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Making A&D India T
he Indian Aerospace and Defense market is a standout amongst the most rewarding markets on the planet. The Indian Government burns through 40% of the safeguard spending plan on capital securing, and has set an objective of making the Indian flight showcase the third biggest on the planet by 2020.
The aerospace and defense (A&D) industry is positioned for strong, global growth. What is in store for large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as well as small- to mid-sized A&D companies in 2019? Explores the factors driving growth in both the commercial aerospace and defense sectors in Global Aerospace and Defense
In 2018, the global aerospace and defense (A&D) industry recuperated and experienced a solid year as passenger travel demand strengthened and global military expenditure continued to rise. The industry is expected to continue its growth trajectory in 2019, led by growing commercial aircraft production and strong defense spending.
The size of the opportunity is huge. The government is looking at achieving a turnover of Rs 1.7 trillion in military goods and services by 2025 and the SP model is envisaged to capitalise this opportunity and contribute to Make in India programme.
India's defence sector has been growing at a modest pace for the past few years. Modernisation of the armed forces and indigenisation of manufacturing have emerged as focus areas. The segment is receiving the much-needed push under the Make in India programme. Defence production in India is gradually heading towards private sector participation. Between 2015-16 and 2018-19 (April-October), out of a total 188 contracts, 121 contracts have been signed with Indian vendors including DPSUs/PSUs/OFB and private vendors for capital procurement of defence equipment. The equipment to be procured includes Helicopters, Naval vessels, radars, ballistic helmets, artillery guns, simulators, missiles, bulletproof jackets, electronic fuzes and ammunition.
M&A activity to remain strong as pressure on suppliers to reduce costs and increase production rates continues.
This issue we highlight on the Indian A&D sector primarily to help our readers understand the ground report of this billion-dollar industry.
More interesting reading taste buds inside. We sincerely hope you enjoy reading the September issue of TimesTech.
Jitendra K Sagar @JitendraSagar15
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04 September 2019
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22 Lighting Smart Connected Lighting and the IoT
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26 Security Overcoming Security Challenges Impacting Multi-Cloud Environments
28 In Focus Supercapacitor & The Evolution Of Electronic Devices
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Contributing Authors Varanasi Pavan Kumar | Rohde & Schwarz Genis Sanchez | VIAVI EMEA Devendra Kamtekar | DIGISOL Systems Paul Golata | Mouser Electronics Rajesh Maurya | Fortinet Abhishek Shukla | Saison Components Venkat Srinivasan | Extentia John Coletti | AXA XL
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34 Security THE PRETENDERS, Hackers target companies, posing as CEOs and other C-level Executives
36 New Products 38 T&M
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Tech News
Govt. Minister Calls for Industry Investments for 5G Rollout in India India’s Minister of State for Communications, Sanjay Dhotre has reportedly said that there is a need for robust industry investment in 5G innovation, startups, and creation of 5G products that have the potential to create India-focused patents, reported Inc42. Dhotre further stated that the government is doing its part to improve ease of doing business in the telecom sector and to ensure fair competition in the private sector. But the states at their level also need to make 5G a priority since this will be the infrastructure of the future. GSMA a trade body which represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide, has predicted India to have 88 Mn 5G connections by 2025, which is around 7 per cent of the country’s total telecom connections. “This will leave India trailing regional
peers such as China, which is set to see almost 30 per cent of its total connections base on 5G by 2025, making it by some way the largest 5G market in the world,” GSMA intelligence report noted. Telecom companies are awaiting the Indian government’s approval on spectrum allotment. Spectrum allocation in India is being done through auction process and the government is yet to auction the spectrum 3.3K – 3.6K MHz bands. The spectrum band (3.5 GHz spectrum) is expected to be the first band to be globally accepted for 5G deployment. According to GSMA, TRAI has given its recommendations on 5G spectrum prices, and Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has planned spectrum auctions for the second half of 2019. The GSMA report has noted that the
telecom companies Bharti Airtel and Huawei have successfully conducted India’s first 5G network trial under a test setup at Airtel’s network experience centre in Manesar, Gurgaon. Further, multiple telecom companies such as Vodafone, Samsung, Jio, and the government-owned BSNL, are said to be in talks for conducting 5G trials soon. According to the National Digital Communications Policy 2018, India currently has approximately 1.5 Mn kilometres of optical fibre cable (OFC), and less than one-fourth of the towers are fibre-connected.
Tata Motors Partners with Tata Dark Cloud Prevails over Power to Set Up EV Charging Infra India's Plan for AI Mission Tata Motors announced a partnership with another group company Tata Power to set up public charging stations at key locations in five cities. The aim is to address the concern of a lack of public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. To be operated by Tata Power, the companies plan to set up 300 charging stations across Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad by the end of the fiscal year 2019-20. The stations will be commercially available to the users of electric vehicles of all makes but Tata Motors EV users will attract lower tariff, the companies said in a joint statement. While the first 50 stations will adhere to Bharat Standard, which supports slow charging up to 15kW capacity, the remaining chargers will adhere to the European CCS2 (Combined Charging System 2) standard which supports direct current fast charging of up to 50kW. Guenter Butschek, managing director and chief executive of Tata Motors said to Economic Times that the company remains committed to the sustainable mobility mission and will continue to work towards bringing aspirational e-mobility solutions for the customers. The news daily stated that Tata Power’s current EV infrastructure presence in Mumbai is 42 charging points and its mobility infrastructure footprint is in multiple cities including Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi with a total of 85 charging points set up across various usage scenarios.
08 September 2019
The government’s premier think tank Niti Aayog and the MeitY are debating over the creation of an artificial intelligence mission. In an inter-ministerial meeting held earlier this month, MeitY officials verbally raised concerns over the many overlaps between Niti Aayog’s 7,000-crore AI road map, and its own work in the area, a government official familiar with the development told Economic Times. A top Niti Aayog official informed the News Daily that the AI mission could not be the monopoly of a single ministry. According to the person, it should be a national movement and all departments should adopt machine learning (ML) and AI while ensuring there is no duplication of work. Niti Aayog’s roadmap includes setting up five centres of research excellence, 20 institutional centres for transformational AI and a cloud computing platform called AIRAWAT. The think tank, which has got approval from the finance ministry’s expenditure finance committee (EFC) for its proposal, will take it to the Union Cabinet, the Niti Aayog official added. MeitY had opposed Niti Aayog’s role in developing AI several times in the past. MeitY has sent a separate Rs 400-crore proposal, on setting up a national AI program, to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) for approval. Various analysts and academia stalwarts are of the opinion that the Indian industry should take the lead to invest in AI. However, it is a matter of time now to see how things take shape amidst the growing issue between the two leading bodies of the country.
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NTPC Plans to Set up Solar Power Park in Rajasthan India’s largest power generation company is planning to set up large-scale solar power parks in the western part of the country. NTPC chairman and managing director recently told that his company is looking out for locations to set up solar power parks in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. While the size of the solar park planned in Gujarat has been finalized, the company is yet to finalize the project size in Rajasthan. NTPC is expected to set up a 5-gigawatt solar power park in the district of Kutch, Gujarat. The project shall entail a total investment of Rs 20,000 crore (~US$2.8 billion), and NTPC plans to partner with other companies to implement the project. Gujarat, as well as Rajasthan, are very wise choices for such large solar power parks by NTPC Limited. Both states are pioneers in the development of solar power and successive governments have been very supportive of the sector. Additionally, with several gigawatts of renewable energy capacity already operational in both the state the necessary power evacuation infrastructure is already in place with more expected to be commissioned in the next few years,
according to the company. These solar power parks are part of the NTPC’s Corporate Plan 2032, which aims to have 28.5 per cent of the company’s installed capacity based on renewable energy sources by 2032. To achieve this goal, NTPC has set a target to have 30 gigawatts of operational solar power capacity, 5 gigawatts of hydropower, and 2 gigawatts based on other renewable energy technologies by 2032.
GOI appoints Dr. Ajay Kumar as Glenn Smith of Mouser Electronics the new Secretary of Defense has been named the top CEO of 2019 The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet appointed the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense as the Secretary of the Department of Defense. Ajay Kumar, Secretary of Defense Department, has approved the appointment of Ministry of Defense on completion of the tenure of the current Secretary, Sanjay Mitra. According to an order issued by the Ministry of Defense, Defense Secretary Sanjay Mitra was given a three-month extension in service in the month of May 2019. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the extension of Mitra till August 23, 2019, after which Dr. Ajay Kumar will assume the new role. Kumar has held various positions in both the Government of India and the Government of Kerala. He has spent three decades of his service with the Kerala State Government where he has headed three different departments. Kumar was appointed as the Union Defense Production Secretary by the Appointments Committee of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet in November 2017, he assumed office on 1 December 2017. Currently, as the Secretary of Defense Production of India, Ajay Kumar Ships, R&D, takes great interest in innovation in India and building an ecosystem to help build Indian firms in the global defense market. His work is a major boost to the Make in India initiative to make India self-reliant by 2025 in many weapon systems.
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Glenn Smith, President and CEO of Mouser Electronics, has been named 2019’s Top Public CEO by Fort Worth Business Press. The prestigious award was presented at a luncheon August 28 at Fort Worth’s River Crest Country Club.
Smith has been a recognized leader in the North Texas business community since 2004, when he was elevated to his position as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mouser Electronics, a global industry leader that inspires innovation by offering the widest and newest selection of semiconductors and electronic components. While still a college student, Smith joined the company as a part-time warehouse employee in 1973 when Mouser was essentially a startup operation in San Diego, Calif. Smith rose through the ranks, working in nearly all departments in multiple management roles. Smith’s leadership and tenure has seen Mouser grow from a small distribution company to one of the world’s largest electronic component distributors, with more than 2,500 employees in 26 offices worldwide and nearly $2 billion in annual sales. Acquired in 2000 by Fort Worth-based TTI, Inc., Mouser is one of the TTI family of companies and an industry leader in the successful portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway companies. Smith learned early on about the importance of hard work, attention to detail and giving the customer a great experience. That focus remains key to the company’s mission.
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Trends Outlook of India By 2025, India's is expected to become the "third largest" aviation market and supply about 478 million passengers by 2036 There could be a demand for more than 2,000 new aircraft in India over the next two decades, which would be dominated by single-aisle aircraft. The 2018-19 defence budget for the country stood at US$ 43.8 billion, a 7.7 percent increase from the 2017-18 budget.
