May issue scigazette

Vol : 1, Issue 05, May 2017, Monthly

Science Gazette &Technol gy Focus: Indian PCB Manufacturing Industry

From an Agrarian Economy to a Global Manufacturing Hub

In-Conversation

“With more and more IoT devices pushed out and immediately purchased by consumers, more cybercrime is likely to occur.�

NOTION

It seems, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s ‘Make In India ‘Initiative, is finally starting to heal the Indian Electronics sector. For the first time in three years, India’s electronic imports contracted in Jan 2017 and the electronic exports saw a positive turnaround for the second straight month. In November 2016, the growth in electronic exports turned positive at 0.66% Recently, current Union Minister confirmed that 72 global telecom firms have started production in the country over the last two years.

42 of them make handsets while others (30) manufacture components like batteries and other parts.

But it is the Indian consumer market which is making the buzz globally.

India is expected to overtake US as the second-largest Smartphone market in 2017. This young and large market was bound to attract global Smartphone manufacturers and telecom leaders to fish for investment prospects. Apple joined the likes of Foxconn and Samsung as one of the major Smartphone manufacturers in India, and is about start its IPhone’s trial assembly in May this year. This is a major lift for the country in terms of revenue, reputation and technology.

Early Signs: The Resurgence of the Indian Electronics Industry

Here also lies a perfect opportunity for the indigenous Smartphone and components manufacturers to claim their chunk of the pie. The 225 million Smartphone subscribers in India account for only 18 percent of its total population.

The Indian electronics market is expected to reach a turnover of US$ 400 billion in 2022, up from US$ 69.6 billion in 2012. According to an IBEF report, the market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.4 per cent during the period 2015-2020.

If these numbers are to be sustained, this could mean a turn-around for India’s manufacturing and international trade dynamics.

The move to amend India’s half-baked industrial liberalization policies and Initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, improved ease of doing business index etc., are definitely making a visible impact but the equal efforts must be focused on nurturing the ESDM Industry.

Education, Training facilities, Infrastructure etc, needs special attention in order to ensure future ready. This way, the true objective of Make in India can be achieved.

Considering the importance of the PCB industry in driving the electronics Indian manufacturing ecosystem, the May issue of Scigazette focuses on IoT, current trends and security concerns attached to it. We also try to highlight the PCB manufacturing ecosystem in India and how technology is helping change lives globally.

We hope you thoroughly enjoy reading May issue.

Regards, Sagar Rawat Asst.Editor edit@scigazette.com

Scigazette | 02 | May, 2017

contents 20 Cover Story Focus: Indian PCB Manufacturing Industry

From an Agrarian Economy to a Global Manufacturing Hub Inside

News

04 08 Tech Focus Reshaping the Ecosystem of Telematics

10 EU & the Digital Single Market

India Gets Ready for EU's New Data Regime

Research

12 Off the Shelf to on the field

Rapid Prototyping of Optical Explosive Vapour Sensors

14 In Conversation “With more and more IoT devices pushed out and immediately purchased by consumers, more cybercrime is likely to occur.”

IoT Design

Kevin Curran

16

Building the IoT Ecosystem with ROHM’s Sensor & Wireless Communication Devices Technology Company Watch

Tech Focus Research Application Note

25 Basic Electronics for Environmental Monitoring 29 CIPSA TEC-State of the Art Facility Compiled with Latest Technology Machineries 30 Advancement in Wearable Sensor Technology 34 Low-Cost Microcontrollers Invading Research Labs 36 Magnetic Sensing in Dishwashers 40 New Products

Technology Research

44 Selecting RF Discretes Diodes and Transistors for an 'Always Connected' World 47 Delivering the Fog Computing Vision

News

Huawei and Indian Government in talks for Smart Cities

Chinese telecom firm Huawei is in talks with the Indian government for its smart cities initiative, a top company official quoted. It is also interested in offering its solutions to domestic power utility companies, said Huawei

Telecommunications India, Enterprise Business, President Derek Hao. “Discussions are going on with government on Smart Cities initiative,” he said.

The company, which garnered revenue of USD 75 billion globally as of December 2016, has offered its expertise to develop 100 smart cities in over 40 countries, he said. On offering the company’s Smart Grid solutions to power utility firms, he said they were holding discussions.

“We are also discussing with power utility companies here in India,” he said. “Huawei has AMI Solutions which is Advanced Metering Infrastructure. It can greatly help a power utility company reduce electricity loss and increase meter reading efficiently.

Power Purchase Agreement for Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Power Project signed Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Shri Piyush Goyal, presided over the signing of Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) between Delhi Metro Railways Corporation (DMRC) & Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company (MPPMC) with Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited, the implementing agency for the ‘world’s largest single¬site solar power project’, the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Power Project (UMSPP, 750MW) in Bhopal.

The Minister said that seven cities in the State qualified as smart cities in the first round comprising a total of 20 cities.

This has been made possible only through people’s active participation and the dynamic leadership in the State, Shri Naidu said.

Shri Chouhan said that the Madhya Pradesh government has set 3 guiding principles of its performance – equitable growth, social empowerment and sustainable

development. The Chief Minister noted that agricultural growth will touch 25% this year and milestones like the cheapest solar power are being achieved.

First Global Competition Seeking Hardware with a Social Purpose The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the world’s largest organization for the field of mechanical engineering, today announced the finalists of the 2017 ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW), the first international competition of hardware-led social innovation.

Eight social-minded inventors from India, Indonesia, and Hong Kong will present their design prototypes in Bengaluru. They are among 24 finalists who’ll compete in India, Kenya, and the United States over the coming months. Here’s a link to the eight finalists who’ll be available with their prototypes from 8:30-10:00 am on April 27, 2017 at Le Méridien Bangalore.

An esteemed panel of judges will choose three hardware designs per country as grand prize winners. This year, ASME received more than 150 submissions vying for the $500,000 in cash and in-kind prizes that the organization has offered to help bring these socially innovative hardware-led solutions to market.

Scigazette | 04 | May, 2017

News

India's solar energy capacity expanded by record 5,525 MW India’s solar energy capacity has expanded by a record 5,525.98 MW in 2016-17, according to the latest figures provided by the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE).

In comparison, India had added 3,010 MW of solar capacity in 2015-16, which shows that growth nearly doubled over the past year.

Cumulative solar capacity currently stands at 12,288.83 MW, against 6,762.85 MW at the end of March

2016.

Officials said the ministry has strived hard to expand solar power generation as the power, coal, renewable energy and mines minister Piyush Goyal has set such ambitious targets that the growth is impressive even if it falls short of the target. The cumulative target the MNRE had set earlier was 17,000 MW by the end of 2016-17.

NI & AT&T collaborate on world's fastest 5G mmWave Channel Sounders NI and AT&T have announced their collaboration on one of the worlds fastest and most accurate tools for 5G Millimeter Wave (mmWave) channel characterization. mmWave frequencies look to play a big role in the future of 5G. They have already been earmarked by the FCC, 3GPP and other standardization bodies for 5G mobile networks.

Channel measurements capture how wireless signals are affected in a given environment. For instance, channel measurements can show how signals

reflect off of, or are blocked by, objects, such as trees, buildings, cars and even people.

Wireless channel characterization is very important for wireless researchers defining 5G technologies as it will help lay the foundation for the architecture and

design of these new wireless networks.

Ericsson, IIT-Delhi launch '5G for India' programme With an aim to fast-track the realization of Digital India initiative, Swedish communication technology firm Ericsson and IIT – Delhi on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly roll out a “5G for India” programme.

Ericsson will set up a Centre of Excellence with a 5G test bed and incubation centre at IIT – Delhi and use this facility to drive the development of the country’s 5G ecosystem.

The first series of tests is due to begin in the second half of 2017 in India and will place the country on par with other developed countries in terms of 5G network and application deployment.

Globally, limited deployment and 5G trials are expected to start by mid-2018 while commercial availability is slated for 2020.

Scigazette | 05 | May, 2017

News

India becomes Net Exporter of Electricity for 1st Time As per Central Electricity Authority, the Designated Authority of Government of India for Cross Border Trade of Electricity, 1st time India has turned around from a net importer of electricity to Net Exporter of electricity. During the current year 2016-17 (April to February 2017), India has exported around 5,798 Million Units to Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar which is 213 Million units more than the import of around 5,585 Million units from Bhutan.

Export to Nepal and Bangladesh increased 2.5 and 2.8 times respectively in last three years.

Ever since the cross border trade of electricity started in mid-Eighties, India has been importing power from Bhutan and marginally exporting to Nepal in radial mode at 33 kV and 132 kV from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. On an average Bhutan has been supplying around 5,000- 5500 Million

units to India.

AI, IoT help to deliver million midday meals in India

Disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) will enable organisations to

deliver a million midday meals to school children in India, said a top official of software major Accenture.

“We have applied AI, IoT and block-chain to exponentially increase the number of midday meals served to children in state-run schools under ‘Million Meals’ project with NGO Akshaya Patra,” said Accenture Labs Managing

Vodafone surpasses 50 million IoT based connections globally Vodafone has claimed to become the first global Internet of Things (IoT) mobile provider to exceed 50 million connections, mostly in the automotive, healthcare and utilities sectors. Company said that it has been serving around one million new connections a month, which is driving its growth significantly.

Vodafone said that its IoT solutions are integrated with its own and other partner networks to provide customers with simple, globally unified connectivity services spanning nearly every country on earth.

IoT technologies are now beginning to reach critical mass in the enterprise and are also a core focus of research and development for a wide range of consumer technology companies.

Scigazette | 06 | May, 2017

Director Sanjay Podder in a statement here.

Block-chain is a distributed database that compiles a growing list of ordered records called blocks.

The US-based Accenture collaborated with the city-based Akshaya Patra Foundation, which operates the government-funded MidDay Meal Scheme in state-run and state-aided schools, in implementing the novel project with new IT products and solutions.

News

Mouser Recognized for Fifth Straight Year for Service Excellence Mouser Electronics announced today that it has received the NorthFace ScoreBoard Award from Omega Management Group Corp. for the fifth straight year in recognition of achieving excellence in customer service and support in 2016. Mouser received a 99 percent satisfaction score.

Since 2000, the award has been presented annually to companies who, as rated solely by their own customers, exceeded expectations in customer satisfaction during the prior calendar year. Omega is an expert in customer experience management

(CEM) strategy, and helps companies boost revenue and profits by consistently exceeding customer expectations for service quality.

“We have always taken great pride in consistently providing all of our customers with best-inclass service,” said Mark BurrLonnon, Senior Vice President of Global Service and EMEA & APAC Business at Mouser Electronics. “This is a high honor. To receive it for the fifth time is extraordinary and due in large part to the dedication of our teams across

the globe, who work hard to ensure that every customer is happy with their experience.”

Honeywell introduces SDK simplifying IIOT connectivity Honeywell Process Solutions announced the first robust, fully scalable software toolkit that simplifies the interconnection of industrial software systems, enabling them to communicate with each other regardless of platform, operating system or size. The Matrikon FLEX OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) Software Development Kit (SDK) is ideal for applications where minimal memory and processing resources are common.

Honeywell made the announcement

at Hannover Messe 2017 in Hannover, Germany.

Intended for use by discrete and process industry manufacturers, commercial customers, and automation original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Matrikon FLEX is the first high-performance developer toolkit that quickly and easily enables any application, regardless of size, with OPC UA. It is the only SDK that meets the entire scope of market requirements – from small, embedded chips to enterprise servers. It will be a key component of Honeywell’s Connected Plant.

Toyota acknowledges Infineon for outstanding quality The car manufacturer Toyota has awarded Infineon Technologies with its ‘Best Quality Award’. Yasuaki Mori, President of Infineon Technologies Japan, accepted the award on behalf of Infineon during today’s ceremony at the Toyota Hirose Plant. “Zerodefect products for in-vehicle communication of Infineon support the automotive megatrends autonomous driving, electric mobility, connectivity, and security,” said Mori.

The ‘Best Quality Award’ is presented to suppliers for achieving zero defects for three years running. Infineon was

acknowledged for delivering CAN transceivers of outstanding quality.

Today, around 60 electronic control units (ECUs) communicate with each other in vehicles via the Controller Area Network (CAN).Transmitting and receiving data, CAN transceivers are key contributors for the communication within a car. They Scigazette | 07 | May, 2017

connect the respective ECUs in automotive powertrain, body and safety applications.

Tech Focus

Reshaping the Ecosystem of Telematics

Ashish Gulati, Country Head, Telit India

Internet of Things (IoT) and machineto-machine (M2M) technologies have given rise to new technologies like connected car telematics. Telematics is a field that encompasses telecommunications, vehicular technologies, road transportation, road safety, electrical engineering (sensors, instrumentation, wireless communications, etc.), and computer science (multimedia, Internet, etc.).

Internet of Things (IoT) eco-system in the cargo and logistics industry now acts as a fleet operator, where it talks to the Lorries or trucks and in return we get feedback from these Lorries and trucks. They check in to tell us where they are, how fast they’re going, whether they’re low on fuel, Scigazette | 08 | May, 2017

need air in the tires, or are just passing through particularly cold or hot weather. Thanks to the emerging field of fleet telematics, managers and drivers get feedback that allows them to change their practices for the better: improve route planning, change resting points for better driver alertness, even the awareness of the most fuel-efficient speed for specific loads on specific road surfaces.

Telematics is also transforming business operations and customer engagement in the cargo and logistics sector. Companies that manage fleets can use fleet telematics to collect real-time information to optimize routes and increase productivity, control fuel costs, reduce operational

Tech Focus

expenses, improve driver safety, increase fleet security and remotely diagnose maintenance requirements. An important component of IoT is Vehicle Telematics, an IoT ecosystem in which real-time information and data available in vehicles is brought together seamlessly to provide rich and rewarding experiences to customers and businesses.

Rapid economic growth and a rising middle class in India is driving consumption and domestic demand for hi–tech gadgets, consumer appliances and vehicle ownership in India. The economic progress combined with the Smart Cities mission is establishing India as a new market for connected navigation and telematics services. Smart Mobility is a key characteristic that will play a pivotal role in realizing the country’s ‘Smart Cities Mission’. Unlike its early days, the telematics system today is not limited to just tracking a path on the map but connectivity and telematics have the potential to transform the overall infrastructure in a country. To improve overall connectivity and infrastructure some key factors are playing a crucial role in advancing telematics technology as a response to such challenges. Firstly, rising role of IoT where consumers want technologies that are safer, entertaining, more efficient and better equipped to cope with congested urban environments. Secondly, rising awareness amongst buyers over the necessity and importance of connected services which will drive the market demand for telematics in coming years and lastly, the growing demand for safety in gadgets, automobiles, and consumer technologies where the current telematics environment is not only capable of reporting data on behavior patterns but is also capable of tracking performance, sending information pertaining to maintenance issues, location and other crucial reports.

