may 2020 | Vol. 52 No.

5 | ISSN-0013-516X

Contents
52nd Year of Publication

Since January 1969

20 EXPLORATION: Do Space Rovers Promise 46 COMMUNICATION: Emerging Wireless Next Issue

A Better Future For Space Technology?
25 Design: Design Your Own Electric Vehicle
Battery Charging Solutions
29 POWER: Electronics With Lithium-Ion
Batteries
33 Artificial Intelligence: We Lost
The Tail, Is The Brain Next?
36 Artificial Intelligence: Neural
Network Preceptors: How Deep Learning
Can Help Solve AI Problems
38 Artificial Intelligence: Ten AI Trends
Revolutionising Manufacturing Industry
41 COMPUTING: Touch The Future Together
With Multi-Touch Technology
Standards For Next-Gen IoT Applications
49 Test & Measurement: Performance
Evaluation Of Upgraded Data Centre
Infrastructure
54 COMPUTING: Present Status Of
Quantum Based Superfast Computer
78 Market Survey: Growth Of Edge And
Cloud Computing In Business
84 Facts & Figures: India’s Imports And
Exports Of Telecom Equipment From
April 2018 To March 2019
85 Facts & Figures: National
Supercomputing Mission, India
• Kitchen Appliances Getting
A Technology Makeover
• The Case For Responsible
Artificial Intelligence
• Digital Twin And Its Applications
In The Internet World
• Demand Of Drones For Delivery
And Logistics
• Make Your Own Three-Channel
Audio Amplifier
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51
INTERVIEW
56 “Autonomous And Connected Car
Technologies Are Making The
Vehicles Safe, Intelligent, And
Efficient”
Alexander Klotz, head of Technical Center
India, Continental Automotive
57 “We Help Startups In Every
Possible Way During The
Incubation Period”
Sanjeev Chopra, chief executive officer,
Electropreneur Park
Do-It-Yourself
58 Making This Versatile Arduino-Based
Frequency Generator Is Simple
Smart World
15 Solar-Powered Charging For Electric Vehicles
16 Scopes And Impact Of Cloud Computing
On Banking
17 Quantum Dots Transforming The Medical
Field
18 How 3D Printing Is Transforming Businesses
StartUp Zone
74 High-Performance Smart Water Meters
75 A Robot For People With Spinal Disabilities
75 Preventing Machine Failure Using
Predictive Maintenance
76 Leveraging Trapped-Ion Technology
For Quantum Computing
77 The IoT And Drones For Digitally
Transforming Industries
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6 may 2020 • electronics For You
From https://electronicsforu.com
Electronics Projects
I am interested in the complete kit of
‘Fingerprint Door Unlock System Using
Arduino’ DIY project available on your
website at https://www.electronicsforu.
com/electronics-projects/hardware-diy/
arduino-fingerprint-door-unlock-system.
Please share contact details for the
same.
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In the ‘Simple FM Receiver’ DIY article
available on your website at https://
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projects/simple-fm-receiver, can I
use ECC85 vacuum tube in place of
transistors? How do you tune and
control the circuit?
Gavyrzniak Sam
EFY. The circuit was designed and
tested with transistors only because
tubes are not easily available in the
market. Tuning is done using trimmer
(VC) and volume control is done using
22-kilo-ohm potentiometer as given
in the circuit.
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 Q&A
Things You Wanted to Know!

Q1. What is the difference between MATLAB and Vivado? Do we need both MATLAB
and Vivado Design Suite for programming a ZCU111 Evaluation Kit?
Pournima

A1. There are many differences between MATLAB and
Vivado. While MATLAB is a numerical computing and
programming language offered by MathWorks, Vivado is
a design automation tool for embedded systems offered
by Xilinx. Vivado is targeted at larger FPGAs and is slowly
replacing Xilinx ISE as their mainline tool chain. Vivado
tool has a wide range of applications for designers espe-
cially in embedded systems and RF domains.
I think you are talking about Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC
ZCU111 Evaluation Kit which provides a rapid, compre-
hensive RF analogue-to-digital signal chain prototyping
platform. This Evaluation Kit supports Vivado Design Suite
as well as MATLAB. It features system-level design using signal
capture and analysis with MATLAB and Simulink. You can work
on certain applications with Evaluation Kit using MATLAB.
But to explore the full potential of this kit, you may need both
MATLAB and Vivado Design Suite.
For more details on MATLAB and Vivado Design Suite, you
may visit the following websites:
https://www.mathworks.com/products/connections/prod-
uct_detail/avnet-rfsoc-dev-kit.html and
https://forums.xilinx.com/t5/Xilinx-Evaluation-Boards/
Problem-with-Hardware-Co-Simulation-for-ZCU111-board/
td-p/988291

Q2. What is e-paper display? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
A. Samiuddhin

A2. E-paper or electronic paper is a special type of display However, it has many Positively charged Transparent top Negatively
electrode charged black
that does not need electricity to sustain the displayed text disadvantages as white pigment pigment
and image. Just like real paper, the displayed image resem- well. That include
bles ink on paper (hence the name). Unlike traditional LCD its high cost as com-
or OLED display, it does not emit light but reflects light. pared to other dis-
This characteristic makes e-paper display very comfortable plays, slow to update
to read even under direct sunlight (refer Fig. 1). Unlike LCD text and images, less
or TFT display, e-paper also does not require a backlight. m e m o r y, a m o n g
The displays are made of millions of minuscule cap- others.
sules filled with a clear fluid containing microscopic par- Advantages. Clear fluid Bottom
ticles of different colours and electrical charges (refer Fig. 1. Consumes less electrode

2). Electrodes located power

Fig. 1: e-paper based e-book
reader visible in the sunlight
(Credit: wikipedia.org)
above and below the 2. Display stays Fig. 2: Scheme of e-paper display
capsules move up and for a long time with- (Credit: smartcity-displays.com)
down when a posi- out power
tive or negative elec- 3. Ideal for low-power projects including Arduino,
tric field is applied, NodeMCU and other embedded prototyping boards
making the surface 4. It is available in multiple sizes
to reflect a certain 5. It is a high-definition and paper-like appearance display
colour. Disadvantages.
The displays can 1. Display is slow to update
hold static text and 2. Not suitable for animation or fast-changing displays
images for months 3. Costlier as compared to LCD and other similar size
without electricity. displays.
That is, it can retain 4. Currently, it has limited software library and supports
text and images even very few fonts
when power is off. 5. It has less memory

Answers compiled by Sani Theo, technical editor. 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: editsec@efy.in) and should include name and address of the sender.

8 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com

 Tech News
Technology Updates

Remote health monitoring system to combat Covid-19

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh, in
collaboration with Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics
Limited (BEL), has developed a state-of-the-art health monitor-
ing system to remotely assess the health of Covid-19 suspects/
patients quarantined in homes and hospitals. The solution
aims to significantly reduce the risk of exposure to healthcare
workers. It is also expected to reduce the increasing demand
of PPE and other logistics.
Due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, the need to
develop a solution to remotely monitor patients for limiting
exposure of healthcare workers was prime and urgent. To
combat this need, AIIMS-Rishikesh and BEL came together
to provide a comprehensive digital and clinically appropri-
ate solution. Based on inputs given by AIIMS-Rishikesh, BEL
developed the Proof of Concept (PoC) model of a system
integrating non-invasive health monitoring sensors to meas-
ure critical parameters such as temperature, pulse rate, SPO2
(saturated oxygen level) and respiration rate.
A mobile app/Web browser has been developed for
people to get enrolled with AIIMS-Rishikesh once they show
symptoms of Covid-19. AIIMS-Rishikesh will study patient
complaints and based on the assessment by clinical experts,
a health monitoring kit will be handed over to the patient for
periodical monitoring of the critical parameters. Software will
give out alerts in the form of messages to medical officers and
healthcare workers when the health parameters exceed the
threshold. It will also record the severity of the patient’s condi-
tion in different colour codes.

VersaTouch brings touch localisation and force sensing

to everyday surfaces
Researchers from the University of Auckland in New Zealand’s one or more receivers to measure sound waves emanating
Augmented Human Lab are exploring a new way to construct from the wearer’s ‘augmented’ fingers, allowing it to calculate
interactive touch surfaces, using finger-mounted audio trans- their positions and/or movements. The plug-and-play system
ducers. can also sense force based on a changing audio signature
VersaTouch—which works on everyday surfaces—uses and track individual digits by alternating each one’s sonic
outputs.
Importantly, VersaTouch
can be configured without
permanent modification to
the newly interactive surface.
The setup includes an Ardui-
no Due to receive signals,
a Teensy 3.6 to control the
transducers, and a MacBook
to process the data and calcu-
late the touch positions with
a Java program.
It is a portable, plug-and-
play system that uses active
acoustic sensing to track fine-
grained touch locations as
well as touch force of multiple
fingers on everyday surfaces
without having to perma-
nently instrument them or do
Representational image an extensive calibration.

10 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com

 Tech News
OmniTact: A high-resolution tactile sensor for robotics
applications
From the past few years, researchers worldwide have
Elastomer
been trying to develop sensors that could replicate Gel
humans’ sense of touch in robots and enhance their
manipulation skills. While some of these sensors LEDs
achieved remarkable results, most existing solutions
have small sensitive fields or can only gather images Cameras
with low resolutions.
A team of researchers at UC Berkeley recently
developed a new multi-directional tactile sensor, called
OmniTact, that overcomes some of the limitations of
previously developed sensors. OmniTact, presented in
a paper pre-published on arXiv and set to be presented GelSight Sensor OmniTact
at ICRA 2020, acts as an artificial fingertip that allows
robots to sense the properties of objects it is holding
or manipulating. “Our lab recognised the need for a
sensor for general robotic manipulation tasks with
expanded capabilities than current tactile sensors,”
Frederik Ebert, one of the researchers who carried out
the study, told TechXplore.
OmniTact, the sensor developed by Ebert and
his colleagues, is an adaptation of GelSight, a tactile An illustration and image explaining the basic differences between the GelSight Sensor
sensor created by researchers at MIT and UC Berkeley. and OmniTact (Credit: Padmanabha et al)
GelSight can generate detailed 3D maps of an object’s
surface and detect some of its characteristics. compact and has a curve shape. When integrated into a gripper
In contrast with GelSight, OmniTact is multi-directional, or robotic hand, the sensor acts as a sensitive artificial ‘finger,’
which means that all of its sides have sensing capabilities. allowing the robot to manipulate and sense a wide range of
In addition, it can provide high-resolution readings, is highly objects varying in shape and sizes.

New scavenger technology allows robots to eat metal

for energy
Rather than a battery, the researchers’ metal-air scavenger vehicle gets energy
from breaking chemical bonds in the aluminium surface it travels over
(Credit: University of Pennsylvania)
When electronics need their own power sources, there are
two basic options: batteries and harvesters. Batteries store
energy internally, but are therefore heavy and have a limited
supply. Harvesters, such as solar panels, collect energy from
their environments. This gets around some of the downsides
of batteries but introduces new ones, in that they can only
operate in certain conditions and can’t turn that energy into
useful power very quickly.
New research from the School of Engineering and Applied
Science is bridging the gap between these two fundamental
technologies for the first time in the form of a ‘metal-air scav-
enger’ that gets the best of both worlds.
This metal-air scavenger works like a battery, in that it
provides power by repeatedly breaking and forming a series
of chemical bonds. But it also works like a harvester, in that
power is supplied by energy in its environment, specifically,
the chemical bonds in metal and air surrounding the metal-air
scavenger. The result is a power source that has ten times more
power density than the best energy harvesters and thirteen
times more energy density than lithium-ion batteries.

12 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com

 Tech News
Intel launches 10th generation of Intel Core H-series chipsets
Intel has launched its latest generation of the 5G-enabled
chipset. It has introduced a new 10th generation of Intel Core
H-series. The company said that the Intel Core H-series gives
faster performance with up to 5.3GHz Turbo with eight cores
and sixteen threads. It also said that the chipset provides lower
latency and provides the best gaming experience on a laptop.
Intel stated that the Core i9-10980HK chipset gives up to
54 per cent more frames per second in gaming and 44 per
cent overall performance as compared to its predecessor. It
Small, precise and affordable gyroscope for navigating with GPS
A small, inexpensive and highly accu-
rate gyroscope, developed at the Univer-
sity of Michigan, could help drones and
autonomous cars stay on track without
a GPS signal.
“Our gyroscope is 10,000 times
more accurate but only ten times more
expensive than gyroscopes used in your
typical cell phones. This gyroscope is
1,000 times less expensive than much
larger gyroscopes with similar perfor-
mance,” said Khalil Najafi, the Schlum-
berger Professor of Engineering at U-M
and a professor of electrical engineering
The new resonator and electrodes on a finger for scale.
and computer science. The resonator is almost perfectly symmetrical, made of mechanical resonator. It looks like a
Most smartphones contain gyro- nearly-pure glass (Credit: Najafi Group)
scopes to detect the orientation of the
screen and help figure out which way we’re facing, but their
accuracy is poor. They’re the reason why phones often incor-
rectly indicate which direction a user is facing during navigation.
It doesn’t matter much to a human on the street or behind
the wheel, but a driverless car could get lost quickly with a
loss of GPS signal. Inside their backup navigation systems,
Smart and customised light solutions based on open source
and AI
The research project OpenLicht was launched in September
2016 and stands for the design of smart, customised light solu-
tions based on open source and new materials. OpenLicht was
funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research
(BMBF), with the goal of enabling new forms of collaboration
between science, business, maker and startup community.
Infineon Technologies AG is supervising the project in close
cooperation with Bernitz Electronics GmbH, Deggendorf Insti-
tute of Technology and the Technical University of Dresden.
The results are now being made public and include the
prototype of a smart lighting system based on artificial intel-
ligence (AI). It automatically adjusts the light in the room to
14 may 2020 • electronics For You
also delivers two times faster 4K video rendering and export
compared to the previous generation of processors.
The 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H processor comes with
up to 5.0GHz Turbo. The company claimed that it will give up
to 44 per cent more frames per second in gaming, up to 33 per
cent better overall performance and up to 70 per cent faster 4K
video exporting. Intel also introduced the new 10th Gen Intel
Core i7-10875H. It features up to 5.1GHz Turbo, eight cores
and sixteen threads.
autonomous vehicles currently use
high-performance gyroscopes that are
larger and much more expensive.
“High-performance gyroscopes are
a bottleneck, and they have been for a
long time. This gyroscope can remove
this bottleneck by enabling the use of
high-precision and low-cost inertial
navigation in most autonomous vehi-
cles,” said Jae Yoong Cho, an assistant
research scientist in electrical engineer-
ing and computer science.
The key to making this affordable,
small gyroscope is a nearly symmetrical
Bundt pan crossed with a wine glass,
made one centimetre wide. As with
wine glasses, the duration of the ringing tone produced when
the glass is struck depends on the quality of the glass—but
instead of being an aesthetic feature, the ring is crucial to the
gyroscope’s function. The complete device uses electrodes
placed around the glass resonator to push and pull on the glass,
making it ring and keep it going.
the user’s position and activity, such as reading or watching
TV, learns the person’s preferences and can even respond to a
certain degree to circumstances it has not learned previously.
The solution developed in the project is based on open-
source approaches like openHAB, a smart home system, and
machine learning libraries. The use of freely available develop-
ment environments, software frameworks and low-cost hard-
ware solutions enable integration of a wide range of different
sensor data and further development of existing results by the
community. Intelligent light design is entering the smart home,
so the vision will accompany people through their day-to-day
life with fully automated solutions.
www.EFYMag.com
 Smart World
Solar-Powered Charging Scopes And Impact Of Cloud Quantum Dots Transforming How 3D Printing Is
1 For Electric Vehicles 2 Computing On Banking 3 The Medical Field 4 Transforming Businesses

Solar-powered charging
1 for Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles (EVs) have become the latest trend in the modern world, but power should be
generated only through renewable energies like solar, considering the global warming issue
around the globe. The introduction of solar charging stations at various places has made it easy
for the public to charge their vehicles and reduce range anxiety

A level 1 or level 2 charging station

is typically present below the photovol-
taic array, protecting the vehicles from
sun damage. Level 1 charge stations
are the slowest but the least expensive
of three charge levels and are suitable
for areas where parking time is high
such as offices. Level 2 charge station
is more suitable for areas where the
parking time is not too long. Not all EVs
can use a level 3 charger which is used
for rapid charging (around an hour),
especially for travelling large distances.
Tesla SuperCharger is an example of a
level 3 charger.
Installation of such stations can
be done in places like parking lots of

A
lthough electric vehicles (EVs)
are considered an eco-friendly
option, global warming due to
greenhouse emissions is still an issue
if conventional sources of energy
are used for electricity generation to
power EVs. This is where the need for
power generation through renewable
energies like solar arises. It is true
that solar panel production results in
carbon footprints but they become
carbon neutral in a few years and last
for fifteen to twenty years on average.
Electric mobility adoption not only
by customers but even the auto indus-
try depends hugely on the growth of
electric charging infrastructure. A
solar charging station usually consists
of an EV supply equipment (EVSE),
an array of solar panels, an inverter
for converting solar power from DC to
AC, an energy storage system (for off-
grid charging), charge controller and a
secure network for wireless transmis-
sion of data to the software, helping
users to make real-time decisions.
In on-grid charging, solar power
is fed into the grid regardless of the
current need and electricity is drawn
from it, which guarantees charging
and optimum use of solar power. It is
a cheaper option compared to charg-
ing off-grid. In off-grid charging, a
solar panel connects to the energy
storage system from which the power
is drawn. Such chargers can be placed
anywhere since they are not connect-
ed to the grid. A heavy steel base plate
usually acts as a solid foundation,
making it easy to install the system.
shopping centres, offices, restaurants,
gyms, rest stops along highways,
parks, among others. It makes it easy
for the public to charge their vehicles
and reduce range anxiety.
For home installations, if the
amount of solar electricity generated
does not suffice the requirement of
charging the owner’s vehicle due
to reasons like weather conditions
(cloudy days), only then grid electric-
ity is required. While going for this
option, make sure the number of solar
panels installed is able to compensate
for the charging losses. Also, three-
phase power is capable of supporting
a higher capacity array. The excess
power generated, which the owners
can get back in the form of credits
whenever required, can be sold to

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 15

 Smart World
utility companies. This is a cheaper
option compared to a battery storage
system that is generally used for charg-
ing overnight.
The cost of setting up a solar-
powered charging station depends on
factors like installation cost, hardware
equipment, cost of electricity and
maintenance in the long run. The cost
of purchasing a solar array is based
on the manufacturer and selection of
solar panels. For those who already
have a solar array installed at their
homes, they just need to have an EV
charging station.
Besides better air quality and
reduced dependence on fossil fuels,
2 Scope And Impact Of
Cloud Computing On Banking
With the introduction of cloud computing, things have become easier and much accessible in
banking and financial sectors. Cloud computing is a hybrid technology that helps in storing and
recovering huge data of the banks, besides cost reduction and better customer services
C
loud computing is
a hybrid technol-
ogy of comput-
ing various services like
software, servers, storage,
databases, networking,
analytics and many more
over the Internet. It can
be easily deployed and
integrated with all the
services of the banking
system, which decreases
the time and effort of the
bankers and customers.
It has made many things
easier in banking and
finance sectors like inter-
operability, 24×7 access,
secure storage, etc. Using software or
banking apps from any device from
any location has become seamless.
On-demand cloud services are
delivered with a pay-as-you-go billing
model that leads to significant cost
reduction. Cloud computing helps in
storing, backup and recovering huge
data of the banks. It has enabled the
banks to focus more on the customer-
centric model and digitalising trading
16 may 2020 • electronics For You
low costs are incurred and there is a
reduced tendency of health-related
risks. The load on conventional grids
also gets reduced. Apart from this,
a large-scale implementation will
increase employment owing to the
need for installation, maintenance,
and operation.
Considering the benefits and
viability of such a system, many busi-
nesses are investing in this concept.
For instance, Tesla Motors, a subsidi-
ary of Tesla is constructing solar-pow-
ered charging stations in convenient
locations for its EV customers.
Although the payback period is
long, collaborations and government
and wealth. Every information stored
in the cloud is safe with end-to-end
protection.
Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) and Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) are the most
popular software in cloud computing.
These software allow the banks and
financial institutions to secure the
data and provide better support to
the customers. Some cloud providers
policies can decrease it and help in
establishing a robust charging infra-
structure. In India, the government
has de-licensed public charging sta-
tions business for EVs. In 2019, BHEL
announced that it will be setting up
five solar-based EV charging stations
at Haryana Tourism Corporation’s
resorts on the Delhi-Chandigarh high-
way. The organisation also developed
a central monitoring system and a
mobile app for EV charging. Japanese
electronics company Panasonic has
also been working to set up nearly one
lakh charging stations for EVs across
twenty-five top Indian cities.
—Ayushee Sharma
who provide hybrid cloud
computing servers to the
companies are Amazon
Web Services, Google
Virtual Cloud, Microsoft
Azure, Aliyun, and IBM
Bluemix.
Banks can access
the cloud any time as
required, which means
they can utilise it more
flexibly. This increas-
es the banks’ ability to
relieve their staff from the
administration of IT infra-
structure and reallocate
resources for more inno-
vative banking solutions.
During peak customer demand hours,
the cloud can allow banks to scale
computing resources according to the
requirements of the consumers. The
scalability of the cloud means it can
scan potentially thousands of transac-
tions per second to improve security
against fraud and money laundering.
In a bid to ensure secure transac-
tions and smooth customer experi-
ence, banks need 100 per cent uptime.
www.EFYMag.com

But in-house IT systems need periodic
maintenance during which it becomes
difficult to provide continued ser-
vice. Cloud computing offers server
availability of 99.999%, even during
maintenance, to do transactions at any
time of the day or night. The hosting
of mobile and web apps also ensures
better speed for users.
The confidentiality and security
of financial information of custom-
ers and internal company data are of
prime importance. Cloud computing
is used to ensure that payments are
processed securely without any dis-
crepancies. It is engineered to offer
multiple layers of safety and can
pinpoint fraudulent transactions in
real-time without compromising user
experience.
Cloud computing is changing the
way consumers interact with banks;
3 Quantum Dots Transforming
The Medical Field
Quantum dots (QDs), popularly used as QLED displays in TVs, are now playing a crucial role in
the development and transformation of the medical field. QDs are now being used in advanced
and intelligent applications like bio-imaging, drug delivery, sensing, and therapy
N
anotechnology, the branch
of science and engineering
that deals with the world of
nanometer-sized particles, is rapidly
growing due to its potential to solve
some of the most pressing problems
in the world like hunger and serious
diseases such as cancer.
An important topic of research
in nanotechnology, quantum dots
(QDs) that find their popular use as
QLED displays to light up TVs have a
much wider scope beyond that. QDs
are nanoscale crystals made of pure
metal or semiconductor alloys with
special optic and electronic proper-
ties compared to larger particles due
to quantum mechanics. Characteris-
tics of these particles include good
photostability, high brightness, high
quantum yield, narrow and symmetri-
cal emission, broad excitation, and
so on. These advantages make them
suitable for advanced and intelligent
applications like bio-imaging, drug
delivery, sensing, and therapy. This is
www.EFYMag.com
online fund transfer, digital wallets,
payment gateways, and secure online
payments are among the best exam-
ples of cloud computing service. All
the basic services such as net bank-
ing, mobile banking, KYC, and card
management are managed aptly with
cloud platforms.
With cloud providers offering
pay-as-you-use models that allow
their usage and payment only for the
capacity being used, adoption of cloud
computing can lead to significant
savings for banks. Banks can divert
those funds to develop other financial
products to improve their customers’
experience.
Most prominent cloud providers
offer sophisticated encryption and
end-to-end data protection solutions
to help secure their customers’ data.
Cloud computing architectures offer
(Credit: www.sciencedirect.com)
especially beneficial for diseases hard
to diagnose or treat.
When ultraviolet rays hit these
dots, they can emit light of different
colours based on their size. QDs have
tunable optical properties, which
make them useful as fluorescent dyes
for deep-tissue imaging typically used
in animal models since most conven-
tional organic dyes are not capable of
near-infrared (NIR) emissions. Vis-
ible light, with a wavelength range
of about 400-700nm, is unsuitable
Smart World
speed as well as flexibility, which ulti-
mately make data safer both internally
and externally.
When data is secure and can be
accessed at any time, anywhere,
by both customers and employees
without the down-time restrictions
imposed by traditional infrastructure,
banks can improve operations as well
as user experience.
Cloud computing can transform
the banking and financial sector,
offering support to the industrial revo-
lution 4.0. The technology has been
implemented to keep security, regu-
latory and compliance and business
alignment in effect. Experts across
the banking sector believe that cloud-
based services should be deployed
only through trusted cloud service
providers.
—Deepshikha Shukla
for transmission through biological
tissues but QDs can make use of the
NIR optical window. This is done by
controlling the size of the QDs.
Development of theranostics plat-
forms for simultaneous sensing, imag-
ing and therapy is also increasing. In
theranostics, specific targeted therapy
is delivered to a patient based on spe-
cific targeted diagnostic images and
tests. QDs can behave as nano-carriers
for drug delivery or fluorescent labels
for a theranostic approach in therapy.
electronics For You • may 2020 17
 Smart World
Fluorescent labelling and detection
involve binding fluorescent dyes to
biomolecules so as to visualise them
through fluorescence imaging, such
as lymph nodes in a pig. Theranostics
helps in detecting target biomolecules
like tumour cells for early diagnosis of
cancer, tracking progress of tumour
elimination, and localised treatment
to specific sites.
Last year, researchers headed by a
team at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) created a micronee-
dle platform using QDs, which can
deliver vaccines as well as invisibly
encode vaccination history directly in
the skin for recordkeeping at the same
time. The NIR emission detection was
made possible by a specially equipped
smartphone.
They can also work as optical indi-
cators for the development of biosen-
sors. For instance, Project BioSensing,
a collaboration among Germany’s
Fraunhofer institutes (ISC and IME)
and Leiden University’s Institute of
Physics in the Netherlands, is aimed at
developing advanced biosensors using
quantum technology.
QDs also find other application
areas such as solar cells, lasers, pho-
tovoltaic devices, computing, and so
on. One such example is a new type
of solar panel created by scientists
at the National Research Nuclear
University MEPhI, Russia based on
hybrid material consisting of QDs and
photosensitive protein. According to
a report from Regal Intelligence, the
global QDs market is expected to grow
to US$ 10,423.13 million by the end of
2025 at a CAGR of 22.06 per cent.
Although there are numerous
chemical and physical methods avail-
able to synthesise QDs, biosynthetic
methods enhance the biocompatibil-
ity and biostability of their structure
through the utilisation of biomol-
ecules such as proteins, enzymes,
and nucleic acids for formation. Other
ways include modifying the surface
of available QDs and using artificial
cellular structures. In these types of
processes, no toxic products are gener-
ated and the QDs obtained are suitable
for biological and biomedical applica-
tions. This is important as toxic ele-
ments like cadmium, mercury, lead,
and more can leak causing cell death
and inflammation.
Several challenges in this realm
still remain to be solved including
environmental impact, toxicity, manu-
facturing costs, among others. This
restricts their use to animal research.
The issue is that biosynthesised QDs
have a lower quantum yield and lesser
uniformity in their size as compared
to those sythesised through other
methods. More research needs to be
done in relation to the mechanisms
and protocols for the scalability of
high-quality, non-toxic QD produc-
tion. In addition, the biosensors must
have higher sensitivity to improve the
reliability and efficiency of disease
diagnosis in real-time.
—Ayushee Sharma

4 How 3D printing
is transforming Businesses
3D printing has become an integral part of several sectors such as healthcare, aerospace,
architecture, automotive and industrial goods. It has led to increase in the productivity and
efficiency of the different sectors, and surely has a bright future for industries worldwide

U
nlike traditional manufactur- ing and medical, can test their designs that are resistant to pressure and tem-
ing, 3D printers can be used to and improve, while professionals like perature changes. Hence, it gives indi-
make models multiple times by dentists can create durable moulds viduals the chance to experiment with
simply changing the algorithm, new materials and bring their
leading to faster production and vision to life, prior to making
decreased turnaround times. huge investments in production.
The three-dimensional digital 3D printing has become an
model is converted to a physical integral part of different sectors
object by adding multiple suc- such as healthcare, aerospace,
cessive thin layers of materials architecture, automotive and
like polymers, metals, ceram- industrial goods, among others,
ics, and the like. The quality of to increase productivity and effi-
products is much better along ciency in manufacturing. Accord-
with several customisation ing to a report from research firm
options. Although the cost of Wohler, the 3D printing market is
buying a 3D printer can be high estimated to grow to 35.6 billion
based on the requirement, the dollars by 2024.
reduced cost of constructing In one such instance, four
prototypes provides a quick companies—Air New Zealand,
return on investment. Microsoft, Moog and ST Engi-
Due to these advantages, neering—teamed up to digitise
students like those in engineer- (Credit: www.pinterest.com) the aerospace supply chain by

18 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com


leveraging on-demand 3D printing and
blockchain technology.
According to a press release from
Air New Zealand Communications,
their aircrew on a Boeing 777-300
aircraft noticed that a business pre-
mier bumper part—that sits between
a seat and monitor to prevent the
screen from damaging the seat when
it’s pushed back to default position—
needed replacement and ordered a
digital aircraft part file from ST. The
file was sent to Moog’s printer and
the 3D printed part could be installed
within a few hours ahead of the
flight’s scheduled departure. The
traditional process would have taken
days, which would have resulted in a
huge revenue loss.
In another example, ERIKS, a
company that offers technical compo-
nents and related services to various
industries internationally, began using
Ultimaker S5 3D printers to customise
safety parts, iterate faster, and scale
up its production. The company now
3D prints seals, gaskets, valves, safety
tools, prototypes as well as end-parts
www.EFYMag.com
that are hard to create, ensuring not
only quality but also reproducibility
and reliability. Besides saving over
€ 350,000 through such initiatives, the
company could successfully eliminate
safety hazards in their facilities.
Customisation and personalisation
have also played an important role in
providing 3D printing an edge over
traditional manufacturing. This can be
seen from Wiivv Technology’s concept
of custom-fit 3D printed insoles for
their footwear. After users purchase
sandals of their choice, they are given
a special link to take foot measure-
ments using the app and a white
paper. Each foot of an individual is
digitally mapped with over 200 points
to create a unique file of an insole for
3D printing. The custom-fit product is
then sent to the customer.
In India too, there have been
numerous instances where 3D print-
ing was chosen as the ultimate solu-
tion for a problem. For instance, for
the first time in the country last year,
Bengaluru-based Yellow Ribbon
team collaborated with Osteo3D and
Smart World
implantcast GmbH in Germany to treat
a patient suffering from a rare bone
tumour known as Chondromyxoid
fibroma (CMF) of pelvis that’s typical-
ly found in children and young people.
After removing the tumor completely,
the team used CT and MRI scans of
the patient to create a digital model
for surgical planning and designing
a custom 3D printed pelvic implant.
The operation was successful and
prevented the patient from undergoing
an amputation.
With the price of printers fall-
ing down as well as new emerging
technologies and applications, the 3D
printing business has a bright future
for industries worldwide. It has the
potential to change how businesses
operate and cater to the needs of their
customers. As of now, in industries
where not all parts can benefit from
embracing the 3D printing process,
a hybrid approach is suitable. Even
beyond businesses, 3D printing is
slowly making its way into areas like
homes and emergency sites.
—Ayushee Sharma
electronics For You • may 2020 19
 Exploration

Do Space Rovers
Promise A Better Future
For Space Technology?
In the rapidly transforming technological world, India is currently focusing its attention on emerging
technologies. Though not by design, space rover technology is still an emerging sector in India

tion because of better service compared

to satellites. Today, rovers contain several
instruments for overall improvements in
exploration and findings in planets, sub-
planets and other celestial bodies.
A rover contains the following parts:
• Body, which is the structure that pro-
tects the rover’s vital organs.
• Brains, which are computers that pro-
cess various information.
• Temperature controls, which include
internal heaters, a layer of insulation and
more.
• Neck and head, which are the mast
for cameras to give the rover a human-scale
view.
• Eyes and other senses, which include
cameras and other instruments to give the
Chandrayaan-2 Vikram lander and rover before launch (Credit: Indian Space Research rover information about the environment
Organisation) around it.
• Arm and hand, which help extend the
rover’s reach and collect rock samples for

Vinayak
Ramachandra
Adkoli is BE in
industrial production.
He has been a
lecturer in mechanical
department for ten
years, in three different
polytechnics. He is also
a freelance writer and
cartoonist
A
space rover is sometimes called
a planetary rover. It is a space
exploration vehicle designed to
move along the surface of a planet or
other celestial body. Some space rovers are
autonomous robots.
Rovers are usually sent to a planet
using a lander-style spacecraft. These
are used to gather various information
about the planet or take samples and/or
pictures. These help in the exploration of
the universe.
With abundant technologies, space
also offers opportunities for rover technol-
ogy. Space rovers are increasingly being
seen in the field of space technology. These
are becoming essential for space explora-
study.
• Wheels and legs, which provide
mobility for the rover.
• Energy, which includes batteries and
power control units.
• Communications, which includes
antennae for speaking and listening.
Space rovers giving new look
to lunar missions
After manned missions to the moon, the
lunar space sector undertook several experi-
ments. Establishing a hotel in space in the
future is a dream of space scientists. The
lunar space sector cannot survive without
innovations and responsible handling
by space scientists who have specialised

