aencipher 2011
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EDITORIAL
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EDITORIAL The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying a single stone. Encipher is all about carrying the stones of struggle and hard work to build up inventive ideas. This issue is not just the collection of articles placed together. Working on designs to make this issue a unique enclosure was a part of a challenge even though we prioritized to state knowledge about changing technology. The students of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Kathmandu University, have always contributed their knowledge on technology for the contribution of our society. The student's society SEEE has made this podium aiding student to practice their technological activities. This issue is a collection of contributions from the students and faculty in their fields of study. The album of research and experience of individuals is accessible through this issue. Their cooperation and interest is what filled up the spaces of this issue. We thus would like to thank all the students and faculty members who had their hands in creating this milestone in form of Encipher. And our appreciation to the entire sponsors whose support has brought this issue to life. This magazine is also uploaded in the website www.ku.edu.np/ee/seee. By logging in you can put in your feedbacks. You can also blog on articles in this magazine. Your comments will be mailed to respective writers. Your valued suggestions are always welcome. ENCIPHER TEAM 2011
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kabindra Manandhar COPY EDITORS Prashamsa Bhattarai Princi Koirala GRAPHICS AND DESIGNING Amit Bhujel MARKETING EXECUTIVES Priyanka Kayastha SEEE MODERATOR Dhurba Bhattarai Contributors Bishes Acharya Poshraj Khatiwada Praveen Shrestha Prem Pandit Sandip Dhakal Special Thanks Manish Prajapati Prasanna Umar
Table of Contents
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Table of Contents
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Message From Graduate Program Coordinator Message From The Presidient
HAT IS C ? Learning engineering is one part of the regular activity by the students. In addition to that other activities like conducting sports, quiz contexts and publishing papers, journals and magazine are extra activities done by the students. It gives me immense pleasure to congratulate ENCHIPER team to continuously producing quality magazine giving new ideas, information of regular activities inside the department and university as a whole. The ENCHIPER is very popular amongst the students as well as teachers. Once again I congratulate The ENCHIPER team and SEEE for publishing yet another edition of ENCHIPER 2011 and I wish you best of luck for your effort and wish you to work continuously in producing this magazine with more in-depth knowledge, new ideas and making it as an international standard in the years to come.
With warm regards,
Brijesh Adhikary Graduate Program Coordinator Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Kathmandu University
ENCIPHER 2011
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Message From The Presidient
Message From The Presidient
WHAT IS C ? What looked like an ant's job turned out to be just that (we tend to forget that those tiny creatures can lift 500 times their weight). After almost a whole year, what began as a thought in a single mind has ended as a bulky pages magazine a collection of growing mind's innovation and learnings; our very own ENCIPHER since its birth is our small but significant effort to collect the ideas and keep alive the spirit of an engineer within us. Is engineering art or science? Grammar or poetry? Simply following the rules may produce a sturdy but ugly bridge. A fanciful design might look beautiful, but collapse in the first breeze. Good engineers understand both concepts, and seek new applications for traditional rules and develop new rules to prove an innovative design. I would like to thank all the contributors of this magazine and congratulate the devoted and hard working team of ENCIPHER 2010 and wish them luck for future endeavors. I believe SEEE will come up with more informative and creative issues of Encipher in coming years. Best wishes !
Lal Bahadur Budha President Society of Elecrical and Electronics Engineers(SEEE) Kathnandu University
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ENCIPHER 2011
Overview on Telecom Sector Development In Nepal
Overview on Telecom Sector Development In Nepal Shailu Bhattarai, MEComm.,DOEEE,KU Telecom Network Overview: Telecommunications sector in Nepal is small but growing. Amid an unsettled political climate, the country has been moving towards a more liberalized telecom market. The Nepal Telecom, Nepal's incumbent telecommunications operator, has made significant progress in the growth and development of the national public switched telecommunications network (PSTN) in the last decade, particularly during Nepal's Fifth Phase Telecom Project (1992-97). Nepal Telecom Authority, the country's telecom regulator was established in 1998 with a objective to create a favorable and competitive environment for the development, expansion and operation of telecommunications services with the private sector participation in Nepal. Before the establishment of NTA, the country had only 3 ISPs ( Internet and E-mail services), one Telephone operator, namely NTC and teledensity rate of only 0.8%. As a part of the Government's Poverty Reduction Strategy, a new Telecommunications Policy was introduced in early 2004 to start a meaningful competition through open licensing and restructuring of the incumbent, state-owned operator, the Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC). By July 2011, over 290 operators had been authorized to provide a wide range of telecom services, including three for basic telephony (Nepal Telecom, United Telecom Ltd and SNPL) and two for mobile telephony (Nepal Telecom and Spice Nepal Pvt Ltd). The licensing of a relatively large number of ISPs combined with the liberalization of the VSAT data market, has created excellent conditions for Internet service to thrive in Nepal. This report looks at the overall state of telecommunications in Nepal and provides a selection of pertinent market statistics. With the introduction of new Telecom Operators, the growth continues, the number of distributed lines increasing from approximately 65,000 in 1992 to over 11,919,613(both GSM and CDMA users) mobile subscribers and over 840,828 fixed(PSTN and WLL) users as of July 2011. The number of mobile phone users in the country has increased significantly in the last five years. The two major players in the market-Nepal Telecom (NT) and Spice Nepal-have seen a surge of customers and
in the mean time the competition too has gone neck-to- neck. Even though, NT, earlier Nepal Telecommunication Corporation, started offering mobile service in 1999, the company saw a sudden growth of users only after a private mobile operator, Spice Nepal, made its foray into the market in September 2005. According to Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA), the telecom regulator in the country, there were 299,140 users of NT and 86,844 subscribers of Spice Nepal five years ago. The mobile penetration rate was 1.50 percent, which now has grown to 47.27 percent (as of July 2011) according to the MIS report of NTA. Private Telecom Operators: Ncell Private Limited, previously known as Spice Nepal Private Ltd., was established in the year 2004 with the license issued by Nepal Telecommunications Authority to operate GSM mobile services (both Post-Paid and Pre-Paid) in the country. The company commercially launched its services on September 17, 2005 in capital valley and vicinity. Today Ncell provides services in all 75 districts of Nepal. NTA issued a license to United Telecom Limited (UTL) in October 2002 for providing Wireless in the Local Loop (WLL) based basic telephone service. UTL adopted CDMA technology. Later UTL was also allowed to provide Limited Mobility Service. STM acquired its operating license in November 2003 to provide service in the eastern region of the country as a rural telecom service provider. Currently, STM telecom is allowed to operate in 41 districts. It has around 6000 client-base. The Nepal Telecommunications Authority issued the second Rural Telecommunications Service (RTS) license to Smart Telecom Pvt. Ltd. in July 1, 2008. It is allowed to provide telecom services in the rural areas of country, except for the eastern region. Smart Sat is a VSAT telephony service provided by Smart Telecom to remote VDCs of Nepal. More than 100 VSAT have been installed at different locations. Smart Telecom successfully launched its VSAT services in November 2009 and GSM services in July 2010 Nepal Telecom Authority licensed Nepal Satellite Telcom Pvt Ltd(NSTPL)on July 2008. It provides GSM and PSTN services to western and far
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new�- Albert Einstein ENCIPHER 2011
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Overview on Telecom Sector Development In Nepal western regions of Nepal. Nepal Satellite Telecom Pvt Ltd set up main switching network in MidWestern Region within the next 15 months and distributed at least two telephone lines each to 273 Village Development Committees. Source: MIS Report, NTA, July 2011 As the statistics indicate, the Private Telcom Sector has significant contribution on increasing the teledensity rate in the country. Nepal Telecom or NDCL is in the topmost position with more than 6 million subscribers, closely followed by NCELL and NSTPL. Expansion of Optical Fiber link: Extension of the fiber cable network is considered to be a vital infrastructure for spreading broadband internet services in the country's rural areas. The telecom regulator NTA is awaiting the final decision of the Ministry of Information and Communications to proceed with the tender process. Originally, the project planned in 2009 was estimated to cost Rs 8.40 billion for building a fiber network of 6,291 km by utilizing the resources of the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund (RTDF). The new plan has avoided duplication of the networks which have already been set up by the telecom operators like Nepal Telecom, Ncell and United Telecom. Currently, telecom operators and internet service providers have been spending huge amounts of money separately to expand their services by building their own fiber networks. Building the optical fiber network will allow service providers to extend their services through a common medium for all the telecom service providers and ISPs. The project will expand the fiber network along the route of the Mid-Hill Highway. Currently NT is laying an optical fiber link from Nepal to China. NT at present sends fiber traffic to China through India. If optical fiber connection with China is established, the cost of telecommunication services to and from other countries will significantly drop. Source: MIS Report, NTA, July 2011 Conclusion: Competition among the operators, increased network coverage, free of cost incoming calls, launch of pre-paid services, GPRS facility, increased purchasing power of people, easy availability of cheaper handsets are some of the major factors behind the astronomical rise in the number of mobile users. Also, the introduction of new schemes by leading mobile companies such as NTC and NCELL has helped in increasing their subscribers. Ncell launched the BlackBerry solution in Nepal from August 18, 2010 which provides easy wireless access to email, phone,
Calendar, web, multimedia and other business and lifestyle applications. NTC is also planning to launch 4G I-phone at 1500NRS with 8 Gb capacity. This scheme may drastically increase the numbers of NTCsubscriber. Nepal's telecom sector has come a long way since the establishment of Mohan Akashwani in 2005 BS to the 3G/EDGE network services. NT's GSM and CDMA mobile services have reached all 75 districts of the country and the company is also distributing an average of 100,000 SIM cards every month. But the service quality has not improved despite a series of complaints from the users and direction from the regulatory body. Similarly, Spice Nepal is also constantly expanding its coverage, adding new cities and regions to its network. The number of subscriber will continue to increase as STM Telecom and NSTPL contribute to increase the telepenetration in rural areas of Nepal. References: 1. Management Information System, Ashwin, 2068 (September, 2011) ,NTA 2. Country Paper on Telecommunication/ ICT development in Nepal, Dr.Subarna Shakya 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ncell 4.http://www.nowpublic.com/nepal_to_beat_teled ensity_target_early 5.Http://archives.myrepublica.com/portal/index.ph p?action=news_details&news_id=5579 6. http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/np.htm 7.http://www.telecomasia.net/content/nepaltelecom-plans-china-fiber-link-report 8.Http://archives.myrepublica.com/portal/index.ph p?action=news_details&news_id=20120
“Dear internet users,Someday u will regret not reading me.Sincerely ,yours TERMS AND CONDITIONS�. 8
ENCIPHER 2011
Hydropower Development: Potential and Progress
HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT
POTENTIAL AND PROGRESS Khadga Bahadur Bista,DoEE Hydropower Potential Hydropower potential in Nepal is highly revered notion. Whether a politician, a bureaucrat, a researcher or a hydropower expert, most of Nepalese when asked about hydropower, starts his first statement by saying that Nepal has 83,000MW of theoretical hydro power potential and second statement by saying Nepal is the richest in the world in terms of hydropower. A study was done by Dr. Hariman Shrestha (see inset below) in 1966 showed that Nepal has around 83,290MW theoretical potential in its river and rivulets as given in table below. As of today, this potential is the officially accepted figures in Nepal and has been expressly stated in government publication, plan and policy documents. Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its report also says that of the total potential about 42000MW of power generation is estimated to be feasible from a financial as well as from a technical point of view. The theoretical hydr opower potential in megawatts (MW) as estim ated by Dr. Hariman Shrestha during his doctoral thesis presentati on in Moscow Univ ersity in 1967: River basins
Major riv er courses having catchment areas 1000 sq.k m. and above 18,750 32,680 32,680
Small river courses having catchm ent areas between 1000 sq.km . and 300 sq.km. 3,600 2,700 3,500
Total
Sapta Kosi 22,350 Sapta Gandaki 20,650 Karnali and 36,180 Mahakali Southern 3,070 1,040 4,110 rivers Country total 72,450 10,840 83,290 Source: Nepal and its water resources, HMGN, WECS, Singha Durbar, K athmandu Nepal, 1988
Dr. Hariman Shrestha: The 83,000 MW Crusader Forty three years has passed since a student from Nepal, Hariman Shrestha at Moscow University presented his doctoral thesis among the august gathering of hydrologist, geologist, energy expert, academicians, students and university officials in Moscow, Russia back in 1966. Through his thesis titling "Assessing Hydropower Potential in Nepal"; a direct translation from the Russian Language; made a pioneering remark that Nepal has 83,200MW equivalent of water potential in the rivers and rivulets all over Nepal. Dr. Hariman Shrestha is a crusader to measure the hydro potential in Nepal and deserves the highest accolade that can be possible from hydropower sector of Nepal. Dr. Hariman Shrestha has worked with different organization and at one time being the head of Water and Energy Commission Secretariat. Dr. Shrestha lives in a modest house near Maitighar, Kathmandu. He believes in Nepali themselves being able to harness hydropower and says that, the emphasis should be the power demand of Nepal and not export.
Is Nepal the Second Highest in Hydropower Potential? As claim of hydropower potential in Nepal is illusive so is the claim that, Nepal is the second richest country in hydropower potential after Brazil. Data below show that, although Nepal may be in 8th rank when the installed capacity is the basis for ranking but due to the nature of Himalayan river there is much less generation in dry months as compared to the three-four monsoon months hence the net technically exploitable annual energy is around 298 terawatt hours or 298 billion units a year which is only 12% of China, 17% of the US, 18% of Russia, 20% of Brazil, 30% of Canada and even only 45% of India. It will only rank below 10 when energy generation is compared. Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 19
Country
China USA Russia Brazil Canada Congo DPR India Indonesia Peru Tajikistan Nepal
Technically Exploitable
TW h /a 2474 1752 1670 1488 981 774 660 402 385 >264 298
GW 565 357 340 404 267 100 175 75
Economically Exploitable
TWh/ a 1753 501 852 811 536 419 315 40 260 264 151
GW 400 102 174 220 146
Harnessed till 2008
GW
Yet to be harness ed %
171 99 46 71 72 2.4 36 4.5 3.2 4 0.56
57 3 73 67 50
Claims are made by some that this potential is way below the actual potential and some point out that 84 57 83000MW is an overestimation indicating stark need to systematically reaffirm it. As the technology for hydrology measurement as well as weather 83 42 98.6 pattern due to the global warming within the last 43 In the USA economically exploitable potential is low due to strict environmental policies years; since the first study was done; has changed Source: IEA (2008), International Rivers (2008), CES (2007), our snow covered mountains and hence water flow http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectric plant in the Himalayan Rivers, the new estimates might Of course, among over two hundred countries of differ from the one estimated by Dr. Hariman the world, Nepal has one of the highest Shrestha in mid sixties. hydropower potential, but Nepal is not the second highest on hydropower potential and the statement that Nepal is second richest country in the world as a consequence electricity tariff should be cheap are highly misplaced statement
“Madness is the result not of uncertainty but of certainty.�- Friedrich Nietzsche ENCIPHER 2011
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Hydropower Development: Potential and Progress at least during the initial years of hydropower History shows that, even though hydropower development when the projects are front loaded. generation started in 1968 (BS 2011) but it took another half century or nearly 56 years to generate another 600kW from Sundarijal power plant. The Nepal started with systematic five year development plans from BS 2013 (1956) and hydropower was always given importance in planning period since then.
