Scigazette jan issue

Indian Fab Industry An Overview

Simplify Design and Scalability of Automotive Digital Instrument Clusters

US $7.5, â‚Ź5 50 Singapore $10

Virtual Reality versus Augmented Reality

Science Gazette &Technol gy Trends& Visions

2017

Vol 1 Issue 01 January 2017

A glimpse into latest emerging technologies and electronics trends

NOTION

INDIA The next Global Electronics Export Partner

Riding the Tide Dragon makes way for the Lion!

R

ising manufacturing costs and changing policies, in China and Taiwan are compelling manufacturers to shift their manufacturing base to alternate markets. And with a series of major uncertain swings in the geo-political mood, China is poised to make a noticeable space in the global electronics markets very soon.

But the demand in the Electronics sector is only set to rise in coming years and the pressure of living up to the promise of an Internet of Things enabled future with smart cities and autonomous vehicles, certainly must ads up to the urgency of finding an alternative export partner, other than China.

Owing to a series of reforms in its policies the large resources pool, India clearly seems to become the top pick to fill in this gap. The country has set straight its new policies which are aimed at transforming the Indian electronics manufacturing sector to a US$ 400 billion market by 2020, Some of the steps taken by the Indian government such as allowing 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) under the automatic route in Electronics Systems Design & Manufacturing and a clear export-oriented strategy, have sowed the seeds for India to become one of the major exporters in the years to come.

The objective of Import substitution strategy is to expand the production of Electronic Goods in the short run. However, it is imperative to simultaneously move ahead with the measures aimed at reorientation towards export. Thus ensuring that the opportunity to capture the large world Electronics market arising out of China’s rising real wages is seized.

The FDI in electronic manufacturing has reached an all-time high of Rs 123,000 crore (US$ 18.34 billion) in 2016 from around Rs 11,000 crore (US$ 1.64 billion) in 2014, primarily due to government reforms and its Make in India initiative. The country now has its own Centre of Excellence for Internet of Things and has global players such as Infineon Technologies imparting training on semiconductor or chip technology to the youth, with the vision to establish an electronic manufacturing ecosystem in India.

The government also has plans to invest US$10 billion in two computer chip manufacturing facilities with a view to create an ecosystem that lays the focus on high-end innovation.

Such initiatives have companies in the Electronic System Design & Manufacturing (“ESDM�) sector look at India as their next potential destination to cater to the domestic demand and act as a major export partner.

Here lies the perfect opportunity for India to consolidate its position in the world market as a global player and for the Electronics world to captivate on one of the biggest untapped consumer market in the world, with this being only the beginning.

Sagar Rawat Editor scigazetteofficial@gmail.com

Scigazette | 02 | January, 2017

contents 12 Cover Story

Trends& Visions

2017

Improving reality and wondering how to make that better

A glimpse into latest emerging technologies and electronics trends

Inside News

04 LTE Takes to The Driving Seat

07

Indian Fab Industry: an overview

10

Dhruv Batra Jedi Master, Team Indus

Taking India to The Moon

19

Simplify Design and Scalability of Automotive Digital Instrument Clusters

23

Virtual Reality versus Augmented Reality

25

Reliable wireless connectivity for medical and consumer wearable designs

29 New Products

17

Chinese firms a step ahead in the race for 5G edge

Chinese telecom firms have scored a point in the global race to set standards for 5G, the fifth-generation mobile communication technology that will allow consumers to download an 8-gigabit movie in seconds.

China Mobile Communications Corp, the world's largest telecom carrier by subscribersďź?with 845 million subscribers by October, beat foreign competitors in late November to lead the 5G System Architecture project, which will determine the "structure of 5G networks".

The move came shortly after polar coding, a technology backed by Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, was approved as part of the global standard for 5G. "The progress highlights Chinese firms' rising influence in the global telecommunication arena. It is a recognition of both their technological prowess as well as their brand influence," said Xiang Ligang, CEO of the telecom industry website cctime.com.

China is evolving from a follower in the 3G era to an active participant that seeks to outcompete foreign firms in the 5G era, he added.

Obama bars China's Fujian from Apple bets big on Machine buying Aixtron's U.S. Learning President Barack Obama blocked a Chinese investment fund from acquiring the U.S. business of German semiconductor equipment maker Aixtron because the deal posed a risk to American national security, the Treasury Department said on Friday.

Obama's executive order barring China's Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) from completing the acquisition of a German company with American assets was one of few such instances in which a U.S. president has blocked a transaction due to national security concerns.

His action appeared to be based on concerns about China gaining access to the secrets of producing a material called gallium nitride used in military equipment. In 2012, Obama ordered Ralls Corp, owned by China's Sany Group, to sell its interest in wind farms near sensitive U.S. naval installations in Oregon.

An Aixtron spokesman said the FGC deal would be called off if Obama took such action.

Aixtron has said scrapping the proposed deal would mean it would have to take action to balance income and costs, including potential job cuts.

Apple has revealed it is investing heavily in autonomous vehicles in a letter asking the government to make it easier to develop self-driving cars. The company is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation, Apple said in a November 22 letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offering Apple's opinion about draft regulations for the sector.

Apple looks forward to collaborating with NHTSA and other stakeholders so that the significant societal benefits of automated vehicles can be realized safely, responsibly, and expeditiously, the company's director of product integrity Steve Kenner wrote. Apple issued the letter because it is investing heavily in machine learning and autonomous systems, an Apple spokesman said in an email to AFP. There are many potential applications for these technologies, including the future of transportation, so we want to work with NHTSA to help define the best practices for the industry The company has a separate organization called "Project Titan" that is developing automotive projects.

Scigazette | 04 | January, 2017

Adopting Energy Efficient Super Critical Thermal Plants Speaking at the 26th National Energy Conservation Day 2016, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Mr. Piyush Goyal Informed the gathering about a slew of measures taken by the Government to increase energy efficiency, Mr. Goyal said that the Nation has embarked on a mission to reduce India’s carbon footprint by phasing out all inefficient thermal power plants, older than 25 years, with modern energy efficient super critical ones.

NTPC has already given the in-principle clearance to replace around 11,000 MW of its old, inefficient thermal power plants. The plants would be replaced in about five years, with an investment of around Rs. 50,000 crores, he added.

Further, the Minister informed that the Power Ministry is in talks with the Environment Ministry for clearances, which should not be a problem as it is a huge step in increasing energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. He also urged the State Governments to work in Mission-mode to modernize their 25years old thermal power plants with new super critical technology.

Mouser Receives Top Member Award at CEDA Summit in China

Mouser Electronics was honored with the prestigious Top Member Award at the summit of the Chinese Electronics Distributor Alliance (CEDA) held recently in Shenzhen. Additionally, Mouser’s Senior Vice President of EMEA and APAC Business, Mark BurrLonnon, received the Service Distribution Community Excellence Award. Burr-Lonnon serves on the executive board of CEDA.

CEDA aims to advance the value of authorized distributors in China by enhancing executive networking, cooperation between distributors and suppliers, shaping business regulations and serving as a bridge between industry and government to promote a stronger business environment. Mouser has long been a strong proponent of standards set by CEDA and the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA) to promote the value of genuine electronic components.

Daphne Tien, Mouser’s Vice President of APAC Marketing, spoke at length about the e-commerce model for authorized distributors within the electronics components industry as

well as Mouser’s unique business model. She also shared some insights into online platforms of distributors and their business models in China.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with CEDA in promoting its goals as well as advancing research and development in China,” Tien said. “At a time when some counterfeit products are penetrating the supply chain, Mouser guarantees the newest authentic products to design engineers and buyers, and supports a variety of payment options, including UnionPay. This means we can provide clients with highly efficient services and help them speed the product time to market.”

India's first ever private mission to Moon TeamIndus, a Bengaluru-based space technology company, is all set to launch its spacecraft that will land on Moon as part of its bid to win the Google Lunar XPRIZE. Indian space agency ISRO will lift the TeamIndus spacecraft on December 28, 2017.

Google Lunar XPRIZE organised a competition that calls privately funded spaceflight teams to be the first to land their robotic spacecraft on the Moon, travel 500 meters, and transmit back high-definition video and images.

The winner will get reward of about USD 20 million.

This mission will cost around USD 60 million. So far,

TeamIndus has raised USD 15 million and they aim to raise remaining funds by September-October next year.

“The total expense of the project is about USD 60 million and we have raised USD 15 million so far. We will have to raise the remaining amount by September-October next year,” TeamIndus co-founder and Director Julius Amrit said.

Scigazette | 05 | January, 2017

Qualcomm, Ericsson trial LTE for IoT The LTE-M technology was standardized earlier this year in release 13 of the cellular standard 3GPP. The trial took place using Qualcomm Technologies' test devices using an MDM9206 modem IC and over Ericsson infrastructure. The MDM9206 modem helps equipment manufacturers address cellular connectivity for low data rate IoT applications, such as smart energy and metering, building security, infrastructure, industrial control and automation, retail point of sale, asset tracking, medical, lighting and aftermarket telematics.

LTE-M (Machine Type Communication) can be rolled out on the existing 4G networks and it is complementary to a LoRa network recently installed by KPN as well as to existing machine-to-machine (M2M) use cases on conventional 4G networks, KPN said.

