Electronics for You 201310

` 100 OCTOBER 2013

For You

Vol. 02 No. 06 • ISSN 0013-516X 10

Pages: 150+8

0

74470 58493 3

UK #5; US $10; Singapore $ 9.5; Malaysia MYR 19

contents

electronics for you Plus | October 2013 | Vol. 2 No. 6

28

68

Buyers’ Guide Microcontroller Development Boards

Technology Focus Do You DIY?

14

eStyle-Buyers’ Guide

38

Test & Measurement

44

LED Lighting

50 52

Editorial : Editorial Secretary correspondence Phone: 011-26810601; E-mail: [email protected] (Technical queries: [email protected]) Subscriptions & : Phone: 011-26810601 or 02 or 03 missing issues E-mail: [email protected]

RPM Measurement: Sensors and Techniques

Not all LED Drivers Provide ‘Clean’ Light

77

Construction

79

Exclusive : IBH Books & Magazine Distributors Pvt Ltd, Mumbai Newsstand Phone: 022-40497401, 40497402, 40497474, Distributor 40497413; Fax: 40497434 E-mail: [email protected]

Construction

86

Advertisements : Ph: 011-26810601 or 02 or 03 new delhi E-mail: [email protected] (Head Office)

Circuit Ideas

88-94

Make Your Own USB Data Acquisition System

Internet of Things

“Engineers working on IoT devices have to expand their thinking to the whole system, even if they are not building it all”

Electronic Door Lock • Voice Recorder and Playback System • Noise-Level Alarm • Visitors Counter • Earth Fault Indicator

Innovation

95-99

• Control Your Raspberry Pi with Android Phone • Displaying Raspberry Pi’s IP Address

Software Section

62

On-Chip Interconnect

• UPC/EAN and Code 39 Barcode Generator • Finding the Day of the Week in ‘C’ for a Given Date

Building An Advanced Navigation System

101-104

119 Interview

“Challenge of getting everything to go faster hasn’t eased up a bit”—Conrad

Optical Interconnect to Silicon CMOS Chip

J. Fernandes, vice president, Asia-Pacific, Teledyne LeCroy

Career

Instrumentation Engineering: A Vast Field That’s Growing

EFY Report

The Battery Market in India

121 Interview

“Bluetooth low energy is easy to design with...”—Badrinarayanan Kothandaraman executive vice president, DCD administration, Cypress Semiconductor

142 Information Technology Broadband Over Power Lines

Regulars

EFY Plus DVD

First Look 08 Technology News 20 Websites 100 Industry News 109 New Products 116

Letters Qs&As Electroons Business Pages Electronics Mart

next issue

• Micro-satellites • EFY Top 100 Electronics Companies • Temperature-controlled De-soldering Stations

6

123 124 125 126 137

Product Categories Index 146 Organisations Index 147 Advertisers’ Index 147

october 2013 | Electronics For You plus

Mumbai : Ph: 022-24950047, 24928520 E-mail: [email protected] Bengaluru : Ph: 080-25260394, 25260023 E-mail: [email protected]

Do-It-Yourself

Swasthya Sanjivani: A Portable Digital Testing Laboratory

Back issues, : Kits‘n’Spares, New Delhi books, CDs, Phone: 011-26371661, 26371662 PCBs etc. E-mail: [email protected]

Construction GPS Navigator

56

112

Hands-On

Windows 8 Hybrids and Convertibles

Embedded

105

Editor : Ramesh Chopra

Automated Test Application Development Made Easy with ATEasy I Deeds: One-Stop Solution for All Your Digital Electronics Design Needs VI

chennai : Ph: 09916390422 E-mail: [email protected] hyderabad : Ph: 09916390422 E-mail: [email protected] Kolkata : Ph: 08800094201 E-mail: [email protected] Pune : Ph: 09324299081 E-mail: [email protected] Gujarat : Ph: 09324299081 E-mail: [email protected] china : Power Pioneer Group Inc. Ph: (86 755) 83729797, (86) 13923802595 E-mail: [email protected] JAPAN : Tandem Inc., Ph: 81-3-3541-4166 singapore : Publicitas Singapore Pte Ltd Ph: +65-6836 2272 E-mail: [email protected] taiwan

: J.K. Media, Ph: 886-2-87726780 ext. 10

United States : E & Tech Media Ph: +1 860 536 6677 E-mail: [email protected] Printed, published and owned by Ramesh Chopra. Printed at Nutech Photolithographers, B-38, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-1, New Delhi, on the first day of each month and published from D-87/1, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-1, New Delhi 110020. Copyright 2013. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction of any material from this magazine in any manner without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility whatsoever is taken for any loss due to publishing errors. Articles that cannot be used are returned to the authors if accompanied by a self-addressed and sufficiently stamped envelope. But no responsibility is taken for any loss or delay in returning the material. EFY will not be responsible for any wrong claims made by an advertiser. Disputes, if any, will be settled in a New Delhi court only.

www.efymag.com

First Look!

The Latest Home And Office Products

Portable Audio Powerhouse

Budget Apple iPhone

JBL charge has 12 hours of playback time and seamless Bluetooth connectivity

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arman India recently launched JBL Charge, a portable audio powerhouse, which is perfect for house parties, family trips, picnics and everyday use. It has over 12 hours of playback time from a single charge, a built-in USB port to charge mobile devices on the go and seamless Bluetooth connectivity. The new Bluetooth-powered portable speaker packs a mean double punch as its two drivers and built-in bass port bring big performance, while its 12-hour battery can charge smartphones and tablets while on the go. The JBL Charge speaker wirelessly streams audio from any Bluetoothequipped smartphone or tablet, and lets you enjoy unsurpassed portableaudio performance from your mobile devices and tablets. With two 41mm drivers, a built-in bass port, 2x5 watts of amplification and digital signal processing, it delivers fullrange JBL sound with exceptional bass. JBL Charge is offered in three vibrant colours—grey, blue and green, and will be available in India from October.

Price: ` 9990

8

October 2013 | Electronics For You

The latest iPhone comes with a 10.2cm (4-inch) Retina display and runs on iOS 7

he day has finally arrived when Apple has stepped beyond its ‘snobbish’ image of being an elite brand, as the Cupertino-giant has launched budget-friendly device iPhone 5C. As rumoured, Apple iPhone 5C is launched in a range of colours including blue, green, pink, yellow and white. Since it is the first budget device from Apple, let us talk about its price first. The iPhone 5C will be priced at $99 for the 16GB model and $199 for the 32GB model on a two-year contract in the US. However, the unlocked version of the device would be available for $549. The company has made all efforts to justify the price with some really cool features of the device. The latest iPhone comes with a 10.2cm (4-inch) Retina display. The smartphone comes packed with an A6 chip and an 8MP iSight camera. The iPhone 5C has been rendered a single, hard-coated polycarbonate body

with a steel, reinforced frame thrown in. The steel band also functions as the smartphone’s multiband antenna. The metal frame of the device is supplemented with microfibre-lined cases. The company is offering the consumers a choice of six frames to choose from. Other specs of the device include new FaceTime HD camera and support for up to 13 LTE wireless bands. It runs on iOS 7, Apple’s latest operating system. As far as the connectivity is concerned, the newest iPhone offers support for dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. According to Apple, iPhone 5C will offer 10 hours of talk time on 3G networks, up to 10 hours of video playback and up to 40 hours of audio playback. The company has also included some of the most popular iWork apps like Pages, Numbers and Keynote for free with the device. Price: $99 to $199 (on contract)

Biometric Pen Drive Moser Baer Biometric pen drive weighs 13 gm and carries separate public and private space on the disk

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n order to ensure data confidentiality and protection from data theft, Moser Baer has come up with a unique biometric pen drive dubbed Moser Baer Biometric. The easily installable biometric pen drive is designed to provide stronger data security, password protection, strong user authentication, file encryption and carries separate public and private space on the disk. The white-coloured drive has the capacity of 16 GB and is compatible with Windows ME/2000/XP/Vista/ MAC OS 9.0 or Linux Kernel 2.4.2. The

pen drive weighs 13 gm and comes with two-year warranty. Commenting on the launch, Deepak Shetty, senior vice president, domestic sales and marketing, Moser Baer, said, “This is one of our latest offering to our customers to further strengthen the security of the pen drives. The product will help fight cyber threats.” Price: ` 3149

www.efymag.com

Anritsu India Pvt Ltd

2nd & 3rd Floor, #837/1, Binnamangla 1st Stage, Indiranagar, 100ft Road, Bangalore - 560038 INDIA Tel: +91-80-40581300, Fax: +91-80-40581301 Email: [email protected]

Noida Branch Office:

Tel: +91-120-4211330-31-32

First Look! First Phone with Urdu Language Support Nokia 114 comes with cloudaccelerated Nokia Xpress browser and easy swap technology

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okia has come up with Nokia 114 budget phone, which has Urdu language capability. Priced at ` 2579, the phone is the first ever phone to have the Urdu language option in India. Nokia also said that this is an effort to expand the reach and benefits of mobile telephony for the consumers. According to reports online, the newly launched Nokia 114 has the cloud-accelerated Nokia Xpress browser. This browser allows users to use up less data by compressing websites on the cloud. The data usage is less by up to 90 per cent. In addition, the phone, which has dual-sim capabilities, has also been given an extended battery life by Nokia. It provides 10 hours of talk time and almost one month’s standby time. The dual-SIM phone also has Nokia’s easy swap technology, using which users can switch from one SIM to the other easily and quickly, without having to remove the phone’s battery or turn the phone off. This feature of the phone can remember up to five different SIM cards, which gives the user full control over their phone bills. Since 2008, Nokia is the first mobile phone maker to have provided 11 Indian languages on their phones. Price: ` 2579

10



Galaxy Gear Smartwatch As of now, it is said to work only with Galaxy Note 3 but it is being reported that Galaxy S4, S3 and Note 2 will be receiving a software update for the smartwatch support

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e all were expecting Samsung to or dismiss the notifications right from surprise everyone at its recent the smartwatch. An interesting feature IFA press event, and that is exactly is its smart relay feature, which click what the company did. The company opens the notifications on your smartunveiled its first wearable computer phone as it is being pulled out. You can technology—Galaxy Gear smartwatch use the swipe-based interface or make at the press event. use of the Samsung’s S However, what Voice feature. surprised us more Other specificawas the fact that tions include a 1.9MP Galaxy Gear will shooter that works work only with the Price: ` 25,000 to ` 30,000 (expected) with the Memogracompany’s high-end pher feature. Users smartphones. As can take pictures or of now, it is said record quick videos to work only with of relevant informaGalaxy Note 3 but it tion, which can easily is being reported that Galaxy S4, S3 be shared online. Users can also make and Note 2 will be receiving a software use of Voice Memo to record voice and update for the smartwatch support. then let it transcribe into text. Coming to the smartwatch, it can The Gear’s Auto Lock takes care of show its users notifications that appear the smartphone’s screen at any time if on the phone like messages, calls, ethe smartwatch is more than 1.5 memails and other alerts. You can accept tres away from it.

Cost-Effective Laptop for Small Businessmen Lenovo’s ThinkPad Edge E431 laptop boasts Lenovo’s OneLink technology

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built-in dual array microphone, which enovo India has announced the enhances VOIP with advanced noise launch of ThinkPad Edge E431 cancellation. The machine is amplified laptop complemented with Lenovo’s with a large, intelligent 5-button TouchOneLink technology. This offers a Pad optimised for Windows 8. It is only unique dock and power connector that 25mm thick, which makes it can transmit audio and one of the thinnest business video with a single connotebooks available in the nection. The new laptop is market. powered by the third-genAshok Nair, director of eration Intel core processor, SMB, Lenovo India, said, “We Windows 8 operating sysare aggressively focusing to tem and optional NVIDIA build our product portfolio GeForce discrete graphics. to meet business needs. LeBuilt for small businovo ThinkPad Edge E431 nessmen, the ThinkPad Price: ` 36,000 (onwards) is a cost-effective promise to the small Edge E431 can be equipped with 16GB enterprise market in India.” memory (maximum) and comes with a www.efymag.com

First Look!

GizMo ByTes Lumia 1020 Coming to India Nokia Lumia 1020 is coming to India around 15th October. The phone was unveiled about two months ago and has a 41MP camera, which is supposed to be the best camera in the smartphone market right now. It may be called Nokia 909 in India.

Sony Xperia Z1 Unveiled Sony Mobile has unveiled Xperia Z1, a new addition to its Xperia smartphone line-up. The Z1’s standout features are its in-built camera, detachable lenses, a massive 20.7MP resolution camera and 12.7cm (5-inch) screen.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 T210 in India Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 T210 is available in India at ` 12,399. Interestingly, this is the cheapest tablet in the company’s Galaxy Tab 3 series and has Wi-Fi connectivity, 1.2GHz processor along with a 1GB DR2 RAM and a 17.7cm (7-inch) capacitative touch screen.

Microsoft Buys Nokia’s Devices Business Microsoft made an announcement recently that it is going to purchase Nokia’s devices & services division, license Nokia’s patents, and also license and use the company’s mapping service HERE.

Apple Developing TV According to recent reports on the Internet, Apple is working on a television set and the company plans to roll out high-definition television services. The company has apparently been in talks with the likes of HBO, Viacom, ESPN, Disney, etc for its new endeavour.

Device to Cure Facebook Addiction Facebook addiction is a common phenomenon these days. If you are one of those who would like to get rid of this habit then make use of the device called Pavlov Poke which will shock you out of this socalled Facebook addiction.

12



World’s First Curved Screen LED TV Edge-to-edge curved construction of the TV gives better picture depth and feel to the viewers

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he world’s first curved screen an immersive experience that makes LED television, KDL-65S990A, viewers feel as if they are truly part of has been introduced by Sony and it the action and in the moment of the will be made available to the public scene they are watching,” Sacbee.com in October for $3999. quoted Mike Lucas, senior vice presiThe television has a curved visual dent of Sony electronics home enterpanel along with the company’s welltainment & sound division, as saying. known TrilumiThe edge-to-edge curved connous display colstruction of the telour system. This evision gives better provides accurate picture depth and pictures and deep feel to the viewers and vibrant colalong with a wider ours, enhancing viewing angle, the viewers’ expewhich means that rience and prothe picture is the viding a comsame irrespective of the anPrice: $3999 plete cinematic experience. gle from which you are watching it. In “The gentle curve of this television addition, the colour clarity and detailborrows from the screen technology ing in the television is also perfect with found in movie theatres, and provides Sony’s X-Reality PRO picture engine.

New Tablet with Dolby Digital Plug technology Acer Iconia A3 tablet reduces background noise and boosts dialogue volume in a video or song

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cer has announced Acer Iconia quality. Apparently, the Acer Iconia A3 tablet. The company seems to A3 has Dolby Digital Plug technology, have gone on a spree of launches, with which will create a 5.1-channel surround many phones and desktop PCs being sound experience when headphones are announced. connected. It will reduce the background The new tablet features a 25.6cm noise and will also have the capacity (10.1-inch) screen and will support to boost dialogue volume in a video or a screen resolution of song. 1280×800MP. In adWhile Acer has not dition, it will have a announced when the 1.2GHz Cortex A7 phone will be launched quad-core processor in the US, it is known along with a 5MP rearthat the Wi-Fi only varifacing camera. The deant of the phone will vice will run on the be up for sale in the Price: $332 to $399 Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Middle-East, Europe operating system and will have 16GB and Africa from early October. It will and 32GB variants. be priced at €249 ($332) with the 3G According to reports, the company model going up to €299 ($399) and beis marketing the new tablets’ sound ing launched in November. www.efymag.com

Buyers’ Guide

Windows 8 Hybrids and Convertibles Flexibility is the main benefit of Windows 8 hybrid tablets and convertible ultrabooks; you can flip, fold, slide or detach the screen completely for use as a portable tablet. Also, the battery life is usually quite good, with some models claiming as much as 10 hours. However, the form factor and features need to justify the steep price of the model you buy

Uma gupta

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he declining sales of PCs due to the growing popularity of tablets have forced PC makers to come up with a new breed of devices called hybrid tablets and convertible ultrabooks. These devices are designed to provide the portability of a tablet and the power of an ultrabook. Thanks to Windows 8’s touch-friendly features, these touchbased laptops double up as tablets by either completely detaching the screen or sliding or folding back the screen. Windows 8 has also enabled huge security improvements, longer battery life and faster boot. “New-age users are frequently switching between the office and the road, the desk and the sofa, type and touch, business and social life, work and pleasure, and desire a device that adapts perfectly to this dynamic lifestyle. Convertible PCs are versatile and deliver superior experience in both modes—a great laptop experience in laptop mode and a great tablet experience in tablet mode. Convertible 14


PCs have the potential to become the next big ubiquitous computing product,” says Saji Kumar, director–product management, Acer India. Hewlett Packard (HP), Lenovo, Dell, Acer, ASUS and Samsung are the companies betting big on these laptopscum-tablets. The devices could be powered by processors like Intel Core i-series (found in ultrabooks), netbook-class Intel Atom or Nvidia Tegra. Hybrids are basically two separate devices. These are tablets that can be used with optional, detachable keyboards to work as notebooks. More powerful than regular tablet devices, these are ideal for those who need to frequently type documents. Other hybrids are those where the tablet snaps onto a keyboard dock to form a single laptop device. “A Windows tablet can blend seamlessly in an office ecosystem, thereby ensuring uninterrupted productivity. Depending on the portability requirement, customers can select from three tablet sizes of 20.3 cm (8 inches), 25.4 cm (10 inches) and 29.5 cm (11.6 inches). These devices will have a distinct advantage over their competition if they come preloaded with the complete MS Office suite. Equipped with a suite of connectivity options including micro HDMI/USB ports, they will deliver seamless connectivity and enable better productivity,” shares Kumar. Examples of hybrids include HP Envy X2 and Split X2, ASUS Vivo Tab and Asus Transformer Book TX300, Samsung Ativ PC Pro, Microsoft Surface, Lenovo ThinkPad Helix and Acer Iconia W3-810. Talking of convertible PCs, these are basically ultrabooks that can transform into tablets. There are several variations within this category. For instance, these include dual-screen models, sliding-screen models, flip-screen models and laptops with touchscreens. Examples are Dell XPS 12 (an ultrabook that transforms to a tablet with a fluid flip-andfold motion with its premium flip-hinge design), Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 (which has four modes of use—standard laptop mode, tablet mode, ‘tent’ mode and ‘stand’ mode), Sony VAIO Duo 11 and ASUS Taichi. Common screen sizes include 29.5 cm (11.6 inches), 31.8 cm (12.5 inches) and 33.8 cm (13.3 inches). In terms of pricing, convertibles usually cost higher than hybrid models.

Buying criteria Peter Chang, regional head of South Asia and managing director for ASUS India, advises, “While buying a Windows www.efymag.com

Buyers’ Guide Some Popular Models Hybrids

Convertibles

Acer Iconia W3-810

ASUS Transformer Book (Model: TX300CA)

HP Split X2

Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro ASUS Taichi (Model: XE700T1C-A01IN) (Model: TAICHI31-CX010P)

Price: ` 30,499

Price: ` 91,999

Price: ` 64,990

Price: ` 75,490

Price: ` 139,999

The Iconia W3 is Acer India’s latest offering and claimed to be the world’s first 21cm (8.1-inch) tablet operating on Windows 8 OS. The Iconia W3-810 houses the Intel Atom processor Z2760 and packs enough battery life for up to 8 hours of 720p video playback. Matched with the larger 16:10 display, this tablet is ideal for watching movies or getting work done on the move.

The ASUS Transformer Book is a 33.8cm notebook with a detachable tablet that has a Full HD IPS touch panel and 178-degree viewing angle. It is powered by an Intel Core i5 processor. Separate storage has been provided for the notebook and tablet with a high-capacity hard drive and an ultra-fast solidstate drive.

The HP Split x2 is a Windows 8 laptop-tablet hybrid, powered by 3rd generation Intel Core i3 or i5 processors. The 33.8cm device has an HD Diagonal LED-backlit touchscreen display (1366x768). With Beats Audio and dual speakers, the HP Split x2 is designed for great-sounding audio.

Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro lets you enjoy mobility and convenience for instant consumption on the go, including Web browsing, communication, video and gaming. Simply add its full-sized keyboard and touchpad and you get the heavy-duty performance, compatibility and creative capability of a notebook.

Lid open, TAICHI is a powerful notebook with a Full HD screen, Intel Core processor and backlit keyboard. Lid closed, TAICHI is a light-weight tablet with a slim, tapered profile and a multi-touch Full HD screen for intuitive fingertip control with Windows 8. The 33.8cm dual LED-backlit Windows 8 Pro ultrabook comes with Full HD non-glare TFT LCD display.

Processor

Intel Atom Z2760

Intel 3rd generation i5-3337U (1.7G,3M)

3rd generation Intel Core i3 or i5 processor

Intel Core i5 3317U (1.70GHz, 3MB L3 cache)

Intel Core i7-3517M (1.9G, 4M)

Operating System

Windows 8 32-bit

Windows 8 Professional

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Windows 8 (64-bit)

Windows 8 Pro

Display

21cm (8.1-inch), HD, 800x1280 resolution, high-brightness (350-nit)

33.8cm Full HD IPS touch panel 33.8cm HD diagonal LEDbacklit touchscreen display (1366x768 pixels)

29.5cm Full HD LED (1920×1080)

33.8cm dual LED-backlit TFT LCD display, Full HD, nonglare with touch function

Storage

32/64GB eMMC

500GB HDD 5400rpm with 128GB SSD

128GBmSATA+500GBHDD hard drive

128GB solidstate drive

256GB SATA3 SSD

Camera

—

A front HD webcam and a rear 5MP camera

1080p HD front-facing HP TrueVi- 2.0MP webcam (front), 5.0MP sion webcam with integrated webcam (rear) digital microphone

Graphics

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3650 with 64 MB of dedicated system memory

Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 Intel Graphics Accelerator

Intel HD Graphics 4000

Intel HD 4000

Memory

2 GB of LPDDR2 memory

4GB DDR3 1600MHz on-board RAM

Starts at 2GB RAM (1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM)

4GB DDR3 system memory at 1600MHz (on BD 4GB)

4GB DDR3 1600

Ports

MicroSD Card reader, Micro USB 2.0 port, Micro HDMI port with HDCP support, headphone/speaker jack

COMBO audio jack, 2x USB 3.0 ports, RJ45 LAN jack for LAN insert, micro HDMI, docking connector, mini Display Port, SD card reader

MicroSD reader, combo audio jack, 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, HDMI, SD card slot

Micro HDMI, USB3.0, MicroSD multimedia card reader, headphone out/mic-in combo, dock port, DC-in

Two USB 3.0, HDMI

Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0

Integrated BT 4.0 support (on WLAN+ BT 4.0 combo card)

802.11ac+Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n+Bluetooth

Intel Centrino Advanced-N 802.11 b/g/n (WIDI), Bluetooth 4.0 6235, 2x2 802.11abg/n (up to 300Mbps), WiDi support (only for Core i CPU), Bluetooth V4.0

Weight

Tablet: 950 gm (with polymer battery), Dock: 950 gm (with polymer battery)

2.2 kg (including keyboard)

888 gm (Wi-Fi model)

500 gm with 2-cell battery pack

8 convertible, display resolution and weight, followed by computing horsepower, should be of primary consideration. Further to that, as per your requirement and budget, you may choose out of the options available in the market.” The device should be light enough for use as a tablet. The choice between flexible and detachable screens makes a big difference. Models with the ability to flip back their screen by a full 360 degrees are a bit inconvenient as you still feel the keys on the back side when you hold the 16


5MP HD camera

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device like a tablet. Also, these devices can be quite heavy for use as a truly portable tablet. Check whether the device is suitable for the tasks you want to do—office productivity or multimedia tasks. Intel Core i series processors offer ultrabook-class performance. Intel Atompowered devices are slower but the battery life is longer. Solidstate drives are usually available with storage capacities that are likely to be sufficient for most users. 256 GB is perhaps the highest-capacity SSD drive seen in consumer www.efymag.com

Buyers’ Guide Some Popular Models Convertibles Dell XPS 12

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

Sony VAIO Duo 11 Model: SVD11213CNB

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Peripherals for Industrial Automation

SSR / OPTO Interface Modules

Input

Output

24V DC, 15 mA

24V DC, 2A , 2.5A

No. of Channe ls

24V DC, 15mA

1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16

230V A C, 2A

Price: ` 84,390 (inclusive of all taxes and delivery charges)

Price: ` 89,990

Transform your XPS 12 Ultrabook to a tablet with a fluid flip-and-fold motion with its premium flip-hinge design. With 3rd Gen Intel Core i5 processors, this convertible ultrabook delivers the speed and performance in a sleek design that is ready for work and play. No more waiting. Intel Smart Connect Technology automatically updates your e-mail, social networks and favourite apps, even in sleep mode.

This versatile 33.8cm convertible ultrabook seamlessly combines productivity with an intuitive touch experience across four modes. It features 360-degree flip-and-fold design, with Lenovo transition. Lenovo motion control allows you to use the webcam as an input device – effortlessly flip pages, rewind/ forward music, change volume, and gesture other simple commands with the flick of a hand.

Sony VAIO Duo 11 features Surf Slider design for smooth and seamless transition between slate and keyboard modes. Packed into the slim body is a 29.5cm Full HD OptiContrast panel, a digitiser stylus for natural writing with digital drawing functions and other features for powerful computing. The ‘Rapid Wake + Eco’ feature allows VAIO Duo 11 to wake up from sleep in less than two seconds.

