Bisinfotech Magazine July Issue 2021 by Bis Infotech

JULY 2021 80.00

INDUSTRY

F &B

SPICING UP

R.N.I. No: DELENG/2019/77352 l VOL 3 l ISSUE 07 l TOTAL PAGES 64 l PUBLISHED ON 1ST OF EVERY MONTH |WWW.BISINFOTECH.COM

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Deep Fakes

Feature

R Vijayalayan of MathWorks India on Model-Based Design for Engineering Projects

A World Reality Keeping India on the Edge!

Sub - Terahertz Channel Sounding Using a New Sub THz Testbed for 6G Research

INSTANT INSIGHT MEETS IN-DEPTH INFORMATION The R&S@RTO6 series oscilloscopes deliver a new user interface, state-of-the-art specifications together with a big touchscreen and an ergonomic front panel design, all with a single purpose – to offer reliable results, solve your measurement problems quickly and keep you on schedule. Oscilloscope innovation. Measurement confidence. More information at www.rohde-schwarz.com/product/RTO6

Editorial The current set of uncertainties that are severely impacting the economic activities, also leaves the robotics and automation sector severely affected. Recent developments in factory optimisation have forced the need to adapt machinery and other processes to make manufacturing more effective. Industrial Automation sector is opening up many opportunities for technology companies that are innovative and can cater to automotive or agricultural companies. Further, factors like innovations in IT, emerging middle class and augmented disposable income help the industry grow in India. Demand is further expected to increase in the coming years as companies need more Automation to remain competitive. Moreover, Industrial Automation is becoming an important part of companies producing in India that apply the latest technologies. To stay competitive in the market for fast-moving consumer goods, India needs to automate its industries and move from manual labour to robotised manufacturing. The motivation is obvious – by providing repeatable, reliable accuracy to the production process, the failure rate reduces and product quality increases. The overall productivity and thus, the achievable output, are increasing, which is needed in order to saturate the growing demand. Besides, India is moving towards Industry 4.0. Hence, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will emerge as a game-changer for the manufacturing Industry. Known for its large number of engineering graduates and professionals, India provides a great pool of skilled labour for the Industrial Automation sector. This industry has a great present and future prospect. Companies interested in entering India will find good business opportunities in this sector. India is one of the strongest growing economies among the emerging markets in Asia. Prospects for further increasing robot installations are promising and companies across many industries intend to expand capacities. The country needs to expand its manufacturing industry to create more job opportunities. Higher wages and the rising share of affluent citizens in India are the main drivers of a growing and promising consumer market. Happy Reading!!

ManasNandi

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•Vol - 03 / 07

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).

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Script Tech With BISinfotech. The Future Stows Here!

Contents 08

AUTOMOTIVE - FEATURE EMERGING AUTOMOTIVE IN-CABIN SENSING SOLUTIONS FOR SAFETY AND COMFORT

12 T&M

END-TO-END NETWORK TESTING: THREE QUESTIONS, ONE SOLUTION

14 COVER STORY

TRANSFORMING FOOD & BEVERAGES INDUSTRY A PERSPECTIVE!

18 SECURITY - FEATURE ENHANCE THE VISIBILITY OF YOUR NETWORK TO INCREASE CYBERSECURITY 20

BIG PICTURE ENGINEERS DON’T NEED TO BECOME DATA SCIENTISTS TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS IN AI

Monojit Samaddar Country Director, VIAVI Solutions, India

R Vijayalayan

Manager, Automotive Industry Field Application Engineering Team, MathWorks India Pvt. Ltd.

24 WHITE PAPER

HOW TO DESIGN MODULAR DC/DC SYSTEMS, PART 2: FILTER DESIGN

27 5G NEWS

ERICSSON UNVEILS PRIVATE 5G

POWER DC CHARGING STATION: ST’S CHALLENGE FOR POWER AND CONTROL

COMPANY - FEATURE IOT SENSORS WITHOUT BATTERIES – MAINTENANCE-FREE WITH A LONG LIFE

T&M OPTICAL FIBER IS FUTURE TECHNOLOGY FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW

WHAT IF? DEEP FAKES – A WORLD REALITY KEEPING INDIA ON THE EDGE!

T&M EXCLUSIVE HIGH PRECISION TEST AND MEASUREMENT GOES MOBILE

T&M - FEATURE SUB-TERAHERTZ CHANNEL SOUNDING USING A NEW SUB THZ TESTBED FOR 6G RESEARCH

Luigi Galioto

Technical Marketing Manager, STMicroelectronics

Madhukar Tripathi

Associate Director - Optical Business & Marketing, Anritsu India Pvt. Ltd.

ELECTRONICS MATERIAL TESTING V2X SYSTEMS THE ROLE OF CLEANING WITHIN ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURE

TECHNOVATOR FACLON LABS FOCUS ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ACROSS IOT SPACE

TECHNOVATOR UNIQUE PLATFORM SECURING ENTERPRISE MOBILITY FOR OVER SIX YEARS

LED - EXPERT'S COLUMN HOW IOT & SMART TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP REDUCE EMISSIONS EVEN AFTER COVID

Greg Tate

Asian Business Manager, Spectrum Instrumentations

42 •Vol - 03 / 07

> AUTOMOTIVE

- FEATURE

Emerging Automotive

In-Cabin Sensing Solutions for Safety and Comfort & Andreas Pellkofer

Gopal Karnam

Product Applications Engineer

System Architect, Analog Devices

Automotive cabin sensing is a rapidly evolving area with a range of applications using a combination of sensors and inte ligent algorithms. Today there are two key aspects driving the development of in-cabin sensing technologies. Firstly, regulations to improve occupant safety are being realized. Both Euro NCAP standards and European Commission (EC) regulations mandate the use of driver monitoring systems (DMS) by 2022, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommends DMS in semi-autonomous cars. A hands on/off detection (HOD) system is already required in 2021 to meet UN legislation (R79) for lane keeping assist systems (LKAS). Also, child presence detection systems will become mandatory in the U.S. by 2022. With this forthcoming legislation,DMS and occupant sensing capabilities will become a standard feature of L2+ and above driving assist platforms. The second key aspect is comfort enhancement for passengers—for example, through emotional sensing. OEMs have detected this is a differentiation factor and will use leading-edge innovation technologies to address it.

How DMS Can Reduce EU Traffic Fatalities Safety

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has calculated that 51 people per million inhabitants in the EU were killed in road accidents in 2019, with 95% of the cases caused by a human factor: driver error, distraction, drowsiness, stress, or fatigue.1 And the European Commission has announced a major package of transport safety initiatives with the “target of a 50 per cent cut in road deaths and serious injuries by 2030, with Vision Zero the aim by 2050.”2 DMS today already support other advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). As an example, an LKAS is usually combined with an HOD system to detect the hands of the driver on the steering wheel. The system informs the driver to take back control when required. In addition, DMS offer new features

> JULY 2021

to detect the driver’s health and ensure adequate attention levels. The introduction of vital sign monitoring (VSM) technology, such as electrocardiography (ECG) or electrodermal activity (EDA → skin impedance), offers the ability to sense the driver’s health and stress level in order to avoid potential issues before they even arise. For example, if the VSM system detects the driver is unable to control the car due to drowsiness or fatigue, ADAS can bring the car to a safe state (slow down, steer to an emergency lane, or stop the car).

Comfort

Ensuring an excellent driver and passenger experience is more critical than ever. It offers the opportunity to innovate increasing brand recognition and ensure customer loyalty. The ever-increasing expectations of customers is putting an onus on OEMs to add features that offer this enhanced experience. Personalization and advanced human machine interface (HMI) concepts (intuitive vehicles) are becoming key components of the user experience. OEMs can strengthen their brands by implementing unique comfort features. These could be automatic climate control or ambient light adjustment based on the driver’s mood and mental condition. Touchfree HMI systems allow driver interaction without requiring drivers to move their hands from the steering wheel. Along with voice-operated systems, more precise DMS using eyetracking technologies continue to close the gap with traditional touch-based interfaces. Differentiation and customer loyalty drive a need for an enhanced user experience.

Applications

A wide range of applications are covered by in-cabin sensing. Figures 1 and 2 show application examples. Driver monitoring addresses the legislation requirements, with features like HOD systems, and is becoming a mandatory solution deployed as a standard in future cars.

•Vol - 03 / 07

Vital sign monitoring is also an emerging feature addressing not only health conscious drivers but also the aging population trends by monitoring the driver’s health, stress level, well-being, and fitness to operate the vehicle. Biometric authentication not only provides support for that personalized experience, such as seat and steering wheel position and preferred infotainment setup, but also provides security with the ability to authenticate the driver of the vehicle.

Advanced HMI and Gesture Control Figure 2. Human machine interface (HMI).

How to Address These Applications

Hands-On Detection (HOD)

Driver Monitoring and Emotion Sensing

Vital Sign Monitoring (VSM)

Biometric Authentication

Figure 1. Cabin sensor application examples.

Another vital safety application is occupant sensing. This ensures that should a passenger be accidentally locked inside the vehicle, the driver will be immediately notified with the ability to detect the number and age of the passengers. Emergency responders can be provided with additional information before their arrival to an accident when this data is combined with the emergency call (eCall) system. A special use case of occupant sensing is child presence detection, which will become (dependent on the region) a mandatory requirement. Advanced HMI and gesture control provide enhanced user experience (see Figure 2). Instead of searching for and pushing a button on the main control area, a gesture can perform simple functions such as skipping an audio track.

•Vol - 03 / 07

When we look at these applications, be it from their physical location (see Figure 3), the comfort vs. safety aspect, or the solution they need to provide, it becomes evident that a single sensing solution cannot address them all. Sensor fusion with different sensing modalities is required. The combination of safety and comfort applications needs to be addressed. Several technologies need to be combined and work together to reach the goals of the increasing safety and comfort requirements.

Figure 3. In-cabin sensor locations.

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> AUTOMOTIVE

- FEATURE

Technologies

Time of Flight (ToF) Technology

A time of flight (ToF) camera is one of the key technologies that can address several of the previously described applications, providing both image and depth data. A ToF camera located in the dashboard or roof can be used for DMS such as eye tracking. ToF is already in production at premium OEMs for advanced HMI and gesture control, with the optimum location being in the roof console. ToF provides an excellent solution not just for detecting the presence of a child but also their body position. You can see the need for a different location of the sensor to enable line of sight to the rear seat (as shown in purple in Figure 3). With the advances in image sensing technology, ToF is the depth sensing method of choice for its smaller form factor, wide dynamic range of sensing, and ability to operate in direct sunlight. The combination of high resolution distance measurement and medium resolution intensity image (ambient light insensitive 2D active brightness image) is unique to ToF. ADI’s ToF sensor has the highest resolution (1 megapixel) in the market, which enables wider field-of-view cameras. Although many vision applications can be realized using 2D cameras, the 3D (depth) information offers an additional level of robustness. For comfort applications this translates to better user experience, and for safety applications it is the key differentiator.

quality of the grip, which is a key requirement. The location of the hand on the steering wheel can also be provided. EDA information can be used to detect the driver’s current stress level. ADI has significant expertise in this area from working on this technology across multiple industries. The AD5933 high precision impedance converter is used in cars today for HOD. The AD5941W supports multiple HOD zones in a single device.

Electrocardiography

Combining impedance sensing components with the AD8232W, a high precision amplifier for electrocardiography, ADI offers a complete VSM solution consisting of only two components. ECG along with EDA can monitor the driver’s health state, but ECG can also be used to address biometric authentication applications.

Conclusion

The automotive industry is adopting advanced in-cabin sensing applications to increase driver and passenger safety. Consumers demand continuous innovation in user experience and personalized comfort. Sensor fusion is required for accurate and robust L2+/L3 driver assist solutions. ADI is strongly positioned to address the sensing needs of this market and to support these requirements with an ecosystem of hardware and software algorithm partners for ToF algorithms (gesture control, eye tracking, etc.) and VSM (for example, ECG analysis).

Since there will be multiple cameras in the cabin to support different use cases, it is necessary that cameras support interference cancellation to reduce errors in depth measurement. Such challenges must be solved at the system level, and ADI is actively pursuing this area with a smart mix of hardware and software elements.

References

For biometric authentication ToF can provide a very secure solution, making it very difficult to fool the system, as has been proven possible with other implementations. ADI technology in the ToF area includes ToF imagers (ADSD3100), laser drivers (ADSD3000), and power regulators (ADP5071).

About the Authors

Car Camera Bus (C2B)

For connecting different cameras regardless of 2D imagers or 3D ToF, ADI also provides a dedicated automotive camera link technology, the Car Camera Bus (C2BTM). C2B is a low cost solution to transport up to 2 megapixel camera data along with control information from cameras installed inside or outside the car.

Impedance Sensing

ADI offers several VSM solutions and works closely with software partners to provide an overall system solution for features including heart rate variability, stress, etc. The AD5941W is an integrated solution for both HOD and for measuring EDA. Impedance sensing provides a robust and reliable solution to not only detect hands on the steering wheel but also the

> JULY 2021

1 “Road Deaths in the European Union—Latest Data.” European Transport Safety Council. 2 “European Commission Announces Major Package of Transport Safety Initiatives.” European Transport Safety Council. December 18, 2020. Andreas Pellkofer graduated from Technical University of Munich with a Dipl. Ing. in electronic and information technology. He joined Analog Devices in 2006 as an applications engineer working with the Blackfin® processor family. Later he mainly dealt with automotive customers for DSP. In 2013 he moved into a system engineer role in the Digital Video Products Group, focusing on video transport and camera systems for automotive. In 2018 he became part of the Emerging Systems and Technologies Group working on in-cabin vital sign monitoring and hands-on detection solutions. He can be reached at andreas.pellkofer@analog.com. Gopal Karnam has been working at Analog Devices for more than 15 years in various roles. He is currently serving as system architect in the automotive division. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication from REC, Surathkal, India. He can be reached at gopal.karnam@analog.com. Engage with the ADI technology experts in our online support community. Ask your tough design questions, browse FAQs, or join a conversation.

•Vol - 03 / 07

> EV

ST, Arrival to Provide Better Tech for EVs

Rimac Automobili Presents Nevera Hypercar

STMicroelectronics has partnered with Arrival to provide leading-edge semiconductor technologies and products for Arrival’s vehicles including automotive microcontrollers and power and battery-management devices.

Rimac Automobili has released the production version of the C_Two, now becoming the Nevera, an all-electric, 1914hp, 258mph, €2m hypercar designed and engineered to unleash an unprecedented level of performance. Rimac has also created numerous new innovative active aerodynamic elements to elevate Nevera's cooling, performance, stability, and efficiency abilities.

Arrival has chosen ST as one of its key partners in bringing its connected EVs to market. ST’s technology will provide Arrival’s customers with future-proofed zero-emission commercial vehicles as part of an integrated mobility ecosystem. Arrival has selected ST’s high-performance, secure automotive microcontrollers for their modular ECU platform, as well as other ST technologies including smart-power and batterymanagement devices for efficient vehicle electrification.

The front bonnet profile, underbody flap, rear diffuser and rear wing can each move independently, driven by complex algorithms that provided the optimum aerodynamic configuration for every driving situation.

Arrival believes its vehicles represent the next generation of EVs having been developed from the ground up using a radical new method of design and production.

Okinawa Gains IATF Certification

Okinawa Autotech has gained the prestigious IATF-16949 certification for adhering to Global Quality Management System (QMS) Standards for Automotive Manufacturing Industry. Post a stringent evaluation process, IATF’s team of auditors chose to award the certificate to the company for its quality-centric efforts in EV design and manufacturing. This makes Okinawa the first EV manufacturer in the country to attain this feat. IATF is thus yet another feather in the cap in Okinawa’s journey of attaining the firsts in the EV industry: ● First to receive FAME-II certification ● First to introduce detachable battery ● First electric scooter- Okinawa’s IPraise has traveled 1350 km from Gurgaon to Khardung-La, the highest motorable road in the world. IATF emphasizes creating a quality-centric culture among people at all levels. Thus, Okinawa continues to impart necessary training through industry experts and has also developed its rule book in line with IATF standards and some of its past failures.

•Vol - 03 / 07

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> T&M

End-to-End Network Testing:

Three questions, one solution End-to-end (E2E) network testing is critical for service providers. Here, we look at why E2E network testing is important, as telcos look to introduce Open RAN architectures into their networks. We’ll examine what some of the common problems are and offer a solution to service providers’ testing times. E2E testing means services providers can replicate real enduser scenarios to ensure that their network is able to withstand high demand. With 5G deployment gathering momentum, they must ensure that networks can concurrently support the number and variety of use cases technology will enable. They’re not just testing to deliver superior services for subscribers – they’re bound by service level agreements and KPIs which must be met in order to realise ROI on network. What does E2E network testing involve? It requires service providers to check hardware and software components and how they work within the wider network infrastructure. It involves validating network performance as experienced by end users, across multiple cells and different radio access technologies, from RAN to core, including emerging cloudbased architectures. The diversity of E2E testing can reduce costs in finding and troubleshooting issues and helps operators deploy – and monetise – new products and services.

> JULY 2021

Testing new softwarecentric networks

Open RAN architectures including O-RAN is attracting interest from telcos as they look to introduce more software into their networks, reduce costs and diversify their supply chains. It takes time to integrate O-RAN components from different vendors and make sure Monojit Samaddar Country Director, they work properly together. E2E VIAVI Solutions, India testing also requires advanced automation that is agnostic to the vendor, facilitates software maintenance & upgrades and ensures that service level KPIs remain unchanged. The maturity of O-RAN and the speed of deployment will depend on plug-and-play capability of both hardware and software. How can service providers conduct reliable, advanced E2E network testing, meet service level agreements and deliver a superior quality of service? By picking the most robust, reliable and advanced suite of test solutions. What should they look out for? First, breadth of test features. Second, evidence that a solution works for a wide variety of

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users – including NEMs. Finally, a history of testing at capacity in realistic scenarios and solving real-world issues.