Where LoRa focuses on IoT use cases with a battery lifetime up to 15 years and a maximum data speed of 50 Kbps, LTE-M focuses on use cases that support data speeds up to 1 Mbps and a battery lifetime of multiple

years. Based on these characteristics, LTE-M can be positioned between LoRa, mainly sensor based applications, and existing 4G M2M, such as infotainment in cars. Typical use cases for LTE-M are payment terminals, electricity meters and fleet management.

Raspberry Pi 3 gets LTE with help of new add-on chip

Raspberry Pi 3 today has only Wi-Fi connectivity, but soon it will also be able to handle low-throughput cellular communications and let users control devices over long distances.

Altair has completed testing of its ALT1160 Category 1 LTE chip on Raspberry Pi, and is now making it available, a company representative said. That’s significant, as it will bring much-needed, long-range communications to the popular board computer.

The chip will be included in various third-party add-on LTE expansion boards and sensor modules for Raspberry Pi; otherwise, Altair will take volume orders for the chip. Each chip will cost roughly $15 to $20, though prices are coming down, said

Eran Eshed, co-founder of Altair.

Raspberry Pi is used to make gadgets, robots, drones and smart devices.

But, with Wi-Fi only, up to now it has had limited communication range.

Users will be able to tack on the Altair LTE chip module for long-distance communications, albeit at slow data speeds.

Users will, for example, be able to control robots that are miles away, or access video surveillance cameras over cellular networks.r4

Successful Maiden Flight of Rustom – II Heralding a new era in the indigenous development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), DRDO today successfully carried out the maiden flight of TAPAS 201 (RUSTOM – II), a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV. The test flight took place from Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, 250 km from Bangalore which is a newly developed flight test range for the testing of UAVs and manned aircraft.

The flight accomplished the main objectives of proving the flying platform, such as take-off, bank, level flight and landing etc.

TAPAS 201, the MALE UAV has been designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment

(ADE), the Bangalore-based premier lab of DRDO with HALBEL as the production partners.

The UAV weighing two tonnes was put into air by a dedicated team of young scientists of DRDO. It was piloted (external and internal) by the pilots from the Armed Forces. It is also the first R&D prototype UAV which has undergone certification and qualification for the first flight from the Center for Military Airworthiness & Certification (CEMILAC) and Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA).

Scigazette | 06 | January, 2017

Stefano Moioli Director Product Management Cellular u-blox

Hands up, those of you who thought the LTE (Long Term Evolution) wireless communications standard was only applicable in the telephony environment.

While it’s true that’s where it began its life, increasingly it’s finding key applications in areas far removed from that marketplace, as technology early adopters display an apparently insatiable appetite for data.

Uppermost among those application areas is automotive, where users want to employ high volumes of data while they’re out and about – and that mobility could be at considerable speed. Consider streaming video while on the move in a fast car. That’s asking a lot of a technology.

LTE

Takes to The Driving Seat

Scigazette | 07 | January, 2017

Evolution of standard The LTE standard has progressed greatly since it was first proposed in 2004 and finalized in 2008. Even at that point, the download speeds specified were far beyond those available with the second and third generation (2G and 3G) mobile technologies the specification was designed to replace. Indeed, they were way beyond the technical capabilities of the time.

Man watching streaming series in a laptop computer, lying on the bed.LTE design was also based around the notion of packet switching, rather than the circuit-switched design of its predecessors – a clear indication of the progression from an essentially telecoms-based network to one optimized for data communications. Another key difference is in the wide range of frequencies specified for LTE – this time a clear indicator of the realization of the potential for vastly increased volumes of traffic and network operators.

LTE is efficient in its use of spectrum, enabling many more users to be used on each frequency band than its predecessors.

In 2008, the 3G technologies then in use were theoretically capable of providing a download speed of 14Mbit/s. The first LTE specification set out a mobile download speed of around 100Mbit/s. Compare that with current LTE Category 4 product offerings, which are now capable of providing download speeds of around 150Mbit/s and the Category 6 products on the near horizon that will offer download speeds of 300 Mbit/s.

The next generation, LTE Advanced, which will be a true 4G standard, has been specified, with mentions of download speeds in the region of 1Gbit/s. The massive increase in download speed is a clear indication of how successful the initiative is proving. It also aims to take advantage of advanced mixed topology heterogeneous networks in which a mixture of different sized radio or microwave cells are integrated and are optimized for power and for better handover between cells for users on the move.

potential for growth, both in terms of a move to the technology itself and of data.

Investment and revenue

Demand for data

LTE service figures themselves speak volumes for the popularity of the technology. A report by SNS Research in 2015 estimated that LTE service revenues would be in the region of US$170 billion in 2015 and will grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 30% each year to 2020.

Figures from Reports n Reports in May last year put global LTE service revenue at some $500 million by 2018, up from $78 billion in 2013 and showing a CAGR of 46% over this five year period. This firm of analysts expects that most (83%) of this revenue will be realized from North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific, although it believes that there is considerable business potential in the underdeveloped markets of Africa and Asia.Ovum has released figures showing that the total number of subscriptions to LTE services topped 1 billion in the final quarter of 2015, with China accounting for by far the largest proportion of these.

Given that the LTE wireless interface is not backwardscompatible with 2G and 3G architectures, realization of those revenues obviously means that service providers will have to invest heavily in infrastructure. SNS expects that expenditure on LTE infrastructure will account for nearly $33 billion by the end of 2020 while ReportsnReports’ estimate is that by 2018, total capital expenditure globally on LTE will have reached $180 billion.

Some players are not even attempting migration, but going straight for the new technology and infrastructure. In Pakistan, following a (very brief) period of trials, Warid Telecom began rolling out its LTE network in December 2014, moving directly from 2G to LTE technology, so with no fallback to 3G technologies. This is in direct contrast to the approach taken by earlier entrants to the marketplace, such as AT&T and Verizon in the US, whose networks offer direct fallback to 3G technologies where LTE coverage falters.

Present-day users of communications systems are hungry for data. Video is particularly demanding in terms of its data requirements. In a recent survey of smartphone users, analyst IDC found that 54% of them stream video content and 27% of U.S. users purchase videos on their smartphones. The comparable figure globally for the latter category is 23%.

In 2015, Vodafone said that video streaming accounted for 48% of its data traffic, while data usage itself grew by a massive 80% in comparison with the previous 12 months.

The company says that typically when customers move from 3G to 4G, their data usage doubles. Only 13% of its European customers currently use 4G, so there is huge

In a sense, Warid’s bold move highlights a split that is becoming evident in the LTE market as the technology rolls out and develops. Certainly many early adopters are keen to develop new service offerings as well as wanting– or demonstrating the ability – to use vast quantities of data.

However, the picture is complicated by the growing existence and emergence of devices that have only a limited need to transmit small quantities of data These are devices that would operate happily over existing 2G and 3G infrastructures. However, while they have no need of the high bandwidth capability LTE offers, they will continue to be required to operate into the future, past the

Bifurcation of the market

Scigazette | 08 | January, 2017

likely ‘sell-by’ date of current cellular technologies such as GSM, CDMA and UMTS. This means that they will need the promise of continuity from the backbone technology on which they rely, so as to ensure that they can keep

LTE and IoT These machine to machine (M2M) devices, which include smart meters, asset tracking systems and alarm panels, are typical of the growing category of devices that form part of the Internet of Things (IoT) which is widely expected to represent the future of computing. LTE is one of the strands that will help to enable this technology. For the main part, these IoT devices are static rather than mobile According to a press release issued by ITU (International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICT) and based on a report from ITU and Cisco,"Machineto-machine (M2M) information flows across networks will soon greatly outstrip human-generated digital information.

ITU’s flagship regulatory report 'Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2015' identified M2M communications over mobile cellular networks as the fastest-growing ICT service in terms of traffic. ITU estimates that over one billion wireless IoT devices were shipped in 2015, up 60 per cent from Figures put out by Machina Research in May 2015 and contained in a report from Nokia:“LTE-M – Optimizing LTE for the Internet of Things“, say that of an estimated 30 billion connected devices that will be deployed by 2025, 7 billion of them will be cellular IoT (i.e. 2G, 3G and 4G technologies used for IoT but not specifically optimized for IoT) and Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) modules.The cellular network will therefore need to offer support and full coverage for a massive number of devices as well as a low cost of deployment, while the devices themselves will need to be low cost and offer long battery Realising that there is a growing requirement for LTE to support low speed, machine optimized devices, the most recent releases of the standard –12 and 13 – specify support for lower power devices in the shape of Category M or MTC: LTE for Machine Type Communications. The extension of the LTE standard enables these devices to share the spectrum and operate alongside the higher speed higher power ones for which the standard was originally Although a variety of proprietary technologies for supporting IoT and low power devices are being developed and vying for market share, LTE-M would seem to offer a more straightforward route to supporting businesses as they develop, by enabling both low and high power devices to utilize the same backbone. For the moment, Category 1 (Cat. 1) chipsets, with a maximum throughput of 10Mbit/s, are available and can be used on current LTE

implementations with no need for a system.

They are filling the gap until the LTE backbones are upgraded to cater for Cat. 0 devices, with a maximum downlink speed of 1Mbit/s and the ability to support Power Save Mode (PSM). This allows devices to go into sleep mode for hours or weeks at a time, come to life, be ‘pinged’ for data – and then sleep again until their next ‘wake’ time is Support for IoT devices will then really come into its own.

