

LED9 blinks when signal is received from remote

assembling the circuit, place the populated PCB and 9V battery on the chasis of the robot. J1 is used to select 5V or 9V power supply depending on 5V DC motors or 9V DC motors used. Use of an IC base/socket is recommended for the MCU. Connect M1 and M2 to the PCB through twinwire external wires. Before running the robot, verify the voltages are as shown in Table II. Your remote-controlled robot is ready to use!

Fig. 4: Components layout of the PCB

the fuse bits to the default value as shown in Fig. 2. Note. As per datasheet of ATmega8A, fuse setting 1 means unprogrammed and 0 means programmed.

104

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

Construction and testing An actual-size, single-side PCB layout for the remote-controlled robot is shown in Fig. 3 and its components layout in Fig. 4. After

Fayaz Hassan is manager at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. His interest includes MCU projects, mechatronics and robotics

www.EFyMag.coM

Do-it-yourself

www.efymag.com

T1 BC557

T2 BC557

6

COM

9

COM COM COM

R1

R2

R3

electronics for you | may 2017

Fig. 1: Circuit diagram of the precision stopwatch

X1 = 230V AC PRIMARY TO 7.5V−0−7.5V,500mA SECONDARY TRANSFORMER

C1 1000u 25V

C2 10n D2 1N4007

7.5V 0V 7.5V CON1 FOR X1

R9− R12 = 5.6K

C7 33p

XTAL1 12MHz

C6 33p

C3 10n C4 100u 16V 2

S1 ON/OFF D1 1N4007

R9

R10

R11

GND

CON2 S3 START/ R12 STOP

GND

10

12 P1.0 XTAL2

XTAL1 5

4

13 P1.1 P3.7 11

14 P1.2

9

8

P3.5

15

16 P1.4

IC2 P3.4 P1.3 AT89C4051

17 P1.5 P3.2 (INT0)

P3.3 (INT1) 7

6

18 P3.1 (TXD) 3

R8 10K

2

S2 RESET

C5 10u 16V 3

IC1 7805

7805, 5V voltage regulator AT89C4051 microcontroller BC557 pnp transistor 1N4007 rectifier diode 4-digit common-anode 7-segment display (KLQ56XX or its equivalent) Resistors (all 1/4-watt, ±5% carbon): R1-R7 - 560-ohm R8 - 10-kilo-ohm - 5.6-kilo-ohm R9-R12 Capacitors: C1 - 1000µF, 25V electrolytic C2, C3 - 10nF, ceramic disc C4 - 100µF, 16V electrolytic C5 - 10µF, 16V electrolytic C6, C7 - 33pF, ceramic disc Miscellaneous: X1 - 230V AC primary to 7.5V-0-7.5V, 500mA secondary transformer CON1 - 3-pin connector CON2 - 2-pin connector S1 - On/off switch S2, S3 - Tactile switch - 20-pin IC base XTAL1 - 12MHz crystal

1

-

P1.6

19 P3.0 (RXD)

Vcc RST 1

Parts List Semiconductors: IC1 IC2 T1-T4 D1-D2 DIS1

P1.7

20

R7

Circuit and working The circuit diagram of the precision stopwatch is shown in Fig. 1. It is built around 7805 voltage regulator (IC1), AT89C4051 microcontroller (IC2), 4-digit common-anode 7-segment display (DIS1) and a few other components. The circuit is powered from 230V AC mains via step-down transformer X1 (not shown here). X1 output (7.5V-

12

R1− R7 = 560E 3 5 10 1 R6 2 4 7 R5 11 R4

dp g f e d c b a

DIS1

M

ost laboratories and educational institutions are in need of accurate stopwatches for precision time measurement. This simple DIY project focuses on the construction of a stopwatch with 0.01-second accuracy. The stopwatch can be used for sports events by connecting a sensor across connector CON2.

4−DIGIT COMMON ANODE DISPLAY

A. AsokAn AmbAli

8

Precision Stopwatch

T3 BC557

T4 BC557

. S.C Di ive Dw

105

Do-it-yourself 0-7.5V AC) is rectified by diodes D1 and D2 and smoothened by capacitors C1 and C4. Rectified DC voltage is regulated to 5V by 7805 and fed to the microcontroller circuit. The controller (IC2) runs at an oscillator frequency of 12MHz. This is achieved by connecting a 12MHz crystal across XTAL1 and XTAL2 pins of IC2. Switch S1 is the power on/off switch for the circuit. Capacitors C2 and C3 are used for suppressing high-frequency signals generated by IC1. Capacitors C6 and C7 are decoupling capacitors for crystal. Pin 12

Pin 7

Pin 1 Pin 6 Viewed from top

Fig. 2: Pin details of 4-digit, 7-segment display

Capacitor C5, and resistor R8 forms a part of power-on reset circuit for IC2. Switch S2 is used as manual reset for IC2 and to reset the counter to zero. S3 is used to start and stop the stopwatch. A 4-digit multiplexed 7-segment display is used for hardware simplicity and economic benefits. Fig. 2 shows pin details of the 4-digit common-anode 7-segment display. When S1 is closed, DIS1 indicates 00.00. On pressing S3, DIS1 starts counting up until S3 is released. DIS1 indicates the last count value till S2 is pressed. Maximum count given by DIS1 is 99.99 seconds.

Software The software (stopwatch.c) is written in C language and compiled using Keil µVision V5 software. Delay in C language depends on the compiler. Sometimes, a small correction may be required on the delay loop for

Fig. 3: Actual-size PCB layout of the precision stopwatch

Fig. 4: Components layout of the PCB

106

may 2017 | electronics for you

efy Note

The source code of this project is included in this month’s EFY DVD and is also available for free download at source. efymag.com

calibration purpose. The hex code generated by Keil software is burnt into the microcontroller using a suitable programmer. A Topview Programmer was used for programming the microcontroller during testing. You can use any suitable software for programming the microcontroller.