O-RAN benchmarking and testing will futureproof networks

O-RAN is introducing standardised open interfaces, enabling disaggregated network elements and the use of standardised server hardware. Operators must benchmark and test each individual component independently. Our test portfolio offers emulation of many components including UE, RAN and core, and wrap-around of major functions over multiple interfaces ensuring interoperability, performance, robustness of the fronthaul O-RU to O-DU interface, for example ensuring maximum and stable throughput while eliminating any scope for synchronisation errors. VIAVI is a key contributor to the O-RAN ALLIANCE. We collaborate on multi-vendor interoperability testing to ensure that disparate Open RAN fronthaul components and disaggregated software and hardware elements can interoperate and function.

Solutions must offer complete RAN-to-Core testing

RAN and core are converging, bringing functions and resources closer to the end user. This is great news for users but a challenge for operators. VIAVI’s TM500 and TeraVM are designed to solve this challenge. The solutions offer complete E2E test solution from RAN to core, simulating real-world traffic and ensuring networks are robust to cope with complexity and demands of devices and traffic. In the lab, TM500 and TeraVM families deliver UE, O-RAN subsystem and core network simulation to enable conformance, interoperability and performance testing of both complete base station and core network testing as well as testing of individual O-RAN subsystems and core network elements.

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Results are proven at Plugfests

Demonstrating solutions is a key part of instilling confidence among telco community. In September and October last year, VIAVI participated in O-RAN plugfest hosted by tier-1 CSPs and the O-RAN ALLIANCE. The plugfest involved a series of on-site demonstrations in Berlin, Torino, Madrid, Bengaluru and Tokyo. This included a joint demonstration with EANTC, showing how we’d automated E2E O-RAN tests. We verified 12 multi-vendor pairings of O-RU and O-DU/O-CU solutions at OTIC labs, using the TM500 E500, demonstrating how end-to-end testing can incorporate a truly multi-vendor O-RAN architecture.

Lab testing and emulation for robustness and reliability

Emulating traffic in lab enables operators to test and ready a cloud network, or test the infrastructure in development, prior to deployment. TeraVM is a virtualised solution that’s flexible to run in lab, data centre and cloud. It helps operators to ensure that networks are highly optimised, by minimising risk and potential loss. This is important for operators who are in the early stages of network deployment. Used for automation and orchestration, cybersecurity threat and malware penetration, secure access firewall/VPN testing, wireless core interface testing and wireless RAN and core emulation, TeraVM can also be used in conjunction with TM500 for stability testing. VIAVI solutions are in every NEM lab ensuring customer requirements and KPIs are met. We help reduce the burden customers experience with integration, achieving/optimising performance, meeting interoperability objectives E2E in realistic traffic and mobility scenarios. E2E network testing has its challenges, but there is a solution in our comprehensive test suite that is backed by a long history of industry experience.

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> COVER

STORY

Transforming Food & Beverages Industry

A Perspective! Anil Kumar

Director, Inovance Technology India

Food processing is India's 5th largest industry in terms of production, consumption, and exports > JULY 2021

Dibyananda Brahma

VP – Growth, Mukunda Foods Pvt Ltd

Automation doesn't necessarily supplant human labor. Instead, it helps foodservice professionals do even better 14

Meenu Singhal

Vice President-Industry Business, Schneider Electric

The use of automation in the F&B industry can transform the safety levels of both food and personnel in production facilities •Vol - 03 / 07

Yatin Varachhia

Co-founder, Euphotic Labs Pvt Ltd

Automation in the food & beverages industry will help restaurants to be consistent and reduce operational complexities •Vol - 03 / 07

In today’s time, automation has become an expanding element, which has almost upgraded the whole industry. From the healthcare to the automotive sector, automation has improvised the whole process. From housewives to businessmen everyone prefers to have smart and automatic facilities. Operational efficiency, supply chain transparency, and enterprise synergy are a few benefits, which can be achieved by automation. Usage of automation can easily increase the revenue of the food and beverages industry. While highlighting the automation in food and beverage, we have talked to a few fraternities from the industry making a significant

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> COVER

STORY

impact by their automation-front solutions and processes for the F&B industry. Yatin Varachhia, Co-founder, Euphotic Labs Pvt Ltd; Anil Kumar, Director, Inovance Technology India; Dibyananda Brahma, VP – Growth, Mukunda Foods Pvt Ltd; Meenu Singhal, Vice President-Industry Business, Schneider Electric India further elucidates across the topic.

Automation in Food & Beverages Industry

Food processing is India’s 5th largest industry in terms of production, consumption, and exports. India’s packaging sector is also growing fast, and the food & beverage sector is one of the key drivers of packaging, says Anil. If we check the acceptance of automation in the food & beverages industry, so it shows that F&B is a bit slower than any other industry. The reason may be the lack of facilities or less awareness. While highlighting such issues, Dibyananda says, automation has started playing a significant role in the F&B industry as it did for automobile, manufacturing and medical & health care. In F&B getting people (skilled labour) is an issue and retaining them is a herculean task. It took little time for F&B since the word "automation" is easily misunderstood; people often think about robots replacing humans. In reality, though, Automation doesn't necessarily supplant human labor. Instead, it helps foodservice professionals do even better at what they already do best within the same time. Yatin also agree with it, he says with the evolution of AI, there is a lot of automation is coming at restaurant and food catering businesses. This business faces a lot of attrition and in several situations, a chef leaving end up becoming a brand problem for the restaurant owner, since it changes their taste identity. Automation will play a big role to solve such issues. Meenu explained the benefits and says, the use of automation in the F&B industry can transform the safety levels of both food and personnel in production facilities while offering multiple benefits and better returns on investment. The benefits include limiting and mitigating injuries, eliminating or reducing direct human contact with food items, and higher output from nonstop operations. The increased efficiency through automation and greater visibility across the supply chain can result in higher output while lowering labour costs and safeguarding employees from serious injuries. Higher output is possible because, unlike humans, technology works 24/7 and more efficiently than humans. Finally, automation also allows one to garner data insights through the production chain, which can help in improving maintenance, he says.

Is It Beneficial for Traditional Processes?

If we see the benefits of automation in the food & beverages industry, so you will get a lot of reasons. Today, where competition is high and India is already facing a heavy economical breakdown, so automation can be the best solution. Automation in the food & beverages industry can come with the biggest revolution in the industry. The changing nature of customers who wants to have something unique

> JULY 2021

or different can be served by automation in the food & beverages industry. While sharing his company’s offering, Anil says Inovance has a really strong R&D and engineering team in India. The company can ensure that we tailor our products to the needs of Indian food & beverage and packaging OEMs. Inovance’s experienced engineers – who are based across the country ensure a truly pan-India presence – have expertise in the full range of packaging applications, such as constant-tension winding and unwinding control, multi-axes high-precision synchronization control, and high-precision rep/cross-cutting control. Yatin also highlighted the major benefits. He says automation is the answer to the high attrition problem. Every time a cook quit the job, you need to get someone new and train them for at least a week and then he may also leave the organization within 1-2 months. So, F&B can’t be dependent on humans. Automation in the food & beverages industry will help restaurants to be consistent and reduce operational complexities. Each brand has its signature chef and culinary team, which creates the magic in the kitchen. But the fact the original SOP loses its way while replicating at each outlet, and as a result, the consumer does not get the original taste, mentioned Dibyananda. “That is why we work very closely with the Chef and the culinary team to ensure that our bots capture the right SOP and recipe as per the requirement. All our machines are cohort, so there is a human touch in operating a few buttons, minus the shortcoming of human intervention, i.e., the gap in SOP adherence”, he added. Meenu emphasizes automation and digital tools can transform traditional processes. The use of industrial IoT and artificial intelligence in F&B activities can help achieve maximum potential via higher food safety levels, greater traceability, minimal food wastage because of better supply and demand management as well as lower risks and costs associated across various stages of processes and packaging, among other benefits. Additionally, automation frees workers from undertaking repetitive, monotonous, or dangerous tasks, whereby these resources can be redeployed for more gainful purposes.

Challenges and Future Scope

Whenever we plan for the bigger revolution, we have to be extra careful, the reason is its pros and cons. Automation in the food & beverages industry while having future scope has some challenges also. Yatin feels that the F&B industry has few major challenges, like; Maintaining the taste identity onset of high attrition, high fixed cost resulting in lower profit and food wastage due to unpredictability of orders. He says that Automation can help solve all three challenges. The robots can contribute to making consistent meals by following

•Vol - 03 / 07

pre-programmed recipes. A perfect cooking robot is a little far from deployment right now. But, we will see a simpler robot with fixed functions deployed for repetitive tasks in the foodservice industry. Anil says, Inovance has a full automation portfolio. It has helped a Northern-region-based manufacturer of form, fill & seal machines for granules and powders in the food & beverage industries to improve accuracy and quality control. The company helped their production capacity on many machines to up to 100 bags-per-minute without material and 80 bags-per-minute with the material – a significant improvement on previous performance. This required highly accurate paper pulling capabilities, close synchronization of all axes, and rapid switching of digital outputs through a 360o cycle. So, such facilities can be sorted out such challenges of automation in the food & beverages industry. The food and beverages industry accounts for ~3% of India's GDP and is the single largest employer, with more than a 7.3 million workforce. The nationwide lockdown set this industry on a downward spiral, with some predictions suggesting that nearly a quarter of all restaurants may shut down by the end of 2021, explained Dibyananda. The industry has been adapting and innovating since the lockdown was lifted last time to offset these challenges and regain profitability. New service offerings and COVID hygiene protocols are emerging to gain customer confidence and lift revenues. Stimulating demand by Ensuring a low human touch environment with Automation as far as possible for placing food orders to cooking food and pick up, he added. Meenu also emphasized the pandemic condition and its impact on the F&B industry. An immediate challenge is the devastating impact of the pandemic. Due to this unprecedented crisis that has resulted in national lockdowns and the closure of many businesses, the F&B industry has been badly bruised. Profitably manufacturing food, beverages, and pharmaceutical products that meet the necessary quality and compliance requirements at the right price point for a market is key to the F&B industry. However, rapidly changing demands, product and operational consistency across multiple sites are some of the key challenges faced by F&B manufacturers today. He also said that gaps in supply chain infrastructure which means inadequate primary processing, storage and distribution facilities; lack of connection between production and processing; seasonality of operations and low capacity utilizations are added pain points.

Future of Automation in Food & Beverages Industry

With digitalisation at the centre, the F&B sector could be completely transformed. The services can be made more customer-centric and personalised while health and safety protocols are standardised and operations become less labour intensive. Meenu says, transformative change can come by reducing waste – a major problem in the F&B industry worldwide. For

•Vol - 03 / 07

instance, considering the short shelf life of specific foods, supply chain waste is a common problem. Also, products can end up as waste due to oversupply. But supply and demand can be managed more efficiently through automation. While providing the solution of such issues, he says, a foodspecific ERP system can offer accurate data regarding stock requirements as per the real-time demand. Such an ERP system could also prevent a lack of inventory level alignment and aid in reducing the chain’s carbon trail by limiting travel across the supply chain. Finally, minimising the human element across varied processes and touchpoints in the F&B supply chain will make it easier to control the quality of food as well as limit safety and contamination concerns. Automation can augment line efficiency while maximising the usage of ingredients and increasing food safety, thereby lowering the chances of human-related errors. Dibyananda feels, Kitchen Automation is a viable solution for Automation in dining spaces and kick-start and sustains the upcoming cloud kitchen culture in India. This is especially important when people are forced to stay at home and look forward to ordering food but are afraid of the risk of contamination. He shared that, many clients of Mukunda Foods has been using both cloud kitchens and QSR, like have already been successfully using our robots in their kitchens to ensure consistency in dishes, making sure that recipes are followed to a tee, with perfectly timed actions and ingredients measured exactly. This will allow human employees to explore creative developments and pursue culinary expertise while assigning the cobots repetitive and exhaustive tasks such as flipping, Cooking, drying, mixing, etc. Additionally, they can focus on providing the best customer experience to the consumers, catering to their search for food that is delicious and safely made. Anil believes, aside from the improvements to profitability that high-end automation brings, the COVID-19 pandemic has added a new dimension: the need to keep food factories running along social distancing lines. While the pandemic is, fortunately receding, we now expect that many food manufacturers will make contingency plans for future similar emergencies.

Conclusion

In the coming future, we will see the tremendous acceptance of automation. In many parts of India, we are already seeing the development and improvement of the F&B industry using automation. Automation is never going to be old because it is going to be revived by enhancing or attaching more services and facilities. There is no doubt that machines can work faster in lesser time than humans. It doesn’t mean that manpower will face challenges it will create proficiency among employees, accuracy and revenue of the company. There is an example of Amazon, which has already started deploying AI and automation systems and the rest is history. It has achieved unbelievable growth and growing continuously. If in-coming time, we also deploy automation in the food and beverages industry then the growth will be enormous.

JULY 2021 <

> SECURITY

- FEATURE

Enhance the Visibility of Your Network to

Increase Cybersecurity

Digitalization has prompted business owners to connect their devices and systems. This has given their physical assets digital profiles so that they can extract data from the edge and send it to the control center, where they can analyze data or develop applications. In this scenario, systems that were previously air-gapped become interconnected, which exposes them to cybersecurity threats. As the number of cybersecurity incidents continues to grow annually, business owners have started to think about how to embark on their industrial cybersecurity journey. Although there are many standards, frameworks, and guidelines for cybersecurity, we shall focus on what is considered by many to be the three most important points regarding cybersecurity: building visibility for your network and security status, activating network segmentation, and securing your critical assets. We will start by looking at how to enhance network visibility when performing configurations, operations, as well as how to respond to incidents and maintain the security of your network. Configuration

Follow Security Setting Guidelines and Visualize the Status of Your Network

In our daily life, we often see media reports stating how surprisingly easy it is to hack an IP camera if the default password has not been changed. Thus, we are encouraged to regularly update

> JULY 2021

our passwords and embrace other security features such as two-factor authentication to ensure we maintain good cyber hygiene. The same logic applies to industrial applications. A cybersecurity threat arises when the default password of industrial devices is not changed, or the devices are used without sufficient protection. As more devices are becoming interconnected at production sites, this risk that one device becomes corrupted and allows an attacker access to the entire network is growing exponentially. If you want to have a better understanding of how to keep your industrial devices secure by adhering to the recommended security settings, you can refer to our security hardening guide. To ensure industrial control systems have the appropriate cybersecurity protection, a long and often complex list of configurations must be performed. One of the most effective methods to simplify this task is to use a network management software that allows you to quickly visualize the security status and security parameters. Felipe Sabino Costa, whose current roles include ISA cybersecurity instructor and Moxa LATAM Industrial Cybersecurity expert, explained in this white paper, A Systematic Approach to Checking Cybersecurity, that a systematic and automatic approach to security configurations, with a focus on network assets, significantly decreases the probability of implementing incorrect or incomplete configurations that can occur when configurations are entered manually.

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Response and Maintenance

Centralized Security Management Increases Response Times

Visualizing the security status of networking devices by using different colors.

When everything has been set up, network administrators can easily check the dashboard to see if anything needs to be updated to ensure operations remain smooth and secure. Operation

Enhance Visibility of Your Industrial Networks

Although digitalization has allowed people, machines, and systems to become interconnected, it has unfortunately increased the possibility of introducing cybersecurity threats into the network. Therefore, for all activity on your network, it is essential to understand the real-time status of your assets. There are several ways to achieve this goal. First, dashboards and topologies that display network and security activities in real time are very helpful for network administrators or security officers who need to collect the latest information and view it quickly. Second, it is important to keep event logs so that administrators can ascertain when incidents occurred. Third, a regular backup mechanism is very helpful if the network needs to be restored to a specific point in time.

As cybersecurity threats are constantly evolving, network owners must remember that cybersecurity is a task that will never be completed. Industrial networks need to be constantly monitored, maintained, and updated to ensure that the system and devices have sufficient protection. When engineers have finished setting up their network, they should collect data and determine what is considered normal activity for their network. By using this information as a baseline, administrators can observe if any abnormal activity happens on the network. The common approach in the industry is to construct dashboards to record network events, using either pie charts or bar charts. This allows operators to quickly identify if there is any abnormal or potentially dangerous activity on the network and to start looking for potential causes. Adopting this approach effectively increases the ability of the team to respond to incidents. As we mentioned earlier, the more devices that are installed on a network, the more difficult it becomes to ensure that all devices have the most up to date security policies applied. An efficient way to lessen the heavy loading of this task and reduce the likelihood that errors occur, is for administrators to allow cybersecurity policies and pattern updates to be performed in groups.

Watch the video to learn how to visualize industrial networks.

Visualizing your network allows you to gain a better understanding of how your network is currently grouped together. In fact, one of Moxa’s customers wanted to use network segmentation to enforce cybersecurity policies. This task was made easier for them as they already had an overview of their network topology. Typically, within any plant, there will be a very large number of devices. Therefore, having an overview of the network topology will allow you to design the network and maximize the effectiveness of your cybersecurity. Download the case studies to learn more.

Updating patterns and enabling cybersecurity policies for a batch of devices.

Ensuring robust cybersecurity on industrial networks is a complex issue that requires comprehensive solutions. Since there is no silver bullet, we highly recommend that business owners and network administrators start from the three fundamental aspects mentioned in this article to strengthen their cybersecurity. Throughout this process, it is important to remember to utilize secure network infrastructure that connects and enables your business operations and to protect your critical assets from cyberattacks such as ransomware. How should you begin this journey? Start from building the visibility of your industrial networks. You can learn more about how to achieve this from our cybersecurity website www.moxa.com/Security. Please visit the product pages to learn more information about MXview network management software and Security Dashboard Console security management software. ( The article is an original piece written by MOXA.)

A real case of network segmentation done properly that helped customers implement cybersecurity policies.

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JULY 2021 <

> BIG

PICTURE

R Vijayalayan

Manager, Automotive Industry Field Application Engineering Team, MathWorks India Pvt. Ltd.