20 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com

 Exploration
knowledge of the space sector and the
underlying risks.
Various lunar rover missions that
have so far taken place are given in the
table below.
Without vision, no space pro-
gramme can exist. China launched
its rover Yutu 2 on December 7, 2018,
from Xichang launch station. It suc-
cessfully landed on Von Karman
Crater. China’s far-side moon rover is
busy exploring its exotic new home.
A part of Yutu 2 Chang ‘e 4 mis-
sion—in Chinese mythology, Chang
‘e 4 is a moon goddess and Yutu or
Jade Rabbit is her pet—Yutu 2 is a six-
wheeled rover, and is likely to cover
2500 kilometres of the south pole of
moon Aitken Basin. Yutu 2 houses
four scientific instruments that will
be used to study the surrounding dirt
and rocks, and to probe the far side’s
sub-surfaces. Such observations could
help scientists better understand the
moon’s composition, structure and
evolution.
On moon, fourteen days are cold
when temperature is around -173°C.
Other fourteen days are hotter, and
during this time temperature reaches
as high as +127°C. Yutu 2 has to face
these extremities in temperature. Plant-
ing potato seeds and other seeds on the
moon is one of the important experi-
ments to be carried out by it.
Yutu 2 is carrying a radioscope,
which is equipped with a thermo-
electric generator in which radioac-
tive substance is present, which is
converted into electricity. Quequioa
(Mas Pie Bridge) is a satellite rotating
around the moon, and relaying data
and commands from Yutu 2 to Earth.
In the rapidly transforming tech-
nological world, India is currently
focusing its attention on emerging
technologies. Though not by design,
space rover technology is still an
emerging sector in India.
Lunar Rover Missions
Name of rover Country Year
Lunokhod 1 Soviet Union 1969
Apollo Lunar USA 1971
Lunokhod 2 Soviet Union 1973
Yutu 1 China 2013
Yutu 2 China 2018
Chandrayaan-2 India 2019
22 may 2020 • electronics For You
China’s Yutu 2 lunar rover (Credit: www.universetoday.com)
Economic reforms like Make in
India and startups from various sec-
tors have done wonders in terms of
productivity, consumer welfare and
more. This includes the Indian space
sector as well.
India’s Chandrayaan-2 was sched-
uled for October 2018, but got post-
poned to 2019. The average-sized,
indigeneously-developed Indian rover
started giving trouble with re-throt-
tling in lander parts. This was due to
problems with thrusters. Previously,
GSLV II was proposed to ferry Chan-
drayaan-2.
Mars rover missions
making reforms
Proper utilisation of rover technology
will help provide better opportunities
to explore Mars as well. Geographi-
cal exploration including study of
mineral compositions, and environ-
mental studies such as temperature
and pressure (particularly wind) are
some important studies to be made
by rovers. Such findings may act as
key instruments for landing on Mars.
Six rovers have been sent to Mars
so far, of which four projects have
been successful. Mars2 was sent in
1971, and its landing failed while
Planned Rover Missions
to Mars
• Rosalind Franklin by combined efforts
from Europe and Russia
• Mars 2020 (Maven) by NASA
• Mars global remote sensing orbiter and
small rover by China
taking Prop-M with it. Mars3, sent in
1971, stopped communicating after
about twenty seconds after landing,
making the mission a failure.
Sojourner rover landed success-
fully on July 4, 1997. However, com-
munications from it were stopped on
September 27, 1997. Spirit Mars Explo-
ration device-A (MER-A), launched on
June 10, 2003, landed on Mars on
January 4, 2004. It worked for nearly
six years and travelled through 7.73
kilometres.
Opportunity Mars Exploration
device-B (MER-B) was launched on
July 7, 2003, and landed on Mars on
January 25, 2004. It covered a total
distance of 40.25 kilometres. On 2018,
it stopped functioning when Mars dust-
storms blocked the sunlight needed to
recharge its batteries.
Curiosity rover was launched by
NASA on November 26, 2011. It landed
on Gake Crater on August 6, 2012. It is
still operational.
Improved experiments by Curi-
osity. On November 26, 2011, NASA
sent Curiosity rover to Mars. Examina-
tion of loose rocks, sand and dust by
Curiosity has provided great under-
standings about local and global soil
details of the red planet. A key finding
of Curiosity is that, water molecules
on Mars are bound to fine-grained
soil particles at Gale Crater, where it
landed. Findings about both crystal-
line and non-crystalline components
in soil provide information about the
planet’s volcanic history.
Curiosity is 3.05m (10-feet) long,
2.74m (9-feet) wide and 2.13m
(7-feet) tall, and its arm reaches 2.13m
www.EFYMag.com
 Exploration
(7 feet). It weighs 900 kilograms. It
has many cameras, rock vapouriser
(laser-operated), rocker-bogie sus-
pension and geology laboratory. The
main mission of Curiosity was to find
whether Mars can support small life
forms called microbes. Curiosity was
designed to travel up to 200 metres per
day as it explored Mars.
Mars exploration rover (MER)
charge-coupled device (CCD) sen-
sors are mounted on it at two dif-
ferent types of cameras. These are
hazard avoidance cameras (hazcams)
and navigation cameras (navcams).
Together these work to provide a
complementary and comprehensive
view of the terrain. Eight black-and-
white hazcams are mounted on the
lower portion of the front and back of
the rover.
Other instruments that Curios-
ity carries are rock abrasion tool,
alpha particle x-ray spectrometer,
x-ray diffraction meter, neutron spec-
trometer used to measure hydrogen,
ice or water, rover environmental
monitoring system that consists of
various sensors (including UV, air
temperature, wind, ground tempera-
ture, humidity and pressure sensor),
sample analysis at Mars (SAM)
system that includes quadrupole
mass spectrometer to detect gases,
gas chromatograph used to separate
individual gases from a complex mix-
ture into molecular components and
tunable laser spectrometer (TLS) that
performs precision measurements of
oxygen and carbon isotopes, ratios of
NASA’s proposed Mars 2020 rover, Maven
24 may 2020 • electronics For You
NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars
carbon-dioxide and methane in the
atmosphere to distinguish between
their geochemical or biological origin,
and radiation assessment detector.
On March 2018, Curiosity cel-
ebrated 2000 days on Mars, making its
travel from Gale Crater to Aeolis Mons.
During the travel, it examined geologi-
cal information embedded in moun-
tains’ layers, and found evidence of
past water and geological change.
NASA’s deep space network (DSN)
is an international network of anten-
nae that provides communication
links between scientists and engineers
and rovers on Mars. The DSN consists
of three deep space communica-
tion facilities placed approximately
120-degrees apart around the world
at Gold Stone in California’s Mojave
Desert, Real Madrid Spain and near
Canberra, Australia.
Curiosity has its own curiosities.
One of them is its laser detection
system that works with new artificial
intelligence (AI)-based AEGIS algo-
rithm, which took ten years to build
and test.
In nutshell
Hardware-based features of rovers
such as sensors, cameras, spectrom-
eters and detectors should be strong
and tamper-proof to face such hazard-
ous elements as wind, storm, radia-
tion, temperature, pressure, etc, so
that uninterrupted data can be trans-
mitted and collected by these devices
and sent to Earth. Memories and pro-
cessing capacities of brain (computer)
of the rover should be strong, too.
Scientists and engineers are
accepting rovers as the most essential
part in planet exploration with more
features and updated processes. More
functionality can be added to rovers
and correctly implemented. The pre-
sent challenging task for researchers is
to add nanotechnology, AI, Big Data,
robotics, improved computer vision
and other recent technologies to rovers
to make them more sophisticated so
that these gather better information
required to make space life possible
for humans.
Currently, landing of humans on
Mars is the biggest challenge before
scientists. NASA has been working on
what it calls a Mars rover concept vehi-
cle. It is a human-driven rover. NASA is
hopeful of making astronauts land on
Mars along with the rover by 2030.
www.EFYMag.com
 Design
Design Your Own Electric
Vehicle Battery Charging
Solutions
The application note below should help designers make their own electric vehicle battery
charging solutions. If required, help is available from the company
T
he popularity of electric vehicles
(EVs) is increasing rapidly in India.
According to a survey, the EV market
in India is estimated to increase from 3
million units in 2019 to 29 million units
by 2027 with a CAGR of 21.1 per cent. As
Krishna Chaitanya a result, demand for AC/DC chargers, the
Kamasani is smart chargers for EVs, will also increase.
director - India
operations at Holtek In order to charge the batteries effi-
Semiconductor ciently, and to ensure their long life, we
need a smart battery management or
charging system. To realise such an EV
charging system, Holtek has come up
with smart EV charger solutions based on
their low-cost ASSP flash microcontroller
(MCU) HT45F5Q-X for charging EV bat-
teries.
At present, three EV charger designs
suitable for Indian market—with specifica-
tions of 48V/4A, 48V/12A and 48V/15A—
are available for rapid development of the
Fig. 1: EV charger
block diagram
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product. This semiconductor-based smart
charging system can support both lithium-
ion as well as lead-acid battery types.
Block diagram of the EV charging solu-
tion is shown in Fig. 1. Here, battery charger
ASSP flash MCU HT45F5Q-X is the heart of
EV charger circuitry, with in-built operation-
al amplifiers (OPAs) and digital-to-analogue
converters (DACs) that are necessary for
battery charging function.
Specifications of the battery charger flash
MCU HT45F5Q-X series are shown in Fig. 2.
Designers can choose an appropriate MCU
from HT45F5Q-X series according to their
application requirement.
The features and working of EV charger
solution for 48V/12A specification is briefly
explained below. This EV charger design
utilises HT45F5Q-2 MCU for implementing
battery charging control function.
The MCU incorporates a battery charging
electronics For You • may 2020 25
 Design
Battery Charger Flash MCU
Part Internal VDD System clock Program Data Data I/O Interface Timer A/D D/A OPA Package
number clock memory memory EEPROM
HT45F5Q-1 8MHz 2.2V~5.5V 8MHz 1K×14 32x8 32×14# 9 — — 10-bit×5 8-bit×1 2 16NSOP
12-bit×1
HT45F5Q-2 8MHz 2.2V~5.5V 125kHz~8MHz 2K×16 128×8 32×8# 15 UART×1 10-bit CTM×1 12-bit×7 8-bit×1 3 20NSOP
32kHz or 32kHz 12-bit×1
HT45F5Q-3 8MHz 2.2V~5.5V 125kHz~8MHz 4K×15 256×8 32×15# 23 SPI/12C/ 10-bit CTM×1 12-bit×11 14-bit×1 3 24/28SSOP
32kHz or 32kHz UART×1 10-bit STM×1 12-bit×1
Fig. 2: HT45F5Q-X specifications

Fig. 3: Block diagram of HT45F5Q-2

module, which can that are needed for charging process.

be utilised for closed- Therefore the design reduces the need
loop charging control for external components like shunt
with constant voltage regulators, OPAs and DACs, which
and constant current are commonly used in conventional
for efficiently charg- battery charging circuits. As a result,
ing a battery. Inter- the peripheral circuit is compact and
nal block diagram of simple, resulting in a smaller PCB area
MCU HT45F5Q-2 is and low overall cost.
shown in Fig. 3.
The battery Working of EV charger
charging module in Input power to the EV charger is an AC
HT45F5Q-2 has built- voltage in the range of 170V to 300V.
Fig. 4: Battery charging curve in OPAs and DACs The EV charger uses a half-bridge LLC

26 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com

 F+ NTC1
L
+ NTC
C1 R1

www.EFYMag.com
+ NTC2
NTC C2
E C3 Q1
+ +
R2 33N60M2
R3
C4 R4
+ NTC3 + 1
N 2
D3 HV D6
ZD1 Q2 T1
NTC
33N60M2 R5 2 1 +
R7 +
R9 R8 C6 R6

COM
COM
C7 + 2 1 L1 F+1 B+
+ R10 RELAY
ZD2 C9 C8 R11 + NO +
C10

COIL2
COIL1
C11
+ + + 470uF/100V D7
D4 4 3
R12 +
C12 D2 R13 Q3 +12V D8
Q4 D9 VIN VOUT
+ Q5 + GND
PNP(1) + +
R14 C13 C14
470uF/ R16
470uF/35V B–
7812 25V
C15 D1 R17
Q6
+ Q7 +
PNP(1) R21
R19 R18 R22 R20 1k
D10
+ 1k +7 +5V
+12V 10k C6 VIN VOUT
D11 R24 PNP(1) GND
10k D12 D13
Q9 R23 10k
D14 + C16
+ + 1uF C17
+5V R25 LDO
UC3525 100k 2.2uF
+ 11
R27 OUTPUT A SW1 R26 10k
100k 14 OUTPUT B +VIN 15
2 NI INPUT VC 13 C18 C1 C20
1 INV INPUT SOFT START 8 + + + R29
R28 R38 7 DISCHARGE OSC OUT +
100k 16 4.7k
5 CT VREF 3 C +5V U1 R31 Q10
C23
6 RT SYNC 1L +
12 U3 PB1/AN1/VREF
R32 GND Q11 C2 C22 VDD
10k R33
+ 10 R35 +
9 C24 R36 R37
+ + VSS
C25 10k 3k 10k
+ R34 +12V
UC3525 + R38
1k R39
R40 75k
10k OPAIN R41 Q12
R43 R42 PNP(1)
3k 100k
R44 Q13 FAN
C26 PB2/AN2 + 1
R45 2
2.7uF
OPAE
C27
2.7uF
R46 +5V
R47 15k
1k P1
OPACN 1
PA2/OCDSCK/RX 2
C28 PA1/ PA0/OCDSDA/TX 3
R48 OPA2P 4
10k 0.1uF Header 4
HT45F5Q-2

electronics For You • may 2020

Design

Fig. 5: EV charger schematic for 48V/12A

27
 Design
resonant converter design, heat; it gets switched off
because of its high-power when the temperature is
and high-efficiency char- reduced to the lower set
acteristics, to obtain DC threshold. Also, the fan
power for charging the turns on when charging
battery. current is high and turns
The design utilises a off when charging current
rectifier circuit for convert- is low.
ing input AC voltage to • When NTC tempera-
high-voltage DC output, ture >110°C, the charging
and it also has an elec- current will be reduced to
tromagnetic interference 50 per cent of charging
(EMI) filter to eliminate current and will be moni-
high-frequency noise from tored periodically
input power source. A (d) LED indications
pulse-width modulation Fig. 6: EV charger PCB assembly for charging status.
(PWM) controller IC, like These are listed below.
UC3525, can be used for driving the voltage of battery when it is con- • TC charge, red light flashes
MOSFETs of half-bridge LLC con- nected for charging. As the charging slowly (0.3 sec on, 0.3 sec off)
verter. progresses, charging voltage changes • CC, CV charge, red light flashes
The battery charging process is accordingly and, finally, when bat- quickly (0.1 sec on, 0.1 sec off)
supervised by the MCU HT45F5Q-2. tery is fully charged, the final voltage • When not charging, green light
It monitors the battery voltage and is set. The charging-voltage decision is on
charging current levels and gives feed- levels for 48V/12A battery charger are • When charging time exceeds
back to the PWM controller IC. Based explained below. eight hours, red and green lights are
on the feedback, the PWM control- • If Battery Voltage <36V, bright
ler varies the duty cycle of its PWM TC(0.6A) Charging, Voltage Setting (e) Charging duration. When
signal and drives the MOSFET circuit FV(56V) charging duration is exceeded (dura-
to obtain variable output voltage and • If Battery Voltage <40V, tion depends on battery capacity),
current for charging the battery. TC(0.6A) Charging, Voltage Setting the voltage drops to FV, the current is
For better protection, HT45F5Q-2 CV(58V) reduced to TC, and charger repeatedly
is isolated from rest of the circuit • If Battery Voltage >40V, monitors the battery voltage.
(i.e., high-voltage components) using CC(12.0A) Charging, Voltage Setting
a photo-coupler. Battery-level LED CV(58V) Schematic and PCB assembly
indicators are provided for knowing • When fully charged, voltage is The schematic of Holtek EV charger
the charging status. set to FV(56V). If battery voltage is design for 48V/12A type is shown in
lower than FV, the charging current Fig. 5 for reference and its PCB assem-
Battery charging process will be reset to CC (12.0A). bly is shown in Fig. 6.
The change in charging voltage and (b) Current control. Charging cur- The ASSP flash MCU HT45F5Q-2
current during the charging process rent is set depending on the battery can also be used for designing higher-
is graphically illustrated in Fig. 4. If voltage. Initially, if the battery volt- wattage solutions. It offers a program-
the battery voltage is too low when age is too less, trickle-charge current mable option for setting parameter
connected for charging, low charging would be set for charging the battery. thresholds, which makes it very con-
current (i.e., trickle charge (TC)) will Once battery voltage reaches certain venient for EV charger designs. Holtek
be set initially and charging process level, constant current is supplied for provides technical resources such as
will start. charging, until battery is charged fully. block diagram, application circuits,
When the battery voltage increases The charging-current decision levels PCB files, source code, etc to help
to a pre-defined level (Vu), constant for 48V/12A battery charger are listed designers in rapid product develop-
voltage (CV) and constant current below. ment and speed up time-to-market.
(CC) is applied for charging and • Recharging Current <1.2A, EV charger development platform
continued until the battery is fully determine the end of charging for HT45F5Q-X series will also be
charged. Battery is considered to be • Recharging Current >0.2A, available soon. Using this software
fully charged when voltage reaches determine the start of charging tool, users would be able to easily
VOFF. When charging current drops (c) Over-temperature protec- select the charging voltage/current
to Iu, final voltage (FV) is set. The tion. The EV charger has a negative and other parameters to create a pro-
voltage, current and temperature temperature coefficient (NTC) ther- gram. This application will also be
control process in this EV charger are mistor to monitor the temperature able to generate a program containing
explained below. and a fan to regulate the heat. When a standard charging process, thereby
(a) Voltage control. The charging temperature increases, the fan is auto- significantly simplifying the develop-
voltage is decided based on the initial matically switched on to dissipate the ment process.

28 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com

 Power

Electronics With
Lithium-Ion Batteries
Lithium battery packs are particularly sensitive to faults caused by external shorts, runaway
charging conditions and abusive overcharging, which can cause potentially damaging over-
current and over-temperature conditions. Hence, there is a need to enforce safety regulations
and established test requirements for lithium-ion and lithium-polymer packs to demonstrate
their resilience to both short-circuit and overcharge events

N
ickel-cadmium had been the only
suitable battery for the last many
years, to be used in portable equip-
ment from wireless communications to
mobile computing. Then, other types of
batteries like nickel-metal-hydride and
Dr S.S. Verma lithium-ion emerged in the early 1990s,
is professor at giving fierce competition to gain cus-
Department of Physics,
Sant Longowal Institute tomer’s acceptance. Evolution of battery
of Engineering and technologies is directly tied to miniaturi-
Technology, Sangrur,
Punjab
sation of mobile electronics, and to power
portable electronic devices in everyday
life. Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries
are extremely popular and can be found in
laptops, PDAs, cellphones and iPods.
Today, lithium-ion has emerged as the
fastest growing and most promising battery
chemistry. Lithium-ion battery technology
is further driven by consumer demands
for applications that have more computing
power, and come in thinner and smaller
packages. In response, design engineers and
components manufacturers must continue
to find creative solutions that conform to
these requirements.
Groundwork towards the development

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 29

 Power
of lithium-ion battery started during
the oil crisis of 1970s. Prof. M. Stanley
Whittingham (USA) was working
towards developing methods that
could lead to fossil fuel-free energy
technologies supported with research
on superconductors. He discovered
an extremely energy rich material
from titanium-disulphide to create an
innovative cathode in a lithium bat-
tery. This material, at molecular level,
has spaces that can store intercalated
lithium ions.
Anode of the battery was made
partially from metallic-lithium having
strong drive to release electrons. With
present batteries offering potential
much less than a volt even, such a
combination of anode and cathode
materials resulted in a battery with a
great potential (just over two volts).
However, the developed metallic
lithium battery was reactive and too
explosive to be viable.
Contemporary to this research,
Prof. John B. Goodenough (USA) pre-
dicted that cathode made up of a met-
al-oxide instead of a metal-sulphide
would have even greater potential.
After a long systematic research, Prof.
Goodenough in 1980 demonstrated
that cobalt-oxide with intercalated
lithium ions can produce potential
as much as four volts. This was an
important breakthrough in the history,
leading to development of much more
powerful batteries.
Making the research on cathode
by Prof. Goodenough as the basis,
Prof. Akira Yoshino (Japan) created
the first commercially viable lithium-
ion battery in 1985. Instead of using
reactive lithium in the anode, he made
use of petroleum coke (a carbon mate-
rial) that like cathode of cobalt-oxide
can intercalate lithium ions. Use of
petroleum coke cathode resulted in a
lightweight and hardwearing battery
that could be charged hundreds of
times before its performance deterio-
rated, thus leading to development of
rechargeable batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries are not based
upon chemical reactions, leading to
the breakdown of electrodes; rather,
these work on the basis of lithium ions
flowing back and forth between anode
and cathode. Since entry of lithium-
ion batteries to the market in 1991,
these have revolutionised every aspect
30 may 2020 • electronics For You
of our lives based on the use of batter-
ies and have laid down the foundation
of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society.
The Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize
in Chemistry 2019 to Profs John B.
Goodenough (USA), M. Stanley Whit-
tingham (USA) and Akira Yoshino
(Japan) for the development of lithi-
um-ion batteries. These lightweight,
rechargeable and powerful batteries
are now used in everything from
cellphones to laptops and electric
vehicles (EVs). These types of batter-
ies can also store significant amounts
of energy from solar and wind power
generators, thus leading to a fossil
fuel-free society.
Electronics with
lithium-ion battery
Lithium-ion battery, having much
better energy density (joules of energy
per kilogram) than previous battery
technologies like nickel-cadmium
(NiCd) and nickel-metal-hydride
(NiMH), makes use of portable elec-
tronics more versatile to mankind.
Lithium is not the most stable ele-
ment, so many new safety concerns
arose with the introduction of lithium-
ion batteries.
Sophisticated protection electronic
circuits have been designed and devel-
oped to make lithium-ion batteries
safe to use. Lithium-ion 18650 cells,
which are shaped like cylinders (with
18mm diametre and 65mm length),
are commonly used in present-day
laptops, whereas typical notebook
computers need battery packs com-
prising an average of about four to six
18650 cells to allow it to operate for
several hours between charges.
Then about a decade ago, lithium-
polymer (lipo) cells made their entry
to the consumer market. Because of
their attractive size characteristics
like thin, rectangular, customised
pouch-like shape, these packs were
very attractive to designers looking for
space savings, especially in ultra-slim
electronic devices. Presently, lithium-
polymer cells are being used in thin
and large-screen electronic devices like
smartphones and slimmer notebooks
combined with high-end processors
to run complex programs while still
providing instant-on capability.
All of these trends in consumer
electronics have driven the demand
for larger, higher-capacity lithium-
polymer cells with higher discharge
currents. These demands and applica-
tions are fulfilled with higher current
ratings in battery protection devices.
Working of a lithium-ion
battery
Lithium is not only the lightest of
all metals but also has the greatest
electrochemical potential and, thus,
provides the largest energy density
by weight. Because of the inherent
metallic instability of lithium, initial
efforts to develop rechargeable lithium
batteries failed miserably due to safety
reasons.
Research then shifted towards a
non-metallic lithium battery using
lithium ions. Lithium-ion battery is
slightly lower in energy density than
lithium metal but is safe taking into
consideration certain precautions while
charging and discharging of the battery.
As with most batteries, lithium-ion
battery also has an outer case made of
metal, which is particularly important
here because the battery is pressurised.
Metal case of the lithium-ion battery,
thus, has some kind of pressure-
sensitive vent hole and, if the battery
ever gets so hot that it risks exploding
from over-pressure, this vent releases
the extra pressure acting as a safety
measure. The vent acts as a positive
temperature coefficient (PTC) switch
keeping the battery safe from overheat-
ing. The metal case holds a long spiral
comprising three thin sheets pressed
together as positive electrode, nega-
tive electrode and separator, which are
submerged in an organic solvent acting
as the electrolyte.
Ether is one common solvent used
in lithium-ion batteries. Positive and
negative electrodes are separated by
a very thin sheet of micro-perforated
plastic, allowing ions to pass through.
The positive electrode is made of
lithium-cobalt-oxide (LiCoO2), while
the negative electrode is made of
carbon. During the battery charging
process, ions of lithium move through
the electrolyte from the positive elec-
trode to the negative electrode and
attach to the carbon. Whereas, during
discharging, lithium-ions move back
to LiCoO2 from carbon. Movement
of lithium ions takes place at a fairly
www.EFYMag.com

Advantages and Disadvantages of Lithium-Ion Batteries
Advantages
• Electrodes of a lithium-ion battery are made of lightweight lithium and carbon; hence, these are
generally much lighter than other types of rechargeable batteries of the same size.
• Lithium, being a highly reactive element, will store a lot of energy in its atomic bonds, leading
to very high energy density lithium-ion batteries. A typical lithium-ion battery can store 150
watt-hours of electricity in one kilogram of battery.
• Battery pack can store, perhaps, 100 watt-hours per kilogram, and a lead-acid battery can store
only 25 watt-hours per kilogram.
• These hold their charge for long as a lithium-ion battery pack loses only about five per cent
of its charge per month, compared to a twenty per cent loss per month for NiMH batteries.
• In comparison to other batteries, lithium batteries show memory effect, that is these do not
completely discharge before recharging within a required time.
• Lithium-ion batteries can sustain hundreds of charge/discharge cycles.
• Lithium-ion is a low maintenance battery.
Power
Disadvantages
• These batteries start degrading as soon as they leave the
factory, and will only last two or three years from the date
of manufacturing whether used or not.
• These are extremely sensitive to high temperature, and
heat can cause lithium-ion battery packs to degrade much
faster than they would normally do.
• A lithium-ion battery becomes useless if it is left to be
completely discharged.
• A lithium-ion battery pack must have an onboard computer
to manage the battery; however, this makes the batteries
even more expensive than they already are.
• In case a lithium-ion battery pack fails, there is a small
chance that it may burst into flame.

high voltage making the cells produce
3.7 volts, which is much higher than
the 1.5 volts typical of a normal AA
alkaline cell.
Lithium-ion charge/
discharge basics
Charging and discharging charac-
teristics of lithium-ion battery are
important, especially for its safe oper-
ation and long-term performance. To
manage smooth and safe charging and
discharging processes of lithium-ion
battery, a typical battery management
chip is incorporated into the battery
pack. This way the user can plug the
battery into a charger and leave it to
charge with the knowledge that it does
not have to be unplugged after a cer-
tain time. Moreover, the battery man-
agement chip also ensures that the
battery is not discharged beyond limits
so that it can be recharged easily. The
focus is to ensure that the battery
management pack understands the
exact state of battery charge.
Charging lithium-ion batteries is
different from charging Ni-Cads or
NiMH batteries. Charging of lithium-
ion batteries is voltage-sensitive rather
than current-sensitive. Charging of
lithium-ion batteries is same as charg-
ing of lead-acid batteries, only differ-
ence being lithium-ion batteries have
a higher voltage per cell. These also
require much tighter voltage tolerance
on detecting full charge, and once fully
charged these do not allow or require
to be trickle or float charged.
Consumer-oriented lithium-ion
batteries mostly charge to a voltage
of 4.2 volts per cell with a tolerance
of around ±50mV per cell. Charg-
ing of batteries beyond this voltage
causes stress to the cell, resulting in
oxidation, which reduces service life
and capacity of the battery. Therefore
it is important to be able to detect the
full charge state of battery accurately
because lithium-ion batteries do not
tolerate overcharging, which can also
cause safety issues.
For lithium-ion batteries, the
amount of charge retained by the
battery or cell against the amount of
charge entering the cell (known as
charge efficiency) is high, and charge
efficiencies of around 95 to 99 per
cent can be achieved with low-level
temperature rise of cells. Charging
process of lithium-ion batteries can
be separated into two main stages, as
given below.
Constant current charge. In the
first stage of charging a lithium-ion
battery or cell, charge current is con-
trolled, which typically is between
0.5C and 1.0C. Capacity of the battery
is commonly rated at 1C, meaning
that a fully charged battery rated at
1Ah should provide 1A for one hour,
and for a 2000mAh battery, charge
rate would be 2000mA for a charge
rate of 1C.
For consumer-based lithium-cobalt
(LCO) cells and batteries, charge rate of
a maximum of 0.8C is recommended.
Thus, during charging process, voltage
across the lithium-ion cell increases for
constant current charge, and charge
time may be around an hour.
Saturation charge. After some
time, voltage peaks at 4.2 volts for an
LCO cell, and at this stage the cell or
battery must enter a second level of
charging, known as saturation charge.
Constant voltage of 4.2 volts is main-
tained and current steadily falls. End
of the charge cycle is reached when
current falls to around ten per cent of
rated current. In this case, charge time
may be around two hours depending
on cell type.
Lithium-ion batteries’ charging/
discharging characteristics show
improvements over its competitors,
and have been shown to be able to
withstand over one thousand charge/
discharge cycles but still be able to
hold eighty per cent of initial capacity.
NiCd batteries offer up to around
500 cycles, which is very much
dependent on the way batteries are
used, and a badly treated cell may
only give fifty or hundred.
NiMH cells are even worse, and
this is one of the main areas receiving
development. These are only able to
give 500 cycles at the very best before
their capacity drops to eighty per cent
of initial charge rating.
Due to a number of significant
advantages associated with lithium-
ion batteries in comparison to compet-
ing technologies, these batteries are
becoming popular but are not without
limitations. The advantages and disad-
vantages of lithium-ion batteries are
summarised in Table 1.
Lithium-ion battery
charging precautions
In view of the amount of energy stored
in lithium-ion batteries and the nature
of their chemistry, etc, it is necessary
to ensure that the batteries are charged
in appropriate manner and with an
appropriate charger and equipment.
Battery chargers or battery packs
have inbuilt mechanisms to prevent
damage and dangers due to overheat-
ing. Mechanisms required for charging