3rd generation Intel Core i5-3337U (3M cache, up to 2.7 GHz), 3rd generation Intel Core i7-3537U (4M cache, up to 3.1 GHz)

3rd generation Intel Core i73537U/3517U, 3rd generation Intel Core i5-3317U/3217U

Intel Core i5-3317U 1.70GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.60 GHz

Windows 8 Single Language, English (64-bit)

Windows 8 Pro 64, Windows 8 64

Windows 8 Single Language 64-bit (English version)

31.8cm LED-backlit touch display with True Life and Full HD resolution (1920x1080)

33.8cm HD+IPS capacitive multitouch display (16:9 widescreen) (1600x900)

29.5cm wide, Full HD (1920x1080) TFT colour display (VAIO Display Plus, LED backlight, capacitive touchscreen, OptiContrast panel)

Up to 256GB solidstate hard drive

128/256GB DDR (double data rate) SSD; HDD interface: m-SATA II (SATA300); DMA mode

128GB Flash memory

1.3MP webcam; 1280x1024 pixels with dual digital-array digital microphones

1.0M 720p HD integrated webcam

Full HD front and rear Web cameras (each with a resolution of 1920x1080 and effective pixels of 2.07MP)


Intel HD 4000 Graphics (integrated)


4GB dual-channel DDR3, 8GB dual-channel DDR3

4GB, 8GB DDR3

4GB (2GB on-board+2GB custom module) DDR3L SDRAM

FRC / D-SUB Connector (M/F)

FRC Conne ctor pins

10, 14, 16, 20, 26, 34, 40, 50, 64

D-SUB Conne ctor pins

9, 15, 25, 37, 50

Diode / Resistor Modules

Diode s

Common A node / Common Cathode / Isolated

Re s is tor s

With common terminal / Isolated

No. of Channe ls

1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16

Also Available

SMPS

Relay Interface Modules

Power Distribution Modules Redundancy Modules

USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI, head9-pin USB 3.0 port, 9-pin USB 3.0 port with PowerShare and Windows phone/mic combo jack, 2-in-1 card debugging, 20-pin mini-display port, reader (SD/MMC) headphone/microphone combo port

USB 3.0 port Type A Connector with charging function, 1000BASET/100BASE-TX/10BASE-T network (RJ-45) connector, analogue RGB, mini D-sub 15-pin display output connector, HDMI out, stereo mini jack, SD memory card slot, memory stick duo

Lenovo 802.11 b/g/n wireless, Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 802.11 a/g/n with Intel Smart Connect Bluetooth 4.0 Technology + Bluetooth 4.0, Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) 3.0 ready, Intel Smart Connect Technology

IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth standard Ver. 4.0 + HS

Starting at 1.54 kg

1.305 kg (including the supplied battery)

Starting at 1.5 kg

devices. Spinning hard drives offer larger capacity, but may get damaged with vibration and movement, which is usually the case when using a tablet. Make sure that the touchscreen is responsive and easy to read in direct sunlight. The on-screen keyboard should also be easy to use. If you are a movie buff, go for an HD screen. From the keyboard point of view, a Bluetooth keyboard dock is advisable as you won’t have to slide the tablet in a particular position to lock the hinges. Also check for the palm rest or trackpad, and whether the keyboard needs to be charged separately. Don’t miss out on the availability of Ethernet port, microSD card slot for extra storage, and VGA or HDMI output to feed your content onto a TV.  www.efymag.com

Analog Signal Converters

Dedicated Controllers

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Website: www.shavison.com Email: [email protected] SHAVISON ELECTRONICS PVT. LTD.

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Electronics For You | October 2013

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technology nEWS Most happening, fact-filled current affairs from around the world

Scientists working on chip to mimic human brain

Scientists from the Boise State University are working on a computer chip that has the ability to mimic the human brain. Despite its advancements and the massive speeds at which computer chips can function, none have come close to what the human brain is capable of. The team of scientists working on the project, including Kris Campbell, Indian-origin Vishal Saxena and Elisa Barney Smith, aims to develop a type of computer architecture that will work like a human brain. The main component of the project is memristor, a kind of resistor that has been programmed to different levels of resistance by the use of electrical pulses. This resistor can remember the value of the resistance even after the power is removed.

Researchers close to developing a ‘thinking’ chip Researchers at the International Business Machines (IBM) are close to developing a silicon-based chip that would think and process like a mammal. The project, co-funded by the US military and many other academic organisations, is called Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE). The researchers have achieved a big success and finally been able to develop a complete neural networks development package, which is capable of processing and responding to any sensory input. The team, including Dr Dharmendra S. Modha, a research fellow at IBM, and Rajit Manohar, VLSI expert at the Cornell University, has said that while the project does have military applications ranging from unmanned drones to facial recognition surveillance, they are more interested in the scientific and financial applications of this system. 20


3D facial recognition

3D facial recognition tech to catch criminals

Voice of Big Data (VOBD), which is a US-based data analytics and business intelligence solutions firm with offshore office in India, said it would launch ‘Facial Signature,’ its flagship product, before the next quarter. VOBD asserts that the firm would be the first in India to launch a 3D facial detection product that could aid police and investigating officials to recognise criminals by using the data analytics tools. “The product has already gained recognition in the US and Indian markets. Though we are yet to launch, we have three clients in the US. In India, we have helped a few police stations to solve their cases within a few hours,” said VOBD chief executive Srini Kishan. So far the company has invested $200,000 in the project and is aiming at investing $1,400,00 by March 2015. The company stated that the Facial Signature is nearly 90 per cent accurate and the algorithms involved in this application can identify the 80 nodal points on a person’s face. It will also be possible to identify a person in a disguise or wearing a ‘burkha.’

A robot from China set to land on moon

Chang’e-3 is the name of China’s endeavor to explore the rocky terrains on moon. The unmanned robot is all set to roll on moon’s surface at the end of 2013. It marks the first of its kind attempt in the series of Chang’e robots designed to conquer the moon. Learning from the past failed attempts, Chinese engineers are more cautious this time around and unique, slow-landing technique has been developed to place the bot on moon’s surface safely. However, the details are yet to be revealed. The bot has successfully undergone the research and construction stage and is presently being tested for the launch. The Xichange Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province has been nominated for the launch of the moon explorer.

China is preparing to launch Chang’e-3 www.efymag.com

technology nEWS

Flying robots may soon clean your house

What if your house could be cleaned automatically, or you had a vaccum cleaner that could work on its own? Well, this may soon turn into a reality as Adrian Perez Zapata, industrial design student at Colombia, has designed a system, which cleans by itself using mini flying robots. The 23-year-old has conceptualised an automated cleaning system, where flying robots will be cleaning your house. Known as Mab, the system uses a number of mini-robots,

Adrian Perez Zapata’s automated cleaning system

which are fitted with cleaning solutions. Zapata’s system has brought him amongst the 20 semi-finalists in the 2013 Electrolux Design Lab competition. Zapata’s concept needs users to do minimum bit of work. All one has to do is to put water and a particular chemical into the robot’s spherical core. This is then spread amongst 908 mini-robots, which can fly using propellers. These robots are then set free in the house. They scan the house and clean dirty surfaces using droplets of the liquid. the mini robots are powered using solar energy. The system can be scheduled to clean at particular times or particular areas of a house. It can also be synced with smartphones and controlled through them.

Wireless devices to communicate without battery A team of researchers led by Indian-origin Shyam Gollakota from the University of Washington has devised a way for wireless devices to communicate without the need for batteries. Known as Ambient Backscatter, the technology uses wireless signals like television and cellphone transmissions surrounding us. According to reports, the wireless devices communicate by reflecting these signals and exchanging information through them. Gollakota’s team has designed batteryless wireless devices with attached antennae, which could detect, harness and then reflect television signals. These signals were then picked up by similar devices. After further studies, this technology could turn out to be highly useful, as it would eliminate the need for a power source in wireless or network-related devices. This would also lead to less requirement of human attention towards such devices. 22


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technology nEWS chargeable batteries and is completely eco-friendly. It can be airborne for an average stretch of 60 minutes and, if funding is established, the design can be further improved to make it last longer.

Ultra-fast camera which works like human retina

Jeong-Yun and Christoph Keplinger demonstrate their ionic speaker

The devices apparently use the wireless signals as both a source of power and a medium for communication. Their usage could range from wearable computers to smart homes.

Harvard engineers develop stretchable speakers A group of engineers from Harvard, led by Jeong-Yun and Christoph Keplinger, has developed a stretchable ionic speaker made of gel. The speaker is transparent and can play the entire audible sound spectrum, that is, 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The engineers have used a transparent piece of insulating and stretchable rubber along with a couple of layers of a hydrogel, which is an ionic conductor. This apparatus, in this case, has been attached to copper electrodes. According to reports, this is the first device to prove that an ionic apparatus can be used in order to power conventional electronic devices. The engineers believe that the device could be attached to a TV to eliminate the need for speakers. The stretchable speaker is also almost invisible. The idea of ionic conductors has many applications in the real world. In fact, it can be used right from the most basic electronics to the complete artificial organs, which would save many lives. 24


Indian student designs UAV

Subhanjan Saha, a 21-year-old computer-science student from Mahindra Chandra College, has developed a 3×1m completely unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). His design is based on basic materials but is highly capable of camera surveillance attack and defense, weather forecasting and much more. He has already written to the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and is waiting for the authorities to fund the upgradation of the drone. The drone is currently equipped with a pair of 180 degrees highdefinition cameras (each in the front and back) and, once airborne, can scan a 10-kilometre area. The vehicle is totally remote controlled. Saha explains that his drone runs on re-

Photos and videos taken by modern DSLR cameras are nothing close to light-weight files. They quickly add up to gigabytes of data, which makes it difficult for the researchers. However, engineers at the iniLabs, a Swiss company, have come out with a technology that borrows the image capturing mechanics from the way a human retina functions. Aptly called the dynamic vision sensor (DVS), the resulting technology is the prominent aspect of this super-powerful and ultra-fast camera. The human retina works not by actually capturing/recording all the things that come to our view but by spotting the change in movements. This way the neurons can get rid of tons of unnecessary data from the surrounding, making processing sharper and fast. The DVS technology works the same way and records only motion of the subjects. The new camera is able to record hours of non-stop video consuming a very little amount of power and using just a few megabytes for storage of the same.

Bracelet that confirms identity from heartbeats A new device has been developed by a company called Bionym, which identifies users by reading their heartbeats.

Nymi bracelet, which identifies users through their heartbeat www.efymag.com

Markets/Customers Our customers include NASA, the Department of Defense and commercial customers around the world including universities, aerospace companies large and small, and space agencies. Our toolboxes have a substantial international market and we have eight distributors spanning Asia and Europe. Selected previous federal and non-federal contracts are:

Satellite Planner for Execution and Reconfiguration (SPEAR) – Navy SPAWAR Autonomous optical navigation system for deep space and GPS-denied missions - NASA. Automated detection and response tools for co-orbiting satellite threats – Air Force Research Laboratory Simulation tool to intercept multiple missiles employing random evasive maneuvers – Missile Defense Agency Development of a rapid prototyping system for agent-based real time software in C++ - Air Force Research Laboratory A reconfigurable, decentralized framework for formation flying control - NASA Enhancement of space operations training through an open-architecture, plug-in based application for simulation and visualization – Air Force Research Laboratory Simulations and data visualization for mission planning and assessment – Air Force Research Laboratory Comprehensive Solar Sail Simulation – NASA Autonomous Control System for High-Altitude Data Relay Stations – Edwards AFB

Core Advantage PSS’ software product lines and extensive experience on operational systems make us ideally suited to support advanced technology development for operational systems. Our focus on product development enables us to complete contracts on time and under budget, while exceeding specifications. PSS has customers worldwide, including: Boeing Honeywell Orbital Sciences Corporation Surrey Satellite Technology Los Alamos National Laboratory Sandia Laboratory Air Force Research Laboratory

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technology nEWS EFY Top 100 Electronics and IT Companies in India For the last eight years Electronics For You (EFY) has been doing a survey to find out the Top 100 electronics and IT companies in India. The feature will be published next in EFY November issue. EFY evaluates the companies on the basis of their latest turnover (for year 2012-13 or 2012). We solicit your participation in the EFY Top 100 feature. If you are an electronics/IT company and your turnover (for 2012-13 or 2012) is higher than ` 4200 million, please contact us so that we can consider including you in EFY’s Top 100 list.

Contact at [email protected] or call 9899809240 According to reports, the device, called Nymi, is a wireless wearable bracelet that confirms a person’s identity through his heartbeat. It confirms the person’s identity independently and then shares the information with the required device, like a smartphone or tablet using Bluetooth. The device is a bracelet and needs to be put on the wrist. It has a metal sensor on the top, touching which with the other hand completes a circuit through which the device records the user’s heartbeat signature. It takes about two minutes to calibrate at first, followed by a few seconds every day. In addition, removing the device by force will break the authentication. It has also been fitted with a dedicated cryptography chip, which

lets only authorised apps and devices receive data from Nymi. Further, the chip also ensures that your identity can not be spoofed. Preorders for the device have started at $79, while shipping will start in 2014.

the device weighing 148 gm can be attached to the camera of a smartphone to analyse the amount of albumin present in a person’s urine. According to the authors, “This automated albumin testing tool running on a smartphone could be useful for early diagnosis of kidney disease or for monitoring of chronic patients.”

Smartphone solution for eye treatment A team of doctors from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have come up with a solution for eye treatment that is an innovative, low-cost smartphone solution. The researchers, led by Dr Andrew

Detect kidney damage using smartphone As per a study published in Lab on a Chip journal, scientists have invented a portable device that can carry out kidney tests and convey the data via a smartphone attachment. The device can greatly minimise the need for frequent visits to a clinic for people suffering from diabetes and acute kidney conditions, according to researchers from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As stated on medicalnewstoday.com,

Snippets Solar dryer to help prevent food wastage Doctoral students Vaibhab Tidke and Shital Somany have designed a low-cost solar device that can store up to three tons of food every year for individual farmers with an aim to prevent food wastage. The device is called the solar conduction dryer and comes with the ability to provide cold food storage more widely than affordable today.

Novel app for long-distance lovers Now, sleep listening to your lover’s heartbeats even if they are miles away. Yes you heard it right, researchers have recently developed a new app, Pillow Talk, that will let long-distance lovers listen to each others’ heartbeats. It is a package of a wristband which picks up your heartbeats and transmits it via Bluetooth to the iOS or Android app.

3D printed skimmers used for stealing A recent report from Australia reveals that a gang of criminals from Romania are using the 3D printing technology to steal from ATMs. They have combined computer aided design (CAD) skills to create a natural looking reader casing that fits exactly as a real one in an ATM.

Dr Andrew Bastawrous’ Eye-Phone for eye treatment

Bastawrous, have used the smartphone, which comes with an add-on lens that scans the retina and an application to record the data while researching in Kenya, which was the testing ground for the pilot project. The technology called Eye-Phone, is very simple to use and cheap to boot. Each Eye-Phone costs a few hundred euros. The study titled ‘Nakuru Eye Disease Cohort Study,’ has already checked over 5000 Kenyan patients. It is hoped that it will one day revolutionise access to eye treatment for millions of low-income Africans who are suffering from various eye diseases and blindness. Bastawrous says his Eye-Phone has proved its worth, and can easily and accurately diagnose ailments including glaucoma, cataracts, myopia and long-sightedness.

Check efytimes.com for more news, daily 26


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Technology Focus

Do You DIY? Do-it-yourself (DIY) is the ultimate experience for geeks and techies! It challenges their capabilities and helps expand their horizons. While DIY has been around in many fields since time immemorial, we see it gaining popularity with the advent of online communities and marketplaces. The new-age DIY culture makes it possible for tinkerers to realise any idea, with components and know-how sourced from around the world.

H

Janani Gopalakrishnan Vikram

Why DIY?

ave you ever seen little children, who have just learnt to sit up, grabbing a ball-point pen from their dad’s pocket, disassembling it and trying to put it together again? Do you let them meddle, or do you grab that pen, stash it back into your pocket and walk off? Well, this is the earliest sign of the do-it-yourself (DIY) craze in a person. Fostering it could transform the child into an innovator, an entrepreneur or simply a very resourceful person with unending excitement all lifelong! While DIY exists sor IR sen in almost everything from music and crafts to plumbing and carpentry, it is especially interesting, developmental and community-oriented in technical fields like electronics and robotics. Here we attempt to figure out what makes electronics DIY so interesting and purposeful, how people go about it (is there a standard ‘route’), what they need and where they get the stuff, what boards or components they prefer, and how vibrant the community is in India.

Jayakrishnan T., CEO of Asimov Robotics, is a robotics DIYer who later built a company around his passion. He feels that very few people go the DIY route for cost-saving because DIY costs time and for most

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people that is more valuable than money. Most people do it because they are passionate about it. A lot of people walk down the DIY path to familiarise themselves with something they have always been apprehensive of doing, or they do it to quickly get something that is not readily available. Many a times, a DIY project might revolve around modifying or upgrading an existing solution to satisfy a specific need or to fix a problem associated with the solution. This resonates with the thoughts

of Nagasai Panchakarla, entrepreneur and co-organiser of a Bangalore-based Internet of Things DIY group (IoTBlr). Nagasai feels that “DIY is all about creation. In order to create something, DIYers will come across a lot of questions for themselves and explore their own potential… questions like what do I know, what do I not know, what resources do I have, who will work with me and how to get things done from constrained resources. This will bring in the entrepreneurial mindset of converting imagination into a product that one loves.” Ken Denmead, popularly known as GeekDad Ken in the cyber-world, and editorial director of Maker Media, feels that the biggest positive aspect of DIY projects is empowerment. People should be connected to the things they own and use, and helping people feel empowered to make things themselves helps them achieve those connections,” he explains. Nihal Kashinath, IoT enthusiast and founder of IoTBlr, feels that DIY results in democratisation of technology and design, which is a wonderful thing. Anyone can create anything, and no one needs to be satisfied with the products or specifications put forth www.efymag.com

Technology Focus

White board discussion

by large-scale manufacturers, which, for commercial reasons, would usually cater to the lowest common denominator of their common market. “With affordable electronics, 3D printing, support of the DIY community, etc, soon everyone will be able to make or modify things to meet his specific requirements,” says Kashinath. “DIY projects have a psychological connect with the task at hand. The sense of achievement from making something yourself cannot be replicated in any other way. In addition, people learn faster from ‘hands-on’ experience and the knowledge gain is better than when watching somebody else doing it. Besides, DIY enables mass customisation and increasing personalisation as consumers become more demanding. This is a big motivation for DIY projects,” says Rajiv Bajaj, head-Manufacturing, Autodesk India & SAARC. “It is amazing to see how individual entrepreneurs and design enthusiasts are becoming manufacturers themselves. This increasing affordability and accessibility has facilitated the rise of the ‘maker community.’” A DIY trend may also be fostered to promote new technologies, as we can see from the example of the IoTfocused DIY group. “The IoT presents a new opportunity to the DIY community. It is an entirely Greenfield area of innovation where large organisations and individuals or DIY groups have 30


similar levels of maturity. Platforms like the Arduino, MSP430 Launchpad and Raspberry Pi have democratised innovation and reduced the barriers to entry significantly, so even a high-school student with interest can get started making interesting projects or devices. Let us not forget that many great companies started as projects nurtured by the DIY community. One oftenquoted example is the birth of Apple and its close connection with the Homebrew Computer Club,” says Sayan Chakraborty, a core member of IoTBlr, who is leading the effort to set up a physical hackerspace for the group.

Getting started—the first steps Bajaj explains how it is done: “Every DIY effort starts with planning the course of action. Like any other planned activity, DIY projects start with ideation followed by budgeting, procurement of materials, cost management and finally execution. The scale of the project simply defines how much time and effort is required at each stage before final execution. A crucial stage of DIY is digital prototyping that is enabled by technology. The benefit of prototyping is that it helps to minimise errors and ensure desired results at the project planning stage. Any project that is evaluated well on these parameters can be converted into real objects.” The steps, of course, vary from person to person and project to project. Randy Sarafan, technology editor, Instructables, says, “I typically start with a spark of inspiration, and then immediately write it down (otherwise, I will never remember it). This is preceded by brainstorming, sketching, acquiring parts and general pre-planning. Some of the more complicated projects

might also have a more formal design phase where the project is planned out using design software. From there I typically breadboard the circuit to make sure that it works as intended. Once I am happy with that, I build the project, stopping at the end of every new alteration to take a picture of the process. Finally, when the build is complete, I compile all of the pictures, software and circuit diagrams and write step-by-step instructions for others to be able to learn from what I have done. Even if I never iterate upon the design and make a second version, perhaps someone else can do that or apply what I have learned to their own efforts.”

Deciding what you need “The barebones minimum set of tools one might need would be a soldering iron, breadboard, wire stripper and multimeter. Beyond that, the next big tool to invest in would be an oscilloscope. In the last few years prices of these tools have gone down considerably, and you can now find a pocket-sized digital scope for under $100. This puts this tool well within the reach of individual inventors,” suggests Sarafan. As for the software needed, Denmead says, “It all depends upon what you are basing your build around. VEX Robotics and LEGO Mindstorms EV3 have their own programming software. Alternatively, if you’re building a robot using an Arduino brain, you’d use

The steps from idea to product, the DIY way           

Conceptualise Brainstorm Sketch Assess parts, tools, materials Acquire these Design/plan steps Rough build/ breadboard Build (take photos of each step) Test Fine-tune Compile and upload all instructions and pictures for the community to improve upon

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Technology Focus

Presentation

the open source programming tools available for it.” So when you choose components for your project, remember Denmead’s thumb rule: “Be aware of what you need, and what’s available to fit that need. You may not need the most expensive item for your project, and if you do your research, you can save some cost.”

Acquiring the components When it comes to acquiring the components, you have the choice of either buying them individually or going for a kit. You could also opt to buy on foot or order online (suggestions in box). Acquiring individual components in India can be quite tough, unless you know where to go. The cost of components can also be high, because most of these are imported. “Very few components get manufactured in India, so barring some passive components, all others are imported,” says Neena Chopra, director, Kitsnspares.com, one of India’s leading electronics DIY kit sellers. In fact, cost is one of the major stumbling blocks felt by Indian Arduino users too. Priya Kuber, managing director of Arduino India, says, “The majority of Indian users, students and prototypers have complained about the high cost. Arduino as a project was made to cost as much as a textbook in Europe but when converted to Indian rupees it costs slightly higher to the Indian masses.” However, Kuber shares a good news too: “Arduino has decided to 32


bring out official ‘made in India’ boards soon!” Overall, it appears that in India, it is easier and safer to buy kits. There are kits available for beginners as well as experts. The range includes specific projects as well as general-purpose ones, based on specific boards. Kits‘n’Spares has DIY kits based on GSM, RF, RFID, VLSI, etc. Asimov Robotics also specialises in DIY kits, with offerings ranging from robot manipulators and humanoid platforms to animatronics platforms and virtual reality interfaces.

A third dimension—make it yourself While we wonder whether to buy on foot or order online, several lucky individuals in the West are hardly bothered about the components, all thanks to 3D printing! “With the ability to manufacture their own products, DIY manufacturers can create adventurous, unique products that were previously done only by manual methods. Clearly, the distance between the individuals and the manufacturers is gradually eliminated, by increasing the availability and affordability of 3D printers. In fact, the cost of 3D printers has dropped significantly in the last few years. Now almost anyone can own a 3D printer— MakerBot Replicator 2 with about $2200—to create a 3D object in the real world,” says Bajaj. The viability of 3D printing has emerged in tandem with the advancement and democratisation of 3D design or CAD software, which allows users to easily create a digital 3D model of an object and optimise the design before

Resources for components  AliExpress  Element14  ExploreLabs

 Futurlec  Kitsnspares.com  SimpleLabs

anything has been built. The combination of these two technologies—3D design software and 3D printers—means that it is easier for individuals to take an idea for a product and turn it into a physical object. Although 3D printers are still quite expensive in India, you might want to co-invest in them with a DIY community. Plus, Bajaj feels, the prices are likely to go down as the market grows.

Which board? When deciding on the components and tools needed, you are most likely to face the question “which board to use for my project.” Kashinath says, “Among the group, members own several types of boards—Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard, Stellaris, MSP430, etc. We basically use whatever serves our purpose for a particular project. However, choosing the right board (and hardware in general) is a recurring challenge for us and we are trying to develop a knowledge base around it. Not sure how easy it would be to keep it updated and accurate, given the rate at which new and improved board variants are coming out.” “There are many different boards, each having strengths in different areas. There are significant differences between what an Arduino is good for, since it is a microcontroller, versus what a Raspberry Pi is good for, as it is a minicomputer that runs an operating system. Because of these differences, we tend to publish more Arduino/microcontroller projects as they are used more commonly as part of a variety of purposes,” says Denmead. Sarafan appears to be an Arduino fan too. “I am a fan of Arduino because it is the most user-friendly and approachable. It has the same limitations as something like a Raspberry Pi, which also makes it more approachable to a more generalised audience. It is by no means the most powerful piece of hardware, but it is the most powerful in enabling absolute beginners to hit the ground running,” he says. www.efymag.com

Technology Focus Beagleboard, a credit-card sized, low-power, open hardware computer maintained by Texas Instruments, is another viable option for DIYers. You can use it to experiment with Linux, Android and Ubuntu, and start developing the solution in five minutes with the included USB cable. Citing network connectivity, multimedia and community as the top three factors that make Raspberry Pi best suited for DIY projects, Eben Upton, executive director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, explains, “There aren’t many devices that let you connect to wired Ethernet for $35. Also, the chip we use in the Pi was originally intended as a mobile phone graphics accelerator, so people wanting to do things that connect to a screen, play video or render 3D graphics find it ideal. We have sold over 1.5 million Raspberry Pi’s, so we have a massive community that people can tap if they want help in bringing their creation to life.” Regarding the desirable features in a Pi, he says, “I think a lot of people in the DIY world would like analogue input, more GPIOs and Wi-Fi. The first two are served quite well by connecting an Arduino via USB. As for Wi-Fi, there are a lot of wireless dongles you can use with the Pi. We are considering to incorporate some of these features on a future board,

Boards to consider       

Arduino Raspberry Pi MSP430 Launchpad Beagleboard Stellaris Telos B EFM32

Tools needed      

Soldering iron Breadboard Wire stripper Multimeter Oscilloscope A 3D printer (if you can afford it or invest in it as a group)

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want to take insurance on the pins, which is currently not provided. Another complaint is generally regarding the IDE, but the people who complain over that are mostly advanced software engineers. Considering the masses, the most ‘wanted’ feature in India at least is the drop in price.” Cellphone-operated land rover—a DIY project offered by Kits‘n’Spares, New Delhi

but we need to be careful: Part of the reason for the Pi’s very low price is that we’ve been careful not to add more than is absolutely necessary to the board.” Listing the top reasons for Arduino’s popularity in the DIY world, Kuber says, “Arduino is popular because it was one of the pioneers in the open source hardware domain. I would credit the widespread popularity to the fact that it has a great founding team. They had all the elements to make this project a success—a robust hardware design, an experienced professor taking care of documentation, a software person to write an easy-touse IDE and an efficient manufacturer. Furthermore, the active forums and the hand-to-hand customer support have brought Arduino this far. It invited developers of all experience levels— novices to professionals to hobbyists. Every person working for Arduino answers support queries in the mailing lists, be it the CEO of Turin office, or India office or the creator of Arduino himself! If the problem goes too vast, and if it is found to be common, we would then point it to the forums. As far as tutorials and workshops in India are concerned, we are working to organise them in a more hands-on orderly manner.” Kuber also discusses things on DIY users’ wishlists: “People usually compliment the robustness of Arduino. However, some of them

Learn and collaborate

There are excellent learning resources for DIYers these days (see box on next page for online resources). From step-by-step instructions to videos showing how to go about a project, from basic conceptual learning resources to discussion forums, you have several avenues for getting your doubts cleared at any stage of your project. Concerning IoT DIY, Kashinath says, “In terms of learning, obviously the best entry point is a Google search, as there are several tutorials, videos and communities dedicated to IoT on the Web. There are also some good books on the subject and some course material from universities teaching IoT. In India, since many of our challenges are unique to us, the global forums may not have the answers we seek. So one of the best resources you can get is a local group of enthusiasts who can work and learn together. Most cities should already have local groups. If you are in Bengaluru, join IoTBLR. If there is no such group in your city, why not start one?” Sarafan also recommends Google search. “Honestly, I am partial to Google image search. Simply search for whatever you are trying to build and throw the word ‘schematic’ at the end. You should visually get lots of useful information quickly,” he explains. Above all this, it is the ‘community’ that makes DIY possible—and the key factor that sets today’s DIY scenario far Electronics For You | October 2013

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Technology Focus No DIYian is an Island Like open source software, DIY is also greatly driven by the community—both online and physical. In fact, it is the community spirit that has made DIY so tangible today “I think the biggest positive aspect is the community that has grown around DIY projects. It is not so much the individual projects being generated by this new DIY resurgence that are particularly novel. People have always pursued their passions, tinkered and innovated unique solutions to their everyday problems. What is currently so powerful about DIY projects is that these people are no longer operating alone. Even if you are the only person in your town who does this sort of thing, you can go online and connect with people all over the world who think like you do. Collectively this community has pushed innovation much further than people ever could have working alone in their basement,” says Randy Sarafan of Instructables. Being part of a community helps DIYers to collaborate with like-minded individuals to build their projects faster and better. Sometimes, it also becomes possible to combine modules into a bigger solution. Moreover, since larger DIY solutions are often multidisciplinary, collaboration is indispensable since one person rarely has all the skills required for the fruition of an idea. While online communities are a great boon and beneficial to people living in remote areas, it also helps to have physical gatherings if there is a DIY group in your town. Sayan Chakraborty, who is working towards setting up a physical hackerspace for IoTBlr, says, “Meeting and working in person is very important for the DIY maker/hacker community as we are mostly dealing ahead of the yesteryears.’ (See box ‘No DIYian is an Island.’)

