PHD research

EAGLE study trip

Internship abroad

Wireless power week 2019 47 Magazine of e.t.s.v. Thor and the department of Electrical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology September 2019 IEditorial

Connecthor Volume 12, issue 3 - September 2019

Connecthor is published by e.t.s.v. Thor and the department of Electrical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology. Connecthor is published quarterly with a circulation of 1500 copies and is free for all members of e.t.s.v. Thor and employees of the department of Electrical Engineering.

Editor in chief: Pauline Hoen

Layout editors: Stijn van Himste Margot Emke Meeuwis van den Hoek Editors: Renate Debets Rabia Zainab Syeda Mark Legters Chigo Okonkwo Jan Vleeshouwers Sanne van den Aker Cover: Photo by: Max Winsemius Photo of: prof.dr.ir. P.C.J.M. van der Wielen

Printer: Vision in Communication elcome back from your yearly summer leave. We hope you have found new inspiration for this academic year. Also a warm welcome to all new students, Editorial correspondence: Wboth native and from abroad. We hope you will feel at home soon. Connecthor Eindhoven University of Technology As you may notice, our magazine cover is different from other September covers from the past. No photo of the introduction on the cover this time. We have decided to print Groene Loper 19, Flux the photo on the centerfold pages. First-year students can tear out the poster gently P.O. Box 513 5600 MB Eindhoven to hang it in their rooms to remember how wonderful the intro week was. Maybe it will inspire you to take a picture of where you hung the intro photo and send it to us. (040) 247 3223, We will share a couple of your snapshots in the December issue. [email protected] This big September issue is filled with interesting articles from staff and students. Web: This time we are sharing two promotion articles with you. Saskia Camps and Thijs van http://www.thor.edu Laar each wrote an article about their PhD research. Earlier this year Peter van der http://www.tue.nl/ee Wielen did his inaugural lecture. In this September issue you will find a summary of Advertorials: this lecture with the topic ‘The energy transition and power failures in the electricity Page 12: Arcadis grid’. Alumnus Lulu Chan graduated in 2014, she shares her life thus far after her Page 31: ASML graduation with you. Advertisers: Page 18: ICD As you may expect from us by now, we have an Internship Abroad article. This time Page 36: Thales Anouk Hubrechsen writes about her amazing time at NIST in Boulder. Back cover: Sioux

Deadline copy next issue: Our students went on a study trip to Latvia and Estonia and on another study trip 18 October 2019 to Munich. Read about their experiences. And a September issue wouldn’t be the same without the candidate board members of Thor who introduce themselves to us readers.

Copyright © Connecthor 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication More interesting and fun to read articles can be found in this magazine. We hope you may be reproduced in any way without prior enjoy reading it as much as we have had making it. written permission of the editorial board.

Disclaimer The Connecthor editorial board The editor reserves the right to shorten and otherwise edit the articles. The views and P.S.: The Connecthor editorial board has positions open for creative and enthusiastic employees of the opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the Department of Electrical Engineering interested in joining us to make the Connecthor magazine. Up for a opinion of e.t.s.v. Thor or the department of new challenge? Please contact us!! As always, we will be glad to receive your suggestions and nominations Electrical Engineering at Eindhoven University for the ‘vlaai’ and ideas for upcoming editions. You can contact us via [email protected]. of Technology.

02 | connecthor ContentI

02 Editorial 42 04 A warm welcome to our new bachelor students 05 News 05 Graduates June 06 From the President 07 Introducing Maarten Paulides 08 Introducing... 10 Whose desk is this... 11 Education day 2019 12 Electrical Engineering within Arcadis 13 Automotive students win prize for their Innovation Space BEP 14 Prostate ultrasound imaging Life after EE 15 ODIN and IEEE SBE study trip to Read more about Lulu Chan her life after graduating on page 42 Munich 17 Icons of EE: Enrico Fermi 18 IC Drachten 19 Technology’s status rising 25 32 20 Introducing candidate board of Thor 22 TenneT 23 NeuroStimulating The Future 24 Photo introductionweek 26 Photopage 27 Thor band: Watt? 28 Reliability of Grid Components 31 ASML: A technival graduate’s EAGLE study trip Internship Abroad playground Read more about Thor’s study trip to Still wondering where to go for your 32 #Shutdownstories in Boulder Estonia and Latvia on page 25 intership? You can find a good example 34 Automated Design of Bayesian on page 32 Signal Processing Algorithms 35 Department Office Day-Out 38 36 Thales 37 Discovering eastern Ethiopia 38 Wireless Power Week 2019 40 EAGLE Study Trip 42 My life after EE 44 Mythology 45 Puzzlepage 46 Column

Wireless power week 2019 Read more about the wireless power conference that took place in London on page 38.

September 2019| 03 IDepartment A warm welcome to our new bachelor students By: Sjoerd Hulshof

o, there you are! You have made university requires a lot of self-discipline are here to gain valuable knowledge and the choice to study Electrical and perseverance. Not only because skills you will benefit from during the rest SEngineering or Automotive the required level of abstract thinking of your career. Technology at our university. I would like is higher than you’re probably used to. to thank you for your confidence in our The most important difference (in my I once read a nice quote on the site of department and I can guarantee you we opinion) is that you, and hopefully you a Swedish university: ‘Being a student in will support you the best we can during alone have made the choice in this, start Sweden can be somewhat challenging your educational and scientific journey. an academic study program. When you at first. You are expected to think inde- Furthermore, you can expect a solid attended secondary school, you didn’t pendently, critically, analytically and to engineering program which will open have much of a choice. You just did what be responsible and plan your own work. lots of doors for you after graduating as was expected from you. You probably Once you get the hang of it, you will see a Master of Science. didn’t experience it that way at that time, it all pays off in the end.’ All of this is so but I sincerely hope you don’t experience true, except for the fact that this not only I would like to ask one favor in return the choice you have made by joining our counts for studying in Sweden. This is true (or like we say in The Netherlands: ‘Voor university as something ‘that is expected for academic studies in general. In other wat hoort wat’). It may sound logical from me’. After all, this choice has some words: I know we ask a lot from you, but what I am about to ask from you, but serious implications. First of all: you are you will get a lot in return as well. please believe me when I say it’s not so responsible for your own study progress. obvious for first-year students. I want you Of course we offer a lot of support, but The most valuable tip I can give you at to realize that starting your studies here still you need to ask for it in specific situ- this moment, and what you probably in Eindhoven is something completely ations. Secondly, making the choice of have heard before during one of our different from when you started your studying with us also implies making the webinars, the Information Days or your secondary-school education. And why choice of becoming an engineer, which is Study Choice Check: be pro-active and is that? Not only because studying at a not the same as just passing exams. You start working hard from day one. Don’t just sit and wait, but take action! Once you get the hang of it, it will already pay off in the first year and it will give you a solid basis for the rest of your Bachelors’ program.

Of course, life is not only about studying. My second tip is to find the right balance between studying and leisure time. You need both to finish your studies success- fully.

Good luck and have fun!

Sjoerd Hulshof Bachelor Program Director Electrical Engineering and Automotive Technology

04 | connecthor NewsI

Goodbye Connecthor Team

As of this edition, Lisa and Birgit have left the editioral board of the Connecthor after several years. Lisa always found exiting puzzles for our readers to solve, and Birgit took care of the looks of the Connecthor.

Thanks for all your hard work, Birgit and Lisa!

Martijn van Beurden appointed Full Professor Goodbye Connecthor Team As per June 1st, 2019, Martijn van Beurden has been appointed full professor As of this edition, Mariska has left the ‘computational electromagnetics in editorial board of the Connecthor. complex high-tech systems’ within the research group Electromagnetics at the Thanks or all your hard work, Mariska! department of Electrical Engineering. Graduates June 18th 2019 Nick Peters Willem Remie Sebastiaan Goossens Esmee Huismans Linda Janssen Bart Bokmans Ruben Geurts Alexandre König dos Santos Sander Wasser Yu Tian

Congratulations!

The winner of the pie for the previous puzzle is Steven Beumer, The Student Body of Electrical Engineering turned 50 this year! Congratulations Steven! Congratulations!

September 2019| 05 IAssociation From the President By: Dana de Vreede

uring my board year I have some- So yeah, I am happy that we have stories about myself, my experiences or times made the joke to my fellow members, but not only because of their just creative new ideas. Something I have Dboard members that things would presence and active membership of been thankful for a lot, since it helped me be so much easier without members. No Thor the last year. I am also very happy (for instance with writing for our blog or one asking you questions when you’re with what they have given me, which is the Connecthor) but now I am here. It is just trying to finish some last work before inspiration and creativity. I have learned the summer holiday and Thor has turned going to Het Walhalla to end your day, no to solve problems in ways I never would into what you could almost call a ghost one asking you to help find something in have dared before (like I said on the blog town. During the day there are less than our storage (of which I am honestly still of our website, I can sometimes be a little ten members on the sixth floor of Flux, surprised that I know what to find where) bit of a “watje”). I have dared to open we even went multiple days without or wanting to buy a bierkaart just before myself up to new experiences and have having to make coffee (which I think we 16:30h. gotten to know a lot of new people, for can actually call the 8th world wonder). instance the board members of our sister But any time I make this joke I stop and associations Scintilla (UTwente) and ETV I can’t wait until the new academic year think about what we as Thor as a whole, (TU Delft), with whom we have already starts and I can hear everyone’s great members and board, mean to me. I am joked about a reunion next year. stories about what they have done this constantly surprised at what we can summer. I hope everyone will have a achieve as active and spirited students. But I made a promise to myself at the wonderful academic year and to the I can say with full confidence that I beginning of this year about these “From next board, I wish you good luck, a lot am proud of what our members have the president” parts of the Connecthor. of creative inspiration by our members achieved this year. Not only has this year I promised myself to not write these and most of all a lot of fun. And to any been full of all kinds of fun and interesting pieces about the standard “what is future presidents reading this, don’t you activities, these activities have been happening now within Thor” but I would dare write standard pieces for the “from greatly visited as well. It was amazing to write them in a way so that I would find the president” sections because I want to see how many students would visit our them interesting to read. To do this I have like reading them! lunch lectures, exam trainings, and the often turned to members and talked with Career Day. them about what they found interesting Veel gedonder! at that time or what they were up to. This Dana de Vreede never failed to give me inspiration for fun President of Thor

06 | connecthor DepartmentI Introducing Maarten Paulides – director of C3Te By: Jan Vleeshouwers

Last November, Maarten Paulides started his job as director of the Center for Care and Cure Technology Eindhoven (C3Te). Maarten and his small team of Noortje Bax and Danielle van der Hagen run a part of the faculty which is hard to overrate but also hard to explain to others, certainly since the university has a second center with a medical focus, the e/MTIC. Why is C3Te important to the faculty of Electrical Engineering?

3Te is the link between univer- sity research, clinics and the “Cclinical industry. Technology research always has half an eye on appli- cations, but the organization of research at a faculty is simply too complex or too obscure for people from outside to find their way to research that may answer their needs. The center tries to do just that: elucidate and connect plain appli- cation needs, from companies and clinics all over the world, to medically oriented research carried out at our faculty. For the faculty, that is important in two ways: it makes sure that research does not go to waste, and doing research with industrial partners is a source of income the faculty cannot do without anymore.”

“Connecting to societal or industrial needs is easier said than done, because it is not just the research that is orga- nized in a confusing way. More often than not, societal and industrial needs are not that clear either. That is why C3Te is composing roadmaps for important Maarten Paulides behind a prototype of a collar for thermotherapy (Photo: Michelle Muus) areas in the medical field, in particular in perinatology, cardiology, oncology, heating, but unfortunately in a rather which is sufficiently small to fit in a MRI and neurology. Hereto, a talented group inhomogeneous way. So some kind of scanner, and is now trying to integrate of researchers with a medical interest control is indispensable to administer the MRI-measuring coils into the collar. try to describe developments ten years the heat in the right place. At Erasmus, The reduced distance and array setup ahead to identify what crucial results he started working on MRI techniques combined are expected to provide the we will likely need. This makes it easier to identify the heated area and obtain measurement accuracy needed. for companies to position and formu- the feedback to direct the heat therapy. late what they need, and for research to At TU/e, he continues this MRI research The world of MRI is still expanding. address these needs in a coherent way.” in his Electromagnetics for Care&Cure Although the past tended towards larger (EM4C&C)-lab, where Maarten cooper- magnetic fields, there is renewed interest Maarten Paulides expected to be busy ates with Rob Mestrom, Paul Boon, Ad in low-field-strength MRI. New staff is with the center, but is surprised to find Reniers and Huib Visser. being recruited at the department to out his activities are still very close to support this development, and MRI will doing research. At Erasmus Medical This idea is straightforward, but realiza- obtain a larger footprint in education Center, he led research to treat tumors tion is still something else. For one, the as well. As a director of C3Te, Maarten inside the head and neck with heat. room within a MRI machine is limited, and would also like to contribute to educa- Sensius, a company he co-founded, the high-power microwaves to heat and tion. So if students are in for a Bachelor is commercializing this research. The water too cool the skin can damage the or Master graduation project, he will equipment heats tissue very locally, scanner. What is even more demanding, certainly welcome them. but that means that if a patient moves, is that temperature measurement is on the heat is going the wrong way. On the verge of what MRI is capable of doing. top of that, the body counteracts the Paulides has developed the “MRcollar”

September 2019| 07 IDepartment Introducing...

ello everyone! My name is Having studied Archaeology at Leiden Charlotte van Kesteren and I University and Museum studies at the Hhave just started my new job as University of Amsterdam myself I have Education Coordinator EE for the ESA no background in technology. So there’s Team EE. lots for me to learn here!

