Volume 1, Issue 3
Primary Logo Secondary Stacked Logo Best of 2017 Technical Content | 1 In This Issue
4 Welcome and Foreword 55 Best of Methods eZine Deborah S. Ray Understanding Bluetooth 5 Best of Mouser Authors Best of Projects 6 Majeed Ahmad, Sylvie Barrak, Peter Brown, Steve 56 Evanczuk, Paul Golata, Steven Keeping, Barry Manz, Smart Porch Light Project: Digi’s XBee LTE Cellular Michael Parks, Paul Pickering, Bill Schweber Module, And Arduino Mega-2560 Shine Together, by Joseph Downing, Mouser Electronics Best of Technical Articles 7 Best of Blogs 8 Power Management: Heat Challenges Solved, 61 by Bill Schweber for Mouser Electronics 62 Your Microwave Oven May Soon Become Obsolete 14 Drones Ascend to New Heights: Bringing Unique by Barry Manz for Mouser Electronics Perspective to Broadening Markets, by Michael Parks, PE, for Mouser Electronics 64 Industrial Automation by Marcel Consee, Mouser Electronics 18 New PV Cells Benefit Energy Harvesting, by Steven Keeping for Mouser Electronics 66 Piezoelectric Motor Provides Precise Motion Without Magnetics, Gears, by Bill Schweber for 26 The Future of Healthcare May Reside in Your Mouser Electronics Smart Clothes, by Peter Brown, Mouser Electronics 68 Engineering Career Fairs: Yeah, You Gotta Talk 32 Digital Twins Offer Unmatched Insights for Design About Yourself by Deborah S. Ray, Mouser Electronics Engineers, by Michael Parks, PE, for Mouser Electronics 71 Enterprise Drives Augmented Reality Demand by Steven Keeping for Mouser Electronics 35 Best of Webinars Data Security: Think Like a Hacker in partnership with Anitian Corporation
36 Best of EIT 38 Augmented Reality: Beyond Gaming to Real- World Solutions, by Peter Brown for Mouser Electronics
44 My Way on the Highway; Life Inside Autonomous Vehicles: Beyond the Mobile Workplace, by Sylvie Barak for Mouser Electronics
49 Solar Roads Pave the Way for a Connected Infrastructure, by Mouser Electronics
50 Vertical Farms Thrive With Help from Technology, by Paul Pickering for Mouser Electronics
53 Conquering Vertigo: MEMs in Augmented Reality, by Paul Golata, Mouser Electronics
Mouser and Mouser Electronics are registered trademarks of Mouser Electronics, Inc. Other products, logos, and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Reference designs, conceptual illustrations, and other graphics included herein are for informational purposes only. Copyright © 2017 Mouser Electronics, Inc. – A TTI and Berkshire Hathaway company.
2 | Executive Editor Deborah S. Ray
Technical Contributors JPaul Carpenter Paul Golata Rudy Ramos
Production IEEE GlobalSpec
With Special Thanks Kevin Hess Sr. Vice President, Marketing
Russell Rasor Vice President, Supplier Marketing
Jack Johnston, Director Marketing Communication
Raymond Yin, Director Technical Content
Angelique O’Rourke Media Manager
| 3 Welcome and Foreword
By Deborah S. Ray With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore
‘Twas the month before Christmas, The topics—how they twinkled! The authors—so merry! when all through the office Their content was not only valuable, but very. Not a person was stirring, not even our bosses. Our schedules were hung by computers with care From autonomous vehicles to Bluetooth to drones…. In hopes that vacation soon would be there. Motors and power, “Wow! Our content has grown!” Articles and blogs, ebooks and ezines Our team was all nestled, so snug in our work Webinars and projects—they’re simply amazing! Ogling new products, too, well that didn’t hurt. With the boss in his cube and I at my desk Accurate and timely, Mouser’s content stands true I thought my poor fingers finally could rest. Bringing key topics, top writers, and publications to you So we spoke not a word and proceeded with glee When out of nowhere there arose such a clatter To put the best of the best in this collection, you see I lurched toward my keyboard to see what was the matter. Toggling Windows, some browsers, and Flash From our team to your team, we’ve wanted a reason I found analytics and reports, with data to snatch. To wish you merry moments this holiday season. To celebrate the successes that you’ve engineered The light from my monitor seemed all aglow And to tell you, “Stay tuned!” as we look toward next year. As my eyes scanned the data row by row. The team now alerted, they later had said A lightbulb was seen going on over my head! Happy Holidays from I yelled ‘cross the office to the boss (that’d be Raymond): Mouser’s Technical Content Team: “You gotta come see this!” So he came and More rapid than dial-up his coursers they came Raymond Yin As he whistled and shouted and called us by name: EE, Director of Technical Content
“Now Ryan! Now Joseph! Now Rudy and Paul! Deborah S. Ray On, Deborah! On, JPaul! Come down the hall!” Executive Editor and Technical Content Lead At the top of the hour, to the meeting we went To discuss Mouser’s best tech content. Paul Golata EE, Senior Technical Content Specialist
As dry leaves like the wild hurricane fly JPaul Carpenter The ideas were many, the plan modified. EE, Technical Content and Then back to our desks the coursers, we flew Project Specialist To get started with content we knew. Joseph Downing And then in a twinkling, I heard Raymond exclaim Technical Project Specialist The best of our content, the authors he named: Rudy Ramos “There’s Schweber and Parks and Barak and Brown! Technical Review and And Keeping and Pickering and Manz,” I’ve found. Special Projects Specialist
He paused, as Evanczuk and Ahmad didn’t rhyme Ryan Snieder “I’ll take care of it,” I said, “It’ll be fine!” Production Specialist 4 | | 5 Best of Mouser Authors
Congratulations—and thanks to—Mouser’s top authors! We’re proud to publish technical content written by the electronics industry’s leading experts (and we had a hard time narrowing this list to just 10 authors!). The following authors were selected based on traffic to their content and the overall significance of their contributions to our publications.
Majeed Ahmad Sylvie Barrak Peter Brown Steve Evanczuk Paul Golata
Steven Keeping Barry Manz Michael Parks Paul Pickering Bill Schweber
6 | Best of Technical Newsletter Articles
ouser’s technical articles aim to help engineers solve design M challenges and explore applications. We tackled a broad range of topics, including autonomous vehicles, motor control, power management, augmented reality, vertical farming, lighting, wearables and hearables, data security, harsh environments, open source hardware, RF wireless, communications, memory and storage, low-power, Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial IoT (IIoT), sensors, robotics, and much more!
Written by electrical engineers and other top experts, these articles are primarily delivered through our technical newsletter, then reside on our Applications and Technology site.
| 7 Power Management: Heat Challenges Solved
By Bill Schweber for Mouser Electronics
hen electrical engineers (and its enclosure) are within W use the phrase “power acceptable bounds. management,” most of us tend to • The “macro” situations, where think about the various DC power the entire system is too hot due rails via assorted converters, to aggregate heat accumulation regulators, and other power- from many sources. handling and power-transforming functions. However, there is much One design challenge is to more to power management than determine how much of the just those functions. All power thermal management problem sources give off heat due to is micro versus macro, and to inefficiency, and all components what extent the two are related. must dissipate some heat. Obviously, a hot component— Thus, power management is even one that exceeds its allowed also concerned with thermal limits—will contribute to heating management, in particular how of the system, but that does not the dissipation of power-related necessarily mean that the overall functions affects the thermal system will be too hot. It does, design and heat buildup. Further, however, mean that the excessive even if the component and heat of that one component must system continue to function within be managed and reduced. specification, temperature increases induce changes in performance One question to always keep in as component parameters drift. mind when discussing thermal This may lead to eventual system management and using phrases malfunction if not outright failure. such as “getting the heat out” or Heat also shortens component life “removing the heat,” is this: To and decreases mean time to failure, where is that heat being moved? which makes it a long-term reliability A cynic might say the designer’s consideration as well. challenge is to find somewhere to dump that heat and thereby make There are two thermal- his or her problem into someone management perspectives that else’s problem. designers must review: While that view is indeed somewhat • The “micro” view, where an cynical, there is an element of truth individual component is in to it. The challenge is to get the danger of overheating due heat to a cooler location where it to excess self-dissipation, will not have adverse effects on the but the rest of the system system. This could be an adjacent
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part of the system and enclosure, or it could be outside the enclosure altogether (possible only if it is cooler externally than internally). Also keep in mind one of the laws of thermodynamics: Heat will only travel from a higher-temperature location to a lower-temperature one, unless some sort of active pumping mechanism is used.
Thermal Management Solutions Thermal management is governed by basic principles of physics. Heat transfer—here, in the cooling Figure 1: There are three mechanisms by which heat is transferred, and all are often mode—occurs in a combination of involved in a given situation to differing extents. (Source: Kmecfiunit / CC BY-SA 4.0) three ways: Radiation, conduction, and convection (Figure 1): For most electronic systems, contrast, fans are a type of active, • Radiation refers to heat achieving the desired cooling is a forced-air cooling. that is carried away by combination of conduction away electromagnetic radiation from the immediate source of the Start with Heat Sinks (mostly infrared) and can heat, and then convection to carry Heat sinks are aluminum or copper occur in a vacuum. In most that heat elsewhere. The design structures that draw heat from applications, it is not a major challenge is to combine various the source via conduction and cooling factor; an exception pieces of thermal-management expose it to air flow (and in some is in the vacuum of space, hardware—that is, hardware in the cases, to water or other liquid where it is the only way to original, non-electronic sense of the flow) for convection. They come draw heat away from the word—to effectively implement the in thousands of sizes and shapes, spacecraft. conduction and convection needed. ranging from small, stamped • Conduction is the flow metal wings which attach to a of heat through a solid There are three elements which single transistor, Figure 2, to or liquid, without actual are most commonly used: Heat large extrusions with many fins movement of the heat- sinks, heat pipes, and fans. (or fingers) which intercept the conveying material (although Heat sinks and heat pipes are convection airflow and transfer the liquids do flow, of course). types of passive, self-powered heat to that flow,Figure 3. • Convection is the flow of heat cooling, which also includes One of the virtues of the heat sink that is carried along by a fluid naturally-induced conduction and is that it has no moving parts, medium, such as air or water. convection air flow methods. By no operating cost, and no failure
| 9 Figure 2 Figure 3 mode. Once the appropriate- sized heat sink is attached to the source, the convection occurs naturally as the warmed air rises, thus starting and continuing an airflow. Therefore, it is essential when employing a heat sink to allow for unimpeded air flow from source inlet to outlet. Also, the inlet must be below the heat sink and the outlet above; otherwise, the heated air will stagnate above the heat source and make the situation worse. Figure 4 Figure 5 Despite the heat sink’s ease of use, it does have some negative aspects. First, heat sinks that are sized to transfer large amounts of heat can get bulky, costly, and heavy. Also, they must be properly positioned, and thus can affect or constrain physical board layout. Their fins can get clogged with dirt and dust from the airflow, too, which greatly reduces effectiveness. They must Figure 2: The simple sheet-metal Aavid Thermalloy 574502B00000G heat sink is be properly attached to the heat designed to slide onto a TO-220 package transistor and features 21.2 C/W thermal source so that the heat flows resistance; it measures about 10 × 22 × 19mm. (Source: Aavid Thermalloy) unimpeded from that source to the heat sink. Figure 3: These larger, extruded multi-finned heat sinks M-C308( , M-C091, M-C092) from Cincom are designed for larger ICs as a well as modules. The smallest is about 60 × 60 × 20mm high, while the largest one is 60 × 110 × 25mm With so many heat sinks to high. (Source: Cincom Electronics) choose from in terms of size, configuration, and other factors, Figure 4: This diminutive heat pipe from Wakefield-Vette (model 120231) making the choice can be measures just 6mm × 1.5mm diameter and is designed to convey heat loads up to overwhelming at first. Note that 25W. (Source: Wakefield-Vette) there are many general-purpose heat sinks, as well as those that Figure 5: A tiny fan, such as the 30mm diameter × 6.5mm deep ASB0305HP- 00CP4 from Delta Electronics, operates from a single +5V pulse width modulator are designed and sized for a (PWM) signal and can deliver about 0.144m3/min (5ft.3/min) of airflow. It is driven particular IC, such as a specific by a PWM signal and includes a tachometer feedback signal. (Source: Delta processor or field-programmable Electronics) gate array (FPGA) model.
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There are also heat sink embodiments that are not one-half inch, with lengths of several inches to about discrete components. Some ICs use their pins or leads a foot. As with a water pipe, the larger-diameter pipes to conduct the heat away from their die and body to have the capacity to convey more heat. When joined their PC board traces, which then function as heat with a heat sink or other cooling apparatus at the cool sinks. Other ICs actually have a copper slug under their end, it can solve the problem of getting heat away from package; when it is soldered to the PC board, the slug a local hot spot that has impeded airflow. acts as a pathway for removing heat from the die. This is a low-cost and effective way to conduct heat away, Then Add a Fan but it assumes that the rest of the PC board is cooler Finally, there are fans (Figure 5), which mark the first and that no other nearby components are also using step away from the passive, self-powered cooling the board for cooling. In effect, each device is trying to of heat sinks and heat pipes to active, forced-air dump its excess waste heat into the neighbor’s yard, cooling. Fans can be both problem solvers and a which is a zero-sum game. headache, and designers often have mixed emotions when using them. Add Heat Pipes Another important element in the thermal-management Obviously, a fan adds cost, requires space, and kit is the heat pipe (Figure 4). This passive component increases the acoustic noise of a system. Also, as an is as close to “something for almost nothing” as electromechanical device, they are prone to failure, engineers get, as it moves heat from point A to point B consume some energy, and affect overall system without need for any sort of active forcing mechanism. efficiency. However, they are often the only way to get In brief, a heat pipe is a sealed metal tube that contains sufficient airflow in many situations, especially when a wick and a working fluid. The role of the heat pipe the airflow path is not straight, vertical, and unimpeded. is to draw heat away from a source and convey it to a Many applications use thermally controlled fans that cooler location, but not to act as a heat dissipating sink run only if needed to reduce their rpm, thus cutting itself. The heat pipe is used when there is not enough power use, and with blades that minimize noise at the space at the source to place a heat sink or there is optimum operating speed. insufficient air flow. It acts as a highly efficient conduit to get the heat from the source to a place where it can The key parameter that defines fan capacity is the be better managed. airflow in linear or cubic feet of air per minute. Physical size is also an issue; obviously, a large fan running at How does the heat pipe work? It’s simple and clever: It lower rpm can produce the same airflow as a small implements a phase change, which is a basic principle fan at higher rpm, so there is a size/speed tradeoff. of thermal physics. The heat source turns the working Some designs use internal baffles to direct the fan fluid to vapor within the sealed tube, and heat-laden airflow past hot areas and heat sinks for optimum vapor carries that heat as it travels to the cool end of the performance. heat pipe. At the cool end, the vapor condenses back into liquid, releasing its heat, and the fluid travels back to Models, Simulation Pull It All Together the warmer end. This gas-liquid phase-change sequence The decision whether to use passive cooling alone or operates continuously and is powered only by the heat go to an active forced-air system is often a difficult one. differential between the warmer and cooler ends. A passive-only system is larger but more efficient and reliable, while a fan allows operation in circumstances Heat pipes come in many diameters and lengths, with that might otherwise be impossible using passive most diameters between about one-quarter inch and cooling alone.
| 11 in assessing that a component that may be in thermal distress due to its own dissipation, such as a high-dissipation IC, MOSFET, and insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), and even a resistor. Vendors of these devices often supply thermal models that provide details of the thermal path from source to surface (Figure 6).
Note that for some components, their various surfaces may be at different temperatures. For example, the underside of a die may naturally be hotter than the top-side cover of its package, so vendors may design Figure 6: The mechanical model of the installed FET (left) is used to develop an equivalent thermal-resistance model (right), which is used for simulation of the the package to convey more heat to device’s thermal situation. (Source: International Rectifier/Infineon) the top to make better use of a top- side heat sink.