10 September 2019
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& In 2018, the global aerospace and defense (A&D) industry recuperated and experienced a solid year as passenger travel demand strengthened and global military expenditure continued to rise. In 2019, the A&D growth is led by growing commercial aircraft production and strong defense spending. In the commercial aerospace sector, aircraft order backlog remains at an all-time high2 as demand for nextgeneration, fuel-efficient aircraft continues to surge with the rise in oil prices. India has the third-largest armed forces in the world, and its defence budget is about 1.90% of its GDP. India is one of the largest importers of conventional defence
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equipment and spends about 40% of its total defence budget on capital acquisitions. About 70% of its defence requirements are met through imports. HAL has played a major role in the Defence aviation of India through design, manufacture and overhaul of fighters, trainers, helicopters, transport aircraft, engines, avionics and system equipment. HAL is now ranked 34th in the list of world's top 100 defence companies. HAL is a major partner for the Space programmes of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and manufactures structures and assemblies for the launch vehicles and satellites at its dedicated Aerospace Division in Bangalore.
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Cover Story
The civil aviation sector in India is growing rapidly. It has recorded annual growth of over 41% in passenger traffic during in the last two years. In fact, it has contributed significantly to the growth of international civil aviation sector. The rapid growth of civil aviation has put extreme pressure on the existing civil aviation infrastructure. There are a number of government and industry initiatives, new research facilities and startups being established driving innovation in new aviation electronics technologies being developed in India. As an example, in January 2018 the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India officially announced its formal recommendation for the development of a hybrid satellite and air to ground network that can support in-flight internet and mobile phone calling in the near future. One of the requirements for any in-flight satellite or air to ground connectivity service provider applying to provide such a network in India is that there is a guaranteed local presence in provisioning in-flight connectivity in Indian airspace through what TRAI describes as a unified licensee.
Recent Defence Cooperation India and France determined to further strengthen the cooperation between their armed forces and in this connection are working towards increased interoperability as well as pursuing deliberations to develop joint forces cooperation. They welcomed the signing of an agreement regarding the Provision of Reciprocal Logistics Support. Defence industrial cooperation has been one of the mainstays of the strategic partnership between India and France. Both PM Modi and the French President commended the progress made in the implementation of agreements signed previously, particularly the delivery of the first Rafale fighter jet earlier this year. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen cooperation in defence industry field and extended their support to existing and upcoming partnerships between the defence companies of the two countries in the spirit of "Make in India� and for the mutual benefit of both countries.
12 September2019
The two sides noted with satisfaction that Indian MSMEs are increasingly becoming part of global supply chains of French Defence and Aerospace OEMs and reaffirmed to give further impetus to this trend. They also welcomed the ongoing collaboration between aerospace and defence industrial associations of both countries, SIDM for India and GIFAS for France.
Advanced Challenges Although traditional threats (land, maritime, and air-based) continue to emerge, technological advancements and digitization have also led to cyber-related threats. To be prepared for the future, military strategies worldwide are evolving, and nations are aiming at integrating digital tools and technologies to manage both traditional and digital-age threats. This has resulted in a bigger focus on many cybersecurity programs, which are expected to play a vital role in the near term.
Free trade Vital For the A&D Industry? Defense companies that primarily sell to foreign governments and rely on relationships could be more adversely affected. With retaliatory tariffs being imposed, some A&D companies could consider moving their manufacturing to avoid tariffs for products manufactured and exported from their home countries, disrupting supply chains and delaying deliveries. A&D companies operating in this environment of uncertainty will do well by nurturing long-term stable partnerships across the industrial base and managing their global supply chain relationships, reports Deloitte study.
M&A For New Growth Opportunities Hence, the highly fragmented supplier base is likely to become more concentrated in the near term. We may also see some megadeals as bigger players focus on vertical integration. For instance, we saw a large aerospace supplier acquire an avionics and interiors manufacturer, and more recently, the merger of two major communications and electronics contractors—one of the biggest-ever mergers in the defense sector. Apart from this, large, prime contractors
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are expected to consider acquiring small to mid-sized companies to gain access to new technologies and markets. The industry is likely to experience increasing M&A activity even when valuations of A&D companies are high and near pre–financial crisis levels.
India, China Critical Drivers for Global A&D Industry While India and China will likely drive growth in both commercial aerospace and defense sectors, Japan is expected to be a key market primarily for the defense sector. Defense expenditure in France is also likely to expand as the United States encourages NATO countries to increase military spending to 2 percent of GDP.10 In the Middle East, defense spending is expected to recover as oil prices stabilize at much higher levels compared to the 2015–17 period.
Defense Minister and India's Goals Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday urged defence players from the private sector to work towards boosting exports to friendly countries, saying the procedure to do so has been simplified. Addressing CEOs of top defence and aerospace firms at a roundtable on the theme 'Make in India in Defence Industry' here, Singh said they have a huge opportunity to contribute to domestic market in addition to exports. The minister said the government wants to encourage private industry investment in defence and strengthen defence public sector undertakings and Ordnance Factory Board. He also called for a multi-pronged approach to achieve the objectives of 'Make in India' initiative. "The defence minister urged the industry to work towards increasing exports to friendly countries. He said the export procedure has been simplified and the defence procurement procedure was revised in 2016 to encourage indigenous design, development and manufacture," a statement from the defence ministry said.
for 42,730 new jets to accommodate the growing passenger traffic and upcoming aircraft retirements. APAC leads the way here, with 40% of the demand accounting for 16,930 deliveries – this makes for a service market of $3,365 billion. The A&D industry has been active in responding to this increased demand, and local talent in the APAC region now plays an essential role in the development of better aircraft and defence equipment. The maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) market has grown in Asian countries owing to a labour-intensive market. Airbus predicted that MRO solutions would increase at a yearly rate of 4.5% in the region, as compared to 3.7% worldwide.
Impact of Digital Transformation Clearly digitisation will have to play a significant part in helping to address this challenge, for example, technicians using virtual reality will be able to better visualise how components fit together – enabling them to 'step inside' an assembly or view it from multiple angles. And, of course, there are simple cost and time saving improvements, such as paper manuals becoming a thing of the past, and repair staff being able instantly to call-up relevant data on a handheld device. Standing at a meagre 4.1%, the A&D sector has one of the lowest innovation intensity percentages (the percentage of sales earmarked for R&D). With new technologies including robotics/autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing and sensor technologies taking centre stage, the industry will see an increased push toward the adoption of digital innovation. However, the A&D digital innovation strategy will follow a disciplined approach where trusted partners will be sought to develop low-risk solutions that balance the inherent complexity of new technology adoption with the need to increase capability at the lowest possible costs. One of the significant challenges to innovation in the A&D sector is that the industry is not rewarded for internal R&D as much as more consumer-oriented markets.
APAC Region A large part of the increased traffic and spend in the commercial aerospace segment stems from greater traffic demands in the APAC region. This has led to an increase in demand for aeroplane deliveries. Boeing forecast the need
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September 2019
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Test & Measurement
- Varanasi Pavan Kumar Product Specialist – Signal Generators & Spectrum Analysers, Rohde & Schwarz India
NewSpace constellations introduce new challenges for test engineers when compared to legacy VSAT terminals. Satellite engineers need to thoroughly test RF subsystems and components to ensure uninterrupted operation with a high quality of service. On the other hand, engineers need to reduce test time and cost while the total number of beams and links is increasing. These challenges require test solutions that provide high measurement performance and repeatability
14 September 2019
TESTING for NewSpace Today's satellite communication systems combine features from legacy cellular networks and emerging wireless technologies. New constellations are under development that attempt to provide ubiquitous mobility and internet networks via satellites, ground stations and user terminals (Figure 1). Each link in the supply chain presents unique challenges for R&D, production and deployment for both the components and system development. LEO constellations introduce a challenging set of requirements for user terminal test engineers, when compared to legacy GEO VSAT terminals. For example, Iridium mobile phones deployed a compact circular polarization antenna that communicated directly with the satellite. NewSpace networks, on the other hand, deploy user terminals as
agnostic interfaces between the satellite and the end-user communication device . These networks typically deploy fixed antenna user terminal designs which employ a parabolic or phased-array terminal solution that mounts to a fixed position or even on maritime or aero vehicles. These CPE-like devices then typically communicate via a commercial interface, such as Ethernet, to a commercial, off-the-shelf device, such as a server, base station or Wi-Fi router. The user terminal acts as a transparent relay to a preferred commercial user device. NewSpace networks and terminal vendors need to thoroughly test wireless communication systems and components to ensure uninterrupted operation and high quality of service. Additionally, manufacturers need to reduce test time in order to keep user
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Test & Measurement
terminal costs at a practical level. These challenges demand test and measurement solutions that provide high measurement performance and repeatability.
Testing requirements in NewSpace
RF verification versus modem verification: LEO user terminals require significantly greater complexity compared with point-to-point GEO VSAT terminals and require greater sophistication in design, integration and test. NewSpace applications require increased complexity in the radio resource management (RRM) system, which demands increasingly complex user terminals designs compared to legacy VSAT terminals. These solutions are more dynamic, with some constellation scenarios requiring several handovers per minute. This creates scheduling issues not typically experienced in legacy VSAT modems. Protocol stacks in LEO NewSpace systems require greater complexity. Consequently, user terminals resemble complex terrestrial mobile phones with perhaps even more stringent requirements on the radio resource management relating to handovers and scheduling. Legacy terrestrial mobile measurement techniques can offer assistance in translating these test needs into LEO terminal test requirements. Network emulation test systems: Modems running commercial firmware implement dynamic algorithms that respond in real time when terminals measure network power, provide measurement reporting and respond to system scheduling. This dynamic behavior prevents controlled RF parametric testing. Consequently, test engineers are unable to parametrically characterize modems and RF systems under these conditions. In an ideal world, a test engineer could set the modem state machine to any condition and execute measurements in that fixed condition. Legacy terrestrial mobility engineering teams benefit from “callboxes”, which are network emulator test systems that control a mobile phone state machine, and subsequently make RF parametric measurements on a mobile phone in a controlled state, such as fixed power or frequency. Callboxes require a significant development NRE, which is typically offset by the large scale commercial ecosystem of mobile networks, mobile phone manufacturers and mobile chipset vendors (LTE, WCDMA, etc.). This is not an option for NewSpace constellations that implement custom air interfaces which do not scale economically like large mobile networks. So, how can NewSpace engineers realize the same features of a callbox, given the cost constraints? NewSpace engineers can utilize one the following network
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emulation implementations: ❙ Golden radio ❙ Software defined radio (SDR) It should be noted that golden radio and SDR test systems both require complementary test equipment such as vector signal analyzers, spectrum analyzers and signal generators, to fully characterize the RF performance of the terminal under test. They all work together to simulate a real network in order to stress the terminal in real world conditions. Over-the-air (OTA) testing requirements: Wireless enabled devices must pass a variety of industry certifications prior to commercialization. These certifications include regulatory and compliance testing such as EMC, conformance testing such as protocol, RF, RRM or LBS, as well as performance testing that is measured over-the-air (OTA). Generally, conformance testing is performed at the conducted port(s) of the device under test (DUT) and is based on pass/fail tests. Traditionally the mobile phone industry uses conducted measurements, but for satellite user terminals with beamforming and tracking antennas, over the air RF measurements supplant conducted methods. The wireless industry is still debating how best to accomplish this for satellite user terminals and next generation 5G mobile phones. Traditional antenna test facilities can be used, but they are very expensive, usually exceeding one million dollars for each device commercialization. Many near field and quasi near field chamber concepts are under investigation.