The world of education is not new to I love spending my free time on my yoga me. For the past six years I’ve worked as mat, baking, hiking, and going to food a Coordinator of Educational Logistics at and music festivals. Avans University of Applied Sciences in Breda. I was responsible for the annual I’m very happy to start working at the and periodic planning of personnel on TU/e and I’m looking forward to meeting teaching and non-teaching tasks and for new colleagues! Feel free to contact me producing schedules for students and if you have any questions. teachers. I also assisted with the renewal of the curriculum, making sure the curric- ulum was designed within budget and manageable, and implemented a new planning tool.

ello everybody! My name is years of experience in the banking world, Danielle van der Hagen and I I have always held customer-oriented Ham 46 years old. I was born and positions. Characteristic for me is my raised in Eindhoven where I still live, attitude towards both people and results. with my boyfriend and three girls (13, I am a team player and I am known as 17 and 17 years old). I have just started a committed and loyal employee with as a secretary at the Center for Care and most of the time a big smile. Cure Technology Eindhoven (C3TE) at the Department of Electrical Engineering. I I like to meet up with friends and go out am also the secretary of the Eindhoven to restaurants, concerts and the theatre. School of Education (ESoE) at the TU/e. I also like to do fun stuff with my kids, shopping is their favorite thing, of course, In my past, I have been working for they are girls!! twenty years as a commercial assistant at ABN AMRO Bank. With over nineteen

ello everyone! My name is Doga machine using semi-analytical and finite Ceylan, and I am from Turkey. I element modeling methods. In addition Hreceived my BSc and MSc degrees to my academic life, the biggest passion from the department of Electrical and in my personal life is definitely alpinism. Electronics Engineering at the Middle I was part of two high-altitude expedi- East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey tions, both higher than 7000m, together in 2016 and 2018, respectively. During with a team of climbers. These experi- my master program, I was working on ences enabled me to improve my cooper- electromagnetic launchers as a research ation skills and taught me self-discipline, assistant at the university. Since May, I’ve which I believe is a necessity to deal with been working in the EPE group as a PhD the high levels of stress. I also love rock candidate. My current research interests and ice climbing. Moreover, cycling and include electrical machines, electric vehi- running are my other hobbies. I am very cles, electromagnetic launchers, pulsed- excited and ready for my new journey power sources, and renewable energy. in the Netherlands. I enjoy living and At the TU/e, my PhD project is about working in such an international envi- the development of a multi-phase elec- ronment. I am really looking forward to trical drive for an unmanned vehicle for meeting new friends and sharing experi- the agricultural sector. Specifically, I am ences with them! working on the design of a flux-switching

08 | connecthor DepartmentI

ello, everybody! My name is Jiali of baby cry detection based on audio Xie, and I come from Hangzhou, signals using deep neural networks. This HChina. I am a first-year PhD candi- experience aroused my interest in deep date at the Signal Processing Systems learning on time series data. Currently, group of the department of Electrical my research topic is acoustic signal anal- Engineering here at the TU/e. I received ysis for snoring and obstructive sleep my Bachelor’s degree in Electrical apnea detection. Engineering from Zhejiang University in China. After that, I worked in a company I have been in Eindhoven for more than that designs, develops and markets two years. I enjoy living here with the CMOS image sensor devices for one nice environment and friendly neigh- year. During that period, I found out that borhoods. In my free time, I like watching I want to gain more knowledge and do anime, reading novels, traveling in more research. I then decided to start my different countries and cooking with Master’s degree in Embedded Systems at friends. Looking forward to meeting new the TU/e. I did my graduation project at friends at the TU/e! Philips Research, working on the topic

ello everyone, my name is Stefan I started as a PhD candidate at the Eijsvogel and I’m 25 years old. Electromagnetics group of Electrical HI was born in Rosmalen but I’m Engineering in April. To be a bit more currently living in Weert. In 2017, I specific, my project for the coming years got my Bachelor’s degree in Electrical is in the field of computational electro- Engineering at the TU/e. I received magnetics. I’m working on a fast-forward my Master’s degree, also in Electrical Maxwell solver and an inverse scattering Engineering at the TU/e, in 2019 after solver for dielectric-layered media, which finalizing my graduation project within can be used for optical scatterometry the IC group. This graduation project applications. was about time synchronization tech- niques for ensuring synchronized clocks I like to spend my spare time on things in a network for nanosatellites located in such as reading and watching series. deep-space. Next to that, I really enjoy going to the cinema and hanging out with friends. See you around!

ello everyone! My name is Noortje Junior Dekker Grant of the Dutch Heart In my free time, I like cooking and baking Bax and I’m 38 years old. I was Foundation for my project “Combining for my husband and our friends, and Hborn in Eindhoven and spent my myocardial unloading and cardiac have evenings filled with drinking wine childhood in Nuenen. I studied (Medical) progenitor cells: the next step in endog- with good food in good company. My Biology at the Radboud University in enous cardiac repair”. Although I love husband and I like to travel and explore Nijmegen and for my final master project science and supervising master and PhD new countries and cultures. I enjoy I moved to the Leiden University Medical students, I realized that it was time for a playing the flute, reading books, do Center (LUMC), where I was introduced in change. crocheting or just enjoy a good movie the world of cardiac regeneration. After on the couch. I finished my PhD in the field of cardiac Since April 1st of 2019, I’m the project development, also at the LUMC, it was officer of the Center for Care & Cure time to go back to the roots in the south. Technology Eindhoven ((C3Te), www.tue. In September 2010, I started as a postdoc nl/c3te). The center plays a pivotal role in in the group of prof. Carlijn Bouten at the connecting electrical engineering-driven faculty of Biomedical Engineering of the technology with clinics and the medical TU/e, where I worked together with a industry. Through my experience in both PhD student on a project called “Building the hospital and the TU/e, I developed myocardium in a dish”. During this into an ideal mediator in the multidisci- postdoc I had the opportunity to spend plinary research field and this combined four months in the city that never sleeps, with my life lesson “close collabora- New York. At Columbia University I had tions are needed to expand collective the privilege to work together with prof. knowledge leading to improve scientific Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic on devel- outcomes”. I hope that as C3Te we can oping innovative technologies for engi- create synergy between technology and neering and studying human myocardial medical science to induce progression in tissues. In 2014, I was awarded with a health care.

September 2019| 09 IDepartment Introducing...

i Connecthor readers! My name is head. This project, PerStim, is super- Steven Beumer and I just started vised by prof.dr. Paul Boon en dr.ir. Rob Has a doctorate student in the Mestrom. Besides doing research for that Electromagnetics group. After doing a project, I hope to see some of you as well beautiful internship for the SKA project in during the instructions of several of the South Africa and a graduation project in courses of our group! the field of wireless charging of medical implants, it was time to decide on the In my spare time, I like to play/teach/ future. Eventually, it was an obvious coach water polo, dive, play guitar, choice to continue in my hopeful quest complain about the weather and of to improve the world by doing funda- course drink coffee at the coffee machine mental research. on floor 9. Maybe I will meet some of you there. My research is focused on treating epilepsy using transcranial neurostimu- lation, which means that electrodes are placed on the head instead of in the Whose desk is this...

he owner of this desk warned me first name. The mug might become a Another hint is hidden on the Dopper that there would not be much collector’s item: only the founders of bottle at the right of the desk. It is from Tpersonal stuff on his desk since he Sensius have one. the Rotterdam School of Management, shares it with others, but nevertheless, it where he took several courses before contains significant clues. Just in front of the mug is a shiny little starting his current job at TU/e. box, a miniature first-aid kit. It is not there The image on both displays is a picture of because the environment in this office is Not too difficult to find out who owns this a favorite holiday destination: a Meteora especially risky, but it is a gift gadget for desk, right? But if you need a final clue: monastery, one of several built on top of relations of the C3Te-center (www.tue. check the difference in height between rock pillars in the north-west of Thessaly, nl/c3te). You can see the abbreviation his desk and the one behind it. Greece. Some of these monasteries can printed on the box. only be reached by climbing the rock, (see page 7 for the owner of this desk) with ropes as sole support. The owner of the desk managed this climb. That is now more than ten years ago, but the location still fascinates him.

You have to look more closely to see more personal details. At the far right corner of the desk is a small picture of his three children. It is last year’s school photograph, being the first year all three of them went to primary school.

Then to the left there is a mug which reads Sensius. You can look it up (www. sensius.biz): it is a company which makes equipment to heat tumors inside a human body, specifically to help treating head and neck cancer. At the back of the mug, invisible to us, is the desk owner’s

010 | connecthor DepartmentI Education day 2019 By: Gijs Neerhof

ith many changes happening in While the grading rubric stayed more or policies and education yearly, less the same, the explanations behind Wthe education day brings every- the checkboxes needed an update to body within the department that is support the given grades. This turned concerned with education up to speed into an interesting discussion about the with current themes. The overall educa- consistency of grading and this was one tion day theme of 2019: ‘2030 #challenge- of the ways to improve that. accepted’, focused on the constantly changing students and the inclusion In the afternoon program, Aldert Kamp, of more challenge-based elements in the program director of Aerospace our curriculum. The organization tries Engineering at TU Delft, was invited to to pick a special location every year in give a talk. He is deeply involved in the the Eindhoven area to have the educa- rethinking of higher engineering educa- tion day. This year, we visited the NatLab tion using his experience in both industry on Strijp-S, where a lot of fundamental and university. With his presentation research for Philips was carried out. on ‘Engineering education in a rapidly changing world’, he explained that A workshop on generation Z-students industry needs / will need different types by the Youngworks organization gave of engineers and that universities should students and teachers insight in how be able to support that and educate the new generations of students see the them. The inclusion of challenge-based world. Generation Z, born after 2001, ‘courses’, where students are given a real- grew up with broadband internet and life problem statement to solve, is a great easy access to information and are digital example. This way of teaching gives each natives. They (think they) can multitask student their own learning path, the diffi- and that does not always work out for the culty there is to make sure all students better. Through the easy access of infor- learn enough. This also connects to mation, it is much easier nowadays to the changing mindset of generation Z look up a tutorial online than it is to read students. the book. While both sources are valid, Youngworks explained the generation During the education day, also the best gap and in what ways the new genera- teacher awards were presented. Students tion is different. could vote for their favorite teacher beforehand, which was organized by The other workshop was presented the StudentBody. I want to congratulate by the examination committee. They the winners of the education awards this presented a ‘new’ grading rubric year. For the first-year bachelor course, supported by explanations for gradua- the award went to Dusan Milosevic for tion projects. We were invited to check it his course Electronic Circuits 1. The out and give feedback on the platform. second-year award went to René Hoppe for the course Electrical Power Systems, and the third-year to Ramiro Serra for Electromagnetics 2. Congratulations! Of course, there are many other great teachers within the department!

I think the most interesting takeaway of this year’s education day is on the changing generation of students: how to line up expectations for both teachers and students, and how we should adapt our education system and the way courses are taught to convey the course material. And, on the other hand, how to inform new students that university brings a lot of freedom, but they have to keep up with the fast pace.

September 2019| 011 IAdvertorial Electrical Engineering within Arcadis By: Igor Bathouktine

hoever thinks about electrical a small piece of an electrical installation, engineering, thinks about but that you gradually develop your- Wenergy. And guess what, energy self within different aspects. Analysis of is radiating all over Arcadis. Why? secondary installations; CCTV, signaling, lighting, but also primary installations for In this article I’ll show you the variety of energy distribution, such as transformers great projects and job activities within and distribution installations at medium Arcadis as an Electrical Engineer, specifi- and high voltage levels, are part of the cally for the infrastructure group. As an job activities for an electrical engineer. Electrical Engineer within infrastructure Designing and writing technical advice projects, you are a manager of every- reports is part of the job, but also good thing with regard to electrical installa- customer contact and good customer tions. But there are also plenty of oppor- relationships are very important. tunities to develop yourself in your own area of interest. To give you more insight, Finally, I want to devote a small part to I will discuss two different projects and the possibilities for developing yourself the accompanying work. in your own area of interest. I have been working at Arcadis for eight months To answer the question from the first paragraph; ‘Why is there so much energy within Arcadis?’ It is the enor- mous variety of projects, but also the “Energy is radiating all over Arcadis” work within the projects that keeps me energetic. Furthermore, there are many young colleagues, regular drinks and First, I have a consultant role for various now, where I have developed myself in professional working environments tunnels in Belgium. In this role I work for two areas of interest; Asset Management close to the Central Station all over the various clients including government and Data Analysis (predictive models and Netherlands. Together, this creates the institutions to create the correct demand self-learning algorithms). Both courses perfect (work) environment for a young specification. I use a lot of Systems are closely intertwined with electrical Electrical Engineer. Engineering, analytical & critical thinking engineering and with each other. For and reporting. As a consultant, you start each subject a multi-day course and/or Igor Batoukhtine by writing an advisory report. In this activity was organized. Consultant electrical installations report you analyze the current electrical systems, but you also go beyond your own disciplines to deliver a complete and useful advice for the customer to improve quality.