Of course, there are cases where added behind the radiator to force Once the heat load represented a passive system alone will air through it, regardless of the by various components is known, be inadequate or impractical. car’s speed. the next step is macrolevel An analogous situation is the modeling, which can be both management of engine heat in Modeling and simulation are simple and complex. As a first- automobiles. The earliest cars with critical to an effective thermal- order approximation, the airflow their small engines were passively management strategy to determine that passes by the various heat cooled via fins on the tops of their how much cooling is needed and sources can be sized to keep cylinders as heat sinks. As engines how to achieve it. The good news their temperatures below allowed became larger and the heat load is that this activity is far easier and limits. Basic calculations using air increased, these fins became larger more accurate than most other temperature, amount of unforced and unwieldy, so circulating fluid types of electronic modeling, such flow available, fan air flow, and was added to draw heat away from as for RF or electromagnetic fields other factors will give a rough idea the fins and bring it to a radiator with their parasitics and anomalies. of the situation. as a heat sink, through which air would flow as the car moved. For micromodeling, the heat source The next step is a more- This, too, was a passive system. and all thermal paths from it are sophisticated modeling of the Eventually, though, as engines characterized by their thermal entire product and its package, became even bigger, the passive resistance, which is determined by using models of the various heat approach was inadequate and the material used, its mass, and sources, their locations, the PC the car would overheat unless it size. This shows how heat will flow board, the enclosure surface, and was moving. Therefore, a fan was from the source and is the first step other factors. This type of modeling
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is based on computational fluid Figure 7: Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and can be dynamics (CFD) analysis, the detailed quite accurate in showing the thermal profile across a system temperature at every location in the or circuit board can be seen, as box (Figure 7). shown by this PC board with three major heat sources (red) and the flow of heat both left and right on By making “what if” adjustments, the extended board. (Source: Texas designers can see if more air Instruments) is needed via larger air ports, determine if a different air-flow path is more effective, identify differences in using larger or different heat sinks, inquire about Figure 8: To minimize thermal the use of heat pipes to move heat impedance between an IC and its spots, and much more. These heat sink, often due to microscopic air voids, users can interpose a CFD modeling packages produce thermally-conductive but electrically- tabular data as well as false-color insulating pad, such as the AP PAD images of the thermal situation. HC 5.0 thermal interface high- Changes such as the effects of fan compliance silicon-based pad, with size, airflow, and placement are 5.0W/m-K resistance. (Source: also easily modeled. Bergquist Company)
Finally, modelling should address two additional factors. First, there are issues of peak versus average dissipation. A component which dissipates 1W steady state has a such as between the top on an IC with active cooling using fans. different thermal impact than one package and its heat sink. If that System modeling at the component that dissipates 10W but with a 10 meeting has minute gaps, there level and the complete-product percent intermittent duty cycle. will be a higher thermal impedance level allows designers to begin a The reason is that the associated in that path. For this reason, first-order, approximate analysis thermal masses and heat flow thin thermal pads are often used of the cooling strategy. Further will result in different thermal between these surfaces to enhance analysis using computational flow profiles even if the average heat the path’s conductivity (Figure 8). dynamics enables comprehensive dissipations the same. Most CFD insight into the complete thermal applications can take this static Conclusion situation and the effect of changes versus dynamic reality into the Thermal management is an in cooling tactics. All thermal analysis. essential aspect of power management solutions involve management that’s needed to keep tradeoffs in size, power, efficiency, Second, component-level micro components and systems within weight, reliability, and, of course, models must take into account their temperature limits. Passive cost, and they must be assessed imperfections in the physical solutions begin with heat sinks and with respect to project priorities attachment between surfaces, heat pipes, and may be enhanced and constraints.
| 13 Drones Ascend to New Heights: Bringing Unique Perspective to Broadening Markets
By Mike Parks, PE, for Mouser Electronics
ewer emerging technologies are solving problems, discusses F have so vividly captured the potential barriers to drone public imagination as dramatically adoption, and explores technical as unmanned aerial vehicles and non-technical solutions needed (UAVs) or as they are more to help drones reach their full commonly referred to, drones. potential. Their use in military operations over the last two decades has A Market with been as game-changing as Expanding Horizons tanks were to World War I and as Aerial photography and rocketry was to World War II. videography are perhaps the two most common uses for drones. With all the newfound interest Beyond artistic pursuits of in UAV technology it might be photographers and filmmakers, surprising to know that the drones drones allow real estate agents, buzzing across the skies today can event organizers, and proprietors trace their lineage back to the late of various business to easily and 1840s. During the time of the First inexpensively add stunning visuals Italian War of Independence, the to marketing campaigns. The Austrians would use unmanned commanding portion of drones balloons to drops explosives on sold—some 94 percent of units Venice. The 20th century saw the sold—are for personal use, either emergence of remotely controlled as toys or for photography. While aircraft for military training and personal drones dominate unit reconnaissance applications as well sales, the market only represents as a nascent hobbyist community. 40 percent of the revenue generated, according to Recode, Now in the 21st century, the same a site that focuses on news and technological innovations that trends. The majority of the revenue have brought us smartphones, the comes from the relatively miniscule Internet of Things, and wearables number of higher cost commercial have brought us an explosion of drone sales. And it’s in this market drones. What’s remarkable is not that some of the most compelling just the number of drones that new use cases and businesses are are becoming available; it’s the manifesting themselves as drone applications that they are being technology evolves. applied to that is really incredible. This article explores the types As far as drones themselves, the of applications where drones quadcopter is perhaps the most
14 | prevalent in commercial and to support SAR missions. One hobbyist markets (Figure 1). It’s such group is S.W.A.R.M. (Search a rapidly growing market with With Aerial RC Multirotor) that hundreds of companies competing claims a network of more than at various price points. According to 1,100 volunteer drone operators a recent market survey by Recode, across 31 countries who are ready drone units sales increased from to support SAR missions. The approximately 1.3 million in 2015 drones are not only used to spot to 2.2 million in 2016. In dollars and lost individuals, but also to deliver cents, those unit sales represented supplies such as food, water, first almost 4.6 billion dollars (USD), a aid kits, and communications 36 percent increase year-over-year. devices until rescuers can Figure 1: DJI Phantom 4, an example of a Looking to the future, some analysts physically reach the injured quadcopter drone. (Source: Wikipedia) are predicting the drone market to individual. hit 6 billion dollars this year (2017) and swell to over 11 billion dollars Firefighting presents a great leading the charge on introducing by 2020. number of dangers to life and limb technology such as drones to of human rescuers. Drones are their arsenal of tools in an effort Emergency and being used to reduce that risk by to improve yields and cut costs. Medical Response taking on some of the exploratory DroneSeed is one a of handful It’s not just all fun and games tasks so that humans can focus companies in the U.S. that has for the future of drones. Many on higher order tasks such as received government approval to companies are looking to applying rescuing victims and containing allow a single operator to control the technology to matters where the fire itself. FAROS (Fireproof multiple drones at the same time. seconds can mean the difference Aerial Robot System) is one such Their drone swarms are responsible between life and death. Getting drone that is equipped with a for spreading seeds and pesticides lifesaving medications, blood for number of unique technologies as well as monitoring crop growth. transfusions, and devices such as that makes it quite suitable for Operating in a swarm means serving defibrillators to a victim quickly firefighting. Given that firefighting more farmland in less time and at isn’t always easy in certain locales. often takes place inside buildings less cost. Companies such as Zipline have where GPS signals may not be been doing just that in places reliable, FAROS adopts additional Facility managers are also keen to such as Rwanda where modern tools such as an altimeter, 2D adapting their business services in healthcare infrastructure just laser scanner, and an inertial response to the wide availability of doesn’t exist. Less than a year ago, management unit (IMU) to allow for drones. Tasks such as inspections Zipline received approval from the safe navigation inside buildings. of roofs, photovoltaic panels, Federal Aviation Administration To combat the unusually high wind turbines, power lines, and (FAA) to begin delivery of the same heats that firefighting drones are roadways are being made safe services within the borders of the exposed to, FAROS incorporates and efficient thanks to coupling United States, initially targeting special materials and design drones with cameras equipped with rural or highly remote locations features such as an air buffer and high definition or infrared imaging such as Appalachia towns and a thermoelectric cooling system. sensors. Construction planning island communities off the and site surveys are also benefiting mainland. Industrial and from drones equipped with LIDAR Scientific Applications sensors that allow for centimeter Search and rescue (SAR) Drones are also at the forefront of accurate mapping of potential operations are being significantly helping researchers and businesses building sites. helped by the availability of become more efficient and effective drones, too. Large volunteer in performing their missions. In addition to planning for the organizations are sprouting up Agriculture is an industry that is future, drones are proving to
| 15 be equally useful for those who study the past. With drones archaeologists can now do for themselves what they have been relying on small plane pilots or stagnant satellite imagery to do in studying potential sites for excavations. Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK have eagerly applied drones to their research at a site known as the “British Pompeii” in Cambridgeshire. Drones allow them to get high-quality, low altitude imagery so they can better plan where to dig thus saving time onsite. In addition, the imagery is used to visually document finds as they are uncovered. Figure 2: SPAXELS are akin to fireworks shows, using drones instead of pyrotechnics. One other novel emerging use (Source: Ars Electronica) for drones is to provide airborne Internet access points, which the technology aspects appeal to airborne lights.” Their work along could prove useful in situations a younger demographic, which with partner Intel resulted in a such as disaster recovery, high could be crucial to attracting and stunning 500 drone light show participation events such as maintaining a subscriber base late last year (Figure 2). Intel sporting events, or in less- for old media businesses that would go on to buy the company developed parts of the world are otherwise suffering from a behind SPAXELS, Ascending where the costs of installing marketplace that’s increasingly Technologies. traditional telecommunication embracing cord-cutting. infrastructure is just too cost Barriers to Drone Adoption prohibitive. Facebook just recently If watching one drone zipping If drones can bring all this good completed their second test arounds the skies is exciting, to bear on today’s problems, flight of a 737-sized (in terms of watching an entire swarm of then what is stymying their ability wingspan) solar-powered drone, drones is downright mesmerizing. to reach their full potential? For dubbed Aquila, to do just this, That’s exactly what Ars Electronica some with a dystopian worldview, according to Business Insider. Futurelab thought a few years drones with high definition cameras ago when they set out to create represent the potential for regular Entertainment and Sports something akin to a fireworks invasion of privacy. In 2016 ESPN, the juggernaut show, with drones substituted sports television network, for pyrotechnics. The result was Safety is another major concern inked a multi-year deal with something they call the “SPAXEL”. raised about the proliferation of Drone Racing League (DRL) to According to the Ars website, drones. From falling out of the sky televise the nascent leagues “The term SPAXEL is derived from and injuring an innocent bystander global competitions. Drone “Space Pixels”; SPAXELS are to catastrophic interaction with racers represent widely diverse visual elements positioned freely manned aircraft, there are many demographics not typically and dynamically in space. We use scenarios that could result in found in traditional sports. drones to carry a LED lighting property damage or worse. While Drone racing is also breaking system and combine them into many issues could be solved geographic barriers. In addition, a beautiful and organic swarm of technologically, certainly human
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error or malfeasance is likely to From a technology perspective, they are located. Virtual walls play a role much like problems there’s plenty of lucrative known as geofences tell drones that arise from people and opportunities for innovations areas that they should avoid even automobiles. in drone friendly hardware and if told otherwise by their operator. software. A popular accessory Of course, knowing where these From the perspective of people for many camera-equipped drone geofences are (and keeping that and organizations that are keen operators is a pair of First Person information current) is a more to eventually embrace drones, View (FPV) goggles. Such goggles complex challenge. Often this perhaps the biggest complaint place the view from an onboard challenged is addressed on higher- regarding the current generation camera and place it squarely in end drones by requiring them to of drones is the limited flight time front of the operators eyes making connect over a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi that today’s batteries can sustain. it feel as if they were sitting in a connection to a smartphone- Lack of sensors in drone-friendly non-existent cockpit. FPV goggles based application to keep a form factors or interoperability rely on solid, high-speed radio geofence inventory current. Other issues between the sensor and links that minimize latency while technologies such as IMUs, drone are another stumbling block also maximizing image resolution barometers, infrared-based object that has to be worked out as well. and distance achievable between detection, and computer vision drone and operator. Encryption of solutions can also incorporated to Overcoming Barriers: the data link will also be increasingly provide a more holistic picture of Technology and critical as more and more drones the operating environment to allow Regulatory Solutions take to the sky becoming targets of for safer flight. The world is only beginning to convenience for those with than less witness the ascent of drones noble intentions. Lastly, as more sensors and as useful tools and not just higher resolution cameras are amusing novelties. It will take a Improvements in battery capacities incorporated, the brains of the combination of both technological and onboard power management drones must also improve to and non-technological solutions will be a major boon for the handle all the data being thrown to help drones reach their full continued adoption of drones. at it. Machine learning algorithms potential. Across the world, RC Better batteries will lead to improved that could be used in object clubs and other aviation focused flight times and/or weight handling detection and collision avoidance groups are offering training capacities, which in turn leads to will require a significant bump courses for new drone pilots. more efficient flight operations in onboard processing power. In the U.S., until a recent court and inclusion of more hardware Drone swarms of any significant ruling, the FAA required all non- to add functionality. More efficient size will also add networking to commercial drone operators who electromechanical components, the mix of challenges that must flew drones weighing between such as motors that drive the also be addressed. Whether mesh 0.55lbs (250 grams) and 55-lbs propellers or camera gimbals, will networks or some other dynamic to register with their Small also go a long way to help with network topology is embraced, Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) power consumption. every drone that is intended to Registration Service. Other rules operate in a swarm will have to apply to drones larger than 55-lbs. Better flight control, enabled have the ability to communicate Even with the recent court ruling, by intelligent onboard sensors efficiently and in fairly unpredictable the registration issue is likely not and systems, will go a long way environments. Of course, all this a settled matter yet. If the drone toward addressing the safety must be balanced with the fact that operator intends to engage in a and privacy concerns associated additional computing horsepower commercial enterprise then they with drones. Already drones at can become a significant burden would be subject to a certification increasingly lower price points are on a device that must expend most process as laid out in FAA Part being equipped with GPS and/or of its energy just to keep itself in 107 Certification for Commercial GLONASS navigation systems to the air. Which is the whole point of Drone Pilots. help drones keep track of where having a drone to begin with.
| 17 New PV Cells Benefit Energy Harvesting
Enhanced energy harvesting using new materials and construction techniques meets demands of niche applications
By Steven Keeping for Mouser Electronics
oday, some 85 percent of the technologies will find use in niche Tinstalled of photovoltaic (PV) applications. One such application cells are manufactured from silicon, is wireless IoT sensors where as it’s both particularly suited to efficient, compact, durable, and turning light into electricity and inexpensive PV technology could plentiful. Too, PV cells can be harvest solar energy to charge the produced in volume by adopting devices’ batteries. Such technology wafer manufacturing techniques would be a boon for the Internet pioneered by the integrated circuit of Things (IoT) roll-out because (IC) industry. However, silicon it would enable wireless sensors has some downsides, including to operate reliably with little or no a maximum efficiency of around maintenance. 33 percent, energy-intensive high temperature processing, and This article explores how PV cells fragility. work, the role of silicon, and the advantages and disadvantages Alternative PV technologies using of silicon as the underlying new materials, architectures, and semiconductor, as well as the assembly techniques have been potential of new semiconductors, developed to address silicon’s architectures, and assembly drawbacks. New materials include techniques. the compound semiconductors gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium Photovoltaic Process phosphide (GaP), as well as the Although a deep understanding of the mineral perovskite (CaTiO); the new photovoltaic (also called photoelectric) energy-focusing concentrated PV process requires familiarity with (CPV) architecture and assembly quantum mechanics, the basic techniques use using multi-junction, principles of PV cell operation are thin-film, and large crystals for high relatively straightforward: PV cells energy efficiency and durability. take advantage of semiconductor p-n junctions. In the n-type material, While silicon PV cells are likely to electrons act as current carriers, with dominate large-scale electricity electron vacancies or “holes” doing generation due to mass production the same job on the p side of the and falling prices, alternative junction.
18 | When a photon within a narrow band of wavelengths enters the semiconductor crystal matrix, there is some probability that it will be absorbed by an electron bound to an atom in the n-type material, endowing the particle with sufficient energy to escape from its parent atom. The excess electrons on the n-type side of the junction then diffuse across the junction to recombine with holes on the p-type side, creating a potential difference across the joint. The incorporation of a conducting return path between the two sides of the joint allows a direct current (DC) to flow Figure( 1).
A PV cell is made up of thousands of these p-n junctions and multiplies the effect—and, hence, the magnitude of the current. In the Figure 1: Single-junction PV cell operation: Photons of appropriate energy liberate commercial product, these cells electrons, which cross the semiconductor junction and generate a potential difference. are combined to form modules and (Source: Cyferz at English Wikipedia) ultimately create panels. The DC voltage can be turned into AC by an panels has declined by around efficiency, for example, will output inverter to do useful work or send 30 percent in the last year alone. around 110W. power directly to the distribution Government subsidies designed to grid (Figure 2). encourage the uptake of silicon PV The key characteristic that limits panels to reduce reliance on fossil a semiconductor’s maximum First Generation PV Cells: fuels for electricity generation have efficiency is its band gap. The band Single-Junction Silicon also played their part in encouraging gap defines the amount of energy First-generation PV panels are adoption. Nonetheless, the required to liberate an electron largely fabricated from a crystalline technology remains too costly for from an atom (into the “conduction form of silicon (“c-Si”). The key many niche applications. band”) and is measured in electron drivers for silicon’s large uptake is its volts (eV); 1eV is approximately PV performance and convenience of Silicon Advantages: equal to 1.602×10−19 J. supply. The bulk material is plentiful Efficiency and Band Gap (making up 28 percent of the Earth’s Silicon offers several advantages The energy of photons is determined crust), and the techniques and for PV technology. First, its PV by their wavelength, with photons facilities for manufacture have been efficiency is good. (Efficiency is of a shorter wavelength (higher borrowed from the chip industry. defined as the percentage of energy frequency) being more energetic. However, processing the large- generated by a PV panel compared Many sunlight photons entering scale silicon wafers for PV panels with that incident upon its surface a c-Si lattice will carry insufficient is energy intensive, complex, and in the form of light.) Averaged out energy to liberate an electron and expensive. over the surface of the planet, the will therefore do little more than Sun delivers around 1100W/m2 heat up the material. Photons with Cost has been mitigated in part when directly overhead. A PV panel greater energy than that required to due to excess global manufacturing measuring 1m2 exposed to this level bridge the band gap might liberate capacity; the price of silicon PV of sunlight and exhibiting 10 percent a single electron, but their excess
| 19 • Energy-intensive, high- temperature, and complex processing. • Inherently expensive, which could introduce challenges if supply becomes restricted and/or subsidies are withdrawn.
