Bisinfotech Magazine January Issue 2021

JANUARY 2021 `80.00

TRANSFORMATION

DIGITAL

R.N.I. No: DELENG/2019/77352 l VOL 3 l ISSUE 01 l TOTAL PAGES 64 l PUBLISHED ON 1ST OF EVERY MONTH |WWW.BISINFOTECH.COM

CONNECTED CARS IN INDIA SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY TRENDS INTERFERENCE HUNTING IN THE FIELD HYPERSCALERS AND THEIR 5G ENDEAVOUR Get Hired In Your Dream Tech Company!

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BEST B2B Magazine Converging Technology

Impulse Past and Embed Future of Tech With BISinfotech!

BISinfotech is honored to receive the prestigious award from Media Infoline. The award is a recognition showcasing excellence and achievements in our beat. Delivering impartial, unparalleled information and blending it to the millions of our readers and industry-leaders who has made BISinfotech stand out of their competitors.

Our aptness to deliver news, views, interviews and promptness to propel the complete Tech Industry in the right direction has made us the TOP 10 B2B MEDIA-HOUSE in 2020. Being the first magazine and web portal with Motto ‘Converging Technology of Future’ has driven the complete Tech B2B segment.

BISinfotech has been influencing, introspecting and innovating the gamut of technology with an intuitive and holistic approach may it be (Online, Print, Targeted EDMs, Social Media Expertise, Contests and Awards).

‘Now India’s No.1 Tech & Electronics Media, Embedding The Converged Future!’

Script Tech With BISinfotech.

The Future Stows Here!

Editorial Digital Transformation is the Need of the Hour.

Business Leaders are facing overwhelming, competing challenges and uncharted waters as they continue to traverse the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses are already taking “no regret” actions to come out from the pandemic stronger. These leaders are facing the crisis with a spirit of reinvention—accelerating digital transformation, establishing variable cost structures, and implementing agile operations.

The need for digital transformation is not just an outcome of COVID-19.

A report predicted that up to 375 million workers would need to update their skills by 2030 to adapt to the new wave of automation and artificial intelligence. Another survey revealed that 87 percent of executives were already experiencing skill gaps or would do so in the next few years. For a business, the move to digital is not merely about setting up a website and running social media campaigns. It has to figure out optimal ways for the team to stay connected and continue businessas-usual while working from home, while also staying in touch with consumer needs and expectations.

Businesses must navigate the financial and operational challenges of coronavirus while rapidly addressing the needs of their people, customers and suppliers.

Supply chains need to be reshaped and processes need to be automated wherever feasible. Companies should also be agile with their financial planning so that they have enough liquidity to respond to unexpected needs. Adjusting to remote working Voices around the world are rising to the new challenge of helping their teams navigate the sudden and massive transition into remote working. It is critical now for leaders to display solidarity with their teams and support them emotionally as well as professionally.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed our experiences― as customers, employees, citizens, humans― and our attitudes and behaviors are changing as a result. The crisis is fundamentally changing how and what consumers buy and is accelerating immense structural changes in the industry. Once the immediate threat of the virus has passed, companies will need to consider the impact of these changes on the way we design, communicate, build and run the experiences that people need and want.

Happy New Year!!!!

CONSULTANT EDITOR & External Communication NILOY BANERJEE niloy@bisinfotech.com SUB EDITOR NITISHA DUBEY nitisha@bisinfotech.com MARKETING MANAGER ARNAB SABHAPANDIT arnab@bisinfotech.com DESIGN HEAD DEEPAK SHARMA

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WEB DEVELOPMENT MANAGER JITENDER KUMAR WEB PRODUCTION BALVINDER SINGH SUBSCRIPTIONS PRIYANKA BHANDARI priyanka@bisinfotech.com MANAGER FINANCE KULDEEP GUSAIN accounts@bisinfotech.com

ManasNandi

MANAS NANDI EDITOR manas@bisinfotech.com

Bisinfotech is printed, published, edited and owned by Manas Nandi and published from 303, 2nd floor, Neelkanth Palace, Plot No- 190, Sant Nagar,East of Kailash, New Delhi- 110065 (INDIA), Printed at Swastika Creation 19 DSIDC Shed, Scheme No. 3, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi- 110020 Editor, Publisher, Printer and Owner make every effort to ensure high quality and accuracy of the content published. However he cannot accept any responsibility for any effects from errors or omissions.

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Editor and publisher. The information in the content and advertisement published in the magazine are just for reference of the readers. However, readers are cautioned to make inquiries and take their decision on purchase or investment after consulting experts on the subject. BisInfotech holds no responsibility for any decision taken by readers on the basis of the information provided herein. Any unauthorised reproduction of Bisinfotech magazine content is strictly forbidden. Subject to Delhi Jurisdiction.

•Vol - 03 / 01

Contents 08

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE FOR DIABETICS WITH CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITORING DEVICES (CGM)

11 5G TESTING

HYPERSCALERS AND THEIR 5G ENDEAVOUR

12 UAV CHALLENGES

OVERCOMING TETHERED UAV CHALLENGES WITH A HIGHVOLTAGE,COMPACT MODULEBASED POWER DELIVERY NETWORKDELIVERY NETWORK

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BIG PICTURE M2M, SMART AUTOMATION AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE NEED TO BE FOLLOWED BY THE COMPANIES

Johan Paulsson

CTO, Axis Communications

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Sekaran Letchumanan Vice President – Operations Flex India

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ENGINEENR'S CORNER WANT YOUR TECH DREAM JOB IN 2021, HERE ARE THE NEW TECH JOB SKILLS!

18 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN OPTIMISM AROUND AI IN INDIAN ORGANISATIONS

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BIG PICTURE BEYOND 2021, SEMICONDUCTOR COMPANIES MAY HAVE MORE DIFFICULTY PREDICTING DEMAND

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TECH TRENDS TECH TRENDS TO WATCH OUT FOR 2021

Sailesh Chittipeddi

Executive Vice President and General Manager, IoT & Infrastructure Business Unit, Renesas Electronics Corporation

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Madhukar Tripathi

Head –MARCOM & OPTICAL PRODUCTS, ANRITSU INDIA PVT. LTD

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AEROSPACE & DEFENCE INTERFERENCE HUNTING IN THE FIELD

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VETERAN'S COLUMN MD- STMICROELECTRONICS INDIA, SHARES COMPANY’S TECHNOLOGY & KEY INDUSTRY TRENDS THAT WILL DOMINATE IN 2021

29 VETERAN'S COLUMN •Vol - 03 / 01

SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY TRENDS OF 2021

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VETERAN'S COLUMN

THE 6 TECHNOLOGY TRENDS AFFECTING THE SECURITY SECTOR IN 2021

Vivek Sharma MD-India| STMicroelectronics

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COVER STORY A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY WITH THE ENABLERS!

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Balajee Sowrirajan

Managing Director|Samsung Semiconductor India R&D Center (SSIR)India

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CONNECTED CARS CONNECTED CARS IN INDIA – THE TECHNOLOGY AMUSEMENT IS KEY!

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JANUARY 2021

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Improving Quality of Life for Diabetics with Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices (CGM) A continuous glucose monitoring device (CGM) may be small, but these systems are having a life-changing impact for millions of diabetics around the world. For Type 1 diabetics, finger sticks to check blood sugar are an all too common—but necessary—occurrence. In fact, this can be up to a 7 times a day occurrence. All this is done to get a single, point-in-time snapshot of one’s blood sugar. Unfortunately, this snapshot doesn’t show a diabetic’s blood sugar number in real-time.

So the patient doesn’t realize if it’s going up or down and thus doesn’t have the kind of actionable insight needed to properly address the issue. But now there’s hope for diabetics searching for relief from the inconvenience of finger sticks, test strips, and the glucose guessing game: a minimally invasive, continuous glucose monitoring system (CGM) that’s a more convenient, more effective, and more affordable way to proactively manage blood sugar and health.

Good-Bye Finger Sticks, Hello Actionable Insights, Cost Savings

The world is turning to the convenience and accuracy of

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continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and away from finger sticks and guesstimating glucose levels. Meiqi—China’s leading manufacturer of advanced CGM products—is showing the way. With 125 million-plus diabetics, China is home to the largest diabetic population in the world. To address this growing market, Meiqi is pushing the boundaries of technology, and, in partnership with Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), is developing a next-generation, integrated CGM wearable device (Meiqi Gen 3).

A CGM uses a tiny sensor inserted under the skin to test blood sugar levels throughout the day and sends this data to a smartphone or watch and then on to the cloud. This near-realtime information helps diabetics adjust their physical activity, food intake, or insulin levels quickly, and helps prevent severe hyperglycemia or low blood sugar episodes from occurring.

Beyond this, the cost-savings benefits of a CGM device are also quite real. While the savings on needles and test strips are significant over a patient’s lifetime, the continual insights gained from a CGM helps them successfully monitor symptoms

•Vol - 03 / 01

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY and help avoid the prohibitive costs of a serious medical procedure or hospital visit. The CGM empowers patients to manage their own health and change the way they eat or time medications, while providing an overall better quality of life, which to many is invaluable.

JANUARY 2021

This transition rests on the quality of continuous patient insights—is the blood sugar too high due to exercise or too low due to poor eating habits?—and the ability to monitor and judge these insights more accurately and decisively over time.

With accurate, clinical-grade data for glucose levels, patients

How It Works: Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices are empowered to deliver appropriate insulin medication, all

of which helps prevent further diabetic complications such as blood vessel damage, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and diabetic coma. Also, these reports are delivered to the cloud to help provide detailed glucose information over days, weeks and months, which healthcare professionals use to make better informed decisions on effective diabetes management. A finger stick simply cannot deliver this level of precision and proactive data.

ADI Contributes to Clinical-Grade Health Data Management

(Yam image) CGM features a microsensor that usually attaches to the arm to continually monitor glucose levels in the interstitial fluid (a thin layer of fluid that surrounds the cells of the tissue just below the skin), instead of the blood. CGM shows overall glucose trends and patterns 24/7 and delivers this data to an app to improve health maintenance and avoid dangerous situations.

SOURCE of slide: Zhi Feng (ADI SME) PPT Source of CGM/APP pic: https://www.umassmed.edu/dcoe/ news--events/umass-diabetes-news/2019/08/diabetes-cgm/

Convenient, Predictive, Insightful, Diabetes Management

As medicine moves from being reactive to more predictive (for example, CGM), finding the right signal-processing expertise to deliver this technology is critical. In fact, the transition to predictive and personalized medicine becomes impossible without this technical expertise.

Yam image needs to change Bottom caption to read: “Complete CGM Solution”

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JANUARY 2021

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Next-Generation Technology for Next-Generation Continuous Monitoring System

Meiqi’s continuous glucose monitoring device is designed for ultra-convenience and precision function. It features a small, wearable patch, sprouting a needle, sensor, and nextgeneration mobile impedance measurement technology from ADI. For its all-important sensor element, Meiqi chose ADI’s AD5950 for its small size and low voltage features. Beyond this, Meiqi found a partner in Analog Devices that went far beyond a mere parts provider. With ADI, it discovered a trusted ally with extensive system-level knowledge, deep domain expertise, and crucial digital healthcare experience, particularly in wearables for chronic disease management. Beyond this, ADI’s Chinese office provided Meiqi with invaluable local market insight and fast turnaround time, helping it gain a critical time-to-market advantage.

Meiqi CGM Features an In-Hospital and Patient Version:

• Hospital version: a sensor (consumable) plus recorder, designed for hospital nurses to scan a patient’s glucose data and store it; more expensive than the patient version.

• Patient version: only a sensor (consumable); patients use their smartphone to scan their own glucose data at home after installing phone app; more affordable.

ADI and Meiqi: Always Leading, Never Following

As the leading provider of continuous glucose monitoring systems in China, Meiqi didn’t just choose any tech partner to help it design its Gen3 model. First and foremost, it required a collaborator with a shared leadership vision, and uncompromising drive to innovate and deliver lifesaving healthcare insights.

ADI rose to the top.

From day one, over 50 years ago, ADI’s goal has been to help unlock human potential with technologies that solve engineering’s toughest challenges— including helping diabetics monitor their blood sugar and proactively control their health.

The challenge in CGM was power and size restrictions, which was right in ADI’s digital health technological wheelhouse.

Together, Meiqi and ADI form one of the world's most advanced CGM duos, helping diabetics control their blood sugar in a convenient and affordable way.

“One of our main challenges—and this is throughout the CGM industry—was SWaP (size, weight, and power) and ADI delivered a solution that completely addressed our needs. Beyond this, its collaboration, system-level understanding, and domain expertise really stood out … it proved to be far more than a component company.”

“Meiqi is a disruptive company in a disruptive field (digital health) and we need a partner with a similar vision. Analog Devices fit that profile exactly.

It insists on the principle of technical leading and bringing unique value to industry customers.”

(The article is an original piece written by ADI.)

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•Vol - 03 / 01

5G TESTING

JANUARY 2021

Hyperscalers and their 5G Endeavour 5G is changing the world and telecom infrastructure landscape!

In the last year, hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure have announced strategies for extending their reach (some would say disrupting) into the telecommunications industry, using 5G as an inflection point. Google Cloud announced their Global Mobile Edge Cloud (GMEC) strategy which will deliver a cost-effective portfolio of 5G solutions that leverage cloud and distributed edge architecture. Microsoft has taken the step of acquiring multiple 5G Network Function providers such as Affirmed Networks and Metaswitch Networks, whilst announcing a strategy that will, I quote, “unlock the power of 5G and bring cloud and edge closer than ever”. AWS Telecom meanwhile is offering a similar value proposition to telecom operators but is applying a partnership approach by offering a catalog of cloud-deployable partner solutions that allow mobile network operators to accelerate innovation and drive new revenue generating offerings. In all this activity, a natural question, from an operator’s point of view, is: where lies the differentiation among cloud providers?

It’s hard to differentiate at the infrastructure (IaaS) layer as hyperscalers all have competitive and mature offerings, and the platform layer (PaaS) is more or less ubiquitous across cloud providers. Moreover, the standards organization, 3GPP, has set specifications for 5G Radio and Core network functions which 5G vendors/partners have built their solutions to meet.

But, if you continue climbing up the stack, the application layer, in fact, has the greatest promise of enabling a unique value proposition. This is an area where hyperscalers’ strategy is still evolving, and by adding disruptive 5G value-added services, partners can play a pivotal role.

One example of an area where a 5G and cloud-based network modernization opportunity can be leveraged to create new APRU stream, is monetization of applications such as cloud gaming by offering end subscribers a higher and specifically targeted quality of service experience. The gaming traffic profile will radically change with cloud-based technology. The small and latency-sensitive transactions that we have seen for years - primarily in fixed networks - will now transition to sizable ones that will effectively carry over the gameplay as video content. 5G will be the enabler for this technology shift.

but the latencies and lags need to be minimal.

To get anything like this quality of experience, operator 5G Kishor Panpaliya networks need VP of Sales for Americas & APAC, to be in place, Enea Openwave stable, and highly performant and closely associated with other network resources including WiFi. But New Radio rollout will initially have limited coverage, with continuous bearer handovers, evident latency, bandwidth and congestion impacts in most operators’ early 5G deployment phases.

The opportunities here are great - the cloud gaming market is forecast to grow exponentially, reaching 8 Billion USD by 2025 and hyperscalers can enhance their telecom catalog by incorporating AI/ML based application level QoS (Quality of Service) management tools that fill a gap left unaddressed by 3GPP and require close collaboration between cloud stack providers and Telcos. Hyperscalers have to look no further than niche user plane solutions that extend the concept of QoS on a per-content and per-application basis, from the core through the edge of Telco networks to prioritize gaming transactions against other types of traffic, minimizing its latency.

Such a solution will augment 3GPP Layer 4 traffic classification filters and policy implementation to be application, content, and context aware.

Another innovative offering is to prioritize selected time-critical downlink data on a per micro-second basis, by dynamically controlling per user session pacing rate as well as packet burst interval from core network to Radio nodes. This can make or break an operator’s brand with regards to network speed benchmarks, particularly in hyper competitive markets, by improving network throughput performance.

As Cloud infrastructure, Radio and Core network functions become commodity; low cost / high impact value-added tools will enable cloud providers to step up their portfolio in their quest for gaining Telco market share. It’s all to play for!

The dream user experience for cloud gamers is the “flipper” use case. Here the user might begin a gaming session on a console at home but, once the user leaves home e.g. to commute to work, the game flips onto his 5G mobile device. Once at the office it flips again onto a laptop on WiFi. Of course the handoffs or “flips” have to be not only smooth and seamless,

•Vol - 03 / 01

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JANUARY 2021

UAV EXCLUSIVE

Overcoming Tethered UAV Challenges with a High-Voltage, Compact Module-based Power Delivery Network Robotic and unmanned vehicle (UV) fleets are reshaping the future of automation and production. Continuous improvements in productivity are being driven by extended range and increased uptime that are reliant on fleet maintenance, particularly the charging process. One of the top costs and inefficiencies today is the need for human intervention in the charging process; therefore, UAV and automated robotics developers are looking for ways to make further improvements in power density and efficiency to lighten loads and extend battery life. Realizing such improvements requires reconsideration of the power delivery network (PDN) and the use of high-density power modules instead of traditional, allin-one power supplies A growth markets for UAVs is tethered drones with extended uptimes and increased load capabilities for applications such as surveillance and communications. Ispagro addresses this market in an innovative way by retrofitting existing, market leading small drones from manufacturers such as DJI and Parrot. Retrofitting existing UAVs allows Ispagro to rapidly address evolving market needs in a cost-competitive manner, however, these battery operated, small drones have limited payloads and uptimes. Adding a tether extends uptime and provides fail-safe operation for safe landing via on-board battery in case of power failure, tether, damage, etc. The tether, however, does add more challenges for the UAV designer who must accommodate the 50m tether cable and aerial units within a tight 400 gm payload limit.

Ispagro overcomes this challenge by utilizing a PDN with Vicor BCM fixed-ratio DC-to-DC converter power modules to deliver efficient, reliable power to the airborne UAV via the tether

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Efficient power delivery with reduced footprint and weight.

Vicor power modules enable rapid deployment of DC-DC power conversion and power delivery across a wide range of voltages and power levels for both ground control and on-board systems.

Challenge

The biggest challenge is to reduce the weight of the tether, which is accomplished by transmitting high voltages from the ground to allow for the use of smaller gauge cables without incurring losses. High-power DC-to-DC conversion would typically require a bulky power supply. high-density and lightweight power modules are ideal for this application. High efficiency modules also enable lower input currents that, as noted, enable thinner and lighter tether cables. The weight saved from the tether cable can be used to maximize payload to improve the functionality and capabilities of the UAV. Newer versions with high capacity drones also need the power conversion to happen inside drone, and lightweight, high-performance power modules are necessary to fit into the

•Vol - 03 / 01

UAV EXCLUSIVE

system. As the drone size increases, its load requirements also increases further requiring more power. The need to support different power levels also impacts time-to-market if new PDNs must be designed for each product. Power modules that can be easily paralleled to deliver more power as needed significantly reduce development time and accelerate timeto-market.

Solution

Vicor high-density, high-efficiency power modules address Ispagro’s challenges. The BCM family of fixed-ratio converters offer the highest efficiency and highest power density for use in on-board power conversion. BCMs are available in many combinations of input and output voltages to accommodate a wide range of payload applications, and they can be easily paralleled to simplify development of UAV platforms.

The combination of high efficiency and light weight of Vicor BCMs enables tether cable weight reduction of 30% to 40%.

BCM modules can be paralleled with inputs powered from different sources because they are isolated transformers. BCM modules mounted close to each other and cooled equally will also equalize power dissipation. This further reduces amount of space needed, simplifies thermal management, and increases the power available to the drone and its payload.

JANUARY 2021

Why Vicor?