Construction and testing An actual-size, single-side PCB layout for the precision stopwatch is shown in Fig. 3 and its components layout in Fig. 4. After assembling the circuit on the PCB, cross-check for any wrong connections. After burning the hex code into AT89C4051, place it on the PCB using an IC base. Fit the PCB, switches, connectors and DIS1 in a general-purpose cabinet. Switch on the unit by closing S1. Ensure that DIS1 shows 00.00 reading. If not, check the circuit for any mistake(s). When you close S3, the display starts counting—open S3 and the counting stops. If S3 is closed again, the display starts counting from the last count value. Compare the reading with a calibrated stopwatch. If there is a mismatch in the reading, adjust the delay loop in the code till exact timing is attained. At any time, press S2 momentarily to reset the display. For a simple application, calibration may not be necessary, but for laboratory use, it is recommended to calibrate the unit. CON2 is provided for replacing S3 with an external switch or sensor. A. Asokan Ambali is instrument fitter (high skilled 1) - avionics, Naval Aircraft Yard, Kochi

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S Dw .C. ive Di

Water PumP Dry-Run Guard T.K. Hareendran

H

ere is an effective solution for protection of household submersible water pumps against dry running. Minimum water-level monitoring feature in the circuit is realised using suspended sensor probes to ensure that the water pumps will not run under a dry condition. Besides, switch-on and return-delay features prevent the pumps from unwanted brief operation when handling turbulent underground water. Fig. 1 shows the author’s prototype.

Circuit and working

Fig. 1(a): Front panel of the author’s prototype

Fig. 1(b): Author’s prototype wired on a perfboard

1

CON1 FOR 12V

RL1 12V,1C/O RELAY

3

AS1 AS2

D1 1N4007

CON2 FOR SENSORS VR2 470K

R1 1K

Parts List Semiconductors: IC1 - 7805, 5V voltage regulator IC2 - NE555 timer - BC547 npn transistor T1 T2 - SL100 npn transistor LED1, LED2 - 5mm LED D1, D2 - 1N4007 rectifier diode Resistors (all 1/4-watt, ±5% carbon): - 1-kilo-ohm R1, R3-R5 R2 - 100-kilo-ohm - 2.2-mega-ohm potmeter VR1 VR2 - 470-kilo-ohm potmeter Capacitors: C1 - 100µF, 25V electrolytic C2 - 100µF, 16V electrolytic C3, C4, C7 - 10µF, 16V electrolytic C5 - 0.1µF ceramic disk - 0.01µ ceramic disk C6 Miscellaneous: CON1, CON2 - 2-pin terminal connector S1 - Tactile switch - 12V, 1C/O, 30A RL1 electromagnetic relay - 1.5HP submersible bore-well pump - 12V, 1A regulated power supply AS1, AS2 - Stainless steel bolt

WPM = WATER PUMP MOTOR

AS1, AS2 = AQUA SENSOR

IC1 7805 2

C1 100u 25V

Circuit diagram of the water pump dry-run guard is shown in Fig. 2. It is built around 5V regulator 7805 (IC1), timer NE555 (IC2), transistors BC547 (T1) and SL100 (T2), a 12V 1C/O relay (RL1) and a few other components. To understand how this circuit works, assume that output pin 3 of IC2 is high during initial power up and, hence, the relay RL1 is in energised state. In this case, capacitor C4 at the input of IC2 will be charged

via resistor R2 and potmeter VR2. After a few seconds delay, voltage on C4 will reach a level that causes the inverter circuit (formed by IC2) to change state. IC2 output

C2 100u 16V

LED1 POWER

R3 1K

R2 100K DELAY ADJ RESTART S1

VR1 2.2M SENSE ADJ

7 DIS 6

2 1

T1 BC547 C3 10u 16V

D2 1N4007

TH

TRI GND

N/C

RESET 4

IC2 Vcc NE555

8

5

C6 0.01u

C4 10u 16V

L

R4 1K

C5 0.1u

O/P 3 CV

N/O

CON3 FOR WPM

R5 1K LED2 PUMP

N T2 SL100 C7 10u 16V

CON4 FOR 230V AC 50Hz

GND

Fig. 2: Circuit diagram of the water pump dry-run guard www.efymag.com

electronics for you | may 2017

107

Do-it-yourself

will flip to low level, and RL1 will be switched off by relay-driver transistor T2. Push-to-on restart switch S1 can be used for actuating this process from the beginning. However, if presence of water is sensed by aqua-sensor probes (or water-level sensors) AS1 and AS2, C4 will be discharged endlessly by T1 to hold RL1 in its energised state. But, when a dry-run condition occurs (where no moisture is detected by AS1 and AS2), the inverter changes its state after a short delay (10 to 13 seconds). The time interval (delay) between state changes depends mainly on the setting of delay-adjustable preset pot VR2. A 12V, 1A DC supply from any transformer based or SMPS power supply can be used for powering the entire circuit. Note that, in order to increase system stability, an onboard 5V regulated DC power supply is used here. The 5V DC regulator circuitry is realised using IC1, C1 and C2. Besides, VR1 is included in the aqua-sensor circuitry because distance between the master circuit and sensor probes may be rather large, so it can compensate for possible cable resistance. Two closely-spaced (about 10mm apart) stainless-steel bolts may be used as aqua-sensor probes. For the interconnection, use any low-voltage twin-wire/cable with a length of 30 to 90 metres. LED1 is the power-on indicator while LED2 functions as the motor-on indicator. Since output load is a power-hungry water-pump 108

may 2017 | electronics for you

Fig. 4: Components layout of the PCB

motor, a 12V DC power relay with AC 230V/30A switching capacity is highly recommended for flexible and reliable operation. Power supply to the output load must be routed through the common pole and N/O contact of this power relay.