The result Great products and often thriving companies are born of DIY projects. There is no dearth of examples in this space. Sharing his favourite Pi-based projects, Upton says, “The highaltitude ballooning that Dave Akerman has been doing in the UK (http://www.daveakerman.com/) remains my favourite, but there are lots of others, from the Siri-activated garage door opener (http://www. raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic. php?f=63&t=25118&p=231345) to the Raspberry Pi bartender (http://www. kickstarter.com/projects/partyrobot-

with physical things, whether it is electronic devices or artwork or product designs. In addition, some of the skills and capabilities being acquired and exchanged between the community members require active participation and discussion while interacting with physical devices at the same time.” The IoT Bangalore, Computer Club of India, Jaaga and HasGeek are some of the groups that are quite active in Bengaluru. These groups run regular group buys for components or make runs to the local electronics component market. In addition, there are constant barters or donations to specific member projects. “Our meetings are very informal and in the spirit of the makerspace/hackerspace culture we actively encourage collaborative learning. Interesting project ideas and implementations are discussed openly and voted on. Teams are formed based on the interest of the members. One of the key concepts we are dealing with these days is the evolving 802.15.4 wireless standard. We have had a session on the pros and cons of open standards (like 802.15.4) vs proprietary wireless standards. We have also had a very fruitful session on hardware platforms ranging from the well-known Arduino, MSP430 and Raspberry Pi to the relatively less-known but extremely energy-efficient EFM32. We all come from different fields and these sessions enable us to learn new things and share ideas.”

ics/bartendro-a-cocktail-dispensingrobot). What’s great is that many of these projects start off as DIY efforts and then turn into small-scale businesses (for example, http://www. kickstarter.com/projects/tubecore/ tubecore-duo, which just got funded).” Kuber shares, “There is a new device called ArduSat. It’s an Arduino Satellite wherein Arduino users can test their code in space (http:// blog.arduino.cc/2013/08/12/ardusatsuccessfully-launched-in-space/). It is exciting to know that now Indian students would be able to have the same access to space! ArduSat has tied up with Dhruva Space India and we are partnering with them to teach space-oriented experiments in a very

Online learning resources         

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Electronics for You (www.electronicsforu.com) Make Magazine (http://makezine.com/) Instructables (http://www.instructables.com/) Arduino website (http://arduino.cc/) Raspberry Pi website (http://www.raspberrypi.org/) Beagleboard (http://beagleboard.org/) Popular Mechanics DIY (http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how-to/) DIY (https://diy.org/) Adafruit (http://www.adafruit.com/)


fun and educative way (http://www. spaceschool.co.in/?page_id=561).” Regarding popular projects in his group, Chakraborty says, “There are a number of interesting projects and we encourage people to form their own teams based on their interest or capabilities. Some of today’s popular themes include automation for home, retail, medical, agriculture and location tracking. My current favourite is a pollution monitoring and reporting system that uses GPS location tracking and mesh networking between the nodes.”

Guarding against pitfalls The DIY scene is generally charged with enthusiasm and positivity. Despite that, DIYers need to be aware of the potential pitfalls and how to guard their project against them. Denmead warns, “The biggest pitfall is perhaps that sometimes doing a project yourself may not be the most economical way to achieve it.” “In India, DIY is more or less confined to academic interests and hence it is highly constrained by the goals and timelines. Another aspect is how www.efymag.com

Technology Focus Corporate DIY: Jet Fuel for Innovation Industry leaders are encouraging a DIY culture amongst their employees. We took a peak at some of the DIY stuff displayed at ARM’s recent tech fest and discussed how DIY helps a company grow... ARM was all ablaze with excitement as it celebrated ingenuity and innovation at the recently held Technofest 2013. Krishna Kumar Ranganathan, principal engineer, ARM India, had some interesting stuff on platform stabilisation and demonstrated a miniature ‘Segway’ kind of mobile device at the event. “I have a bigger prototype at home and I am keen on building a cost-effective human transportation device,” he said. Another group of employees showcased a Smart Aquarium project. Their product involved an Android app that could help one remotely monitor an aquarium and program the feeding time. “ARM has always encouraged employees to innovate and explore the world of technology beyond their regular daily routines. The company provides mbeds to employees to conduct their projects,” says Ranganathan. The mbed kit is a single-board microcontroller with associated tools for programming the device. It is a rapid prototyping platform that helps complete microprocessor-based system prototypes in a significantly short period of time. The mbed project was initiated by two ARM employees, and later became an official research project within ARM. It is now run and maintained by ARM to help MCU Partners provide their customers with the best way to prototype designs using their microcontrollers. mbed began with NXP LPC 1768 (ARM CortexM3) but now includes NXP LPC11U24 (ARM CortexM0) and FSCL Freedom Board (ARM CortexM0+). ARM also collaborates with universities and high-schools and provides mbed we perceive DIY for engineering problems. It may not be always possible to build a big project from scratch to end in DIY mode. Deterred by this thought, people drop highly-technical projects and go for simple ones. However, the solution is to learn how to modularise or segment a big project to be able to take up a part of it in DIY mode,” says Jayakrishnan. He also feels that people should get out of the mindset that DIY must involve hardware development— developing an algorithm or finding solutions to mathematical bottlenecks can also be DIY activities! “I think the largest pitfall is that you often think that if you have built something and have it sitting in front of you, people online would like it and you immediately have a product for sale. Building the prototype of a singular unique item is not necessarily the same as designing a product for mass market, nor does having an audience mean that people will pay the actual cost of production once the product hits the market,” explains Sarafan. Kuber adds, “India has a very 36


kits to students for learning and experiments. Apart from mbed, if the employees need any other components or software for their projects, ARM readily funds the projects if it is satisfied with the purpose. For instance, DIY enthusiasts at ARM are now working on building a robot that can navigate its way through their office collecting coffee cups. Ranganathan explains, “Let’s say I’m at my desk, and I need a cup of coffee. I just have to go to the intranet and request a cup of coffee. The robot will recognise my login and hence know where I am. By default, it comes to my desk but I can also mention if I am elsewhere in the office. The robot goes to the vending machine and brings the cup of coffee that has already been prepared. The robot is basically a smart mobile platform with wheels. The idea is that the robot will navigate from place A to place B within the office avoiding all obstacles and knowing the destination as well. It can also go about collecting empty mugs.” DIY enthusiasts team at ARM is also interested in adding video conferencing capabilities to the robot. Guru Ganesan, managing director of ARM India, explains, “DIY projects benefit the organisation as well as the individuals. These help individuals by encouraging them to think out of the box. Some of these projects might actually enhance daily operations, which is beneficial for the company. ARM has always encouraged such employee-led innovation ideas that help them co-create for a shared purpose.”

brilliant DIY community. But Indians have to nurture their documenting and publicity talents. A small desktop experiment, if video-documented well and uploaded to the correct social media with correct tutorial instructions, would be a great gift to the spirit of open source.”

DIY in India “India has a long tradition of ingenuity and a strong technical base. The DIY/maker ethic is tremendously strong here. We consistently see new and exciting projects from India,” says Denmead. Sarafan says, “Having never been to India, my observation of the DIY community in India can only be based on what I observe on Instructables. However, that said, it seems to be pretty vibrant. We run hundreds of contests on our site every year for DIY projects, and India ranks within the top 10 countries throughout the world in terms of the number of winners. I’m also impressed by the number of children from India who regularly contact me for help in their electronics projects.

There seems to be a thriving DIY scene, especially amongst younger people.” That said, the people actually getting their hands dirty have mixed views on the Indian DIY ecosystem. “DIY has never been big in India,” moans Kashinath. “Not all schools can boast of a ‘workshop’ where students can get their hands dirty working with metal, wood, electronics, etc. There is no famous hobby shop that promotes DIY either. As a result, it just isn’t something that kids are exposed to. Some TV channels and schools today are leading the effort in this, which is heartening to see. I was lucky to have a workshop in my school, and I do believe that it contributed significantly to my presentday interest in this area. That said, it is promising to see how things are evolving here. Information and ideas are accessible globally, hardware and prototyping costs are reducing, local communities are forming and the momentum is increasing.”  The author is a technically-qualified freelance writer, editor and hands-on mom based in Chennai www.efymag.com

test & Measurement

RPM Measurement: Sensors and Techniques Low-cost, high-value sensor options are available for revolutions-per-minute (RPM) measurement applications. Most of these sensors provide simple, reliable and inexpensive transducers for highly sophisticated control systems. Take a look at different types of tachometers for RPM measurement, advanced sensor modules, and frequency measurement and period measurement methods RPM sensors

T.K. Hareendran

D

etecting the stoppage of a rotating shaft (zero-speed detection) is significant in many applications, for example, to determine whether a conveyor has failed. Revolutions per minute (RPM) measurement is crucial when controlling or monitoring the speed of motors, conveyors, turbines, etc. RPM is a measure of the frequency of a rotation. It annotates the number of full rotations completed in one minute around a fixed axis. It is used as a measure of rotational speed of a mechanical component. Advanced electronics technology now offers lowcost, high-value sensor options for RPM measurement applications. Most of these sensors provide simple, reliable and inexpensive transducers for highly sophisticated control systems. 38


A sensor is essential to sense shaft speed. Typically, devices used for this purpose are shaft (rotary type) encoders, photoelectric (optical type) sensors and magnetic rotational speed (proximity type) sensors. All of these sensors send speed data in the form of electrical pulses. Shaft encoders offer a high resolution of typically 1-5000 pulses per revolution (PPR) and clearly defined, symmetrical pulses. Proximity sensors provide medium (or low) resolution sensing, depending on the number of pulses measured per revolution. Photoelectric sensors usually sense a reflective target on the rotating shaft. Magnetic rotational speed sensors use various magnetic proximity measuring principles to monitor the speeds of machine components in a range between 0 and 30,000 rpm. In principle, RPM sensors convert mechanical motion into electric pulses with or without direct contact when positioned near a turning rotor, gear, shaft or other regularly moving device. The resultant output signals are then fed to a digital counter, totaliser, tachometer, or other monitoring and control device.

Tachometers The word ‘tachometer’ is derived from the Greek words ‘tachos,’ meaning ‘speed,’ and ‘metron,’ meaning ‘to measure.’ Tachometer is a device designed to measure rotational or surface speed either in contact or non-contact way. Tachometers are widely used to measure rotational speed of motors, conveyor belts, and other moving or rotating systems. RPM measurement with a tachometer can simply be divided into three popular methods: Mechanical. In this method, revolutions in the mechanical sensor are electronically analysed in the instrument. This good old method is still commonly used for low resolutions between 20 and 20,000 rpm. Mechanical tachometers utilise the fact that the centrifugal force on a rotating mass depends on the speed of rotation. Optical. Here rotation is transmitted to the measuring instrument via an infrared (IR) light beam/laser beam coming from the instrument, which is then reflected by a reflective tape on the object. As explained, traditional tachometers require physical contact between the instruments and the objects being monitored. Laser tachometer is a powerful choice where this type of direct-contact type measurement is not workable for technical or safety reasons. Laser tachometers work by pulsing a laser beam against the rotating element. The rotating element will have one reflective spot, and the www.efymag.com

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Fig. 1: Block diagrams of the KMI 15/x and KMI 16/x rotational speed sensors with integrated signal conditioning circuit, from Philips Semiconductors. The KMI 16/x sensor modules provide an opencollector output, while KMI 15/x sensor modules have a current interface that requires only two wires to connect them in the application

tachometer measures the rate at which the light beam is reflected back. Stroboscopic. It has clear advantages over other measuring methods using mechanical or optical sensors. According to the stroboscopic principle, objects are stationary in the eyes of the observer when the frequency of high-speed flashes is in synchronisation with the RPM of the object. A stroboscopic light source provides high-intensity flashes of light, which can be caused to occur at a precise frequency. When this light source is made to fall on an object with periodic motion, it appears that the motion has slowed down or stopped when both frequencies bear a definite relationship. Stroboscopic tachometers employ this effect for RPM measurement. Mechanical RPM measurement is not good for small objects. Although optical method is superior to mechanical method, practically it is not always possible to bond reflective tapes on the objects. But with stroboscopic method, it is always possible to measure the RPM of even very small objects.

Sensor modules for unique speed sensing solutions Today’s advanced sensor modules (and sensing techniques) provide simple and cost-efficient solutions for rotational speed measurement in many applications including automotive, industrial and medical. Variable reluctance speed sensor. A variable reluctance (VR) sensor is composed of a wire wound around a cylindrical magnetic material, typically made of some type of ferrous material that is referred to as a pole piece. A magnet is attached behind the pole piece, creating a magnetic field through the pole piece and winding. This magnetic field projects out from the pole piece front, also known as the sensor tip. When ferrous material passes through and disrupts this magnetic field, a sine wave is generated. The frequency of the signal is directly proportional to the speed of rotation. VR speed sensors are passive devices that do not require any external source of power to generate a signal. www.efymag.com

test & Measurement MR sensors are static and the output signal is generated by the bending of magnetic field lines according to the position of the target wheel. As bending of the magnetic field lines also occurs when the target is not moving, these sensors can measure very slow rotations, even down to zero hertz (0 Hz). However, note that MR sensors cannot directly measure rotational speed, but are sensitive to the motion of a toothed wheel made from ferrous material (passive target, a sensor fitted with a permanent magnet) or a rotating wheel having alternating magnetic poles (active target).

Fig. 2: AM4096 magnetic encoder chip from Renishaw. All of the sensor and processing electronics have been placed within the compact silicon design. The rotation of a simple north/ south magnet is picked up by the AM4096’s sensor and provides absolute positional information output to an accuracy of better than 0.1 degree

RPM measurement techniques

Note that a variant of VR sensor is available as inductive magnetic sensor. It differs from the standard VR sensor in that the magnet is not in the unit, but in the object being sensed. Inductive magnetic sensors are used when the rotating device sensed cannot be made of ferrous materials. Magnetoresistive speed sensor. Rotational speed measurement using a magnetoresistive (MR) sensor is achieved by counting ferromagnetic marks, such as teeth of a passive gear wheel or the number of magnetic elements of a magnetised ring. Magnetoresistive sensors make use of the magnetoresistive effect—the property of a current-carrying magnetic material to change its resistivity in the presence of an external magnetic field. Although inductive sensors can be used for this task, magnetoresistive sensors have an advantage that the output signal level does not vary with rotation speed, as in the case of inductive sensors.

Frequency measurement and period measurement are two widely accepted methods for determining RPM. Frequency measurement is better for fastmoving devices such as motors and turbines, while period measurement is better for devices that move more slowly, such as shafts. When using frequency measurement as a method of monitoring RPM, the key factor is the number of pulses being sensed per revolution (PPR). This method works well with high-PPR sensors and works poorly for low-PPR sensors. When using frequency measurement method, you can calculate the RPM using this equation: RPM = (Pulse Frequency in pulses/ sec)×(60 sec/min)/(Sensor pulses/ revolution) = Revolutions/Minute This equation shows the relationship between frequency and period as: Frequency = 1/Period When using period measurement to monitor RPM, the RPM can be calculated by using the equation:

42


RPM = 60/Pulse period x PPR In addition, note that frequency method is good for zero-speed detection. If you use frequency method to monitor the RPM, you can know the shaft has stopped when the frequency being sensed drops to zero. On the other hand, if you use period method, the main issue is determining how much time to allow between pulses before deciding that the shaft has stopped. Basically, this method requires a little more complex logic!

From printing to life care! Rotational speed sensors are widely used to monitor the speeds of machine components, from printing and paper machines to aircrafts, ships and wind turbines. A tachometer can even find uses in medicine to diagnose circulatory problems such as clogged arteries. By placing a small, turbine-like device called haematachometer in an artery or vein, doctors can use a tachometer to interpret the rate of blood flow from the speed at which the turbine spins. Nowadays, innovative rotational speed sensor technology offers a wide range of standard products for the most varied applications, with suitable measuring systems and electronics, as well as appropriate housings, designs and connections. The design trend is towards fabrication of tiny chips, i.e., chips integrated with sensor bridges, signal amplifiers, gain controls, differential analogue line drivers and digital interface circuits, for contactless RPM measurement, position control/sensing and rotating angle measurement, etc.  The author is a regular contributor to EFY

www.efymag.com

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LED lighting

Not all LED Drivers Provide ‘Clean’ Light LED drivers with a poor power factor reflect harmonics back to the mains. As the power consumption of high-power LEDs used as light sources increases erratically, there is a risk of ‘dirty electricity’ across the mains. To get to the root of this problem, high-power LED drivers must come with power factor correction in undesired reactive currents.

Pulsed direct current causes problems

Stephan Wegstein

I

ncandescent bulbs are essentially ohmic resistors and consume sinusoidal current from the mains grid. The power factor of these devices is essentially ‘1.’ With LED lights, things are somewhat more complex. LEDs are semiconductors operated with direct current. Their characteristic shows a marked kink at approximately 3V. When the maximum value is ex44


ceeded, the LED might be destroyed. LEDs therefore require special drivers that convert the mains voltage to a constant direct current. This constant current ensures that all LEDs in a chain are lit at equal brightness—irrespective of the threshold voltage. Such LED drivers are, however, not ohmic resistors, but instead consumers with a power factor that tends to be far below ‘1.’ This leads to the reflection of harmonics back to the mains, resulting

The above problem results from the need to convert alternating current into constant direct current. To do this, the current must be rectified and stabilised by a capacitor with sufficient capacitance. The capacitor is charged through the half wave to its peak value and supplies energy until the next half wave reaches the capacitor value. If the voltage at the rectifier is greater than that from the capacitor, a brief high-amplitude current is generated during the respective half wave. This current peak is much higher than would be expected based on the power rating. The resulting current is no longer sinusoidal and includes a large share of harmonics (the steeper the edge, the higher the harmonic share). This problem arises from the fact that the alternating current needs to be rectified at the input and smoothed before it can be used further down the line. If a converter is installed to generate the required constant current from the high direct voltage, the situation becomes even worse.

Pulse-width modulation corrects power factor Since it is expected that LED lighting systems will replace other lighting solutions across the board, corrective measures must be taken in order to ensure that the mains quality does not deteriorate too much. EN 61000-3-2 standard therefore demands that LED drivers rated 25W and higher come www.efymag.com

LED lighting

Fig. 1: With active PFC, the current consumption is controlled by pulse-width modulation to near-sinusoidal shape

Fig. 2: Comparison of incandescent bulb and LED driver with power factor of less than one

with power factor correction (PFC). EnergyStar is even more explicit, prescribing a power factor of 0.9 or better for commercial drivers. Without active PFC, it is, however, only possible to reach values that are significantly lower—around 0.5 or even less, depending on the power rating. AC/DC LED drivers therefore need to be equipped with special PFC circuits. Their principle is straight-forward: instead of connecting the charging capacitor directly to the rectifier, a pulse-width modulator is installed between the two components. This modulator ensures that the capacitor is charged by several small-current pulses during the half wave. The current consumption is therefore more or less synchronised with the mains voltage and approximately sinusoidal 46


(refer Fig. 1). A well-designed PFC circuit in some LED drivers increases the power factor to a value of around 0.95, thus exceeding the stringent EnergyStar requirements as well as EN 61000 specifications. Although it is technically possible to achieve even better values, the associated costs outweigh the benefits. While EN 61000-3-2 requires a power factor of greater than 0.9 only from 25W upwards, active PFC also makes sense at lower power rates. This becomes obvious if one considers that many circuits include a large number of small- or medium-power LED luminaires or consist of small luminaire clusters with separate drivers. Since ten 12W loads consume a total of 120W, mains network operators would probably appreciate it if a proper power factor correction was applied. This is why some manufacturers offer products with active PFC from as low as 12W.

Relationship between PFC and efficiency Many people incorrectly believe that a driver with a low power factor offers poor efficiency. While such drivers consume considerably more energy from the mains than is required for

powering the LEDs, a large share of this power is actually fed back to the mains network. This share is thus not lost, as would be the case with a lowefficiency device. It is simply fed from the ‘wrong’ side. This is probably the reason why many people confuse the power factor value with efficiency. Fig. 2 compares the current consumption of a 100W incandescent lamp (red curve) with that of a 25W LED. Both devices produce about the same amount of light. The incandescent bulb with a power factor of one consumes a constant current of 0.45A from the 230V mains network. With an LED driver of power factor one, the current consumption would be around 0.11A. At a power factor of 0.95, it would be slightly higher. At a power factor of 0.25, the current consumption would amount to 0.45A, which corresponds to that of the incandescent lamp—the actual LED output would, however, only be 25W. The remaining 75W is returned through the ‘wrong’ phase back to the mains. The energy is thus not lost and the reactive current is not metered by the power meter. For AC/DC drivers, active power factor correction is, however, as important as high efficiency, especially if one takes into account that billions of such drivers will be connected to the mains over the next few years. Power factor correction is therefore not so much geared towards keeping electricity costs down, but helps maintain the quality of the mains power by eliminating harmonic interference.