Engineers Don’t Need

to Become Data Scientists to Achieve Success in AI With the need for efficiency improvement and meeting the shrinking timelines, there’s a big need for virtualization of the electrified vehicle development and testing using simulation emphasizes R Vijayalayan, Manager, Automotive Industry Field Application Engineering Team, MathWorks India Pvt. Ltd. During an extensive e-interaction with Niloy from BISinfotech the veteran pans across on how AI is solving complex engineering projects, the trends shaping the Indian auto sector, their leadership in ModelBased Design and challenges for Indian Auto sector when it comes to innovating high-tier autonomous segment. Much more in the edited excerpts below.

> JULY 2021

How has been MathWorks supporting complex engineering projects especially when it comes to solving AI challenges? Engineers working on AI projects often expect to spend a large percentage of their time developing and fine-tuning AI models. Though modeling is an important step in the workflow, the model is not the end of the journey. MathWorks believes that engineers should consider four steps for a complete AI-driven workflow as it is critical to unearth any issues early on for success in AI implementation. The four-step process consists of Data Preparation, AI Modeling, Simulation and Test and Deployment.

Engineers don’t need to become data scientists to achieve success in AI. MathWorks has designed tools, and apps to help them build and integrate AI into their workflows. The engineers bring in the domain knowledge rather than spending inordinate amounts of time becoming

•Vol - 03 / 07

data scientists. They can use apps to quickly try out different approaches and apply their domain expertise to prepare the data. If it’s not feasible to identify features in the data, they can use deep learning, which identifies features as part of the training process. Deep learning requires lots of data, but they can use transfer learning to extend an existing network to work with the data they have. Finally, they can deploy the model as part of a complete AI system on an embedded device.

With the need for efficiency improvement and meeting the shrinking timelines, there’s a big need for virtualization of the electrified vehicle development and testing using simulation. MathWorks provides vehicle model templates to lower the barrier to start design. Engineers can use these models for design tradeoff analysis and component sizing, control parameter optimization, and hardware-in-the-loop simulations. This approach coupled with data analytics enables engineers to perform virtual testing or calibration which results in saving of time and cost. With the increase in software content in today’s electric vehicles, companies are also turning toward virtual vehicles to test their software as soon as possible.

Pivotal focus of MathWorks in the Indian auto sector and if you can elaborate more about your specific offerings in this dramatically changing auto sector? How has been MathWorks transforming the Software The first major digital transformation in the auto industry that Development Paradigm addressing the unique need of happened two decades ago put embedded controls in everything, from power windows to door locks. There was customers and industry? Model-Based Design extends agile principles to the a need to fold in software expertise and combine domain knowledge of auto experts with people who make software. development of systems that include physical components as well as software. From requirements capture, system Currently, the automotive industry is going through a second architecture, and component design, to implementation, digital transformation focusing on developing a software- verification, test, and deployment – Model-Based Design spans the entire development cycle. defined vehicle.

The automotive industry embraced the Model-Based Design to address the challenges caused due to growing software and system complexity. The systematic reuse of models is a basic principle of Model-Based Design, where models form a digital thread connecting development, design optimization, code generation, and verification and validation. This digital thread does not need to be limited to the development process; it can be extended to deploy systems in operation when design models are reused as digital twins. Today, MATLAB and Simulink are acknowledged as helping engineers work on automotive projects based on the increase of electronics in vehicles, including focusing on four key trends: electrification, automated driving, data analytics, predictive maintenance, and functional safety standards.

Electrification is dominating the future of auto industry. What has been MathWorks role in helping innovations and ushering customers towards a sustainable electrified future? Electrified vehicle development requires one to address many challenges in parallel such as Total vehicle efficiency, New engineering capability – power electronics, high-voltage battery, motors, embedded software quality and transition from prototyping work style to production mindset and processes. MathWorks helps engineers tackle these challenges through a unified design environment for system engineering, software engineering, and data science.

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Simulink from MathWorks integrates with Jenkins™, Jira, Git™, GitHub®, and other tools. This lets the teams use models instead of documents to collaborate across teams, integrate their development in continuous integration, build, and test processes and scale development using a combination of desktop and cloud resources. Twice a year, MathWorks provides a thoroughly tested new release that includes, on average, 500 new features across all products, plus enhancements to existing features and performance improvements. MathWorks runs one million automated software tests per day to ensure the quality and compatibility of new code.

ADAS and Autonomous are shaping the future of the auto industry. Your focus on these applications? The focus of MathWorks is to provide the tools to enable the Automated Driving engineers gain insight into real-world behavior by visualizing, replaying, and analyzing vehicle data. Engineers can reduce vehicle testing by modeling and simulating scenarios that are difficult to repeat or are too dangerous to test in the real-world. Finally, engineers can verify functionality of the embedded software by integrating and testing code with the same simulated scenarios. This approach enables engineers to continuously increase confidence in their design along the development process.

JULY 2021 <

> BIG

PICTURE

MathWorks Products such as MATLAB®, Simulink®, and RoadRunner advance the design of automated driving perception, planning, and control systems.

Challenges specific to India when it comes to advancing towards complex technologies like Autonomous in the high-tier segment? As per the market research and different studies, some of the key challenges that are observed when it comes to advancing towards Autonomous driving in India are the infrastructure readiness in adopting autonomous vehicle practices, workforce mobility and safety certification. However, with a focus on pedestrian and driver safety, we will see increasing acceptance of the ADAS and automated driving systems in today’s vehicles. Also, we see that there’s an increasing focus from the off-road vehicles and farm vehicles segment on developing fully or semi-autonomous vehicles. We observe that an increasing number of technical services companies, Global in-house technical centers and startups companies are focusing their R&D work in automated driving. But the key challenge before the industry is the availability of skilled expertise .This brings out the need for ramping up skills in testing, simulation, system engineering and bridging the gap between industry and academia through industry ready curriculum and project-based learning .

• Support for Startups and Incubators

We are also observing that there are quite a few startups working in automated driving space. MathWorks supports incubators and startups worldwide with sponsor and discounted benefits. We enable them in reaching early-stage milestones fast with help of our products.

• Support for Student Competitions

MathWorks prepares and supports the next generation of scientists and engineers with software, training, and mentoring to tackle the same technical issues as professional engineers. We partner with BAJA SAE India, Formula Bharat and runs MathWorks Minidrone competitions supporting student teams with industry-standard tools and mentoring where they can apply classroom theory to competition problems. This helps students gain industry ready skills.

Given 2021, key announcements of MathWorks empowering the Indian Auto sector? MathWorks has invested in helping engineers and scientists in AUTO industry augment their domain knowledge with our solutions and resources. MathWorks follows a twice-yearly general release schedule. Each general release synchronizes the full MATLAB® and Simulink® product families, delivering new features and bug fixes for existing products and, when available, new products. For the automotive industry, RoadRunner is an interactive editor that lets you design 3D scenes for simulating and testing automated driving systems. The new RoadRunner Scene Builder product, part of the RoadRunner product family, imports and

> JULY 2021

automatically synthesizes 3D road models from HERE HD Live Map road data. Powertrain Blockset™ provides fully assembled reference application models of automotive powertrains, including gasoline, diesel, hybrid, and electric systems. It includes a component library for simulating engine subsystems, transmission assemblies, traction motors, battery packs, and controller models. Powertrain Blockset also includes a dynamometer model for virtual testing. Vehicle Dynamics Blockset now includes the ability to implement 6DOF trailers and vehicles with three axles and Simulink 3D blocks that offer the ability to visualize tractors and trailers in the Unreal Engine 3D environment. Lidar Toolbox is a new product that provides algorithms, functions, and apps for designing, analyzing, and testing lidar processing systems. Radar Toolbox includes algorithms and tools for designing, simulating, analyzing, and testing multifunction radar systems. Reference examples provide a starting point for implementing airborne, ground-based, shipborne, and automotive radar systems. Radar Toolbox supports multiple workflows, including requirements analysis, design, deployment, and field data analysis.    AUTOSAR Blockset updates enable the use of schema version 4.4 for import and export of ARXML files and generation of AUTOSAR-compliant C code. It also offers C++-based Linux executables for adaptive models, helping to create an AUTOSAR adaptive executable to run as a standalone application.

Latest updates for Auto customers from MathWorks? MathWorks recently concluded our largest event till date – MATLAB EXPO 2021. This event was executed in a virtual format with coverage over four time zones. This was the first time we brought MAC – MathWorks Automotive Conference – to the Indian audience in a friendly time zone. In case you have missed the event you can find the proceedings here - https://www.matlabexpo.com/online/2021.html#section8 MathWorks and Frost & Sullivan recently co-hosted a wellattended Auto Executive RoundTable on ‘Challenges in simulation for automated driving development.’ You can watch the recording here - https://in.mathworks.com/videos/ roundtable-with-industry-experts-on-challenges-in-simulationfor-automated-driving-development--1613152223970. html?s_tid=srchtitle Working along with our Accelerator partners, MathWorks launched our Technical mentoring program for startups this year. We are already working with couple of Auto Startups in helping them accelerate their product journeys. https://in.mathworks.com/products/startups.html

•Vol - 03 / 07

> WHITE

PAPER

How to Design Modular

DC/DC systems, Part 2: filter design Jonathan Siegers

Principal Applications Engineer, Vicor Corporation

The previous tutorial in this series highlighted the performance, flexibility, and speed benefits of using power modules to design power systems, then provided an overview of the modular design process. A modular design strategy is powerful, but it requires support circuitry in the power delivery network (PDN) to form a complete power system. This second part of the tutorial series addresses the first PDN issue: filtering electrical noise on a switching DC-DC module’s input and output sides.

Vamshi Domudala Application Engineer, Vicor Corporation

adjacent systems that share an electrical connection.

Noise from the converter propagates out of the module and can cause significant problems for control and communication systems. Complete power system filtering elements required to mitigate switching converter noise.

Input noise sources

The switching action of DC-DC converters and parasitic circuit elements distributed throughout the PDN cause two types of noise currents that must be filtered: common-mode and differential-mode. Common-mode noise originates from the high-voltage switching nodes present inside the converter coupled through parasitic capacitance to an EMI ground reference. This noise travels in-phase out of the converter’s positive and negative input terminals and closes through the system’s ground reference. The converters’ switching action also generates differentialmode noise, but its travel is limited to the circulation between the converter’s input terminals.

EMI input interference problems and solutions

If left unchecked, this noise can cause a host of problems within the power system. The following figure shows two DC-DC converters that share a point of common coupling with a DC source, as well as control and communication systems, which are typically sensitive to noise. DC-DC converter-generated noise circulating throughout the PDN can cause erratic system operation and negatively influence the overall behavior of

> JULY 2021

Input filters added to the system bypass switching converter noise locally so that the noise circulates only between the filter and the DC-DC converter itself, reducing interference with other systems connected to the same source. The filter also works in the opposite direction, decreasing the DC-DC converters’ susceptibility to noise that comes from external sources. To begin designing a filter into the system, first note that the filtering for a given application may have to meet specific electromagnetic compatibility standards set forth by various international bodies for both electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and EMI. Standards can vary significantly by industry and application; defense application compliance is significantly different from automotive, for example. Noise-mitigation techniques require several discrete components to filter both common-mode and differential-mode noise currents effectively. Common-mode filtering is generally achieved with a common-mode choke, which forms a highimpedance series path for common-mode currents that flow out of the converter along with both the positive and negative input terminals. The common-mode choke works alongside Y-capacitors that form a shunt path for the common-mode noise to the EMI ground shown in the figure below.

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Discrete components of the system that filter common-mode and differential-mode noise.

Differential-mode elements include X-capacitors and series differential inductors to perform similar functions. This ensures that there is a high-impedance series path for differentialmode noise from the converter, and a low-impedance shunt path for the noise current to close locally to the converter. When routing noise currents to ground, it is possible to couple noise from the power components into the control components by connecting the signal and power grounds incorrectly. When coupled by trace parasitics into signal components, the highfrequency noise propagated by the DC-DC converter can impact low-power control signals and, in turn, cause erratic operation. To prevent power current from flowing through signal grounds, connect the signal ground and the power ground at a single point only.

A second, better approach adds an inductor that selectively applies damping resistance into the circuit, maintaining the second-order filter response with improved damping around the resonant frequency. However, this approach shifts the corner frequency slightly. A third alternative is adding a parallel R-C damping branch, which significantly improves damping around the corner frequency of the filter.

Output filter design

To design an output filter, first define the output voltage ripple magnitude that the application can tolerate. Next, consider the dynamics of the load current, including high di/dt load transients. Of the several pieces of a DC-DC system design that handle high dynamic loads, the converter’s output filter supplying that load has the most direct impact because of its series inductance. With the maximum di/dt of the load defined, it is possible to set a constraint on the inductor’s maximum value for use in the system. The following equation to determine the inductor value factors in the di/dt of the load and the maximum voltage drop allowed across that inductor during a transient, i.e., the low-line input operating voltage at the load.

Filter Topologies

While there are several different methods for constructing filter topologies, this tutorial will illustrate only the more common second-order responses for filters, the first of which is a simple inductor and capacitor. The following figure shows an undamped LC filter response with a second-order roll-off at –40dB per decade above the cut-off frequency. Undamped LC filters are generally not suitable solutions due to their characteristic resonance at the corner frequency. Without proper damping, this filter topology will amplify noise in the range of frequencies around the resonance. There are several damping strategies to consider—first, a simplified seriesdamped filter circuit with a resistor in parallel with the inductor. The damping at the corner frequency is much better, but it comes at the cost of decreased high-frequency attenuation due to the addition of a zero in the filter’s frequency response.

Three damping approaches compared to an undamped LC filter in a system that exhibits second-order roll-off at –40dB.

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VOUT-CONVERTER -VOUT-LOAD diLOAD dt

Next, after selecting the appropriate inductor, determine the cut-off frequency for the filter based on the ripple and how much attenuation is needed at the output. From this information, it is then possible to work out the capacitance value using this equation:

fc =

1 2π

LDMCDM

( HZ )

Physical properties and implementation considerations

DC-DC switching converters today operate at very high frequencies — high enough that parasitic capacitances and inductances in the design layout can significantly impact the filter’s overall behavior in the converter system. In general, EMI filters should be located physically close to the converter itself. The following figure shows a DC-DC converter with filtering capacitances placed directly at the input. Due to the proximity to the converter, the noise currents circulate locally. If the noise currents were allowed to circulate in a wider space, the loop path could very easily become an antenna at high frequency, radiating noise to other parts of the circuit and completely negating the benefit of adding a filter. Therefore, both the series and shunt filter elements should be placed as close as possible to the DC-DC converter to limit the size of the loop that will experience high frequency and high di/dt currents.

JULY 2021 <

> WHITE

PAPER

PCB layout considerations include placing filter components in close proximity to the DC-DC converter (left). Separating copper planes to avoid capacitive coupling allows noise currents to bypass the high-impedance filter components (right).

The layout of the PCB is also important. Pay careful attention to the traces that will be carrying noise currents to minimize their overall inductance and resistance so that at high frequency they will not form significant voltage as a result of their impedance. Also, lay out planes on the PCB to avoid forming parasitic capacitances that allow coupling effects to bypass the filtering elements. For example, if the copper planes that define the connection to a filter inductor’s terminals are too close together, a parasitic capacitance will allow high-frequency currents to bypass the high-impedance inductor. Best practices separate the copper planes to minimize parasitic capacitance around high-series-impedance components. The same concept applies to common-mode chokes. Maintain a keep-out area around the common-mode choke windings to prevent parasitic capacitance that would bypass the filter component. Filtering-component performance can vary significantly under fluctuating environmental or application related conditions. For example, the effective value of Class 2 dielectric ceramic capacitor exhibits significant variation with applied DC bias voltage. The DC bias characteristic chart below illustrates this effect on an example 1206 size MLCC component; at 50V applied bias, the effective capacitance is reduced by 74%. This variation in effective capacitance will increase the filter’s corner frequency, reducing the attenuation achieved at high frequencies.

> JULY 2021

DC bias characteristics (left) and Temperature characteristics (right): The effects of voltage and temperature on effective capacitance are important considerations for filter design. DC bias characteristics significantly change the capacitance of a Murata Class 2 dielectric ceramic capacitor (left), and significant reductions in capacitance are evident at the extremes of the rated temperature range (right). Source: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Operating temperature can also have a significant impact on effective capacitance. The temperature characteristics chart above shows that the same example capacitor exhibits up to a 20% reduction in effective capacitance when operated to the extremes of its rated operating temperature range. A robust filtering solution for DC-DC modules must account for the impact of expected component variation over the system’s full expected operating range.

Conclusion

Integrating the input filter into the system poses additional challenges for overall system stability. The next tutorial in this series will take up that area of system design.

•Vol - 03 / 07

> 5G

Ericsson Unveils Private Small Cell Forum’s Next 5G Gen 5G FAPI

Ericsson has unveiled Ericsson Private 5G. It offers secure and simple 4G LTE and 5G Standalone (SA) connectivity primarily targeting – but not limited to – manufacturing, mining and process industry, offshore and power utilities, as well as ports and airports.

Small Cell Forum (SCF) has unveiled its updated 5G FAPI PHY and RF specifications, as well as an updated 5G network FAPI specification and a testing framework for S-RU and S-DUs. The updated specifications and new test support paper developed by the SCF membership demonstrate maturity and ongoing support for the FAPI interfaces, which are used in millions of the world’s Systems on a Chip small cells – and can now be used for macro cells as well.

Ericsson Private 5G optimizes and simplifies business operations with cloud-based network management, keeps sensitive data on-premise, has zero downtime upgrades and guarantees high performance through Service-Level Agreements (SLAs). Ericsson Private 5G builds upon Ericsson’s 4G/5G radio and dualmode core technology, enabling a wide variety of use cases for both indoor and outdoor environments while integrating well with business operations, devices and applications.

FAPI is a common standard agreed between chipset and component suppliers and mobile base station integrators. It is an API for hardware components implementing 3GPP physical layer functions and software stacks implementing MAC and higher layers.