Remotely connected devices will be able to operate for up to 10 years from one AA size battery, making this a highly cost-effective solution for companies needing to monitor locations on an occasional basis. This is where the volume in the marketplace will really be seen.

About the author: Stefano has more than 10 years of international experience working in the wireless consumer and M2M telecom industry and has covered several positions in R&D, sales and marketing.

Stefano holds a Bachelor in electronic engineering with a specialization in telecommunications from the University of Trieste and a MBA from the MIB school of management of Trieste. Stefano loves to spend his free time with his two children Iacopo and Elena and playing tennis.

Scigazette | 09 | January, 2017

Indian

Fab

Industry An Overview

I

ndia is going through a phase of ‘Digital Metamorphosis’. From Internet of Things (IoT) to autonomous cars, all depend on the capacity of semiconductors to efficiently transfer data, analyze it and even act on the gathered information.

Abhishek Prasad: Six Sigma -British Standard Institute (AU-BSI)

Scigazette | 10 | January, 2017

Even the most critical infrastructure of our country is dependent on the efficient functioning of these semiconductors. With a CAGR of 29% Indian semiconductor industry is expected to grow to $400 billion by 2020.

Currently, domestic manufacturing is close to $78 billion, which means there will be a gap of $322, which can either be met by imports or by increasing the domestic production to a new level.

Clearly, India’s National Policy of Electronics is in favor of increasing domestic manufacturing and setting up state-ofart Semiconductor Wafer Manufacturing Unit popularly known as ‘fab’ is the only solution.

According to the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), nearly 200 chips are designed indigenously and a workforce of 20,000 engineers is constantly endeavoring to accomplish this gigantic task. But this is not enough, India’s fast growing Electronics System Design Manufacturing (ESDM) industry need a boost and Government of India (GoI) has committed itself to the task.

Various incentive schemes are already in operation.

But until recently only two such projects have been approved, first, is led by JP Associates Ltd. and IBM and second by STMicroelectronics NV and Silterra.

So what exactly is stopping the companies tap this huge upcoming market? Clearly, there is no one reason.

Firstly fab is an expensive venture, the cost of equipment used in manufacturing has increased exponentially over the last 40 to 50 years. On top of that because of the changing

dynamics, such facilities need to be upgraded every 3 to 4 years. Secondly, to stay competitive in the domestic market, manufacturers will have to develop state-of-art technology and sell it at a low price, which in itself is difficult to achieve.

Finally, there is a gross shortage of skilled manpower which can handle such state-of-art equipment. But this is not the complete story.

GoI allows 100% FDI in ESDM through automatic route, DeitY has launched 49 crore campaign for capacity building and skill development in ESDM sector, Infineon has partnered with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) for skill development to give a boost to domestic ESDM. National Electronics Policy provides Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPs) subsidy of 25% of capital expenditure.

All excise/CVD paid on capital equipment will be reimbursed.

The land is also readily available, 30 Electronics Manufacturing Clusters are notified and the target is to take it to 200 clusters by 2020. Public procurement will also give preference to domestically manufactured goods, the extent of such procurement will not be less than 30%.

The good news is these incentives are available to units who are willing to relocate from a foreign country. All this is a part of a plan to create an ecosystem well suited for domestic manufacturing which is innovation driven. And India’s target to achieve zero imports in electronics by 2020 is ambitious and yet achievable.

Magnetic ink to print self-healing electronics A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego has developed a magnetic ink that can be used to make self-healing batteries, electrochemical sensors and wearable, textile-based electrical circuits.

The key ingredient for the ink is microparticles oriented in a certain configuration by a magnetic field. Because of the way they're oriented, particles on both sides of a tear are magnetically attracted to one another, causing a device printed with the ink to heal itself. The devices repair tears as wide as 3 millimeters—a record in the field of selfhealing systems.

"Our work holds considerable promise for widespread practical applications for long-lasting printed electronic devices," said Joseph Wang, director of the Center for Wearable Sensors and chair of the nanoengineering department at UC San Diego.

Existing self-healing materials require an external trigger to kick start the healing process. They also take anywhere between a few minutes to several days to work. By contrast, the system developed by Wang and colleagues

doesn't require any outside catalyst to work. Damage is repaired within about 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds).

Engineers used the ink to print batteries, electrochemical sensors and wearable, textile- based electrical circuits (see video). They then set about damaging these devices by cutting them and pulling them apart to create increasingly wide gaps. Researchers repeatedly damaged the devices nine times at the same location. They also inflicted damage in four different places on the same device. The devices still healed themselves and recovered their function while losing a minimum amount of conductivity.

For example, nanoengineers printed a self-healing circuit on the sleeve of a T-shirt and connected it with an LED light and a coin battery. The researchers then cut the circuit and the fabric it was printed on. At that point, the LED turned off. But then within a few seconds it started turning back on as the two sides of the circuit came together again and healed themselves, restoring conductivity.

Scigazette | 11 | January, 2017

Trends& Visions

2017

Cover Story

A glimpse into latest emerging technologies and electronics trends

T

he technology growth story has long focused on the consumer—and that story continues. But as enterprises in every industry now rely on technology to facilitate their own transformations, the opportunities for tech companies have broadened considerably.

The race for competitive advantage has led businesses everywhere to embrace the new and the cutting-edge technology available. Many technologies are now coming into their own as their power and speed increase and the cost of delivering them goes down. These so called “exponentials,� including robotics, virtual and augmented reality (VR) (AR), 3-D printing, and artificial intelligence (AI), are opening up significant areas of opportunity.

Cognitive technologies such as computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing, and speech and pattern recognition are being embedded in software applications, imbuing big data with superior capabilities.

Machine learning shows the most immediate promise; it has the capacity to enhance a wide array of applications, particularly those involving classification, prediction, anomaly detection, and personalization.

The tremendous investment and research in all of these areas is a strong indicator that we will soon be witnessing the emergence of ecosystems and platforms that deliver a whole new level of value. One very early stage platform that is gaining considerable traction in terms of investment is blockchain, the foundation for the digital currency bitcoin.

Scigazette | 12 | January, 2017

What Will Rule 2017 Mr. Kenny Ye, GM-Global Markets, Alibaba Mobile Business Group Ÿ Content will be the king of 2017 – With the explosive growth in mobile internet, the preference will be for trending, relevant, portable, even ‘disappearing’ content available right at the fingertips. The one- sizefits-all approach no long works with more and more users seeking content that is unique, authentic and speaks to them directly. Brands will experiment with ways to maximize sharing and increase the reach of their content Ÿ Big Data will Drive Personalized, Rich and Immersive Content – The future belongs to engaging content that lasts – from text, video, imagery to infographic and GIFs and much more. While people have long been used to searching and finding information they want, 2017 will be the year when the right content will find the right person as businesses harness data insights Ÿ More Apps will integrate AI, IoT – While change has been a constant in the app market, those who have evolved with the new market dynamics, continue to do well. Apps have moved beyond the smartphone and are now essential for every smart product that you use – your smartwatch, smart car, tech-enabled homes and more. Needless to say, more and more apps will emerge with integrated AI (Artificial Intelligence) and AR (Augmented Reality) Ÿ Online marketplace is the place to be– Indian government’s latest move of demonetization has given an added fillip to everyone present in the online marketplace. India will soon go the China way with digital wallets and cash-less transactions becoming ubiquitous Ÿ Taking on the Cyber Devil – 2016 has all been about threats to the digital world. From fake news dominating latest US elections, to hacked data wrecking the Clinton campaign, it affected almost everything digital. Not to ices that will continue to excite and astonish us. The Internet of Things (IoT), while it may be overhyped on some fronts, has only just begun to reveal its promise.

We are also still in the early innings of cloud adoption, and more “anything as a service” offerings that allow usagebased consumption are likely to emerge. This development will give small-to-medium sized enterprises access to sophisticated capabilities once only available to huge multinationals, increasing demand and creating a virtuous

cycle for more products and services. Furthermore, because the success of cloud offerings relies heavily on companies’ ability to secure their environments, cyber security products and services are another area with a bright future.

What strategies are tech companies using to facilitate growth?

While opportunities abound as these exponential technologies come to market, enterprises will likely need to transform some of the ways in which they do business. The transformation of an enterprise is a complex undertaking, and the digital solutions needed by companies don’t come neatly bundled out of the box. Rather, they are combinations of hardware, software, networking, data storage, analytics, and cognitive technologies.

Furthermore, the complexity involved in designing today’s technology platforms requires deep expertise in a wide array of areas.

This is causing a historic wave of collaboration across different industries. For instance automotive companies and technology enterprises have entered into joint ventures and partnerships aimed at equipping the auto makers with self-driving functionality, services and features. Many partnerships are also focused on promulgating connected vehicle open-source platforms.

The list of these cross-industry partnerships is quite extensive.

Another important strategy technology companies are using to gain a leg up involves partnering for the purpose of advancing a particular field or building end-to-end customer solutions that harness the best of each of their assets and capabilities. A case in point is the recently launched partnership between IBM and Cisco.

Focused on growing revenues in emerging fields like AI and IoT to offset declining sales in more traditional areas, the deal leverages the cognitive and business analytics capabilities of Watson’s IoT platform and Cisco’s expertise in hyper distributed IoT networks and edge analytics.

Scigazette | 13 | January, 2017

Another example of companies working together is the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (AI), which includes companies such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook.