Hydropower Development Hydropower generation in Nepal is almost a century old when the first 500kW Pharping power plant was commissioned in 1911. The amazing invention of light bulb made practically usable after some 800 experiments at the end of previous century (in 1879) by Thomas Elva Edition has come to remote mountain country of Nepal. Hence the start of the hydropower in Nepal was not far away from the time when the first usable light bulb was invented. "Let there be light"
Regulating pond of Pharping power station
After the reinstatement of the multiparty political system in 2046 (1990), power politics became an integral part of hydropower politics. The eighth five year plan (2049-2054) faced serious blow to the development objectives with NGO, opposition political parties and international network of INGOS brought Arun III to a death bed. NEA which had put Arun III as the lone horse in the race-course, had no alternatives to this large project and was almost lost in the jungle. The next ten years (1996-2006) Nepal went was under a turbulent period with internal armed insurgency.
Thomas Alva Edison experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well and be long-lasting. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours. He made over 800 experiments to find out such lasting filaments. In a press conference when he was commented that he has failed 800 times, Edison said, he proved that the light bulb does not work in 799 other ways but this.
Hydropower on Five Year Plans Since the five year development plans were charted in 1955 until the tenth five year plan only 26% has been achieved until 2065. If the interim period of three years (2065-67) is also taken into However, in contrast to its early introduction in account, the achievement is as low as low as 13% Nepal and the availability of water resource indicating that, potential, current total installed generating capacity in Nepal power supply system is mere 690MW.
Middle Marsyangdi 70MW plant in Lamjung inaugurated on 14 December 2008
Source: Task Force Report, 10000MW in 10 years
by Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal
“I Changed all my computer passwords to 'incorret'.so my computer just tells me when I forget� 10
ENCIPHER 2011
Hydropower Development: Potential and Progress Framework for Hydropower Development
Barriers to Hydropower Development
Department of Electricity Development has published several guidelines and documents facilitating investors as reference for developing hydropower in Nepal. Also many of these documents are posted at their web site (www.doed.org.np). Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (www.ippan.org.np) has also published a document called road maps illustrating the steps to be taken for developing hydropower in Nepal. A developer will basically follow the Electricity Act, Electricity Regulations and several other acts and laws that are applied from the survey license, feasibility study, generation license, construction to operation. A flow diagram is illustrated below.
For a long time there have been no studies taken systematically and hence no document exist on stating out the barriers to hydropower development, except those expressed during the seminars, presentations and discussion forums. However, recently there has been one study named “Removing Barriers to Hydropower Development” done recently (2009) by British Power International and commissioned by the World Bank. The report was the outcome of the Government of Nepal desiring to find out the factors that have constrained the development of the country's hydropower potential so as to understand the longer term strategic options and attend the risks highlighted by the study.
“Knowledge talks, wisdom listens.”- Jimi Hendrix ENCIPHER 2011
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Hydropower Development: Potential and Progress The report is yet in a draft form but, the team made sessions known as Friday Forum on the barriers. an extensive questionnaire survey of the stakeholders and the draft report systematically It is an irony that, all these reports and highlights the barriers as they are today. presentations has one thing in common, that is political instability in general and political Similarly, the second study was made by the Task interference in NEA in particular is the main barriers Force constituted by the CPN Maoist led to hydropower development of Nepal. Dwelling on government for recommending the development of these findings the following illustration gives the 10000MW in ten years. The task force in its report highlights of the barrier that are faced in general has provided one complete sections on barriers. and also faced at each stage of hydropower Also, Independent Power Producers Association of development in particular. Nepal (IPPAN) also carried several talks program
“Adults are just You cannot taste me,until you undress me.Sincerely yours banana‌.with money.â€? 12
ENCIPHER 2011
Background Advantages of WLEDs Based Lamp Over CFL
Background Advantages of WLEDs based lamp over CFL Dipendra Mandal, Shital Kr. Gupta, Diwakar Bista WLED has introduced new ideas in the field of illumination and is considered to be one of the most feasible lighting solutions for the future. Due to high luminous efficacy with better CRI, flexibility in luminary design, ultralow power consumption, inherent compatibility particularly to solar and other battery based system, ease of development, and longer life, WLEDs based lights are now widely used for general purpose of lighting. The rapid increase in luminous performance (> 120lm/w) makes the WLEDs good susbstitue for CFL. Today a good WLEDs based lamp generates 2.5 times as many lumens per watt compared to CFL. From energy efficiency and environment sustainability point of view, the Fluorescent lamps may disappear because of their mercury content and thus the WLEDs based lamp may be the alternative that can substitute the conventional lights. The luminous output of LED compared with conventional light sources can be seen in the figure:
Figure:1 Lumen/Watt Vs years [1] Comparison of WLEDs and CFL WLEDs More than 120 lm/W
CFL 50-80 lm/W
Power for equivalent illumination level(Watt)
3W
7W - 9W
CCT (Degree Kelvin)
3800-5500
CRI Life ( hours) Driver efficiency % Cost ($/Klm)
90 above 50K -100K 80-90 $15-20
Luminous efficacy(Lumen/Watt)
340045000 75 15K 80-90 $3.5
WLED based lamps have no or at most negligible amounts of hazardous substances like mercury compared to CFLs. The presence of mercury could cause serious effects to the environment. If CFL tubes break, we may be exposed to mercury
which can affect our health. The lifetime of CFLs is reduced by turning them on/off more than a certain number of times per day where as WLED based lamps have no such demerit. WLED based lamps have better control over the direction in which their light is emitted, helping the user to use the light in various mode of applications without wasting the extra light. CFLs emit light in all directions so these must use some lens to focus in one direction, causing some light loss in the process, which further increases the efficiency advantage of WLED based lamps. WLED lamps reach their full brightness immediately where as CFLs tend to have a warmup period, which may range from a few seconds to over a minute. We can easily dim the WLED lamp with slight modifications in its driver circuit whereas the CFL with dimming function costs high as compared to simple ones. Life cycle and Cost analysis Use of CFL with Solar Home System (SHS) is a common practice in Nepal because of its low initial cost as compared to WLED, but if we consider the longer life span and ultra low power consumption of WLEDs based lamps, the pay back could be reached in less than 2 years without any government incentives. Generally a system with 25 watt solar panel and two 7-10 watt compact fluorescent lamps can be replaced with the 10W of panels and two 3W WLED lamps. The table below shows the cost analysis of above described systems. SHS with CFL Components Ratting Solar panel 25W Charge controller 5A Battery 38Ah DC/DC converters 20W CFL 2*7W Total cost SHS with WLEDs Components Ratting Solar panel 10W Charge controller 5A Battery 12Ah DC/DC converters * WLEDs lamp 2*3W Total cost
Costs $360 $26 $90 $10 $6 $492
Costs $144 $26 $36 * $14 $220
“Only the wisest and the stupidest of men never change�- Confucius ENCIPHER 2011
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Background Advantages of WLEDs Based Lamp Over CFL
From this example, we can see that for the same illumination requirement using solar, WLED based lamps are more cost effective. Also expected life of CFL is around 15K hours while that of WLEDs lamps is 50K to 100K hours, thus CFL needs to be replaced around 5 times before first replacement of WLED based lamps. Thus from all above discussion and data we can clearly say that WLED based lamps are more superior to CFL in terms of environmental factor, installation and running cost.
References [1] Bista, D. Electrical and Photometric Performance Test mechanism For Characterization of WLED and WLED Luminaire. Havells. (2011, May 1). Presenting India's first Ecofriendly Green CFL. India. Matrix Lighting, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.viribright.com
“SON:-Dad,can I go to a 50CENT Concert ?dad:-here's $1.take your sister too.� 14
ENCIPHER 2011
Quantum Computer
Quantum Computer Compiled By: Pranav Nandan (Computer Engineering-Batch 2007) Background The need for computing power is never ending. If Moore's Law predicts, the number of transistors on a microprocessor continues to double every 18 months, the year 2020 or 2030 will find the circuits on a microprocessor measured on an atomic scale. So the logical next step will be to create quantum computers. Concept of quantum computer In classical model of a computer, the most fundamental building block is 'bit' which exists in two different states i.e. '0' or '1'. In a quantum computer, the rules are changed. Which means 'quantum bit', usually referred to as a 'qubit', not only exist in the static '0' or '1' hard states but it can also be in a superposition of both! In this coherent state, the bit exists as a '0' and a '1' in a manner which may at first seem hard to accept. Let's consider a register of three classical bits: it would be possible to use this register to represent any one
of the numbers from 0 to 7 at any one time. If we then consider a register of three qubits, we can see that if each bit is in the superposition or coherent state, the register can represent all the numbers from 0 to 7 simultaneously! A processor that can use registers of qubits will in effect be able to perform calculations using all the possible values of the input registers
Simultaneously. This phenomenon is called quantum parallelism, and is the motivating force behind the research being carried out in quantum computing. The advantages of Quantum Computing Consider a problem that has these four properties: The only way to solve it is to guess answers repeatedly and check them, The number of possible answers to check is the same as the number of inputs, Every possible answer takes the same amount of time to check, and There are no clues about which answers might be better: generating possibilities randomly is just as good as checking them in some special order. An example of one such algorithm is the quantum factorisation algorithm created by Peter Shor of AT&T Bell laboratories. The algorithm tackles the problem of factorising large numbers into its prime factors. This task is classically very difficult to solve; in fact it is so difficult that it forms the basis of RSA encryption, probably the most popular method of encryption used today. Shor's algorithm cleverly uses the effects of quantum parallelism to give the results of the prime factorisation problem in a matter of seconds whereas a classical computer would take, in some cases, more than the age of the universe to produce a result!
“When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.” ENCIPHER 2011
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The Story behind your Touchphones!
The Story behind your Touchphones! -Compiled by:Princi Koirala (Electronics and communication- 4th yr) Touchscreens(TS) have been around a longtime, and quite inconspicuously so, till the iphone amazed people with the multi-touch capabilities of its interface. Now, if you are wondering “how long before?” you will be surprised to hear “more than quarter of a century. Before we proceed, we need to clearly understand what qualifies TS. A largely satisfactory definition would be- any transparent interface that generates an input either on touch or proximity with another object can be termed a TS. Now, those of you have encountered TS before, mostly in your phones, at the ATM or even in your laptops, will recall that during some encounters, mere touch was not sufficient and significant pressure had to be employed to get a response. This would disqualify that interface as TS in light of our definition. HISTORY: The father of the touchscreen technology is Dr. Samuel Hurst. In 1971, while he was working as an instructor at the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, he had to read a great volume of information during the graduation exams and it took whole two months so that two students could graduate. In an effort to save some time he invented the first touch sensor that he called „Еlograph” (electronic graphics), which allowed him to enter data faster. Alongside with this invention the company „Elographics” was born (known today as Elo TouchSystems). This device was not transparent as today's sensors are, but this achievement was a big move towards the modern touchscreen. Three years later, in 1974, Dr. Hurst designed the first transparent touchscreen, and in 1977 Elographics invented and patented the 5wire resistive technical method, which is still the most widely used one today
Resistive TS: Resistive touchscreens work on the basis of pressure applied to the screen. A resistive screen consists of a number of layers. When the screen is pressed, the outer later is pushed onto the next layer- the technology senses that pressure is being applied and registers input. Resistive touchscreens are versatile as they can be operated with a finger, a fingernail, a stylus or any other object.
The front surface is made of scratch-resistant, flexible plastic with a thin film of conductive material (usually Indium Tin Oxide or ITO) printed onto its underside. Beneath it is a second layer usually made of glass, but sometimes of hard plastic also with a coating of ITO. The two layers are kept apart by tiny bumps or spacers placed at regular intervals, and the thin layers of ITO create an appreciable electrical resistance the sandwich is so constructed that electrical charge runs from top to bottom on one layer but side-to-side on the other layer. When the screen is touched the plastic deforms so that the two ITO films meet, and by measuring the resistance of both layers at their point of contact it's possible to get an accurate measurement of the touch position. Older phones use resistive screens, but that isn't to say it's an out-of-date technology, as phones are .TECHNOLOGIES: Touch-screen monitors have become more and still being churned out using this type of screen. more commonplace as their price has steadily Examples of current smartphones with resistive dropped over the past decade. There are three touchscreens include: basic systems that are used to recognize a LG Optimus person's touch: LG GW620 Resistive Sony Ericsson Vivaz Capacitive Nokia N97 mini Surface acoustic wave Nokia N900
I used to like my neighbours, until they put a password on their WiFi. 16
ENCIPHER 2011
The Story behind your Touchphones!