New Developments in PV Technology In the last several years, second- generation PV products have been commercialized, and third- generation technology has entered the R&D labs. Second- and third- generation technologies look to build on the success of mature silicon technology, particularly the established support infrastructure— such as isolators, meters, controllers, and inverters that are largely independent of the PV Figure 2: PV cells are combined into modules and then into panels to form end technology type—while addressing products. (Source: Wikipedia) some of silicon’s drawbacks. energy will again just contribute to only determinant of efficiency; Second-Generation heating up the crystal rather than crystal size also has a major PV Technology doing anything useful. effect. If a material is made up of Second-generation PV panels focus small crystals, electron mobility is on nanometer- to micrometer- thick In 1961, William Shockley and reduced by the large number of layers of PV material mounted Hans-Joachim Queisser calculated crystal interfaces. Reduced mobility on a glass, plastic, or metal the theoretical maximum PV restricts current flow and, in turn, substrate. These “thin-film” PV efficiency for single-junction (cells efficiency. (TFPV) cells (also called “multi- made of just one semiconductor) PV junction” products because of cells across a range of band gaps Additionally, these drawbacks the additional active layers) are (Figure 3). The calculation revealed further hinder silicon as an ideal cheaper and less energy intensive that the optimum band gap for a semiconductor for PV cells: to manufacture, use less expensive single-junction PV cell was 1.13eV, material, are low in weight, and which yielded a maximum efficiency • Maximum theoretical are suited to applications such of around 33 percent. It turns out efficiency is just 33 percent. as semi-transparent, PV glazing that silicon’s band gap of 1.10eV is The best commercial c-Si PV material that can be laminated onto close to the optimum figure. panels achieve around 24 windows (Figure 4). percent efficiency in practice Silicon Drawbacks: Crystal wasting over three-quarters The downside of TFPV panels is Size, Energy, Efficiency, of the sun’s energy. that the manufacturing, energy, cost, and Fragility • Fragility, requiring and weight advantages are traded- Silicon as a material is not mechanical support from off against efficiency. Some of the perfect for PV cells, however. For heavy glass panels, adding potential efficiency gains of bulk example, band gap is not the weight and cost. material multi-junction PV panels is
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lost because the thin films comprise of different band gaps so that energy is wasted even if the tiny crystals that affect electron that photons of lower energy photon is absorbed by a silicon mobility. Instead of c-Si, for example, can liberate electrons and so electron. which comprises comparatively huge that those of a higher energy crystals, commercial TFPV panels convert more of that energy Semiconductors with band gaps use either polycrystalline silicon (very to electricity. lower than silicon enable photons small crystals) or amorphous silicon • Structure: Introducing that would otherwise be useless to (no crystals). TFPV panels promise techniques that lower contribute to the PV effect. Indium efficiencies of 20 percent although the energy intensity and arsenide (InAs), for example, has a today’s commercial products complexity of first-generation band gap of 0.36eV and has been typically operate at 10 percent PV panel production. used successfully to complement efficiency. • Processing: Improving silicon. semiconductor processing A second disadvantage of TFPV techniques to enhance the Semiconductors with higher band panels is relatively rapid degradation quality and size of crystals gaps than silicon allow more of of the thin films reducing the panel such that electron mobility the energy of shorter wavelength lifetime. Second-generation PV is raised. photons to contribute to electricity cells are unlikely to challenge • Mechanical: Amplifying the generation. Materials such as silicon’s dominance for large-scale number of photons that fall gallium arsenide (GaAs), which has electricity generation but offer on a unit area of substrate by a band gap of 1.43eV, and gallium promise in applications where lower focusing incident light with phosphide, which has a band gap cost, weight, and durability can be mirrors or lenses. of 2.25eV, have also been used with traded-off against efficiency. success. Several lines of research Material Developments have also resulted in further Third-Generation Converting more of the incident compounding of these materials— PV Technologies photon energy into electricity is for example, indium gallium PV technology is continually being possible by introducing materials arsenide (InGaAs) and indium developed to enhance first- and with lower and higher band gaps gallium phosphide (InGaP)—to second-generation technologies. than silicon. Silicon’s band gap further optimize the PV effect. And research into new areas is of 1.1eV is the best of any single uncovering technology that will semiconductor for harvesting Structural Developments form the foundation of a third energy from visible light. However, Alternative band gap generation of PV product. These much of the energy from the sun semiconductors have a lower developments and research is carried by photons with energy maximum efficiency than silicon generally fall into four sectors: below this band gap. And although, alone, so there is no benefit in for example, a blue-light photon employing them singly. Instead, one • Materials: Complementing can carry three times as much or more semiconductors are used silicon with semiconductors energy as a red one, two-thirds of together in a multilayer structure. Materials with the largest band gap—requiring short wavelength (high energy) photons to dislodge electrons—are positioned at the top, allowing low energy photons to pass through without interaction Figure 3: Shockley and to then be absorbed by lower Queisser’s calculation of band gap materials in the following maximum efficiency against band gap for single-junction PV layers. Transparent conductors are cell semiconductors. Silicon has required at each layer to carry the a band gap of 1.1eV. (Source: generated current yet let photons Wikipedia) pass through to the lower layers.
| 21 hence efficiency while slashing manufacturing costs. Current lines of research are aimed at growing even larger perfect crystals; for example, researchers at MIT in the U.S. have recently discovered how to “heal” crystal defects in a perovskite- based PV cell by exposing the cell to intense light.
Elsewhere, researchers at University of California, Berkeley have discovered that different facets of the perovskite crystals have markedly different efficiencies. The scientists are now focusing their research on ways of processing the bulk material such that only the most efficient facets interface with the PV cell electrodes as a method of boosting overall efficiency.
As with TFPV materials, a key Figure 4: Multi-junction TFPV cell internal structure. (Source: NREL) challenge currently limiting the commercial deployment of This technology has been deployed generation with the simpler and perovskite-based PV cells is with success in TFPV panels and cheaper manufacturing of the the speed at which the material remains the focus a key area of second. degrades. research. One group of materials that has Mechanical Development Silicon has a maximum efficiency caused much excitement is derived Another development objective of 33 percent, but this figure from the mineral perovskite (CaTiO). for third-generation PV panels is can theoretically be bettered by The group of materials has band concentrated PV (CPV) technology. multilayer PV panels. A two-layer gaps ranging from 1.4 to 2.5eV. The CPV is designed to focus sunlight cell, for example, with one layer theoretical maximum efficiency of using lenses and mirrors such featuring a band gap of 1.64 and the perovskite group can’t match that a dramatically higher number the other 0.94eV, could reach a silicon, but recent rapid efficiency of photons fall on a unit area of maximum efficiency of 44 percent. gains from around 4 to 20 percent PV panel. The technique typically Similarly, a three-layer PV cell have raised hope that commercial employs high-efficiency, multi- with band gaps of 1.83, 1.16, and products will eventually be more junction PV cells constructed, as 0.71eV, would have a maximum efficient than TFPV panels. shown in Figure 4. Focusing the theoretical efficiency of 48 percent. light increases efficiency, enabling Commercial multilayer products The key advantage of the perovskite dramatic reductions in panel size, comprise two, three, or four layers. group over silicon is the comparative lowering the cost and weight of ease and low processing the product, and increasing the Processing Developments temperatures with which millimeter- number of locations where it can be Researchers are investigating sized perfect crystals can be grown. installed. new groups of materials for third- This is a huge size for a perfect generation PV panels that combine crystal lattice, and it dramatically “Low” CPV focuses the equivalent the high efficiencies of the first increases electron mobility and of two to 100x sunlight onto
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For example, MikroElektronika’s energy-harvesting module is a silicon PV cell capable of producing up to 0.4W at 4V.
Because the voltage and current from a PV cell varies considerably, the voltage/current output from such a device needs to be regulated for Li-ion battery charging. (Li-ion batteries require careful current/voltage management during the charging cycle.) Purpose-designed, highly- integrated power management chips are available for the job.
For example, Maxim’s MAX17710 Table 1: Efficiency of c-Si, TFPV, and CPV technologies (Source: IRENA) power management IC can manage poorly-regulated the panel, while “high” CPV can power and difficult to access for sources such as PV cells with multiply the light to the equivalent maintenance such as battery output levels ranging from 1µW of 1000x sunlight. CPV systems changes. to 100mW. The device also often use solar trackers and includes a boost regulator circuit sometimes a cooling system Many of the products will employ for charging the battery from to increase efficiency.Table 1 low power wireless technologies a source as low as 0.75V. An summarizes the efficiency of such as Bluetooth low energy internal regulator protects the cell current PV cell technology. and zigbee, which have been from overcharging. 3.3, 2.3, or designed from the ground up to 1.8V outputs are supplied to the Case Study: Energy- run from modest power resources. wireless IoT sensor via a low- Harvesting Wireless Many applications are powered dropout (LDO) linear regulator. IoT Sensors from compact primary cells with The key application for PV capacities around 220mAh. In low- Texas Instruments also offers technology is for renewable-energy duty cycle operation, the average a power management IC, the generating capacity to feed the current draw from a low-power bq25504.The device is specifically electricity grid. But third-generation wireless System-on-Chip (SoC) is in designed to efficiently acquire and technologies—which promise less the microampere range, extending manage power generated from expensive, more durable, and battery life to thousands of hours PV cells. The chip integrates a smaller PV panels—promise to (several months) of operation. DC-DC boost converter/charger introduce energy-harvesting niche that requires only microwatts of applications. However, extending battery life by power and a voltage as low 330mV replacing a primary battery with a to commence energy harvesting Wireless IoT Sensors secondary battery and recharging (Figure 5). Designers of IoT wireless sensors via a PV cell extends self-contained have long been keen to take operation to several years. Third-Generation advantage of energy harvesting. PV Technology Applied It is envisaged that the IoT will Energy-Harvesting Technology While current PV cell energy- comprise billions of sensors Energy harvesting technology harvesting solutions work with many positioned remotely for small-capacity, Li-ion cell satisfactorily, they do have and therefore isolated from main charging is a proven technology. some downsides. For example,
| 23 demand increases, TFPV cells will become much cheaper and a practical proposition for this niche application.
Simultaneously, the efficiency of TFPV PV cells will continue to increase, bringing greater advantages to energy-harvesting wireless sensor designs including:
• Energy harvesting from artificial light for indoor sensors. • Reduction in panel size for given power output for highly space-constrained designs. • More power available to run complex software algorithms on advanced wireless SoCs. Figure 5: Application circuit for energy-harvested batter charging using TI power • Increased wireless sensor management IC. (Source: Texas Instruments) range and throughput. • Multiple sensors powered MikroElektronika’s energy- 44mW. While charging at an from a single PV panel. harvesting module measures 7 average of 3.5V (voltage varies × 6.5 × 0.3cm (a surface area of during a Li-ion battery charging Conclusion 45.5cm2), is relatively heavy and cycle), the current supplied from An estimated 85 percent fragile. However, silicon PV cells the power management chip would photovoltaic (PV) cells currently like this product are currently the be around 12mA, sufficient to fully installed are manufactured from only practical choice because of recharge a 300mAh Li-ion battery in silicon, as it’s both plentiful their efficiency compared with around 25 hours. and suited to turning light into alternatives. electricity. Second- and third- While such a charging regime would generation PV technologies are But third-generation cells incorporate take several days of full sunshine, addressing silicon’s downsides technology to boost efficiency note that the Li-ion battery will only that include a maximum efficiency beyond the current 10 percent discharge at a rate of a perhaps a of only about 33 percent, energy- enjoyed by commercial products. few mAh per day under typical low intensive high temperature Technologies currently in the lab power wireless sensor operation, processing, and fragility. are projected to double efficiency requiring the PV cell to only top-up in the next several years; that the battery (rather that fully charge) Second-generation PV panels would introduce silicon PV cell-type ensuring it can easily cope with focus “thin-film” PV cells that performance to TFPV cells combined the energy demand even on days are mounted on a glass, plastic, with advantages of lower cost, light without full sunshine. or metal substrate. These are weight, and greater robustness. cheaper and less energy intensive Compact third-generation PV cells to manufacture, use less expensive A third-generation TFPV cell are yet to be commercialized. material, are low in weight, and measuring just 4cm2 in direct And when mass production does are suited to applications such sunlight, for example, would commence, prices are likely to as semi-transparent, PV glazing receive around 0.22W incident initially be too high for wireless material that can be laminated onto power. At 20 percent efficiency, IoT sensor applications. However, windows. These are unlikely to the TFPV cell would output around as the technology matures and challenge silicon’s dominance for
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large-scale electricity generation but offer promise in applications Key Takeaways where lower cost, weight, and durability can be traded-off against efficiency. • Silicon is the market-leading material for general-purpose PV panel applications because the raw material is plentiful, Third-generation PV cells promise manufacturing infrastructure is established, and if offers high even more by matching the efficiency. efficiency of silicon while building on the advantages of second- • Silicon PV cells have some notable downsides: They are generation products. This will heavy, fragile, energy intensive to produce, and expensive. make the cells a good option for remote, low-maintenance • This makes silicon impractical for energy harvesting IoT sensor applications using applications for compact wireless IoT sensors. rechargeable Li-ion batteries continually replenished by • New materials and PV cell construction techniques address the sun’s energy. These PV silicon’s drawbacks, but lower efficiency limits usefulness for technologies use new materials, wireless IoT sensors. structure, processing, and mechanical techniques to • Improved efficiency promised by third-generation cells will address silicon’s drawbacks. New make the technology suitable for wireless IoT sensors, and materials include the compound promises to increase computational power, wireless range, semiconductors gallium arsenide and throughput at an affordable cost. (GaAs) and gallium phosphide (GaP), as well as the mineral perovskite (CaTiO); the new energy-focusing concentrated PV (CPV) architecture and assembly techniques use using multi- junction, thin-film, and large crystals for high energy efficiency and durability.
Niche applications like energy- harvesting wireless IoT sensors, which require efficient, compact, durable, and inexpensive PV technology, stand to benefit from third-generation PV cells. Such technology would enable wireless sensors to operate reliably with little or no maintenance. As third-generation PV technologies evolve, we can expect to see additional wireless sensor designs, such as harvesting energy from indoor lighting and other applications that require compact, efficient, powerful, and robust designs.
| 25 The Future of Healthcare May Reside in Your Smart Clothes
By Peter Brown for Mouser Electronics
Smart clothing technology is still in its infancy, but the idea of weaving electronics into a shirt, a blanket, a bandage, a knitted cap, or pants to perform specific functions has the potential to solve a variety of patient treatment and monitoring scenarios in the medical industry.
hen most people think of “Healthcare in general is W wearables, they often think experiencing its own crisis of the obligatory smart watches, especially in the US (also in the fitness monitors, andheart rate UK),” said Aditya Kaul, research monitors that are typically worn director for market research firm on the wrist or arm. However, the Tractica. “Therefore, the focus is wearables market extends well more on fixing healthcare rather beyond just these standard devices than on technologies like smart and into multiple emerging markets clothing. We see a slow growth for across some different industries. the market in the next three to four years, but beyond that, we see a One such emerging market is smart bright, fast growing market.” clothing for healthcare—the idea of weaving electronics into a shirt, a Tractica forecasts smart clothing for blanket, a bandage, a knitted cap, healthcare to grow from just $2.4 or pants to perform specific patient million today to a whopping $1.2 care functions. billion by 2021, with the majority of growth coming in the years Smart clothing, or e-textiles, as 2019–2021. a whole is still in its infancy, and practical applications that are being What is an e-Textile used in hospitals and other care and How Does it Work? facilities are few and far between. Smart clothing is seen as a way to revolutionize the practice of Yet, interest in the potential of healthcare, and it’s hoped that a this technology is vast with many widespread use of garments used healthcare providers and medical to monitor health or help with device manufacturers actively treatment could reduce reliance monitoring smart clothing pilot on costly equipment and a heavily projects and research into the burdened healthcare system. latest e-textiles technology. In fact, Clothing that can track chronic smart clothing holds such promise disease or conditions, help with a in healthcare it is being seen as growing aging population, or make a major disruptive force in the patients more comfortable during industry in the next five years. a stay at a hospital or treatment
26 | facility is seen as a way to create value, boost health insights, and reduce costs.
E-textiles are designed to feel comfortable on the skin but at the same time be functional. These smart fabrics consist of traditional fabric woven with conductive fibers as well as electronic elements such as biomedical sensors, microcontrollers, fiber optics and wearable antennas, such as Mouser’s line of Internet of Things system-on-modules.
An example of a biomedical sensor that could be used in e-textile Figure 1: Fiber optics integrated into a blanket or shirt in order to monitor skin circulation applications is the Analog Devices’ to prevent bed sores or monitor heart rates is what researchers at Empa are working on. AD8232/33 Heart Rate Monitor (Source: Empa) Front End. It is an integrated signal conditioning block for ECG and other biopotential measurement These products allow you to realize healthcare field to invest in research applications, designed to extract, any wearable project. They are fully projects or academics instead amplify, and filter small biopotential featured, round, sew-able, and taking a wait-and-see approach. signals in the presence of noisy Arduino-compatible devices. They In its place, some manufacturers conditions. The Intel® Edison are small enough to fit into any have turned to the wellness/sports development platform is designed project and low cost enough to use market where the consequences for to lower the barriers to entry for a without hesitation. a wrong signal are much lower. range of inventors, entrepreneurs, and consumer product designers Depending on how the conductive However, with a continued rise in to rapidly prototype and produce fibers are woven in and the many parts of the world of chronic Internet of Things (IoT) and electronics included in the smart disease--such as diabetes, heart wearable computing products. It is clothing, the fabric is durable and disease, cancer and respiratory both a system-on-module solution able to be washed similar to regular disorders--aging populations that and an item that incorporates a clothing. While durability is still an are living longer and an increase in wearable antenna. ongoing issue in many projects, the number of surgeries performed it is a consideration that most in key healthcare markets such In some cases, e-textiles are researchers and companies are as Europe and the US, e-textile created, in part, on a typical working on as an important step developments are on the rise to tabletop sewing machine that toward mass commercialization of make use of emerging electronics embroiders thread into fabric in a smart clothing for healthcare. and medical technology. In some pattern via a computer program. clinical trials, smart clothing has Instead of thread, however, metallic Market Drivers shown to protect against infectious fibers from metals such as silver, and Challenges disease, help sense the state of the nickel, carbon, copper, aluminum, for Smart Clothing wearer’s health, and help prevent, and stainless steel, like Adafruit’s So far, there have been relatively treat, and manage health. wearable electronic platforms from few e-textile commercial successes. Mouser, are used that feel the same One of the reasons for this is a lack “There are lots of opportunities in as traditional thread to the touch. of willingness by companies in the healthcare development, especially
| 27 Figure 2: A wearable, washable stocking that can be worn at home for use in monitoring edema in patients’ legs is moving into the clinical trial and validation phase. (Source: Edema ApS) textiles,” said Luciano Boesel, insurance companies is another prevent bed sores by making sure group leader for adaptive textiles hurdle. So many smart clothing the patient is moving around on the and hydrogels at Swiss research projects that have been introduced surface enough is something that house Empa (Figure 1). “The will take between three to five years that is garnering a lot of interest need for long-term, unobtrusive to come to fruition. Many experts from companies, Hayward says. monitoring of risk patients at home see this inflection point happening Conditions such as bed sores will stimulate quick development. in the 2020 time frame. and incontinence in the elderly In five years’ time, I believe we’ll cost hospitals and care facilities get to see many innovative textile Solving Current Problems money and time. Moisture sensors solutions in healthcare.” James Hayward, technology integrated into smart clothes for analyst with market research mapping incontinence in patients Boesel admits e-textiles face firm IDTechEx, believes that if an could prove to be a very worthwhile challenges that must be overcome immediate financial or economical investment in the long run. including further development in gain to the technology can be had, reliability, liability, and certification. the more likely smart clothing will “If e-textiles continue to prove to Regulatory approvals also present a be adopted by providers. be successful, it will start off as a challenge for device manufacturers high-end luxury feature before it and researchers as FDA consent E-textiles such as a bed sheet or gets adopted on mass,” Hayward can take many years. Then getting mattress that are integrated with said. “These things take time and approval and certification from pressure sensors to manage and while typical medical device lead
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Figure 3: Ohio State University is working on integrating antennas and circuits into clothing for the future of healthcare monitoring and treatment. (Source: Ohio State University) times are coming down slightly, through a topographic picture hypertension, edema, and protein we can expect to see some in five of the lungs and a light therapy in the urine. years, more in 10 years. But there is blanket for babies with jaundice a lasting value here, so I do think it allowing them to be removed from “The stocking will be washable and will come to healthcare gradually.” cradle light therapies and held by durable enough for home use, which parents or loved ones instead. is the main concept idea of the Clothing+ is working with Jabil to project. Being able to monitor people mass produce textile-integrated Edema ApS is developing a when they are home and avoid long sensors that meet the necessary washable stocking to measure and problematic trips just to have an FDA requirements for medical monitor changes in leg volume eye assessment of the increase or grade solutions. Some of the with patients suffering from edema decrease,” said Klaus Østergaard, ideas for the e-textile include a (fluid accumulation or swelling) in CEO of Edema. The stocking would bioimpedance vest, whichmeasures the lower limbs (Figure 2). While be monitored via a smartphone app water accumulation in the lungs not yet available for patients, the where the user could self-regulate to indicate heart conditions, that stocking is being prepped for during exercise, identify the need can be worn at home for trend clinical trials and validation. Future to elevate or reposition legs or call analysis before hospitalization, uses of the stocking could be to the doctor for medical adjustment, saving time and money. Other ideas monitor congestive heart failure Østergaard says. in development is a chest belt or pre-eclampsia, which happens to provide a lung’s performance during pregnancy and involves Wearable body metrics vendor
| 29 weaving antennas—such as the Intel® Edison development platform—into something like a brain cap that senses activity in the brain to help treat conditions such as epilepsy or addiction (Figure 3). The researchers are also working on a smart bandage that tells a doctor how well the tissue beneath it is healing without removing the bandage.