The partnership aims to conduct research, organize discussions, share insights, and provide thought leadership in order to advance understanding of AI technologies, including machine perception, machine learning, and automated reasoning. Companies that are open and adept at this type of teaming will be able to find a broader network of opportunities for their products and services.

Finally, over the past decade, many of the major tech players have grown rapidly into conglomerates with multiple areas of expertise. This has often placed them at a disadvantage when competing in a space that rewards agility and focus over a broad swath of products and services. The pressure to be nimble—to be able to turn on a dime—has led many of these companies to pursue a “shrink to grow” strategy. Consequently, we have seen

industry, and making sure a company has compelling offerings that fit within a larger ecosystem, will depend on several factors. One of the most significant is how quickly companies can transform their own business models to accommodate shifting customer demands.

We are seeing a rising tide of requests from enterprise customers for their technology providers to sell solutions using a pay-per-use or “flexible consumption” model. This trend began with cloud-based software-as-a-service offerings that allowed customers to move away from buying hardware and software outright and instead to purchase computer power and storage as needed. Today those models are growing in prevalence.

In fact, according to Gartner, by 2020, 80 percent of software vendors will be using a consumption-based model. Switching to such a fundamentally different business model has profound implications for how a company markets its value proposition, as well as for how it operates.

It is important not to underestimate the depth of the transition: it will change how a company trains, motivates, and compensates its sales-force; how it designs its IT infrastructure, including security features; how it handles revenue recognition and taxation; how it distributes and bills for its offerings; how it markets and brands the enterprise; and how it manages equity stakeholder expectations, especially in transition phases. The need for speed is another important consideration, and in order to maintain the competitive pace of innovation, companies

continued activity in both divestitures and acquisitions, as tech companies choose to focus on what they do best and shed the rest.

Probably one of the most well-known examples is HewlettPackard’s 2015 split into two companies—an information technology business, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and the personal computer, printer and 3-D print business, HP Inc. Since the split, HPE announced additional separations to provide greater focus for its software and enterprise services business and HP Inc. has made a number of selective acquisitions, most recently its planned acquisition of Samsung’s printer business. Becoming the best of the best in a narrow field enables these companies to take advantage of opportunities to participate in emerging technology ecosystems and also positions themselves for rapid, albeit more specialized, growth.

Successfully leveraging the huge promise for the tech

What should businesses be mindful of as they plan for growth?

They must find ways to tap a resource pool that goes beyond the boundaries of their organizations and create ecosystems that foster collaboration with entrepreneurs, startups, academia, and even competitors. The rise of the “gig economy” is making more flexible, project-based arrangements an acceptable alternative to company based employment. We also expect to see businesses become increasingly amenable to non-traditional ways of working that allow people to be productive in less structured, often untethered or mobile environments.

This is not surprising: some research indicates that employee mobility not only enhances employee satisfaction, but it leads to greater productivity. These open talent models are an acknowledgement that speed and agility can be as important as owning the source of innovative ideas—especially in light of the continual

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disruption in the technology arena by well-financed upstarts that quickly reach “unicorn” status.

Established players need to maintain constant vigilance with regard to these competitive threats, evaluating what new companies might disrupt their business models and at the same time considering how they can beat them to the punch by disrupting themselves first. Keeping a discipline on operations in the here and now while also focusing on the rapidly emerging horizon is a duality of focus that is becoming essential for success.

This ability to zoom out and then zoom in creates a sense of perspective that keeps companies on their toes. Despite the opportunities, tech companies face a number of challenges, including coping with increasingly burdensome global regulation. Each local market has its own rules governing privacy, security, and the handling of data crossing or within borders. There are also competing regional and country views regarding how an enterprise ought to be taxed and how it ought to treat incentive programs. Because the regulatory environment is unlikely to become less complex, organizations will need the tools and resources to address both new and existing rules-especially as they expand internationally.

The need for new developments to address constantly evolving and maturing cyber threats will continue to be a prominent area of focus as well. Ultimately, the warp speed with which the technology space is changing makes it nearly impossible to anticipate every new development.

But there is little doubt that technology’s integral role in nearly every aspect of business and life will keep those developments coming.

India Electronics and Semiconductor Associations (IESA) shared the 2016 update and 2017 possibilities on the electronics and semiconductors sector, along with its expectations from government on the upcoming Union Budget.

Indian Electronics Industry Update-2016

Ÿ India has become one of the most attractive

destinations for investments in the manufacturing sector. Global brands like Huawei,Tristone Flowtech Group, Tata Power, LeEco, Zopo Mobile, Panasonic Corporation, Havells India Limited, Airbus, etc. have already invested in India Ÿ 40 new mobile manufacturing units have been set up in the country, 12 mobile components and accessories units were established Ÿ The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in electronics manufacturing has reached an all-time high of Rs 123,000 crore (US$ 18.36 billion) in 2016, from Rs 11,000 crore (US$ 1.65 billion) in 2014; on the back of enabling policies of the government and its Make in India initiative.

2017 Predictions Design to manufacturing Design has been the key strength of the Indian ESDM Industry since more than a decade. In 2017, we will witness design getting converted in to manufacturing and enriching the supply chain and the overall ecosystem.

In 2017, companies will not only design products to specifications but also consider to overcome potential challenges that could occur during the manufacturing stage and will definitely move up the value chain.

Value added manufacturing It is expected that more Mobile Phone Companies will set up shops in India and it will gradually move from only assembly to value add manufacturing. Policies like MSIPS and EMCs are already in place to get benefitted from. Now with GST rolling it will be a boon to the ESDM industry.

Exploring new markets Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Israel, United States are the few countries that the government and the industry would watch out for. Partnership with these countries will be highly beneficial for the growth and up-gradation of the ESDM industry in India.

However, we believe the market for India to export electronic products will be its neighboring SAARC regions and Middle East and Africa, UAE being a major importer of Indian goods.

Companies are planning to expand their local manufacturing in India and make the country an export hub specifically to cater these markets. We may observe a similar trend starting from 2017 Startups in ESDM Startups will continue to play a major role in the domains like Internet of

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Things, ecommerce, etc. There are 21,000+ start-ups in India which are dedicatedly working in the tech space across various domains, including technology-based solutions that will transform human lives and societies; with seamless connects between the cyber and the physical worlds.

There is a huge potential for India in this booming IoT domain and the technological know-how is at par with the global standards. Recently a lot for successful startups are from Tier II and Tier III cities. We will witness more and more entrepreneurs in the ESDM space from Tier II and Tier III cities in the forthcoming year.

“2017 is expected to be a landmark year in terms of IT and its implementation in businesses. With growth drivers like Smart Cities and Digital India and disruptors such as GST, EU GDPR and demonetization redefining IT in enterprise world, the Industry give’s its take on what might be in store for the Indian Enterprise IT Landscape in the year ahead”

The past few years have seen the global IT landscape make rapid progress, rapidly improving how enterprises are run through innovations and solidification of existing technologies. Convergence of technologies and rise of third platforms has redefined how IT is seen by businesses across sectors today. Improvements and enhancements in traditional IT infrastructures and datacenters have been substituted by cloud bases SaaS, PaaS, IaaS solutions. The face of information technology is changing fast with the proliferation of internet across geographies and rise of mobility in enterprises.

Domestically, the IT landscape has moved forward in leaps and bounds, fuelled by the Government backed digitization. Initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ are enabling the enterprise world to grow at a globally unparalleled speed, at the same time catalysing the consumer and end user. A surge in Start Ups across domains, proliferation of smartphones, rise of the cloud

and the oncoming age of IoT are set to redefine how technology influences businesses.

With the rise of third platforms redefining traditional IT, CIOs and ITDMs have a plate full like never before. 2017 promises to be the year when many technologies and their significance to businesses and end users finally come to the fore. Enterprise level ICT adoption and implementation has been growing like never before and information technology is not a single topic of discussion in the boardroom anymore. With the immense promise that the incoming year holds and a bullish Indian IT Landscape, we take a look at what the Industry believes is in store for the enterprise IT world in 2017.

Enterprise IT Infrastructure The enterprise IT infrastructure has now matured into a hybrid of cloud and on premise. Cloud has been making inroads in businesses across all sectors. As enterprises move towards a data driven culture, and increased mobility across verticals, cloud based solutions are on the up. Enterprises are starting to adopt the third platform and CIOs have been finding new ways to reduce downtime and keep adapting to changing preferences of consumers.

2017 is expected to be a watershed year and the IT spending in the country is being forecast to cross USD 72Billion.

Verticals that are expected to drive this growth include the communications, media & services, banking & securities, manufacturing, healthcare and utilities.

Cloud is no longer optional for enterprises and has emerged as the preference of the massive number of start-ups in the country.

One of the key trends expected is the growing inclination of enterprises towards the public cloud which gives them more control, freedom over their data as well as protection and governance. SaaS and IaaS are expected to be the norm in 2017 and this will be the cased for businesses big and small. As enterprises look for turnkey solutions for managing storage across their hardware, software-defined storage will enable them to merge their cloud and onpremises strategies.

Another key transformation expected to take place is the increased need to have a compliant and secure infrastructure as 2017 would be the year when enterprises reevaluate their infrastructure in lieu of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All in all, organizations will be adapting to the changing global markets and the increasing adoption of cloud computing along with moving larger amounts of data in the cloud.