Capacitive TS: Capacitive touchscreens work by sensing the conductive properties of an object, usually the skin on your fingertip. A capacitive screen on a mobile phone or smartphone usually has a glass face and doesn't rely on pressure. This makes it more responsive than a resistive screen when it comes to gestures such as swiping and pinching. Capacitive touchscreens can only be touched with a finger, and will not respond to touches with a regular stylus, gloves or most other objects.
touched the screen: because the measurement points are discrete, it's possible to tell whether several fingers are all touching the screen at once, unlike with a resistive unit.Examples of current smartphones with capacitive touch screens include: Apple iPhone 3GS and Apple iPhone 4 HTC Desire Samsung Galaxy S Samsung Wave Surface Acoustic Wave TS:
This technology employs ultrasonic waves (USW) to form a grid above the screen. Piezoelectric USW generators and reflectors are used to generate US waves and stream them over the surface- usually glass. US waves are generated on both vertical and horizontal directions by generators, while receivers placed at the opposite side monitor them. When a finger or object is placed on the screen or There are two types of capacitive touchscreen near it, some of the US waves are blocked. This is generally available, surface and projected, and it's detected by the receivers in both axis, and the the latter that you'll find in smartphones. These location of the point of touch is calculated. again consist of a sandwich, but this time of two spaced layers of glass, again coated with ITO on the inside. Depending on the particular screen, the Since there are no layers involved, just a glass ITO layer may be a uniform coat, a grid, or parallel sheet, visibility is very high. Works with any object. stripes running at right angles on the two sheets. Since the network of US waves is above the The latter scheme is used in the iPhone and the surface, it is possible that false touches are iPod Touch Duplo, better known as the iPad. You registered if objects come close. Comparatively might remember that a capacitor consists of two expensive. plates separated by an insulating material, which may of course be air. Now picture those perpendicular stripes on two glass plates THE FUTURE: wherever a stripe crosses one below it forms a capacitor so small it's measured in femtofarads Multitouch screens and collaborative software make a (10-15F). This small size is both bad news and strong team. It is easy to picture a person using a multitouch to rotate an image, but the true power of good: bad, because such a tiny capacitance is multitouch is in having multiple people collaborating difficult to measure and requires complex filtering on the same project. Two people collaborating on the to eliminate noise; good, because given such a same screen would be better but nothing would beat small capacitance it isn't just the gap between the having a third person adding his inputs over the net. “plates” that affects the capacitance but also the As internet connections speed up and appropriate space around them. As your finger comes close to a software is created, such an intercontinental capacitor it changes the local electrostatic field, brainstorming session would be possible. and the system constantly monitors each tiny capacitor to discover exactly where the finger
Not to care for philosophy is to be a true philospher. ENCIPHER 2011
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GSM and CDMA Services in Nepal and Some Major Questions to Them
GSM and CDMA Services in Nepal and Some Major Questions to Them
Prabhat Bista, Research Assistant, DoEEE, KU
The ease of carrying a portable handset and dialing certain digit numbers have made the communication so easy that one is nearly trying to exclude the phone booths and the fixed lines. Why is this technology being popular day by day? Are people actually using it because they need them or are they just trying to look trendy? Are these handsets reliable? Are they safe to use? Such questions groove with the enhancement of the technologies. The basic foundation of the wireless communication was so new, adventurous and fun to the users that they couldn't stop thanking the creators. At first the General Service Mobile abbreviated as GSM evolved in the European World in the 1980's in the name of wireless communication. Later it was adopted in the American society and eventually by the rest of the world. GSM is now a fully evolutive system, a platform which can accept improvements, new features, or modifications. GSM and CDMA in Nepal GSM service was started in Nepal on 2003. It was first introduced by the Nepal Telecom/Nepal Telecommunication Corporation (NT/NTC) which then was fully owned by government. It later turned into public limited company on April, 2004. At first it launched GSM 900 MHZ and later introduced 1800 MHZ to keep up with the congested traffic. Later Nepal telecom introduced CDMA (code division multiple access techniques) on August, 2006 with the aim of covering the rural areas of Nepal. Expanding the network of GSM and CDMA, Nepal telecom established itself as the first leading operator with maximum number of subscribers for some years of its establishment. Ncell Pvt. Ltd (known as Spice Nepal Private Limited earlier) then emerged as the second GSM operator on September, 2005. A joint-venture involving Indian, Nepalese and Kazakhstan companies launched the service under the brand name, Mero Mobile with initial services available in the capital city, Kathmandu. Now it has covered most of the parts of all the development regions of Nepal. The third private owned GSM operator Nepal Satellite Telecom under the brand name, Hello Nepal launched on 2008 started its GSM 900 MHZ/1800 MHZ from the Midwestern region of
Nepal with a motto to serve the people of rural areas where other operators had not succeeded in providing their services. The fourth GSM operator, Smart telecom private Limited under the brand name Smart Cell launched its services from 9thJuly, 2010. It's providing GSM 900 and GSM 1800 MHZ quality voice and other services to the rural and other parts of Nepal. United Telecom Limited (UTL), which started its service in 2003, is a consortium of four companies who have come together in a joint venture, to explore various telecom opportunities in Nepal. Out of the four partners, three are the major telecom players in India and the fourth one is a Nepalese Company. Nepal Telecom, United Telecom, Spice Nepal, and STM Telecom have been approved by the VOIP (voice over internet protocol) license recently. The basic services of GSM provided by the mobile operators in Nepal Voice services: There is a provision of voice call between two users on time division basis. SMS (short message services): One can send the messages in written format from one mobile to other mobiles within the same network and between the two networks. GPRS/EDGE/HSDPA: GSM packet radio service/Enhanced data rate for GSM evolution/ High speed downlink packet access are the internet protocol features accessing to the web. GPRS/EDGE belongs to the second generation (2G) while HSDPA belongs to the third generation network (3G). Mobile Banking: You can pay your bills or check your banking transactions incorporated to your network. USSD: The balance query, customer care services etc. refers to the unstructured supplementary service data. Some facts about GSM MSC: Mobile switching center switch the calls within and outside the network. One operator can have more than one MSCs. It is the place where all the records of the subscribers are maintained and stored. MSC connects to the billing database system from where all the balance amounts of the individual subscribers are maintained. Other public telephone networks or public phone exchanges are connected to the telecom network through MSC.
I fell off a 50ft ladder today... ..Luckily I was on the last step.... 18
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GSM and CDMA Services in Nepal and Some Major Questions to Them The signaling in MSC is called SS7 signaling (Signaling between BSC and MSC). BSC: Base station controller acts as a local switching center which routes the call from incoming mobile stations (portable handsets) to the outgoing mobile stations. If a call is made within a same network then the call flows from BTS (base stations) to BSC (base stations controller) via MSC. If a call is made between two networks then the call flow is from BTS to BSC via MSC of the same network and then the MSC switches its call to the other network's MSC which passes the call to the called MS occupying the channel of the nearest BTS whose signal strength is maximum. The signaling in BSC is called LAPD signaling (signaling between BTS and BSC). GSM prioritize voice call to other packet calls. If the channel is being occupied by the packet users and if all the channels are busy, at the same time if one new user wants to make a call, the channel used by the packet users will be made free disconnecting the circuitry and the channel would be provided to the new voice call. The call flow involves some mode of transmission. The signaling datas and the actual information datas to be transmitted from one base station to the other require the transmission. The interconnection of BTS with BSC, BSC with MSC and MSC with other networks needs some mediums to interconnect each other. a) Satellite Transmission: Generally Hub station is built and the remote end BTSs use Kuband (10.7GHZ-14.5GHZ) and C-band (3600MHZ7025MHZ) frequencies according to the requirements. The bandwidth cost and the equipments setup and installations require huge amount of money which may be the limitation of it. b) Optical transmission: The very reliable source to carry different high bandwidth datas over a common channel and a very negligible losses and poor interference with the noise has made optical fiber communication a first choice for the transmission of data. Various multiplexers are needed to transmit and receive datas. The high gain of the transmitters in optical fiber system needs no amplifiers to transmit datas over long Um interface MS1
BTS1
Abis Interface
distances. The breaking of the fibers or loss in the connection of the fibers (splicing) limits the use of the optical fibers. C) Microwave antennas: Microwave antennas are used in terrestrial transmission mode over some kilometers carrying datas of high information. Environment factors like rain, fog, wind etc. disturbing its line of sight degrades the transmitter and receiver power levels. The question arises. There are service providers in Nepal providing service for almost a decade along with the new ones who have just foot stepped to this industry. They say they want to facilitate the Nepalese people with the basic telephony. Are they maintaining the quality with the increasing number in quantity? Is the call rate of voice and packet affordable by the general public? How many users are using the network genuinely? Are these operators supervised by Nepal Telecommunication Authority on timely basis and are the actions being taken if the standards are not met? Why are the circuits busy in busy hours? What steps are they implementing to increase the channel capacity and reducing the call drops? We should be aware of the above questions and report them if any problems are identified in the service. "After all we are paying for the service we get. They are not giving it for free." References: 1) T. Rappaport, Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Second Edition, Prentish Hall, 1996. 2) http://www.ntc.net.np/companyInfo/ntBrief.php, 2011/11/19 3 ) http://www.hellonepalgsm.com/about/company.ph p, 2011/11/19 4 ) http://www.smarttel.com.np/inner.php?page_id=2 4, 2011/11/19 5) http://www.ncell.com.np/ncell/about-ncell, 2011/11/19 6 ) http://www.utlnepal.com/abus_utl_a_consortium.p hp, 2011/11/19 A interface
BSC
PSTN
MSC
MS2 BTS2 MS3
Fig. Basic block diagram of GSM architecture
“Don’t look where you fall, but where you slipped.” ENCIPHER 2011
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Micro Hydro Project: an Option for Development of Rural Areas
Micro Hydro Project: an Option for Development of Rural Areas -PraveshKafle (Elec.Eng.) , Dikshya Poudyal (Arch. Eng.) Energy is basic necessity for survival. It is one of the most essential factors for economic development. Basically energy is used for lighting and power. In rural village it is derived from different sources such as kerosene, diesel, biomass, candles etc for lighting purpose. Fuel burning lanterns are the most common alternative of electric lights, which are considered to be a source of respiratory disease. Some of the houses use torch lights and dry cells. Micro hydro is an attractive choice for electricity generation in rural areas or undeveloped communities where grid supply is not available. Micro hydro project is a pioneering electricity generation system designed to cope with the lighting demand of houses in rural communities where national grid isn't available. It is superior system for that community where investment can't be afforded for the large scale hydro and connection of national grid isn't possible for many year but they need energy to develop communities.
The micro hydro system is designed to provide electricity by using the water resources available in the local areas. By taking the advantages of head and flow, water is used to generate electricity. Micro hydro system is built with technology and materials that is found in local market. It consists of set that consists of synchronous generator; turbine and penstock pipe. Due to the availability of these components as well as the technicians, installation of the project is cheap. Before the development of micro hydro project there was a lot of consumption of fossil fuel such as kerosene, diesel for lamp and operation of agricultural processing mill. Some of the houses used Chinese torch lights and dry cells for lighting purposes. There was consumption of 45 liters of kerosene per year and 48 number of dry cell per house, now this has been reduced to in number and also saves the money that were being invested in these materials. There was excess use of wood for cooking purpose and 'Jharo' for lighting which was not the best solution for lighting due to its hazards including environmental and health problems. They were not able to work at night; student had to study in smoggy kerosene lamp. As
a result, they were living an uncomfortable life. This had direct and indirect effect on their health, reduced their work efficiency and led a life with lower indicator of human development.
After the development of micro hydro projects, the consumption of fossils fuel has drastically reduced and use of wood has also decreased. There is an establishment of agro processing mill such as grinder and other local industries such as lokta processing, carpentry, bakery, poultry farm and cold store for the preservation of vegetables and fruit for sending to markets which has created the employment in village and agro processing mill has provided facility for people to grind their product Until, MHP they have to walk long distances or they have to pay high rate for grinding the product in diesel operated mill. It has also saved the time of the people. Local industries have been increasing and people have been establishing electronics shop, computer institute and hotels which have provided job for people.
I got 10 questions in exam saying SOLVE ANY 5! I solved all 10 n wrote: CHECK ANY 5!! : 20
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Micro Hydro Project: an Option for Development of Rural Areas There is an operator for running the plant and maintenance of the power plant. The establishment of plant has also provided job to some people. School of that are now upgrading their school and providing students computer education and other facilities to compete the student with city area. People are watching TV which has also help them to see the world and other development in the world. Development of Micro-hydro project has made the rural areas life a simple manner.
The life standard of people in that area has increased and it helps them increase income generation in household level. Success of this project has now become one of the factors to boost up the villagers lifestyle. They use electricity for lightning purpose and communication purpose. After the success of this project, students have opportunity to read at night in clean environment. People are now more engaged in different works for promoting their source of income such as in agriculture product and other locally availableproduct etc. They are able to do their work at night time .The source of income and standard of
ife has been improved. People are now more conscious and aware of utilizing electricity; they are now in search of creating more micro hydro project in the vicinity of that area. It helps to preserve the deforestation of forest. The maintenance cost of the project is somehow problem in that area but if some people take trainings related to the plant then it will be benefit for villagers. They can get knowledge about how to run this system properly and how to repair it when there is some fault or problem. This will create opportunities of job for some people. He/she will look after the system and they don't need to hire other technician for simple problem, which also reduces the cost for maintenance. It also helps them to not to depend on other people for any simple maintenance and repair. Thus in the developing countries micro hydro can play vital role in the development of rural communities. It is a better alternative for the area where national grid has not been available. The development of new technology and mini grid concept can help micro hydro for the long term sustainable.
“Guns don’t kill people — people do.” ENCIPHER 2011
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Mobile Operating System
Mobile Operating System Prazzun Dani (EE 2nd year) This days everything is going smart , smartphone ,smartv,smart computers last but not the least smart you, Nowadays people are hyptonized by handheld devices(ie PDA,smartphones ,tablets) rather than large screen computers ,with the increasing handheld devices the operating system needed to run them are also increasing ,here are different mobile operating system which are competing with one another to get faster ,smarter and better. The increasing importance of mobile devices has triggered intense competition amongst software giants such as Google, Microsoft and Apple, as well as mobile industry leaders Nokia, Research In Motion (RIM), and Palm in a bid to capture the largest market share pre-emptively.
away, RIP jobs who proved that apple was not just a fruit. ANDROID OS:Android was developed by a small startup company called Android that was purchased by Google Inc., and Google continues to update the software. Android is an open source, Linux-derived OS backed by Google, along with major hardware and software developers (such as Intel, HTC, LG,Karbon,ARM,Dell, Samsung, Motorola,Sony ericsson and eBay, to name a few), that form the Open Handset Alliance which are coded with C, C++, Java. Released on November 5th 2007, this OS received praise from a number of developers upon its introduction. Android releases prior to (1.0, 1.5, 1.6,2.0) were used exclusively on mobile phones. Most Android phones, and some Android tablets, now use a 2.x release. Android 3.0 was a tablet-oriented release and does not officially run on mobile phones. The current Android versions are 2.3.x for mobile phones and 3.x for tablets. Android releases are nicknamed after sweets or dessert items like Cupcake (1.5),Donut(1.6),Éclair(2.0/2.1),Froyo(2.2),Ginger bread(2.3/2.4)) or Honeycomb (3.0/3.1/3.2) and Ice-Cream Sandwich(4.0) coming shortly. Most major mobile service providers carry an Android device. Since the HTC Dream was introduced, there has been an explosion in the number of devices that carry.From 2009 to the second quarter of 2010, Android's worldwide market share rose 850% from 1.8% to 17.2%.Andriod has already beaten IOS to become the most widely used smart phones OS in the world, though its apps market still lags behind the Apple App store in terms of the number of applications by roughly 1,00,000,plus IOS apps in general tend to be more refined than Android apps,and this is only the reason we can see for any rational person to choose an IOS device over and Android devices.Days are not too far when Android devices rule the mobile industry.