Vodafone Names NEC as Key Partner to Build ORAN NEC Corporation has been named as a key partner by Vodafone in the UK for supplying 5G massive MIMO radio units (RU) for the operator's initiative to build one of the largest commercial Open Radio Access Networks (RAN) in the world. Following Vodafone's announcement of its plan to initially deploy Open RAN to 2,500 sites in the UK, starting this year, the operator will work with key vendors to extend 4G and 5G coverage in rural areas in the South West of England and most of Wales, later moving into urban areas. "Open RAN is essential to accelerating innovation and increasing supply chain diversity," said Johan Wibergh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone. "Vodafone is keen to work with our strategic partners such as NEC to create a more cost-effective, secure, energy-efficient and customer-focused network of the future." "NEC is delighted to be awarded this project and we are excited to be working with Vodafone on this strategically important initiative," said Shigeru Okuya, Senior Vice President,

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NEC Corporation. "We look forward to accelerating the development of Open RAN systems which in turn will improve innovation and help drive the UK digital economy." NEC will be responsible for supplying its industry-leading massive MIMO 5G radio units that are compatible with the O-RAN Alliance 7-2x split. NEC will utilize its advanced technologies, commercial deployment experiences in Japan and its Open RAN Center of Excellence (CoE) in the UK to support Vodafone's Open RAN deployment. NEC is also actively engaged in NeutrORAN, which demonstrates Open RAN ecosystem-based neutral host solutions. This is a part of the 5G testbed and trials program initiated by the UK Government to improve telecom supply chain diversification.

JULY 2021 <

> POWER

DC Char Statio

ST’s challenge for powe INTRODUCTION

The global Electric Vehicle Charging Station Market size is projected to reach 30,758 thousand units by 2027, from an estimated 2,115 thousand units in 2020, at a CAGR of 46.6%. The base year for the report is 2019, and the forecast period is from 2020 to 2027. (source Markets and Markets., February 2021). Geographically, rapidly growing sales of Electric Vehicles in the Asia Pacific region, especially in China, has propelled the growth of the global market for electric vehicle charging stations. Europe is expected to be the second-largest market during the forecast period.

Luigi Galioto

Technical Marketing Manager, STMicroelectronics

Considering the various charging level types, the Level 3 charging type (i.e DC fast charging) is expected to grow fastest during the forecast period. Level 3 charging has been growing at the quickest rate due to the convenience of fast charging EVs within 30 minutes. STMicroelectronics’ products support this market/ application. We’ll take a look at the main system architectures and the main suitable ST products in the following section.

ARCHITECTURES AND ST’S PRODUCTS

The power range for DC fast chargers covers 30-150kW and implements a modular approach (fig.1) based on 15-30 kW subunits, which are then stacked up to create the higher power DC charging system. This approach provides a flexible, fast, safe, and affordable solution.

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rging on

Fig.2 – Sub-unit block diagram Concerning the power stage (PFC + DC-DC sections), design efficiency is the key, and for a sub-unit of 15-30kW power range, ST offers suited, efficient and smart products for PFC, DC-DC and Control unit/driving stages, as reported in following sections.

PFC stage

The power factor correction (PFC) stage, for a 3-phase input, can be implemented through several configurations, and often Vienna rectifier topologies are used (fig.3, type 1 or type2).

er and control Fig.3 – PFC Vienna rectifier topologies Based on design and/or customer needs, ST offers a wide variety of switches (fig.3, device T):

Fig.1 – Charging station sub-unit stackable solution ST’s products cover the main power and control unit/driving stages included in each sub-unit (fig.2).

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• SiC MOSFETs Gen 2 (650V series SCT*N65G2) is based on the advanced and innovative properties of wide bandgap materials and feature very low Rdson per area that combined with excellent switching performance provides an efficient and compact design. In particular, the 4-pin SCTW90N65G2V-4 with its 18mΩ RDS(on), can comfortably handle 90 A of drain current at 100°C. • IGBTs HB2 series (650V family STGW*H65DFB2) ensures higher efficiency in applications working at medium to high frequencies. Combining both lower saturation voltage (1.55 V typ.) and lower total gate charge, this IGBT family ensures minimal overshoot voltages during turnoff as well as lower turn-off energy in application. In particular, the STGW40H65DFB-4 provides faster switching thanks to a Kelvin pin that separates power path and driving signal. • Power MOSFETs MDMesh™ M5 series (650V family, STW*N65M5)uses an innovative vertical process to have a higher VDSS rating and high dv/dt capability, outstanding RDSon x area, and excellent switching performance. In the input stage, it is possible to control the inrush current with these devices: • SCR Thyristors TN*50H-12WY (fig.3, Vienna 1, device DA), an AEC-Q101 qualified rectifier, offers 1200V blocking capability with optimized power density and surge current capability. In this way it is possible to avoid the use of passive components that limits the efficiency and lifetime of the system.

JULY 2021 <

> POWER • Rectifiers for input bridge, the STBR*12 1200 family (fig.3, Vienna1, device DB) with its low forward voltage drop, improves the efficiency of the input bridges in compliance with the most stringent standards. That products are ideal for use in mixed-bridge configurations along with ST’s SCR Thyristor. As far as diodes are concerned, the topologies the new SiC Diodes 650/1200V series combines the lowest forward voltage with state-of-the-art forward surge current robustness. Designers can select a lower current rating diode without compromising the converter’s efficiency level while increasing the affordability of high performing systems. • 650V (STPSC*H65) on Vienna type 1 (fig.3, device DC) • 1200V (STPSC*H12) on Vienna type 2 (fig.3, device D)

DC-DC stage

In the DC/DC conversion stage, a full bridge resonant topology (fig.4) is often preferred due to its efficiency, galvanic isolation, and fewer devices.

resolution of 1.3 ns. Each SMED is configured via the STNRG internal microcontroller. A set of dedicated peripherals complete the STNRG device: 4 analog comparators, 10-bit ADC with configurable op amps and 8-channel sequencer. and a 96 MHz PLL for high output signal resolution. The new STGAP2SICS is a 6kV galvanic isolated single gate driver designed to drive SiC MOSFETs. It features a 4A sink/ source current capability, short propagation delay, up to 26V supply voltage, optimized UVLO and standby function, and a SO8W package.

ST’S EVALUATION BOARDS

For just about any application type, ST offers the right system evaluation boards for testing features of ST’s products directly in the final system or sub-system. For DC Charging station, some boards and related firmware are available as well. The STDES-VIENNARECT evaluation board (fig.5-a) features a 15 kW, three-phase Vienna rectifier with mixed-signal control for the power factor correction (PFC) stage. The high switching frequency of the SCTW35N65G2V 650V SiC MOSFETs (70 kHz), the adoption of STPSC20H12 1200V SiC diodes, and the multilevel structure allow nearly 99% efficiency as well as the optimization of passive power components in terms of size and cost. The STEVAL-VIENNARECT features mixed-signal control, with the STNRG388A controller providing digital output voltage regulation. Dedicated analog circuitry provides high bandwidth continuous conduction mode (CCM) current regulation for maximum power quality in terms of total harmonic distortion (THD<5%) and power factor (PF>0.99).

Fig.4 – FB-LLC resonant topology Considering a 3-phase PFC converter with Vout= 750-900V, and a HV battery of 400V-800V, for FB-LLC resonant converter ST proposes: • SiC MOSFETs Gen 2 1200V series SCT*N120G2 (fig.4, device T) • SiC Diodes 1200V STPSC*H12 (fig.4, device D)

Control unit and driving stage

Depending on the needs of the design, ST offers both MCUs and digital controllers: • The 32-bit microcontrollers most suitable for power management applications are the STM32F334 (from the STM32F3 family) and the STM32G474 (from the STM32G4 family). The STM32F3 MCU series combines a 32-bit ARM® Cortex®-M4 core (with FPU and DSP instructions) running at 72 MHz with a high-resolution timer and complex waveform builder plus event handler. The STM32G4 series’ 32-bit ARM® Cortex®-M4+ core running at 170 MHz is a continuation of the STM32F3 series, maintaining the series’ leadership in analogue that grants cost reduction at the application level, a simplification of the application design, and the chance for designers to explore new segments and applications. • The heart of the STNRG388A digital controller is the SMED (State Machine Event Driven), which allows the device to pilot six independently configurable PWM clocks with a maximum

> JULY 2021

(a) (b) Fig.5 – PFC solutions for DC Charging station

(c)

The STDES-PFCBIDIR evaluation board (fig.5-b) features 15 kW, three-phase, three-level Active Front End (AFE) bidirectional converter for power factor correction (PFC) stage. The power side adopts SCTW40N120G2VAG 1200V SiC MOSFETs which guarantee high efficiency (nearly 99%). The control is based on the STM32G4 series microcontroller with connectors for communication, and test-points and status indicators for testing and debugging. The driving signals for the switching devices are managed by corresponding STGAP2S gate drivers to ensure independent management of switching frequencies and dead time. The STEVAL-DPSTPFC1 3.6 kW bridgeless totem pole boost circuit (fig.5-c) achieves a digital power factor correction (PFC) with digital inrush current limiter (ICL). It helps you to design an innovative topology with the latest ST power kit devices: a silicon carbide MOSFET (SCTW35N65G2V), a thyristor SCR (TN3050H-12WY), an isolated FET driver (STGAP2S) and a 32-bit MCU (STM32F334).

•Vol - 03 / 07

> KART

Mouser & TE Launch New Content Platform

Digi-Key Presents myLists List Management System

Mouser Electronics and TE Connectivity have collaborated to create a new content platform devoted to TE’s newest resources, products, and technical insights. The new site from Mouser and TE offers a comprehensive, continually updated archive of infographics, videos, and technical articles, providing valuable insights into some of the most challenging aspects of connected automobile and smart home design. The platform is launching with more than 50 pieces of content, covering technologies including antennas, sensors, Internet of Things devices, and medical solutions. Each article includes links to relevant TE products, connecting usable information from industry experts to the technologies and solutions needed to support each application. With over 69,000 TE products, Mouser offers an ever-broadening selection of the newest TE interconnect, passive, and sensor solutions, constantly adding new products. For example, Mouser stocks TE’s FAKRA automotive connector system, which is based on FAKRA RF and USCAR standards requirements and includes RF cable assemblies, terminals, and housings. The AmbiMate sensor module MS4 series boards offer a set of four core sensors — motion, light, temperature, and humidity — with optional sensors for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), sound, and CO2.

Digi-Key Electronics has unveiled a consolidated list management system, myLists, to streamline customers' BOM Manager, Price and Availability (PANDA), and Favorites into one convenient solution. The tool also offers enhanced functionality and new features. Digi-Key is introducing myLists to make it easier for customers to manage their lists all in one place In addition to providing greater convenience, myLists has more than 15 new features to benefit Digi-Key customers. Among the most notable new features is an attrition calculator to plan for overages that account for parts lost or damaged during manufacturing, the ability to upload up to 1,000line items per list, options for customizing the list view, and alternatives suggested in-line for parts when available. Digi-Key customers can use myLists as a guest but will have access to the enhanced features only if they are registered users.

Avnet, Infineon to Deliver SiC Technologies

element14 Offers Raspberry Pi-Designed PR2040 Chip

Avnet has partnered with Infineon on the manufacturer’s leadingedge silicon carbide (SiC) based CoolSiC technology, which delivers key benefits for engineers designing advanced power systems across a wide selection of market sectors and applications. Infineon and Avnet will collaborate over the next year and beyond to accelerate the deployment of energy-efficient power devices with CoolSic technologies. Infineon’s CoolSiC technology builds upon these inherent advantages of the semiconductor material to deliver efficiency and reliability across a variety of applications such as battery charging, photovoltaic inverters, motor drives, energy storage and power supplies. The CoolSiC portfolio ranges from SiC-based diodes and discrete MOSFETs to hybrid and full SiC modules.

element14 has recently started offering the 2040 chip built on Raspberry Pidesigned silicon. This new chip, which is at the core of the $4 Raspberry Pi Pico delivers a combination of high performance, low cost, and ease of use. The Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller offers high performance for integer workloads, a large on-chip memory, and a wide range of I/O options, making it a flexible solution for a wide range of microcontroller applications. Professional design engineers who are already comfortable working with Raspberry Pi will easily adopt the Raspberry Pi Pico and appreciate its ease of use and affordability. element14 is the longest-standing Raspberry Pi partner and has sold more than 15 million units to date. element14 stocks the complete range of Raspberry Pi single-board computers including the recently launched Raspberry Pi Pico.

•Vol - 03 / 07

JULY 2021 <

LAUNCH

Infineon New OptiMOS Packages in TOLx Family Infineon Technologies new OptiMOS power MOSFET packages in the TOLx family for applications that requires high current rating, ruggedness and extended lifetime. Features: • Offering more choices to power system designers. • Meets diverse design needs and achieve maximum performance in the smallest space. • Innovative TO-Leadless (TOLL) package • Offers very low RDS (on) and a high-current rating over 300 A • The TOLG package combines the best features of TOLL and D2PAK 7-pin packages, sharing the same 10 x 11 mm2 footprint.

Applications: e-scooters, e-forklifts and other light electric vehicles (LEVs), as well as power tools and battery management systems.

Availability: Available Now

Maxim Automotive Window Voltage Monitor Maxim releases the MAX16137 single-window voltage monitor with built-in self-test (BIST) for the designers working to achieve automotive functional safety in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) to reduce solution size and complexity. Features: • Built-In Self-Test: Advanced diagnostics at the chip level help developers meet system-level functional safety requirements with less board space • Precision Window Monitoring: ±1 percent accuracy voltage monitoring of Undervoltage/overvoltage (UV/ OV) values can be factory set at ±4 percent to ±11 percent of the target voltage

Applications: Automotive functional safety in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).

Availability: Available Now

Microchip New Tool for FPGA-Based Designs Microchip Technology has strengthened its FPGA family’s security with the DesignShield development tool that further helps prevent this information from being extracted for malicious purposes. The DesignShield tool was created to protect developers of aerospace, defense and other high-assurance systems from cybercriminals trying to acquire an FPGA’s bitstream from the fielded system. Features: • It deters reverse-engineering of the bitstream, which can often include CPI. • Obscures its logical equivalent using a combination of logic and routing-based encryption techniques.

Applications: Protect developers of aerospace, defense and other high-assurance systems from cybercriminals.

Availability: Available Now

ROHM New Support Site for Designers ROHM has released a new website consolidating 1,000 products under the ComfySILTM brand to support functional safety in automotive systems. Improving the searchability of products and various documents contributes to greater work efficiency for electronic circuit and system designers in the automotive field. ROHM quickly responded to these needs, and successfully acquired ISO 26262 development process certification from 3rd party certification body TÜV Rheinland. Features: • This new special site consolidates functional safety-compliant products under the brand name ComfySILTM. • The ComfySILTM brand targets not only vehicles, but also functional safety for other markets as well.

> JULY 2021

Applications: Automotive Systems

Availability: Available Now

•Vol - 03 / 07

Murata Common Mode Choke Coil Murata Manufacturing has introduced the latest automotive common mode choke coils, DLW21SH391XQ2 and DLW21PH201XQ2 used to suppress noise for high-speed interfaces that use Serializer/Deserializer (Ser/Des) on Power Over Coax (PoC). In recent years, various sensors (vehicle-mounted cameras, LiDAR, radars, etc.) are equipped vehicles to establish self-driving car technologies. Features: • Capable of withstanding large currents such as 300 mA and 500 mA. • Since this technology requires a higher current compared to conventional differential interfaces (typically tens of mA), the latest Murata DLW21 products are designed to handle 300mA to 500mA.

Applications: Application of PoC

Availability: Available Now

ST Unveils MasterGaN Reference Design STMicroelectronics launches its first reference design for MasterGaN power packages, demonstrating how the new highly integrated devices increase power density, boost energy efficiency, simplify design, and accelerate time to market. Features: • 250W resonant converter with a 100mm x 60mm board outline and 35mm maximum component height. • It features the MasterGaN1. • The logic inputs are compatible with signals from 3.3V to 15V. • MasterGaN1 is suitable for high-efficiency soft-switching topologies.

Applications: Resonant converters, active clamp flyback or forward converters and bridgeless totem-pole PFC (power factor correction) in AC/DC power supplies, DC/DC converters, and DC/AC inverters up to 400W.

Availability: Available Now

Industry’s First 4-Channel ADC by Teledyne e2v Teledyne e2v has started supplying mixed-signal technology that is capable of delivering exceptional degrees of reliability. The company's EV12AQ600 has just been confirmed as the industry's first 4-channel analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to be qualified for space deployment. Features: • The EV12AQ600 has shown that it can withstand a total ionizing dose (TID) of 150kRad. • The ADC had to endure multi-axis mechanical shock and vibration tests, plus electro-static discharge (ESD), extreme temperature and thermal cycling test procedures. • It now meets NASA and ESA requirements, complying with the stringent MIL-PRF-38535 (QML-Y) and ESCC 9000 standards.

Applications: Mission-critical military and avionics applications, and space qualification will open up many new opportunities for their usage.

Availability: Available Now

RECOM’s Ultra-Wide Input DC/DC Converter RECOM has rolled out its 16:1 ultra-wide input high-isolation quarter-brick DC/DC converter, ideal for rail and harsh industrial applications. Features: • The input range is 14.4V to 170V (200V for 1s). • Fully regulated available outputs are 12, 24, or 54VDC with a wide +10/-20% trim range (+18/-20% for 24V output). • Efficiency is high across the operating range, and with sufficient airflow, 150W output is available from -40°C up to at least 65°C for every variant.

•Vol - 03 / 07

Applications: Industrial

Availability: Available Now

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> POWER

IoT Sensors Without Batteries –

Maintenance-Free With a Long Life Vishay Supports Reference Designs

Vishay is setting new standards in the world of IoT. This is achieved by photovoltaic energy harvesting, among other factors, in conjunction with a hybrid supercapacitor. Energy harvesting is the derivation of small amounts of energy from energy sources in the surroundings, such as light, heat, vibration, or other differential quantities. The main problems in this area are the most effective harvesting, efficient transformation to a usable voltage level, and lossless storage. Storage capacitors with minimum leakage current are key components here.

> JULY 2021

ENYCAP™ capacitor technology provides good properties to satisfy the demands in this area. It possesses small size, high energy density, low leakage current, and more than 90 % of the rated capacitance, even after 35,000 deep discharge cycles. With these types of energy sources from the surroundings, combined with the correct charging technology, sensors are completely self-sustaining and can be used for considerably longer than the 10 years intended for IoT applications.