The Vicor PDN solution is compact and lightweight due to industry leading high power density. Ispagro was able to meet their higher power requirements with a simple 2-module solution using fixed-ratio BCMs. This solution achieves 98% peak efficiency and continuous efficiency of 95% with high MTBF. As Ispagro increases power requirements, these BCMs can be swapped out for other BCMs or paralleled as needed with minimal additional development.

About ISPARGO

ISPAGRO Robotics is a start-up working towards engineering solutions to prevailing problems with an innovative approach.

We are currently developing drones for addressing problems in the agricultural industry, with unique and original designs that could be applied to other sectors as well such as defence, inspection and maintenance, firefighting etc. For more information on the applications of our technology in other sectors, please see the industries section. ANGULAIR is the registered brand name of ISPAGRO Robotics. https://ispagro.in/aboutus

Figure: Power Delivery Network using Vicor high-density, high-efficiency, fixed-ratio, isolated Bus Converter Modules.

•Vol - 03 / 01

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JANUARY 2021

BIG PICTURE

M2M,

Smart Automation and Business Intelligence Need to be Followed by the Companies

Flex, a multinational electronics contract manufacturer has made its name in the industry, because of its products quality and punctuality. Flex is serving its customers in all over the world. From a small consumer device to cloud infrastructure, from drug delivery systems to autonomous vehicle electronic modules, Flex provides everything and has become all-rounder in the same industry. While talking with Nitisha from BisInfotech, Sekaran Letchumanan, Vice President – Operations at Flex India shares the value of industry 4.0 in today’s world, some unique facts about the industry and upcoming projects.

Sekaran Letchumanan Vice President – Operations Flex India

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•Vol - 03 / 01

BIG PICTURE

JANUARY 2021

1. Please share some unique facts of Flex and its 3. Unique offering of FLEX catering the current market presence in India? demand?

Flex is the manufacturing partner of choice that utilizes technology, with trusted supply chain and domain expertise to help a diverse customer base design, innovate, build and deliver products that improve the world. Flex has been operating in India since 2001 and over the last nineteen years we have grown from strength to strength. We are present in six locations across India, including Chennai, Sriperumbudur, Pune, Bengaluru, and Sri City serving customers through three distinct lines of business, which are manufacturing, global business services and aftermarket services.

In India, Flex has three manufacturing sites in Chennai Industrial Park (CIP) which mainly builds products for domestic and export market in consumer, power, telecom, computing, automotive and industrial segments. The Flex Sri City facility in Andhra Pradesh, builds consumer products for the domestic market. We are one of the largest employers in India. We have over seventeen thousand employees with an average workforce tenure of more than five years.

2. How Industry 4.0 is going to help companies especially their supply-chain. The way forward and best practices for a seamless transformation?

We are in a distinctive position to see trends early because of where we stand in the value chain, and the diverse markets that we serve. We manufacture everything from small consumer devices to cloud infrastructure. Our manufacturing service also includes drug delivery systems and autonomous vehicle electronic modules. We operate directly and indirectly, in almost every country in the world. The demand for medical suppliers increased steeply during COVID 19, and the shortage of vital medical equipment hindered the ability of healthcare professionals to diagnose the extreme respiratory conditions caused by the virus.

Flex runs about hundred global operations and is partnering with businesses in the cloud, robotics and process innovators.

We believe in always doing the right thing and we want to use our manufacturing expertise to make products that contribute positively to the world.

Flex is driving the evolution of Industry 4.0 by investing in a focused portfolio of advanced manufacturing capabilities and technologies to provide greater efficiency, quality, and sustainability for customers

It is undeniable that Industry 4.0 is fast changing the way organizations handle their core functions and a true game changer in the manufacturing sector. Emerging technologies such as VR, Autonomy, Cybersecurity, Big Data and the Cloud all hold massive potential for development and innovation.

Globally, we have one thousand supply chains, one million component Stock Keeping Units (SKU), sixteen thousand suppliers, five million-dollar freight annual spend, and twenty thousand purchase orders executed daily from the thirty countries in which we operate.

4. Covid-19 has made contactless and automation a new normal. Future avenues it opens for Industry 4.0 solution providers and Flex expertise to tap this opportunity.

Flex has a proven track record of adjusting quickly to changing market dynamics enabled by its deep partnerships and sophisticated supply chain management tools and processes.

COVID-19 showed us that it is no longer only about driving down costs and increasing efficiencies but also about ensuring reliability across the end to end value chain. As the world’s complexities and uncertainties continue to grow, so do risk exposures. Ensuring end-to-end accountability and real-time asset monitoring is important, especially during current times.

That is where Industry 4.0 comes into play.

India has always been quick to respond and embrace the usage of newer technologies. We see the trend rising and it will continue to do so especially against the backdrop of COVID- 19. Cost and time efficiencies, the optimal utilization of manpower and market demands will all play a role in how fast these technologies are adopted. The emerging Industry 4.0 technologies provide cost benefits, improve efficiencies and has changed the competitive landscape. Emerging technologies such as IoT, Analytics and Cloud have helped manufacturing to be quick and relook at the way they operate.

Technology is transforming the automotive industry and the potential disruptors are advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), domain controllers, AV powered sensors, electric vehicle applications, autonomous (AV) cross collaboration, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) features, IoT partnerships, 5G and Level 4 autonomy.

Defined by unparalleled machine intelligence and connectivity, industry 4.0 introduces cyber-physical systems and IoT on the factory floor. Our modern manufacturing efforts are driving advancements in industry 4.0, bringing greater efficiency, enhanced quality and sustainability to the manufacturing process. Flex’s 4.0 priorities are M2M communication; Smart Automation and Robotics; Augmented Reality, Digitization, real time Supply Chain capabilities, Additive manufacturing and 3D manufacturing alongside Simulation and Visualization.

•Vol - 03 / 01

Our modern manufacturing efforts are driving advancements in industry 4.0, bringing greater efficiency, quality and sustainability to the manufacturing process. The shift to smart factories is already well underway. While robots performed a global average of 10 percent of factory tasks in 2015, by 2025, that number is expected to rise to 25 percent and as high as 40 percent in some sectors.

5. What kind of new technology adoption we will be seeing in manufacturing industry?

At the heart of Industry 4.0 and modern manufacturing, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications are the key to unlocking factories of the future. Traditional hardwired

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JANUARY 2021

BIG PICTURE

connections between machines on the manufacturing floor are not designed for connectivity, which means these machines inherently require manual assistance from an operator.

Machine-to-machine communications present the first real opportunity for contactless line maintenance, and one step closer to a fully automated manufacturing environment. With cloud and edge computing, connected intelligent devices are all over the factory floor, constantly collecting data that can be used to train machine learning models to monitor operations in real time and flag issues. In our experience, predictive maintenance can reduce downtime as much as 20%, a huge win considering bottlenecks on the production floor can make or break on-time shipment.

3D printing and Additive Manufacturing optimizes designs, for increased product customization, functionality and cost management in addition to introducing time efficiencies. Our “smart automation” solutions are designed with flexibility in mind. These modular, reprogrammable robotic systems are intended for quick change-over for faster manufacturing and less downtime. Advanced and remote simulation allows us to test production lines, products and more without affecting time, resources or capital in the real world. Our efforts to digitize and connect processes drive real-time decision making across the value chain. As it’s not just the production floor that is undergoing a revolution, with emerging technologies our entire ecosystem – from supply chains to logistics – can also sense risks and trigger workflows to correct issues before they become critical problems. Our software-based visualization tool, Flex Pulse, digitizes our global supply chain from end to end to identify events that might impact supply chain efficiency.

6. Designing and developing products is becoming more complex with advanced technology sweeping the tech corridors. How challenging is it in real use cases and Flex leadership in it?

Designing and developing products is becoming more complex. For example, autonomous driving technologies have proven to be a great challenge for decades. It requires high-performance processing capabilities to analyze huge amounts of data from various kinds of sensors including RADAR, LIDAR, and ultrasonic sensors. In addition, autonomous driving technology demands high-speed, parallel processing and distributed computing design capabilities that are usually used in the IT and telecoms industry. To top it off, it also requires ruggedized, high-reliability design crucial to the automotive industry.

Many in the industry have been talking about autonomous driving solutions, but few companies have mass production capabilities and experience in this area. While many traditional automotive suppliers and technology companies have devoted much time and resource in this area, not many have been successful in mass producing Level-4 autonomous parking solution devices. To help companies succeed in this arena, Flex is offering one-stop design services in the areas of electronics & electrical, mechanical, thermal, software and functional safety design. All our design services are customized to meet

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customer requirements. Along with design services, Flex also provides innovative & reliable supply chain and manufacturing services in support of the customer.

7. Strategies Flex opts to meet the market demand while providing reliability and cost-effectiveness with their solution.

We are in a distinctive position to see trends early because of where we stand in the value chain, and the diverse markets that we serve. We manufacture everything from a small consumer device to cloud infrastructure, from drug delivery systems to autonomous vehicle electronic modules. The Flex manufacturing team is dedicated to always finding a better way, moving fast and doing the right thing We have always been conscious about the market demands and have remained relevant by quickly adapting to the current market requirements. For example, COVID-19 was driving significant demand increases in critical care products, such as oxygenators, patient monitors, testing equipment, and ICU-related necessities, all of which we manufacture and quickly responded to, by increasing production to help our customers meet demand.

We also started manufacturing five different ventilator programs.

Typically, medical programs take nine to 18 months to ramp.

We ramped and started shipping ventilators in five weeks. Flex has an incredible track record of innovation and leadership in our industry. At our core is a commitment to design-led innovation, whether in engineering services or advanced manufacturing, or in 5G or artificial intelligence. We employ modern manufacturing technologies and processes in our factories around the world to boost productivity and efficiency, while lowering downtime and costs.

8. Lastly major trends you see catapulting and dominating the technology innovation in coming time?

Manufacturing companies must react quickly to changing market conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused temporary shutdowns and the world's supply chain. When facilities are re-opening, manufacturers must preserve business continuity and performance. To anticipate, understand and respond to changing production levels manufacturers need to utilize Industry 4.0 innovations such as machine-to-machine communications (M2M), smart automation and business intelligence. Digital manufacturing innovation is a remotely enabled technology made possible by a combination of the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and real-time analytics. These tools provide insights that helps in getting back to normal production levels.

The combination of IoT technologies, cloud and analytics have primed manufacturing to adapt in the face of unexpected global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to our investment in these technologies, we were able to maintain forward momentum as operations stopped and restarted at our facilities.

•Vol - 03 / 01

ENGINEENR'S CORNER

JANUARY 2021

Want Your Tech Dream Job in 2021, Here are the New Tech Job Skills!

- Niloy Banerjee

Ok! 2020 has been a search job year for the newbies entering into the tech industry. Other already on boarded were confused on what proficiency and KRAs shall be the new Tech job skills for the industry given the dynamic digital pace. Coming towards 2021, you must be eager to know what will be the top tech job skills which can help you grow and equally make you relevant in every way in the tech industry. Top job skills in 2021 shall not just determine the options chosen for your tech career but your skill sets and understanding on newer technologies.

Now a report from Burning Glass Technologies states the two tech job skills paying the highest salary premiums today and in 2021 are IT Automation ($24,969) and AI & Machine Learning ($14,175). Hence automation and AI & machine learning will certainly peg the tech job skills.

In a report Fortune stated that startups with a value of $1 billion or more are 33% more likely to prioritize one or several top ten tech job skills in their new hire plans versus their legacy Fortune 100-based competitors or colleagues. Hence watch out for the startups!

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IT Automation The Big Pie in 2021

IT Automation expertise can earn technical professionals a $24,969 salary premium, the most lucrative of all tech job skills to have in 2021. Burning Glass Technologies defines IT Automation as the skills related to automating and orchestrating digital processes and workflows. Six of the ten job skills are marketable enough to drive technical professionals' salaries above $10,000 a year. At an average salary uplift of $8,851, proactive security (cybersecurity) job skills' market value seems low. Future surveys in 2021 will most likely reflect the impact of the SolarWinds breach on demand for this skill set.

The following graphic compares the average salary premium by tech job skill area.

“Software Dev. Methodologies (DevOps) expertise is the most marketable going into 2021.”

“Quantum Computing, Connected Technologies, Fintech and AI & Machine Learning expertise are predicted to be the fastest-growing tech job skills in 2021 and beyond.”

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JANUARY 2021

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Significant Increase In Optimism Around AI in Indian Organisations Over 90 percent of enterprises surveyed are implementing or planning to invest in AI solutions to address current business concerns.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AI has gone up significantly from 72% to 92%, and 45% of Indian organisations have increased the use of AI post Covid-19. Further, 94% of the respondents claim they have either implemented or are planning to implement AI in their organisations.

JANUARY 2021

AI to help overcome these challenges.

The PwC India’s survey suggests that around 70% of enterprises have implemented AI in some form in one or more functional areas compared to around 62% last year Travel and hospitality (89%) has taken the lead in AI adoption, followed by TMT (86%), financial services (82%), and healthcare and pharma (73%) The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of advanced analytics and AI around the world. According to a report launched by PwC India titled, ‘AI: An opportunity amidst a crisis’, India noted the highest increase in the use of AI as compared to major economies (the US, UK and Japan), with over 70% Indian enterprises having implemented AI in some form in one or more functional areas compared to around 62% last year. The report also highlights that there is increased importance of AI in driving revenues, optimising costs or managing risks.

Commenting on the study, Sudipta Ghosh, Partner and Leader- Data and Analytics, PwC India said, “The far-reaching consequences of the global pandemic have driven organisations to balance the competing priorities of safeguarding health and ensuring business continuity. AI is now regarded as a key enabler for organisations to repair (emerge from the present crisis), rethink (plan for transformation) and reconfigure (make fundamental changes to the operating model for lasting competitive advantage).

To get the best out of AI, businesses need to start viewing it as a necessity rather than luxury and weave it into the fabric of the enterprise. In developing countries like ours, improving demand may be a potentially more relevant benefit than savings through automation. Hence, given the availability of a large pool of skilled resources, AI efforts need to be directed towards complementing human capabilities and helping businesses prepare for the future,” he added.

The increased adoption of AI can be attributed to the following factors:

1) Post COVID-19, AI-enabled use cases like contactless selling and delivery have gained traction due to changes in buying behaviour.

2) As organisations are reopening their manufacturing and office locations, AI-enabled tools are helping them enforce best practices from a health and safety perspective.

3) The remote workforce is relying more on AI-enabled digital assistants to do their work without loss of productivity.

4) As past knowledge and experience may fail to provide the right insights in these times of disruption, organisations are increasingly making decisions based on current data using AI-enabled predictive and prescriptive tools.

5) To reduce cost of doing business, combat disruption and become future ready, organisations are adopting AI-based digital twins and synthetic data. This is also enabling them to build resilient ecosystems (e.g. supply chain and operations).

The survey also reveals a shift in the nature of inhibitors from technical to business as organisations who were primarily focusing on pilots and proofs of concept (PoCs) are now attempting to scale up these solutions at the enterprise level. The change in the nature of inhibitors clearly signals an improvement in the maturity and willingness of organisations in terms of adopting AI as a tool for achieving business outcomes.

However, organisations adopting AI applications often face multiple challenges and fail to realise the optimum value from their AI investments. For instance, 37% of organisations find it challenging to identify the right use cases for AI implementation and 28% of enterprises lack high-quality data for use in AI solutions. Through the report, PwC India recommends a structured approach towards implementing

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JANUARY 2021

BIG PICTURE

Beyond 2021, Semiconductor Companies May Have More Difficulty Predicting Demand What will drive semiconductor business in 2021? What will be the impact of Covid-19 and semiconductor players strategies in the post-pandemic era? Industrial, infrastructure and IoT segments would enjoy a stronger tailwind due to COVID-19 according to Renesas’ CEO, Hidetoshi Shibata. To further understand Renesas’ ahead strategies and focuses, legacy of innovations, technical know-how and megatrends, Niloy from BIS gets alongside Sailesh Chittipeddi, Executive Vice President and General Manager, IoT & Infrastructure Business Unit, Renesas Electronics Corporation.

1. Given today’s scenario, what are the key focuses of Renesas and according to the company which sectors are the new drivers for the semiconductor biz.

To answer these questions, let’s look back at Renesas Electronics’ 3rd quarter 2020 financial results announced on October 29, 2020. As of September 30, 2020, 3Q revenue was 178.7 billion JPY, +7.2% QoQ, with gross margin at 47.5% and operating margin at 20.4% (Non-GAAP).

All Renesas revenue, growth margin and operating margin beat the guidance provided three months earlier. The key reason was mainly driven by the recovery in the automotive market – Renesas’ agile production resulted in tighter manufacturing costs and better inventory management.

In addition, we can all agree that 2020 has been a unique year for all people and manufacturers around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the way people live, and the way industry and business operate. However, as Renesas’ CEO, Hidetoshi Shibata, mentioned at the Renesas Strategy Update meeting, all the applications in industrial, infrastructure and IoT segments would enjoy a stronger tailwind due to COVID-19. The areas Renesas experienced growth were the result of increased demand for network bandwidth, laptops, PCs and tablets, together with Renesas devices for healthcare and air quality monitoring applications. 5G was the other area where Renesas also experienced a good tailwind. And the surveillance and voice user interfaces (VUI) are starting to take on more importance because touch is becoming less important, especially in this environment, where people are a little bit more sensitive.

2. Can you elaborate about the technical and technological know-how of Renesas’ in the IoT business and key offerings to cater the digital-crony market?

With an estimated 14 billion devices connected to the Internet today and an estimated 50 billion connected devices by the end of 2023, the Internet of Things (IoT) offers a tremendous market opportunity. But it also presents a major security risk.

Fortunately, technical standards and regulatory thinking concerning cybersecurity issues seem to be converging

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Sailesh Chittipeddi

Executive Vice President and General Manager, IoT & Infrastructure Business Unit, Renesas Electronics Corporation

and maturing. With security now deeply embedded in the regulatory process, everyone must address the issue directly and effectively. Therefore, planning for compliance and implementing best practices must proceed hand-in-hand.

Security regulations and guidelines establish basic security principles. These principles include: Design for Security There are many existing design processes for embedded systems, all of which establish threat analysis, security requirements, secure design, implementation, test/verification for security, and a response plan in the event of any issues following the release of the product.

Multiple Protection Layers (Defense in Depth) In security applications, protection is most often implemented in multiple layers to prevent different types of attacks and provide redundancy and traceability.

Protection across the Product Life Cycle Lifecycle management is vital to an OEM’s ability to maintain the security and integrity of their products from production, to shipment, to deployment, and ultimately to their end-of-life.

Hardware Roots-of-Trust Roots of Trust (RoT) are the foundation of assuring the trustworthiness of a device. As such, RoT is security primitives composed of hardware, firmware, and/or software that provide a set of trusted, security-critical functions (NIST SP800-164, Hardware Roots of Trust).

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BIG PICTURE While the principles outlined above guide our security principles, our customers benefit from several other features. These include: hardware-accelerated cryptography, hardwareenforced isolation, secure key handling, immutable program Flash, JTAG and programmer protection, which protects our MCU and MPU memories from external access.

3. How Renesas is empowering the post-COVID-19 workplaces, types of application and User Scenarios if any?

The megatrends described at the beginning of the year, which are driving growth for the Infrastructure and IoT Business unit, are still valid, and COVID-19 has not changed that. All these trends were about data movement from the core to the end-point. The first trend is the disaggregation of data centers, with the hardware and software being broken up into memory clusters and processing clusters and interconnects.

Then there is the 5G ramp-up trend, followed by the trend of more and more intelligence migrating to the endpoints.

These three trends are still valid today.

In data centers, we at Renesas are not talking about memory or the processors, but about interconnect components for the data flow between memory and CPU, i.e. memory interface products. These components account for a large share of our sales in the infrastructure sector, plus components for digital power, timing, and optical components. The 5G ramp-up currently only refers to sub-6 GHz, but for this, we have RF, timing, and optical components. In addition, this year, we will be launching ICs aimed at 5G power applications. And when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge and endpoint, our MCUs and MPUs are the core of our business.