The telematics industry being one of the fastest growing segments in India is further impacted by dramatic increase in prices, safety issues, wastage and government policy changes. An interesting example is the Automotive industry where Telematics enables vehicle tracking, route calculation, fuel pilferage checks etc and this combined with Government’s increasing involvement in passenger safety and security, gives the much needed boost to the industry.

According to market analyst, Indian telematics market is estimated to reach $301.23 million by 2021. In India’s telematics aftermarket segment has accounted for the largest market share and is anticipated to lead in the coming times. However, higher growth is exhibited in preembedded segment as automobile companies are collaborating with telematics manufacturing companies to develop in-built telematics systems that can be fitted in automobiles during the production process. Optimizing

fuel cost is another factor, which has spurred the market for automotive telematics in India. Commercial segment accounts for majority of the market revenues. However, with growing awareness, adoption of Telematics is also on the rise in the passenger vehicle segment. Further, small and medium car segments offer high growth opportunities to the Telematics market players.

Globally, Gartner, Inc. forecasts that 20.8 billion connected things will be in use by 2020, with an astounding 1 million devices coming online each hour. Everything from computers, smart phones, appliances, nodes, gateways, home security systems and cars are expected to be connected, inter-operating and sharing data. Also the market research analysts at Technavio have predicted that the commercial vehicle telematics market in India will grow steadily during the next four years and will post a CAGR of almost 16% by 2020. This market research analysis identifies the increased demand for vehicle tracking and monitoring systems in the logistics sector as one of the primary growth factors for the vehicle telematics market.

The telematics market in India is in its nascent stages and is mainly used for basic services such as tracking and fleet management. With the onset of Smart Cities, Telematics would not only be restricted to the automotive sector but would also cross boundaries into sectors like consumer appliances, energy and others. Technologies like surveillance and IoT would play a critical role towards enabling smart cities.

In the year 2017, we could see Industrial IoT taking shape across global markets. This segment would become very important as it would enable connected society. In this scenario we would see IoT driven seamless communication around critical eco-systems like vehicles, appliances, gadgets, virtualization technologies, Wireless and network infrastructure sectors.

Within next 2-3 years, with the onset of 5G the whole Telematics IoT ecosystem would go to the next level.

Driverless cars, Robots, Drone technologies and other inventions would change the way IoT is perceived as of today. 5G would bring in the new era of wireless revolution which would pave the way for confluence of IoT and new age communication infrastructure.

Scigazette | 09 | May, 2017

Technology

EU & the Digital Single Market

India Gets Ready for EU's New Data Regime

Rahul Kumar Country Manager WinMagic

The new EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR), which takes effect on 25 May 2018, requires that any businesses dealing with the European Union (EU) will need to comply with the new laws. The EU continues to be a significant market for the IT/BPO industry in India. The top two EU member states—Germany and France—represent nearly half of the European IT Services market, which industry experts conservatively peg at around $155-$220 billion.

Businesses that have prepared for the EU regulation will be able to capitalise on this important market. One of the major facets of this regulation is that it extends the scope and application of the EU lawto outside the borders of Europe. All companies that collect data on EU citizens in Europe or elsewhere will have to comply with the GDPR legislation. For example, if a

Scigazette | 10 | May, 2017

company based in Indiahas data on French respondents in a survey, then the company will have to comply with this legislation.The regulation requires that all businesses become fully accountable for protecting any data categorised as ‘personal.’

Although India has cautiously welcomed the GDPR, it fears that this regulation will negatively influence its businesses and policies. For quite some time, the Indian government, like the US and a few other governments, has been demanding ‘adequate status’for sharing information, accessing data and tagging communication. Therefore, legal complications over defining the parameters of ‘personal data’ continue to exist, making compliance much more complex and difficult to achieve. However, it does not absolve companies from reporting a data

Technology

breach within 72 hours of the event as per the new regulation. If a company had data encryption in place at the time of a breach, then the rules are significantly relaxed. The reason: No data breach, whether malicious or accidental, has any effect on encrypted data.

Why does EUGDPR present challenges for India?

The proposed regulation brings the service providers directly under the jurisdiction of EU commissioners, and it will become a legally binding regulation rather than a directive.For a long time, the Indian government was concerned that complying with the new regulations would impair its national security apparatus. However, it raised new objections stating that complying with the regulation means more trouble than its national security concerns: it could act as a non-tariff trade barrier, affecting outsourcing opportunities and information flow.

In a policy update some time ago, an Indian think-tank outlined the reasons of opposing the new GDPR regulation: Ÿ The regulation makes it difficult for EU businesses to explore outsourcing opportunities. Outsourcing can help EU companies to reduce costs, become more productive, and increase competitiveness. Ÿ The regulation is not flexible. For example, when it comes to transferring data outside the EU, the regulation provides less scope for businesses to assess risk and take decisions. Ÿ The regulation has clauses that can hamper innovation in business and user experience. Ÿ The regulation brings service providers directly under its purview. It is very detailed about their responsibilities, with rigid terms and harsh penalties. Ÿ Adhering to the regulation leads to opportunity loss for the Indian IT/BPO industry as it further increases the threshold for data transfer outside EU. Ÿ Following the regulation significantly adds to the compliance costs for the service providers. These costs are already higher when serving EU-based clients as compared to other markets such as the US.

The need for a comprehensive approach to data security

Encryption is a recommended practice throughout the GDPR legislation, referenced in sections addressing lawfulness, security, and breach notification of personal data.If organizations compare the cost of a fine for a particular violation withthe cost of buying a new technology, compliance will win in virtually every scenario.Data is increasingly distributed across hybrid environments—residing on endpoints, stored in data centres, and a cross public clouds. Given this reality, the EU GDPR will also hold both cloud service users and their providers jointly responsible for appropriate protection measures and breaches to data privacy.

Deciding the best way forward According to EU policy makers, this new regulation is to not merely protect information but also to authenticate legitimate users. In India, where much communication takes place on low cost systems, end-to-end encryption provides a solution to prevent misuse and ensure security.

Accessing files through personal devices or online accounts has become the norm in today’s changed business climate, which encourages work flexibility and remote working.

Unfortunately, this has also opened up opportunities for data breaches to occur. The loss of a device—unprotected and unsecured—often comes at a heavy cost. When lost devices contain sensitive corporate and customer data, there is no stopping the criminals from using it to commit identity fraud and other offences. The new EU GDPR holds companies responsible for keeping their data secure.

However, even when encryption compliance is in effect organisation-wide, an inherent risk exists if businesses do not follow the right approach to educate staff or use the right technology to protect data. The new EU security requirements are complex and demand constant surveillance. It is in this context that companies need to realise that data security is not just an IT problem or a compliance issue, but a significant concern that the entire organisation must work together to address. The EU GDPR has put in place a mechanism where security of data is taken as a given and that businesses work for data protection. In the coming days, the protection of personal data will never be the same again—and that is a very good thing to happen at least now. www.winmagic.com

When it comes to the GDPR, the stakes are high, emphasizing the need for businesses, organizations and governments to adopt comprehensive data protection practices at all levels. A risk-based approach to data privacy—data protection by design—can significantly reduce the potential of non-compliance violations, or worse yet, a breach. Businesses must be smart about implementing cost-effective and efficient ways of addressing the level of risk across their IT environment.

Scigazette | 11 | May, 2017

Research

Off the Shelf to on the field

Rapid Prototyping of Optical Explosive Vapour Sensors Dr Ross N Gillanders, Research Fellow at the School of Physics & Astronomy, University of St Andrews, Scotland

Sitting on my desk, still in its antistatic packaging, is a 5 cm by 2 cm Arduino microprocessor that cost less than a round of drinks. It will soon be integrated with a photodiode and some simple circuitry and then tested for optically detecting explosive vapours. Given previous prototypes have been made for this purpose with the original Arduino Uno, this is expected to provide a small, flexible data collection platform. Just a few years ago, prototyping sensor systems was not often such a rapid process. This is especially true for optical, polymer thinfilm based sensors where the knowledge of the lightemitting polymer sensing layer, held by physical

chemists, did not translate quickly to the hardware, firmware and software engineers responsible for the instrument, and vice versa.

With the release of off-the-shelf microprocessors like the Arduino or Raspberry Pi platforms, this cross-disciplinary bottleneck has loosened to an extent, allowing sensor scientists to conceive, create and test full sensor systems.

In my own current field of research, explosive vapour sensing for humanitarian demining, these platforms have shown advantages beyond cost or the speed they can give to prototyping.

Scigazette | 12 | May, 2017

Research

Humanitarian demining is a slow, expensive and difficult process. There is no “silver bullet” to detect landmines, since, for example, sniffer dogs can tire or miss mines, metal detectors can miss plastic mines, and groundpenetrating radar may not work in more humid environments. Add to this the wide variety of environments where mines are likely to be found, from sub-Saharan Africa to the mountains of Colombia and the monsoon-prone areas of South East Asia, and the potential challenges in demining are clear.

In our laboratories we use 100 nm-thick luminescent conjugated polymer films that lose light emission when they come into contact with a nitroaromatic vapour like TNT, and this light loss can be monitored in real time indicating the presence of explosives. As part of a large EU project, TIRAMISU, the challenge was to take a large benchtop system, including a laser and spectrometer, and effectively “shrink” it down to a portable, robust instrument for sampling vapours in the field. The Arduino Uno platform was crucial in realising this, since the hardware required to integrate with a single output from a photodiode, the firmware to establish communication, and the User Interface developed via LabView Makerhub were all able to be achieved with fewer man-hours than would be expected for such a system. This allowed testing with buried explosives to be carried out relatively quickly.

The low-cost of these platforms also allow for added benefits in designing a tool for humanitarian demining, given that many legacy landmines remain in third-world countries. The low cost and open-source aspect can create agood development space for people where the cost of doing science, or even playing with electronics as hobby, can be prohibitive. The flexibility of the platforms means that, in this example, post-clearance the system could be repurposed for perhaps water-quality sensing, and then repurposed again to monitor temperature and humidity in a greenhouse. The modularity also has a practical purpose in the field – if a platform is damaged, it can easily be swapped with a new one, removing the need for lengthy and potentially difficult resourcing or instrument repair from a remote location. This has been confirmed in our own field trials with our system – the modularity has saved the day where a completely bespoke circuit board failure would have stopped us in our tracks.

Raspberry Pi platforms, while in the author’s view a more complicated system to set up and operate, has advantages not readily available in the Arduino. For instance, in detecting explosives, one may find a false positive from another nitroaromatic, like a pesticide. Also of interest to deminers is the type of explosive, rather than the simple “yes” or “no” of the existence of one. With the Raspberry Pi camera system we exploited the varying sensitivities of

different polymers, and created an LED-based array that measured the response of four films simultaneously.

This was done with a simple 5 megapixel camera, which was sensitive enough to monitor the decrease in light emission from the polymers. With smaller spot sizes and a larger library of vapour responses to the polymer films, we expect to be able to fingerprint the vapour we detect, allowing confident true positives and a useful forensic tool for post-detonation events. And all this on a platform smaller than most smartphones.

While we still have many challenges in demining to conquer in the coming years, the outlook is promising, helped in no small way by platforms like the Arduino and Raspberry Pi. And this next step begins when the box on my desk in the antistatic packaging gets unwrapped, plugged in, and we see the LED blinking for the first time.

Dr Ross N Gillanders

Dr Ross Gillanders is a Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. His research interests include development of explosive vapour sensors for landmine and IED detection, sol-gel and polymer chemistry, and optical instrumentation. He was awarded a BSc(Hons) in Instrumentation with Applied Physics from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2001, and completed his PhD in Physical Chemistry with a thesis titled “Optically-Addressed Thin Film Sensors” in 2004 at Strathclyde University, Glasgow. His first postdoctoral position was at the ICMCB at the University of Bordeaux developing spectroscopic instrumentation for supercritical fluid processes, before moving to the Optical Sensors Laboratory in Dublin City University in late 2005 to work on an optical oxygen sensor for marine and estuarine applications. He subsequently worked in University College Cork developing novel polymeric optical oxygen sensors for food packaging. Prior to taking the role at St Andrews in October 2013, Dr Gillanders worked for three years at Cork Institute of Technology, mainly developing instrumentation for industry-led water-related projects.

Scigazette | 13 | May, 2017

In-Conversation

“With more and more IoT devices pushed out and immediately purchased by consumers, more cybercrime is likely to occur.�

In this exclusive conversation with Scigazette, Kevin underlines the threats posed to connected devices and what could be done to avoid the security concerns.

Kevin Curran, Ph.D. | Authority on Ransomware and Cross-Site Scripting , Senior IEEE member and Cybersecurity Professor at Ulster University.

Scigazette | 14 | May, 2017

In-Conversation

Scigazette: What are the biggest challenges that organizations face in protecting their data in the IoT landscape?

Kevin Curran: Many IoT devices do not have sufficient security protection, either because the devices are using less than adequate hardware or software, or they have not implemented appropriate security measures that would prevent an attacker from commandeering the device. It's important to understand that IoT devices change hands dozens of times, from designers to manufactures to vendors to regulators to consumers; each stop demands a cyber-security professional advocating for safety standards.

The problem is that the security phase is either neglected or not thorough enough to prevent hacking. The recent attack on the Dyn network were from a host of compromised IoT devices, devices that were rolled out before potential security loopholes were patched. With more and more IoT devices pushed out and immediately purchased by consumers, more cybercrime is likely to occur.

Scigazette: How can CIO's and CTO's plan ahead to secure the emerging IoT Environment?

Kevin Curran: I think it comes down to a few things. Firstly, companies need to focus on the security skills of its workforce. Increasing complexity has made protecting networks more difficult, and so until automation takes over completely, company leaders must invest in security training to close the skills gap. Other generally overlooked rules that all leaders should institute company-wide are to have the latest firmware, pick strong and unique passwords, and keep personal devices out of the workplace wherever possible.

Scigazette: In the age of IoT, what new threats threats should the organizations be aware of and what can be done to stay ahead of them?