RF calibration and fast RF verification added to production: The added complexity of modem testing also impacts production testing. While initial manufacturing volumes might not exceed hundreds or even thousands of units, networks anticipate full production volumes with yields in the millions of units. Manufacturers require advanced strategies for reducing cost through efficient test methods. RF calibration, or tuning and alignment for RF frontend modules, is common to both mobile phone and user terminal manufacturing. Terminals must compensate for nonlinearities in power
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Test & Measurement
amplifiers during the manufacturing process. Basically, this requires frequency and power measurements, sometimes using CW signals, and other times using calibrated modulated wideband signals. Swept power and frequency measurement techniques, coupled with advanced measurement algorithms remove the non-linearities, sufficient to allow terminals to pass RF measurement specifications. High-volume, low-cost terminals require these compensations as lower cost components increase nonlinearities compared to legacy, more expensive terminals, with higher performance power amplifiers. In addition to RF calibration, all devices require basic RF and modem verification in manufacturing. Similar to calibration, fast test methods utilizing pre-programmed sweep methods significantly reduce overall test time by reducing legacy iterative and repetitive setup production processes, with the terminal under test and the test equipment. Just as early design considerations are critical for network emulation test methods, production calibration and verification test also require early consideration. The most important step concerns the chipsets and modem in the terminal radio. By implementing fast test modes in the system engineering design, chipset and modem designers can engineer these features early with technical ease and minimal cost. Ground station considerations: Different NewSpace design approaches impact ground station functionality. Networks based on digital regenerative payloads implement much of the radio resource management on board the satellite. For bent pipe systems, the radio resource management controls reside in the ground station, which direct the user terminals regarding IP scheduling and radio control. From a testing perspective, the ground stations require similar testing to the user terminals. The need for RF calibration and modem verification are similar, although the cost and test methodologies could differ depending on cost and complexity. Fewer ground stations exist in a network, significantly reducing handover burdens. However, the larger data throughput and combining of multiple return link signals adds significant complexity to the bandwidth and data handling. With the lower volume and higher responsibility, ground station modems and RF systems require longer test times, typically. Some of the key components in the ground stations require extra considerations during testing.
Solutions at a glance The testing of NewSpace user terminals and ground stations require rigorous performance design verification and manufacturing testing compared to legacy terminals. Introducing Radio Resource Management test methodologies, common in the mobile phone industry, creates a more complex verification and conformance testing requirement. As components continue to integrate into smaller and cheaper packaging, the frequencies and test ports become a limiting factor. Traditionally manufacturers test terminals at the IF, RF and antenna stages. In some cases, especially in satellite ecosystems, no conducted contact points exist for testing at the IF or even RF stages. This section discusses both conducted and radiated testing solutions. Conducted testing: Today, most mobile phone type-approval
16 September 2019
systems utilize conducted test strategies. Depending on the component or subsystem, these conducted test connections exist at either the IF or RF link. Conducted testing allows for simple and effective troubleshooting and isolating any performance problems. It also more easily allows design engineers to characterize both the early stage precompliance performance, as well as final performance verification. OTA testing solutions: OTA test systems analyze and optimize the radiated device performance and provide a controlled physical environment to validate terminal radiated performance with industry, operator and internal company requirements. OTA systems verify the antenna patterns and the wireless system performance of the transmitter and receiver chain, such as TRP and TIS/TRS respectively. Network emulation for physical layer: The R&SÂŽSMW200A signal generator provides network emulation of the physical layer signal conditions . This enables layer 1 receiver testing via BER/PER/BLER measurements. The process of establishing receiver sensitivity testing in the absence of a closed link full protocol system requires the modem to be designed with test modes to operate in such a manner. This process is already common in commercial mobile LTE handsets for both integration and production. This allows for custom payloads to facilitate rapid signal/waveform development for many conditions.
Terminal transmitter analysis: Terminal transmitter analysis provides signal and spectrum analysis capability for terminal transmitter testing. Many NewSpace air interface signals work with existing legacy measurement personalities, such as LTE and DVB-S2X. These are easily modified to include updated air interface changes. The R&SÂŽFSW locks to specific air interface signals to allow for more exact filter and frequency measurements, which allows for tighter EVM, ACLR and other modulation quality measurements.
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Test & Measurement
Testing
5G
Spectrum Efficiency for Peak Performance
Genis Sanchez Regional Product Manager, RF Testing, VIAVI EMEA
18 September 2019
The era of 5G is introducing a great deal of opportunity for service providers. But next-generation networks are not without their challenges as well. For example, while new 5GNR (New Radio) access technology inherits certain characteristics from the broadly adopted LTE/ 4G radio access, additional flexibility is included in the signal specifications, introducing new capabilities and complexities. New 5GNR features include the following: the ability to operate in two main frequency bands, sub-6GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave); flexibility for wider channel bandwidth configurations; support for beamforming to direct radiated power to a user’s specific location within the service area; and multiple duplexing options that now also include dynamic time division duplex, where downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) use the same frequency but are allocated different time slots for transmission and reception. These differences in signal format require new tools and testing procedures to validate the installation, commissioning and regular optimization of new 5GNR cell sites. One type of tool that is proving most useful to characterize and troubleshoot early 5GNR signals in the field is the Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTSA).
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Test & Measurement
The RTSA is a common 5G test option for advanced radio frequency (RF) analysis in state-of-the-art wireless labs. Another classic use of the RTSA in the recent past has been in the field of high-end interference and signal detection, including applications for public safety, aerospace and defense. A new generation of RTSA tools are becoming available which combine all the power of advanced RTSA technology supporting impressive analysis bandwidths of up to 100MHz (only seen before in lab-grade equipment), along with the portability and simplicity of field-optimized form factors, including battery life and usability.
Band-clearing and interference analysis A major consideration for operators is that 5GNR is operating in new frequency bands, never used before by the cellular industry, and in some cases just recently licensed by the different regulatory agencies of various countries to promote the advancement of 5G. For example, in sub-6GHz spectrum the most common frequencies being used so far are in the 3.5 GHz to 3.6 GHz range, with some operators testing in the 2.5GHz region as well. For mmWave spectrum, ranges like 26GHz to 28GHz or 39GHz also are a first for commercial cellular networks. It is very important for network operators to make sure these bands are clear of any other possible third-party transmissions, accidental or non-authorized, before they can start transmitting their own 5GNR signals. This is a process known as band-clearing and it requires the ability to sweep and analyze the entire licensed spectrum to make sure there is no undesired signal activity to avoid any sort of interference. A traditional swept spectrum analyzer sweeps across frequency ranges looking at and capturing small parts of the spectrum at a time and building this into a complete picture. Hence, analyzing any large portion of spectrum in detail may take some time to accomplish because of the need to sweep over each frequency point to be sampled. Another constraint of a traditional swept spectrum analyzer is that they remain blind for some period of the sweep, even if the sweep time to cover the entire spectrum is extremely fast. Compared to a swept spectrum analyzer, the RTSA functions differently. The instrument is tuned to a given center frequency and the analysis bandwidth supported by the instrument is sampled in the time domain. Thus, a real-time spectrum analyzer can capture every possible signal event in that supported bandwidth with no gaps. In addition, the new generation of RTSA devices provide real-time analysis with up to 100MHz of instantaneous bandwidth, making it an ideal option to verify any potential sources of interference that can appear anywhere in the spectrum occupied by a 5GNR carrier.
In this scenario, identifying an interference signal is extremely difficult when the base station is transmitting the signal, e.g. in the DL path. But even to characterize the entire 5GNR (TDD) carrier with traditional swept spectrum analyzers is extremely difficult and may require a highly skilled technician to do so. Compounding the challenge, as 5G NR introduces dynamic TDD where UL and DL transmissions can be changed dynamically; the standard gated sweep function may no longer be that effective. The swept spectrum analyzer, using a narrower setting for the resolution bandwidth filter, is still able to capture and display some of the TDD slots within the 5G carrier. Yet, it is only with the RTSA that we can visualize instantaneously the entire 100MHz carrier regardless of the individual TDD slot activity. RTSA tools also enable hundreds or thousands of spectrum data points to be displayed on a screen, but with a different color or brightness per frequency of occurrence to determine the probability of signals appearing, rather than just the amplitude of a signal.
Delivering on the promise of tomorrow To deliver on the true promise of 5G service, optimized spectrum efficiency and performance will be paramount. Yet, as network operators build out dense 5G networks made up of small cell deployments, the potential for RF interference will grow exponentially. Under these challenging conditions, real-time spectrum analysis in the field will be key to identifying and addressing interference sources. Because despite all the hype and excitement about 5G speeds and capabilities, at the end of the day, subscribers will judge the success — or failure — of 5G by the quality of their experience… just as they have for previous mobile technology generations. About the Author Genis Sanchez has nearly 20 years’ experience in wireless network testing, from early 2G technologies to 5G. He has extensive knowledge in RF/signal propagation, network optimization, spectrum monitoring, time and frequency domain analysis, active testing, and measurement analytics.
Real-time capture of elusive TDD signals Duplexing options supported in 5GNR include frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD) with semistatically UL/DL configuration, and most notably, dynamic TDD. In the TDD scheme, which is the most common one today in sub-6GHz frequencies, both DL and UL use the same frequency carrier but are allocated different time slots for transmission and reception.
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September 2019
19
Wireless & Networking
ROLE OF FIBER IN
5G Mr. Devendra Kamtekar CEO, DIGISOL Systems
20 September 2019
Imagine waking up in a world where everything is connected, right from your gadgets, to cars, to home electronics, a world where internet lags will be a thing of the past. Doesn’t this sound fascinating? Trust me we aren’t very far from such days as 5G is slowly making its way from a general idea to network implementation globally. We are at the cusp of an industrial revolution that hinges on 5G Technology, the technology that will extend wireless connectivity beyond Smartphones, and enhance machine-to-machine connections. Before understanding how 5G will change the world, it is important to know how current networks will evolve to support this big change.
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Wireless & Networking
5G, the 5th generation in telecom networks, has created excitement in the industry from past few years as it promises to solve the mobile bandwidth woes and steer the revolution of Internet of Things (IoT), however, this excitement has led to misconception and that is, 5G is competing with Fiber. Rather, its other way around, Fiber will drive 5G innovation as optical fiber networks are the crucial underpinning that will empower wireless technology like 5G.