Scigazette | 16 | January, 2017

In-Conversation

Taking India to The Moon

T

he Google Lunar-X prize is a highly leveraged, incentivized prize competition that pushes the limits of what's possible to change the world for the better.To win the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a privately funded team must successfully place a robot on the Moon's surface that explores at least 500 metres and transmits high-definition video and images back to Earth, before the mission deadline of 31 December 2017.

In this exclusive interview Team Scigazette is in conversation with Dhruv Batra, Jedi Master, Programs, for Team Indus, the only Indian team in the competition. The team is building a privately funded spacecraft capable of soft landing on the Moon by 2017 Dhruv Batra Jedi Master, Team Indus

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Scigazette: We are certain, that this being a monstrous project requires more than just a few hands in terms of logistic or tech partners support. Any industrial or logistic association that has helped your journey be smoother?

Team Indus: There are many who have helped us enormously along the journey. Companies like Sasken Communications, L&T and Tata Communications have been great supporters.

Scigazette:The Lab2Moon contest invites the young minds to build a project, create an experiment that would help build sustainable life on the Moon. How satisfied are you with the ideas that have come in or any specific idea that caught you attention?

Team Indus: We had an overwhelming response of over 3000+ entries from across 12 countries. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality and depth of the ideas we've received. In fact the shortlisting process is all the more tougher – a good challenge to have. As the judges are currently in the process of reviewing the entries, it would be incorrect to comment on any of the ideas but we're excited with what could the experiment we're going to carry! Can't wait!

Scigazette: The first step of the GLXP is to build a Rover.

How far is Team Indus from achieving that feat?

Team Indus: Our rover is one of the most interesting elements of the Mission and we are quite proud of what we have achieved. There have been several technical feats that have been developed for the rover, in terms of how it will move around the lunar surface. We will be also carrying cameras on the rover from the French Space agency CNES. The rover will be deployed from the spacecraft once we land, will move around the lunar surface and send back high definition images form the lunar surface.

Scigazette: How crucial has been the role of ISRO in shaping up the imagination into reality and how supportive have the govt. institution been?

Team Indus: As we often say, we stand on the shoulder of the giant that ISRO is. The space agency has been a great inspiration for the country and for us. We are currently negotiating the launch contract with ISRO, but even beyond that ISRO has been a huge force. Not least in the form of the close to two dozen former ISRO scientists and engineers who believe in us and work closely with us.

Scigazette: You had mentioned earlier that funding is a major challenge. How well are you doing in that area?

Team Indus: Fortunately, we have had several backers who have supported our journey thus far, but as you can imagine, raising money for an audacious and ambitious mission like ours is never easy. Even with due consideration to frugal engineering, this is an expensive space mission and we have raised only a fraction of the total investment needed to make

this happen. Every time, people hear about us, they do tend to come forward and ask if they can participate in any manner and be a part of our journey to the moon. We are currently designing a program that will help them do just that.

Scigazette: 3 teams are now set to compete in 2017, while Team Indus has until December 31, 2016 for their launch agreements to be verified by XPRIZE in order to proceed in the competition. Is it keeping you awake and what are the major challenges that still remain unmoved?

Team Indus: We are in the final stages of negotiations with the commercial arm of ISRO and you should hear from us very soon!

When we embarked on this journey, we were well-aware that it will not be any easier and we encountered a number of challenges on multiple fronts but that again is the case with any moonshot and in our context, a literal one. Given that there isn't too much publicly available information on performing a moon landing, the initial constraint was getting the right information and chalking the way forward. We've pretty much have had to figure it out ourselves. Having said that, we are thankful that this mission is being nurtured under the expert advice of ex-ISRO scientists who have built many of India's most successful missions. We have beaten long odds to come this far, credibly demonstrating capabilities and leading the way on the international stage.

Scigazette: Team Indus is a strategic mix of science, technology, finance and media minds all aiming for the moon. What drives the Team Indus and what is the team philosophy that keeps the passion ignited?

Team Indus: Imagining, designing and building a Moon mission is certainly a multi-disciplinary project; an intersection of many different branches of science and engineering. Sure, it has been a challenge putting together a team, but a mission like this attracts some of the most passionate and committed individuals including retired ISRO scientists who have been an integral part of many Indian missions. GLXP is not so much about the prize money, but about the immense privilege for India in the field of space exploration. The fact that no Indian team was participating motivated us to come together, form a team and register for the GLXP, despite the fact we have no background in aerospace. It is all about getting space enthusiasts together and creating an opportunity for aerospace research and push the boundaries of space exploration in India.

Scigazette | 18 | January, 2017

& Scalability

Simplify Design

Automotive Digital Instrument Clusters

of

H

ighly integrated system-onchip (SoC) devices such as NXP i.MX6 application processors offer an effective approach for creating scalable platforms for complex graphicsintensive automotive applications such as instrument clusters. The combination of these SoCs with memory, communications and other peripherals needed in these applications levies significant requirements for ensuring proper voltage, current and power sequencing. For designers, the combination of these automotive SoCs with specialized power management SoCs, such as the NXP MMPF0100, can significantly simplify the design of platforms able to scale from simple instrument clusters for economy cars all the way to highperformance reconfigurable 3D systems for luxury vehicles.

Figure 1: Vehicle manufacturers are turning to customizable instrument clusters that use 2D and 3D graphics to safely present drivers with a growing wealth of information available from digital subsystems in vehicles.

In any vehicle, the dashboard instrument cluster is the driver's primary source of information about the vehicle's status. Yet, the nature of vehicle instrument displays is changing rapidly. Consumers increasingly demand the kind of digital experience in driving that they find in their home entertainment systems and carry with them in their mobile devices. Furthermore, within the vehicle itself, the rapid digitization of vehicle subsystems is significantly changing in the breadth and depth of Scigazette | 19 | January, 2017

information available to drivers.

In response to this changing environment, automotive manufacturers are moving beyond traditional analog gauges toward information-rich graphical displays. As part of that evolution, instrument clusters are evolving rapidly with the addition of color 2D and 3D graphics intended to safely provide drivers with information drawn from more sources of digital data. At the same time, manufacturers expect cost-

effective solutions for meeting a growing array of requirements for digital dashboards. These dashboards range from designs with more limited functionality in economy trims or vehicle lines to those offering highly advanced customizable displays in luxury offerings.

For developers, traditional approaches for designing these complex subsystems threaten to fall well behind growing demand. For example, conventional embedded systems designs built around general-purpose processors typically lack the required graphical performance. Furthermore, creating a design able to scale from more limited functionality to fully-realized customizable instruments can be problematic, at best. At a minimum, conventional approaches can require substantial changes in hardware to deliver the incremental functional capability required to scale a basic design to deliver high-end performance.

Inevitably, this brute-force approach toward functional enhancement results in the proliferation of highly specialized product designs with potentially incompatible code bases.

Scalable platform Designs for sophisticated instrument clusters present developers with significant challenges for delivering sophisticated graphics systems able to present complex, fast-changing information in real time. Nevertheless, even these systems typically require more conventional microcontroller functionality for handling the underlying communications and peripherals, such as audio. To balance basic system requirements with those for advanced graphics performance, automotive designers should consider augmenting more familiar MCU-based designs with specialized SoCs able to accelerate execution of graphics and high-level applications code

NXP's i.MX6 series of applications SoCs offers a particularly effective solution for automotive instrument cluster designs. Developers can, for the most part, scale an existing i.MX6-based instrument cluster design by dropping in an i.MX6 family member that best matches application requirements for cost and performance. Indeed, the i.MX 6 series is intended to serve as a scalable platform for applications that can require multiple ARM Cortex-A9 processors and integrated graphics processing units (GPUs) for high-performance graphics.

For demanding reconfigurable 3D instrument clusters, the i.MX6DualPlus and i.MX6QuadPlus families offer dual-core and quad-core performance, respectively. Along with the multiple cores running up to 1.2 GHz, these devices include 1 MB of L2 cache, optimized 64-bit DDR3 or 2-channel 32bit LPDDR2 support, as well as integrated FlexCAN, MLB busses, PCI Express and SATA-2 connectivity. In addition, these devices include LVDS, MIPI display port, MIPI camera port and HDMI v1.4 interfaces typically required in highend automotive multimedia applications.

For less-demanding applications, devices such as the i.MX6Solo offer a lower-cost option that nevertheless combines a single ARM Cortex-A9 core, graphics acceleration, 512 KB L2 cache and 1 x 32 LP-DDR2 memory interface with a full slate of connectivity options i.MX6 members offer near drop-in pin compatibility across the series.

In practice, however, a few differences in configuration stand in the way of complete drop-in scalability. For example, the i.MX6DualPlus and i.MX6QuadPlus present a few small but distinct requirements at some pins.

Quad-core systems connect VDD_ARM_IN pins to the power supply, while dual-core systems typically short those pins and the VDD_ARM23_CAP pins to ground to reduce leakage.

Quad-core system designs require placement of external capacitors at VDD_ARM23_CAP pins. Lower-end members of the family introduce a few additional differences in pin configurations. In general, these differences are relatively minor compared to the overall pin compatibility provided across family members.

Graphics acceleration

Figure 2: To meet demand for high-performance 2D and 3D graphics, automotive engineers augment conventional microcontroller-based designs with specialized SoCs such as NXP i.MX6 processors able to speed processing of application code and graphics operations. (Image source: NXP Semiconductors)

Members of the NXP i.MX6 series integrate dedicated GPUs designed to accelerate 2D and 3D graphics.