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 31

 Power
and discharging of lithium-ion batter-
ies include:
Charge current. Charge current
must be limited for lithium-ion batter-
ies with a typical maximum value of
0.8C, but lower values are usually set
to give some margin.
Charge temperature. Lithium-ion
battery charge temperature should be
monitored, and cell or battery must
not be charged when temperature is
lower than 0°C or greater than 45°C.
Discharge current. Discharge cur-
rent protection is required to prevent
damage or explosion as a result of
short-circuits.
Over-voltage. Charge over-voltage
protection is required to prevent
voltage that is too high to be applied
across battery terminals.
Over-charge protection. Over-
charge protection circuitry is required
to stop the lithium-ion charging pro-
cess when voltage per cell rises above
4.3 volts.
Reverse polarity protection. Lithi-
um-ion battery reverse polarity protec-
tion is needed to make sure the battery
is not charged in the wrong direction
as this could lead to serious damage
or even explosion.
Lithium-ion over-discharge. Over-
discharge protection is required to
prevent battery voltage falling below
about 2.3 volts or dependent on manu-
facturing of the cell.
Over-temperature. Over tempera-
ture protection is often incorporated
to prevent the battery from operating
if temperature rises too high, and
temperatures above 100°C can cause
irreparable damage to the battery.
Battery protection challenges
If the battery gets hot enough to ignite
the electrolyte, a fire is usually caused
by an internal short in the battery.
Lithium-ion cells contain a separator
sheet that keeps positive and negative
electrodes apart. If that sheet gets
punctured and electrodes touch, the
battery heats up very quickly. Heat
produced can cause the battery to vent
the organic electrolyte or light it. In a
separator failure, some kind of short
happens inside the lithium-ion bat-
tery. Once that happens inside one of
the cells, heat of the fire cascades to
other cells, and the whole pack goes
up in flames.
32 may 2020 • electronics For You
Lithium battery packs are par-
ticularly sensitive to faults caused by
external shorts, runaway charging
conditions and abusive overcharg-
ing, which can cause potentially
damaging over-current and over-
temperature conditions. Hence, there
is a need to enforce safety regulations
and established test requirements
for lithium-ion and lithium-polymer
packs to demonstrate their resilience
to both short-circuit and overcharge
events.
Protection circuits built into the
battery pack limit the peak voltage of
each cell during charging as well as
prevent cell voltage from dropping too
low on discharging. In addition, cell
temperature is also monitored with
the help of protection circuits acting
as temperature sensors to prevent
temperature extremes as maximum
charge and discharge current on most
pacts is limited to between 1C and 2C.
Using such precautions, the possibil-
ity of metallic-lithium plating due to
overcharging is virtually eliminated.
A few battery protection methods are
summarised below.
• Temperature sensors to monitor
battery temperature.
• Voltage converter and regulator
circuit to maintain safe levels of volt-
age and current.
• Shielded notebook connector
that lets power and information flow
in and out of battery pack.
• Voltage tap to monitor energy
capacity of individual cells in battery
pack.
• Battery charge state monitor to
handle the whole charging process to
make sure battery charges as quickly
and fully as possible.
• Battery storage in a cool place
that slows the aging process of lithi-
um-ion (and other chemistries).
Future scope
Twenty-five years ago, the lithium-
ion battery made its debut into the
marketplace as a result of innovative
work by Asahi Kasei, and develop-
ment and marketing by Sony Corp.
Since the realisation of lithium-ion
batteries, there has been tremendous
development in terms of their capac-
ity, energy, power and cost reduction.
Lithium-ion batteries have become
indispensable today when we talk
about the life quality of people in
modern society. It can easily be called
a dominant technology that is widely
used in portable electronic devices.
Lithium-ion batteries are also a pre-
ferred option today in the emerging
sector of EVs. The technology is still
on the breakthrough for its use in the
field of power supply systems like
wind power and photovoltaics. Thus,
the technology offers a massive global
potential in terms of reduction in
carbon emissions and energy sustain-
ability. Although these batteries show a
lot of promise to rid the world of several
challenges in the future, there are still
a few shortcomings of this battery that
need to be addressed.
Safety of lithium-ion batteries
remains an important concern for the
industry. However, new developments
in separator technology have improved
the outlook towards safer batteries.
Similarly, with recent progress in new
materials and successful implementa-
tion of new battery concepts in active
materials, inert materials and cell
designs, the lithium-ion battery will
continue to improve in all its proper-
ties.
Researchers and manufacturers
are constantly improving on lithium-
ion batteries, introducing new and
enhanced chemical combinations
every six months or so. With such
rapid progress, it will be possible to
develop new lithium-ion batteries free
from existing disadvantages.
Finally, several investigators are
studying the possibility of 3D architec-
ture of lithium-ion battery structures
including porous or expanded metal
collectors. This would help to increase
battery density and spatial utilisa-
tion if production-friendly concepts
are developed. The result of these
advances, if realised, could yield lith-
ium-ion battery with specific energies
of 400Wh/kg with at least moderate
power density. This would represent
an increase of about sixty per cent
compared to the best of today’s 18650
cells with 3400mAh capacity, and
could come about within the next
several years. Hence, the future for
lithium-ion battery continues to be
bright, especially if manufacturers
are careful to maintain safe practices
in manufacturing processes and new
designs.
www.EFYMag.com
 Artificial Intelligence
We Lost The Tail,
Is The Brain Next?
Million years ago, humans lost the tail, would the brain be the next, thanks to artificial intelligence?
Anand Tamboli
is a serial entrepreneur,
speaker, award-winning
published author and
emerging technology
thought leader
I
n recent past years, there have been
dramatic improvements in artificial
intelligence (AI) underpinned by sev-
eral technological advances. They will con-
tinue to take longer strides with even more
developments and substantial progress in
the coming years. And, as this happens,
we are also creating (unknowingly) vari-
ous risks to our socio-economic structure,
civilisation in general, and to some extent
for human species.
Species-level risks are not evident yet;
however, the other two, socio-economic
and civilisation level risks are too sig-
nificant to be ignored. From a business
perspective, several risks could affect busi-
ness metrics adversely. For now, let us talk
about general outcome risks that can have
a significant impact on critical social, civil
www.EFYMag.com
(Credit: www.needpix.com)
and business aspects.
One of the things we are not considering
is modular advancements that could soon
build up this risk multifold. If you have
experience in module developments, such
as programming or using building blocks
of some kind, it will be more apparent.
Making the first few building blocks takes a
lot of time and effort. However, as we build
those blocks, the next build becomes more
straightforward, more comfortable and
faster. And within no time, the overall build
becomes much faster and easier.
It is the same with AI developments. So
far, several significant building blocks have
been developed and are in progress. When
we stitch them together, the capability of AI
will increase multifold, which should be a
more significant concern for us.
electronics For You • may 2020 33
 Artificial Intelligence
The more concerning part is about
the risks that we have not thought of
yet. If you had asked people in the
18th century what significant risks to
the civilisation were, they wouldn’t
have said nukes or guns; it was far-
fetched for them. We are probably in
the same situation as them, and we
don’t know what we don’t know, a
classic example of hypocognition.
There are several risks that this AI
crusade is bringing with it. We may
not be able to avoid all of them, but
we can understand them so we can
address them.
At present, many AI solutions
are pure junk
Our over-enthusiasm for new tech-
nologies has somehow colluded our
quality expectations. So much so that
we have almost stopped demanding
the right quality solutions. We are so
fond of this newness that we are ignor-
ing flaws in new technologies.
This attitude of ours is encour-
aging subpar solutions day by day,
resulting in a pile of junk solutions,
which is growing faster than ever. The
disturbing part of that is those who are
making subpar solutions are unable to
understand this issue either.
Shouldn’t we be challenging junk
AI solutions?
Merely pushing for more technol-
ogy solutions without paying attention
to quality of those solutions adds a lot
of garbage out in the field. This gar-
bage, when out there in the market,
easily creates disillusionment and, in
turn, adds to the resistance for healthy
adoption.
Quantity versus quality approach
also encourages corrupt practices at
customer’s expense, where subpar
solutions are pushed down customer’s
throat by leveraging their ignorance
and an urge to give in to the fear of
missing out (also called as FOMO).
It is especially true with several tech-
nologies that are going through the
hype cycle; AI is one of them.
The problem with these low-qual-
ity solutions is that flaws in subpar
techs do not surface until it is too late!
In many cases, the damage is already
done and may be irreversible.
Unlike many other technologies,
where things work or do not work,
there is a significant grey area with
34 may 2020 • electronics For You
AI solutions that can change shades
over a period. Moreover, if we are not
clear in which direction would that be,
we end up creating a junk. This junk
essentially means someone somewhere
has wasted a lot of money in creating
and nurturing these solutions. It also
indicates that several customers may
have suffered or have had negative
experiences, courtesy junk solutions.
We not only need to challenge
the quality of every solution but also
improvise our approach towards the
emerging technologies in general; AI
included.
Have you seen a balanced-
scorecard for AI?
The absence of a balanced-scorecard
has adversely affected sales depart-
ments for several decades and instilled
many predatory and deceptive sales
practices. It happened because one
of the goals for the sales team was to
maximise sales numbers. However, it
often lacked some of the finer details
and did not specify acceptable meth-
ods of sale to achieve those goals.
Contention and racing, or conflict-
ing objectives, are often the cause
of friction within various teams and
people. With AI in the picture, there is
a matter of scale. That is, AI-powered
solutions are known for their efficien-
cy and effectiveness at a massive level.
Therefore misalignment between our
goals and the machine’s goals could
be dangerous. It is easier to course-
correct a team of humans; doing that
with a rampant machine could be a
very tricky and arduous task.
If you command your autono-
mous car, “Take me to the hospital
as quickly as possible,” it may have
terrible consequences. Your car may
take you to the hospital quickly as
you asked, but it may leave behind a
trail of several accidents. Without you
specifying that the rules of the road
must be followed and no humans
should be harmed, and it should not
take dangerous turns, and several
other common-sense fundamentals,
your car will end up turning into a
2-tonne weaponised metal block.
Achieving a level of alignment
with human-level common sense
is quite tricky for a computerised
system. Without having any balanced
approach like a scorecard, this may
not be achievable.
Misaligned or confused and con-
flated goals of an AI are going to be a
significant concern of the future, as the
AI will be extremely good at achieving
its goals, but those goals may not rep-
resent what we really wanted.
Know ‘how’ but not ‘why’?
We have a problem
AI solutions are usually excellent in
performing any given task efficiently,
effectively, and at scale, consistently.
However, knowing how to perform a
specific task sometimes is not the only
thing one needs to know. Understand-
ing the purpose of the job is equally
essential, since it can give a valuable
context to the task itself. Understand-
ing this context is helpful not only
for performing the task but also for
improvising, as and when required,
and ensuring that all the relevant
bases are covered.
Technology is an answer to ‘how’
of the strategy, but without having the
right ‘why’ and ‘what’ in place, it can
do more damage than good.
One of the sources of bias in AI
solutions is failing to know ‘why.’
For example, if your car insurance
company tells you that you are not
insurable because the system says so.
And the system says so because it has
data that shows you were going above
the speed limit. Would anyone even
know why you were driving above the
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speed limit? Could it be the case of an
emergency where you had to break
the rule? Only by understanding why
it would make more sense in such
cases. But it is quite possible that your
insurance company may not even ask
you about this and decline the cover.
When AI systems do not know
why, there is always going to be a lurk-
ing risk of discrimination, bias, or an
illogical outcome.
Right solution - wrong hands
I always say that tools and systems are
not hurtful; people using them are!
The thing with technology is that, if
you learn to use it, it works for you.
But ‘who’ you are will decide ‘how’
you use it.
Notably, the interface between
humans and AI systems is one of the
risky areas. Not just during the use of
the systems, these risks are prevalent
in preliminary stages of AI training,
too. Coding errors, lapses in data man-
agement, incorrect model-trainings,
etc can easily compromise critical
characteristics of AI solutions such as
bias, security, compliance, etc.
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Not to forget risks from disgrun-
tled personnel getting hands on these
systems, and being able to corrupt
systems’ functioning in some way or
the other. Weapon systems equipped
with AI are the most vulnerable to the
right AI in wrong hand problems, and
therefore have the greatest of risks.
Again, we are not talking about AI
systems turning evil. Instead, the con-
cern is someone misusing a powerful
AI system. The possibility of AI sys-
tems being used to overpower others
by some group or a country is one of
the significant risks. Overall, the risk
of the right AI in the wrong hands is
one of the critical challenges and war-
rants substantial attention to avoid it.
The grey matter - use it
or lose it!
Extending AI and automation beyond
logical limits could potentially alter
our perception of what humans can
do. Several decades ago, doing a math
calculation by hand on a piece of
paper was a highly appreciated skill for
human beings. Now, with the advent
of calculators and computers, we don’t
Artificial Intelligence
see much value in that (skill) any more.
We still value human interaction,
communication skills, emotional intel-
ligence and several other qualities in
humans. What happens when an AI
app takes over? What happened to AI
doing mundane tasks and leaving time
for us to do what we like and love?
There is a high risk that, eventu-
ally, several people would resign from
their intellect and sit on sidelines,
waiting for their smartphone app to
tell them what to do next, and how
they might be feeling now!
When we invented automatic cars,
an upgrade from manual gear shift
cars, we almost lost hand-leg-brain
coordination that was once important.
It is not just a matter of coordination
per se; it is the matter of thinking,
which is what humans do and are
good at. Aren’t we?
The enormous power carried by
the grey matter in our heads may
become blunt and eventually useless,
if we never exercise it, turning it into
just some slush. The old saying, “use
it or lose it” is explicitly applicable in
this case.
electronics For You • may 2020 35
 Artificial Intelligence

Neural Network Preceptors:

How Deep Learning Can
Help Solve AI Problems
This article, using an example, shows how deep learning mechanism can help solve an artificial
intelligence (AI) problem. It gives a good insight on how layers in training data can be formed

Hidden Hidden Hidden

Input Layer 1 Layer 2 Layer 3
Layer

Output
Layer
Happy
Face
Kanu Ratan Butani
is working as project
manager in a software
company in Mumbai.
He has fifteen years
of experience in Java,
EAI and AI-related
technologies

Image Labels

How deep learning mechanism reads a happy face

C
reating an artificial intelligence
(AI) system comes with many
challenges and the biggest of all is
to see how to get closer to human think-
ing and solve a problem the way a human
will. Human or cognitive level of thinking
is the most difficult, and to achieve that, it
is necessary to make use of deep learning
mechanism. Since convolution neural net-
work (CNN) is the core of the deep learn-
ing mechanism, it allows adding desired
intelligence to a system.
A neural network has layers of pre-
ceptors or logics/algorithms that can be
written. Hence, the more layers of this
logic one adds, the more the solution gets
closer to cognitive thinking. The most
important step here is back propagation,
which helps analyse whatever has been
done in all those layers. It then provides
additional help by giving three times more
accurate results.
Back propagation
Let us take the classic example of the lift
versus staircase. Here, apart from all other
aspects, it still depends on the mood of the
person—whether the person will consider
taking the lift or stairs—and this can change
every day.
We create infinite scenarios, yet eve-
ryday being a new day we cannot be sure
what will the mood be today, and still we
will try to solve this and make it as accurate
as we can using the following steps.
Human mood capture. How do we
capture this mood and decide what is the
person’s mood today? We cannot read any-

36 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com


one’s mind, but this can be achieved
through face reading, which can give
us facial expression and emotions,
and body language, which can give
us more information on the mood.
Face reading. Face reading or face
detection software can help capture
the emotions of the face, such as
happy face, sad face or other. (There
are many different types of emotions
that can help in capturing a person’s
mood.) In this case, instead of photos,
video clips of the person would be
more helpful in making accurate pre-
dictions of the mood.
Note that, there are hundreds of
different emotions and emojis, and
if we consider all of them, it will not
solve the issue. It would make up huge
amounts of similar data, since there
are many emotions that are related
and similar to each other. Only a few
basic emotions need to be checked,
which are obvious in nature. It works
in the same way as it does with col-
ours, where there are infinite colours,
but we take three primary colours and
then differentiate them accordingly.
Hence, the seven basic emotions to
be considered are joy, sad, angry, fear,
disgust, neutral and surprise.
According to psychology, facial
expressions are checked with eyes,
nose and mouth changes. Therefore
the facial image should be divided into
three equal horizontal parts: forehead
till eyes, nose and lips till the chin.
Body language. This is a very
important aspect, and there are many
things involved in body language. But
the main things to consider are walk-
ing pace, hand and leg movements,
and postures.
For a more accurate analysis, it
is important to find the correlation
between facial expressions and body
language for decision-making.
How to begin
Video clip is captured in the CCTV
camera that is near the lift. It is called
the unstructured form of data. This
must be read by the machine in a dif-
ferent manner. Here comes the magic
of deep learning, which is the most
suitable technique in decoding any
form of complex unstructured data.
How it is decoded
The core of AI is where we extensively
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use statistical and complex mathemat-
ical formulae and concepts like calcu-
lus, integration, derivatives, complex
numbers and algebra fundamentals to
solve this, and get results.
The video clip is broken into
continuous shots of images and then
every image is read by applying the
above mathematical rules. All these
rules are defined and calculated in API
functions created by Python.
Every image can be divided into
number of pixels. In a normal scenario,
a coloured image is divided into 32×32
pixels. But since we have to divide the
image in three parts, let us set the pixels
as a round figure to make calculations
simple for this scenario. Let us make
the image in 30×30 pixels, so we get
total 900 pixels for the image.
Now, we have the following ways
an image is divided:
1. Every image is divided into three
equal horizontal parts based on facial
expressions, as explained earlier. This
way we have 300 pixels for each part
of the image.
2. Every image is a coloured image;
thus, it is divided into three red, green
and blue (RGB) images. Here, every
colour will have 900 pixels. Thus, the
total for three primary colours will be
2700 pixels.
This way we break down every
image into 900 instances of weight,
which forms the first layer in the deep
learning mechanism.
Considering different formulae and
calculations, we will keep adding dif-
ferent layers, and the last layer (output
layer) will contain the total number of
emotions captured and output using
the deep learning mechanism—in this
case, output will be seven emotions.
Let us divide the image in three
parts and analyse each part separately.
All three parts will enter the first layer
together but will be weighted sepa-
rately. So, we will have the following
in the first layer:
First layer preceptor. This is divid-
ed into a square and very small pixels;
in our case, 30×10 pixels (one third
of the image is taken). The higher the
number of pixels, the more accurate
the results. Every pixel, depending
on darkness, will give numbers rang-
ing from 0.0 to 1.0. These are called
weights of every pixel.
Similarly, the other two images
Artificial Intelligence
will also be weighed.
Second layer preceptor. All pixel
numbers will be captured and given
to the second layer.
This will capture every single pixel
based on the higher or lower number,
and finally the figure will be read. Here
we can capture lines formed near the
eyes. Based on the lines and shape of
the eyes captured we can decide the
emotion.
It is the same for the other two
images.
Now we get three different weights
of eyes, nose and lips, which will help
us come to some conclusion.
Drop-out layer. When we have
created five to six layers, and we come
across some layer that shows too much
learning or very little learning, both
of which are not so useful in machine
learning and deep learning, then that
layer must be dropped out of the
structure. But this must be done after
proper analysis and understanding,
and it depends completely on the data
scientist and the situation to decide
which layer must be dropped.
Back propagation analysis
This figure can be compared with back
propagation of different emojis that we
have. This analysis is done when we
get some wrong result at the training
stage. If we show a happy face and its
giving output as sad face, then we have
to do back propagation and find the
source of the issue, and then solve it.
In our case, there will be an output
of seven different emojis, and in the
training data, we give all seven images
for the machine to learn. This step
is sort of reverse engineering, where
we go back from the final layer to the
previous layer to check if there are any
mistakes.
Once that is resolved, we can move
ahead with test data, which will be
the actual image that will be used for
machine learning to figure out the
emotion. If we do this correctly, with
hundred per cent results, then in test
data we should get around 95 per cent
correct result.
If this is successful, we have a
ready machine learning mechanism
for facial expressions and face reading
software. This will help us analyse the
face expressions and decide if these are
happy or sad ones.
electronics For You • may 2020 37
 Artificial Intelligence
10
AI Trends
Revolutionising
Manufacturing Industry
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been playing a crucial role in the growth of manufacturing industries by
boosting productivity and efficiency. The article below explores some of the trends that AI technology is
bringing in the modern manufacturing industries like smart factories, 3D printing and blockchain. These
trends ensure more flexibility and improve speed and quality of products
Representation of artificial intelligence (Credit: www.freightwaves.com)
A
Sani Theo smart manufacturing unit is different
from a traditional manufacturing unit
in many ways. A typical modern manu-
facturing unit is not a clumsy industrial space
with a few or thousands of human workers
or robotised production units under one roof.
With the advancement in technologies, such
as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learn-
ing and the Internet of Things (IoT), there is
much more than the traditional manufacturing
38 may 2020 • electronics For You
processes and setups. AI is being employed
in manufacturing to make businesses more
efficient by extending human capabilities.
There are many areas where AI is helping
to improve the processes of manufacturing
industries and boost productivity and effi-
ciency. This article covers some of the AI
trends that have revolutionised the modern
manufacturing industry including smart
factories, 3D printing, AI-robots, generative
designs and blockchain.
1. Smart factory
Automation in manufacturing or factory is
not a new thing. A smart factory is based
on the modern industrial automation
concept. It is a highly digitised and con-
nected production facility, considered as an
outcome of the fourth industrial revolution
or Industry 4.0. The smart factory employs
modern technologies such as AI, robotics,
analytics, Big Data and the IoT. With the use
of modern technologies, the smart factory
systems can learn and adapt in real-time,
enable more flexibility in operation and run
without much human intervention. The
characteristics of the smart factory include
visibility, connectivity, and autonomy. Asset
management, supply chain management
and inventory management are some of the
hottest areas of AI, machine learning and
IoT adoption in a smart factory.
2. AI and 3D printing
3D printing is mainly used in rapid proto-
typing, design iteration, and small-scale
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 Artificial Intelligence
production. This technology is constantly evolving and
improving in the manufacturing industry. Improvements
in speed, quality and materials could make 3D printing
useful in mass production and mass customisation. The
combination of AI and 3D printing brings lots of new
excitement and flexibility in additive manufacturing
technology. The role of AI in 3D printing technology is
in the software. In other words, the intelligence of a 3D
printer lies in the software program. AI algorithms are
being incorporated into 3D modeling programs to help
you optimise the 3D printing process and also create the
best 3D printable models.
3. AI and IoT
The emerging technologies like AI and IoT have been
going on well especially in the manufacturing industry.
These technologies have been revolutionising the mass
production of goods and boosting the output of different
industries.
In the manufacturing industry, the IoT involves the
use of devices/sensors, cloud computing and the Internet
for communication, and AI software to compile massive
amounts of data for intelligent machine learning. Through
IoT technology, machines can seamlessly talk to each
other and react to any problems that arise. IoT system can
quickly alert other machines and human workers—allow-
ing the problem to be addressed in real-time.
4. AI-robot
When we talk about robots in manufacturing industries,
there are two technology terms that come into the picture:
cobots and robotic process automation (RPA). Cobots
were first coined by professors at Northwestern University
in America. Unlike traditional industrial robots, cobots or
collaborative robots are the latest generations of robotic
systems intended to work alongside humans. While
cobots are robots intended to interact with humans in a
shared space or to work safely in close proximity, RPA is a
form of business process automation technology based on
metaphorical software bots. That is, unlike the physical
robotic machines, RPA is software that acts as an addition-
al employee in various disciplines throughout the supply
chain, automating certain activities, minimising human
errors, and maximising productivity. Actually, RPA works
behind the scenes, replicating human minds, accelerating
operations and transforming business processes.
The robotics market is growing at a great speed
across the globe. There are millions of robots working in
factories all over the world. With the emergence of AI,
robots are becoming smarter, cheaper and easier to use.
Cutting-edge AI techniques will help the industrial robots
to improve the speed, accuracy and safety of production.
The most common robots are pick and place, packag-
ing, welding and assembly robots. Other manufacturing
robots include cutting, drilling, milling and painting
robots. Assembly robots are used on automated assembly
lines including automotive, consumer electronics and
electrical appliances. AI-powered computer vision is one
of the most important modern researches in robotics.
Some assembly robots employ computer vision and sen-

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 Artificial Intelligence
sors to identify, grasp and manipulate
parts. Some assembly robots can also
handle assembly of parts that are too
small for human hands to handle them
accurately.
5. AI and Quality 4.0
The core concept of Quality 4.0 aligns
quality management with Industry 4.0
techniques. Technological advances in
Industry 4.0 such as advanced analyt-
ics, AI and machine learning can help
organisations achieve real-time vis-
ibility of vital quality metrics, supplier
performance, and customer services.
Due to the rising complexity in the
products and the spare parts, manufac-
turers may face the challenge to main-
tain high-quality products. Quality 4.0
ensures improved quality of products
and enhanced output efficiency by
using AI algorithms. If any kind of
issues are found at the initial stages,
they can be taken care of immediately.
6. Predictive analytics
AI, machine learning and IoT are used
in modern manufacturing industries.
Here, data is one of the most impor-
tant assets. Predictive analytics tools
are used to analyse the incoming data
to identify problems in advance. AI-
powered predictive analytics promises
to revolutionise analytics. Predictive
tools give manufacturers the power to
analyse massive amounts of data and
discover correlations between critical
variables, enabling them to address
the root causes of problems before
quality issues occur. Predictive quality
is one of the most important use cases
in manufacturing. Predictive mainte-
nance makes use of AI algorithms to
predict failures of a system or machine
to prevent failures and prevent down-
times in the manufacturing units.
With advanced data analysis and
real-time tracking, machinery main-
tenance can be scheduled before any
problem arises. These technologies
help drive operational efficiency,
reduce the manufacturing operating
expenditure and improve productivity.
7. AI and generative designs
A designer in the manufacturing
industry first establishes a request-for-
quotation, provides the design assets,
indicates the processes required, such
as dimensions, materials, volume and
40 may 2020 • electronics For You
turnaround time. Depending on the
product, the actual designing phase
involves lots of imagination and crea-
tivity of the designer.
With the generative design con-
cept, a designer is no longer limited by
his own imaginations or past experi-
ence. The designer just needs to input
design parameters (such as materials,
size, weight, strength, manufacturing
methods, and cost constraints) into
generative design software, and the
AI algorithm explores all the possible
combinations of a solution, generates
many or thousands of design options.
The designer can filter from the gener-
ated design options and select the best
options that would meet his require-
ments.
8. AI and cost optimisation
One of the major benefits of AI in
manufacturing is cost optimisation. AI
enables manufacturers to cost-effec-
tively create and maintain their own
algorithm in-house, which is cheaper,
more versatile, and more adaptive to
constantly changing market condi-
tions. AI can fully automate complex
tasks, provide consistent and precise
optimum set points. It requires less
manpower to maintain and adjust
quickly when management revises
manufacturing strategy and produc-
tion plans.
In some cases, AI can partially or
even fully replace certain employees
and you need not include their sala-
ries in your budget. AI is used to cut
maintenance and repair costs.
9. Inventory optimisation
Inventory management plays an impor-
tant role in manufacturing because it
can make or break a business. One item
out of stock can bring a business to its
knees. Many companies run into losses
due to bad inventory management.
Unlike inventory management in retail-
ers and wholesalers, which consists
items ready for sale, a manufacturing
company’s inventory will include
goods in various stages of production,
from raw materials to products ready
to ship to customers. A typical manu-
facturer uses three types of inventories:
raw materials, work in process and fin-
ished goods. Raw materials including
steel, wood, plastic, chemicals, etc, are
the main inputs of production. Work in
process represents goods that are still in
the production process. Finished goods
are those that are awaiting sale or ready
to ship to customers.
AI in inventory provides many ben-
efits for the companies that are utilising
it. For example, in the car manufactur-
ing industry, smart warehouses are
inventory systems, where the inventory
process is partially or entirely auto-
mated using modern technologies such
as AI, machine learning and Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT). These tech-
nologies enable inventory systems to
connect each process, collect data at
each of the nodes, continuously learn
and optimise the process and increase
productivity. AI and machine learn-
ing models are able to scale inventory
optimisation across all distribution
locations and independent variables
that affect demand and supply perfor-
mance.
10. AI and blockchain
Many products are being manufac-
tured globally but do you know from
where these products originated, how
and when they were produced and
shipped to the buyers? The demand
for transparency in the manufactur-
ing supply chain has significantly
increased in today’s global market.
Blockchain can be used in manu-
facturing and perfectly fits for this
solution to track manufactured goods
through the supply chain.
Blockchain involves a digital
ledger that is continuously updated
to record and track transactions,
accounting and asset movement. It
is new digital information, which
stores data in an encrypted, distrib-
uted ledger format. AI can manage
blockchain efficiently because AI and
encryption work very well together.
In manufacturing, blockchain can be
used to establish an organised digital
thread, track the history of a part, from
its digital design to production all the
way to end of life. This digital data can
be shared with multiple parties that
get access to the same information.
Some of the advantages of block-
chain include monitoring supply chain
for greater transparency, materials
provenance and counterfeit detection,
engineering design, identity manage-
ment, asset tracking, quality assur-
ance and regulatory compliance.
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 101010101
101010
1010
Computing
Touch The Future Together
With Multi-Touch Technology
We not only see touch technology in science fiction movies, but also in real life across
thousands of businesses that focus on customer engagement
T
im Berners-Lee, inventor of World
Wide Web, once said, “There was a
time when people felt the Internet
was another world, but now people realise
it is a tool we use in this world.”
Technological progress allows more
Dr Krishna Naga and more inventions to occur that open
a new world of possibilities for all types
of businesses, creating a link with people
around the world to make connections
easily and, hence, developing strong bond-
age between them. Electronic devices like
cellphones, trackpads and laptops have
become ingrained in our daily lives.
The physical keyboard in these devices
was replaced by the sleek touchscreen.
This technology was initiated with the
capacitive touchscreen (used in air traf-
fic control, and not by people) invented
by E.A. Johnson around 1965-1967, at
Royal Radar Establishment, UK, followed
by the resistive touchscreen invented by
George Samuel Hurst in 1982. This was
followed by Hewlett-Packard’s built-in
infrared (IR) beams that detected finger
movements. Later, Apple introduced its
Newton personal digital assistant (PDA)
Typing/selecting an icon Flicking a finger Zoom in or out/
to turn a page rotating an image/
reshaping an object
Fig. 1: Multi-touching in smartphones or tablets Fig. 2: Multi-touch technology
www.EFYMag.com
with handwriting recognition in the 1990s,
while IBM released Simon, the first smart-
phone with touchscreen interface. In 1996,
Palm released its Pilot Series with advanced
touchscreen technology. In 2002, Microsoft
entered the touch technology sphere by
introducing Windows XP Tablet edition,
and in 2007, Apple introduced its iPhone,
the king of smartphones with touchscreen.
Single user versus multi-users
A single user using single (for example,
ATM) or dual touch on a smartphone, like
selecting an icon, typing a letter or using
two fingers to zoom in or out, is an attrac-
tive digital trend compared to the traditional
keypad phone. This classic touchscreen has
two limitations: only a single user is allowed
at a time due to single input command and it
is limited based on scale, that is, cost of the
touchscreen increases as size of the screen
increases.
As human needs are wide, the single-
user single-touch did not offer much in
terms of flexibility and expansion into more
command inputs. This led to the invention of
multi-touch user touchscreens. We already
electronics For You • may 2020 41
 Computing
enjoy the benefits of multi-touch tech-
nology built in traditional touchscreen
designs in smartphones, tablets and
other touch-enabled human-machine
interfaces (HMIs). However, the multi-
touch application in smartphones and
tablets has replaced a keyboard and a
mouse to access different screens.
Multi-user multi-touch is a highly
intuitive technology that enables a
trackpad or touchscreen to simulta-
neously sense the presence of more
than two concurrent points of contact
with the surface. This has a profound
impact on end-users, panel operators,
engineers, managers, purchasers,
executives and other decision-makers.
With this interaction technique, users
Multi-touching
Multi-touching by a single user by multi users
Fig. 3: Single user versus multiple users using the technology
Fig. 4: Multi-touch interactive wall (Credit: eyefactive interactive systems)
Fig. 5: Classification of multi-touch technology
can control graphical applications
using several fingers, and one or more
users can interact with computer
applications through various gestures
created by fingers on a surface without
affecting other users.
A multifaceted experience can be
created by simultaneously opening
different popups, which encourages
greater engagement, sales or training.
This versatility enriches the technol-
ogy for more immediate interaction Fig. 6: Projected capacitance
between the computer and users.
Multi-touch devices are stronger
than dual-touch devices but are also
expensive because the technology has
to support several concurrent contact
points, and it also has to sense each
touch. In today’s
m a r ke t , i m p l e -
menting a multi-
touch display for
multiusers will
enhance customer
experiences and, Fig. 7: 3D touch
thus, enable entre-
preneurs to make
strategic business
decisions.
Multi-user mul-
ti-touch technolo-
gy is used in multi-
touch interactive
walls, also called
walls of wonders
used in public
spaces or collab-
oration environ- Fig. 8: Resistive touch
ments, like muse-
ums, schools, hos- videos and images. These files can
pitals, hotels, spas, be sent via email, and shared and
conference rooms compared by other users. Hence, this
of offices, etc that technology has proven its significance
show a real-time in improving customer relationships.
3 D a t m o s p h e re The electronics and semiconduc-
where users can tor industry pays special focus to the
access over 2000 multi-user multi-touch screen market
files such as PDFs, analysis, which is expected to rise by
2027. The classification of multi-touch
technology is as follows:
Based on the built-in technology
and application, multi-user multi-
touchscreen is segmented in the global
market.
Based on technology, it is segment-
ed into capacitive, resistive, acoustic,
and optical and IR. Each technology
is diverse in terms of approach, from
problem recognition and interpreta-
tion to simultaneous multiple touches.