Rapid pace of development in the field of power LEDs and drivers For the foreseeable future, the industry is focusing on solutions for the existing infrastructure in residential and office buildings. For LED luminaires, this means that they must thus be dimmable with conventional TRIACs. This creates a number of technical problems, since the leading or trailing edge control of dimmers and PFC circuits of drivers interfere with each other. Conventional drivers can therefore not be www.efymag.com

Allegro Stepper Motor Driver ICs

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LED lighting dimmed down to zero. the quality of the light A function that allows plays a major role. While dimming to 10 or 20 per cent daylight reaches a colour is, however, not satisfactory, rendering index of 100, the as conventional incandescent MegaZenigata achieves a lamps can be dimmed to respectable 83. The Megamuch lower levels. In addiZenigata is thus not only tion, the colour temperature efficient but also offers a of a dimmed incandescent light quality and a colour lamp is shifted to much temperature close to that warmer levels, while LEDs of natural light. show no such shift. The 10 Summary per cent brightness of an LED luminaire powered In the future, manufacturwith a residual current is ers of LED drivers will cotherefore perceived by the Fig. 3: Thermal image shows relatively homogeneous heat distribution in operate even more closely eye as much higher, equiva- MegaZenigata (Image courtesy: Sharp) with LED chip producers lent to about 35 per cent in order to take full advanbrightness of an incandestage of the possibilities of cent lamp. Dimming to levnew lighting technology. els below 5 per cent is thus While energy efficiency even more crucial for LED and long service lives relighting systems. main the main concerns, In the recent past, LEDs quality of the light is also have also been developed a major issue, since it defurther at a rapid pace. Initermines how we perceive tially, several individual 2W the light. or 3W LEDs with separate The trend towards LED housings were combined on lighting systems will bring a PCB. Today, the trend is billions of new drivers into 4: The new MegaZenigata from Sharp (left) contains 168 individual LEDs clearly towards multi-chip Fig. the global market over the combined in an array (in series and parallel) powered by approx. 38V DC and solutions. For this purpose, a constant current of 700 mA (Image courtesy: Sharp) next few years, which all a number of small LED dies need to be connected to 25W MegaZenigata from Sharp: a total are mounted on ceramic chips. The mains networks. Because they will all of 168 LEDs arranged over an area of ceramic substrate improves heat manproduce harmonics and reactive curjust below 2 cm2 (Fig. 4) are wired to agement across the entire LED array rents, drivers need to have not only a (Fig. 3). high efficiency rating but also a good form an array. This array can then be In addition, such LED arrays repower factor. Values around 95 per mounted on the MegaZenigata, using quire much less space, and the entire cent should therefore be considered a specially devised LED driver. luminous surface is covered by a phoslong-term guide values, even if they The LED driver provides a conphorus coating so that the multi-chip are not yet required by the relevant stant-current output of 700 mA up LEDs appear as one single light source. standardisation organisations.  to 42V, so that the MegaZenigata This facilitates the design of reflective produces 2600 lumens at 4000°K, corand optical devices. responding to the luminous flux of a The author is vice president-marketing & sales, This can be well illustrated by the RECOM Lighting 150W halogen spotlight. Of course,

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the Internetof

things

IoT

News, views and development on the Internet of Things

“Engineers working on IoT devices have to expand their thinking to the whole system, even if they are not building it all” Jim Tung, fellow, MathWorks Inc., speaks to Janani Gopalakrishnan Vikram about the complexity posed by the Internet of Things (IoT), the mindset change required for engineers to handle it with sophistication, and how model-based design can help in this Janani Gopalakrishnan Vikram What kind of complexity does the IoT pose to engineers designing devices for this era? The IoT is an ecosystem of technologies working together to create dynamic systems of physical devices and information. These systems may do several things like providing data, aggregating data provided by multiple systems, analysing the aggregated data to derive useful information and trends, presenting the information and trends to users in a timely manner on a range of platforms, including Web, mobile devices and desktops/laptops, and changing the system’s own behaviour based on the derived information and trends. So the complexity of the IoT can be seen in flexible and smart embedded systems, and systems of systems, that collect data and often solve specific problems locally; or in algorithms needed to extract insight from the data and build systems that operate and adapt autonomously (these systems may combine feedback control, computer vision and machine learning, for example, and may include algorithms not yet imagined); and in deploying algorithms quickly to where the data resides so that analysis takes place as efficiently and quickly as possible, 50


whether the embedded processors and FPGAs are in a local node, multi-core server farms or the cloud, perhaps using computational frameworks such as Hadoop. What mindset change is required for engineers to handle such complexity in a more efficient way, without getting flustered? Engineers working on these systems of systems, or any of their components, should understand—at least at a high level—the requirements of the system as a whole and the capabilities of each of the subsystems. Creating an embedded system for a local device, for example, is only one part of designing an IoT system. If the engineers don’t understand how the data generated by it might be used, they might design an embedded system optimised to a local problem, rather than the whole challenge. They have to expand their thinking to the whole system, even if they are not building it all. Automating development tasks such as code generation for embedded systems or deploying algorithms into a production IT infrastructure can also reduce complexity in key areas. The technology is well-proven, but often requires a change in mindset to take advantage of it.

How can model-based design help here? Models enable an engineer to think at a higher level of abstraction, which, in turn, makes it easier to conceptualise the entire system. Simulating those models enables the engineer to evaluate and improve the system’s behaviour across a wide range of scenarios, including those that are difficult to replicate in real life. Automatic code generation means fast and robust implementation to devices ranging from FPGAs and microcontrollers, to SoC devices such as the Xilinx Zynq, to rugged industrial programmable logic controllers. Model-based design (MBD) can be done using tools like Simulink, Stateflow and MATLAB. MATLAB and Simulink can also connect directly to popular low-cost and open-source hardware such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi, without the need for a code generator. Tethering and targeting the hardware support packages enables makers and developers to create devices of the future with today’s tools. Since MBD provides capabilities for simulating the behaviour of the physical system, and not just the algorithms, it is very useful for developing algorithms that require comparison to a reference model to assess the behaviour of the system and detect anomalies. www.efymag.com

internet of things

World’s first search engine that finds connected ‘things’

More use for thin air University of Washington researchers recently presented a technology called Ambient Backscatter wherein TV, mobile and other radio frequency signals lingering in thin air can be used as both a source of power and a means of communication. Since this technology

By indexing FTP and HTTP banners, Shodan lets users search for and find any Internet-connected object. This opens up opportunities to peep into refrigerators, theatres, museums, homes and even other computers Having read an article about how somebody took a tour of Scottish castles using video footages found through Shodan (http://www.shodanhq.com), I too set about exploring this computer-finding search engine. I wanted to actually get a glimpse of what was happening in the Sydney Opera House, but had to satisfy myself with flashes of a museum in Japan since the Opera House cams were too well secured. I soon realised that viewing CCTV footages was just the tip of the iceberg. A lot more can be done with Shodan, such as finding the contents of other people’s connected refrigerators, air-conditioners running at a particular temperature, computers running a software, mobile phones using a specific app, anonymous FTP servers, hosts affected by a new vulnerability and much more! More than that, you can find a lot of information about industrial control systems too. Shodan is a hacker’s tool. It is a search engine that lets you find specific objects connected to the Internet using a variety of filters. This means that unlike traditional Web search engines that help you find websites, Shodan helps you find computers, routers, cameras, phones, refrigerators, airconditioners, ovens, traffic lights, sensors, locks and the increasing number of other things that are getting ‘connected’ of late. Shodan’s indexing is based mainly on banners, which is meta-data that the server sends back to the client. This can be information about the server software, options supported by the service, a welcome message or anything

else that the client would like to know before interacting with the server. For this reason, some also rightly call Shodan a public port scan directory or a search engine of banners. While you can find a lot of things with Shodan, your search also has to be a little smarter, using the right search inputs, service filters and options. With proper filters, you can find devices based on city, country, latitude/longitude, hostname, operating system and IP. The results show the IP and physical location of each object found, the services running on the object, and more information. If the object is not properly secured, and you are smart enough, you can access its content too! Exploits (http://www.shodanhq. com/exploits), a variant of Shodan, lets you search for known vulnerabilities and exploits. You can search across Exploit DB, Metasploit, CVE, OSVDB and Packetstorm with one simple interface. Well, now you know why Shodan is a tool for hackers. It is also a brilliant aid for penetration testers, to find and patch new vulnerabilities, and improve the security of industrial systems, sensor networks, etc. Shodan also provides official Shodan API documentation on how to access the search engine from Python, Ruby or Perl, to add its functionality to your programs too. Call it the beginning of the Internet of Things if you will, but it is scary. For people who are already afraid of the privacy issues arising out of the IoT, Shodan is like supersonic fuel to their bad dreams.  The author is a technically-qualified freelance writer, editor and hands-on mom based in Chennai

does not require batteries, unlike other lowpower near-field communication technologies, it is believed to be ideal for devices of the IoT era. For more information on this technology, you may read the paper at http:// www.theengineer.co.uk/Journals/2013/08/14/ u/g/g/comm153-liu.pdf

Embedded licenses Embedded licensing is a new concept that ensures maximum returns from the smart software developed for IoT devices. An embedded license monitors two aspects of how the software is used: by controlling access to the software source code and by controlling how the software-embedded hardware is used. It protects software from IP theft, tampering and reverse-engineering. Learn more about embedded licenses from http://www.safenet-inc.com/ software-monetization/embedded-applications

Wondering what’s hot?

If you are looking for signs to decide what’s hot and what’s not, so you can base your own project on that, check out Github’s new ‘trending’ page at https://github.com/trending. The page showcases the top-25 trending projects. The list is validated with a variety of data points including stars, forks, commits, follows, and page views, weighting them appropriately.

Read more about the Internet of Things at internetofthings.electronicsforu.com www.efymag.com


51

innovation

Swasthya Sanjivani: A Portable Digital Testing Laboratory Swasthya Sanjivani is an automated and, most importantly, affordable solution to blood and urine testing with immediate confirmatory results. The system is basically a portable digital testing laboratory that aims at addressing the lack of diagnostic facilities in rural areas. It also consists of an electronic pill box, which reminds the patients about their medication and appointment schedule. Find out more about it Abhishek Mutha

I

ndia is the second-most-populated country in the world. Its rural and urban distribution of population is 68.84 per cent and 31.16 per cent, respectively, as per the Census Report 2011. Well, nothing much can be done about the growing population apart from educating people. But education, poverty and health in the rural areas need more focus. Swasthya Sanjivani—an innovative kit developed at Manav Rachna College of Engineering (MRCE)—aims to eliminate lack of healthcare facilities.

Trigger for innovation There is a team of five behind Swasthya Sanjivani—Manasvi Sihag, Hardik Garg, Nikhil Dalmia, Prashant Gupta and Pritam Singh. Before delving into what Swasthya Sanjivani is all about, let us look at what inspired them to come up with this solution and what exactly they are trying to solve. Moved by the fact that “One billion people lack access to basic healthcare,” the team decided to come up with a solution. They conducted a survey in 23 different villages, which revealed that these areas lacked adequate healthcare facilities, and people could not afford the current facilities because of lack of money. The team says, “Even if these people get tested at small camps, they have to travel to distant locations to get further tests carried out, which puts a heavy burden on their restricted earnings. 52


Fig. 1: Inside the kit (Prototype)

What is Swasthya Sanjivani? Swasthya Sanjivani enables basic digital literates at isolated centres to perform tests prescribed by medical practitioners of repute at distant locations. These expert doctors, through video conferencing, would be present all the time, right from the time the patient enters the centre till he leaves it with all the answers concerning his health. The system is basically a portable digital testing laboratory. It also consists of an electronic pill box, which is provided to the patients to remind them about their medicine and appointment schedule. This project aims at addressing the lack of diagnostic facilities at a primary level, especially in rural areas. It could be termed as a cheaper, effective substitute for telemedicine. In telemedicine, the diagnosis can be performed from a remote location but it is an expensive process and demands an accurate setup. Swasthya Sanjivani is a simplified substitute as it requires

just the kit, Internet connection, trained technicians, and a laptop or PC. The direct beneficiaries of this system are patients of anaemia, diabetes, renal damage and jaundice, people living in unapproachable areas, people below poverty line, diagnostic centres and hospitals in heavily populated areas, and clinics into blood and urine testing.

System architecture Swasthya Sanjivani has a three-tier architecture comprising: Tier 1: Laptop. A laptop acts as the interface between the doctor and the Swasthya Sanjivani kit. Video conferencing connecting the doctor to the patient is achieved through Skype connection on the laptop. Tier 2: Swasthya Sanjivani kit. This kit is supplied to operators in rural areas. The kit ensures that patients get an economical and on-the-spot blood and urine testing system at their doorstep. Tier 3: Web portal (SkyDrive). The Web portal bridges the gap between rural and urban areas. The patient can be treated by a specialist doctor from a distant location.

How does it work? The Swasthya Sanjivani kit works on the principle of colour-matching technique that has been widely used for urine and www.efymag.com

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innovation blood samples for years. The staff at rural centres can be technically trained to use the kit, take photographs and send these over to the expert centres where these samples could be diagnosed. The kit consists of a test-tube stand, test tubes, camera, battery, motors and chain drive. A burette is positioned right above the test tube, with the help of an external stand. After the blood or urine sample has been collected by the operator, he places the test tube with the sample in the test-tube stand. The sample moves towards the burette with the help of the motor and chain drive, and positions itself right under the tip of the burette with the help of sensors. With the help of the burette supported externally with a stand, the operator mixes the desired amount of a particular reagent in the sample. This initiates a chemical reaction in the test tube, which changes the colour of the sample. Diseases like jaundice, diabetes and renal damage can be diagnosed by such colour-changing tests. The camera (attached on the left-hand side of the system) captures a picture of the chemically altered sample in the test tube and feeds it directly to the laptop. The colour generator, when provided with RGB values, generates the colour of the sample. (Red, green and blue (RGB) are primary colours and any colour can be formed from the combination of these three colours.) This colour is communicated to the doctor by the operator and the doctor gives the feedback almost immediately to the patient.

Doctors’ take on Swasthya Sanjivani “Swasthya Sanjivani is an innovative diagnostic test and alert system for diseases that can be really beneficial for peripheral areas.” —Dr Nisha Marwa, professor, Department of Pathology, PGIMS, Rohtak “Test results performed by the kit completely match lab results.” —Khem Chand, senior lab technician, Department of Pathology, PGIMS, Rohtak “Swasthya Sanjivani is a ground-breaking innovation that will open new research paradigms in the field of healthcare and prove to be a great help for people who are devoid of even the basic healthcare services.” —Dr Suresh Arora, chairman, Surya Orthopedic Centre, Faridabad operator to easily customise the device to the patient’s medication regimen and dosage timing. The medication information stored in the memory of the pill box initiates an audio-visual signal to remind the patient about different medicine dosages and his next appointment scheduled with the doctor. Components. The electronic pill box device is a portable embedded hardware device that incorporates a number of peripherals: ATmega 328. Present on the Arduino Uno board, ATmega 328 microcontroller IC is used to program the electronic pill box. The Arduino board is connected to the computer via a USB port and can be programmed with the desired medication and appointment schedules through an app. Real-time clock. DS1307 real-time clock is serially customised using I2C protocol. It is used for medicine scheduling and appointment by communicating with a Windows 8 application. Reminder buzzer. It is used to alert the user about an appointment or time to take the medicine prescribed.

Electronic pill box The electronic pill box has small slots for distinct medicines. It is of great help to poor, illiterate people for three reasons: They can’t read the name of the medicine, they often overlook or neglect the medicines that they are supposed to take, and most of the medicines look the same to them. This pill box helps patients to take the right drug, right dose at the right time. It connects to a PC/tablet via USB. The installed software permits the 54


LEDs. SMD LEDs are used to guide the user on medicines and schedules as follows: Medicines. LEDs placed below the compartment of the medicine blink at the scheduled time. Scheduling. LEDs use innovative displays to indicate the various schedules that need to be followed.

Challenges faced “We have done image processing using Matlab tool. We made an executable file using Matlab, which runs on a Windows standalone application. Selecting pixels increases the accuracy of testing, which is presently not achieved by wavelength comparison,” informs the team. On the kind of difficulties faced, they say, “Being engineers, it was very difficult for us to develop a system that is healthcare based. One needs to do a research on even the most basic facets of medicine and consult a doctor for each and every change that one plans to make in the current system.”

Similar products in the market The kit developers say, “There are definitely many fully automatic and semiautomatic analysers available in the market that can diagnose these diseases, but they are expensive, immobile, and require low temperature for operation, specialised reagents to perform tests and an expert technician to operate them. With Swasthya Sanjivani we plan to solve these issues.” The cost of Swasthya Sanjivani kit is Rs 180,000. 

Fig. 3: Electronic pill box

The author is a tech correspondent at EFY Bengaluru www.efymag.com

Embedded

Building An Advanced Navigation System GPS personal tracking devices and applications are forecast to grow at a rate of 40 per cent—according to ABI Research. Wearable electronics and the electronics of things are the primary contributors to this growth

orbiting our Earth. All of them emit a signal to any navigation system receiver on Earth willing to hear them. How the system works. The signal transmitted by these satellites is essential to the functioning of the navigation system, due to the electronic ephemeris data that it contains. Receivers on the ground collect this data from the satellites, apply some algorithms to cover for the signal travel time, and finally calculate their location on Earth using trilateration. So, as you can see, receiving the signal intact is of utmost importance to the performance of this system.

Major challenges

Car dashboard with GPS panel

Dilin Anand

What is it?

ocation information has become integral to our lives due to the increased bearing that it has in the evolution of ‘smart services.’ It has been implemented in everything from the smart meters in smart grids to mainstream smartphones, motorcycles, cameras, wearable consumer electronics, and all kinds of telematics applications. Wearable electronics, the Electronics of Things and apps designed for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication are significantly driving the adoption of GPS functionality into every device. It is so widespread that spoofed GPS signals can have most dire security implications.

In my interactions with junior engineers, I found that everyone considered GPS to be the beginning and the end of positioning technologies. Well, it is not! GPS belongs to the United States Department of Defence (DoD). It is obvious that the other mighty countries on Earth aren’t going to let the USA have all the positioning fun, and that is why we also have the Russian GLONASS, the European GNSS, the Japanese QZSS and our very own Indian IRNSS, amongst others. (For more information on these, please refer the box on next page.) All these systems are basically a network of very expensive satellites

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As mentioned at the beginning of this article, GPS technology finds a very wide variety of applications. However, there are some problems that are common across the board. The biggest problem—power consumption. The problem of power consumption is universal, to the point that it feels more like a luxury specification these days. Laptops looked pretty well with their 4-hour battery life until the new range of laptops with 12-hour uptime came in. Now it is annoying when a device battery dies in ‘just’ four hours. GPS-enabled devices used to die a quick death when GPS was actually switched on, due to huge power required to keep listening to the satellite and gathering data. Reducing the power consumption not only increases the battery life of existing devices but also makes it more practical to add GPS functionality to new application areas such as wearable electronics and remote sensors where battery life is very important. How to do it? One way is to go for GPS modules with a reduced update frequency. Higher update frequencies cause the GPS module to gather ephemeris data at a very fast rate and subsequently also push out the NMEA sentences pretty fast. This results in an increased power consumption both by the module and the chip, which has to www.efymag.com

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Embedded Important points to keep in mind The three most important factors to be kept in mind are: 1. Make sure to get a clean input signal with no jammers. This can be done by placing the antenna facing the satellites and not near jammers such as the camera/processor/memory/ or other transmitter. 2. Make sure there is no thermal disturbance to the TCXO so that temperature compensation works well. This can be done by making sure not to mount the TCXO near a heat source and make sure there are thermal breaks in any power and ground planes in the PCB to prevent heat transfer from other components that use a lot of power. 3. Make sure to have a robust serial communication connection. It is amazing how such an old technology such as an UART can still be the cause of so many problems. —Walter Rivera, Manager, Product Marketing and John Hutson, Sr Manager, IC Design Engineering, Broadcom process the gathered data to find out the current location. Modules with higher update frequencies perform better, but these are mostly used for aerospace, defence or other highly critical applications. Civilian applications usually require just one module with 1Hz update frequency. The antenna size and type also affect the power requirements of your device. Typically, active antennae need more power than passive antennae. Within active antennae, there are highperformance antennae that provide a higher accuracy but are larger and more power consuming. Ultimately, it depends on the design engineer to balance the power requirements, device size and accuracy to create a successful product. One thing I learnt is that the power consumption figures mentioned in OEMV GPS cards do not include the power consumed by the antenna’s lownoise amplifier (LNA). GPS modules can use multiple channels at the same time to talk faster with the satellites and gather ephemeris data faster. However, with more channels comes the problem of increased power consumption. Typically, the design is such that more channels are used just for the initial fix, after which the additional channels are dropped. While checking around for the lowest power-consuming GPS module, I came across LSI CXD5600GF and CXD5430 GNSS receivers from Sony that consume just 10 mW for the entire GNSS receiver LSI unit. Decreasing time-to-first-fix. One solution to considerably reduce both 58


TTFF and power consumption of mobile communication devices is to utilise the wireless network and offload most of the work to the cloud. Nokia N95-1 is a pretty good example of this with A-GPS functionality added to the device over a software update. This software update alone decreased Time To First Fix (TTFF) for these phones by a big margin, making GPS functionality on the device a feasible option. To understand this, you need to factor in the 30 seconds of full throttle work that the GPS module has to do usually, to simply acquire ephemeris data from the satellite. Once this data is received, the device has to go ahead and do some heavy number crunching to make sense of the data and calculate

the location precisely. One alternative way to do this is to take useful information like satellite trajectories and earth elevation values from public databases, and post-process it on a remote server to calculate location. “By using a coarse-time navigation technique and leveraging information that is already available on the Web, such as satellite ephemeris and Earth elevations, we show that 2 ms of raw GPS signals is enough to obtain a location fix,” explains a paper on CO-GPS built through the wonderful Microsoft CLEO project. You might be thinking why GPS is less preferable than your home network or Wi-Fi for receiving data. The reason is that GPS signals have a very low data rate. It is far more efficient to piggy-back on the already utilised data connection with your service provider rather than spending a couple of minutes sweet talking with the GPS satellite to try and get it to reveal where you are. Accuracy. The accuracy of a GPS module primarily depends on the GPS module and the antenna. Active antennae are usually connected through a cable and have their own LNA, which gives them better performance. On

Role of various technologies Global positioning system (GPS). GPS is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information to any receiver that can understand its signals. It requires unobstructed line-of-sight to at least four satellites, and is also undergoing a modernisation effort powered by satellites named GPSIII. World wide reference network (WWRN). WWRN, the AGPS server, delivers GPS orbit data that is valid for four hours. The data is sent through wireless communication networks from servers, and helps to eliminate the time to ‘acquire satellites’ directly. This technology has helped to reduce the TTFF from minutes to mere seconds. Global navigation satellite system (GLONASS). The Russian equivalent of GPS, it currently has 21 satellites available in the skies. It greatly enhances the performance of GPS chips, which is why most modern devices have GLONASS support built-in. Long-term orbit (LTO)4d. This technology delivers GPS data seven days in advance, and is used when the network might be unavailable for the next seven days. It builds on AGPS, with the difference that the ephemeris data is available for seven days instead of four hours. The main takeaway here is that by downloading LTO data, a user outside the home network can still get AGPS-like accuracy. Galileo navigation satellite system (GNSS). It currently has just four satellites up, with 26 more to go up by 2019. However, engineers can execute full testing with the current four satellites. This system also offers better positioning at higher altitudes and has an integrated global search-and-rescue function that allows the user to send a distress signal to the satellite even if he is out of range of the home network.

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Embedded GPS Module Features Feature

Benefit

Effect of increase

Effect of decrease

Size

Affects antenna choice and features, and is based on application size

Bigger modules allow for a bigger antenna, which gives better lock time and accuracy

Smaller modules are used more in wearable electronics and mobile computing where size matters

Update rate

Speed with which the module recalculates and reports NMEA data

High frequencies allow the module to keep up with higher speeds, like when flying

Lower frequencies allow the module to work with low power and reduced computing strain

Power

Depends on the performance expectation that the device is tuned for

Higher update rates and bigger antennae can be used if lots of power is available

Low update rates. If the power figure is really low, you probably forgot to connect the antenna

Accuracy

Depends on the accuracy demanded by the application

Low accuracy is perfect for High-accuracy modules home use as it is inexpensive are required for highly critical applications such as and decreases BoM military and aerospace

Antennae

Fundamental right of a GPS module

Bigger antennae need more power to be driven to them by the LNAs

Smaller antennae are usually inexpensive and also fit for devices bound by size limitation

Channels

Channels are how the module would receive ephemeris data from the satellite

More channels mean more power consumption but a faster TTFF

Fewer channels increase TTFF a lot, one solution is to cut down on channels after first fix

Extras

New modules come with jamming detection and mitigation

High sensitivity of even -156 dB, and availability of 60+ channels

Magnetic sensors and accelerometers might be available to aid GPS lock

the other hand, passive antennae are directly mounted on the PCB and are more susceptible to noise coupling if not correctly isolated. There are also more expensive high-performance antennae that are bigger and more power consuming but deliver exceptional accuracy. For precision applications requiring resolution in the millimetre range, it is paramount that signals from satellites at all heights virtually meet at exactly the same point inside the antenna. For this type of application, receivers with multiple antenna inputs would be required. For most applications, it is easier to buy a GPS antenna module from vendors like SANAV, Johanson Technology, Fastrax or GlobalTop. The choice of component varies depending on a lot of parameters like required attenuation, power consumption, size and connectors. Application focused. One development related to the Electronics of Things concept is the fusion of sensor data by combining together data from multiple www.efymag.com

sensors in the device, like accelerometers, gyros and magnetic sensors. “Dynamic contextual awareness, temperature monitoring and MEMS sensors work in concert to conserve power and boost performance. This opens up a wide variety of use cases for sports camera, asset tracking and fitness devices,” explains Reuven Samuel, senior product manager, location marketing, CSR Sunnyvale. Technology like dead reckoning aids GPS navigation based on algorithms that consider distance and directional changes to boost GPS accuracy even when a GPS signal is not available. This is currently seen in some of the latest automotive navigation systems. When consolidating multiple functionalities into a single system in a typical IoT concept, the biggest challenge from an operating system perspective is to be able to meet the resource demands of the various applications running on top of it. “Multiple applications that at one point ran on their own set of hardware

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59

Embedded resources will now need to share a single hardware platform. In such a situation, capabilities provided by the foundation platform should be scalable. It should be able to accommodate legacy applications and also allow development of new applications in conjunction with legacy applications,” explains Thilak Kumar, regional engineering manager, Wind River. Tackling urban positioning. Getting your GPS device to work in an urban environment is difficult if you are using a GPS module without a network connection. The biggest challenges with urban positioning are lack of a direct line-of-sight due to tall buildings

How are components developing for the future? Newer components from vendors use specialised low-power analogueto-digital converters and LNAs, and electronics circuit PLLs. The designs are also such that power supply and clocks are controlled for each separate block function. Some of the new chips also do not require individual sensor drivers as their CPUs have a sensor control function to take care of it. Advanced low-power technology means never having to maintain full power to achieve maximum performance or turning the GNSS receiver completely off to save power.