“Our goal is to understand how we think. Imagine if we can enable our brain into regeneration. To do that we need to understand the brain and how many neurons are working together,” says John Volakis, director of the ElectroScience Laboratory at Ohio Figure 4: Researchers at the University of Bristol are working to integrate soft robotics into clothing to support those vulnerable to falls or have trouble walking up stairs. State University. “These smart (Source: University of Bristol) clothes could tell an epileptic person to sit down before they have an attack or how to activate Hexoskin has been active in researchers have created smart or deactivate cells in patients with developing smart clothing for fabric that can be used as clothing Parkinsons.” sports/fitness markets but is or blankets that calculate whether also working on e-textiles for a patient needs to be cooled Meanwhile, the University of healthcare in the areas such as or warmed based on the initial Bristol is working on soft robotic cardiology, respiratory, neurology, date measured from the person clothing that could help vulnerable mental disorders, and pediatrics. and the environment. These people avoid falls by supporting Currently, Hexoskin is conducting garments could also be used by them while they walk and giving trials for long-term remote surgeons that get too hot during others bionic strength to move monitoring of clinical-grade an operation with the clothing between sitting and standing sensors woven into a smart shirt adjusting to the temperature of the positions or climb stairs (Figure for precise electrocardiography body during surgery. 4). The smart clothing involves (ECG) cardiac monitoring with nanoscience, 3-D fabrication, lung function and activity “Hospital patients have electrical stimulation, and full- monitoring. been asked about their most body monitoring technologies. unpleasant experience, and the Researchers believe this Academia Leading the Way most common answer is feeling technology could ultimately lead Among those developing e-textiles cold—pain comes only second,” to potentially freeing wheelchair- for the healthcare market, work said Pekka Tuomaala principal bound people from having to use being done at the university level scientist at VTT. the devices. offers much promise for the future of patient care technology. Ohio State University’s “Many existing devices used by ElectroScience Laboratory people with mobility problems can One interesting project is being is working toward functional cause or aggravate conditions such developed by VTT Technical e-textiles that gather, store or as poor circulation, skin pressure Research Center of Finland, where transmit digital information by damage or susceptibility to falls,
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each of which is a drain on health “The ductility of the fibers has for healthcare—maybe for resources,” said Dr. Jonathan to match that of textile yarn to use by paraplegics or elderly Rossiter, professor of robotics in provide the same comfort and that have had strokes or heart the Department of Engineering at integrity,” said Dr. Maike Quandt, a attacks or elderly in the home the University of Bristol. “Wearable postdoctoral researcher at Empa. that fall—currently there are far soft robotics has the potential to “E-textiles benefit from fiber optics less expensive and established improve many of these problems since the fibers can be used for a technologies that will be hard to and reduce healthcare costs at the multitude of sensors. At the same surpass in the next five years. same time too.” time, optical fibers do not pose a risk for electric shock.” Haptic feedback, or the use Switzerland’s Empa research of touch in a user interface center is integrating optic fibers The Future design, holds much promise in into e-textiles to monitor the of Smart Clothing e-textiles because it can be easily skin’s circulation to prevent bed While many of these academic miniaturized and does not require sores and has created a fitted endeavors are moving forward moving mechanical parts. Haptic cap that measures heart rates. and are working toward feedback would be used in Electric The garments are being made commercialization, innovations Muscle Stimulation (EMS) that to withstand a disinfection wash in high-tech fabrics and the could range from a small tingle to cycle, which would make it ideal advances in microelectronics are a strong force feedback to activate for hospitals. opening even further possibilities a patient’s muscles. Smart clothing for healthcare-related e-textiles. with haptic feedback technology Researchers believe this could be used at all times during technology could be used Some of these ideas and early the day and worn on any part eventually to measure oxygen pilot projects involve t-shirts that of the body to stimulate muscle saturation or to measure pressure relieve chronic back pain, shirts movements or rehab. Projects on the tissue or respiration rate. with stretch sensors for monitoring involving haptic feedback, such The e-textiles could also be turned respiratory rates with patients with as those from Novasentis, are into chemical or biosensors, chronic lung disease, soft all-day currently in development for use such as those offered by Maxim belly bands that monitor uterine in garments for healthcare with Integrated to analyze body fluids contractions and fetal heart rate in prototypes expected to arrive later or vapors. Maxim’s ultra-low pregnant women, pressure monitor this year. power and secure development stocking for use by diabetic boards are based on Maxim’s patients or even a shirt that delivers series of ultra-low power ARM® shocks to patients experiencing Cortex®-M microcontrollers. serious heart problems. These ARM Cortex-M4F 32-Bit MCUs are ideal for the emerging Some experts see smart clothing category of wearable medical completely replacing bedside and fitness applications because monitoring in hospitals with their architecture combines ultra- shirts that track heart rate, blood low-power, high-efficiency signal pressure, oxygen intact and more. processing functionality, and ease of use. The Maxim MAX30102 Recently, the idea of integrating Pulse Oximeter & Heart-Rate gesture recognition in smart Sensor is an integrated pulse clothing has garnered attention oximetry and heart-rate monitor with the Google-Levi Project module, and it includes internal Jacquard commuter jacket for LEDs, photodetectors, optical bicycle riders. While many experts elements, and low-noise electronics believe gesture recognition with ambient light rejection. could find its way into clothing
| 31 Digital Twins Offer Unmatched Insights for Design Engineers
By Michael Parks, PE, for Mouser Electronics
For every physical product, there is a virtual counterpart that can perfectly mimic the physical attributes and dynamic performance of its physical twin. Digital twins offer engineers and product designers unmatched insights that can yield higher quality products and better product support at less cost and less effort.
he value of a new technology especially in circumstances where T is not always obvious from the technology would have to be the get-go. Apart from a “killer retrofitted into operational facilities, is application” that makes the use not chump change. That said, the IoT case blatantly evident, innovative and the IIoT have plenty of forward ideas can sometimes can remain just momentum and appear to be on a that—ideas. That is, unless a market course for a rendezvous with another develops for these ideas or additional innovative concept that has been innovations come along that make percolating for over a decade itself— the whole greater than the sum of the the idea of the Digital Twin. individual technologies. History of the Digital Twin The Internet of Things (IoT) is The idea of the digital twin is the arguably one such innovation that brainchild of Dr. Michael Grieves some might say is a solution in and John Vickers (originally used in search of a problem. The term IoT 2003 at a course at the University was coined by technology pioneer of Michigan), who are experts Kevin Ashton back in 1999; however, in manufacturing and product it has not been until recently that lifecycle management (PLM). The enough factors—wide availability basic notion is that, for every of inexpensive embedded sensors physical product, there is a virtual and proliferation of wireless Internet, counterpart that can perfectly for example—have coalesced to mimic the physical attributes and make the IoT a feasible technology dynamic performance of its physical that is ready for mass adoption. twin. The virtual twin exists in a A technology, however, is not simulated environment that can necessarily a solution by itself. A be controlled in very exact ways subset of the IoT, known as the that cannot be easily duplicated in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), has the real world, such as speeding seen some respectable success in the up time so that years of use can manufacturing market. Still, the cost be simulated in a fraction of the of implementing IIoT technologies, time. These hyper-accurate models
32 | and simulations offer engineers design-manufacture-observe- through using a digital twin. and product designers unmatched improve loop. insights across the entire product In addition to product telemetry, the development cycle. Still, digital … to Your Door external operating environment— twins are more than just an evolution Once a product leaves the factory ambient temperature, relative of digital models, although their goal and is acquired by an end-user, the humidity, and so on—can also be is similar: Higher quality products digital twin can begin to feed off real- analyzed by onboard sensors, so and better product support at less world data collected by the onboard such factors can be accounted for in cost and less effort. sensors. This is where perhaps the simulations. This type of information concept of the digital twin reaches is invaluable in debugging errant From the Factory… its full potential. Sensors in the end device behavior by providing some For decades, engineers and item itself will track key performance operational context that would designers have heavily relied on characteristics of the device as it just not be possible otherwise. For software design applications to operates in real-world conditions. example, if there are two products digitally capture their ideas for that are otherwise used and physical objects as parametric Comparing actual telemetry against maintained in similar fashion but models. Even today, more complex the predictions of the various one keeps failing regularly, it might software allows for the simulation aspects of the digital twin model of interest to the engineers that of certain characteristics such as yield insights that could only be product that is consistently failing is thermal properties or stresses and dreamt of until now. A fortuitous loop being used at very high elevations. strains. While use of simulations in results from this level of integration Being able to get that feedback to a product design is nothing new they of the physical and virtual. Not only company would be invaluable. Not have historically relied on relatively can the digital twin be improved having to rely on a customer to call small data sets or engineering based on real-world data, but future a help desk and to have that data assumptions when making iterations can also be improved fed into a digital twin to influence predictions. Digital twins, however, based on better understanding of future design iteration is even more have access to unfathomably large actual data from end users. In some incredible. In addition, it would data sets thanks to the IIoT. Sensors cases, where changes can be made be almost magical if a customer that monitor literally every facet of a through a firmware update, products received an email from the company product’s lifecycle can be measured that have already been shipped can proactively describing steps they and fed back into an iterative also benefit from lessons learned could perform to minimize the failures
| 33 that they might be experiencing Digital twins are not limited to communications hardware, are without having the customer even assessing tweaks to physical critical to the collection and place a call or email in the first place. properties of a design. Digital twins dissemination of telemetry data. can also make it easier to study the This data is necessary to make All of this data—both performance impacts that software and firmware digital twins smart enough so that data and external factors—can be revisions have on performance. their function is worthwhile. Then, communicated in real-time back Various configurations and settings all that data can be pumped into to the equipment manufacturers to can be rapidly tested and assessed databases that are rapidly analyzed improve the digital twin model and to determine which ones will deliver using Big Data techniques. Throw simulation factors. The digital twin optimum performance. Firmware in the possibilities from a Watson- could then analyze the operational updates could then be pushed like Artificial Intelligence (AI) system data and predict failures if it sees out seamlessly to all the devices, to analyze and make improvement data points outside of prescribed leveraging the same Internet recommendations, and it’s possible tolerances. For example, a circuit connection that initially sent the data that products could improve over board might be seeing higher than used to identify improvements. time without any human intervention. expected operating temperatures The result is the ultimate in or motors that are experiencing Furthermore, complex systems technology self-help! Digital twins an unusually high number of such as wind turbine farms could might very well prove to be the long stop-start cycles. The digital also benefit from the application sought after use case that finally twin could determine with some of digital twins from a system-of- makes the adoption of the IoT level of confidence that the part systems perspective. Having multiple mainstream. The implications of a will fail shortly and take a series instances of a single product, more cost-effective, rapidly moving, of approved actions, such as each with their digital twin that and increasingly intelligent product placing an order with the company communicates with all the other development lifecycle would seem to responsible for manufacturing digital twins, means that products make any investment well worth it. the failing part and alerting a can begin to learn from each other. technician that they need to brush The aggregate knowledge that a For some, the value of digital up on the process for replacing digital twin represents can help goes way beyond just parts and the component. As a result, any augment the capabilities of trained products. Some see a future where downtime is minimal and relatively human operators in ways to allow every aspect of our lives—from predictable. them to be more efficient and our cars and homes to entire cities effective without having to manually and even the human body—will Beyond the obvious use of these collect and crunch the data before be given a digital twin as a way to rich datasets in maintenance making major decisions. Therefore, encourage experimentation and prognostics, digital twins could have digital twins allow technology and see what tweaks can be made to profound impacts on the design and humans to work together while letting improve the quality of our lives. engineering of subsequent product each focus on what the other does The success or failure of all these iterations. Understanding how a best. Technology can continuously potential digital twin candidates product is actually being used in an monitor, collect data, and conduct will come down to the ease in objective and data-driven manner analysis. Meanwhile, humans can which the lifeblood of a model— will lead to faster development keep their attention on higher-level the data—can be collected, cycles and greatly reduce the work such exploring implications of aggregated, and disseminated. time to detect product defects or various complex courses of actions This data and the associated identify useful tweaks, thus reducing and making informed decisions. dataflow, the so-called digital waste by allowing manufacturers thread, will undoubtedly be fed to to make real-time improvements The Future: More AI, digital twins via the IIoT. Perhaps to the products still coming off the Big Data Interaction the digital twin is the killer app that assembly line. This can translate Embedded platforms, with their the IIoT has been waiting for all to huge savings by avoiding costly computational horsepower, energy these years. Or so my digital twin rework. efficient sensors, and reliable tells me.
34 | BEST OF WEBINARS Think Like a Hacker
Now Available On Demand Presented by Mouser Electronics in partnership with Anitian Corporation
When your job is to create and build embedded systems and products, intentionally breaking your creations seems wrong. But not to a hacker. They do not see your systems and products as elegant designs that solve problems. Hackers see your product as a means to an end. When we look back over the past 20 years of cybersecurity and data breaches, almost every incident has some type of exploitation of a vulnerability—perhaps a poorly designed API or a third- party component with outdated code. This is what cybercriminals, malware writers, and state- sponsored hackers obsess over: How to break what you build.
If you want to build more secure, more resilient embedded systems and products, you have to look at them the way a hacker does. This means identifying potential vulnerabilities, prioritizing security as a design requirement, and then integrating security into every dimension of system and product development. In partnership with Mouser Electronics, Anitian security experts will discuss how you can start looking at your embedded system designs and architecture the same way a hacker does. Attendees will learn how to improve development practices to integrate security at every stage.
Key Takeways
• Understand how systems get hacked • Learn ten areas of embedded systems and products that hackers focus on • Discover how to add security to the product development process
| 35 Best of Empowering Innovation Together
n the 2017 Empowering Innovation Together (EIT) I series, Mouser teamed up with celebrity engineer Grant Imahara and Wired Brand Lab to look the role of technology in making cities of the future smarter and more efficient. In the 5-part video series, Grant Imahara traveled the globe to explore where humanity is heading and what companies are driving us there:
• Introduction • Roving Hot Spots in Porto, Portugal: See how Veniam is transforming the city into a Wi-Fi mesh network comprised of mobile hot spots. • Vertical Farming in Tokyo, Japan: See what ideas are growing inside the world’s largest indoor farm. • Constructing the Future in Los Angeles: See how DAQRI is developing AR products and technologies that enhance human capabilities in manufacturing applications. • Conclusion
36 | Best of EIT eBooks: Vertical Farming
• Urban Farming: Technology Grows Along With Crops • Improving Energy Efficiency in Vertical Farms • Connectivity Boosts Crop Yields and Quality • Sensors Help Farmers and Make Positive Impact • Harvesting New Ideas with LED Lighting Networks • Robotics Offer Boosts in Indoor Farm Efficiency
Best of Other EIT Content
A lot of outstanding content came from 2017’s EIT project. Here are some of the most popular and significant articles and blogs:
• Augmented Reality: Beyond Gaming to Real-World Solutions • My Way on the Highway • Solar Roads Pave the Way for Connected Infrastructure • Vertical Farms Thrive With Help From Technology • Conquering Vertigo: MEMS in Augmented Reality Augmented Reality: Beyond Gaming to Real-World Solutions
By Peter Brown for Mouser Electronics
sk a stranger off the street what Virtual Reality While popularized by gaming, AR technology has A (VR) is or how it works, and most people will shown a prowess for bringing an interactive digital have some inclination of what the technology world into a person’s perceived real world, where entails, maybe even equating it to the ultimate VR the digital aspect can reveal more information about implementation in the Holodeck from the television a real-world object than is seen in reality. Imagine series “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” However, doctors being able to see inside a patient during an ask that same person about Augmented Reality (AR), examination, rather than by viewing scans and x-rays. and the answers are less likely to be easily gained. Imagine kids learning about molecules by being able Maybe someone will talk about the gaming aspect of to interact with them. Imagine being able to see what the technology or its earliest incarnation in the failed maintenance and repairs are needed on a piece of Google Glass. machinery just by looking at it.