42 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com


Based on application, it is seg-
mented into consumer electronics,
retail, government, enterprise, indus-
trial, commercial (hospitality, trans-
port and gaming) and others (medical,
military and training).
Overview of various
multi-touch technologies
Touch panels are becoming more
common in our daily lives, in cell-
phones, ATMs, kiosks, ticket vending digital signage, industrial automa-
machines, etc to enable user interac- tion, gaming machines and so on.
tion. Each device uses a different tech- Touchscreens manufactured with this
nology to meet the demand.
Electrostatic systems. Projected to surface contaminants and liquids, a
Fig. 9: Acoustic surface
Camera-based vision system PixelSense
InGlass
Infrared laser plane
Fig. 10: Various optical systems
Frustrated Total Rear Diffused
Internal Reflection Illumination
Laser Light Plane LED Light Plane
Fig. 11: Clarity and precision of detection of objects for all techniques of
touch technology (Credit: sethsandler.com/multitouch
www.EFYMag.com
Computing
capacitance technology is a sensitive user touches one conductive layer,
sensor that can sense through a 6mm- pressure creates contact between the
thick glass (insulator), coated with two layers, causing current to flow. So,
a conductor like indium-tin-oxide. usage of gloves by the user does not
When the user touches the surface affect the flow of current.
of the screen, electricity is conducted This technology is easy to manu-
through the finger causing a meas- facture and costs low if size of the
urable change in capacitance. This screen is normal, but increases expo-
change in capacitance creates a distor- nentially for large sizes. Touchscreens
tion in the screen’s electrostatic field. made using this technology are more
It is mainly used in control panels, stable, resistant to screen contami-
nants and immune to ambient light.
But these have poor object recogni-
tion, poor clarity and poor multi-touch
technology give excellent resistance capability.
Acoustic systems. Acoustic sur-
long life span with more simultaneous faces are mainly used in point-of-
touch points, use less power, and are information kiosks, hospitality, ticket
more reliable and durable. However, sales (transportation), multimedia
this technology requires initial tuning payphones, gaming, lotteries and
of devices, so it is expensive, and we amusement. Sides of the monitor
can use only conductive elements have a series of piezoelectric trans-
(gloves cannot be used). ducers and receivers that create an
Force touch systems. 3D touch invisible grid of ultrasonic waves on
technology is the same as projected the surface. When a user touches the
capacitance, and panel, the finger absorbs part of the
sensors can meas- wave that is produced, which allows
ure small chang- the receiving transducer to locate the
es in distance touchpoint(s).
between the cover Acoustic surface touch panels
glass and back- address the limitation of poor clarity
light due to force in projected capacitance and resistive
of the finger. 3D touch. These also ensure better dura-
Infrared frame touch technology is bility, high stability, longer life span
mainly used in all and scratch-resistance. The remark-
iOS devices. These able feature of this technology is that
are extremely the screen is tested at over fifty million
strong, highly reac- touches.
tive and immune to It is not recommended to use
ambient light. But acoustic products in open environ-
this technology is ments. Also, the screen cannot be
3D cameras limited to object completely sealed, is immune to low
recognition—sim- weather and surface contaminants
ilar to projected cause dead spots on the screen.
capacitance, where Optical systems. Optical systems
gloves cannot be are cost-effective and the easiest to
used. These touch- create. Fig. 10 shows the various opti-
screens are not cal systems, wherein each system
available in large uses different optical techniques such
formats. as frustrated total internal reflection
Front Diffused Diffused Surface Pressure-based (FTIR), rear diffused illumination
Illumination Illumination systems. Resistive (RDI), front diffused illumination
touch technology (FDI), diffused surface illumination
is mainly used in (DI), laser light plane (LLP) and LED
aviation, military, light plane (LED-LP). Clarity and pre-
broadcast and edu- cision of detection of objects for each
cation devices. Two technique can be seen in Fig. 11.
conductive layers Camera-based vision systems.
are separated by These have two or more IR cameras
spacers. When the placed on top of a display, facing the
electronics For You • may 2020 43
 Computing
surface of the display to recognise as a big banner, which incorporates
fingers and objects. This technology hand gestures and optical recogni-
is typically characterised by a high tion of objects placed on the screen.
degree of scalability, stylus-independ- Though immune to light, it is slim and
ence, zero-force touch, high optical can recognise a large number of users
performance, object-size-recognition simultaneously.
capability and low cost. But, on the IR frame. This is a revolutionary
other side, it is heavy, voluminous high-performance platform, usually
and gives a poor image quality. installed in front of any non-touch
PixelSense. This technology was display screen to offer interactive
introduced by Microsoft through a capability. The frame is integrated
multi-touch table-top computer acting with a circuit that contains a line of
IR LEDs and pho-
toreceptors. When
users touch the
screen, light beams
are interrupted and
receptors recognise
the exact location of
the touch. This frame
is cost-effective and
scalable up to 300
degrees, but it is
immune to sunlight,
detects even inani-
mate object and is
difficult to clean.
Fig. 12: IR frame (Credit: https://cdn.vox) IR laser pane.
It is mainly used
in shop windows
to create a way for
large interactions. It
consists of an invis-
ible laser pane that
detects the reflected
laser pulse of objects
or users, and dis-
tance is measured
from the time-of-
flight of light. How-
ever, this pane has
low precision with-
out any tactile feed-
Fig. 13: Gaming kiosk (Credit: Kiosk industry) back.
Fig. 14: Innovative product presentation for the future [Credit: Eyefactive Interactive Systems (L)
and Kiosk industry (R)]
44 may 2020 • electronics For You
InGlass. Also known as planar
scatter technology, this technology
uses the principle of total internal
reflection that maintains light within
the glass. It is mainly used in signs and
billboards. Here, IR light is injected
in the cover glass and extracted at
the opposite side where photorecep-
tors placed detect the disturbance.
Though the glass comes with limited
touchpoints, features like invisibility,
robustness due to a large number of
scan lines, cost-effectiveness for large
screens and highly reactive property
attract consumers.
3D cameras. These use IR illumi-
nation to give depth information of
the image of the object or user. The
main benefit is the possibility of non-
touch gesture interaction. However,
this system is immune to light with no
tactile feedback, and also background
of the image could disturb recognition
heavily.
Some examples of applications of
multi-users multi-touch displays in
real life are:
• Interactive multi-touch displays
and touchscreens are useful in settings
where more than one person operates
the same digital system simultane-
ously. For example, gaming kiosks,
which are revolutionising the gaming
industry.
• In a retail store, where multi-
user multi-touch displays visually
stimulate shoppers to stay and explore
store promotions and facilitate the
shopping experience through a new
engaging approach that makes cus-
tomers come back.
• Interactive multi-touch switch-
able, smart glass screen walls and
partitions used in shopping windows,
bank counters, outdoor advertise-
ments, hospitals, bathrooms and
public spaces. Smart glass works on
an electrical principle and switches
from frosted to clear when power is
applied. When power is on, the trans-
parent glass shows a 3D stereoscopic
image without affecting the display of
exhibits in the shopping window.
The normal glass can be coated
with a switchable optical layer using
UV light, or a laminated switchable
smart glass panel can be used for
superior performance and clarity.
Black, tinted switchable smart glass
offers more privacy by turning the
www.EFYMag.com

Fig. 15: Self-service machines (Credit: Kiosk industry)
glass darker. Smart glass serves as the
ideal choice for commercial or resi-
dential installations.
• Multi-touch functions in a kiosk
allow multiple touch points on the
screen at the same time. This flex-
ibility allows a single user to use both
hands to interact with the kiosk, or
multiple kiosk users can interact with
the kiosk at the same time.
These self-service machines lower
the total cost of ownership through-
out the lifecycle. Recent kiosks come
www.EFYMag.com
Fig. 16: Interactive touch technology in retail (Credit: Eyefactive Interactive Systems)
with HDMI/VGA connections allow-
ing users to connect to any PC or
laptop, while the integrated multi-
touch technology transforms finger(s)
movement(s) equivalent to the move-
ment of the mouse, thus making any
content touch-capable.
• Interactive touchscreens can be
used effectively in hotels, spas and the
hospitality industry to welcome and
inform individual guests and custom-
ers. Using proximity sensors and face
detection via cameras, personalised
Computing
information can be viewed before the
customers interact with the touch-
screen. Also, offerings, products and
services can be highlighted to them
quickly.
We not only see touch technology
in science fiction movies, but also
in real life across thousands of busi-
nesses that focus on customer engage-
ment. This innovative technology has
impacted businesses that enhance
environmental, ergonomic and eco-
nomical workflows.
electronics For You • may 2020 45
 Communication

Emerging Wireless
Standards For Next-Gen
IoT Applications
This article is based on a talk by Rittu Sachdev, RF engineer, Texas Instruments, at India
Electronics Week 2019 organised by EFY Group. She explains how communication standards
that started off with non-IoT (Internet of Things) applications are now evolving to help the IoT

T
Rittu Sachdev he Internet of Things (IoT) thrives
is RF engineer at on communication standards, and
Texas Instruments
these standards are evolving rapidly
to support the IoT better. IoT applications
range from home and building automa-
tion to smart cities, smart manufacturing,
wearables, automotive and agriculture.
Scope of the IoT is immense; however,
depending on the use-case, IoT applica-
tions can pose different challenges for
wireless communication standards.
Building a wireless communication
standard for the IoT is hard with all the
available communication standards. It is
not easy to decide which one is best suited
for a particular IoT application. There are
standards spanning from personal area
networks (PANs) and proximity sensors to
wide-area networks (WANs) and low-pow-
ered wide-area networks (LPWANs) that are

46 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com


specifically meant for the IoT. And in
between, there are also wireless LANs
(WLANs). Different communication
standards offer different specifica-
tions to help the IoT in different ways.
These communication standards are
evolving and enabling new and future
IoT applications.
The IoT drives communication
standards on both (opposite) ends. It
needs low latency (fast response time)
as well as low power. Some applica-
tions require high data rate and wide
range. These are conflicting goals
and are difficult for a single wireless
standard to achieve. On top of this,
there are other things to be resolved
such as security, low cost, network
capacity and reliability. This is the real
challenge for wireless communication
standards.
Evolving wireless standards in
the IoT communication
Some wireless standards that are
evolving to help the IoT are 802.11 for
WLANs (802.11ax and 802.11ba that
are coming up as new standards),
Bluetooth 5, sub-1GHz and narrow-
band IoT (NB-IoT), which is meant
specifically for the IoT.
802.11ba is also called wake-up
receiver. Usually, WLAN is used for
applications that require very high
data rate and where power is not a
concern. But to enable the IoT, WLAN
has to reduce its power consumption.
The new standard of WLAN, 802.11ba,
works with previous-generation Wi-Fi
5 or Wi-Fi 6 standard to help achieve
low power.
Low power is usually achieved
by keeping the wireless device in
sleeping mode most of the time, but
that increases latency, which makes
response time of the system very
slow. In many applications this is
not possible because faster response
time, data rate and low power are
also needed.
The goal is to achieve both low
power and low latency. This is
achieved by low-power wake-up
receiver (LPWUR). It works in con-
junction with the normal WLAN
transceiver (TRx). The basic function
of wake-up receiver is to sniff the air
for wake-up packets. Once it receives
wake-up packets, it turns on the main
transceiver.
www.EFYMag.com
Comparison Between 802.11ac and 802.11ax
802.11ac
Spectrum 5GHz
Technology OFDM
Bandwidth 20/40/80/80+80/160MHz
Highest modulation 256 QAM
Sub-carrier spacing 312.5kHz
Symbol length 3.2µs
Guard interval 0.4/0.8µs
MU-MIMO 4 (DL)
Spatial streams 8 8
Data rates 433Mbps (80MHz 1SS)
Spectral efficiency 42.5bps/Hz
One classic example of this is the
video doorbell, which needs high data
(because it is video); if it is battery-
operated, power needs to be saved. A
video doorbell needs to continuously
sniff the air for online commands
to operate the lock and that drains
power. So, instead of keeping the main
WLAN receiver on all the time (which
is actually meant for high data rate),
just for sniffing purpose, the wireless
wake-up receiver can check for wake-
up packets and then turn on the main
WLAN receiver. This saves a consider-
able amount of power, which helps the
IoT get high data rate, low latency as
well as low power.
Main IoT enablers possible by
802.11ba are given below.
• Battery life can be increased by
ten times because the wake-up receiv-
er is a simple receiver. It is a sniffing
radio and consumes less than ten
per cent of the actual WLAN receiver
power.
• The wake-up receiver can
always be kept on. Thus, its response
time can be in milliseconds.
• It can be always connected. As
an example, let us take the case of
sensors on the move, like the mobile
application with sensors moving
around. If there is a disconnection
from the access point (AP), instead
of keeping the WLAN receiver on to
sniff to see whether one is within AP
coverage, one can use the wake-up
receiver to sniff for AP coverage. This
again saves considerable power.
There are future advances possible
for 802.11ba. The wake-up packet con-
sists of a legacy field and a data field.
Data field can be used to selectively
Communication
802.11ax
2.4 and 5GHz
OFDMA
20/40/80/80+80/160MHz
1024 QAM
78.125kHz
12.8µs
0.8/1.6/3.2µs
8 (UL and DL)
600.4Mbps (80MHz 1SS)
62.5bps/Hz
turn on devices to have addresses for
specific devices and those devices
with the wake-up packet. Other uses
of the data packet are as follows:
• Indoor location scan, which can
be implemented using data packets
from neighbouring access points
(APs) to figure out one’s location.
• Roaming scan; when one moves
out of AP coverage, WLAN receivers
turn on a scan to check for new, avail-
able networks. This can be done on a
wake-up receiver, which substantially
reduces power consumption for the
WLAN device.
Wi-Fi 6, also called 802.11ax, is
the latest upgrade for WLAN. This
is a substantial improvement over
the previous standard, Wi-Fi 5 or
11ac. Wi-Fi 5 was mostly focussed
on increasing data throughput in
favourable conditions. Wi-Fi 6 tries to
achieve the best possible average data
output from WLAN. Though WLAN
is capable of gigabits/sec kind of
data rate, it is normally not possible.
Data rate substantially drops when
there are multiple connections to the
same AP. Wi-Fi 6 is trying to address
this issue.
There are two major changes
between ac and ax, as given below.
• The technology has changed
from orthogonal frequency-division
multiplexing (OFDM) to orthogonal
frequency division multiple access
(OFDMA).
• Sub-carrier data spacing (fre-
quencies that carry data symbols)
has reduced from 312KHz to 78KHz.
78KHz means that there are data bins/
carriers closely packed together.
Usually, WLAN channel is 20MHz
electronics For You • may 2020 47
 Communication
long, which can pack four times more
data carriers using lower sub-carrier
spacing.
Symbol length and sub-carrier fre-
quency are interlinked, which means
if frequency reduces, symbol length
increases.
The advantage of having a longer
symbol length is that one is more
immune to delays of signal recep-
tion. So, in case of multiple signal
reflections, each reflection is slightly
delayed. When that happens, the
longer the symbol length, the more
robust it is, without inter-symbol
interference.
Longer symbol length helps
achieve a bigger guard interval, which
is 3.2 µs versus 0.8 µs. A bigger guard
interval safeguards from multiple
reflections and helps get more reliable
data. This improves average through-
put in dense environments when con-
nections to AP increases.
Apart from these two major chang-
es, speed has increased, which is the
main purpose of WLAN. 256 QAM has
gone up to 1024 QAM, which is almost
a 25 per cent increase in data rate.
Data rates of 600Mbps can be
obtained for a single spatial stream
and 80MHz BW. WLAN6 allows for
eight spatial uplink and downlink
streams making multiple gigabits/sec
data rates possible.
Sub-carrier spacing reduction
enables packing more sub-
carriers in 20MHz channel
bandwidth
Wi-Fi 5 has 52 sub-carriers in 20MHz
bandwidth. Whereas, Wi-Fi 6 packs
242 sub-carriers in the same 20MHz
channel. These sub-carriers can be
divided into nine parts called resource
units. Minimum size for a resource
unit is 26 sub-carriers and 2MHz
bandwidth.
Wi-Fi 5 allocates minimum 20MHz
bandwidth to a single user irrespec-
tive of the quantity of data packet. So,
data-intensive video downloads and
low-data activities like sending a text
message both get the same allocation
of bandwidth. This is a waste of pre-
cious spectrum resource.
With Wi-Fi 6, spectrum space
can be more efficiently utilised with
OFDMA technology, which allocates
lower bandwidth (2MHz) to low-data-
48 may 2020 • electronics For You
rate activities and high bandwidth to
higher-data-rate applications. It also
allows multiple low-data-rate activi-
ties from different users/devices to
be served in the same channel at the
same time, improving system effi-
ciency.
11ax features that enable the IoT
are as follows:
• OFDMA for both uplink as well
as downlink. It offers more spectrum
efficiency and more network capac-
ity. More users can be served at one
time.
• 8×8 multi-user MIMO uplink
and downlink. It allows transmitting
to eight users together for both trans-
mission and reception.
• Long OFDM symbol duration.
• Power save modes with longer
sleep intervals and scheduled wake-up
times.
In terms of future IoT use-cases
that 11ax enables, there are battery-
operated devices for video surveil-
lance, remote diagnostics, disaster
management and so on. All these use-
cases require low power, long range,
low latency as well as good data rate.
There are augmented and virtual
reality (AR and VR) kind of applica-
tions that Wi-Fi 6 enables in high data
rate modes. Virtual training, virtual
diagnostics, robotic surgery, AR tour-
ism and others are some of the new
applications that have become pos-
sible with Wi-Fi 6.
Bluetooth 5: the latest
technology from Bluetooth
The previous generation, Bluetooth
4, had two sub-parts: classic and low
energy. Classic was mostly used in
headsets and sound buds. Low energy
is used in wearables, fitness bands and
similar applications.
Bluetooth 5 has new features that
enable the IoT. Some of the features
are given below.
• It gives 4x longer range for low
data rates. This is enabled by adding
more forward error correction to the
data that is sent. For every bit of data
that is sent, this mode sends two more
error correction codes that improve
the chances of detecting that bit,
giving four times the range. But this is
only for low data rates.
• Bluetooth 5 can achieve 2Mbps
data rate. Faster data rate is achieved
by doubling symbol rate. This helps
with faster pairing, connection and
download speed.
Earlier, Bluetooth 4 had 31 bytes
for advertising, which is basically
broadcast messages. This has now
been increased eight times, thus help-
ing achieve richer advertising content.
Various applications of Bluetooth 5
include health and fitness (heart rate
monitors, smart bands), wireless audio
(soundbars, speakers, headsets), retail
(location-based ads) and so on. Most
of these are like Bluetooth 4, but their
specifications have improved, with
lower power and better range.
Wireless standards that are
specifically meant for the IoT
Sub-1GHz is specifically meant for IoT
applications. It gives very long range
(as band is from 750MHz to 950MHz),
possibly up to 20km distance. It can
run for multiple years on a single coin
battery. This robust technology uses
frequency hopping and is less suscep-
tible to interference, and avoids the
crowded 2.4GHz space.
Its applications include streetlight
controls, e-meters, smoke detectors,
toll road tax systems, irrigation sys-
tems and the like.
NB-IoT is the latest LTE standard.
It is the lowest data rate LTE version.
In LTE, there is the high-performance
mode that offers up to 1Gbit/s kind
of data rates. This is where 5G is
going to come. At the other end of the
spectrum, it has low cost, power and
throughput. The range is 20km with
data rate of 250Kbps. Use-cases are
similar to sub-1GHz.
Choosing the right wireless
standard
Depending on the use-case, the com-
munication technology should be
selected. Except for NB-IoT, which
is subscription-based, all others are
licence-free. While NB-IoT and sub-
1GHz offer a good range, Wi-Fi is
the best choice for speed. Bluetooth,
sub-1GHz and NB-IoT give similar
battery life.
As per a Digi-Key report, cost is
the highest for NB-IoT at ` 1000. Cost
for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is ` 300,
while that of sub-1GHz is higher at
` 350. These are module costs, includ-
ing antenna.
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 Test & Measurement

Performance Evaluation
Of Upgraded Data Centre
Infrastructure
The demands on data centres have
increased tremendously with the
introduction of new technologies
such as artificial intelligence,
the Internet of Things, and now
autonomous vehicles. Besides,
video, cloud computing, and other
bandwidth-intensive applications
are forcing operators to rapidly
increase network capacity. So
network equipment manufacturers
now need best-in-class test
equipment to support them

Deepshikha Shukla architecture is required to achieve Data centre testing can help detect
higher data rates, increase port counts, potential faults and vulnerabilities in

E
merging technologies such as
the Internet of Things (IoT),
5G, artificial intelligence (AI),
virtual reality (VR), and autonomous
vehicles generate massive data in a
network, creating new computing
and performance demands on data
centres. So, data centre operators, and
cloud and service providers need to
leverage cloud-enabled network ser-
vices and innovations to deliver next-
generation apps and services from
anywhere. This need for virtualisation
and cloud computing requires valida-
tion and scalability for reliable perfor-
mance of data centre infrastructure to
ensure cloud service excellence.
Data centre infrastructure is con-
stantly evolving and needs to be
optimised across all product develop-
ment stages—from design, installa-
tion, to maintaining new networking
products. Modernising the network
and lower cost per bit. However, this
growth can be an intricate process
with rapidly changing technologies.
Organisations require end-to-end
testing solutions that can test, meas-
ure and assure the IP networks and
deployed services performance. Now
the challenge is to evaluate the deploy-
ments that will play an integral part in
successful evolution and operation. Let
us check some new technologies and
approaches available to the data cen-
tres for network testing requirements.
Need for data centre testing
Just having all components in place
will not be enough to deliver on
service-level agreement (SLA) uptime
assurance without regular data centre
testing. The only way to know how
well your in-use and redundant
systems will perform is to test them
regularly.
a facility’s infrastructure. This permits
actions in advance, if any of them may
contribute to server downtime or a
complete system outage throughout
the data centre. Regular testing of
backup systems is also vital to ensure
these do not fail in critical moments
due to being idle or redundant for a
long period of time.
Data centres should conduct
regular load bank testing to put their
infrastructure through the paces in
addition to regular inspections, both
through intelligent monitoring and
visual inspections. Once a new data
centre application is installed, or cloud
services are moved to data centre,
performance evaluation gives insight
into how an application delivers under
different relevant scenarios, which can
help optimise deployment further.
Depending on the functional area
of the data centre under test, there

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 49

 Test & Measurement
are different technologies, cabling and
connectivity options available that can
be used. Understanding the functional
areas of the data centre and what will
likely be needed to test in each can help
prepare for data centre testing.
Data centre performance
metrics
If you do not assess the entire data
centre stack, you will not be aware of
how it will perform in the real world
when fully populated. Network func-
tions virtualisation (NFV) offers many
benefits to network and data centre
operators. But we need to select the
right technologies for configuring infra-
structure, optimising performance, and
verifying the interoperability of new
products or services in a multi-vendor
environment.
Data centre operators are turning to
next-generation transceivers to increase
channel bandwidth to reach 400GE
speeds. These transceivers guarantee
quality and interoperability and reduce
test time and cost. Upgrading from
100GE to 400GE requires a whole new
set of testing for 400GE components
and transceivers. The new transceiver
technology must be thoroughly tested
to comply with industry specifications
to ensure seamless compatibility before
deploying into the network.
Software-defined networking
(SDN) has helped cloud and service
providers to visualise, monitor and
manage cloud-level traffic in real
time. It has been adopted massively to
accelerate the deployment of network
services, save money and increase
reliability.
Test equipment must be capable of
supporting effective traffic simulation,
testing components and systems at the
new port rates, and standards compli-
ance. All cables interconnecting the
new port rates, whether optical fibre or
direct-attached copper, and equipment
like switches and routers need to be
tested to guarantee proper operation.
Data centre testing
and validation approach
The new network paradigm, coupled
with rapidly changing hardware and
protocols, puts special demands on
data centre operators and the test
equipment they use. As it is financially
impractical to buy separate test gear
50 may 2020 • electronics For You
for each speed, equipment must be
multifunctional so that it can be used
throughout the network as required.
Automated tests increase the repeat-
ability and reliability of results and
simplify the process.
Next-generation test and measure-
ment is part of an essential toolset for
keeping the cloud and the edge work-
ing optimally with a zero-tolerance
approach to latency and downtime.
Relatively new forms of computing,
such as serverless and edge, are taking
some of the pressure off data centres,
but these create other challenges
instead. For instance, with growing
bandwidth, the role of data centre
interconnects (DCIs) in delivering
on data demands with an optimally
efficient architecture will become
increasingly important.
Getting the most out of existing
data centre infrastructure is a chal-
lenge that Internet content providers
(ICPs) now face. Rigorous test and
measurement can help ICPs manage
change and speed network build-
outs. For example, automated test
and inspection practices upgrade their
equipment to enable 100G and 400G
speeds (and beyond). ICPs need a
way of ensuring reliability. ICPs also
need to ensure performance across the
whole ecosystem with data processing
becoming distributed and abstracted
across hybrid environments.
The ANSI/TIA-942-A infrastructure
standard defines the specific functional
areas and contains appropriate infor-
mation for the data centres, providing
minimum recommendations for path-
ways and spaces, redundancy, cable
management, environmental consid-
erations and backbone, and horizontal
cable media distances. It is similar to
TIA-942-A and TIA-568 data centre
standards like ISO/IEC 24764, which
are applicable for information technol-
ogy generic cabling systems for data
centres, and ANSI/BICSI 002-2014.
Data centre design and implementa-
tion best practices also outline various
functional areas of the data centres
that define equipment placement while
allowing for scalability and reliability.
Measurement technologies
for data centres
Virtual solutions by Spirent optimise
and validate NFV infrastructure,
virtual network functions, and net-
work services by creating elastic test
topologies to run on both network
virtualisation and cloud platforms.
Their OpenFlow solution lets vali-
date and deploy SDN in a multitude
of real-world scenarios of functional
and performance testing. It helps to
achieve compliance with OpenFlow
standards and the performance of the
controllers, switches and end-to-end
open flow network designs.
With data centre cloud services,
4K video, and 5G mobile network
services, many network operators are
moving from 28Gb/s (NRZ) signal-
ling to faster 56Gb/s (PAM4) electri-
cal interfaces. Ixia’s K400 QSFP-DD
load module can help validate all
technologies utilising 400GE-port fan-
out cables for testing 50GE, 100GE,
200GE, or 400GE multi-speed or
single-speed devices.
The measurement solu-
tions include modules for evalu-
ating 400G technologies used by
cloud services and data centres.
The MP2110A is Anritsu’ solution
for 25G/100G/200G/400G speeds,
while the MP2100B targets 10G/40G
applications. The MT1000A provides
a solution for troubleshooting and
installing DCI.
Video, cloud computing, and
other bandwidth-intensive applica-
tions are forcing operators to rapidly
increase network capacity. Network
equipment manufacturers (NEMs)
need best-in-class test equipment
to support them in their transforma-
tions. EXFO offers 3D analytics and
test methodologies to converged net-
work testing for 100G and beyond,
addressing the needs of NEMs for
design, manufacturing, and verifica-
tion. Thus it ensures scalability and
resilience in data centre networks.
VIAVI collaborates with hyper-
scale data centre operators, cloud
service providers, ICPs, and those
deploying DCI to optimise opti-
cal networks, reduce test time and
latency, and ensure hundred per cent
reliability that supports SLAs. It ena-
bles inspection of MPO connectors
in twelve seconds, and of two 100G
ports simultaneously. It is involved in
all stages of hyper-scale optical test-
ing, and test high-speed networks up
to 400G and beyond.
www.EFYMag.com
 Tech Focus

Breaking Down The Buzz

Around Quantum Computing
Quantum computing helps scientists and researchers in solving problems above a certain
complexity. Quantum computers derive their power by utilising quantum mechanics and
marvels such as superposition and entanglement, which allows them to perform a variety of
computational tasks exponentially faster than classical computers

T
Ayushee Sharma he invention of the computer has
undeniably been one of the biggest
technological revolutions in the
history of mankind. However, classical
computing is not the only way that was
formulated in the last century to solve
complex problems. While it was in 1927
that physicist Heisenberg introduced the
uncertainty principle, it was not until
(Credit: www.eweek.com)
1970 that using quantum mechanics
as a communication resource and the
term quantum information theory came
into being. So, the question arises: how
is quantum computing different from
classical computing, and how did it go
from being a purely theoretical subject
to being used by companies like Google
and IBM?

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 51

 Tech Focus
Quantum computers versus
classical computers
We already have computers and even
supercomputers for faster processing
speeds, then why do we need quan-
tum computers? To understand it, we
need to understand the difference
between the two.
A classical computer’s main
purpose is to save and manipulate
data for working. Its chip uses bits
to store this information. These
bits are like tiny switches with two
states—on and off, represented by
one and zero, respectively. From
every pixel in an image to the texts
exchanged between people, every-
thing is ultimately made up of these
bits, a language that the computer
understands. But even supercom-
puters cannot define the uncertain
state that exists between on and off,
especially on atomic and molecular
levels. This makes them capable of
only analysing simple molecules in
practical applications related to biol-
ogy and chemistry.
This is where scientists and
researchers needed to find a better
way of computing when the prob-
ability is involved (such as spinning
a coin instead of flipping it). Also,
for problems above a certain com-
plexity, more computational power
is required, which is only possible
with quantum computers.
Dr Martin Laforest, senior prod-
uct manager and quantum technolo-
gy expert, Isara, explains, “Quantum
computers leverage the surprising
and often counterintuitive behaviour
of atoms and molecules, making
them radically different from today’s
computer. They derive their power
by utilising quantum mechanics
and marvels such as superposition
and entanglement. Their quantum
behaviour makes them much more
powerful, allowing them to perform
a variety of computational tasks
exponentially faster than classical
computers.”
Behind the magic: Working of
a quantum computer
Quantum computers use quantum
bits (qubits) instead of the regular
bits. By combining qubits, a lot more
data can be processed in less time
52 may 2020 • electronics For You
as compared to basic
computers. Underlying
quantum computing is
the principle of quantum
mechanics. Fundamental
quantum properties like
superposition, entangle-
ment, and interference
are used to manipulate
the state of a qubit.
Superposition refers
to the overlapping of
usually independent
states. Real-life examples
include sounds gener-
ated while playing an
instrument where notes
are played simultane-
ously, or waves formed
on throwing a stone in
a lake. Qubits can be in
superposition, that is,
somewhere between on
and off. This means that
if there is more than one
option, a quantum com-
puter can go through each
option simultaneously
and choose the ultimate
answer, instead of ruling
out previous options indi-
vidually before checking
the next option.
Entanglement is a
quantum phenomenon
where states of two par-
ticles, even if they are IBM’s quantum computer model
physically separated, are
tied such that they cannot be described of quantum gates; long coherence
independently of each other. What- times, much longer than the gate-
ever is the result of measuring one of operation time; and single-qubit
these particles, the outcome of anoth- measurement.
er one will be mathematically related There are different ways to create
to it. This correlation is necessary for a qubit. In one of the most commonly
faster computations through special used methods, superconductivity
instructions (algorithms) that can only is applied to create and preserve
be written with quantum computers. hard-to-maintain quantum states.
Just like wave interference, quantum Quantum computers are isolated
states can also change (cancel or add) from any sort of electrical interfer-
depending on whether they are in ence and made to operate in an
phase or out of phase. environment at almost absolute zero
temperatures to prevent errors while
Making of a quantum computer working with qubits. Superconduc-
According to IBM researcher DiVin- tors also minimise energy loss during
cenzo’s Criteria, there are five mini- transmission.
mal requirements for creating a In order to achieve results close
quantum computer—a well-defined to absolute zero, necessary cool-
scalable qubit array; an ability to ing power is made available and
initialise the state of the qubits to a multiple other steps are followed.
simple fiducial state; a universal set This includes attenuation during
www.EFYMag.com

refrigeration to protect qubits from
thermal noise during the process of
transmitting signals to the quantum
processor. Also, cryoperm shields
protect the qubits from electromag-
netic radiation.
To create a fault-tolerant quantum
system, it is necessary to increase the
computational power of a quantum
computer. For this, higher numbers
of qubits are preferable as states
increase exponentially with each
qubit. Researchers have designed
algorithms for sequential quantum
operations that can run on fault-toler-
ant quantum computers for extended
periods of time. To ensure that the
results are accurate and noise-free,
low error rates need to be maintained.
New opportunities
Quantum computers are not just
about saving time and money with
better speed and higher efficiency
of doing tasks that can already be
performed. Quantum computers are
thought to be useful in places where
any uncertain system needs to be
simulated.
Quantum chemistry is one of
the most promising applications of
quantum computing. By determin-
ing the lowest energy state among
various molecular bond lengths
that represents equilibrium molecu-
lar configuration, it is possible to
simulate a molecule. Modeling even
simple molecules and predicting
particle interactions in chemical
reactions can aid in discovery of new
life-saving medicines and other com-
pounds useful for making efficient
devices, which is not possible with
conventional computing memory and
processing power.
Another application is cryptog-
raphy, as these computers can easily
generate hard-to-break encryption
keys for better cyber security. Dr
Laforest says, “Quantum computing
promises many positive disruptions.
One such possibility is the use of
quantum particles called photons to
create secure communications chan-
nels for the distribution of quantum
keys. This has the potential to revolu-
tionise networking and the protection
of future data transmission.”
Other possibilities include
improved solar panels, financial
www.EFYMag.com
strategies for prediction of financial
markets, better weather forecasts,
and so on.
Problems encountered
Holding an object in a superposition
state for a long period is difficult.
Interaction with the environment
is necessary for quantum measure-
ment. But if a qubit comes in contact
with such occurrences as changing
magnetic and electric fields and
radiation from warm objects nearby,
or if there is a cross talk between
qubits, it undergoes decoherence,
and changes in the uncertain state
cause the information to be lost.
Due to these interference problems,
in spite of high speeds, a quantum
computer is also much more vulner-
able to errors than a classical com-
puter would be.
This requires robust quantum
processes and designing devices such
that the system is only sensitive to
the targeted measurement, protecting
quantum states from decoherence.
But one needs to keep in mind that
high sensitivity is crucial for preci-
sion.
When it comes to cybersecurity,
Dr Laforest says, “It is important to
note that quantum is a dual-use tech-
nology that also has the capacity to
cause security chaos. Imagine a world
where our existing encryption is no
longer effective. If hackers equipped
with quantum computers can break
these algorithms, they can determine
the private keys used to secure the
data and expose it. The combination
of quantum computer speed-ups
and known algorithms developed
by Peter Shor and Lov Grover make
this possible. To ensure we are ready,
preparation has to start now as it will
take a decade or more to fix many of
our complex systems. Experts in the
field of quantum computer develop-
ment agree it is highly probable we
are only ten years away from large-
scale quantum computing with this
capability. Cybersecurity experts are
already starting to prepare for poten-
tial quantum computer attacks on
the encryption algorithms we use to
protect data today.”
“The good news is that quantum-
safe algorithms exist. The most
significant challenge we face is the
Tech Focus
development of tools and methods
that will make it easy and seamless
to transition to these quantum-safe
algorithms. Key to this success will
be successfully completing this tran-
sition within a decade without any
wholesale disruption to our current
security systems and infrastructure,”
Dr Laforest adds.
Dearth of required skill set, lack
of available resources, and cost are
some other impediments for it to be
the technology in the making.
Can it be a staple technology?
Companies are competing to build reli-
able quantum computers in a variety
of fields like manufacturing, secu-
rity and financial services. Numerous
startups like Isara, Ionq and 1qbit
have come up in this field. They are
willing to invest money in the technol-
ogy at this early stage of development
because of its great potential. Cloud
based quantum computing technol-
ogy is increasingly being leveraged
to make it more easily available for
remote access and be user-friendly for
enterprises, no matter the size of their
work teams. Microsoft in November
2019 announced that it would start
providing access to quantum com-
puters in its Azure cloud for select
customers.
IBM Quantum designed and built
the world’s first integrated quantum
computing system ‘IBM Q System One’
for commercial use in 2019. Another
company, D-Wave, recently announced
that it is freely opening up its quantum
computers to anyone who has ideas
for how to use them to find a cure for
COVID-19. For assistance in developing
solutions, the company along with its
customers like Cineca, Volkswagen,
Denso, Tohoku University, Kyocera,
Sigma-i, among others, is offering
access to their engineering teams.
Quantum computers could change
the world but they are still not
advanced enough to replace the clas-
sical method. They are not so useful
when it comes to the basic tasks like
storing images that ordinary comput-
ers do. They are undoubtedly power-
ful, but not so reliable yet. As for now,
the most beneficial way will be to
give users access to both traditional
and quantum computers simultane-
ously.
electronics For You • may 2020 53
 101010101
101010
1010
Computing
Present Status Of Quantum
Based Superfast Computer
This article is a review of the present status of quantum computers, which can solve certain problems
much faster than a classical computer. Their future is now much more exciting and awaited
D. Raghu Ram
has previously worked
with Defence Research
and Development
Organization (DRDO)
as a scientist. He has
been awarded medal and
citation by former Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi
for his contribution as
Chief Design Engineer of
Arjun main battle tank,
which has been accepted
by Defence Forces and
has gone into production
since then
54 may 2020 • electronics For You
A
computer is a device that takes
an input, carries out a sequence
of instructions, and produces
an output. In a digital computer, these
inputs, instructions and outputs are all
sequences of 1s and 0s—individually
called bits. A quantum computer is one
that harnesses phenomena from quantum
physics, the study of the behaviour of
subatomic particles.
A quantum computer does the same
thing as a classical computer, but it uses
quantum bits or qubits. While a bit takes
only one of the two values—1 or 0, a qubit
uses the complex mathematics of quan-
tum mechanics, providing a richer set of
possibilities. As binary digits or bits are
the basic units of information in classical
computing, quantum bits or qubits are
the basic unit of information in quantum
computing.
Large-scale quantum computers
would theoretically be able to solve cer-
tain problems much more quickly than
any classical computer that uses even
the best currently known algorithms, like
integer factorisation. There exist quantum
algorithms, such as Simon’s algorithm,
that run faster than any possible proba-
bilistic classical algorithm. On the other
hand, quantum computers may be able
to efficiently solve problems which are
not practically feasible on a classical
computer. Quantum computer based on superconducting qubits
developed by IBM Research in Zürich, Switzerland. The qubits
The principle is that a particle can in the device shown here will be cooled to under 1 kelvin using
be in two different states at the same a dilution refrigerator (Credit: en.wikipedia.org)
time—as with Schrodinger’s imaginary
cat, who was both alive and dead at the or one. But quantum computers work with qubits,
same time. This is known in the jargon as which can have a value of 0, 1 or both. Thus, two
“superposition.” Superposition is at the qubits can represent four states simultaneously
heart of quantum computing. 00, 01, 10, 11. This means that a quantum com-
Ordinary computers work with bits puter would be much faster and efficient at some
that can be either on or off—coded as zero kind of computation than a classic computer,
www.EFYMag.com