What role will Optical Fiber play in 5G technology?
the backhaul capacity to these small cells that requires 5G and will further provide the density, accessibility and flexibility to support multiple applications needed for the future.
Fiber is the backbone: Fiber is the backbone that 5G will use to make successful connection with the consumers. It provides a robust infrastructure by creating a path that runs backhaul from macro sites to small cells to rooftop connection points at the users’ location.
Future Proof: Fiber can keep pace with growing backhaul requirements without the any throughput or distance limitations thus it’s an ideal future proof solution that will meet the industry’s demands for the years to come and outlast even much of the technology we currently use to transmit across it.
Offers Security:
The 5G network uses ‘small cellular radios’ also known as ‘small cells’ that extends the coverage of mobile networks and is deployed closer to the end users’ locations. Deployment of numerous Small cells would be needed at different locations to build denser 5G networks and these cells need a very high speed backhaul. That’s where the Fiber comes in the picture. Fiber network infrastructure offers
Fiber is durable and provides a signal unaffected by external factors such as temperature or electromagnetic fields, and the possibility of signal loss is very less. For 5G, telecom service providers would need an infrastructure which is reliable and secure like Fiber and will not only meet the bandwidth requirements but will also support the Internet of Things (IoT) applications. To conclude, I would like to say that 5G is a transformative technology that meets the performance goals of higher capacity, and coverage and fibre will have an essential supporting role in building fast wireless connectivity.
TECHNOLOGY EMPOWERING
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An Investment in TimesTech Pays the best interest
TimesTech Print Media E: sales@timestech.in TIMESTech.in
September 2019
21
Lighting
- Paul Golata Mouser Electronics
Smart Connected Lighting and the IoT
Sunlight Seasons Seasons come and seasons go. I am subject to the rhythms of nature and the change of its seasons. Nature’s seasonal transitions encompass the changing cycles of available sunlight for me. Writing this article, located from my position in the Northern Hemisphere, I am experiencing the time of the December solstice. The winter solstice is that day of the year when I will receive the least amount of sunlight—as measured from sunrise to sunset (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The sun sets during the winter solstice in British Columbia, Canada. (Source: Mouser)
22 September 2019
Shortly, spring will appear. The days will lengthen and the amount of sunlight will increase. I enjoy this lengthening of days with its increasing amount of sunlight. It always seems to make my moods feel better. I can take advantage and make the most of the remaining daylight after work, often riding my mountain bike through the woods, over the roots, and down and up the ravines. This changing season’s length of sunshine goes on automatically, without any need for my input or control. Man is smart, so he has created devices that provide himself with light. In cities, towns, and villages throughout the world, man harnesses his own created-illumination devices to gleam light into the recesses of the darkness. Civilized society, a connected social order advancing cultural creation, employs these lighting devices in order to chase away the darkness and pave the way for a brighter future. At one time, this source of light was through items like wax candles. What a mess! It must have taken great efforts and pains to illuminate a large location and keep it well lit. However, the technological reality of the Internet of Things (IoT) now empowers smart connected lighting within a coordinated system. Hardwired and wireless systems allow secured data to connect lighting systems through a coordinated and intelligent approach. This article articulates how smart connected lighting is enabling a bright future.
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Lighting
Smart Connected Lighting A season of change is underway. The IoT is dawning today as a revolution in technology. Smart sensor technology and radio-frequency (RF) wireless connectivity have combined to produce new methods to sense and collect data and get it onto the Internet. IoT is enabling building automation utilized for industrial and personal (home) use. Automation within buildings and cities is taking advantage of human intelligence. Specifically, it is aiming to program electronic systems in a coordinated and integrated fashion to mimic or improve upon this human intelligence, thus providing an automated system with a level of smartness. In this case, smartness means the ability to meet and perform to an acceptable level of a desired aim or goal. The goal of these efforts is to produce more intelligent and robust systems, which will improve people’s living conditions while lowering costs and decreasing negative environmental impacts. Connected lighting systems consist of three key ingredients: • A light source such as a light bulb or LED • A light fixture and electromechanical assembly to connect and secure the light source to its location, and • A light switch or controller The past several years have seen a rapid movement from traditional lighting sources to light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The success of LED lighting adoption is a natural pathway for software-controlled, smart, digital, connected lighting systems. Where previously simple up/down or push-button on/off switches were employed, today IoT coupled with electronically controlled lighting products are enabling smart, connected lighting applications. Smart connected lighting, deployed in smart buildings, takes advantage of multiple electronic systems and platforms including motion sensors, integrating them with a variety of lighting control methods to provide solutions to suit virtually any lighting-control setting. Connected by means of the IoT and employing open and configurable infrastructures, data can be collected and utilized for intelligent decision-making and effective operations. Software’s great flexibility and the simplicity of digital design and control provide advantages for smart lighting platforms. Leading electronic component vendors are presently developing LEDs, LED drivers, sensors, power electronics and various electronic control devices for smart lighting products. It is a discernible trend that these manufacturers are working to ensure that their products successfully integrate with or within designs in the building automation industry. Automated lighting systems set up in this manner are called smart lighting. In the future, businesses and homeowners will increasingly take advantage of the leverage provided by connected lighting and the IoT. Smart lighting allows for autonomous and programmed control of illumination levels and colors and simultaneously identifies when traffic or building occupancy activities warrant adjustments, providing for a more optimized experience for users and owners. Regardless of whether it involves illumination lighting in offices, in homes, or in street lights and lamps for traffic or pedestrians, automated smart lighting is found across the modern urban landscape. Smart lighting is fast becoming the
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mainstay of intelligent automated buildings in smart cities (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Modern intelligence buildings in Shanghai, China, offer innovation using illumination. (Source: Mouser)
Wired and Wireless Smart and intelligent control of lighting systems requires solid and reliable connections. There are two primary networking methodologies that bring together smart connected lighting and IoT: wired and wireless. In addition, these two primary networking methodologies may be employed in various cooperating combinations, employing various communication methods and protocols such as Bluetooth mesh networking, and be limited only by the requirements of the application and the engineer’s creativity. A wired network relies on direct physical electrical connections between points in the network. A wireless network requires no physical connection between devices, providing freedom from hard wiring. Wireless networks make it possible for devices within the network to roam untethered. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. A smart design engineer will consider what is best for an entire application and may design a solution that takes advantage of both networking methodologies’ respective strengths while mitigating against their respective deficiencies. Smart connected lighting within the IoT requires an engineer who understands acceptable system design, speed, bandwidth, and low-latency connection specifications. Hardwired systems offer top performance in these specific specification parameters yet require switches to be hardwired to lighting fixtures, thereby decreasing flexibility. The incorporation of wireless designs may sacrifice some of these specifications but provide configuration control and management options that cannot be accomplished within the limitations of hardwired designs. However, ongoing and dramatic improvements in RF wireless technology performance are providing wireless design options previously not conceivable or available. Smart lighting controls and IoT often employ wireless mesh topologies, where there are redundant interconnections between network nodes (Figure 3). These so-called “manyto-many” topologies offer exciting potential for smart lighting control: Primarily because their redundant interconnections
September 2019
23
Lighting
protect against single point node failures while simultaneously offering low latency, high speeds, and excellent efficiency. Zigbee and Bluetooth mesh are two popular protocols.
comes power. In the IoT applications of tomorrow, the collection, storage, and analysis of data will drive knowledge. The IoT will harness data-driven insights, which will assist business and personal decision-making. This trend will provide a host of new ways to perform and utilize smart connected lighting, including protecting and monitoring against power failures and blackouts as well as assisting with scheduling regular upkeep and maintaining the highest level of overall operational effectiveness. The demand for lowlatency, real-time decision-making and response, which is imperceptible to humans (<0.05s), will incite the incorporation of more sensors to collect data. This data will undergo analysis and processing in the “smart” edge, providing new and greater insights and increasing the opportunity for new markets and value creation. Smart connected lighting works to bring data-based decisionmaking to reality (Figure 4).
Figure 3: Mesh network connections produce exciting potential for smart lighting control. (Source: Mouser)
Zigbee and Bluetooth Mesh Low-powered and standards-based wireless sensor network (WSN) products may be incorporated to meet the demands of smart connected lighting applications. Mesh enabling systems are deployed worldwide, securely connecting a variety of smart devices to applications, delivering smarter, greener, more efficient solutions. Zigbee, like Bluetooth, is a specification for communications in wireless personal area networks (WPANs). Designed to be low cost, low power, and low duty cycle, Zigbee technology is ideal for WSNs and other low-power networks that span potentially large distances. Zigbee builds upon the IEEE 802.15.4 standard but adds the mesh networking capability with multi-hop functionality and a routing protocol. Star as well as peer-to-peer (e.g., mesh and cluster tree) networks are supported, making Zigbee dynamic, scalable, and decentralized. Zigbee technology is not meant to compete with technologies such as Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) or Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1). Rather, Zigbee is designed for applications where the data transfer rate is much less important than power efficiency, network size, and ad hoc routing capacity. Bluetooth mesh networking (introduced in July 2017) is a protocol based upon Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) that finds application in smart connected lighting and IoT. It employs a Bluetooth radio that can operate over a physical distance of approximately 100 to 1000m. Being new to the scene, it is still seeking to demonstrate successful large-scale deployments, efficiency, and effectiveness. A large assortment of talented persons and companies are working steadily to make improvements.
Data Socrates (470–399 BC) stated that virtue is knowledge. Francis Bacon (1561–1626) declared that with knowledge
24 September 2019
Figure 4: The smart IoT assists in bringing data-based decision-making to reality. (Source: Mouser)
Security Data transmissions must remain under safeguards against adverse contingencies and situations. Reliable and secure connections are a must. Wired systems can be cut or tapped, and wireless systems might experience interference, droppage, or access by suspect or nefarious methods. Smart connected lighting systems and the IoT use a multilayered approach for protection, applying safeguards at several different points throughout the system. Key steps in this multilayered approach might include creating proper credentials and access authorization passwords in an appropriately compliant and protected operating system (OS). Employment of appropriate protocols will empower the connection of devices while providing strong and robust performance and security under a wide variety of operating conditions. Every connected device should be monitored and be compliant with the appropriate firmware and software revisions to take advantage of up-tothe-moment protections and safeguards. Collected IoT data should be ingested and validated prior to consuming and processing it at lower-level stages and prior to higher-level processing to prevent ingress errors at the cloud or at higherlevel data-processing sources (Figure 5).