GPS spoofing GPS spoofing is one way to dupe a GPS receiver and literally throw it off course. This is done by emitting a counterfeit version of the signal emitted by a GPS satellite at a slightly higher power. This causes the GPS receivers in the area to pick up the fraudulent signal, which then goes on to make the module show a faulty position. It is very dangerous if it messes up the navigation systems in a ship, plane or autonomous vehicle. Point to note, this is different from GPS jamming, which is pretty boring compared to what spoofing does. around you, and going indoors with cuts in access to all satellites. The tall buildings make it very difficult for the GPS receiver to get data from all the GPS satellites in the area, which results in a longer TTFF. If you are indoors, your receiver will be unable to hear from a satellite unless you are near a window—not really the most favourable experience. How to tackle this? A-GPS is one of the best things that have ever happened to positioning since GPS itself. It allows your device to gather data from the WWRN servers for four hours in advance. Once you get this data on your phone, your device no longer needs to connect directly with the satellites for the ephemeris data. Now you might think that since there is only four hours worth of data, you might need to go out every four hours to get fresh air and get the latest in ephemeris data. Not needed. This is because A-GPS sends data from the WWRN servers through any wireless connection of your device (such as telecom and Wi-Fi). 60


“It breaks the old GNSS performance vs power trade-off through the fusion of a new high-performance GNSS engine, advanced power management and a smart sensor interface to achieve high-sensitivity hot-start conditions for fast location fixes,” adds Reuven. Regarding the multiple choices of satellite constellations that are available up there, “We recommend that designers use multi-constellation GNSS receivers that support as many constellations as possible. Multi-constellation receivers support concurrent operation and can either acquire or track using a mixture of satellites from any of the constellations supported. As new constellations become available, system designers do not have to choose from selecting one constellation or another. The best solution will support concurrent use of all constellations supported,” explains Walter Rivera, Manager, Product Marketing and John Hutson, Sr Manager, IC Design Engineering, Broadcom.  The author is a tech correspondent at EFY Bengaluru www.efymag.com

ICs for DC/DC Converter / 2 or 4 Output Channels Power Supply IC Series

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General purpose LDO

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LDO

3.3V, 0.5A

Peripheral device I/O MCU VCC MCU VREF Analog

Conventional

New Device

Ultra Low Power Mode

Start-up Sequence

Comparing Circuit Current (MCU+LDO at low power consumption mode)

Built in sequencing function and protection function

2000

(1) ch1 --> ch2 (2) ch2 --> ch1 (3) same time

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200

Other regulators 2000µA

150

Other low consumption regulators 80µA

50 0

Ch 1 2 3

Typ SW LDO SW

Io 0.5A 0.1A 1.5A

4

SW

1.5A

SHDNB2

SHDNB1 SHDNB2

ch1 ch2

ch1 ch2

ch1 ch2

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60% Down Renesas IC (Ultra low power mode*) Comsumption current

89.2µA

100

SHDNB1

34.2µA

MCU Comsumption current: 9.2 µA (Renesas MCU RX630 circuit current, Deep software standby mode)

Product Lineup

Ch

Typ

Io

RAA230211

RAA230212

RAA230213

RAA230214

1

SW

3A

1.8V

2.7V

3.0V

3.3V

2

LDO

0.5A

1.8V

2.7V

3.0V

3.3V

RAA230401 RAA230402 RAA230403 RAA230404 RAA230405 RAA230406 RAA230407 RAA230408 1.8V 2.5V 3.0V 3.3V 1.8V 2.5V 3.0V 3.3V 1.8V 2.5V 3.0V 3.3V 1.8V 2.5V 3.0V 3.3V Join us on 3.3V Variable

Renesas Electronics Singapore Pte. Ltd.

RAA230215 Variable

RAA230409 Variable

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on-chip interconnect

Optical Interconnect to Silicon CMOS Chip The article discusses how the performance of optical interconnect is better than of electrical interconnect and how optical interconnection between high-speed VLSI silicon CMOS chips can enhance their performance further Kapil khare and dr rajib kar “Optics may allow interconnects to continue to scale to match the processing ability of future electronics chips, though very low-energy optoelectronic devices and novel compact optics will be needed.” —David A.B. Miller, Fellow IEEE

T

he performance of silicon CMOS chips is improving because of reduction in the feature size of integrated circuits. We discuss here the current performance and future prospects of interconnection to high-speed VLSI silicon CMOS chips.

What is interconnect? Electrical interconnection is a medium through which electrical signal propagates from source point to the destination point. In the current scenario, most chips are made by using interconnect wire. By using interconnect wire we can integrate many circuits or devices so that the signal can propagate from one device to the other devices. Interconnect is made by using circuits like MOSFET and BJT, or electrical parameters like resistance (R), capacitance (C), inductance (L) and conductance (G). Using electrical interconnect leads to some problems as the wires are connected through the devices. The major problems are low capacity and density, very high power dissipation, induced crosstalk noise, delay and bandwidth problem, and timing uncertainty. This is because of the coupling capacitance generated between coupling nodes of two interconnect networks. The basic general structure of on62


is increased by using a newer technology called ‘optical interconnect.’ Interconnects may be classified as ‘off-chip’ interconnect and ‘on-chip’ interconnect. Off-chip interconnects deal with interconnection of wires between two and more external devices Fig. 1: High-speed SiGe CMOS technology to integrate and circuits. On the other analogue and digital on a single chip hand, on-chip interconnects deal with interconnection of wires into chip interconnects is shown in Fig. 2(a). the internal circuitry of one particular It shows electrical components such chip. Here, in this article, we will disas R, L and C in a block connected to cuss only on-chip interconnection. another block, making the interconnecIn the current scenario the pertion system. In a single CMOS silicon formance of electrical interconnects chip there are many interconnect wires has been improved by changing the but these are placed a minimum distechnology used to fabricate the wiring tance apart. layers on silicon CMOS chips. In Fig. 2(b), the effect of coupling capacitor between the two networks What is optical is shown. Minimum feature size of the interconnect? devices increases coupling between the coupling nodes of the two interconnect Optical interconnect is a medium lines. Consider the situation in Fig. 2(b) through which the signal flows in where the input of an inverter is close the form of optical rays (light), the to an interconnecting line. A parasitic medium being an optical fibre, wavecoupling capacitance (CC) exists beguide, etc. Optical wires are capable of much higher bandwidth of 10 Gbps to tween the two, so applying a voltage 100 Gbps. If we talk about the scaling pulse to one line will cause a change in process in VLSI system—reduction in the voltage in the other. the feature size of transistors—perforThere are three types of interconmance of the wire used for electrical nects: local, semi-global and global. interconnect has not improved sigLocal interconnects have a delay of nificantly because of induced noise, less than one clock cycle, while global delay and high power dissipation. So interconnects typically take longer to improve the performance of the systhan one or two clock cycles. Local and tem, we will have to make the silicon global interconnects are used for shortCMOS circuit’s performance much distance communication. But for longbetter than the electrical interconnect’s. distance communication, electrical Optical interconnect has the solution to interconnects (local and global) fail to these limitations and can be used for give a good result. So the performance www.efymag.com

on-chip interconnect called ‘optoelectronics devices’ and optical system called ‘medium.’ Here we discuss some basic requirements of an optical system for on-chip optical interconnects. There are two broad categories of the optical system: ‘guidedwave’ optical system and ‘free space’ optical system. For guided-wave optical system, one can use a thin optical fibre cable, waveguide etc. An optical fibre having a diameter of up to 10 µm can be used for on-chip optical interconnect. It has many advantages over other devices such as: 1. No crosstalk inside the optical fibre cable 2. Higher bandwidth, therefore it can operate at a higher data rate 3. Reduced loss due to signal attenuation Need for optical system 4. Small size and light-weight In waveguide approach, one has Two important parts of an on-chip to use a waveguide having a diamoptical interconnect are optical devices eter of up to 10 µm for on-chip optical h h h h R, L, C R, L, C interconnect system. Smaller optical guides of the order of micrometre size l/k l/k Fig. 2(a): General structure of interconnects should have low enough loss so that the propagation loss does not become a big issue for the VOLTAGE PULSE chip. So for simplicity we connect the waveINTERCONNECT guide from the cen+ V(t) Cc tral area to the chip to the edges. Whether such guides could + + handle the internal Vout Vin on-chip interconnects strongly depends on the architecture. The other apFig. 2(b): Effect of coupling capacitor between two interconnect lines proach is to use a ‘free space’ system where multiple light beams ON-CHIP can go in and out of RECEIVER TRANSMITTER the chips, usually in OPTICAL PHOTO the form of arrays. WAVEGUIDE LASER MODULATOR DETECTOR So arrays of beams go into and out of the DRIVER AMPLIFIER chip. Free-space approach can easily handle a large number of ELECTRICAL ELECTRICAL LOGIC CELL LOGIC CELL arrays of beams. So for high resolution and focusing on the Fig. 3: Block diagram of optical interconnect communication between future CMOS circuits. As shown in Fig. 3, first the electrical signal is converted into an optical signal by using an optical modulator imposed by laser or any optoelectronics device like LED or photodiode. The signal propagates through the optical cable using waveguide. At the receiver side, the photodetector receives the optical signal and converts it into an electrical signal and amplifies. By using optics many physical problems related to interconnects can be solved. Optics may solve design problems such as crosstalk noise, bandwidth, isolation and impedance matching, and also reduce problems associated with long-distance communication.

64


scale of micrometre size, we use an ordinary lens. Optical elements are fabricated using lithographic patterning. These can generate very large regular arrays of spots from a single laser beam and implement a variety of quite complex regular interconnection patterns.

Requirement for optoelectronic devices As shown in Fig. 3, an on-chip optical interconnect system consists of transmitter driver circuit, optical channel and receiver circuit. Here p-i-n photodiodes and metal-semiconductor metal (MSM) photodetectors work as the receiver circuit and vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and quantum-well modulator work as the transmitter for optical output. The photodetector in the receiver part converts optical energy into electrical energy. In the next step, this electrical signal is amplified by the amplifier circuit. So MSM photodetector gives a fast response and excellent quantum efficiency. Optical output devices and transmitter circuits. Quantum-well modulator and VCSEL are important devices for the transmitter of on-chip optical interconnect system. You can also use an LED as the transmitter. It will make the fabrication process easier than with VCSELs and avoid some problems of lasers. We discuss here quantum-well modulator and VCSELs in short. Quantum-well modulator. These modulators are used in demonstrating actual dense interconnects to and from silicon CMOS chips. They are made in large arrays and require an external beam. This requirement can be considered as an advantage or disadvantage of this system. The external beam is required to generate an array and to separate the incident and reflected beams. So we draw a setup that can easily handle the one-master laser beam. The single-master laser beam can be diffracted into arrays of equal beams by using a diffractive beam generator. Additional master laser beam allows centralised clocking of the entire system. Modulators avoid many of the problems of mode quality, www.efymag.com

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on-chip interconnect wavelength stability, turn-on delay, power dissipation, etc. VCSELs. VCSELs have made progress recently, especially with the advent of an oxide confined structure that promises to lower threshold currents. Compared to quantum-well modulators, VCSELs have seen less use yet in systems with large arrays operating with the silicon circuit. Photodetector and receiver circuit. Detector is a very important part for the receiver’s performance as it converts optical energy into electrical energy. For an on-chip optical interconnect system, the detector should have a low input capacitance if the receiver circuit is to be kept small with not too large power dissipation. Large capacitances mean more sensitive amplifiers have to be used, which introduce a noise that degrades the performance of the receiver circuit while also increasing the power dissipation. A better approach for optical inter-

66


connect receivers is to make the physical capacitance of the photodetector and its connection to the receiver circuit as small as possible. Small capacitance leads to larger voltage swings for a given optical energy, which leads to better noise immunity and improved gain stages. Smaller capacitance also allows use of small, low-power-dissipation transistors in the input stage. To calculate the total capacitance, you need to estimate the gate capacitance of the transistor with which the detector would be integrated. For 90nm CMOS technology node the gate capacitance of an NMOS transistor per unit transistor width is estimated to be 2 fF/µm, and for the 32nm node the corresponding number is 1.2 fF/µm.

To sum up We have seen various advantages of the optical interconnect system over the electrical interconnect. Optical interconnects solve many of the problems arising in electrical interconnects

due to chip-to-chip delay, crosstalk noise, bandwidth, interconnect wire and system synchronisation. Optics may reduce the power dissipation in clock distribution; global on-chip and off-chip interconnects improve the timing. We have found that optical interconnects have a performance that is competitive with or better than electrical interconnects’ and can scale to future interconnect needs. In conclusion, optics is very promising for dense interconnects to silicon chips. Overall, electrical and optical interconnects, and the many existing and emerging technologies in optoelectronics and optics integrated with silicon CMOS, are likely to play a substantial role in solving major problems in scaling interconnects for CMOS chips in the coming decades.  Kapil Khare is doing M.Tech in Microelectronics and VLSI Design from NIT, Durgapur, West Bengal. Dr Rajib Kar is an assistant professor in the department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at NIT, Durgapur, West Bengal

www.efymag.com

buyers’ guide

Microcontroller Development Boards Time-to-market is one of the most important parameters for any product’s success. It matters most for first-of-a-kind products and the companies are putting in great effort to reduce it. Design and prototyping is one of the largest phases in product development and a lot of time could be saved here by using ready development platforms. The time saved can help reduce time-to-market to a great extent and increase chances of the product’s success

Ankit Gupta

T

ime-to-market is the time taken from conception of a product to its launch in the market. There is no standard way to measure time-tomarket and the definitions for start and end points of product development period vary greatly from one organisation to another. In some organisations, development period starts when the product concept is approved. Others consider the start point when the project is fully staffed. Similarly, end point of the time-to-market period also varies from one organisation to another. Those who look at product development as engineering consider the end point 68


when engineering department transfers the prototype to manufacturing. Others consider shipping of the first lot as the end point. High-volume industries often consider end point when a certain production volume is reached. Organisations even have different approaches to reduce the time-to-market. Some think that time-to-market and product quality are opposing attributes of a development process. Time-to-market may be improved by skipping certain steps of the development process, thus compromising product quality. These organisations use highly structured development processes such as phase-gate model or Six Sigma, and often view product development as a clearly defined

sequence of steps to be followed. Skipping a step here means the quality has been compromised, which eventually increases time-to-market. Other organisations operate more aggressively, recognising that not all steps need to be completed for every project. Furthermore, they actively apply tools and techniques that shorten or overlap steps, cut decision-making time and automate activities. The product design and manufacturing cycle has different phases and the largest of them all is design and prototyping phase. Organisations use various techniques to save time on each phase. One method is to use development platforms to design and develop the product and finally realise the prototype. This saves a lot of time as you can skip the basic setup for your project. As microcontroller is part of most electronics products these days, we will focus here on microcontroller development boards and how they speed up hardware and software development.

Why development boards? Development board is basically a printed circuit board with circuitry and hardware on-board to facilitate experimentation with certain microcontrollers. These boards can save you from a lot of repetitive tasks. Imagine you want to work on a microcontrollerbased project, but to be able to use a microcontroller, you have to set up a bunch of circuitry and hardware on your breadboard each time. Obviously, this is going to frustrate you, especially www.efymag.com

buyers’ guide when there are portions that are going to be the same every time, such as the power circuit. Also, there are certain hardware circuits such as pushbuttons and LEDs that greatly aid in testing and debugging. Having all of the hardware and circuitry already assembled makes experimentation and general prototyping much easier. If you build this basic setup yourself with a general-purpose PCB or breadboard, you can never be 100 per cent sure about the connections. Every time something does not work, you do not know whether it is because of the setup or the development you are carrying out. Thus a lot of time is wasted debugging the issue. Also, if you plan to use SMD chips in the final product, building the basic setup becomes very time-consuming. You cannot build such a setup with general-purpose PCBs and have to design a dedicated PCB. A lot of time is wasted due to the lead times for manufacturing this PCB, sourcing components and assembly before you can really start with the development. So it is better to use a suitable development board with ready interface and immediately start moving on with your project. These development boards can be used in multiple projects, so it is a one-time investment that will not hit your budget much. Typically, components of a development board include: 1. Power circuit (typically, set up to run from a 9V/12V power supply) 2. Programming interface (to program the microcontroller through computer) 3. Basic input circuitry, like buttons 4. Basic output circuitry, like LEDs 5. Input/output (I/O) pins access (to be used for everything else such as motors, sensors and LCD screens)

Which development board to use? Selection of the development board mainly depends on the microcontroller that you plan to use. You can also do it the other way around; select the development board first and then plan the 70


project based on that microcontroller. Selecting the right microcontroller for your product application is itself a challenging task. There is a huge variety of microcontrollers available in the market. DigiKey, for instance, shows more than 15,000 different items under ‘microcontroller’ search, and it is almost impossible to find the one best suited for you if you have not figured out your requirement beforehand. Some engineers jump to microcontroller selection even before the system overview has been worked out, which is definitely a bad idea. Engineers should first work out the high levels of the system, block diagram and flowchart and then select the microcontroller with the information available. You can consider the following points to select the right microcontroller: Hardware interfaces required. Using the block diagram that you made earlier, list out all the interfaces you need for external hardware. First, figure out the communication interfaces needed. This will narrow down your choices. Communication interfaces commonly inbuilt in microcontrollers are Ethernet, CAN, USB, serial ports, I2C, SPI and UART. Next, determine the required digital inputs and outputs, analogueto-digital converter inputs, PWM, etc. This will further narrow down choices for you. Computing power. To decide on the computing power needed, analyse the architecture and requirements of the software that will be burnt into the microcontroller. Check whether the software has parts such as floating-point mathematics, high-frequency control loops that require more computing power. Also check the subtasks and how often they run. This will give you an idea of the processing power required, which is actually indicated by the clock speed of the microcontroller. Within each CPU there is an electronic clock. The clock’s job is to create a series of electrical pulses at regular intervals. This allows the computer to synchronise all its components, deter-

mining the speed at which it can pull data from its memory and perform calculations. When you talk about how many gigahertz or megahertz your processor has, you are really talking about clock speed. Architecture. If you have worked out the hardware interface and computing power requirements correctly, you will automatically land up on selecting the architecture of the microcontroller for your project. The architecture of a microcontroller refers to the philosophy of internal implementation. All architectures are well-proven but one might work better than the other for a particular application. Decide on the architecture based on the hardware interface and computing power requirements as well as the future requirements. Here consider whether an 8-bit core would be sufficient for future developments too, or you need a better core. In any case, the decision has to be made between 8-bit and 32-bit as 16-bit is not much popular these days. Memory. Flash and RAM are very critical components of any microcontroller and it is important to make sure that you do not run out of program space or variable space. Using the software architecture and the communication peripherals included in the application, you can estimate how much Flash and RAM will be required for the application. Power. You will now have a list of potential candidates that suit your requirement. This is the right time to examine the power requirements of the part. If the device will be powered from a battery, select a low-power microcontroller. Cost. Do not forget to examine the price per piece and minimum-order quantities. Make a smart decision as the price will greatly affect the overall cost of the product. Hardware and software tools. Finally, check the availability and quality of development tools. Minimally, you will need some sort of programmer to load the program into the microcontroller. Here availability of the develwww.efymag.com

buyers’ guide opment board is a plus. Selection of the development kit nearly solidifies the choice of the microcontroller. The last consideration is to examine the compiler and tools that are available. Most microcontrollers have a number of choices for compilers, example code and debugging tools. It is important to make sure that all the necessary tools are available for the part. Without the right tools, the development process could become tedious and expensive. By following the above points one by one, you can arrive at the right microcontroller for your product. Once you are done with the selection, you can move ahead and select the development board for the microcontroller. For most popular microcontrollers, you can purchase the development board either from the manufacturer or a third party. However, you have to be careful while selecting a less common microcontroller because its development board might not be available. Tables I and II give overview of some popular microcontrollers from different manufacturers. Give preference to an official board from the microcontroller manufacturer as with it you will have at least the basics right. Some small manufacturers also sell these boards but these are designed without giving much attention to the design guidelines.

Some popular development boards The Arduino family. Arduino family

Fig. 1: Arduino UNO board www.efymag.com

needs no introduction. It is an open source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It is intended for anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments without having much programming experience. Because of the simple IDE and coding environment, Arduino is a common choice for engineers and non-engineers Fig. 2: Raspberry Pi alike. The hardware of the variSPI interface, serial TX/RX pins and ous boards in the family is completely open source and designed around an PWM pins that can be used to control 8-bit Atmel AVR microcontroller, or a external hardware. 32-bit Atmel ARM. The boards come TI’s MSP430 LaunchPad. The pre-burnt with a bootloader that allows MSP430 LaunchPad (Part No. MSPyou to upload new code without the EXP430G2) is an easy-to-use Flash use of external hardware programmer. programmer and debugging tool for Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi has Texas Instruments’ MSP430G2xx series recently gained huge popularity due to microcontrollers. It has lots of debugits small size, great computing power ging and interfacing features on-board and low cost. The heart of the board for any development across MSP430 is a Broadcom BCM2835 system-ona-chip (SoC) that contains a 700MHz ARM 11 chip and a GPU capable of playing movies with BluRay quality. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has allowed overclocking up to 800 MHz. The CPU power is comparable to that of an old Pentium III with at least ten times lower power consumption. On-board hardware includes a 3.5mm audio jack, an RCA connector for connecting analogue television sets Fig. 3: MSP430 LaunchPad and also a modern HDMI interface for transferring digital audio and video. An RJ45 network connector is also microcontroller device. It has on-board available and a dual USB type ‘A’ emulation for programming and deconnector allows conbugging and features a 14-/20-pin DIP nection for mouse and socket, on-board buttons and LEDs, keyboards. The operating and BoosterPack-compatible pinouts system used is LINUX, that support a wide range of plug-in with several distributions modules for added functionality such already optimised to run as wireless and displays. on Raspberry Pi. The OS The MSP-EXP430G2 LaunchPad boots from the SD card. also comes with two MSP430 devices, To interface with external with up to 16kB Flash, 512B RAM, hardware, a complete 16MHz CPU speed and integrated GPIO connector is properipherals such as 8-channel 10-bit vided, which has pins ADC, timers and serial communicawith different functions. tion (UART, I2C and SPI). Free softThe device has seven true ware development tools such as TI’s GPIO pins, I2C interface, Eclipse-based Code Composer Studio, Electronics For You | October 2013

71

buyers’ guide Table I: Microcontroller Series from Some Manufacturers ATMEL

Microchip Technology

EPSON Semiconductor

Freescale Semiconductor

Infineon

8 Bit

32 Bit

8 Bit

16 Bit

32 Bit

4 Bit

8 Bit

16 Bit

32 Bit

8 Bit

16 Bit

32 Bit

8 Bit

16 Bit

32 Bit

AT89 Series

UC3 Series

PIC10 and PIC12 Series

PIC24 Series

PIC32MX Series

SIC6x Family

SIC6x Family

SIC6x Family

SIC6x Family

Freescale S08

Freescale S12

Freescale Kinetis (MQX)

XC800 Family

XE166 Family

Infineon XMC4000

AT90 Series

AT91 SAM (ARM)

PIC16 Series

dsPIC Series

68HC05 (CPU05)

68HC12 (CPU12)

Freescale 683XX

XC 2000 Family

TriCore Family

68HC08 (CPU08)

68HC16 (CPU16)

MCF5xxx (Freescale Coldfire)

C166 Family

Infineon XMC1000

68HC11 (CPU11)

Freescale DSP56800 (DSP controller)

M·CORE

C167 Family

ATmega

PIC18 Series

ATtiny

ATxmega

MPC500 MPC 860 (PowerQUICC) MPC 8240/8250 (PowerQUICC II) MPC 8540/8555/8560 (PowerQUICC III)

IAR Embedded Workbench, and Open Source tools like the MSPGCC compiler or Energia make it a complete development platform. STMicroelectronics’ Discovery. For students and professionals who are looking to start with ARM architecture, this Cortex-M3 based system would be a great choice. STMicroelectronics actually has come up with several different development boards for virtually every type of ARM microcontroller that it offers. The one shown in Fig. 4 has following features: 1. STM32F051R8T6 microcontroller

Fig. 4: STM32F0discovery board

72


featuring 64kB Flash and 8kB RAM in an LQFP64 package 2. On-board ST-LINK/V2 with selection-mode switch to use the kit as a standalone ST-LINK/V2 (with SWD connector for programming and debugging) 3. Board power supply through USB bus or from an external 5V supply voltage 4. External application power supply: 3V and 5V 5. Four LEDs: LD1 (red) for 3.3V power-on, LD2 (red/green) for USB communication, LD3 (green) for PC9 output, LD4 (blue) for PC8 output 6. Two pushbuttons (user and reset) 7. Extension header for all LQFP64 I/Os for quick connection to prototyping board and easy probing mbed. The mbed platform provides free software libraries, hardware designs and online tools for professional rapid prototyping of products based on ARM microcontrollers. Hardware of the latest mbed microcontroller boards is based around an NXP microcontroller, which has an ARM Cortex M3 core running at 96 MHz, with 512kB Flash, 64kB RAM, as well as several interfaces including Ethernet, USB

Device, CAN, SPI, I²C and other I/Os. PandaBoard. PandaBoard is a low-power, low-cost, single-board computer development platform based on Texas Instruments’ OMAP4430

Fig. 5: mbed with NXP LPC1768 www.efymag.com

buyers’ guide Table II: Microcontroller Series from Some Other Manufacturers NXP Semiconductors

Renesas Electronics

STMicroelectronics

Texas Instruments

Dallas Semiconductor

8 Bit

16 Bit

32 Bit

4 Bit

8 Bit

16 Bit

32 Bit

8 Bit

16 Bit

32 Bit

8 Bit

16 Bit

32 Bit

8 Bit

16 Bit

LPC700, LPC900 Series

XA Series

ARM7: LPC2100, LPC2200, LPC2300, LPC2400 Series

720 Family

78K Family

RL78 Family

RX Family

ST6 Family

ST10 Family

ST20 Family

TMS370 Family

MSP430 Family

TMS320 (DSP) Family

8051 Family

MAXQ RISC Family

ARM9: LPC2900, LPC3100, LPC3200 Series

H8/SLP M16C Family Family

SuperH Family

ST7 Family

ARM7: STR7 (ARM7TDMI)

C2000 Family

ARM Cortex-M0: LPC1100, LPC1200 Series

740 Family

H8 Family

V850 Family

STM8 Family

ARM9: STR9 (ARM966E-S)

Stellaris (ARM Cortex-M3)

ARM Cortex-M0+ : LPC800 Series

R8C Family

R32C Family

µPSD (8032) Family

ARM CortexM0: STM32 F0

Tiva C Series

ARM CortexM3: LPC1300, LPC1700, LPC1800 Series

78K0R H8SX Family Family

ARM CortexM3: STM32 F1, F2, L1, W

Hercules TMS570 (ARM Cortex-R4), TMS470M ARM CortexM3, RM4 ARM Cortex-R4

ARM Cortex-M4: LPC4000, LPC4300 Series

SoC. PandaBoard ES is a newer version based on OMAP4460 SoC, with its CPU and GPU running at higher clock rates. OMAP4430 SoC on PandaBoard features a dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU, a 304MHz PowerVR SGX540 GPU, IVA3 multimedia hardware accelerator with a programmable DSP, and 1GB DDR2 SDRAM. PandaBoard ES uses a newer SoC, with a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU and 384MHz GPU. Primary persistent storage is via an SD card slot, which supports SDHC cards up to 32 GB. The board includes wired 10/100 Ethernet as well as wireless Ethernet and Bluetooth connectivity. The device runs the Linux kernel,

Fig. 6: PandaBoard

74


ARM CortexM4: STM32 F4

with either traditional distributions, Android or Mozilla Firefox OS. Optimised versions of Android and Ubuntu are available from the Linaro Foundation. Linaro has selected PandaBoard as one of the hardware platforms that it supports with monthly build images. BeagleBoard. BeagleBoard is a low-power, open-source hardware, single-board computer produced by Texas Instruments in association with DigiKey and Newark element14. It was also designed with open source software development in mind, and as a way of demonstrating Texas Instruments’ OMAP3530 SoC. OMAP3530 includes an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU, a TMS320C64x+ DSP for accelerated video and audio decoding, and an Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR SGX530 GPU to provide accelerated 2D and 3D rendering that supports OpenGL ES 2.0. Video-out is provided through separate SVideo and HDMI connections. A single SD/MMC card slot supporting SDIO, a USB OnThe-Go port, an RS232 serial connection, a JTAG connection, and two stereo 3.5 mm jacks for audio in/out are also provided.