•Vol - 03 / 07

pallet or the monitoring of some goods with regard to motion or a certain process state, the chief factor is frequently the lowest power sleep mode until an alarm state actually occurs. This might be, for example, incorrect handling, such as dropping the goods or unloading them roughly. Also, the active motion of goods or assets that should not normally be moved would be stored as an error in the sensor or output as a message by radio. The important point is that precisely then, and this may be the case only after months or years, there is still enough energy to execute the scheduled activity. Aging effects or drift must not impair the function.

ENYCAP™ (a Hybrid With Benefits From Both Worlds)

The product range extends from 1.4 V to 8.4 V and 4 F to 90 F. The goal of > 10 years of usability, as it was aspired to years ago in the IoT world, can only be achieved if all components used are optimized in nano-ampere design and operate efficiently with minimum losses. In addition to the 7.5 mm² silicon photocell with 13 % efficiency, this also includes very well isolated MOSFETs connected back to back that prevent the discharge of the ENYCAP™ during periods of darkness. A 40 V diode in the VSKY series from Vishay (for example, VSKY02400603) can perform well in this application, typically offering low forward voltage of 0.475 V at rated current and low leakage current of 0.8 µA at 20 V reverse voltage. However, only active back to back isolation using p-channel MOSFETs, for example, the MicroFoot® (BGA) Si8819EDB or the PowerPAK® 0806 SiUD403ED, achieves typical reverse leakage currents of 10 nA. However, even the best disconnector switch does not provide a benefit if the self-discharge of the storage capacitor is too high. One particular focus of the development effort of the ENYCAP™ was to reduce the self-discharge such that, even after three months without a load and without a charging current, more than 80 % of the energy charge in the capacitor is still available. In this way, a lengthy period of time can be spanned quite easily with only a little generated (harvested) energy. Conversely, enough energy can be made available to the sensor and the radio module if both circuits must measure or transmit often, for example, for radio messages into the 5G or ISM radio alarm band.

Industry Is Banking on ISM Radio + 5G

Many industrial applications, for example, IIoT, M2M or intralogistics, or other network systems, are banking precisely on this use case. Whether it is a status message from a Euro

•Vol - 03 / 07

The energy density of the ENYCAP™, at 50 Wh/kg, is considerably greater than the maximum value of other supercapacitors. In addition, the voltage of an ENYCAP™ cell has been designed so that connecting individual cells (a multiple of 1.4 V) in series is within the voltage ranges of 1.2 V – 1.5 V or 2.4 V – 3 V. These are the typical voltages of rechargeable batteries or primary cells. With three cells connected in series, this becomes a perfect drop-in replacement for lithium ion cells because this yields exactly 4.2 V – 4.35 V. This version can also be charged with a typical lithium charging IC, a factor that considerably reduces the hurdle for new developments. There are packages available in the button cell replacement sizes of 4.8 mm diameter (comparable to SR412SW, RB414, or ML414 cells), 12.5 mm diameter (comparable to SR44 or CR1225), up to the most powerful oval versions with a diameter of 25 mm – 35 mm. These diameters correspond to capacitances of 4 F, 15 F, and 90 F and absolute energy values of 4.1 Ws up to 115 Ws per 1.4 V cell. Converting into mAh yields ~1.1 mAh to ~30 mAh. The internal resistance (ESR) of the ENYCAP™ was intensively tested for use in radio applications. The voltage drop across the capacitor is proportional to the internal resistance and the current, for example, with 2.5Ω internal resistance per 1.4 V cell for the 15 F ENYCAP™ or 7.5 Ω for the 4 F version. Upper Channel = CH1

Voltage Sense Oscilloscope

Attenuator + Splitter

IoT Sensor

−

20 dB Attenuator

Power Splitter

RF Power Detector to Oscilloscope RF Input Spectrum Analyzer

Lower Channel = CH2

fc = 868.29 MHz + Zero Span

− +

HVC 196 4 F / 15 F

Even the 4F–4.2 V version, specified at a conservative 22.5 Ω DC internal resistance in the datasheet, exhibits a voltage drop of only 0.7 V at room temperature and pulse loading and thus, computationally, an internal resistance of 5 Ω (in the first 100 ms).

JULY 2021 <

> COMPANY

- FEATURE

The measured currents on the 4.1V side were 80 mA – 125 mA; the IoT sensor contains a buck converter that converts to the best transceiver voltage. An OOK, FSK, and LORA™ burst was transmitted; after this the circuit waited to receive an “acknowledge” signal. In order to support further miniaturization aimed at even lower energy consumption (smaller storage capacities), development laboratories are working on SMD versions suitable for reflow soldering with lower residual currents. Such a Polarized Aluminum Electrical Double Layer Capacitor would have measured on the first samples, e.g. in the 11 x 8 x 2.3 mm design, a capacity of 150mF and leakage currents of 0.5uA after 96 hours at room temperature and full charge. As a commercially readily available solution, a combination of a PV cell and the ENYCAP™ has been in practical operation successfully for over a year. The boost charging circuit is based on a joint venture with the development partner e-peas. Their chip, the AEM10941, adapted for energy harvesting applications, was tested in the system. Upgrading the Fraunhofer reference design, the MIOTY Cookie, with these two components, the PV cell and the ENYCAP™, was also kicked off. Unfortunately, this last effort has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Discussions with the ASIC design company e-peas and several Fraunhofer Institutes precisely verified that the combination of the PV + ENYCAP™ components solve a known problem in the IIoT world. Vishay photodiodes were used to implement the PV circuit. Vishay currently offers 29 different photodetector PV cells that are 7.5 mm in size. The VEMD5080X01 is a low profile, blue-enhanced SMD version sized at 5 mm x 4 mm x 0.9 mm. It is the most efficient photodiode of this type, has an opening angle of 130° and generates about 2 mA at 0.52 V under summer sunshine. This corresponds to an efficiency of about 13.8 %. The times are past where regular battery replacement was included in the maintenance tasks and missed maintenance intervals resulted in malfunctions or even failures in the event of an emergency. The latter was a standard problem for years due to, for example, smart meters requiring more power than simulated because the radio connection was poor or suffering interference and the batteries in the field had to be replaced considerably more often than forecast by the manufacturer.

> JULY 2021

How Important are Maintenance Costs and Effort?

Even long before the Deutsche Telekom IoT Guide cited once again in 2019, “Our thousands of devices require long battery lifetime to avoid costly replacement,” it was known that the essential maintenance effort for IoT and metering sensors would primarily be frequent battery replacement. This is precisely where Vishay is offering a genuine problem solution. This is also not to forget the mountain of battery waste that is reduced and does not put additional stress on the environment. The costs for battery replacement can quickly be calculated using the recurring costs for an hour of labor for an installation engineer. Compared to this, the costs for the upgrade combination of a PV cell and ENYCAP™ are only about 5 % of this and do not require any monitoring effort because of the substantially improved deep discharge stability. Conclusion: install and forget. The typical environmental effects reduce the long life of the IoT sensors of many competing products. This is primarily due to batteries that cannot be used at 50 °C and above or, according to their specification, must not be used. Vishay was already thinking along those lines and developed the ENYCAP™ for 85°C. The newest SMD version is even optimized for high temperatures. This is particularly important for outdoor applications, especially considering the increasing average temperatures and hours of sunshine. In the 5G era, there will be many new small cells, for example, around streetlights that can receive compatible IoT sensor signals. A pioneer is, for example, Sigfox with its own infrastructure. The new 5G technology uses the existing infrastructure, of course, so that, in this case, every smart home, garden, farming, or monitoring sensor can also transmit directly to a 5G network. Vishay also successfully participated in the development of the reference design of a smart IoT sensor for outdoor use, namely a soil analysis sensor that transmits directly to the 5G network. In theory, all radio technologies can be retrofit or upgraded with the PV cell plus deep-cycle ENYCAP™ concept. However, those radio standards that use short burst transmissions are the best choice because the low ESR of the ENYCAP™ capacitors can be used to full advantage in the first milliseconds.

More information:

https://www.vishay.com/landingpage/infographics/iot_batteryless.html https://www.vishay.com/landingpage/et4/et3te_iot1.html

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

•Vol - 03 / 07

Optical Fiber is Future

Technology for Today and Tomorrow 5G known as Fifth Generation of Mobile Network has increased expectation of customers along with mobile service providers for higher bandwidth, low latency, spectrum efficient network. All communication technologies (wired and wireless) have own merit and demerit. In view of the requirements of 5G expected in the long run regarding data rate, latency, the optical fiber is basically the most future-proof and scalable medium under wired communication network and now supplement to wireless technology. In addition, it is operationally cost-effective in the long term because there are no longer active network elements between the control center and the mobile radio station. From a technical point of view, a pure fiber optic connection of the mobile radio stations is the most efficient choice in the long run.

According to the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) latest “Trends in Telecommunication Reform” report, ongoing capital investments related to fiber infrastructure are expected to total a staggering $144.2B between 2014 and 2019. One of the primary drivers for this immense capital investment into fiber infrastructure deployments comes out of thin air, in the form of tomorrow’s 5G radios. Even for the sake of network management, the optical fiber connection of 5G locations is optimal. Due to the cellular nature of mobile phone networks, there are always interferences with neighbouring cells at the cell edge, which significantly impairs performance. This problem can be reduced with the introduction of 5G. However, this requires the fast and low-latency coordination of all neighbouring transmitting and receiving stations. For this reason, the optical fiber is the first choice from the technical point of view, as alternative backhaul technologies may lead to necessary compromises in the achievable coordination performance.

> JULY 2021

Madhukar Tripathi

Associate Director - Optical Business & Marketing, Anritsu India Pvt. Ltd.

Mobile service providers have used fiber for years, using the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) and soon enhanced CPRI (eCPRI), as well as other optical schemes and microwave links for fronthaul, midhaul, and backhaul. But 5G presents a very different challenge than its 4G predecessor, as it will require more fiber in more places to serve 5G’s massive number of small cells, while accommodating data-intensive applications such as gaming, 4K video streaming, and virtual reality. All these applications will generate orders of magnitude more data than seen today. This data need a most cost effective mechanism to transfer from one site to other, with in network in more efficient and faster manner and Optical Fiber is answer to this. Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) is being produced more than ever now to ensure connectivity across buildings, cities, nations, and globe. Optical Fiber cables are tested for various stages during production. As per AMR Optical Fiber and Accessories Market in India to Hit $1.66 Billion by 2026, at 17.2% CAGR. Government projects like Bharatnet, Broadband for all, surge in adoption of Fiber To The Home (FTTH), FTTx connectivity by major telecom service providers (Reliance Jio, Airtel), modernization of communication network by Govt PSU’s and Statewide optical fiber deployment projects are creating demand for optical fiber cable.

TESTING OPTICAL FIBER CABLES

Manufacturer testing on fiber-optic cable falls into two general categories: production testing and characterization, or type, testing. These two kinds of tests are quite different, but each is useful in its own way.

Production testing:

Production testing is performed on each cable that rolls off

•Vol - 03 / 07

the manufacturing line. Some production tests, in fact, are conducted online as the cable is being fabricated. Production testing is meant for internal quality assessment or requirements and not necessary part od final OFC delivery to buyer. Mechanical test, geometrical test is also conducted in various phases in production environment. These tests ensure final cable assembly is meeting buyer’s requirement and meet industry standards. ITU -T has notified SERIES G: TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS AND MEDIA, DIGITAL SYSTEMS AND NETWORKS Transmission media and optical systems characteristics – Optical fibre cables vide document no 11/2009. Recommendation ITU-T G.652 describes the geometrical, mechanical and transmission attributes of a single-mode optical fibre and cable which has zero-dispersion wavelength around 1310 nm. The ITU-T G.652 fibre was originally optimized for use in the 1310 nm wavelength region but can also be used in the 1550 nm region. This is the latest revision of a Recommendation that was first created in 1984 and deals with some relatively minor modifications. This revision is intended to maintain the continuing commercial success of this fibre in the evolving world of high-performance optical transmission system.

for the telecom operator are normally 1310, 1490, 1550nm for testing the network at operational wavelengths and 1625nm for confirming good installation practices (macro bending for example). For the cable manufactures often 1383nm is more important than 1625nm to gain insight into any possible issues with the water peak or confirm the water peak as been removed on relative fibers. ITU-T standard G.652 talks about the different attenuation of fiber G.652C and G.652D both have reduced water peak requirements. The attenuation of these fiber types at 1383nm is required to be less than or equal to the highest attenuation between 1310 to 1625nm. As 1310nm has the highest attenuation across this spectrum people often refer to the loss per km at 1383nm having to be less than that at 1310nm. Full specification details can be obtained from the ITU web site at http://www.itu.int which should always be referenced for the latest and most accurate information.

OTDR Test Set up in OFC Plant:

Type testing

The purpose of type testing is to ensure that the cable will function properly under a range of adverse mechanical and environmental conditions, not just when the final system tests are performed. In many cases, type testing is destructive, so it is not conducted on production cables. It is called "type testing" because selected cables of a particular type may be tested as representative of a whole family of cables of that type. ITU-T standards, also known as ITU-T Recommendations, describe the geometrical properties and transmissive properties of multimode and single-mode fiber optic cables. Now there are seven common ITU-T Recommendations currently in effect at the date of its publication: ITU-T G.651.1, ITU-T G.652, ITU-T G.653, ITU-T G.654, ITU-T G.655, ITU-T G.656, and ITU-T G.657. Common mechanical tests performed on optical cable include tensile strength, compressive loading (crush), repeated impact loading, torsion loading, flexing, and bending.

Figure- 1 : Anritsu OTDR used for Testing Optical Fiber in cable plant.

Every fiber in every cable should be measured for both optical loss and point discontinuities. Most fiber cable manufacturer provides Optical Loss/ Attenuation data with final product dispatch. This works as judgment and acceptance document for buyer and seller. Optical Time Domain Reflectometer, commonly known as OTDR is most popular instrument used for this measurement. It is not easy to measure attenuation per meter in Short fiber cables.

Common OTDR wavelengths

The wavelength selection for cable manufactures can differ from the telecom operator requirements. Key wavelengths

•Vol - 03 / 07

Figure-2 OTDR Trace Basics

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&M Optical loss can be a sign of a poorly designed, poorly manufactured, or otherwise defective cable. If a fiber is subjected to any undue mechanical stress during manufacture, it will be manifested as an increase in optical loss. A twisted, crushed, or pinched fiber will show a point loss or "step" at the location of the defect. It is therefore important that factory measurements include both end-to-end loss measurement and inspection for point discontinuities on every fiber. These measurements should be made and recorded at the wavelength(s) at which the installed system will operate.

Figure-3 Bidirectional Loss Measurement using OTDR. Optical Power Meter and Optical Light Source is used for loss measurement for short cables likes patch cord while OTDR is used for longer cables lengths.

Figure 4- Optical Loss Measurement Set Up. Return loss for the entire fiber under test, including fiber backscatter and reflections and relative to the source pulse, is called Optical Return Loss (ORL).

> JULY 2021

Insertion Loss (IL) and Return Loss (RL) are two other parameters tested very often. Fiber Patch Cord manufacturers specify this parameter in final products packing. The insertion loss technique is more practical for field work. However, measurement uncertainty is compromised by connector loss uncertainty. It is commonly used in field situations where acceptable measurement performance is obtained regardless of connector performance.

Conclusion:

There are many advances taking place in almost every area of optical communications, from optical modulators to switching, add/drop multiplexers, reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers, signal processing, detection schemes, optical network system architectures, and many more. Many of these developments will make it possible to bring the benefits of fiber to wireless fronthaul and backhaul, increasing throughput while keeping cost controlled. Suitable testing of all types of cables (including Optical Fiber) are very important and priority factor to consider when designing mobile network (indoor and outdoor). Network performance, user experience depends on these OF cables. These cable works as nerve in mobile network and carry all data from one customer to other, connect us and much more. Reliable, high quality test instrument, easy GUI, automation make these testing easy and fast. Network keeps running due to Cables!

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> WHAT

IF?

Deep Fakes – A World

Reality Keeping India on the Edge!

Niloy Banerjee

Consultant Editor & External Communication, BISinfotech

> JULY 2021

Oh, ok! Don’t get surprise if lately you were kept thoughtful by any news which significantly changes the course by showing 'Big Names' stating something which you don’t expect from the respective person. That intuition of yours can be incontestable as ‘Deep Fakes’ are becoming a new way to subvert the world order. The global technology market when not bifurcated into IT and Electronics is worth multi-trillion dollar which is set to grow at a rocketing speed. Few think-tankers state it as the “Love for Innovation” others name it “The Magic Show”. As humans for ages have been relying on things which have

helped them survive in a newer form reliability in technology seems to be the new Magic. With the amount of content pill popping the modern society, everybody wants to know more about their idols, leading figures, magnetic personalities and clouts. There augments the world of Deep Fakes which is commonly elaborated as facbrication of fake photos, audio recordings, or video footage exactly replicating the facets of the original one.

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What are Deep Fakes?

Affluent critic and MIT linguist Noam Chomsky, one of the classic voices of intellectual dissent in the last decades, did elaborate on a list of the ten most common and effective strategies resorted by the “Hidden strategies” to catapult manipulation across the mass using the sources of media. With the help of advanced technology like AI & ML, experts are creating complex yet impactful Deep Fakes by automatic computer-graphics synthesizing images and videos. Few define the main ingredient for Deep Fakes is Machine Learning. With the help of neural network for hours on the real video footage can create not less than a realistic replication from every angle and also help understand facial gestures and even minute movements of the person precisely, yes Precisely!

Changing Viewers Experiences

According to experts of this subject knowledge movies has been using this for years for example, Late Paul walker was relived in Fast & Furious 7 but it took quite a hefty time to create the same scenario and scenes. Bringing Peter Cushing back to life in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, again this technique uses complex, expensive technologies and processes to make it a reality.

They pasted Peele’s mouth over Obama’s, replaced the former president’s jawline with one that followed Peele’s mouth movements, then used FakeApp to refine the footage through more than 50 hours of automatic processing.