Kevin Curran: I suspect that there will be significantly more attacks on IoT devices in 2017. I suspect there will be widespread DDoS breaches, an increasing number of phishing email and ransomware attacks hitting multiple industries, like manufacturing and healthcare. To prevent these intrusions, it will come down to device manufacturers implementing scalable, robust security and privacy strategies.

Scigazette: What are the most common mistakes or oversights you see brands making when it comes to cyber security?

Kevin Curran: We have to look at this from two different angles and not exactly as a mistake. First, by putting all of our data in the cloud, that data is now accessible over the Internet. This makes accessing data more convenient to users but it also make it more convenient for attackers to retrieve. Without the cloud, we store data to our own storage devices or servers, and they do not necessarily need to be accessible over the Internet. Therefore, from this angle, putting data on the cloud does make our data more vulnerable to attacks. On the other hand, good cloud service providers do put a lot of effort securing the data for customers, so they can protect our data better than we can.

Scigazette: What are essential strategies organizations have to put in place in order to protect themselves?

Kevin Curran: Backup your data somewhere else, such as on the cloud or on portable drives. This way, even if your data gets locked up by attackers, you can get your data back from your backup. Keep your operating system and software up-to-date, and always install the most recent software updates. Be careful when browsing the web, and try not to visit suspicious or untrusted sites.

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Science Gazette &Technol gy Scigazette | 15 | May, 2017

IoT Design

Building the

IoT

Ecosystem with ROHM’s

Sensor & Wireless Communication Devices

With the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) market, including infrastructure, agriculture and automobiles, many services, applications and devices for realizing IoT have emerged, and various companies have been advancing businesses targeted at the market.

The concept of IoT will probably be put into form as follows: huge amounts of data are collected from the real space and sent to a cloud computer through the Internet.

The collected data is processed in the cloud computer, where systems in the real world are controlled on the basis of the results of the processed data. As a result, systems in the real world can be optimized. However, in order to realize IoT, a significantly wide range of technologies and knowledge are required, and therefore, it is not possible for a single company to cover all the technologies needed.

such as barometric-pressure sensors, RGB-color sensors, ambient light/proximity sensors, temperature sensors, and UV sensors (Fig. 1). ROHM offers these sensor devices for various applications centering on mobile devices, IoT. The company has also been endeavoring to expand new lineups, advancing the development of pulse wave sensors (Heart Rate) and soil sensors to meet the needs of the agricultural and medical/healthcare fields.

On the basis of this concept, ROHM Co., Ltd. has been focusing efforts on the mechanism to upload data from the real space to the cyber space. Sensor devices and Wireless communication devices, which are indispensable for collecting data from the real space, are one of technologies at the center of the company’s efforts.

ROHM’s Sensor Devices for IoT ROHM’s sensor devices consist of abundant sensor elements with micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) technology at the core and optimum control circuits (application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)) that give the elements full play. ROHM’s Sensor lineup includes motion sensors (MEMS), such as accelerometers, angular velocity, geomagnetic field sensor, and also field sensors,

Fig. 1: ROHM’s sensor lineup

ROHM’s Sensor Evaluation Kits At the same time, needs not only for devices but also for tools that enable easy evaluation of the devices have been increasing. Responding to these requirements, ROHM has recently released two sensor evaluation kits in order to contribute to the proliferation of IoT.

Scigazette | 16 | May, 2017

IoT Design

major Internet trading firms around the world the last year.

The company prepare documents and software that are necessary for realizing sensing. The company is providing the information on its homepage.

SensorMedal-EVK-001 evaluation kit SensorMedal-EVK-001 (Fig. 4) is a substrate on which four sensors essential for motion sensing, a Bluetooth Smart module, which has obtained a certification conforming to the Radio Law, and a 16-bit low-power microcontroller unit (MCU), and other components are mounted. By controlling various sensors and the Bluetooth Smart module using the low-power MCU, it enables users to easily construct energy-saving sensor environments. Sensor evaluation that simulates practical use significantly reduces development manhour of wearable devices and other IoT devices (Fig. 5).

Table 1: Sensors incorporated in SensorShield-EVK-001 Fig. 4: Schematic of SensorMedal-EVK-001 Fig. 5: Evaluatio n using Android app

Fig. 2: Individual sensors mounting of SensorShield-EVK-001

Arduino-compatible SensorShield-EVK001 The SensorShield-EVK-001 kit comprises ROHM Group’s eight sensor products mounted on the substrate and a board for connection to open platforms (Table 1). It enables users in the electronic handicraft field to easily measure acceleration and other information by connecting the kit to Arduino Uno or mbed that are widely used around the world and incorporating software. Through easy evaluation and easy introduction of sensor devices, it significantly reduces the development manhours of IoT equipment (Fig. 2).

Meanwhile, ROHM was made with the preparation to enable customers to purchase the evaluation kit from

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IoT Design

and/or compliant with other Global/universal protocols in order to ensure compatibility while reducing design load

Table 2: Comparison of ROHM’s sensor evaluation kits

ROHM’s Wireless Communication Devices (Short-Range) for IoT/ Smart meters Systems that connect different devices require a way for detecting and consolidating sensor data. A network is necessary to connect the sensors to a server to transmit and store this data for analysis. But configuring a wired network entails connecting wires to multiple sensors, which can be very time-consuming. This is why short-range wireless communication is attracting increased attention in the IoT market.

The ROHM Group offers a range of products that support a variety of short-range wireless communication protocols (Fig. 6), allowing users to select the ideal solution based on application requirements. However, ROHM also understands the need for connectivity, and takes the following into account when developing products. Ÿ Communication protocols must be internationally

standardized Ÿ Wireless protocols must be optimized for client

applications Ÿ The modules should be Radio Act certification (Japan)

The ROHM Group offers wireless communication ICs and modules that make it possible to quickly and accurately meet customer needs. For customers familiar with high-frequency designs, ROHM provides standalone wireless communication ICs. And for clients who wish to reduce design load (or without no wireless network experience), ROHMmodules that featuring built-in software and antenna (Radio Act-certified), significantly reduces design load.

Depending on the application, ROHM delivers optimized solutions leveraging the latest IoT technologies tailored to customer demands.

Regarding wireless communication frequency, ROHM offers a lineup compatible with the 920MHz band (Sub-GHz), which was released under the 2012 revision of the Japan Radio Act. The Sub-GHz band delivers the following benefits that are expected to increase applicability and adoption in a range of markets and applications.

1. Wider coverage area than 2.4GHz band due to superior radio diffraction and bending characteristics 2. Less susceptible to interference from 2.4GHz devices, minimizing the risk of cross-talk 3. Less susceptible to interference from noise sources in the 2.4GHz band, such as factory equipment and microwaves ovens.

Next ROHM introduces a few applications of Sub-GHz communication. Wireless networking Technology using IoT for home automation is going to change the way how devices are being used.

Wi-SUN Communication Used in Smart Meters

Fig.6: ROHM Group Short-Range Wireless Communication Device Lineup Scigazette | 18 | May, 2017

Wi-SUN (Wireless Smart Utility Network) is a low-power wireless protocol certified for smart meters (next-generation Energy-meters for AMI) that enables bidirectional communication at distances of up to nearly 1km. IEEE 802.15.4g and IEEE802.15.4e specify the physical and MAC layers, respectively. An additional protocol, Wi-SUN HAN (Home Area Network), was established to connect home electronics with smart meters and Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). Adoption in controller devices

IoT Design

continues to progress due to an increase in smart meter installations following the Japan’s deregulation of power utilities in April 2016 (Fig. 7). This open communication standard is anticipated to improve convenience by allowing communication between different home electronics devices, which up to now was contingent on the manufacturer.

contributes to increased miniaturization while the BP35C2 is a USB dongle that provides Wi-SUN communication capability for existing gateways with a USB port without the need for hardware modifications (Fig. 8).

Conclusions With the expansion of the IoT market in recent years, the diversification of applications and devices that realize IoT products have been advancing. Naturally, the demand and requirements for sensors, one of key devices that realize IoT, have been becoming increasingly greater.

Targeting the IoT market wherein applications continue to expand in the future, ROHM intends to continue to develop high-precision and diverse sensor devices and wireless communication devices and tools that promote innovations to contribute to the realization of safe and comfortable

Fig. 7:HEMS using Wi-SUN communication Network Multiple Wi-SUN standards for smart meters exist, including Route A for communication between the power/utility company and smart meters, Route B from smart meters to buildings, and HAN for within buildings.

ROHM was among the first to develop wireless communication modules supporting the Wi-SUN standard, which continue to be adopted in smart meters and gateways. ROHM modules have been certified to be compliant with the Japanese Radio Act and as CTBU (Certified Test Bed Units) by the Wi-SUN Alliance, ensuring worry-free operation by enabling interoperability between certified devices. The BP35A1 is compatible with Wi-SUN Route B and already in mass production, and sample shipments have started for the next-generation BP35C0 and BP35C2, which are dual-compatible with Wi-SUN B Route/HAN. The BP35C0 is a surface-mount type that

society.

About ROHM Semiconductor: ROHM Co., Ltd. is an international semiconductor company headquartered in KyotoJapan, established in 1958.

ROHM keeps providing highly-reliable electronic components, ICs, discrete, passive components, and modules, with wide-range of field such as consumer/IoT, automotive, and industrial equipment through our global network.

ROHM Semiconductor India Pvt. Ltd., headquartered in Bangalore, and has sales offices in Delhi, Pune, and Chennai, to cater to the ever-growing electronics market in India. ROHM-Bangalore also houses the Design Centre, with Application Engineering, LSI design, and Product strategy functions, to enhance local product support and design products. www.rohm.com/web/in/

Fig 8: ROHM’s Lineup of Wi-SUN Communication Compatible Module Products Scigazette | 19 | May, 2017

Cover Story

Focus: Indian PCB Manufacturing Industry

From an Agrarian Economy to a Global Manufacturing Hub

Indian Electronics Ecosystem at a Glance Fuelled by the phenomenal GDP growth in the last few years, India is poised to become the biggest consumer markets in the world, creating demand for high technology products and specifically, electronic products. the demand for electronics hardware is projected to shoot up from USD 45 billion in 2009 to USD400 billion by 2020 while the production is estimated to reach USD 104 billion by the year 2020, leaving a huge gap of USD 296 billion in demand and production.

According to India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), the huge domestic demand is the major driving force behind the robust growth of India's electronics industry. The growing middle class, rising disposable incomes and favorable duty structures are some of the reason why.

Scigazette | 20 | May, 2017

Citing large-scale public procurement needs that are driven by government projects like broadband connectivity to villages, rural electrification and e-governance programs as among the reasons, it said favorable ESDM policy initiatives and rising interest of MNCs and Indian enterprises in the sector have created a positive impact on the Indian ESDM value chain.

Since taking charge in 2014, the new government has been reviewing the electronics manufacturing laws and policies to capitalize on the country’s manufacturing capabilities. Bold steps such as demonetization have helped clear up many roadblocks. At first seemed like a hasty decision that would leave the economy crippled which fortunately never happened and instead, turned out to be a favorable move, luring foreign investors and global leaders to the Indian electronics sector from around the world. Furthermore, the governments timely counter measures to limit the impact and rigorous country-wide campaigning to promote practices like digital transaction, worked greatly in their favor.

To accelerate the pace of growth in the electronics industries and meeting the estimated targets within the time period, the Indian government has been constantly reviewing and forming new policies to build a more relevant and manufacturing friendly ecosystem. The recently approved ‘National Policy on Electronics’ NPE, is one such example.

NPE aims to reach a turnover of about USD 400 Billion by 2020 including investment of about USD 100 Billion and employment to around 28 million by 2020.

The Policy on Electronics launched in 2012 (NPE 12) which is holistic, investor friendly and market driven towards creating a conducive environment to attract global and domestic companies to invest towards the growing Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in India. Significant progress has been made by Government of India to establish the strong foundation for the (NPE) 2012 framework which will help for value added manufacturing involving medium and high technologies.

42.8%

14.3%

Up to 5% growth

Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ

5-10% growth

28.6%

10-15% growth 15-20% growth

14.3%

Ÿ

Few highlights of the policy include: Ÿ Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPs)

subsidy of 25% of capital expenditure (20% in SEZs) is

available and all excise/CVD paid on capital equipment is reimbursed.

Electronic Manufacturing Clusters Scheme which provides 50% of the cost for development of infrastructure and common facilities in Greenfield clusters (undeveloped or underdeveloped area from electronic manufacturing point of view) and 75% of the cost for Brownfield clusters (area where a significant number of existing EMC exists). Land can be made readily available in several of the new Electronic Manufacturing Clusters being supported by the Government of India.

Currently around 30 Electronic Manufacturing clusters are notified and GoI is targeting for 200 Electronic Manufacturing clusters by 2020.

Preference given to domestically manufactured goods in Government procurement.

To promote greater research in electronics and IT, Government of India will fund PhD students in Universities across the country for research in industry specific needs. 3000 PhDs will be generated through this program in the area of electronics & IT/ITES. Providing opportunities for skill development for the private sector through Electronics. Under the scheme for providing support for skill development, Government of India provides 75% to 100% of training cost for industry specific skills for skilled and semi-skilled workers.

Several State Governments, including Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have already announced complementary incentives as part of their State Electronic Policies.

Electronic Manufacturing Clusters have been announced by states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Kerala. Other states are also in process of taking

Scigazette | 21 | May, 2017

similar initiatives, thereby offering a host of incentives and facilities for ESDM investors. Ÿ In addition, to recognize and motivate the Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Electronic System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) sector, the Government of India (GoI) has announced a national scheme for the sector. The Scheme aims at providing financial support to MSMEs to promote manufacturing, to build quality into Indian manufacturing & also to encourage exporters. The support under the Scheme will be provided in the form of reimbursement to the manufacturers in the MSMEs. The scheme for providing financial support as Grant in Aid is expected to benefit the manufacturers, domestic industry, exporters in the electronics sector. This will also assist to attract value added manufacturing involving medium and high technologies. The Scheme will provide GIA for the following activities: Ÿ Reimbursement of expenses relating to compliance of electronic goods with “Indian Standards” notified by DeitY. The total GIA for one model is limited to `1 Lakh, only for 200 models (maximum).