For example, the built-in GPU3D core provides a complete high-performance graphics-processing pipeline able to accelerate shading, texturing and rendering of 3D graphics used in a growing array of consumer applications including automotive instrument cluster displays and heads-up displays (Figure 3).

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Figure 3: In high-performance members of the NXP i.MX6 family, integrated 2D and 3D graphics-processing units (GPU) use pipeline processing to accelerate graphics operations. (Image source: NXP Semiconductors)

Different members of the i.MX6 series offer different levels of depth in the graphics pipeline, scaling to lowerperformance capabilities for lower-cost devices. At the high end of the family, the i.MX6DualPlus and i.MX6QuadPlus offer 2DBLT, eight-layer composition, and four shaders at 720 MHz as well as an embedded prefetch and resolve engine. In contrast, the lower-cost i.MX6Solo supports 2DBLT with a single shader at 528 MHz. Regardless of underlying processor, developers can take ready advantage of available accelerated imaging resources through a number of industry-standard graphics APIs including OpenGL for embedded systems (OpenGL ES), which is able to take advantage of the i.MX6 GPUs to accelerate 3D graphics. Similarly, the i.MX6 integrated R2D GPU is designed to accelerate OpenVG 2D vector graphics used in graphical user interfaces (GUI) and menu displays, for example.

Design environments such as those from NXP or third parties leverage these APIs to simplify software development of instrument cluster applications. In fact, developers can find software libraries and code that takes full advantage of hardware-accelerated graphics in a way that is transparent to the software engineer. For example, the i.MX 6 series GPU software development kit (SDK) contains working samples and tutorials of simple OpenGL ES 2.0 applications.

Beyond specific graphics code, third-party packages such as the Green Hills Platform for Instrument Clusters, offer comprehensive software solutions built on a scalable family of real-time operating systems (RTOSs) required to meet stringent requirements for low-latency, high-performance automotive digital-display applications.

Complex power requirements Highly integrated devices such as i.MX6 automotive SoCs help developers meet diverse requirements for scalable instrument cluster designs. Yet, in integrating so much functionality in a single device, these complex devices can present significant power requirements. Furthermore, the broad array of supporting peripherals and interfaces in these designs compounds the problem of ensuring proper power management.

In a dashboard graphics system, developers might need to combine a high-performance i.MX6Dual or i.MX6Quad processor with multiple interfaces and subsystems. These include memory, wireless connectivity, Bluetooth, GPS, audio amplifier, various sensors, camera input, and multiple communication interfaces such as USB, HDMI, SATA, LVDS and mPCIe. Of course, each circuit within the SoC and each supporting module and peripheral within the SoC-based system needs power at specific voltage and current levels.

Furthermore, each power rail running through this complex system needs to be powered up in a specific sequence to ensure proper system boot and proper activation of circuits and modules. Similarly, these circuits and components must be powered down in a specific sequence.

Any deviation from proper power-up or power-down sequences could result in excessive current during powerup, possibly with irreversible damage to the SoC's processor cores, to other SoC integrated modules, or to other components in the system as a whole. As a result, each device and power rail must be monitored for faults during initialization as well as during normal operation. In the automotive industry, in particular, power glitches due to improper initialization or unexpected power failures can quickly lower customer confidence in the product or even escalate to vehicle recalls.

For these complex SoC-based systems, power management based on conventional discrete power devices is impractical at best. Typically, even a single discrete DC-DC switching regulator requires many discrete passive devices to support programming of various parameters such as voltage output, soft-start, frequency, input/output filtering, sequencing delays, closed loop compensation, synchronization, and more. Even a basic low dropout (LDO) regulator requires multiple components for input/output, soft-start, and start-up delay programming.

With the addition of large numbers of external components, discrete power solutions can be bulky and unreliable according to classical parts-count reliability criteria. In terms of size alone, a typical 2-3 A buck regulator can occupy about 100–150 mm2 of pc-board area. A typical 200-300 mA LDO can require about 25 mm2

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of pc-board area. Because a typical SoC-based automotive dashboard design could require a half dozen LDOs and the same number of DC-DC converters, vehicle product engineers would find themselves forced to squeeze bulky power packages into dashboard designs intended to remain sleek and size-efficient.

In contrast, a power management SoC such as the NXP MMPF0100, which offers up to six DC-DC converters and six LDOs, enables developers to reduce the size of the BOM, and of the final design itself. In terms of spacesavings alone, a MMPF0100 design could fit in about 350 mm2 of pc-board area, while an equivalent discrete solution would need about 800 mm2 of pc-board real estate.

Intended to complement the i.MX6 SoC, the MMPF0100 is designed to supply multiple power rails – initialized in the required sequence – for a complete system including i.MX6 SoCs, memory, and system peripherals (Figure 4). The MMPF0100 features four buck regulators providing up to six independent outputs, one boost regulator, six general purpose LDOs, one switch/LDO combination and a DDR voltage reference to supply voltages for the i.MX6 SoC and peripheral devices.

Figure 4: Sophisticated power management SoCs such as the NXP MMPF0100 are able to deliver all the power rails to an i.MX6based system (A), powering up each rail in a specific developerprogrammed sequence (B). (Image source: NXP Semiconductors)

Designers can configure the number of independent buck regulator outputs from four to six. This flexibility allows regulator outputs to operate with higher current capability or to operate as independent outputs for applications that require lower current but more voltage rails. The device's buck regulators can meet supply requirements for the i.MX6 processor cores as well as other low voltage circuits such as IO and memory. Furthermore, built-in dynamic voltage scaling provides controlled supply rail adjustments for the processor cores and other circuitry.

Designed for maximum flexibility, the MMPF0100 provides a series of registers that control the operation of each power device on the SoC (Figure 5). Engineers set the voltage, sequence and other operating parameters by loading the device's on-chip one-time programmable (OTP)

memory or by using a special "try-before-buy" mode for prototyping and testing device configuration before OTP memory loading.

Figure 5: A sophisticated power management SoC such as the NXP MMPF0100 provides dedicated registers (sample shown at top) for simplified programming (bottom) of on-chip power modules.

Conclusion By integrating ARM Cortex-A9 cores with dedicated GPUs, the NXP i.MX6 series of automotive application SoCs addresses a growing need for high-performance solutions for graphics-intensive instrument cluster designs. At the same time, these designs present increasingly complex power requirements that limit the effectiveness of conventional discrete power solutions. By combining an i.MX6 SoC with the NXP MMPF0100 power management SoC, developers can rapidly create a highly effective platform for automotive instrument clusters. Furthermore, the range of performance and near drop-in pin compatibility of i.MX6 family members lets developers more easily scale a design from an entry-level system all the way up to a high-performance 3D solution. As a result, developers can limit proliferation of multiple designs and more easily maintain code compatibility across varied product offerings.

Scigazette | 22 | January, 2017

Virtual Reality versus Augmented Reality

Todd Richmond Senior IEEE member

Although virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have existed in some form for decades, only recently have they garnered mainstream attention.

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There are 3 different “realities” to the world. First is physical reality. That is what we're born into - the natural world. There is no pause button, the laws of physics are obeyed, things have mass, etc. Then there is augmented reality. In that case, digital objects/information enters your physical world - but you still maintain contact with the physical world with your senses. Typically the information would be displayed on goggles/glasses, projection, or some other means. Virtual reality is when you give up one or more of your senses to a digital/synthetic world. Right now that is done via head mount display, and you can't see your real-time physical world. To me it doesn't matter how the content was created - 360 video or game engine - it is whether or not you have lost contact with your physical world with one or more of your senses (usually visual).

Perspective from a consumer point of view When someone asks which one is more suited and better for the consumers between AR, VR, I would say that both have different strengths and weaknesses. AR is good for providing more information about the world around you, or bringing some sort of synthetic experience to your space. In the workplace AR will have a lot of applications.

You can get more information based on your location or the task you’re performing. VR for the near-term will be more for entertainment (games, “movies”, etc), but it already has applications in health care and other fields.

We’ve been using VR experiences to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in returning soldiers, and for stroke rehabilitation and physical therapy. VR will likely see significant further use in healthcare (for pain treatment, patient information, physician training), education, and pretty much every other field AR and VR are “immersive mediums”. And like other communication/collaboration/experiential mediums (radio, tv/film, mobile), they will impact all aspects of society. The

danger is that like any technology, it can be used for positive outcomes (healthcare, education, training) or for profits (the ultimate advertising platforms).

Virtual and Augmented Reality working together It is not always virtual reality vs. augmented reality– they do not always operate independently of one another, and in fact are often blended together to generate an even more immersing experience which we refer to as “mixed reality” (MxR). For example, haptic feedback-which is the vibration and sensation added to interaction with graphicsis considered an augmentation. However, it is commonly used within a virtual reality setting in order to make the experience more lifelike though touch. These systems can be combined with real-world objects and environments to create compelling hybrid mixed realities.

Virtual reality and augmented reality are good examples of experiences and interactions fueled by the want to become immersed in a simulated land for entertainment, or to add a new dimension of interaction between digital devices and the real world. Alone or blended together, they are certainly opening up worlds-both real and virtual alike.