However, for a container terminal in the port of Rotterdam, my design competen- cies are of big importance. I also use my Systems Engineering skills to implement questions from the customer into tech- nically feasible solutions. The interesting thing about these big projects is that you are not only focused on designing

012 | connecthor DepartmentI

Automotive students win prize for their Innovation Space BEP By: Jan Vleeshouwers

orst Fietje and Michiel de Hoop, was supposed to relate for feedback on behind, locations where people get stuck both Automotive students, and their work, were difficult to reach, slow in narrow passages, or in front of locked Htheir partners Brandon Smith in reacting and finally they disconnected doors. In cases of blocked paths, the (Industrial Design) and Iza Linders from the project altogether. A month system would guide people to alterna- (Psychology and Technology) have after the team picked up the project tive escape routes. been awarded with the prize for the with much enthusiasm, there was still no best Innovation Space Bachelor Project tangible progress, and even worse, there The 3VACUATE team continued at a high (ISBEP) 2018/2019, last June. was little prospect of ever achieving pace. In a way, they were helped by something worthwhile. the Innovation Space deadline system, Their project, a study into safer ways of which asked each group to provide evacuating a building, was chosen from According to Horst and Michiel, there partial results at specific moments in among eighteen projects as the one with were two factors which prevented them the semester, a pattern which was not the most convincing pitch and the best from giving up at that time. The first adjusted to the initial delays. Iza Linders mix of interdisciplinary design and entre- factor was that in their first project weeks, designed an experiment to research preneurship. they invested seriously in teambuilding. ways of guiding crowds using lights, and They met three times a week to discuss found a perfect location in the corridor For a couple of years, Innovation Space project design and progress, and they from MetaForum to Luna, where there provides students with a way to carry took part in several of the Innovation are two paths around a large elevator out their BEP in an interdisciplinary Space workshops which Innovation shaft. Brandon Smith used the input team. That was exactly what Horst and Space organizes to develop personal and to design a prototype luminous base- Michiel had in mind. They wished to professional skills. The second factor was board for guiding people towards a conclude their Automotive studies with their determination to bring the project safe exit. Horst and Michiel developed a project in which they could explore to a successful end. a prototype of a system to monitor the their entrepreneurial talents. Without a people evacuating the building. Michiel concrete topic, but with this firm inten- After consultation with their faculty analyzed which type of sensor would be tion, they managed to collect a team at supervisors, they decided to take over most appropriate, and Horst explored the ISBEP kick-off around the topic of the project ownership, which meant the data analysis process and a possible 3D sensors. This topic is more or less a that after six weeks, they effectively business case. follow-up of work of (amongst others) started anew. Based on previous explo- Allessandro Corbetta and Federico Toschi ration of what could be possible with Although there are still many technical of the Crowdflow group at the Physics a 3D sensor, and inspired by Michiel’s and non-technical problems to solve, Department, which for example resulted dad, they decided to use the sensor in Horst and Michiel are convinced they in the Influx project featuring at GLOW a system for quick and safe evacuation have laid the basis for a design with 2016. of a building in case of an emergency. commercial possibilities. And they are The 3D sensors would allow to monitor not the only ones, considering the At the start, the project seemed quite the people during the evacuation and, most Innovation Space prize. They intend to opposite of potentially prize-winning. crucially, would have to detect situations forward their concept as a new ISBEP- The project owners, to whom the team needing attention, e.g. people who stay project for next year, and now they will be the project owners. New students may take up the assignment to improve the project, from concept (is nudging sufficient when people need to exit a building as fast as possible?) to technical implementation (is it possible to keep the sensors and lighting working, even at 400 or 500 degrees Celsius?).

Michiel’s and Horst’s study will continue in line with their ISBEP-experience: Michiel will enter the Innovation Management master and Horst is plan- ning to do a business-oriented one-year master at Erasmus University Rotterdam. In the meantime, they will seriously consider founding their own business for 3VACUATE.

September 2019| 013 ITechnology Prostate ultrasound imaging By: Saskia Camps

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men worldwide; one in six men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime. Several treatment options are available to treat this type of cancer including chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy treatment. In the past four years, I worked as a PhD student on the use of ultrasound imaging to improve the accuracy of radiation dose delivery during prostate cancer radiotherapy treatments. My project was part of a collaboration between the TU/e (professor Peter de With – VCA group), Philips Research and the MAASTRO clinic (professor Frank Verhaegen). This clinic is a nationally and internationally renowned radiotherapy center that treats patients with various types of cancer, including prostate cancer. Radiotherapy treatment adiotherapy treatment makes use of ionizing radiation to treat Rthe cancer. This type of radia- tion can destroy cancer cells, but also damage normal cells. For this reason, it is important to irradiate tumor tissue, while sparing normal tissue as much as possible. The first step of a prostate cancer radiotherapy workflow (Fig. 1) is the acquisition of a computed tomog- raphy (CT) scan to capture the patient’s anatomy. Subsequently, a treatment plan Transperineal ultrasound images of the male pelvis is designed based on this scan and the planned radiation dose is delivered to Ultrasound imaging The ultrasound image in Fig. 2 gives you the patient during daily treatment frac- In my PhD work this motion monitoring an idea of how an ultrasound image of tions for up to eight weeks. was done using ultrasound imaging the male pelvis looks like. This is one of (Fig. 1). You probably know ultrasound the most beautiful ultrasound images Motion monitoring imaging as the image modality that is that I came across during my PhD. Even Motion of the anatomical structures can used to image a fetus in the uterus of its when I would tell you what anatomical result in radiation dose delivery to the mother. To create an ultrasound image, structures are visualized in this image, wrong location. As the prostate is located high-frequency ultrasound waves are you most probably only see blurry in close proximity to the bladder and sent into the body of the patient using an white structures on a black background. rectum, a different filling of the bladder ultrasound probe. On their way through I believe that this image and your and/or rectum can result in a different the body, these ultrasound waves are inability to probably even guess where prostate location and shape. Muscle reflected at interfaces between tissues. the anatomical structures of interest are contraction or a sudden cough or sneeze These reflected waves are then received located, nicely summarizes most of the during the radiation dose delivery can with the same ultrasound probe and challenges associated with ultrasound also result in motion of the anatomical used to reconstruct an image. Ultrasound imaging. structures. To ensure that the radiation imaging has several advantages: it allows dose is delivered to the correct location, for real-time volumetric imaging, it is Ultrasound probe positioning monitoring of these types of motion is harmless for the patient and in compar- If an operator wants to acquire an ultra- crucial. ison with other image modalities it is sound image, he or she needs to manu- cost-effective and fast. For these reasons, ally position the ultrasound probe on the ultrasound imaging seems a good candi- skin of the patient. Subsequently, he or date for radiation dose guidance during she needs to interpret the live ultrasound prostate cancer radiotherapy workflows. images to understand if the correct anatomical structures are visualized with sufficient quality. I hope you have realized from looking at Fig. 2 that inter- preting an ultrasound image is rather difficult. For this reason, the ultrasound probe positioning needs to be done by a skilled operator, who is currently not involved in a typical radiotherapy work- flow.

As noted earlier, for every patient a CT scan is acquired before the radiotherapy Typical radiotherapy workflow of a prostate cancer patient treatment starts to understand the

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compared with the performance of three experts and I was able to show that the computer performed at least as good as the worst expert. Conclusion The aim of my PhD work was to improve the usability of ultrasound imaging during prostate cancer radiotherapy workflows. I investigated the first steps towards a fully automated workflow. In my opinion, future work should focus on further automation of the different radiotherapy workflow steps, such as Workflow to obtain patient-specific ultrasound probe setup automated detection of the anatomical anatomy of the patient and to create a treatment, ultrasound images have to structures in the ultrasound image. treatment plan. I used this information be acquired continuously during this This could make the use of ultrasound to propose a patient-specific ultrasound treatment. However, during the treat- imaging during prostate cancer radio- probe setup to the operator (Fig. 3). I did ment something can happen that causes therapy workflows more appealing to this by creating a model of the patient a sudden degradation of the ultrasound hospitals and allow the patients to fully from the CT scan. In this model I identi- image quality. For this reason, the skilled benefit from the unique characteristics of fied which anatomical structures should operator should stay in the control room this image modality. be visualized using the ultrasound. during the whole treatment to check if Finally, I created a 3D model of the field of the image quality is still good enough view of the ultrasound probe and virtu- and very quickly take appropriate action ally positioned this probe on the body of if this is not the case anymore (Fig. 4). the patient. In this way, I could calculate In the ideal case, the technician who is what would be the optimal probe setup already there to execute the treatment, for this particular patient and propose should also be able to keep an eye on the that to the operator, so that he or she ultrasound image quality. does not have to find a suitable probe setup manually anymore. I made use of deep learning to teach a computer how a good ultrasound Ultrasound image quality assess- image looks like. If you then present this ment computer with an image that it has never To understand how the prostate and seen before, it will tell you if the quality the other anatomical structures of of the image is good or not. In the end Ultrasound image quality assessment by interest move during the radiotherapy the performance of the computer was operator and computer ODIN and IEEE SBE study trip to Munich By: Fer Radstake

n Thursday, June 13th, we left Optical Networking SE in Meiningen. were given a tour around their factory. Eindhoven in the early morning ADVA develops and produces optical This was especially interesting since it’s Owith eleven people for a study trip solutions for mid- to long-range a part that you rarely deal with at univer- to Munich. After driving for a couple of networking. After two presentations sity. We witnessed the various logistics, hours, we arrived at our first stop: ADVA detailing their products and R&D, we production, repair and testing depart- ments. At the latter, it was fun to see their setup: clients require thorough testing of an entire system, which can include thou- sands of kilometres of fiber, all of which have to be installed in the testing room.

We arrived in Munich in the evening, where we soon got our first taste of this beautiful city (literally). We ended up at a small restaurant, where we had a Maß (liter tankard) and two gigantic plates of food. The Schnitzel, Schweinhaxn, Sauerkraut and other local specialities

September 2019| 015 IAssociation

The next morning was free time, which most of us (including me) used to take a historical guided tour through the city. We ended up in the city center, where the Stadtgründungsfest happened to be in progress, to celebrate the 861st anniversary of the city. The Marienplatz square was turned into a sort of ad-hoc biergarten, and we made use of the opportunity by having lunch and some Weißbier. Our bellies filled, we went to the Deutsches Museum, which is one of the biggest technology museums in were a bit too much for us and we weren’t and to save fiber they used a 75 km fiber Germany. Naturally we visited the muse- able to finish it all, although we definitely loop through which the signals went um’s highlights, such as an entire cut- tried! round a few times. open World War I submarine and some World War I aircraft, but we ended up at The next morning, we continued our culi- The last company visit of the study the communication technology section. nary exploration of the Bavarian capital, trip was Huawei, which has a large It was amazing to see all the historical as we were welcomed at Technische R&D department in Munich. They were devices of our field of engineering, and Universität München (TUM) with a tradi- especially proud of their huge spend- we learned a couple of things about some tional Weißwurstfrühstück. Given the ings on research as well as develop- ingenious communication solutions of current political climate at TU/e, we were ment. Naturally the current US ban the past, such as how the switching of especially amazed that we were served a on Huawei products was discussed, telephone centers worked. half liter of Weißbier along with it. Upon although research at the Munich depart- our inquiries our hosts said that in Bavaria ment remained relatively unaffected. After the museum closed at 5 PM we it’s considered perfectly normal to drink Regardless of your opinions on Huawei hurried to our restaurant as heavy rain beer early in the morning, and that it’s and the Chinese and US governments, it had been forecast. We had booked a even acceptable to take a bottle of beer was very interesting, and for me person- table in the Augustiner Keller, a beer hall to lectures. Drinking beer was in no ally at least slightly disturbing, to see in in a Biergarten owned by Augustiner- way seen to be undesirable or creating first-person the huge role politics can Bräu and once a storage hall of the excessive problems. How different from play in science. famed brewery. By now we were used our university and the playing with the to ordering Maße, and to create some idea of an alcohol-free campus by the With the last of the company visits behind appetite we started with an Augustiner Executive Board! us, we decided to spend the evening at Edelstoff tapped from wooden casks. The a Biergarten. The PhD students we had Spanferkel, Knödel, Schnitzel, Sauerkraut, The presentations at TUM represented met at TUM had recommended the yet more Haxe and many more classical the state-of-the-art in optical networking Taxisgarten because of its proximity Bavarian dishes were as meat-heavy as and communications, such as proba- to Huawei, so we had some Haxn and they were delicious. Our bellies filled, bilistic signal shaping and a possible Maße there. The Taxisgarten is located we had another local beer speciality vulnerability in an implementation of in a quiet residential neighbourhood as dessert before we went back to the the post-quantum NTRU encryption and few tourists visit it, which added to hostel. Although some of us spent a few algorithm. The presentations were very its authentic atmosphere. It was nice to more hours at the hostel bar, most went technical and in-depth and clearly show- sit outside among the trees during the to bed early to prepare for the long drive cased our focus on master students for beautiful but hot evening, and we spent home. this study trip. a couple of hours there before we went to the city center to get a taste of the city The next stop was Infinera – which nightlife. develops optical networking solutions for mainly long range communication – where we received some interesting presentations on both their systems and R&D in general. We were then given a tour around their labs, where we could see how measurements were performed on some of their latest developments. A visit to the testing labs was very inter- esting as well, and extra pleasant as its air conditioning gave some respite from the summer heat. Here too, customers required the testing of entire systems,

016 | connecthor TechnologyI Icons of EE: Enrico Fermi By: Matthijs van Oort

hile the name Fermi will not with its velocity. This work pointed out the Colombia University, to which he ring any bells for most of us, it that there was a contradiction between would eventually go. Not long after Wis a name we at least encoun- the electrodynamic theory at that time arriving in the USA, Fermi got word of a tered once during our study or career and relativistic physics. In later work, he discovery done by Niels Bohr about the in electrical engineering. Enrico Fermi acknowledges this contradiction and splitting of uranium with the bombard- is known for his research in the field of showed how this contradiction was ment of neutrons. Words spread fast, nuclear engineering and has dedicated made possible by relativity. After reading and a mere month after the discovery his life to sub-atomic processes. He has the work of Einstein regarding the funda- a meeting was arranged in Washington had some serious impact in the field of mentals of relativity, Fermi was the first about the possible implementation electrical engineering and also the non- one to point out the massive nuclear of the discovery as a source of nuclear technical world around us. He has worked potential energy that was hidden in power. on the principles behind semiconductor atomic materials, while he also stated physics, but was also one of the scientists that is was not yet possible to access it With the help of colleagues, and financed behind the Manhattan project. at that time. by the American government out of fear for a Nazi atomic bomb, Fermi started Enrico was born in the year of 1901, in After a couple of trips to other universi- building the first nuclear reactor that the capital of Italy: Rome. He was the ties (at which he met a lot of the most could sustain its own nuclear reaction. last child of Alberto Fermi and Ida de well-known scientists like Albert Einstein, This device is known as the Chicago Pile-1, Gattis, and has spent most of his youth Hendrik Lorentz and Vito Volterra), Enrico and can be marked as the beginning of a with his older brother Giulio. When applied as a professor in theoretical nuclear age. A couple of iterations further, playing together with his brother, they physics at the University of Rome at an the process was known in such a depth often used electrical and mechanical age of 24. During his time as a professor that a reactor (known as the B Reactor) toys, which eventually resulted in the at this university, Fermi did a lot of new could be build to produce plutonium in two brothers building electric motors. discoveries with his fellow scientists and large quantities. This eventually also led However, this ended when in the year students. One of these discoveries is the to Fermi joining the Manhattan project, 1915 a bad surgery led to the death of idea behind the so called ‘neutrino’. He which built the atomic bomb responsible his brother. In order to cope with the loss figured out that if a neutron would decay for the Hiroshima bombings in 1945. of his brother, Enrico started dedicating into a proton, it would also have to emit all his time to his studies. He found an old an electron and a neutrino in order to When looking at his whole career, book in the field of mathematics, classical keep the total energy in balance. In 1938 there are not many scientists which mechanics, astronomy, optics and acous- he received a Nobel prize, at the age of have achieved so many discoveries and tics, and started studying it by heart. 37, for his demonstration of radioactive achieved so many awards as Fermi did elements produced by neutron irradia- in such a short time. Enrico was a very After his high school, Fermi applied for tion. gifted student and has brought the world the Scualo Normale Superiore in Pisa, a lot of new inventions. Most of them which at that time was a school for highly In the same year he got his Nobel prize, have helped the world further, like the intelligent people. After reading Enrico’s Fermi departed to the USA because of use of semiconductors and clean nuclear application essay about solving a partial the instabilities in Europe. When arriving energy, while the scientific improvement differential equation for a vibrating rod, there, he was offered five different posi- that led to the invention of the atomic Fermi was enrolled instantly to the school tions at American universities, including bomb will still remain debateable. and was said to become an outstanding physicist. He soon fulfilled this prophecy, while during his first years he was such a quick learner that teachers often came to Fermi for help instead of the other way around. After two years of study, he was admitted to the Physics depart- ment in which he could study whatever he wanted with all the equipment he would need.

