Underwater Transformer

Underwater Transformer

ALL ABOARD THE THE LAST A FORGOTTEN MICROGRIDS HYDROGEN TRAIN TRANSISTOR? REVOLUTION GO MOBILE Fuel cells go the Nanosheet devices and Why switching power A new and cleaner extra mile the end of Moore’s Law supplies triumphed way to power a ferry P. 06 P. 30 P. 36 P. 42 THIS UNTETHERED HALF HUMANOID WILL WORK ON OFFSHORE OIL RIGS AND GO DEEPER THAN FOR THE FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDERTECHNOLOGY | 08.19 HUMAN DIVERS INSIDER P. 22 08.19 THE UNDERWATER TRANSFORMER Subscriber Address Box Zurich Instruments ∏ Arbitrary Waveform Generators ∏ Impedance Analyzers ∏ Lock-in Amplifiers ∏ Quantum Computing Control Systems experience LabOne LabOne® provides users with a platform independent instrument control including proven measurement methodo- logies. It's designed to offer a great amount of flexibility for instrument usage and assures quick and efficient ope- ration. The browser based user interface provides an outstanding toolset for time and frequency domain analysis as well as sophisticated support to set up control loops, making noise measure- ments or to interpret measurement data. Let's discuss your application Intl. +41 44 515 0410 USA 855-500-0056 (Toll Free) [email protected] www.zhinst.com CONTENTS_08.19 THE UNDER- WATER 30 THE LAST 36 THE QUIET 42 HAPPINESS IS 06 NEWS SILICON REMAKING OF A HYBRID-ELECTRIC 14 RESOURCES TRANSFORMER TRANSISTOR COMPUTER POWER FERRY 04 OPINION The next step in SUPPLIES The retrofitted 52 PAST FORWARD A startup founded by ex-NASA the evolution of the Here’s how the ship offers a clean, engineers wants to upend subsea transistor is the compact and efficient quiet ride for 4,500 nanosheet device. switching designs in passengers a day. On the cover robotics. Page 22 By Peide Ye, Thomas use today first came By Chun-Lien Su, and this page By Evan ackErman Ernst & Mukesh into vogue. Josep M. Guerrero Photographs V. Khare By Ken Shirriff & Sheng-Hua Chen by Ken Kiefer IEEE SPECTRUM (ISSN 0018-9235) is published monthly by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2019 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5997, U.S.A. Volume No. 56, Issue No. 8. The editorial content of IEEE Spectrum magazine does not represent official positions of the IEEE or its organizational units. Canadian Post International Publications Mail (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. Fax: +1 212 419 7570. INTERNET: [email protected]. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS: IEEE Members: $21.40 included in dues. Libraries/institutions: $399. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to IEEE Spectrum, c/o Coding Department, IEEE Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, Box 1331, Piscataway, NJ 08855. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Canadian GST #125634188. Printed at 120 Donnelley Dr., Glasgow, KY 42141-1060, U.S.A. IEEE Spectrum circulation is audited by BPA Worldwide. IEEE Spectrum is a member of the Association of Business Information & Media Companies, the Association of Magazine Media, and Association Media & Publishing. IEEE prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying. For more information, visit https://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/whatis/policies/p9-26.html. SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG | AUG 2019 | 01 BACK STORY_ 08.19 rine. “I couldn’t say yes fast enough,” Ackerman says. While reporting “The Under water Transformer” [p. 22], Ackerman spent two days diving in NASA’s pool, where he got to see what makes Aquanaut a rather remarkable robot: its ability to transform itself from a sleek orange torpedo into a two-armed human- oid that can operate valves and tools underwater. But Aquanaut wasn’t the only interest- ing thing in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab. With full-scale mock-ups of the Inter- national Space Station’s main modules taking up most of the pool, there was DIVING WITH ROBOTS AND ASTRONAUTS plenty to see under water, especially when astronauts Mike Barratt and Chris EEE SpEctrum contributing editor evan ackerman is a veteran scuba Cassidy donned their spacesuits and be- diver who has played fetch with sea lions in the Galápagos, spotted an elu- gan training for a spacewalk just a few sive mimic octopus in Indonesia, and been run over by a bull shark in Fiji. meters away. But on his most recent dive trip, Ackerman had a chance to swim with some “Floating there with astronauts on of the rarest underwater creatures on Earth: astronauts. one side of me and a transforming or- “I first saw the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory on a tour of Johnson Space ange robot on the other,” Ackerman Center in 2013,” Ackerman says, describing the huge indoor pool in H ouston says, “how many divers have a story I that NASA uses to train astronauts for zero-gravity tasks during space mis- like that to tell?” ■ sions. “Since then, I’ve been trying to find a way to dive there.” That opportunity arrived earlier this year when Nic Radford, chief technol- ogy officer of Houston Mechatronics, called Ackerman and asked if he wanted to get in the pool along with Aquanaut, the company’s new robot subma- MECHATRONICS BLAKELY/HOUSTON CHARLES XGL4020 Series Ultra-low