which has to chunter along with bits
that are only on or off.
Quantum computation, a tool for
science, represents a fundamental
shift that is now underway. Quan-
tum supremacy was the name given
to the hypothetical point at which a
quantum computer could perform
a calculation that no conceivable
digital computer could perform in a
reasonable amount of time. From a
scientific point of view, the future of
quantum computation is now much
more exciting. The outputs of early
digital computers could be verified
by hand calculations, while the
outputs of quantum computers have
until now been verifiable by digital
computers.
Quantum teleportation is based
on quantum entanglement, through
which the properties of a quantum
particle can be transferred to a distant
particle without physical movement
of the particle itself. It is just two
interlinked particles revealing the
properties of the other particles. Quan-
tum teleportation is possible by using
photons which carry the quantum
www.EFYMag.com
information about the two possible
states in case of qubits.
Building quantum computers
takes phenomenal engineering. They
must be isolated to ensure nothing
interferes with the delicate quantum
states of the qubits. This is why they
are kept in vacuum chambers contain-
ing fewer particles than outer space, or
in refrigerators colder than anything in
the universe. Scientists have been able
to teleport qubits.
One of the greatest challenges
is controlling or removing quantum
decoherence. This usually means
isolating the system from its environ-
ment as interactions with the external
world cause the system to decohere.
However, other sources of decoher-
ence also exist. Examples include the
quantum gates, and the lattice vibra-
tions and background thermonuclear
spin of the physical system used to
implement the qubits. Decoherence
is irreversible.
Splitting the photon into three
beams through the use of an intricate
contraption consisting of the calibrat-
ed setup of lasers, beam splitters and
Computing
barium borate crystals, the researchers
created qutrits. They also said that it
could be possible to use ququarts in
the future. The researchers were able
to prove that qutrit teleportation is
possible. Despite rapid and impres-
sive experimental progress, most
researchers believe that “fault-tolerant
quantum computing [is] still a rather
distant dream”.
No scalable quantum computing
hardware had been demonstrated till
September 2019. Nevertheless, there
is an increasing amount of investment
in quantum computing by govern-
ments, established companies, and
startups. Current research focuses on
building and using near-term interme-
diate-scale devices and demonstrating
quantum supremacy alongside the
long-term goal of building and using
a powerful and error-free quantum
computer.
Quantum based computers will
arrive in the market sooner than we
think. What is most exciting is not
what we can do with a quantum
computer today, but the undiscovered
truths it will reveal tomorrow!
electronics For You • may 2020 55
 Interview Connectivity
Autonomous And Connected Car
Technologies Are Making The Vehicles
Safe, Intelligent, And Efficient
With a focus on safety and economic growth, connected and autonomous vehicles are the future of mobility in smart cities. Alexander
Klotz, head of Technical Center India, Continental Automotive, explains what needs to be done to achieve various capabilities of such
vehicles and their benefits, in an interaction with Ayushee Sharma
Q. What features are necessary to term
a vehicle as holistically connected?
A. Holistic connectivity enables
embedded systems inside the vehi-
cle (for example, high-performance
computing, gateways, or sensors) and
systems outside the vehicle (such as
edge computing, cloud) interact more
efficiently to achieve advanced levels
of autonomous driving capabilities.
However, to term a vehicle as holistical-
ly connected, wireless updates for the
entire vehicle electronics is extremely
crucial.
Q. What are the benefits of connected
electric cars?
A. Irrespective of whether the vehi-
cle is electric or not, connectivity ena-
bles the vehicle to receive and send data
in real-time. With holistic connectivity,
to keep this digital network up-to-date
or to install new functions, it is possible
to update while on the go.
Similarly, connectivity opens the
scope for predictive maintenance,
where the vehicle gets scanned for any
possible breakdown, or perhaps loss in
tire pressure. The driver receives this
information on-board and through sug-
gestion, based on GPS, the driver gets
information about the nearest service
station. In a typical scenario, electric
vehicle (EV) range anxiety can be eased
through real-time range calculation and
suggestions on an optimally located
charging station.
Connectivity also makes in-vehicle
infotainment smarter and more flexible.
With the cloud terminal, the system is
always up-to-date and new functions
can be added at any time, allowing
vehicle manufacturers to roll out the
applications across different models
and vehicle classes. This also helps in
making the vehicle safer.
56 may 2020 • electronics For You
Alexander Klotz
head of Technical Center India, Continental Automotive
Many autonomous driving features
have become a reality only because of
connectivity. For example, Continen-
tal’s Cellular V2X (C-V2X) communica-
tion allows an exchange of such time-
sensitive and safety-critical information
as warnings of potentially hazardous
situations.
Q. What are the key considerations in
designing connected vehicles?
A. It is a whole new game from an
interior perspective where infotainment
systems, cameras, a head-up display,
and other integrated systems are collec-
tively referred to as vehicle cockpit.
The car of the future may well
sport large interactive and integrated
information display surfaces running
from pillar to pillar, what we refer
today as Integrated Interior Platform
(IIP). Another vital consideration is the
mounting of sensors that help in moni-
toring driver behaviour, and designing
will play a key role here, too.
While considering the exteriors,
vehicles will increasingly be equipped
with cameras, radars, lidars, and other
proximity sensors. Cameras aiding in
rear viewing, 360-degree surround view
for blind-spot detection, and under the
hood viewing.
Q. What wireless technologies enable
intra- and inter-vehicle communica-
tions?
A. Near Field Communications
(NFC) has been used in various inter-
vehicle communications. It is a set
of short-range wireless technologies,
typically requiring a distance of ten
centimetres or less, for two devices
such as smartphones to establish com-
munication. Continental has also been
using NFC for smart access and door-
handle sensor.
Ultra-Wideband is another tech-
nology that complements the exist-
ing short-distance radio standards in
keyless vehicle access. It helps to avoid
unauthorised access via relay (man-in-
the-middle) attacks and therefore makes
keyless vehicle access more secure.
Dedicated Short Range Communica-
tion (DSRC) allows vehicles to directly
communicate with each other through
over-the-air messages compliant to
the IEEE 802.11p standard. Apart from
DSRC, cellular V2X (Vehicle to Eve-
rything) communication has a strong
potential of becoming a key enabler
for automated driving and intelligent
mobility.
Q. What are the challenges involved in
achieving the transition from partially to
fully autonomous vehicles?
A. What we need today is a more
reliable artificial intelligence (AI) that
offers accurate machine learning (ML)
techniques to enable the system to sense
the road environment and take intelligent
decisions. Given that all the collected data
needs to be combined, processed, and
turned into a machine-friendly picture of
the environment, and further make deci-
sions to move through the environment,
it calls for high-performance computing
power within the vehicle.
Currently, there is no standard
operating system (OS) for vehicles. This
creates multiple ecosystems that might
eventually cause trouble to the user
while migrating cars or being connected
across different systems. Hackers might
be motivated to hack into the vehicle’s
system to steal vital information of the
passenger or meddle with the function-
alities of the car.
Besides, the sensors like lidar, radar,
and camera are getting higher in num-
bers and increasing in complexities.
www.EFYMag.com
 Interview Startups
We Help Startups In Every
Possible Way During The
Incubation Period
A brainchild of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Electropreneur Park helps electronics startups through the processes
of incubation, acceleration and pitching to VCs. Sanjeev Chopra, chief executive officer, Electropreneur Park, in an exclusive
conversation with Mukul Yudhveer Singh, sheds light on how the organisation is helping India based startups incubate, accelerate
and pitch ideas to VCs
Q. What do you offer startups, in terms
of support?
A. We offer every incubated startup
a dedicated office space at our centre,
giving full-time access to the state-of-
art electronics lab facilities and product
development assistance. Typically, an
electronics startup needs to invest two
million to three million rupees in the
necessary test and development equip-
ment. We have advanced testing equip-
ment like spectrum analysers, variable
DC loads, 3D printers, PCB prototyping
machines, EDA/software tools and
embedded tools for creating embedded
designs, and more. Then, as a part of the
programme, we offer each startup an
anchor mentor, who could be a leader/
expert in a company or a successful
entrepreneur. We also facilitate interac-
tive sessions with technical experts from
the industry, such as chip manufactur-
ers/distributors like Infineon Technolo-
gies, STM, Arrow Electronics, etc. We
arrange visits by technical experts and
engineers from leading organisations to
Electropreneur Park, and sit down with
startup team members to understand the
application and help them choose the
right set of components for the product
or solution they are building. While all
the facilities are extended to a startup
without any outright fee or charges, we
expect each firm to share a small per-
centage of its equity for the sustainabil-
ity of the Electropreneur Park project.
Q. How long does a season usually
run for? How many startups have you
helped so far?
A. A formal call for proposals
is given and outreach activities are
conducted every eight to nine months,
depending on the availability of incuba-
tion space. We have already conducted
six seasons. We started operations in
April 2016 and are in our fourth year
www.EFYMag.com
Sanjeev Chopra
chief executive officer, Electropreneur Park
of operation. Till now, we have been
able to support forty startups in various
programmes. Our programme typically
runs for one-and-a-half to two years, as
far as the incubation is concerned.
Q. What does the term ‘exit’ signify?
A. By ‘exit’ we mean that we com-
pletely let go of whatever equity we hold
in the startup that is exiting. The money
that comes in can be used to sustain this
project. Exits generally happen when
venture capital (VC) comes in and there
is a VC level of funding involved.
Q. How many types of programmes do
you run?
A. We have two types, mainly, the
pre-incubation programme and the
incubation programme. There is also a
third category, which is virtual accelera-
tion. It is offered to startups that are not
located at Electropreneur Park prem-
ises. For example, we have one startup
under virtual acceleration in Bengaluru.
That programme involves more of men-
toring and other support services.
Q. What if a startup is not ready to
make an exit two to three years after
the incubation?
A. Apart from the physical space, all
the other support is available to start-
ups that have graduated. If a startup
graduates after two years but still wants
mentoring or access to the lab facilities,
we extend these facilities without any
charges. We also continue to extend
our support in market access to these
startups.
Q. What happens if a startup makes
an exit and another reaches out to you
with the same idea?
A. At any given time, we do not
incubate two directly competing start-
ups unless we see a synergy among
them. However, if a startup is working
on an idea with a new value proposi-
tion, though addressing maybe the same
problem as an earlier startup, then we
may consider taking it on board.
Q. From all the applications you receive,
how do you select the startups?
A. We do the first level of screening to
shortlist twenty complete and most prom-
ising proposals. These teams are then
called to make a detailed presentation and
pitch to a panel of industry leaders and
experts. After making presentations, a lot
of cross-questioning and discussions take
place. We typically coach about six to
eight startups every season.
Q. What if the panel sees potential in a
startup but is still not sure?
A. We have started a pre-incubation
programme. For the first two seasons,
we were only taking startups that had
a validated proof-of-concept (POC)
for incubation. Now, if a startup has a
very good business idea, and we see
potential in the team, then we give them
free access to the lab and the office for
a period of three months along with
the required technical and business
mentorship. Once the startup is able to
demonstrate a POC, it gets an opportu-
nity to pitch again to the panel for the
incubation programme.
Q. Are you focusing on startups working
around some specific technologies?
A. While selecting a startup, we look
for innovation, uniqueness of the idea,
business potential, team capabilities and
the feasibility of the project to create a
sustainable business venture within one
to two years.
We also ensure that we are able to
offer the required mentorship and facili-
ties in the technology area of the startup
we incubate.
electronics For You • may 2020 57
 Do-It-Yourself EF Y
vedi
Dwi
S.C.

Making This Versatile Arduino-Based K. Padmanabhan and

Frequency Generator Is Simple A.K. Mariselvam

T
his is a simple function gen-
erator that works in the audio
frequency range. It can be useful
for amplifier testing, experimentation
in digital signal processing (DSP) and
electronics labs. The author’s proto-
type is shown in Fig. 1.
Circuit diagram of the sine, square
and ramp Arduino-based frequency
generator is shown in Fig. 2. It is
built around an Ardunio Uno board
(Board1), 16x2 LCD (LCD1), two
10-kilo-ohm potmeters (VR1 and VR2)
and a few other components.
Potmeter VR1 connected to pin 3 of
LCD1 is used for controlling the con-
trast of LCD1. VR2 connected to ana- Fig. 1: Author’s prototype
logue input A0 pin of the Arduino Uno
board is used to adjust time period of
the output waveforms.
Three separate outputs are taken 1
Vss
LED−
LCD1 16
from pins 3, 9 and 10 of Arduino VR1 3
VO
16X2 LCD
board. Pin 3 is for square wave, pin 10K
VDD LED+
2 15
9 for sine wave and pin 10 for ramp CON1 D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 D0 EN R/W RS

wave output. Pins 9 and 10 outputs FOR 9V 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4

are actually pulse width modulated

(PWM) signals carrying the analogue R1
signals, and are obtained after filtering 470E
POWER USB
with a simple resistor-capacitor filter INPUT
circuit. The square wave output at AREF
DRIVER
pin 3 is directly taken without filter as IOREF GND
RST 13
ARDUINO

3.3V
Parts List 5V
12
11
Semiconductors: GND 10
GND 9
Board1 - Arduino Uno board
Vin 8 R2 CON2
Resistors (all 1/4-watt, ±5% carbon): C1
ATMEGA328

3.3K FOR
R1 - 470-ohm 0.1u
R3 RAMPWAVE
R2, R3 - 3.3-kilo-ohm 7
VR1, VR2 - 10-kilo-ohm potmeter 6 3.3K
DIGITAL

A0 5
Capacitors: A1 4
VR2
ANALOG

CON3
C1, C2 - 0.1µF ceramic disk A2 3
10K FOR
Miscellaneous: A3 2
C2
A4 TX 1 SINEWAVE
CON1-CON4 - 2-pin connector 0.1u
A5 RX 0
S1, S2 - Push to on switch S2
LCD1 - 16×2 LCD RANGE
S1 CON4
- 9V battery/adaptor BOARD1 SWITCH FOR
- 17-pin Berg female ARDUINO UNO SQUAREWAVE
connector for Board1
- 16-pin Berg female GND S1 OPEN = LCD DISPLAY S2 OPEN = 30 − 250Hz
connector for LCD1 S1 CLOSED = SERIAL PLOTTER S2 CLOSED = 250Hz − 2.5KHz
- Jumper wires
(All these are available from kitsnspares.com)
Fig. 2: Circuit diagram of Arduino based frequency generator

58 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com


Fig. 3: Signal waveforms on serial plotter
configured as per datasheet. The
software (freq_gen.ino) is written
in Arduino programming language
and compiled using Arduino IDE
software.
Switch S2 connected to pin
8 of Board1 is used for chang-
ing the frequency range. Two
frequency ranges are designed in
the program: 30 to 250Hz and 250
Fig. 4: Actual-size PCB layout for the frequency generator to 2500Hz to cover the medium
audio frequency range. These
signals from CON2 through CON4
can be viewed on an oscilloscope.
The program is to be uploaded
into the Arduino board from
the PC using Arduino IDE soft-
ware. With USB cable connected
between Arduino and PC, the
frequency value can be viewed on
LCD1. Switch S1 connected to pin
2 of Board1 is used for changing
Fig. 5: Components layout for the PCB the display between LCD1 and
serial plotter on Arduino IDE.
shown in Fig. 2. If pin 2 is grounded, the waveforms
These waveforms are synthesized (sine, square and ramp) can be viewed
using Timer 0 and Compare–Match on the serial plotter like a digital oscil-
interrupt control functions of Arduino loscope (refer Fig. 3).
microcontroller (ATmega328). Timer 1 Each waveform has a magnitude
of ATmega328 is programmed at 10kHz of about 5V. So the sine wave changes
to generate PWM output signals. The from 0 to 5V and does not go to nega-
program (freq_gen.ino) contains regis- tive.
ters of the ATmega328 microcontroller LCD1 connections are made on the
www.EFYMag.com
Do-It-Yourself
efy Note
The source code
of this project
is available
for free download
at source.efymag.com
PCB using 16-pin Berg strip. A 470-
ohm resistor (R1) connected to pin 15
is used to light LCD1. 5V for the LCD
is taken from Arduino board’s pins 5V
and Gnd.
A USB cable is used to connect
Arduino to a PC or laptop. After
uploading the program (freq_gen.ino),
the Arduino board and LCD1 can be
powered by a 9V adaptor/battery.
Construction and testing
An actual-size PCB layout for the
frequency generator is shown in
Fig. 4 and its components layout in
Fig. 5. After assembling the circuit
on the PCB, upload the source code
(freq_gen.ino) to Arduino board. Dis-
connect Board1 from computer and
connect it to 9V supply across CON1.
You can view the generated frequency
value on LCD1 by opening switch S1,
or check different signal waveforms
on the serial plotter by closing S1.
K. Padmanabhan was a
professor in Anna University,
Chennai
A.K. Mariselvam received masters degree in
communication systems from Anna University
in 2011. He is currently pursuing his
Ph.D in the field of environmental
monitoring from Anna University,
Chennai. He also worked as
an assistant professor in SRM
University, Chennai
electronics For You • may 2020 59
 Do-It-Yourself
Enjoy This Wireless
3D Mouse And Keyboard
W
e have seen different types
of human interface devices
(HID), such as mouse and
keyboard. In older versions of the
mouse, optical sensors were used to
detect movement relative to a surface,
thus they required a smooth surface to
function properly. They could work in
only two coordinates. With advance-
ments in technology, we are now talk-
ing about 3D user interfaces (3D UI).
So, let us make a 3D HID device which
Fig. 1: Installing library
Fig. 2: Arduino Mini code set up for sensor
60 may 2020 • electronics For You
Ashwini Kumar Sinha
has the capability to work in all three
coordinates.
In this project, we are going to
make a 3D wireless HID device that
will give you a whole new experience
of using computers and playing online
games. With this device, you will be
able to control computers and smart-
phones by just moving your hand in
the air.
This project has two units: trans-
mitter and receiver. The transmitter
Fig. 3: Arduino Mini code getting MPU6050 data
EF Y
o
i The
San
unit is to be attached to the user’s
hand and the receiver unit is to be
attached to your computer.
This device can be very helpful
in making 3D UI based systems. We
can use this device in 3D designing as
well. For instance, you can draw any
design by moving your hand in the air.
Further, you can develop the device
for 3D holographic display and virtual
reality (VR) that gives us a 3D UI.
The system can be further devel-
oped for differently-abled people
(without hands) to enable them to use
computers and smartphones. They
can wear this device on their head and
operate gadgets by moving their head.
To start our interesting project, we
need to gather the following compo-
nents:
• Arduino Pro Mini 5V, 16MHz
• Two Bluetooth HC-05 modules
• MPU6050 sensor
• Arduino Leonardo Pro Micro
(ATmega32U4)
• Jumper wires
• Micro USB cable
• Four pushbutton switches
Coding
First of all, we need to install an
MPU6050 library. Open library man-
ager of Arduino IDE and search for
MPU6050, then install the library
(refer Fig. 1). Then set one Bluetooth
as a slave and another as master;
follow the Bluetooth instructions on
the Internet to do this.
As we have installed the library,
now we can start the coding part. In
the first part of coding, we will include
the library for MPU6050 and set the
variables for storing values of the
MPU6050 sensor. After that, we can
set up the sensor and Bluetooth in set
up function (refer Fig. 2). I have used
a baud rate of 9600 in this code.
In the second part of coding, we
will send the buttons and sensors data
www.EFYMag.com
 Do-It-Yourself
Arduino Pro Mini Connections Table 1
Arduino Pro Mini Pin Components Pin
Arduino Pro Mini SCL MPU6050 SCL
Arduino Pro Mini SDA MPU6050 SDA
Arduino Pro Mini Vcc MPU6050 Vcc
Arduino Pro Mini GND MPU6050 GND
Arduino Pro Mini TX Bluetooth HC05 RX
Arduino Pro Mini RX Bluetooth HC05 TX
Arduino Pro Mini Vcc Bluetooth HC05 +Ve
Arduino Pro Mini Vcc Pushbutton switch (S1 through S4)
Arduino Pro Mini (A0 through A3) Pushbutton switch (S1 through S4)
Fig. 4: Arduino Pro Micro code setting library

Arduino Pro Table 2

Micro Connections
Arduino Pro Micro pin Bluetooth HC-05 pin
Vcc +VE
GND -VE
Pin 9 TX
Pin 8 RX

to another Arduino over Bluetooth

Fig. 5: Checking the data to set coordinate values
Fig. 7: Connections with Arduino Pro Mini (transmitter)
Fig. 6: Setting mouse click function
(refer Fig. 3).
Our Arduino Mini code (transmit-
ter) is ready now. So, let’s start coding
for Arduino Pro Micro (receiver).
First, we will create variables to store
values, then set up Bluetooth to read
serial data of the sensor (refer Fig. 4).
In the third part of our coding
process, we will create a loop function
and get the serial data from Bluetooth.
Here in this code, I have used software
serial for Bluetooth connection with a
baud rate of 9600.
After that, we check the range
value of serial data and assign its
value for mouse movement as shown
in Fig. 5.
Next, we will create if ( ) condition
to check how the mouse button func-
tions (refer Fig. 6). We can also add
extra keyboard shortcuts and other
functions to it. Here in this code, I
have added buttons shortcut for copy
and paste functions. You can create
your own custom function according
to your requirement.
As we have completed the coding
part, we need to connect the compo-
nents. Arduino Pro Mini pin-to-pin
connections are shown in Fig. 7 and
also shown in Table 1.
Switches S1 through S4 are con-

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 61

 Do-It-Yourself efy Note
The source code
Now we will connect
of this project
Arduino Pro Micro with
is available
Bluetooth as shown in
for free download
Fig. 8. Arduino Pro Micro
at source.efymag.com
pin-to-pin connections with
Bluetooth are shown in
Table 2.
Next, we need to upload
the code to Arduino Pro
Micro. For that open Ardui-
no IDE, select the board, it—you can attach the transmitter
COM port and press Ctrl+U unit on your hand or any toy gun and
to upload the code. Simi- enjoy the real shooting game experi-
larly, upload the code to ence using switches S1 and S2. You
Arduino Pro Mini after can also attach the device on the tip
selecting the appropriate of a plastic knife and play vegetable
board. cutting game with it. Use switch S1
Congrats! The wireless for actions such as shooting and cut-
HID mouse is ready for use. ting vegetables. Use switch S2 for
First, make sure that the additional functions such as selection
receiver unit is attached to and highlighting objects in video game
Fig. 8: Arduino Pro Micro connections (receiver) your computer through a applications.
USB port. Keep a distance
nected to pins A0 through A3 of between transmitter and receiver
Arduino Pro Mini, respectively. units. Use pushbutton switches (S3
Switch S1 is for mouse right click, S2 and S4) to operate functions like copy Ashwini Kumar Sinha is an electronics
for mouse left click, S3 for paste and and paste on your computer. You can hobbyist and tech journalist at EFYi
S4 for copy function. also do some awesome tricks with

62 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com


This IR Remote Can Control
Up To Eight Devices
T
his project based on an 8-bit
ATmega328P microcontroller
(MCU) can control up to eight
devices connected to its electromag-
netic relays. The article also describes
how to program an MCU to accept
infrared (IR) remote control signals for
controlling the relays.
Here, an ordinary TV remote
control is used along with the 28-pin
ATmega328P MCU in DIL package
and Arduino bootloader to control the
devices. Pin details of ATmega328P
are given in Fig. 1.
Circuit and working
Block diagram of the project is shown
in Fig. 2 and its complete circuit dia-
gram is shown in Fig. 3. To understand
the project, it is divided into following
four sections:
1. Power supply unit
2. Infrared light receiver unit
3. Microcontroller unit and its pro-
gramming
4. Relay driver output and power
isolator unit
Parts List
Semiconductors:
IC1 - 7812, 12V voltage regulator
IC2 - 7805, 5V voltage regulator
IC3 - ATmega328P MCU
IC4 - ULN2803 relay driver
LED1-LED9 - 5mm LED
D1-D4 - 1N4007 rectifier diode
IRRX1 - TSOP1738
Resistors (all 1/4-watt, ±5% carbon):
R1-R9 - 1-kilo-ohm
Capacitors:
C1 - 1000µF, 40V electrolytic
C2-C3 - 22pF ceramic disk
Miscellaneous:
X1 - 230V AC primary to 15V,
1A secondary transformer
XTAL1 - 16MHz crystal
CON1-CON8 - 2-pin connector
CON9 - 2-pin terminal connector
RL1-RL8 - 12V, single changeover relay
- 28-pin IC base
- 18-pin IC base
- Heat-sink for IC1 and IC2
(All these are available from kitsnspares.com)
www.EFYMag.com
Adeeb Raza
Power supply unit. This section
includes a 230V AC primary to 15V,
1A secondary step-down transformer
(X1). The secondary of this transform-
er is connected to a bridge rectifier
circuit formed by four IN4007 rectifier
diodes (D1 to D4) and filter capacitor
C1. Regulators 7812 (IC1) and 7805
(IC2) are used to get required 12V and
5V supplies, respectively.
Infrared light receiver unit. An IR
module TSOP1738 (IRRX1) is used to
receive infrared light signal from any
TV IR remote control. The IR remote
control signals are sent to IC3 micro-
controller’s pin 18 for processing and
controlling the relays as per program
and calibration of the controller unit.
Microcontroller unit and pro-
gramming. This unit is the heart of
the device. It has two parts: hardware
and software.
The hardware receives the infrared
light’s hex-coded signals generated
Fig. 1: ATmega328P pin details
INFRA RED LIGHT
PROGRAMMED
RECEIVER MODULE
ATMEGA328P
TSOP1738
POWER SUPPLY UNIT
7812 and 7805
Fig. 2: Block diagram of the project
Do-It-Yourself
EF Y
S.C.
Dwi
vedi
by TV remote control and sends them
to the MCU through infrared receiver
module TSOP1738 (IRRX1). Output
pin 3 of IRRX1 is connected to MCU’s
pin 18. The MCU’s output pins are
programmed to turn on or turn off
using IR remote input signal. MCU’s
output pins 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14 and
15 are connected to pins 1 through 8 of
ULN2803 (IC4) relay driver unit. The
output pins 18 through 11 of IC4 are
connected to RL1 through RL8 relays,
respectively as shown in Fig. 3.
The MCU can be programmed by
following the steps below:
1. Download Arduino IDE software
and install it in the PC
2. Connect USB cable between
Arduino board and the PC
3. Open Arduino IDE by clicking
the Arduino icon from Desktop. (You
will get Arduino programming/sketch
window as shown in Fig. 4.)
After installing Arduino IDE in
the PC, install IR remote
libraries. For this use
IRremote-2.0.1 and IRre-
mote-2.2.3 folders included
in this project. Copy these
folders under Arduino/
Libraries in a Windows PC.
Alternatively, you can install
the libraries from Arduino
IDE as explained below:
1. Select Sketch→
Include Library→Manage
Libraries option
2. Type IR Remote and
press Enter
RELAY DRIVER
EIGHT
AND POWER
RELAYS
ISOLATOR
230V AC
POWER SUPPLY
FOR LOADS
electronics For You • may 2020 63
 Do-It-Yourself

230V AC
LOAD3

LOAD6
CON3

CON6

CON9
FOR

50HZ
LOAD1−LOAD8=230VAC OPERATED APPLIANCE
FOR

N
L
NO

NC
NO

NC

RL6
RL3

LOAD8
CON8
LED6

FOR
LED3

R6
1K
R3
1K

LOAD5
LOAD2

CON5
CON2

FOR
FOR

NO
NO

NC
NC
NO

NC

Fig. 4: Arduino sketch window

RL2

RL8
RL5

LED8
LED5
LED2

R8
R5

1K
1K
R2
1K

TSOP1738
LOAD4

POWER
IOREF
LOAD1

INPUT
LOAD7

GND
GND
5V
3.3V
RST
CON4

A5
A4
A3
A2
A1
A0

Vin
CON1

CON7

RL1−RL8=12V,1CO RELAY
FOR
FOR

FOR

ANALOG

DRIVER
ATMEGA328 1 2 3

USB

GND
VCC
O/P
NO
NO

NC
NC
NO

NC

DIGITAL ARDUINO
RL4

TX 1
RL7

RX 0

AREF
RL1

GND
10
11
12
13
2
3
4
5
6
7

8
9
LED7
LED4
LED1

R7
R4

1K
1K
R1
1K

BOARD1 ARDUINO UNO

Fig. 5: TSOP1738 connection with Arduino Uno

12V

10
18

17

16

15

14

13

12

11
8C
5C

COM

Remote Control Code and Device Status

2C

3C
1C

7C
6C
4C
ULN2803

IR Remote key/button Decode Relay Load/device

IC4

1 16748655 Energised Load1 on

GND

2 16758855 Energised Load2 on

8B

GND
4B

5B
2B

3B

6B

7B
1B

3 16775175 Energised Load3 on

9
1

8
4
5V

4 16756815 Energised Load4 on

28
27
26
25
24
23
19
18
17
16
15
22
20
21

5 16750695 Energised Load5 on

PB2
PB1
PC5/SCL
PC4/SDA
PC3
PC2
ATMEGA328 PC1
PC0
PB5/SCK
PB4/MISO
PB3/MOSI

AGND
AVcc
AVREF

6 16767015 Energised Load6 on

7 16746615 Energised Load7 on
8 16754775 Energised Load8 on
IC3

X1= 230V AC PRIMARY TO 15V,1A SECONDARY TRANSFORMER

PC6/RESET

PB6/XTAL1
PB7/XTAL2

Power on/off 16773135 De-energised All loads off

PD0/RXD
PD1/TXD

GND
PD2
PD3
PD4

PD5
PD6
PD7
PB0
Vcc

3. S e l e c t I R decode the code of each button. For

7
1
2
3
4
5
6
9
10
11
12
13
14
8

Remote (By Cris- that, first open the IR decode.ino code

tiano Borges) and from the Arduino sketch window.
click on Install. To use this code you need a hard-
16MHZ
3

XTAL1
3

O/P
1 2 3

Fig. 3: Circuit diagram of the device controller

(This will install all ware circuit such as the one shown in
VCC
GND
7812
7805

IC1

IR libraries in Ardui- Fig. 5. Here, output pin 3 of TSOP1738

IC2

IRRX1
TSOP
1738
2
2

no IDE software.) module is connected to pin 12 of

22p

22p

Arduino Uno.
C2

C3

Decoding IR
1
1

Compile the code and upload it

remote to Arduino Uno board. Point the IR
POWER

Every remote has remote towards the TSO1738 module

1N4007 R9
1K

LED9

a different code and press any button on the IR remote.