Construction and testing An actual-size, single-side PCB layout for the water pump dry-run guard is shown in Fig. 3 and its components layout in Fig. 4. After assembling the circuit on the PCB, connect the whole system as shown in the electrical wiring diagram in Fig. 5. System overview with a submersible bore-well pump is shown in Fig. 6. Connect the waterpump motor across CON3 and 230V AC mains across CON4. The circuit can also be fabricated on a medium-size perfboard. For mechanical reasons and to simplify construction, the electromagnetic relay should be kept at a distance from the circuit board. After successful construction and initial testing, enclose the whole system in a rigid plastic/metal container. Note that the prototype was tested with a 12V/100-ohm (AC 230V/30A DPDT) power relay. Power supply used was a 12V/1A linear power supply. Output load was a 1.5HP submersible bore-well pump. Test value of VR2 was 0-ohm (at 10 seconds delay), and value of VR1 was 500-kiloohm. Wire length of the aqua-sensor probes was around 30 metres. Caution: Shock hazard! Construction and connection of this

DC 12V

AC 230V Neutral

Phase

m1 m2

DC Input LED1 LED2

S1 S2 S1

Phase Neutral Water Pump

Aqua Sensor Wires

PumP GuARD

SS Bolts

Water

Fig. 5: Electrical wiring diagram

Dry-Run Guard

Ground Level Water Level

Water Sensor

Fig. 3: Actual-size PCB layout of the water pump dry-run guard

SS Bolts

Fig. 6: System overview with a submersible bore-well pump

circuit should only be carried out by qualified personnel, and all electrical safety regulations must be observed. In particular, it is essential to ensure that the relay chosen is appropriate for use with powerful water pumps, and is suitably rated to carry the required voltage and current.

T.K. Hareendran is founder and promoter of TechNode Protolabz

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Do-it-yourself

S Dw .C. ive Di

Configurable DC-To-DC ConverTer MoDule Using Three ICs Petre tzv Petrov

M

ost kits with embedded microcontrollers (MCUs) operate off a single power supply (VCC) source like 5V or 3.3V. But for some experiments you need one or more positive voltages higher than VCC and one or more negative voltages lower than ground. Often, the required current is in several milli-amperes (mAs). In such cases, you may use ICL7660, ICL7660A or similar integrated circuits (ICs) for the power supply. But voltage and current provided by a single ICL7660 is not sufficient, so you may need two or more ICs in parallel or cascaded to meet the requirement. This article describes a universal configurable module that uses three ICL7660 ICs. The module is flexible and allows all basic configurations for ICL7660 and similar ICs.

Circuit and working ICL7660, MAX1044, ADM660, MAX660, MAX665, LTC1044, LTC1046 and some other similar ICs are DCto-DC inductor-less converters. These ICs are not exact equivalents but have similar functions and are pin-topin compatible in many cases. However, there are several important differences between them, including working frequency, maximal output current and power supply range. For example, LTC1046 can produce output current up to 50mA, ADM660 up to 100mA and ICL7660 up to 20mA. The proposed module will work with the ICs listed above and similar ICs but its performance will depend on the IC used. The mentioned ICs are available in 8-pin PDIP packages. Short descriptions of their each pin are given in Table I. www.efymag.com

Table I

DescrIpTIon of The pIns of Icl7660 Ic pin Description Pin 1

Not connected (NC) or boost pin

Pin 2

Pin for positive end of external capacitor

Pin 3

For ground or for external offset voltage

Pin 4

Pin for negative end of external capacitor

Pin 5

For negative output voltage

Pin 6

Low-voltage operation input. If power supply is below 3.5V, this input should be connected to ground. Threshold voltage depends on the IC

Pin 7

Oscillator control input. This input has internal capacitor of around 15pF and can be driven from external oscillator

Pin 8

For positive power supply. Maximum voltage difference between pin 8 (V+) and pin 3 (GND) depends on the ICs

Parts List Semiconductors: - ICL7660 DC-to-DC converter IC1-IC3 D1-D9 - 1N5817 Schottky diode Resistors (all 1/4-watt, ±5% carbon): R1-R3 - 100-ohm Capacitors: C1-C3 - 1µF, 25V electrolytic - 10µF, 25V electrolytic C4-C9 C10-C18 - 47µF, 25V electrolytic C19-C21 - 1nF ceramic disk Miscellaneous: CON1, CON2 - 12-pin terminal connector J1-J21 - Shorting jumper - 5V DC power supply

The ICs can work in several configurations. Input voltage can be inverted (VOUT = –VIn), divided by 2 (VOUT = VIn/2) or multiplied by n (VOUT = ±nVIn). The ICs can work with an internal or external oscillator. Fig. 1 shows the circuit diagram of the configurable DC-to-DC converter using three ICL7660 ICs. The module has the following advantages: 1. IC1, IC2 and IC3 can be of same type or different.