Scigazette | 24 | January, 2017

Paul Gough Principal Corporate Strategy u-blox

Reliable wireless connectivity for medical and consumer wearable designs As the market for trendy smartphones heads towards maturity, the next consumer “must have� appears to be a wearable device. Often designed for use with a smartphone, using its short and long-range gateway connectivity capabilities to cloud-based applications, the demand for wearables is forecast to grow significantly.

The term wearable is a broad classification that comprises smartwatches, Bluetooth headsets, wristbands, chest straps, sports watches, smart garments and head mounted displays such as those used for gaming. According to a recent report from Gartner, 274.6 million wearable devices will be sold in 2016, an 18.4% increase from 2015, and will generate revenue of $28.7 billion, of which $11.5 billion will be from smartwatches.

Of the forecast 274.6 million devices to be sold in 2016 the largest unit sales are forecast as Bluetooth headsets (128.5 m), smartwatches (50.4 m) and wristbands (35 m). While Apple has set the smartwatch benchmark with the launch of its Apple Watch, there is also an increasingly strong

growth from fitness wearables such as sports watches, fitness bands, and vital signs monitors that are used by runners, cyclists and water sports enthusiasts.

Fig 1 – Forecast for Wearable Devices Worldwide, source Gartner

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According to Gartner, this particular category is set to maintain its average retail price over the next years thanks to the special application-specific user interfaces used, the need for environmental durability and the continued advances of sensors and analytics. Keen to offer a broader set of functionality that competes with those of a smartphone, such as mobile payments, the wristband manufacturers are working hard to take market share away from the smartwatch sector.

These manufacturers are also keen to develop the premium paid-for cloud-based services that analyze the data generated by the device. Another application of the fitness band and chest strap sectors is those devices used by wellness programs. Initially driven by health initiatives established in the United States, the positive link between an individual’s activity levels and general health is gaining popularity with health professionals around the world.

Many of these programmes pay the individual for maintaining a regular exercise regime as opposed to the future high costs of providing health care resulting from lack of exercise.

One of the key requirements for any wearable device is that of connectivity. The popular methods include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee and cellular, each having their merits.

When faced with developing, for example, a new fitness band the engineer needs to think about how much data will need to be transferred, how frequently and over what range it would typically need to be sent.

Pretty much for every application there will be a trade off between range, data rate and use case to be considered.

Use case questions such as, will the fitness band communicate to a smartphone that then collects data and forwards it to the cloud, and will the smartphone application perform local analysis of the data or will that be done in the cloud, all have an impact.

Wearable devices will always be battery powered, so this will also influence which connectivity method is used.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is designed for low power requirement and is ideal for sending relatively small amounts of data. Virtually any smartphone can support this method of communication. However, if a higher quantity of

data, say a few Mbytes needs to be transmitted then the designer might best consider using Bluetooth Classic or WiFi. Then the consideration of range needs to be taken into account. BLE typically can communicate over 30 meters in line of sight.

For the fitness band example it will be assumed that the wearer will also have their smartphone with them so distance is not an issue. However, some wearable applications will dictate the use of cellular communication since independence and reliance on other communication methods are needed.

An example might be the use of tracking bands used for workers in isolated locations, so called lone-workers. Other such examples include child and pet trackers that give locational data in near real time. An example of a module that provides cellular connectivity is the SARA-U2 from ublox. This miniature LGA-sized package measures just 16 x 26 x 3 mm and weighs under 3 g making it ideal of use in space constrained wearable designs. It offers high speed 5.76 Mb/s (HSUPA) and 7.2 Mb/s HSDPA cellular data rates but still manages to have a low idle mode current consumption down to 0.9 mA

Figure 2 – SARA-U2 module from u-blox provides cellular connectivity in space constrained wearable designs

In addition to connectivity many wearable devices also need to track and record the wearer’s location. Sports performance monitors and cycling watches use this to overlay the wearer’s heart rate to the actual latitude, longitude and elevation.

Incorporating positional capabilities into the design can be achieved in one of two ways.

The most obvious one is through the use of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver which naturally, for any wearable application, needs to be the smallest and most power efficient means possible. The EVA-M8M

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is an example of a 43pin LGA packaged GNSS module that would suit use in any wearable design. Measuring 7 x 7 x 1.1 mm this surface mount device weighs just 0.13 g and only consumes up to 25 mA in full continuous operation but down to as low as 5.5 mA in the power save mode, where the GNSS data is updated every second.

Fig 3: Block diagram of the EVA-M8M highlighting the comprehensive capabilities squeezed into such a small package.

Like any GNSS system achieving a reliable position “fix” is reliant on the antenna being able to “see” the satellite.

Achieving this indoors or where the satellite signals have been reflected by large buildings, such as in dense city centres or in any area of marginal signal conditions represents a major challenge.

Some wearable devices might need reliable indoor reception more than others, for example, the lone worker application mentioned earlier. Should this be a design requirement, and the primary communications method is through cellular means then a mobile network-based positioning approach can complement the GNSS data. By maintaining a database of the positions of cellular network towers a cellular service, such as that of CellLocate from ublox – Figure 4 – can estimate a coarse location of the device based on previous observations from other CellLocate-enabled modules.

Figure 4 – Block diagram of mobile network positioning technology

In meeting a wearable design challenge what are the key steps an engineer needs to review before commencing development? One of the first steps in this process will be a through understanding of the device requirements. What will the wearable application monitor, what sensors need to be incorporated and what are the potential use cases?

Reviewing the use cases is a crucial aspect since it will highlight the key factors such as product size, available space envelope and the duty cycle expectations.

These will shape the space available for a battery, and the direct impact on the battery capacity that will of course have a direct correlation to the time between charge cycles and operational duty cycle. The various use case scenarios will also identify the type of communications required.

Does it need to use a smartphone as a gateway to a cloud application or will it communicate directly using its own cellular data connection. An increasingly important consideration for many Internet of Things (IoT) devices is the ability for the device firmware to be updated over the air (OTA) rather than requiring user intervention to download new device images to a PC from the manufacturers site and upload to the wearable device. The specification of the host processor and the amount of memory needed to achieve OTA might need careful review should this be the case.

Most wearable devices are also likely to experience the same environmental influences as the wearer. Rain, moisture, dust, and wide temperature variances all need to be taken into consideration in how the product enclosure is designed. Will it require an ingress protection (IP) rating in order to satisfy the marketing specification together with balancing these factors with the experience for the user.

Ending up with a wearable device that the user finds uncomfortable to wear due to its size, weight and shape are all critical factors for the future success of the product.

The engineer needs to look not only at the electrical specifications of the components selected but their physical attributes too. As highlighted above the SARA-U2 cellular module and the EVA-M8M GNSS module together weigh just 3.13 grams making their combination ideal for any wearable design.

The marketing requirements analysis of any product will also estimate the anticipated volumes possible. These will shape a number of production decisions and greatly influence the overall BOM goal. From the connectivity aspects this might prompt many engineers to review whether a discrete design is better than using a module.

The difference of cost against price is a hard-learnt lesson.

The BOM for a discrete approach might be slightly cheaper but factor in the test and certification costs then there is little difference. Being able to put a module that is pre-

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certified to most worldwide wireless regulatory bodies on a PCB not knowing where the device might be sold is a huge timesaver. Also, RF design is a specialist skill and requires equally specialist test equipment and facilitates. Having to spend many weeks and potential PCB redesign due to encountering EMI problems resulting from a poor track layout would negate all the cost benefits of a discrete design.

Making the available power budget last as long as possible is a skill that many embedded engineers know through trial and error. When selecting connectivity and GNSS modules for use in a wearable design engineers need to carefully review the module’s technical documentation for the methods that can both keep power consumption to a minimum while not impacting the device’s responsiveness, particularly that concerned with user interaction.

Most microcontrollers and modules available today will offer several different power saving modes and the engineers needs to diligently review these to find the scheme best suited to the application needs. Typically such modes will selectively turn on or off parts of the module’s functions. For example, the u-blox EVA-M8M uses a power save mode to reduce system power consumption by turning parts of the GNSS receiver on and off. This process is illustrated in the state diagram shown in Figure 5.

inactive where most parts of the receiver are switch off. By taking full advantage of these power saving modes in the GNSS module, and similar methods available within the connectivity module, will considerably enhance the battery life of the wearable device and the user experience.

Ultimately all these factors will determine the product’s commercial success and serve to reinforce the manufacturer’s brand reputation.

About the author: Paul has over 25 years of experience in managing research, developing new concepts and commercializing newtechnologies and applications. His areas of focus include leading edge technologies, GPS, Geotagging and Semiconductors.

Paul was an early pioneer of wearable technology and believes in the concept of “marrying” electronics and clothes!

Figure 5 – Power saving mode state diagram of u-blox EVA-M8M GNSS module

The power saving mode is based around five different states defined as inactive (awaiting next fix and next search), acquisition, tracking and power optimized tracking. The power consumption profiles differ with each state with the acquisition consuming most power down to Scigazette | 28 | January, 2017

Barracuda Offers Next-Gen Firewall for Google Cloud Platform Customers Barracuda NextGen Firewall GivesGoogle Cloud Platform Customers Access to Centrally Managed, Application and User-Aware Advanced Threat Protection Barracuda recently announced that its NextGen Firewall is now available for customers using Google Cloud Platform and can be purchased from Barracuda via the BYOL model.