1N4007

1000u

ON
X1 1N4007

1N4007
40V
C1

corresponding to You can see the decoded value of each

I/P = 230V AC
D1

D2

D3

D4

each key/button. button on serial monitor of Arduino

50HZ

In order to use your IDE. (Please note, the decoded values

IR remote in this may differ from remote to remote.)
I/P

N
L

project, you need to The decoded values observed

64 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com

 Do-It-Yourself
ATemga328P MCU from
Arduino Uno board and use
it in the main device control
circuit as shown in Fig. 3.
Relay driver and power
isolator unit. This section
includes ULN2803 (IC4)
relay driver, which is used
to drive the relays as well as
to isolate low-voltage sec-
tion of the circuit from high-
voltage section. Basically, it
is used for switching on or
switching off a high-voltage
device connected through a
set of relay contacts.
Construction and testing
An actual-size PCB layout
for device controller is
shown in Fig. 6 and its com-
ponents layout in Fig. 7.
First, decode each key
of the remote control,
include decoded values in
Fig. 6: An actual size PCB layout for the device controller devicecontefylab.ino code
and upload it to the MCU as
explained earlier. Remove
the MCU from Arduino
board and insert it into the
PCB. It is recommended to
use a 28-pin IC socket for
the MCU.
Connect eight loads
across Load1 through
Load8. Connect second-
ary of transformer X1 to
the PCB for power supply.
Point the IR remote towards
TSOP1738 module from a
distance of about one metre.
W h e n yo u p re s s a
button of the remote, say
key 1, relay RL1 energises
and Load1 turns on. When
you press power on/off key
of remote control, relay RL1
de-energises and Load1
turns off. Similarly, you can
operate the remaining loads
by pressing remote buttons
Fig. 7: Components layout of the PCB 2 through 8 as listed in the
Table.
during testing are listed in Table 1.
You should use these decoded values
in your final Arduino code (device-
Adeeb Raza is an electronics
contefylab.ino). After entering the efy Note engineer having a practical
decoded value of each key in the final The source code experience of about 35 years.
code, compile it and upload it to the He is a regular reader and
of this project contributor to EFY
Arduino Uno board. Then remove the is available
for free download
www.EFYMag.com at source.efymag.com electronics For You • may 2020 65
 Do-It-Yourself EF Y
akta
ti Bh o
Pree ani The
&S

This Gauss Meter T.K. Hareendran

Is Simple To Make

P
resented here is the design of is near south pole of the
a low-cost Gauss meter using TP1
IC2 magnet and decrease if it
S1
a linear Hall effect sensor and ON/OFF
3 IC1 2
SS49E is near north pole. k is the
LM1117−5.0
a standard alkaline battery. A Gauss typical sensitivity (mV/G)

GND
TP2

OUT
Vcc
meter is used to measure the strength 1
1 2 3 of the sensor as indicated
of a magnetic field. Here, in order to BATT.1 in its datasheet.
C1
9V C2 R1
make sure that the meter readings 10u
10u
CON1 For example, let us say
25V 10K FOR
are stable over the life of the battery, 25V O/P1 you measured 2.50 Vdc
a low-drop fixed voltage regulator for V1 and 1.35Vdc for
GND
is used, which supplies a steady V2. Then,
DC power source to the Hall effect B = 10 0 0 × ( 2 . 5 0 –
sensor. Fig. 1: Circuit diagram of the Gauss meter 1.35)/1.80=638 Gauss
Circuit diagram of the Gauss
meter is shown in Fig. 1. It com- SS49E
Linear Hall Effect Sensor Electrical Characteristics (TA=25°C, VCC=5.0V)
prises a compact (6F22) 9V battery
Parameter Symbol Test conditions Min. Typ Max. Units
(BATT.1), an LM1117-5.0 (IC1) that Operating voltage VCC Operating 3.0 6.5 V
takes +9V from the battery through Supply current ICC Average 4.2 8.0 mA
the toggle switch (S1) and regulates
Output current IOUT 1.0 1.5 mA
it to +5V for the SS49E Hall effect Response time Tack 3 uS
sensor (IC2), a 2-pin connector Quiescent output voltage Vo B=0G 2.25 2.5 2.75 V
(CON1) for connecting a good- Sensitivity ∆Vout TA=25°C 1.6 1.8 2.0 mV/G
1 Vdd Power supply
quality digital voltmeter (DVM) or Min output voltage B=–1500G 0.86 V
2 GND IC ground
digital multimeter (DMM). Voltage Max output voltage B=1500G 4.21 V
3 Output Output
at test point TP1 is 5V when switch
S1 is closed and voltage at TP2 Fig. 2: Hall sensor data
depends on the position of magnet
with respect to sensor (IC2). Circuit Board
The Hall effect sensor (SS49E)
is like a flattened TO-92 transistor
(Fig. 2) in appearance. To give it
mechanical robustness, you can glue Magnet DVM/DMM
(epoxy) flat side of the sensor to a Sensor 0-10V
piece of small circular plexiglass or
cardboard (Fig. 3). Solder its leads to Battery
a 3-core cable and link up the cable
to your main circuitry (Fig. 1). Fig. 3: Hall sensor setup Fig. 4: Test setup
To measure the field strength of
a magnet, keep it away from sensor, towards south pole of the magnet. If It indicates north pole because the
place the probes of DVM across voltage read is at its lowest, it is facing result is positive.
CON1 and note down the output towards magnet’s north pole. But if you measured 3.50 Vdc for
voltage (usually this quiescent To measure the magnetic field V2 with the same sensor, then,
output voltage is around ½ Vcc). strength (magnetic flux density) in B=1000×(2.50-3.50)/1.80=–555
Next, move the magnet towards the Gauss, the relationship is: Gauss
sensor. Test set up for the project is Magnetic Flux Density (B) = 1000 This indicates south pole because
shown in Fig. 4. ×(V1-V2)/k Gauss the result is negative.
You will observe two output volt- where V1 is the output voltage with
ages in DVM depending on the posi- no magnet near the sensor, and V2 is T.K. Hareendran is a freelance
tion of the magnet with respect to the the output voltage with magnet near technical author and circuit
designer, founder and promoter
sensor. If voltage read in DVM is at its the sensor. Note that, V1 should be of TechNode - Protolabz
highest, it means the sensor is facing around 2.5V. V2 will increase if sensor

66 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com

 Do-It-Yourself

EF Y
Arduino Based Sagar Raj and
akta
ti Bh o
Pree ani The
&S

Liquid Vending Machine Mahendra Raisinghani

T
his is an automatic liquid vend- operation and instructions for users shops are opened for fixed hours.
ing machine based on radio- to follow while dispensing the liquid. With this machine, you get 24-hour
frequency identification (RFID) This machine could be implemented service.
system. A fixed amount of liquid can in organisations like hospitals and 3. At events/functions, this
be dispensed by swiping an RFID tag colleges (medical, engineering, etc) to machine can be used to dispense
across the RFID reader. An alpha- provide 24-hour service to customers juice of varied flavours.
numeric LCD is used to display the with no humans involved. 4. In rural areas, this machine can
The vending be used to dispense water for a variety
machine has many of purposes including drinking and
Liquid advantages and is watering plants to enhance productiv-
source
Power supply highly beneficial in ity as well as quality.
many ways. Some The concept of this project could
examples are given be useful for hobbyists and designers
Solenoid Relay below: to further design a rugged-mechanical
valve 1. In hospitals, it machine. This DIY article describes
LCD
display can be used as a milk programming and interfacing the
Arduino vending machine. circuit as per the working prototype
Uno
Patients can buy without mechanical construction
Flow
milk from the vend- parts. The main components required
sensor ing machine without in this project are listed in the table
going to the market. on next page. The block diagram
2. In educational of Arduino based liquid vending
Fig. 1: Block diagram of Arduino based liquid vending machine organisations, some machine is shown in Fig. 1.

NO
Vss
1 LED−
16x2 16
VO NC
3 LCD1 R1 100E
LED+
D1 RL1 CON4
VDD
2 15 1N4007 12V 1CO RELAY FOR
D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 D0 EN R/W RS
SOLENOID
14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4
CON1 R2 1K
FOR T1
12V BC547
AREF
GND
13
12
11
10
9
8

7
6
5
4
3
2
TX 1
RX 0

ARDUINO DIGITAL
Tx
CON2
FOR
DRIVER
USB

Vcc EM−18
ATMEGA328
GND RFID
READER
POWER

ANALOG
INPUT

IOREF

GND
GND
3.3V
RST

OUT
Vin

A0
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
5V

CON3
GND
FOR
Vcc FLOW
BOARD1 SENSOR

Fig. 2: Circuit diagram of the liquid vending machine

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 67

 Do-It-Yourself
Circuit and working
The circuit diagram of Arduino based
liquid vending machine is shown in
Fig. 2. This project consists of ana-
logue flow sensor, RFID tag, RFID
reader, 16x2 LCD, solenoid, Arduino
Uno, a single channel relay and a 12V
DC power supply.
Analogue water flow sensor. This
sensor measures the flow rate of a
fluid. It has two openings—one open-
ing for fluid in-take and the other for
out-take.
It works on the principle of the
Hall effect. The Hall effect is utilised
Main Components
S.No. Components
1 RFID tag
2 RFID reader (EM-18)
3 12V solenoid
4 12V relay
5 Water flow sensor
6 Adaptor (12V,1 ampere)
7 Arduino Uno
8 Alphanumeric LCD (16x2)
Fig. 3: EM-18 RFID reader
Fig. 5: Analogue flow sensor connected to Arduino
68 may 2020 • electronics For You
in the flow meter using a small fan/
propeller-shaped rotor, which is
placed in the path of the liquid flow.
It has three wires: red wire for
supply voltage, black wire for ground
and a yellow wire to collect output
from Hall effect sensor. Supply voltage
could be from 5V to 18V DC.
RFID reader. EM-18 RFID module
(refer Fig. 3) is used to read the RFID
tag. It decodes and transmits the
signal to Arduino via a serial commu-
nication protocol.
LCD. A 16x2 LCD (liquid crystal
display) displays the data received
from Arduino board.
Solenoid. A 12V solenoid is used
to control the flow of liquid. When the
solenoid gets energised, it opens its
valve and allows fluid to flow through
the flow sensor; otherwise it stays
closed and does not allow fluid to flow
across it. The solenoid valve used in
this project is shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4: Solenoid valve
In this project, Arduino is the
brain which controls the whole
process. Analogue flow sensor con-
nected to the Arduino board is shown
in Fig. 5.
When liquid flows through the
flow sensor, the liquid pushes against
fins of the rotor, causing it to rotate.
The shaft of the rotor is connected to
a Hall effect sensor. It is an arrange-
ment of a current flowing coil and a
magnet connected to the shaft of the
rotor, thus a voltage/pulse is induced
as this rotor rotates. In this flow
meter, for every litre of liquid pass-
ing through the sensor per minute, it
outputs about 4.5 pulses.
Output pin of this flow sensor is
connected to digital pin 2 of Arduino.
When liquid flows, the output pulses
are counted by the microcontroller in
Arduino.
The total number of received
pulses is converted into a specific
unit like millilitre per second or litre
per minute. This is due to the chang-
ing magnetic field caused by the
magnet attached to the rotor shaft.
Here, the flow rate in litres per
minute (L/min.) is calculated using
a simple conversion formula.
Pin Tx of EM-18 reader is con-
nected to receive pin Rx of Arduino.
When RFID tag swipes across EM-18
reader, it sends data to Arduino. If it
matches with the programmed data,
it sends a signal to the input of the
relay driver consisting of transistor
BC547 (T1). This input signal makes
transistor to conduct, relay RL1 to get
energised, which in turn connects
12V supply to solenoid via NO pin of
relay and the solenoid gets energised.
At the same time, “Place your pot/
jug/cup” message is displayed on the
first line of LCD1.
Energisation of solenoid allows
the liquid to flow through the flow
sensor. As the liquid starts to flow
through the flow sensor, the amount
of liquid being dispensed is displayed
on the second line of LCD1.
When a predefined amount (pro-
grammed in the code) of liquid has
passed through the flow sensor, the
relay automatically gets de-energised
and the flow of liquid stops. At the
same time, “Remove your pot/jug/
cup” message is displayed on the first
line of LCD1.
www.EFYMag.com
 efy Note
The source code
of this project
is available
for free download
at source.efymag.com
If you want the same amount of
liquid again, you just swipe the RFID
card again across the RFID reader. You
can repeat this again and again till
the amount of liquid in the container
finishes.
Software
The software code (liquid_vending.
ino) is written in Arduino program-
ming language. Arduino IDE is used
for compiling and uploading the
sketch to ATmega328 microcontroller
of the Arduino board. Every RFID tag
has a unique number. This number
has to be included in the Arduino
code/sketch.
Arduino code uses LiquidCrystal.h
header file for the LCD and serial
www.EFYMag.com
communication for reading the data
from the RFID reader. Two built-in
functions are used, namely, Serial.
available( ) to return the RFID tag
number arrived in the serial buffer
and Serial.readString( ) to read a
string of RFID tag numbers.
In this code/sketch, we used a
variable as ‘int amount=1000’. This
gives a default liquid amount of 1000
millilitres or one litre per card swipe.
Just change the amount value as per
your requirement.
Construction and testing
1. Connect all the components and
modules as per the schematic dia-
gram.
2. Connect a 12V power supply
from 12V adaptor or 12V battery to
Vin pin of Arduino, relay driver and
to relay NO pin.
3. Connect relay common pin to
the solenoid as shown in the circuit
diagram.
4. Check the default amount of
liquid in the code for dispensing per
minute.
Do-It-Yourself
5. Swipe the RFID tag over EM-18
reader. If it matches the programmed
RFID tag code, relay and solenoid
will be energised, water from the
source(tap) will flow through flow
sensor.
6. You will get all relevant informa-
tion on LCD1 as already explained.
Make sure that there is sufficient
amount of liquid in the source (water
tap or container). Less amount of
liquid in the source means less pres-
sure in liquid flow in the pipe, result-
ing in inaccuracy in the liquid flow
measurement.
Sagar Raj is founder and
director of Shoolin Labs, Jaipur
and Lifegraph Biomedical
Instrumentation Pvt Ltd at
Incubation Center, IIT Patna. He
is guest faculty at NIELIT Patna
Mahendra Raisinghani is
co-founder and director of Shoolin
Labs, Jaipur and Lifegraph
Biomedical Instrumentation Pvt Ltd
at Incubation Center, IIT Patna
electronics For You • may 2020 69
 Industry News
Industry Updates
Production linked incentive scheme
for electronics manufacturing
In a bid to improve and strengthen
the indigenous manufacturing of
electronics in India, the government
has approved a production incentive
scheme (PLI) for large scale elec-
tronics manufacturing. The scheme
includes incentives for players manu-
facturing mobile phones in India. It
also encompasses specified electronic
components including assembly, test-
ing, marking and packaging (ATMP)
units.
The India Cellular and Electron-
ics Association (ICEA) last year had
pointed out that there were around
268 mobile phone manufacturing
units operating in India. The value of
electronics produced in India, as per
government, had reached ` 4580 bil-
lion in 2018-19 from ` 1903 billion in
Assistance for modified electronics
manufacturing clusters
Aimed towards improving electron-
ics manufacturing in the country,
the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has approved
financial assistance to the modified
electronics manufacturing clusters
(EMC2.0) scheme. The scheme,
as per the government of India,
works towards the development of
world-class infrastructure along with
common facilities and amenities
through electronics manufacturing
clusters (EMCs).
India’s electronics production has
increased from ` 1903 billion in 2014-
15 to ` 4580 billion in 2018-19, at a
CAGR of about 25 per cent. India’s
share in global electronics manufac-
turing grew from 1.3 per cent (2012)
to three per cent (2018). It accounts for
2.3 per cent of India’s GDP at present.
The modified EMC 2.0 scheme,
as the government informed, would
70 may 2020 • electronics For You
2014-15 at a compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) of about 25 per cent.
The total cost of the proposed
scheme, as informed by the govern-
ment, is approximately ` 409.95 bil-
lion. This figure includes an incentive
outlay of approximately ` 409.51 bil-
lion and administrative expenses of
around ` 0.44 billion.
Interestingly, India’s import of
electronics products has been on a
sharp rise since 2011. While the figures
were around one trillion rupees in
2011, the same for the year 2019 stood
at around four trillion rupees. Sourced
from Statista, the report mentions
that these imports included computer
hardware, consumer electronics, elec-
tronic components and instruments,
and telecom instruments.
support setting up both EMCs and
common facility centres (CFCs).
Government expects that these EMCs
will aid growth of the electronics
and semiconductor manufacturing
(ESDM) sector, help in development
of the entrepreneurial ecosystem,
drive innovation and catalyse the
economic growth of the region by
attracting investments in the sector,
increasing employment opportunities
and tax revenues.
The scheme, as per the govern-
ment, will provide financial assis-
tance of up to fifty per cent of the
project cost subject to a ceiling of
` 0.7 billion per hundred acres of land
for setting up of EMC projects. The
total outlay of the proposed EMC 2.0
scheme is ` 37.62 billion. It includes
financial assistance of ` 37.25 billion
and administrative and management
expense to the tune of ` 0.37 billion.
On The move
Konica Minolta appoints
Tai Nizawa as MD
Konica Minolta India has appointed Tai
Nizawa as managing director. Nizawa is
an industry veteran with over 30 years of
experience in the printing industry. He has
been associated with Konica Minolta since
1987. Before moving to this role, Nizawa
worked as MD at Konica Minolta Vietnam.
He has also worked with the brand in Osaka,
Germany, New Zealand, Tokyo, Netherlands,
UAE, and the US. Nizawa will be currently
responsible for creating a strategic roadmap
and leading day-to-day operations for the
Indian business.
Danlaw appoints Sirish Batchu
as new MD
Danlaw has announced the appointment
of Sirish Batchu as the company’s new
managing director. Sirish has over 28+ years
of experience across the automotive and
IT industries especially in OEMs and EV
segments in India. Before Danlaw, Sirish was
associated with several firms including Bosch,
Mahindra & Mahindra and Ather Energy.
NEC Technologies India
appoints new CEO
NEC Corporation and NEC Technologies
India have appointed Aalok Kumar as the
new president and chief executive officer
(CEO) of NEC Technologies India. With this
appointment, Takayuki Inaba, former chairman
and managing director, has been appointed
as executive chairman of NEC Technologies
India. In collaboration with local government
authorities, NEC is working on a number
of smart city projects as well by setting up
digital command and control centres for traffic
management and public safety.
Awards
Mouser Electronics honoured with
Awards from Neutrik USA
Mouser Electronics, Inc. has been honoured
by Neutrik USA with three top awards for
2019 performance—Distributor of the Year,
Top Revenue award and Outstanding
Performance of the Year award. Neutrik is the
leading provider of professional audio, video,
and lighting connector systems. Mouser
received the awards based on Neutrik’s
rigorous criteria, including overall sales
performance, personnel relationships, on-time
delivery and quality of inventory.
www.EFYMag.com
 Industry News
Digi-Key signs distribution partnership
with Rigol Technologies
Global electronic components distributor Digi-Key Electronics has
expanded its product portfolio by signing a North American distribu-
tion partnership with Rigol Technologies. It is a part of Digi-Key’s
Marketplace initiative to broaden the product offering to customers.
Rigol Technologies deals in digital oscilloscopes, waveform gen-
erators, multimetres and DC loads. Its product range also includes
digital and mixed-signal oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers and RF
signal generators, arbitrary waveform generators, sensitive meas-
urement products, and data acquisition systems. Recently, Digi-Key
Electronics had announced that it was offering a free eBook on the
benefits of implementing Application Programming Interface (API)
solutions, as well as a new ROI calculator to see the return on
investment that implementing APIs can deliver.
Keysight launches Innovate Anywhere program
Keysight Technologies has launched the ‘Innovate Anywhere’
program in response to Covid-19. This program spans across three
key areas including 90-day software trials, remote learning, and
scalable live network testing. Keysight is offering the company’s
popular software products free of charge for 90 days. Engineers
working on design and simulation or managing multiple instruments
and test stations remotely, can leverage Keysight’s PC-based soft-
Snippets
ware to remain productive. These 90-day software trials also
provide complimentary access to KeysightCare Software Sup-
port for the duration of the trials featuring live interaction with a
technical expert within four hours of contacting Keysight.
STMicroelectronics launches Smart Gateway Platform
The Smart Gateway Platform (SGP) from STMicroelectronics
provides a valuable development tool for prototyping auto-
motive Smart-Gateway and Domain-Controller applications.
ST’s modular Smart-Gateway Platform (SGP), built on gigabit
Ethernet communication between the secure and ASIL-B
Telemaco3P microprocessor (MPU) and the ASIL-D SPC58/
Chorus microcontroller (MCU), delivers powerful processing
capability to handle firewall functionalities, predictive main-
tenance, over-the-air (OTA) upgrades, and high data-rate
communication among different ECUs and to the cloud. The
SGP reference design features a rich set of in-vehicle network
interfaces including multiple Ethernet and CAN ports as well
as support for LIN and FlexRay connections.
It is deployed with a comprehensive starter package
including hardware design files, hardware/software documen-
tation, software utilities (drivers and flashers), and sample
applications. The SGP also integrates expansion connections
to Wi-Fi and LTE modules for full prototyping of use cases
requiring cloud-connectivity simulation.

Incentives for electronic
components and
semiconductors manufacture
In a bid to improve and strengthen
the indigenous manufacturing of elec-
tronic components and semiconduc-
tors in the country, the government
of India has approved a scheme for
the promotion of this sector. The total
cost of the scheme is approximately `
32.85 billion, which includes incentive
outlay of approximately ` 32.52 billion
and administrative expense to the tune
of ` 0.32 billion.
“We are confident that the gov-
ernment’s assurance of providing a
financial incentive of 25 per cent on
capital expenditure for the identified
list of electronic goods and compo-
nents, will not only enable India to
become the electronics manufactur-
ing hub of the world but also provide
a fillip to its ‘Make in India’ program.
All of these steps are going to provide
a much-needed boost to the sector
and help homegrown companies like
Goldmedal Electricals expand their
business capabilities further,” says
Kishan Jain, director at Goldmedal
Electricals.
As per industry estimates, elec-
tronics manufacturing has gener-
ated employment for over two mil-
lion people across the country. This
scheme, as the government informed,
will be open for applications initially
for three years from the date of its
notification. The incentives will be
available for investments made within
five years from the date of acknowl-
edgment of application.
Opportune time for India as
companies shift base from
China
The Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy (MNRE) has initiated action in
a big way towards setting up new hubs
for manufacturing renewable energy
equipment in the country to meet both
domestic and global demand. With
this objective in view, the ministry has
written to various state governments
and various port authorities to identify
land parcels of fifty to five hundred
acres for setting up such parks.
Tuticorin Port Trust, Madhya
Pradesh, and Odisha have already
expressed their keen interest in set-
ting up renewable energy manufac-
turing parks. These hubs, once set
up, will manufacture equipment like
silicon ingots and wafers, solar cells
and modules, wind equipment and
ancillary items like back sheets, glass,
steel frames, inverters, batteries, etc.
At present, the country has around
10GW of wind equipment manufac-
turing capacity.
“It may be stated that in a time
when many companies are planning
to shift their manufacturing base from
China, it is opportune time for India
to bring policy changes for facilitat-
ing and catalysing manufacturing in
India. In tune with this, MNRE has set
up the RE Industry Facilitation & Pro-
motion Board to facilitate investment
in RE sector,” reads MNRE’s official
statement.
Automotive lithium-ion
battery market to reach
$74.3 billion by 2024
It is expected that the global automo-
tive lithium-ion battery will generate
revenue of 74.3 billion dollars in
2024, advancing at a 15.9 per cent
CAGR during the forecast period of
2019-2024, as per a recent P&S Intel-
ligence report. It further says that in
2018 the global automotive lithium-
ion battery market generated 24.2
billion dollars.
The report adds that different types
of vehicles make use of lithium-ion
batteries. These include two-wheelers,
commercial vehicles, and passenger
cars. In 2018, the largest demand for

72 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com


Li-ion batteries was created by pas-
senger cars and it is expected to hold
true in the future as well. This will be
due to the rising sales and production
of EVs in China and the US.
As per the report, Asia-Pacific
(APAC) made the most use of automo-
tive Li-ion batteries in 2018. This can
be attributed to the heavy production
and sales of EVs in China. There, the
government authorities are providing
extensive support for the development
of infrastructure, including charging
station spaces. Europe is projected to
register the fastest growth in demand
for Li-ion batteries during the forecast
period. This is due to the targets set
by the government for increasing the
sales of EVs.
The automotive lithium-ion bat-
tery market is witnessing increasing
utilisation of nickel-manganese-cobalt
(NMC) batteries in EVs globally, the
report said. This is due to the rising
demand for electric vehicles, which
have a higher range.
Micro batteries market
forecast to grow in the
wearable devices category
The global micro battery market, as
per a report by Prescient and Strategic
Intelligence, is expected to reach 1.1
billion dollars by 2024, registering a
CAGR of 18.4 per cent during the fore-
cast period. The major factors stimu-
lating the market growth include the
growing demand for compact batteries
in medical devices and the growing
adoption of wearable devices.
Global shipments of wearable
devices totalled 84.5 million units
in the third quarter of 2019 (3Q19),
a year-over-year increase of 94.6 per
cent and a new record for shipments
in a single quarter, according to new
data from the International Data Cor-
poration (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly
Wearable Device Tracker. Most of the
growth in demand for wearables was
driven by new products in the heara-
bles market.
Based on applications, the micro
battery market is categorised into
consumer electronics, automotive,
medical devices, wearable devices,
and others, wherein the other category
includes wireless sensor networks
and smart metres. Among these, the
medical devices category accounted
www.EFYMag.com
for largest share in the market in 2018.
This was due to the growing demand
for micro batteries in various devices
such as thermometers, glucometers,
insulin pumps, and drug delivery
systems.
The wearable devices category is
expected to witness the fastest growth
during the forecast period. This can
be attributed to the growing adoption
of wearable devices, such as fitness
bands, headphones, and watches, pri-
marily in China, India, and the USA.
With the growing geriatric popula-
tion and associated diseases amongst
the populace, the demand for wireless
and continuous health monitoring
devices is increasing. Also, healthcare
players are developing medical devic-
es with next-generation technologies
to monitor patients efficiently.
This is expected to fuel the growth
of the wearable fitness tracker market,
which in turn boosts the demand for
micro batteries, as these are an impor-
tant source of power in these devices.
Foldable smartphones to
increase demand of flexible
AMOLED panels
Despite a projected double-digit decline
in smartphone shipments due to the
coronavirus pandemic, the global
market for active-matrix organic light-
emitting diode (AMOLED) smartphone
displays is expected to rise by nine per
cent in 2020. A recent report published
by Omdia also pointed out towards
Samsung Display as the leader in
AMOLED display panels market.
“Smartphone brands across the
world are increasingly migrating their
product lines to AMOLED display
technology—even amidst the cata-
strophic market conditions spurred
by the coronavirus pandemic. Apple
is expected to expand its AMOLED
iPhone line-up to three models in
2020, up from two in 2019. Mean-
while, Chinese smartphone OEMs
are expected to increase the number
of high-end smartphones integrating
AMOLED panels this year,” said Brian
Huh, principal analyst, small/medium
displays, Omdia.
This growth, as per the report,
has been entirely driven by demand
for flexible AMOLED panels. The
shipments of these are expected to
increase by fifty per cent in 2020.
Industry News
Covid-19-induced 2020
recession to impact
semiconductors business
The Covid-19-induced 2020 recession
will disrupt automotive, consumer
electronics, semiconductor and IT
infrastructure businesses worldwide
before recovery in 2021, reckons Strat-
egy Analytics in a scenario analysis
report ‘Covid-19—Catalysts for Eco-
nomic Disruption’.
The new scenarios indicate that
the damage from the worst economic
cycle since the Great Depression will
cause both consumer and B2B busi-
nesses to suffer, starting with an eco-
nomic plunge of over seven per cent in
real GDP (33 per cent annualised) in
major industrial economies in second
quarter of 2020.
Several semiconductor companies
have already revised their market
outlooks citing uncertainty arising
out of coronavirus outbreak. NXP
Semiconductors (NXP) had recently
updated its performance expectations
for Q1-2020, keeping business impact
caused by the novel Coronavirus
(Covid-19) in the picture.
Due to the impact of the coro-
navirus on semiconductor supply
and demand, the overall worldwide
semiconductor revenue is forecast to
decline by 0.9 per cent in 2020, accord-
ing to Gartner, Inc.
BEL achieves record turnover
Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electron-
ics Limited (BEL) posted a turnover in
excess of ` 125 billion (provisional and
unaudited) during the financial year
2019-20. The company had a growth
of six per cent over the previous year’s
turnover of ` 117.89 billion.
BEL’s order book as on April 1,
2020 stood at ` 518 billion. The year
saw BEL securing significant orders
worth ` 130 billion. Some of the
major orders acquired during the year
were Akash (7 Sqdn), coastal surveil-
lance systems (CSS), upgrade for EW
system, radars, sonars and advanced
communication systems.
BEL achieved export sales of 48.59
million dollars during FY 2019-20.
Major products exported include cable
looms, coastal surveillance system
spares, radars, compact multi-purpose
advanced stabilisation systems (CoM-
PASS), electro mechanical parts, etc.
electronics For You • may 2020 73
 Startup Zone
High-Performance A Robot For
1 Smart Water
Meters
2 People
With Spinal
Disabilities
1 High-performance
smart water meters
C
onsumption of different forms
of energy including electricity,
gas, and water by residential,
commercial and industrial establish-
ments is measured using meters. As
water becomes scarce in many areas,
smart water meters are finding wide-
spread use worldwide due to such fea-
tures as accurate and precise reading,
communication control, automatic
fault detection and more. With the rise
of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the
past decade, sensors and mobile apps
are getting more commonly employed
to automate remote monitoring of
consumption levels and billing in real
time. Ultrasonic and magnetic flow
meters are the most common choices
for measuring water usage.
In a smart meter, a microcontroller
(MCU) interfaces to the sensor, display
and communications block, which
is usually a wireless transmitter or
transceiver. New-generation smart
water meters use long-range wireless-
protocols like WM-BUS and Lora
or Sigfox to transmit the encrypted
consumption information to a wider
area. Communication modules inte-
74 may 2020 • electronics For You
Preventing
3 Machine Failure
Using Predictive
4 Ion Technology For
Maintenance
(Credit: www.sawater.com.au)
grated with the meters must support
all major protocols, both long-range
and short-range. For accurate analysis
and billing, timing synchronisation
becomes crucial in wireless networks.
Consumers can adjust their behav-
iour accordingly and collected data can
even be used to predict consumption
patterns. The global smart water meter-
ing market is expected to grow at a
CAGR of 13.3 per cent between 2019 and
2025, with a CAGR of 20.8 per cent in
Asia-Pacific region, according to a recent
report from Trends Market Research.
Just like any other intelligent
embedded system, choosing the
right MCU is essential to provide
long operational life and meet the
computing needs for smart meters.
Different parameters including cost,
hardware interface and architecture,
software architecture, processing
power, memory, power efficiency,
and so on are the key factors when it
comes to selecting an MCU.
MANAS, a Turkey-based smart
meter development company, planned
to develop a new smart water meter
that could meet the latest standards.
Leveraging Trapped- The IoT And
Quantum Computing
5 Drones For
Digitally Transforming
Industries
The chosen MCU product was avail-
able at a low cost and was suitable for
basic operations. However, there were
certain limitations on the platform as
well as RAM scalability that made it an
inapt choice for highly efficient smart
meters.
Water meters need to be battery
powered as they are usually located
underground, or in other areas where
electricity is inaccessible due to safety
concerns. They also need to be energy-
efficient so that they last for a reason-
able period of time. Software and
documentation tools enable design-
ers to easily integrate the necessary
functionalities into the smart meters,
thereby resulting in better performance
and faster time to market.
The company’s search for an
alternative finally ended with EFM32
Gecko MCU by Silicon Labs. The cost-
effective MCU family is based on ARM
Cortex-M3 CPU platform along with
scalable flash memory configurations
up to 128kB, 16kB of RAM and CPU
speeds up to 32MHz. It also features
low standby current consumption,
short process time, fast wake-up time
from energy-saving modes and several
peripheral choices. These features can
adequately cater to battery-operated
applications, according to silabs.com.
The result was successful produc-
tion of an eco-friendly and energy-
efficient smart water meter with a
lifespan of fifteen years and required
capabilities at a low-cost.
Many other companies like Toshiba,
STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instru-
ments (TI) also offer MCUs for smart
metering solutions. MSP430FR4xx is
one such MSP430 ferroelectric RAM
www.EFYMag.com