2. Each IC can work with independent power supplies, namely, V1, V2 and V3. 3. Each IC can work in different configurations. 4. Outputs of the ICs can be paralleled for higher output current. 5. The ICs can be cascaded for higher voltages. 6. The ICs can work with external oscillators having the same or different frequencies. 7. Each module can produce single negative output voltage, approximately equal to –V1, –V2 and –V3 at V4, V5 and V6, respectively. That is, V4 = –V1 V5 = –V2 V6 = –V3 8. Each module can produce single positive output voltage at V7, V8 and V9, respectively, which is approximately equal to: V7 = 2×V1 – 2×Vd V8 = 2×V2 – 2×Vd V9 = 2×V3 – 2×Vd Where Vd is the voltage drop across the corresponding Schottky diodes in series. 9. The module can produce positive and negative output voltages. All diodes (D1 through D9) should preferably be fast-switching Schottky diodes like 1n5817/8/9. BAT series, like BAT42, BAT43, BAT47, BAT48, but other similar Schottky diodes can also be used. While choosing these diodes, forward voltage drop and reverse voltage of the diodes should be taken into consideration. Jumpers. The ICs can be configured independently with several jumpers. Table II gives short descriptions of the functions of the jumpers electronics for you | may 2017

109

Do-it-yourself C1 1u

J13

25V

J10 1

IC1 OSC ICL7660

2 3 4

C7 10u, 25V

R1 100E

1

GND

2

F1

J2

C5 10u,25V

GND

V+ 8

NC

OFFSET1

V2

C11 47u,25V

C17 47u 25V

J11

25V

V1

D3 1N5817

J14

C2 1u

CON1

D2 1N5817

J19

C10 47u,25V

J7

J16

Vout 5

CAP−

1N5817

J4

LV 6

GND

D1

C19 1n

7

CAP+

J1

C4 10u,25V

V+ 8

NC

C16 47u 25V

3

IC2 OSC ICL7660

CAP+

4

GND CAP−

GND V4

1N5817

V7 V2

J5

LV 6

J17

OFFSET2 F2

D4

C20 1n

7

CON2 V1

Vout 5

GND

J8

V3

V5

C12 47u,25V

V8 V3 GND

GND OFFSET3 F3

C8 10u, 25V

R2 100E

C3 1u

J15

25V

1

J3 3 4

C9 10u, 25V

R3 100E J1−J21 = SHORTING JUMPER

C13

D6 1N5817

V+ 8

NC

IC3 OSC CAP+ ICL7660

C18 47u 25V

C21 1n

7

J6 J18

Vout 5

CAP−

D7 1N5817

LV 6

GND

V6 V9

47u,25V

J12

2

C6 10u,25V

D5 1N5817

J20

C14 47u,25V

J9

D8 1N5817

J21

D9 1N5817

C15 47u,25V

Fig. 1: Circuit diagram of the configurable DC-DC converter module

Table II

funcTIons of The jumpers In The cIrcuIT jumpers

function

basic configuration

pin of the Ic

Ic1

Ic2

Ic3

3 (GND)

J1

J2

J3

Jumpers J1, J2 and J3 are used to connect pin 3 of the ICs to ground or leave these open. If left open, external offset voltage can be applied individually to pin 3 of the ICs.

Closed

6 (LV)

J4

J5

J6

Jumpers J4, J5 and J6 are used to connect or disconnect pin 6 to ground.

Open

J8

J9

Jumpers J7, J8 and J9 are used to connect or disconnect an external diode to pin 5, if needed.

5 (Vout)

J7

5 (Vout)

J17 J18 J19 Jumpers J17, J18 and J19 are used to connect or disconnect pin 5 to ground.

Closed

7 (OSC)

J10 J11 J12 Jumpers J10, J11 and J12 are used to connect capacitors C17, C18 and C19, respectively, to positive power supply or ground, or leave the corresponding capacitor open. Pin 7 of each IC can be driven from external TTL or CMOS clock signal under the condition that the corresponding jumper J10 or J11 or J12 is open. External frequency should be according to the datasheet of the IC.

Open

1 (BOOST/NC)

J13 J14 J15 Jumpers J13, J14 and J15 are used to connect or disconnect pin 1 of the ICs to positive power supply of the corresponding ICs.

Open

3 (GND) and 6 (LV) J20 J21 J22 If closed, you can connect pin 3 and pin 6 (if needed).

110

may 2017 | electronics for you

Open

Open

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Do-it-yourself

R4 − R10 = 150K D1

R20

10K

GND

9 3

R9

R10

D3 1N4148

1N4148

R8

D2

1N4148

R7

R6

R5

R3 220E

R2 220E

R4

LED1 LED2

4

TRIM

www.EFYmAg.com www.efymag.com

14

13

12

31

OSC1 OSC2

RD1 Vss

RD0

C1 0.1u GND

R2IN

8

T2OUT

15

VS−

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6

13

14

T1OUT

R1OUT

12

7

10

IC5 T2IN MAX232 T1IN

11

0.1u

PORT

FOR DE9 SERIAL COM

9 8 7 6

Petre Tzv Petrov was a researcher and assistant professor in Technical University of Sofia (Bulgaria) and expert-lecturer in OFPPT(Casablance), Kingdom of Morocco. Now he is working as an electronics engineer in the private sector in Bulgaria CON1

5 4 3 2 1

Fig. 3: Circuit diagram of the serial interface and transistor curve tracer

19

20

RC2

VUSB

18

17

RC1

0.1u

9

R2OUT

C1−

3

C2

15

C3

16

4

C2+

5 C2−

Vcc VS+ 2

C4 0.1u

16

used in the circuit. Each IC has seven jumpers that permit it to implement almost all possible application circuits according to the datasheets of the IC. It is recommended to refer datasheets of the ICs before using the circuit. Capacitors. All capacitors in the circuit should work at high frequencies in switching power supplies. These capacitors depend on the ICs for working frequency and maximum output current, etc. Capacitors C1, C2 and C3 should be of 0.33µF to 1µF. Capacitors C4 through C15