Three years after starting in Pisa, Fermi wrote his first scientific work, which was all about the behavior of electrical charges in a translational motion. In this work he described how the mass of electromagnetic charges would change

September 2019| 017

TechnologyI Technology’s status rising By: Jan Vleeshouwers

he status of technology education recommendations; for the longer term, and researchers. The Committee wishes and research in the Netherlands it hints at ways to adjust funding based to see cooperation, not competition, and Tis on the rise. In 2017, the govern- on job market perspectives. That would recommends to redistribute a substantial ment decided to offer additional struc- be a radical move for sure. part of the NWO-budget to the universi- tural funding to technical disciplines, ties. which is why we now have fifteen new In general, the CVR would prefer a vacancies in the department. Last May, demand-driven funding scheme. Current Within this context, the CVR specifi- the Committee Van Rijn (CVR) published practices often put a financial penalty on cally urges the practical research on its findings, with an urgent plea to helping students to correct an erroneous HBO-schools to mature, which should support technical studies in universities study choice and to get the most out of finally lead to close collaboration and HBO (higher professional educa- their talents. For example, U&H only get between HBO and university in research. tion). The proposed immediate funding funding for a student for the nominal In the not too distant past, this would shifts, which would amount to an extra duration of a study program, and there have been unimaginable. But now the 16 million euro for TU/e, have raised a is no funding for switching programs. CVR even asks, rhetorically, what this lot of discussion because the money The CVR sees this as serious obstacles. might imply for the distinction between would have to be provided by already As a possible alternative, it mentions the university and HBO. suffering departments in Humanities system used in Flanders and Denmark and Social Studies (HSS). But the plans where students choose for themselves To be continued proposed by the CVR are broader than where to spend their study credits, and For the short term, the CVR-report is that, and some of the recommendations how many. Of course students have to mainly about increasing the funding made may have a much larger impact on plan well in advance, but this system for beta and technology education and university research and education than may take the pressure off students for research. For the long term, the CVR this funding shift. achieving a nominal study pace. (And, I suggests directions, but there is certainly must add, off teachers.) no clear path ahead. Are we prepared to Adverse effects of the university enter into the discussion? Do we have funding system Taming competition and efficien- alternatives if we are asked for them, now The CVR was assigned to solve adverse cy-thinking that technology’s status is rising? effects of the current way of funding The most remarkable recommendations universities and HBO (U&H), amongst of the CVR pertain to competition: the which the large work and study stress. CVR moves away from the line of thought Most of the committee’s results pertain that has dominated university policy “Wissels Om” Rapport Adviescommissie to education and student numbers. The in the past decades. For research, the Bekostiging Hoger Onderwijs en main conclusion is that above all, the Committee stresses the huge inefficiency Onderzoek, May 2019, with an English current funding system is an incentive for of the competition for funding, and the summary. Download from https://www. U&H to increase student numbers. This adverse effects of becoming more and commissievanrijn.nl/. causes useless competition and initia- more dependent in temporary projects tives to attract foreign students merely to survive financially. For universities, the CVR proposes to neutralize this incen- tive, by reducing the amount of funding which depends on student numbers, from a current 72% to 60%. Mismatch between education and job market There is more. According to the Committee, the funding system is (at least partially) responsible for the large mismatch between education and job market. That does not only include technical professions, education and health care, where there are significantly more jobs than personnel, but also the economic sector and law, where the amount of graduates still far exceeds the number of jobs. The immediate funding shift is just one of the Committee’s

September 2019| 019 IAssociation Introducing candidate board of Thor

i everyone! My name is Sanne van away. Especially now, two years later, den Aker, I am candidate President almost none of that is left. Especially Hof e.t.s.v. Thor and I am very excited joining Ivaldi in my first year really helped for the upcoming year. As someone who me, but next to that I also really enjoyed grew up in Mierlo, which is very close to other committees and just hanging out Eindhoven, the “Brabantse gezelligheid” with all the amazing people here, most you get introduced to during the first of the time in Het Walhalla. weeks was not a new concept to me. However, with Thor, Eindhoven really Hope to see you around this year and of became my new home. course.

At the start of my introduction week, I Geen gedonder! was rather shy. However, after only a few days here, most of that shyness went

i everyone! I’m Laura and I would house is now filled with a lot of attributes really like to become the next of the parties. With another committee HSecretary of Thor. I am 20 years I organized an awesome study trip to old and I live in Eindhoven. Like most Latvia and Estonia. people I started my first year by looking for a room since my parents live in Sittard. Since I have had all those amazing experi- Shortly after the introduction week I ences I want all other students to have the found a nice house with many Thor same opportunities as I did. Upcoming members and eventually this turned year I hope to arrange this with all my into a real Thor women house. Because fellow candidate Board members. It’s of their nice stories I joined Ivaldi during going to be an amazing year! this time. Geen gedonder! In the second year I decided to join Aegir (the party committee) together with some other housemates. Due to this, our

ello everyone, my name is Nicky At my high school I have always been Roijen and I would like to be the active in extracurricular activities and so Hnext Treasurer of Thor. I grew up in I continued this within Thor. In my first Geldrop, near Eindhoven, which is where year I joined the Ivaldi and organized a I am currently still living. dropping. Last year I joined some other committees; Aegir, FoodCo, TOCo, BuEx, Around my third year in high school I SportCo. read an article about a new study at the Eindhoven University of Technology; In these committees I learned a lot of Automotive Technology. Ever since I read different skills, made new friends and this article I was interested in this study, most important of all: had a lot of fun. I and after attending an orientation day I want to be able to share this with other knew for sure. So after graduating from students and am thus interested in secondary school, I enrolled and started joining the next board of Thor. my study of Automotive at the TU/e. Geen gedonder! I had an awesome time in the introduc- tion week with my “family” which led to my presence at some activities at Thor.

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ello everyone, I am Roel clear that I didn’t want to combine those Wijnands and I am the candidate two, so I joined the Ivaldi to develop HVice President and candidate myself in a different field. Commissioner of Het Walhalla. Next year it will thus be my task to make sure Het In my second year I joined the SportCo, Walhalla will be ready to be one big pile ACCI, WalLu and of course Het of ‘gezelligheid’. Tappersgilde!

I became an active member of Thor after I’m looking forward to have the most half a year into my studies, because I random yet awesome year during my wanted to focus on my study and sports, board year and am really looking forward since I was a national level athlete before to all the ‘memorable’ times in and around I started studying here. It quickly became Het Walhalla, see you there!

Geen gedonder!

i all, I am Jos Willems and I am In high school, I was more of a shy guy. the candidate Commissioner of During my introduction week, my intro HEducation. I grew up in the beau- family immediately felt right and like tiful city of Maastricht in the far south, a true family, and I decided to join the where I also attended the same high Ivaldi. In my second year I joined the school as Noud. I have been interested ReisCo, FotoCo and ACCI. I really started in robotics and autonomous systems for to open up and Thor started to feel even a long time. I was mainly interested in the more like a family. Therefore I decided combination of Electrical Engineering, that I wanted to be a Board member of Mechanical Engineering, and Computer the association that felt like a real family Science, so I thought Automotive to me and gave me friends for life. Technology would fit great with my interests. Geen gedonder!

ello dear readers, my name is Ivo which made me become excited about Kraayeveld and I want to become Thor. During my first two years I became Hthe next Commissioner of Public active in several committees and mostly Relations for the 63rd board. I am 20 Kvasir showed me that I liked being in years old and was born in Helmond. contact with companies. It also made me realize I wanted to do more for the From an early age I was already certain association by being part of the board. to go to the TU/e. During my last years of secondary education I was busy repairing I hope to support Thor as much as smartphones and this helped me realize possible in the coming year and help the I wanted to study Electrical Engineering. members feel welcome. Like most first year students I joined the introduction week and had a good Geen gedonder! connection with the candidate board,

i everyone, my name is Noud I hope that next year my fellow board Jacobs and I want to become the members and I will be able to show the Hnext Walhalla Treasurer. I grew up new students that Thor is as awesome as in Eijsden, a town near Maastricht. I think it is.

When I started studying in Eindhoven, I Op Het Walhalla en Geen gedonder! decided that I would like to have some fun during my studies and not be in the library all the time. So, I decided to join Ivaldi. During my first year I learned that Thor is an awesome association, so in my second year I joined the ACCI, SportCo, Thor band and became a Tapper as well.

September 2019| 021

TechnologyI NeuroStimulating The Future By: Elles Raaijmakers

t was a very nice afternoon, Wednesday Dr. Jeannette Lorteije, an assistant multiple cell types and networks which April 24th. The visitors of the sympo- professor at Amsterdam University in the signaled a (yet) untranslatable message Isium could enjoy a sunny view on the field of cognitive systems and neurosci- to the audience. rooftop terrace and an interesting variety ence, continued with an in-depth view of talks right in front of them. After a of optogenetics[2] Her fascinating talk GTX Medical, a company developing short introductory speech about the explained how neurons can be modified implants to enable paraplegic people goals of EIR, which can be summarized to respond to light in the lab. After modi- to walk again, organized the concluding as organizing activities for students inter- fying, neurons can be turned on or off talk. System engineer and part-time ested in medical electrical engineering, with highly focused lasers. This method is PDEng Edoardo Paoles showed the conference chair and Care&Cure director used to answer questions related to how progress of a paraplegic relearning how Maarten Paulides gave the first research- information is processed in the brain. to walk, while explaining the methods oriented talk. Maarten, a veteran in and challenges of the treatment that hyperthermia[1] and MRI research, posed The day continued with associate was developed. The results were impres- the question to whether elevating a professor Regina Luttge, who divided her sive, and Edoardo concluded with the patient’s body temperature locally could time on her ERC-starting grant project promise that more trials helping paraple- aid other forms of brain stimulation. He working towards her first brain-on-a-chip gics would start soon. demonstrated that the methods to apply devices between University of Twente localized heat as a support for other and our own TU/e during the years 2013 The last activity of the symposium, the cures are available already, but he also and 2016. While since 2017 fulltime at drink, was used to discuss the many views pointed out that there is limited knowl- TU/e, she keeps the noble goal in mind to on brain or nerve stimulation with the edge about how the brain responds to decrease the number of lab animals used speakers or with other students. While heat. in research, she talked about the devel- using the most popular brain stimulant in opment of a system to grow organs by the world, new insights about the origin During his talk, Ghent University’s means of microfluidics interventions. Cell of thoughts were without doubt reached professor Paul Boon demonstrated the type, pressure, environment, nutrients – by many participants. wide variety of brain stimulation treat- it all appeared to matter when creating ments that are on the market today. such organ functions on a chip. The talk Professor Boon is an expert in the field concluded with a very proud research of cognitive neuroscience, and took the result: a home-grown tissue consisting of discussion about the many variables in brain stimulation treatments to a new level. Positive effects of electrical brain stimulation have been demonstrated by many studies, but it is not always easy to point out where exactly these effects stem from, he concluded.

After a short break, Elles Raaijmakers gave an overview of the development of ideas surrounding the origin of thoughts. It turned out that over the scope of roughly 250 years, the models describing neurons evolved from “simple batteries” to “very complicated batteries”. The lives of the scientists were described as well, like those of Hodgkin and Huxley. They struggled for seventeen years to prove their Nobel prize-winning theory. So if you ever feel your life is going slow, know there is always hope.

[1] Medical treatment strategy. The body temperature of a patient is elevated locally to amongst others stimulate the blood flow or activate the immune system. [2] Research method in which cells are modified to be activated by light.

September 2019| 023

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1. BAM Lunch lecturer 2. ACCI weekend 3. Aegir Mario party 4. Ivaldi Lasergamen 5.Tennet Lunch lecture 6. Active members day 7. Batavierenrace AssociationI Thor band: Watt? By: Ronald Janssen

My name is Ronald and I play the drums. I’ve always been passionate about music. This year I wanted to make sure that Thor would get a band. After half a year of searching, we’ve managed to get enough members to start and we found a location to practice. Then we were told about our chance to perform during one of the activities of the ACCI, FesThorval, and we immediately decided to do just that! The resulting performance was something to never forget!

t the start of my year as a board member, I started searching for Aband members. There were a lot of people interested in joining the band, so we had some meetings to discuss the kind of music we would be playing where we would be practicing, and if we would make just one band or multiple as there were so many people. It took a while, but eventually we found the right practice spot for us, and enough people were no longer interested so we could actually form one band instead of multiple bands.