Loss Power Inductors • The industry’s lowest DCR and ultra-low AC losses across a wide frequency range • Twelve inductance values from 0.33 to 8.2 µH • Isat ratings up to 15.2 Amps with soft saturation Free Samples @ coilcraft.com 02 | AUG 2019 | SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG CONTRIBUTORS_ EDITOR IN CHIEF Susan Hassler, [email protected] ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER EXECUTIVE EDITOR Glenn Zorpette, [email protected] Felicia Spagnoli, [email protected] EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, DIGITAL SENIOR ADVERTISING PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Robert N. Charette Harry Goldstein, [email protected] Nicole Evans Gyimah, [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR Elizabeth A. Bretz, [email protected] Contributing editor Charette is an expert on risk EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD, IEEE SPECTRUM SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Susan Hassler, Chair; Steve Blank, David C. Brock, Sudhir Dixit, management and has authored numerous books Mark Montgomery, [email protected] Shahin Farshchi, Limor Fried, Robert Hebner, Jason K. Hui, and articles on the subject. He also writes IEEE SENIOR EDITORS Grant Jacoby, Leah Jamieson, Mary Lou Jepsen, Deepa Kundur, Spectrum’s Risk Factor blog. For this issue’s Spectral Stephen Cass (Resources), [email protected] Norberto Lerendegui, Steve Mann, Allison Marsh, Sofia Olhede, Erico Guizzo (Digital), [email protected] Lines [p. 4], he looks at three large government Jacob Østergaard, Umit Ozguner, John Rogers, Jean Kumagai, [email protected] IT projects that went horribly, expensively awry. Jonathan Rothberg, Umar Saif, Takao Someya, Samuel K. Moore, [email protected] “Government IT project failure is depressingly Maurizio Vecchione, Yu Zheng, Kun Zhou, Edward Zyszkowski Tekla S. Perry, [email protected] unsurprising,” says Charette. “What is surprising, Philip E. Ross, [email protected] EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD, THE INSTITUTE however, is how the consequences of a project’s David Schneider, [email protected] Kathy Pretz, Chair; Qusi Alqarqaz, John Baillieul, Philip Chen, failure continue long past its cancellation date.” DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR Brandon Palacio, [email protected] Shashank Gaur, Susan Hassler, Hulya Kirkici, Cecilia Metra, PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Randi Klett, [email protected] San Murugesan, Mirela Sechi Annoni Notare, Joel Trussell, ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Erik Vrielink, [email protected] Hon K. Tsang, Chonggang Wang SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR MANAGING DIRECTOR, PUBLICATIONS Eliza Strickland, [email protected] Michael B. Forster James Provost NEWS MANAGER Amy Nordrum, [email protected] Provost is a technical illustrator based in Toronto. ASSOCIATE EDITORS EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE Willie D. Jones (Digital), [email protected] IEEE Spectrum, 3 Park Ave., 17th Floor, His illustration of an in-wheel motor, for Spectrum’s Michael Koziol, [email protected] New York, NY 10016-5997 July 2018 issue, won the SIIA Neal Award for Best SENIOR COPY EDITOR Joseph N. Levine, [email protected] TEL: +1 212 419 7555 FAX: +1 212 419 7570 Infographics. For this issue, he tackled two water- BUREAU Palo Alto, Calif.; Tekla S. Perry +1 650 752 6661 COPY EDITOR Michele Kogon, [email protected] related technologies: an underwater drone [p. 22] EDITORIAL RESEARCHER Alan Gardner, [email protected] DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, and a hybrid-electric ferry [p. 42]. “Making the ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT MEDIA & ADVERTISING Mark David, [email protected] invisible visible is an interesting challenge,” Provost Ramona L. Foster, [email protected] ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Naylor Association Solutions, PHOTOGRAPHY INTERN Erica Snyder says. “Whether it’s on the ocean floor, floating Erik Henson +1 352 333 3443, [email protected] CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Evan Ackerman, Mark Anderson, in space, or under your feet, things are always Robert N. Charette, Peter Fairley, Tam Harbert, Mark Harris, REPRINT SALES +1 212 221 9595, ext. 319 more complex and intriguing below the surface.” David Kushner, Robert W. Lucky, Prachi Patel, Morgen E. Peck, REPRINT PERMISSION / LIBRARIES Articles may be Richard Stevenson, Lawrence Ulrich, Paul Wallich photocopied for private use of patrons. A per-copy fee must EDITOR IN CHIEF, THE INSTITUTE be paid to the Copyright Clearance Center, 29 Congress Kathy Pretz, [email protected] St., Salem, MA 01970. For other copying or republication, Ken Shirriff ASSISTANT EDITOR, THE INSTITUTE contact Managing Editor, IEEE Spectrum. Joanna Goodrich, [email protected] COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS IEEE Spectrum is a Shirriff was a programmer for Google before DIRECTOR, PERIODICALS PRODUCTION SERVICES Peter Tuohy registered trademark owned by The Institute of Electrical and retiring in 2016. These days, he keeps busy EDITORIAL & WEB PRODUCTION MANAGER Roy Carubia Electronics Engineers Inc.

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