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Lighting
Figure 5: Data protection is essential within, to, and from a smart connected lighting system. (Source: Mouser)
Future The seasons change and so does technology. The IoT opens the door for smart lighting to be connected in a coordinated system. Hardwired and wireless systems allow secured data
to connect lighting systems through a coordinated and intelligent approach. This smart connected lighting and the IoT are the technologies of our next and brighter season. Just think how far we have advanced since the days of fire, candlelight, and Edison’s light bulb! As a team member of Mouser Electronics since 2011, Paul Golata serves as a Senior Technical Content Specialist. He contributes to Mouser’s success by driving strategic leadership, tactical execution, along with overall line and marketing directives for advanced technology-related products. He shares the newest and latest information with design engineers through the creation of unique and valuable technical content that facilitates and enhances Mouser Electronics as the preferred distributor of choice. Before joining Mouser, Paul cultivated his expertise in various manufacturing, marketing, and sales-related roles for Hughes Aircraft Company, Melles Griot, Piper Jaffray, Balzers Optics, JDSU, and Arrow Electronics. Paul earned a BSEET from the DeVry Institute of Technology (Chicago, IL), an MBA from Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA), and an MDiv (with BL) and PhD from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Fort Worth, TX).
STMicroelectronics Strengthens STM32 MCU Ecosystem with MadeForSTM32 Quality Label STMicroelectronics is further increasing the market appeal of its STM32 microcontroller family by launching the MadeForSTM32 label for qualified, reviewed, and approved products from ST Partners in the development ecosystem. Engineers designing with microcontrollers – the tiny electronic “brains” inside all kinds of smart objects – rely on the ecosystem that provides configuration and development tools, ready-to-use software examples and libraries, and circuit boards to prototype their applications and bring them into production. For many designers, the quality and effectiveness of the ecosystem is an important factor when choosing among microcontroller manufacturers for current and future designs. ST’s STM32 family offers an already extensive and still expanding ecosystem that provides important software products and evaluation boards for developing with STM32 devices. Addressing the constant aim of helping customers find the best solution for their design, ST is launching the MadeForSTM32 program to review and qualify offerings from ST Partners within the STM32 ecosystem. The MadeforSTM32 label ensures that all products within the ecosystem are of consistently high quality. “Our new MadeForSTM32 label provides robust assurances for product designers by highlighting our assessment and approval of the quality and performance of third-party ecosystem products, as well as the customer support available,” said Daniel Colonna, Marketing Director, Microcontroller Division, STMicroelectronics. “There is added value for our ecosystem partners too, with branding
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using the MadeForSTM32 logo for approved products and literature, promotional opportunities, and access to the results of our technical evaluation to help drive continuous product improvement. The benefits of this program to both engineers and partners encourage significant expansion of the STM32 ecosystem with high-quality products.” The SEGGER embOS and RoweBots UNISON RTOS realtime operating systems have already been assessed and endorsed to become the first MadeForSTM32 approved pieces of embedded software. Other products are currently being evaluated. “After having joined the ST partner program, SEGGER was able to actively get involved in the MadeForSTM32 process,” said Dirk Akemann, Partnership Marketing Manager, SEGGER. “Our Real-Time Operating System embOS is an outstanding example of efficiency and ease of use. Qualifying embOS with the MadeForSTM32 label demonstrates that it simply works. The result is an easy and seamless integration of the embOS real-time operating system into the popular STM32Cube environment.” Kim Rowe, CEO and founder of RoweBots, commented, “RoweBots has a long history working with STM32 products. Our UNISON RTOS provides our customers with a comprehensive tool to meet their needs, UNISON Software Expansion works complementarily with ST’s STM32Cube developer resources that are available free of charge and can be used for fast and accurate project development.”
September 2019
25
Security
Overcoming Security Challenges Impacting Multi-Cloud Environments
Rajesh Maurya Regional Vice President, India & SAARC Fortinet
Cloud adoption is increasing at a rapid pace as organizations look for new ways to process, store, and distribute information. For many organizations, deploying new cloud services is much easier than requesting a dedicated set of hardware from IT teams. Decentralized cloud adoption means different departments have the ability to source new cloud software or compute resources, or adopt new applications without burdening IT with requests. And because of the heterogeneous nature of this implementation, the use of various cloud providers in one organization is not uncommon. While each of these use cases provides flexibility for organizations, they also come with risk. Highly distributed resources can be difficult to manage, and the risk of Shadow IT – online resources that store corporate data,
26 September 2019
but that IT is unaware of – can actually violate data privacy laws. In addition, individual cloud infrastructures and one-off applications expand the organization’s attack surface, introducing the risk of cyberattacks which can affect an entire organization. In other words, when an organization uses multiple applications, the potential for a serious breach is stronger than if a single application was deployed across the entire network. Addressing the Challenges of Inconsistent Cloud Platforms The constantly evolving threat landscape has resulted in the need for purpose-built tools designed to address a full range of risks across all network environments, including the cloud. In order to utilize these environments as effectively as possible, IT teams must be confident that there is the same level of security across all cloud platforms, otherwise the entire environment is
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Security
exposed to the weakest link in the system. Achieving this level of effective cloud security, however, requires organizations to first establish and achieve a standard of visibility and control that enables operational efficiency while streamlining management.
secure remote access in the cloud, including things like dynamically adjusting the level of encryption used based on context – location of the enduser or IoT device, the data being accessed, etc. – organizations can more effectively leverage the global presence of a cloud infrastructure.
Inside-Out IaaS Security
Hybrid Cloud Leveraging public clouds as a supplementary infrastructure for on-premises data centers enables new ways of developing and delivering IT solutions across an organization. These hybrid cloud environments can present challenges, though, such as poor network visibility and complex security management. Securing hybrid cloud environments requires organizations to deploy consistent security policies across all infrastructures to ensure data is protected as it is transferred to and from the cloud, or as it is processed and stored in either environment.
Advanced Application Protection The benefit of Infrastructure-as-a-Service is that it includes a full suite resources, including hardware, network devices, and connectivity tools, that can all be accessed and managed from the cloud. While the components of this infrastructure are provided and maintained by cloud service providers, it’s up to organizations to protect their own cloud assets. Customers can overcome this challenge by implementing a consistent security policy which applies to IaaS deployments from the inside out – managed at the workload level, the network level, and the API level.
Cloud Services Hub Organizations usually experience a lack of centralized security management, and therefore, reduced visibility and control – along with an inability to respond in a comprehensive fashion to a security breach – as a result of deploying multiple cloud solutions. By utilizing a shared services hub, however, IT teams are able to leverage the benefits of the cloud, such as elasticity, availability, and scalability, while enabling consistent security across all platforms. Additionally, this hub enables combining security capabilities in one location, making it easy to attach different VPC networks by using a VPN connection.
Remote Access VPN
Many organizations make the move to the cloud to enable access to information from anywhere in the world as securely as possible. Unfortunately, traditional remote access VPNs are not always able to meet these demands. By deploying solutions pre-configured with templates designed to enable
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Introducing new applications to the cloud not only presents additional security risks, but also forces organizations to continually ensure they are meeting compliance requirements. Using previously tested security applications and applying them to the cloud enables organizations to make this move with confidence. Before migrating, organizations should also consider solutions that secure web application APIs, enforce security policies, and detect various types of malware, both old and new.
Security Management from the Cloud Organizations that employ legacy management tools will inevitably experience incompatibilities, especially when looking to deploy and manage them from the cloud. Leveraging the global availability of global cloud providers to deploy security management across multiple cloud regions will ensure scalability and improve operational efficiency, ultimately reducing cost and risk.
Public Cloud Usage Monitoring and Control The public cloud has been widely adopted across the globe, yet misconfiguration continues to be a major cause of disruptions and unexpected costs. Overcoming this challenge calls for complete visibility over configuration changes – especially across multiple public cloud infrastructures – through a unified platform that simplifies compliance violation reporting. Cloud adoption is continuing to rise in popularity due to the benefits this technology provides in terms of elasticity, scalability, and availability. Despite these benefits, organizations must be aware of the risks that can arise as a result of deploying disparate cloud environments. By understanding the challenges associated with the cloud, organizations can properly manage and make the most out of these infrastructures. Conclusion Cloud adoption is continuing to rise in popularity due to the benefits this technology provides in terms of elasticity, scalability, and availability. Despite these benefits, organizations must be aware of the risks that can arise as a result of deploying disparate cloud environments. By understanding the challenges associated with the cloud, organizations can properly manage and make the most out of these infrastructures.
September 2019
27
In Focus
SUPERCAPACITOR & The EVOLUTION
of ELECTRONIC Devices
Abhishek Shukla Vendor Development & Marketing Saison Components & Solutions
28 September 2019
During the past several years, we have witnessed a radical evolution of electronic devices. One of the major trends of this evolution has been increased portability. Laptops and smart-phone, cameras, portable laptop are some example. The request of efficient energy storage system becomes even more important if we extend it to different applications such as electrical/hybrid vehicles that require hundreds of times larger power when compared with smaller device. Unfortunately the technological improvements of batteries are slower than electronics, creating a constantly growing gap that need to be filled. For this reasons it is very important to develop an efficient energy storage system that goes beyond normal batteries.
Evolution of Supercapacitor is a solution for such demands. Recently Supercapacitor have garnered substantial attention in recent years because of their ultra-high charge and discharge rate, excellent stability, long cycle life and very high power density. These characteristics are desirable for many applications including electric vehicles and portable electronics. Supercapacitor (or ultra-capacitors) is finding their way into an increasing number of applications for short-term energy storage and applications that require intermittent high energy pulses. Several type of application has typically been dominated by batteries, but electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs) are fast making inroads as their price-per-farad, size and effective series resistance per capacitance
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In Focus
(ESR/C) continue to decrease. VINATech, a promising Hy-Cap brand, develops and manufactures eco-friendly supercapacitors surpassing global standards of UL, ISO/TS, and RoHS. VINATech has been mass-producing the market leading 3.0V EDLC family since 2010 featuring 23% higher energy density than the traditional 2.7V EDLC,. It is also the only manufacturer of a hybrid capacitor which uses PC electrolytes. VINATech leads the world, in the production capacity for manufacturing radial supercapacitors of 1F to 1000F class. Hy-Cap products offer a wide range of options to meet a wide range of applications, varying in voltage, capacitance, terminal type and performance.
Supercapacitor in Automotive:
2.
3.
Auto batteries have limitations in terms of life, power delivery and environmental stage. Supercapacitor can resolve the limitation of lead acid battery and lithium ion battery delivering far electrical performance in applications such as Warm cranking for fuel efficient stop start system, Cold cranking support to extend battery life, Regenerative energy capture during braking / coasting, Distributed power system to reduce wiring loom size/weight/cost, Drive train support in Hybrid electric and Electric Vehicle, Drive train support in fuel cell/Hydrogen-powered Vehicles, Drive train support in Electric buses, trucks, bikes etc.