Ÿ Reimbursement of expenses for testing and certification

required for export. The total GIA under the Scheme for one model is `1.25 Lac , 800 models (maximum). Ÿ Development of Electronic Manufacturing Clusters by MSMEs for diagnostic study, soft intervention and for preparing Detailed Project Reports, etc. The Total GIA available under this Section of the Scheme for Development of Clusters of `10 Lac /Cluster (max) would be available for setting up of 20 Clusters.

All these incentives are available for electronics design and manufacturing unit. This is also available for relocation of manufacturing plant from foreign country. Some of the sector includes Semiconductor FAB, Telecom products, LED FAB and products, automotive electronics, Semiconductor ATMPs, Consumer Electronics and Appliances, Hand-held devices including Smartphone and Tablets, Strategic Electronics, EMC, Avionics and Medical Electronics etc. The product based R&D expenditure has also been included under MSIPS.

Policy Boost

‘Indigenous Mobile Manufacturing Industry' Phased Manufacturing program (PMP) Under the phased manufacturing program (PMP) developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the government wants to jump start the large scale manufacturing of one the largest selling consumer goods in the country — mobile phones.

After India signed the World Trade Organisation’s ITA-1 pact, it became cheaper to import components as well as finished goods (Information Technology Agreement), under which certain inputs for IT products were exempted from duties.

According to industry estimates, only about two per cent of value addition is done in India with regards to mobile phone manufacturing. Raising that figure over the next ten years is the primary aim of the PMP, which was proposed by a joint panel of the industry and the government.

“In 2016-¬17, total value of mobile phones to be produced in India is likely to reach Rs 90,000 core from Rs 54,000 core in 2015¬-16”

Highlights of Policy: 1. The panel set up under the MeitY has set target of 500 million handset production by 2019 and export target of 120 million mobile phones by 2019-20, taking annual manufacturing output in the range of Rs 1.5-3 lakh crores.

2. Mobile phone makers will get tax benefits and incentives to promote the sub-assembly of various mobile parts on a phased manner.

3. This will include mechanics, microphone and receiver, keypad and USB cables in 2017-18; printed circuit boards, camera modules and connectors in 2018-19; and display assembly, touch panels, vibrator motor and ringer in 201920.

4. Key parts such as printed circuit boards (PCBs) continue to be imported. PCBs are the backbone of mobile phones and covers nearly 54 percent of the total cost. With China dissuading local units from producing lower-end phones, to focus on producing premium devices, it is likely that real manufacturing would kick off in India.

5. Will run alongside a major scheme supporting electronics manufacturing clusters under which 8,000 acres of land will be developed across the country over the next three years.

6. The government also expects to engage with Apple under the conditions of PMP. While Apple has proposed to shift manufacturing to India, it has continued to demand a series of sops including a ten year tax holiday and duty free imports of components, among others.

With formation and implementation of manufacturing

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policies with similar progressive intent can help India’s as a one of the ‘biggest global consumer’ to a ‘Reliable - leading ‘global export partner’. China’s sudden retreat from the global semiconductor industry has left many Chinese business partners in a state of shock, while some businesses are already looking up at India as their next possible manufacturing destination and partner. The ideas and applauded and welcomed by country’s many leading electronics manufacturers. But in spite of the allotted budget, which is many folds higher as compared to previous budgets, it still falls short on impressing some of the market segment and one of them is Debjani Ghosh, the managing director of South Asia, Intel, and president, MAIT

(Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology).

Debjani says, “It’s good to see continued and strong commitment towards increasing technology adoption and usage across critical sectors like education, agriculture, financial inclusion and rural and infrastructure development.

That’s how we can successfully drive the digitization of India.

However, the budget has fallen short of creating avenues to increase the manufacturing of the technology solutions in India beyond Smartphone’s”.

Unless an ecosystem where home grown component makers, such as PC Boards, IC’s, can flourish comes into existence, it is hard to put India on the global map in terms of a reliable manufacturer and exporter of technology.

The need to power-up

The Indian PCB Manufacturing Industry Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) being one of the most commonly available as a cornerstone technology electronics manufacturing sector, empowering almost all the electronics devices you see around you, everyday.

PCB’s are used as an insulating base for conductive strips with the purpose of assembling electronic circuits. The design of the board changes with the requirement of the electric circuit design. India meets the 70 per cent of the electronic components demand via imports, mostly for sophisticated components for Indian manufacturers to build. Curbing this increasing dependency on imports for sourcing electronic components is one of the toughest challenges the Indian Government faces. In order to make a mark in the global electronics manufacturing spectrum, powering up our electronics manufacturing sector is of utmost importance with Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) on top of the priority list.

A PCB with its endless applications in all electrical and electronics devices; and thus the demand and

elimination rate both remain high. According to an ELCINA study, domestic market demand for PCBs will grow at a CAGR of 20.56 per cent over the period 20152020, and will reach over US$ 6 billion by 2020 from the current level of US$ 2.38 billion (Figure 1). Currently, only 35 per cent of this demand is met by local manufacturers.

And for the remaining 65 per cent, India is still dependent on imports.

The global market for flexible circuits is expected to grow much faster than that of rigid PCBs, since the former facilitates form factor reduction and eliminate connectors. However, the Indian market is slightly different from the rest of the world, as Indian PCB manufacturers are mostly focused on single-sided, double-sided and multi-layered PCBs with a layer count of four to six, in most cases. A good number of Indian manufacturers adopt the high-mix, medium-volume strategy where different types of PCBs are manufactured in low to medium volumes. There are around 200 PCB

Major Roadblocks Hampering Growth of the PCB Industry Ÿ Inefficient supply chain for raw materials

Ÿ Conflicting policies in operation across the various levels

Ÿ High capex requirements

within the electronics industry, from the components segment to finished products To get a better outlook of the PCB manufacturing industry we asked Ajaish Sehgal, Senior Manager at CIPSA TEC India, about various aspects of the PCB industry in India.

Ÿ Lack of access to new technology and state-of-art

manufacturing facilities Ÿ Other challenges include: Ÿ Unfair playing field, since companies from competing countries have access to finance at much lower costs Ÿ Logistics inefficiencies and infrastructural bottlenecks, resulting in longer turnaround time frames and higher costs

Scigazette | 23 | May, 2017

Here is crisp interaction between

Scigazette and Ajaish “To get a better outlook of the PCB manufacturing industry we asked Ajaish Sehgal, Senior Manager at CIPSA TEC India, about various aspects of the PCB industry in India."

Ajaish Sehgal

Scigazette: How has the PCB industry in India changed over the years?

Scigazette: What are the challenges for multilayer board designs and how do you address them?

Ajaish: With increase in automation in every arena, there is an increase in the PCB demand. This has made most of the manufacturers to either double or triple their capacity to meet the emerging needs. However not much of an improvement is observed in the technology front. Most of them have concentrated only on the capacity front. With the increase in manufacturing sector, there is an ample opportunity in the coming years and further growth in the industry is inevitable. Multilayer PCB manufacturers are limited in India and today Cipsa-Tec is one of the largest multilayer producer in India with good capacity to produce multilayers.

Ajaish: We make only 4 & 6 layers of normal technology.

We have been addressing in high volumes last 6 years and we have excelled in production of Multilayer PCBs.We have also developed few 8 layer PCBs. Basic challenges we come across sometimes for 6 layer and 8 layer PCBs are that the designs are complex in terms of track width and track spacing which is sometimes difficult to manufacture.

Scigazette: In your perspective, what are the key takeaways for PCB manufacturing industry from the various policy changes and incentives announced by the government in this year’s budget.

Ajaish: MSIPS(Modified Special Incentives Package Scheme) is the only thing which is of some help in the electronics field. This scheme is also introduced 3 years ago, but understand recent approved companies are yet to receive this credit.The Electronic MSIPS (e-MSIPS) Application System enables online submission and scrutiny of applications submitted to the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPS) and Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) schemes.

Scigazette: What differentiates CIPSA- TEC from other PCB manufacturers?

Ajaish: We have been strong in Energy sector last 10 years. We remain the largest manufacturer of Energy meter PCBs in India. Even in the EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) sector, we are one of the largest Indian suppliers to cater to the needs of both PSUs. We are also one of the largest PCB supplier to Automotive sector ( Automotive Electronics) and today we are manufacturing almost 3035% of PCBs for Automotive Industry from our total PCB production and sales. Our strength is DELIVERABILITY to meet the emergent needs of customer.

Scigazette: How are we poised to meet the demand supply gap in Indian PCB industry?

Ajaish: As expressed already, most of the manufacturers have either doubled or tripled their capacity. Last two years, again manufacturers are in the investment spree, hence the increased demands are met. This would be an on-going process and most of the manufacturers are optimistic. MSIPS also fueling further growth.

Scigazette: Your views or recommendations on how we can promote the growth of indigenous manufacturing in India.

Ajaish: There must be effort of all concerned associations and Indian Government to curb dumping of Chinese supplies at an unreasonably lower price. With the export promotion benefits what Chinese manufacturers are getting from their country, in most of the volume business, their pricing has been unreasonably low.

Last 6 months, with the increase in Laminate pricing by most of the manufacturers (good share coming out of Chinese sources), entire PCB world was affected. There must be some regulations and check to curb such steep unreasonable increases by the laminate manufacturers.

We appeal to all the Buyers in India, to ensure MAKE IN INDIA a success by sourcing their needs from Indian manufacturers. Indian Manufacturers has the capacity to meet most of the demands of Buyers on volume as well as Technology (in most of the cases). Only for very special needs, import could be thought over.

Scigazette | 24 | May, 2017

Technology

Basic Electronics for

Environmental Monitoring

Michael Parks PE for Mouser Electronics

In the world we live in, it's rare that a day goes by without coming across a news story highlighting the Herculean efforts of scientists monitoring the environment for things such as temperature changes, greenhouse gases, pollutants, or rising sea levels. Their research is helping ensure that the health of our planet is not only improved for today, but that our relationship with the planet is a sustainable one for the sake of future generations.

Historically, this research has been measured on a large scale over long time periods by trained scientists using expensive equipment. The average person couldn't get involved aside from watching their home's carbon footprint. However, there is now a growing trend of more robust environmental monitoring by communities and doit-yourselfers.

Regardless of whether you are a professional researcher or

a member of the growing movement of "Citizen Scientists," there are many unique challenges when building devices to monitor the environment. Such equipment is often denied the relative convenience and conditions afforded to more traditional consumer electronics. An apparatus built to monitor the environment must often contend with lack of reliable power, inhospitable ambient conditions, and poor communications channels to name but a few of the challenges. However, there are a few design considerations for engineers to consider when building devices that are destined for service in the relatively unforgiving conditions that can be associated with environmental monitoring.

Why Should We Care?

Despite all of the efforts humanity has made to explore the cosmos, we still only have one planet to call home. At this

Scigazette | 25 | May, 2017

Technology

point in time "all of our eggs are in one basket," and as such, there is no backup plan if we lose planet Earth. In essence, environmental monitoring is like a medically necessary physical exam for the planet. Without data about the quality of our air, water, and soil, it's impossible to make educated, proactive decisions on how to maintain an optimal balance of all the attributes that describe the planet's various ecosystems. Environmental monitoring provides that data. Some benefits include: Food Supply: Understanding the chemical characteristics of the soil allows the world's farmers to make informed decision on crop rotations to help ensure that our burgeoning species is fed.

Human Health: Dr. Rishi Manchanda gave a TED Talk back in 2014 entitled, "What Makes Us Get Sick? Look Upstream." His stories of working as a doctor servicing low income residents of Los Angeles highlighted the fact that human health and our environment are very interconnected. He argued that sometimes in treating medical issues we forget to examine the environmental factors (e.g. mold proliferation) in the places we live, work, learn, and play as being a leading culprit in inducing illness.

Economic: If the other reasons haven't convinced you, consider the economic impact of taking a laissez-faire approach to our environment. On a global level, rising tides may cause huge insurance claims as homes and property are reclaimed by the oceans. On a personal level, an action like over-watering the lawn is not only wasteful, but it also means spending money on utility bills that could have be spent elsewhere.

Sensor Selection Considerations

Figure 2: PT3001 Optical Sensor from Texas Instruments.

Image: TI. Given the immense importance that a healthy planet has to both our present and our future, good system design for environmental monitoring tools is essential to understanding what is really happening to the Earth. The most fundamental aspect of environmental monitoring is the sensor. Sensors are a type of transducer that converts physical properties (e.g.temperature, humidity, light level, etc.) of the environment into an electrical signal. Selecting the right sensor for an environmental monitoring application is key. There are many parameters to consider

when selecting a sensor, such as: Passive versus Active: Active sensors require a power supply to operate whereas passive sensors directly transform the physical stimulus into an electrical signal.

Absolute versus Relative: An absolute sensor's output is independent of the operating conditions. Conversely, a relative sensor's output requires comparing the output to a known quantity such as a fixed voltage.

Range: What is the minimum and maximum physical attribute that can been detected? For example, if you wanted to measure the ambient light levels you might be interested in the darkest and brightest levels that are discernable. If you selected the quite capable OPT3001 sensor from Texas Instruments, its datasheet would show you that it has a range of 0.01 lux to 83k lux.

Sensitivity: This is the ratio of the output signal versus a measured physical stimulus. In other words, it represents the smallest amount of change of physical stimulus that will result in a change in the electrical signal output.

Response Time: How quickly does the output signal change in response to a change in the physical stimulus?

Linearity: How consistent does the sensor translate a change in stimulus to a change in the output? An ideal sensor has a 1:1, or linear relationship, between a unit change in the stimulus to a unit change in the output signal across the entire supported range. In reality this is not possible, and thus many sensors require designs that employ a variety of methods to correct for the typical nonlinear relation of stimulus to output.

Resolution: The smallest increment of change in the stimulus that can be detected.

Digital or Analog Output: Some sensor packages have onboard analog-to-digital conversion capability that can transmit sensor readings in a digital format (I2C and SPI being two of the more popular protocols) to a waiting microcontroller for further processing. On the other hand, some lower cost microcontrollers might lack the hardware capability to readily handle the digital communications, and instead the analog output might be preferable.

Accuracy: What is the maximum deviation between the actual value of the physical stimulus and the value that the sensor is reporting? Be sure to pay careful attention to datasheets, as sometimes it is possible to purchase several sensors in the same family product line with varying accuracy (the tradeoff likely being unit cost or power consumption). As an example, Sensirion provides highly capable temperature and humidity sensors under their SHT3X product line. The SHT31 have an accuracy of within 2% whereas the SHT30 sensors have a +/- 3% accuracy.