First practice sessions! We finally got our location. We got our musicians. The only thing left to do was to actually start playing. The first session was messy, since we never played with each other before. We kept practicing and even managed few technical difficulties after the break But it was enjoyable nonetheless. After a to get some extra time to practice. But and a new amplifier, we were able to start few sessions some of our members who then it was time. again. were also organizing ACCI FesThorval told us about their plan to let our band Show time! The day had come and we Round two, we played the last of our play. That’s when we got serious! But not got our setup ready, the crowd was songs. During one of the final ones we really, we kept having fun and goofing coming in, and we were ready to start made a mistake and played the same around during our practice sessions. playing. We started playing and it was part again. This threw the singer off, awful, no coherency, no rhythm. People which gave the rest of the band the idea During the rest of the practice sessions were looking really confused and then to do it again. The moment we did almost we mainly revised the stuff we already we started to actually play music. Five no-one could contain their laughter and were able to play and kept adding on songs later we took a break and talked people from the crowd were laughing as more and more songs. Eventually the for a bit with people from the crowd. well. After the show, we talked with some date came so close that we stopped They really enjoyed the show and were people from the crowd and they loved it, changing songs and picked our final list. very enthusiastic to hear more. This made we loved it and we’re looking forward to the experience very good for us. After a performing again next year!

September 2019| 027 ITechnology Reliability of Grid Components By: Peter van der Wielen

Climate change pushes the energy transition toward sustainable energy. The main enabler for the energy transition is going to be an expanded and reliable electricity grid. The evolving penetration of renewable, distributed genera- tion in the electricity grid as well as the changing load, together with the ageing of the present infrastructure stresses the reliability of the grid components. The dependency on the reliability will increase, while the transition will have impact on the reliability itself. The need for knowledge in degradation phenomena, failure modes, prediction models and diagnostic technologies is therefore large and increasing. Climate change and the electricity grid he climate change often domi- nates the news nowadays. The TParis 2015 agreement states to limit the temperature rise of earth to 2 degrees Celsius, with a clear vision on how to reach 1.5 degrees. In 2030 we should have a reduction of 40% of CO2 emissions. The Dutch translation in the 2018 climate agreement states a 49% reduction of greenhouse gasses by 2030 (compared to 1990) and by 2050 a reduction of 95%. The European parlia- ment made a (non-binding) agreement to becoming CO2-neutral by 2050 and getting to a reduction of 55% by 2030; a level that was shown to be needed by the IPCC report of the UN to get to the earlier mentioned Paris 2015 targets.

Energy demand and carrier efficiency and electrification – the energy (PV) and wind will play an important This all will have tremendous impact intensity will at a certain point decrease role, increasing dramatically to supply on the way we generate and consume faster than the world economy will grow. 70% of the electricity demand by 2050, energy. In one of the more extensive see figure 2. An important reason for this studies, performed by the energy testing When focussing on the energy carrier one is also costs – for wind and solar these and consulting firm DNV GL and involving can observe a greatly expanding role of costs are expected to decline by 16% and over 100 energy experts from around the electricity – more than doubling its share 18% respectively for every doubling of world, it is forecasted that the demand for of the energy mix from 19% today to 45% installed capacity. energy will peak around the year 2032 at by mid-century. This is highly related to approximately 450 ExaJoules (450∙1018J) the source of future energy. In the same Electricity grid and outages per year, see figure 1. It is expected not to study (but this corresponds to many Although one often discusses this energy just continue in growing, due to energy others) it is forecasted that a massive generation itself, the large (and chal- change in the energy mix will occur. Solar lenging) enabler for this energy transi- tion is the electricity grid. These grids will need signification expansion, while remaining reliable, to enable this renew- able energy generation and change in use. As society gets more and more depending on electricity, the need for reliability also increases. This grid reli- ability is something not to forget – regu- larly one is reminded of that whenever another black-out is experienced. To name a few large ones during the past months: July 2019. New York City. June 2019: Argentina and Uruguay. June 2019: South of Saudi-Arabia. Also in the Figure 1: Forecasted energy demand forecast over future years, split by carrier (source: DNV GL Netherlands some large black-outs were – Energy Transition Outlook 2018) experienced in the recent years, with (in

028 | connecthor TechnologyI

• increased complications during replacement;

• increased juristic consequences in case of incidents;

• decreasing redundancy in the grid;

• more underground cables instead of overhead lines.

But besides these already present trends, the impact on reliability even further Figure 2: Forecasted electricity generation over future years (source: DNV GL – Energy Transition increases due to the energy transition, Outlook 2018) e.g.:

2015) a disconnection up to one million typically underestimated with respect • rapid uptake of electric vehicles households. Smaller outages occur daily. to challenges in design, production (expected to be 50% for light EVs by Once society experiences such outages, and installation. Type tests, where new 2030); one realizes how depending our society designs are being tested for suitability is on electricity. If a large outage lasts only for reliable operation, on cable system • distributed solar (PV) generation; for a few hours or a day-part, it is mainly components reveal a failure rate of up to comfort and also (significant) economic 55%, depending on the exact type. This • heat pumps; damage that is suffered. People get stuck is just an example to demonstrate reli- in elevators, subways, buildings. Traffic ability of grid components is not without • increased wind energy (on-shore and is jammed, industrial plants are (partly challenges. Figure 3 shows some exam- off-shore); or fully) shut down, et cetera. If the ples of investigated degraded or failed outage lasts for a couple of days, more power cable components from the field. • increased energy used for computing severe problems occur. Cash dispensers, (expectation 4x by 2050); gas stations, hospitals, crucial heating, Trends protection systems, water distribution And these challenges are just increasing. • more and long submarine cable all do not function properly anymore, Some trends with impact on reliability connections (between countries and thereby severely effecting society and that can be observed already for a longer to wind parks); often introduce serious issues related time, but still present and introducing to security, safety and health, often with new challenges: • increased speed of project execution fatal casualties. (e.g. wind parks); • higher dependency on electricity; Grid component reliably • smart grids; Failing components in a power grid • aging of installed grid components; (often the root cause of power failures) • power electronics in grids; also incorporate safety related issues • increased need for investment justi- (regularly also injuries or casualties) fication; themselves due to the large amount of energy (often explosion) released during such a failure. The larger the consequences, the larger the need to perform a decent failure investigation to discover the root cause of the failure and with that the responsible party. Another (possibly more important) reason to discover the root cause is to learn from the incident in order to avoid reoccur- rence. By analysing failure statistics, one can obverse that, depending on the voltage level, about 55-75% of the causes are technical component or system related (non-human). One might think that power grid components are being used for many years now, so beyond all criteria reliable. But statistics reveal inter- esting opposing facts. Power cables, for example, are grid components that are Figure 3: Impression of investigated failure or degraded power cable components from the field

September 2019| 029 ITechnology

• newer technologies that are at the • degradation and failure modes of DNV GL and Dutch utilities) invented start of the learning curve. ‘new’ grid elements; and developed an on-line monitoring system, called “Smart Cable Guard”, All these trends have severe challenges • assessment of test and diagnostic which is now installed at over a 1000 for the reliability of the grid components. performance (laboratory tests, field locations around the globe. This system Larger loads, larger load variations, statistics); has various advanced technology items power quality issues with impact on incorporated, varying from smart sensors aging, installation issues, long connec- • repeatable, well defined defects; solutions, pulse injection, data acquisi- tions, new technologies, new compo- tion, signal processing, transmission nents with their own failure mechanisms, • failure modes and post-failure line modelling towards diagnostic data voltage issues, harmonics, et cetera. evidence assessment; interpretation and various aspects of the system controlling and managing the Research • fault location techniques; infrastructure. These newer and the earlier trends provide the need for more knowledge • statistical component reliability data For high-voltage grid components on the reliability of grid components, assessment (low data sets). research topics vary from temperature especially the impact of these trends monitoring of submarine cable connec- on this reliability. This gives base to this These are research topics that are spread tions, towards on-load tap changers research area, which can be grouped in over the various voltage levels. The for power transformers. Furthermore, categories: condition monitoring for low voltage HVDC is getting more and more impor- (LV) is lagging developments for higher tant, with DC having its own degrada- • degradation mechanisms and models voltage levels. Though understandable tion phenomena, like space charges, (influencing parameters); from a historic perspective in terms of and degradation mechanisms as well as customer minutes lost (CML), present detection methods. • accuracy assessment of models developments require increased atten- (Health Indexing); tion for LV, especially cables. One of the Conclusion subjects of the Electrical Energy Systems There is a need to make a transition to • laboratory tests for actual material (EES) group (together with Dutch utili- sustainable and smart energy supply. degradation / condition and their ties and industry partners) is devel- However, the currently needed attention interpretation; oping measurement equipment that to reliability of grid components should can measure the quality of this part of not be neglected, as challenges increase • condition indicators in laboratory and the grid. Figure 4 shows a picture of the as well as the importance. An expanded in the field; so called dry-band arcing that occurs in and reliable grid is the crucial enables for low-voltage cables in certain conditions. the energy transition. In the EES group, • development or advancing of diag- all voltage levels are being studied from nostics; One continuing research area is on-line fundamental degradation phenomena, partial discharge monitoring. In previous via failure mechanisms and investiga- years, the EES group (together with tion techniques to practical implemen- tation of diagnostic systems and health indexing.

Figure 4 Photo of dry-band arcing in low-voltage cable (source: B. Kruizinga, TU/e - PhD work, Low voltage underground power cable systems: degradation mechanisms and the path to diagnostics)

030 | connecthor AdvertorialI ASML: A technical graduate’s playground By: Pieter Afslag

Pieter Afslag is a production engineer at ASML, working in vacuum systems in our EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) factory in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. Pieter has studied Electromechanical Engineering at Group T at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, before starting his career at ASML in September 2017.

omeone from the ASML EUV to finish] in the factory. I guess you could factory came to my classroom call the production engineers like me the “Sone day and gave a presenta- link between the factory itself and the tion about ASML. It got me interested. Development and Engineering (D&E) I’ve always been interested in compa- department. We have to make sure that nies that design and build their own something that Development makes or machines, but ASML does more than fixes will also work in the factory. We’re that. Their machines are so huge and often sitting together with D&E and complex that they exceed the limits of suppliers to see how we can make things technology. You really have the feeling work.” you’re contributing to the future of tech- nology.” “Every day is different here, but that’s what I like about my job. You never know “I really didn’t know what to expect before what you’re going to experience. But I I started working here. When I looked learn something new every day. Really, at the vacancy that the ASML contact the knowledge I gather on a daily basis had forwarded to me, I only recognized is unbelievable. I really like that.” a few words in the job description. But when I came in for an interview, I saw “As a graduate, you can pretty much start the machine and started asking ques- anywhere you like at ASML. There are so customer, you can work in our extensive tions and was really intrigued by the many departments to choose from. You Customer Support department, at loca- answers I got and I started to think, ‘Hey, can even change functions after a while tions all over the world. The list goes on… this is something I could really get into. or move to other departments. In some This might be the right job for me’. But companies, you might get stuck doing Curious to experience first-hand how in the end, you’re never completely sure one thing, but not here. You definitely ASML makes new technologies a reality? – it’s always a bit of a guess. I think it’s won’t get bored.”

“Every day is different here, but that’s what I like about my job. You never know what you’re going to experience.” hard to find the right job immediately There’s something for everyone at ASML. Join an excursion for Electrical Engineers after university – I was a bit lucky in that, If you want to become a designer or archi- on October 17 and discover how we I guess.” tect you can work in D&E. If you prefer change the world, one nanometer at a interaction with the factory and like to time. Learn all about our company, our “In my daily work, I focus on continuous solve problems, then Troubleshooting, culture, new technologies and meet improvement. We’re always trying to look Test or First Line support might be some- the people who make this all possible. for solutions and improve processes. thing for you. If you like to travel and You can register before October 3 at Currently, we’re trying to decrease cycle focus on building a relationship with the workingatasml.com/students or via your time [the time it takes to manufacture a study association. part, module, or (sub)system from start

September 2019| 031 IDepartment #Shutdownstories in Boulder By: Anouk Hubrechsen

I’ve been dreaming for years to do my internship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado. So far it has been quite the ride, including being here during the longest shutdown in US history. NIST My work at NIST consists of research on how to measure NarrowBand Internet-of- Things (NB-IoT) devices in reverberation chambers (RCs). These devices will be used a lot in 5G and beyond. In this field, NIST is heavily involved in determining the standards for accurately measuring these devices. Therefore, I wanted to go to this prestigious institute to become a better researcher. Demands are high and the words ‘good enough’ are not a part of their vocabulary, but I would not like it any other way. Originally, I only wanted to stay for three months for only my internship, but NIST wanted students to stay for at least six months, and prefer- ably a year. Since working for NIST was one of my biggest dreams, I decided to move to Boulder for ten months, to do both my internship and graduation. talk with my supervisors, we changed the Boulder Shutdown subject of my internship to further inves- Boulder is an amazing city to live in. At Only three weeks into my internship, tigate something I discovered by acci- 1.6 km altitude it is the gateway to the the US government shut down due to dent, so I could work on it in Eindhoven Rocky Mountains, and even after seven a deadlock in financial negotiations on until the shutdown was over. Credit must months, I still discover something new immigration policies. Since NIST is a be given to the people of NIST and the every week. There is plenty of opportu- federal institute, the whole campus shut TU/e for helping me making this all work, nity for hiking, there are a lot of micro- down and no one could work. No one since they went to great lengths to help breweries, and within an hour by bus, you knew when it would open again, and it me. Going back ended up being a good can enjoy everything Denver has to offer. seemed that there was no progress at all move because the shutdown ended up However, don’t be surprised by snow at at the end of the first week of the shut- being the longest in US history, lasting the end of May (or even the end of June down. This was a horrible time, since I did 35(!) days, and it ended up being very in the mountains), or by pool parties not know a lot of people yet and because valuable to have data from Eindhoven in March. A famous saying about the it was the middle of winter, there was and NIST. I even got a conference publi- climate is: “Colorado, where the weather hardly any activity in town. I hated not cation out of it for EMC Europe. It is called is made up and the seasons don’t matter”, knowing when it was going to end and “The Effect of Peripheral Equipment which should tell you enough about the all I wanted was to go home. So, after a Loading on Reverberation Chamber randomness of the weather. I’ve made Metrics”, if you’re interested. Also, I lots of great friends here since the shut- was not allowed back in the US due to down, and during the weekends I was bureaucratic shutdown problems, so hardly at home, usually off to events, after four weeks in Eindhoven, I worked in Canada for a week until I was. It was convenient to go through Canada since I had a vacation booked to Toronto, and I could get there for free through some old contacts I had at KLM by taking care of some horses on the plane. This way, I could cross the border by bus after, while still catching the flight back to Denver from Buffalo that I had originally booked for my vacation. What a ride! Driving a snow mobile in the Rocky

Mountains

032 | connecthor DepartmentI national parks, or downtown Boulder and Denver for concerts, sports games, or just drinks. Besides the friends I’ve made here, a lot of other people have come to visit me too. My parents came by in February, and a few of my friends in December and in May. My boyfriend even came by three times, where we visited Toronto, Cuba and the majority of the big national parks in the west on a two-week roadtrip to San Francisco and back. And, I am traveling to Barcelona in September to present my work at EMC Europe. A few things remaining on my wish list are Yellowstone National Park, and a Seattle-to-San Francisco road trip.