Therefore, we have realigned our MCU/MPU roadmap. At the end of last year, for example, we launched ARM-based microcontrollers from the RA family. In addition, there are MPUs with which we can cover everything from motor control to graphics and surveillance camera applications. The RZ family, especially the RZ/V2M, is primarily used in video applications, where these products are characterized by the lowest power consumption. This means the developer gets a product with GPU-level processing power, but at a fraction of the cost and with a fraction of the power consumption.

4. Renesas technical support, partner ecosystem designin support for your solutions?

Renesas is enabling a comprehensive partner ecosystem to deliver an array of software and hardware building blocks that will work out-of-the-box with Renesas RA Family MCUs. The Renesas RA ecosystem will help accelerate the development of IoT applications, including core technologies such as security, safety, connectivity, and human-machine interface (HMI) among others. The RA MCU ecosystem has over 50 partners today with more planned. Each partner’s building block solution carries the "RA Ready" badge and is designed to solve real-world customer problems. RA Ready solutions accelerate time to market by providing plug and play options that enable a variety of IoT capabilities like security, connectivity, AI, machine learning (ML), and HMI.

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JANUARY 2021

5. How is Renesas creating products that are in sync with new realities?

In the new normal, AI, building & industrial automation, and smart home technologies will play an important role, as the human presence will be less owing to new guidelines post lockdown. We are ready to help our customers in the new normal with Renesas MPUs and MCUs and a wide range of analog, power, mixed-signal and connectivity products.

We provide scalable computer processing solutions to our customers ranging from general-purpose MCUs to AI integrated microprocessors. The range comes with predictive analytics that can help our customers further in making business decisions. Similarly, our products have motor control that ranges from low-end suitable for home appliances to the high-end addressing robotics on the factory floor and other business environments. So, in nutshell, I can say that we are ready to face whatever challenge that the new normal throws at us.

6. Major focus and roadmap of RENESAS to escalate growth further in 2021?

According to Invest India, the Indian electronics market is expected to reach 400B by 2025 and per capita disposable income and private consumption have doubled in the past seven years. As a result, India has emerged as one of the world’s largest markets for electronic products. The MEITY’s Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI), Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components, and Semiconductors (SPECS) and Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters Scheme (EMC 2.0) have the potential to position India as a global hub for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM).

We plan to be a part of the growth journey that India expects to enjoy. The IoT, mobility, medical, consumer, infrastructure and industrial sectors are emerging as winners in the postCOVID era. Bio-sensing is also an important application due to the coronavirus because getting inexpensive healthcare and air-quality monitoring to people is going to become much more important.

IoT, Industrial and consumer electronics provide stable growth possibilities as the country develops towards first-world capabilities. We are leveraging our scale by going deeper with existing customers, especially in industrial smart meters, motor control and voice user interfaces applied to smart devices and intelligent appliances.

Using winning combination solutions, product cross-selling, and product extensions--through the integration of Renesas, Intersil and IDT product lines--has widened our customer base. We are also deepening our engagements with existing customers. All of these steps are fundamental to our go-to-market strategy.

7. Given your leadership position, what will be the strategic approach of Renesas in coming years and alongside trends you envision to shape the semiconductor industry?

According to reports from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $39.0 billion

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BIG PICTURE

for the month of October 2020, an increase of 6.0 percent compared to the October 2019 total of $36.8 billion and 3.1 percent more than the September 2020 total of $37.9 billion.

Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a threemonth moving average. Additionally, a newly released WSTS industry forecast projects annual global sales will increase by 5.1 percent in 2020, followed by an increase of 8.4 percent in 2021. Projections for both years are higher than they were in the previous WSTS forecast released in July. SIA represents 98 percent of the U.S. semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. chip firms. Industry forecast revised upward now projects moderate growth in 2020 followed by stronger growth in 2021.[1] Beyond 2021, semiconductor companies may have more difficulty predicting demand because even greater uncertainty abounds about healthcare and business developments. As companies create long term plans and evaluate potential scenarios, trends in two areas deserve particular attention.

Over the past few months, people around the world have experimented with new ways of working, studying, and communicating through videoconferencing and other technologies. Such trends could have a lasting impact on semiconductor demand and open new possibilities for existing products and services. For example, as online collaboration

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grows, demand could increase for semiconductors that enables servers, connectivity, and cloud usage. Semiconductors may also be in high demand for products and services like contactless solutions, including touch screen and elevator buttons, assisted-living devices, including sensors that help elderly and chronically ill patients remain in their homes, rather than moving to traditional assisted-living facilities.

Also, automated-delivery solutions for the last mile, such as robots and drones will play a major role in assisting people.

We’ve learned that we all need to embrace uncertainty as part of our operating model, and we must become agile and learn to adapt quickly in order to get through the coronavirus.

As in previous downturns, those semiconductor companies that were agile and acted quickly emerged stronger. Modest CAPEX cuts, a focus on R&D innovation, and a pragmatic approach to M&A can help companies capture growth and create cutting-edge technologies that will be in high demand as the global economy recovers.

To close on a slightly different note, our ability to provide excellent support and service from engineering design all the way to parts shipments to our customer in the midst of any crisis will determine the trust and longevity of our partnerships.

As long as, Renesas can outperform our competitors in this area, I am confident that we will emerge much stronger from this pandemic over time.

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TECH TRENDS

JANUARY 2021

Tech Trends to Watch Out For 2021 Micron is excited by the combination of growth drivers coming into alignment for the industry for 2021. These growth drivers include: economic recovery from the pandemic; new CPU architectures, which are enabling higher server content; cloud, AI and machine-learning growth; robust mobile demand driven by 5G; and strength in gaming and automotive.

Mobile

The smartphone market has been impacted by COVID, but in 2021, we expect a rebound in smartphone unit volumes, coupled with robust average capacity growth across both DRAM and NAND solutions. 5G handset volumes could grow to approximately 500M units in 2021, from around 200M units in 2020, and these 5G products feature higher memory and storage content to enable enhanced user experience.

Data Center

The data center market continues to be a growth engine for Micron, and this year COVID-19 accelerated this growth, specifically in cloud. The market is expected to start its transition to DDR5 in the second half of FY21, and networking and 5G deployments, particularly in Asia, will drive healthy DRAM bit growth quarter-over-quarter.

in the supply chain. We expect a resurgence in desktop PC sales after a weak 2020 due to pandemic-driven changes to customer buying patterns.

Automotive Memory

In 2021, Auto DRAM and NAND will continue to see robust demand autonomous vehicles and even connected cars promise more features including in-vehicle infotainment, 4K displays, AI-enabled features like gesture recognition and natural language processing, we’re seeing an exponential increase in memory and compute demands. The modern automobile has more lines of code than any other application or operating system—more than Facebook, Windows 10, airplanes, etc. In fact, the amount of compute performance needed for cars is reaching data center levels; in advanced driver assistance / autonomous driving, cars need hundreds of tera operations per second which is some of the highest levels of performance in the industry today, rivaling what you will find in data centers and servers. Given these trends, in 2021, we can expect to see automotive players increasingly turning to alternative options for low-power, energy-efficient memory and storage such as fast, high-bandwidth graphics memory and compact multi-chip packages.

PC & Graphics

Work from home trends continue to drive strong demand for notebooks, with pockets of nonmemory component shortages

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JANUARY 2021

AEROSPACE & DEFENCE

INTERFERENCE HUNTING IN THE FIELD

Madhukar Tripathi

Head –MARCOM & OPTICAL PRODUCTS, ANRITSU INDIA PVT. LTD

What is Interference?

Interference is any unwanted signal that makes a radio receiver’s job harder such as illegal transmissions, unlocked and drifting transmissions, noise from leaky cable TV feeds, unsuppressed EMI from power tools or microwave ovens, local high power radios and even multi-path from nearby buildings and hills. Interference from both illegal and unintentional signals is a significant problem for mobile service providers, security services and government regulators. Interference degrades network performance, causing critical communications to be interrupted.

Sources of Interference • Illegal jammers • Unlocked or drifting radios • Oscillating repeaters • Damaged or leaking RF cables • Improper antenna positioning • Pulsed signals (similar to radar) • Signals hidden in LTE uplink channels • “Pirate” TV/radio stations and BTS cellular equipment operating illegally

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Spectrum monitoring system

Benefits of Real-time Spectrum Analysis for Resolving Interference Problems

RF field engineers have relied on spectrum analyzers to detect transient interferers and unwanted hidden signals for each wireless communications generation. As we enter a new era where millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies are becoming more commonplace due to the rollout of 5G and advanced aerospace/military systems, selecting the proper spectrum analyzer becomes more important. In fact, it can

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AEROSPACE & DEFENCE be the difference between quickly and efficiently locating and removing an interfering signal or missing it entirely and having network performance fail to meet key performance indicators (KPIs).

Many modern spectrum analyzers can perform the following functions -- real-time spectrum analysis (RTSA), swept-tuning and signal analysis. Each has advantages and limitations for interference hunting.

Advantages of Real Time Spectrum Analyzers

RTSA's continuously acquires samples of pulsed or transient signals where a fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is performed. RTSA's are particularly useful for finding intermittent interference signals.

The RTSA process flow can acquire a new sample frame while simultaneously performing the FFT on the previous sample frame. This parallel processing requires fast digital hardware and a large memory buffer. RTSA spectrum analyzers perform FFTs at an extremely fast rate. For example, the Field Master Pro™ MS2090A, can perform 527,000 FFTs per second for a 512-point FFT. Most RTSA instruments display the FFT data in a colorful density display, which summarizes the amount of time RF energy is present at any given frequency/amplitude during the capture. This is especially useful in interference analysis for two reasons. First, signals of very short duration will still be displayed on the screen. Second, when an interfering signal is hidden inside an intended modulated signal, it will still be displayed on screen. Often, these signals will be shown in a different color for easy recognition.

Swept-tuned Spectrum Analyzer

A swept-tuned spectrum analyzer uses an architecture that sweeps its local oscillator (LO) to down-convert the input frequency range to a fixed intermediate frequency (IF). It is then filtered by the resolution bandwidth (RBW) filter and detected. This type of spectrum analyzer can only see a small portion of the frequency span at any moment. It is blind to transient signals that appear when the sweep is scanning a different part of the input frequency range. Wideband monitoring is often most useful in the detection phase of the interference mitigation process.

Signal Analysis Process

To determine the type of interference under investigation, the signal can be demodulated. Various parameters such as signal quality, color codes and identification information (depending on signal type) can be obtain. Knowledge of the signal type can ofter help the user in addressing the interference problem. Where signal identity can be determined, the problem can sometimes be address with a phone call to the offending party.

Probability of Intercept (POI)

The key performance metric when evaluating spectrum analyzers, especially for finding transient interference, is the probability of intercept (POI). POI is defined as the minimum

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JANUARY 2021

signal duration necessary to accurately measure the amplitude of a continuous wave (CW) signal. The smaller the POI, the higher the chance of catching intermittent interference.

POI is affected by several factors, including FFT processing speed, sample rate, window overlap, RBW, and span.

Anritsu offers a wide range of interference testing tools and software to make engineers job easy. Using a right tool and software will enable interference detection and documentation simple and fast.

(A) Anritsu’s MasterClaw™ multi-dimensional service assurance solution, coupled with our Remote Spectrum Monitors, identify possible interference by providing real-time visibility of communications network performance and specific RFfocused monitoring. MasterClaw provides Communications Service Providers with an unrivaled, real-time view into network performance (hand-offs, RSSI, data rates, etc.), which enables optimization of customer experience, better understanding of how customers use data services, and visibility of customer impacts. The solution provides unique visibility into the experience of ALL your customers, including how many users are impacted by any problem, which services are impacted, and when.

MasterClaw has actionable intelligence to identify, prioritize, and resolve problems before they impact your customers. Anritsu Remote Spectrum Monitors are housed in an environmentally secure enclosure, can be permanently located outdoors, and are tolerant of all-weather conditions. By installing an array of these devices around a large geographic area, it is now possible to monitor for RF interference city- or even statewide.

Each Remote Spectrum Monitor is connected by Ethernet back to a central monitoring location. Using Anritsu Vision™ software, the RF environment may be monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Alarms can be set to automatically send alerts when interferers are identified. BTS Master™ now has a CPRI option for remote radio heads PIM Master™ identifies passive intermodulation Interference Hunting.

(B) Base Station Interference Testing: Once possible interference issues have been identified, it’s time to go to the nearest affected base station. Checking the base station receive signal, typically at an RX test port, is a good place to start.

Interfering signals will often be obvious at this point. Once spotted, it is important to decide if the interfering signal is being produced by a base station fault or is from an external source. If it is coming from the base station, Anrtisu has an array of test equipment to identify faults. Passive intermodulation, bad transmitters, and damaged feedlines or antenna can all contribute to interference. Anritsu offers a full portfolio of base station test and measurement equipment for maintenance and optimization. If the interference is coming from outside of the base station, a spectrum analyzer allows you to see the spectrum and better identify what type of interferer you are looking for based on the frequency, spectrum shape, time of day, and spectrum analyzer setup. The results of your testing should give you an initial estimate 2of the emitter location, at least identifying the sector

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JANUARY 2021

AEROSPACE & DEFENCE application for Vision software is the detection of illegal or unlicensed broadcast signals. Illegal broadcasters may set up AM/FM, cellular, or other types of transmissions that must be identified and ultimately located. By using spectrum monitors, unlicensed broadcasts can be tracked, processed, and stored in a database for further examination and potential use in legal proceedings.

VISION SOFTWARE:

Spectrum monitoring systems facilitate the identification and removal of interference signals that degrade network capacity. By monitoring spectrum on a continual basis, problem signals can be identified as they occur in real time. Patterns of unwanted signal activity can also be examined, providing an efficient way to characterize and locate the source of the interference problem. In addition to interference detection, spectrum monitoring is also used to characterize spectrum occupancy. Government regulators and operators are often interested in determining the usage rate for various frequency bands. Monitoring these frequencies provides the information needed to optimize spectrum for maximum utilization. Spectrum can be re-purposed for other applications or multiplexed with other signals using cognitive radio techniques. Spectrum monitoring also serves to enforce compliance with government regulations. Police, fire fighters, air traffic control, military, and emergency services must all have access to communications free of impediments and distortion. Compliance with spectrum regulations is often enforced by spectrum monitoring. Figure 1 shows spectrum monitors surrounding a prison facility looking for illegal transmissions.

Vision MX280001A Software Overview The Vision MX280001A software platform works with Anritsu’s spectrum monitoring hardware to automate the process of collecting measurement data, as well as providing useful information about network health and use of the spectrum. Using multiple hardware probes covering a wide geographical area, Vision software presents a comprehensive picture of spectral activity to assist users in monitoring the spectrum for unusual activity. Figure 2 shows a typical signal monitoring system with Anritsu Remote Spectrum Monitor MS27102A positioned for maximum coverage.

Vision software facilitates a variety of applications used for spectrum monitoring systems. One important application includes determining the presence of interferers in a network that can degrade communication services. Cellular operators in particular are vulnerable to such interference that manifests itself in slower data rates and dropped calls. In most cases, network performance is compromised on the uplink frequency bands (communication from the mobile unit to the base station). However, network quality of service can also be impacted by interference on the downlink channels. This type of interference can be prevalent at the cell periphery where the power levels of the interference signals approximate those transmitted by the base station itself. Another important

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Vision Monitor: The Vision Monitor program is the visible user interface for monitoring remote spectrum activity. It provides a listing of all hardware monitors in the system along with a graphic overview of system health.

Vision Monitor performs a wide range of spectrum monitoring duties including: • Measurement acquisition • Data storage • Threshold setting/alarm generation • Reporting Users can set up the Vision Monitor program to take automatic measurements for all spectrum monitors.

The measurements are in turn uploaded into a database for further review. The database is updated with new data while old information is periodically purged according to user settings. Functions are also available for archiving, copying, and compressing the database.

For each remote monitor, Vision Monitor is capable of collecting data from as many as 24 input RF ports. This can be ideal for cellular systems with multiple sectors and multiple frequencies per sector.

Vision Locate Vision Locate is an optional program used with Vision Monitor. Once an interferer or suspected illegal signal is identified, a geo-location algorithm is employed to fix the approximate position of the signal. This enables the user to narrow down the signal location, minimizing the time and expense for pin-pointing its position. A sample map is shown in Figure 9 showing the suspected interference position using Power of Arrival (POA). In this window, the probe locations are indicated by the red squares. The interference position is identified by the concentric circles.

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AEROSPACE & DEFENCE

JANUARY 2021

generally supplied include: • Identity of broadcaster • GPS coordinates of broadcaster’s transmitter position • Frequency band in which a broadcaster is allowed to transmit • Power level authorized for the transmission • Type of signal broadcast (commercial radio, public safety, cellular, etc)

File Viewer The File Viewer is a free utility included with the Vision software download. As part of the Vision installation, the ‘FileViewer.exe’ program is placed in the Vision software’s installation directory. Spectrum channel measurements saved as part of the High-Speed Port Scanner option can be viewed with the File Viewer.

Broadcaster information can be imported into Vision Monitor (option 400) via a spreadsheet (CSV format) and overlaid on the trace display. Additionally, users can plot the positions of all the transmitters on a map. Users can simply ‘mouseover’ an icon on the map to see a pop-up window showing all information available on that transmitter. In addition to broadcaster information supplied by the regulator, users may want to plot and identify other positions. For example, a cellular operator may want to identify the positions and frequencies of all their BTS transceiver equipment. This information is often considered proprietary and would be used only within the operator’s system. Interference hunters working for the operator could use this information to know their proximity to BTS equipment to prevent over-powering their receivers

Signal Broadcast Identification is important feature in interference testing. When hunting interference signals, it can be helpful to have real-time information for what type of signal is authorized to be in a given channel. Regulators monitoring their frequency bands also want to view what signals are present and whether the transmissions fall within the bandwidth allocated to a particular vendor. Anritsu’s Signal Broadcast Identification feature is designed to meet these needs. Using publically available data, users can import this information so that it is readily available once the spectrum is viewed. Whatever information that is available from the government regulator (or other agency involved with broadcast licensing) can be used. Broadcast information

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JANUARY 2021

VETERAN'S COLUMN

MD- STMicroelectronics India share company’s Technology & Key industry trends that will dominate in 2021

Vivek Sharma, Managing Director, STMicroelectronics talks about key industry trends of 2021.

As we come closer to 2021, the semiconductor industry is mulling into the industry trends and technologies which will shape the next year. One of the industry’s stalwart, Vivek Sharma, MD-India, STMicroelectronics has his cognizance for the industry in which he shares ST’s ahead strategies and industry outlook for 2021.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, what was ST’s key focus and how will it continue in 2021?

At ST, we will continue to ensure both the ongoing health and safety of our employees and continuity of our business operations for our customers through the current challenges.

These priorities remain of utmost importance for the company.

The focus will remain on continuing to implement the strategic decisions that ST Management has made stemming from secular growing market trends and addressing key societal needs. Even with the challenges of 2020, the underlying principles of company’s strategy have not changed, and ST remains determined to continue making the company stronger, executing the sales and operating plans, and outperforming the markets we serve.

Highlight ST’s industry outlook in 2021?

While predicting the industry outlook is not our business, ST is operating on the assumption that after a flattish 2020, which was impacted in H1 by the pandemic’s impact on our end markets, the market will grow again in 2021.

Share emerging technology trends dominating in 2021?

As ST, we see a number of very strong trends. Most of these, like the electrification and digitization in the automotive markets, were already in place before the current global situation, and others, like the industrialization of the IoT and the adoption and integration of Artificial Intelligence into embedded applications, have accelerated by the circumstances in 2020. On

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Vivek Sharma

MD-India|STMicroelectronics

electrification and digitization in automotive markets, ST is seeing the continuation of strong growth in our SiC business – in fact, while that business is taking off in the automotive market, it is moving rapidly into the industrial space. Half of our customer engagements for SiC projects are for Industrial applications. And in digitization, that is being driven by the ongoing trends toward Electronic Control Units (ECUs) and Smart Gateways, as well as the growing demand for multiapplication, deterministic, Integrated Controllers for the automotive market to maximize safety and security, where ST just made an announcement with a well-known and -regarded tier-one automotive electronic module supplier. There is also an intense effort toward Level 2 and Level 2+ in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), where we are quite active.