APPLE'S IOS:IOS is the operating system used by apple in all variant of ipod touch, ,iphone , ipad and secondgeneration Apple TV which is somewhat derived from apple's MAC OS X. With the release of the iPhone 2G in 2007, Apple significantly disrupted the mobile industry and effectively ushered in a new era of mobile operating systems for smartphones and other devices that focus on user experience and rely on fingeroperated touch-based interaction. Native third party applications were not officially supported until the release of iOS 2.0 on July 11th 2008. Before this, "jailbreaking�allowed third party applications to be installed, and this method is still available. IOS are coded with C, C++ and Objective-C. The introduction of the ipad in 2010 only added more popularity to the IOS ,With the ipad and ipad 2,Apple still leads the tablet market share by a huge margin.By now IOS has improved a lot and as of current version 4.3.3,its supports multitasking ,audio and video playback to Airplay devices,data tethering and several other enhancement and its Appstore is now equipped with more than 3,00,000 paid and free apps.Apple have just launched its most awaited IOS 5 and iphone 4s,the eyecatching feature of iphone 4S is apps called SIRI,which behaves as personal assistant of its owner . Currently all iOS devices are developed by Apple BlackBerry OS from RIM and manufactured by Foxconn or other of Apple's This is the operating system used in all Blackberry partners.Recently apple's CEO steve jobs passed devices.Despite having been popular in corporate *Low battery* *Low battery* Well apparently you have enough battery to remind me every 2 seconds. 22
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Mobile Operating System sector,Blackberry devices are loosing market to Android and Iphone.However, they still have a loyal following of users who are used to the signature hardware keyboard of blackberry devices and convinced with the build in corporate features of Blackberry devices. This OS is focused on easy operation and was originally designed for business.In 2002 RIM released there first blackberry devices with intregated functionality and shifhted the positioning of there products from two way pagers to email-capable mobile phones.The blackberry line evolved into the first smartphone optmized for wireless email use and had achived a total customer of about 32 millions subscribers by 2009.Recently it has seen a surge in third-party applications and has been improved to offer full multimedia support. Currently Blackberry's App World has over 15,000 downloadable applications and RIM promises to bring thousands of Android Apps on Blackberry OS devices.RIM's future strategy will focus on the newly acquired QNX, having already launched the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet running on latest version called QNX and expecting the first QNX smartphones in early 2012. QNX is a commercial Unix-like real-time operating system, aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. The product was originally developed by Canadian company, QNX Software Systems, which was later acquired by BlackBerry-producer Research In Motion. Symbian OS From NOKIA There is saying,”if you don't succeed at the first attempt,skydiving isn't for you.”and it applies too well in symbians OS.it has been the operating system of the thousands of devices by dozens ofmanufacturers including BenQ, Fujitsu, LG, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony Ericsson but despite of commercial success, it has failed to achieve any critical acclaim in thesmartphones arena. Prior to 2009 Symbian supported multiple user interfaces, i.e. UIQ from UIQ Technologies, S60 from Nokia, and MOAP from NTT DOCOMO.In 2000 the touch screen R380 smartphones was released which was the the first device to use an open operating system called symbian OS.later nokia 9210 communicator was introduced which was the first colour screen smartphones powered by symbian.And it was followed by 9500 communicator which also was nokia first camera phone with wifi.it was the most
costly smartphones of those days.In 2007 nokia launched the nokia N95 which intregrated a wide range of multimedia features into a consumer orientedsmartphones ,features such as GPS,5MP camera with autofocus and LED flash,3G and wifi connectivitywith TV-out, Nokia 6110 navigator was the powerful symbian based dedicated phone.In 2010 nokia released Nokia N8 smartphone with a stylus free capacitive touchscreen,the first device to use symbian^3 OS.It featured 12MP camera with xenon flash and capable of recording HD video in 720p also featured a front facing VGA camera for video conferencing. Symbian was the number one smartphone platform since 1996 until 2011 when it dropped to second place behind Google android OS. In feb 2011 Nokia announced symbian is to be replaced with windows phone 7 as the operating system in all of their future smart phones, they just announced to two smartphone namely lumia 710 and lumia 800 ,fully touch HD and preloaded with windows 7mango. WebOS from HP webOS is a proprietary mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel, initially developed by Palm, which launched with the Palm Pre. After being acquired by HP, two phones (the Veer and the Pre 3) and a tablet (the TouchPad) running webOS were introduced in 2011. On August 18th, 2011, HP announced that webOS hardware is discontinued but HP will continue to support and update webOS software and develop the webOS ecosystem.Actually Web OS was built by palm as a pretty solid and feature rich operating system having a killer interface to match,it wasn't enough to keep companies lost reputation.Palm ended up getting acquired by HP in 2010.HP announced of contuning development of the palm devices as well as Web OS under HP's brand name.As Web OS derives heavily from linux and uses several open source compoments,maintain at the palm open source website.HP is heavily promoting Palm OS and releasing several devices running on it,including HP veer,HP pre3 smartphones and HP touch pad tablets whileWeb OS doesn't have a prominent market share at the moment, things in promising for this platform futures. Windows Phone from Microsoft Windows mobile devices were called pocket PCs and were true to their name. The operating system have true multitasking
“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.”- Lao Tzu ENCIPHER 2011
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Mobile Operating System System, installation of apps Using cab files, full system access, registry access, option for replacing the entire user interface with another, integrated data tethering support, personal information synchronization and a complete office suite. Installing a heavily customized version of windows mobile version to a device was a very simple as connecting it to the computer via USB and running a standard software installation w i z a r d o n t h e c o m p u t e r, n o r i d i c u l o u s jailbreaking/rooting/recovery/command line use required.The primary reason behind the fall of windows mobile were the inabilty of Microsoft to market it to the masses,little to no focus from Microsoft on developing an Apps ecosystem that would encourage developers to built apps for the platforms like the popularity came from the Apple's Iphone also windows mobile couldn't compete against other OS because it's interface wasn't finger friendly and required the use of stylus. On February 15th, 2010, Microsoft unveiled its next-generation mobile OS, Windows Phone 7. The new mobile OS includes a completely new over-hauled UI inspired by Microsoft's "Metro Design Language". It includes full integration of Microsoft services such as Windows Live, Zune, Xbox Live and Bing, but also integrates with many other non-Microsoft services such as Facebook and Google accounts. The new software platform has received some positive reception from the technology press Microsoft has announced a major update for fall 2011,bringing true multitasking and several other important to the platforms in a few months.apart from this Microsoft is concentrating heavily on the app ecosystem in cooperating with developers and the windows live Marketplace has become the fastest growing the app market in these days. At present,there are over a dozens windows phone 7 devices available in the market,built by manufactures such as HTC,Samsung,Dell and LG.Other manufacturesincluding Nokia have also decided to join in and many new widows 7 phone devices are expected to released this year. Bada from Samsung Electronics This is a mobile operating system being developed by Samsung Electronics. Samsung claims that bada will rapidly replace its proprietary feature phone platform, converting feature phones to smartphones.The name 'bada' is derived from 바다, the Korean word for ocean or sea. The first device to run bada is called 'Samsung Wave' and was unveiled to the
public at Mobile World Congress 2010. The Wave is a fully touchscreen phone running the new mobile operating system. With the phone, Samsung also released an app store, called Samsung Apps, to the public. It has close to 3000. Mobile applications.Samsung has said that they don't see Bada as a smartphone operating system, but as an OS with a kernel configurable architecture, which allows the use of either a proprietary real-time operating system, or the Linux kernel. Though Samsung plans to install bada on many phones, the company still has a large lineup of Android phones. MeeGo from non-profit organization The Linux Foundation At the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia and Intel both unveiled 'MeeGo' a brand new mobile operating system which would combine the best of Moblin and the best of Maemo to create a truly open-sourced experience for users across all devices and several other high profile company also joined MeeGo to contribute to this open source project.. As of 2011, Nokia has announced that it will no longer be pursuing MeeGo and will instead adopt Windows Phone 7 as its primary mobile OS. Nokia announced the Nokia N9 on June 21, 2011 at the Nokia Connection event in Singapore. The phone is presumed to become available to the public in September 2011. LG announced its support for the platform. Brew from Qualcomm Brew is used by a some mobile phone manufacturers and mobile networks, however most often the end-user does not know this since Mobile phones running Brew most often lack any Brew branding. Brew runs in the background with the custom "skins" of the mobile phone manufacturer or operator on-top. Brew is used by Sprint Nextel, metroPCS, U.S. Cellular and Verizon in the US and by the Three network in much of Europe, the UK and Australia on many mobilemobile phones produced especially for their network. Manufacturers such as Huawei, INQ Mobile, Amoi, and Samsung Mobile amongst others use Brew in some of their mobile phones and it is featured in Three UK phones such as the 3 Skypephone, INQ1 and Huawei u7510 (3 Touch). Two of HTC's mobile phones use Brew's successor Brew MP.LiMo 4 from LiMo Foundation LiMo Foundation launched LiMo 4 on 14 february 2011, the latest release of the LiMo Platform. LiMo4
That awkward moment when the dictionary definition is more confusing than the word itself .. 24
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Mobile Operating Systemr delivers complete middleware and base application functionality, including a flexible user interface, extended widget libraries, 3D window Effects, advanced multimedia, social networking and location based service frameworks, sensor frameworks, multi-tasking and multi-touch capabilities. In addition, support for scalable screen resolution and consistent APIs means that the platform can deliver a consistent user experience across a broad range of device types and form factors. Aliyun OS from Alibaba/AliCloud(cloud based) AliCloud's operating system revolves around the idea of bringing cloud functionality to the mobile platform. According to the company, Aliyun will feature cloud-based e-mail, Web search, weather updates, and GPS navigation tools. In addition, the operating system will synchronize and store call data, text messages, and photos in the cloud for access across other devices, including Pcs. Alibaba says it will offer customers 100GB of Storage at launch. the operating system would allow users to access applications from the Web, rather than download apps to their devices.
“Time is called time because it changes� ENCIPHER 2011
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Visual Effects Behind Your Favourite Movies
Visual Effects behind your Favorite Movies -Prashamsa Bhattarai, EE 4th yr Communication Gone are the days when we used to watch the startling scenes in fiction movies and think "Wow! They did that, impressive.� With a thirst for knowledge and a better understanding of Visual Effects (VFX) technology, we can go more like "Wow! That's how they did that, impressive." The Visual Effects behind Fictions have never ceased to impress us. In some ways, it really is like magic: Visual-effects artists can take a blank screen and create whole new worlds from nothing. From even its earliest days, films have used visual magic to produce illusions and trick effects that have startled audiences. The earliest effects were produced within the camera (in-camera effects), such as simple jumpcuts or superimpositions, or were created by using miniatures (representation or copy of an object that smaller than the object, but maintains the proportions of the original object), back projection, or matte paintings (painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location). Optical effects like fades, dissolves, wipes, blow ups, skip frames, bluescreen, compositing (layering two images together), double exposures, and zooms/pans came later, using film, light, shadow, lenses and/or chemical processes to produce the film effects. Animation, scale modeling, claymation, digital compositing, animatronics, use of prosthetic makeup, morphing, and modern computergenerated or computer graphics imagery (CGI) are some of the more modern techniques that are widely used for creating incredible special or visual effects. Some of the widely popular Fictions of American Film Industry are explained here in a chronological order. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) The Day the Earth Stood Still was the first sciencefiction film to feature "flying saucers" and the first true robot, Gort. This movie featured model miniatures and the highest level of visual effects developed at that time. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) This movie featured the most realistic footage of space ever created and is still not outdated. Miniature models of spacecraft, timer or manuallyguided pre-motion control cameras, rearprojection, full-sized props or models and other
early techniques like a primitive type of "Go-Motion were used.
Star Wars The computer image used in the first movie of this series was the first extensive use of animated 3-D computer animation (or CGI). This film was also the first one to use an innovative motion-controlled camera; i.e. a computer was used to control a long, complex series of camera movements. From Yoda to General Grievous to R2-D2, the animators created believable digital creations alongside human actors.
Blade Runner (1982) This fiction has one of the most awe-inspiring visuals in film history, the powerful vision of the Los Angeles cityscape, in the year 2019, at night, with giant, fire-belching towers, floating advertisements, giant television screens, and police flying cars - all based on the art design of artist Syd Mead. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) It was famous for the flying bicycle scene in which the kids escaped into the air on their bicycles, (using Bluescreen) and later the scene of the alien and Eliott illuminated in silhouette (using miniatures) against a giant-size full moon.
Star Trek This film was famous for the "Genesis Effect" - a one-minute animated sequence, which was cinema's first entirely computer-generated (CG) sequence. Star Trek IV (1986) was the first to make cinematic use of 3D scanning. This laser and video based technology can scan complex objects in only seconds to produce a detailed three-dimensional
Everybody wants to go to heaven; but nobody wants to die.... 26
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Visual Effects Behind Your Favourite Movies data-set of the facial features and a detailed texture map of the surface color. Star Trek VI (1991) used digital morphing (achieved through cross-fading techniques) in the scene of the shape-changing alien prisoner Marta who eventually morphed into Capt. James T. Kirk. Back to the Future, Part II (1989) Computer-controlled camera work, called VistaGlide, allowed three characters (all performed by one actor) to match up and interact seamlessly in the same scene through split-screen photography. Another special F/X sequence was the airborne hoverboard (futuristic skateboards without wheels) chase scene. Actors (standing on glued-on or attached hoverboards) were held up in the air by a rig on the back of a truck and driven around - pulled on wires (later digitally removed), making them appear to be floating and sailing in mid-air. Independence Day (1996) This blockbuster disaster film displayed a monstrous, asteroid-sized UFO that entered Earth's atmosphere, and a spectacular scene of the destruction of the White House (a 1/12th model), filmed with 9 cameras. $75 million was spent on models and miniatures. Titanic (1997) Computers were used to create the digital passengers seen on the ship's deck, the ship's launch, the Titanic's engine room, the helicopter flybys. Both CG and miniature models were used to portray the ocean-liner as it tilted, split in two, and sank in the tragic finale.