Graduation 2. Don’t trust the weather forecast, ever. 8. There is a town near Boulder called I am currently working on my gradu- It can say it will be sunny and then you’re Nederland! Unsurprisingly, it was ation project, which is partially about stuck on a mountain road for an entire founded by the Dutch. something I discovered by accident too. night due to inclement weather. It is about determining total isotropic 9. We had an active-shooter training sensitivity (TIS), total radiated power 3. Every NIST Boulder paper must go and reenactment on campus since inci- (TRP) and antenna efficiency for narrow- through the Boulder Editorial Review dents had happened in other govern- band devices in RCs. The antenna effi- Board (BERB). This consists of reviews ment facilities. Apparently, elementary ciency measurements I will compare from an expert at NIST, an expert in the school children get a similar training. with a measurement made in one of the industry, the group leader, the division For good reasons, since one school most accurate anechoic chambers in reader (for grammar checks) and the divi- shooting happened in Denver during the world. I have learned so much here, sion chief, and you have to show you have my time here, and out of precaution, all and I got to work with the most amazing incorporated every (yes, every) comment schools were evacuated once due to a equipment and people! It’s amazing to they had on your paper. Although this shooting threat near the anniversary of work in a place where some of the best can be a pain sometimes, the papers are the Colombine shooting. experts in my field are in the office next much better after this process. door. One of them being Kate Remley, 10. The people that live here are amazing, who also happens to be my supervisor, 4. Most of the time you are allowed and anything unlike the people in the and in my opinion a true role model for to drive through a red light if you’re rest of the US. There is a lot of respect for women in engineering. She has made turning right. I wish we had this in the each other at NIST, and it is one of the me even more enthusiastic for research Netherlands too! most comfortable environments I have so after my graduation I will start as a PhD ever worked in. Also, the nature that the candidate on the topic of RCs at the EES 5. The NIST building is shaped like a Yagi US has to offer is unlike anything I’ve ever group. antenna and it is built in Boulder since seen. As I’m writing this I still have three it was a very radio-silent environment at months left, but I’m already sad to leave. Fun facts that time. I’ve only covered a very small portion of 1. Cooking and baking is very different at all the great things I’ve experienced but altitude. Water boils at a lower tempera- 6. Sometimes people still think that I am always up for a coffee or a beer if ture, so eggs need to cook longer! Denmark = the Netherlands. you’d like to know more! Please visit this place, you won’t regret it! 7. I joined the movement of going out to eat almost every day, which was not a fun fact of my weight scale.

Watching the sunset from the top of the Arches National Park Lots of concerts in Denver Flatirons

September 2019| 033 IDepartment

Automated Design of Bayesian Signal Processing Algorithms By: Thijs van de Laar

esign is a tricky process – not just So, if fast feedback loops are so important because a design can be complex for efficient design, then why are most Dby itself, but mostly because the signal processing systems still designed underlying problem is often unclear. as monolithic structures? A hearing aid For example, when the Wright brothers for example is comprised of circuits designed the first airplane, their biggest within circuits within circuits that are problem was not the construction of the highly intertwined and not easily inter- airplane itself. Rather, the problem was changed or modified. Moreover, these that at first they did not yet fully under- circuits implement a signal processing stand the problem of flight. Therefore solution, but bear no formal link to any – instead of painstakingly mapping out principled problem description. Then, their design first – they built a wind once we learn more details about a tunnel and scale airplane models to specific user’s hearing loss or prefer- first try out multiple ideas. This way the ences, how are we supposed to adapt Wright brothers could learn about their the hearing aid’s signal processing algo- problem, before trying out their ideas on rithm? The better approach seems to be expensive full-scale models. to iterate on a problem statement by failing often, and failing fast. This fits well with the words of another great man: “trying is the first step towards The dissertation “Automated Design of failure” – Homer Simpson. The Wright Bayesian Signal Processing Algorithms” brothers wouldn’t have had it any other formalizes and details the iterative way, because if one fails quickly, one can design process for signal processing learn quickly and retry with new insights. applications, with a special interest in This is how humans learn as well. Just hearing aid personalization (Fig. 1). In the think back to how you learned to ride a context of a hearing aid, “failure” relates bike. You did not start by studying books to a user that reports dissatisfaction with Fig. 2: Graphical representation of a proba- on bicycle dynamics, wind resistance and current signal processing. The user’s bilistic model for hearing loss compensation. tire profiles. Instead, you climbed on, fell appraisals may be signaled through the Here, edges represent variables (e.g. input off, and retried until you got it right. press of a button on her smartphone, of levels s, hearing aid gains g). Nodes repre- a flick of the wrist that gets registered by sent constraints between variables (e.g. her smartwatch. An automated design the latent hearing loss function L). Dashed agent might then learn from this feed- edges indicate tuning parameters, and the back and instantly try a new hearing aid edge terminated by a solid node is observed. signal processing algorithm. Then with Figure adapted from (van de Laar & de Vries, every new appraisal the problem state- 2016). ment grows clearer, and the proposed solutions will improve as well. Moreover, Probability theory offers a principled appraisals can be reported in the field at framework for capturing our knowl- the moment that problems occur. edge and uncertainties about the user’s hearing loss (the problem statement) in However, proposing quality hearing a model. For example, if the user under- aid algorithms is not an easy task. The went a hearing test at an audiologist, search space grows exponentially with we already have detailed knowledge the number of algorithm parameters. about her hearing threshold. This prior This means that if we would have just knowledge can significantly reduce the ten buttons with five settings each, then search space. Based on the model speci- Fig. 1: The iterative design process. An initial there are already just under ten million fication, probability theory (successive trial setting is sent to the hearing aid, which possible combinations. Now if it would application of Bayes’ rule) then allows executes the signal processing algorithm. take just three seconds to evaluate one us to automatically derive the signal A user then listens to the output audio and setting, then it would take four years processing algorithm for the hearing aid reports an appraisal back to the automated of full-time effort to try out all settings. that (under the current knowledge) best design agent. The agent then learns from the Without any holidays. Clearly, if we compensates for the patient’s personal appraisal and fine-tunes its model about the require problem-based personalized hearing loss. user’s hearing loss. Based on the improved design then we must think of a clever model, the design agent sends an improved way to reduce the search space. trial setting. Figure from (van de Laar, 2019).

034 | connecthor DepartmentI

Iterative design requires us to iterate Although clinical evaluations are still can be afforded in less time, hopefully quickly on the problem statement, which required to test the proposed ideas in leading to the discovery of improved mandates that the probabilistic model practice, the dissertation offers a broad signal processing algorithms. should be easily adaptable. Therefore, we vision on the practice of iterative signal represent the probabilistic model graphi- processing algorithm design. The main cally (Fig. 2). Nodes in this graphical message is that for design of Bayesian model can then be readily interchanged, algorithms it is imperative to search for References and inference can be performed by the best problem statement instead van de Laar, T. (2019). Automated design passing messages between these nodes. of a direct solution. Once the problem of Bayesian Signal processing algorithms. Moreover, the graphical representation statement is captured by a probabilistic PhD Thesis, Eindhoven University of allows us to fully automate the inference model, new information can be readily Technology. procedure by probabilistic programming. incorporated. The solution will then Probabilistic programming extends follow from probabilistic inference on van de Laar, T., & de Vries, B. (2016). A standard programming languages with the problem statement. The probabilistic probabilistic modeling approach to probabilistic reasoning. The dissertation inference itself may be difficult, but it can hearing loss compensation. IEEE/ACM describes a novel probabilistic program- be automated by message passing on a Transactions on Audio, Speech and ming framework called ForneyLab, which graphical description of the probabilistic Language Processing (TASLP), 24(11), specializes in inference for time-series model. This graphical representation 2200-2213. models. allows for reuse of nodes and compu- tations. As a result, more design cycles Departmental Office Day-out By: Renée Hendrikx

very year, the department organizes thirsty, so we concluded the afternoon Below, you will find an impression of the the Departmental Office Day-out at Blue Collar with a perfect barbecue afternoon with photos. Efor all staff members within the and several drinks. department involved in educational support. This year, we spent the after- noon at Strijp-S. For the ones who are not familiar with this part of Eindhoven; it was previously known as ‘the forbidden city’, as this area was only accessible to employees of Philips. Nowadays, Strijp-S is hot and happening. The old factories are transformed into cool shops, pop-up stores, hipster food spots as well as flex- ible workplaces and lofts. Because of its diversity and the central location, we chose Strijp-S as the location for the yearly Departmental Office Day-out.

We started the afternoon at Natlab where everyone enjoyed a welcome drink and apple pie. As soon as the group was complete, we left Natlab and started a short walk around Strijp-S. The tour guides showed us surprising corners and shared interesting facts with us. We finished the guided tour at the Veemgebouw building, in which Enversed is located. Here, we entered the Virtual Reality rooms where we experienced making virtual hamburgers together, playing an archery contest and entering space. Both the activities and the hot weather made us hungry and

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ACTIVE IN DEFENCE, TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS AND CYBER SECURITY AssociationI Discovering eastern Ethiopia By: Sander Verdiesen

In the early evening of a December day, I am wandering fully caffeinated through the small streets of the Harar, a small city in the east of Ethiopia and, surprisingly, the fourth most important city to Muslims around the world, or so I have been told. The reason for my caffeine rush was that I was challenged by some elderly men to a game of dominos. I lost every single game, but they insisted that I stay and drink a few cups of Ethiopian coffee before I left. On my way back to the hotel I am approached by a man asking if I want to feed hyenas tonight. It is amazing what this small town, and Ethiopia in general, has to offer. Unfortunately, many visitors to Ethiopia do not visit the eastern part due to its close proximity to Somalia. I will tell you about my experiences there and you can decide whether or not their fear is justified.

ike most visitors to Ethiopia, I arrived in the city of Addis Ababa. A local Lman that runs a tourist agency invited me to stay at his place. This was a great introduction into local life and he helped me a lot planning the rest of my trip. He introduced me to Ethiopian cuisine, which you can try for yourself at the Ethiopian restaurant in Eindhoven. He was also very proud of his country and especially of the fact that Ethiopia is the only African country that has never been colonized.

On my first full day, I was planning to buy a bus ticket to the east of the country from where I would make my way to routes to the east of the country! I bought feed the hyenas. No longer hungry, the Somaliland. My host brought me to a ticket for two days later and decided hyenas did not feel the need to go into the office of the biggest bus company I would find out later why the busses the city anymore. Nowadays, visitors can in the country. We quickly found out stopped going. pay a small fee to see this daily event and that they no longer operate any routes also feed the hyenas, although this is not to the east of the country. Asking for The next day I found out what had for the faint-hearted! clarification was met by a simple, but happened. Ethiopia’s economy has seen somewhat unsettling response, ‘they two-digit growth annually over the last When I planned my trip to Ethiopia I was burn our busses’. I knew the east of the several years. However, this wealth has not sure what to expect. Growing up I country has had some unstable times in concentrated in the capital and has mostly learned to associate Ethiopia with the past, but nowhere did I read that the not flown to the eastern provinces. The famine and war. I am not saying that this busses stopped going. The ticket seller of people were fed up by this and one issue no longer exists at all, but I can say the second biggest bus company gave us group turned aggressive, burning down that Ethiopia is a wonderful place to visit. a similar response. Eventually we ended two busses owned by a bus company It is filled with proud people and you can up in an office of another bus company located in the capital. The violence was do things that you cannot do anywhere that looked nowhere near as modern as not aimed at the occupants of the bus. else! the other two. This company did operate The bus company from where I bought a ticket is owned by people from the eastern provinces. This was a huge relief and I boarded the bus headed to Harar two days later.

On our way to Harar I did see the burnt- out busses at the side of the road, but people were mostly cheering as we drove past! Harar is a small city that used to have a rather odd problem. At night, hyenas would sneak into the city in search of food. Unfortunately, some accidents happened where people got mauled. One local butcher came up with a plan. In the evening he would go to a field next to the city with all his leftover meat and

September 2019| 037 IDepartment Wireless Power Week 2019 By: Huub Visser

The Wireless Power Week 2019 was held in London, UK, from June 17 till 21, 2019. This event, comprising a one-day school, the IEEE MTT-S Wireless Power Transfer Conference (WPTC) and the IEEE PELS Workshop on Emerging Technologies: Wireless Power (WoW) was hosted by Imperial College London and Eindhoven University of Technology. The event turned out to be a huge success. With Huib Visser being one of the two co-chairs, Bart Smolders being WPTC Technical Program Committee co-chair, Tom van Nunen being part of the Local Organization Committee (LOC), TU/e kicking off the WPW2019 school, TU/e being sponsor and further having six TU/e contributions in the conference, the presence of TU/e was prominent.