4.
Supercapacitor in Solar Tracker:
5.
Saison has come up with the new technology energy storage device for the solar tracker application. A solar tracker is a device that orients a payload toward the sun. The use of solar trackers can increase electricity. Trackers are used to minimize the angle of incidence between the incoming sunlight and a photovoltaic panel and the external energy source is required for the movement of panels. Supercapacitor is being used as the storage element and is directly connected to the solar panels. It can help Solar panel to give energy for the movement of panels according to the direction of sun. As the Supercapacitor is maintenance free product it can be used under most of atmospheric condition.
Supercapacitor in Gadgets:
6.
In comparison to natural gas buses, the hybrids improve fuel efficiency on average by 88 percent. It is estimated that forty percent of the energy needed to accelerate hybrid bus can be derived from recaptured energy through braking process. Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Diesel exhaust contains greenhouse gasses, ozone precursors, benzene and other toxic substances and is a significant contributor to airborne concentrations of fine particulate matter. As a result, a growing number of cities are turning to hybrid buses, which consume less energy and produce significantly fewer emissions. Hybrid buses/Electric buses are estimated to cut emissions by as much as 75 percent when compared to conventional diesel buses. Low operating cost: Regenerative braking takes most of the load of mechanical brakes, reducing brake maintenance and replacement expenses. A year-long evaluation in the United States by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory indicates that operational costs of hybrids are 15 percent lower than for conventional diesel buses. Increase Life: Supercapacitors work well in parallel with battery and prolong battery life. The engine in hybrid us may be started and stopped dozens of times on each route. Unlike batteries, Supercapacitor can undergo millions of cycles without significantly impact their performance or lifespan. Peak Power Assist: Ultra-capacitors are great for handling peak power demand. If the battery shines in the area of capacity and energy density, then the ultra-capacitor forte lies in its high cycle life and power density. Several applications started using Ultracapacitor to improve energy efficiency during high peak requirements. Wider Temperature Range: Since ultra-capacitors operate without relying on chemical reactions, they can operate over a wide range of temperatures. On the high side, they can operate up to 65°C, and withstand storage up to 85°C, without risk of thermal runaway. On the low side, they can deliver power (with slightly increased resistive losses) as cold as -40°C, well below the cold performance threshold of batteries.
Supercapacitor offer sustainable, sufficient power to small gadget without sacrificing performance and reliability. Supercapacitor powered device only take several minutes to charge before they can power an electronic device. They also greatly reduce the hazards of appliance disposal, since the toxic chemicals in batteries are harmful to user and the environment. The long lifespan of Supercapacitor extends the lifespan of electronics without losing storage space with age.
Benefits of Supercapacitor: 1. Fuel Saving: Regenerative Braking allows a vehicle to absorb kinetic energy during braking and release that energy when starting or accelerating, thus reducing fuel consumption. Start stop application enables the engine to shut down when it comes to a stop at RED Light or when sitting in traffic. Ultracapacitor then provide a short burst of energy that restarts the engine. The technique delivers significant saving on fuel.
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September 2019
29
In-Conversation
Our solutions are not constrained to any particular industry or market Kaushik Srinivasan SVP Strategy – Products & Research, eMudhra We worked with the government to roll out electronic signatures in India based on Aadhaar. This eventually became a popular program that enabled large scale paperless interfacing among people across the length and breadth of the country. eMudhra has supported more than 35million eSign transactions till date stated Kaushik Srinivasan, SVP Strategy – Products &Research, eMudhra. We explored more about their company and what is onto their deck for 2019 and beyond. Edited Nub.
30 September 2019
TimesTech: How would you like to introduce eMudhra for our readers? Kaushik: We would like to introduce eMudhra as a ‘Digital Enabler’ that provides a range of solutions to support, augment and secure digital transformation initiatives across a range of vertices. TimesTech: Which key markets or say sectors are your potential customers and how has digital signature certificates change businesses and how is the company planning to diversify its offering? Kaushik: The key sectors include eGovernance, Banking, Financial Service, Insurance and Manufacturing. These sectors are large users of paper and by using digital signatures, enterprises in these sectors are able to go fully paperless and achieve automation. A big push in eGovernance is also a result of Government’s Digital India push which is driving more and more paperless transformation across government departments. a) Which key markets or say sectors are your potential customers? Our solutions are not constrained to any particular industry or market. They can work equally well across industries or markets. For instance consider the example of emSigner, our proprietary paperless office solution. It can be used seamlessly across industries such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, automotive, education, IT, insurance, etc. to drive a variety of
use case starting from customer onboarding, patient onboarding, contract management, vendor management, supplier management, eDiploma, eInvoicing, policy issuance and so on. Same is the case with emAS, our innovative authentication suite that supports 10 modes of authentication, and emStream, our AI driven Big Data Analytics solution. Hence we can safely say that companies across verticals and markets are our potential customer. b) How has Digital Signature Certificates changed businesses? Digital Signature Certificates have been one of the core pillars of driving of digital transformation across businesses. They have seamlessly substituted the cumbersome ‘printsign-scan’ process, which was proving to be a roadblock not only with regards to achieving the ‘Digital Vision’ of the company but also providing better experience to today’s tech savvy customers. c) How is the company planning to diversify its offering? We are planning to diversify the usage of our paperless office suite by integrating them with leading ERP and CRM systems. To this end we have successfully completed integration of emSigner with Salesforce and Tally, while the integration with SAP and SAGE is in advanced stages of completion. TimesTech: Security has been the key throughout the digital transformation
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In-Conversation
buzzword, how do you account against these malice activities while ensuring a good and secure service for customers? Kaushik: At eMudhra, security is at the forefront of what we do. We are a niche company that is focused on leveraging the benefits of sophisticated cryptographic algorithms to enhance security across our offerings. From hosting, all the way through to user actions, we ensure that security is built into the process. Where required, we even complement our offerings with Multi Factor Authentication to ensure complete privacy and security. TimesTech: Are the vigorous changing technologies a challenge for your company or you see it as a scope of growth in this competitive market? What keeps you distinctive? Kaushik: We see them as opportunities of growth and strive to continuously augment our offerings to meet the changing trends and demands. To answer your second question, one of the salient features that keep us distinctive is our focus on excellence and innovation. This has helped us reach such a point where we can see the results of our efforts and hard work from the recognition that we are receiving for our digitization initiatives across the world. TimesTech: What are your key strategies to grow in the indigenous and bullish market? Kaushik: India is a large market with plenty of opportunity and digital transformation is at the heart of every enterpriseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agenda. Therefore our strategy is a combination of developing range and reach through innovation and geographic spread and building domain specific use cases for paperless transformation TimesTech: How is the digital identity and transaction management company evolving with faster internet and emerging technologies IoT, Blockchain, Cloud, AI etc. Kaushik: All of these emerging trends in technology are intrinsically linked with cybersecurity where digital signatures play a vital role. Be in securing device identities or securing transactions on a Blockchain, digital signatures are required. Therefore with the advent of technology and need for secure digital transformation, eMudhra is also constantly innovating to bring solutions to the market in line with technological trends TimesTech: Your company is 11 years old now. What have been your top 3 contributions to the industry? Kaushik: I. We worked with the government to roll out electronic signatures in India based on Aadhaar. This eventually became a popular program that enabled large scale paperless interfacing among people across the length and breadth of the country. eMudhra has supported more than 35 million eSign transactions till date II. We supported the government in the implementation of paper free filing system for GST, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), etc. Today, our solution helps more than 10 million users to digitally file their GST returns III. 2,00,000+ SMEs in India today use eMudhraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s solutions for electronically signing documents and supporting their digital transactions TimesTech: Tell one unique solution or service that our niche
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readers should know about? Kaushik: I would like to shed light on the eSign 3.0 services that we have launched recently. The USP of this service lies in its ability to bring greater ease-of-use to all the customers. While users in the past were mandated with the need to carry out e-KYC every time they wanted to generate and use electronic signatures, the new eSign services allow the customers to create an e-KYC account, which is valid for 2 years, by e-verifying the credentials once. From that time onwards, the users are allowed to login onto the e-KYC account using OTP & PIN, and generate eSign 2.0 compliant electronic signatures to sign any number of documents. Such a signing process thus removes the requirement of complicated hardware (USB Token) or client software needed to fulfill digital signing requirements. Moreover, the open APIs available with this service helps online service providers such as banks, insurance providers and e-commerce companies to quickly integrate eMudhraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eSign 2.0 facilities into their existing systems, thereby making the feature of nonrepudiation more robust in their services. TimesTech: eMudhra has major plans of expanding in other Foreign markets, how challenging or different will be these markets from the Indian market? We have been present in India over 10 years and enjoy considerable brand equity. While we have the IP, the challenge would be to develop a brand in other markets. This will take time and that is the reason why we try and build a partner network through whom we can reach out to end clients TimesTech: How strong is your R&D strength in the country, currently? Kaushik: Currently we have a strong team of 200+ highly experienced resources working on various R&D initiatives in Bangalore. TimesTech: How is eMudhra planning to align with Smart Cities and Digital India initiatives? Kaushik: eMudhra is closely associated with several smart city projects where cyber security is an important element. eMudhra is also a key partner to Digital India having worked on a number of Mission Mode projects to enable paperless transformation TimesTech: Any Major announcement that you want our reader to know? Kaushik: eMudhra has recently launched in Europe and intends to work with partners to create digital journeys for their customers by using our paperless office solution and qualified electronic signatures TimesTech: What trends do you foresee to impact your sector and how is the company in-parallel moving these trends? Kaushik: As a company in a regulated space, a lot of what we do is driven by regulator adoption globally. eMudhra works closely with regulators to create awareness and advise on how to put in place the right policies for large scale adoption of digital signatures
September 2019
31
Information Tech
A Personal Perspective on UX Then and Now
Venkat Srinivasan Sr. Director, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Extentia Information Technology
Anyone that knows me well, knows that I tend to complain a lot about my experiences as a product or service user. I often call out companies and people about the quality of my user experience (UX), with suggestions for improvement – as I see them – galore. Co-workers have often been fed up of my 'well-meant' ideas, though a few have appreciated where I come from. Some of the recipients of my ire have been large organizations such as Vodafone, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Time Magazine, Uber, and HDFC Bank. My tone (and god knows I try to be pleasant) has always been to the effect of 'How on earth is this wording/flow/process of confirmation/footer/instruction for next steps/more okay by you?!' This is followed by a helpful 'Here's what you should do…' from me. Responses have ranged from 'here's why', 'thank you, we'll look into it' (that means nothing will happen), 'here, we've fixed it – thank you' (wow – company, you listened!), and hostility – 'if you don't like it, go someplace else'. The last reaction is similar to certain establishments in the city where I currently live. Yes, bakeries and restaurants come under UX – a close cousin of customer experience (CX)! Think of all your Chinese/Thai restaurant experiences in the United States, if you've ever been to some. Magazine/newspaper/book covers, advertisements, DVD covers, music album covers with that 'hidden meaning' all come under UX.