The Matrix Triology The Matrix (1999) had digital effects like slowing down, rotating actions which were created by suspending actors on wires, using motion capture, and filming segments with multiple still cameras shooting from multiple angles, and then enhancing the pictures with CG. The Matrix Reloaded introduced HD 'Universal Capture' (image-based facial animation). 5 high-resolution digital cameras recorded the real Agent Smith's actions to produce data which when fed into a computer, calculated the actor's appearance from every single angle the cameras had missed, and used them to generate digital humans, indistinguishable from real humans.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: (2001-2003) From the first film to the last, the combination of old school film tricks with cutting-edge digital filmmaking was used to make normal-sized actors appear Hobbit sized and put real characters and digital creations seamlessly into the frame together like never before. CGI-imagery was combined with "motion capturing" to produce the character Gollum. A motion capture suit recorded the actor's movements that were then applied to the digital character. Harry Potter Series The Chamber of Secrets brought Dobby to the world, a big step forward in CG character acting. The Prisoner of Azkaban made Dementors a frightening sight. The Goblet of Fire changed the way fire effects were done and also breathed life into cinema's best dragons. It used character animation and virtual environments. Spider-Man Trilogy This trilogy included the extensive use of digital body doubles (a computer-generated superhero), and the digital removal of wires, cables and rigs from many shots. It took three years to create the visual effects required to portray the Sandman's shape-shifting powers in Spider-Man 3 (2007).
Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) used CGI to turn the cursed Black Pearl pirates, led by Captain Barbossa from normal humans to skeletons. In Dead Man's Chest (2006), a completely computergenerated Davy Jones (Octopus-faced-andtentacled creature) appeared so realistic that it appeared as though the actor was wearing a prosthetic makeup. In At World's End (2007), multiple hallucinations of Captain Jack Sparrow were created with multiple pass technology. There were also miniature versions of him talking while dangling from his dreadlocks of hair. 300 (2006) This film was shot mostly with a super-imposition chroma key technique. The actors were filmed before blue-screens. Animatronics were used for various animals. The film had a desaturated, sepiatoned, artistic look. Transformers (2007) In total, there were 60,217 vehicle parts and over 12.5 million polygons assembled into 14 giant, shape-changing automatons (each composed of thousands of moving pieces). ILM created about
“Think like a man of action, and act like a man of thought.� ENCIPHER 2011
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Visual Effects Behind Your Favourite Movies three-fourths of the special FX, composed of transformations of the 30 foot tall robots as they moved, and thousands of texture maps filled in additional details to the parts. Lengthy renderings were required to complete only one frame of movement. And to make the robots more realistic, ray-tracing (reflections of the surrounding environment on surfaces) was also used. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) A computer-generated copy of actor Brad Pitt's aged face was grafted by special effects experts onto various smaller bodies during Benjamin's growing years. A new facial performance capturing system called "Contour" was used to track an actor's facial movement in 3-D space. Prosthetic make-up allowed actress Cate Blanchett to morph into a withered, dying old woman. 2012 (2009) More than 100 artists created 2012's 1300 VFX shots, including volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, floodsand a massive earthquake that rips California apart. Avatar (2009) Dual-function cameras filmed in both conventional 2-D and state of the art 3-D. The film utilized motion
performance-capture assisted CGI technology with Actors on a stage to create the sympathetic Na'vi characters. This involved putting actors into bodysuits covered with tiny dots, while about 140 digital cameras captured their body movements. Another tiny helmet-rigged camera was used for recording finer facial, eye, and head movements. And then the digitally-recorded data was used by animators to create the characters in their virtual world environment. Inception (2010) This movie had some of the most astonishing special effects where the laws of logic and gravity didn't hold. Some of the impressive visual effects included, an entire block in the city (with people, cars) folding upon itself, a zero-gravity fight and other scenes of being suspended or floating down shifting or spinning hallways and rooms, various city transformations, vast expanses of buildings in Limbo City crumbling into the sea, the fiery explosion/destruction of the massive concrete hospital fortress (a miniature) on the edge of a snow-covered mountain. References: http://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects.html
Unless your name is GOOGLE you don't know everything................. 28
ENCIPHER 2011
Concerntrating Solar Power(CSP)
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Shital Kumar Gupta\RA\DoEEE, Dipendra Mandal\RA\DoEEE Background Concentrating solar power (CSP) systems are systems that use mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight, or solar thermal energy, onto a small area. Electrical power is produced when the concentrated light is converted to heat, which drives a heat engine (usually a steam turbine) connected to an electrical power generator. CSP is being widely commercialized, with about 1.17 gigawatts (GW) of CSP plants online as of 2011, with 582 megawatts being located in Spain, while the United States has 507 megawatts of capacity. About 17.54 GW of CSP projects are under development worldwide, and the United States leads with about 8.67 GW. Spain ranks second with 4.46 GW in development, followed by China with 2.5 GW. In general, solar thermal technologies are based on the concept of concentrating solar radiation to produce steam or hot air, which can then be used for electricity generation using conventional power cycles. Collecting the solar energy (which has relatively low density) is one of the main engineering tasks in solar thermal power plant development. For concentration, most systems use glass mirrors because of their very high reflectivity. Other materials are under development to meet the needs of solar thermal power systems.
Parabolically curved trough reflector. The energy from the sun sent to the tube heats oil flowing through the tube, and the heat energy is then used to generate electricity in a conventional steam generator. Many troughs placed in parallel rows are called as "collector field." The troughs in this field are all aligned along a north-south axis, so that they can track the sun from east to west during the day, ensuring that the sun is continuously focused on the receiver pipes. Individual trough systems currently can generate about 80 MW of electricity. Trough designs can incorporate thermal storage setting aside the heat transfer fluid in its hot phase allowing for electricity generation several hours into the evening.
Unlike solar (photovoltaic) cells, which use light to produce electricity, concentrating solar power systems generate electricity with heat. Concentrating solar collectors use mirrors and lenses to concentrate and focus sunlight onto a thermal receiver, similar to a boiler tube. The receiver absorbs and converts sunlight into heat. The heat is then transported to steam generator or engine where it is converted into electricity. There are three main types of concentrating solar power systems: parabolic troughs, dish/engine systems, and solar power towers (central receiver systems). These technologies can be used to generate electricity for a variety of applications. Trough Systems These solar collectors use mirrored parabolic troughs to focus the sun's energy to a fluid-carrying receiver tube located at the focal point of a
Dish systems use dish-shaped parabolic mirrors as reflectors to concentrate and focus the sun's rays onto a receiver, which is mounted above the dish at the dish center. A dish/engine system is a standalone unit com-posed primarily of a collector, a receiver, and an engine. It works by collecting and concentrating the sun's energy with a dish-shaped surface onto a receiver that absorbs the energy and transfers it to the engine. The engine then converts that energy to heat. The heat is then converted to mechanical power, in a manner similar to conventional engines, by compressing the working fluid when it is cold, heating the compressed working fluid, and then expanding it through a turbine or with a piston to produce mechanical power. An electric generator or alternator converts the mechanical power into electrical power. Parabolic dish systems provide
Dish Systems
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Concentrating Solar Power (CSP)
the highest solar-to-electric efficiency among CSP technologies, and their modular nature provides scalability. Solar Power Towers Solar power towers generate electric power from sunlight by focusing concentrated solar radiation on a tower-mounted heat exchanger (receiver). The system uses hundreds to thousands of sun tracking mirrors called heliostats to reflect the incident Sunlight onto the receiver. These plants are best suited for utility-scale applications in the 30- to 400MWe ranges. In a molten-salt solar power tower, liquid salt at 290°C (554°F) is pumped from a cold storage tank through the receiver where it is heated to 565°C (1,049°F) and then on to a “hot” tank for storage. When power is needed from the plant, hot salt is pumped to a steam generating system that produces superheated steam for a conventional Rankine-cycle turbine/generator system. From the steam generator, the salt is returned to the cold tank where it is stored and eventually reheated in the receiver.
Works Cited Parabolic Trough Solar Thermal Electric Power Plants. (2003). U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. They do it with Mirrors: Concentrating Solar Power. (2006). Muller-Steinhagen, T. (2004). Concentrating Solar Power. (pp. 43-50). Stuttgart: Quaterly of the Royal Academy of Engineering Igenia. Pitz-Paal, R. (2008). Concentrating Solar Power. In T. M. Letcher, Future energy: improved, sustainable and clean options for our planet (pp. 171-185). Sargent, L. (2003). Assessment of Parabolic Trough and Power Tower Solar Technology Cost and Performance Forecasts. Colorado: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). (2001). Concentrating Solar Power: Energy From Mirrors. Wang, U. (2011). The Rise of Concentrating Solar Thermal Power
Future Challenges Solar technology has made huge techno-logical and cost improvements, but more research and development remains to be done to make it costcompetitive with fossil fuels. Costs can be reduced by increasing demand for this technology worldwide, as well as through improved component design and advanced systems. Concentrating solar power technologies currently offers the lowest-cost solar electricity for large-scale power generation (10 MW-electric and above). Advancements in the technology and the use of low-cost thermal storage will allow future concentrating solar power plants to operate for more hours during the day and shift solar power generation to evening hours.
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”- Albert Einstein 30
ENCIPHER 2011
Artificial Eye or Retinal Prosthesis
Artificial Eye or Retinal Prosthesis Neeraj Dhungel Visiting lecturer, Department of Electrical Engineering, Kathmandu University Artificial retina is a prosthesis device to regain vision for the blind. The similar sensory prosthesis device is an artificial cochlea, which has been successfully developed and widely used in many deaf patients in the worldwide to regain sound. Now in the world, a number of research and development on artificial retina are progressing and commercial products will be produced commercially in the near future. Artificial retina devices are classified in terms of the implantation place of the device. There are three types of artificial retina devices; ep-retina implantation, subretina implantation and supra-choroidal implantation. The human retina is a thin, layered tissue with a thickness of 0.10.4mm attached to the inner surface of the eyeball. The retina has a layered structure with photoreceptor cells for light detection in the bottom layer and ganglion cells for output in the top layer. The retina plays an important role in visual information collection and processing, and so its dysfunction can result in blindness.
affected by retinotopy because the stimulation points are located near the retina. Figure below describes these three types of retinal implantation. In epi-retinal implantation, a retinal stimulator is attached to the retina surface and fixed by a retinal tag. The system of epi-retinal implantaion can be used as an artificial cochlear system except for the stimulator. There are several groups engaged in epi-retinal stimulation and they are mostly advanced in clinical trials. The disadvantage of this type is the fixation of the stimulator. In addition, the electrodes may happen to stimulate optic nerve instead of ganglion cells. In this case, the patient implanted the device may sense streak-like phosphen. The fixation of the stimulator sometimes causes this type of phosphene.
In epi-retial systems, the power supply and stimulus pattern data generated from input image data are transmitted wirelessly by electromagnetic coupling of the primary coil, which is placed outside the body, and the secondary coil, which is placed inside the eye. Outside a body, the system consists of a camera system and a wireless transmission system with a battery. The image data taken by a camera is processed to the data suitable for retinal stimulation, such as binning and thresholoding. A wireless receiver system including a coil, a stimulus current generator and a multiplxser (MUX) are implanted inside a body. One of electrodes is selected by the MUX. The stimulus current flows In Retinal Pigmentosa and Age related Muscular from one electrode to the return electrode. degeneration, photoreceptor cells are dysfunctional, but most of the other retinal cells, such as ganglion cells, are still alive, unless the disease is in the terminal stage. Consequently, by stimulating the remaining retinal cells, visual sensation or phosphene can be evoked. This is the principle of the retinal prosthesis or artificial retina. Based on this principle, an artificial retina device stimulates retinal cells with a patterned electrical signal so that a blind patient may sense a patterned phosphene, or something like an image. The research of retinal prosthesis at present is In order to realize better vision through a retinal mainly focused on intraocular artificial retina. The prosthesis, over 1,000 electrodes would be reason is stimulation of retinal cells involves an preferable. Increasing the number of electrodes, we are faced with problems associated with easier surgical procedure and is possibly less “He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise.� ENCIPHER 2011
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Artificial Eye or Retinal Prosthesis
interconnection between electrodes and external lead wires with good mechanical flexibility. Specifically, the stimulator must be bent to match the curvature of the eyeball. To solve this problem, a smart stimulator that consists of a number of CMOS based microchips distributed on a flexible substrate, as shown in Fig is proposed.
Current devices for retinal stimulation involve a very small number of electrodes, while several thousands of pixels are required for functional restoration of sight. Number of electrodes in the array is limited by such physical factors as heating of the retina, cross-talk between neighboring electrodes and electrochemistry at the electrodeliquid interface. All these factors are strongly dependent on the distance between the electrodes and the target cells. For the pixel density geometrically corresponding to visual acuity of 20/400 (the level of "legal blindness") the cells should not be farther away from electrodes than 30 micrometers, and for visual acuity of 20/80 this distance should not exceed 7 micrometers. Such stringent requirements of proximity between thousands of electrodes and their target cells preclude application of a flat array of electrodes for high resolution retinal stimulation on either epiretinal or subretinal sides. Traditionally the retinal prosthetic electrodes are made of metals (Pt, Au) and metal derivatives (IrOx, TiN). Common problems include biocompatibility and electrochemical stability. Current research trend to improve these issues by developing a novel electro-neural interface using vertically self-aligned carbon nanotube (CNT)
bundles as flexible, protruding microelectrodes. CNT bundles are robust, flexible, conductive and appear to be biocompatible, they also have superior electrochemical properties. All these indicate that the CNT protruding electrodes may be able to provide a safer solution for long-term retinal stimulation and implantation. They could also act as recording units to sense electrical and chemical activities in neural systems for fundamental neuroscience research.