Wireless Power Transfer Engineers (IIE). Savoy Place’s history dates Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) is the back to 1246. The buildings have served technology for contactless powering as palace, military barracks, hospital and/or charging devices. WPT comes in and prison. The current building was two flavors: inductive WPT and radiating completed in 1889 and served as an or far-field WPT. Inductive WPT is quite examination hall for the Royal College mature and is entering the consumer of Physicians and the Royal College of market where it is best known for Surgeons. In 1909, the IEE bought the contactless charging toothbrushes and lease. It offered accommodation to the – recently – mobile phones. Radiating BBC from 1923 to 1932. WPT is less mature and aims to power or WPW2019 School charge devices at distances up to several meters. The latter is the field of expertise The conference was preceded by the of the author, although we recently have WPW2019 School, a one-day event on Conference Statistics started incorporating inductive WPT in Monday, June 17th, held at the premises All papers submitted to WPW2019 our research. of Imperial College London, and was were thoroughly reviewed by the joint kicked-off by Ad Reniers and Tom van WPTC and WoW Technical program History Nunen (TU/e) presenting how to use free- Committees. A total of 302 papers were This Wireless Power Week (WPW) was the ware for designing rectifying antennas submitted by 1012 authors from 41 coun- second edition of WPW, starting the first (rectennas). In this well-visited school tries. 146 were accepted for WPTC (accep- edition last year in Montreal, Canada. The (fifty pre-registrations and five on-spot tance rate 74.9%) and 85 were accepted event was held in Savoy Place, the head- registrations), ten leading experts in for WoW (acceptance rate 82.5%). 49% of quarters for the Institution of Engineering the field of near- and far-field WPT gave the authors had an academic affiliation, and Technology (IET), formed from the inspiring lectures to update PhD candi- 34% were student, 21% were connected Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) dates and newcomers in the field. to industry, 3% to government and 1% to and the Institution of Incorporated NGO. The papers were delivered on USB

Fig. 1: Impressions of the WPW2019 Welcome reception. Left: Dominique Schreurs (KU Leuven), president IEEE MTT-S with Bart Smolders (TU/e), co-chair WPTC-TPC and Alessandra Costanzo (University Bologna), co-chair WPTC-TPC. Middle: Huib Visser (TU/e), co-chair and Tom van Nunen (TU/e), member LOC. Right: Huib Visser (TU/e), co-chair and Paul Mitcheson (Imperial College London), co-chair.

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Fig. 2: Audience in the Kelvin Lecture Theatre during the WPW2019 opening session. Fig. 4: Nikola Tesla in characteristic pose and with the WPW2019 chairmen: Paul Mitcheson and Huib Visser. stick for the delegates and will become available through IEEE Xplore later this Posters were presented in the Maxwell the conference and at the time of the year. Library were also the industrial exhibi- Banquet a queue had formed at the tion, with 14 exhibitors/sponsors, was venue. People were not disappointed as On the sunny evening of Monday June situated, see Fig. 3. This helped in our goal the Banquet was not only in the labora- 17th, the WPW2019 welcome reception to bridge the gap between academia and tory, even Nikola Tesla was present, see took place on the Roof Terrace of IET’s industry. Fig. 4, announcing the banquet at 8:10 Savoy Place, providing a magnificent PM sharp, his usual time for supper. view of old and new London, see Fig. 2. Attendees were free to visit WPTC or WoW Many people took the opportunity to get presentations and frequently moved photographed with Nikola Tesla. The Conference between the Kelvin and the Turing On opening of the conference, the next lecture theatre during the sessions. Closure morning, many people were (rightfully) The WPW2019 conference ended on impressed by the grandeur of the Kelvin For the plenary sessions we were able Friday June 21st at midday. After two Lecture Theatre, see Fig. 2. As organizers to engage CEOs/CTOs from industry. joint WPTC and WoW sessions, awards we had specifically chosen for this loca- Outstanding presentations by Alex were given to the best and second-best tion aiming for quality in the presenta- Gruzen (CEO of Witricity), Alexander overall paper, the best WPTC and WoW tions as well as in the conference experi- Gerfer (CEO/CTO of Würth Elektronik), talks, student papers and posters, after ence, being tired ourselves of attending Mirko de Melis (Lead Scientist EMEA – which the podium was given to the conferences in shabby or sterile concrete Medtronic), Irina Khromova (Head S&T WPW2020 chairmen. ‘conference bunkers.’ If, as an organizer, Metaboards Ltd), giving prospectives on you want conference delegates to experi- WPT, further bridged the gap between WPW will held again in 2020, from May ence a great conference, you will have to academia and industry. 5th till May 9th, in Seoul, Korea. The dead- pay attention to the details. Choosing the line for conference papers is December right venue is just one of these details. Our invited speakers certainly spiced 31, 2019. up the sessions. We thank Paul Wiener In the next four days, eight parallel WPTC (VP Strategic Marketing GaN Systems), Acknowledgements and WoW sessions were held in the Kelvin Dinesh Kithany (Sr. principal Analyst, I would like to thank Ad Reniers and Tom Lecture Theatre and the Turing Lecture Wireless Power & Power Supplies van Nunen for their contribution to the Theatre, as well as three plenary talks IHS Markit), Jürgen Meins (University WPW2019 School and the LOC. I also and two joint WPTC and WoW sessions. of Braunschweig), Hooman Kazemi would like to thank Veselin Manev, Peter 46 oral presentations were given in the (Raytheon), Burak Ozpineci (Oak Ridge Baltus, Hao Gao, Diyang Gao, Rongpeng WPTC and WoW tracks. 91 posters were National Laboratory) and Zoya Popovic Zhai, Steven Beumer, Tom van Nunen, presented for WPTC, 41 for WoW. (University of Colorado). Rob Mestrom, Mark Bentum and Esmee Huismans for contributing with papers The panel session on Wednesday, enti- and posters. I thank Bart Smolders tled ‘The Future of WBG Devices in Power for being WPTC-TPC co-chair and for Processing and Wireless Power’ gave rise chairing many sessions during the to ample discussion and participation of conference. A special thank you goes to the public. Jolie van Wevelingen for solving a nasty background financial problem during Conference Banquet the conference. Before and throughout the confer- ence, hints were given related to the Conference Banquet. This Banquet was to take place in ‘Tesla’s secret and only Fig. 3: Industrial exhibition and poster session recently discovered London labora- in the Maxwell Library of IET’s Savoy Place. tory’. The expectations built up during

September 2019| 039 IAssociation EAGLE Study Trip By: Mark Legters

Right after the last week of exams in July, the EAGLE study trip spread its wings to the Baltics for an eight-day trip to Riga and Tallinn. Seventeen students enjoyed a week filled with visits to companies and a university, but also with cultural highlights. We’ll take you through our visit to Latvia and Estonia.

he name of our study trip, EAGLE, is an acronym for ‘Exploring All TGreatness of Latvia and Estonia’, showing the interest in those Baltic states and the curiosity to what they have to offer. Curiosity in the technological and business aspects, but also interest in the cultural aspects of those countries. On the morning of Tuesday, July 9, our trip to feed this curiosity began, taking a two- hour flight from Eindhoven Airport to our first Baltic destination, Riga. Apart from settling ourselves in our hostel, this first day mainly consisted of exploring the city center. We indeed found out why Riga’s city center is part of the UNESCO world heritage, discovering its squares, churches and other nice architecture. sale, but also they are working on the received by one of the founders of the On our first full day in Riga, we visited future of 3D printing. We were shown startup, in an office that was quite empty. two Latvian companies: SAF Tehnika and some great examples of how modern 3D The startup just had their major deadline Mass Portal. SAF Tehnika is a company printing can improve product design, and and all engineers were having a well- that mainly designs and produces open up new applications for 3D printing deserved holiday. After an insightful talk digital microwave data transmission as well. We ended the day program with on the history of robotics and the ins and equipment for point-to-point commu- a visit to the panoramic deck on top of outs of the startup, we got a live demon- nication. Besides their main focus, the Latvian Academy of Sciences, where stration of an autonomous cleaning they are also involved with Internet of we had a great bird’s-eye view on the city machine. Unfortunately, the cleaning things in horticulture. We got an inter- of Riga. robot refused to cooperate, but at least esting talk about their company and we got a glimpse of the implementation. products (enriching our knowledge During our last day in Riga we brought a After some good lunch at a nice burger of the Intro Telecommunications and visit to Squad Robotics, a startup rooting restaurant, recommended by our host at Electromagnetics courses), and a nice from the Riga Technical University, Squad Robotics, we boarded the bus that tour around their facilities as well. Our focusing on making industrial cleaning would bring us to the next destination of visit to Mass Portal was of a different kind. machines autonomous. We were our study trip: Estonia! Mass Portal is a company that operates in the world of 3D printers, offering both 3D-printing services and 3D printers for

Riga’s city centre is known for its blend of architectural styles Group picture in front of Mass Portal’s fully autonomous 24/7 3D printing system

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visit to the Kadriorg art museum, located in a Baroque palace. After some free time, we topped off our cultural day with expe- riencing the nightlife in Tallinn during a pub crawl.

On the Sunday everyone was as free as a bird, as there was no official program. While some people used the free time to sleep off their hangover, others used their time well exploring more of the city of Tallinn, testing the pancake restau- rant or visiting another museum. One of the participants even ticked off a third country during the trip, taking the ferry for a city trip to Helsinki.

Visit to the embassy of the Netherlands in Tallinn The last day of excursions had arrived. A four-hour drive later, we arrived in able to 3D print with an impressive range We visited two companies: Krakul and the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. Like Riga, of materials, and the autonomous buses Artec Design. On our way we spotted Tallinn’s Old Town is listed as a UNESCO that drive around the TalTech campus. some Starship Technologies delivery World Heritage Site; the city center is one robots in the wild. Krakul is a startup on of the best preserved medieval cities in We also found ourselves on some Dutch embedded system design, working prod- Europe. You really feel the medieval vibe grounds in Tallinn, as in the afternoon we ucts ranging from electronics design to when strolling through the Old Town, visited the Embassy of the Netherlands. Internet of Things-related projects. The and it was even more emphasized by We got a really insightful and inter- company started off really small, but the medieval market that was held on esting talk by the ambassador herself grew to a company with quite a few proj- the main square during our stay. on the history of Estonia, the current ects, which our host shortly discussed. It diplomatic ties between Estonia and the gave a nice insight in the startup life. At Our first morning in Tallinn was all about Netherlands, and her work as an ambas- Artec Design, a company involved with a visit to TalTech, the Tallinn University sador, both at her current position, as product development, the engineer that of Technology. We were welcomed by well as at previous ones. In fact, we had received us showed us the variety of their the Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs, and our own little episode of ‘Floortje en de products, including the public transport given a small impression of the campus. ambassadeurs’! check-in poles, and point-to-point laser He mentioned very enthusiastically that communication for skyscrapers in Japan. they have their own student-run bar at For the weekend in Tallinn, we had We also heard about a muscle tension the campus, but we, thinking about our planned three cultural activities. First of device that they developed, which was own campus, were not as impressed all, we visited the KGB museum in the actually used for tests in the International by that as he had hoped. Also, they are Viru hotel. This hotel was build during Space Station. installing 5G across the entire campus the Soviet era and had a secret top floor, for their autonomous vehicles. After where the KGB housed a radio center for We closed off the last full day of our trip a presentation on the structure of the communication with other KGB offices, with a group dinner. We had a lot of fun university and offered studies, we were but also for eavesdropping and spying and laughter looking back at our trip, but given a tour around some research labs, on hotel guests. Because of this, the didn’t make it too late, as we were going including an electrical machines lab, an hotel was also said to be made out of to be early birds the next day. We would EMC lab and a robotics lab. We also got micro-concrete: 50% concrete and 50% have to get up at 5 o’clock to catch our to see the prototyping lab where they are microphones! After the KGB museum we flight. Time had flown by, we were going continued our cultural program with a home again.

The baroque Kadriorg palace in Tallinn The medieval city walls of Tallinn’s Old Town

September 2019| 041 IVa r i a My life after EE By: Lulu Chan

My life after studying Electrical Engineering at the TU/e so far has been filled with new knowledge, new friends, and new ideas. I started the Bachelor of Electrical Engineering before the official name changed from “Elektrotechniek” to “Electrical Engineering” and graduated from the Master of Electrical Engineering right after the entire department moved from the building “Potentiaal” (nowadays “Luna”) to “Flux”. After graduation I started a trainee- ship at NXP Semiconductors where I experienced different departments, func- tions, and mergers. The common theme here? Change.