Fig. 7: BeagleBoard

Atmel STK600. It is a complete starter kit and development system for 8-bit and 32-bit AVR microcontrollers that gives designers a quick start to develop code on the AVR with advanced features for prototyping and testing new designs. The AVR device connects to STK600 using an innovative routing and socket card sandwich system, which routes signals from the device to the appropriate hardware. The system consists of a generic socket card, on which the AVR device is inserted, and a device-specific signal routing card, which routes signals from socket pins to different functions www.efymag.com

buyers’ guide

Fig. 8: Atmel STK600

on the STK600 main board dependent on the device. The kit offers access to all device pins, and several useful hardware functions such as pushbuttons, LEDs and data Flash to create a complete system for prototyping and testing new designs. Microchip’s PIC18 Explorer board. This low-cost demo board is used for evaluation of Microchip’s PIC18 MCU families. PIC18 is the highest-performing 8-bit architecture and has three different families: standard PIC18, PIC18

Fig. 9: PIC18 Explorer board

J-series and PIC18 K-series. This single development board supports dozens of general-purpose PIC18 families using various processor plug-in modules. PICtail daughter boards enable many different accessory boards to connect to PIC18 Explorer board for a flexible and complete development environment. It conveniently connects to MPLAB PICkit 3, ICD 3 or REAL ICE for in-circuit programming and debugging. Other features include alphanumeric LCD display, USB interface for USB to RS232 communication, 25LC256 SPI EEPROM, crystal oscillator, potentiometer (connected to 76


10-bit A/D, analogue input channel), analogue-output temperature sensor, LEDs and RS-232 port. Renesas’ RDK for RX63N (Part No. YRDKRX63N). The Renesas demonstration kit (RDK) for RX63N (32-bit MCU) is an evaluation and demonstration tool for Renesas RX63N microcontrollers. The goal is to provide the user with a powerful debug and demonstration platform targeted at common applications. The board also provides a useful platform for evaluating the Renesas suite of development tools for coding and debugging, using the High-performance Embedded Workshop (HEW) IDE as well as programming the device using the on-board SEGGER J-Link JTAG debugger. The features are as follows: 1. 32-bit, 100Mhz RX63N MCU @ 165 DMIPS 2. 10/100 Ethernet 3. USB host and device ports 4. 3-axis accelerometer from Analog Devices 5. 128MB PCM serial Flash from Micron 6. Stereo audio output and onboard speaker 7. Analog Devices silicon microphone input 8. Temperature sensor from Analog Devices 9. User pot and three switches 10. Micro SD card slot 11. 96×64 graphics LCD from Okaya 12. Expansion headers 13. Dual Pmod connectors 14. LED simulated motor phases 15. USB or externally powered 16. Total Phase Beagle I2C/SPI debug interface 17. Built-in SEGGER J-Link debugger 18. Myriad of software, code examples, and demos The Renesas demonstration kit for RX63N is also the hardware platform that is included in a special RX63Nspecific edition of Micrium’s book on the µC/OS-III Real Time Kernel. The book and board combo targets serious

Microcontroller boards from other manufacturers A lot of other manufacturers are also coming up with budget-friendly goodquality development boards. Raspberry Pi and Arduino are the top examples of the boards that are not really the official boards but have become highly popular. This has motivated a lot of other manufactures also to design and develop budget-friendly development boards. KitsnSpares recently came up with boards like Mango Pi and Guava Pi that are compact, good quality and budget friendly. Mang o P i is a c o mp ac t P IC development board with high-end features and budget-friendly price tag. The board is developed and tested by EFY LAB. The main features of the board are as follow: 1. Budget-friendly 8-bit PIC microcontroller (16F877A) development board 2. Can program up to 659 other PIC controllers 3. Easy to test and debug programs with on-board LED and LCD interface 4. On-board microcontroller can be programmed with USB directly without the need of external programmer

Fig. 10: Renesas’ YRDKRX63N board

programmers and college students who need to understand and create programs based on the time-saving features of a real-time kernel.  The author is a technical editor at EFY www.efymag.com

EFY Plus DVD

Automated Test Application Development Made Easy with ATEasy Marvin Test Solutions’ ATEasy is targeted at people engaged in the development and use of automated test equipment. Here we discuss its features, hardware and software specifications along with its workspace environment, modules and applications. A 30-day fully functional, free trial of ATEasy is included in the DVD accompanying this month’s EFY Plus efy bureau

A

TEasy is a test executive and a software development environment for test and measurement (T&M) applications. It contains all the tools required to develop test applications for automated test equipment (ATE) systems and instrument control applications. ATE systems are used to perform testing on one or more electronic products called units under test (UUTs) such as components, boards and assemblies. Typically, these consist of a computer/controller, several test and measurement instruments and a test application designed to control system instruments in order to test the UUT. The ATEasy integrated development environment (IDE) allows users to quickly develop automated test programs using a wide variety of hardware and software assets including PXI, PCI and GPIB as well as LabVIEW, C++ and .NET. ATEasy facilitates rapid application development but it is greatly focused on test development. ATEasy has many built-in structures that are object-oriented and allow developers to focus on building a test without having to worry about certain detailed implementations such as log reporting.

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The ATEasy test executive provides a highly intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) for executing ATEasy test programs. The ready-to-use GUI adapts to the test environment that it is linked to. It also frees the test developer from detailed implementation that he would typically need to develop from scratch when using other test platforms.

Why use ATEasy for automated test systems?

INTERFACES

CONTROLLER (PC)

IEEE-488 VXI RS-232 RS-422

STIMULUS OR MEASUREMENT INTSTRUMENTS (S)

LPT ISA USB

SWITCHING NETWORK

PCI PCMCIA

ADAPTERS An automated test system, also OTHER referred to as automated test equipment (ATE), is a collection of instruments under computer UUT (UNIT UNDER TEST) control performing automated test functions. Fig. 1 shows the typical configuration of an ATE Fig. 1: Typical configuration of an ATE system system. A computer provides hardware interfaces as well as comcontrol over test and measurement puter programs, the PC has become the instruments by using hardware interde-facto standard of the test industry. faces. The instruments, such as measThe PC supports numerous interfaces urement, stimulus, switching, power for controlling test instruments. These and digital instruments, are connected interfaces include IEEE-488 (GPIB), to the UUT through an adaptor. VXI, ISA bus, PXI/PCI bus, LXI/ The most common computing TCP-IP, serial communication such as tool used in ATE applications is the RS-232/422/485 and USB. Software PC. Due to its relatively low-cost programs such as ATEasy allow the computing power and availability of

Electronics For You Plus | OCTOBER 2013

1I

EFY Plus DVD computer to control test instruments using any of these interfaces. Test instruments include: 1. Measurement instruments to measure electrical characteristics 2. Stimulus instruments to generate electronic signals 3. Digital instruments to read and write digital patterns 4. Power instruments using power sources 5. Switching instruments to route electrical signals to different points The adaptor, also referred to as interface test adaptor, routes signals from the test system to the UUT, which is the target of the ATE. Under software control, the computer performs test sequences and procedures to determine whether the UUT is performing according to its specifications. The tasks required are controlling the test instruments, routing signals to various test points in the UUT, and measuring UUT responses. ATEasy provides all the tools required during the development, debugging and integration of test sequences and procedures. Running on Microsoft Windows, ATEasy provides a familiar GUI combined with the flexibility of an objectoriented programming environment. Users of Microsoft Visual Basic or Visual C++ will feel right at home. Supporting any instrument, regardless of its interface, ATEasy develops an ATE application in a single integrated environment. With specialised features designed for testing and instrument control applications, it can also be used for data acquisition, process control, lab applications, calibration and any application requiring instrument control. ATEasy supports many instrument interfaces including VXI, GPIB (IEEE-488), RS-232/422, PC boards, PXI and LXI (TCP/IP).

programming language allows user-defined statements to be used along with flow control, procedures, variables and other PROJECT common items found in most (.prj) programming languages. It is flexible and powerful, yet easyto-use and self-documenting. Professional programmers SYSTEM PROJECT (.sys) will appreciate ATEasy’s pro(.prj) gramming language offering DLL calling, ‘C’ header file imDRIVER port for DLL function prototyp(.drv) ing, OLE/COM/ActiveX control support, .NET assemblies, BUILD LabVIEW virtual instruments or their libraries, function panel instrument driver files (used APPLICATION mostly by LabWindows/CVI), (.exe) multi-threading, exception handling, and many more software Fig. 2: A workspace, its project file, program, system and components and standards for driver modules developing complex applicaATEasy’s IDE is object-oriented and tions in a truly open system architecdata-driven. It automatically selects edture. ATEasy’s programming language iting tools according to the type of the also contains many built-in programobject to be created or modified. This ming elements to simplify programfeature simplifies programming as you ming, allowing non-programmers merely click an object and ATEasy auto easily use ATEasy for application tomatically selects the appropriate tool. development. The unique design of ATEasy Features provides a structured and integrated framework for developing reusable The ATEasy IDE includes tools for components and modules that you creating instrument drivers, user can easily maintain and debug. These interface, tests, documentation, test components can be reused from apexecutives, report generation and plication to application, reducing anything else you need to create T&M the time and effort of developing applications—all with point-and-click and maintaining applications. The and drag-and-drop ease. developer is given a framework that ATEasy contains a high-level prois especially designed for a T&M apgramming language enabling test enplication. The framework contains gineers, electronics engineers and propredefined components designed for grammers to develop and integrate apinterfaces (such as GPIB), instruments plications of any scale—small to large, control and drivers, system configuraand simple to complex. The ATEasy

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EFY Plus DVD tion, test requirement documents and test executives. In addition, the ATEasy IDE provides a way to write, run and debug applications in very short cycles as required by instrument-based applications. The object-oriented environment makes editing of common tasks or objects displayed in the IDE very similar to other object-oriented environments. The similar functionality greatly reduces the learning curve for ATEasy. With ATEasy, multiple users can edit the same file representing a driver system or a program. Files contain version information that allows users to keep track of, and document, the changes. In addition, all ATEasy documents can be saved to a text format allowing comparison and merger of changes between multiple users and tracking of changes using version control software in a better way.

Hardware and Software Requirements ATEasy is a 32-bit Microsoft Windows application program designed and tested for Windows operating systems. You must have Windows installed on your computer prior to installing ATEasy. To install ATEasy you need the following minimum configuration: 1. A 32- or 64-bit Windows system compatible with Windows 7, VISTA, XP, Windows Server 2003/2008, Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows 98 2. Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher version 3. 43.2cm (17-inch) or larger monitor. At least 1024x768 resolution is recommended for ATEasy application development. 4. TCP/IP or IPX/SPX network protocols and Windows2000 or newer version for ATEasy licence server

Workspace, applications and modules ATEasy applications are developed in the IDE within a workspace file. Workspace file contains the programming environment and the last saved layout of the IDE. It is not a part of the application. ATEasy applications are Windows executable files created from project files containing one or more modules. Typically, a project file contains a system, one or more programs, and one or more drivers. The system, program and driver are called ATEasy modules. Each module contains sub-modules such as forms, commands and procedures, and is stored in a project file, which may be inserted or moved between projects so that it can be reused by other ATEasy applications. Fig. 2 shows a workspace, its project file, program, system and driver modules. The workspace file and its image in the IDE contains a list of files or documents and the state of IDE windows and their content. The IDE can load only one workspace at a time. Typically, the workspace file contains a list of one or more project files loaded by the IDE. www.efymag.com

Fig. 3: Main window of the IDE with callouts to individual windows

Installing ATEasy Insert the EFY DVD in the DVD-ROM drive. The Setup program runs automatically if your drive is set up to auto play. If Setup does not run automatically, select ‘Run’ from ‘Start’ menu and when prompted, type: [drive letter]:\AExplorer

where [drive letter] is the letter assigned to your CD-ROM drive. For example, type “D:\AExplorer” if letter ‘D’ is assigned to your CD-ROM. A window showing several op-

tions will be displayed. Select ‘ATEasy Software’ and then ‘Install ATEasy’ to start ATEasy setup program. A Welcome screen is displayed. Click ‘Next’ to continue. The next screen shows the licence agreement. When you finish reading it, click ‘Yes’ to continue (answering ‘No’ exits the Setup program). Enter your name and company name, and click ‘Next’ to continue. Enter the folder where ATEasy should be installed. Click ‘Browse’ to Electronics For You Plus | OCTOBER 2013

III

EFY Plus DVD Installation types The Setup program allows you to select one of the following types of installations: 1. Compact: It uses minimal hard disk space but includes all the components required to run and develop an ATEasy application. 2. Custom: It allows you to control which optional components are installed. 3. Full: It installs all the ATEasy components. 4. License Server: It installs the ATEasy licence server used to provide ATEasy licenses to other computers running on the same network. 5. Run-Time: It installs the components required to run ATEasy, excluding the IDE that is used to develop ATEasy applications. 6. Typical(default): It installs the most commonly used ATEasy components used to develop and run an ATEasy application. set up a new folder, or click ‘Next’ to accept the default entry of ‘C:\Program Files\ATEasy.’ Select the type of Setup and click ‘Next.’ Select the program folder where the icons and shortcuts for ATEasy are to be stored. Click ‘Next’ when finished. The program will now start installing. During the installation of ATEasy, Setup may upgrade some of the Windows shared components and files. If prompted, restart Windows. Setup may ask you to reboot after installation completes. Reboot in order to ensure complete installation.

IV

OCTOBER 2013 | Electronics For You Plus

You can now start ATEasy by double-clicking the ATEasy icon on the desktop or by selecting ATEasy from the Start→Programs→ATEasy menu.

Licence, registration and support To use ATEasy, you must purchase a licence from Geotest. Three types of licences are available: Single licence, network licence and hardware key (USB or LPT version). If you do not have a licence, you can activate a 30-day trial version of the ATEasy software. The trial licence

contains full ATEasy functionality for 30 days. The licence can be set up from ‘ATEasy License Setup’ dialogue box. This dialogue is displayed when starting ATEasy with no licence installed or from ‘About ATEasy’ item under ‘Help’ menu when you want to change the licence. If you have purchased a subscription plan, you must register to activate the plan. Subscription plan entitles you to free upgrades and unlimited customer support. If you don’t have a subscription plan, you may register to receive free ATEasy newsletter, product service packs, updated drivers and examples. You can go through the books available online for more information on how to register the product and set up a licence. For information on how to go about your first project on ATEasy, and create your own application and your first test program, commands, modules and external libraries, refer to the PDF manual ‘Getting Started With ATEasy’ available on www.marvintest.com. 

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EFY Plus DVD

Deeds: One-Stop Solution for All Your Digital Electronics Design Needs Deeds, short for ‘Digital Electronics Education and Design Suite,’ is a set of educational tools for digital Electronics that adopt learn-by-doing approach. Developed by the University of Genoa, Italy, this design suite comes bundled in this month’s Electronics for You Plus DVD. We hope you find it as useful as we did efy bureau

D

eeds was conceived by the University of Genoa, Italy, as a suite of simulators, tools and learning material for digital electronics design. It helps students acquire theoretical foundations, analysis and problem solving capabilities all over the design electronics domain, and practical synthesis and design skills. Its approach is characterised by the mantra of “learningby-doing.” Deeds covers the following areas of digital electronics: 1. Combinational logic networks ranging from simple gates to decoders, encoders, multiplexers and demultiplexers 2. Sequential logic networks from a simple flip-flop to the slightly less simple registers and counters 3. Finite-state machine design and microcomputer programming (at Assembly level) along with microcomputer interfacing 4. Field-programmable gate array programming

Tools and features Simulators are integrated around two HTML browsers: an HTML main browser to navigate on the Internet, where students can find lessons, exercises and laboratory assignments, and an assistant browser, which assists VI

October 2013 | Electronics For You Plus

by the Deeds environment. It is mainly used to connect to the sites containing the learning material. The browser supports all the features that the user can expect to find, including JAVA Virtual Machine, VBScript, JavaScript and XML support. The assistant HTML browser has characteristics Fig. 1: Assistant browser is opened, showing a page with a problem assignment similar to those of the main browser but it is customised to assist students students in their work. These browsin their work. This browser is used ers allow you to launch all the tools to open lessons, exercises and laboraand also interact with them. Hence the tory assignments. Similar to the main browsers can now control editors and browser, the assistant browser has simulators, and realise a true interacbeen conceived around the standard tion between theory and practical reMicrosoft WebBrowser component. sults. The main Web browser of Deeds, All the objects visualised on a webpage when activated, shows an HTML page can be made ‘active.’ that allows you to connect to the Deeds There is a schematic digital circuit website and to the ‘online’ learning editor in addition to a component datamaterial developed at DIBE (Universheet support. The software houses an sity of Genoa). interactive circuit animator (to experiThe main browser has been develment with components and simple netoped around the standard Microsoft works directly on the schematics), an WebBrowser component extended interactive logic simulator (with a timto support all the functions required www.efymag.com

EFY Plus DVD ing diagram tracer to analyse events in the logic networks and to interact step-by-step with the circuit) and a finite-state machine editor/simulator (the algorithm for which is described using the ASM graphical editor). It also contains a microcomputer board emulator (the board includes an 8-bit CPU, ROM, RAM and the requisite input/output ports) and an assembler/ interactive debugger module. The schematic editor lets you connect traditional logic circuits with sub-systems with the help of a finite-state machine editor and a microcomputer emulator. Hence it is possible to experiment with systems controlled by state machines and microcomputers with port interfacing and low-level programming of embedded systems. Digital circuit simulator d-DcS appears to the user as a graphical schematic editor with a library of simplified logic components customised to pedagogical needs and not describing specific commercial products. As mentioned earlier, the schematic editor allows you to build simple digital networks composed of gates, flip-flops, predefined combinational and sequential circuits, and custom-defined components, which are defined as finite-state machines. Simulation can be interactive or in timing-mode. In interactive mode, the student can animate the digital system in the editor, thereby controlling its inputs and observing results. This is the simplest way to examine a digital network and hence highly useful for beginners. In timing mode, the behaviour of the circuit can be analysed by a timing diagram window, in which the user can define graphically an input signal sequence and observe the simulation results. This mode is analogous to professional simulation. Finite-state machine simulator d-FsM allows graphical editing and simulation of finite-state machine components using the algorithmic state machine paradigm. The tool allows local functional simulation of finitewww.efymag.com

verter (to export projects to other design environment tools) along with an FPGA ‘expert’ module to export and test projects on FPGA boards. The FPGA extension introduces FPGAbased systems for practice of digital design. New commands allow compilation of a project onto an FPGA chip by exporting it in VHDL to an FPGA-specific Fig. 2: An example of a circuit based on the microcomputer component EDA tool. (The best part is that beginners to this concept can also utilise this feature as it doesn’t require knowledge of VHDL language.) With microcomputer emulator d-McE, users can practise programming at Assembly language level. It functionally emulates a board including a CPU, ROM and Fig. 3: View of the ‘Test on FPGA’ expert window, one of the new tools RAM, parallel I/O ports, reset circuitry and a simstate machines, which is user-designed ple interrupt logic. The custom 8-bit with runtime display of relationships CPU, named DMC8, is designed to between state and timing evolution. suite your educational needs, and is Components produced by d-FsM can based on a simplified version of the be directly used in d-DcS and inserted well-known Z80-CPU processor. The into any digital circuit. These can also integrated source code editor enables be exported in VHDL language. A users to enter Assembly programs, general-purpose finite-state machine which can be assembled, linked software simulator helps students to and loaded in the emulated system enhance their design skills and also famemory with a simple command. cilitates transition from pedagogical to The programs can be executed step professional field by introducing CAD by step in the interactive debugger. In methodologies. the debugger, as in professional tools, In addition, the latest edition of the the user can evaluate the contents of software offers users a new VHDL conElectronics For You Plus | October 2013

VII

EFY Plus DVD with just about any HTML editor. Teaching lectures. A lecture based on Deeds appears as HTML pages with text and figures. The look and feel of the layout can be totally customised by the author. At this level, a student only ‘sees’ a normal online book or a document. But many Fig. 4: The Assembly code debugger of the figures and visual objects are active because they are connected to simulation and editing tools of Deeds. For example, let us suppose that a theory presents a certain digital circuit, visualising its schematics in a picture. When the user clicks the Fig. 5: The d-DcS Digital Circuit Simulator allows timing simulation of the logic networks picture, Deeds immediately launches the corresponding simulator, and all the structures involved in the hardopens that schematic together with anware/software system by stepping the other window (the assistant browser) execution of programs. that contains step-by-step instructions Applications of the on how to explore or test the circuit software itself. Such a procedure is equally useful Deeds was conceived as a learning for conveying concepts of simple comenvironment for students interested ponents or even complex networks. In in digital electronics. As such, it may the first case, the simulator allows you contain different technical subjects and to explore them interactively. In the different pedagogical formats (lectures, second case, signal tracing capabilities exercises, lab assignments, etc) delivin time and data domains allow a thorered at different student levels. Deeds ough test of the network. can therefore be classified as a set of Solving exercises. Traditional extools that teachers can complete and ercises aim to help understand theory personalise to suit their pedagogical by applying it to simple cases and needs by contributing to the lecture providing a feedback to the teacher space with their own material. A mathrough the delivery of solutions. jor selling point is that teachers don’t In Deeds system exercises, the exerneed a specific authoring tool because cises are presented as HTML pages, the lecture space can be composed VIII

October 2013 | Electronics For You Plus

containing text and figures of the assignments. Deeds allows students to check the correctness of solutions obtained manually and provides graphical tools for editing the webpage containing their reports, until they are satisfied with their work and use Deeds to deliver the reports through the network. The use of Deeds also implies a different approach to the structure of exercises. In fact, with the simulator, students may be tempted to skip manual analysis. For effective use, the teachers should target the exercises more at the real understanding of issues than at the execution of repetitive, mundane tasks. Learning to design electronic systems. Development of digital design projects is the field where Deeds can fully be utilised (which is why it is bundled in EFY Plus DVD). In fact, the finite-state machine, the interactive logic simulator and the microcomputer board emulator work simultaneously in the simulation of a system, where standard digital components are controlled by the state machine and/or microcomputer board, which is the case with contemporary digital design. The assignment consists of a functional description and a set of specifications for the system that the students must design. This approach is meant to replicate the features of a professional environment within the guidelines suggested by the educational purpose of the project. Now users can utilise Deeds to download the assignment from a webpage. Project development phases are guided by help and instructions supplied through the assistant browser. The instructions provided are not step-by-step and require intelligent use of simulation tools and good user initiative.

A great learning tool Deeds is a great learning tool for all you design enthusiasts. Its flexibility, diversity and ease-of-use make it one of the best tools in the market for anyone interested in digital design.  www.efymag.com

construction

GPS Navigator

Table I

i ijeet Ra

Abh

Vineet Nayak

G

lobal positioning system (GPS) is a wonderful technology that has made navigation

systems highly accurate and efficient in recent years. All the mobile phones these days come with an in-built GPS receiver through which you can easily find out your current location anywhere on the earth. The only thing required is an unobstructed line-of-sight to four or more GPS satellites. A GPS navigational device is any device that receives GPS signals and processes them to extract information for determining its exact location. Presented here is such a GPS device with a tracking record system. It shows the path traversed by you from the initial position, so you are never lost at unknown locations and can always come back to the initial point.

NMEA Output Sentence Option Description GPGGA

Time, position and fix type data

GPGSA

GPS receiver operating mode, active satellites used in the position solution, and DOP values

GPGSV

Number of GPS satellites in view, satellite ID numbers, elevation, azimuth and SNR values

GPRMC Time, date, position, course and speed data. Recommended minimum navigation information GPVTG

Course and speed information relative to the ground

Table II

Test Points Test point

Details

TP0

0V, GND

TP1 5V TP2

Low when S1 pressed

TP3

Train of pulses (when GPS module is connected)

around microcontroller ATmega16 (IC1), 5V voltage regulator 7805 (IC2), Circuit and working GPS module (connected at CON1), graphical LCD (GLCD1) and a few Fig. 2 shows circuit of the GPS Fig. 1: author’s prototype other components. navigator. The circuit is built The circuit is powered by a 9V/12V 3 IC2 1 TP1 JACK adaptor. Regulator IC2 C2 DC IN C1 7805 R2 R1 provides 5V regulated 0.1u 470u 10 30 9V−12V 680E 10K 2 LED1 25V Vcc AVcc supply for the circuit to POWER 1 PB0 PA0 40 C3 39 2 PB1 operate. LED1 indicates PA1 R3 10u 16V 3 PB2 PA2 38 presence of power in the 470E 4 PB3 PA3 37 5 PB4 PA4 36 circuit. GPS 6 PB5 TP2 PA5 35 34 7 Microcontroller IC1 2062 PB6 PA6 8 PB7 S1 PA7 33 MODULE IC1 running at a clock fre9 RST AREF 32 14 PD0 ATMEGA16 PC7 29 quency of 16 MHz comVcc 15 PD1 PC6 28 Tx 16 PD2 27 municates with the GPS PC5 Rx 17 PD3 PC4 26 receiver modem via seTP3 GND 18 PD4 PC3 25 CON1 24 19 PD5 rial protocol. Tx pin of PC2 20 PD6 PC1 23 the GPS receiver is con21 PD7 PC0 22 11 GND GND 31 nected to Rx (PD0) pin of 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 17 16 15 4 6 XTAL2 XTAL1 microcontroller IC1. The RST CS2 CS1 RS R/W EN D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 13 12 18 2 GPS receiver continuVDD VOUT 19 3 LED A C4 ously transmits data at VR1 C5 XTAL1 128X64 GLCD1 Vo 20 22p 16Mhz 22p 10K LED K 1 1Hz update rate. Vss CONT A 128×64-pixel, TP0 KS0108-controller-based GLCD is used to display Fig. 2: Circuit of GPS Navigator www.efymag.com


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construction Parts List Semiconductors: IC1 - ATmega16 microcontroller IC2 - 7805, 5V regulator - 5mm LED LED1 GLCD1 - 20-pin 128×64 GLCD (KS0108-controller-based) Resistors (all 1/4-watt, ±5% carbon): R1 - 680-ohm R2 - 10-kilo-ohm - 470-ohm R3 - 10-kilo-ohm preset VR1 Capacitors: C1 - 470µF, 25V electrolytic C2 - 0.1µF ceramic - 10µF, 16V electrolytic C3 C4, C5 - 22pF ceramic Miscellaneous: - 4-pin connector CON1 S1 - Tactile switch XTAL1 - 16MHz crystal oscillator DC Jack - DC jack connector GPS - GPS-2062 module

efy Note The source code of this project is included in this month’s EFY DVD and is also available for free download on www.efymag.com website. the navigation data. Port pins PB0 through PB7 of IC1 are connected to data pins D0 through D7 of GLCD1. Port pins PD2 through PD6 are used to provide control signals RS, R/W, EN, CS1 and CS2 to GLCD1, respectively. Switch S1 is used to reset the navigator. Working of the navigator is simple. Once powered on, the microcontroller stores the initial longitude and latitude data. Then it continuously plots the changing latitude and longitude as you move around (refer Fig. 1). One division change on the screen is equivalent to approximately 30 metres travelled. With the new latitude and longitude position plotted on the screen, you get a clear idea of the direction and path traveled by you. The display also shows various other information such as current latitude, longitude, speed, altitude, date, time and number of satellites the GPS modem can capture.