While the idea of AR has been around for a while, Devices that power augmented reality are typically it didn’t garner worldwide attention until the launch dedicated Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) or of Pokémon Go, the video game that combined Head-Up Displays (HUDs) like harnesses (such smartphone imagery with a real world scavenger as Microsoft’s HoloLens), helmets or glasses, and hunt to let gamers experience both real and virtual handheld devices such as a smartphone or tablet. worlds. But what, exactly, is AR? And as a burgeoning Products like Intel’s Recon Jet™ Pro Smart Glasses technology, does it offer potential beyond gaming and integrate smartphone capabilities into lightweight entertainment as a solution to real-world problems? glasses, enabling see-what-I-see interfacing with This article explores a variety of AR pilot programs remote Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. and applications across multiple industries, including More than just a display module, these glasses healthcare, law enforcement, education, logistics, enable users to see through the eyes of others at construction, and more. As you’ll see, AR is being remote locations. Some vendors are branching out transformed into a platform for use across multiple using other objects to generate augmented elements industries for practical uses—a technology that could such as a projector, table, or lamp, or through a flat go from simple pilot projects today to something panel display itself. With these advances, AR users people use every day as part of their daily lives. wouldn’t be hindered by the need for bulky headgear or glasses. What is Augmented Reality? Augmented reality, or sometimes called mixed reality, The Next-Generation of Healthcare is a technology that merges real world objects or the With the high costs of healthcare not going away environment with virtual elements generated by sensory any time soon combined with an aging population input devices for sound, video, graphics or GPS data. in many regions, medical technology is looking to Unlike virtual reality, which completely replaces the real help not just cut the costs for hospitals, providers world with a virtual one, AR operates in real-time and and insurance carriers but also provide better, less is interactive with objects found in the environment invasive techniques toward treatment. Augmented providing an overlaid virtual display over the real one. reality has found a home here with the technology
38 | Best of EIT
Figure 1: A doctor uses HoloLens and augmented reality software to see ultrasound while directly in front of a patient. (Source: University of Maryland)
being used as a preventive measure to provide is using AR in healthcare to improve how ultrasound healthcare professionals to receive data in a non- is done (Figure 1). Using a Microsoft HoloLens traditional way. and special software, physicians wearing an AR device can look at both a patient and ultrasound Healthcare giant Cigna just this year launched a program imaging directly in front of them instead having to called BioBall that uses Microsoft HoloLens technology look at a bulky screen off to the side, says Barbara in an interactive game to test for blood pressure and Brawn-Cinani, Associate Director for University of body mass index. Patients hold a light, medium-sized Maryland’s Center for Health-Related Informatics and ball in their hands in a one-minute race to capture all Bioimaging (CHIB). the images that flash on a screen in front of them. The BioBall senses a player’s pulse and uses responsive light And ultrasound is only the beginning for AR. “We’re to connect the game with the player’s heartbeat. Once only scratching the surface on surgical applications, the game is over, patients receive their health numbers and we’re planning for similar interfaces for other privately in their headsets with suggestions offered to imaging modalities, and also field testing to be sent to an associated email address. Cigna says the determine how well this kind of tool actually works,” technology is a way to encourage people to take control Brawn-Cinani says. of their health by knowing their health numbers, so treatment then can be garnered accordingly. Other companies are working on new platforms that use AR for more complex procedures. Scopis, Over at the University of Maryland’s Augmentarium for example, is developing a tool to give surgeons virtual and augmented reality laboratory, the school enhanced vision while performing spinal surgery.
| 39 experience to learning. The goal is to promote active learning and memory retention that would not be possible with just video content, Shifu says. The New Boardroom Projection-based augmented reality is emerging as a new way to cast virtual elements in the real world without the use of bulky headgear or glasses. That’s why this type of AR is becoming a popular alternative for use in the home or office. Start-ups Lampix and Lightform are working on projection-based augmented reality for use in the boardroom, retail displays, hospitality, digital signage and more.
Figure 2: A child uses the Orboot to learn about different weather patterns in a particular part of the country. Lightform’s device can attach to any projector, (Source: Shifu) similar to a Go Pro, and can instantly generate augmented reality elements (Figure 3). This may be useful for doing work with multiple groups in an office or creating elements for artists in a studio Putting Old Knowledge in New Formats or presenting new products for display in a retail Meanwhile, AR is opening up new ways to teach signage application. kids a variety of subjects they might or might not be interested in learning or, in some cases, help those “We think the influx point for type of technology is that have trouble in class catch up with the rest of five minutes,” says Phil Reyneri, Design Director at the students. The University of Helsinki in Finland’s Lightform. “If you are going to be in an extended AR program helps struggling kids learn science by period time, it makes sense to strap on an AR enabling them to virtually interact with the molecule or VR headset. But if you are doing something movement in gases, gravity, sound waves, and that is more of a quick type experience—such as airplane wind physics. The university found that AR walking through a store or mall—it is more of a was enough of a boost for these low-performing frictionless experience. Also you can have many children to bridge the gap with other students who people simultaneously experience augmented reality were also learning science. It was also shown to help because there is not expensive headset that an improve the quality of learning in high-performing individual has to wear.” students. Lampix has developed a lamp that uses a projection AR also creates new types of learning by transporting module, vision module, and a computer to project “old knowledge” into a new format. For example, the augmented reality on a surface that becomes active. University of Helsinki says AR for learning became Because no headsets or glasses are needed, the much more appealing because kids had already lamp-type device could be placed in a boardroom, dabbled with the technology before with Pokémon where collaborative efforts could be worked on both Go. Similarly, using new technology to teach about on and off site, says Lampix CTO and co-founder the old world is also the idea behind Shifu’s Orboot Mihai Dumitrescu. interactive STEM device (Figure 2). Orboot is an augmented reality educational globe that works with “AR has to be seamlessly integrated into everyday a tablet or smartphone for children to learn about life in order to make sense. When it gets to that history, animals, monuments, language and arts, point, applications are endless, and it really has the weather and culture by interacting with 3-D content. potential to improve and make a lot of our activities more fluent,” Dumitrescu says. “The focus should The information is provided through AR-generated 3-D not be on the technology itself but much more models, voiceovers, and music for a more immersive on the experience. Lampix has a great potential
40 | Best of EIT
Figure 3: This device connects to any projector to create augmented reality elements for retail, home or office use. (Source: Lightform)
to accomplish this because it is technology that uses a smartphone and software to provide live image vanishes into the background. You do not need to recognition to identify the truck’s number plate. Then see the device, it is just the experience that emerges, the relevant information is superimposed in augmented that is meaningful and useful.” reality, speeding up the pre-departure process.
From Finding Tiny DNA FleetBoard is also working with Microsoft’s HoloLens to the Vastness of Space to create a new way to manage truck fleets. On an Meaningful and useful is what companies and think- abstract road map, the surface is brought to life with tanks are working on worldwide. In fact, augmented augmented reality allowing fleet manager’s to monitor reality is finding its way into just about every industry vehicles live in a 3-D landscape to prevent accidents and market, at least in a pilot phase. In Germany, for and delays, and to warn drivers of possible problems example, FleetBoard is in the development phase of on the road ahead. an app that tracks logistics for truck drivers to help with the long series of pre-departure checks before Last winter, Delft University of Technology in the setting off. The FleetBoard Vehicle Lens app (Figure 4) Netherlands started working with first responders to
| 41 Figure 4: FleetBoard Vehicle Lens app is a pilot project that tracks a truck’s number plate and superimposes the information in augmented reality. (Source: FleetBoard)
use AR as a tool in crime scene investigation. The or sabotage in order to be better prepared when an handheld AR system allows on-scene investigators event takes place. The training can be done remotely to work with remote forensic teams to minimize the and cheaply using stand-alone AR headsets. potential for contamination. AR is also seen as a way to have multiple sets of eyes on a crime scene In Finland, the VTT Technical Research Center recently that normally wouldn’t have more than just the first developed an augmented reality tool for the European responder there. This could be extremely helpful in Space Agency (ESA) for astronauts to perform real- finding traces of DNA, preserving evidence, and getting time equipment monitoring in space. Because these medical help from an outside source. tasks must be carried out without errors and at the right time, AR prepares astronauts with in-depth practice by Sandia National Laboratories is working with augmented coordinating the activities with experts in a mixed-reality reality as a tool to improve security training for users that situation. The tool makes the invisible visible by enabling are protecting vulnerable areas such as nuclear weapons the visualization of telemetry data from equipment and or nuclear materials. The physical security training helps other systems on board the space station such as guide users through real-world examples such as theft diagnostics and the latest maintenance data, life cycle,
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Figure 5: Workers view the task that needs to be completed as a visual element in DAQRI ’s AR headset or glasses. (Source: DAQRI )
radiation, pressure, or temperature—both in space and environment with virtual elements generated by sensory on the ground and displayed on AR glasses. input devices for sound, video, graphics or GPS data. AR operates in real-time and is interactive with In the U.S., DAQRI International uses computer vision for objects found in the environment providing an overlaid industrial AR to enable data visualization while working on virtual display over the real one. Although Pokémon machinery or in a warehouse. The glasses and headsets Go continues to be popular with gamers, companies from DAQRI display in the field of view project data, tasks around the world are already demonstrating the potential that need to be completed, and potential problems with for using AR to solve real-world problems and needs. machinery or even where an object needs to be placed or Industries such as law enforcement, education, logistics, repaired. Using AR can improve safety and efficiency in construction, and others are prototyping and using AR an industrial job space while making repairs, maintenance technologies and reporting promising outcomes, such and inventory management easier. as training, monitoring, and collaboration that’s more effective and efficient. As for the future of AR? With Conclusion continued development of AR technologies, the reality of Augmented reality merges real world objects or the widely-used practical applications is on the horizon.
| 43 My Way on the Highway Life Inside Autonomous Vehicles: Beyond the Mobile Workplace
By Sylvie Barak for Mouser Electronics
he trend toward autonomous vehicles is windows designed specifically for maximum visibility. T transforming how cars are designed and marketed, What manufacturers will do with that freedom, however, with a shift in emphasis from car exteriors to interiors, is still up for debate. and a shift from engine performance to personalized passenger experiences. “We might be looking at something initially that’s almost akin to business class seating on airplanes,” said Greg The National Highway Traffic Administration defines Lindsay, a journalist, urbanist, futurist, and a senior autonomous driving levels using a scale of zero to five, fellow of the New Cities Foundation. “Something with with zero indicating no autonomy and five being fully an entertainment function that retracts into a full-length autonomous. Level four or five autonomy is a mere two bed. That could be the early prototype of a hybrid to five years away, according to experts interviewed entertainment/work/sleeping space. That may sound in this article, as well as CEOs at the world’s largest prosaic, but then again, a lot of the time we spend is automakers interviewed in a recent Venture Beat article. already pretty prosaic,” explained Lindsay. At stage four, vehicles are considered fully autonomous, “designed to perform all safety-critical driving functions Those ideas are on the conservative side of the spectrum, and monitor roadway conditions for an entire trip.” however. Others are already discussing the possibilities Level four, however is “limited to the operational design of mani-pedi pods, mobile exercise environments, domain (ODD) of the vehicle, meaning that it does not meditation spaces, family rooms, sports bars on wheels, cover every driving scenario.” And a level-five vehicle? and a variety of other social settings. Sizes and shapes That refers to a “fully autonomous system that expects of cars may also change to accommodate the interiors. the vehicle’s performance to equal that of a human Sleeper cars may need room to accommodate five beds driver.” Humans would need to do nothing but sit back, instead of five seats, or whatever else a family decides it relax, and do whatever it is they decide to do in their needs on a long road-trip. driving pods. There are also the futuristic visions of fish tank-type The technological leap to levels four and five is, relatively conference rooms hurtling down the highway, though speaking, not very far off, but they will profoundly not everyone is enthused by the car becoming a mobile change vehicle architectures from the inside out, turning workplace. “That would be the worst. I mean, you take them from being basic transportation to being fully a blank canvass, and you just extend your workday fledged mobile living spaces. It will also change people’s by a couple of hours? That sounds like the worst!” relationships with their cars, ownership models, and said futurist Michael Vidikan. “Swiveling chairs, video passenger culture, and it will become a major disruptor interface desk, collaborative workstation. That kind of to established industries like rail and domestic flight. interior is easy to put together,” he said, noting that the potential for creativity is so much bigger. Passenger-Focused Vehicle Interiors Without drivers in the picture, car designers will be Sleep and Mediation Pods free to focus on the passenger, without being tied to “The car will become a place where you can tend to standard configurations like front facing seats and your mind body and soul,” said Johnnie Rush, another
44 | Best of EIT
futurist, former Disney Imagineering executive and self- percent of doctor’s visits in the U.S. and account for the proclaimed ‘Cool Hunter.’ “You don’t have to be aware third-highest health care expenditures, behind only heart of traffic or accident control. Things that people typically disease and cancer, so the benefits of being able to struggle to find time to do, like exercise or meditation, destress on-the-go have significant ramifications. will be accommodated for in the autonomous car,” he said, adding that he envisions the car as a place people New parents, who on average accumulate something could exercise or meditate, a mini gym where they could of a six-month sleep deficit in the first year of a baby’s use a reclined bike, or rowing machine, or even practice life could also potentially benefit from the sleep and some reclining yoga. relaxation aspects of autonomous vehicles. Infants are typically soothed to sleep by the car’s motion, so sleep The concept of health is becoming increasingly important deprived parents would be able to take advantage of throughout the Western World, with people spending the car’s autonomous nature to catch up on some sleep ever more money on wellness products. The car is the themselves, or at least be in an environment conducive next logical evolution to that trend, with designers looking to rest and self-care. carefully at trends like mindfulness and meditation and how to apply those concepts to car interiors. With Media Center on Wheels windows no longer being important for visibility and Meditation and sleep aren’t the only types of relaxation with audio feedback no longer essential for safety, car we may want to do in our cars, however. Most futuristic interiors could potentially provide a blackout, soundproof visions of the autonomous vehicle include a plethora of environment that acts as a sort of sensory deprivation screens in all shapes and sizes. chamber to help travelers destress on their commute. Today, with advances in material science in areas Not convinced of this potential use? Consider that pertaining to things like graphene—which is both electro stress-related health issues are responsible for up to 80 conductive and bendable—the entire interior of a car
| 45 could be a screen of some sort, a type of futuristic time “If you buy a portable gym module, you aren’t always machine, where you could transport yourself into a going to want your car to be a portable gym. Sometimes virtual reality on wheels, surrounded by sound and light. you’ll want to pack all your kids into it. So, the expansion Designers could add in elements of sensory perception and retraction of these modules will be important,” Rush like smell or vibration. “Your vehicle could become a explained. Modular components will also be a boon to 360-degree pod for media consumption where you can the car accessory business, or could even provide an consume things in a way you couldn’t anywhere else,” important upsell business model to car manufacturers noted Rush, who believes autonomous vehicles will themselves. become the ultimate media centers. “What I’m most excited about is the personalization Graphene also has the ability to be transparent when aspect,” said Vidikan. “If we assume that whoever it’s not electrified, so it could also potentially be used owns the car fleet, or the car itself, is connected to your for window surfaces, which in turn could all become digital world, then the car can anticipate a lot about us screens, or partial screens, opening up opportunities for and our daily needs, prior to us even stepping into it. augmented reality (AR) overlaid on the world zooming by The iPhone-ness of the car is already getting to be as outside. “Imagine driving through historical parts of the important as the car-ness of the car, and we’re going country, and having your car’s AR point out interesting to see that accelerate in the future, especially with the landmarks along the way, like a virtual and interactive tour youngest consumers who might not even be of age guide,” said Chris Rockwell, a user experience consultant yet. They will care a lot more about connectivity and on a quest to help inform and inspire design through a personalization.” deep understanding of people, their experiences, and their aspirations. “The autonomous car will provide Being able to do things in cars they might not have people with multi modal types of mobility experience, a had time for prior to entering them, too, will be a game combination of mobility and freedom,” he said. changer. People would be able to dress and get ready in their personalized pods. Women would be able to Others, like Lindsay, are less convinced about the AR/VR apply their makeup using any number of interior mirrored interiors. “Coupling the nausea of VR with the nausea of and possibly magnified screens. Fully stocked makeup a moving vehicle doesn’t seem like a fun idea, but who and styling compartments could slide out when needed knows?” he said, noting that, in fact, nausea may be the and retract as necessary. Families could eat together in real limiting factor when it comes to what people can their cars, around an actual dining room table, maybe and will do as passengers. spending some quality time catching up or maybe watching something on the myriad of screens that “It’s going to be things like nausea, or the fact that the surround them. Vegging out as they eat their veggies, so American road system is falling apart.” to speak. “The type of modules that will be successful will be those that help people make the very best use of Multi-Purpose Modules that time in the car,” said Rush. Customizing car interiors is all well and good, but people have different whims, fancies, and needs on any Evolution Transportation and Business given day. So what’s a designer to do? “I don’t think Of course, people have been passengers since the cars would do as well being defined with permanent invention of transport, the idea of having time to kill interiors as well as if they were designed to be able to on a commute is not a new one. One might argue that flexibly shift between them,” said Rush, who believes passengers on buses, planes, and trains should all be a more modular approach would serve the industry used to sitting back and doing whatever it is they’d like better. This doesn’t mean the car would become a to do to pass the time; however, the experience of being transformer, changing shape and size at the push in one’s own private automated space, versus being in of a button, but it might mean that various modular a more public, collective space is really quite different. components could be slotted in or easily removed, Collective spaces still require a person to behave with or that things like rowing machines or exercise bikes a certain amount of decorum and abide by rules and could be easily collapsed and tucked away into built-in regulations set by the carrier, whereby an autonomous compartments. car is an extension of one’s home, or room.