Deep-Learning Algorithms - Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)

Many known sources define that GANs will be inking the future potential of Deep Fakes. Though, it is contradictory to many with complex technologies evolving at a quantum rate. It is known that GAN-generated faces and visuals are nearly close to impossible to identify from the real one. GANs are known to be difficult to apprehend as it requires a huge number of trained data, hence making the simulation of the image and creating the model a lengthy process. Also, GAN models are good for synthesizing images, but not for making videos. It is difficult perceiving temporal consistency, or keeping the same image aligned from one frame to the next.

Deep Fakes in India – From Bollywood Stars to Politics

A leading political personality from the Centre ruling Government – Manoj Tiwary addresses in English and in other video in Haryanvi – A North Indian Hindi dialect; just before the legislative assembly elections in Delhi. The report first came out in Vice. It is known that it was the first time Deep Fakes were used by any political party for campaigning purpose.

Today even few Apps like the ‘FACE APP’ and many re-mastered apps are amusing users by making them the protagonist in “TITANIC” and leaving in the middle of “JURASSIC PARK”. Politicians and celebrities are the most common ‘victims’ of deepfakes. Many of the most convincing deepfake examples have been produced using impersonators capable of mimicking the source’s voice and gestures, as seen in this warning produced by BuzzFeed and comedian Jordan Peele using After Effects CC and FakeApp.

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On the other hand, Indian celebrities fear imitation or using faces are a vital risk at stake where their privacy and career could be hampered. With more virtualization coming into the mainstream it is believed that Deep Fakes can help in meetings where one person needed and not available can be presented. The adult industry has been the most hit industry till now by using Deep Fakes to create pornographies using celebrity faces mainly women. What if? In coming time it does happen that the world and people we love needs to clarify that “It wasn’t me, I wasn’t even there”.

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High Precision Test and Measurement

Goes Mobile As computing platforms increase in processing power, and at the same time reduce in physical size, they’re driving rapid developments in a variety of mobile applications such as autonomous robots, drones, portable medical devices, intelligent vehicles and smart appliances. Many of these applications also rely on the miniaturization of sensor technology and associated test and measurement electronics in order to perform functions like proximity detection, object or component inspection and motion control. One embedded computing platform, the NVIDIA Jetson, is proving to be a game changer when it comes to mobile applications.

The NVIDIA Jetson consists of an ARM-based CPU (processor that runs with a reduced instruction set) and a CUDA-based GPU (a graphical processing unit that can be used for general purpose processing). Being ARM-based allows the CPU to deliver faster processing speeds while at the same time reducing power requirements. In addition, the built in GPU enables the NVIDIA Jetson to handle large volumes of data and perform high-speed parallel processing operations. The units are compact and can also come with a PCIe slot. For example, the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier1 measures just 105 mm x 105 mm x 65 mm in size and it includes a Gen 4 PCIe interface.

Figure 1. The NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier is small and compact and includes a PCIe interface, e.g., for an 8-channel digitizer card like shown here.

> JULY 2021

Greg Tate

Asian Business Manager, Spectrum Instrumentations To take advantage of this powerful feature set, one company - Spectrum Instrumentation - has created a new driver package that allows any of its PCIe based Test and Measurement products to be used with the NVIDIA Jetson. All that’s needed is to install the drivers on the platform, plug a Spectrum Instrumentation card into the PCIe slot, power up the system and start acquiring or generating signals.

Table 1. Shows a list of commonly used sensor devices, the property they measure and the frequency range they typically operate up to.

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In general, electronic test and measurement equipment can be classified into two major categories: measurement instruments and signal sources. Instruments such as digital multi-meters, digitizers, oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers, and logic analysers measure the electrical characteristics of an input signal, most typically electrical potential difference or voltage. While signal sources are required to provide signals to be used as a test stimulus. Spectrum Instrumentation currently offers 65 different PCIe cards that can be used with the NVIDIA Jetson. The line-up includes Digitizers that offer digital oscilloscope like performance and can capture electronic signals from a wide variety of sensors or components, and Arbitrary Waveform Generators (AWGs) that can reproduce almost any signal that’s found in modern electronic systems.

Data Acquisition and Analysis

For applications where analogue or digital signals need to be acquired and analysed, users can choose from a complete line-up of Digitizer products. Digitizers are powerful devices that can perform multiple measuring tasks thereby replacing the need for more conventional test instruments. Models are available that can acquire signals with high precision over a wide range of frequencies (from DC to 1.5 GHz). For example, the Spectrum Instrumentation model M4i.2234-x8 Digitizer2 offers four channels, each with independent input range selection, and the ability to sample signals at rates up to 5 GS/s (one sample every 200 ps). With a bandwidth of 1.5 GHz, the products are very well suited to acquiring the fast signals commonly produced by lasers and photopic sensors (Photo diodes, Photo multipliers, Photo- Transistors, or CCD’s) as well as those found in radio wave communications and RADAR.

dynamic range. Models are available offering maximum sampling rates from 5 MS/s up to 500 MS/s and having from 1 to 8 analogue channels on a single card. These cards also come with auxiliary connections for additional functionality, like external clocking or triggering and include up to 4 digital I/O lines for easy integration into different testing systems. In situations where just high-speed digital signals need to be acquired, there’s also a range of cards available that can simultaneously capture up to 32 digital signals at clocking speeds over 700 MHz!

Waveform Generation and Simulation

Similarly, Spectrum Instrumentation has a wide range of Arbitrary Waveform Generators (AWGs) that can be used as signal sources for controlling or stimulating other devices. Plug an AWG card into an NVIDIA Jetson and it can produce analogue waveforms of almost any shape and form. AWGs offer great flexibility and come as close as possible to being a universal signal source. Waveforms can be created analytically with exceptional precision using equations, or they can be captured using digitizers or digital oscilloscopes and then replayed. Spectrum Instrumentation has models that offer from 1 to 8 channels per card. The units all produce signals with 16-bit digital-to analogue resolution for high dynamic range and precision. The available output rates range from 40 MS/s up to 1.25 GS/s, allowing signals to be generated with frequency content up to 400 MHz. Like the Digitizers, auxiliary connections are also available for mixed-mode type applications. These additional lines make it easy to generate analogue waveforms together with other digital signals (markers) and inputs.

Digital Signal Acquisition and Generation

Many automated systems operate using digital signals that are switched at high rates. Pattern generation and logic analysis methods are then used in order to test and verify the correct system operation and performance. In situations where accurate signal switching times need to be measured or produced, a digital I/O card offers a cost-effective solution. As an example, the Spectrum Instrumentation M2p.7515-x4 card provides 32 digital I/O channels that can be used to input or output digital signals. Designed to work with the most common types of digital circuitry, the inputs are 3.3 V LVTTL and 5.0 V TTL compatible. Clocking speeds for both the acquisition and generation modes are fully programmable at rates anywhere from 1 kS/s up to 125 MS/s making it easy to match the users desired testing requirements. Figure 2. The model M4i.2234-x8 Digitizer offers four channels with sampling rates up to 5 GS/s and 1.5 GHz

For acquiring mid-range signals, in the frequency range DC to 250 MHz, the company also has a variety of high-resolution Digitizers that combine fast sampling rates with 14- and 16-bit resolution analogue-to-digital conversion. These highresolution products allow measurements to be made with great accuracy and precision on signals that have a wide

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When signal processing speeds are crucial

A key feature of the NVIDIA Jetson is the PCIe slot. This highperformance interface allows data to be transferred between the processing platform and the Spectrum cards at extremely fast rates (up to 3.4 GB/s for the fastest products). This rapid data transfer helps to optimize both waveform storage and generation operations. Furthermore, data can be sent directly to the CPU memory or to the built-in GPU in a FIFO streaming mode. This makes it possible to process enormous amounts of

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information in near real-time. As the GPU can perform highspeed parallel processing, it’s the perfect tool for handling the large volumes of data that can be acquired and generated by the Spectrum Instrumentation products. To help users take advantage of the built-in GPU, Spectrum Instrumentation also has a driver extension that’s available for the NVIDIA Jetson. The extension is called SCAPP (Spectrum's CUDA Access for Parallel Processing). The main advantage of SCAPP is that data is passed directly from the digitizer to the GPU (or from the GPU to the Waveform Generator). The operation bypasses the CPU completely, leaving it free for other tasks. Once the data is sent to GPU, parallel processing is possible using it’s multiple processing cores. This provides a significant performance enhancement when compared to processing data in the CPU, which has a far more limited number of cores. The combination of fast data transfer and direct GPU access opens up the system to a host of signal processing applications. For example, by using a digitizer to acquire signals in the time domain, the data can be sent to the GPU and converted to frequency domain information for spectrum analysis applications.

Testing has shown that the GPU is quite capable of performing continuous data conversion, multiplexing, windowing, FFT3 and averaging when receiving data from two digitizer channels sampling at 500 MS/s, even with an FFT block size of 512 ksamples. Furthermore, the system can run for hours! A typical application where rapid data acquisition and signal processing becomes crucial is with autonomous vehicles. Driverless cars use time-of-flight type measurements to quickly determine the proximity and motion of objects and navigate safely around them. The systems often use a mix of radar, LIDAR (light detection and ranging), optical cameras and infrared sensors plus neural networks, machine-learning-systems, designed to be able to differentiate between pedestrians, cars, bicyclists, motorbikes and animals and then predict the behaviour of the objects. Figure 4 shows images produced by such a system that was developed by the Universities of Applied Sciences of Ulm and Heilbronn along with their industrial partners.

efficiency. The Application Programming Interface (API) also follows a common structure, so that a program developed for one product can be easily adapted for use with another.

When Size Matters

Test and measurement systems for mobile applications need to be small, lightweight and low power. The combination of an NVIDIA Jetson embedded processor with a Spectrum Instrumentation PCIe card fits the bill and allows the creation of some of the smallest automated testing systems possible. Not only are the systems miniaturized but they offer high-channel density, exceptional measurement precision and powerful data processing capabilities. The opportunity to perform test and measurement on the move has never been better!

Customization and Programmability

The entire range of Spectrum Instrumentation Test and Measurement products is fully programmable. Each unit comes with drivers for Windows and Linux operating systems, as well as programming examples for C++, LabVIEW, MATLAB, Visual Basic. NET, Python, Julia and other popular programming languages. The wide choice lets users create their own programs in the language that’s the most appropriate and that they’re most comfortable with. This speeds up project development and

> JULY 2021

About Spectrum Instrumentation

Founded in 1989, the company has over 30 years of knowledge in designing and building fast Digitizers, AWGs and Digital I/O products. The company leverages PC hardware and software developments to provide its customers with test and measurement solutions that are more cost-effective, while still delivering excellent performance. Each product carries an industry-leading 5-year warranty for customer's peace of mind. This includes free software and firmware updates for the unit's lifetime. Additionally, customers get support directly from Spectrum's hardware and software engineers. The new drivers for the NVIDIA Jetson are available for immediate delivery. Further information can be found on the Spectrum Instrumentation website at www.spectrum-instrumentation.com

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> UPDATES

Analog Devices Completes Hitachi ABB Power Grids Industry’s First Green Bond Declares Sustainability 2030

Hitachi ABB Power Grids has declared Sustainability 2030 – its strategic sustainability plan. Through Sustainability 2030 the global technology leader has outlined its main commitments to act and sustainably drive business.

Analog Devices releases its 2020 Green Bond Report, which provides an update on the full allocation of the proceeds from its inaugural green bond offering, which closed on April 8, 2020. ADI allocated nearly $400 million to the development of eco-efficient products for its customers and green buildings and renewable energy for its operations. As of May 1, 2021, net proceeds of $394.6 million from the green bond offering have been allocated over several projects, including: • $288 million to develop eco-efficient technologies across 4G and 5G communications, data centers, green vehicles and battery management systems; • $102 million to green buildings, helping to construct over 225,000 square feet of green building space in Wilmington, Massachusetts, the corporate headquarters; and • $5 million to renewable energy, including over 3,100 solar panels generating about 1.5 million kWh of electricity per year.

Honeywell’s HQS, CQS to Merge as Largest Quantum Computing Company

Hitachi ABB Power Grids supports all SDGs and is making a deeper contribution to SDGs: 3 (Good health and well-being), 4 (Quality education), 5 (Gender equality), 6 (Clean water and sanitation), 7 (Affordable and clean energy), 12 (Responsible consumption and production), 16 (Peace, justice and strong institutions); and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). For example, in April 2021 Hitachi ABB Power Grids launched EconiQ – its eco-efficient portfolio of products, services and solutions which are sustainability-oriented in design and proven to deliver superior environmental performance compared to conventional solutions. From a peaceful perspective, the business has set the target to strive for zero incidents of corruption and bribery.

Infineon Expands its EiceDRIVER 1EDB IC Family

Honeywell has reported that Honeywell Quantum Solutions (HQS) and Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC) will combine to form the largest, most advanced standalone quantum computing company in the world, setting the pace for what is projected to become a $1 trillion quantum computing industry over the next three decades. Honeywell Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Darius Adamczyk will serve as chairman of the new company. The new company will be led by Ilyas Khan, the CEO and founder of CQC. Tony Uttley, currently the president of HQS, will serve as the new company’s president. The new company will offer the world’s highest-performing quantum computer and a full suite of quantum software, including the first and most advanced quantum operating system.

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Based around four pillars – Planet, People, Peace and Partnerships – the strategy draws from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where each pillar has corresponding targets that drive the business to contribute social, environmental and economic value.

Infineon Technologies has broadened its growing portfolio of single-channel gate-driver ICs. The new EiceDRIVER 1EDB family of single-channel gate-driver IC provides galvanic input-to-output isolation of 3 kVrms (UL 1577) that ensures rugged ground-loop separation. Their common-mode transient immunity (CMTI) exceeds 300 V/ns, making these devices the perfect choice for hard switching applications enabling numerous topologies. The new 1EDB family includes four parts (1EDB6275F, 1EDB7275F, 1EDB8275F and 1EDB9275F) and is optimized for both high/ low-side applications. They can solve PCB-layout problems, common in high-power applications such as server and telecom switched-mode power supplies (SMPS) as well as uninterruptable power supply (UPS) systems. Due to their increased power-density need, EV-charging designs often require fast-switching power MOSFETs.

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- FEATURE

Sub-Terahertz Channel Sounding Using a New Sub THz Testbed for

Caleb Dougherty

Greg Jue

Software R&D Engineer, PathWave Vector Signal Analysis Software Team, Keysight Technologies

5G/6G System Engineer, Keysight Technologies

Research Using a Sub-THz Testbed for 6G Research

Channel Sounding Using a Sub-THz Testbed

Researchers require a flexible and scalable testbed to gain insight into their designs’ performance while 6G evolves. Keysight’s white paper “A New Sub-Terahertz Testbed for 6G Research” introduced a testbed for the D (110–170 GHz) and G bands (140–220 GHz) to measure waveform quality through error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements, with modulation bandwidths of up to 10 GHz occupied bandwidth. High-performance multichannel equipment and hardware, combined with flexible signal generation and analysis software, enables the evaluation of candidate waveforms for 6G. Sub-THz frequencies present many unknowns. Determining the level of EVM system performance possible in these new frequency bands and extreme modulation bandwidths is a key area of research. Channel characteristics are another unknown. Reaching data rates of 100 Gb/s or higher can require using high symbol rates with wide modulation bandwidths. This article provides an example of using Keysight’s sub-THz testbed to perform 6G channel sounding research with wide bandwidths at D-band. The testbed uses channel sounding signal generation and analysis software with the same hardware setup used for EVM measurements, to demonstrate how you can address different research areas with the same system.

The channel sounding procedure includes three key steps: 1. send a known signal into the channel 2. capture the signal after the channel 3. compute the channel response by comparing the transmitted signal with the received signal

6G research is in its very early stages. The vision for what the International Telecommunication Union calls Network 2030 is still taking shape. While the industry is years away from starting the standards development process, sub-terahertz (sub-THz) territory is the focus of active research. Achieving high throughput performance in sub-THz (100–300 GHz) or THz (300 GHz–3 THz) spectrum involves extreme modulation bandwidths.

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Channel sounding is the process of measuring the response of a channel to an impulse. If the channel is linear and timeinvariant, you can predict the response to a signal input into the channel. This is because any signal can be expressed as a linear combination of impulses. You can compute the channel’s response to each impulse (sample) in the signal and then add the responses together to get the total response to the signal, a process also known as convolution.

Figure 1. Channel sounding procedure.

6G channel sounding setup overview

Figure 2 shows a channel sounding configuration for D-band. This testbed can also perform EVM measurements at D-band and G-band.

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The two reflectors in the RF chamber provide a known channel. The testbed equipment and Tx and Rx antennas sit on a table in front of the chamber. In the top-down view, the black rectangle represents the table, and the orange boxes represent the instruments on the table. The reflectors are approximately 1 meter and 2 meters away from the Tx and Rx antennas. During the sounding signal transmission, the Rx antenna sees two main reflections of the transmitted signal, separated in time.

6G channel sounding measurements

Figure 2. D-band channel sounding setup. Keysight’s PathWave Signal Generation custom modulation software generates the channel sounding signal, while Keysight’s PathWave Vector Signal Analysis (VSA) software analyzes the signal. The software runs in the AXIe embedded controller PC, which is in the same chassis as the Keysight’s M8195A 65 GSa/s arbitrary waveform generator (AWG). The following are steps to set up the testbed and signal flow process: 1. Use PathWave Signal Generation software to generate and download the channel sounding signal to the M8195A 65 GSa/s AWG to create the modulated IF signal at 6 GHz. 2. Upconvert the 6-GHz IF to 144 GHz using a Virginia Diodes Inc. (VDI) compact D-band upconverter to enable the next step. 3. Transmit the channel sounding signal to the chamber with reflectors (channel) using a transmit horn antenna. A receive horn antenna receives the channel sounding signal. 4. Downconvert the received channel sounding signal to an IF using a VDI compact D-band downconverter. 5. Capture and digitize the IF signal using Keysight’s UXR multichannel high-performance oscilloscope. 6. Acquire the data with PathWave VSA software from the UXR multichannel high-performance oscilloscope to perform channel sounding analysis on the digitized IF signal.