Software The software program is written in ‘C’ language and compiled in WINAVR 78


Fig. 3: An actual-size, single-side PCB layout for the GPS navigator

ously sends data via USART to IC1 at 9600 baud rate. GPS data is initiated by a ‘$’ sign followed by National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) output sentences. Details are given in Table I. The microcontroller continuously captures and stores all bytes for each NMEA output sequence. The total bytes are then partitioned and sampled into a small packet containing information about time, date, longitude, latitude, altitude, speed, etc. These values are regularly updated and displayed on the GLCD.

Construction and testing

Fig. 4: Component layout for the PCB

Programmers Notepad. WINAVR is a GCC–based compiler for AVR. Burn the program into the MCU using a suitable programmer with FUSE BYTE settings mentioned below: L fuse-0xef H fuse-0x99 The GPS receiver modem continu-

An actual-size, single-side PCB for the GPS navigator circuit is shown in Fig. 3 and its component layout in Fig. 4. Assemble the circuit on the provided PCB to minimise assembly errors. Use IC base for microcontroller IC1. You can use a 9V/12V adaptor or any other suitable DC source to power the circuit. To test the circuit for proper functioning, verify 5V power supply at TP1 with respect to TP0. Reset to the system can be checked at TP2. The data transmitted by the GPS modem can be observed at TP3 using an oscilloscope.  The author is a third-year B.Tech student of electrical engineering from College of Engineering & Technology, Bhubaneshwar www.efymag.com

construction

Make Your Own USB Data Acquisition System Arun Dayal Udai and Sujit Kumar

P

resented here is a data acquisition (DAQ) system that can be used to interface six sensors and four digital-to-analogue channels. The acquired voltage levels can be displayed on a personal computer (PC). The DAQ device may be calibrated

Fig. 1: Author’s prototype

for precision and benchmarked with various standards, and delivered as an inexpensive USB DAQ product for hobbyists and students. Irrespective of our stream of engineering or science, most of us do programming and data analysis on computers due to ease in data handling, storage and manipulation. This project may be helpful for those who want to develop an integrated system that consists of a DAQ and other system circuitry in a single unit. It would provide a greater insight to the design and development of a USB DAQ system itself! The article includes details of circuit designs, software development for user-interface using C# and LabView, printed circuit board (PCB) development and test results. It is assumed that the

o

sani the

reader is familiar with basic ‘C’ programming and AVR programming styles. However, best efforts have been made to make the contents logical enough to help even a beginner understand the project and tweak with the codes.

DAQ systems A DAQ system acquires data from a sensor mounted on a physical system and brings it to your PC. Typically, the output from a sensor is available in the form of a voltage signal. For example, the output from a commonly used temperature sensor like LM35 is 10mV/°C under normal environmental conditions, which var-

Table II


Details

TP0

0V, GND

TP1 5V TP2 2.5V TP3

Low when S2 pressed

Table I

Specifications of the Developed DAQ Device Feature Specifications

Remarks

Digital inputs/outputs (I/Os) 16 reconfigurable I/Os, Maximum: 40 mA

Each of the 16 pins can be configured as input or output

Analogue inputs

6 (8-bit resolution), Maximum: 5V

Can be extended up to 8

Analogue outputs

4 (8-bit resolution), Maximum: 5V, 0.45 mA

Can be increased by adjusting the op-amp gains and using an external supply

Counters

Any digital I/O can be used as counter (Maximum: 4 MHz using external interrupt on Port-D 0-3)

To be implemented in PC software or by modifying the firmware

Interface

GUI may be developed using any programming Developed and tested with NI LabView and Microsoft Visual C# language with DLL interfacing

Driver for programming

Libusb 1.0 (Free) (http://www.libusb.org/)

Installs automatically on installing ATMEL Flip programmer (free)

Application programming ATUSBHID.DLL interface (API) driver

Free–required for communication

Upgrade

Open source firmware written using LUFA

Board can be reused for multiple purposes

Sampling frequency

9.6 kilo-samples-per-second with Generic USB HID implementation

One can use a different USB class with full-speed USB data transfer rate of 12 Mbps

Simply plug the device on the USB port and the software gets installed in Generic HID Class

www.efymag.com


79

construction

18

OUTPUT

INPUT

1

vice from a PC with a voltage signal, or you may require a dynamically changing voltage level to drive a certain

it is being interfaced with. Same is the case with a pressure sensor, LVDT, etc. You may also need to trigger a de-

ies linearly with temperature. Hence you can calibrate the measured voltage to the temperature of the surroundings

CON2 ANALOGUE

C1

1

R1

2 3

R2

4

OUTA

V+

IC3 OUTB OPA2335

INA−

INA+ V−

8 7

R3

C2

INB− 6 INB+

5

R5

C3

R6

20

IC4 INA− OPA2335

OUTB

6 INB−

R4

C1−C4=100n

OUTA

V+

OUTC

OUTB

1

19

OUTD

OUTA

2

18

VDD

Vss

3

17

A0

REF

4

16

IC2 AGND TLC7226

A1

5

15

WR

DGND

6

14

DB0

DB7

7

13

DB1

DB6

8

12

DB2

DB5

9

11

DB3

DB4

5

INB+

L1 10u

C7 100n

SJ1 = SHORTING JUMPER

R13 220E

AVcc GND AREF PF0 PF1 PF2 PF3 PF4 PF5 PF6 PF7 GND Vcc PA0 PA1 PA2 PB3 PB4 PB5 PB6

S2 RESET

R14 220E

USB

3

R8

4

IC5 LM336

NC

R9 1K

10

S3 HWB R10 1.5K R11 4.7K

R12 S1 USER 470E

LED1

CON5

ISP

C8 22p

R15

+5V DC EXT. + SUPPLY

C10 0.47u CON3

C4

TP3 XTAL1 16MHz

4.7K

TP1

SJ1

IC1 AT90USB1287

PE3 PB0 PB1 PB2

48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33

PA3 PA4 PA5 PA6 PA7 PE2 PC7 PC6 PC5 PC4 PC3 PC2 PC1 PC0 PE1 PE0

V−

R7

2

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

C6 100n

C5 1u 16V

PE6 PE7 UVcc D− D+ UGND UCAP VBUS

PB7 PE4 PE5 RESET Vcc GND XTAL2 XTAL1 PD0 PD1 PD2 PD3 PD4 PD5 PD6 PD7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

INA+

1

TP2

64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 52 51 50 49

R1−R8=47K

8 7

R16 − 680E CON4

C9 22p

TP0 LED2

POWER

CON1

DIGITAL

8

Fig. 2: Circuit of USB data acquisition system

80


www.efymag.com

construction drive system, e.g., a linear servo motor. You may also require to count an event which is signaled by a voltage pulse, such as in flywheel counters or robotic shaft encoders. Most of the commercially available DAQ systems come with all the above-mentioned features of counters, analogue inputs and outputs, digital inputs and outputs, etc. However, these systems are quite expensive and come with a paid driver for interfacing. Most of them can only be used with the proprietary software of the manufacturer. This project is intended for those who want to make their own system for data acquisition due to the limitation of their total project cost or installation where one cannot use commercially available DAQ (such as in a nuclear or defense installation). The author’s prototype is shown in Fig. 1.

Circuit and working Fig. 2 shows the circuit of USB data acquisition system. AT90USB1287. The heart of the system is a 64-pin ATMEL USB chip AT90USB1287, which is an 8-bit microcontroller that can do USB communication and take analogue input through its eight 10-bit analogue-todigital converters (ADCs). It has 48 programmable input/output pins. The microcontroller runs on a 16MHz clock and has 128 kB of flash memory. As the microcontroller does not have any digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) on its output pins, we required an external chip for this purpose. We used TLC7226 from Texas Instruments (TI), which is an 8-bit DAC with quad outputs. Before finalising the design, ensure that all the AVR hardware design considerations mentioned in ATMEL application note are met. You can easily get IC samples for academic and research purposes, which the manufacturers always support. TLC7226. This is a 20-pin dual-inline chip. You may refer to its datasheet from TI for more details. This IC is driven by a reference diode LM336 82


Parts List Semiconductors: IC1 - AT90USB1287 microcontroller IC2 - TLC7226 quad DAC - OPA2335 op-amp IC3, IC4 IC5 - LM336 programmable shunt regulator - 5mm LED LED1, LED2 Resistors (all 1/4-watt, ±5% carbon): R1-R8 - 47-kilo-ohm R9 - 1-kilo-ohm R10 - 1.5-kilo-ohm R11, R15 - 4.7-kilo-ohm R12 - 470-ohm R13, R14 - 220-ohm R16 - 680-ohm Capacitors: C1-C4, C6, C7 - 100nF ceramic disk - 1μF, 16V electrolytic C5 C8, C9 - 22pF ceramic disk - 0.47μF ceramic disk C10 Miscellaneous: L1 - 10μH inductor XTAL1 - 16MHz crystal oscillator S1-s3 - Tactile switch CON1, CON2 - 18-pin bergstrip male connector CON3 - USB type-B connector CON4 - 2-pin bergstrip connector CON5 - 6-pin ISP/ICSP male connector - Shorting jumper connector SJ1

to have a regulated voltage supply of 2.5V. So for an input ranging from 0 to 255 through parallel eight pins of the microcontroller, the output varies from 0 to 2.5V. As the output desired is 5V, we have used a voltage amplifier with gain set at ‘2.’ For voltage amplification we used quad op-amp OPA2335 from Texas Instruments, which has zero drift and low offset voltage of 5 μV. Power supply. The circuit is powered from the USB port, which provides a voltage output of up to 4.5V. If you need to connect the output pins to a load larger than that supported by your USB port (typically 500 mA per port), use an external power source of 5V and remove the USB power jumper (SJ1) shown in Fig. 6. Connectors. Since the system requires interfacing with an external device for input and output, we have used connectors for various purposes. One 18-pin connector (CON2) is used for analogue inputs and outputs, while another 18-pin connector (CON1) is used for digital inputs and outputs. There is also a 6-pin connector for ISP interfacing and a 2-pin shorting jumper

connector for power supply from the USB port. Specifications of the developed DAQ device are listed in Table I.

Construction Once done with the schematic of the project, you need to mount the components on the provided PCB. An actual-size, double-side, solder-side PCB track layout of USB data acquisition system is shown in Fig. 3 and component-side track layout in Fig. 4. The component layout is shown in Fig. 5. The author’s assembled board with input and output pin details is shown in Fig. 6. The original board routing and layout design was done by the author on a four-layered board with inner layers supplying the power. Having continuous copper layers in the inner layers provided better stability to ADC and DAC systems. The board was built with a mix of surface-mount device (SMD) and through-hole technology (THT) components as we could not obtain small quantities of the discrete components in SMD packages. You can choose to use only SMD components to have a compact design. You can also try assembling the circuit on a doublelayered board to cut down the development cost.

Firmware and software design The firmware was developed using open source library ‘Lightweight USB Framework for AVR,’ commonly known as LUFA. It requires free compiler WinAVR GCC 2010 to be installed in your PC. It is advised to install AVR Studio 4 before WinAVR as programming and compilation are easier in AVR Studio. Now load project file GenericHID.aps file (from www.efymag.com or EFY DVD of this month’s EFY Plus) into AVR Studio environment. Compile the code to generate the hex code. Burning the hex code. Microcontroller AT90USB1287 comes with a preloaded bootloader program that can www.efymag.com

construction be used to burn a hex file through USB using ATMEL Flip software. Press S3 (HWB) button and S2 reset button simultaneously and then first release S2 while S3 is pressed. This will put the board into an inbuilt bootloader programming mode. In programming mode, the board can be seen in device manager of the PC. You

can load the hex code into the MCU using ATMEL Flip programmer. But to make a generic code run with read and write support in flash memory, you need to erase the entire flash (default bootloader) and load a new bootloader called ‘ATMEL USB DFU Bootloader’ from ATMEL’s website. This also enables the micro-

Fig. 3: An actual-size, double-side, solder-side PCB track layout of USB data acquisition system

controller to run at its full speed of 16 MHz. You just need to make necessary changes in the fuses to make it run with external clock of 16 MHz (without CKDIV8 fuse enabled). Now burn the new bootloader using any ISP programmer by connecting the programmer to the ISP connector on the board. User-interface program. After as-

Fig. 5: Component layout

Digital

Analogue VCC

VCC

Fig. 4: Component-side track layout www.efymag.com

Fig. 6: The author’s assembled board with input and output pin details Electronics For You | October 2013

83

construction and receives eight bytes of data to and from the PC. Ports C and D of the microcontroller are connected to CON1 digital I/O pins. The first two bytes from the PC contain data for data direction registers (DDRs), namely, DDRC and DDRD. The next two consecutive bytes, i.e., the third and the fourth bytes, contain the value that is to be written to each port. Each bit in the register DDRx and PORTx values corresponds to a physical pin of the microcontroller’s ports C and D. For example, to set the fourth and sixth pins as outputs, you need to write to the DDRx register a value equivalent to the binary value ‘00101000.’ To set the fourth pin ‘high’ you need to write to the corresponding PORTx register a value of ‘00001000.’ Writing ‘1’ at any other place in the PORTx register will enable the pull-up at the corresponding physical pin. Fig. 7: GUI for DAQ device communication using C# program The pins are sembling the components on the PCB, you need to interface the board with the PC for data exchange. For that, you have software that communicates with the physical hardware through USB interface using its device driver dynamic link library (DLL). The graphical-userinterface (GUI) software was developed using Microsoft Visual C# 2010. net and NI LabView Version 8.6 (2008). The hardware developed has the firmware loaded onto the flash memory of the microcontroller on the DAQ board. To design the GUI program, first you need to know how the firmware in the board and the PC should communicate. The firmware continuously sends

Fig. 8: LabView VI for the DAQ device interface

84


input pins by default. The remaining four bytes are the values for DAC outputs. These are transferred to TLC7226’s parallel input pins via port A of the microcontroller. To write a value to the DAC output, select the DAC output by A0 (pin 17) and A1 (pin 16) of the chip TLC7226, make the selected pin active by lowering WR pin (pin 15) of the chip, write the value to data pins of TLC7226 (DB0 through DB7) and finally make WR pin high before exiting the write subroutine. The firmware sends in the first six bytes data collected from the analogue input pins of the microcontroller. The remaining two bytes sent by it contain the pin status of 8-bit wide port C and port D, respectively. If you are not using the digital input pins, the firmware can be modified to read all the available eight analogue inputs of the microcontroller. By receiving and sending ten bytes, the code can be extended to use all the analogue inputs without disturbing the digital inputs. However, this reduces the sampling speed. All the analogue inputs are sampled one by one and copied to the send buffer. It is advised to connect the unused analogue inputs to ground, to make the sampling stable. You are requested to go through the files board.c and GenericHID.c in LUFA101122\Demos\ Device\LowLevel\GenericHID folder of the project for extensive reference. The codes are well remarked for future modifications. All the relevant source codes are included in this month’s EFY DVD. As the microcontroller has its own timers, the code can be extended to have a fixed sampling speed for any real-time application. Filters can also be implemented in the firmware itself for noiseless sensing. The software implewww.efymag.com

construction ments the ATMEL application note on USB generic human interface device (HID). It uses functions findHidDevice, readData, writeData and closeDevice defined in ATUSBHID.DLL. As shown in the GUI screenshot, the software connects to the DAQ board through USB vendor ID for ATMEL (03EB in hexadecimal) and product ID for the microcontroller (204F in hexadecimal). An 8-byte send-buffer is prepared based on the settings of digital input/ output selections, their corresponding values and analogue output values. This is sent continuously through a timer event in C# routine, within an infinite loop in LabView scheme. Similarly, the incoming eight bytes are read to obtain the six 8-bit analogue input values corresponding to the voltage available at ADC pins and two 8-bit values for the input pin status. The graphical user interface (GUI) shows the various ADC inputs and DAC outputs. Fig. 7 shows the front-end GUI screenshot of C# program output. Fig. 8 shows the block diagram for LabView VI, which generates a GUI analogous to that generated by the C# program. Additionally, it explores the digital input and output capability as well. LabView being a block-diagrambased programming language, it explains the functional implementation of the software very clearly. A 30-day evaluation version of the latest LabView version can be freely downloaded from the Internet. The C# program and the LabView VI are used only to demonstrate the correct functioning of the board. On similar lines, you can develop your own code in various other programming languages. (Note that LabView was not tested at EFY Lab.)

Testing and test results Before getting started, using a multimeter you need to measure the USB voltage that your system is supplying. Save this value in the parameter V_Max_USB of the program. The developed prototype was tested with various sensors like powww.efymag.com

plots for the ADC and DAC tests, respectively. With Generic HID mode of USB communication, the device runs at 9.6 kilo-samples per second, which is good enough to handle a situation where the inputs and outputs are dynamically varying. Though the developed DAQ device is quite basic compared to the existing technology, it can be Fig. 9: Plot of ADC input voltage read by the DAQ device shown in software vs value measured using multimeter very helpful for everyday use where one needs an inexpensive device with reasonably good reliability and precision. It has the potential to replace advanced DAQ devices like NI USB 6008/6009 (which it closely resembles to) in smaller enterprises that don’t have much stringent demands and certification requirements. Troubleshooting. If the software on your PC doesn’t respond, first check the circuit for propFig. 10: Plot of DAC output voltage set in software vs value measured using multimeter er connections. You can also try closing the application and restarting it. If the problem efy Note persists, check voltages at various test The source code of this project is points as per Table II. included in this month’s EFY DVD The author has uploaded on Youand is also available for free downTube videos of this DAQ device being load on www.efymag.com website. tested using C# and LabView interface. You may watch the same for better understanding. tentiometer, LDR and analogue accelerometer. The sensed ADC output Further application shown by the software was found to be closely matching with the physical The board can be reprogrammed for measurements. different purposes with different cusSimilarly, the DAC outputs were tomised programs for the connected tested physically using a digital mulI/Os.  timeter and found to be in agreement Arun Dayal Udai is an assistant professor at BIT, with the desired voltage values set in Mesra, Ranchi, currently pursuing Ph.D from IIT the software. Maximum variation from Delhi. He has keen interest in CAD, robotics and mechatronics, and has many papers published to the actual value was found to be within his credit in national/international conferences. Sujit ±0.02V. Apart from the ADC and DAC Kumar is a BE in electronics and communications tests, the digital inputs and outputs engineering with interest in robotics and embedded were found to be responding properly systems. Currently, he is an operations officer at to the software. Figs 9 and 10 show the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Panipat, Haryana Electronics For You | October 2013

85

construction

Electronic Door Lock

Abhijeet

Rai

But, it is easy to avoid home break-ins by using a simple solution like the electronic door lock presented here. With this circuit installed, the entry door of your house can be unlocked only by entering a pre-decided password, which helps to prevent unauthorised unlocking. The circuit is very simple and can be assembled using readily available components.

Eshtaartha Basu

H


11

GND

8

Q2

R2

6

K2

10

J2

CP2 FF2

5

7

IC4 74LS73

2

Q2

9

13

Q1

R1

CP1 FF1

K1

3

J1

14

6

1

4

12

Vcc

Q1

11

GND

Q2

R2

K2

10

J2

CP2 FF2

5

2

7

IC3 74LS73

Q2

9

13

Q1

R1

CP1 FF1

K1

3

1

4

12

Vcc

Q1

J1

14

86

8

other components. The circuit requires 12V for driving motor M1 and 5V for powering rest of the circuit. The mains power supply is stepped down to 15V, 500mA by transformer X1. This stepped-down AC Test Points voltage is rectified by bridge rectifier Test point Details BR1 and filtered by capacitor C1 before TP0 0V, GND it is fed to IC1. Regulator IC1 provides Circuit and working TP1 12V regulated 12V DC supply, which is TP2 5V further fed to IC2 to get 5V supply. The Fig. 1 shows the circuit of electronic TP3 High (when S1 through S3 pressed glowing of LED1 indicates presence of door lock. The circuit is built around sequentially) power in the circuit. dual J-K flip-flop 74LS73 (IC3 and IC4), TP4 High for approx. one second (when The door opens when switches S1 regulators 7812 and 7805 (IC1 and IC2, S1 through S4 pressed sequentially) through S4 are sequentially pressed. respectively), 555 timer (IC6) and a few The password is recognised using L X1 BR1=1A three flip-flops TP1 and transistor T2. TP2 230V IC2 IC1 3 3 1 1 Flip-flop FF2 of AC BR1 7805 7812 R1 50Hz IC3 is operated in 2 680E 2 toggle mode by C1 C2 C3 LED1 470u 0.1u 0.1u making J2=K2=1 N 35V X1=230V AC PRIMARY TO (high). POWER 15V, 500mA SECONDARY GND When S1 is TRANSFORMER pressed, a ground TP3 pulse is provided by the keypad, which makes the output of flip-flop (FF2 of IC3) toggle from logic 0 to 1. This pulls up the inputs of flip-flop FF1 of IC4 to high, thus making it also R2 S1−S5= TACTILE SWITCH operate in toggle 100K 9 1 16 8 mode. VREF EN2 EN1 Vcc When switch IN1 R4 R3 13 GND 2 VR1 4 RESET DIS 7 33E 33E IN2 S2 is pressed, flipL293D 7 12 GND 100K IN3 GND IC5 flop FF1 of IC4 5 10 6 C4 8 Vcc IN4 GND IC6 TH 4 15 10u toggles from logic OUT1 OUT2 OUT4 OUT3 16V T1 T2 555 2 3 0 to 1, which, in 3 6 14 11 O/P TRI 12V M1=12V DC turn, puts FF2 T1−T2=BC547 5 1 S3 S4 S2 S1 TP4 CV GND GEARED S5 C5 of IC4 in toggle M1 MOTOR 0.1u LOCK mode. GND PASSWORD KEYS TP0 When switch S3 is pressed, flipFig. 1: Circuit of electronic door lock ome burglary incidents are on the rise. Homes without proper security measures in place are particularly more vulnerable.

www.efymag.com

construction Parts List Semiconductors: - 7812, 12V regulator IC1 IC2 - 7805, 5V regulator IC3, IC4 - 74LS73, dual J-K flip-flop IC5 - L293D H-bridge driver - 555 timer IC6 - 1A bridge rectifier module BR1 T1, T2 - BC547 npn transistor LED1 - 5mm LED Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon): - 680-ohm R1 R2 - 100-kilo-ohm R3, R4 - 33-ohm VR1 - 100-kilo-ohm preset Capacitors: C1 - 470µF, 35V electrolytic - 0.1µF ceramic C2, C3, C5 - 10µF, 16V electrolytic C4 Miscellaneous: CON1 - 6-pin connector S1-S5 - Tactile switches for 4×5 keypad M1 - 12V, 10rpm geared DC motor X1 - 230V AC primary to 15V, 500mA secondary transformer

Fig. 2: An actual-size, single-side PCB for the door lock circuit

your password. To lock the door, just press S5.



flop FF2 of IC4 toggles from logic 0 to 1. This provides a positive bias to the base of transistor T2. Now when switch S4 is pressed, the emitter of T2 is pulled to ground momentarily. At this point, transistor T2 is driven into saturation. This clears all the flip-flops and triggers 555 timer (IC6) simultaneously. Timer IC6 is configured in monostable mode. It provides an output pulse of predefined width, which simultaneously clocks flip-flop FF1 of

IC3 and enables the H-bridge. This rotates the motor for the predefined period to unlock the door. To lock the door back again, just press switch S5. This triggers IC6, which, in turn, toggles flip-flop FF1 of IC3, rotating the motor in reverse direction for the same period of time. Working of the project is simple. When the keys are pressed in the sequence S1-S2-S3-S4, the door unlocks. These keys can be connected to any numbers on the keypad, thus making

THE COMPLETE MAGAZINE ON OPEN SOURCE

An actual-size, single-side PCB for the electronic door lock circuit is shown in Fig. 2 and its component layout in Fig. 3. Assemble the circuit on the PCB to minimise assembly errors. Take any 4×5 numeric keypad and connect five of its keys to the PCB at CON1 (refer Fig. 1 for connections). Please note, pressing the right sequence of keys corresponding to S1-S2-S3-S4 is necessary for unlocking the door . To test the circuit for proper functioning, verify 12V power supply at TP1 and 5V power supply at TP2 with respect to TP0. Press S1 through S3 sequentially and check high level at TP3. Now press S4 and check the output of IC6. It should be high for a time period decided by the timing components.  The author is a third-year BE student at Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysore

Your favourite Magazine on Open Source is now on the Web, too.