References [1] Ohta J, Tokuda T, Kagawa K, Furumiya T, Uehara A, Terasawa Y, OzawaM, Fujikado T, Tano Y (2006). Silicon LSI-based smart stimulators for retinal prosthesis. IEEE EngMed Biol Mag 25(5):4759, Oct 2006 [2]http://ophthalmology.stanford.edu/research/bas ic_retinal_prosthesis.html [3] Palanker D, Huie P, Vankov A, Asher A, Baccus S (2005). Towards high-resolution optoelectronic retinal prosthesis. BIOS, 5688A [4] Theogarajan SL (2008). A low-power fully implantable 15-channel retinal stimulator chip. IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, 43(10):23222377, Oct 2008 [5] Asher A, Segal AW, Baccus AS, Yaroslavsky PL, Palanker D (2007) Image processign for a highresolution optoelectronic retinal prosthesis. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 54(6):9931004, July 2007
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new�- Albert Einstein 32
ENCIPHER 2011
Solar Voltaic System
STATUS OF SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM AND ITS PROSPECT FOR BUILDING INTEGRATED PHOTOVOLTAIC IN NEPAL Shailendra Kumar Jha(Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering) Nepal and its Solar Energy Resource Nepal is a mountainous land locked country with fragile and steep topography located on the southern slopes of the mid Himalayas. It is an elongated country with an area of 147,181 sq. km. extending over 26° 22' N to 30° 27' N latitudes and 80° 4' E to 88° 12' E longitudes in subtropical belt. The very difficult terrain and scattered settlement makes the centralized grid supply to all the population in Nepal very difficult. Currently only 56% of Nepali population has access to electricity from both grid and off grid sources and the rest of the population relies on the traditional sources of power [1]. Even in the electrified areas, there has been a daily power cut of up to 16 hours [1].Solar photovoltaic (PV) system had been identified as one of the alternative to meet the power demand.
Agricultural Development Bank of Nepal (ADB/N) also used solar PV power to electrify its branch offices from 1987. The use of solar PV technology for rural electrification in Nepal introduced with 3 mini- grid PV systems installed in 1988 by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), with the assistance from the French government. Use of PV power for rural electrification gained momentum only after the successful launching of Pulimarang Village Electrification Projects in late 1993. The success of Pulimarang project played a crucial role in catching the attention of the government towards the PV technology as a means to electrify remote villages and from 1995/96 the government of Nepal started providing subsidy to the decentralized SHS through ADB/N [3]. Later after the establishment of Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) in 1996 the use of solar PV for domestic electrification increased. AEPC formulated policy to provide subsidies to households and institutions in rural areas to install solar home systems and Institutional Solar Photovoltaic systems. The estimated market potential of solar PV system is huge and about 9,141kWp of photovoltaic power is currently being used in various public and private sectors in Nepal. The table 1 below shows the number of different types of system installed and the total capacity [1].
Figure 1: Estimated solar radiation in Nepal
Table 1: Total number of systems and total installed Nepal has around 300 sunny days per annum and capacity [1] thus is very rich in solar power potential. Using Types of PV system Number of Installed photovoltaic module of 12% efficiency, total electric system Capacity energy generated in Nepal can be 17.7TW (Wp) Solar Home System 336870 6445683 (assuming peak sun of 4.5hours). This energy (>10Wp) generated is more than the energy required for Small solar home 155574 737231 fulfilling the whole energy demand of the world [2]. Status of Solar Photovoltaic System in Nepal First recorded use of solar PV technology was in 1963 at Bhadrapur Airport for navigational purpose. Later in 1974, Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) used this solar PV technology to operate a high frequency transceiver located at Damauli. After its success, NTC started massive use of solar PV power from the year 1980.
system ( 5Wp-10Wp) Solar PV in communication sector Institutional solar photovoltaic system Solar PV pumping systems Solar PV in Government offices Total
943
1243894
402
217789
76
135969
17
361367 9,141,933
“I don’t know what the key to success is, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.”- Bill Cosby ENCIPHER 2011
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Solar Voltaic System
About 75 solar energy companies are working through out Nepal for the import, manufacture and installation of solar photovoltaic system. Various institutions and agencies like; Agriculture Development Bank/Nepal (ADB/N), Center for Self-help Development (CSD), Center for Renewable Energy (CRE), Nepal Solar Energy Society (NSES), DANIDA/ESAP, USAID, KfW, giz, SNV/Nepal,UNDP, UNICEF, NORAD, European Union, National Planning Commission (NPC), the Ministry of Environment Science and technology (MOEST), the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) of the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Finance, etc. are involved in the development and promotion of solar PV technology. Building Integrated Photovoltaic system A Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) system consists of integrating photovoltaic modules into the building envelope, such as the roof or the facade. Facade systems include curtain wall products, spandrel panels, and glazings. Roofing systems include tiles, shingles, standing seam products, and skylights. Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) electric power systems not only produce electricity, they are also part of the building. These solar PV systems are thus multifunctional construction materials. The standard element of a BIPV system is the PV module. Individual solar cells are interconnected and encapsulated on various materials to form a module. Modules are strung together in an electrical series with cables and wires to form a PV array. Direct or diffuse light (usually sunlight) shining on the solar cells induces the photovoltaic effect, generating unregulated DC electric power. This DC power can be used, stored in a battery system, or fed into an inverter that transforms and synchronizes the power into AC electricity. The electricity can be used in the building or exported to a utility company through a grid interconnection. The fundamental step in any BIPV application is to maximize energy efficiency within the building's energy demand or load. BIPV systems will reduce a building's energy demand from the electric utility grid while generating electricity on site and performing as the weathering skin of the building.
The first BIPV installed in Nepal is at Center for Energy Studies (CES), Pulchowk Campus, Tribhuvan University (figure 2). The total installed capacity is 6.5kWp. The system uses 100 numbers of 65Wp mono-crystalline PV modules. The system is generating about 27kWh per day but is not connected to grid [2].
Figure2: BIPVS at CES, Pulchowk Campus
A Building Integrated Solar Photovoltaic System (BIPVS) is being installed (figure 3) at Prof. Inge Johansen Engineering Block, Kathmandu University Dhulikhel,. The PV array is a roofintegrated system using roof slates incorporating CIS PV modules. The PV system being installed is a 10kWp solar system and will provide electricity backup to the building. The system is a solar PV and grid hybrid supply. In normal condition the National Grid supplies power to the building and also supplies power to the battery for charging in parallel with solar PV. The battery bank being charged by the solar PV and the national grid supply simultaneously will provide a power supply backup for around 8 hours. The BIPVS being installed will be used for research work for students on solar PV and hybrid systems.
Figure 3: BIPVS being installed at KU
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Solar Voltaic System
BIPVS can be integrated in the National grid similar to as small hydropower station are being done. Proper policy is to be formulated to interconnect photovoltaic systems to the National grid. BIPVS based generation is to be promoted and net metering provision is to be incorporated in the national grid supply of Nepal. In developed countries like USA, Japan, Germany etc there is a provision to sell back the energy generated by photovoltaic systems to the national grid. To promote BIPVS this facility is to be provided in Nepal too. Research activities are to be carried in universities of Nepal to help the government in formulating policies for the promotion of BIPVS in Nepal. To promote the use of solar PV system the government decided in April 2009 to provide a subsidy of NPR 10,000 to the owners of each household in urban areas wishing to install 20Wp or more [2].There are various problems in developing BIPVS like; high initial cost, lack of awareness among urban people, insufficient applied research and development. The development of BIPVS is to be emphasized
and the problems are to be overcome. All the stake holders: financial institution, manufacturer and installers, government and academic institutions should join hand for the rapid development of BIPVS. References [1] “Status of solar photovoltaic sector in Nepal: 2010”, Alternative Energy Promotion Centre/ Energy Sector Assistance Programme, December 2010 [2] Shrestha J.N., “Application of Building Integrated Photovoltaic Electric System: Its contribution in reduction of load shedding hours in Nepal, Journal of Institute of Engineering, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp 1-5, TUTA/IOE/PCU, Nepal, July 2009 [3] Piya R., and Rai S., “Solar home system in Nepal: A successful and sustainable solar home system in model”, Workshop on Power Reforms: Technological and Financial, 4-5 September, 2003; IIT Kanpur
“Think like a man of action, and act like a man of thought.” ENCIPHER 2011
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Facebook VS Google
Facebook Vs Google + Avinandan Singh Dahal(CE 4th year)
There has been some discrepancy over whether Google+ is a legitimate social media service, especially after Slate writer Farhad Manjoo ripped Google+ apart in his highly cited "Google+ is Dead" article. While Manjoo may believe that Google+ will bleed out because the company forgot several key features in their initial launch, others in the media are less certain about the demise of Google+. The NY Times Bits blog recently posted that Google+ is not a separate product, but in fact, the product itself (i.e. Google+ is no different from Google search). The writer likens a declaration of Google+'s death to saying "the Apple iOS will die, but iPhone and iPad will live on." The products are inseparable. Whether or not Google+ or any other social media platform will survive over the long-term can only be determined in due course of time. While that might not affect everyone, businesses are struggling to figure out where to dedicate their money, time and effort. What good is building a Google+ page if the platform will inevitably fizzle like Google Buzz? The short answer is that, if you're a business, you should be embracing all types of social media. It doesn't hurt to provide contact information and ways for consumers to give you feedback. Social media, especially Google+ Brand Pages and Facebook Pages, will only help your company's address, products, website and other information get discovered. That is how these social media platforms can benefit any business: Facebook Pages and Google+ Business Pages can connect brands with consumersplain and simple. And while there are several differences between Facebook and Google+, each can help businesses in their own ways. And on that note, we bring you the best reasons to get your business on Facebook Pages and Google+ Brand Pages. Reasons to Use Google+ Brand Pages: 1. Google Search: Google currently attracts one billion users per month to its search engine. Over
Time, as the NY Times writer above partially predicted, Google will leverage its search engine user numbers to get people to join Google+. At Web 2.0 Conference, one of Google's co-founders Sergey Brin and Senior Vice President of Engineering and project leader of Google+ Vic Gundotra outlined the Google+ strategy and revealed that the platform already had 40 million users. That number was announced long before businesses were allowed to have pages. Google will undoubtedly continue to tap into its massive user base, and that's a great thing for businesses on Google+. 2. Direct Connect: Right now, if you go to the Google search bar and type in "+a", you'll see a list of recommendations for Google+ Brand Pages. This feature is known as Direct Connect. Typing "+a" into the Google search engine will bring up Google+ Business Pages from Amazon, AT&T and many more. Eventually, there will be hundreds of thousands of Google+ Business Pages. It's probably best to claim your stake now. 3. Google+ affects searches: If you haven't noticed by now, Google is beginning to integrate "+1" marks with their search engine. Anything your friends have pressed the +1 button on will begin to affect searches in the future. Many believe that Google's goal is to ultimately have your friend's suggestions affect your searches. For now, you can see the pages your friends have marked with "+1", but in the future, these notes could play a much bigger role in how Google operates. 4. Google+ Circles: The Circles feature allows businesses to organize their followers easily, and to target them specifically. You can make a wide range of Circles, from 20-year-olds to retired grandmothers, and begin to target customers in little clusters you specify. It's important to note, that, at this moment in time, Google+ does not allow businesses to host contests. 5. Google Ripples: Google recently added a new feature that allows anyone on Google+ to view how
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ENCIPHER 2011
Facebook VS Google
information is shared throughout the network. This feature makes data analysis easy, interesting and extremely helpful in terms of understanding how media goes viral. You can see direct links between the people that shared the information. Reasons to use Facebook Brand Pages 1. Largest social network on the planet: Facebook has more than 800 million active users, and according to the Mark Zuckerberg interview on Charlie Rose, that number is growing every day. According to Facebook's statistics page, Facebook has more than 900 million objects that people can interact with including pages, groups, events and community pages. Facebook will increase that number once they release Facebook Timeline, the revamped Wall, to the masses. 2. New Smart Lists: Facebook has a similar feature to Google+ Circles called Lists. Most people didn't use the Lists feature until recently, when Facebook released Smart Lists that began to create small groups of people it found to be similar in your network. This feature can be used to specifically target demographics in the same way Google+ Circles can. 3. Facebook is searchable in Google: Remember how we said that Google would soon integrate Google+ pages into its search engine? Facebook is already listed in the Google search engine. For instance, even typing meta-phrases such as "Amazon Facebook" into the Google search engine will bring up the Facebook Business Page of Amazon.com. Facebook already carries a lot of weight throughout the internet, and that alone should be reason enough to get businesses connected. 4. The Like Button: Though Google+ has a "+1" button that is released, it's nowhere near as popular as the Facebook "like" button. When a person presses the like button on Facebook, that media is automatically broadcast to all of their friends, potentially reaching hundreds of more people. Websites and Facebook Pages can spread easily through Facebook likes.
5. Data Analysis: Facebook provides a clean and easy way to understand who has liked your Facebook Page, what their age is and a variety of other demographic information about those people. Facebook will even email you weekly, so that you can continue to monitor your Facebook Page. It's safe to say that there's plenty of reason to use both Facebook Pages and Google+ Business Pages to market your business. You'll easily jumpstart your brand's notoriety, make it more searchable and allow people to share your business page with their friends easily and effortlessly. While some people in the media will continue to argue about the long-term potential each platform has, it seems unlikely that either Facebook Pages or Google+ Business Pages will go away anytime soon, and, for that reason, we suggest getting your business involved in these farreaching social media platforms.
References: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/googleisnt-going-anywhere/ http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technolo gy/2011/11/google_had_a_chance_to_compete_ with_facebook_not_anymore_.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/fallsweep.html http://newyork.ibtimes.com/articles/234969/20111 020/google-sergey-brin-web-2-0.htm http://newyork.ibtimes.com/articles/248100/20111 111/business-pages-facebook-vs-google.htm
“The mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work unless it’s open.: ENCIPHER 2011
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Visulaization of Electromagnetic Wave in MULTITAB
Visualization of Electromagnetic Wave in MATLAB Sudip Shrestha Wave is an imaginary and mysterious thing to us. Many of them are invisible and we don't even know their presence, but they exist. The wave coming out from mobile, wave captured by television, FM waves, x-ray waves, etc are common examples of waves we encounter in our daily lives. Among these all, light, source of energy of our entire planet comes to earth in the form of wave. Waves are actually disturbances, some sort of vibrations or oscillations travelling through space and time. Waves in most of the cases contain some form of energy and they are responsible for transfer of energy. Technically, these waves are certain forms of electric and magnetic fields. So these waves are commonly known as electromagnetic waves. In the virtual world of electromagnetism, waves travel amazingly making different functions with space and time. The best way to represent their travelling in forward or backward direction with space and time is by using sine or cosine function and represent its decay with space and time is by using exponential function. These waves seem amazing when we actually see them travelling in space. I present here an electromagnetic wave plotted in MATLAB.
magnetic fields can be expressed as function of space (z) and time (t) as:
The power or the energy carried by these waves is power density (S) given as S=E×H………..(iii) Inserting all these equations in MATLAB, my attempt is to make simple GUI which is Shown . Figure 2: Electromagnetic wave visualization tool
It is an electromagnetic wave visualization tool that I have developed in MATLAB. It can plot electromagnetic wave in different parametric conditions. “Choose medium” box has three options: 'Free Space', 'Lossless medium' and 'Lossy medium' that plays movie of the electromagnetic waves in those conditions. Similarly, I have made other boxes for different parametric changes (You can explore them in GUI figure file). The snapshot of 'Free space' is shown in figure 1. Snapshot for other mediums are shown in figure 3 and figure 4.