Drift: A degradation of the sensor performance over time so that the output will vary even in the presence of the

Scigazette | 26 | May, 2017

Technology

exact same stimulus. Drift is often reported as a change in the unit of measure per unit of time, such ∆°F/year for a temperature sensor.

Operating Life: Sensors have a life expectancy after which their performance degrades and must be replaced.

interactions might lead to you exploring an emerging technology, like Long Range Wide Area Networks (also known as LoRaWAN™). An example for implementing transmission can be found in Microchip Technology's RN2903 Long Range Technology Transceiver Module.

Figure 3: Sensirion SHT3X Temperature/Humidity Sensor Development Board. Image: Sensirion.

When selecting a sensor for an environmental monitoring application it is absolutely critical to understand the operating environment that the device is expected to handle. It's also crucial to understand the expectations for the data gathered: what will it be used for? Some questions you might consider asking include how frequently should a reading occur, whether or not it needs to be date/time stamped, and ascertaining how frequently someone will interact with the device for maintenance.

Those answers, coupled with the performance parameters and operating environment, will drive your sensor selection decision making.

Additional Design Considerations The sensor performance characteristics are not the only considerations one must contemplate when designing a robust environmental monitoring solution. Regarding sensor selection, as mentioned before, understanding the intended use case and operating environment is just as crucial as making smart system architecture decisions with respect to power, communications, and processing capability. Having a super accurate sensor that is to be installed at remote location isn't so great if someone has to trudge out every few days to replace batteries. Energy harvesting technologies coupled with low-power sensors and microcontrollers allow for an environmental monitoring device to be installed in remote locations with confidence that the tool will be able to monitor the conditions continuously.

Understanding realities for communication is another key consideration. If you want to remotely communicate with your device, it is important to determine how the device is intended to share information. Will it talk with other devices over large distances without human interaction?

Or will a person interact with the device from a relatively short distance, such as a few meters at most? The answers can drive hardware decisions in one of two ways. On the one hand, long distances with machine-to-machine (M2M)

Figure 4: Bluetooth Low Energy allows environmental sensors to efficiently communicate to a smartphone.

Shown: The Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 Bluetooth Smart Beacon Kit. Image: Nordic Semiconductor.

Conversely, if the notion of developing a device that interacts with a user's smartphone or tablet is enticing, then perhaps the communications solution will employ Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) instead. In fact, it is even possible to use power development boards that incorporate BLE and a suite of sensors geared towards environmental monitoring out-of-the-box such as the Broadcom WICED Sense Kit. This can translate into less time spent in the laboratory doing research and development, and more time testing in the real-world.

Enabling Citizen Science through DIY Electronics Over the past decade there has been a growing interest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) topics around the globe. The more familiar Maker Movement has reignited people's interest in handson, do-it-yourself projects. There has also been a rise in Citizen Science, which is a parallel movement that is attempting to crowd source scientific research by ensuring that people have the knowledge and tools to scientifically investigate topics of personal and local interest. Interest in environmental monitoring sits at the crossroads of these two initiatives.

Many of those involved in Citizen Science are leveraging the popular Arduino 101 microcontroller board.

Maintaining the footprint of the immensely popular AVR-

Scigazette | 27 | May, 2017

Technology

powered Arduino Uno, the updated Arduino 101 packs in more computing power, and is perfect for scientific experiments. Leveraging the robust Intel Curie System-ona-Chip (SoC) architecture, the Intel Arduino 101 development board contains a powerful 32-bit Quark SE microcontroller, Bluetooth Low Energy communications, an onboard Real Time Clock (RTC), a 6-axis accelerometer/gyroscope, and battery charging circuitry.

Figure 5: Arduino 101 enables Makers to join with Citizen Science to the monitor local environment.

That built-in functionality enables a low cost tool to monitor specific environmental conditions if an off-theshelf tool isn't available. The RTC functionality is of particular importance for scientific research so that each data point can be date/time stamped for future analysis when looking for correlations or relationships with data from other sensors. As sensors and embedded platforms

become increasingly affordable and easier to interface with, people sharing their work and working together will be able to easily and quickly create functional solutions that professional environmental researchers could have only dreamt of a few decades ago.

A Better Tomorrow, By Design For the foreseeable future, humankind will continue to call Earth home. Caring for the environment becomes more important as the population grows and resources become scarce. Local actions can have a tremendous global impact.

Data is key to understanding that impact and having as much information as possible allows us to make better decisions towards the goal of increased sustainability. Thus, the importance of being able to detect and track actual changes in our environment.

Proliferation of capable, low-cost environmental monitoring technologies help to expand our understanding without further taxing the already constrained institutions that are dedicated to protecting the environment. As the cost of technology steadily drops, sensing will be become increasingly ubiquitous. Accessibility through lower cost means we are more able to boost awareness of our exhaustible environment and perhaps through awareness be better able to manage our surroundings and resources.

Michael Parks, P.E. is the owner of Green Shoe Garage, a custom electronics design studio and technology consultancy located in Southern Maryland. He produces the S.T.E.A.M. Power Podcast to help raise public awareness of technical and scientific matters. Michael is also a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Maryland and holds a Master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

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Science Gazette &Technol gy Scigazette | 28 | May, 2017

Company Watch

CIPSA TEC-State of the Art Facility Compiled with Latest Technology Machineries

CIPSA TEC India Private Limited (formerly CIPSA-RIC India Private Limited) is one of the leading PCB manufacturers in India.

The company acquired business in 2005 from erstwhile Rao Insulating Company Limited (RIC) who started PCB manufacturing in 1987 with technical collaboration from UNICAP, Taiwan.

It is a multinational organization by partnering with CIPSA, Spain and TECNOMEC, Italy both and Circuit Makers Singapore Private Limited. CIPSA & TECNOMEC are leaders in their own country in the arena of PCB manufacturing.

These two partners with their rich experience of 3 decades in PCB manufacturing have remained pillars of strength in CIPSA TEC’s growth in Technology, Process Control and Process Improvement and Market expanse in Europe.

CIPSA TEC’s current manufacturing facility is fairly new plant and was set up by SIEMENS in Germany. In 2007, the same was relocated to India. It is a state of the art facility compiled with latest technology machineries manufactured by the leaders in the industry to meet the latest market demands. 18,000sqmtrs is the installed capacity of this plant.

The organization’s growth rate has been enormous; they have grown 4 times in the last 10 years. Their current operation is in the building of 15,000sqmtrs within the sprawling area of 36,000sqmtrs gives them further potential to expand.

1million pieces, the company also offers QUICK TURN services to the R&D sector (irrespective of volumes).

CIPSA TEC mainly caters to Automotive and Energy sectors apart from Telecommunication, Peripherals and Industrial automation. Over 12% of their produce is exported to European countries.

Vision of Management and commitment of over 500 dedicated and experienced work force ensures that quality products and services are delivered to customer at most competitive prices.

Their products confirm to UL standards and also certified

by Government of India for needs of Telecommunication and Defence sectors.

With QMS standard confirming to ISO9001:2015 and TS16949:2009 CIPSA TEC are reckoned for Quality and service in the Indian PCB manufacturing Industries..

The organization’s Market base is strong and with infusion of further equity by the existing shareholders, the financials are also very stable.

Contact: Ajaish Sehgal, Senior Manager-Sales Cipsa-Tec India Private Limited Plot No. 7 & 8, Hirehalli Industrial Area Tumkur - 572168, Karnataka, INDIA. Contact no: 9940018012, 9790810512. website: http://cipsatec.com/

With ability to produce 2 to 8 layers of quantity 1pc to Scigazette | 29 | May, 2017

Tech Focus

Advancement in Wearable Sensor Technology Mr. Vishal Goyal, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, Analog and MEMS Group; RF, Sensors and Analog Custom Products, Asean-ANZ and India, STMicroelectronics

A perfect mix of innovation in technology, changes in lifestyles and a desire to be connected all the time is creating the platform for wearables to become mainstream and play a larger role in personal and professional lives.

Driven by the ability to interconnect with key modern trends of healthcare, fitness, messaging and socialization, the wearable technology market ecosystem is attracting significant levels of interest. One of the most popular types of wearables will be smartwatches, which will ruled the entire 2016 and beyond as wearables give us more power, provide us with information that can help us live better and be more proficient.

This article elaborates major advancements in wearable sensor technologies which are shaping its exponential growth and attracting both the end users as well as device maker to be the part of this exciting technology.

Wearable Attributes As the name suggest wearable are worn by user for an extended period of time and continuously remain on and connected. So a typical wearable device should have following attributes.

a) Always on Wearables are continuously on the job and monitor or output key data for the user. They may have sleep mode but never OFF. b) Low Power As wearables are miniature devices and run on small battery they should consume ultra-low current. A wearable device which requires frequent charging will lose its purpose. The emergence of low power technologies has

Scigazette | 30 | May, 2017

Tech Focus

enabled the revolution in this industry. c) Compact As they are worn by user they should be small enough to take various usable and aesthetic forms. A bulky device will be extra burden on user and will lose its acceptance. d) Environment aware Environment sensing is emerging as a key driver for wearable acceptance. Today wearable devices can monitor not only user activity information but also temperature, humidity, UV radiation etc. e) Intelligent Wearable devices should be intelligent enough to filter out noise from the real data. They should be able to alert user when any important information needs to be shared. For example, a security wrist band should be able to send alert when user has met accident or need SOS help. f) Connected Connectivity is the most important factor for emergence and acceptance of wearables. These devices can be connected to smartphones or tablet using technologies such as Bluetooth, wifi etc. Besides, they can also be connected to GPS satellites to monitor user location.

Sensors, RF and Analog in wearable Sensors Smart Sensor Traditional sensors provide the raw sensor data to the microcontroller to process and calculate useful information such as activity recognition. But this method lead heavy current consumption from Microcontroller to gather and process sensor data. The LIS2DS12 accelerometer has a dedicated internal engine architecture in order to process internally motion and acceleration detection including free-fall, wakeup, single and double-tap detection, activityinactivity, portrait and landscape detection, step counter and step detection along with significant motion detection.

In this way applications can achieve critical battery life as sensor data can now be processed inside the data itself.

ST also has IMU sensors LSM6DS3 with integrated accelerometer and gyroscope. This sensor comes with inbuilt pedometer and activity recognition. It also has inbuilt auxiliary SPI to connect external sensor. Smart FIFO functionality allows to store upto 8K of data within the sensor itself so that communication interval with process can be dramatically reduced. These features allows for superior performance and incredible power saving. ST has also introduced LSM6DSM IMU which can also control the image stabilization input to the camera sensor. In this customer doesn’t have to use extra gyroscope to implement image stabilization.LSM303AH with integrated accelerometer and compass also comes with inherent smart functionality. It gives superior performance such as

embedded magnetic offset compensation, FIFO for accelerometer data and advanced power management features.

UV Sensor Ultraviolet radiation exposure is fast emerging as major cause of cancer around the world. So it becomes important to measure the quality and quantity of UV exposure. The UVIS25 is a digital UV index sensor able to provide an accurate measurement of the ultraviolet radiation index (UVI) from sunlight. It includes a sensing element and a mixed signal ASIC to provide the UV index data through I2C and SPI interfaces. A dedicated technology has been developed to achieve the greatest accuracy for UV index measurements. The UVIS25 allows the measurement of the UV index, without the need for a dedicated algorithm to calculate the UV Index and without specific calibrations at the customer manufacturing line. The device can be configured to generate interrupt events based on a threshold crossing or when a new set of data is generated.

It can used in variety of products such as smart watch, mobile phone, umbrella, glasses, clothes etc.

Pressure Sensor Pressure sensor can detect earth’s atmospheric pressure.

This feature can be used to implement barometer and altimeter. LPS22HB pressure sensor from STMicroelectronics is so accurate that it can even be used to tell the floor of building accurately.

Humidity Sensor Humidity sensor can detect humidity parameter which can be used at weather station, condensation level monitoring, air density monitoring and gas sensors measurement correction. ST has introduced a humidity sensor HTS221 which includes a sensing element and an analog front end to provide the measurement information by digital serial interface. The sensing element consists of a polymer dielectric planar capacitor structure able to detect relative humidity variations.

Audio a) MEMS Microphone MEMS Microphone is audio sensor that converts sound signals into electrical signals. MEMS Microphones are increasingly preferred over conventional microphones as they offer higher SNR, small form factor, digital interface, better RF immunity and high robustness against vibration.

Microphone makes the interaction easier, faster and smoother. It also enables fashionable and stylish designs by reducing the number of buttons. b) Audio Amplifier Audio Amplifiers are needed to drive speakers for sound output for songs, communication or alerts. Highly-efficient

Scigazette | 31 | May, 2017

Tech Focus

audio amplifiers capable of delivering high quality audio into small and low power devices is a desired features in many wearable devices.

Bluetooth low Energy - Bluetooth Smart [BLE] Bluetooth Smart or Bluetooth Low Energy [BLE] enables low power connectivity to wearable devices. It enable two way communications between wearable devices with hub devices such as smartphone, tablet, laptop and dedicated gateways. BLE allows wearable devices to have incredible battery life which is not possible using traditional wireless technologies such as WiFi and Classical Bluetooth.

Bluetooth Low Energy works in license free 2.4Ghz ISM band. The standard is governed by Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and is support all the major smartphone brands. It is especially suited for low data rate applications such sensor data transfer and control signals etc.

BLE also supports standard profiles such as Heart rate measurement, Blood Pressure, Health Thermometer, Alert Notification, Find Me, Proximity, HID etc. The standard profile allows hardware to be delinked from the Apps. So it is possible for a hardware offering standard profile to any smartphone and App which is utilizing same profile. The profiles are certified by Bluetooth SIG to ensure the compatibility.

There are two major partitioning in BLE devices available. a. Network processor A network processor is a BLE device which is running BLE protocol including controller, Host and stack. But it need a separate microcontroller for its functioning with main microcontroller running BLE profiles and application. This platform is also platform independent so offers wide flexibility to user to select best fit microcontroller or operating system. BlueNRG-MS is a network processor offered by ST and compatible with BLE 4.1. This IC can act as Master and Slave at the same time. So it is possible to have a Smart Watch acting as slave to Smartphone but master of other wearable devices such as jewelry, smart shoes, heart rate accessory etc. b. System on Chip System on Chip (SOC) is a devices which is an independent chipset and includes controller, Host, stack profiles and application. It is specifically suited for simpler applications such as smart band etc which does require complex processing power and peripherals. BlueNRG-1 from ST is BLE 4.2 certified SOC and includes 15 GPIOs, I2C, SPI, UART, PWM, PDM and 160kb of RAM. This IC also offers advance security and privacy features offered by BLE 4.2.