Then there is the industrialization of the IoT, which has accelerated. Here, we’re seeing tremendous innovation from our customers and – just to offer a couple of examples, Aura Aware used our FlightSense Time-of-Flight sensors in a social-distancing application and Schneider Electric is using Artificial Intelligence running on ST’s leading STM32 microcontrollers in a people-counting sensor that has great value in attendance and building usage applications. We’ve got many more examples that highlight ST’s strong positioning to address these trends.

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VETERAN'S COLUMN

JANUARY 2021

Semiconductor Industry Trends of 2021

Balajee Sowrirajan,Managing Director, Samsung Semiconductor India R&D Center (SSIR) talks about semiconductor industry trends of 2021.

“One of the biggest trends I foresee in the coming year is around building a connected and intelligent world. The emergence of devices that are not only connected but are able to take informed decisions based on data is well underway and this trend will largely be defined by four pillars • Connectivity – The fourth industrial revolution will be built on 5G, which will be driven by convergence of digital and physical technologies such as digital connectivity, cloud and edge-computing, IoT and smart devices, AI, robotics, blockchain, and AR/VR • Sensor – While more pixels and more cameras will be enhancing the quality of our pictures, smart sensors will provide more intelligence and will enable us to choose the best shots too. Beyond image sensors, other sensors are also catching up to mimic human capabilities • Data – With big data on rise, storage solutions have evolved from core storage to a hybrid multicloud infrastructure • AI – Artificial intelligence will be critical with movement from Cloud based AI to Edge based AI, to enable real time decision making”

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Balajee Sowrirajan

Managing Director|Samsung Semiconductor India R&D Center (SSIR)

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JANUARY 2021

VETERAN'S COLUMN

The 6 Technology Trends Affecting the Security Sector in 2021

Johan Paulsson, CTO, Axis Communications talks about key security trends of 2021.

It’s useful when looking forward to first look backward: hindsight has a wonderful way of providing context for future-gazing activity. And when looking back over the past year, one insight could understandably be that attempting to predict the future is a futile activity.

While the COVID-19 pandemic had taken hold in Asia before the end of 2019, few would have predicted the enormous impact it would have across the world throughout 2020. Within a short space of time, our way of life, working practices and business operations were upended. Travel restrictions, social distancing rules, increased hygiene requirements and the pressure placed on health services all affected our business and the security sector.

In dealing with the impact on our own business and workforce – with employee health and safety at the forefront – we also saw new use cases emerge for our technology and solutions, in addition to new ways of working, that will continue into 2021 and beyond.

Technological advancement continues, however, and as we have seen in recent years, rather than heralding the emergence of completely new technologies, the trends we see for 2021 are shaped by how and why technologies are used, and the associated implications.

Trust remains at the top of the agenda we've mentioned trust in previous trend posts, and it’s become even more critical. Many factors contribute to maintaining trust, and the technology sector is under more scrutiny now than ever before. Customers and end-users are demanding transparency around how tech is used and how data is managed, especially with increased surveillance. This, together with the need to maintain privacy, will be a key challenge.

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Johan Paulsson

CTO|Axis Communications

Renewed discussions around trust will directly impact how organizations in all sectors actively demonstrate why they are trustworthy. Due to its nature, the security sector will be under even more pressure to double down on its efforts in this area.

• The world goes horizontal

Recent years have seen applications and services largely designed for specific environments, whether server-based, in the cloud or at the edge. Driven by a desire to achieve optimal performance, scalability, and flexibility, along with the benefits of accessing and using data at any time and from anywhere, the next year will see momentum towards horizontal integration between environments.

Increasingly intelligent applications and services will be deployed across all three instances – server, cloud and edge – employing the best capabilities of each, improving solution performance and efficiency. For example, edge analytics in a surveillance camera will potentially message an operator with an alert, the operator then accessing the live video feed through a cloud-based application to verify and respond.

This shift to a ‘horizontal’ approach will increase the speed and accuracy of security and surveillance – moving from reactive to proactive, manual to automated – while also reducing bandwidth, energy and cost.

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VETERAN'S COLUMN • Cybersecurity: the continual trend

Such horizontal integration will only increase the focus on robust cyber security – a chain, after all, is only as strong as its weakest link – and the constant evolution of the threat landscape cement its relevance year after year. Due to the potential for high financial returns and disruption of critical infrastructure, new capabilities, tactics and threats will continue to emerge and require constant vigilance.

AI will be employed by cybercriminals as much as in any sector, strengthening their ability to find and exploit vulnerabilities.

Deep fakes will become even more sophisticated and realistic, potentially calling into doubt video surveillance evidence. As a result, further developments in methods to verify content, devices and applications to maintain trust in their authenticity will be required.

Advancements in cybercrime will also extend to tried-andtrue methods such as phishing lures which will become more difficult to spot. As a result, employees will be even more susceptible to these types of attacks and constant education and reminders of best cybersecurity practices will, as ever, be needed.

Traditionally, cybersecurity has been based on a ‘perimeter’ model, where the network is protected by a single, hopefully, an impenetrable wall made up of firewalls, VPNs/VLANs, airgaps, software-defined networks and other technologies. But this model is challenged, and a single breach can result in the entire network being compromised.

The move to zero trust networks will therefore accelerate, where the security profile for each device and application is independently evaluated. Trust will be delivered through deviceto-device and/or application-to-application communication through signed firmware, software updates, secure boot, encrypted data/video, and secure identity. It may seem like an indictment of the age we live in, but the only way to trust the security of anything is to trust nothing.

• The reality of AI: developing the good, addressing the bad and anticipating the ugly We’ve been talking about AI for so long that some might question its validity as a trend. But with Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) now broadly available in surveillance technology, the implications of its use will be a factor in 2021.

JANUARY 2021

and reducing false positives. As a result, security experts can move to a proactive, event-based way of working, rather than continuous manual monitoring.

• Low- and no-contact technologies come to the fore

Regulations, rules and consumer habits established during this year will become common-place in 2021. Technology will support how these are monitored and enforced, driven by hygiene concerns and social distancing. As a result, the implementation of low- or no-contact technologies, especially in areas such as access control, will increase. Also, surveillance solutions with people-counting capabilities will become the norm, to ensure adherence to social distancing regulations.

• Sustainability reimagined

One concern during the pandemic has been that the focus on the environment and sustainability has been reduced.

Several major environmental incidents have brought these discussions to the forefront, and it is expected that in 2021 sustainability regains its position as a primary area of concern.

The materials used in products and their length of life remain two of the most impactful areas upon which the surveillance sector can drive environmental benefits. While significant steps have been made in reducing the use of plastics and PVC in products, and in increasing the level that recycled and recyclable materials are used, more progress can be made.

Alongside the materials used in products, how long they last will be a critical decision-making factor for customers. Far better for the environment and economy to specify a highquality product with a long anticipated lifetime, than one which requires replacement after a few short years.

• The only constant is change

Predictions must be taken with a grain of salt, and the events of 2020 singlehandedly demonstrated the risks of trying to accurately predict upcoming events. However, the trends outlined above are, we believe, broad enough to apply even in the context of a turbulent environment. What will continue to be true is that periods of uncertainty underscore the need for agility and an open approach to problem-solving, whatever the future holds.

We now have concrete examples of various use cases for AI in surveillance, but as we have seen in other sectors (e.g. autonomous vehicle crashes) the positive impact of AI can be outweighed by the attention given to specific failures.

Narratives tend to focus on the errors of automation, and this will no doubt also be the case in the surveillance sector.

However, this shouldn’t act as a deterrent and we must not lose sight of the positive potential use cases of Machine Learning and Deep Learning in surveillance. For example, using these capabilities in edge devices can assist in identifying objects

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COVER STORY

JANUARY 2021

A Digital Transformation Journey With The Enablers!

- Nitisha Dubey

Akash Bhat

Chief Executive Officer, Allied Worldwide

Prashanth GJ

CEO, TechnoBind

Satish Kumar V

CEO, EverestIMS Technologies

Surendra Singh

Senior Director & Country Manager- Forcepoint

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Saurabh Saxena

Country Director – India, Micro Focus

Senthil Arumugam Founder, Caleido Xenia Pvt. Ltd

Vikas Bhonsle

CEO, Crayon Software Experts India

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COVER STORY Digital Transformation is changing the landscapes of every industry. Various industries and leading companies are adopting digitally-front approaches to stay viable in the market. But as the word, Digital Transformation strategies not just need a holistic approach but right motive and models. We have reached in that era, where transactions, bookings, finding individual’s information or sending letters is only a button ahead. From designers to solution providers and service-front companies bringing the best solution for their customers is no less than a challenge. Hence, in this story, I try to figure out what actually is digital transformation for India and the benefits, why companies should adopt digital strategies and solutions and the solutions these companies are providing to help in their respective customers digital journey. In this multiple-input story, Nitisha from BisInfotech has interacted with Akash Bhat-Chief Executive Officer, Allied Worldwide; Senthil Arumugam, Founder, Caleido Xenia Pvt. Ltd; Vikas Bhonsle, CEO, Crayon Software Experts India, Satish Kumar V, CEO, EverestIMS Technologies; Surendra Singh Senior Director & Country Manager- Forcepoint; Saurabh Saxena, Country Director – India, Micro Focus; Prashanth G J, CEO, TechnoBind to help better understand the true value and potential of Digital Transformation.

Digital Transformation in India

India has found all possible way to become an emblem for the world with its digital front approaches. From last few years, we have seen a lot of developments and news stating digital growth. According to a report, digital transformation in many sectors like manufacturing, education, healthcare, as well as government services and labor markets has the potential to create $10-$150 billion incremental economic value by 2025. India has been an early adopter of Digital technologies despite being a late entrant to the digital party. Prashanth GJ while explaining the value of digital transformation says digital transformation is a very important step for every business in today's world. It is impossible to avoid technology as it is growing and expanding into every industry. When it comes to Digital Transformation, India is building a powerful edge.

Surendra Singh also feels the same; he says that the digital transformation is changing the Indian market in a big way with the adoption of new technology that is driving "Digital India".

Companies in the government as well as enterprise sector have seen acceleration in digital transformation during the COVID pandemic. To maintain business continuity, people started working remotely. Organizations started focusing on new cloud-based technologies to secure their communication and data.

Saurabh Saxena observed that India is witnessing this trend with larger enterprises, which are increasingly operating across multi-cloud environments, where large enterprises plan to increase their multi-cloud spending up from 42% to 49% by 2023. India will become one of the largest digitized countries in the world. With our presence in India, we have focused on encouraging technology and innovation to help enable and empower customers to traverse the digitization journey.

Demonetization was the biggest revolution for digital

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JANUARY 2021

transformation in India. Akash Bhat explained it and said, demonetization had mixed reactions, it did accelerate India's journey on digital platforms with many end-users adapting and moving from physical to digital payments. Also, the introduction of Aadhar and e-KYC would have been much slower if not for the acceleration in this area. Street vendors are now on digital platforms and traditional professionals like tour guides can use translating tools to interact with their customers while also accepting digital payments.

Covid 19 and Digital Transformation

Not only India, but all over the world is facing the socioeconomic stern of the pandemic. It has not only impacted human’s body but also has made us disturbed. Economy rate is going down day by day and because of that reason our GDP rate has plunged historically. But in this disastrous situation, digitalization is only a hope of living. People are striving to create new opportunities with technology. “Technology has been a job creator when traditional jobs are at risk. Digital platforms have created entirely new skills that have resulted in different jobs. Businesses have now been able to reach out further to markets that were traditionally difficult to penetrate due to cultural differences or simply a lack of infrastructure.

Digital technology has enabled more people to work from home, highlighted productive areas, and also helped identify areas that cause a lack of productivity”, says Akash Bhat.

Complementing digital approaches, Senthil Arumugam says, Digital Transformation can also help with mobilizing critical application platforms to handle health & hygiene mandates.

Adoption of newer touchless and contactless technology products should be mandatory.

Vikash Bhonsle shares the value of cloud, he says, cloud is helping to democratize the technology adoption in the market. Industry 4.0, or deep technology, can help across the technologies. With cloud, a lot of technologies are easily available and in an easily consumable form, as cloud is the foundation of all technologies. Digitalization is the reason for extensive transformations across several elements of businesses, opening them up to substantial opportunities.

Digital Transformation is the way for the industry to go ahead.

Satish Kumar V has served many solutions to numerous customers during this period. Service providers who need their efficacy to be at par all the time have turned to his company time and again. Enterprises that need to perform rapid upgrades with minimal onsite personnel due to increased workload are all turning to the Infraon Suite to help them stay competitive and effective. Remote workers who need to ensure that their enterprises’ IT Infrastructure is up and running at full peak see us as their go-to company. He sees a realignment of businesses as they rearrange their operations and structures to continue doing business in a post COVID era.

Digitalisation has helped us in many ways, we cannot run a business or any work without it. Companies that embraced digital transformation have performed better during the pandemic and expect a faster rebound. Surendra explains,

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digital transformation is driving change across the world, creating new opportunities to boost business productivity, while cutting the costs of infrastructure and operations.

Increasingly distributed organizations are re-architecting their networks and security to move their most valuable data and applications to the cloud, in order to give their users a much richer, faster, and less expensive access than ever before. Enabling remote sites and off-network users to securely connect direct-to-cloud is the new challenge facing enterprises and government agencies.

Before the world was hit by the pandemic, many organizations had already begun undergoing digital transformation projects to various degrees. According to Gartner’s forecast in 2019, IT spending in India was already expected to grow 6.6% to reach $94 billion in 2020, from $88.5 billion in 2019, driven by spending in software. This was led by banking, financial services, media, insurance, and e-commerce sectors.

Saurabh says, the world is changing fundamentally and rapidly, and digital transformation is playing an increasingly important role in how organizations address that change.

From demographic shifts to development in technological capabilities, there is an opportunity to digitally deliver services to customers in ways that did not exist before. The pandemic has become an extraordinary catalyst for change. Today, most enterprises, products, and services are on a digital delivery model or require digital reinforcements to remain competitive in the market.

While focusing on the positive side of this pandemic, Prashanth says that the pandemic has led to the starting of a whole new digital era and has broadened the horizon for the virtual sphere. The digital transformation could be a strong lever in organizations’ response to the current crisis and give them an opportunity to re-align their business/operating models to the rapidly changing business landscape. However, digital transformation is not just about upgrading to a new software program, it is about making sure any new adoptions will work for your organization long-term.

Challenges & Future Scope

The sudden growth of technology accelerated by Covid19 led to some businesses going bust as they could not adapt or were not yet ready for this change, shared Akash. He said, there is certainly a need for businesses and governments to adapt.

Many traditional businesses are still not digitally equipped. This may lead to them not having access to workers with the right skills and face challenging business environments. Workers who have not started lateral skilling have almost no protection as they do not have the skills or flexibility in current labor markets to adapt. To overcome these challenges, businesses have to adopt technology and upgrade their training programs to equip their workers with relevant skills. Businesses must also consider programs including internships and apprenticeships to train future workers with the relevant sets of skills.

Digital transformation solutions need to become more affordable for essential enterprises. Industries today are racing against time to provide the much-needed acceleration that can beat the demand curve. Cultural adaptation and willingness for adoption of newer technologies also challenge the DX movement. However, our mobile centric world is already rooting for a unidirectional mandate of DX, a point of no return, to stay and define more advanced futuristic paths for humanity, says Senthil.

Satish emphasized the need of digital transformation. He says, if we don’t recognize digital transformation as topdown initiative supported at all layers of the organization, then many enterprises will find themselves trudging a lonely road or being left far behind. Organizations need to rapidly transform their processes and practices to incorporate deep technology driven change within their organizational design.

They will have to make significant investments now in specific technology and/or cloud driven products which will bear rich dividends in the future. It will be transform or perish.

Digital transformation is an ongoing process for organisations looking to modify their business processes and supporting IT systems to take advantage of what digital technologies have to offer.

Surendra feels that the implication is that for digital transformation strategies to be effective, they need to be comprehensive and reach out across the supporting infrastructure. More than that, they need to be designed to take full advantage of new, distributed, ways of working as well as the growing dominance of cloud computing and use of other digital technologies. Digital transformation brings re-adjustments in the way an organization uses its applications and data, therefore technologies supporting the same should be adaptive in nature. Security solutions that handhold digital initiatives should be hybrid in nature to cover the transformation smoothly.

2020 has leapfrogged us into a decade of delivery for the promise of technology. Digital transformation is not a new endeavor for business, though prior attempts have often failed to realize its full potential. Per a report by IDC, despite a global pandemic, DX investment is expected to approach

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COVER STORY $6.8 trillion by 2023, as companies build on existing strategies and investments, becoming digital-at-scale future enterprises.

Technological leadership will require sustained digital investments, and rapid business process innovation to thrive in the digital supremacy era. The world is becoming digitally driven. It has never been more critical for us to embrace advanced technologies to empower customers, transform businesses and create newer opportunities, explained Saurabh.

Digital transformation is shaping the businesses globally and across India. It’s a great step to adopt digital transformation as there are many benefits of digital transformation like it transforms customer experience, gives more data-based insights, Greater Collaboration Across Departments and improves agility and innovation, concludes Prashanth.

JANUARY 2021

that can help to boost the economy. The government should come up with more digital projects in such a way that every sector should get an opportunity to initiate it.

Senthil wants acceleration of Digital India movement for increased automation; remote working becoming a new norm possibility with government subsidies as well, Citizens becoming the center of mobility solutions expanse, more localized indigenous applications and platforms for governance.

Talking about government initiative, Surendra says, the government is working on digital transformation initiatives with a setup that is focused on critical remote infrastructure. The government should also adopt frameworks such as CARTA (Continuous Adaptive Risk and Trust Assessment) or focus on the principle of zero trust with NIST Frameworks 800-207.

Vikas seems satisfied with the government initiative as he says that the Indian government has already kept digitisation in its forefront of all the projects.

In recent years, the Indian government has proven determined to leverage technology for progress. The Indian appetite for innovation coupled with the ability to merge digital with our unique local conditions has led to widespread adoption of technology across strata in the country. The digital backbone of this country continues to develop with the government still at the center of that transformation. Government initiatives such as Digital India, Aadhaar, and GST have played an integral role in laying the foundation for a digital future, mentioned Saurabh.

Expectations from the Government

Government had started a program ‘digital India’ to make India a digitalized country and somehow it is becoming successful.

The government wants India to have a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Now, a common person is also stress free because they have mobile and in that also it has different kinds of applications which makes our life easier.

Digital India was launched in 2015 and although many steps were taken to accelerate it, the government needs to focus and hasten efforts improving infrastructure for digital transformation. Public offices need to be better equipped to handle digital queries. Many government apps are used symbolically rather than efficiently. The government must bring in lateral skilling for itself and its entire staff. Also, companies must be given sops for being fully digital if the government wants to see acceleration in Digital transformation, says Akash.

We would like to see more digital transformation initiatives that help prop the economy up and deliver broad-based benefits to the public at large. Smart cities, speed of doing business, ease of doing business with supporting infrastructure are what we would look for from the Government of India, shared Satish.

Prashanth has same expectations from the government. He says, we would like to see more digital transformation initiatives

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Year 2019-2020 for Business

Allied Worldwide: During pandemic, Allied Worldwide has provided a lot of flexibility on its contracts to ensure its customers can adapt to the pandemic just like the company is adapting.

There was an initial drop in revenue but then it picked up again as customers appreciated its partnership. After that Allied Worldwide being able to build on this and offer further flexible solutions through the remote work offerings.

Caleido Xenia Pvt. Ltd: Caleido off to a good start but thrown off pace for a short while by the onset of COVID-19 which later on turned to be a blessing in disguise for the company.