(FRAM)-based 16-bit microcontroller
series from TI. It includes a wide range
of analogue and digital peripherals
that makes configuration simple and
reduces PCB size. FRAM combines
the abilities of both RAM and ROM to
ensure high speed, high endurance,
2 A Robot For People
With Spinal Disabilities
I
ndustry 4.0 technologies like
robotics and machine learning find
numerous uses in the medical field
that directly or indirectly improve the
lives of affected people. Capitalising
on this potential, Bulgarian startup
IRise Mechanics 357 is developing
innovative robotic mobility devices
for people with lower limb disabilities.
Lubomir Vassilevi, the founder
of this company, decided to work on
projects for people in need when his
wife lost her ability to walk in an acci-
dent that resulted in paraplegia a few
years ago. With the help of his team,
he created the robotic tool Omnibot to
not only improve the quality of life for
his wife but also others suffering from
such an issue.
Although aids like wheelchairs
are available for people with motor
disabilities, most of them require the
persons to move in a sitting position.
As the vertebral injuries take long to
heal, and sometimes stay permanently
for lifetime, using wheelchairs can lead
to chronic secondary health issues like
long-term pain, heart disease, osteopo-
rosis, urinary tract infection, deep vein
3 Preventing Machine Failure
Using Predictive Maintenance
W
hen a major machinery
breaks down because of
electrical issues or compo-
nent failure, you lose money every
hour! This requires scalable, sustain-
able, and cost-effective monitoring
to maximise runtime productivity
and reduce expense on maintenance.
Industry 4.0 is revolutionising manu-
facture and maintenance with the help
of sensor-based technology that can
www.EFYMag.com
ultra-low power consumption, stabil-
ity, flexibility, and more.
Reference designs provided by
the company make it easier to retrofit
the pre-existing water meters with
automated meter reading (AMR) capa-
bilities. With its ultrasonic sensing
thrombosis, and respiratory ailment.
Weighing just sixty kilograms,
the chassis of Omnibot is built of
aluminium tubing. It is lightweight,
compact, and has foldable parts unlike
other vertical devices available in the
market. This makes the robot easy to
transport in cars and other vehicles. It
also enables easy transfer to and fro
between wheelchair or any furniture
and the machine without assistance.
One can easily grab objects on
shelves and other hard-to-reach places
with hands while on the bot. Its meca-
num drive system (omnidirectional)
enables 4×4 movement, axial move-
ment and zero-grade turning radius. It
works best for narrow indoor spaces
but is unsuitable for overcoming
obstacles or climbing stairs.
The device provides independence,
decreases health risks and makes the
person feel more socially included.
In testing phase, the bot was used
by over thirty people having spinal
cord injuries in Bulgaria and Austria.
The device is planned to be sold at a
retail price of € 21,000. It can be pre-
ordered by paying € 1,000 to get thirty
help save time, prevent costly down-
time, and increase profits.
MachineSense, headquartered
in Baltimore (Maryland, USA) with
R&D offices in Kolkata, focuses on
predictive maintenance and machine
analytics for infrastructure systems,
industrial machinery, and compo-
nents including pumps, electrical
supply, and compressors. They spe-
cialise in IoT solutions for pumps and
Startup Zone
feature, even small water leaks can be
detected so that they get repaired rap-
idly. This not only benefits the dealer
and consumer through intelligence
and connectivity but also the environ-
ment by conserving water and energy.
—Ayushee Sharma
per cent discount on price, according
to the company. The startup was
recently honoured with High Innova-
tion Achievement award from Presi-
dent of the Republic of Bulgaria.
Besides being involved in crea-
tion of individualised aids, the team
has also developed a motorcycle for
people with lower limb disabilities and
a wheelbarrow that is capable of run-
ning even marathons. The company is
now looking for more to expand on a
large scale, including foreign markets
like Germany and the US.
—Ayushee Sharma
machines, electrical IoT solutions,
vertical OEM solutions, and public
safety solutions.
Their detection technology for
vibration, temperature and electrical
power is offered at a price point afford-
able for every industrial unit. Their
platform offers 24/7 availability for
online monitoring.
Vibration analysis assesses health
of the rotational components of
electronics For You • may 2020 75
 Startup Zone
machines for issues in a bear-
ing, blower, or a broken tooth
in gearbox. Electrical charac-
teristics are used to analyse
electrical sub-systems to under-
stand specific power qual-
ity anomalies within indus-
trial and commercial power
settings.
In this technology, the
MEMS-based wearable sen-
sors can be easily attached to
the outside of the machine or
components to automatically
monitor their condition on
a regular basis. The sensor data is
transmitted to an easy-to-install gate-
way, from where it is further sent to a
cloud-based server running powerful
analytic software. The server trans-
mits results to a user-friendly app,
where one can view real-time machine
condition to give maintenance advice
when required.
The software packages installed
across all industrial machinery pro-
4 Leveraging trapped-ion technology
for quantum computing
Q
uantum computing is consid-
ered an efficient and precise
way of solving complex prob-
lems which may not get easily solved
by even the largest supercomputers
in fields like chemistry, medicine,
finance, and logistics. In comparison
to the rest of the modern computing
methods, it consumes less power and
speed of computation is remarkably
high.
With the aim of taking trapped-ion
quantum computing out of
the lab and into the market,
US-based startup IONQ was
founded in 2015 by Chris
Monroe and Jungsang Kim.
They initially received $2
million in seed funding from
New Enterprise Associate and
a licence to core technology
from the University of Mary-
land and Duke University nec-
essary for developing trapped-
ion quantum computers and
software.
A quantum computer takes
advantage of properties of
76 may 2020 • electronics For You
vide a status dashboard of all con-
nected assets such as analytics,
histograms, and maintenance, repairs
and operational advice. Local machine
intelligence is allocated to mobile apps
to provide gauge visualisations and
maintenance corrective action alerts.
The Wi-Fi- and Ethernet-enabled
data hub can connect with multiple
sensors that enable edge computing
for at-site storage and analytics. Its
Bits vs Qubits
In a classical computer, the smallest unit of
computation is called a bit. A bit can be in
only one of two possible states: one or zero.
A qubit has the ability to be in a complex
superposition of these states, allowing for a
much larger computational space—imagine
only being able to point at the north or south
pole, versus being able to point anywhere
on the globe.
advanced meta-data analytics
engine provides deep machine
learning and statistical analysis.
It never records process data,
(Credit: https://machinesense.com)
and never takes control of the
machine or components, to
avoid potential security threats.
Along with strong analytics
and trusted data sources, there
are also industrial IoT (IIoT)
tools for downtime reduction of
sensors, edge devices, or sensor
connectivity.
The scalability of the prod-
uct or system becomes an issue
when the number of sensors and
devices exceeds, say, 250 in an IIoT
system. As every device has to be
brought up to the same firmware or
middleware version, connectivity
becomes a major challenge in that
case. To mitigate these challenges,
one has to update the algorithms in
the device as well, using OTT (over
the top) architecture.
—Deepshikha Shukla
quantum systems such as entangle-
ment and superposition to perform
mathematical calculations. Instead of
using synthetic quantum systems, the
startup uses individual atoms for their
quantum processing units to ensure
reliable and scalable quantum comput-
ing. The team chose atoms of ytterbi-
um, a silvery rare-earth metal, as these
are perfectly identical to each other
and, once prepared, they can remain
in a particular stable quantum state for
very long periods of time.
An electron from a neutral
ytterbium atom is removed
with lasers, resulting in a ytter-
bium ion from this trapping
process. Ionised ytterbium
atoms then act as quantum
bits (qubits), the smallest unit
of computation. These ions are
held in 3D space using elec-
https://insidehpc.com
tromagnetic forces produced
from a specialised chip called
a linear ion trap that consists
of around hundred tiny elec-
trodes with rapidly oscillating
voltages.
www.EFYMag.com

To prepare the ions for computa-
tions, laser-based techniques for
cooling close to absolute zero and ini-
tialisation of ions into a well-defined
zero state are required. The series
of operations, called gates, include
modifying a qubit’s state and link-
ing multiple qubits into an entangled
state. Finally, the answer is read from
the ions by shining a resonant laser on
all of them at the same time. The atom
glowing in response to laser light is
considered a one, and each dark atom
is a zero. To repeat a measurement,
the entire process is repeated.
For storing quantum information,
the trap is put inside an ultra-high
vacuum chamber. The whole assem-
bly along with the other electrical,
mechanical, and optical control sys-
tems then gets attached to a classical
computer. After making the necessary
adjustments, the system is ready to
function as a quantum computer.
Leveraging this technology, the
company published the world’s first
Startup Zone
quantum computer simulation of
the water molecule in 2019, with the
required accuracy for creating simu-
lation of any molecule for practical
applications in the future. This opened
up the possibility to make accurate
chemical predictions as an alternative
to performing expensive experiments.
The startup has partnered with
Microsoft and Amazon Web Services
to make their quantum computers
available to customers via the cloud.
—Ayushee Sharma

5 The IoT and drones for

digitally transforming industries

M
achinery and struc- generates inspection reports to
tures like pipelines, help users make correct deci-
stacks, chimneys, and sions. Integrating with GIS for
tanks used in several industries asset mapping helps to effec-
need regular monitoring and tively identify, analyze, store
inspection to ensure reliability and display geographic data
and accuracy in results. When from different sources and build
done manually, this can be a Gumps Noctua relationships between them.
tedious, risky and expensive In November 2016, the drone
task. This becomes especially was used for its first flight stack
challenging when the struc- inspection in Tata Steel, Jam-
tures are at high temperatures. shedpur.
IIT Madras incubated start- These products leverage
up Detect Technologies was sensor technology, drone tech-
founded in 2016 to automate nology, image processing, and
such inspection processes machine learning algorithms
through their suite of pat- with an aim to ease decision-
ented products such as Gumps making by providing real-time
(Guided Ultrasonic Monitoring Detect Technologies
monitoring and inspection
Pipelines System), Noctua, for even those assets that are
T-pulse and Apis. usually difficult to access. The
Their flagship product, Gumps, be customised for different users. Its startup raised its funding from vari-
is a high-temperature (up to 300 first trial installation was done in Reli- ous investors such as SAIF Partners,
degrees celsius), real-time intelli- ance, Jamnagar in March 2016. Bharat Innovation Fund, Axilor Ven-
gent sensor for industries that need The fully-automated, intelligent tures, BlueHill Capital Pvt Ltd and a
continuous pipeline health and drone, Noctua comes with a thermal few angels from the Keiretsu Forum.
integrity monitoring to avoid poten- camera installed for utilising the In March 2019, Noctua did its
tially hazardous leaks. An ultrasonic captured aerial photos and videos to first international inspection in
pulse receiver unit processes the inspect several assets like columns, Oman. The startup was also among
data, which is then consolidated for vessels, and reactors that vary in size the winners of the 2019 edition of
transfer to cloud storage. The system and location (indoors or outdoors). the Qualcomm Design in India Chal-
is capable of detecting and sending Its positioning system and computer lenge. Some prominent customers of
automatic alerts for corrosion and vision algorithms make it capable of the startup include Indian Oil, Aditya
defects at any point of the pipeline doing a programmed flight even in Birla Group, Vedanta, Accenture,
network using fault detection soft- challenging indoor environments. Thermal Power Group, and Bharat
ware for a range of up to several Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technol- Petroleum. Having expanded to the
meters from a fixed point. This is also ogy helps to achieve this accuracy US already, the company is currently
useful in constructing 3D models of up to 150 metres under line-of-sight focusing on further international
pipelines for a holistic view. Reports (LOS) conditions, thereby minimis- expansion.
generated through the software can ing human error. Cloud report system —Ayushee Sharma

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 77

 Market Survey
Growth Of Edge And Cloud
Computing In Business
With the introduction of edge computing and cloud computing, companies have reached a
different level in terms of growth and productivity. These technologies provide several benefits
such as cost reduction, data analysis, enhanced security and more, which in turn has led to
development of businesses all over the globe
C
Deepshikha Shukla ompanies are moving their work-
load to cloud because of security,
scalability, and flexibility. By the
end of 2022, the overall market of edge
computing is speculated to reach thirteen
billion dollars globally as stated by Gartner.
This is going to be possible because
companies these days are extremely tech-
savvy and are now truly understanding the
advantages of cloud computing. Also, the
78 may 2020 • electronics For You
(Credit: Bethany Drouin from pixabay)
negative perceptions are wiping out; the
majority of companies are agreeing to
test their heavy workloads in the cloud
and some are even moving entirely to
cloud computing. By 2025, it is speculated
that around seventy five per cent of data
would be processed from the cloud, while
the revenue of the global public cloud is
expected to reach seventeen per cent by
2020, as per Gartner.
www.EFYMag.com

Worldwide Public Cloud Services
Descriptions
Cloud Business Process Services (BPaaS - business process as a service) 45.8
Cloud Application Infrastructure Services (PaaS - platform as a service)
Cloud Application Services (SaaS - software as a service)
Cloud Management and Security Services
Cloud System Infrastructure Services (IaaS - infrastructure as a service)
Total Market Revenue Forecast (US$ billions)
Source: Gartner (April 2019)
The new research report by Grand
View Research, Inc mentions that,
with a CAGR of 37.4 per cent during
the speculated period, the market
volume of edge computing is expected
to reach 43.4 billion dollars by 2027
globally, where 5G and IoT would
play an extremely decisive role. Vari-
ous apps that will use 5G will com-
pletely change the working pattern of
traffic demand and would uplift more
sophisticated technology for telecom
providers.
MarketsandMarkets, the platform
offering market research reports,
claims that by 2022 overall edge
computing market would be valued
around 6.72 billion dollars from a
speculated 1.47 billion dollars in
2017, with a CAGR of 35.4 per cent.
The best way for companies to make
their top-notch IoT devices running
swiftly is to amalgamate edge com-
puting and data-gathering potential
with the cloud, storage space and
processing power. Apart from that,
companies can also safeguard their
IoT devices running efficiently
against losing any imperative analyti-
cal data value.
Need of edge computing (EC)
and cloud computing (CC)
On the road to cloud computing,
data centres will have to modernise
and extend their networks to be able
to provide resources more flexibly.
This changes the way networks are
2018 2019 2020
49.3
15.6 19.0
80.0 94.8
10.5 12.2
30.5 38.9
182.4 214.3 249.8 289.1
Benefits and potential
of EC and CC
The US-based global tech firm Cisco
predicts that by 2021, around 94 per
cent of workloads would be processed
and carried out by cloud data centres.
It is well-known that when it comes
to investment in cloud computing, the
USA tops every country and by 2023,
Reportlinker states, the entire cloud
computing market would cross 623.3
billion dollars.
In this context, let’s find out what
the experts say.
Gaurav Burman. Any busi-
ness using IoT devices can benefit
immensely from EC and CC. Because
of these new-fangled technologies,
retailers are able to depend on 24/7
online presence to offer enhanced
customer service, factory floor opera-
tors stay connected to plant systems,
even the operation efficacies of manu-
facturers are enhancing, healthcare
professionals have reliable access to
possibly life-saving health-related data
and smart buildings are redefining the
way we work, live and play. From IT,
financial markets and e-commerce
companies to utility providers, smart
$20,000
$18,000
$16,000
$14,000
$12,000
(US$ millions)
Market Survey
cities, and governments, EC
and CC are impacting nearly
2021 2022 every business.
53.1 57.0 61.1 Anjani Kommisetti. Busi-
23.0 27.5 31.8 nesses that are customer
110.5 126.7 143.7
experience-centric, or are
utilising IoT, investing in 5G
14.1 16.0 17.9
in their operations will benefit
49.1 61.9 76.6 them from the technologies of
331.2 edge and cloud computing.
For instance, the automation
industries have popular use
cases including large engineering sim-
ulations, data and dealers’ networks,
equipment and data analytics, etc. In
the retail sector, different information
is gathered through edge computing
such as customer purchase behaviour.
These technologies have also greatly
benefitted the healthcare sector by
improving nursing efficiency through
tracking of mobile medical devices,
wearable fitness devices, and optimi-
sation of medical equipment. Sectors
like agriculture, BFSI, and logistics
have also implemented these tech-
nologies, and businesses are realising
its potential.
Adrian Johnson. Edge computing
is benefitting the sector, where IoT
devices are used specifically for profit
purposes and utilised across-the-
board in every related industry. For
example: artificial intelligence (AI),
smart cars, manufacturing plants,
smart cities, and other ‘smart’ objects,
and healthcare IT infrastructure are
getting immense benefit from edge
computing as it helps to prevent appli-
cation performance latency issues.
Sectors like education, law firms,
emergency services, travel manage-
ment, and entertainment management
$18,175
$12,694

designed, built and monitored. As

$10,000
space is often very limited, ultra- $8,128
high density is a ‘must’ for providing $8,000
all required connections. The most $6,000
essential benefit of edge computing $3,706
$4,000
is its ability to enhance network per-
$2,000 $1,032
formance by reducing latency. Analys-
ing data closer to the edge provides $0
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
huge benefits in terms of cost and
efficiency. Fig. 1: Fog computing revenue, 2018-2022 (Source: 451 Research & OpenFog Consortium)

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 79

 Market Survey
need access to their technology tools
anytime, anywhere.
Market scope of EC and CC
The profound amalgamation of 5G
networks and IoT devices is ready
to carry out an intense change in the
deployment methods of computing
workloads. Hence, at this moment,
the important thing to consider is to
craft state-of-the-art data centres that
would offer decades of operating time.
Also, edge computing has the poten-
tial to perk-up efficacy coupled with
appropriate response time gathered
by IoT devices and it can also dimin-
ish response time. The most important
aspect is that edge computing has the
capability to reduce the cost of opera-
tions, because in this technology a
central server is not needed to exam-
ine the actions. Data could be stored
later when this is amalgamated with
cloud computing and then at the later
stage, with the help of big data ana-
lytics, data can be processed to drive
growth and innovation.
Cloud computing has made it
possible for companies to have
access to huge amounts of computing
resources in a short time with great
ease and flexibility, without making
costly investments. Cloud comput-
ing also allows companies to host
platforms, software and databases
remotely, which helps in freeing up
memory and computational power on
the company’s individual computers.
On the other hand, edge comput-
ing systems spread all stages of data
processing between various devices,
such as sensors, transponders, cam-
eras, making the whole network safer
than a cloud computing network.
Moreover, edge computing stores
and transfers sensitive or important
data remotely, making it safer than it
Fig. 2: Global edge computing market 2019-2023 (Credit: www.technavio.com)
80 may 2020 • electronics For You
Experts’ views
As the Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionising businesses and technologies, the number of connected
devices to the Internet is increasing exponentially. In fact, Gartner estimates the number of connected
IoT devices to be around 25 billion by 2020, which in turn is generating massive amounts of data to be
processed and mined. Traditionally, it would take time for the data to travel from the device to the centre
for processing, and all this data travelling back and forth would also put a strain on the bandwidth. EC
offers a solution to this problem by relocating crucial data processing to the edge of the network. EC
enabled devices can gather and process data in real time, allowing them to respond faster and more
effectively.
—Gaurav Burman, VP & APAC President, 75F-
As per a report, McKinsey estimates that India will see growth in number of the Internet users by
about 40 per cent to between 750 million and 800 million by 2023. More internet connectivity means
an unimaginable increase in data. As IoT devices become widespread and more efficient, enterprises
will need to adopt successful computing architectures to maximise this technology and potential.
By integrating EC with centralised CC services, both methods will optimise capacity while reducing
business constraints.
—Anjani Kommisetti, country manager, India & SAARC, Raritan & Servertech, brands of Legrand
EC is suitable for operations that have extreme latency issues. It is like a mini data centre helping in
decreasing the latency of work. CC is more needed and looked as a solution where flexibility, data
recovery, no maintenance, easy access, and increased security are the concerns.
—Adrian Johnson, director - Technology, TechnoBind
would be on a cloud. Edge-based IoT navio research says, the market for
devices gather and analyse data close edge computing will increase by 41
to the source, which greatly reduces per cent CAGR.
the transferring time and latency, Cloud computing enhances acces-
allowing organisations to utilise the sibility, provides virtual storage
data in real time without any delay. space, solves backup problems, offers
Edge computing needs very less security against unauthorised access
bandwidth and hence can easily oper- and data loss. Cloud computing is not
ate in conditions with a limited con- only helping the businesses to adopt
nection, without hampering overall trending technologies like AI, ML,
business operations. advanced analytics and immersive
media, but also complementing the
Future of EC and CC seamless adoption of SaaS, IaaS and
With the massive advancement of sci- PaaS technologies.
ence and technology, the new-fangled According to Forrester, the overall
cloud and edge computing will have edge computing market size is project-
the full potential to enhance time, ed to increase from 2.8 billion dollars
offering the ladder of growth and in 2019 to 9.0 billion dollars by 2024,
innovation and also decreasing cost of with a CAGR of 26.5 per cent during
operations and improving the life time the forecast period. In this context, the
of IoT devices. This is also because Meticulous Research report predicts
the world is now moving towards that the overall market of edge com-
smart devices and hence the demand puting would augment at a CAGR of
for these technologies would escalate 34.9 per cent from 2019 to reach 28.07
more. Between 2019 and 2023, Tech- billion dollars by 2027, while cloud
computing is going to be more impor-
tant among the enterprise world.
By moving analytics to the edge,
organisations will get more imme-
diate insights and results from IoT
devices and sensors. The concept of
edge computing models and business
digitisation are going to become a key
component for many IoT initiatives.
Both the technologies can be lever-
aged together symbiotically to create
a more balanced and efficient technol-
ogy business model.
www.EFYMag.com
 New Products NEW

deliver cutting-edge wireless-charging

Components
IoT chip
u-blox, a global provider of wireless
communication technologies, presents
the SARA-R410M-63B module for LTE-M
cellular network operators. The module
series supports a broad spectrum of
Internet of
Things (IoT)
applications
such as
smart meter-
ing, telem-
atics, asset
and vehicle
tracking, security systems and building
automation, as well as smart lighting
solutions and connected health.
The SARA-R410M-63B modules
include an essential root of trust (RoT)
that provides an advanced set of security
functionalities, making them ideal for
mission-critical IoT solutions. It also
has an extended operating temperature
range of –40°C to +85°C for optimal
industrial applications.
Apart from the above features,
u-blox cellular positioning technology
enables standalone location estimation
based on surrounding mobile network
information or in conjunction with
Global Navigation Satellite System
(GNSS) positioning data to improve the
location.
u-blox
www.u-blox.com
MCU with Soteria-G2
With the rapid growth of 5G cellular
infrastructure, networks and data cen-
tres supporting
the expansion of
cloud comput-
ing are growing.
This has prompt-
ed developers to
seek new ways
of ensuring that
operating systems remain secure and
uncompromised.
Hence, Microchip Technology
has announced a new cryptography-
enabled microcontroller (MCU), the
CEC1712 MCU with Soteria-G2 custom
firmware. It is designed to stop mali-
cious malware such as rootkit and
bootkit for systems that boot from
external Serial Peripheral Interface
(SPI) flash memory.
Microchip’s Soteria-G2 custom
firmware features CEC1712 Arm
Cortex-M4 based MCU that provides
the secure boot with hardware root of
trust protection in a pre-boot mode.
This is a great feature security-wise
for operating systems that boot from
external SPI flash memory. Addition-
ally, the CEC1712 provides key and
code rollback protection during opera-
tion lifetime, thereby enabling in-field
security updates.
Microchip
www.microchip.com
Wireless charging IC
In the age of 5G communication with
an ever-increasing demand for more
power and higher efficiency, STMicro-
electronics’ STWLC68 product family
provides the best solution for wireless-
charging applications with up to eighty
per cent efficiency, high power transfer
and safety.
The new product family can oper-
ate both as a high-power receiver and
a transmitter for enabling rapid power
transfer and power-sharing with For-
eign Object Detection (FOD) and other
IPs. ST’s proprietary high-voltage
technology, paired with excellent
mixed-signal design and high-quality
assurance, enables the customers to
products.
The STWLC68 family of highly inte-
grated devices needs a very low external
bill of materials (BoM), ideal for integra-
tion in a wide range of applications. It’s
compliant with WPC Qi 1.2.4 standard
and compatible with all Qi-certified
devices in the market.
STMicroelectronics
www.st.com
Inductors
Vishay Intertechnology has expanded
its IHLE series of low-profile, high-
current inductors, which feature inte-
grated e-shields for the reduction of
electromagnetic interference (EMI)
with new commercial and automotive-
grade devices. The Vishay Dale IHLE-
5050FH-51 and IHLE-5050FH-5A bring
down costs and save board space by
eliminating the need for separate board-
level Faraday shielding.
Featuring operating temperature of
up to 155 degrees Celsius and coplanar-
ity of four terminals within ≤100 µm, the
inductors are optimised for energy stor-
age in DC/DC converters of up to 2MHz
and provide excellent noise attenuation
in high current filtering applications (up
to the self-resonance frequency (SRF)) of
the inductor.
I H LE- 5050 FH - 51 a pplica tions
include desktop PCs and servers, high
current POL converters, low-profile,
high-current power supplies, and
battery-powered devices. The IHLE-
5050FH-5A can be used in automotive
engine and transmission control units,
diesel injection drivers, noise suppres-
sion for motors, windshield wipers,
power mirrors and seats, entertainment/
navigation systems, heating and ventila-
tion blowers, and LED and HID lighting.
Vishay Intertechnology
www.vishay.com

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 81

 New Products
Mobile processor for gamers
Due to the availability of high-perform-
ing mobile systems, gaming enthusiasts
are increasingly moving towards these
devices. Rich
processing fea-
tures offer an
extraordinary
gaming expe-
rience, some-
thing gamers greatly prefer nowadays.
Intel’s new 10th Gen Intel Core pro-
cessors that are loaded with an incredi-
ble performance capability, deliver faster
performance for immersive gaming
experience and amazing responsiveness.
As games and applications continue
to depend on high-frequency cores,
through this launch, Intel has pushed
the frequency boundary to achieve lower
latency and deliver best PC gaming expe-
rience on a laptop.
Led by the 10th Gen Intel Core
i9-10980HK processor, the H-series deliv-
ers a high-end performance. The proces-
sor features an excellent performance
with up to 5.3GHz Turbo, eight cores, 16
threads and 16MB of Intel Smart Cache.
The processor also allows further cus-
tomisation, optimisation and tuning of
a CPU’s performance.
Intel
www.intel.in
POWER SUPPLies
Gate driver IC
In Switching Mode Power Supplies
(SMPS), ground potential is the refer-
ence for input signals of the gate driver
IC. During switching of power MOSFETs,
parasitic inductances produce ground
shifts that may cause false triggering of
the gate driver integrated circuit (IC).
Infineon Technologies AG adds a new
IC to its cost-effective and compact size
EiceDRIVER 1EDN TDI (truly differential
inputs) 1-channel gate driver family to
prevent such consequences. The latest
gate driver IC 1EDN7550, launched by
82 may 2020 • electronics For You
the company, offers significant board-
area savings, which together with its
versatility makes it a very attractive
part.
The EiceDRIVER 1EDN TDI can
withstand static ground-shifts of up
to ±70V and transient ground shifts
of up to ±150 Vpeak with 3.3V PWM
input signal at the application level.
The EiceDRIVER 1EDN7550U enables
25V and 40V OptiMOS MOSFETs to
operate in switched capacitor topolo-
gies at 1.2MHz switching frequency. A
high power density of 3060W/in3 and a
97.1% peak efficiency (including auxil-
iary losses) have proven to be possible
even in such applications.
The EiceDRIVER 1EDN TDI family
is available in a standard SOT-23
6-pin package and the new device
(1EDN7550U) is housed in an ultr-
asmall (1.5mm×1.1mm×0.39mm)
6-pin leadless TSNP package.
Infineon Technologies
www.infineon.com
Power management IC
Renesas Electronics Corporation has
launched new Power Management IC
(PMIC) reference designs to power the
multiple supply rails of Xilinx Artix-7
FPGAs, Spartan-7 FPGAs and Zynq-
7000 SoCs, with and without DDR
memory. The reference designs speed
the development of power supplies for
a variety of industrial and computing
applications, including motor control,
machine vision cameras, program-
mable logic controllers (PLCs), home
gateways and appliances, and portable
medical and wireless equipment.
Renesas’ high-efficiency PMIC
reference designs provide user-friend-
ly solutions that support different
Xilinx speed grades and DDR memory
types: DDR3, DDR3L, DDR4, LPDDR2
and LPDDR3. The PMICs come in
4.7mm×6.3mm, 35-ball BGA with
0.8mm pitch packages.
Renesas
www.renesas.com
30W power supplies
MORNSUN, a manufacturer of power
supplies, has released open-frame,
telecom power supplies VCB_SO-
3/6WR3 and
VCB_SBO-
10 / 30 W R 3 .
The series is
high in per-
formance,
has a com-
pact size and
high power density, and is equipped
with a self-developed IC.
Due to its wide operating tem-
perature range from -40°C to +85°C,
the series has an excellent tempera-
ture derating curve. The maximum
working temperature is 85°C with a
seventy per cent load. It also features
1500V DC isolation voltage, 3mA
no-load current and ninety per cent
output efficiency.
It is widely used in the telecom-
munication field, such as FSU, switch,
battery online monitoring, intelligent
communication gateway, GPS synchro-
nous clock, and 4G/5G base station.
Mornsun
www.mornsun-power.com
TEST & MEASUREMENT
5G NR test equipment
Before the 5G systems can be deployed,
companies must test and validate
products and services for standards
compliance, interoperability, and opera-
tional performance. Hence, after the
initial non-
standalone
( N SA ) 5 G
NR launch
l a s t y e a r,
National
Instruments
now offers
an upgraded stand-alone (SA) version
of its 5G New Radio (NR) Test User
Equipment (UE).
It operates as a 3GPP Release
15 standard compliant UE such as a
modem or cell phone, allowing infra-
structure providers to test, validate,
and assess performance in real-world
scenarios.
National Instruments
www.ni.com
www.EFYMag.com

Oscilloscope
Keysight Technologies has announced
a new cost-effective and flexible
single-channel instrument that has
been specifically designed to acceler-
ate the development of next-generation
mmWave communications, satellite
communications and radar applica-
tions.
The UXR0051AP Infiniium UXR-
series oscilloscope, the newest addi-
tion to the
company’s
UXR series of
oscilloscopes
offers a fre-
quency range
o f 110 G H z
and 5GHz and provides a fast, afford-
able, and flexible analysis of wideband
measurements. It also offers flexible
mmWave extension, and DDC band-
width license options enable perfor-
mance and affordability for oscilloscope
based mmWave wideband analysis.
Keysight
www.keysight.com
PIM analyser
Anritsu has launched the IQ Fiber
Master MT2780A multi-port CPRI
based RF and PIM analyser that can
perform true PIM analysis over fibre and
RF spectrum
results of IQ
data. The
MT2780A
reduces test
costs and
time by providing field engineers, field
technicians, and third-party contrac-
tors a single instrument to conduct RF
interference measurements and PIM
troubleshooting on LTE-based systems
using CPRI front haul infrastructure.
The IQ Fiber Master provides a full
PIM diagnosis, such as reporting the
presence of PIM, whether it is internal or
external, and the distance to PIM. Also,
the unique and proprietary PIM heat
map instantly displays which transmitter
contributes the most PIM. For on-going
monitoring, IQ Fiber Master can be
installed at cell sites to conduct long-
term PIM over CPRI measurements and
provide analytical information.
Anritsu
www.anritsu.com
www.EFYMag.com
Video analyser and generator
Teledyne LeCroy has announced the
availability of the quantumdata M42d
Video Analyzer and Generator, the
industry’s first DisplayPort 2.0 pro-
tocol test
instrument.
This allows
designers and
test engineers
to conduct interoperable testing with
other test devices.
The DisplayPort 2.0 provides data
rates of up to 20Gb/s per lane for an
overall aggregate bandwidth of 80Gb/s.
This goes well beyond the Display-
Port 1.4 standard’s aggregate rate of
32.4Gb/s. These data rates support high
screen resolutions of up to 16k with a
60Hz refresh rate. The M42d incorpo-
rates built-in passive probing based on
Teledyne LeCroy’s state-of-art T.A.P.4.
Quantumdata M42d system supports
both source and sink testing at new
data rates and line coding, as well as
enhanced capabilities like LTTPR emula-
tion and panel replay.
Teledyne LeCroy
www.teledynelecroy.com
Signal and spectrum analyser
Users of R&S FSV signal and spectrum
analyser and R&S SMBV100A or R&S
SGT 100A vector signal generator can
now do field-to-lab testing using the
R&S IQW100. They can record signals
acquired by the analyser in any environ-
ment and then replay them using the
generator. These acquired signals are
transferred and stored in the R&S IQW100
using the standard digital I/Q interface
available with selected R&S equipment.
To regenerate the recorded signal,
the data is again transferred using the
same standard R&S digital I/Q interface
to the signal generator. Signals with a
maximum bandwidth of 160MHz, with
a sampling rate up to 200 MS/s are sup-
ported. These are suitable for all WLAN/
WiFi signals and all mobile standards.
Rohde & Schwarz
www.rohde-schwarz.com
New Products
miscellaneous
BoM Scrub Tool
BOM Scrub tools launched by LionCir-
cuits is a free software which helps in
refining BoM/electronic parts search
w h i l e
giving the
flexibility
to compare
prices and
stock avail-
ability in
real-time from various global suppli-
ers. This tool allows people to select
components which suit their design
specification without compromising on
quality and lead times.
In addition, it offers the use of
latest supply chain tools and helps
with procurement in an hour instead
of days.
BoM scrub tool allows to source
high quality, reliable components
from global suppliers by managing all
the custom clearance and global ship-
ments handling. Customers can track
their shipments on the dashboard until
delivery.
LionCircuits
www.lioncircuits.com
CoronaOven
Log 9 has developed a proprietary
device for completely neutralising
Covid-19 and other pathogens on sur-
faces of various products in demand
during this outbreak. This includes
masks, hospital PPE and tools, grocer-
ies, etc.
This can kill the virus in less than
ten minutes on all types of surfaces.
System is specifically designed to
ensure complete kill of coronaviruses.
The company is retailing this in two
options. The plug-in model is priced at
` 7,999, while the battery compatible
model is priced at ` 13,999.
This device, by eradicating coro-
navirus and other pathogens, might
help in reusing equipment including
masks, gloves and adequate protective
gears used by medical professionals
and authorities. People might also find
a use of these at shops and inside their
houses.
Log 9
www.log9materials.com
electronics For You • may 2020 83
 Facts & Figures

India’s Imports And Exports Of Telecom

Equipment From April 2018 To March 2019
Import from April 2018 to March 2019 Export from April 2018 to March 2019

S.No. Commodity Quantity Value (US$) Quantity Value (US$)

1 Push Button Type 635,484 5,439,800 52,631 638,553

2 Base Stations 81,647 44,221,781 4,340 2,358,079

3 PLCC Equipment 10,152 5,453,934 20,879 5,044,369

4 Voice Frequency Telegraphy 2,619 998,976 1,515 266,956

5 Modems (Modulators-demodulators) 3,351,352 43,436,446 223,181 4,616,948

6 High Bit Rate Digital Subscriber Line Systems 1,603 1,623,329 25 10,649

7 Digital Loop Carrier Systems 1,997 2,187,122 783 324,912

8 Synchronous Digital Hierarchy Systems 18,102 6,357,160 4,309 3,616,284

9 Multiplexers, Statistical Multiplexers 69,221 9,105,192 15,805 14,547,851

10 ISDN Terminals 2,420 2,072,499 82 791,021

11 ISDN Terminal Adaptors 1,149 272,180 1,948 132,648

12 Routers 5,643,172 420,321,194 253,764 10,953,351

13 Subscriber End Equipment 1,884,504 45,551,808 3,885 134,342

14 Set-Top Boxes For Accessing The Internet 1,148,956 42,674,964 78,909 892,021

15 Attachments For Telephones 265,413 3,883,716 6,647 507,770

16 Populated, Loaded Or Stuffed Printed Circuit Boards 300,704,265 2,128,059,622 4,163,256 73,261,533

17 Walkie-Talkie Sets 172,070 23,435,555 1,688 602,421

18 Marine Radio Communication Equipment 278 284,161 4 29,486

19 Cordless Handsets 13,899 4,816,731 688 1,189,390

20 Other Satellite Communication Equipment 6,346 12,755,785 34 90,717

21 Rubber Insulated Winding Wires 197,970 metres 155,406 218,639 metres 1,200,888

22 Paper Insulated Conductors Fr ≤1000V Not Fitted With 147,204 metres 161,751 86,738 metres 427,034
Connectors

23 Plastic Insulated Conductors Fr ≤1000V Not Fitted With 38,755,519 metres 35,631,585 40,426,605 metres 132,068,352
Connectors