Inside the chamber

Horn antennas with a 9 to 10-degree beamwidth transmit and receive the channel sounding signal over the air. Reflectors placed in the chamber illustrate the effect of multipath in Figure 3. Laser pointers mounted on top of the VDI converters help direct the beams toward the reflectors.

Figure 3. Inside a chamber with reflectors (left) and topdown view (right).

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After configuring the parameters on the PathWave VSA to match the parameters configured in Signal Studio (length = 512, symbol rate = 4 GHz, default RRC filtering), the testbed generates the channel sounding signal and downloads it to the M8195A 65 GSa/s AWG. Figure 4 shows the channel sounding measurement at 144 GHz.

Figure 4. PathWave VSA channel sounding measurement at 144 GHz. You can see the frequency domain (top) and the time domain (bottom) plots of the channel response on the right side. The trace of most interest is the impulse response, the bottom trace. This trace shows the reflections of the impulse sent into the channel at various delays. This information includes their location in time, amplitude, and phase relative to the measurement carrier if you set the trace format to show the phase. The peak occurs at time = 0, in the center of the trace.

Improving the estimate through averaging

The main peak is approximately 45 dB above the noise floor. Some of the noise includes Gaussian noise that is uncorrelated across time. You can average multiple channel response measurements, and the uncorrelated part of the power will average towards zero (vector averaging). This can be done by increasing the Number of Repeats parameter. You can use this approach to extract the signal out of the noise if the measurement is having difficulty synchronizing with fewer repetitions. The disadvantage is that measurement update rate decreases and the measurement becomes more sensitive to symbol clock errors.

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Another way to perform averaging (trades off low SNR sync for faster measurement updates) is to average after computing the channel response (Figure 5) over multiple measurements. Select MeasSetup > Average > RMS Video (Exponential) and set the default type to RMS. This method uses RMS averaging for some of the VSA results and vector averaging for the channel response traces. After averaging, the main peak is approximately 70 dB above the noise floor, which is an improvement of 25 dB.

This article demonstrates how Keysight’s Sub-THz Testbed can perform channel sounding using channel sounding signal generation and analysis software.

Acknowledgments

Keysight Technologies would like to acknowledge Virginia Diodes Inc. (VDI) for providing the VDI D- and G-band hardware shown in this article.

Resources

To learn more, please read A New Sub-Terahertz Test Bed for 6G Research – White Paper.

About the Authors

Caleb Dougherty is a Software R&D Engineer on the PathWave Vector Signal Analysis software team. He joined Agilent in 2007 and has helped develop several different analysis modes in the VSA including DOCSIS 3.1 DS, 802.15.4z HRP UWB, 802.11be, and Channel Sounding. He has an MSEE degree from the University of Washington.

Figure 5. PathWave VSA results after vector averaging. This channel sounding solution also supports multiple receive channels so you can measure relative differences in channel responses. This ability is useful when antennas point in different directions or have different polarizations.

Summary

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6G research requires channel sounding at sub-THz frequency bands to determine channel propagation characteristics. Key metrics include EVM, BER, and data throughput to achieve individual rates of 100 Gb/s. Wide modulation bandwidths of up to 10 GHz occupied bandwidth introduce significant linear amplitude and phase impairments from both the radio hardware and the channel.

Greg Jue is a 5G/6G System Engineer at Keysight Technologies working on emerging millimeter-wave applications beyond 50 GHz. Greg authored Keysight’s new whitepaper “A New Sub-Terahertz Testbed for 6G Research”, and was a technical contributor to Keysight’s new “Engineering the 5G World” ebook. Greg has worked in Keysight’s 5G team, Aerospace/ Defense applications team, High Performance Scopes team, and in EEsof, specializing in 5G, WLAN 802.11ac, LTE, WiMAX, Aerospace/Defense and SDR applications. Greg wrote the design simulation section in Agilent Technologies LTE book, and has authored numerous articles, presentations, application notes, and whitepapers including Keysight’s “Implementing a Flexible Testbed for 5G Waveform Generation and Analysis”. Greg pioneered combining design simulation and test solutions at Agilent Technologies, and has authored many application notes on combining simulation and test for emerging technologies. Before joining HP/Agilent in 1995, Greg worked on system design for the Deep Space Network at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech University.

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Power Integrations Names Vishay Receives TTI Supplier New VP Worldwide Sales Excellence Award for Europe

Power Integrations has reported that Yang Chiah Yee has been named the company’s vice president of worldwide sales. He replaces Ben Sutherland, who is remaining with Power Integrations and will lead the company’s sales organization covering Europe, India and Southeast Asia. Yee brings three decades of experience in sales management in the semiconductor and electronics industries, including eight years at Atmel Corporation where he served most recently as vice president of worldwide sales, responsible for $1.4 billion of annual revenue. Previously, he served in Senior Sales roles at Xilinx Inc. and Memec LLC with responsibility for the Asia-Pacific region. Yee received a bachelor of engineering degree from Nanyang Technological Institute at the National University of Singapore and holds a graduate diploma in marketing management from the Singapore Institute of Management.

Vishay has been honored with a Supplier Excellence Award from TTI honoring its contributions to TTI's business operations. The award puts Vishay in the top five manufacturers represented by TTI in Europe. With the award win — the company's 10th in a row in Europe — Vishay continues to maintain its Platinum Level supplier status in the region. The highest award level is given, Platinum status requires five consecutive years of recognition. TTI is an authorized specialty distributor of the passive, connector, electromechanical, and discrete semiconductor components and the distributor of choice for industrial, military, aerospace, and consumer electronics manufacturers worldwide. Vishay is one of the world's largest manufacturers of discrete semiconductors and passive electronic components. The awards program centers on quality measurements that include on-time delivery, receiving quality, customer quality, administrative quality, sales support, and business systems. Winners are determined by performance points for these criteria.

ST’s Chipset Certified for G3- Moxa Expands SDS-3016 Series with New Smart Switches PLC Hybrid Communication STMicroelectronics’ ST8500 and S2-LP chipset has been named as the first to be certified according to the G3-PLC Hybrid communication standard that defines seamless connectivity over powerline and wireless media. The G3-PLC Hybrid specification allows smart-grid, smart-city, industrial, and IoT equipment to select the best available wireless or powerline channel at any time, automatically and dynamically, according to network conditions. This enables superior coverage, reliability, and scalability, while also allowing cost-efficient system operation and enabling new use cases. One of the world’s first Hybrid-ready solutions, ST demonstrated its ST8500 Hybrid chipset at a G3-PLC Alliance interoperability plugfest in 2020. The chipset is now the first to complete the latest G3-PLC certification scheme, published in March 2021, which incorporates the Hybrid profile tests.

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Moxa has expanded SDS-3016 Series to its Red Dot award-winning product family. The new addition includes Gigabit uplink, eight additional ports, and an easy-to-configure Industrial Automation (IA)-a profile that allows automation engineers to quickly process the increasing amounts of data within the smart manufacturing industry. Moxa will always strive to ensure you can achieve network interoperability and integration immediately. Automation engineers are increasingly putting more emphasis on the underlying health of their networks to ensure they can maintain reliable plant operations. This is often achieved by monitoring data and the network status from SCADA/HMIs, allowing automation engineers to prevent network downtime. The smart switch was specifically designed for IA engineers and automation machine builders.

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MATERIAL

The Role of Cleaning within Electronics Manufacture

Jade Bridges

The primary purpose of cleaning within electronics manufacture is to remove harmful contaminants such as flux, solder and adhesive residues, and other more general contaminants such as dust and debris present from other manufacturing processes and handling. Effective cleaning also impacts positively upon product lifetime by ensuring good surface resistance and by preventing current leakage leading to PCB failure. This developing market sees an increasing trend towards miniaturisation and the requirement for high performance and reliability is stronger than ever. In order to achieve good insulation resistance, the cleanliness of the electronic assemblies is essential. This can only be achieved by manufacturers of fluxes/adhesives, cleaning chemicals, cleaning equipment and electronics engineers, all working together to ensure optimal cleaning performance is reached.

Global Technical Support Manager, Electrolube

There are many stages where cleaning is required; prior to stencilling and soldering in order to remove contaminants from the many previous production stages, after stencilling to remove excess adhesive, and after soldering to remove corrosive flux residues and any excess solder paste. In industry today, many manufacturers are turning to ‘no clean’ processes,

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implying that cleaning is not required after soldering. In the ‘no clean’ process the solids content of the flux is lower than traditional types, however they still contain rosin and activator which are not removed prior to the next process, such as coating or encapsulating of the PCB. Such residues, along with any other unwanted elements collected due to the missing cleaning stage, could cause issues with adhesion and possibly affect the performance of the protecting media applied. It can therefore be stated that even with advances in new technologies, such as ‘no clean’ fluxes, cleaning is still an essential multi-stage process within the electronics industry. Finally, there are also cleaning stages required for the removal of coatings and adhesives when re-work is necessary, for the cleaning of actual components and for maintenance of the production line. There are two main categories of cleaner currently available, solvent based and water based. Traditionally, solvent based cleaners such as 1,1,1-trichloroethane and 1,1,3-trichlorotrifluoroethane dominated the market; however, due to their ozone depleting potential, they have been replaced by a more diverse range of solvent cleaners. This category is now typically divided into three sub-sections; flammable solvent cleaners, non-flammable solvent cleaners and non-flammable halogenated solvent cleaners such as HFCs and HFEs. All three types have their advantages and disadvantages but overall solvent cleaners can be described as fast evaporating, single stage cleaners. However, they require specialist equipment and extraction to protect against toxicity and other possible hazards.

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Water-based cleaners were also developed to replace ozone depleting chemicals as well as offering a solution to reduce solvent emissions. Water-based cleaning has several advantages over solvent based cleaners including nonflammable properties, low odour, low/non-VOC and very low toxicity. There are many applications for cleaning, all of which depend on the type of equipment available. Whether it be ultrasonic, spray under immersion or dishwasher type application, identifying the correct water-based cleaner for the specific job is essential. Water-based cleaners tend to be much more complex than their solvent based counterparts. They utilise surfactant technology to assist the removal of contaminants from a PCB by reducing the interfacial tensions and suspending or emulsifying them in solution. Alternatively, water-based flux removers work by saponification, neutralising the flux acids. The only major disadvantage of water-based cleaners is that they require multiple stages to complete the cleaning process, including a two-stage rinse process and a final drying stage. There are also surfactant-free water based cleaner based on glycols. These cleaners combine the advantages of water based and solvent based cleaners with only minimal rinsing required. With the cleaning market continually developing to meet the demands of industry expansion it is important that the level of cleanliness required is clearly defined. A significant proportion of potentially damaging flux residues and contaminants are not visible to the naked eye or even with the aid of magnification. It is therefore vitally important that the correct method is used to determine that the level of cleanliness achieved meets the

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> ELECTRONICS

MATERIAL

standard specified by the electronics engineer. There are two types of residues; ionic and non-ionic and there are a number of methods that can assess the level of contamination after cleaning and accurately describe the term ‘clean’. Non-ionic residues including rosin, oils and grease are nonconductive and are usually organic species that remain after board fabrication or assembly. They have insulative properties which are a problem where plug-in contacts or connectors are utilized on assemblies. These can cause poor adhesion of solder mask, conformal coating and potting compounds as well as encapsulate ionic contaminants and foreign debris. Ionic contaminants are typically flux residues or harmful materials left behind after soldering. Water-soluble organic or inorganic compounds can disassociate in a solution as charged ions increasing the overall conductivity of that solution. They can degrade the reliability of the electronic components and assemblies by contributing to current leakage between the circuitry, causing corrosion and promoting dendrite growth. While ionic and non-ionic contaminations both impact the operation and reliability of the device on which they are present, ionic contamination accounts for the larger proportion of failures. There are several methods available for monitoring the level of both ionic and non-ionic contaminants. The simplest method, suitable for monitoring both types of residue, is a visual inspection. Although this does not provide any quantitative data it should always be utilised alongside other methods. Magnification at around 10-15X should be sufficient for quality purposes and will provide information on production processes including handling and packaging and their contributions towards contamination. Other than optical inspection, there are no simple methods of measuring non-ionic residue. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) is the most widely used analytical method for efficiently determining the precise identity of the contamination. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and UV-Vis Spectroscopy can be used to identify residual rosin. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and Auger analysis are also suitable for determination of residues and contaminants on a PCB and each has its own specific advantage. The equipment required to set up these types of experiments are costly and require a lot of maintenance and are therefore rarely used in production environments. A common method of determining the degree of ionic contamination is to measure Resistivity of Solvent Extract (ROSE), also known as Solvent Extract Conductivity (SEC). The theory of ROSE is that as the concentration of ions in a solution increases, the resistivity decreases. Simple automated versions of ROSE testing, the Omega Meter, Ionograph or ZeroIon, are used by a number of electronic assembly houses for quality control testing. The industry standard, IPC-TM-650, employs a solution of isopropanol and deionised water to extract

> JULY 2021

the contaminants whilst the meter measures the change in conductivity. This type of testing is widely accepted and offers rapid results but can be restrictive. Originally designed to test residues from traditional rosin based fluxes and utilise a cheap, readily available solvent (IPA), the scope of this method is now somewhat outdated and may not alert users to possible changes resulting in non-soluble residues. The change in accepted cleanliness levels also highlights the development of the cleaning industry. Traditionally for the CFC-113 type cleaners mentioned earlier an accepted limit of 1.56μg/cm2 (10µg/in2) equivalent NaCI is detailed as per ANSI/J-STD-001. Today, most assemblies are now achieving well below this level, typically in the region of 0-1µg/in2. This method is also only capable of measuring ionic contamination and cannot define exactly where or what that contamination is. Two further methods provide valuable data are the measurement of Surface Insulation Resistance (SIR) and Ion Chromatography (IC). The former involves measuring the change in electrical current over time via an interleaved comb pattern PCB and is typically performed at elevated temperatures and humidity levels. The presence of contamination lowers the insulation resistance of the material between the conductors. The latter, Ion Chromatography (IC), is a newer method for cleanliness evaluation which can be used for identifying and quantifying specific ionic species that are present on an electronic device. The test method details a specific list of ionic residues which can be removed by specific media. Subsequent analysis of the fluid can separate, identify and quantify the residue. Substrate handling and preparation are critical for this method making it particularly expensive and time consuming. Therefore it is not used for general quality control purposes but as a more specific analytical technique. The effective cleaning of PCBs and associated components is an essential part of electronics manufacture. It increases the reliability and performance of assemblies and ensures that conformal coating and encapsulation operations can be undertaken with full confidence. The type of cleaner chosen depends widely on the manufacturing conditions. Whether solvent based or water based technology is chosen, the correct application method and set up is imperative in order to achieve successful cleaning. Many specifications have been outlined for cleanliness evaluation; IPC TM-650 is the industry standard, however. It details methods for many of the cleaning tests described above, giving precise guidelines for analysis. It is clear that some methods are costly and rather time consuming, however they can provide extremely accurate data on the type, location and quantity of the residue. Other, less intense methods can be employed for fast, efficient quality control. In summary, selection of the most suitable cleaning process, which in turn provides the required level of cleanliness, is the key to ensuring maximum reliability at minimum cost.

•Vol - 03 / 07

> T&M

Anritsu’s New Smart Factory Use Case for 5G NR

Keysight First GCF Validation of 5G RRM Test Cases

Anritsu Corporation has partnered for a demonstration with InterDigital. Utilizing InterDigital’s Intelligent Edge solution for smart factories alongside the Anritsu Rapid Test Designer (RTD) and MT8000A Radio Communication Test Station, which simulates a Standalone (SA) mode 5G NR network, the demonstration proves the benefit of network slicing and MEC for new business models and industry innovations. Network slicing is a feature of 5G that creates the ability to allocate slices of a network for specific applications with specific network requirements. Each slice is built to deliver the unique network performance required by each application while using the same physical infrastructure. Network slicing provides greater flexibility to create and manage numerous virtual networks tailored to different scenarios with unique requirements.

Keysight Technologies’ 5G Device Test Platform has been used to achieve the first validation of 5G new radio (NR) radio resource management (RRM) test cases in the frequency range 2 (FR2) by the Global Certification Forum (GCF). The validation took place at the GCF conformance agreement group (CAG) meeting, held online April 20-23, 2021. Mobile operators use RRM to achieve performance gains in energy usage, higher throughput, lower delays and decreased packet loss. At the meeting, it was also confirmed that Keysight continues to support a leading number of GCF-mandated 5G NR radio frequency (RF), protocol and RRM conformance test cases. RRM testing is critical to assessing how a device manages different signaling procedures, including cell reselections, measurement reporting, random access and radio link monitoring. RRM test cases also enable users to establish the accuracy of how a device monitors the radio signal strength in serving and neighboring cells. Reaching sufficient performance levels related to RRM enables mobile operators to optimize 5G NR network operation.

Rohde & Schwarz Radio Com- VIAVI TMLite to Enhance 5G munication Test Platform Network Coverage Rohde & Schwarz has showcased an exclusive preview of the new R&S CMP180 radio communication test platform at Mobile World Congress. The single-box tester features parallel testing on up to 16 devices. It fulfills cellular and non-cellular multi-signal, multitechnology requirements, making it ideal for mass production environments. In Barcelona, Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates Wi-Fi 6E/Wi-Fi 7 testing with the R&S CMP180. The new R&S CMP180 radio communication test platform from Rohde & Schwarz is designed to manage multiple parallel signals for both multiple devices and MIMO transmission methods, providing maximum measurement speed at frequencies up to 8 GHz. The analyzer/generator single-box tester covers wireless standards including Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 7 and 5G NR at FR1 frequencies, plus a wide range of legacy technologies.

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VIAVI Solutions has launched TMLite, a streamlined version of its flagship TM500 Network Tester in use with virtually every wireless base station manufacturer around the globe. By delivering features, software environment and user experience consistent with TM500 on a commercial offthe-shelf (COTS) server, this new solution enables vendors to increase engineering productivity and rapidly identify software errors by deploying focused functional test tools earlier in the development cycle. It also enables smaller vendors to gain access to the marketleading TM500 family with a more compact package. To maximize 5G coverage, service providers will need to densify their networks, increasing the diversity of radio types and suppliers. Smaller-scale manufacturers may not require a large number of carriers and high-capacity testing typical in traditional base station validation.