As wearable devices are run by small battery, it is imperative to use the battery in most optimised way. An accurate battery monitoring allows knowing exact state of charge of battery and add intelligence in its usage. For eg: giving timely alert to the user or turning off the power consuming blocks when battery is low.ST’s STC3115 is an integrated solution capable of combining current integration and voltage variation over the time thus providing the most accurate battery status measurement b) Smart RESET As the wearable devices get smarter day by day the software complexity grows exponentially in order to manage all the sensor information.As the number of features increases, the possibility of and end-user misuse of the product increases accordingly.System crashes are likely to happen and it is mandatory to provide an escape sequence to restart the application and maintain a perception of quality and brand recognitions.

STM6519 IC can be used to implement two functionalities from single button c) Real Time Clock [RTC] In wearable RTC not allows to keep the time but also helps in putting the system in low power mode according to time thus saving power.Low power operation and tiny package RTC is a required for battery powered and small form factor devices. M41T62 RTC from ST is ultra-small package with embedded crystal and 350nA current consumption.

Power Management a) Battery Monitoring Scigazette | 32 | May, 2017

Tech Focus

Role of Software Algorithm Software libraries play an important role to convert raw sensor data into meaningful use case. The algorithm augment the function of sensor beyond their stated features. The algorithm also combine the input from various sensors and create a context aware output.

The three motion sensors – accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetic compass – have their own advantages and disadvantages. Sensor limitations include imperfect calibration, drift over time or temperature and random noise. Magnetometer and Accelerometer are subject to distortions and gyroscope has inherent drift. Sensor fusion library is used to calibrate there sensors with each other to create a condition which gives accurate result in all scenarios. It not only give calibrated sensor outputs but also gives angle and heading angle informations.

Activity recognition library can take sensor data and inform the application if the user is a pedestrian, driving a bike or car. It can also tell if the user is stationary, walking, fast walking, jogging.

A wearable comes in various forms such as smart watch, smart shoes, smart glasses, arm band, waist accessories etc. Similarly a user can keep mobile in his front pocket, back pocket, shirt pocket, hand or on table. So it is important for algorithms to know the carry position for it to work precisely. The carry position determination library does exactly this.

A magnetic compass is very important sensor to give direction sense but this sensor also very sensitive to hard iron, soft iron or angle of operation. Hard iron is the presence hard permanent ferro-magnetic material in the vicinity of sensor. It create a permanent shift in compass reading. Soft iron is the presence of weak ferro-magnetic material, circuit traces etc. It create a variable shift in the sensor reading. So a magnetic sensor calibration library is used to filter out these anomalies. It is important for the library to do fast calibration with minimum effort by the user.

A pedometer library is used for step detection and step counting. The library should be accurate and smart enough to have minimum error and consume minimum power. A smart pedometer library also uses activity recognition and carry position libraries as mentioned above.

STMicroelectronics complements its advance smart sensors with smart software algorithm libraries to extract the best use of sensors and help designer create world class products with minimum efforts.

time and cost involved. It is very important to have a development platform which is open source, affordable, flexible, production ready and scalable.

STMicroelectronics has introduced a STM32 open development environment platform which allows designers to develop products using ST microcontroller, sensors, RF and Analog products in a very flexible and affordable way.

The hardware platform is complemented by software drivers, middleware libraries and applications. It also include associated Android and iOS code.

The user can also access many advance libraries by a simple computer based license agreement. Once the platform is tested designer can develop his custom PCB and load the firmware developed on this platform. The user will need to sign the production license for libraries only when he want to test on his custom board.

Conclusion Wearable has the potential to change the world just as internet did. Smart Sensors and BLE have empowered devices with power of sensing and communication to take complex decisions.Wearables will create fundamentally new use cases and will do things which even smartphones cannot do. It is expected that healthcare and fitness will emerge as the largest category for wearable.

STMicroelectronics offers one stop shop for all semiconductor requirements in this space and allows for users and entrepreneurs time to market with driver and library support.

Development platform The wave of wearable is mainly driven by startups and young Engineers. Moreover the market is evolving at such a fast pace that chancing of success depends heavily on Scigazette | 33 | May, 2017

Application Note

Low-Cost Microcontrollers Invading Research Labs

Lex Kravitz, Ph.D., Acting Section Chief, Eating and Addiction Section, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health

I run a lab at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),where we are interested in understanding obesity.Increasingly over the last few years, our lab members and colleagues are turning to simple computers called microcontrollers to do things that used to be possible only with expensive specialized equipment.

Our research often involves questions like, “Will mice eat more of a diet that contains saturated or unsaturated fats?” or “Do mice prefer diets that are high in sugar or high in fat?”

To answer these questions,we need to accurately measure food intake in mice over many days. Mice are small animals, and only need to eat 3 to 5 grams per day (about2-3 almonds worth of food). While commercial

solutions exist, a system for measuring food intake from 20 mice can easily cost more than $100K. Many labs simply do not have the funds for this, and as a result have turned to building their own devices using low-cost microcontrollers such as the Arduino platform.

While building devices from scratch requires more effort than purchasing them, it often results in equipment that is cheaper and more flexible than commercial solutions. It is also easy to reprogram these devices after the experiment ends, to turn them into a new device to measure or control something else. Finally, designing hardware can be an amazing educational opportunity for learning to code, building physical devices, and designing novel solutions to unique problems.

Scigazette | 34 | May, 2017

Application Note

Rodent Operant Bucket (ROBucket) In 2014, a student, Kavya Devarakonda, and I designed an Arduino-powered “operant” box (or in this case, bucket) to train mice to work for treats.Operant boxes have played a critical role inunderstanding animal behavior, as they can measure things like motivation (How many lever-presses will a mouse make to get a drink of sugar water?), learning (Can they learn which lever to push to get sugar?), and even complex processes such as impulsivity (Will a mouse wait patiently for 5 seconds to receive sugar? What about 10 seconds?).

get stuck closed).We learned that quality products are sometimes worth the extra cost.

Feeding Experimentation Device (FED) In 2015, another student, Katrina Nguyen, suggested we revamp and improve the design of ROBucket. Specifically, Katrina wanted to use a 3D printer to produce the device to reduce variability, and also abandon the problematic solenoid valve. She designed theFeeding Experimentation Device (FED), which is based around a pellet dispenser (basically a mini gumball machine), which logs the time that a mouse eats each pellet.These logs allow us to view a recording of every pellet the mouse eats.

Fig2: Feeding Experimentation Device (FED) Fig1: Rodent Operant Bucket (ROBucket)

At the start of this project, both Kavya and I had very limited experience with electronics and coding.We found it a bit daunting at first to read throughonline tutorials and purchase the parts we thought we’d need.However, as a testament to Kavya’s hard work and to amazing online resources and user communities, we were able to complete this project in under a year, start to finish.Our final design cost about $150 to build, and the plans are available at: https://github.com/KravitzLab/ROBucket.

While our design was successful, we learned a few things along the way.We designed our device around a plastic bucket (hence the name ROBucket), and mounted all of the parts in the bucket by hand.This made it time-consuming to build each ROBucket, and introduced variability to the processas the mounting holes were drilled by hand and were not always in the same place.We also opted for some low-cost parts and we paid a price for these choices.

Specifically, we purchased a cheap (~$5) solenoid valve to control the flow of sugar water, which turned out to be an Achilles heelfor the project as we experienced multiple failures with this valve (it would often get stuck open, or

The FED device was extremely successful, and the design has been replicated in more than 10 labs around the world.By releasing this project online and open-source, we made it easy for others to modify the design to fit their research.Researchers have modified FEDs to dispense two types of pellets at once, dispense multiple sizes of pellets, and incorporate operant capabilities.Modifying commercial equipment can be difficult, as the source code and electronic designs are usually not available.We provide all source code and design files for FED for free online, and encourage users to make changes. Our experience with low cost microcontrollers has been both fruitful and fun.As important as the devices themselves, we have learned a lot about what is possible, and what new features we can look forward to including in our future designs.We are now experimenting with internet-connected devices that push data in real time and can text us when certain conditions are met in our experiments. While commercial equipment is still the appropriate solution for many applications, the advent of low-cost microcontrollers has produced new opportunities for researchers to build their own devices, designed and modifiable to their exact specifications.

Scigazette | 35 | May, 2017

Application Note

Magnetic Sensing in

Dishwashers Dishwashers are one of the most improved appliances for the kitchen over the last few years. Upgrades include more thorough cleaning/washing cycles while still lowering water usage and energy consumption.

Like many modern appliances, dishwasher microprocessor based controllers allow the use of a variety of sensors to ensure precision cleaning, safe, and energy-efficient operation. Littelfuse’s magnetic sensor products help make these appliances as reliable and efficient as ever.

Reed sensors and Hall Effect sensors are both very reliable and will operate over millions of cycles with long-term integrity when used with microprocessor electrical loads.

Both reed and Hall Effect devices are operated by a magnetic field. Reed switches and sensors consume no power, while Hall Effect devices are semiconductors and will consume a small amount of current in both the activated and de-activated state.

Figure 1: Components of a Dishwasher

Scigazette | 36 | May, 2017

Application Note

Spray Arm Rotation A critical function is the rotation of the spray arm for cleaning the dishes and utensils. Many machines have spray arms on both the topside and bottom side of the wash compartment. The spray arm is usually a free-turning rotary device propelled by both hot and cold high water pressure. Some higher-end machines have motor-driven spray arms. It is important that the spray arm does not become obstructed by misplaced dishes or utensils within the washer baskets. If the arm does become blocked, the spray arm only sprays the dishes at that position, while another negative effect is that the motor could burn out because the stoppage causing a higher current draw. The ultimate results are that the dishes are not as clean as desired. A reed switch/sensor can be used in conjunction with a magnet to sense the continuous movement of each spray arm. A magnet is mounted to the rotating arm while the sensor is mounted within the body or frame of the machine.

When the spray arm rotates normally, the magnet passes under the reed switch and the magnetic field actuates the reed switch contacts. The contact re-opens after the magnet passes by the sensor. If an obstruction of the spray arm occurs the magnet no longer activates the reed switch.

The microprocessor detects this non-activation; either stops the machine or activates an alarm or light on the dishwasher. Once the obstruction is removed, the dishwasher then operates normally.

The reed switch is perfect for this wet environment because of the precious metal contacts are contained within a hermetically sealed glass capsule. Moisture and fluctuating temperatures do not affect the reliable operation of the reed switch.

Littelfuse recommends the following products as spray arm switches and sensors: Suggested Products MDSM-4 reed switch 59140 reed sensor 59025 reed sensor Custom-designed sensor

Table 1: Suggested Products as Spray Arm Switches and Sensors

Door Latch/Lock Sensor The dishwasher door latch serves two purposes. The first purpose is to pull the door tight and keep it closed to prevent water leaks; the second is as a safety switch. A dishwasher will not run if the door is not properly latched.

If the dishwasher will not run or attempts to run with the door open, there may be a faulty dishwasher door latch.

A reed or Hall Effect sensor can be used to detect proper door latching. There are various design options available or a custom package can be developed. The magnet actuator would be placed in the moving door or latch mechanism, while the sensor would be placed in the fixed machine frame. The reed switch is perfect for this tough environment because of the hermetically sealed contacts.

Neither Vibration nor shock effects from the door closure will impact the performance of the sensor in this application. A Hall Effect sensor may also be a good option for this application.

Littelfuse recommends the following products as flow switches and sensors: Suggested Products 59165 overmolded reed switch 59140 reed sensor 55100 Hall Effect sensor Custom-designed sensor

Table 2: Suggested Products as Flow Switches and Sensors

Water Level Sensor Prior to the wash cycle, a small amount of water is pumped into the basin of washer, and then heated. A float type sensor is mounted at the bottom of the basin to detect if too much water is being dispensed into the basin. If there is a faulty pump, valve or drain, the water could continue to rise if undetected causing a leak or flooding of the floor.

One method to detect water level is to use a reed float level sensor. A typical float sensor consists of a reed switch housed within a tubular housing and a magnet imbedded into a float.

Figure 2: Spray Arm Sensor Positions Scigazette | 37 | May, 2017

Application Note

Once the float mechanism rises to the point of activating the reed switch, a signal is processed and the pump would be shut down and an alarm or light activated to warn the operator of this issue.

An additional function could be performed with this level sensor, especially with micro-controllers. Adding multiple reed switches to this sensor at increments of about 6.5mm spacing, forming a reed/resistive ladder, would allow more precise monitoring of the water level. This additional functionality could save water usage or allow different amounts of water to be used during the different wash cycles. Littelfuse can also design custom level sensor products tailored to specific applications. Sensor housings, assemblies, magnets, and sensitivities can be customized to meet the application needs.

Littelfuse recommends the following products as flow switches and sensors:

Figure 3: Water Softener/Detergent Level Sensing in a Dishwasher

Sprayer Diverter Sensor Many machines today use a diverter valve to selectively divert liquid flowing within the spray arm or between the spray arms within the wash chamber. The purpose of the diverter system is for optimizing the cleaning function of the dish washer in each area of the chamber such as the utensils, dishes or bowls.

Suggested Products 59630 float sensor 59140 reed sensor 55140 Hall Effect sensor Custom-designed sensor

Table 3: Suggested Products as Flow Switches and Sensors

Soap and Water Softener Tray Some high end residential and commercial dishwashers have large reservoirs that contain liquid soap and/or water softener. These reservoirs usually contain level sensors for warning the operator when the liquid is low and should be refilled. The location of these can be within the door or on the bottom of the dishwasher. A reed float level sensor can be added to the soap and/or water softener dispenser reservoirs. A magnet is imbedded in a float that rises and falls with the amount of fluid within this reservoir. A reed switch is mounted on a PCB, or a reed sensor can be mounted to chassis of the dishwasher. The reed switch or sensor activates when the soap drops to the low-level limit.

When this happens, a light on the outside panel will begin to flash or a beeper alerts the user to fill the water softener fluid reservoir and return to normal operation.