Figure: Electromagnetic wave in free space
The plot above is a snapshot of travelling electromagnetic wave in free space. The wave is travelling forward along with horizontal black line. The vertical black line and the titled black line acts as a reference point and considered to be the origin of the wave. Electrical field waves and magnetic field waves are shown in red and blue colors respectively. The power of the wave is actually power density or Poynting vector, is shown in green color. From the electromagnetic theory, electrical and
Figure 3: Electromagnetic wave in lossless medium
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Visulaization of Electromagnetic Wave in MULTITAB The electromagnetic wave is simulated in MATLAB by using 'movie' command. This command snaps the different frames first and then plays them in figure window of MATLAB. A small piece of code may be useful to understand the working of plot of electromagnetic wave and the 'movie' command. framemax=20; M=moviein(framemax); for z=1:framemax E = exp(-t.*a).*cos(w.*t2*pi*z/framemax); % a = alpha, w = omega H = exp(-t.*a).*cos(w.*t2*pi*z/framemax+phi); S = E.*H; % plot command M(z) = getframe(gcf); end Movie(M)
“Never forget what a man says to you when he is angry.�- Henry Ward Beecher ENCIPHER 2011
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Smart Grid for Green Energy
Smart Grid for Green Energy Sandip Dhakal (EE 4th year, Communication) Smart grid for green energy: The electric power generated at power station are connected in grid to provide electricity to the consumers. The grid is simply the network of transmission lines. In Nepal, the grid system of NEA (Nepal Electricity Authority) is the national/main grid and most of the power stations are connected to it. But, there are still mini/micro level energy systems unconnected. The electric energy is an important aspect of modern life yet the NEA is not yet able to provide efficient power quantity. The alternate to this is the Alternative source of energy. The micro/pico hydro, photo voltaic cell and wind energy are the green energy crisis. The picohydro requires less head and less flow/discharge rate. The solar cells and wind alternators can also be established for generating powers at low quantity but in a local level. The “smart grid” concept can be implemented in this lower scale power generation. The smart grid is the development of such a grid system which would implement communication for better power distribution and load control. So how can we utilize smart grid in content of contemporary energy crisis in Nepal. The main questions that can be asked are: 1. Can alternate energy sources solve the existing energy crisis? 2. Is the energy cheap? 3. Is the smart grid system efficient, effective and stable? 4. Are these sources feasible? 5. What are the opportunities of consumers and producers? So what I want to present is how each consumers can be a producer and thus smart grid system would facilitate the proper distribution of power. Now, every house, every consumer if implements a
Pico/micro hydro from the drainage (bathroom, kitchen water which is filtered), solar cells in their rooftops, wind alternators if wind energy is abundant (strong wind currents), all of these or at least one, then each consumer can be the micro/pico level energy generating nodes. The consumers who are utilizing national grid services now can be energy self dependent. The consumers now don't only have self-dependency but also can sell what is more. Each producer can now be part of” The Smart Grid System.” So, by utilizing Communication system, the each node can sell this excess energy and can have their payment through energy flow datalogging system. The main aspects of smart grid are: 1. Communication system: For datalogging the power in-out of each node, internet services can be used. We can create database of the logged file which can later be used for billing purpose. This billing system will aid in the payback of the nodes participating. The datalogging system also provides updates about the condition of the overall system. The main factor for communication is the media. We can use existing transmission line but channel capacity and the bandwidth of these lines are always the concern because as each house are the nodes, there are many users. The other alternate is the GPRS system provided by the cellular wireless network services. GPRSdatalogging system can aid in the effective as well as high capacity services for datalogging. 2. Load Control: The consumer should be able to properly switch between main grid system or the alternate energy sources system during different conditions. If the energy generated locally is not sufficient, the system should be able to switch fully/partially to main grid system and vice versa. The loads which should run at all times are the critical loads as other can be normal loads. So there should be priority based load control or switching system. Simple controller example can be presented as: a. If alternate source has enough capacity all load run by alternate source. b. If all alternate sources has no capacity all loads run by main grid. c. If alternate sources has capacity to run only two or less number of loads:
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Smart Grid for Green Energy
> Either run critical load by main grid and any one of normal load from A.S. and other from main grid. d. The critical load can be run by alternative alone while other by main grid. The main switching technique can be different according to the power consumed by normal or critical load. In house system, static load can be considered. The user has the extra house-switch to control load. Now, if no load/only critical load is running, then the excess energy can be solid by connecting the system to main grid. The main problem with direct connection is the ac phase synchronization. To remove the excess harmonic, as many such nodes are connected to grid, the phase must be properly synchronized. 3. Phase Synchronization: The local level power generation is low power level so the switching devices required is of low power capacity. The ac and dc power generated can have different phase synchronization technique. A conceptual design is as presented:
If proper phase synchronizer is not found, the inverter is delayed for certain (small) time. i.e. by switching it again after certain time. If synchronized A will be at level zero thus the inverter now can be switched to main grid for connection.
If there is phase mismatch, the generated power as is at small power level, can be introduced with addition phase delay to synchronize the system.
Now the main feature of any system is its feasibility. So, the main concern with the smart grid is its economical feasibility and the Geographical topology for the energy sources. 1. Economical feasibility: Can every people install micro-hydro, solar cells or wind alternators. Solar cell/ Photo voltaic cell system is one of the expensive alternative sources of energy. If the people have already got main-grid supply can they have will to implement the complex system? Additional communication media/ system. E.g. GPRS as presented be available at low cost. The system requires proper load control system and phase synchronization. So the people may be willing to isolate their alternate. Sources from main grid. So, economically, smart grid for green energy sources can be expensive. But for sustainable energy sources it can be fruitful. It can also enable people earn as it implement 'Sell what is more. Initially, financial support e.g. banking sector can greatly aid this system. 2. Geographical topology: Implementing this system certain head/flow or discharge rate: Implementing this system can be difficult where there is less use of water. It may be difficult to produce head, digging hole and cities everything is concrete. Solar cell: The cell requires proper solar intensity for maximum power output. The cloudy and rainy areas have less efficiency. So, the area should have the sunniest days. Wind alternator: The area where this system is implemented should have proper wind current. The wind depends on the season so the wind alternator efficiency is not constant throughout the year. It can't be established as areas where there is no adequate wind current. It also requires initial wind analysis which requires long time. So implementing all these alternative sources of energy at a place can't be feasible. So the most system should be implemented. Altogether, smart grid for green energy is a modern approach which utilizes the existing system. It also supports the green alternate sources of energy. If every people work for creating this system, not today but in future the energy will not be insufficient as today and the people may find new opportunities of earning by selling energy locally! Use of LED lighting system can effectively minimize the electric consumption.
“Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.”- Jonathan Kozel ENCIPHER 2011
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A Small Step Towards Renewable Nepal
A Small Step Towards Renewable Nepal Ineej Manandhar ,Hariyo Baan Project ( CARE International) Energy is essential for development and per capita energy consumption is often seen as indicator of economic development. Nepal has a per capita energy consumption of 0.3 ToE i.e 15 GJ which is one of the lowest in the world and about 90% of the energy is consumed in the residential sector, indicating low use of energy for activities linked to developmental activities. Besides being an indicator for economic development, household energy also has multiple linkages with important social issues related to poverty, gender, environment and health. Loss of productivity and time due to environment and health problems associated with solid fuel use further aggravates poverty and adverse impact is primarily on women as they are often the ones involved in collection and use of fuel at household level. Presently only 54% of population of Nepal have access to electricity. In total energy consumption only 1.1% constitute of renewable energy and 87% of traditional energy. Traditional energy consist of agricultural residue(4%), livestock residue(7%) and Fuel wood(89%).So it can be said that renewable energy used in Nepal is mostly of organic origin due to biomass energy is very important in Nepalese context. Various processes used in Nepal to process biomass resources into different forms are: Thermo chemical conversion, bio chemical conversion and physical conversion.
Generator being successfully tested in Puxin biogas plant
Energy from organic waste is a very new concept in Nepal. I had done a study in my final year thesis about the prospects of converting organic waste into energy. Population in the urban area is growing and the waste produced from the urban areas is growing in a disproportionate way. In Kathmandu
Valley around 435 tons of solid waste is collected from different locations.63.7% of the total waste is of organic nature. However Government of Nepal started the biogas program in 1975.Two types A 200 liter automatic biogas system of biogas plants have been tested successfully at my home Disseminated in large scale which are floating drum model and concrete fixed dome. Different new designs have been tested lately for the proper use of bio resources. During my study I had tested a 10 m3 Puxin biogas plant in Dhulikhel resort, Dhulikhel. This is one of the few biogas plants in Nepal using municipal solid waste as feed. The biogas produced is being used in the kitchen and has substantially reduced the use of LPG. Also Successful testing of a 600 VA biogas generator in the plant has proved the concept of waste as a practical concept. We had also successfully tested a mini biogas plant of 200 litre capacity. This is an automatic system with auto slurry outflow. Made of PVC, the biogas plant is very durable and of easy maintenance. This was the first time system to be successfully tested with an automatic slurry outflow system. The system is an outcome of long research from the Biobased energy Laboratory, Kathmandu University with Mr. Sunil Lohani as the chief designer. The system has been highly praised and has been taken as possible solution to the ever increasing solid waste problem in the urban areas of Nepal. Further research is being done before the implementation of the system. Liquid Biofuels are produced from the extraction of biomass resources through physio-chemical conversion processes and has inflammable characteristics. These include oil extracted from plant seeds and ethanol or methanol extracted from forest products of sugarcane. Three types of liquid Biofuels can be produced in Nepal which is ethanol, bio diesel and bio-hydrocarbon or biokerosene.A long study was done on this matter headed by Mr.Ugan Manandhar, Head of Climate Change and Energy Department of WWF Nepal and my involvement in research in the prospects of Biofuels in Nepal from WWF Nepal showed that biofuel can be a sustainable alternative to the fossil
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A Small Step Towards Renewable Nepal fuel. The study showed that Nepal consist of 7% of non cultivated land and 11 % of degraded land which can be used in cultivation of crops yielding bio fuel. These areas mostly lie in the Northern Areas of Nepal and the flood plains in the terai region of Nepal. Terai region alone consist of 1.61% of grass land and 0.37% of barren land which can readily be used in the cultivation of bio fuel in Nepal. If 100% of this land is used then an excess of 1627% of B100 (100% bio diesel) is produced. Excess biodiesel can exported and can be one of the major exports from Nepal. Production of 4,751,832 Kl of B20(80% fossil fuel and 20% bio diesel) is possible which would account to 17179% excess production. There are huge prospects of production of ethanol which is a substitute for fossil fuel petrol. Ethanol is produced through the processing of sugan cane which is a clean fuel and has a shorter harvest period. Use of unused land in Nepal would produce 7417% excess E10 (10% ethanol and 90% petrol) ethanol. However we have to consider issues like the impact on edible crop production and direct conversion issues during the production of Ethanol. Furthermore there are very good CDM prospects of Biofuels in Nepal which needs to be considered. A very new concept has been developed and applied successfully in which community is generating its energy from the waste being generated in the community itself. A modified GGC 2047 plant has been installed at Kalimati, Kathmandu. This is one of the pioneering Bio electrification projects in Nepal conceptualized by Dr. Bim Shrestha, Head of Mechanical Engineering Department, Kathmandu University. Vegetable waste from the nearby Kalimati Vegetable Market is used as feed and the biogas generated is used in the production of electricity using biogas generator. Me and my friends from Department of mechanical engineering have successfully tested and run the bio electrification plant which is currently benefitting the Tankeshwar Area. The slurry produced is dried and packaged which is a very good bio fertilizer. The electricity produced is used in the street lighting and office lighting of the Tankeshwor Samaj Samiti which has substantially improved the security condition of the area.
Biogas generator used for electricity production
Biogas generator used for electricity production A pioneering step towards giving platform to the research and development in the field of Bioenergy has been taken by energy experts in Nepal through organizing the First National Bioenergy Conference. Initiated by Er. Ganesh Shah, former Minister of Environment,Science and Technology,the objective of the conference was development of Bioenergy in Nepal. Working as Secretariat myself I was involved in the drawing outline of conference and information dissemination related to research work being done in Nepal. The conference was a huge success and had information sharing and participation of bio energy experts from all over Nepal and abroad. Mr Lekhendra Bhatta, Minister of Science and Technology focused that the experts concerned to focus on the concept of municipal solid waste to energy for sustainable development. Dr.Sumitra Amatya, General Manager,Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilization Center under Ministry of Local Development has also been supporting the concept of Waste to energy and was very much supportive of my research paper presented in Third International Conference on Renewable Energy Technology for rural Development(RETRUD 2011) and was in favor of energy generation of from municipal solid waste. National Bioenergy Society under National Academy of Science and Technology(NAST) is being formed so as to have a combined effort in terms of Bioenergy development in Nepal.The society would mainly be focused in giving a common platform to energy experts and scholars involved in the research and development of Bioenergy. If you are working in the field Bioenergy and want to inputs in the Bioenergy society please f e e l f r e e t o m a i l m e a t ineej.manandhar@gmail.com
“The best things in life are not things.� ENCIPHER 2011
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Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs Ngima Gelu Lama(BMS 1st year) The Homebrew Computer Club was his simultaneous movement in those years.