C1+

Vcc

Fig. 3: Components layout of the PCB

1

10

RE2

RC0

Vss

IC1 PIC18F4620 RE0

RA5

RA4

RE1 9

7 8

6

RA3

RA2

RA1/AN1 3

4 5

2

RA0/AN0

VDD VDD

11

R1

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1

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32

RB7 RB6 RB5 RB4 RB3 RB2 RB1 RB0 RD7 RD6 RD5 RD4 RC7 RC6 RC5 RC4 RD3 RD2

40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21

5

An actual-size, single-side PCB layout for the configurable DC-DC converter module is shown in Fig. 2 and its components layout in Fig. 3. After assembling the circuit on a PCB, enclose it in a suitable cabinet with connectors COn1 and COn2 fixed on the front panel. Input voltages and frequencies (F1, F2 and F3) are applied to COn1 and outputs are taken from COn2. After proper assembly and configuration with jumpers, the circuit will start working immediately when power is supplied. It has a lot of advantages. For instance, voltages V1, V2 and V3 can be the same or different, and outputs can be paralleled for higher output current. 1

SCLK

DIN

8

7

6

CS

REFA

DNC

7

4

5

CL

IC2 AD780

3

TEMP 8 O/P SELECT

VOUT 6 +VIN

GND

DNC

AGND

1

1E

( TUS )

BC107

T1

12

11 UPO

DOUT 10

Construction and testing

Fig. 2: Actual-size PCB layout of the DC-to-DC converter module

2

R22

1K

R17 47K R18

10K

R12

R19

GND IN2+

IN2−

5

6

10K

4

OUT2 7

IN1+ IC4 OUT1 LM358

IN1−

3 13

14 OSB

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+

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8

1

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+

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−

are usually rated at 10µF to 100µF for 25V or more. Capacitors C16, C17 and C18 are of 47µF to 220µF for 16V or more. Capacitors C19, C20 and C21 determine the frequencies of internal oscillators. These capacitors can have any appropriate values but the usual values are between 0pF and 1nF.

ElEctronics electronicsFor forYou you| |April may 2017

97 111

Do-it-yourself

. S.C Di ive w D

Contactless Battery Charger PradeeP G.

T

hese days mobile phones with contactless charging are readily available. The circuit shown here explains how contactless charging of a battery can be done.

Circuit and working Circuit diagram of the contactless battery charger is shown in Fig. 1. It is built around npn transistor 2N3866 (T1), diode 1N4148 (D1), an LED (LED1) and a few other components. Transistor T1 forms the 100MHz RF medium-power oscillator. Inductors L1 and L2 are made with four turns of 20SWG enamelled copper Parts List Semiconductors: T1 - 2N3866 npn transistor D1 - 1N4148 signal diode LED1 - 5mm LED Resistors (all 1/4-watt, ±5% carbon): R1 - 22-kilo-ohm R2 - 2.2-kilo-ohm - 68-ohm R3 VR1 - 100-ohm potmeter Capacitors: C1, C5 - 1n ceramic disk C2 - 10pF ceramic disk C3 - 10n ceramic disk C4 - 10µF, 25V electrolytic Miscellaneous: CON1 - 2-pin terminal connector S1 - SPDT switch CUC - 1.2V Ni-Cd cell (cell under charge) - Four turns with 20SWG L1, L2 enamelled copper wire as closely-wound coil having 6mm diameter - 9V battery - 2-pin terminal connector

wire as closelywound coils having 6mm P R1 22K D1 L1 S1 L2 diameter. Coil 1N4148 VR1 1 2 100E L2 is kept near CON1 L1 (around 2mm CUC 6V C5 1.2V apart). There C2 1n NI−CD 10p T1 is no electrical 2N3866 LED1 contact between L1 and L2, but R2 R3 C1 1 = TEST C4 RF (VHF) signals 2.2K C3 1n 68E 10u 2 = CHARGING 10n from L1 get 25V L1, L2 = REFR TEXT induced to L2. GND Signals obtained Fig. 1: Circuit diagram of the contactless battery charger from L2 are sufficient to drive LED1 or charge a 1.2V rechargeable cell (Nickel-Cadmium) after rectification and filtration. CUC = CELL UNDER CHARGING

Construction and testing

Fig. 2: Actual-size PCB layout of the contactless battery charger

Fig. 3: Components layout of the PCB

THE COMPLETE MAGAZINE ON OPEN SOURCE

An actual-size, single-side PCB layout of the contactless battery charger is shown in Fig. 2 and its components layout in Fig. 3. After assembling the circuit on a PCB, enclose it in a suitable plastic box. Place L1 and L2 next to each other such that LED1 glows when switch S1 is at position 1. When S1 is at position 2, you can charge a 1.2V rechargeable cell. The circuit works off 9-12V battery power supply. Pradeep G. is B.Sc. (Physics) and a regular contributor to international magazines. He is also a small-business owner in south India

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May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

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Do-it-yourself

N Ka idhi th ur ia

Arduino Based WindoWs PC Volume Remote ContRol ArnAv BAnsAl

P

resented here is a project that turns your Arduino into a remote control. Infrared (IR) remotes have been very prominent since 1980’s. In today’s world almost everything is controlled by a remote. This project allows you to control the master volume of a Windows PC, a television set, settop box, home theatre system and the like.

Standard data formats There are two common data formats for IR control: RC5 coding and NEC coding. RC5 code. RC5 code uses a bi-phase coding, and the carrier frequency is fixed at 36kHz. Transmission of the data begins with two start bits followed by a toggle bit (Fig. 1). Toggle bit changes its value at each new key press. Five address

bits represent the address of the device to be controlled. Six command bits contain the information to be transmitted. Each bit in the data consists of half a bit period with no transmission and half a bit period with a burst of 32 pulses at 36kHz. The most suitable IR receivers for receiving RC5 code are those with AGC2 setting and a band-pass frequency of 36kHz. Some examples are TSOP1236, TSOP4836, TSOP34836, TSOP39236 and TSOP36236. NEC code. NEC code uses bursts at a carrier frequency of 38kHz. It starts transmission using a leader code, a burst with a length of 9ms, followed by a pause of 4.5ms and then the data (Fig. 2). The original purpose of this leader code was to let the internal control loops in the receiver modules to settle. 114ms