It saw this as an opportunity and picked up pace to further modify and design its new age suite of solutions to include more elements that can offer a safer contactless experience for end users.

EverestIMS Technologies: Since it provide products and solutions that specifically relate to IT Infra, Service Quality, Compliance and Uptime amongst others, it did see a distinctly wider funnel and some significant closures.

TechnoBind: The last FY was very good. TechnoBind grew by an impressive 40% YoY, thanks to the approach it take in engaging with the partners. This year too, while COVID has had its impact the company is still seeing a growth over last FY.

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CONCLUSION

Digital Transformation has played a huge role in our day to day life. We have seen drastic changes in last few years and also expecting to see more transformation in upcoming year. Although, 2019-2020 was not quite well in terms of business, but if we see digital India condition, it showcased tremendous transformation. Covid 19 has accelerated digital transformation and it has proven helpful for IT companies. The companies, which are following digital transformation from 2019 or early 2020 will get profit in upcoming years. Artificial Intelligence is going to be more helpful and advanced in coming time. Either, we talk about health or education, everywhere digitalization is the only source of communication. For India manufacturing sector 2019-20 was tough, but as the government is focusing on “Vocal for Local", this sector must increase strategic investments in technology to not just recover from the impact of the pandemic, but also become a key driver of the Indian vision of a $5 trillion economy by 2025. As we are in 2021, we are expecting to see some more updation in digitalization.

UPCOMING PROJECTS

Allied Worldwide Allied Worldwide has a great solution in the Agritech space which is a combination of sensors, device management software and data analytics. In addition to recording all relevant data, it enables: ► Report creation in real-time ► Combining KPIs without coding ► Customized drill-down of data ► Easy filters for end-users We have created a contactless thermal sensor which addresses the need of the hour, staying safe during the pandemic: ► Single IoT based dashboard to track attendance, geolocation, and temperature ► Compliance Management Integration ► Contactless ► Wireless ► Fully automatic

Caleido

Caleido Xenia – a patent pending Connected Hospitality solution built around ‘vowels of infrastructure’ concept – adopts the very principles of digital transformation in India,

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to steer hotel enterprises on the path to a more sustainable world cause and yet become profitable through its Cloud based SaaS platforms that assures superior user experience, workforce productivity gains and revenue monetization with incentivized stay for conserving the environment.

EverestIMS

EverestIMS is working closely with e-commerce firms who help keep the wheels of the economy rolling, BFSI, government and defence, large enterprises and telecoms amongst others. All its deployments come infused with innovation and dexterity that help its customers, large and small navigate the choppy waters of digital transformation.

Micro Focus

Micro Focus has a strategic plan and execution model, highlighting the importance of engaging with customers endto-end, the key role of SaaS and Subscription models, and delivering key outcomes focused on the needs of the market.

TechnoBind

Transformation projects are an ongoing phenomenon. While it had hit a speed bump with the onset of COVID as customers were focusing on the business continuity parts of their business it is slowly seeing the projects starting back as well now in H2.

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JANUARY 2021

CONNECTED CARS

- NILOY BANERJEE

Connected Cars in India – The Technology Amusement is Key! What’s driving the connected cars market? Automobile makers are leaning towards more integrated technologies as the demand for smart cars driving the market. Long days are gone when connectivity was just an initial approach for automobile makers. The automotive industry is today undergoing a massive transformation, where automakers are no longer hardware makers but are evolving into tech companies. The drive towards a new software and hardware approach integrating more sensors and electronics seems to craft the automotive industry. This change for connected cars is visionary and the possible transformation lies under the hands of tech companies. Today, Automakers searching for connected cars future are associating with Tech giants to explore new opportunities to drive innovations across the sector.

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Technology To Take Responsibility For Connected Cars

Though, the initial quarters of 2020 were seen dormant because of the pandemic and also last year went nimble because of India’s vision of BS-VI gearing on the roads. The cost has seen a major factor but the demand for automobile companies were seen desirable. Today every new car especially the midsegment and high-end cars launched in India has the ability to be interactive, intuitive and connected. This change and transformation lay new opportunities for the tech companies especially the semiconductor companies. Semiconductor manufacturers are working to improve devices for better invehicle networking like Ethernet, to boost processing power, and to perfect vehicle power management. Integrating more of these devices into larger-scale systems-on-chip (SoCs) will significantly improve not only performance but also reduce costs.

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CONNECTED CARS Trends Tapped for Connected Cars in 2020

5G and the rush for IoT were exorbitant. Though there were other tech trends which have happened to shape the evolution of connected cars in 2020. Below listing few for better understanding.

- Operating system – The crave for new OS is all futurizing the car’s dashboards.

• Telematics - GPS receiver and a basic cellphone to report a vehicle’s location and to signal an accident. Other features are things like remote door unlocking and emergency service.

• 5G – The next-gen power of Internet inside your car is promising as global Auto-Makers helms with telecom providers to explore the opportunities with 5G. • Data Monetization – Shared mobility, powertrain electrification, car autonomy, vehicle connectivity are driving data monetization for future.

• Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) – The in-vehicle experience is the key. Hence automakers are integrating a range of human-machine interface technologies (HMIs) including voice controls, interior-facing cameras, touch-sensitive surfaces and smarter, personalized platforms.

These above trends are not just barred to Cars or Automobiles but the trends are equally shaping boats, trucks, and aircrafts

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JANUARY 2021

as well. Also, few other technology trends include augmented/ virtual/mixed reality, in-car commerce, biometrics, V2X, IoT platforms, blockchain, cybersecurity, etc.

How is Indian Market for Connected Cars?

India is undergoing a ‘Digital Revolution’. The penetration of technology is defining the length and breadth of the country. As technology becomes cheaper and amuses the people, India is well with it. Another significant reason has been the power of purchasing in the market. People are ready to spend more to opt for a connected car than to anything else. Given the trends, Indian car manufacturers are tapping these trends and are willing to cater the same in the market. Indian automotive industry is getting the privilege of indigenous innovation hubs and the easy availability of technology. With global tech companies today established in India, it has made a ‘gist journey approach’ for carmakers in India. Meanwhile, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com the India Connected Car market is anticipated to register a CAGR of about 20% during the forecast period (2020-2025).

Though the complete potential of connected cars has not been explored in India, the future seems promising. The latest example sets the success of companies like MG Motor India and KIA Motors.

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THERMAL MANAGEMENT

THERMAL MANAGEMENT Solutions Increase The Durability Of Mil/Aero Electronics

Electronics for military applications are expected to operate first-time, every time in some of the most hostile and demanding environments. Military programmes are often designed to run over several decades, with hardware likely to be updated several times over the programme's duration. Similarly, most aerospace electronics will be compromised by harsh operating environments; significant amounts of vibration, often extreme variations in operating temperature, as well as the risks of exposure to chemicals, de-icing fluids and the like, will all take their toll unless adequately protected. Commercial and military aerospace applications, too, will typically have multidecade programme lifetimes and the hardware will usually be upgraded several times during its service life. Long term protection of military and aerospace electronics is therefore very important.

Thermal management is key to addressing all concerns regarding the reliability and performance of electronic systems, not just about extending the lifetime in storage or in duty. The development of aerospace and defence electronic systems is driving significant increases in power densities, consequently thermal management has become a significant challenge for suppliers of hardware to this sector. Electrolube can provide a particularly versatile range of products that address these thermal management issues, providing effective heat dissipation and preventing device failure as a result of elevated operational temperatures.

Electrolube is headquartered in the UK and has been manufacturing high-specification, formulated chemical products, including thermal management solutions, conformal coatings and encapsulation resins, for electronics manufacturers since 1941. With in-house manufacturing plants and R&D

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departments based in the UK, India and China, Electrolube collaborates with each territory very closely, cross-exchanging ideas, to not only create products that meet the needs of local manufacturers, but also solve problems for customers around the world at a pace that is hard to match.

Most electrical components are low powered devices that produce negligible amounts of thermal energy; however, there are also many devices – such as CPUs, power diodes, power transistors and so on – that produce significant amounts of heat and it is important that this heat is removed from the device quickly and efficiently to ensure optimal performance, and to prevent premature component failure. This is somewhat exacerbated by the trend for product miniaturisation and the use of compact, higher powered devices, which place greater demands on thermal management systems.

Heatsinks are commonly deployed to conduct and radiate heat from high power electronic components, the device and heatsink - usually solid substrates - being mechanically bolted together. Ideally, the surfaces of these substrates should be perfectly smooth, but this is not always possible and, as a result, air gaps will be present at the interface. Air is an extremely poor thermal conductor (0.024W/mK), and so the interface between the heat-sink and device will compromise heat transfer efficiency.

To counteract this problem, these air-gaps need to be filled with a material that will produce a significantly improved thermal interface between the two substrates. This material can be a thermal paste, an adhesive, a room temperature vulcanized (RTV) silicone, thermal-pad, or some other thermally conductive medium. A good tip when introducing

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THERMAL MANAGEMENT the interface material is to apply the minimum amount of product necessary to fill the air gaps, thus keeping the thermal resistance as low as possible. Applying too much material will increase the thermal resistance of the interface, resulting in a reduction in performance.

In most cases, due to the increased filler content, high thermal conductivity means that the material will generally have a high viscosity. As a result, the possibility of air entrapment needs to be considered when applying the product. A highly viscous material may increase the risk of air entrapment, reducing the thermal conductivity performance; in such cases, a lower viscosity material might be a more appropriate choice.

Before we take a look at the thermal management products available from Electrolube, it is worth considering the various methods used to measure the thermal conductivity when qualifying heat-transfer products. Some techniques only measure the sum of the material’s thermal resistance and the material/ instrument contact resistance. Electrolube uses a version of the heat-flow method that measures both of these values separately.

Values quoted using this heat-flow method are closer to the materials ‘true’ thermal conductivity. Alternative methods that do not separate the material’s thermal resistance and the material/instrument contact resistance may look more impressive, but these higher readings are less accurate. Electrolube’s advanced in-house testing equipment ensures that all products reach the market with the reassuring capability to deliver reliability and performance.

Electrolube's thermal product range

Electrolube provides thermal management interface solutions in the form of thermal pastes, gap fillers, RTV silicones, epoxy adhesives, epoxy/polyurethane-based potting compounds and thermal phase change materials.

Thermally conductive pastes consist of thermally conductive fillers in a carrier fluid, the former being a blend of one or more mineral fillers depending on the desired thermal properties, and the latter a silicone or non-silicone based medium. Thermal pastes do not cure and so they offer the best solution there is; the capacity for rework during the life of the component.

A thin layer of paste should be applied between the device and the heat-sink to fill the air-gaps and improve the contact. Application can be via stencil printing, screen printing, automatic

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dispensing equipment, or even using an aerosol spray product such as Electrolube’s 100 percent ozone-friendly HTCA nonsilicone formulation.

Silicone based thermal paste products usually deliver lower oil bleed and evaporation weight loss compared with their non-silicone counterparts, as well as offering a higher upper temperature limit, which can be in excess of 200˚C. However, there are applications where silicones may be unsuitable - when devices are sensitive to silicone contamination, for example. Electrolube’s silicone thermal pastes include the HTS, HTSP and HTSX. HTS is the standard product, offering an operational temperature range of -50°C to +200°C and a thermal conductivity of 0.90W/mK, while HTSP is a higher conductivity version (3.0W/mK) for critical applications requiring a high level of thermal transfer performance. HTSX is a silicone thermal interface material (TIM), which has been developed to perform in far more extreme conditions than its sister product HTS. HTSX offers an exceptionally wide operating temperature range, has a thermal conductivity of (1.58W/mK) and has been developed to perform in the harshest and most extreme conditions. It also has a much reduced oil bleed than HTS. Electrolube’s two non-silicone thermal pastes called HTCX and HTCPX - the ‘X’ suffix denoting ‘Xtra’ or higher performing versions of HTC and HTCP - provide increased thermal conductivity (1.35W/mK for HTCX and an impressive 3.40W/mK for HTCPX), lower oilbleed and lower evaporation weight loss. In fact, the ‘Xtra’ versions deliver oil-bleed and evaporation weight loss performances as good as Electrolube’s silicone-based pastes.

Other heat transfer methods include Electrolube’s silicone thermal gap pads GP300 and GP500, which are supplied in 200 x 200 mm, in thicknesses of 0.5 and 1 mm, and can be cut to size if required for ease of application. They are highly thermally conductive but have a higher thermal resistance when compared with thermal pastes due to the thickness of the gap pad versus the very low thickness achievable with a thermal paste. With a broad operating temperature range of -50°C - 150°C, GP500 features a thermal conductivity value of 5 W/mK and has a low thermal resistance value.

GP300 has a value of 3 W/mK and a slightly higher operating temperature range of -50°C - 160°C. Both options are best suited to applications where the pressure of the contact surface is high, ensuring that the material fills all the air pockets in the interface.

The specially designed thermal interface material, Surface Cure Thermal Paste (SCTP), is an ideal choice for high performance applications such as those found in the military or aerospace industries.

With extremely high thermal stability, even through

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extensive thermal cycling, and high resistance to pump out and thermal shock, SCTP is an excellent choice in applications which undergo wide shifts in temperature. As a surface cure material, only the exposed surfaces cure creating a skin while the main bulk of material remains soft enabling rework of components if required.

Electrolube’s single part, dispensable thermally conductive putty, TCP400, is a unique formulation that can be used on vertical surfaces. With high heat transfer performance, TCP400 is very soft and exerts low stress on components. TCP400 is a low modulus elastomer with excellent pump out resistance and minimal oil bleed. It also requires no pre-mixing, so it can be used as supplied, making it ideal for automated applications for simple processing.

encapsulation products based on epoxy and polyurethane technologies. The company’s flagship thermally conductive encapsulation product. ER2074, is a highly-filled epoxy resin possessing high thermal conductivity (1.26 W/mK), but as a result is high in viscosity (16,700cPs). ER2183 is a lower viscosity version of ER2074 (5,000cPs). The reduced filler content required to achieve this viscosity has little effect on the thermal conductivity performance: ER2183 is 70 percent lower in viscosity, but only exhibits a 13 percent decrease in thermal conductivity as a result (1.1 W/mK).

For certain applications it may be desirable to use a product that cures into a solid, which may or may not require bonding two surfaces together. Electrolube offers two types of product that fall into this category: TBS and TCOR. TBS (Thermal Bonding System) is a two-part, high strength epoxy adhesive designed to bond a heat sink to the component. In addition to the mineral fillers, the adhesive contains small glass beads of controlled diameter: these allow for a set thickness (equal to the diameter of the beads) to be achieved in order to provide optimal performance. TCOR is Electrolube’s neutral cure, silicone RTV product with an oxime cure. This has a thermal conductivity of (1.80 W/mK) with improved bond-strength properties.

For certain types of heat generating circuitry such as power supplies, it may be beneficial to encapsulate the device in a heat-sink enclosure using a thermally conductive potting compound. Electrolube produces a variety of two-part

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UR5097 is a polyurethane potting compound that possesses a similar viscosity to ER2183 (6,000cPs) and good thermal conductivity (0.65W/mK); however, it also has the added benefit of UL94V0 certification - particularly useful for applications requiring a thermally conductive, flame retardant resin.

Also, Electrolube’s primary and secondary conformal coating protection systems, include products based on acrylic, urethane, silicone, epoxy and 2K formulations, offering enhanced protection against certain specified environmental conditions (high humidity, condensation risk, high operating temperatures, etc.). Electrolube’s award winning coating, UVCL, is q highly effective ultra-fast drying conformal coating product. UVCL became an instant success due to its versatility in different application processes and excellent resistance to ‘thermal shock’ cycling, moisture vapour, salt-spray, solvent and fluid exposure, and condensing environments. UVCL meets IPCCC-830 requirements and is UL94 V-0 rated. The coating is highly flexible and cures in seconds with conveyorised UV lamps or within 3 days at ambient temperatures and humidity to ensure cure even in shadowed areas. With a 12-month shelf life, the single-component, low-viscosity UVCL provides superior ‘sharp-edge’ coverage than other materials with common selective coating methods.

Electrolube developed the 2K conformal coatings series by way of providing a solution to common problems faced by manufacturers with performance issues of current coatings in extremely harsh environments. The 2K series of coatings is significantly different in its

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protective capabilities due to its capacity for greater coating thickness and enhanced edge coverage. 2K coatings are VOC-free, fast-curing, high performance two-part conformal coatings that provide a solvent-free alternative to both UV and silicone materials, require less capital investment than UV materials and improve on the performance of most silicones in harsh environments. The majority of coatings in the 2K range are hydrophobic, giving excellent protection against water immersion, salt mist and humidity, making them ideally suited for mil/aero electronics. Electrolube’s 2K range of materials also provides sharp edge coverage and protective thickness and is unrivalled by other liquid applied conformal coatings.

The materials have been developed specifically for thick film applications and engineered to optimise this performance advantage, whilst mitigating many of the issues associated with thick coatings, such as cracking during thermal shock testing and solder-joint lifetime degradation, especially for very sensitive devices such as BGA packages. The extreme protection provided by the increased thickness and superior coverage will be valued by many Military and Aerospace suppliers struggling with increased demands from OEMs for improved condensation resistance and even powered up sea-water immersion conditions.

Electrolube’s steadfast commitment to health and safety and reducing environmental impact has been widely recognised globally with accreditations from the Quality Management System - ISO 9001, the Environmental Management System ISO 14001, the Occupational Health & Safety Management System - ISO 45001, the Automotive standard – IATF 16949 and the Aviation, Space and Defence standard – prEN 9100.

Relevant systems and product formulations are fully compliant with industry standards, including MIL-STD 810 (environmental), US MIL-1-46058C, IPC-CC-830B, IEC61086, UL746 (conformal coating) and British Ministry of Defence DEFSTAN 59/47 Issue 4.

The recent revision and expansion of Electrolube’s thermal product range highlights the company’s dedication to providing high performance products of exceptional quality for mil/aero applications. And if no off-the-shelf product meets the needs of a particular application, depending upon volumes, the technical team will formulate one that does. This commitment ensures that customers have the products for today’s needs, as well as the technologies of tomorrow.

(The article is an original piece written by Electrolube.)

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JANUARY 2021

TECHNOVATOR Ankit Sharma

Technovators

Director|Airific Systems

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The condition of air worsening day by day is nowhere less harmful than covid19 pandemic. According to Air Quality Index capital pollution in the capital has broken all records. So, considering such issues, there are numbers of companies which makes air purifier and other equipments so that we can stay at home with all precautions and safety. Airific Systems Pvt Ltd is one of them, it has recently launched UVHeal SafeAir, which provides provides a range of Industrial Ultraviolet Disinfection Systems that prevent the spread of airborne bacteria, viruses and mold within public areas. Public places like airports, hotels, corporate offices, hospitals, movie theatres, etc. not only thousands of people on a daily basis but also several airborne microorganisms. Nitisha from BisInfotech talks with Ankit Sharma, Director, Airific Systems about its products and specialty.

Here are the excerpts;

We Want to Make India Safer Place to Work or Live in

Q

.Pollution is becoming a growing snag for developing economies, how is your company addressing these challenges.

Pollution is one of the most common reasons for global climate change. The air quality in north India is expected to deteriorate further from November to February due to several factors such as stubble burning, festive fireworks, and low wind speed conditions which lead to an uptick in vehicular and industrial pollution. Airific Systems Pvt Ltd has tied up with major companies to provide ESPs (electronic static precipitators) for this problem to our clients. The name of the product we are promoting at the moment is called UVHEAL™ SAFEAIR. UVHEAL™ SAFEAIR is an in-duct disinfectant for continuous air supply for central air conditioning systems. The modular design of UVHeal SafeAir, allows you to get the best solution for your requirements. Each and every system is designed using CFO (computational fluid dynamics), and designed on the basis of exposure time, and UV dosage required to disinfect a particular pathogen. Air disinfection takes place through the air being forced by natural convection into the irradiated region of a UV disinfection device. The air then passes through the UV rays from the germicidal lamps within the UVHEAL™ SAFEAIR system. The UV rays render the airborne microorganisms, such as viruses,

bacteria, yeasts and fungi, inactive by disrupting their cellular membranes and by damaging their DNA or RNA.