“I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.,” said an American business tycoon Steve Jobs. Apple co-founder, Steven Paul Jobs who was born on February 24, 1955, has blazed his own path and paths of rests. As the CEO of Apple Computer and CEO and Chairman of Pixar, Jobs is today recognized as one of the top visionaries of computer technology. Steven Paul Jobs was born to Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah Jandali, two University of Wisconsin graduate students who had left this genius to adoption. Jobs was 27 that he came to uncover information on his biological parents. While attending Cupertino Middle School and Homestead High School, Jobs spent his free time attending lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto. At the age of 13 Jobs met his future Apple co-founder, Stephen Wozniak, who was also working as a summer employee like Jobs. After friendship, Jobs began helping Wozniak market and sell his latest invention. In 1976, when Jobs was just 21, he and Wozniak started Apple Computers. After Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak sold his beloved scientific calculator they started their entrepreneurial venture in the Jobs family garage. After high school graduation in 1972, Jobs admitted at Reed College in Portland, Oregon where he was dropped out after just one semester. Instead Jobs continued to attend classes in philosophy, physics, and literature for another year. Two years later Steve Jobs started working as a technician for Atari, a company that manufactured popular video games after returning to California.
With Daniel Kottke, a friend from Reed College and later, the first Apple employee, he made a travel in search of spiritual enlightenment .After seven months, he returned America with his head shaved and traditional Indian clothing. He returned back to spark one of the most successful and revolutionary company, Apple. As the head behind the concept of a small, relatively inexpensive desktop computer he made one of the most important contributions to technology. With Apple's online music shop, iTunes, and with its portable digital music player, iPods and also as the head of Pixar Jobs established himself as Legend.
Jobs was a demanding perfectionist who earned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple, but held 5.426 million Apple shares, as well as 138 million shares in Disney. Forbes estimated his net wealth at $8.3 billion in 2010, making him the 42nd wealthiest American.
“Innovation is the distinction between a leader and a follower” said Jobs which he continued till October 05, 2011. A pancreatic cancer took his life. He must have traded all of his technology for an afternoon with Socrates in heaven.
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Best Inventions Of 21st Century
Best Inventions Of The 21st Century -Compiled By: Amit Bhujel (EE 1st year) 1.Automation:
Cloning was popular in 20th century. It is not new. If cloning of sheep is also possible, then cloning of human is also possible. People will never make their carbon copies just for fun, but for replacement of faulty organs. If one loses his/her leg, just few cells are taken from his/her body, and then they are attached in few hours. 4. Antigravity
Automation is great invention of the 21st century. By the end of this century the world will be ruled by automated machines. The mechanical, electrical and all the controlled system handled by human till today will be completely handled by automated robots and machines.
2. Hydrogen Powered Cars
It sounds impossible. But once it is possible, wheels will be a part of past. Everything will ride on magnetic field, pointing your craft to move in a particular direction. Magnetic forces of earth will do remaining work. Magnetic trains are being designed and will soon start to work 5. Artificial Intelligence
The same way streets of 21st developed countries are covered with cars, by the middle of this century, streets will be covered with Hydrogen powered cars, replacing the combustion engine used these days. They use Hydrogen gas as fuel and exhaust water vapour and hence are benificial from Artificial intelligence refers to capability of environment point of view. learning, planning and making decisions. 3. Human Cloning Scientists and programmers are conducting research on artificial intelligence. By the end of 21st century, they will be able to do most of the tasks without human control. 6.Nanotechnology: Nanotechnology-small machines are able to penetrate the walls of a single cell. They are able to effect repairs on human body at microscopic level. It will be the next step in human evolution. Their self-replicating ability will manufacture every thing from microchip to potato chips. “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.�- Benjamin Franklin ENCIPHER 2011
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Best Inventions Of 21st Century
7. Hypersonic Transportation
Robotics has always been present in different forms. In the 21st century, they will become useful. At the end of 21st century, robots will perform different tasks which human beings do mostly. Robots can work like dogs when you are far from home. Their military applications are more prominent. Robots are also used to clear mine fields. Robots are dependent upon human beings. They are programmed and maintained by human beings.
Before the arrival of next century, people will be able to fly between London and Tokyo at speed of Mach 10. At the end of 19th century, a man can 10. Genetic Engineering travel at the speed of 60mph by train and 600mph by plane. One can imagine that average man, woman, and child will travel at the speed of 6000mph. 8. Free Energy
Dream of getting energy from non-polluting sources will come into reality at the end of century. Wind, coal, and solar energy will be changed. Fusion technology will provide non-polluting energy. 9.Robotics
The next step in human evolution is to program one’s DNA. At the end of this century, parents will be able to find the sex, intelligence, colors of eyes of their child. This ability will not be confined to only human beings but also to other animals like elephants etc. Source: http://www.zyzyo.com/2011/05/best-inventions-of-the-21stcentury/
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Crossword Puzzle
Crossword Puzzle
“The best things in life are not things.” ENCIPHER 2011
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Interview
Interview with Prof. Dr. V.V. Krishnan Interviewer: Manish Prajapati, Prasanna Umar, Prabeen Shrestha Born in India , Professor Dr. V.V Krishnan had been with Kathmandu University as a visiting professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He was a B.Tech. In Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, (1964), M.Tech. in Machine Tool Design, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, (1966), M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, (1967), Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, (1972). Dr. Krishna has been associated as a visiting professor for 3rd year 2008 batch, power and control student. He was enrolled in teaching control system. The Encipher team had an opportunity to Interview Dr. Krishnan . Our team is grateful to Dr. Krishna for sharing his experiences and knowledge with us. 1. Firstly, can you please tell us about your childhood? How were you, how enthusiastic were you as a child? I was born in hyderabad and my dad used to be a civil engineer in railways and this is best for becoming independent as India was constructing railways and so he and my mother were in the mountains because he was in charge of constructing tracks so I stayed in the city with my grandparents. And went to school but I used to spent all my vacations with my parents moving from one camp to another. I grew up with railways, that's how my childhood got. I love/like engines but I didn't like engineers though I became one. 2. Let's move on to your academics, how did you start and where it is now? Well, I went to different kind of school. Rajyawad was very interesting town because there were a lot of Muslim populations, a lot of Hindu populations and a lot of Christian populations. When I first
started school I went to Christian school run by Italian man. All of us had to go class for moral instruction every Tuesdays and every Thursdays. So we actually grew up with the very broad secular education so we knew all about Christianity, all about Hindus and all about Islam. I sort of liked that part of my childhood with very open religious background. And, I was very good at math, I could add numbers in head and so I had easy time in school compared to my classmates. Then for middle school, I switched to another Muslim school but mostly of Indian Hindu kids. It was wild and rowdy school in town but I enjoyed it. I actually wanted to be a major in English literature but called middle class Indian family, they said, “Being very good in Maths, you cannot do English Literature. You have to do Science.” So I gave IIT, Bombay exams just for fun and passed it and went there. I was one of the first graduates of IIT, Bombay. 3. How hard was at that time to get exams passed in IIT? It probably was hard but at that time nobody knew it was good school. It was tough school due to talented students. 4. What made you pursue your career in engineering, interest or pressure from your parents? Probably my parents were responsible for me being in science but once I got into science, I got ideas to solve problems using physics and I went to mechanical engineering at that time there was no big electrical machines and computers so I started as mechanical engineering, I like mechanical engineering. I still teach mechanics though ball and bearing. 5. So, interested in literature, did you leave it or carried it on parallel with your engineering? I used to write letters to my sisters and cousins, but no I don't think I was good at literature, I liked it but I don't think I had talent for that. 1. Which was perfect field for you? I like talking to people, psychology would have been better field but I don't regret engineering. 2. What are your inspirations, why did you want to become professor? Three teachers where my great inspirations. When I was in 5th standard, I had a teacher, his name was
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Interview Williams and he was fun loving. And in college, there were two professors, one was in civil engineering. He explained everything so will that when I explained it to other people, it was too hard for me. And other professor with whom I did my senior project encourage me to going to teaching field. He pointed my mistakes when I tried to explain things. So, I like idea of explaining things. 3. Let's move to your hobbies, what is your favorite pass time? (laughs‌) There used to be tennis and basket ball but now they are long gone. Now, I enjoy solving puzzles sometimes but I do a lot of volunteer work teaching children not engineering helping them with studies, computers. I mostly like working with people. That's what I do. 4. You have been teaching as professor in USA and many places. There is vast difference in Nepal and other places. So given that situation, where do you place education system in KU in that rank? That's a good question. I am quite impressed by the caliber of KU students. There is nothing wrong with the curriculum of KU. It's a very standard curriculum but I am trying to convince KU department that they should get an international level education and association procedure where an external body knows, its national organization its non profitable organization put together by lot of different societies: IEEE, chemical engineering society, 28 different organizations so it got representatives from academics, Industries and government. So everybody using engineering can belong to engineering society. They visit engineering programs and see if you are qualified. It is called accreditation process. So, in terms of KU programs it is like every other university in west. The teaching process of course is different between United States and here. It's a typical Indian subcontinent system. It's like legacy left over from old British. It's more formal and much more distance between teachers and students. In American system, it's more lot open. Teachers are much more accessible to students than in KU but, they also deal with much more students then we typically do. Eg. Each professor here teaches four to five courses in a semester. For us two courses a semester, It's a heavy load. If we teach mainly graduate students, we have 15 to 20 students at a time. Sometimes, we have classes with 500 to 600 students so virtually there is no contact between professor and students. So, here professors it's not possible to devote time to each and every student. So, that's the difference.
5. You have seen students with great caliber of course. What do you think are the ingredients that make good engineers? What happens in US is that they have lot more option and less pressure from parents for you to become doctors and engineers than here in middle class family? There you can, if you are interested in physics you can become scientists, if you are interested in arts, you can become artist. There you can make descent living no matter what you do. So parents are not like our parents because it's difficult to leave descent life being an artist. So, people do engineering because they have sort of attitude to toward engineering it's not always true here. I was surprised in my own class year they would come to make great student of literature. Their primary interest is not obviously engineering but their parents want to get there. You have learnt that two things. First one is you look at something and you always say how does it work? Its first level of engineering but the really good engineers after the next questions what can we do to make it more efficient. So, anytime you look at something. You like the way it works but you are always thinking ways to make it better whatever that is. So, you are always asking question how you can make it more efficient, what can I do differently. Engineers always seek for better solution that makes good engineers. 1. In what extent does gpa effect our future? What advise do you want the other students who struggle with their gpa? In short term, yes gpa is important unfortunately because it decides where you go to graduate school and look for interviews for jobs. Tendency is to select high gpa holders because you think you are getting better students. But in long run, ten years from now nobody including you care damn about gpa. I don't remember what gpa I got in undergraduate school. But at that undergraduate level, it was important for me also to maintain high average gpa to go to good graduate school. So, there is short term importance to gpa but in long term when you go to industries it is not just your analytical skill, its whole lot others things that matters, how well you are able to keep deadlines, how well you deal with people, new projects, how are your attitudes towards new things, how entrepreneur you are. All these things that gpa don't tell, unfortunately gpa only shows your analytical skill. That's only a starting point. 2. Advice to the student. Try to keep high gpa if you can but don't overally
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Interview
stretch if your gpa is not so high. Pass the class to get degree and be an engineer. 3. Can teaching assistant analysis students as professor can do? They probably can in fact TA, at least KU TA I found them to exceptionally hardworking, dedicated people and probably not fair to give all the responsibility to teaching assistant because it's their first time. So for fresher should be little more involved but TA are closer to students both in terms of age and knowledge so, sometimes students feel lot more comfortable asking questions; TA are better able to answer the questions than senior professors. So, in that sense TA are wonderful things. But they should not be one to make final decision, professor should have some overall control over grade. 4. We have many lab works, project. What importance do you think about these works which we are enrolled in practical field? On papers it wonderful, more projects you do more hands inexperienced, better engineers you are going to be rather in that sense projects are wonderful. But sometimes you can overdo it. Eg. First year project students at that level don't know anything about engineering to be able to design a system. So, when they say, they are doing project they are simply putting things together. But third year and fourth year projects has been very useful. In that I think KU is doing good job. But it facts a lot pressure in students. 5. Do you think there should be some advisory body in KU for students? I recommended it very strongly. I see it why because you don't have that many choices in terms of classes, it is already predefined. Whereas in American university it is all open. Student chose whatever they want. Sometimes it would be dangerous because you end up taking class you are not ready for. So, we absolutely need advising. But at KU, it might be good idea to have designated advisor that you can go to because your questions are not always about subjects and classes. They are about careers, what you want to do, project advising, should be mechanical engineers, bio gas engineers that kind of things, what different engineers do what society they belong to. So, all that a person would experience like professor can have you with. So, I think KU should have not designated advisor for each student but at least an advisor a student can go to. 1. What are the odds that we can get intern away from our country? Good question, internship might be hard. You need to be a little careful. Do your research carefully
because, yes, people can be junior engineer in the field wherever the field is eg. India. But sometimes, you are familiar with the papers, it is also abused to buy people that is not ethical. They say “Oh! You can be intern in such a big company”. And you go there and you end up Xeroxing things all day long. That's not what you went there to be. You went up to be an engineering interns. So, make sure that wherever you go as intern, that is our honest engineering internship. It's not that they are getting free labor and there is lot of abuse of intern. I don't want to point any country. It happens in all over the world. Equally bad, they hire engineering interns, make them do heavy technical work and they don't pay them. They pay them very less. But actually, they are doing junior engineers work. So, you get exploited either way, so do your research, properly talk to people. My advice talk to as many people as you can in engineering, even when people say “go away, don't talk to me”. It is still worth the risk because the more people you know in engineering the better your chance of success. 2. Lastly, any suggestion you want to give to our students? You are in a age group where the relationship you make are going to stay with you for the rest of your life. Very important time of your life. After graduating, some of my best friend, even though I don't see them all the time, we stay all over the world but we still periodically write to each other, see other. But more importantly, you go on do different things, some of you are going to become senior ministers, senior engineers, but these are people that are your friends and have known you before you were anything. So you can be very free with them. You don't have to put on professional manners, etc. that we do with latter friends. So, they are like your brother, you can be very honest with them, ask them their true opinion so they are very valuable friendship. So, my advice is to put together group, put together mechanism where you can stay in touch with each other. There is always electronic media now. It used to be a lot harder for us then because we had to write letter to each other. But now you can stay in touch that's why, you know email, facebook whatever you want. And, ten years from now that might be best things that even happened to you in school. So, that's my advice. Be in touch with your classmates.
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”- Albert Einstein 50
ENCIPHER 2011
“The best things in life are not things.” ENCIPHER 2011
51
Soduku
Samurai Soduku
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new�- Albert Einstein 50
ENCIPHER 2011
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