After transmitting the data, only the leader code and a single bit are transmitted repeatedly for as long as a key is pressed. A special property of this code is a constant word length in combination with pulse distance modulation. Address and data bits are transmitted twice, first as a normal byte, followed by an inverted byte. The half period burst portion of each bit contains 22 pulses, each with a width of 8.77μs and a period of 26.3μs. 0 is represented by a pulse distance of 1.125ms, and 1 by a pulse distance of 2.25ms. Eight address bits are used to identify the device to be controlled. Further eight bits are used for transmission of command data. As mentioned above, the words are always followed, without a pause, by inverted words. For example, The data word is repeated as long as a key is pressed

Data

24.9ms Bit length 1.78ms Example of a data word

2 start bits

1 toggle bit

5 address bits

6 data bits

27.8µs Burst (half bit)

17052

868µs (32 cycles of 36kHz)

Fig. 1: RC5 transmission code (Image courtesy: www.vishay.com) www.efymag.com

electronics for you | may 2017

113

Do-it-yourself “Leader code”

Data

67.5ms 108ms

108ms

Address code 9ms

4.5 ms

Address code

8 bits

13.5ms

8 bits 27ms

Data code

Data code

8 bits

8 bits 27ms

17053

Fig. 2: NEC transmission code (Image courtesy: www.vishay.com)

key of the remote and then compares it with predefined variables to figure out which module frequency module frequency key is pressed. If it finds a match, it sends the signal TSOP1730 30kHz TSOP1733 33kHz to the PC, which is interTSOP1736 36kHz TSOP1737 36.7kHz preted by Remote Volume TSOP1738 38kHz TSOP1740 40kHz Control software (designed TSOP1756 56kHz — — by author), which further Fig. 4: Screenshot of Remote Volume Control software performs the required task. Screenshot of Remote TSOP1738 Volume Control software is shown in 108ms time slot for as long IRTX1 USB POWER Fig. 4. The most important step is to as the key is pressed. INPUT configure the desired remote control IR receiver modules. AREF DRIVER IOREF GND device with Arduino Uno. The most suitable IR 1 2 3 RST 13 3.3V receivers for receiving 12 11 5V Software NEC code are those with 10 GND 9 GND AGC4 setting as these The source codes (IR_Key_Test. 8 Vin have the best noise supino and IR_Final.ino) are written in pression while still supArduino programming language. The 7 6 porting this data format. software used to program Arduino 5 A0 4 A1 Some examples are Uno is Arduino IDE, which can be 3 A2 2 A3 TSOP4438, TSOP58438 and downloaded free of cost from www. TX 1 A4 TSOP75438. Receiver mod- arduino.cc/en/Main/Software A5 RX 0 ules for different carrier Arduino, which is an open source frequencies are given in the software, makes it easy to write and BOARD1 Table above. upload the code to the board. It runs Fig. 3: Circuit diagram of Arduino based Windows PC on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. volume remote control Circuit and working The environment is written in Java and based on Processing and other transmission of address 00110111 and Circuit diagram of Arduino PC open source software. command data 00011010 is pervolume control is shown in Fig. 3. The library used in this project is formed by sending bits as: Hardware components required are IRremote library. It allows Arduino Arduino Uno, TSOP1738 IR receiver, “00110111’11001000’00011010’11100101” Uno to decode IR signals coming from breadboard and some jumper wires. In a special version of NEC code, the remote. To install the library, copy Working of the project is fairly the pre-burst, including all address IRremote folder and paste it in the simple. Arduino Uno decodes the and data bits, is repeated in each VCC

O/P

may 2017 | electronics for you

DIGITAL

ATMEGA328

ANALOG

114

ARDUINO

GND

Some IR ReceIveR moduleS foR dIffeRent caRRIeR fRequencIeS

www.efymag.com

efy Note

Do-it-yourself

Fig. 5: Example of key configuration

Fig. 8: Author’s prototype Fig. 6: Screenshot of IR_Final.ino

no Uno and PC, mode of communication used is serial communication. You need to install Remote Volume Control software on the targeted PC, which communicates with Arduino Uno and accordingly performs the task. This software runs in the background and automatically starts when the PC boots.

Initial setup

Fig. 7: Device Manager window

following location: Documents>Arduino>libraries folder To communicate between Arduiwww.efymag.com

Step 1. To configure your desired remote control device, install IRremote library and open IR_Key_Test. ino code from Arduino IDE. Select the correct board from Tools→Board menu in Arduino IDE, and burn the program (sketch) through the standard USB port in your computer. Step 2. After uploading the code, open Serial Monitor in Arduino IDE.

The source code of this project is included in this month’s EFY DVD and is also available for free download at source. efymag.com

Point the remote control towards TSOP receiver module and press the key that you want to assign for volume up function continuously. Note the key code number that will repeat again and again when the key is pressed. Screenshot of the example is shown in Fig. 5. Key code for volume up function as per current serial data is 45135. Note that some remotes send value 65535 or FFFF after sending the key code. Sometimes, there might be abrupt values due to ambient light or interference, so take five to six readings before assigning the key code. Similarly, repeat the above procedure to find the key codes for volume down and mute functions. Step 3. After noting down the key codes for all functions, open IR_Final.ino code and write down your key codes as shown in Fig. 6. Save and compile the code.

Testing the project After uploading IR_Final.ino code to Arduino Uno, connect it to your PC and open Device Manager. Note the COM port assigned to Arduino Uno. Here, Arduino Uno is assigned COM3 (Fig. 7). Install Remote Volume Control software and start it. Select COM3 in COM Ports menu and select 9600 baud rate from Baud Rate menu. Click on Connect, and if all goes well, volume of the PC will be controlled by your desired remote. The author’s prototype of Arduino based Windows PC volume remote control is shown in Fig. 8.