Q

.Please explain a bit about your company and its unique offerings.

Airific Systems Pvt. Ltd. is an innovative tech start-up – from the promoters of Advant IT Park Pvt Ltd. The company has been involved with several energy-saving assignments and has been rigorously experimenting with the ultraviolet disinfection system for a while now. The company, in collaboration with IOTomation Ecotech Pvt. Ltd., designs and develops innovative and intelligent building and energy management solutions. The company strives to create a safer, efficient, and more productive community for all.

We have developed special software based on computational fluid dynamics and using simulation tools to get the highest efficient design with the highest desired efficiency to work on customer solutions.UVHeal safe Air uses UVGI technology to disinfect the air in the centralized Air Conditioning / HVAC systems. The product once installed is said to kill viruses of airborne diseases such as covid-19 and other harmful microorganisms and bacteria’s which in turn keeps the health of the occupants safe.

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TECHNOVATOR

Q

.As you know, Delhi faces a massive pollution issue every year. So, what kinds of services you may provide for improving the situation?

We all are aware it’s a time of festive the season, so the air pollution is at its peak in North India. A major reason for this is the stubble burning in the agrarian states of Delhi NCR, Punjab, Haryana, parts of Rajasthan, and western Uttar Pradesh. So we provide services like UV Heal Safe Air. Also, in the current scenario, the majority of firms are steadily resuming operations, we cater to the likes of everyone who is looking to create a healthy atmosphere in their organizations. Be it hospitals, hotels, malls, large commercial complexes, public places.

UV Heal Safe Air can easily be installed in the HVAC systems of any property without any modifications.

JANUARY 2021

about SAFE INDOOR AIR to make Indian safer place to work or live in.

My only plan is to make https://www.uvhealsafeair.com a platform that is easily accessible to every user who is looking for disinfecting of virus or for indoor quality of air. We are doing all the technological advancements to achieve that.

I am focusing on just one fact that anyone who is looking for a safe and healthy environment shall think only of UV Heal.

Q

.Impact of covid19 and how do you cope up with such issues?

COVID-19 has been tough on everyone personally and professionally. But, if you see with every crisis, new businesses emerge, and go on to do big things! I guess I'm holding on to .Technology’s role to escalate human lifestyle and its that glimmer of light, and hoping that the situation resolves ecosystem? soon!

Technology is very powerful and nothing is as good as .Any key products you want to highlight, features and technology at improving life. Technology can affect the specs? human lifestyle and its ecosystem both ways. New technology always changes our life very much and takes it to a new level. Through many iterations, and long hours spent in the office It is like a new way of thinking or doing the normal things and at our manufacturing facilities, we have finally come differently, better, and much faster with less hassle and at a up with what we believe as the perfect technology to deal with the issues that we see today. There are two ends to much easy way out. this product, and without one joining the other, the process .How do you define your company differently from others? of getting the correct solution to our clients fails. The first I don’t hesitate to say that there are other players in the component is obviously getting the right hardware setup. It market for quite some time now, but every service was designed was very important to realize that we must design a system and created to cater to a limited base of audience. That’s a that we can mass produce. One whose production can be harsh fact! Way before this idea of UV Heal UVHealSafeAir’ scaled up several notches if required, and in that capacity – India’s Most Advanced UVHealSafeAir’ – an ultra-modern we were able to create a modular design that requires very UV-Based HVAC Air Disinfectant’ for indoor quality of air, also little customization that allows us to provide quick delivery to Make the Air Virus-Free. We always thought that there is times to our customers, and reduces the overall cost as well. a need to spread awareness about the indoor air quality, The second component is software. It is one thing placing a so while doing our market research, we found that a huge UV lamp in a duct and hoping that you kill the pathogens number of consumers are still unaware of the impurities they present in the duct, for that I might not have even needed intake in their daily life. In some cases, the digital presence to create this product! But, to get the right output, it is very was there, but all they needed was a catalyst that can boost important that each and every system is designed on the their operations. We as a partner are acting like a catalyst basis of each and every location. We have developed that triggers their entire marketing and operational processes. a software that takes in various input parameters in a 3D format, and on the basis of these input parameters, we are .How was the year 2019-20 in terms of business? able to determine the number of lamps required to achieve We are highly motivated with the customer’s response. 99% disinfection of certain viruses, bacteria etc in the air. The We work with IT companies /Schools/Hospitals / shopping software also creates an intensity map, and portrays the kill malls, Banquet Halls/ restaurants etc. We are expecting to percentage of various types of pathogens present in the air receive 100 CR revenue by next year. at different locations!

Q

Q

Q

Q Q

.Key clients and strategies to foster your sales in the indigenous market?

Current financial year we will focus in India Market, although we are getting a lot of interest, and are also currently working in other countries.

Q

.What are your future plans and what will be your ahead marketing strategy?

We are planning to position UVHEAL SAFEAIR , one of the leading Duct based safe air solution provider brand in India.

We will focus on 360 marketing strategy to create awareness

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JANUARY 2021

TECHNOVATOR

Technovators

Ganesh Gopalan

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CEO and Co-founder|Gnani.ai Artificial intelligence has a wide range of advancement. From computer science to making smart building everything is only one step away. It has not only made our life easier but also provided vast enhancement to tech industry. Gnani AI, a well-known start-up company has a team of highly passionate Technologists, Solution Experts, and Speech Engineers working on new-age technologies like ASR, NLP, and AI to build Conversational AI machinery for enterprises globally.

During an exclusive interaction with Nitisha from BisInfotech, Ganesh Gopalan, CEO and Co-founder Gnani.ai shares future plans and the value of artificial intelligence in upcoming future.

AI can Help Companies to Achieve End-to-end Automation

Q

The idea behind the launch of Integrated Speech Solution and how is it going to help defence industry?

AI-based Speech Recognition technology is a necessity and is quickly making its way in becoming part of modern warfare. We believe AI has the potential to transform and improve the communication systems and will help strengthen Indian Armed forces. Many government agencies globally are today considering Artificial Intelligence to improve “Communication Intelligence” Understanding linguistic nuances such as phoneme and dialects is a challenge especially when it comes to international languages. Our end-to-end voice translation system uses Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Machine Translation and Speech-to-Text and is designed to help armed forces, intelligence agencies and local law enforcement authorities in improving communication systems. We are committed to doing whatever we can to help our country, government and ministries to leverage Conversational AI technologies.

We have a reputation for building ASR and NLP engines from the scratch which has proven accuracy and efficiency better than the contemporaries. We are working on creating pre-trained speech models and NLP libraries for specific use cases for defence forces and many more sectors.

Q

Which sectors are your pivotal focus and Indian market strategies?

We work across various sectors such as BFSI, Telecom, e-commerce, FMCG, Defence, Aviation, Manufacturing and many more. We are a Samsung venture-invested company and probably the only start-up in the Conversational AI space to have built in-house Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) engines for multiple global languages. We have our own Proprietary Speech Technology, trained from scratch. Today, our speech engines have been benchmarked to be the most accurate in the industry, beating global competitors for many languages

Q

Has Covid 19 impacted your industry? How do you plan to cope up with such situations?

The current uncertain environment with its unique focus on contactless solutions has led to an acceleration of the acceptance of technology solutions. Customers are now clear that change is inevitable and moving towards adopting new technologies. We are also creating specific technology products based on speech recognition, Voice Biometrics and Omnichannel Analytics for the opportunities that are being created due to the new environment across various sectors and demographics.

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TECHNOVATOR

Q

Apart from India, which market are you looking for in the future?

The Conversational AI market is booming at both global and regional levels as well. The BFSI and e-commerce sector has seen tremendous adoption of AI and we see the similar demand and growth coming from healthcare, defence and FMCG sector as well. At Gnani we have been working with global players and clientele and are not geo-centric. US is an important market for us and we have already seen some great response and traction coming from that market. We will see us focusing a lot more on the SEA and US market in the year 2021.

Q

What kind of challenges do you see in your respective industry?

The lack of awareness of Conversational AI acts as a key restraining factor in the market. The quality and use of data, accessing the right skills, integrating with other agencies, building trust (internally and externally), managing organizational change, or simply getting the right digital infrastructure are some of the components that should be in place to even begin advancing AI.

JANUARY 2021

We believe Conversational AI can help companies achieve end-to-end automation whilst maintaining a great CX at less than 1/3 of their OPEX. In that regard, we’re optimistic about spreading a word on the capabilities speech technologies can bring to the table via healthy mix of TTL, BTL and organic channels.

Q

Lastly major trends you see catapulting and dominating the technology innovation in coming time?

We will see a lot of push on AI and unmanned capabilities in the future and believe there will be a lot more focus on bringing in AI interventions. From a technology perspective, we are seeing many sectors and verticals across markets starting to embrace the power of artificial intelligence. We need to understand that AI offers benefits that would create newer opportunities and is powerful enough to transform organizations, industries and even countries.

Our prediction in the next 5 years is we’ll witness at least 50% automation of back- office processes (like customer service) through AI technologies.

Q

Please share future marketing plans and upcoming projects?

We plan to leverage new - age digital marketing practices to create awareness and education among our target audience.

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JANUARY 2021

MARKET ANALYSIS

Smart Meter Market Analysis – A Bullish Year Ahead!

Design of a smart meter depends on the requirements of the utility company as well as the customer.

In fact, deployment of smart meters needs proper selection and implementation of a communication network satisfying the security standards of smart grid communication. Advantages of smart meters include control over consumption and cost, accurate billing, innovative pricing models and environmental benefits

The Dominance of China

The Chinese dominance will be prominently visible in the smart meters market. Reports state that 56.2% of the total shipments of smart meters will be seen in China. China has long dominating the renewable specifically the solar market.

With new intelligent energy demand grows the ancillary and other associated technology will also rise. The country continued the replacement cycle on an eighth-yearly basis.

European Market

Agiging infrastructures are pivotal areas for the energy industry to quickly look into. Then follows the advancement of technologies which is set to influx the energy market. These are the major reasons help developing the distribution models, the smart grid (with the smart grid technology at the core) that allows generators, suppliers and consumers to be integrated by intelligent control, monitoring and communication of energy consumption. Italy and France has been the frontier

in advancing their distribution and energy models. Italy and France holds 59% of the region’s shipments, followed by the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. Europe is known to lead the second wave of metering market, with Italy and Sweden to replace existing meters, and with Finland and Denmark expected to follow suit in 2022 states Reportlinker.com.

North America

North American market is known to drive the new build market and replacement market. North American smart meter market growth is led by smaller utilities rolling out smart metering and higher replacement rates for the existing base with second generation metering, all likely to drive growth in the future.

Impact of COVID-19 and APAC Market

Japan dominated the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market, while India, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Hong Kong are expected to catalyse market growth.

UAE and Saudi Arabia will continue to be the hotspots in the Middle East, while Uzbekistan and Russia will be other key markets as roll outs continue in the CIS region. Fuelled further by the COVID-19 outbreak, the laggards in smart metering such as Africa and South America are not expected to have any significant upsurge until the mid-term, though there is for long-term potential for recovery. Slowdown of smart meter installations and smart grid projects as a repercussion of COVID-19, has disrupted the growth of the market in the short term, because of lockdowns, supply chain bottlenecks, logistics, new tender, and proposal delays, and restrictions and safety measures related to social distancing in field works. Regulatory requirements in developing regions for the implementation of smart metering transition are also expected to be maintained in the medium-to-long term.

North America Predicted to Lead Medical Imaging Monitor Market TechSci Research has published a new report “Global Medical Imaging Monitor Market By Device,

By Panel Size, By Type, By Display Color, By Purpose,

By Technology, By Application, By Modality,

By Resolution, By Grade,

By Region, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2025”.Global medical imaging monitor market was valued at USD 2.07 billion in 2019 by witnessing a growing CAGR of around 10% to reach USD 3.06 billion in 2025 on account of increasing geriatric population suffering

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from various chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, renal disorders, among others.

This has drastically increased the patient pool and the need to effectively diagnose and treat these diseases, which in turn is expected to drive the market during the forecast period.

Additionally, the increasing adoption of hybrid operating room technologies is further expected to create lucrative growth opportunities over the next few years. The growing adoption of minimally invasive treatment procedures is anticipated to fuel the market through 2025.

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MARKET ANALYSIS

JANUARY 2021

India Becomes an Innovation Hub in South East Asia, Says Report The report ‘Innovation in South and South East Asia’ revealed that 64% of the 235 leading innovators are Indian organizations, reinforcing India’s position as a regional research and innovation hub. Governments and academic institutions in the region are pivotal to enabling innovation. They constitute 57% of the top innovators in the report.

Jeff Roy, President, IP Group, Clarivate, said, “South and South East Asia are of the most dynamic and diverse regions in the world and innovation are key to their future growth. At Clarivate, we believe that human ingenuity, through innovation, can change the world. We focus on better serving innovation hubs and helping our customers and partners around the world to more effectively operate in fast-growing regions and hubs when it comes to Intellectual Property. As a trusted partner to academic institutions, government organizations, non-profits and corporations in the region and worldwide, we will continue to support our customers to deliver life-changing innovations.”

Science, technology and innovation are at the forefront of South and South East Asian countries’ national agendas.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plan of Action on Science, Technology and Innovation (2016 to 2025) and ASEAN IPR Action Plan (2016 to 2025) show why and how science, technology and intellectual property (IP) can contribute to national and regional socio-economic development goals.

At a national level, the Indian government has identified innovation as a priority, with initiatives such as Innovate India, a platform for showcasing innovation. The concerted policy push by governments and new initiatives from IP offices in the region to encourage IP investment and make IP protection more affordable are encouraging a culture of innovation and IP. South and South East Asian innovators identified in the report saw their inventions rise by 10% year on year between 2014 and 2018.

Investments in Cloud and Edge Technologies may Rise in 2021 In the quest towards digital resiliency, 51 percent of companies in India will accelerate their investment in cloud and edge technologies over the next 12-18 months.

This survey was conducted on the side-lines of the company’s flagship enterprise and government customer event in India – Technology Horoscope 2021.

“As we adapt to new realities, the rules of business are being rewritten with new technologies, engagement models and customer expectations. The coming year will demand organizations to balance the speed of digital transformation with the pragmatism need to run the business and manage costs as the survey findings underline. Micro Focus is uniquely positioned to help customers run and transform and achieve overall business resilience. By combining customer-centric innovation with open and cloud-based solutions, we can help protect current and future IT investments helping customers

•Vol - 03 / 01

bridge existing and emerging technologies, said Genefa Murphy, Chief Marketing Officer, Micro Focus.

“At, Micro Focus, we focus on helping customers adapt and succeed in the digital economy as a critical market need and a cornerstone of our vision. With a broad portfolio, backed by robust analytics intellectual property that delivers the insights, efficiencies, and automation necessary to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace, Micro Focus helps customers attain the four critical outcomes of digital transformation: to accelerate application delivery, simplify IT transformation, strengthen cyber resilience, and analyze in time to act. Micro Focus is committed to delivering High Tech, Low Drama to its customers,” said Saurabh Saxena, Country Director – India, Micro Focus. Micro Focus along with IDC presented the theme – “DX Quantum Leap” to discuss the brave new world and key trends by the analysis acquired by research and surveys conducted across the globe. During the event, Micro Focus announced its customer promise as High Tech, Low Drama for enabling a quantum leap in the digital transformation of customers.

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NEW LAUNCH

DECEMBER2021 2020 JANUARY

Infineon Unveils EiceDRIVER™ X3 Compact Infineon Technologies has recently added a new generation to its EiceDRIVER™ 1ED Compact isolated gate driver family: the X3 Compact (1ED31xx) family.

Features: • This gate driver provides separate output options together with active shutdown and short circuit clamping in DSO-8 300 mil package.

• The active Miller clamp option is best suited for silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET 0 V turn off.

Applications: Industrial drives,solar systems, EV charging, uninterruptible power supplies, commercial air conditioning as well as other applications.

Availability: Available Now

ST Compact L7983 3V-60V DC/DC Converters

STMicroelectronics has introduced L7983, a compact, 3V-60V, 300mA synchronous DC/DC buck converter with extra flexibility.

Features: • L7983 is a compact, 3V-60V, 300mA synchronous DC/ DC buck converter.

• Flexible, dynamic-mode selection.

• Special ST Innovations engineered into the L7983.

• Control of the low-side power MOSFET to provide a low-noise mode (LNM).

Applications: To satisfy noise-sensitive applications and maximize efficiency at light load.

Renesas R-Car V3U ASIL D System on Chip

Availability: Three L7983 variants are available, comprising the L7983PU33R with 3.3V fixed output voltage, L7983PU50R with 5.0V fixed output voltage, and L7983PUR with adjustable output voltage. An associated evaluation board is available for each.

Renesas Electronics Corporation has unveiled the R-Car V3U – a best-in-class ASIL D system on chip (SoC) for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving (AD) systems.

Features: • Delivering a ground breaking 60 TOPS with low power consumption for deep learning processing • Up to 96,000 DMIPS. • R-Car V3U is built for the performance, safety, and scalability (up and down) demands

Applications: Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving (AD) systems.

Availability: Available Now

Vishay Industry’s First 4-Quadrant Silicon PIN Photodiode Vishay Intertechnology has introduced the industry’s first 4-quadrant silicon PIN photodiode in a standard surface-mount package, qualified for automotive applications.

Features: • Combining high photosensitivity with low 0.1 % crosstalk.

• Virtually no tolerance between its segments.

• Features four monolithic PIN photodiodes — each with an active area of 1.6 mm² — integrated into a single 4.72 mm by 4.72 mm by 0.8 mm top-view, surface-mount package.

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Applications: The Vishay Semiconductors K857PE enables a variety of sensor and control applications for the automotive, consumer, and industrial markets.

Availability: Available Now

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NEW LAUNCH

JANUARY DECEMBER 2020 2021

Microchip Adds 64 Mbit Parallel SuperFlash Memory

Microchip Technology has added a radiation-tolerant, 64 Megabit (Mbit) parallel-interface SuperFlash memory device with un-rivaled Total Ionizing Dose (TID) tolerance for maximum reliability and robustness in the harsh radiation environment of space missions.

Features: Applications: • Microchip’s space-ready microcontrollers (MCUs), microprocessors Charge smart phones, (MPUs) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) that provide tablets, laptops, and other the building blocks for this scalable development model. personal electronic devices • Radiation-tolerant up to 50 kilorad (krad) TID. without cables • Even while the Flash is still biased and operating.

• They cannot afford any loss of code execution that could lead to severe defects and system loss.

Availability: Available Now

TDK MDF1005 Series of Noise Suppression Filters TDK Corporation has launched the MDF1005 series of noise suppression filters for in-vehicle PoC. The products in the MDF1005 series have good DC superimposition characteristics with impedance within the PoC high-frequency band, between 700 MHz and 2.4 GHz. Features: • The series is also optimal for the isolation of communication interfaces and noise control.

• Despite its small size, 1.0 millimeter long and 0.5 millimeters wide, the products in the series.

• Deliver 1000 ohms or greater impedance with the rated current of 400 mA in environments reaching 1250C.

Applications: ADAS circuits, BUS lines, telematics units, and more.

Mass production will begin in December 2020.

Availability: Available Now

Toshiba 5A 2ch H-Bridge Motor Drivers Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation ("Toshiba") has unveiled two brushed DC motor driver ICs, “TB9054FTG” in a wettable flank VQFN package and “TB9053FTG” in a power QFN package, for use in automotive applications, including electronic throttles.

Features: • Built-in 2ch H-bridge driver • The output driver circuit is configured by DMOS FET with low on-resistance, realizing a 5A 2ch H-bridge driver. A 10A 1ch drive in parallel mode is also possible.