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Let's go back to the past, shall we? Where it started for me with UX was a soap wrapper when I was 12-years-old. The spelling of the soap's name was different from the televised ad, and worse – the spelling once the wrapper was opened was something else! Sure, I wrote them with pen and paper, and couriered my letter to the address on the wrapper. To my wonder, they actually fixed the names on the ad and the product in a week, and also called to thank me. From the pitch of my voice back then, they likely wondered if they were talking to the actual complainer. Then on, it was 'catch stuff and tell'em all' from me, for years and years – through present day.
That UX lab In 2000 – just after graduation – I joined an internet media company, which was big and well-known back then. This was just years after the term 'UX' (just two letters) was coined. I was deputed to the team that was building this grand shopping portal. These were the days when .coms were generally clueless on how to get potential customers to buy, despite sitting on pots of investors' money. Terms like 'Fly to' and fancier, than a simple 'Buy now'. Wellhidden shopping carts. Deals on the home page that could never be found. No clues to check out. Strange right to left Arabic-style layouts to appear cool. Circling back to the same page that you thought you'd left. And the first all-mute chat-bots. It was lovely.
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So we created this 'UX Lab' if you will, to figure out how to get products to sell. After all, we'd aggregated some of the largest brands of the day – J. Crew, The GAP, and the now defunct Toys R' Us among many others. Very obviously they wanted some bang for their buck on this fancy new online mall. Our modus operandi was we'd grab people off the street, and promise them a tad more than minimum wage for their time. Then, we'd fix a fancy 'eye-ball' movement sensor on them, and display the shopping portal to them. Their task was to try and buy XYZ product. Yes, really 'try and buy' was the instruction. Where were they looking to find, say, a Gucci bag? They were looking at 'fashion and accessories', when we wanted 'travel and leisure'. Back to the UX drawing board.
Rise of the chat-bots I'd mentioned silent chat-bots above. Man, were they a considered a fancy user experience then – never mind they did nothing! Then they started to respond, and were still useless through the aughts. In the next decade they got smarter, but continued to give clueless answers for the most part for shoppers and service users. Companies are like 'They have a chat-bot? Gimme one too!'. This is not about voice-assistants on your phone, by the way. What's happening now? 'Hi, I'm Laura. Can I help you?' seems to save money for her employers for she's not a human being. But she doesn't really help me much. Yet. From my experience, these bots can be conned for refunds and
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other things. Ask me how. There's a long way to go here.
Simple takeaways Yes, some of this is nothing new here, but: v Offer an intuitive user experience – do not confuse, and throw away the fancy. Things have improved a lot now. v There is no need to copy, and go 'I want that, for they have it'. No. v If someone like I can be thrown by bad UX, imagine others like my grandma. v Design for people. Ordinary people. v Yanking people – all kinds – off the street to test is not a bad idea. It worked in 2000. v Customer survey forms about your recent user experience generally do not work, but fill in the short ones. Most of them have bad UX in the form anyway. Importantly, customers – feel free to complain to product and service providers. Write in, tweet, or call to offer suggestions. Some of them will listen, and you're helping others this way.
September 2019
33
Security
THE PRETENDERS Hackers target companies, posing as CEOs and other C-level Executives
John Coletti Chief Underwriting Officer, Cyber & Technology- North America, AXA XL
In 2017, online digital publications announced the latest threat to consumer safety: hackers using vulnerabilities inside WhatsApp to spread malicious code via files sent using the app. In March 2019, a security researcher announced that a bug in Facebook Messenger gave hackers an open door through the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s web browser. The bug has since been patched, but the vulnerabilities continue. These days, the targets are much larger. Hackers are now using applications like WhatsApp and Messenger to launch phishing campaigns to target corporations across the globe. With more businesses using messaging and file-sharing apps to conduct international conference calls, such a move
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by hackers is a natural next step in cyber warfare. In spite of this, many companies have yet to realize this growing threat to their IT security. This is not surprising given that many businesses are accustomed to thinking of their vulnerabilities through more known methods: typically attacks on servers, phishing emails, and human engineering.
What methods are attackers using? Hackers have taken their methods and applied them in new territory. A recent report reveals that 71 percent of all fraudulent transactions in the second quarter of 2018 came from mobile banking apps or more broadly used apps and platforms like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. By
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exploiting vulnerabilities in phone and message apps, hackers are expanding their reach. Such attacks are not new. In 2017, Kaspersky Lab reported that hackers have been attacking banks and government institutions in over 40 countries using “legitimate and reputable applications.” Even with tighter security controls around company servers and networks, hackers have figured out ways to step up their use of apps as a means to gain entry. In one recent case, a message was sent via a company’s WhatsApp account, purportedly from the company CEO. The message: "I need to inform you of a confidential acquisition regarding a payment that I need you to secure on my behalf. I am on the line with my lawyer now, can I give you a call shortly?" However, the CEO was not making the request. It was the work of hackers, who had used a weakness in WhatsApp technology to send the message. Fortunately, the request was never fulfilled. The staff member who received the message reported the suspicious request to the IT department, who was able to determine the request was fraudulent. In addition, the company had protocols in place that would have thwarted any money from making it into the hands of hackers. Their procedure for approving financial transactions involved three steps requiring sign-off from designated people and phone verification. Unfortunately, not all companies can avoid falling victim to hackers, even with stringent authorization protocols in place. Bitcoin exchange Binance was victim of a large-scale security breach in May 2019 in which hackers diverted $40 million in bitcoin. Using several methods of attack, hackers obtained user information, including two-factor authentication codes, which allowed them account access. From there, the thieves were able to withdraw 7,000 bitcoin from the company’s internet-connected wallet. That the hackers obtained the two-factor authorization codes made this particular theft difficult to avoid. Yet the company’s losses could have been worse, except for the fact that the amount of cryptocurrency in their online account was just 2 percent of their total cryptocurrency holdings. Binance announced a few days after the breach that the company would be making up that 2 percent with company funds. For some companies who cannot recover as quickly, a loss of 2 percent of holdings could be a major setback.
What to look for Breaches of social media apps tend to follow similar methodology as breaches that occur on company networks and email systems. Companies and employees should be on the lookout for the following activity or behavior: Requests made via any social media app purporting to come from senior leadership: Is the name spelled correctly? Does the user name match the one the senior manager uses? Are the requests going to the appropriate person? Has the request been verified by phone with senior management that the request came from? Unfamiliar/unrecognized phone numbers: Much like
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email requests that use the person’s name, but comes attached to a completely different email account, social media requests coming from an unrecognized phone number should be treated with suspicion. Unusual behavior: Most CEOs would not use a social media app to make financial transaction requests. Nor would they use social media to ask for confidential bank account passwords or login credentials. Who can verify your CEO’s whereabouts and request activity? For requests that are not financial in nature, is the language typical of the person reaching out, or is there something not quite right about the request?
Prevention strategies Here are a few things to keep in mind when using social media as part of your business: Never make financial requests over social media– and make it company policy to not honor such requests. Educate all staff: From senior leadership to administrative personnel, all employees should understand that social media requests for money or sensitive account information will not be used, nor will they be honored Have a process for vetting all online requests: Have all monetary requests vetted through C-level management as well as examined by IT. Regularly update passwords: Reset all passwords on social media apps and alert IT to any suspicious activity – even that which isn’t a monetary request. Establish and actively use a three-step process for financial requests: Before releasing any funds, know who is authorized to approve such requests. Also, have in place a process that requires voice verification, including selected passwords that are changed regularly, as well as sign-off from key personnel. With every financial request, make sure to follow the procedure without exception. As companies adopt more social media tools to conduct business, cyber thieves and social engineering attempts will continue to grow in frequency and severity. Companies must be alert to the potential risks associated with using social media apps, including knowing how their own practices are opening the door to exploitation. Companies should establish strong verification processes and should have written social media policies in place. Likewise, companies need to educate employees on the policies, and on how to handle requests that seem out of the ordinary. Hackers will continue to find new ways to breach company systems. Staying one step ahead of the risks means examining your business activities from every angle to help reduce exposure and loss.
September 2019
35
New Products
STMicroelectronics Launches STM32Trust Ecosystem for IoT Designers to Integrate Cyber Security Resources
ST, has launched STM32Trust to guide designers’ efforts to build strong cyberprotection into new IoT devices leveraging industry best-practices. STM32Trust combines knowledge, design tools, and ready-to-use original ST software. These help designers take advantage of features built into STM32 MCUs to ensure trust among devices, prevent unauthorized access, and resist side-channel attacks. All this averts data theft and code modification. Integrating all available cyber-protection resources for the STM32 family, STM32Trust helps designers implement a robust multi-level strategy leveraging security-focused chip features and software packages. The STM32 family is the world’s leading system-on-chip portfolio based on the Arm Cortex CPU architecture and contains almost 1000 variants used in smart appliances, remote sensors, wearables, e-health devices, IoT gateways, access-controlled storage, payments, and many other connected devices. Depending on the model, hardware cyber-protection can include features such as customized secure boot, a random-number generator to prevent hackers observing patterns in signals, dedicated encryption co-processors, and secure storage for encryption keys. ST also builds in tamper detection, firewall code-isolation mechanisms and implements Arm TrustZone technologies for extra protection of the most sensitive code. www.st.com/stm32trust. element14 Introduces Infineon’s MERUS Class D Audio Amplifier Solutions for Better Sounding Audio Products element14, announces the availability of Infineon’s MERUS range of Class D audio amplifier solutions, which use pioneering multilevel switching technology to increase audio performance and reduce power loss during operation. Infineon’s enhanced design and production
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standards deliver extreme reliability and stability for the entire product lifetime. The new range offers improved power efficiency, decreased size, weight, electromagnetic interference and lower overall cost than traditional solutions on the market. Electronics engineers can use MERUS™ Class D audio solutions in a range of applications such as battery-operated speakers, wireless and docking speakers, soundbars, multiroom systems and home theatre systems. The MERUS portfolio includes fully integrated monolithic audio amplifier ICs, multi-chip audio amplifier modules (MCMs), as well as discrete audio amplifier driver IC and power MOSFET solutions, scalable to meet the most stringent and demanding application needs.
extrusions have a thermal resistance as low as 0.27οC per watt. The extrusions are provided unfinished (degreased) with custom finishes (anodization) available on request to meet application-specific requirements. The extrusions are RoHS compliant. While most designers find that the standard lengths meet their application needs, New Yorker Electronics will be working with ATS to provide custom profiles as well. In addition, engineers and designers can cut the extrusion bar to the appropriate heat sink design. This also works particularly well for MIL applications that cannot reveal project details. The ATS Extrusion Profile series is also wellmatched to Altera, AMD, Freescale, Intel, TI and Xilinx applications. New Yorker’s heat sink extrusions from ATS do not require an MOQ and no NRE is required, meaning that for standard extrusion profile, New Yorker Electronics is able to fulfill requests quickly.