Arnav Bansal is an electronics hobbyist and loves to tinker with circuit designs

electronics for you | may 2017

115

Do-it-yourself

i San o The

ElEctronic Voting MachinE Demo Using MATLAB GUI Saikat Patra and Shibendu Mahata

E

lectronic voting machines (EVMs) are used to conduct elections in India. These machines provide straightforward and effortless features to voters to cast their votes in favour of candidates of their choice. When a voter presses a button adjacent to the name of the candidate, a beeping sound is made by the EVM, confirming successful casting of vote, and the vote count of that particular candidate increases by one. Fig. 1: Screenshot of the EVM based on MATLAB GUI In this project, a demo software program using MATLAB based graphical user interface (GUI) to demonstrate the working of an EVM is presented. A screenshot of the EVM using MATLAB GUI is shown in Fig. 1.

Software program Five candidates are considered in this demo program. The GUI application program has been developed in R2014a version of MATLAB. On running MATLAB program (EVM.m), when you select the button marked ‘Press Fig. 2: Program output screenshot with results Button’ adjacent to the name of 2. Percentage of votes received the candidate in the GUI, a beep is by a candidate heard, confirming successful casting 3. Total number of voters who of vote. Selection of the pushbuthave cast their votes ton executes a callback function in MATLAB, and the candidate’s vote count is incremented by one in the program. At the end of the voting efy Note process, the following information The source code of can be obtained by selecting ‘REthis project is SULTS’ on the GUI: included in this 1. Total number of votes received month’s EFY DVD and by a candidate is also available for free download at source. 116 May 2017 | ElEctronics For you efymag.com

A typical example of the program output screenshot is shown in Fig. 2. Although this article presents a simulation of the working of an EVM, you can build a MATLAB GUI based EVM in hardware like Arduino board. The following pointers might be beneficial: 1. Use pushbutton switches to cast the vote and check results. These pushbuttons can be connected as inputs to the digital input/output pins of the Arduino Uno board. 2. Use Arduino Uno and Legacy MATLAB and Simulink Support for Arduino software package to set up the communication between the Arduino and MATLAB. The procedure to install the package is discussed in detail in ‘Controlling a Robotic Car Through MATLAB GUI’ DIY article published in October 2016 issue. Arduino can send the status of the pushbuttons to MATLAB. Modify the GUI program to perform the tasks as demonstrated by the simulation.

Saikat Patra is passionate about electronics and MCU based embedded system applications Shibendu Mahata is M.Tech (gold medallist) in instrumentation and electronics engineering from Jadavpur University. Currently, he is pursuing Ph.D from NIT, Durgapur. He is interested in MCU based real-time embedded signal processing and process control systems

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Binay Opto Electronics Pvt Ltd (www.binayLED.com) ......................42, 43

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Boolean Microsystems Pvt Ltd. .............................................................129

Krishna Paint & Hardware Store ...........................................................124

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Circuit Systems India Ltd ................................................................57, 103

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LWI Electronics Inc. (www.livewireinfo.com) ...........................................23

Shavison Electronics Pvt Ltd (www.shavison.com)...............................101

Digi-Key Electronics (www.digikey.com)....................................................2

Mangal Instrumentation .........................................................................128

Shivalik Bimetal Controls Ltd. ................................................................124

Digital Promoters (I) Pvt Ltd ..................................................................129

Matrix Comsec Pvt Ltd.............................................................................25

SINPRO Electronics Co. Ltd (www.sinpro.com)......................................75 Smec Electronics India Pvt Ltd ..............................................................124

Dynalog (India) Ltd (www.dynalogindia.com) ............................................9

Max Technology & Co. (www.maxtechnoloindia.com) ............................37

EFY Business Solutions Ad (Key Creative) .............................................13

Meco Meters Pvt Ltd (www.mecoinst.com) .................................63, 65, 67

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EFY Business Solutions Ad (Tree Creative)..........................................135

Megakit...................................................................................................130

Suresh Enterprises ................................................................................128

EFY Group: Subscription form...........................................................68, 69

Microchip Technology Hong Kong Ltd (www.microchip.com) .................39

Systellar Innovations (www.systellar.in)...................................................35

Eita Technologies ...................................................................................130

Montu Electronics LLP ...........................................................................129

Tunwal E Vehicle .....................................................................................53

Element14 India Pvt Ltd.............................................................................1

Mornsun Guangzhou Science & Technology Co. Ltd. ............................41

Universal Electronic Agencies ...............................................................120

Fujitsu Electronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. ...................................................17

Mouser Electronics (India) Private Limited ................................................7

Upsinverter.com (www.upsinverter.com) ............................................... 119

Fusion Power Systems (www.amptek.in) ..............................................128

National Controlling & Equipments ........................................................129

VIGVEN Tech Mark Pvt Ltd (www.vigven.com).......................................21

Good Will Instrument Co. Ltd.................................................................134

NI Systems India Pvt Ltd .........................................................................33

Zhaoqing Beryl Electronic Co. Ltd. ..........................................................47

Green Vision Technologies ........................................................................3

No Smoke Oil ...........................................................................................51

GT Magnetics Pvt Ltd (www.gtmagnetic.com) ......................................122

Omtronics LED Lighting Solutions .........................................................122

advertisers’ product categories index Products

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Automation & Robotics

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Zhaoqing Beryl Electronic Co. Ltd ...................... 47

VIGVEN Tech Mark Pvt Ltd ................................ 21

Products

Page No.

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Products

Page No.