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“It’s not about the technology, it’s about the psychology,” might soon have access to one whenever they need to said Rockwell, adding that people will have more go somewhere. Research shows that only 30 percent of choices about what to do in their own space, even if commuters outside New York City have both their work they do end up doing many of the things they’d do on and home locations within half a mile of a bus route, so a long-haul flight, for instance. The difference would be the socio-economic significance of affordable carpool the level of comfort and ability to take back some time in options that can drive anywhere is dramatic. their day, shut down and not be overstimulated. After all, transportation is not like healthcare; the state Others think passengers might relish the opportunity to has no responsibility to ensure people can get to connect with one another in shared carpool experiences. their jobs; that falls to individual responsibility. Public “Could the car become a place where you meet other transport often falls short of being able to bring people people?” mused Vidikan, wondering whether the car to (or close enough to) places they need to go. Likewise, might become a sort of “third space, much like sitting people who need jobs and don’t have transportation at a coffee shop, a bar or a park bench, where it’s not (and can’t afford it because they don’t have a job) are awkward to start talking to the person next to you. limited geographically to seeking jobs they can get to. Maybe that’s even a preference when you order a ride With autonomous vehicles and car sharing fleets able to in an autonomous vehicle: Do you want an experience go anywhere, this problem gets solved. that’s conversational or do you want peace and quiet?” “Ninety percent of people in the U.S. have smart Ownership, Carpooling, and Leasing phones, so they could hail a car from anywhere, easily.” Perhaps, in the age of autonomy, personal vehicles will Not needing to own a car, and being able to do more have become passé. Maybe it will make more sense to things in it, might also affect where people choose car manufacturers to sell subscriptions to car services, to live. “It will be interesting to see what it will do to where a person can lease any vehicle in a fleet to suit commute times,” said Lindsay, explaining that people one’s needs on an ever-changing basis. Perhaps there currently tend to not want to live more than an hour will be different levels of subscription: Basic, premium, away from their workplace, as commutes can be and luxury, which each come with their own module stressful and isolating. In the age of autonomy—and at a optionality and ability to customize and personalize the time when employers are reeling back work-from-home car’s interior. It’s feasible that fleets of vehicles ever- privileges—autonomous vehicles could solve multiple roaming the streets will be more convenient and more problems on this front. cost effective than outright ownership. Airline and Hotel Industries “The socio-economic aspect of full autonomy hasn’t Once we can travel cross-country comfortably in been talked about enough,” claimed Vidikan, noting autonomous vehicles, in our personalized pods with that those who may not be able to afford a car today beds, screens, dinner tables, connectivity, and whatever
The Potential for New Freedoms
While better business class travel, quality commutes, and family road trips will all certainly be improved by the advent of autonomy, it’s for those with limited mobility that the promise of self-driving cars really comes into its own. Older people, for example, would regain access to the world, never having to be confined to their homes or senior centers anymore. Since driving licenses will be defunct in the age of autonomy, the age of car ownership could decrease dramatically, and an entire market of older people could also potentially present new market opportunities to manufacturers.
Others stand to gain freedoms as well: The physically handicapped, for example, might no longer be restricted to traveling with caregivers. Young children might be ferried to after-school activities without parents having to act as a taxi. In these cases, the cars could also provide detailed tracking functions, allowing loved ones to know where their aged parents or young children were just dropped off. | 47 other creature comforts have been designed in, what becomes of the domestic airline industry, passenger rail, or even hotels for that matter?
The news cycle has not been kind to domestic airline carriers lately, and as conditions continue to deteriorate for economy passengers, people may decide that a 12-hour trip in comfort is preferable to enduring the many hassles of airline travel. Business travel, too, could be improved: With all the amenities of an office, and screens able to support increasingly life-like telepresence, perhaps a few days on the road, where one could make a number of stops and meet with customers cross country, might not be a terrible idea.
Hotels too may become defunct. Why pay the price of a hotel if your car has all the luxuries one might need? Well, maybe not all the comforts. Running water for showers might pose a challenge. Or would it? Enter the new “exclusive lounge” option for long distance travelers, tucked away in off-highway truck stops or easily accessible buildings.“You can imagine this network of cross-country stealth lounges set up in non- descript warehouses off to the side of the road, and you sign up to a subscription to use these lounges, much in the way you’d use a premium airline lounge” said Lindsay.
Car manufacturers could even sell the subscriptions to such lounges with the cars themselves, with basic, premium, and luxury status levels that access to progressively more exclusive roadside relay stations. Emerge from your car to stretch your legs at the lounge, and (based on your level of subscription) enjoy access to pools, fancy showers or spa facilities, fabulous food, and a fully equipped gym for a few hours before getting back in your car refreshed and ready for another full day on the road. No need to lose a whole night in a hotel. “The autonomous car is the ultimate new sleeper car, and you can travel in far more comfort door to door than the airlines currently make things” said Lindsay. “You don’t need a hotel anymore because you’ve just aggregated sleep to the list of functions you can do comfortably in your car.” Conclusion With autonomous driving becoming safer and more prevalent with every passing year, the age of the mobile living pod is fast approaching. Whether we choose to use our cars as extensions of the mobile workspace, or for more recreational uses, full autonomy is going to disrupt not just car mechanics, but also car interiors and overall design, as well as ownership models and rival industries in transportation.
Once we understand how to overcome things like nausea, the autonomous car really will become our oyster.
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Solar Roads Pave the Way for a Connected Infrastructure
By Mouser Electronics
rivers on Interstate-85 in rural Georgia may find glass surface. Under the glass, silicon solar cells collect D themselves motoring over a stretch of solar solar energy that could power the road’s lighting, traffic pavement, one of the first to be installed in the United signals, and signage; send electricity to local households; States. Solar roadways use photovoltaic modules—solar and—someday—to power electric vehicles. panels, like the ones found on rooftops—to capture sunlight and convert it into electricity. With goals of That’s still in the future, with the broader idea of creating clean, sustainable energy to power lighting making solar roadways part of an increasingly and signage, monitor road conditions, communicate connected, digitized, and electrified world. In this world, with autonomous vehicles, and more, solar roadway autonomous electric vehicles communicate with other technologies are indeed gaining momentum. vehicles and with nearby infrastructure like parking structures, traffic lights, emergency services, and so The solar technology deployed in Georgia comes from on. Meanwhile, early deployments are relatively small French company Wattway, which developed a system test projects to learn more about the technology and of solar panels that can be installed directly on a road’s to learn how it stands up to the punishing effects of surface. Each panel includes solar cells and sensors everyday traffic and all-season weather. But solar costs inserted into a composite material that’s just a few continue to drop, and that means photovoltaic panels millimeters thick. The resulting photovoltaic pavers are can be affordably integrated into everyday materials. For then installed directly over existing pavement. What’s example, Tesla Motors recently unveiled roof shingles more, the pavers are skid-resistant, adapt to thermal that double as solar panels. Photovoltaic snowmelt dilation, and are strong enough to support the weight systems, contact-free wireless vehicle charging, and of continuous traffic, including six-axle trucks. Wattway photo-luminescent paint are some additional examples is conducting dozens of outdoor tests like the one being prototyped and tested for solar roadway use. in Georgia and says it hopes to commercialize the technology in 2018. Reliability and consistent performance are key requirements if the promise of solar roads is to One of Wattway’s largest installations to date is a test be achieved. Just as solar roads require reliable site in the French village of Tourouvre-au-Perche, a small components to meet the demanding requirements of Normandy village. The nearly 2,900m2 of solar panels solar energy production, transportation vehicles require along the one-kilometer stretch of road generate 280kW robust and secure connections. For example, Molex of electricity at peak. By 2021, France plans to extend designed and developed the Mini50 Sealed Connectors this project to stretch a whopping 1,000km, which to support efficient, reliable, and flexible transportation could produce enough electricity to power all the public interconnections. The Mini50 series now offers a sealed lighting in a town of 5,000 for a year. 4- and 10-circuit option, delivering 25 percent space savings over traditional sealed 0.64mm connectors, Other companies are developing solar road solutions with smaller terminals to fit more low-current electrical as well. A Dutch consortium constructed SolaRoad, the circuits in sealed transportation-vehicle environments. world’s first bike path made from solar panels. The 72m stretch located in Krommenie, near Amsterdam, produced Mouser is proud to be a distributor for Molex electronics enough electricity in its first month to meet the electricity solutions that are helping to make solar energy a reality. needs of a nearby residential home. SolaRoad consists of Learn more about Mouser’s commitment to innovation prefabricated panels of roadway topped with a tempered by visiting our Empowering Innovation Together site.
| 49 Vertical Farms Thrive With Help from Technology
By Paul Pickering for Mouser Electronics
roponents of vertical farming paint a seductive Climate control systems run the gamut, from basic P picture: Fresh food without pesticides, increased fans and heaters through to multi-functional control production, reduced water consumption, use of vacant systems that incorporate the latest chiller, infrared, inner-city real estate, and more. Making this vision a and UV sterilization technologies. The optimal system reality requires precise control of light, temperature, for any farm depends on several factors: Local water, and nutrients, and involves a wide range of IoT regulations, farm size, type and locations, crop types, technologies, including sensors, robotics, and data and, of course, budget. In selecting a system, there’s analysis. often a tradeoff between capital expenditure (CapEx) and operational expenditure (OpEx): More expensive Vertical Farm Technology systems tend to be more efficient and have lower Contrary to the pastoral vision of golden fields of operating costs. wheat swaying gently in the breeze, the vertical farm is closer to a factory than a farm (Figure 1). The Lighting technology is changing quickly: Commercial vertical Compared to the traditional farm that gets free energy farms are capital-intensive, require millions of dollars of from the sun, the vertical farm uses artificial light to investment to get started, and there is stiff competition promote faster growth, and the cost of energy is one from greenhouses and other indoor farming operations. of the largest line items on the budget.
Vertical farms use technology at every part of the Many vertical farms have traditionally used fluorescent farming process, ranging from nursery operations to lights; these are relatively cheap to buy, but LED harvesting, as Figure 2 shows. lights, with their greater efficiency, consume about 60 percent less power for the same output. LEDs Large indoor growers use a wide range of automated have technical advantages, too: Their light levels can devices, from automatic seeders to nursery robots that be precisely controlled, and because they don’t emit reposition pots. Since indoor agriculture is still a small much IR radiation (heat), they can be placed close market, few purpose-built pieces of equipment exist, to the plants for best light absorption. LEDs can so vertical farmers often adapt technologies from other also create the best combination of light spectrum industries. and intensity that gives the most energy-efficient photosynthesis for each plant species. Climate Control Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) Mirai in Japan, for example, uses 17,500 LED bulbs systems can help create the optimal growing that provide the exact wavelengths that various environment by controlling temperature, humidity, crops need to thrive. According to the company, the carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, air movement, and new system has reduced power consumption by 40 filtration. Plants grow quicker at higher CO2 levels than percent and increased yields by 50 percent. the atmosphere’s 400 parts per million (ppm): Tanks of
CO2 increase CO2 levels in the vertical farm to around Longer term, researchers expect that organic LEDs 1000 ppm. (OLEDs), which use a film of organic compounds
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to generate light, will eventually become a more economical and efficient option.
Monitoring and Control The vertical farm is a closed environment, and farmers take strict steps to eliminate pests, pollen, or viruses. The precautions apply to humans, too: Before entering Mirai’s “Green Room,” workers must take hot showers, wash with shampoo and body soap, and change into sterilized work clothes.
Vertical farms don’t use soil as a growing medium to transfer nutrients to plant roots: Instead they use
• Hydroponics, in which plants are grown in a nutrient-rich basin of water, or • Aeroponics, where crops’ roots are periodically sprayed with a mist containing water and Figure 1 (top): A vertical farm uses technology in a factory-like nutrients setting to ensure products of consistent quality. (Source: Mirai)
For both methods, operators continually monitor all the Figure 2 (bottom): Technology can help improve every stage of the indoor farming process. (Source: Newbean Capital/ macro- and micronutrients being supplied to the plants Local Roots) (Figure 3). Unlike a conventional operation, the water that evaporates from the plants into the atmosphere
| 51 The farm will use robots that resemble “conveyer belts with arms,” according to TechInsider, to plant seeds, water and trim plants, and harvest them. Compared to SPREAD’s existing Kameoka plant factory, the Techno Farm will cut labor costs by 50 percent and energy costs by 30 percent.
Drones will reduce the number of human operators to monitor large areas. Suppliers to the industry are introducing lightweight drones that are suitable for monitoring crop conditions in large-scale indoor farms: Intel®, for example, offers its Aero Drone, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development platform that includes a wireless controller and the Intel® RealSense™ camera. The Role of Big Data In conventional farming, data analytics provides farmers with both current and historical data on their crops. The information comes directly (from Figure 3: Vertical farms control every aspect of the growing instrumented fields and equipment) and indirectly process, from the placement of the lights to the nutrients applied (via satellites and GPS tracking systems). Data to the roots. (Source: Aerofarms) metrics include soil quality and moisture, rainfall accumulation, fertilizer and pesticide levels, and crop yields. isn’t lost; air conditioners recover up to 98 percent of State-of-the-art vertical farms view data collection water in a vertical farm. and analysis as a key element in their business model, employing as many data scientists and engineers as The result of the tight monitoring and control is that they do agronomists and plant biologists. Aerofarms, a vertical farm doesn’t use pesticides, herbicides, for example, collects more than 10,000 measurements or fungicides; the harvest can be ready in as little during a single growing cycle; the company uses as 18 days, half the time of a conventional farm. this data to boost yields and quality, as well as to Vertically farmed crops can contain considerably more drive down costs towards the point that the vertical vitamins and minerals than conventional produce: farm can be competitive with the best conventional Mirai claims that their lettuce has up to ten times methods. more beta-carotene and twice the vitamin C, calcium and magnesium of a standard product. In addition, Conclusion no rinsing is needed and up to 95 percent is useful in The vertical farm makes extensive use of technology cooking, compared to the usual 60 percent. to grow plants in a factory environment. Just as on a traditional production line, workers and managers Robots monitor and control every aspect of the crop to What is the next stage of vertical farming? Ruthless maximize yields and ensure consistent quality. cost reduction and even less human involvement, so The data gathered helps improve quality in future robots and drones are increasingly used. In Kyoto, generations of “products.” Japan, SPREAD has just broken ground on its new “Techno Farm,” a 47,000SF, $175 million dollar factory For more information about electronics in vertical that’s slated to produce 30,000 head of lettuce a day farms, visit Mouser’s Shaping Smarter Cities when it’s complete in 2018. website.
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Conquering Vertigo: MEMs in Augmented Reality
By Paul Golata, Mouser Electronics
grew up in Chicago. It is my home town, and my I parents still live there in the same house. Yes, I still cheer on the Chicago Cubs, believe Chicago-style pizza is the only kind worth eating, and think the Chicago skyline is the most beautiful in the world.
Recently, I went back home and attended a conference in the Chicago area where I was a speaker. Add the fact that my wife is a fifth-grade school teacher who has her summers off, I decided to take her with me for this trip. I told her that after my conference we would spend some time seeing the sights of Chicago.
One of the things she wanted to do was to go to the Skydeck deck at Willis Tower, a large skyscraper in Chicago. This building is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere (442m), with the Skydeck is on the 103rd floor (412m). The Skydeck is unique in that it has several plexiglass boxes on the west side of the building that extend out 1.3m from the face of the building, daring visitors to step out and experience the feeling of standing suspended 103 floors over Wacker Driver and the Chicago River.
Being on the Skydeck is enough to make one experience vertigo—that odd sensation of feeling off- balance, dizzy, and like your head is spinning. When you experience vertigo, it makes the world seem like it is swaying and out of kilter, drifting to one direction or another as if you are being pulled away and down from what is your normal upright orientation. Fortunately, I did not experience any symptoms of vertigo during our time on the Skydeck, despite the dizzying view (Figure 1).
This made me glad because I had been suffering the effects of vertigo since December of this past year. It came on suddenly one day and stayed with me in various forms for about four to five months. It
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products, radio frequency (RF) ICs, power management products with their sensors based on MEMS technology, to enable AR headsets to perform so that human dizziness is prevented by their dedication to solving the toughest engineering challenges. Analog Devices’ MEMS product portfolio includes accelerometers used Figure 1: Looking to sense acceleration, gyroscopes—to sense rotation, down through the and inertial measurement units employed to sense plexiglass box floor multiple degrees of freedom combining multiple sensing to the street below (Wacker) on the types along multiple axes. Skydeck at Willis Tower, Chicago. One way these individual MEMS products are made (Source: Paul Golata) to work together easily so that AR does not result in vertigo is through Analog Devices iSensor® MEMS prohibited me from doing normal activities such as inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors. This running and biking that I have always been involved in. unique design employs multi-axis combinations of the previously mentioned precision gyroscopes, I got rid of vertigo by simply taking it easy and letting accelerometers, magnetometers, and pressure time heal my body’s issue. sensors. The IMU effectively senses and processes multiple degrees of freedom, even in highly complex Some technological developments promise many applications and under dynamic conditions. These benefits, but like tall buildings, might also induce plug-and-play solutions offer full factory calibration, a case of vertigo. Augmented Reality (AR) projects embedded compensation and sensor processing, plus computer-generated images and superimposes them a simple programmable interface. into the user’s field of view (FOV), altering the real world and creating an enhanced visual sensory interface. Take as a specific example the newADIS16460 Depending on the speed and contents of the additional iSensor® MEMS IMU device. It is a complete inertial visual stimuli, the potential exists for the mind to feel a system that includes a tri-axial gyroscope and a tri- case of vertigo. If AR is ever to become a popular tool axial accelerometer. Each sensor in the ADIS16460 for everyday use to aid people in their accomplishment combines industry leading iMEMS® technology of tasks, then design engineers must ensure that this with signal conditioning that optimizes dynamic psychophysical reaction is avoided by using motion performance. It provides a simple, cost effective sensors and finely designed circuits to provide a method for integrating accurate, multi-axis inertial visually stabilized platform for the mind to experience. sensing into industrial systems, especially when compared with the complexity and investment Fortunately, there is a solution. One that has been associated with discrete designs. All necessary motion developed by electronic design engineers to address testing and calibration are part of the production this problem and many other related positional process at the factory, greatly reducing system and orientation issues is MEMS technology. integration time. Tight orthogonal alignment simplifies Micro-electrical mechanical systems technology inertial frame alignment in navigation systems. The SPI uses extremely small sensors that incorporate an and register structures provide a simple interface for electromechanical structure and the supporting analog data collection and configuration control. circuitry for conditioning signals obtained from the sensing element. The time is now to move forward and capture new ground in your Augmented Reality designs. Conquer Recognized leaders in high-performance analog any case of vertigo you might be feeling and ascend electronic components, including Analog Devices, are to new heights. Designing with MEMS and IMUs make developing sensors to ensure that vertigo is never an it so that the only heads that will be swimming is your issue in AR technologies. Analog Devices combines bosses—when he finally realizes how your designs products, including data converters, amplifiers and linear conquer new pinnacles.