Barracuda NextGen Firewall – which is available directly on AWS Marketplace, Microsoft Azure, and now Google Cloud Platform– provides flexible remote access, application visibility, user awareness, and highly granular security policy management to customers looking to securely leverage cloud platforms.

Quotes:

“With the launch of our Barracuda NextGen Firewall for Google Cloud Platform, we are broadening access to our security innovations built for cloud environments,” - Nicole Napiltonia, Vice President, Alliances at Barracuda.

“The Barracuda NextGen Firewall on Google Cloud Platform helped us to secure remote connectivity in Google Cloud – helping our business to stay protected, while still taking advantage of the flexibility and agility of using a public cloud infrastructure for our distributed networks,” Timo Schilling, an early customer of the Barracuda NextGen Firewall on Google Cloud Platform.

For more information about Barracuda products in AWS Marketplace, please visit cuda.co/aws.

Expanding the range of drones with the “DV WING”

Industry's lowest profile LED lighting module connectors from Hirose

DRONE VOLT, the French professional drone manufacturer is launching the “DV WING”. This flying wing drone is dedicated to precision agriculture and construction work and will enrich the company’s range of professional drones. “DV WING” is a fixed-wing unit equipped with an 18.2 MP sensor and uses algorithms enabling it to obtain aerial imagery and accurate data for missions such as photogrammetry, map analysis for farming areas and forests, and measurements for road construction.

Compact and very light at just 940 grams, the “DV WING” is easy to use and can be launched by hand.

“The DRONE VOLT FACTORY product range was missing a fixed wing model; the “DV WING” supplements our offering in a promising growth market”, says Dimitri Batsis, Chairman of DRONE VOLT. Technical specifications: • Flight time: around 85 minutes • Size: 90cm wingspan • Equipped with an 18.2 MP high resolution camera • Stabilisation system • Radio range between 2 and 3 km • Weight: 940 grams • Speed: 50 km/h • Available: December 2016 Find More information on www.dronevolt.com

Space saving KN27 Series LED lighting module connector features a strip & poke design that is well suited for replacing traditional terminal blocks Hirose has launched an easy to use, tool-less strip & poke connector ideal for LED lighting module applications. With a height of only 4.2mm, the KN27 Series combines a space saving design of 3.9mm width (for single contact) and 11.85mm length – all using a standard industry footprint. In addition, the smaller KN27 Series offers a higher current rating of up to 9A. The KN27 Series connector’s strip & poke design eliminates the need to screw down the connection and check for loosened terminal block screws, which offers a more reliable termination that reduces installation variation, time, and cost.

“Hirose has raised the bar by lowering the height of LED lighting module connectors,” said Rick van Weezel, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Hirose Electric USA. “The KN27 Series combines one of the industry s lowest profile connector with a 2-point contact system for maximum reliability in a miniature package.”

For more information about Hirose’s LED lighting connector offering, go to https://www.hirose.com/product/en/products/KN27/

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New µModule Isolator delivers more than 100mA via two Adjustable Power Rails Linear Technology introduces the LTM2887, a 6-channel SPI/Digital or I²C μModule isolator with dual rail regulated power that targets low voltage components, including newer DSPs and microprocessors.

Isolated SPI/Digital or I²C Interface with Two High Current Rails Two well-regulated adjustable supply rails (up to 5V) deliver more than 100mA of load current over the isolation barrier, with up to 62% efficiency. The voltages may be adjusted as low as 0.6V for the

auxiliary supply, while the isolated logic supply may be as low as 1.8V for SPI interfaces. Each supply provides a precise current limit adjustment pin and the ability to adjust the voltage using external resistors.

In industrial system applications, ground potentials can vary widely, often exceeding the tolerable range, interrupting communications or even destroying components. The LTM2887 breaks ground loops by electrically isolating the logic level interface on

each side of an internal isolation barrier. This inductively coupled barrier withstands very large ground differential voltages up to 2,500VRMS. The LTM2887 is available in commercial, industrial and automotive versions.

Please visit www.linear.com/isolators for more information.

COSEC ARC Io800 8 Port Input/output Controller COSEC ARC IO800 is an input and output controller to control multiple inputs and outputs of third party devices to perform multiple applications.

Features: •Eight Supervised InputPorts •Eight Form C Dry Contact RelaysOutput Ports •Power over Ethernet (PoE) and RS-485

• LED Indication for Devices and Network Status Applications: • Elevator Access Control • Fire Alarm and Video Surveillance Integration • Integration with Automation, Siren and other Devices Contact: MATRIX COMSEC, 394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara +91 93744 74302, More@MatrixComSec.com www.MatrixSecuSol.com

Mouser Stocks Bluetooth 5-Enabled Dev Kit Mouser Electronics is stocking the nRF52840 Preview Development Kit (nRF52840-PDK) from Nordic Semiconductor.

The nRF52840-PDK is a versatile single board development kit for evaluating the nRF52840 system-on-chip (SoC), a proprietary wireless connectivity solution that supports several protocols, including the recently released Bluetooth 5 specification.

The Nordic nRF52840 Preview Development Kit, enables developers to evaluate wireless connectivity designs based on the onboard nRF52840 SoC. The kit includes four user-programmable buttons and

LEDs, is hardware compatible with the Arduino Uno R3-based shields, and features connector pins for all inputs and outputs (I/O) and interfaces, including a dedicated connector for the included external NFC antenna.

The nRF52840 SoC builds on the architecture of Nordic Semiconductor’s existing nRF52 Series of SoCs which support complex Bluetooth low energy and other lowpower wireless applications.

While the nRF52840-PDK complies with the Bluetooth 5 specification, which, coupled with increased maximum output power, enables the nRF52840 SoC to deliver Bluetooth

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low energy wireless connectivity with up to four times the range or up to twice the raw data bandwidth (2 Mbps) compared to Bluetooth low energy implementation of Bluetooth 4.2.

Visit http://www.mouser.com/new/nordicsemicon ductor/nordic-nRF52840-dev-kit/ for more information.

First Battery Management Solutions for Li-ion Batteries Renesas Electronics Delivers First Battery Management IC Solutions with Integrated Microcontroller and Large Current Support in Response to Accelerated Adoption of Lithium-Ion Batteries in Industrial Equipment.

Image description: Supports Up to Ten Cells with a Maximum Capacity of 50 V and Simplify Safe Battery Management with Extensive Support Tools Renesas Electronics announced two new battery management IC solutions for lithium-ion (Li-ion) rechargeable batteries used in industrial

equipment, such as electric power tools and E-bikes (bicycles incorporating electric motors). The solutions based on the RAJ240090, supporting three to eight cells, and RAJ240100, supporting three to ten cells, simplify the design of industrial battery management systems, providing a high degree of safety.

The RAJ240090 and RAJ240100 have built-in safety features to protect Liion batteries from catastrophic failure.

In addition, Renesas offers design support tools, which enable the rapid development of battery management systems.

Key features: • Integrated microcontroller (MCU) • Rich design support tools • Maintenance of high safety level Refer to the separate sheet (PDF: 94 KB) for product specifications of the RAJ240090 and the RAJ240100 in terms of Ics.

SST Sensing develops Optomax Digital series of liquid level switches IR-Based Liquid Level Switches Deliver Low Power Operation, Compact Design & Attractive Price Points Drawing on its expertise in fluid sensor technology, SST Sensing Ltd. has developed the Optomax Digital series of liquid level switches. These highly cost-effective and simple-to-use devices have the capacity to detect almost any liquid type, whether oil or water based. Each unit incorporates an infra-red (IR) LED emitter, a phototransistor and a microcontroller within a streamlined housing (which can be as small as 22.7mm in length and 12mm in diameter) well suited to space constrained settings.

As they rely on solid state electronics, rather than the conventional mechanical technology of float switches, the members of the Optomax series are not prone to jamming

or wear and tear – resulting in long, maintenance-free operational lifespans.

Furthermore, unlike other optically based devices on the market, the performance of these liquid level switches is not affected by ambient light.

Thanks to advanced optical designs and SST Sensing’s propriety signal conditioning algorithms. Among the multitude of application possibilities of the Optomax series, few of the applications are fuel/industrial chemical tanks, hydraulic systems in heavy machinery, etc.

Tiny Nano-Power OpAmp from STMicro Boosts Sensing Accuracy, Consumes NegligibleSpace and Power With its tiny 1.2mm x 1.3mm outline and typical current of only 900nA, the TSU111 nano-power opamp from STMicroelectronics helps cut the size and energy needs of analog circuits to the bare minimum in medical monitors, wearable electronics, gas detectors, pH sensors, infrared motionsensors,and payment tags.

The TSU111’s extremely low operating

current is on par with the leakage current of some low-cost capacitors, and would take over 25 years to discharge a 220mAh CR2032 cell.

Hence the opamp can be designed-in with negligible impact on overall system energy management.

At the same time, the TSU111 outperforms other nano-power opamps with its input-offset voltage of 150uV and 0.1-10Hz noise of 3.6µVp-p that ensure high accuracy in

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signal-conditioning circuits.

In addition, the superior gainbandwidth product (GBWP) of 11.5kHz and the rail-to-rail input stage enable monitoring of environmental or biological signals. The very low input bias current of 10pA helps minimize the effects of parasitic currents in sensing devices like gas detectors or photodiodes.

For further information please visit www.st.com/tsu111-pr