Telecom Products Matrix Comsec Pvt. Ltd ...................................... 25

Systellar Innovations ......................................... 35 EDA Tools (Including Designing &

Test & Measurement Equipment

Batteries & Power Supplies

Drafting Aids)

PCBs, Assemblies & Sub Assemblies

Boolean Microsystems Pvt. Ltd ........................ 129

NI Systems India Pvt Ltd .................................... 33

Circuit Systems India Ltd ........................... 57, 103

Good Will Instrument Co. Ltd .......................... 134

Eita Technologies ............................................ 129

Keysight Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. ................... 5

Redpine ............................................................... 6

KUSAM Electrical Instruments LLP .................. 127

Coslight India Telecom Pvt. Ltd ........................ 126 Fusion Power Systems ..................................... 128

Educational Training Kits

Green Vision Technologies .................................. 3

Kits‘n’Spares....................................................... 99

Montu Electronics LLP ..................................... 129

Rhydo Technologies P Ltd .................................117

Mornsun Guangzhou Science &

(Including Indicators & Monitors)

Mangal Instrumentation .................................... 128 Plugs, Sockets & Connectors

Meco Meters Pvt Ltd .............................. 63, 65, 67

Harwin Asia Pte Ltd ........................................... 29

Rohde & Schwarz ............................................... 73

Electric Vehicle

Pasternack ....................................................... 136

Tunwal E Vehicle ................................................ 53

Positronic Pvt. Ltd .............................................. 15

Sakthi Accumulators Private Ltd ...................... 129

Industrial & Manufacturing Equipment

Reseller and Distributors

Shavison Electronics Pvt. Ltd. ......................... 101

Krishna Paint & Hardware Store ...................... 124

AqTronics Technologies Pvt. Ltd ....................... 19

SINPRO Electronics Co. Ltd............................... 75

Max Technology & Co. ....................................... 37

Auro Controls ....................................................118

Training and Certification Institutes

Digi-Key Electronics ............................................ 2

CADD Centre Training Services Private Limited 121

Technology Co. Ltd .......................................... 41 National Controlling & Equipments ................... 129

Tools & Toolkits Krishna Paint & Hardware Store ...................... 124

RECOM Asia Pte Ltd ......................................... 61

Upsinverter.com ................................................119

Rhydo Technologies P Ltd ................................117

Materials (Including Chemicals &

Digital Promoters (I) Pvt Ltd ............................. 129

Cabinets, Enclosures & Accessories

Consumables)

Element14 India Pvt Ltd. ...................................... 1

Transformers

Universal Electronic Agencies ......................... 120

Krishna Paint & Hardware Store ...................... 124

Hicotronics Devices Pvt Ltd. ................................11

Anant Enterprises .............................................118

Max Technology & Co. ....................................... 37

LWI Electronics Inc. ............................................ 23

GT Magnetics Pvt. Ltd. ..................................... 122

Components (Including Active & Passive)

Progressive Engineers ..................................... 122

Mouser Electronics (India) Private Limited .......... 7

India Techno Systems ..................................... 129

Analog Devices................................................... 27

Suresh Enterprises .......................................... 128

Rajguru Electronics ......................................... 123

Servokon Systems Pvt Ltd ............................... 125

infineon .............................................................. 31

Optics & Optoelectronics

Safety & Security Products

Wireless Modules/Modem

INGUN India Pvt. Ltd ........................................ 120

Arham Electronics & Electricals

Kufra International ............................................ 129

AN Wireless Solutions ....................................... 85

Fujitsu Electronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd ............... 17

Meco Meters Pvt Ltd .......................................... 63

(Nimra Products) .......................................... 129

Microchip Technology Hong Kong Ltd. ............... 41

Artech Electronics Solution Provider ............... 129

Solar Products

Wires & Cables

Redpine ............................................................... 6

Binay Opto Electronics Pvt Ltd ..................... 42, 43

Arham Electronics & Electricals

ASIAN Heating Alloys Industry ..........................118

Sancon India Pvt. Ltd. ...................................... 125

Key Operations & Electrocomponents

(Nimra Products) .......................................... 129

Shivalik Bimetal Controls Ltd. ........................... 124

Pvt Ltd. ............................................................ 85

Omtronics LED Lighting Solutions ................... 122

Miscellaneous

Smec Electronics India Pvt Ltd ......................... 124

Omtronics LED Lighting Solutions ................... 122

Systellar Innovations ......................................... 35

No Smoke Oil ..................................................... 51

132

May 2017 | ElEctronics For you

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EFY Magazine Attractions During 2017 Month

tEchnologY Focus

ElEctronics DEsign

MArkEt survEYs

January

Computer Vision

Lowering Power Consumption

Electronic Component Manufacturing

February

Smart Fabrics

Improving Wireless Signal Performance

Electronics Manufacturing Services

March

Exciting Technologies Powering the IoT

Building More Reliable Printed Circuit Boards

Industry Outlook for 2017-18

April

Virtual and Augmented Reality

Developer Boards: DIY and Hobbyist Applications

Printed Circuit Boards

May

Smart Robotics

Fight of the Processors: Ultra-Low-Voltage Computing The Internet of Things (Mobile and Portable Devices)

June

Artificial Intelligence

How to Get the Best Design for Manufacturing

Strategic Electronics

July

5G and Beyond

Developer Boards: Industrial Applications

Mobile Handset and Telecom Device Manufacturing

August

3D Printing

Improving Thermal Dissipation

LED Lighting

September Industrial IoT

Which Input Technologies Should You Use

Solar

October

The Brains of Mobile Devices

Ruggedising Hardware

Electronics Manufacturing Equipment (Both SMT and Non-SMT Categories)

November

Security of the IoT

Fight of the Processors: High-Performance Computing Test and Measurement

December

Implantable and Edible Electronics

Which Output Technologies Should You Use

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Materials and Chemicals

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