Littelfuse recommends the following products as soap and water softener tray switches and sensors:

Length of wash period, water temperature and pressure are variables that the diverter system can control through the microprocessor network. Cleaning and resource usage may be optimized by spraying wash liquid only in areas occupied by utensils, or very dirty dishes or bowls. This promotes both water savings and minimizes electricity usage while obtaining optimum cleansing.

The diverter system can be enabled with placing a reed switch or sensors along with an actuator to monitor at which position the diverter is in during the cycle.

The Littelfuse recommends the following products as flow switches and sensors: Suggested Products 59025 reed sensor MDSM-4 reed switch 59165 over-molded reed switch Custom-designed sensor

Table 5: Suggested Products as Flow Switches and Sensors

FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF REED SWITCHES

Suggested Products 59630 level reed sensor

Switch activation does not require physical contact Switch contacts are within a hermetically sealed capsule Resistant to moisture, dust, and other foreign objects Wide operating temperature range • Reliable switching • Long lifetime Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

59165 over-molded reed switch and custom float Custom-designed float and level sensor

Table 4: Suggested Products as Soap and Water Softener Tray Switches and Sensors

Scigazette | 38 | May, 2017

Application Note

direction with high accuracy

Why to Use Reed or Hall Sensor A reed switch is a magnetically operated switch that in most situations are normally open when there is no magnetic field present. When a magnetic field is present in proper alignment and of sufficient strength, the contacts of the reed switch will close and complete the circuit.

Reed switches and Hall Effect sensors are magnetic switching devices, sometimes called ‘contactless’; that is because the actuator/magnet does not make physical contact to the switch, to change the state, unlike a Microswitch, or a Mechanical switch.

Reed switches are perfect technology for switching microprocessor electrical loads of 1-12Vdc and small milliamps of current. Reed switches have precious metal contacts, hermetically sealed within a glass envelop and filled with nitrogen gas. The switching cycles can last up to many millions of operations with no degradation of contact wear, because of this inherent reed switch design.

A digital Hall Effect is a semiconductor with unlimited life when driven by the proper voltage and current. Reed and Hall Effect devices are long-lasting and very reliable within very humid and varying temperature applications.

Ÿ Effective for high-speed applications Ÿ Long lifetime and reliable sensing for millions of

operations

Beyond Sensing, Littelfuse Offers Circuit Protection Solutions In addition to sensor products, Littelfuse offers the world’s broadest and deepest portfolio of circuit protection and power control solutions.

Littelfuse recommends the following products for use in these applications: Application Example Safety Latch Valve Control Heater Element AC Motor Circuit Protection AC Mains

TMOV, LA, C-III MOV, UltraMOV Varistors 3AG, 5x20mm Fuses

Control Board

Ÿ No physical contact required to operate the sensor Ÿ Wide operating temperature range adequate for use in

Take Your

Q60xx Triac

Drying Fan

Holders, Blocks, Clips

Features and benefits of Hall Effect Sensors cold and hot temperatures Ÿ Encapsulated sensors provide additional protection against mechanical stresses and vibration Ÿ Digital output signal is used to compute speed and

Product Series

Power Control

TR5/TE5 Fuse SMD PTC P4KE/SMAJ TVS

Touch Screen/Display Panel SP1001, SP1003, SP1006 Diode Arrays Multilayer Varistors

Table 6: Circuit Protection and Power Control Solutions

BRAND

to the potential Customers…

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Science Gazette &Technol gy Scigazette | 39 | May, 2017

New Products

COM Express Modules based on NXP processors Artesyn Embedded Technologies released a new series of COM Express embedded computing modules based on NXP QorIQ T Series processors.

The Artesyn COMX-T Series brings four (NXP T1042) or eight virtual core (NXP T2081) Power Architecture processors, with a wide range of high speed interfaces, to a commercial offthe-shelf (COTS) form factor. This enables cost-effective processor implementations with high processing density, simple technology migration and long lifecycle. Applications include telecom, networking,

aerospace, military/defense, and industrial, including Internet of Things (IoT) applications requiring low power consumption and small physical size.

Artesyn’s COMXT2081 and COMXT1042 modules are designed to operate in harsh environments thanks to a rugged design with extended

Low Phase Noise Amplifiers from 1.5 GHz to 18 GHz

Pasternack, a leading provider of RF, microwave and millimeter wave products, has released a new line of low phase noise amplifiers that incorporate GaAs HBT MMIC semiconductor technology to deliver ultra-low phase noise performance over a wide dynamic range. These amplifiers can be used to help optimize the sensitivity and dynamic range of higher performing test, radar and communication receiver designs where performance is dependent on how effectively the smallest and largest signal levels can be processed.

Also, for systems that require amplification of weaker signals close to the noise floor, the low phase noise performance of these amplifiers can help reduce unwanted noise and distortion that can inhibit the quality of the transmitted signal. Typical applications include electronic warfare, microwave radio, VSAT, radar, space systems, test

temperature and vibration.

For more info, visit: Artesyn.com

Renesas Introduces Small Design Class Inverter Kit Solution for HEV and EV

Renesas Electronics Corporation have unveiled new 100 kW class inverter solution that achieves industry-leading small design class of 3.9 liter (L) for high-power 100 kW class motors in mid- to large-sized hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) including SUVs, and mid- to small-sized electric vehicles (EVs).

Renesas will provide the new solution as a solution kit that includes software that maximizes the HEV/EV motor performance and hardware components such as microcontrollers (MCUs), Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) and fast recovery diode (FRD), and other power semiconductor devices.

The new solution enables system developers to reduce development time for various development steps: from specifications analysis to hardware/software development and motor characteristic adjustments.

Scigazette | 40 | May, 2017

New Products

TT Electronics Metal film resistors are ideal for harsh environments TT Electronics launched the WRM-HP range of precision metal film MELF resistors with AEC-Q200 qualification.

Providing a combination of high precision and tolerance to surge conditions, the resistors are ideal for measuring supply line voltage levels in energy metering and power condition monitoring.

The resistors complement TT

Electronics’ existing WRM series, adding high power versions of the larger two sizes. Their AEC-Q200 qualification makes them an ideal choice for reliable performance in harsh environment applications such as those found in automotive products. Aimed at industrial, instrumentation and automotive

applications, the resistors will find favour with designers of energy meters, measurement instruments, process monitors and automotive control systems.

New Hybrid Capacitors line – ZE Series from Panasonic TT Electronics launched the WRM-HP range of precision metal film MELF resistors with AEC-Q200 qualification.

Providing a combination of high precision and tolerance to surge conditions, the resistors are ideal for measuring supply line voltage levels in energy metering and power condition monitoring.

The resistors complement TT Electronics’ existing WRM series,

adding high power versions of the larger two sizes. Their AEC-Q200 qualification makes them an ideal choice for reliable performance in harsh environment applications such as those found in automotive products. Aimed at industrial, instrumentation and automotive applications, the resistors will find favour with designers of energy meters, measurement instruments,

R&S TS-290 IoT carrier acceptance test system for IoT integration Rohde & Schwarz announces the availability of its new R&S TS-290 IoT carrier acceptance test system, which is based on these test plans.

The only test solution of its kind, it offers RF, protocol and performance test cases in a single box.

With the R&S TS-290, Rohde & Schwarz offers a flexible test system for Cat 1. Based on the test plan, the system provides RF, protocol and performance tests on a single platform. The R&S TS-290 will be capable of supporting future IoT tests from other network operators, dependent on the required test scope.

The R&S TS-290 IoT carrier acceptance test system is now available from Rohde & Schwarz. For further information go to: www.rohde-schwarz.com/ad/press/ts-290

process monitors and automotive control systems.

Vishay Extends VY1 and VY2 Series Ceramic Disc Capacitors Featuring body diameters down to 7.5 mm, the Vishay BCcomponents VY1…Y5V and VY2…Y5V are designed to save space, lower costs, and increase reliability for Class X1 (760 VAC) / Y1 (500 VAC) and Class X1 (440 VAC) / Y2 (300 VAC) applications, respectively, in accordance with IEC 60384-14.4.

The Y5V dielectric of the devices provides a higher dielectric constant, allowing for a reduction in diameter without losing capacitance value.

The VY1…Y5V and VY2…Y5V are optimized for RFI and AC line filtering applications in compact power supplies, power adapters for home automation devices, E-meters, home appliances, consumer electronics, and industrial equipment.

Scigazette | 41 | May, 2017

New Products

Mouser Shipping Feature-Rich LPC546xx 32-Bit Cortex-M4 MCUs from NXP Mouser Electronics is now stocking LPC546xx 32-bit microcontrollers from NXP Semiconductors. These flexible and scalable devices dramatically improve dynamic power consumption and provide advanced peripherals that enable designers to create building control, communication, automotive infotainment and navigation, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

The NXP LPC546xx-M4 microcontrollers, available from Mouser Electronics, are powered by a

180 MHz ARM Cortex-M4 core with up to 512 kBytes of on-chip flash and up to 200 kBytes of SRAM, plus a quad SPI Flash Interface (SPIFI) for expanding program memory. The ARM core includes a floating point unit (FPU) as well as a memory protection unit (MPU) that separates the memory into distinct regions to improve the reliability of

an embedded system.

HCS Series AEC-Q200 Qualified High Current Shunts AEC-Q200 requires the resistors to have an operating temperature range of -55 degree C to +150 degree C and survive a wide range of electrical and mechanical stress tests. These tests include exposure to high temperatures, temperature cycling, high temperature operational life, biased humidity, ESD, board flex, and terminal strength.

Components qualified to AEC-Q200 provide engineers additional assurance that they are designing in a

robust and reliable component. In addition, the raised resistance element offers lower thermal resistance meaning lower PCB temperatures and easier implementation for high current usage.

For more information about Stackpole products, contact Stackpole Electronics at email marketing@seielect.com; or visit the website at www.seielect.com.

PolySwitch Resettable PPTC Devices for Automotive Applications Littelfuse introduces three series of PolySwitch AEC-Q200 qualified resettable Polymeric Positive Temperature Coefficient (PPTC) devices. These surface mount devices are designed for robust over-current protection in extremely harsh automotive environments. Unlike fuses, resettable PPTCs do not require replacement after a fault event; they allow the circuit to return to the normal operating condition after the power has been removed and/or the over-current condition is eliminated.

Surface mount PolySwitch ASMDC, femtoASMD, and picoASMD Series Resettable PPTCs are available in tape and reel packaging in quantities of 4,000 or 3,000.

Sample requests may be placed through authorized Littelfuse distributors worldwide.

First DC/DC Converter Capable of DC Fan Motor Speed Control ROHM has announced the availability of a buck DC/DC converter optimized for DC fan motor power supplies used in applications such as cold air circulation in refrigerators.

The BD9227F is the industry’s first power supply IC capable of controlling the rotational speed of DC fan motors with high accuracy by linearly varying the output voltage based on the PWM duty signal generated by the MCU. In addition to more accurate control vs conventional discrete configurations, ROHM leverages proprietary IC analog circuit design technology to achieve circuit optimization along with high frequency (1MHz) drive.

Scigazette | 42 | May, 2017

New Products

NFC Technology for Secure Contactless Payments and IoT Applications by STMicro STMicroelectronics has announced availability of its latest-generation NFC devices for contactless payments and data exchange. The new devices include the ST21NFCD NFC controller featuring the market-proven booster technology ST has recently acquired, and two new members in the ST54 System-in-Package (SiP) family that integrate the Company's latest Secure Element technology.

The ST21NFCD chip features active load modulation for faster, smoother transactions over longer distances, delivering better user experiences in

mobiles, wearables, or IoT devices. It supports card emulation, reader/writer and peer-to-peer communication modes, and contains eFlash to permit full firmware update.

It supports the NFC Forum's NCI 2.0 specification, which simplifies software development for interacting with NFC tags and supports batching and autonomous exchanges to minimize communication overheads.

The IC also meets NFC Forum type 1-5 tag specifications, ISO/IEC 18092 NFC Interface and Protocol (NFCIP), and payment standards including EMVCo

latest revisions. It is pre-certified in accordance with the Global Certification Forum (GCF) and PTCRB for integration in mobile devices, and can enable handsets to read MIFARE Classic encrypted tags.

For further information please visit http://www.st.com/en/secure-mcus/securenfc.html

Telit Unveils Bluetooth 5 Module at Mobile World Congress 2017 Telit has introduced the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) BlueMod+S50 single mode module. This marks the industry’s first introduction of a standalone and certified, Bluetooth® 5 compliant module with a compelling mix of future-proof features designed to extend product lifecycles.

Building on the success of the Telit BlueMod family of Bluetooth modules and complete integrated set of IoT Products and services, the BlueMod+S50 is key to bringing low power, “c and services to market

quickly.

The new BlueMod+S50 module from Telit marks an industry milestone.

Now, developers can adopt this cutting-edge technology into use cases not possible with previous generations of Bluetooth, such as full in-building connections.

The latest Bluetooth 5 specification offers significant updates with quadruple range and speeds that are twice as fast, while increasing the capacity of connectionless data broadcasts by 800%. Always a step

ahead, Telit incorporated additional features such as secure, integrated NFC (Near Field Communication) capability and support for most GATT based Client and Server profiles.

For more information visit: http://info.telit.com/bluemods50

Ultra-Reliable High-Density Resistor Networks for Critical Applications TT Electronics has launched the QSOP-C and SOIC-C high-density resistor networks that combine high precision with stability and reliability.

By using a ceramic substrate and a relatively large feature size, they offer better cross-talk performance than types based on silicon substrates.

With target markets in the aerospace, medical and industrial areas, the parts are aimed at designers of analogue circuits such as amplifiers and ADCs requiring accurate gain and threshold levels defined by resistance ratios,

where the operating temperature range is wide, humidity levels may be high, reliability level is paramount and periodic recalibration is not possible.

TT Electronics’ QSOP-C and SOIC-C series resistor networks are particularly beneficial for use in aerospace and high reliability signal processing applications, as the parts are optionally available with thermal shock screening. Specific applications include flight computers, medical monitors and critical process Scigazette | 43 | May, 2017

monitors.

Factors driving the demand for these types of components are the use of COTs passive devices in the aerospace sector, and rising operating frequencies making low crosstalk a more important feature.