54 | BEST of Methods eZine Contents • In What Ways Does Bluetooth 5 Enable With Foreword by Steve Hegenderfer, Director Design Engineers to Pioneer Innovative of Developer Programs at the Bluetooth SIG Solutions? • A Look Back and Ahead at Bluetooth • Case Study: Bluetooth 5 Automatic Parking Meter System Eases Parking Headaches for Cities and Drivers Alike • Bluetooth 5 Mesh Networking • Q&A With Industry Leaders: The Potential of Bluetooth 5 for Design Engineers • Answering Important Questions About Bluetooth 5
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of 2017 Smart Porch Light Project: Digi’s XBee Projects LTE Cellular Module And Arduino Mega- ouser’s engineers and 2560 Shine Together Mtechnical content team developed a number of great By Joseph Downing, Mouser Electronics projects in 2017! Some favorites include one focusing on smart buildings, programmable garden he Internet of Things (IoT) allows us to lighting, and a magic wand for Tconnect, control, and visualize data from any Halloween. We add projects number of sources. We can create interactions, regularly to our Open Source check sensor statuses, and receive notifications whenever certain events have occurred. With the Hardware section (Projects tab) increasing popularity of cellular communication on the Application and and its availability, the possibilities for IoT solutions Technology website. grow substantially. Network access from virtually anywhere in the world opens up the door to ideas that before now might have seemed impossible. Check out this smart porch light with Digi LTE XBee by our resident For this project, we have combined Digi project engineer, Joseph Downing. International’s Cellular LTE XBEE module with an Arduino Mega-2560 to give us access to a cellular network for use with an automated porch light. This demonstration uses several different sensors mounted in the porch light housing, including those to measure ambient light, temperature, humidity, and ultraviolet (UV) light, along with a relay used for control. When used with the provided code and a cloud service such as Ubidots or Google Cloud Platform to store and read your data, the result is a smart light that can provide the user with sensors’ measurements viewable instantly anywhere network access is available (Figure 1).
The method for communicating the information you’ve gathered is just as important as the devices you’ve chosen. Several options are available such
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as MQTT API and REST API for transferring your data to your selected cloud service. Your choice will be dependent on a number of factors including power requirements, connectivity, bandwidth availability, and your service. Each option is better suited to some scenarios over others, so spending some time researching your options will be beneficial. For our purposes, we have chosen REST API as outlined further along in the project. Plenty of resources are available on the web for those interested in further understanding each.
In the following sections, we’ll provide links and resources needed to complete the project, as well as show you how to set up the XBee module and shield, the different sensor modules, and program the Arduino Mega. Step 1: Gathering The Devices Ideally, the information and provided links should be sufficient for anyone to build a cellular IoT sensor node. The project is intended for those who have • Digi International XBee® familiarity with the Arduino development platform and Cellular 3G Global Embedded Modem some experience in programming. • Digi International XBee® Cellular LTE-M Embedded Modem For this project, you will need the devices outlined in the • Digi International XBee® Mouser XBee Cellular Project BOM, which includes: Cellular NB-IoT Embedded Modem
• The XBee Cellular kit with LTE Module and an The example software for the Arduino Mega-2560 interface board is stored on GitHub (Mouser XBee Cellular GitHub • The Arduino Mega with suggested power supply Repository). This will require the installation of the • The sensors and interface shield outlined in the Arduino IDE to interface and upload the code to the overview Arduino Mega. You can download the IDE using the • An account with Ubidots Cloud Service at following link: Arduino IDE Software. You will need to https://ubidots.com ensure you have installed any required libraries that may not be included with the IDE such as the Temp/ Optionally you may wish to purchase a UART Humidity sensor library (Seeed Studio Temp/Humidity communication cable not included in the project BOM: Library). If this is your first time installing third party libraries in the IDE, please refer to the Arduino tutorial • 895-TTL-232R-RPI linked here (Arduino Library Guide).
Of course, as with any project, other components can Step 2: Setting Up The Digi XBee Module be used depending on need. Digi International has The XBee module can be set up easily using the several additional cellular modules available for you to XCTU software offered by Digi International. The kit choose from based on your project requirements: for the LTE module provides you with a development
| 57 Figure 1: Mock house and porch light Figure 2a: The Digi XBee development base. Figure 2b: The Digi XBee LTE Module. with integrated sensors.
base that will allow the XCTU you review the COM settings and it from the development board and software to interface and change select OK, the software will scan insert it carefully into the XBee the module settings (Figures 2a for available devices. Select the shield, paying attention to polarity. and 2b). To connect to your cloud correct device from the list on the service, you will need to make left and click “read” to import the For additional information or several setting changes as well current settings from the module specific instructions on how to as a possible firmware update. as shown in Figure 3. If the connect and modify the LTE If you do not currently have the device firmware needs updating, module, or use of the XCTU software installed, you can find you may need to perform this software, please refer to the and download it using this link action at this time. following links (Digi XBee® Cellular (Digi XCTU Software Link). Each LTE Cat 1 Documentation) and XBee module will come activated Configuring The XBee Module (XCTU Configuration and Test with 6 months of free cellular For the module to connect and Utility Software Documentation). service through Verizon. Though send data to the Internet, you To make things easier we have we have not had an opportunity must configure it for TCP mode, also included a configuration file to use any of the other available update the destination address for the XBee module on the project Digi Cellular modules, the setup with the IP or web address of GitHub page you can use to process for each should, in theory, your cloud service, and set your import pre-configured settings to be identical. destination port. In most cases, the module. the destination port will be 80 and Adding The XBee Module need conversion to the hex value Setting Up The The first time you open the XCTU 50. If this is not the correct port, Sensor Shield software, you will need to add verify and update it with the one In addition to the XBee shield, you the XBee module from the Radio needed by your selected cloud will also use the Seeed Studio Module List on the left side of the service remembering to convert Base Shield (Figure 4) that allows screen by clicking the module first. Once you have made all the easy plug-in of multiple sensor outline with the (+). A pop up proper changes, refresh the device modules. Before continuing, will ask for the correct COM port by clicking the write icon at the ensure that the switch on the which can be verified in your top of the software screen. Once shield is set to 5V for proper system’s device manager. Once the module is configured, remove function. Attach the five devices,
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Figure 3: Using the XCTU dialog box, Figure 4: Sensor shield with ambient light Figure 5: Arduino IDE. you’ll add the XBee module by clicking sensor in port A0. the plus sign (+).
the temperature/humidity to the Arduino code. This is not required for the software to perform correctly. I2C, ambient light and UV to the the code to function but does make Some may not be necessary, but analog, and relay to the digital. visualization through a serial monitor things such as changing the API easier if you want to check progress. token and Variable IDs will be It is important to note which required. Depending on how you analog and digital ports you are The program begins by issuing chose to configure the sensor using since they will need updating a series of AT commands to the shield or which pins you identify in the provided Arduino code to XBee module to verify the correct on the XBee shield for the RX and match. The I2C connection will configuration and connection TX lines, it is important to update work regardless of which I2C port to the cell network. Once the these prior to uploading your code is used. Once you have completed program confirms a network to the Mega. assembly of the shield, plug the connection, it will send a generic base shield into the Arduino. POST to the cloud service to verify Step 4: Setting Up communication. If successful, the The Ubidots Dashboard Step 3: Setting Up The server will return with a response This example uses cloud services Arduino Code/REST API such as 200 or 201, which will be offered by Ubidots for data The provided Arduino code output to the SoftwareSerial port storage as well as dashboard uses RESTful or REST API to seen in Figure 6. Data is transmitted creation as shown in Figure 7. communicate over HTTP to post and received through the Serial If you have not used the service or get data from the cloud. For this function and displayed using the prior, you will need to create an example, we will be using Ubidots MonitorSerial configured through account with them. The service as our cloud service. Data from the the SoftwareSerial mentioned uses a point-based system which sensors is communicated over a previously and shown in Figure 6. I have found for those starting serial port from the Arduino to the Data from the sensors is uploaded out to be very user-friendly and XBee, which is then transmitted over as the software cycles through each offers many tutorials and guides the cellular network. The Arduino sensor function call on a 5-second to aid in setup for several different Mega-2560 has only one available delay to give enough time for a development platforms. Create serial port to interface with the XBee response from the server. your account, giving all required shield and may need the creation information, and take time to read of a second virtual port using the As previously said, you need to the documentation tab that talks SoftwareSerial function in the make changes to the code for about REST and MQTT as well as
| 59 Best of 2017 Projects
Figure 6: Putty Terminal Window. Figure 7: Ubidots dashboard. Figure 8: Arduino Mega, Sensor Shield, XBee shield, and Digi LTE Module stacked.
helping to find your API token for downloaded from the GitHub Arduino, such as the UNO, with use in your code. repository with the correct API the Atmel chipset removed. This, and variable token as well as of course, is not necessary but The API token is automatically verifying or changing the Analog does allow you to verify everything generated once the account is and Digital input pins, you are functions appropriately. created. However, the Variable ready to program and run your IDs will need to be set up from the code. Please note that while the As soon as the program begins devices tab. From the devices, tab XBee shield is connected to the running and verifies a network click the Add Device icon in the Mega, any attempt to upload connection, you should start to screen and give a name to your code from the Arduino IDE will see data available on your Ubidots project. You will see a flag appear fail. Should you need changes to account. Now you can create a across the top of the screen once the code, remove the XBee shield Dashboard to view and share the the device has successfully been and replace once programming data in any number of formats. created. Click on the newly created is complete. As with most Ubidots has several tutorials device which takes you to a new Arduino products, the code will available that show use of the screen from which you can create begin running as soon as the dashboard and creation of events all the required variables. You will programming is complete. Once (Ubidots Getting Started). need to add a new variable for each finished, remove the USB cable, sensor used in this project in the attach the XBee shield, and apply This project demonstrates one same method used to create the power (Figure 8). possible use for a basic IoT device, selecting default for each. solution in the hope of sparking As with the device creation, you You can view the commands creativity. From home security will see a banner appear across supplied to the XBee module and automation to agriculture and the top showing each variable was through the Arduino IDE output smarter cities, IoT can provide us successfully created. Click the monitor. If you wish to see access to information faster and newly created variable; the variable the response output, you will easier. Of course we would love ID can be found on the variable need to provide a second serial to see what other concepts and screen along the left-hand side. connection. Two possible solutions projects you come up with, along are purchasing a USB to serial with any feedback you might have. Step 5: Programming cable that provides a breakout, Please share your projects and And Running The Code such as part number 895-TTL- ideas at Facebook, Twitter, or Once you have updated the code 232R-RPI, or using another Google+.
60 | Best of Mouser’s Blog: Bench Talk for Design Engineers
ouser’s blog, called Bench Talk for Design Engineers, M expanded quite a bit this year! Written by engineers and other subject matter experts, Bench Talk covered a variety of topics that complement our technical articles and ezines, discuss engineering- related topics in the news, and include lighter topics and pieces as well.
Some key topics from 2017 include soft robotics, virtual reality, augmented reality, FPGAs, LEDs, hardware startups, engineering for space, pneumatic engines, USB 3.2, Movidius, sensors in wind turbines, Bluetooth BlueBorne, I3C, dropsondes, drones, containers, autonomous vehicles, Industry 4.0, agricultural sensors, mesh networking, thermal management, cybersecurity, millimeter wavelengths, hearables, and much, much more!
We added new categories as well, including Student Central, which aims to provide university engineering students with resources for learning, expert advice for landing internships and jobs, and other topics.
If you haven’t already, check out Bench Talk for Design Engineers! We’ve included just a small sampling in this ezine.
| 61 Your Microwave Oven May Soon Become Obsolete
By Barry Manz for Mouser Electronics
agnetrons have powered power, were too fragile to withstand M microwave ovens since Percy big changes in impedance, and Spencer accidently invented them cost too much, so they weren’t an at Raytheon in 1945. We take option. But RF power transistors these appliances for granted even have come a long way, and the though they can’t do much more limitations that kept them from than heat coffee, explode popcorn consideration have disappeared. kernels, heat up premade meals, and defrost foods. That’s about to This presents interesting change, if not immediately, then opportunities and the potential certainly in the next five years, as to create an entirely new type microwave ovens become true of kitchen appliance. It would cooking appliances, as RF power combine the flexibility of solid- transistors replace the magnetrons state power with digital signal as their RF power source. processing and other techniques to transform the microwave Magnetrons have never been oven into a full-fledged cooking an ideal solution for powering appliance. White-goods microwave ovens. They operate at a manufacturers have taken notice. single frequency that can drift over time. Their RF output power can’t Once these new appliances be varied so a microwave oven is come to market, they’ll be able either “on” or “off,” which makes to cook several different kinds it impossible to optimize cooking of food simultaneously, each performance. A magnetron’s output one to exactly the right amount power also declines with use, which of “doneness” while retaining isn’t a concern for consumers, but a moisture and nutrients, which huge issue for fast-food restaurants current microwave ovens don’t and other companies that use do very well. They’ll also eliminate them almost continuously, requiring the need to open a hot oven and magnetron replacement at regular poke foods with a thermometer to intervals. check their temperature: Thanks to the use of sensors, the oven will That said, without magnetrons “know” when they’re done. Figure microwave ovens might never have 1 shows a solid-state cooking become a commercial product at appliance concept from NXP a price consumers could afford. Semiconductors. They’re cheap and basically get the job done and anyway. Solid-state They’ll also be able to defrost foods devices couldn’t produce enough far better than magnetron-powered
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Figure 1: The Sage solid-state cooking appliance concept demonstrated by Freescale Semiconductor (now NXP Semiconductors) shows a complete cooked meal. (Source: NXP Semiconductors)
ovens, which if you’ve use one precisely the situation that the companies such as Goji Cooking to thaw a steak you’ve certainly RF Energy Alliance is helping to Solutions, which developed the first experienced that some parts are change. Since it was founded in commercially-available “software- thawed, other parts are cooked, 2014, the alliance has tripled its defined” RF cooking appliance, and and the rest is somewhere in membership, and its members NXP has reference designs and between. The appliances will come now include white goods goliaths other design tools to help OEMs with recipes that can be selected like Whirlpool, Panasonic, build these new appliances. by a smartphone app and sent to and Miele, RF and microwave the oven. Basically, all you do is component manufacturers, and Solid-state cooking may sound press “start” and you’re done. No Worcester Polytechnic Institute. mouth-watering but don’t expect to doubt the number of recipes will find these appliances for sale during grow rapidly. In addition, manufacturers of this year’s holiday season as they’re RF power transistors such as not fully cooked yet. They’re more However, solid-state devices NXP Semiconductors and most than a design concept, though, and represent a new frontier and one recently MACOM have designed manufacturers simply need time to that appliance manufacturers devices dedicated to solid-state perfect them before releasing them aren’t familiar with, which is cooking. NXP has also worked with into the commercial market.
| 63 Industrial Automation
By Marcel Consée, Mouser Electronics
hile the term, Internet of them incorporated the Industry WThings (IoT) first turned up 4.0 approach—have turned the in 1985 (when the Internet as “Industrial Internet of Things” we know it today was not even (IIoT) from concept to reality in a prospect yet), the need for a short time. Not as a subset an “industrial” subset has been of a general IoT, as used to be recognized only in the early 2000s. predicted, but as the pioneering Today, Industrial IoT is being technology. In fact, IIoT is actually implemented far more rapid than here while IoT is still more of a more generic IoT, and—believe an idea. it or not—the key drivers for that came out of Europe. France’s Industrie du futur has been conceived in close When the term “Industry 4.0” cooperation between French and (Industrie 4.0) was coined back German industry associations, in 2011 at the Hannover Messe, accompanied by both governments the initiative was widely viewed and the European commission, and as a buzzword creation project. became a model for Italy’s strategy Even more so, since Networking “Fabbrica Intelligente,” Spain’s had become a key issue in “Industria Conectada 4.0” and, industrial automation in the 1990s. more general, an EU-wide incentive Furthermore, a “high-tech strategy” for industrial digitization. launched by the German government didn’t seem to be something that Actually, this approach is had to be taken seriously. recognized worldwide as a locational advantage for the We will probably never know how European Manufacturing much of its success was due Industries. The USA and China to thorough planning and how joined the effort of standardizing much was sheer luck, but… well, industrial digitization only in it worked. Obviously, there was a 2014/2015. The Industrial Internet need in Germany’s manufacturing Consortium IIC as well as China’s industries for guidelines regarding tech strategy in its five-year this issue, and thanks to their plan are very closely related to global ecosystems of suppliers the European specifications. and subcontractors, the concepts Obviously, the organizations have spread to many parts of the world. learned from mistakes of the past and are trying to avoid proprietary Similar activities in other key solutions. regions—e.g., “Industrie du futur” in France, IVI in Japan, Connecting Robots China’s 2015 five-year plan From an technical point of view, the or the IIC in the USA, most of interesting parts of Industry 4.0 are
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not the “cyberphysical systems”— designed for predictability. becoming more mobile. Many of industrial robots and PLCs have Nevertheless, the trend toward the protocols mentioned work been around for decades. What simpler, more standardized also with Wireless LAN, even matters is the connectivity. connections turned out to be though other transmission unstoppable, and so Ethernet and protocols and standards like The major changes in connections fieldbus features were combined. LoRa, ZigBee, or Industrial between automation equipment Specialized industrial protocols Bluetooth profiles are gaining have actually happened in the and topologies include Profinet, foothold. However, most players late 1990s/early 2000s, when EtherNet/IP, SafetyNET, SERCOS, in the manufacturing industries many more or less proprietary and EtherCAT. are aware of the danger that fieldbus solutions became comes with the introduction of obsolete. Ethernet connections For the sake of interoperability, new, “smaller” communication expanded from the administrative Ethernet standard connectors are standards. After all the trouble areas into factory floors, which in use everywhere today, even if the industries went to when opened up the automation they come in ruggedized housings standardizing wired industrial market. However, fieldbusses and multiple formfactors. communications, hardly anyone were there for a reason: Ethernet wants to risk a new fragmentation couldn’t cope with real-time With the propagation of wireless of the market on the wireless requirements; it just was not connectivity, industrial robots are side.
Design Principles of Industry 4.0
Interoperability: The ability of machines, devices, sensors, and people to connect and communicate with each other via the Internet of Things (IoT) or the Internet of People (IoP).