• SPI communication

Applications: Automotive applications such as throttle valves, various engine valves, retractable door mirrors, and body systems, including electric door latches

Availability: Samples of TB9054FTG are available now, with mass production scheduled for March 2022. Samples of TB9053FTG will be ready in February 2021, with mass production scheduled for May 2022.

Advanced Energy New Lighting Power and Control System Advanced Energy has unveiled its newest lighting and power control system for indoor, vertical and greenhouse farming.

Features: • Utilizing AE’s system, customers reduce their power conversion costs by as much as 50 percent, significantly lower installation and operating costs, and increase the quality of crop yield.

•Vol - 02 / 01

Applications: Indoor, vertical and greenhouse farming.

Availability: Available Now

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JANUARY 2021

UPDATES

Vicor Appoints VP of Corporate Marketing

STMicroelectronics Targets to Become Carbon

and Channel Strategy

Neutral by 2027

Vicor Corporation has hired David Krakauer as Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Channel Strategy.

Krakauer will oversee all marketing activities including corporate branding, promotion, and communications, as well as channel marketing and sales enablement.

Vicor Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, Phil Davies commented, “David brings extensive experience in driving profitable revenue growth through novel marketing strategies and practices. We are pleased to bring David on board as Vicor continues to build its brand in high-growth markets as the high-performance power module company.”

Prior to joining Vicor, Mr. Krakauer was responsible for corporate marketing and customer experience at Analog Devices where he also held prior roles managing successful product lines.

Mr. Krakauer has a BSEE and MSEE from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

STMicroelectronics has declared its goal to become carbon neutral by 2027, the earliest date anticipated for any semiconductor company globally.

ST’s comprehensive roadmap to carbon neutrality includes two specific targets: compliance with the 1.5°C scenarios defined at the Paris COP21 by 2025, which implies a 50% reduction of direct and indirect emissions compared to 2018, and the sourcing of 100% renewable energy by 2027.

ST’s action plan will reduce: • Its direct emissions of greenhouse gases (scope 1), mainly through investment in equipment to burn the gases remaining after manufacturing; • Its overall energy consumption (scope 2); • Its emissions from product transportation, business travel, and employee commuting (scope 3); • Remaining emissions through the identification and implementation of the most credible and relevant carbon avoidance and sequestration programs.

Infineon Recognized with CES 2021 Innovation Awards Honoree Infineon Technologies has been named a CES 2021 Innovation Awards Honoree in the "Smart Cities" category for the smart entrance counter solution.

The solution enables accurate, anonymous and contactless people counting using a single XENSIV 60 GHz radar and integrated software.

A traffic light system informs whether entry to the location is allowed. At a time when social distancing is imperative to help slow down the spread of COVID-19, the radar-based entrance counter provides an effective way to manage room occupancy and traffic in the commercial, office and public spaces.

“We are honored to be named an Innovation Awards Honoree

by CES, one of the world’s most important consumer shows.

This award is recognition of our mission to make life easier, safer and greener,” said Maher Matta, Senior Vice President, Power and Sensor Systems at Infineon Technologies Americas.

“From the beginning of the pandemic, we aimed to create an innovative solution that enables businesses to keep operations

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running safely, while at the same time protecting personal data. By using radar instead of a camera, our smart entrance counter solution achieves both of these objectives.”

The smart entrance counter solution will be showcased on Infineon’s exhibitor platform during the all-digital CES 2021 on January 12-13, along with other solutions designed for nextgeneration smart consumer devices.

With a focus on smart and connected devices for the Internet of Things (IoT) applications, power semiconductors to efficiently handle the energy needs of electronic systems and audio ICs that delivers exceptional audio quality, Infineon’s exhibitor platform centres around technologies that enhance consumer experiences to link the real and the digital world.

Also, Infineon’s MERUS Class D Audio amplifier and driver ICs and modules support applications from 20 W to 2000 W or more per channel. Featuring multilevel amplification technology, Infineon audio devices lower power consumption, reduce interference and practically eliminate out-of-band noise.

High-efficiency translates to exceptional portable audio sound, reduced heat generation for multi-channel solutions performance and design freedom for systems in any form factor, from great-sounding smart phones to professional amplifiers.

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UPDATES

JANUARY 2021

Microchip Adds 64 Mbit Parallel SuperFlash

MeitY Opens Tenders for Bidding for 1 Million

Memory

NavIC Chips

Microchip Technology has added a radiationtolerant, 64 Megabit (Mbit) parallelinterface SuperFlash memory device with un-rivaled Total Ionizing Dose (TID) tolerance for maximum reliability and robustness in the harsh radiation environment of space missions.

It is an ideal companion to Microchip’s space-ready microcontrollers (MCUs), microprocessors (MPUs) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) that provide the building blocks for this scalable development model.

Radiation-tolerant up to 50 kilorad (krad) TID, even while the Flash is still biased and operating, the SST38LF6401RT device enables systems to operate in a broad range of space applications where they cannot afford any loss of code execution that could lead to severe defects and system loss.

It is an ideal companion to Microchip’s SAMRH71 Arm CortexM7-based radiation-hardened SoC processor and can also be used with the company’s RT PolarFire FPGAs to support in-flight system reconfiguration.

Indian Ministry of Electronics and IT has opened the high-stakes bidding to submit the tenders for 1 million integrated NavIC and GPS receivers by January 11. Proposals can be submitted for the design, manufacturing, supply, and maintenance of the receivers.

The request for proposal (RFP) was floated by MeitY on November 30, to not only provide impetus to India’s indigenous positioning technology NavIC, but also strengthen signal availability and position accuracy all over the country.

NavIC, or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, can provide accurate position information service to users in India, as well as the region extending up to 1,500 kilometers from its boundary.

In contrast to GPS-only receiver chips, the commercialization of NavIC user receivers will support a range of messaging facilities. This would also reduce India’s reliance on foreign positioning technology and strengthen its positioning autonomy at critical times of need, as the NavIC system is completely under Indian control.

Littelfuse Extends PolySwitch Low Rho SMD Series • Mobile and wearables • Servers and computing equipment • Portable medical devices • USB Type-A and Type B ports • Lithium batteries

Littelfuse has expanded an additional 23 new ratings in the PolySwitchLow Rho SMD series of PPTC devices.

The new ratings are available with a lower resistance of 1mOhm, hold currents from 0.75 A to 9.0 A, a maximum voltage from 6.0 V to 24 V all in surface mountable sizes from 0402 to 2920.

These additions make the Low Rho SMD series the broadest PPTC portfolio currently available on the market.

PolySwitch Low Rho SMD Resettable PPTCs offer these key benefits: • Less power dissipation resulting from ultra-low internal resistance.

• Fits compact designs where PCB space is very limited via surface mount sizes from 0402 to 2920 and very thin profile.

• Aids compliance with industry standards via UL and TUV certifications.

• Environmentally friendly components are RoHS compliant, lead-free and halogen-free.

The PolySwitch Low Rho SMD Resettable PPTCs provide robust overcurrent protection for electronics applications where ultralow internal resistance, ultra-low voltage drop and automatic resettable protection are desired.

Typical markets and applications for the Low Rho Resettable PPTCs include: • Consumer electronics

•Vol - 03 / 01

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JANUARY 2021

UPDATES

HID Presents HID SAFE Facility and Risk

Electronic Contract Manufacturing in India to

Analytics Solution

Grow Over 6-Fold by 2025

HID Global has introduced its HID SAFE Facility and Risk Analytics solution that improves efficiency, agility and flexibility in hybrid workplaces through real-time occupancy monitoring, risk analytics and alerting and reporting.

HID Global has seamlessly integrated the Innominds AI-powered iFusion technology into its HID SAFE Facility and Risk Analytics solution so users can create an easy-to-understand risk score based on real-time and historical behavior patterns. The solution uses artificial intelligence to compare workplace data from physical security systems to archived information about past access control events, including unauthorized activities.

This provides a clear picture of emerging threat scenarios so organizations can diagnose and resolve security risks. iFusion analytics technology uses Innominds’ proprietary accelerators to generate deep insights, predictive analytics and real-time reporting from complex data. The technology enables HID SAFE solution users to predict security events so they can improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and cost of their security operations.

Electronic Industries Association of India (Elcina) has forecasted that the electronic contract manufacturing sector in the country is projected to grow by over six-fold to USD 152 billion by 2025. Globally, the electronic manufacturing services (EMS) sector was valued at USD 832 billion in 2019 and is estimated to grow to USD 1,055 billion by 2025.

"Elcina predicts that the Indian EMS industry will gallop from USD 23.5 Bn in 2019-20 to USD 152 Bn by 2025. This effectively means that it has the potential to grow from less than 3 percent of the global industry to about 14 percent within 5 years," the Electronic Industries Association of India (Elcina) said in a statement.

Electronics and IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney, while releasing the 'EMS Task Force Report' by Elcina, emphasized the need to manufacture printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies within the country and reduce import dependence.

Toyota Mirai Uses Denso’s New SiC Power Semi Thus, the use of SiC for key devices has attracted much attention to significantly reduce the power loss, size, and weight of systems and accelerate electrification.

In 2014, Denso launched a SiC transistor for non-automotive applications and commercialized it for audio products. Denso continued to research in-vehicle applications, and in 2018, Toyota used an in-vehicle SiC diode was used in its Sora fuel cell buses.

Denso’s new high-quality silicon carbide power semiconductors have been employed in Toyota’s recently launched secondgeneration Mirai fuel cell EV. Denso Corporation has earlier this month, begun mass production of its latest model of booster power module equipped with high-quality silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors, as part of its efforts to achieve a low-carbon society. This product is used in Toyota’s new second-generation Mirai model, which entered the market on December 9, 2020.

Denso says it has developed its REVOSIC technology to apply SiC power semiconductors (diodes and transistors) to in-vehicle applications. SiC is a semiconductor material having superior performance in high-temperature, high-frequency, and highvoltage environments compared with conventional silicon (Si).

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Now, Denso has developed a new in-vehicle SiC transistor, and this marks the first time the supplier has used SiC for in-vehicle diodes and transistors. The newly developed SiC transistor offers both high reliability and high performance in in-vehicle environments, which can challenge semiconductors, as a result of Denso’s unique structure and processing technique, which apply trench gate MOSFET. The new model of booster power module equipped with the SiC power semiconductors (diodes and transistors) is about 30% smaller in volume and provides roughly 70% less power loss compared to a conventional product equipped with Si power semiconductors, helping to reduce the size of the booster power module and improve vehicle fuel efficiency.

•Vol - 03 / 01

UPDATES

JANUARY 2021

Vishay Awarded with 2020 BETA Award by

Mitsubishi to Prevent Recurrence of Work-

BISinfotech

Related Issues

Vishay Intertechnology has been named a winner in the 2020 BIS Excellence and Technovation Awards (BETA), presented by BISinfotech, an Indian electronics and technology magazine.

“Innovation requires hard work, courage, facing challenges, and taking risks,” said Tarale. “Innovating is never easy, and those who choose to are real heroes. I’m truly honored and humbled to receive this award on behalf of Vishay.”

The annual BETA Awards recognize winners in two categories: Excellence and Technovation. The Excellence category honors electronics and semiconductor companies with market-leading products that drive industry growth, while the Technovation category awards products and solutions that use advanced electronics and semiconductors.

This year in the Excellence category, Vishay was honored as the Global Discrete Semiconductors & Passive Components Solution Provider of the Year.

The BETA Awards were presented in a ceremony held on Oct. 30. Vishay’s Vinod Tarale, distribution sales manager, India and SAARC, received the award on the company’s behalf.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has completed the execution of a company-wide “Mitsubishi Electric Workplace Reform Program” (announced on January 10, 2020) to help prevent the recurrence of work related issues.

All measures in the program have been implemented, and a third-party evaluation has been conducted by outside experts to assess the effects of each measure. After consultation with the Assessment Committee based on the results of the thirdparty evaluation, the Company has decided to introduce short-term priority measures and long-term measures, including the adoption of “Five Joint Statements of Labor and Management” and the introduction of 360-degree evaluations, as well as evaluation indicators to assess the effectiveness of these measures.

The Company’s approach will additionally be adopted by its affiliated companies. Some measures will be tailored to individual companies’ circumstances, but in principle, the Company will enforce common measures across the Mitsubishi Electric Group.

Microsoft Plans to Produce Its Own Arm-Based Chips Remembering those days, where Gates emphasized of being a proud provider of services. It seems the time has come a long way from just providing services to the building your own semiconductor chips. Lately, Microsoft with its growing cloud business is planning to integrate ARMbased designs. But where? Yes, Microsoft to use it in its in-house chips catering to the data centers market.

Earlier, Microsoft has been relying on Intel and other semiconductor leaders for its chip demand. Microsoft with this move wants to be now self-reliant on chip manufacturing. But what does it mean to third-party chip manufacturers on their sales front will surely be seen in the next Quarter.

in areas like design, manufacturing and tools, while also fostering and strengthening partnerships with a wide range of chip providers.”

It may be noted that in recent years, Microsoft has also upped its game in terms of hiring chip engineers.

Having not stopped there, Microsoft is also reportedly looking at making another chip for its Surface line of personal computers.

At this juncture, one may also recall that tech giant Apple too had declared earlier this year that it would be crafting its processor for the Macs, abandoning its long-standing dependence on Intel.

This is not a one-off ‘fad’. Apple too announced this year that it would be rolling out Macs with in-house custom-made processors called M1. On the other hand, Apple already produces its chips and software for its iPhones.

With the newly released M1, which is built on Arm-based processor technology, industry experts believe that Apple will be able to explore heightened flexibility and possibilities in terms of innovations that came with producing its iPhone and iPad processors, which ultimately led to improved efficiency and increased creativity.

Spokesperson and Microsoft’s communication head Frank Shaw said, “Because silicon is a foundational building block for technology, we’re continuing to invest in our capabilities

•Vol - 03 / 01

With tech companies like Microsoft making an increasing move to Arm-based processors now is a significant development and even a possible concern for chipmakers like Intel.

Speaking of the current market standing, Intel still triumphs over 90% of the market. Its Xeon range of server chips powers most of the machinery at the internet and corporate networks, which majorly drives the revenue at Intel. However, 2020 wasn’t the best of the times for Intel as its stocks saw a downhill of over 20%. Despite this, Intel hopes to bounce back. “In this expanding market, we expect to gain share in many areas like AI training, 5G networks, graphics and autonomous driving,” said Intel in a statement in 2019.

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JANUARY 2021

T&M

Keysight Technologies Offers New 800G Test Solutions

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Keysight Technologies has recently introduced new 800G test solutions for validating electrical and optical interfaces to speed development of next generation data center technologies, including the first 100Gb/s transmitter and receiver pre-conformance test solution.

Service providers and data center operators are seeking 800G technology to meet a growing demand in network capacity at the desired cost and power consumption targets. This is primarily driven by data-hungry applications such as video conferencing, streaming and digital entertainment, which are delivered via wireless technologies such as 4G, 5G and Wi-Fi. Keysight’s new portfolio of electrical and optical analysis solutions enable an 800G ecosystem, consisting of optical

components, chipset, switch and semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) vendors, as well as system integrators, to speed design, development, test and validation across the entire design cycle.

“Keysight’s close collaborations across the high-speed industry, as well as with standard organizations such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), enable us to deliver first-to-market solutions that accelerate design cycles and technology waves, well before standards mature,” said Dr. Joachim Peerlings, vice president of network and data center solutions at Keysight Technologies.

“Access to a portfolio of 800G test solutions across physical and protocol layers, from simulation to design, validation, conformance and manufacturing, enables our customers to verify interoperability and simplify testing across the workflow using common, uniform interfaces and software automation.”

Rohde & Schwarz Allies with IHP to Characterize D-band Frequencies

Spirent Provides 5G Core Network Testing Solution for Dialog Axiata

Rohde & Schwarz has collaborated with IHP to perform the industry’s first full 2D/3D antenna characterization of transceiver modules operating in the D-Band. Rohde & Schwarz has also continued its pioneering sub-THz research efforts with a focus on this frequency range, reaching new milestones.

Wireless communications test expert Rohde & Schwarz and IHP GmbH (Innovations for High-Performance Microelectronics) have transferred this test method successfully into the subTHz range: They demonstrated the first full 2D/3D over-the-air measurements of a radar module at D-Band frequencies.

Gerhard Kahmen, Managing Director of IHP, says: “Sub-THz frequency systems are getting more and more attention in research and many fields of application. The Rohde & Schwarz OTA test system, extended to D-Band, provides an excellent way to characterize radiation patterns of the complex antenna structures, realized in our D-Band radar chips, in a time-efficient and precise way. For IHP, these measurements are valuable to understand the physics of the antenna structures and to further improve their performance. The very successful cooperation with an industrial partner leading in the field of wireless and mmWave communication shows the benefit of close interaction between research and application.”

Alexander Pabst, Vice President of Systems & Projects at Rohde & Schwarz says: “We are excited to work with such an excellent partner as Innovations for High-Performance Microelectronics on advancing our industry-leading test solutions for over-the-air testing.

Spirent Communications has delivered its industry-leading 5G core network testing solution Spirent Landslide to Dialog Axiata, Sri Lanka’s largest mobile operator.

“We are pleased to work with Spirent as a collaborator in leading the journey towards the successful deployment and rollout of 5G in Sri Lanka,” said Pradeep De Almeida, Group Chief Technology Officer of Dialog Axiata PLC. “As the front runner, Spirent’s industry-leading capabilities in 5G core network testing have been instrumental in the faster rollout of 5G technology and unlocking new and seamless end-user experiences.”

“We are delighted to be collaborating with Dialog Axiata to help them safely accelerate time to market and assure that their 5G network delivers the flawless experiences that customers expect,” said Peter Tan, Spirent’s Vice President of Sales for the APAC region.

“It’s inspiring to be a part of a success story when a leading telco like Dialog Axiata is implementing a comprehensive network-wide test solution of this magnitude from a globallyrecognized test solutions provider like Spirent,” said Thushan Liyanage, Head of Division for ATSL Systems Integration.

Spirent is partnering locally with leading engineering services contractor ATSL International (Pvt) Ltd, which specializes in telco system installation and commissioning. ATSL will be providing the first level maintenance of the Dialog Axiata network through its managed services portfolio.

Spirent Landslide emulates 5G devices and network functions to validate new 5G mobile and core nodes, ensuring readiness to deliver high-quality 5G services.

•Vol - 03 / 01

TELECOM

JANUARY 2021

Ericsson and Singtel Deploy High-End 5G Connectivity in Singapore Ericsson and Singtel have collaborated to accelerate their 5G partnership in Singapore through the deployment of high-end 5G technology. This is enabled by 5G New Radio (NR) Standalone and dual-mode 5G core network products and solutions, including real-time rating and policy control.

Mark Chong, Group Chief Technology Officer, Singtel, said, "As the leading telco in Singapore, Singtel is committed to building a secure, resilient, world-class 5G network that will serve as the backbone of Singapore's digital economy. We are pleased to be working with Ericsson, leveraging on its 45industry-leading 5G capabilities, and to deliver innovative applications and transformative customer experience for our consumers and enterprise customers."

Martin Wiktorin, Head of Ericsson Singapore, Brunei and Philippines, says: "Singtel is determined to play a leading role in keeping Singapore at the cutting edge of technology innovation and to ensure that the whole nation benefits from 5G. To do so they need the best 5G technology on the market.

At Ericsson, our global leadership is evidenced by our extensive deployment experience with 75 live 5G networks worldwide.

As a long-standing partner, we are equally determined to work alongside Singtel to ensure its subscribers and business customers enjoy the best experiences and opportunities that 5G has to offer."

The energy-efficient, end-to-end 5G networks will operate on Singtel's 3.5GHz and 28GHz spectrum bands, spanning outdoor and indoor 5G coverage use. Millimeter-wave (mmWave) connectivity will also be deployed in hotspots across the city-state.

Ericsson's radio and core solutions will ensure that residents, enterprises, industry and government authorities in Singapore -- renowned the world over as early technology adopters and hi-tech innovators -- are among the first in the world to benefit from the highest performance that 5G can offer.