For further information visit www.ttelectronics.com/resistors/

Tech Focus

T

oday’s “always connected” world demands reliable, high-performance, energy efficient wireless connectivity. RF communication is essential for the successful operation of mobile and cordless phones, tablets, gaming consoles and set-top boxes. In the automotive arena wireless plays a role in everything from tyre pressure monitoring and remote entry to navigation and infotainment. And RF communications play a pivotal role in the control of multicopters, thus ensuring safe operation. The key to successfully addressing the requirements of these applications lies in selecting the most appropriate RF components. This article outlines the growing demand for RF communications, looks at factors to consider when specifying discrete components such as transistors and diodes, and introduces technologies that help engineers to implement stable, robust and reliable communications in their designs.

Claudia Mosca Infineon Technologies AG

Selecting RF Discretes Diodes and Transistors for an 'Always Connected' World Discrete RF – the heart of wireless connectivity It has been estimated that over 50 billion devices will be connected by 2020. Data traffic is at an all-time high – driven by personal communications and the machine-tomachine communications of the IoT. Data volumes continue to grow rapidly as wireless data rates reach 1 Gbps, with video and data streaming becoming more prevalent.

As we become more reliant on wireless, we also become more demanding regarding performance and system availability – network stability and reliability are crucial.

With estimated market size of 345 million €, discrete RF components are fundamental to delivering the stable and reliable communications that are at the heart of applications in the consumer, industrial, communications and automotive sectors.

Scigazette | 44 | May, 2017

Tech Focus

Consumer

230MioC

40MioC

Industrial

Applications:

Applications:

Low Noise Block Set-top box TV Receivers Smart meters Smart Devices

Automotive

Multicopters Low Noise Block Test and measurement equipment

30MioC

45MioC

Communications

Applications:

Applications:

Cellular & Cordless GSM - 3G - LTE Near Field Communication, Broad Band Wi-Fi, WiMAX & MIMO

Active Antenna Remote Keyless Entry Tire Pressure Monitoring system Navigation & Infotainment E-Toll Source: mobile experts small cell Forecast Jan. 2016 (time laps 2015-2020), WSTS November 2015, IFX MM Mobile Experts Macro Base Station and Transceivers Forecast Oct. 2015 (time laps 2015-2020)

Figure 1: RF products are featured in a wide variety of applications across diverse markets

as low as possible. As always, however, there is a trade-off.

In this case, as RF decreases, so the capacitance CT increases. A low value of CT is a significant determining factor in the broadband isolation properties of a PIN diode.

To ensure signal integrity, the linearity of the PIN diode is an important parameter in many applications – as is the switching time – especially where a fast switching time is needed for combined RX-TX antenna circuits.

Given the space constraints in today's applications, designers will look for suppliers that offer a wide variety of package types allowing choice where the PCB layout is constrained. Condensed packaging can be further achieved by packaging multiple PIN diodes in a common package.

Schottky Diodes Among the most essential RF discretes are PIN diodes, Schottky diodes and RF transistors. When selecting these devices engineers need to consider a variety of criteria such as performance, system sensitivity, interference immunity and efficiency. While component performance certainly plays an important role, so do size and versatility.

As end products get smaller, the availability of highperformance devices in a variety of package types is key.

This allows designers to achieve the required design in the all-too-small space available.

Quality and reliability of components are also important selection criteria, especially in applications that are expected to operate continually outdoors or in the harsh conditions found in factories or vehicles.

PIN Diodes PIN diodes are similar to conventional diodes, but they have an Intrinsic layer between the PN layers. This nondoped region increases the separation and reduces the capacitance – especially when compared with a conventional diode – bringing significant advantages in RF switching applications.

PIN diodes can be used in areas such as power and high voltage and are commonly found in RF designs. When forward biased, the PIN diode behaves like a resistor and, when reverse biased, it becomes an open circuit. These unique properties allow PIN diodes to be used as a variable resistor in variable attenuators or as an RF switch. PIN diodes are also implemented in RF protection circuitry.

PIN-diode switches are found in mobile applications (consumer handset and base stations) as well as WLAN devices, set-top boxes and automotive entertainment systems. When used as an attenuator, they are most commonly found in automotive infotainment applications.

When specifying PIN diodes, one of the primary considerations is the insertion loss, which is proportional to RF, the forward series resistance. RF is usually specified in milliwatts for a given bias current and, ideally, RF should be

Schottky diodes are characterised by a low forward voltage drop of around 0.2 V and their fast switching speed. The low voltage drop makes them popular in power applications as well as RF, while the fast switching speed brings significant benefits over conventional PN diodes in RF applications. Schottky diodes are commonly used in detector circuits, especially in mobile handsets, WLAN devices and base stations. They are also used as mixing elements in set-top boxes and other similar applications.

Schottky diodes are low barrier N-type silicon devices and consist of a deposited metal layer on N-type material.

However, breakdown and leakage effects can occur due to the strong electric fields at the edges of the metallised area. These issues can be overcome by diffusing a guard ring of P+ semiconductor along with an oxide layer around the edge of the plate.

Schottky Barrier Metal

Front metal

SiO2 passivation Guard ring

n-epi layer

n+ substrate

Back contact metal

Figure 2: Schottky diode structure showing the guard ring

When specifying Schottky diodes the leakage current is a primary consideration. This is proportional to the forward resistance RF. The overall efficiency of the diode is important, especially in portable devices where battery power is at a premium. Designers should also pay close attention to the signal distortion and linearity of the diode to ensure that signals are reproduced faithfully.

RF Transistors Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBT) feature performance parameters that make them ideal for use as single and dual-band Low Noise Amplifiers (LNA) in RF

Scigazette | 45 | May, 2017

Tech Focus

High

throughout the range.

Noise Figure (NFmin)

applications. They are typically classified as low frequency (<5 GHz) and medium frequency (up to 14 GHz).

LNAs are widely used in RF applications and, as such, RF transistors are found in satellite communications, navigation systems, mobile and fixed connectivity (e.g.

WiMAX) and Wi-Fi systems. They are also fundamental to the remote control of multicopters.

When specifying RF transistors there are a number of areas to consider. As the fundamental role of an RF transistor is to amplify signals, the gain (Gmax) of the device is crucial.

Device efficiency is also likely to be important, especially in battery-powered applications.

The noise figure (NF) is a crucial parameter – this characterises the degradation in Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of a practical amplifier compared to a theoretically perfect (lossless and noiseless) amplifier. NF is simply the ratio of SNR at the input of the amplifier to the SNR at the output.

The fundamental semiconductor technology will have a significant impact on the overall suitability for a given application. Silicon germanium (SiGe), for example, offers a number of benefits over GaAs alternatives including better efficiency due to a lower VCE and, in general, SiGe devices have better noise figures.

Compared to SiGe devices SiGe:C (silicon-germaniumcarbide) bipolar devices show similar excellent noise and linearity performance, with the additional benefit that ESD protection can be integrated directly into the transistor, thereby significantly increasing device robustness.

General-purpose LNAs Noise

Very low noise Ultra low noise

Low

Frequency (fT (max) in GHz)

High

1) As measured in the application 2) Available with ESD for improved robustness

Figure 3: Infineon's RF Transistor line-up offers best-in-class performance following continued innovation

Key features of this generation include a high transition frequency (fT) of 80 GHz and low power consumption due to the ability to work with supply voltages as low as 1.2 V. Best-in-class 8th generation RF transistor: NF and Gmax SiGe competitor comparison

‘State-of-the-Art' RF Discretes Infineon's family of RF discretes for complementary wireless designs has some good examples of how these technologies have evolved in recent years. In the case of PIN diodes, for example, the BA592 achieves an insertion loss (RF) of 360 mW while the BAR63 boasts a 0.23 pF value for CT. If space is critical in an application, then the BAR90 is available as a quad pack in an ultra-miniature TSSLP8 package. The performance of Infineon's PIN diode range makes them an ideal choice for antenna switching applications, while the AEC qualification also assures suitability for demanding automotive applications.

When it comes to Schottky diodes, then multiple inpackage configurations are available including common anode or cathode as well as series and parallel configurations. The BAT15 series offers a number of configurations, including dual and quad options, with a CT of 0.26 pF making it ideal for mixer applications. For the ultimate performance, the BAT24 boasts a CT of just 0.21 pF and is suitable for use in radar systems up to 24 GHz. Finally, Infineon's RF transistor technology – which is now in its 8th generation – is designed to deliver key performance values such as low noise and high linearity

8th generation RF transistor come with an improved BiC in relation to NF and Power gain Gmax compared to previous generations and closest Sige competitors.

Figure 4: RF Gain (Gmax) and Noise Function offer substantial performance gains over competitive devices

One of the leading HBT devices is the BFx84x series, which is considered 'best-in-class' among discrete RF LNAs. Offering a noise factor of 0.85 dB (@5.5 GHz) with gain up to 23 dB this device outperforms many other devices on the market due to a special device geometry. In common with all of Infineon's SiGe:C RF transistors, the BFx84x offers built-in ESD protection up to 1.5 kV (HBM).

Michael Parks is owner of Green Shoe Garage, a custom electronics design studio and technology consultancy located in Southern Maryland. He produces the S.T.E.A.M. Power Podcast to help raise public awareness of technical and scientific matters. Michael is also a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Maryland and holds a Master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Scigazette | 46 | May, 2017

Research

Delivering the Fog Computing Vision

The recent technology advancements have completely revolutionized almost all aspects of our lives. The appearance of the Internet of Things (IoT) enabled the connection of other devices to the Internet, alongside standard products such as computers or tablets.

According to the Cisco, 50 billion of smart devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020, while the data generated by IoT will reach 600 ZB per year by the end of the decade. Hence, the result of technological progress is the increasing amount of fast-changing and diverse types of data that is now being gathered. Dealing with and extracting insights from high-dimensional, high-velocity and high-variety data created by the IoT is a serious and challenging task. In order to bring clarity to data and generate insights, it is necessary to apply Big data analytic techniques. Sending massive amount of variety of data to the Cloud for processing and storage, despite the virtually unlimited processing capabilities and easier access to the results from anywhere, is not an adequate approach because of problems with bandwidth, data processing time, and latency issues.

Splitting data into smaller groups and analyzing it at the place where data is being gathered is a far better approach, especially for time-sensitive, large-scale, fast mobile and

geographically distributed applications. Performing analytics at the edge of the Cloud and making edge devices as processing nodes, refers to Fog computing. It is important to highlight that Fog computing is not a replacement for Cloud computing, it just extends the features of Cloud to the edge of the network, closer to the things/devices that produce IoT data.

Extending the Cloud computing paradigm to the edge of the network enables faster, easier and real-time decisions while the outcomes are being channeled to the Cloud for further processing or storage. On this way, Fog layer, as an additional layer between devices and Cloud, supports decentralized and intelligent processing and decides about content, format and time regarding data and its transmission to the Cloud. Various data analytics techniques (e.g., intelligent data mining, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, real-time analytics) can be used to gain insights by discovering hidden patterns and anomaly detection, and consequently, realize predictive modeling and make actionable decisions.

Evidently, the success of Fog computing relies on Fog devices that must be able to successfully perform processing at the very early stage, dealing with fast generated massive amount of data, and intelligently filter

Scigazette | 417 | May, 2017

Research

and transmit the data of the interest to the Cloud. The Fog nodes are heterogeneous in nature, can have various hardware and software capabilities.

The utilization of small, cheap and flexible computer platform, such as a Raspberry Pi, has been shown as an adequate solution for performing local processing and storage. This credit card-sized computer with many performances and affordable for only 25-35$ is a perfect platform for interfacing with numerous devices. The Raspberry Pi board consists of essential components (processor, graphics chip, program memory - RAM) and other optional devices (various interfaces and connectors for peripherals).

latency, heterogeneity, interoperability, better interconnectivity, scalability, maximum utilization of network bandwidth, optimal operational expense, security and privacy, real-time processing and actions, enhanced Quality of Service, etc. All these Fog computing advantages imply the immense importance of Fog computing implementation in numerous applications. According to the Business Intelligence, the number of IoT devices that use Fog computing will reach 5.8 billion in 2020. This forecast justifies the necessity for development and utilization of small, low-cost, and powerful devices, such as Raspberry Pi in the realization of Fog computing vision.

The main constituent of the Raspberry Pi 3 is a 1.2 GHz 64bit quad-core ARMv8 central processing unit which is responsible for carrying out the instructions of a computer program via mathematical and logical operations.

Other components, 1GB RAM, 4 USB ports, 40 GPIO pins, Full HDMI port, Ethernet port, Combined 3.5 mm audio jack and composite video, Camera interface (CSI), Display interface (DSI), Micro SD card slot, VideoCore IV 3D graphics and connectivity consisting of 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.1, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and additional Raspberry Piâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Compute modules open almost limitless potential uses of the Raspberry Pi in a variety of projects. The Raspberry Pi uses Raspbian, free and open source operating system what keeps the price of the platform low, and makes it more practicable. There are also Windows 10 IoT Core and few other non-Linux operating system options available. The diversity of sensors and devices may be connected to the Raspberry Pi platform that can be programmed according to the user needs. The Raspberry Pi is able to collect data, perform local storage and processing by filtering out relevant, differentiating information from the large datasets and send the results to the Cloud for further analysis and storage.

The aforementioned features, small-scale, cheap, flexible, and with low-power requirements, makes Raspberry Pi the great candidate for smart gateway realization by implementing Fog computing principles. In other words, the Raspberry Pi utilization as Fog device enables distribution of computing, communication, control, storage and decision making what consequently empower the management of high-dimensional, high-velocity and highvariety data generated by IoT. The implementation of Fog principles successfully overcomes congestion and latency issues. The additional benefits of the Fog layer implementations are real-time and online analytic even in the case of loss of connectivity or poor connection with the Cloud.

Mirjana Maksimovic, Ph.D, Assistant professor, Departments of Automatics and Electronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering in East Sarajevo

Mirjana MaksimoviÄ&#x2021; received the Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering from University of East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2014. She works as assistant professor in the Departments of Automatics and Electronics, Electroenergetics and Computer science and informatics at Faculty of Electrical Engineering in East Sarajevo. Her current research and teaching interests extend to a range of topics in Telecommunications, Automation, Electronics and Computer Science. Since 2006 she actively participates in the organization and reviewing process of the International Scientific-Professional Symposium INFOTEH Jahorina. She became an active member of Technical Committee for Automation at Institute for standardization in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009. Since 2011 she has been an active member of the Technical Committee for Telecommunications at the same institute. She has published more than 60 papers in national and international journals and conferences.

The Fog computing offers numerous benefits such as low Scigazette | 428 | May, 2017