NO MORE FLAMING HOW TO TEST COMPUTE LIKE A WHAT REALLY BATTERIES! A ROBOCAR… NERVOUS SYSTEM HAPPENED IN CUBA A new process makes without driving The resurgence of Sonic attack on the better lithium-ion cells it 200,000 miles stochastic computing U.S. embassy, or mishap? P. 34 P. 40 P. 46 P. 09 FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDER | 03.18 QTVD QUANTUM Dots ARE THE SUPERBRIGHT AND ULTRAVIVID FUTURE OF THE TELEVISION SET AT LAST, TechTHIS TV WILL SHOW ALL OF THE COLORS THE EYE CAN SEE P. 28 CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE MARCH ISSUE OF Boost your lab's performance AWGs from less than $5,500 2.4 GSa/s, 16 bit, 750 MHz per channel 4, 8 and more channels < 50 ns trigger latency Typical Applications Semiconductor testing, quantum computing, phased- array radar design & test, lidar, spectroscopy, NMR Impedance Analyzers starting at $10,230 1 mHz to 5 MHz, 1mΩ to 1 TΩ 0.05% basic accuracy Compensation Advisor and Confidence Indicators Typical Applications High-Q dielectrics, capacitive sensors, supercapacitors, PV materials, component characterization Lock-in Amplifiers starting at $5,940 Up to 600 MHz Scope, FFT, FRA, Sweeper, Imaging tool Optional: AWG, PID, PLL, Boxcar, Counter, AM & FM Typical Applications AFM, LVP, CARS, SRS, SNOM, graphene, optical PLL, THz, pump-probe, RFID, MEMS, NEMS, gyros, NDT, MRFM Instrument Software All instruments are equipped with LabOne®, the Zurich Instruments control software, providing a wealth of features, efficient workflows and ease of use. Access your instruments from any web browser or integrate it into your LabVIEW, MATLAB, Python, C, and .NET programs. Zurich Instruments www.zhinst.com [email protected] Intl. +41 44 515 0410 USA 617 765 7263 Schedule a demo today FEATURES_03.18 28 34 40 46 Building a Safer, Driving Tests Computing Tv’S QUANTum- Denser Li-ion for Self- With DOT FUTURE Battery Driving Cars Randomness Manufacturing tricks Building a self-driving Stochastic computing A variety of technologies for tomorrow’s borrowed from Silicon vehicle isn’t enough— provides an unconven- Valley are packing more we need to prove that it’s tional way to compute TV displays rely on quantum dots. power into these cells. safe for our streets. more with less. By Zhongsheng Luo, Jesse Manders By Ashok Lahiri, Nirav By Erik Coelingh By Armin Alaghi & Jeff yurek Shah & Cameron Dales & Jonas Nilsson & John P. Hayes On the cover Illustration for IEEE Spectrum by Mark Montgomery OSYS N NA SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG | MAR 2018 | 01 DEPARTMENTS_03.18TMENTS_01.13 07 19 06 Online News Resources Opinion spectrum.ieee.org Ancient Statues Recast The Altair 8800...Now With Robo-Adjudication and Director’s Cut: Ted Nelson on From Digital Scans Bluetooth Fake Fraud Reports What Modern Programmers Can New replicas of old sculptures will An Arduino-based kit replicates Michigan’s MiDAS system falsely Learn From the Past soon be on display in Iraq. the first commercially successful identified thousands of its citizens Due to popular demand, we’ve By Michael Dumiak personal computer. as insurance cheats. released an extended version By Stephen Cass By Robert N. Charette of our interview with Nelson, in 09 Reverse Engineering a which he talks about the work of “Sonic Weapon” 21 At Work: The Legal Hazards of 03 Back Story Douglas Englebart, the origins 10 Ferroelectrics: The Ultralow- AR and VR 04 Contributors of Xanadu, and how he views Power Solution? 22 Tools & Toys: Crazy Gadgets 24 Internet of Everything: programming as an art. Watch it 12 India’s Troubled Biometric From CES Curb Your 5G Enthusiasm here: https://spectrum.ieee.org/ ID System 23 Careers: Hot Jobs in 26 Numbers Don’t Lie: moretednelson0318 14 The Big Picture: Silicon Valley Photovoltaics’ Early Days in Orbit Drones Take a Dive 56 Past Forward: 27 Reflections: Finding the Accuracy in Agriculture Right Wave to Ride ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Tech Insider / Webinars The Institute Available at spectrum.ieee.org/webinars Available at theinstitute.ieee.org Efficient Development of Electrical Drives Using FUTURE OF TELEVISION This month we feature what’s new in TV Model-Based Development technology, including the rollout of ATSC 3.0, the latest digital television transmission standard, as well as the emergence of roll-up displays and immersive audio. White Papers USEUM Available at spectrum.ieee.org/whitepapers M THE BIG SCREEN In 1980, Mitsubishi Electric installed the first large- scale color display system, at Dodger Stadium, in Los Angeles. The display ATIONAL The Test Implications of Packaging Innovation N will be recognized this month with an IEEE Milestone. Calculation Management Done Right GORMAN BREAK INTO BROADCAST Find out what skills are needed to get into ELIA the field of broadcast engineering. C OOMAN/DUTCH OOMAN/DUTCH L KLETT; KLETT; I D IEEE SPECTRUM (ISSN 0018-9235) is published monthly by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2018 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY RAN ; 10016-5997, U.S.A. Volume No. 55, issue No. 3. The editorial content of IEEE Spectrum magazine does not represent official positions of the IEEE or its organizational units. Canadian Post International Publications Mail OBBERT-JAN (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40013087. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Department, IEEE Spectrum, Box 1051, Fort Erie, ON L2A 6C7. Cable address: ITRIPLEE. 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OF 02 | MAR 2018 | SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG BACK STORY_ Sound of Silence onnor Bolton, a Ph.D. stuDent at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, had arranged his workstation just so. He’d painstak- ingly set up microphones, speakers, and other equipment to test whether sound waves can trigger malfunctions in hard disk drives. When you’re experimenting with precisely calibrated acoustic waves, it’s essential that extraneous signals don’t distort your data. What he didn’t consider, though, were sounds he couldn’t hear. C One day last August, Bolton [above] and his advisor, Kevin Fu, were discussing the fact that electronic devices can respond in unusual ways to sounds in the environment. Fu mentioned a colleague at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, whose hearing aid would pick up signals coming from a room-occupancy sensor and then translate the high- frequency chirps into an audible buzz. [To read about Fu’s investi- gation of another case of electronics behaving badly, see “Reverse Engi- neering the ‘Sonic Weapon,’ ” in this issue.] “Look up, Connor,” Fu told Bolton, pointing to a small white box on the ceiling right above Bolton’s workstation. Such ultrasonic sensors, used to control lighting, emit sound waves inaudible to humans. A change in the reflected sound indicates someone is in the room, and so the lights stay on. A beat later, just before the picture above was taken, the two real- ized the sensor might be messing with Bolton’s experiment. The offending sensor was taken down. Fortunately, its signal proved too weak to upend his results. “There’s always some interference,” Fu notes. “When it’s low in tensity, 03.18 KEVIN FU KEVIN we aren’t concerned. But when we see it in the data, that upsets us.” ■ CONTRIBUTORS_ EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Susan Hassler, [email protected] Susan Hassler, Chair; David C. Brock, Sudhir Dixit, Limor EXECUTIVE EDITOR Fried, Robert Hebner, Joseph J. Helble, Grant Jacoby, Leah Armin Alaghi Glenn Zorpette, [email protected] Jamieson, Jelena Kovacevic, Deepa Kundur, Norberto Alaghi works at Oculus Research and EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, DIGITAL Lerendegui, Steve Mann, Allison Marsh, Jacob Østergaard, Umit Ozguner, Thrasos N. Pappas, H. Vincent Poor, John Rogers, the University of Washington. In this Harry Goldstein, [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR Jonathan Rothberg, Umar Saif, Takao Someya, Maurizio issue, he and John P. Hayes of the University Elizabeth A. Bretz, [email protected] Vecchione, Yu Zheng, Kun Zhou, Edward Zyszkowski of Michigan write about stochastic computing SENIOR ART DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR, PUBLICATIONS Michael B. Forster [p. 46]. This approach was important back when Mark Montgomery, [email protected] transistors were hard to fabricate—and it could SENIOR EDITORS Stephen Cass (Resources), [email protected] EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE IEEE Spectrum, 3 Park Ave., 17th Floor, be valuable again. For example, some people Erico Guizzo (Digital), [email protected] New York, NY 10016-5997 hope to use proteins to compute. “You only get a Jean Kumagai, [email protected] TeL: +1 212 419 7555 FAX: +1 212 419 7570 Samuel K. Moore, [email protected] handful of gates with proteins,” says Alaghi, “and BUREAU Palo Alto, Calif.; Tekla S. Perry +1 650 752 6661 stochastic computing could be useful for that.” Tekla S. Perry, [email protected] Philip E. Ross, [email protected] DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, David Schneider, [email protected] MEDIA & ADVERTISING Mark David, [email protected] DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR Brandon Palacio, [email protected] PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Randi Klett, [email protected] ADT VER ISING INQUIRIES Tam Harbert ATSSOCIA E ART DIRECTOR Erik Vrielink, [email protected] IEEE GLOBALSPEC SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR 30 Tech Valley Dr., Suite 102, East Greenbush, NY 12061 Harbert, an IEEE Spectrum contributing Eliza Strickland, [email protected] +1 844 300 3098 Toll-free: +1 800 261 2052 editor, is based near Was hington, D.C.