Power Integrations announced New CAPZero-3 energy-saving X-capacitor discharge ICs
ATS Extrusion Profile Heat Sink Solutions offer Cost-Effective Design Flexibility
New Yorker Electronics has announced the global distribution of the newly expanded line of Heat Sink Extrusions from Advanced Thermal Solutions (ATS). The Extrusion Profiles series is comprised of over 200 aluminum alloy extrusions in bar lengths of 300mm and 1220mm. The alloy extrusions are the most costeffective solution for most electronic cooling applications. Each heat sink profile is made from single extrusion of aluminum alloy 60601/6063, a high-performance heat conductor. An extensive inventory of profiles in a wide variety of sizes is available. The line features profile widths of 40.9 – 482.9mm and heights of 9.9 – 72.9mm. The
Power Integrations, announced CAPZero3, the latest generation of the company’s elegant, energy-saving X-capacitor discharge ICs. Two-terminal CAPZero-3 ICs enable designers to easily meet IEC60335 safety approvals for major appliances, and cover all capacitor values from 100 nF to 6 µF. IEC60335 is the discharge safety standard for all appliances. To protect the user from an electrical hazard, it requires the voltage across the input X capacitor to discharge to less than 34 V within less than one second after the AC is removed. CAPZero-3 ICs block current flow through the X-capacitor discharge resistors when the AC voltage is connected, and automatically discharge X capacitors through those resistors when the AC is disconnected. CAPZero-3 ICs simplify EMI filter designs while permitting the use of larger X capacitors, which in turn enables smaller inductive components to be used with no resulting change in
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New Products
power consumption. CAPZero-3 ICs can be placed before or after a system’s input fuse. Devices deliver high common-mode surge immunity so that no external ground connection is necessary, and feature a high differential surge withstand due to 1000 V internal MOSFETs. Creepage on the package and PCB is maintained at >4 mm. Comments Edward Ong, product manager, Power Integrations: “With the launch of the new CAPZero-3 ICs, designers can use one part to address a large range of applications in small and major appliances that require X capacitor values from 100 nF to 6 µF.” CAPZero-3 devices are safety-certified to CB and Nemko requirements and so developers do not need to perform a separate safety test on the X-capacitor discharge circuit of the power supply. Devices are available now, priced at $0.31 in 1,000 piece quantities. For more information: www.power.com. GÖPEL electronic expands SCANFLEX II TAP Interface Cards for full 5V compatiblity
With the SFX II TIC01 GÖPEL electronic expands the range of TAP Interface Cards (TIC) for the Embedded JTAG Solutions Controller. The SFX II TIC01 represents the front-end module in the direction of the Unit Under Test (UUT) and is therefore of particular importance for the reliable and correct control of the connected buses. The design of the TIC meets all these requirements, especially with regard to the control of 5V systems. In addition, the SFX II TIC01 is compatible with the equivalent solution for the first SCANFLEX generation, making it easy to port applications. The SFX II TIC01 is an internal TAP Interface Card (TIC) for operation with the SCANFLEX II controllers SFX II CUBE and SFX II BLADE. It complements the existing range of TIC modules and can be placed on any slot of the controller. This openness ensures the necessary flexibility for a wide variety of applications such as
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Boundary Scan Test (BST), Processor Emulation Test (PET), Embedded Programming and Debugging. The new TIC is based on the GÖPEL electronic CION circuit as driver ASIC and offers a programmable voltage range of 1.8V…4.5V for full 5V compatibility. Combined with other features such as programmable impedance, programmable input voltage, special protection function and integrated universal switch, it can be optimally adapted to the respective DUT. Most Advanced Battery Protector with Integrated fuel gauges ICs from Maxim Integrated
Designers concerned about battery safety now have access to the most advanced battery protector with integrated fuel gauges from Maxim Integrated. The newest 1-cell, pack-side ICs in this portfolio are MAX17301 and MAX17311, which offer the most configurable settings for battery safety in the industry and uniquely allow fine tuning of voltage and current thresholds based on various temperature zones. These ICs also offer a first-of-its-kind secondary protection scheme in case the primary protection fails. This secondary protection scheme permanently disables the battery by overriding a secondary protector or blowing a fuse in severe fault conditions. All ICs in the family are equipped with Maxim’s patented ModelGauge m5 EZ algorithm that delivers highest state-ofcharge (SOC) accuracy that on average offers 40 percent better accuracy than competitive offerings and eliminates the need for battery characterization. These fuel gauges also offer the industry’s lowest quiescent current (IQ) – up to 80 percent lower than the nearest competitor, and feature SHA-256 authentication to safeguard the systems from counterfeit batteries.
Microchip Technology. The industry’s smallest IEEE 802.15.4-compliant module, the SAM R30 combines an ultralow-power microcontroller with a subGHZ radio in a 12.7 × 11 mm package, enabling long-lasting battery life in spaceconstrained designs like wirelessnetworked sensors and controls in home automation, smart city, and industrial applications. The Microchip SAM R30 module, available from Mouser Electronics, is based on a Microchip SAMR30E18A system-in-package (SiP) with 32-bit Arm Cortex-M0+ core and up to 256 Kbytes of flash and 40 Kbytes of RAM. Designed for use in unlicensed sub-1GHz frequency bands worldwide — such as 780 MHz (China), 868 MHz (Europe), and 915 MHz (North America) — the module delivers receive (RX) sensitivity up to -105 dBm and transmit (TX) output power up to +8.7 dBm. The module offers twice the connectivity range and better communication through walls and floors than similarly powered devices using the 2.4 GHz frequency band. Featuring an ultra-low-power sleep mode of under 800 nA, the SAM R30 module is ideal for Internet of Things (IoT) sensor applications that require long battery life. Further, developers can implement propriety point-to-point, star, or self-healing mesh networks with Microchip’s MiWi protocol stack. For more information: www.mouser.in
Mouser Stocking Microchip’s SAM R30 Sub-GHz Module for Ultra-LowPower WPAN Designs Mouser Electronics is now stocking the SAM R30 sub-GHz module from
September 2019
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Test & Measurement
Keysight Provides 5G Network Emulation Solutions to TCL to Accelerate Development and Validation of 5G NR Designs Keysight Technologies, announced that TCL Communication, has selected the company’s 5G network emulation solutions to validate its 5G new radio (NR) designs. TCL Communication, with a multi-brand portfolio that includes TCL, Alcatel and BlackBerry branded products, chose Keysight to accelerate the development and testing of 5G NR devices including 5G smartphones, 5G USB data terminals, 5G+8K QLED televisions, and 5G consumer premise equipment (CPEs). Keysight’s 5G network emulation solutions enable TCL Communication to validate radio frequency (RF) performance, in accordance with the 3GPP 5G NR standards, for global market introductions.
TCL Communication leverages the same Keysight test tools and test cases used by leading chipset manufacturers – including MediaTek – to speed validation of the RF performance of new 5G NR devices and achieve consistent results. Earlier this year, MediaTek used Keysight’s 5G network emulation solutions, together with its Helio M70 modem with integrated baseband, to successfully establish a 5G NR data call, reaching the theoretical maximal throughput rate over 100MHz NR bandwidth, for both non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) modes. Both Keysight and TCL Communication are active members of the China Mobile-led 5G Device Forerunner Initiative project, which aims to
accelerate development and industry maturity of 5G devices through organizing large-scale 5G trials with cross-industry participants. Keysight’s 5G network emulation solutions – based on Keysight’s UXM 5G Wireless Test Platform – enable device makers to validate 5G NR multimode designs across protocol, RF and radio resource management (RRM) in both non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) modes. This means Keysight’s end-to-end 5G solutions provide the flexibility needed to rapidly validate multi-mode designs in nearly any form factor, accelerating their ability to address global requirements in sub6GHz (FR1) and mmWave (FR2) spectrum.
R&S collaborates with Vector, Savari and Quectel to present a C-V2X solution supporting China’s ITS standard Rohde & Schwarz working together with Vector, Savari and Quectel presented a test solution for C V2X at the MWC Shanghai 2019. The integrated setup is based on the R&S CMW500 wideband radio communication tester and the R&S SMBV100A/B GNSS simulator by Rohde & Schwarz, together with the comprehensive simulation tool CANoe .Car2x by Vector. The setup utilizes Savari’s proven C-V2X middleware and a testing module by Quectel, providing an end-to-end, upper layers testing solution for the C-V2X technology in compliance with all necessary regional requirements including China’s ITS standard GB/T 31024. The presented C-V2X test solution consists of a device under test C-V2X module AG15 provided by Quectel, running Savari’s MobiWAVE V2X Software Stack and receiving the ITS messages provided by the R&S CMW500 wideband radio communication tester and the GPS signal by R&S SMBV100B vector signal generator. The R&S CMW500 uses a C-V2X software package needed to simulate the Physicaland MAC-layer in order to transmit and receive data over the PC5 radio interface. Vector’s software environment for V2X application testing, CANoe .Car2x, is used to create and simulate detailed traffic situations for the verification of C-V2X connectivity. Savari’s C-V2X middleware helps demonstrate the outstanding versatility and performance of the R&S CMW500, while presenting a variety of applications ideal for 3GPP LTE-V2X PC5 interoperability testing. It offers the full
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September 2019
support of the necessary standards and specifications required for proper functioning in China’s networks, such as the GB/T 31024 standard for the next generation of cooperative intelligent transport systems. This is the only test solution available that covers all layers, from the physical layer and the RF measurements, the protocol layer and the protocol conformance tests, up to the application layer with the fully integrated ITS stack. This setup presents an end-to-end solution for testing all related functionalities of C-V2X. This includes both device-to device communication – between a vehicle and another vehicle (V2V), a vehicle and a pedestrian (V2P), a vehicle and the surrounding road infrastructure (V2I), and device-tonetwork (V2N) type of communication. The R&S CMW500 radio communication tester and the R&S SMBV100B vector signal generator by Rohde & Schwarz present the perfect solution for C-V2X testing. In combination with the Vector CANoe .Car2x software solution, engineers can easily verify critical end-to-end safety related V2X scenarios in a lab environment. This collaboration shows Rohde & Schwarz continues to provide solutions to the new automotive technologies in the quickly expanding markets around the world.
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