This 5G contract award takes the partnership between Ericsson and Singtel to new levels, as Industry 4.0 gathers pace globally.

Singapore was recently named the world's most competitive economy for the second successive year in the latest IMD World Competitiveness Ranking.

COAI & Nokia Organize Webinar on Growth of Digital Communications COAI and Nokia have organized a special webinar session to discuss the issues, challenges and solutions for communications to be provided for Mission Critical Services.

This event brought forward some key issues on this crucial subject, like India in recent months witnessed multiple requirements for Public Protection and Disaster Management(PPDR) that included, in addition to routine police work, the pandemic, mass migration to villages and also various cyclones in different parts of the country.

Commenting on the subject of the webinar, SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI said “Keeping in mind the developments in wireless broadband technologies such as LTE, it is time we exploit these to enhance the efficiencies of the current communications infrastructure of PPDR agencies to enable them to use digital tools to meet the evolving needs of public safety and emergency communication, such as access to instant messaging, high-quality images and video, mapping and location services, remote control of robots, and other applications.”

because their networks are either not inter-operable or they are just not compatible with each other. India’s National Digital Communications Policy 2018 stresses enhancing PPDR and establishing a Pan- India network for PPDR. To overcome current challenges, LTE for public safety network brings many advantages and provides a host of services like IoT, Video streaming and is also scalable. LTE also promises interoperability, security with installed encryption on the application level and is also suitable to support a large ecosystem. We understand India wants to adopt LTE but spectrum availability is an issue, so we hope all stakeholders work in this direction to adopt new technologies.”

The webinar witnessed the welcome note by SP Kochhar, DG, COAI followed by the presentation of Marc Balliet, Public Sector Solutions (Enterprise), Global, Nokia on LTE for Mission Critical Services.

The online event also had a panel discussion on the issue with the participation of experts on the subject including Pranav Jha, Professor, IIT Bombay, Brig. Ajay Gangwar, Advisor, Operations and Communications, NDMA, and Randeep Raina, CTO, Nokia

Adding further and sharing his views Randeep Raina, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia said “The current PPDR network infrastructure is unable to have seamless communication and information sharing among the PPDR agencies. This is

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JANUARY 2021

KART

Mouser Presents New Resource Site Dedicated to LoRaWAN Mouser Electronics has created a new resource site dedicated to the LoRaWAN standard and its capabilities, applications, and related products.

LoRaWAN is a low-power, wide-area (LPWA) network protocol designed to provide internet connections to battery-operated devices in regional, national, and global networks.

The high-performance protocol supports key Internet of Things (IoT) requirements including end-to-end security, bi-directional communication, mobility, and localization services. The new resource site from Mouser offers a broad range of useful information on LoRaWAN technologies, strategies, and devices, providing designers with a single home for advice and insights.

Digikey Electronics Declared as Official Raspberry Pi Authorized Distributor

Digi-Key Electronics has recently announced that it is an official Raspberry Pi authorized distributor and will carry the full line of Raspberry Pi products. With more than 36 million platforms sold, Raspberry Pi has become a go-to solution for everything from rapid prototyping to production ready designs.

Raspberry Pi’s full line of products includes low-cost, highperformance computers and development boards designed to help users of all levels with computing and digital making.

Raspberry Pi has been adopted across the board from students and makers to startups and established OEMs as a leading provider of low-cost, high-performance computers that people us to learn, solve problems, and create solutions.

“We are excited to offer the entire Raspberry Pi product portfolio to Digi-Key’s customers around the globe,” said David Sandys, director of technical marketing at Digi-Key. “Raspberry Pi truly shares our commitment to come alongside engineers around the world and inspire them as they take their innovations from ideation through design and prototyping to production.”

“We have continued to see a huge acceleration in the use of Raspberry Pi products across a wide range of industrial applications, so we are very excited to add Digi-Key as an authorized distributor focused on serving the industrial market for us globally,” said Mike Buffham, chief commercial officer at Raspberry Pi.

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Through standardization and an accredited certification scheme, the LoRa Alliance delivers the interoperability needed for LPWA networks to scale, making LoRaWAN the premier solution for global LPWAN deployments. Mouser, as part of the TTI Family of Companies, has partnered with LoRa Alliance to deliver and promote this new standard in networking solutions.

With impressive low-power and security capabilities, the LoRaWAN specification offers a wide variety of use cases with specific nuances for each design opportunity.

Mouser’s new LoRaWAN resource site includes technical articles, videos, product descriptions, and instructional flipbooks, providing information on how to leverage LoRaWAN connectivity in agriculture, smart cities, sensors, autonomous vehicles, and other applications.

element14 Celebrates Holiday Season with Giveaways and Gift Ideas

element14 has proposed to bring good cheer to engineers this holiday season with its annual Engineer and Maker’s Wishlist.

In addition to ideas for the perfect gift, element14, available from Farnell, element14 is getting into the holiday spirit with three separate giveaways, giving its members the chance to win prize packs for circuit assembly, test and measurement and even the ultimate Raspberry Pi bundle. And to top it all off, element14 is hosting a holidaythemed design challenge for its members to share what the holidays mean to them.

This year’s gift guide includes all of the best products for electronics designers, ranging from stocking stuffers for young engineers to under-the-tree standouts for seasoned designers. The much-anticipated annual gift guide is created for engineers, by engineers, and has gifts they’re sure to love: • Micro:bit and accessories: Although the updated micro:bit is difficult to get hold of, the beloved, original version of the micro:bit is still available and a fantastic introduction to programming techniques for young minds.

• Magnifier with Helping Hands: Whether you're soldering something too hot to handle, or you just need to get a grip on a piece of hardware, this magnifier has you covered.

• Components and Sensor Kit for Raspberry Pi: Everything you need to jump-start your IoT projects on the holiday to-do list can be found in this components kit.

•Vol - 03 / 01

KART

JANUARY 2021

Avnet Presents New Cellular Module AVT9152 for IoT Development Avnet has expanded its product line for rapid IoT development and design with the launch of the AVT9152 module, designed for a range of embedded applications requiring cellular connectivity yet demanding low power consumption and minimal component size.

This new addition to the Avnet ecosystem uses leading technology from Nordic Semiconductor to provide engineers and developers with NB-IoT/LTE-M, GPS and Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) wireless connectivity in one of the smallest packages on the market.

The AVT9152 module has been developed to support a variety of applications, including beacons for COVID-19 contact tracing, logistics and asset tracking, vending machines, kiosk terminals, medical devices and smart building automation.

These applications demand wireless connectivity and power efficiency without sacrificing a device’s scale. Avnet delivers this complete package by leveraging Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF9160 low power System-in-Package (SiP) and nRF52840 Bluetooth 5.2/Bluetooth LE advanced multiprotocol Systemon-Chip (SoC).

The nRF52840 Bluetooth 5.2/Bluetooth LE advanced multiprotocol SoC features a 64MHz, 32-bit Arm Cortex M4 processor with a floating-point unit (FPU) which, alongside the nRF9160 SiP’s Arm Cortex-M33 processor, ensures the module can offer ample computational power to support a range of complex and processor-intensive IoT applications.

Arrow Appoints Sean J. Kerins as the New Chief Operating Officer

New Yorker Launches 4-Qadrant Silicon PIN Photodiode in SMD Package

Arrow Electronics has declared that Sean J. Kerins has been named the company’s chief operating officer. He will continue to report to Michael J. Long, chairman, president, and chief executive officer.

Previously, Kerins served as president of Arrow’s global enterprise c om p ut ing so lu t io ns business since 2014. Before that, he was president of the North American region for the enterprise computing solutions business since 2010 and was vice president of storage and networking since 2007.

“Sean’s leadership and proven track record at Arrow make him the ideal executive to advance innovation across our global sales, marketing, and operations,” said Long.

“Our commitment to succession planning provides continuity and certainty to our customers and suppliers.”

Before joining Arrow, Kerins spent ten years at EMC in sales, marketing, and professional services roles around the world.

Earlier in his career, he held progressively senior roles at Coopers & Lybrand Consulting and served as an industrial engineer with General Motors.

Kerins holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Syracuse University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

•Vol - 03 / 01

The module offers a high degree of flexibility and scalability for IoT product development while shortening time-to-market.

Completing an IoT design can be as straightforward as connecting a power source, sensors, and an antenna to the module.

New Yorker Electronics has introduced Vishay’s industry-first 4-Quadrant Silicon PIN Photodiode in a standard surface-mount package, qualified for automotive applications.

Combining high photosensitivity with low 0.1% electrical segment to segment crosstalk and virtually no tolerance between its segments, the Vishay Semiconductors K857PE enables a variety of sensor and control applications for the automotive, consumer and industrial markets.

This new device combines four monolithic diodes integrated into a single 4.72mm x 4.72mm x 0.8mm top-view, surfacemount package. The defined gap between the K857PE’s four radiant sensitive areas allows for reliable measurement during laser positioning. The opaque package sides eliminate stray light irradiating the photodiodes, resulting in an excellent signal to noise ratio while the linear photo-response enables small signal detection.

Another important feature is that the current from each of the device’s PIN diodes can be processed individually. This results in a low 0.1 % electrical crosstalk and virtually no tolerance between segments.

The Vishay K857PE retains an active area of 1.6 mm2 per quadrant and provides a floor life rating of 168h, by J-STD-020.

It has a wide sensitivity range from 69 nm to 1050nm, an 8.5µA reverse light current and a ± 60° angle of half sensitivity. The device is AEC-Q101 qualified, RoHS-compliant, halogen-free and Vishay Green.

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JANUARY 2021

KART

Richardson Electronics AnnouncFuture Electronics Stocks NCV81599 USB Power Delivery es UnitedSiC’s Gen 4 SiC FETs (PD) Richardson Electronics has Future Electronics has featured the ON Semiconductor automotive qualified NCV81599 USB Power Delivery (PD) Controller in its lineup of available-to-sell components online.

ON Semiconductor’s AEC Qualified NCV81599 USB Power Delivery (PD) Controller is a synchronous buck-boost optimized for converting battery voltage into required power supply rails for automotive USB charging ports.

Power is delivered per USB-PD standard for type C applications, including USBPD, QC2.0, and QC3.0 profiles. With a wide Vin of 4.5V to 32V, and internal drivers capable of driving MOSFETs to meet 100W requirements, the device is offered in a compact 5mm by 5mm QFNW32 package.

announced the availability of UnitedSiC’s Gen 4 SiC FETs. The Gen 4 SiC FETs, named UJ4C, are the first and only devices to be rated at 750V. Based on key Figures of Merit (FoM), the UJ4C series enables new performance levels and works with all the typical Si IGBT, Si MOSFET, and SiC MOSFET drive voltages.

Available in 18- and 60-mOhm options and 3- and 4-lead TO247 packages, these new SiC FETs (UJ4C075018K3S, UJ4C075060K3S, UJ4C075018K4S, UJ4C075060K4S), provide increased efficiency, reduced on-resistance per unit area, low intrinsic capacitance, and offer the lowest integral diode VF with excellent reverse recovery and reduced dead-time losses.

Mouser Allies with Molex to Release a New e-Book Mouser Electronics has launched a new eBook in collaboration with Molex, exploring the challenges, technologies, and solutions associated with connectivity in automotive design and manufacturing.

In From Here to the Future: Connectivity Solutions Enhance the Driving Experience, subject matter experts from Molex and Mouser offer insight on important topics including 5G, modularity in automotive design, and the use of micro-miniature components to facilitate advances in connected vehicles.

features the analyses, product information, and multimedia resources necessary to inform important design decisions. The eBook also features a link to an in-depth Chalk Talk video that explores design trends for automotive interconnects.

Molex’s range of products, available from Mouser, includes antennas, connectors, sensors, and embedded solutions. The eBook includes convenient links and ordering information for more than 20 Molex products, including the HSAutoLink II interconnect system, which provides a dependable solution for point-to-point in-vehicle connections. The interconnect system delivers data rates up to 6 Gbps to meet increasing bandwidth requirements. Molex’s 2.4/5GHz balanced flex and PCB antennas enable balanced RF transmission for infotainment systems and other connected vehicle applications.

As automotive manufacturers design and develop the next generation of vehicles, they must implement both wired and wireless connectivity solutions to provide the features that consumers demand.

Data and networking are deployed within vehicles to support advanced displays, high-resolution cameras, and LIDAR, for both entertainment and safety applications. Molex offers several important solutions for the connected automobile, including USB smart charging modules, connector systems, and powertrain solutions.

“From Here to the Future: Connectivity Solutions Enhance the Driving Experience”, the new eBook from Mouser and Molex,

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•Vol - 03 / 01

5G NEWS

JANUARY 2021

India Wagers on 5G Technology Network Going Live in 2021 With the new decade turning up, 2020 will be remembered as the most disruptive year in living memory. Telecom networks and technology services has come as a savior in the pandemic times keeping people connected.

business models, and overall, enhanced lifestyles for one and all. We seek the support of the government in enabling the industry to play its role as an enabler of horizontal growth and a boost to the nation's economy. The 5G potential is immense and can turn the game for India and be a catalyst for the government's campaigns such as Make in India, Digital India, Atmanirbhar Bharat."

And seeing the limited services provided with 4G technology as experienced during COVID times, the world is considering to move to better prospects for the future. Industry experts say this has led to a mindset change to revive India's telecom story and also introduce future technologies faster.

According to Karthik Natarajan, President and COO, Cyient, "We are seeing significant investments in the communication network space. The current digital transformation will lead to enhanced user experience, increased operational efficiency and a competitive edge for the enterprise businesses. Our experience in design, delivery, deployment, migration, and support of network infrastructure globally makes us an ideal partner for 5G rollouts."

Earlier this month K. Ramchand, Member (Technology), Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said that it would soon announce 5G spectrum bands for auction. That's a clear indication that adopting 5G is now a priority for the government. Most Indian telecom service providers currently lack the financial muscle to invest and build a 5G ecosystem, but the government has indicated that it is willing to start the process.

S.P. Kochhar, Director General, COAI says: "5G technology is poised to open up a plethora of possibilities in terms of

Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India says: "2020 has set the stage for 5G to go mainstream and in 2021 this will also lead to an increase in demand for next-gen 5G smartphones, newer applications and smart devices like smart TVs, tablets, phones integrated with a voice interface, etc."

It will be interesting and crucial to see how India can attract investments in future technologies with 5G making a tectonic shift in the TMT industry and presenting a range of economic opportunities in the next three to five years.

Fastweb & Qualcomm Partner to Launch 5G Fixed Wireless Access With the new decade turning up, 2020 will be remembered as the most disruptive year in living memory. Telecom networks and technology services has come as a savior in the pandemic times keeping people connected.

And seeing the limited services provided with 4G technology as experienced during COVID times, the world is considering to move to better prospects for the future. Industry experts say this has led to a mindset change to revive India's telecom story and also introduce future technologies faster.

Earlier this month K. Ramchand, Member (Technology), Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said that it would soon announce 5G spectrum bands for auction. That's a clear indication that adopting 5G is now a priority for the government. Most Indian telecom service providers currently lack the financial muscle to invest and build a 5G ecosystem, but the government has indicated that it is willing to start the process.

•Vol - 03 / 01

S.P. Kochhar, Director General, COAI says: "5G technology is poised to open up a plethora of possibilities in terms of business models, and overall, enhanced lifestyles for one and all. We seek the support of the government in enabling the industry to play its role as an enabler of horizontal growth and a boost to the nation's economy. The 5G potential is immense and can turn the game for India and be a catalyst for the government's campaigns such as Make in India, Digital India, Atmanirbhar Bharat."

According to Karthik Natarajan, President and COO, Cyient, "We are seeing significant investments in the communication network space. The current digital transformation will lead to enhanced user experience, increased operational efficiency and a competitive edge for the enterprise businesses. Our experience in design, delivery, deployment, migration, and support of network infrastructure globally makes us an ideal partner for 5G rollouts."

Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India says: "2020 has set the stage for 5G to go mainstream and in 2021 this will also lead to an increase in demand for next-gen 5G smartphones, newer applications and smart devices like smart TVs, tablets, phones integrated with a voice interface, etc."

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JANUARY 2021

EV NEWS

Scenario of Electric Mobility in 2020 & The Expectations for the Coming Year Electric mobility was introduced in India in 2011 and over the last decade has been able to carve a space for itself in the mobility market, inevitably increasing its relevance in the lives of Indians.

In a market that has constantly prioritized mileage and upfront cost over all other factors, EVs were initially relegated to a very niche segment of the population.

This was further exacerbated by the lack of charging infrastructure.

However, research in battery technology and increased availability of charging infrastructure (battery swapping or charging stations) have made electric mobility more compatible Ankit Kumar than before in everyday life. The CEO Gozero Mobility space of electric mobility has seen the entry of a plethora of entrepreneurs, ranging from budding start-ups to decades-old conglomerates, where all have pitched in their two-cents on building the ecosystem of electric mobility in India. The segments that have grown in leaps and bounds are the two-wheeler and three-wheeler

EVs. They have proven to be the most propitious segments in the urban regions and are expected to reach a count of 40 lakh units by 2025.

The unfortunate situation of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has opened the eyes of people and increased their understanding of how they are contributing to vehicular emissions. This has induced a great interest in the EV industry. Compounding this, the Indian government’s development of policies to support budding industries and businesses has brought about a great opportunity for the industry to have an escalated growth.

The pandemic has also made people less apathetic about their health, and more people have taken to biking as a fitness activity to keep up their good health, physically and mentally. This has inevitably increased the demand for e-bikes as they offer the option for fitness while allowing you to cover long distances with less effort.

This combination of fun, fitness and utility in terms of intra-city commuting has proven to be a hit amongst the masses.

Demand of EV Rises as UK Govt Plans to ban the Sale of Petrol and Diesel Cars, Says Report When asked about the next car they buy, one in ten people said they expect it to be an electric vehicle (“EV”), and a further 41% said they may purchase one of these.

According to the new research carried out by Alpha Real Capital LLP (“Alpha”), the specialist real assets investment manager, and Cornwall Insight, this was a small part of finding they carried as the UK government plans to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

Will Morgan, Head of Renewables at Alpha Real Capital, said: “Growth in EV purchases will be essential to driving down costs and stimulating the level of investment in infrastructure needed to expand charging networks and achieve the UK Government’s ambitious goal of ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.”

Alpha runs a renewables business that invests in UK renewable energy infrastructure. Will Morgan, Head of Renewables at Alpha Real Capital believe the growth of the electric vehicle market

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could be a catalyst for further investment from institutional investors into the UK renewables industry.

Jacob Briggs, Senior Consulting Analyst at Cornwall Insight, said: “The growing appetite for EVs is encouraging and we can see this bearing fruit in vehicle sales - the number of EVs on the road continues to grow at pace with year-to-date registrations up 162% compared to 2019.

“To ensure consumer confidence and deliver the transition to transport electrification, it is vital that charging infrastructure across the country keeps pace with the demand, with the right infrastructure deployed in the right place to ensure the UK’s net-zero ambitions are realized.”

Alpha has completed over 50 transactions and invested or committed more than £600 million into UK renewable energy, providing predictable, long-term cash flows to investors.

Alpha’s renewables business invests in the majority of UK renewable energy infrastructure including wind, solar, hydro, and other low carbon energy resources.

Alpha’s renewables portfolio generates over 340 GWh of clean energy – enough to power over 110,000 homes, an annual CO2 offset equivalent to planting almost 50 million trees.

•Vol - 03 / 01

WHAT IF THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE IN THE WORLD IS A QUESTION? Every innovation, cure, discovery and invention started with a question. Our questions are what define us. They determine where we will go. At ADI, we ask questions about the most difficult challenges that we face today. We ask the impossible questions, the complicated ones, the ones that make us rethink how we think. The questions that change us and change the world for the better. Because the true power of asking a question is believing that there must be an answer.

Analog Devices. Where what if becomes what is.

See What If: analog.com/WhatIf