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TECHNOVATOR

> POWER

Rishi Sharma Founder & CEO, Faclon Labs

Faclon Labs Focus on Digital Transformation across IoT Space Faclon Labs, Mumbai based IoT start-up, has made its name in the digital space by providing a one stop solution for all IoT related issues. The company is focussed on driving digital transformation among enterprises. With their expertise in deep technologies, Faclon Labs has become one of the leading companies in IoT space that has done many projects in India and overseas. In the latest talk with Aishwarya from BISinfotech; Rishi Sharma, Founder & CEO, Faclon Labs talks about challenges and scopes in the IoT sector.

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Kindly explain Faclon Labs’ unique services and the role of IoT and AI in it. Faclon Labs provides a completely configurable and plugn-play solution to make infrastructure utilities smart, enabling customers optimize their Energy, Water and HVAC systems. The USPs with Faclon’s offerings are one of the quickest turnaround times coupled with bespoke deliverables at lowest costs, owing to the 100% configurable and plug-n-play nature of our offerings.

did affect everyone for the first 6 months, there was a lot of uncertainties in the market and majority of our customers had stopped all the project work which was going on but those 6 months actually allowed us to take a break and curate new strategies which we were not able to explore earlier. We did utilize this time to explore our overseas market and we were able to do projects in South East Asia and Middle East.

Challenges and scope in the industry? The industry is plagued with very inefficient and deteriorating What separates Faclon Labs from other IoT Companies? infrastructure where we bring in IoT and AI to make it smarter We have in-house developed cloud infrastructure along and much more efficient. With the increased awareness of with a strong in-house hardware division for IoT gateways Digitization and IIoT 4.O in the market the acceptance is enabling us with deep domain expertise and extreme flexibility gong to be increased significantly in near future. Having said to effectively cater to our customers. Lastly, due to in-house that currently IoT solutions face big challenges specially in offerings of vertically integrated software-hardware solution, the Indian market it includes adoption of cloud technology, the cost to customers is the lowest in the market. Our IoT security risks, lack of awareness of benefits in the market etc. platform IO Sense is a low code platform where users can People are still comfortable with the old traditional system curate their own application based on the use case; this also which are only dumping the data and there is absolutely no allow the users to have one platform for all their Industry 4.O to little analytics available which are the real game changer. requirement. IO Sense platform allows organization to have Lastly major trends you see catapulting and dominating role based or hierarchy-based access to the certain data the IoT in coming time? and curated insights. We feel that the customers are getting aware of the advantages Which sectors are your key focus areas and upcoming of digitization and we believe that in the next few years there projects? will be a mass adoption of various IoT and AI based solutions. We focus on utilities of Commercial and Industrial infrastructure, Industries have started focusing on sustainability to reduce ranging from small retail outlets to large office complexes, their carbon emission, reducing overall cost and optimizing and manufacturing or process industrial premises. We have the operations; the most unfortunate event of last one century been working across industries to digitize their utilities (Energy, COVID 19 has also forced people to think in this direction to Water, Gas and Steam) and assets. implement solution to better manage their infrastructure and operations. How did your Water Management Solutions help in solving country’s water management issues? Not just water, we work on making water, energy and HVAC setups smart. With our solution, the operating costs of these systems reduce significantly as well as running and maintenance activities are streamline and automated with much lesser downtimes.

Q Q Q

Is there any expectation from the government? Explain. Civic utilities can also use our offerings to make their electricity and water infrastructure much more efficient resulting in significant reductions in NRE (Non-Revenue Electricity) and NRW (Non-Revenue Water), which is typically the biggest target of civic utilities.

What strategies did you employ to be viable during Covid-19 and how was the business affected? Even before lockdowns last year, we transitioned most of our company to work from home where they have been operating in complete safety. For field operators and other in-office teams, we have been following strict Covid norms as well as providing any support we can to them. On the business front, we managed to double our revenues in the Covid year which could have grown more otherwise, but we are more concerned about safely of our team and obviously there were a few projects which are delayed. COVID 19

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TECHNOVATOR

> POWER

Kunal Kislay

Co-founder & CEO Integration Wizards Solutions

Unique Platform Securing Enterprise Mobility for Over Six Years An AI enabled computer vision platform IRIS, offered by Integration Wizards Solution is helping enterprises and the B2C segment with real time surveillance across sectors. Founded in 2014 by three co-founders, Kunal Kislay, Saquib Khan and Kumar Raman the company has created a platform for enterprise mobility. Over the past six years they have

> JULY 2021

incorporated industrial IoT, Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Computer Vision AI into it, always staying updated with the changing technology. While talking with Nitisha from BISinfotech, Kunal Kislay, Co-founder and CEO of Integration Wizards Solutions elaborates the value of drones and its usage for the industry’s people.

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The value of Drone in today’s era and how it will be useful for future generations? Drones were primarily being developed for surveillance, but it has evolved to provide solutions across industries and customers in today’s era. From delivering parcels to delivering key medical supplies it is helping us in more ways than we can imagine. Let us look at some of these to understand how it’s going to help us and our future generations. In an industrial setup, it is helping reduce the risk factor involved with inspection, service, and maintenance of manufacturing facilities. Working at height for inspection work is being replaced with drones carrying AI-powered high-resolution cameras assisting the workers. One primary example of this is the inspection of wind farms, where working at height is a major occupational health & safety risk. In factories and power plants, it is helping inspect the infrastructure for cracks, rust, and other damages. In solar farms, it is helping reduce the time and effort for visual inspection improving the efficiency of its workforce. When we look at the health care industry, drones are working on providing life-saving medical supplies and equipment, drastically reducing the time taken to deliver by road. Where typically it would take 30-45 mins in traffic, using drones the same task can be completed in under 10 mins. Disaster Management is another key area where drones will play a vital role. It will help us in locating people, identification of the current conditions, providing key supplies to stranded people, and improve the search and rescue operations. These are just a few applications of drones and I believe there will soon be a time when we are going to see drones in action more frequently in our daily lives.

Kindly explain the journey of iWizard Solutions and its special offerings. I started Integration Wizards Solutions in 2014 with Saquib Khan and Kumar Raman. Most of the data created in the world today is visual. CCTV cameras, mobile phones, drones and satellites create petabytes of information every hour. At integration wizards we wanted to provide our customers a way of making sense of it. One of the first sources of visual information we targeted was CCTV cameras. The idea was to help industries transform their passive CCTV cameras into active analytical tools. We started developing IRIS, as an enterprise AI platform that plugs into existing CCTV cameras to provide real-time actionable insights. In the beginning, we focused on solutions for organizational health & safety and later added solutions around warehousing, manufacturing, retail, and construction. Today IRIS has over 150 use cases that cater to every industry vertical.

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With use cases around safety, efficiency, and utilization we were moving strongly towards being an industry leader in our segment. By end of 2020, we have over 45 deployments across 16 countries, and our solutions were being used across 6 different languages.

COVID19

IRIS was already being accepted across the industry as a cutting-edge computer vision AI platform and we were helping organizations enhance health & safety across their facilities. As the COVID19 pandemic hit the world, we quickly launched COVID19 safety compliance solutions on IRIS to help organizations re-open safely. Since March 2020 IRIS COVID19 safety compliance solution has helped over 70 manufacturing facilities, warehouses, malls, and workspaces safe re-open its operations. Today, IRIS is a bleeding-edge innovation, and we are already transforming the industry with it. But for us, innovation never stops and we had been working on the next version of IRIS that would transform the way IRIS operates. We have just launched IRIS 2.0 which is a one of a kind “no-code” enterprise AI platform and it is going to revolutionize AI solutions and deployment across industries. With IRIS 2.0 deploying use cases is a simple drag and drop.

How is the world updating legislation as the momentum in AI advances gains pace? We are seeing a growing concern about personal data privacy across the globe and governments are bringing inlaws and legislations to formulate guidelines and regulations for organizations and how they can use personal data. These regulations will help us in keeping a check on the use of AI technology, focusing on ensuring ethical practices across organizations. Most of these regulations are focused on creating a framework where organizations must take ownership of their policies and practices. These regulations also provide the possibility of manual intervention if and when demanded by consumers in cases where the result of an AI system in one way or another impacts the rights of an individual or has some legal implications as an output of its decision. In our perspective without getting into details, these are necessary precautions rather than a hindrance. So far what we have observed is that these legislations do briefly slow down the process of AI adoption, but it does ensure that when the technology is adopted it’s been through exhaustive scrutiny, leaving no scope for any oversight while designing the system/solution.

How these drones can be helpful for disaster management. Kindly explain AI and QC collaboration. As I mentioned earlier, Disaster Management is one of the key areas where drones will have a great impact. Let’s take the example of floods in India where people are stranded for days and depend on the Search & rescue efforts of our disaster management team and first responders.

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> TECHNOVATOR Using drones will not only help us in the identification of areas that are critical but will also help us in locating people and getting key food and medical supplies to them. It will also help the rescue teams in navigating through cities and forests to reach different locations more efficiently and assess the danger to prepare their equipment and gear accordingly. AI technology will enhance the capabilities of these drones to provide real-time analytics on the entire situation and key insight to improve decision-making. AI can help in automating the entire process of locating people, planning supply drops efficiently, and identify different areas and their severity. The accuracy of these AI models highly depends on the data set we train them with. The bigger the data set the better the learning. But it comes with its own challenges in terms of speed and resource requirement. This is where inserting QC in the classical framework can help improve the quality of the AI models and the speed of training and predictions. Quantum enhance generative models can be used to work with larger data sets which help drastically improve the accuracy of the AI models.

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How facial recognition technology, Computer vision and drones can be used to combat COVID 19? Let’s take a look at the use of these technologies in the context of COVID19. We are currently helping over 70 manufacturing facilities, warehouses, malls, and workspaces using our Computer Vision AI platform IRIS to help them reopen safely. Safety protocols like social distancing and face mask usage are being monitored in real-time on existing CCTV cameras, providing feedback and alerts to employees and safety officers. Facial recognition is helping organizations go contactless by automating access control and attendance. It is also being used to map and register employee’s temperature daily. Lastly, when we talk about drones, they can be used to monitor public places to ensure social distancing and facemask compliance. Drones can cover wider areas that lack CCTV surveillance and assist law enforcement agencies in ensuring the safety of citizens.

What is your future marketing strategy? We have launched IRIS 2.0 our “no-code” computer vision AI platform. It is going to transform how organizations currently deploy Computer Vision AI solutions. We are moving to an approach where our customers will be able to deploy use cases as and when they require, and they will have complete control over the platform. A simple drag and drop is all it is going to take for them to deploy use cases. With IRIS 2.0 we intend to completely democratize video analytics.

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> LED

- EXPERT'S COLUMN

How IoT & Smart Technology Can Help Reduce Emissions Even After COVID

The aggressive use of smart approaches is necessary to end the emissions crisis

As COVID-19 lockdowns intensified in the spring of 2020, a “bright spot" emerged: emissions fell. Skies of a rare blue shone over cities by day. Stars were newly visible by night. Alongside the suffering, people became aware of the benefits that a real reduction in emissions could bring.

Sumit Joshi

Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Signify Innovations India

> JULY 2021

Unfortunately, 2020's emissions cut will likely be temporary. And despite the new clarity of the sky, emissions didn't

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be the year that smart city and smart building approaches become the rule rather than the exception.

The smart city promise

In a nutshell, smart cities use integrated sensor-based technology, powered by data analytics, to make urban life better for people and the planet. Among other things, this means making cities cleaner, more efficient, and generally “greener." Taking transport for example, in an old model city, a metro train operating on a rigid schedule might run almost completely empty of passengers during off-hours. In doing so, it would generate essentially the same emissions that it did in moving huge crowds at rush hour. In the smart city, in contrast, people-counting sensors located throughout the metro system can collect masses of passengerusage data. Interpreted by data analytics applications, this data can inform train scheduling and routing, so that trains are dispatched only in response to actual need. Trains could even be automatically diverted in real time and sent to where they're needed at the moment—to meet a sudden surge in demand, for instance. Such deployment precision would save energy. The better service resulting from the effective use of IoT technology may also coax drivers out of their cars, helping to reduce one of the single largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet.

The automobile in its proper place

The automobile will still have a place in the new city, to be sure. But it will function as one useful transportation mode among others, rather than as the default or privileged mode.

really fall that much. The year's reduction amounted to a “tiny blip on a long-term graph" that's moving steadily upward. There is still a need to cut global emissions permanently—and one way to help do that is to reconceive the built environment with the goal of achieving sustainability. Internet of Things (IoT) technology is increasingly giving us the tools to do just that. The IoT is laying the foundation for an entirely new conception of how to build, operate, and maintain urban centers and the structures that comprise them. With various climate-neutral programs in other parts of the world, the year 2021-22 may well

•Vol - 03 / 07

Smart city functions can make life easier as even when you do have to use your car. Traffic signals will no longer work according to pre-set programs. Instead, they'll respond to real-time traffic conditions, temporarily cutting stop times at certain intersections to clear congestion and then lengthening them again when possible. Better-circulating traffic means fewer emissions—not to mention happier people. Sensor tech will also efficiently steer drivers to likely parking spots, indicating empty spaces on on-device maps and providing directions to them. This will do much to eliminate that unloved and highly pollutant urban rite: circling the block, looking for an empty space.

Lighting a new urban path

Connected lighting systems are poised to play a leading role in cutting urban emissions—especially when one considers that lighting can account for up to half of a city's energy use. Street lighting is often especially energy wasteful, needlessly illuminating areas even when empty of human presence at night. In the new city, lighting need not be a strictly completelyon or completely-off proposition. Sensor-enabled lighting systems will bathe streets in light as needed, dimming them

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- EXPERT'S COLUMN

to the lowest levels required for basic public safety when nobody is present. LED and connected lighting offer one of the simplest and most often overlooked paths to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in a city. LED-based connected lighting systems combine smart scene management with highly energyefficient street lights, using up to 70 percent less energy than their conventional counterparts. Caption: In a smart lighting project in Pune implemented by Signify along with Tata Projects, 80,000 halogen lights were replaced with energy-saving LED luminaires along with the company’s Interact smart lighting system, that resulted in an annual savings in CO2 (kg) emissions of 7,635 kgCO2e from a single lighting cabinet. It also provided annual electricity savings of approximately 26.5 million Indian rupees.

The smart grid to the rescue

The smart energy grid is another advantage that the IoT has to offer the city. The traditional energy grid has been one-directional: utilities generate energy and distribute it. In contrast, smart grids use sensors along the entire energy distribution network to establish two-way communication between utilities and energy consumers in the system. Such smart systems could cut emissions by 3.9% by 2030. A smart grid can operate with a responsiveness and agility that the traditional grid simply cannot. Take the smart home energy meter as an example. Not only do smart meters measure electricity use in real time, they also share that data with consumer via an app. Consumers can see exactly where they're wasting energy and can adjust their habits to better conserve it. At the same time, smart meters feed data about household energy use back to the utility, where it's analyzed to help the utility operate more efficiently. Utilities can also use this data to promote consumer responsibility by rewarding "green" behavior: Households that use less energy during peak hours might receive financial benefits for their role in flattening the demand curve. Smart grids also make it easier to integrate solar and other types of renewable energy sources. Such sources can be integrated even when they're private—as in the case of a homeowner installing solar panels on their roof, allowing them to contribute energy to the grid for an energy discount when home demand is low.

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A revolution in HVAC

IoT-enabled buildings, whether commercial properties or private homes, are also a crucial element in the low-emissions urban future. In commercial buildings, such as office complexes, smart tech will minutely record energy consumption throughout the space, letting managers identify waste factors. In what sector of the office are HVAC costs higher than they are elsewhere, and why? Sensor tech provides the real-time and historical data necessary to answer such questions and respond effectively. IoT systems in smart buildings will also react to local environmental changes in a way that can create unprecedented efficiencies. Traditional building management systems are capable of cranking up air conditioning as the day gets warmer, and then turning it down as the sun sets and the air cools. But in the smart building, such control will be vastly more supple. Sensor-based systems can turn down the AC as clouds obscure the sun, or turn up the warmth on a windy winter day. Occupancy-sensing technology, additionally, can ensure that unused or underused parts of a building don't function as energy drains. Areas with sparse or no human presence can be heated or cooled to a lesser extent than highly populated areas. Heating and cooling can instantly and automatically come up to normal levels when people do congregate there.

LED efficiency for buildings

LED-based smart technology can make street lighting vastly more efficient, and it can drive efficiency inside buildings, too—a fortunate thing, as 10% to 20% of the energy a building uses typically goes to lighting alone. In addition to matching lighting levels to room occupancy—turning lights down or off when they're not needed—a smart lighting system can automatically adjust the brightness of the LED lights that it controls depending on changing environmental conditions. For example, the system can lower electric light levels when there's plenty of natural daylight available. Another often overlooked advantage of connected lighting is that it helps to build the digital infrastructure that is so crucial for the adaptability, optimal operation, and efficient maintenance of the built environment. Industry experts often point to connected lighting as a "spearhead" technology for smart cities, offering one of the quickest and most dependable routes to implementing a smart city platform that can eventually integrate many systems to achieve the highest possible levels of energy efficiency.

Stunning numbers

The numbers associated with smart building technology are striking. One high-profile model smart building, the so-called PTK1 in Israel, is 40 percent more energy-efficient than a conventional structure. In both urban planning and construction, such striking numbers will have to become far more prevalent to avert the disaster scenarios predicted by the emissions crisis — broadening and making permanent the environmental improvements that provided slight hope during the pandemic.

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Bisinfotech Magazine July Issue 2021

Articles inside

TECHNOVATOR

LED - EXPERT'S COLUMN

T&M - FEATURE

T&M EXCLUSIVE

TECHNOVATOR

WHAT IF?

COMPANY - FEATURE

T & M

SECURITY - FEATURE

COVER STORY

POWER

T&M

BIG PICTURE