Student life to NXP Semiconductors as a company, i, I’m Lulu, a 29-year-old dancer, rather than just as the logo on my T-shirt engineer, and Whovian. Eindhoven from introduction week. Hhas been my home since I was five years old. Elementary school, high school, In 2012 I was one of the lucky students to and university have all been in the same receive an Electrical Engineering Masters city. Though the location hasn’t changed, study grant from NXP. Through this, I got the city itself and my life inside it evolved to know NXP as a huge international over the years. I went from being curious company with many diverse opportu- about simple math in elementary school nities for an engineer. NXP is a world to being fascinated by, and at times leader in secure connectivity solutions absolutely frustrated with, time-sensitive for embedded applications, enabling networking standards in my professional secure connections and infrastructure a wonderful environment to work in. life. for a smarter world. I learned to recog- Once they added a Starbucks, it became nize the products from NXP in my daily my dream work location. Right after my When I was studying EE at the TU/e life, from Near Field Communication graduation, I started the Automotive (2008-2014), I was often actively part of (NFC) in secure payments, to various Leadership Trainee Program (ALTP) at an association, be it as member, board chips within a car. Fun fact: there is an NXP. member, or committee member, at NXP chip in every new car, which I found Next experience: traineeship Footloose, BEST, or Thor. I also worked in cool to learn. How’s that for impact in our the promo team of our department, and daily lives? ALTP is a two-year program at NXP that as a researcher for SURE Innovation. It was Graduating, and then what? provides a job for graduates with the awesome to do all these different things, opportunity to get to know the entire but it was also quite overwhelming to do During my studies, I wasn’t sure what I company quickly, not only through your everything in parallel. Something had to wanted to do after I graduated. I knew own eyes, but also through those of your change. After my Bachelors, I took a step that I like to work on a system level and fellow trainees. It brings you into contact back from side activities to breathe, and knowing the applications I was doing my to focus on my Masters program. It was a research for, because when I don’t know change that led to great things, because the purpose, it usually was going to be that was when I got a clearer introduction a struggle. But what function does that translate to? In hindsight, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, since I am currently a systems & applications engineer in an Automotive R&D department. Funny how that worked out.

The NXP grant led me to do my intern- ship at NXP Nijmegen, where I had an awesome group of colleagues and learned about characterization, network analyzers, and how data sheets are created. Being in Nijmegen was quite a change for me, but I enjoyed it thor- oughly. For my thesis I worked on Demonstrating how you can recognize NXP modeling antenna arrays for near field products in your daily life during the Dutch focusing at the Holst Centre at the High Me and my fellow ALTP trainees of 2014 Technology Week Tech Campus back in Eindhoven. What

042 | connecthor Va r i a I with various disciplines in the company, various functions a technical graduate can do, and colleagues who are eager to share their experience with you.

That is exactly what I experienced during my two years. When I started ALTP, seven others started alongside me on their own traineeship, starting their own career path. Even though some of our goals were different, technical versus marketing for example, we found a great kinship with each other as a group of people who were in the same phase in their careers. All trainees were situated in different departments, which made it rather easy to bridge the gap between departments whenever I had a question that one of them could either answer, or YOUNG! NXP during a Young Professsionals Event at the Evoluon point me to someone they know. It was a great way to gather knowledge. The Innovating the future require from a technology point of view. bond and comradery that ALTP trainees After ALTP I knew that working in an Where in the past, for example, the data felt amongst each other was something R&D department would make me the inside a car consisted of a few bits to we felt was really valuable. It made sense happiest, and I was fortunate to find my signal a window to go up or down, a car to extend that to the larger young profes- place in the team of System Innovations. nowadays may have a rearview camera sionals community within NXP. And thus, Our team is aimed to explore innova- for parking assist, leading to Megabytes YOUNG! NXP was born in 2015. tive future automotive system solutions of data traversing the in-vehicle network in which NXP’s chips are integrated. By within a short span of time. My work During my assignments in ALTP, I got to understanding application requirements, focuses on Time Sensitive Networking do many cool things. In R&D, I performed we can provide input for next-generation standards, how they can be applied in technical experiments, but also looked product development internally, and an IVN for timing critical data traffic, and at market intelligence and price fore- collaborate with our customers on a how it impacts or is impacted by the casts to assess a potential business system level. Our projects span various system architecture. case. After a year, we changed func- business lines and collaborate with many tions, and I also learned first hand what parties internal and external to NXP. I As a professional engineer working in it meant to be a Quality Safe Launch find it a great team to work in, with great a technology company, I feel strongly engineer, to safe guard the quality and colleagues and many challenging and about spreading knowledge about tech- reliability of a product before launch, fun topics to work on. Working on inno- nology to a wider audience, especially and working together with people over vation means there is no clear recipe for to the younger generations. For me, it the entire product development cycle. the path forward, which makes it very isn’t about more people choosing tech- During my time at NXP, I have worked exciting. There is a lot of change involved, nology as their fields, but it’s about them with colleagues all over the world and leading to territories unknown, but that’s being able to make an informed choice, experienced different flavors of how I also where the potential lies. without restrictions caused by bias, be it can contribute to discussions, deliver- their own or through their environment. ables, and developments in projects. Personally, I work on studying how an This requires a change in perspective, not in-vehicle network (IVN) inside a future only with kids, but also with the adults. car can be architected, and what it will We start by opening up the “black box” that is technology, through demos, work- shops, and micro:bit trainings . Today, tomorrow My life is constantly changing for better or worse. Within that change, there are fundamental constants that make up who I am and how I want to live. Change is often difficult, and I often don’t like it, but it brings me closer to the person I am going to be tomorrow. Change is also what I want to bring to the world. That’s my life after EE. A continuous journey of discovery, learnings, and change. Promoting technology during Girlsday @ Our System Innovations team NXP demolab

September 2019| 043 IVa r i a Mythology By: Fer Radstake

esides being named after the around 500 CE, before which our religion, Wall Perné didn’t get a chance to tell Norse god of thunder, e.t.s.v. Thor culture and language didn’t differ much us exactly what he supplemented as Bhas much more to do with the from our Scandinavian brethren. he tragically died two years later, while Vikings. The names of committees like writing his second bundle. Ivaldi and Kvasir, our fileserver Mjolnir There are still a few traces of those times and our pub Het Walhalla all come from visible today. Naturally in the names Whatever their archaeological value, Norse mythology. Our members like to of our weekdays Dinsdag, Woensdag, the tales of Van der Wall Perné give behave like a bunch of Vikings too, loudly Donderdag and Vrijdag (resp. Týr’s, an excellent insight into the surge of chanting the Thorlied on every occasion Woden’s, Donar’s and Freyja’s day), but interest in our pre-Christian history that and cheerfully raiding the “constitutieb- also in some village names: right here occurred in the late 19th-early 20th orrels” of the other associations, never in Eindhoven the neighbourhood and century. Numerous painters, illustrators returning without some kind of loot. In former village of Woensel derives from and writers used the old Viking sagas short, we’re a real Viking association. Woden’s sel (Odin’s town). Even our for inspiration, and Van der Wall Perné’s national holiday of Sinterklaas is some- stories are a prime example of that. Last When hearing such names as above, times said to possibly derive in part but not least, his stories make for a good most people immediately think about from Pagan traditions (See Connecthor read, so enjoy! Scandinavia. To few it comes to mind that 32). Another trace can perhaps be found in the Netherlands we too once prayed in the folktales told in the remote parts The Great and Small Hill to gods like Thor and Odin. It took until of our country, where the old Gods Long ago, when giants still roamed these 734 for the last pagan king of Frisia to occasionally show up in half-forgotten lands, it happened that the Giant of be defeated by the Christian Franks, and legend. Uddel, who lived near the Uunnilo lake, as late as 793 the Frisians are noted as was awakened by a huge lightning strike, reverting to Paganism en masse during a Such is the case in my native Gelderland, followed by a massive thunder. Thunar, rebellion against Carolingian rule. When where in the early 20th century the the great Thundergod and the arch- the Viking Hrœrekr reigned Dorestad painter and writer Gustaaf van der Wall enemy of the race of giants, came riding (Wijk bij Duurstede near Utrecht) from Perné collected the many sagas he past with the greatest noise. The thunder 841 to 873, there were possibly still had heard as a child growing up in the kept on for a moment, but it soon grew some pagans among the native popula- Veluwe area and combined them in the weaker and when the giant couldn’t hear tion, and King Hrœrekr himself certainly bundle Veluwsche Sagen. It should be it any more, he deduced that Thunar had was one when he arrived in our country said though that he freely admits the only ridden past on his way to different (although he later converted, perhaps stories are not meant as an archaeo- lands. Soon he was fast asleep again. for the political benefits Christianism logical record; when the first edition was granted). Even the conversion of the published in 1909, it had been 20 years When he woke up the next day, he Franks, from whom the Dutch population since he last heard some of them as a noticed that his oven, which stood a partly descends, only gained momentum child. Furthermore, he acknowledges hundred paces from his home, had been the use of the Icelandic Edda stories to shattered by the Thundergod’s hammer. supplement some of the tales. Van der Only rubble remained of the once great

In Van de Wall Perne’s paintings, the influence of both Germanic/Norse mythology and the landscape and culture of the Veluwe can be seen.

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with his dough the next morning at six. Whether it was because of the mead or because he was tired, he slept surpris- ingly well and he snored so loud, that you could hear it seven miles away.

The sun had already risen when the Giant of Uddel awoke, and with a shock remembered that he should be in Elspeet at six. He dragged his wife out of bed and shouted at her:

“Start kneading the dough, as I think I’m late already!”

The wife speeded to the trough and started kneading, as her husband went outside to see if the smoke was already rising from his neighbour’s oven. There he was shocked to hear his neighbour’s Paintings such as the famous 1915 “Midvinterblot” by Carl Larsson reflect the increased interest wife scraping clean the through already. in pre-Christian heritage of the late 19th and early 20th century. He ran inside, put the breads on a plank and went as quick as he could to Elspeet, oven. The giant burst out in a terrible rage Hardenberg with a huge bunch of heavy straight across the heath. In his hurry his against Thunar, and cursed the god so pines, tied together with a young birch wooden shoes filled with sand, which loud that his wife came out of the house tree. bothered him immensely when walking. to see what was going on. Together they looked at the pile of rubble, and the The Giant of Elspeet and his wife received About halfway between Uddel and wife complained she had meant to bake him hospitably and invited him to join Elspeet he stood still for a moment to bread the next day. them at the hearth for dinner, which shake the sand out of his shoes. First the consisted of porridge that hung above right shoe, which was fullest, and then “Aye,” the giant sighed. “It’s very well the fire in a massive kettle. the left. There wasn’t a lot of wind, and impossible to rebuild the oven in a day.” the sand remained piled there until the After dinner, as the wife cleaned the present day. Still, halfway between Uddel “Why don’t you,” said the wife, “go to our dishes with an oak bush, the giants talked and Elspeet, you can see two hills, now neighbour on the Hardenberg hill and a bit, and raised a toast to a successful covered in heath. These hills are called ask if we can use his oven tomorrow.” bread. They toasted many more times, in the Great and Small Hill. fact, than necessary for this success, and “That’s a good idea,” the giant answered, for a good night’s rest. When the Giant The giant arrived just in time at his as he knew by experience that his wife of Uddel finally rose from his chair to go neighbor, who was about to shut down was usually the smarter one. And that’s home, he promised his friend to arrive his oven. how he took off to Elspeet where another giant lived. They were dear friends, and when the Giant of Uddel had told of his problems, the Giant of Elspeet said: “Well of course, just bring your bread to me. It’s a perfect timing as well as I need to bake bread myself, and my oven is large enough for the both of us.” “Then I’ll get the fire- wood,” the Giant of Uddel spoke.

After both had uttered some more curses and threats at the mighty Thundergod, the Giant of Uddel went to the forest. He found some large pine trees and pulled them out of the ground. The sun was This 1908 drawing by W.G. Collingwood perfectly showcases how ancient mythological themes already setting when he returned to the were often combined with turn-of-the-century art genres.

September 2019| 045

Va r i a I Attention! By: Tom van Nunen

he first thing I learned from my fellow PhD candidates, was not Thow to use LaTeX properly, how to find reliable sources, or how to perform an experiment correctly. Rather, it was way different: how to prevent distrac- tion during my work. It has proven to be important, and I think many of you can benefit from some easy tips. The ques- tion is whether you are ready for them.

During the PhD kickoff event, which was great fun by the way, some people were discussing a simple tip to avoid being distracted: disable notifications in Outlook. Each of them was praising how it benefited their daily lives, so I decided to give it a try.

It makes perfect sense. As soon as you receive an email, a pop-up appears, and Outlook plays a sound. Your mind is distracted away from the topic you were focusing on, if just for a second. Somewhere in the back of your head, a process starts, keeping you eager to know who sent you the email and what its content is. Bye bye focus!

As soon as I disabled these digital screams for attention, I indeed realized that I was able to focus more during my work. Worry about emails waiting too long for a reply? Nah. Every few hours, I check my email. If something is really that According to Gloria Mark, who studies I want to be distracted, yes or no? If not: important that it can’t wait a few hours, digital distraction at the University of mute your phone, place it somewhere they should call or drop by my office, easy California, your brain needs about 23 where you can’t see the screen lighting as that. minutes to regain focus after a distrac- or your notification LED lighting up. tion, backed up by multiple studies. 23 Close WhatsApp, Telegram, whatever Recently, I heard about a book on focus in minutes! This adds up to a huge amount of social media feeds, on your laptop, and a world full of distraction, which sparked time, considering the number of distrac- disable the notifications from emails. my interest. It is called ‘Focus AAN/UIT’ by tions one experiences on a daily basis. That doesn’t sound difficult at all. Beware brain expert Mark Tigchelaar. Although I You replying to a WhatsApp message is you, it is. haven’t yet bought it, the news item that not just the 20 seconds it takes you to came with it was already very interesting. read the message and type a reply, but But, you don’t want to stay offline for a It got me thinking. more than 23 full minutes of decreased whole day. Of course not, I don’t expect productivity. And what to think of your 5 you to. Decide for yourself when you are Every now and then, I walk past students minutes of Instagram during studying? allowed to use your phone and social who are working on their studies. Their Or the 10 posts on Reddit? Of course, this media distractions. For example, two phones are lying next to their laptops, counts just as much for employees as it hours of work can be followed by twenty and sometimes WhatsApp is even open does for students. minutes of distraction time. on their laptop screens. This is great! As soon as someone sends you a message, The remedy is of course simple. It is not You see: if you really want to get things you can immediately answer, without technically difficult to stop these distrac- done, some simple preparation might him/her having to wait for you. tions from keeping you off your work, make a huge difference. Try it! I’m curious but rather the perseverance ofthe user whether you notice anything. that needs to be strong. Ask yourself: do

September 2019| 047 We bring high-tech to life

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