Information transparency: The ability of information systems to create a virtual copy of the physical world by enriching digital plant models with sensor data. This requires the aggregation of raw sensor data to higher-value context information.
Technical assistance: First, the ability of assistance systems to support humans by aggregating and visualizing information comprehensibly for making informed decisions and solving urgent problems on short notice. Second, the ability of cyber physical systems to physically support humans by conducting a range of tasks that are unpleasant, too exhausting, or unsafe for their human co-workers.
Decentralized decisions: The ability of cyber physical systems to make decisions on their own and to perform their tasks as autonomously as possible. Only in the case of exceptions, interferences, or conflicting goals are tasks delegated to a higher level.
| 65 Piezoelectric Motor Provides Precise Motion Without Magnetics, Gears
By Bill Schweber for Mouser Electronics
The piezoelectric motor is a little-known but widely-used alternative to the magnetic motor that offers precision and small-force motion.
Motors, Motor Control, Magnetic Motor, Piezoelectric Effect, Piezo Motor, Motor Driver, Capacitive Load
hen most engineers hear currently in widespread use: W “motor,” they usually think The piezoelectric motor, also “magnetics.” That makes sense called a piezoelectric actuator. Its because traditional motors use principles of operation leverage coils, windings, and magnetic the well-known piezoelectric materials to provide rotary or effect. Engineers are familiar with linear motion. Whether an AC or this two-way phenomenon and DC motor, brushed or brushless, its many applications, such as stepper, or other configuration (see converting vibration into electricity The Mystery and Magic of Motor for energy harvesting, building Genealogy), the interaction between pressure-sensing transducers, magnetic fields and materials and implementing spark ignitors, converts electrical energy into to cite just a few examples. In mechanical motion. the complementary mode, the effect is used for transforming So, when the time comes to electrical energy into pressure and implement small-scale and precise motion, in audio signaling devices/ motion, designers often first consider annunciators and, of course, as the a very small motor or even a small core of ubiquitous crystal oscillators. motor plus gearset. However, at these smaller scales, magnetic The piezo motor is built of a single motors are difficult to control and still ceramic crystal or as stacked layers relatively large, while gearsets bring of these ceramic materials. When more issues of size, weight, cost, an electric field is applied across mechanical play, backlash, and wear. the assembly via a voltage, the Even with advanced motion-control material deforms, as seen in Figure electronics and software, it can be a 1. In the most-common design, the tricky and unsatisfactory solution. elongation is restricted to a single plane of motion. The material is But there exists an alternative directed by on/off voltage pulsing to the magnetics-based motors and mechanical arrangement to
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make a series of stretches and position holds, and so moves like a caterpillar (sometimes also called an “inchworm” design).
The motion is both minute and precise. Piezo-based motors are used in nanoliter infusion pumps and optical-position mechanisms. These motors can provide positioning down to nanometer tolerances, with step rates into the MHz range—clearly Figure 8: The piezoelectric motor is usually made of stacked piezo elements and is an impossible specification for a stimulated by an applied voltage (left). Some units also include a strain gauge for closed- magnetic-motor approach. Available loop control (center) that enables even more-precise control of applied voltage versus force is in the order of nanonewtons displacement (right). (Source: Physik Instrumente GmbH & Co.) to about one newton (though special ones are made that reach hundreds supplied by a voltage differential the piezo motor is highly of newtons) and motor weight for across the material. Depending on capacitive, so the driver op small ones is in the less than-10- the size of the motor, this voltage amp must be capable of grams range. can be as low as 50V or as high as providing the needed voltage a thousand volts or more (simple into loads of 1,000 picofarads These are generally not “high- piezo buzzers and vibrators typically or more yet remain stable, power” engines, but they don’t need require only about 25–30V). which requires a special to be in the target applications. output-stage design even if Also, the non-magnetic nature of This places several challenges on the op amp can easily deliver piezo motors is a benefit and even a the design of the drive electronics: the high voltage. necessity in some situations. Piezo motors can be operated as open- • Because of the potentially The widespread use of piezo-based, loop transducers or used as a strain lethal voltages, use of non-magnetic motors shows how gauge in a feedback loop for the appropriate insulation and clever engineers have adapted basic additional precision that closed-loop wire routing are critical, as materials and physics principles control offers. well as attention to creep and to create innovative solutions to clearance requirements as set micro-motion applications. The next Not only are the fundamental physics by regulatory bodies. step in motion and motion control of the piezo motor very different from • Unlike the MOSFET/IGBT is developing practical MEMS- that of a magnetic motor, the drive switches used to control the based motors too small to see with requirements are also different. A flow of current in a magnetic the unaided eye, for uses such as magnetic-based motor is a current- motor, piezo motors are “pumping” individual cells through driven device, as magnetic fields and usually driven by high-voltage, a micro-capillary path in a medical strengths are a function of current low-current amplifiers (either test instrument—lots of R&D work is through the windings (while there is standard op amps boosted already underway on those. voltage, of course, that is used to by high-voltage transistors on drive the current into the windings; their outputs or application- For more information about piezo the motor equations are all based on specific high-voltage op amps). motors, visit the “The Mystery the interplay between current and • The magnetic motor is a and Magic of Motor Genealogy” magnetism). highly inductive load, so the in Mouser’s Bench Talk blog, as drive circuitry must handle well as the article called “Basics The piezo-based motor is a voltage- current inrush, inductive of MOSFETs and IGBTs for Motor driven scenario. The piezo material kicks, and other inductive- Control,” located in Mouser’s needs an electric field that is load attributes. In contrast, Application and Technology site.
| 67 Engineering Career Fairs: Yeah, You Gotta Talk About Yourself
By Deborah S. Ray, Mouser Electronics
f you’re like many engineering easing those sweaty palms, and Istudents, you probably find the standing out as a candidate. Let’s idea of attending a career fair take a look…. to be bit nerve-racking. Most of us would probably prefer Research Participating just to lurk at the career fair Companies and land an internship based Before the fair, take time to on our resumes and professor research participating companies, recommendations and maybe a understand what they do, and get bit of osmosis. I’m getting a pit in an idea of how engineering fits into my stomach just thinking about their business. Basically, learn as my own experiences, and that was much as you can before you go. 20-mumble years ago! Why? Part of it is simply showing that you’ve done your research, Why do career fairs create so much which gives you an advantage angst? While we could go on about over those who don’t. Perhaps them being an important resource more importantly, this gives you for landing the internship you want, some background information that marking your professional entry helps break the ice when chatting into your field of study, and having with their representatives. Rather too much commotion to really than arriving and asking, “What do engage in meaningful discourse, you do?” you can arrive saying, “I the real reason is simpler: Not understand your company does all of us are comfortable talking XYZ” or “I’d like to know more about ourselves—much less selling about the XYZ industry.” (It also ourselves. provides useful details for your “elevator pitch,” discussed next.) So how do you figure out what to talk about? The good news is A good starting place for research that listening to what potential is the career fair website, which employers seek will provide the usually lists the participating best clues to help you know companies and sometimes what to say. They are seeking internship details as well. If information about you, but ideally possible, take time to visit the what you share about your websites for all the participating projects and coursework will be in companies and identify where the context of their needs. Beyond your interests and goals align. that, a little planning and practice It’s tempting to explore just ones go a long way in presenting with name recognition or ones yourself as articulate and cogent, with best internship reputations,
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but it’s a good idea to do at least cursory research on all participating companies because you might miss opportunities that would be an unexpectedly great fit. Exploring all the companies is also a good way to learn more about what engineers in your area do, the types of applications they work on, and the types of problems they solve.
From that initial research, identify the top five or six companies that best align with your interests and goals, then explore not just what they do, but how they do it, who they hire, and what people say. Visit those companies’ websites, as well as their microsites on GlassDoor and LinkedIn, which can help you gage corporate culture and reputation. This seasoned professionals, find And because she offers some part does take some time, but it introducing themselves and specifics, she’s giving the hiring provides useful insights, as well as starting conversations especially manager some fodder to ask gives you potential talking points difficult. That’s why coming up questions, which then helps at the fair. with—and practicing—your discussions flow. elevator pitch is important. For Practice Your most traditional students, an If you’re not yet far along in your Elevator Pitch elevator pitch would be two or coursework, just say so: Imagine you’re standing in an three sentences that communicate elevator and someone asks you things like where you are in the “Hi, I’m Jane Smith. I’m a about what you do professionally: program, your interest areas, second-semester freshman While the elevator takes you from and your senior project topic, interested in electrical the coffee cart on the first floor among other possibilities, like this engineering. I’m here to learn to your office on the 22nd floor, example: more about what electrical you’d have ~15 seconds or so to engineers do at various answer the question. An “elevator “Hi, I’m Jane Smith. I’m a senior companies.” pitch” is a type of communication in electrical engineering with a aimed at providing key details in particular interest in aerospace In this example, Jane sets a short amount of time. In the job applications. I completed drone the expectation that she’s not fair context, you’ll use an elevator certification this summer and yet seeking an internship, yet pitch when you introduce yourself am starting on my senior project demonstrates that she’s proactive. to prospective employers or to now—testing jamming and reply when someone asks, “Tell me spoofing drones for military Better yet, use the company about yourself.” You’ll encounter applications.” research you did before the career both at a job fair. fair in your elevator pitch, like this: In this example, the student has I can hear you groaning as you relevant experience and a good “Hi, I’m Jane Smith. I’m a first- read this. Many people, even idea of what she’s interested in. semester junior in electrical
| 69 engineering interested in drone good posture? Did you control libraries, reference designs, applications. I understand your obvious signs of nervousness? and so on]? company develops XYZ…I’d like If all else fails, practice in front • What unexpected obstacles to know more about that!” of your cat. Or in the closet. Or did you encounter along in the car. Or wherever you feel the way? This last example is a good one comfortable. But do practice • How did you discover them? in that it shows you’ve done aloud. You’ll be glad you did and • How did you solve them? your homework, yet it doesn’t regret if you didn’t. • What was the outcome? potentially limit the exchange • What would you do differently if your interests, experience, or Prepare to Talk About next time? senior project topic are outside at Least One Project or the scope of what they do. That is, Course You’ve Completed Again here, don’t just think while you might be very interested Participating companies work through these questions, but in drones or aerospace, you might hard at making the career fair actually talk through them with have other interests and be open a friendly, positive experience. your spouse, significant other, to internships in others areas. As such, it’s unlikely that you’d roommate, or professor. As Developing an elevator pitch is a be asked “hardball” questions; with your elevator pitch, talking bit of a craft. in fact, they’re probably pretty through these things will help skilled at eliciting details to help solidify details and help you Whatever the details you identify, conversations flow. Even so, you speak fluently at the job fair. practice saying your elevator pitch should still come prepared to talk aloud. Many job seekers make about one (maybe two) projects Other details to freshen up include the mistake of just “practicing or courses you’ve completed, answers to questions about why in their heads,” which often isn’t even if the experience or course you’re interested in engineering enough when nerves strike and is recent. and what you like about (or why all the details swimming around you chose) the program you’re in your head suddenly disappear. Practice talking about those in. Hobbies are good as well, as Practicing aloud cements your details aloud, just as you should they tend to support your interest words and helps ensure you don’t your elevator pitch. The goal isn’t in engineering or can show get tongue-tied when you’re on to memorize, but to ensure the well-roundedness. the spot: details are fresh in your mind for the career fair. It’s amazing how Conclusion • Practice with your spouse, details escape us when nerves Yes, you’re going to have to talk significant other, or strike, even simple ones like the about yourself at career fairs; roommate…and ask for type of project, software used, there’s no avoiding it. Listening feedback. Did you make hardware used, techniques, to what potential employers eye contact? Did you speak components, protocols, resources, seek will provide the best clues loudly and clearly enough to libraries, reference designs, and so to help you know what to say. If be heard? (It’s not uncommon on. Some things to have fresh in you’ve researched the companies, that people’s voices become your mind: practiced your elevator pitch, and softer when talking about have project/course details fresh in themselves or when in • What was the purpose of the your mind, you might be surprised uncomfortable situations.) project? at how easily discussions flow. Did what you say trigger a • What problems did it solve? question for the other person • Why were you interested in it? Good luck! And let us know how to ask about? • When did you complete it? it goes! • Practice in front of a mirror, • What factors influenced even if you have someone to decisions in choosing [tools, practice with. Did you maintain technologies, components, eye contact? Did you maintain protocols, resources,
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Enterprise Drives Augmented Reality Demand
Consumer products garner the headlines, but industry is likely to drive AR commercialization.
By Steven Keeping for Mouser Electronics
hile many things that Google Inc. (Google’s parent company) W comes up with seemingly has brought Google Glass back, turn to gold, Google Glass only this time geared toward wasn’t one of them. According to factory workers, not the average Forbes magazine, the company’s consumer. augmented reality (AR) headset will go down in the annals of bad Some would argue the first- product launches because it was generation device never poorly designed, confusingly really went away. Pioneering marketed, and badly timed. enterprises—initially overlooked by Google Glass marketers— The voice-controlled, head- used the consumer product mounted display was meant to to project in new ways. For introduce the benefits of AR—a example, AR was used to animate technology that enhances human instructions, which was found perception of the physical to be an effective way to deskill environment with computer- complex manual tasks and to generated graphics—to the improve quality. Further, head- masses but failed. The product’s mounted AR raised productivity, appeal turned out to be limited reduced errors, and improved to a few New York and Silicon safety. A report from Bloomberg Valley early adopters. And even even noted some firms went to they soon ditched the glasses and the extent of hiring third-party returned to smartphones when software developers to customize buggy software and distrust of the product for specific tasks. filming in public places became apparent. Faced with a damp Enter “Glass squib, the glasses were quietly Enterprise Edition” withdrawn. Such encouragement resulted in Alphabet’s launch of “Glass However, the company shed few Enterprise Edition” targeted for the tears over its aborted foray into workplace and boasting several AR-for-the-masses because it upgrades over the consumer gained valuable experience. Armed product, including a better camera, with that knowledge, Alphabet, faster microprocessor, improved
| 71 Figure 1: Microsoft’s HoloLens is finding favor with automotive makers such as Volvo to help engineers visualize new concepts in three dimensions. (Source: Microsoft)
Wi-Fi, and longer battery life…plus product on a trial basis only. But into rising industrial interest with a red light LED that illuminates that’s not stopped Alphabet’s SmartEyeGlass. to let others know they’re being product managers sounding recorded. But perhaps the key bullish about the product’s Focus on Specifics improvement is the packaging of workplace prospects. “This isn’t an With its first-generation Google the electronics into a small module experiment. Now we are in full-on Glass, Alphabet repeated a that can be attached to safety production with our customers and mistake all too common with tech glasses or prescription spectacles, with our partners,” project lead Jay companies: Aiming for volume making it easier for workers to use. Kothari told Wired. sales by targeting the consumer While employees are much less market. While that was a strategy concerned about the aesthetics Alphabet is not alone in realizing that worked well for smartphones, of wearables than consumers, AR is a little underdeveloped for it hasn’t proven quite so streamlining previously chunky the consumer, but practical for the successful for wearables. AR devices improves comfort and worker. Seattle-based computer- hence usability. software, -hardware, and -services The consumer was quick to realize giant Microsoft has also entered the smartphone had many specific According to a report in Wired, the fray with HoloLens, a “mixed uses—like communication, sales of Glass Enterprise Edition reality” holographic computer and connectivity, photography—while are still only modest, and many head-mounted display (Figure the smartwatch, for example, large companies are taking the 1). And Japan’s Sony is tapping seemed to just duplicate many
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of those uses while bringing few And so it appears to be with AR. education, enterprise applications useful features of its own. For German carmakers Volkswagen will do little to boost its chances instance, a smartwatch’s fitness and BMW have experimented with of mainstream acceptance. In tracking functionality has little the technology for communication contrast, AR’s long-term prospects long-term use; most people can between assembly-line teams. are dramatically boosted by tell if they are fit or not by taking Similarly, aircraft manufacturer industry’s embrace. And, in the the stairs instead of the elevator Boeing has equipped its same way that PCs, Wi-Fi, and and seeing if they’re out of breath technicians with AR headsets smartphones built on clunky, as a result. to speed navigation of planes’ expensive, and power-sapping wiring harnesses. And AccuVein, first-generation technology But where smartwatches will a portable AR device that projects to become the sophisticated really take off is when they an accurate image of the location products we use today, industry’s offer specialized functionality of peripheral veins onto a patient’s investment in the technology will such as constant glucose skin, is in use in hospitals across ensure AR headsets will become monitoring, fall alerts for seniors, the U.S., assisting healthcare more streamlined, powerful, and or in occupations like driving professionals to improve efficient—and ultimately much public service vehicles where venipuncture. more appealing to the consumer. operators benefit from observing notifications without removing their Elevator manufacturer AR’s interleaving of the virtual hands from the wheel. ThyssenKrupp has taken things and real worlds to improve human even further by equipping all its performance will become a Similarly, early AR did little field engineers with Microsoft’s compelling draw for profit-making more for consumers than shift HoloLens so they can look concerns and the public alike. It’s information presentation from the at a piece of broken elevator reality, only better. handset to a heads-up display— equipment to see what repairs are useful, but not earthshattering needed. Better yet, IoT-connected For more on the future of AR enough to justify shelling out elevators tell technicians in see Mouser Electronics’ ebook thousands of dollars. In contrast, advance what tools to are needed Augmented Reality. freeing up the workers’ hands by to make repairs, eliminating time- presenting instructions directly in consuming and costly back and their line of sight is a big deal for forth. industries where efficiency gains equal greater profits. Too Soon to Call It is too early in AR’s development Impacting the Bottom Line to tell if this generation of the Enterprise is excellent at spotting technology will be a runaway where a new technology like AR success. In the consumer sector, can address specific challenge, the signs aren’t great. Virtual especially if the result impacts the Reality (VR), AR’s much-hyped bottom line. Robots were added to bigger brother, is not exactly flying car assembly lines because they off the shelves; a recent report in automated tasks where human error The Economist noted, for example, led to safety issues; machine-to- that the 2016 U.S. sales forecast machine wireless communications for Sony’s PlayStation VR headset was embraced because it predicted was cut from 2.6 million to just the need for maintenance in 750,000 shipments. advance of machines grinding to a halt. In both, AR reduced costs And although VR’s immersive by eliminating the need for skilled experience might have some workers. applications in training and
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