24 Rubber Insulated Conductors Fr ≤1000V Used For Not 20,283,729 metres 10,572,560 3,572,921 metres 14,444,213
Fitted With Connectors

25 Paper Insulated Conductors Used In Telecom For Voltage 172,554 metres 416,535 20,177 metres 138,004
≤10

26 Rubber Insulated Conductors Used In Telecom For 323,506 metres 284,685 7,495 metres 32,141
Voltage ≤1

27 Other Electric Conductors Not Fitted With Connectors 775,980,375 metres 251,066,060 49,128,687 metres 70,403,090
Used In Telecom

28 Optical-Fibre, Optical-Fibre Bundles And Cables 5,632,156 kilograms 181,370,140 13,252,271 kilograms 271,667,357

29 Other Instruments And Apparatus, Specially Designed For 64,304 182,751,065 7,490 18,236,264
Telecommunication

30 Other Apparatus, For Carrier/Digital Line Systems 6,827,713 528,482,670 1,800,241 37,621,546

31 Other Parts Of Telephone/Telegraph Apparatus 55,844,743 kilograms 6,613,115,298 3,842,461 kilograms 186,101,912

Source: DGCI&S; Calculated by Economic Division, DoT based on Commodity Description at 8 Digit HS code

84 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com

 Facts & Figures
National
Supercomputing
Mission, India
A
first of its kind attempt to boost the
country’s computing power, the
National Supercomputing Mission
(NSM) is steered jointly by the Ministry of
Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Department
of Science and Technology (DST), and imple-
mented by the Centre for Development of
Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and the
Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
The target of the mission is set to establish a
network of supercomputers ranging from a
few teraflops (TFs) to hundreds of TFs and
three systems with greater than or equal
to three petaflops (PF) in academic and
research institutions of national importance
across the country by 2022. This network of
supercomputers envisaging a total of fifteen
to twenty PFs was approved in 2015 and was
later revised to a total of 45 PFs (45000 TFs), a
jump of six times more compute power within
the same cost and capable of solving large and
complex computational problems.
Objectives
• To make India one of the world leaders in
supercomputing and to enhance India’s capa-
bility in solving grand challenge problems of
national and global relevance
• To empower scientists and researchers
with state-of-the-art supercomputing facilities
and enable them to carry out cutting-edge
research in their respective domains
• To minimise redundancies and duplica-
tion of efforts, and optimise investments in
supercomputing
• To attain global competitiveness and
ensure self-reliance in the strategic area of
supercomputing technology
Current scenario
The first supercomputer assembled indig-
enously, called Param Shivay, was installed
www.EFYMag.com
in IIT (BHU) and was inaugurated by the
Prime Minister. Similar systems like Param
Shakti and Param Brahma were installed at
IIT Kharagpur and IISER Pune. These are
equipped with applications from domains
like weather and climate, computational
fluid dynamics, bioinformatics, and material
science.
Eleven new systems are likely to be set
up in different IITs, NITs, national labs, and
IISERs across India by December this year,
which will have many sub-systems manufac-
tured and microprocessors designed in India,
which will bring in a cumulative capacity of
10.4 PFs.
Spreading out the reach to the North-East
region of the country, eight systems with a
total compute power of sixteen PFs are being
commissioned. Five indigenously designed
systems with three PFs computing power will
be installed at IIT Mumbai, IIT Chennai and
Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC)
at Delhi with NKN as its backbone. It also
includes an indigenously built twenty PFs
system at C-DAC Pune, and a hundred PFs
artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputing
system. One midlevel 650 TFs system is also
to be installed at C-DAC Bengaluru to provide
consultancy to startups, SSIs and MSMEs.
Geared to provide supercomputing facility
to about sixty to seventy institutions nation-
wide and more than thousands of active
researchers, academicians, and so on, NSM
has gathered momentum and is moving fast
not only towards creating a computer infra-
structure for the country but also to build the
capacity of the country to develop the next
generation of supercomputer experts.
Application areas
Climate Modelling, Weather Prediction, Aero-
space Engineering including CFD, CSM, CEM,
Computational Biology, Molecular Dynamics,
Atomic Energy Simulations, National Secu-
rity/Defence Applications, Seismic Analysis,
Disaster Simulations and Management, Com-
putational Chemistry, Computational Mate-
rial Science and Nanomaterials, Discoveries
beyond Earth (Astrophysics), Large Complex
Systems Simulations and Cyber-Physical Sys-
tems, Big Data Analytics, Finance, Informa-
tion Repositories/Government Information
Systems
Source: https://dst.gov.in/, https://nsmindia.in
electronics For You • may 2020 85
 Software

Free Daily Utility Tools

+ Office tools: Apache OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org)
Software Tools For + Zipping software: WinZip (www.winzip.com)

quantum computing
+ Browser: Mozilla Firefox (www.mozilla.org)
+ PDF Reader: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (get.adobe.com)
+ Media player: PotPlayer (potplayer.daum.net)

Ayushee Sharma

PennyLane ScaffCC Quantum Inspire

Visit: https://www.xanadu.ai/
software
Full version: Free
PennyLane is a free, open-source,
device-independent cross-platform
Python library from Xanadu that spe-
cialises in quantum machine learning
(ML) and optimisation of hybrid
quantum-classical computations.
It consists of built-in automatic dif-
ferentiation of variational quantum
circuits (like Xanadu’s Strawberry
Fields and Google’s Cirq). NumPy
is the standard interface with other
options for interfacing like PyTorch
and Tensorflow available too, thereby
providing support for both hybrid
quantum and classical models. It
works with Python versions 3.5 and
above.
Visit: https://github.com/epiqc/
ScaffCC
Full version: Free
ScaffCC is an open-source compila-
tion, analysis and optimisation frame-
work for the high-level programming
language Scaffold, which is used for
quantum algorithms. The software
comes with built-in quantum appli-
cation for ground state estimation of
a molecule, secure hash algorithm
(SHA 1), Shor’s factoring algorithm,
Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT),
among others. It allows researchers
to compile Scaffold algorithms to flat
quantum assembly format, and trans-
form that output into an acceptable
format for the QX quantum computer
simulator. It currently offers support
for Ubuntu, Red Hat, and OS X operat-
ing systems.
Visit: www.quantum-inspire.com
Full version: Paid
Quantum Inspire (QI) by QuTech is
a quantum computing platform that
allows users to perform quantum
computations efficiently. Users
can program quantum algorithms
in quantum assembly language,
execute them, examine the results
using a built-in data viewer and
download the output. Features like
automatic bug identification and
auto complete in QI editor are avail-
able to aid non-experts. The editor
also displays the list of available
quantum bit (qubit) operations and
circuit visualiser, which automati-
cally gets rendered from the code
in real time.

Quirk
Visit: https://algassert.com/quirk; Full version: Free
Quirk is a quick and interactive open source drag-and-drop simulator for
small quantum circuits. It comes with examples (circuits) to help under-
stand quantum algorithms, experiments and the overall functionality
of circuits. Several gates (that may be split sometimes) are included for
performing arithmetic operations. Simple actions like saving circuits, gate
dragging, duplication and deletion, qubit addition, gate alternation and
more are available for easy editing. Display objects (chance, amplitude,
density matrix, bloch sphere) are useful to know about the quantum state
at a particular time and place.

86 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com

 Software

Qbsolv
Visit: https://github.com/dwavesystems/qbsolv; Full version: Free
Qbsolv is a decomposing solver that partitions large quadratic unconstrained
binary optimisation (QUBO) problems into pieces to return bit-vector results
that minimise (or sometimes maximise) the value of the objective function
represented by the problem. By default, a classic solver runs the tabu algo-
rithm, but a D-wave system can also be arranged and configured to act as
the solver. The splitting is done in such a way that it fits the capacity and
constraints of the processor, which increases the efficiency of solving.

mobile apps Scan the QR codes to download

the apps based on the operating
For Quantum Computing system of your device

Quantum Programming Quantum TiqTaqToe Quantum

Compiler
Updated: March 2020
OS: Android and iOS
Download: Full version (paid)
Quantum Programming Compiler allows
users who have at least a basic under-
standing of programming to learn via
tutorials and execute their quantum pro-
grams. Custom keyboard is available for
easily inputting characters that are used
often. The app also supports plotting and
graphing, importing and sharing source
files. The app is optimised for connecting
with external sources like a physical or
Bluetooth keyboard. Running time of a
program is limited to twenty seconds and
it is recommended to use a maximum of
eight qubits.
Updated: August 2019
OS: Android and iOS
Download: Full version (paid)
Quantum TiqTaqToe is an educational app
that combines TiqTaqToe with quantum
effects. This helps understand the quan-
tum realm principles like superposition
and entanglement, which most people
find difficult to understand, in a fun and
intuitive way. It is similar in looks to a
regular Tic-Tac-Toe but, when a player
makes a move, it acts as a unitary gate
operation on quantum squares. Players
can even select two squares in the grid; the
board collapses to a single classical state
as soon as every square becomes full. The
latest version comes with an improved
tutorial system and a hard AI for minimal
quantumness.
Updated: April 2020
OS: Android
Download: Full version (paid)
Quantum is an educational app
that explains the basic phe-
nomena of quantum mechan- Android
ics, which is the foundation of
quantum computing, in a simple language.
The topics are divided into parts that
include wave-particle duality, uncertainty
principle, wave function, quantum tun-
nelling, and the like. The interface is
user-friendly with images for explanation,
thereby making it easy and interesting to
learn. Tests are also available for practice,
including points-based questions, which
can help beginners understand where they
lack in knowledge and improve. It is also
available in French.

The Quantum Dice

Android iOS Android iOS Updated: September 2019
OS: Android
Download: Full version (free)
The Quantum Dice app is a
quantum random number
Quantum Computing engine that uses IBM’s quan- Android
Updated: March 2020 tum computing open source
OS: Android framework Qiskit to quickly generate a
Download: Full version (free) Android truly random set of numbers, which is
Quantum Computing app is a simulator that emulates the actions of a not possible usually due to classical com-
quantum computer with parallel processing (1-64 threads) and limited functionality based puter’s pseudo-random restriction on num-
on the computing power of user’s device. This enables creating and testing simple circuits bers. With all the possibilities that exist, a
to get instant results, even on the go. Besides displaying the state vector of the system in single measurable outcome is obtained.
probability mode, it can display the position of qubits on the bloch sphere (geometrical The latest version allows users to store the
representation) whose number is limited to ten. It has several predefined single qubit app on an external SD card, provided the
gates - including Hadamard, S-gate (π/2 phase shift), and Identity - while predefined Android version is at least 7.1 or higher
than that.
multi-qubit gates consist of Toffoli, Fredkin, Controlled-Hadamard gates, and the like.

www.EFYMag.com electronics For You • may 2020 87


EFY Bureau
Wireless headphone
With active noise cancellation
Gurgaon based Play, which was making only neckband-style
earphones so far, has launched PlayGo BH70—a pair of AI-based
wireless headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC).
This new pair of headphones also offers Bluetooth 5 with
superior codec support and water resistance. The headset uses
40mm dynamic drivers and has a frequency response range of
20-20,000Hz.
PlayGo BH70 features a proximity sensor under the left
earcup which automatically pauses music when you take off the
headphones and plays it back again when you put them on.
The headset comes with a companion app, available on
both Android and iOS, that helps to control certain features. It
lets you keep the firmware up to date, adjust the noise cancella-
tion level to allow some transparency, adjust the equaliser, and
more. Apart from that, the headphones deliver up to 24 hours of
Smart vacuum cleaner
With laser detect system
Xiaomi has announced Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P in India that
can vacuum and also mop. It is available only in black colour
option. The Mi Home app can be used to control its functions.
The product will be available for purchase post lockdown in
India.
The smart vacuum cleaner comes with interesting features
such as sweeping and mopping together, sweeping-only and
mopping-only modes. With accurate mapping and anti-drop or
anti-collision sensors, it makes sure that it doesn’t drop from
stairs or doesn’t cross obstacles over 2cm high.
The product uses twelve sensors. It also has a Laser Detect
System (LDS) that helps locate nearby objects and clean accord-
ingly. It comes with a quad-core Cortex A7 processor that has
2,100Pa suction. Its 3,200mAh battery gives a runtime of
60-130 minutes.
Price
` 17,999
88 may 2020 • electronics For You
First Look
Price
` 14,999
play-time on single charge. These come with a Type-C
port for charging and it takes two to three hours to get
charged.
Earbuds
With extra bass
Sony has unveiled wireless WF-XB700 earbuds
that allow up to eighteen hours of listening.
Just ten minutes of quick charging provides
sixty minutes of playback time. The Tri-hold
structure of the device creates a comfortable fit
for both earbuds, and the Bluetooth technology
eliminates need for wires.
There is extra bass for deep, punchy sound
and easy hands-free calling, and voice assistant
facilities. The earbuds will go on sale post the
current lockdown in blue and black colour
options. The device can also be used while
gymming or while on the move. It is water
resistant.
Price
` 9,900
(approx.)
www.EFYMag.com
 First Look

Wi-Fi routers Smartphone

With voice control support With 16.6cm HD+
Netgear has launched two models of Wi-Fi router systems in India amidst the Infinity-O display
coronavirus lockdown. Called Orbi Mesh Wi-Fi System (RBK12) AC1200 and
Orbi Mesh Wi-Fi System (RBK13) AC1200, both systems come in a cube-like Samsung has launched Galaxy
base router that has a diamond-shaped pattern on top. The RBK12 connects to a A21 smartphone in a single
single satellite, while the RBK13 connects to two satellites. Netgear also has its variant of 3GB RAM and 32GB
app Orbi through which users can remotely control their mesh system. internal storage. The storage can
Both the routers have the ability to deliver up to 1.2Gbps speed. These also be extended up to 512GB through
have two gigabit Ethernet ports—one for wide area network (WAN) and one microSD card slot. It comes
for local area network (LAN) connectivity. You can also create a guest Wi-Fi with a 16.6cm (6.5-inch) HD+
network to provide Internet access to your guests, without sharing your personal Infinity-O display with 720p+
network credentials. resolution.
The router also has two internal antennas and supports band-steering to
switch automatically between 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Further, there is voice control
support via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Price
` 18,900
Price
starts at
` 11,000

Fitness tracker Price

` 14,999
With advanced sleep tools
Fitbit has launched Fitbit Charge 4 fitness tracker
in India. Due to coronavirus lockdown and to
help people stay active at home, Fitbit is offering The smartphone features a
forty new pieces of Premium content free in the quad-camera setup that includes
Fitbit app. It offers 90-day free trial of this paid a 16MP primary sensor, an 8MP
subscription to new Fitbit Premium members. The sensor with an ultra-wide-angle
subscription includes personalised health insights, lens, a 2MP macro camera and
guidance, advanced sleep tools, customised pro- a 2MP depth sensor. The phone
grams, and over two hundred workouts. comes with a selfie shooter placed
The fitness tracker provides up to seven days of battery life, or up to five in the hole-punch located in top
hours with continuous GPS use. It’s Fitbit Active Zone Minutes is a person- left corner of the screen at front. It
alised standard based on the user’s resting heart rate and age. It tracks any is powered by a 4,000mAh battery
workout that gets the heart pumping and measures the time spent in each with 15W fast charging support. It
heart rate zone toward a weekly goal of 150 minutes. runs on Android 10 and has a fin-
The tracker also includes sleep features. It has a Sleep Score feature gerprint scanner on the rear panel.
which provides deeper insights into one’s sleep patterns. The tracker also In addition, it supports dual-SIM,
has a relative SpO2 sensor that powers Fitbit’s Estimated Oxygen Variation Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, a 3.5mm
Graph in the Fitbit app. It shows an estimate of the oxygen level variability headphone jack, and A-GPS with
in the bloodstream. GLONASS.

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 electronics For You • may 2020 89

 Digital

smart pen:
a smart thing to enhance
note-taking skills
Potshangbam July

H
igh-tech gadgets
have been speed-
ily replacing or
getting rid of the
traditional models
of many items. However, pen
and paper are still retaining
their place amid the techno-
logical changes that are taking
place. For those who still prefer
the feel of holding a pen in
hand and writing on a paper,
smart pens are a great option.
No doubt, the process of taking
notes on the paper and then
typing them on the computer
later, is time-consuming as
well as a monotonous task to
do. And one has to play the
role of multi-tasker—listen-
ing, understanding and taking
handwritten notes simultane-
ously, which have high chances not only on the paper, screen, tablet, engaging. At the bottom of the page,
of missing out on important etc, but even in the air and digitises it displays interactive icons where you
things. it by uploading it to your computer/ can choose functions like recording or
Thanks to smart pens, all smartphone. pausing audio, or placing bookmarks
these issues of taking notes as per your convenience.
with a regular pen, is a thing How does it work? When handwritten notes are
of past now. This piece of A smart pen is a high-tech writing tool converted into digital characters, the
tech has brought a significant that records natural handwriting notes texts can be changed using the edit
transformation and changed and stores the data on the memory chip option tool. It allows transmitting the
the dynamics of note-taking. It of the pen. It comes with sensors that user’s handwritten notes or drawings
has made it much easier to take intelligently capture what you write on to other devices such as Android or
smart, fast and easy notes, and the note, stroke by stroke. But a smart Apple devices, printers, modems,
to maintain files in an organ- pen requires a special paper that comes desktop computers, etc, for different
ised and reliable way. The pen in notebook form. Each sheet has a applications. Besides, it has features
records everything, whatever grid of thousands of microdots that that make it easy to share notes or file
you write, scribble or draw, make the page more interactive and transfer via LAN, email, and instant

90 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com


messaging applications. And all the
notes and images can be saved safely
for future reference.
Some smart pens have interesting
features and functionalities like voice
recording capabilities and a camera.
The audio recorder can be used for
recording interviews and lectures,
and later you can write them out and
upload them. The camera records
whatever you write or doodle on the
paired notebook and can sync to your
smartphone or any device that has the
corresponding apps installed. It works
with a battery that is rechargeable or
in the dual charging system. This bat-
tery usually lasts for five to six hours
of writing.
Smart pens are equipped with a
flashlight at the tip that allows writ-
ing in the dark. When the pen is not
used and remains idle for some time, it
automatically shuts off the light.
USP of smart pens
Smart pens make the note-taking
process easier and less stressful with
better management. The notes hastily
written and recorded on the road, in a
meeting or classroom are stored safely;
more than ten pages of notes can be
stored on the pen. They eliminate the
lengthy task of transcribing the whole
lecture. The user can access any part
of a recorded lecture/discourse by
simply tapping a word, if in case you
miss, don’t understand or remember a
certain portion of the lecture.
They sport a sleek and slender
profile and are light in weight. As a
result, they are portable and easy-to-
carry anywhere. Not only that, they
are comfortable to hold and easy to
write with, which makes them very
user-friendly.
The software embedded in the
microprocessor of the pen enables
recognition of handwriting of the
user. It also comes handy for signa-
ture verification. The user can also
train the pen to recognise a particu-
lar handwriting style of the user. No
matter how messy it is, the pen can
identify the user’s handwriting, if it is
written in a consistent manner.
One interesting fact about smart
pen is that it rejects an intruder’s
attempt to break into the device if it
fails to recognise the handwriting.
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Digital
Hence, the pen accepts only the own-
er’s handwriting. It protects your files
from loss and unauthorised access.
How does it help people
with learning disabilities?
Smart pen is very handy for blind
people who struggle to keep up with
note writing. It is also useful for stu-
dents with a specific learning difficulty
such as dyslexia or any disability that
affects handwriting. Note-taking
requires a lot of concentration and
effort than reading or learning. It can
have a negative impact on the student
with disabilities in unexpected ways
while trying to balance consistent
writing with the time-bound lecture or
presentation. When their focus is being
split, disabled students often end up
not being able to make sense of what
they have managed to take notes of.
In such cases, smart pens have
proven to be effective as they are
designed to make the work of stu-
dents easier. Since the device records
everything and allows writing to be
synchronised with audio, it helps in
creating a positive learning experience
for the students. Besides, it improves
the quality of the notes as well as
increases the engagement of the stu-
dents. With such note-taking support,
the students feel a sense of ease and
enjoyment of lectures without the fear
of missing important information.
The device significantly contributes
to instilling a new confidence and
improving academic performance of
the students.
Studies revealed that a smart
pen reduces an enormous amount
of anxiety among the students in a
classroom. Students have developed
various ways of taking notes with
back up information in the device.
They start to write in a single word
or keywords to identify each part of
the lecture. Later, they use the pen to
extract detailed information from the
audio recording using the keywords.
The findings say that the use of a
smart pen has benefitted the students
in various aspects. The positive impact
on the students is evident from the
improved grades. In addition, smart
pens have also been able to create a
sense of belonging in their academic
environment.
electronics For You • may 2020 91

Top smartwatches
with cutting-edge features
Under ` 10,000
Nijhum Rudra
T
echnology has
become an impor-
tant aspect of
our lives and has
changed our daily
schedules in various ways. Most
importantly, technology has
become smart these days. As an
example people can switch off
their lights using their smart-
phones. Not only that, people
can even command their speak-
ers to listen to their favourite
music via AI-enabled smart
assistants such as Siri, Cortana
and Alexa. Mobile phones are
one of the first gadgets that
turned smart and subsequently,
other gadgets followed equipped
with the Internet of Things
(IoT).
Along with smartphones,
wristwatches are now coming
up with numerous smart fea-
tures. Initially, it was believed
that smartwatches would get
doomed, but slowly these have
gained massive traction among
people. Smartwatches with pre-
mium features were very expen-
sive and hence companies came
up with an alternative, known
as smart band. But, smart bands
failed to capture the market as
compared to smartwatches.
Therefore smartwatch makers
are now launching numerous
budget-friendly devices to cap-
ture the market.
A smartwatch not only tells
you time, but also plays the role
92 may 2020 • electronics For You
Buyers’ Guide
of your travel buddy. James L. McQuiv-
ey, an analyst at Forrester Research
described smartwatch as, “Someone who
knows more about what you need than
you do.” But, before buying a smart-
watch, consumers should know what
are the important things and features
they should look for. A few tips are given
below.
Check OS and device compatibility.
This particular feature is very important
to look for because smartwatches are
like your companions. There are various
smartwatches such as Samsung’s Tizen-
powered Gear S3 and Gear Sport that are
compatible with various smartphones,
both Android and iOS, but watches such
as Google’s Wear OS work better with
Android. When Android-compatible
watches are linked to iOS, many features
such as direct connection to Wi-Fi and
apps addition aren’t available. Hence,
always check your device’s OS compat-
ibility.
Types of display. Generally, the dis-
play of a smartwatch is LCD or AMOLED,
or e-ink. Watches with e-ink display are
extremely easy to read even during a full
sunny day because it is an e-paper dis-
play. LCD or AMOLED display consumes
more battery power but is coloured. It
is brighter, which causes a bit of trou-
ble while viewing apps and images in
sunlight.
Interface. Interface of smartwatch
can also be of two types—buttons and
touchscreen. Both come with their own
pros and cons. It is a bit easier to navigate
with a touchscreen, but can be difficult
to select small items on the display. On
the other hand, the buttons assure preci-
sion, but are time-consuming during
navigation.
Additional measures. While
buying your watch, check the rating;
hybrid watches with digital as well as
analogue display offer more battery
life, but these don’t have touchscreens.
You will also have to check the clasp
or buckle of the watch to see whether
it is easy to use or swap. If you are a
fitness freak, check whether the watch
you are buying has GPS and heart rate
sensors or not. Many smartwatches are
available in the market without these
two important features.
Now, let’s find out some of the
latest top-notch smartwatches avail-
able in the market
Honor watch magic. The watch is
crafted from true stainless steel and is
quite durable and sturdy. The watch
appears with a 3cm AMOLED coupled
with a resolution of 390×390 pixels,
rounding to a pixel density of 326ppi.
It has a capacitive touch display, which
is quite bright, radiant and offers stu-
pendous readability. Most importantly,
the watch also comes with a unique
feature of measuring metabolism via a
dynamic heart rate sensor that can be
www.EFYMag.com

turned off and on according to your
wish. It sports a massive 600mAh
Li-ion battery that offers seven hours
of constant back-up in a single charge.
Price: ` 7,999
Alcatel OneTouch Go. It is one
of the finest budget smartwatches
tailor-made to the requirements of
adventurers and travel lovers. To offer
fine quality, the watch is crafted with
polycarbon-
ate bezel and
a soft rubber
strap that will
not cause any
sort of irrita-
tion to skin.
It appears in
an IPS LCD
type 3.1cm
display furnished with a resolution
of 240×204 pixels. You will get every
notification on time without even
looking at your phone. Along with
the altimeter, the heart rate sensor
located at the back checks your heart
rate from time to time. There is also
an e-compass that makes sure you
don’t lose your path. It is backed by
a 225mAh Li-Po battery that lasts for
two days if you use it moderately.
Price: ` 6,999
Amazfit GTS. Amazfit GTS uses
a top-class high-resolution screen,
whose pixel density is as high as
341ppi and has a 348×442 resolu-
tion, bringing an unprecedented
clarity to display.
M o r e o v e r, t h e
customised 4.2cm
AMOLED display
takes the splendor
of its colour to a
whole new level.
The hundred per
cent NTSC colour
spectrum and
ultra-high colour
saturation make
the display super-lifelike, while a
bright and transparent 2.5D glass lens
makes every screen image stunning.
The customised 4.2cm stylish square
screen offers a larger display area
than a round watch face of the same
width, so it can carry more informa-
tion. Apart from that, the company
has released two innovative modular
www.EFYMag.com
Buyers’ Guide
watch faces that can be customised
to display essential information such
as heart rate, calendar, weather and
events you care about the most,
all in one watch face that’s easy to
check. In total, you can customise
up to seven widgets out of seventeen
functions.
Price: ` 9,145
Amazfit GTR. The watch features
a dazzling screen and a great variety
of original interfaces, making your
Amazfit GTR a
seamless work
of art. According
to the company,
they have intro-
duced a revolu-
tion in battery
back-up that is
equipped with
an innovative
circuit design,
deep-in power optimisation and
power consumption management,
enabling the Amazfit GTR to perform
impeccably for over three weeks.
It also includes a unique heart rate
monitor.
Price: ` 9,895
TCL Movetime. Though TCL is
popular in India for their budget-
friendly LED and smart also ventur-
ing into TVs, it is now the arena of
smartwatches
for budget-con-
scious people
in India. TCL
Movetime
watch features
an elegant
design with an
attractive body
finish. It comes
with a 3.5cm AMOLED screen having
a resolution of 400×400 pixels. The
only con is that in spite of having an
AMOLED display, this smartwatch
is not that bright. But just like its
competitors, the watch features a
heart rate sensor and additional fea-
tures such as step counter, sedentary
reminder and sleep monitor tracker.
It has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth con-
nectivity options and is powered by a
350mAh Li-Po battery that provides
approximately two days usage.
Price: ` 7,699
electronics For You • may 2020 93
 advertisers’ index
Client name Page No. Client name Page No. Client name Page No.
Analog Devices International Inc. (www.analog.com)........................... 3 IIE Semiconductors Pvt Ltd (www.iiespl.com)..................................... 96 Sakthi Accumulators Private Ltd.......................................................... 97

Cohomology Labs Research Pvt Ltd (www.cohomologylabs.tech)..... 96 India Electronics Week ..................................................................... 100 Shavison Electronics Pvt Ltd (www.shavison.com)............................. 93

Digi-Key Electronics (www.digikey.in).................................................... 2 LWI Electronics Inc. (www.livewireinfo.com)....................................... 23 Siglent Technologies Co., Ltd...............................................................11

EFY Certified Skill Center.................................................................... 39 MediaTek India Technology Pvt Ltd (www.mediatek.com)................... 95 Smec Electronics India Pvt Ltd............................................................ 96

EFY Group Publications: Subscription Scheme.................................. 71 National Controlling & Equipments...................................................... 97 STMicroelectronics Private Limited (www.st.com)................................. 5

Electronics Industry Directory.............................................................. 35 NMTronics India Pvt Ltd (www.nmtronics.com)................................... 13 TME SLOVAKIA................................................................................... 99

element14 India Pvt Ltd.........................................................Front Cover Panasonic India Pvt Ltd (https://industrial.panasonic.com/ww)........... 21 ViscoTec India Private Limited (www.viscotec-india.com)..................... 7

HK Wentworth (India) Pvt Ltd (www.electrolube.in)............................... 9 Rebutor Electronics Pvt Ltd................................................................. 19 Watts Electronics Private Limited........................................................ 94

Advertisers’ product categories index

Products Page No. Products Page No. Products Page No. Products Page No.
Automation & Robotics LWI Electronics Inc. ............................................ 23 IT Products TME SLOVAKIA .................................................. 99

Cohomology Labs Research Pvt Ltd .................. 96 Smec Electronics India Pvt Ltd............................ 96 Cohomology Labs Research Pvt Ltd .................. 96

STMicroelectronics Private Limited ...................... 5 Sensors & Transducers

Batteries & Power Supplies TME SLOVAKIA .................................................. 99 Materials (Including Chemicals &
Cohomology Labs Research Pvt Ltd .................. 96
Rebutor Electronics Pvt Ltd................................. 19 Watts Electronics Private Limited ....................... 94 Consumables)

Sakthi Accumulators Private Ltd ......................... 97 HK Wentworth (India) Pvt Ltd................................ 9

Services
Shavison Electronics Pvt. Ltd.............................. 93 Consumer Electronics & Appliances
Cohomology Labs Research Pvt Ltd .................. 96
Panasonic India Pvt. Ltd...................................... 21 Reseller and Distributors

Components (Including Active & Passive) Digi-Key Electronics ............................................. 2

Analog Devices International Inc........................... 3 Industrial & Manufacturing Equipment element14 India Pvt Ltd ....................... Front Cover Test & Measurement Equipment

Digi-Key Electronics ............................................. 2 NMTronics India Pvt. Ltd..................................... 13 IIE Semiconductors Pvt. Ltd................................ 96 (Including Indicators & Monitors)

element14 India Pvt Ltd ....................... Front Cover ViscoTec India Private Limited .............................. 7 LWI Electronics Inc. ............................................ 23 Siglent Technologies Co., Ltd...............................11

EFY Magazine Attractions During 2020

Month Theme/Focus Areas Artificial Intelligence Tech Focus eStyle Buyers’ Guide MARKET SURVEY
January Anniversary Issue/ AI for Smart Home and Smart Smart Consumers Driving Smart Laptops Priced Under ` 25k Growth of Electronics R&D
Tech Trends City Industries Segment in India
February Augmented and Extended AI for News, Publishing and AR-Based Solutions for Top AR and VR Headsets Market Ratio for AR and VR
Reality Writing Businesses
March Automotive and Electric AI in Logistics and Intelligent Transportation and Mobil- Top Solar-Powered Vehicles Automotive versus EV
Vehicles Transportation ity Systems
April Healthcare AI in Telemedicine and Role of Data Analytics in Healthcare AI-Based Healtcare Equipment Role of Wearables
Telehealth for Hospitals
May Quantum Computing AI for Manufacturing High-Performance Computing - Top Quantam Computing Platforms Edge and Cloud Computing
QuantumComputing for 2020
June Drones and Quadcopters AI and Hybrid Drones AI in Surveillance and Security Upcoming Drones for Industry Drones in Delivery and
Manufacturing Logistics
July Strategic Electronics AI for Military Operations AI and ML to Enhance the Powerful Smartphones with Signal Processing in
Performance of Semiconductors and Powerful Batteries and Processors Communication
Electronics
August Education and Skill AI in Education Industry Technologies in Education and Skill Cutting-Edge Gadgets Making Schools Electronics in Education and Skill
Development Development and Classrooms Smarter Development
September AI, Robotics and Cobots AI in Humanoid Robots Exoskeletons for Healthcare Top AI-Powered Speakers Industrial Automation Through Robots
Under ` 15k and Cobots
October Renewable Energy AI in Fighting Global Climate Electricity from Snow, Plastic Top Solar and Wind Power Panels Transition from Conventional to
Change and Any Other Raw Materials (Other Renewable Sources of Energy
Than Water and Solar)
November Bots and Conversational Apps AI in Customer Service Industry Robotic Process Automation Top Free Bots and Conversational Apps Chatbots Prospects in Businesses
December Blockchain AI and Blockchain - A Perfect Blockchain for Travel and Tourism Top Antivirus Software for Malware Database Management with
Match Blockchain
In addition, there will be regular series every month on subjects such as: Plus, subjects such as the following will be covered more or less in each issue:
 Smart World  Do-It-Yourself  eStyle  Automation
 Test & Measurement  Market Survey  New Products  Healthcare
 Design/R&D  Startup Zone  Tech News  The Internet of Things (IoT)
 Artificial Intelligence  Interviews  Industry News  Wireless/5G

98 may 2020 • electronics For You www.EFYMag.com