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www.efymag.com


87

circuit idea

Voice Recorder and Playback System Vivek Panchabhaiya

Circuit and working

here are several types of voice recorder and playback systems available in the market but most of them are expensive and their circuits are also very complex to assemble. Here is a simple circuit for recording and playback of voice messages. You can leave a voice message for your family or friends whenever you go out, which they can hear by pressing the ‘play’ button. The circuit is built around a recording and playback chip that supports voice recording for 16 to 30 seconds and reproduces it clearly. It can be used in different types of applications such as door bells, railway announcement systems and automatic telephone answering devices.

Fig. 1 shows the circuit of voice recorder and playback system. The circuit is built around voice recording and playback IC APR9301-V2 (IC1), voltage regulator 7806 (IC2), npn transistor BC547 (T1), 8-ohm, 0.5W speaker (LS1), electret microphone (MIC1) and a few other components. IC APR9301-V2 is a high-quality voice recording and playback IC. The length of message recording depends on the value of external resistor R1 connected to its pin 7. The operation modes are described below. Recording mode. When switch S1 is pressed, LED1 glows to indicate that recording has started. Now you can speak close to microphone MIC1 in order to record your message. You may

T

TP1

LS1 = 8−OHM, 0.5W SPEAKER 1

TP0 GND

VCCD

28

NC

/LED

25

3

NC

VCCA

15

4

NC

VCCA

16

2

5 6 7

R1 52K

/CE

IC1 APR9301

AGC

19

NC

24

−V2

AnaIn

20

OscR

8

NC

MicRef

18

9

NC

MicIn

17

10 11

LS1

NC

12 13 14

/RecL

27

AnaOut

21

NC

22

SP+

/PlayE

23

SP−

VSSD

26

NC NU1 VSSA

IC2 7806

3

NC

RECORD LED1

C6 0.01u

R2 680E

C7 22u 16V

C3 0.1u

C2 0.01u VR1

R3 15K

T1 BC547

C1 100u 25V

CON1 9V

10K R4 10K

S1 REC

S2 PLAY

2

1

R6 100K C4 0.1u

C5 0.1u R5 10K

MIC1

Fig. 1: Circuit of voice recorder and playback system

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edi

s.c. dwiv

have to vary VR1 to adjust for different microphones. IC1 remains in recording mode as long as switch S1 is pressed and pin 27 of IC1 is grounded. Recording stops after 20 seconds (selected by 52-kilo-ohm resistance in this case), pin 25 of IC1 becomes ‘high’ and LED1 stops glowing. The recording time duration can be increased or decreased depending on the value of resistor R1 as follows:


Details

TP0

0V, GND

TP1 +6V LED1

Glows when S1 pressed

Parts List Semiconductors: IC1 - APR9301-V2 voice recorder and playback IC T1 - BC547 npn transistor IC2 - 7806, 6V regulator LED1 - 5mm red LED Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon): R1 - 52-kilo-ohm R2 - 680-ohm R3 - 15-kilo-ohm R4, R5 - 10-kilo-ohm R6 - 100-kilo-ohm VR1 - 10-kilo-ohm preset Capacitors: C1 C2, C6 C3-C5 C7

- 100µF, 25V electrolytic - 0.01µF ceramic disk - 0.1µF ceramic disk - 22µF, 16V electrolytic

Miscellaneous: LS1 MIC1 CON1 S1, S2

- 8-ohm, 0.5W speaker - Electret microphone - 9V DC connector - Push-to-on switch - 28-pin IC socket - 9V battery or 9V adaptor

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circuit idea

Fig. 2: An actual-size, single-side PCB for the voice recorder and playback system


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1. 38 kilo-ohms for 16 seconds 2. 52 kilo-ohms for 20 seconds 3. 67 kilo-ohms for 24 seconds 4. 75 kilo-ohms for 30 seconds Playback mode. When switch S2 is pressed momentarily, the recorded message plays from the start and can be heard from speaker LS1. Standby mode. Pin 6 of IC1 is kept ‘low’ so that it returns to standby mode after the completion of recording and playback. If pin 6 is high, it will be in power-down mode and no recording or playback is allowed and current consumption is typically less than 1 µA. Working of the circuit

is simple. You can record your message for the duration defined by resistor R1 by keeping switch S1 pressed. Once recorded, the message can be played simply by pressing switch S2 momentarily.

Construction and testing An actual-size, single-side PCB for the voice recorder and playback system is shown in Fig. 2 and its component layout in Fig. 3. Suitable connectors are provided on the PCB for connecting the microphone and speaker. Assemble the circuit on the provided PCB to minimise assembly errors. Carefully assemble the components and doublecheck for any overlooked error. The circuit is simple and doesn’t need many test points to verify. Check the correct power supply at TP1 with respect to TP0. Press switch S1. If LED1 glows, it implies IC1 is working well.  The author is a B.Tech in electronics and telecommunication from SRCEM, Gwalior


89

circuit idea and a few other components. The sound is captured by microi d phone MIC1 and amplified by firste s.c. dwiv stage high-gain transistor T1. Trimmer potentiometer VR1 is used to adjust the threshold level. the signal is amplified again with second-stage transistor hypertension, heart disease, annoyT2. This amplified signal is rectified ance, sleep disturbance and decreased by diode D1 and the charge is stored performance in schools. Sound-level in capacitor C10. Diode D1 should indicators like the one presented here preferably be a small-signal Schottky can help address this problem. This diode such as BAT81, BAT82, BAT83, sound-level indicator monitors the BAT85 or better. You can use 1N4148 sound level and indicates through an and 1N914 also but the signal from the LED when the level is above the preset input should be stronger. value. When the voltage across capacitor Circuit and working C10 is high enough, transistor T3 conducts and LED1 glows to indicate that Fig. 1 shows the circuit of noise-level the sound level is higher than the set alarm. The circuit is built around three level. LED2 indicates power supply is BC550 npn general-purpose transistors available to the circuit. (T1 through T3), electret microphone Transistors T1, T2 and T3 should (MIC1), two LEDs (LED1 and LED2) be high-gain type, such as BC550C, BC109C and BC108C. For powering the R9 R5 CON1 620E TP1 circuit, you can use 6V from C5 1.8K 1.5VX4 22u,16V four AA-size batteries or 6V BATT.1 LED1 B from a regulated wall adapR7 330K D1 tor.

Noise-Level Alarm Petre Tzv. Petrov

N

oise is a serious environmental problem that affects us in our daily life. There is scientific evidence supporting that noise exposure can cause hearing loss,


Details

TP0

0V, GND

TP1 6V LED1 Glows when sound level above threshold LED2

R1 4.7K

R13 300E

MIC1

Glows when battery connected

C2 100u, 16V R3 680K

C1 10u 16V

TP0

R2 10K A C3 10u 16V

T1 BC550

C9 1n

R12 300E

VR1 22K R4 20E

BAT83/ C6 1N4148 100p

T2 BC550 C4 10u 16V

R6 20E

C10 10u 16V

R8 47K R11 100K

T3 BC550 C7 220u 16V

GND

Fig. 1: Circuit of noise-level alarm

C8 0.33u R10 620E LED2

Construction and testing An actual-size, single-side PCB for the noise-level indicator is shown in Fig. 2 and its component layout in Fig. 3. After assembling the circuit on a PCB, enclose it in

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90


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circuit idea Parts List Semiconductors: D1 - BAT83 or 1N4148 signal diode LED1 - 5mm red LED LED2 - 5mm green LED T1-T3 - BC550 npn transistor Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon): - 4.7-kilo-ohm R1 R2 - 10-kilo-ohm - 680-kilo-ohm R3 R4, R6 - 20-ohm R5 - 1.8-kilo-ohm R7 - 330-kilo-ohm R8 - 47-kilo-ohm - 620-ohm R9, R10 R11 - 100-kilo-ohm R12, R13 - 300-ohm - 22-kilo-ohm potentiometer VR1

Fig. 2: Actual-size, single-side PCB for noise-level indicator

Capacitors: C1, C3, C4, C10 - 10µF, 16V electrolytic - 100µF, 16V electrolytic C2 C5 - 22µF, 16V electrolytic - 100pF ceramic disk C6 C7 - 220µF, 16V electrolytic C8 - 0.33µF ceramic disk C9 - 1nF ceramic disk Miscellaneous: MIC1 CON1 BATT.1

- Electret microphone - 2-pin connector - 1.5V×4 cells

a suitable case. Fix LED1, LED2 and potentiometer VR1 on the front panel.

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After connecting the 6V power supply to the circuit, set the desired

threshold of sound and adjust VR1 to the point where LED1 starts glowing. For that, switch on radio or TV set and set its volume to a level where you want the warning to start. Now adjust potentiometer VR1 to the point where LED1 starts glowing. To test the circuit for proper functioning, check correct input supply at TP1 with respect to TP0. LED2 also indicates the same. LED1 glows when the sound level is above threshold, which can be simulated with a radio or music system. 

The author was a researcher and assistant professor in Technical University of Sofia (Bulgaria), and a lecturer and expert-lecturer in Kingdom of Morocco. Now he is working in the private sector in Bulgaria


91

circuit idea Parts List

Visitors Counter

at the exit gate from the count at the entrance gate. The system should be installed on a door such that only one person can cross through at a time, interrupting the light falling on the LDR sensor.

Yugal Sethiya

P

resented here is a simple counter that counts the number of visitors entering or exiting an auditorium or any other place where you have installed this circuit at the gates. On receiving an interrupt from lightdependent resistor (LDR) sensors, the circuit increments the count and shows it on a 7-segment display. With these units installed at the entrance and exit gates, you can calculate the number of visitors present in the room by subtracting the count

Details

TP0

0V, GND 6V (when S1 pressed)

LED1

Blinks when a visitor is detected

Miscellaneous: S1 CON1

The circuit is built around popular CD4026 counter ICs (IC1 and IC2), light-dependent resistor (LDR1), transistor BC547 (T1), common-cathode seven-segment displays (DIS1 and DIS2) and a few other components. The advantage of using CD4026 counter IC is that it drives a 7-segment display without the need of a driver IC. The resistance of LDR1 decreases when the intensity of light falling on it increases and vice versa. In dark or absence of light, the LDR exhibits a resistance in the range of mega-ohms, which decreases to a few hundred

TP1 6V TP2

Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon): R1 - 1-kilo-ohm - 10-kilo-ohm R2 R3, R4 - 100-ohm R5 - 4.7-kilo-ohm - Light-dependent resistor LDR1

Circuit and working


s.c.

Semiconductors: IC1, IC2 - CD4026 counter T1 - BC547 npn transistor LED1 - 5mm red LED DIS1-DIS2 - LTS543 common-cathode 7-segment display

dwivedi

DIS1− DIS2 = LTS543 COMMON CATHODE 7−SEGMENT DISPLAY

LED1 R1 1K LDR1

1 CLK

VDD

2 INH

RST

3 EN IN

UNG C

IC2 CD4026

4 EN OUT 5 C OUT

T1 BC547

− CON1 6V

+

TP0

e

7 g

a

Vss

d

1 CLK

VDD

2 INH

RST

3 EN IN

UNG C

IC1 CD4026

4 EN OUT

c

5 C OUT

b

6 f

e

7 g

a

8

GND

b

6 f

8

R2 10K

Vss

Fig. 1: Circuit of visitor counter

92

c


d

16 15

TP2

DIS2 8

R3 100E

3

CC

CC

DIS1 8 CC

5

dp

a

7

5

dp

10

g

b

6

10

g

14 13 12 11

f 9

e 1

d 2

c 4

10 9

S1 RESET 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9

R5 4.7K

f 9

e 1

- Push-to-on switch - 2-pin connector - 6V battery/6V adaptor

ohms in presence of bright light. In this circuit, the amount of light falling on LDR1 decreases as a person crosses the entrance/exit gate and his shadow falls on LDR1. Consequently, the resistance of LDR1 increases to provide a clock pulse to pin 1 of IC1 through transistor T1. During this time, LED1 stops glowing momentarily, indicating that someone is entering or exiting the hall. ICI consists of a Johnson decade counter and an output decoder that converts the Johnson code into a 7-segment decoded output for driving one stage TP1 in a numerical display. When it receives 3 R4 CC a clock at pin 1, it 100E advances the count a 7 on display DIS1 by ‘one.’ Similarly, the b 6 count on the display d c advances by ‘one’ 2 4 with each person entering through the gate. When the count reaches ‘9,’ one cycle completes. Carry-out pin 5 of IC1 is connected to clock pin 1 of IC2 to cascade another counter. On the next clock after count ‘9,’ it goes high to provide a clock pulse to IC2, advancing its counter by one. Now IC1 starts all over again. DIS1 shows the www.efymag.com

circuit idea

Fig. 2: An actual-size, single-side PCB for the visitor counter

unit’s digit and DIS2 shows the ten’s digit of the count. After completion of each cycle, ten’s digit advances by one. You can add more CD4026 counters with 7-segment displays for further extending the display to three digits, four digits, etc. For this, you have to connect carry-out pin 5 of each CD4026 to clock pin 1 of the next CD4026 as shown in the circuit diagram. Pin 15 of both IC1 and IC2 are connected to ground through resistor R5. A reset switch (S1) is connected to 6V for

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resetting the display to ‘00.’

Construction and testing An actual-size, single-side PCB for the visitor counter is shown in Fig. 2 and its component layout in Fig. 3. After assembling the circuit on a PCB, enclose it in a suitable case. Fix LED1, DIS1 and DIS2 on the front panel. Use a two-pin connector for connecting the power supply to the PCB. This is a simple circuit and should work immediately after assembly. To

check the circuit for proper functioning, verify voltage levels on various test points as per the test point table. Proper installation is very important. Mount LDR1 on the gate such that light falling on it is interrupted when somebody passes through the gate. We have used a fixed resistor here but, if necessary, you can use a preset in place of R2 for tuning the system to your environment.  The author is a hobbyist and M.Tech from Banaras Hindu University (BHU)


93

circuit idea

Earth Fault Indicator D. Mohankumar

I

n mains-powered equipment, exposed metal parts are connected to earth wire in order to prevent users from contact with high voltages if electrical insulation fails. Connections to ground through earth connection also limit the build-up of static electricity when handling electrostatic-sensitive devices. Earth in a mains electrical wiring system is a conductor that provides a low-impedance path to the earth to prevent hazardous voltages from appearing on equipment and hence the name. Here is a simple tester to find whether the mains wiring is correct or not. This tester can be used to check sockets periodically before connecting appliances like heater and electric iron. It indicates the status of the mains wiring through two LEDs as shown in Fig. 1.

edi

s.c. dwiv

voltage as measured at the load for a single-phase circuit is a function of the load current and the impedance of the neutral wire. Various standards limit this voltage drop in a branch circuit to 3 per cent (5 per cent total for feeder and branch circuit) for a reasonable efficiency of operation. Based on this, the neutral-to-earth voltage limit for a single-phase 120V AC circuit is 3.6V AC and for a single-phase 230V AC circuit 6.6V AC. There is no additional power supply used to operate this circuit. The circuit is directly powered from the 230V AC mains supply. The combination of diode D1 and resistor R1 reduces the 230V AC mains to a low voltage for the circuit. A transistor switch is provided

Circuit and working Fig. 2 shows the circuit of earth fault indicator. The circuit is built around a BC547 transistor (T1), two LEDs (LED1 and LED2), two 1N4007 diodes (D1 and D2) and five resistors (R1 through R5). The circuit takes advantage of the voltage that appears across the earth and neutral terminals. Neutral-to-earth


Details


Fig. 1: Author’s prototype INPUT = 230V AC, 50Hz

Parts List Semiconductors: LED1 - 5mm green LED LED2 - 5mm red LED D1, D2 - 1N4007 rectifier diode T1 - BC547 npn transistor Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon, unless stated otherwise): R1 - 33-kilo-ohm, 1W R2, R3 - 470-kilo-ohm R4 - 470-ohm R5 - 1-kilo-ohm Miscellaneous: CON1 - 3-pin connector for mains

94


R1 33K,1W

D1 1N4007 TP2

TP1 INPUT

Across TP0 and TP1 Around 230V AC Across TP0 and TP2 4V AC (depends on the load current and imped ance of neutral wire)

to light up the green LED (LED1) if earth is correctly connected. The base of T1 is connected to earth pin of the mains supply through a network of resistors R2 and R3 as shown in Fig. 2. Working of the circuit is simple. The red LED (LED2) lights up if there is power in the socket and phase (L) and neutral (N) lines are connected correctly. Diode D2 protects the green LED (LED1) from damage when the polarity changes. Resistors R4 and R5 limit current through LED1 and LED2, respectively. When the mains wiring is proper, a potential difference develops between the neutral (N) and earth (E) lines and transistor T1 turns on to light up the green LED (LED1). This indicates that the earth connection is perfect. At the same time, the red LED also glows, indicating that the phase (L) and neutral (N) lines are connected properly. In brief, if the phase, neutral and earth connections are proper, both the red and green LEDs light up. When the earth connection is broken, the red LED2 glows but green LED1 does not.

CON1

L E N

R4 470E

LED1

D2 1N4007

R2 470K T1 BC547 R3 470K

R5 1K

LED2

TP0

Fig. 2: Circuit of earth fault detector

Fig. 3: An actual-size, single-side PCB for the earth fault indicator

An actual-size, single-side PCB for the earth fault indicator is shown in Fig. 3 and its component layout in Fig. 4. After assembling the circuit on a PCB, enclose it in a suitable plastic case. The circuit can be housed in an adaptor box with three pins (see Fig. 1). To test the circuit for proper functioning, check input supply at TP1 with respect to TP0. Also check the voltage difference across neutral and earth pins as per the test point table. EFY note. As the circuit is operated directly from the mains voltage, it should be assembled only by experienced persons. To avoid lethal shock, do not touch or troubleshoot the circuit when it is connected to mains power. 


The author is an associate professor at Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, and a regular contributor to EFY www.efymag.com

do-it-yourself

Control Your Raspberry Pi with Android Phone

upta

Ankit G

The article talks about Raspberry Control app using which you can not only control your Raspberry Pi with Android devices but also design a complete home automation system Pooja Juyal

R

aspberry Pi is a perfect playground for DIYers as they can solve a lot of real-world problems easily. This is evident from the visibility of Raspberry Pi on all platforms. Even Android and iOS apps are not left out. There are some wonderful apps that I have recently come across on Android, Fig. 1: Raspberry Control which can conhome screen

nect flawlessly with Raspberry Pi and do amazing things. This article talks about one such app called Raspberry Control and the procedure to get it running on your Android device and control Raspberry Pi through it.

Raspberry controller Raspberry Control is one of the most interesting Android apps for Raspberry Pi, which is very simple to use and allows you to even design a complete home automation system. This app has following functionalities: 1. SSH connection terminal 2. Control and monitoring of GPIO pins of Raspberry Pi 3. Temperature monitor using DS18B20 sensor 4. Terminal emulator for remote 5. Remote process management 6. Built-in MJPEG stream client 7. 1-wire and I2C bus management All the functions mentioned

above work with a lot of ease. The Android phone easily gets connected to Raspberry Pi with just a touch of a button and you can perform all sorts of control functions. Once connected, you can automate the whole house and control appliances using your existing Android phone. All GPIO pins can be monitored and controlled individually to switch on/off various appliances. You can login and configure your Raspberry Pi for various applications through the SSH connection terminal. Multiple sensors can be monitored and recorded for controlling functions and much more.

Connecting Android phone with Raspberry Pi Connecting an Android phone with Raspberry Pi through this app requires certain software already installed on Raspberry Pi. Follow below-mentioned steps to install these software on Raspberry Pi: 1. If you already have an old version (0.1) of Raspberry Control installed on Raspberry Pi, you first need to un-install it. If you are installing it for the first time, you can skip this step

Fig. 2: Download rpc_installer-2013-03-24.tar.gz

Fig. 3: Extracting the downloaded file www.efymag.com

Fig. 4: Installation of the downloaded software Electronics For You | October 2013

95

do-it-yourself and go to step 2. Version 0.1 did not have the uninstaller, so it needs to be un-installed manually using the commands given below: $ rm -Rf $HOME/Raspberry_Control $ sudo insserv -r rpc_shellinaboxd $ sudo rm /etc/ init.d/rpc_ shellinaboxd

Fig. 5: GPIO Control screen

Also remove ‘/home/pi/Raspberry_Control/ core/rpc_export’ line form ‘~/. bashrc’ file. 2. Download the latest version

Fig. 6: GPIO numbering

Fig. 7: Configuring GPIO availability for control

96


of Raspberry Control software from http://www.lukasz-skalski.com/ index.php/component/option,com_ phocadownload/Itemid,90/id,1/ view,category/ 3. Using ‘cd’ command navigate to the location where you have downloaded the file and extract the tar.gz archive using the following command (see Fig. 3): $ tar xvzf rpc_installer-2013-03-24. tar.gz

4. Now go to the extracted directory with ‘cd rpc_installer’ command and run the installation script (see Fig. 4):

Fig. 8: Changing labels for GPIOs

‘GPIO Control’ function on the Android device. If you select ‘no,’ it will be unavailable to control on the Android device (see Fig. 7). You may want to change the label of each GPIO corresponding to your

$ ./rpc_utils --install (without sudo!)

5. Rebooting the Raspberry Pi is highly recommended after this installation. 6. The last step is to download and install Raspberry Control (version 0.2) application on your Android device from Google Play. Once all the setup is done, you can immediately connect your phone to Raspberry Pi and start playing around with it. In the next section we describe the various features of Raspberry Control.

GPIO monitoring and control

Fig. 9: Remote session

Once logged in, press on the GPIO symbol shown in Fig. 1. GPIO Control screen will appear as shown in Fig. 5. You can use this panel to monitor and control various GPIO pins. Here BCM GPIO numbering scheme is used. You can refer to Fig. 6 for the relationship between physical pin numbers and GPIO numbering. Now you can select which GPIO should be available in GPIO Control function on the Android device. You can do it in ‘/etc/raspberry_control/rpc.conf’ file under ‘GPIO_EXPORT’ section. If you select ‘yes’ for a GPIO, it will be available in

Fig. 10: Temperature monitoring www.efymag.com

do-it-yourself setup. This can also be done in the same file under ‘GPIO NAME’ section (see Fig. 8).

Fig. 11: DS18B20 pin configurations

Fig. 12: TV control

SSH connection terminal You can start a terminal session on Raspberry Pi with your phone using SSH (see Fig. 9). For that, just press the symbol for ‘Shell’ (Fig. 1) and enter the IP of your Raspberry Pi. Also put the username and password. You will be logged in to Raspberry Pi through a remote session within seconds.

5V

Fig. 13: IR circuit for remote control

Temperature sensor monitoring

TV control You can easily control a TV with your Android phone acting as the remote (refer Fig. 12). This function can be implemented with a small circuit shown in Fig. 13. Connect this circuit to GPIO7 (BCM GPIO number) as shown in the circuit and control your TV.

Process monitoring The process monitor panel shown in Fig. 14 can help you view and control various processes running on Raspberry Pi. You can stop/run any process that you like. The panel also shows the CPU and memory usage per process for convenience.

The system can monitor and graph temperatures remotely sensed by programmable resolution 1-wire digital thermometer DS18B20. It communicates over a 1-wire bus that by definition requires only one data line Last but not the for communication with least a central microprocessor. The DS18B20 digital Fig. 14: Process monitoring panel The functionalities menthermometer provides tioned above are more 9-bit to 12-bit Celsius temperature than enough to implement a home measurements and has an alarm funcautomation system controlled by your tion with non-volatile user-programAndroid phone. To add even more to mable upper and lower trigger points. it, there are functions like live camera (Refer Fig. 11 for pin description.) feed and I2C interface also implementThe moment you connect this sened. The settings are simple and can sor to GPIO4 (BCM GPIO numbering), easily be configured.  it will reflect in the panel shown in Fig. 10 and the current temperature will be The author is working as an assistant manager at Samtel Avionics & Defence Systems indicated.

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97

do-it-yourself

Displaying Raspberry Pi’s IP Address Here is a simple project that displays on an LCD the IP address allotted to your Raspberry Pi operating headlessly. The programming language used is Python, which is the official language for Raspberry Pi and is very easy to learn Somnath Bera

F

or those who like to run their Raspberry Pi always in headless mode, it becomes really annoying to guess the IP address allotted to Raspberry Pi every time they want to connect to an unknown dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) network. This IP address is required to remotely access Raspberry Pi using secure shell (SSH). Also, for a DHCP network this address will be different every time. So either you guess the IP address or buy a small

habhaiya

vivek panc

where the IP address allotted to the Raspberry Pi and the current time are displayed on a 16×2 LCD. The programming language used is Python, which is the official language for Raspberry Pi and is very easy to learn.

LCD TV with Raspberry Pi to connect to the network, which is a huge inconvenience. To overcome this problem, presented here is a simple project

Circuit and working Fig. 2 shows the pin description of GPIO connector on Raspberry Pi. The GPIO connector has pins with different functions. The device has seven true

Fig. 2: Pin description of GPIO connector on Raspberry Pi

PIN 26 PIN 24 PIN 22 PIN 18 PIN 16 PIN 12 14

PIN 2 PIN 6

2

R1 560E

3 1

D7

13 D6

12 D5

11 D4

9 D2

8 D1

7 D0

6

5

EN R/W

VDD

4 RS A/VEE

VO K

Vss

R2 560E

Fig. 1: Author’s prototype

10 D3

15

16

LCD

Fig. 3: Wiring diagram for connecting the GPIO of Raspberry Pi to the 16x2 LCD

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do-it-yourself Software First, you have to install Python development toolkit (required for RPi.GPIO) using the following command (see Fig. 4):

Fig. 4: Installation of Python-dev

$ sudo apt-get Fig. 5: Rpi-GPIO installation

install python-dev

Fig. 6: Command for viewing source code in nano editor

Raspberry Pi Camera

Similarly, install Python libraries by writing the following command in the terminal as shown in Fig. 5:

for Raspberry Pi

New Launch

$ sudo apt-get install python-rpi. gpio

After installations, download the source code (iptalk.py) and move it to a directory of your choice. You can see the source code in nano text editor using the following command:

Fig. 7: Running the code

Fig. 8: Setting the date and time

efy Note The source code of this project is included in this month’s EFY DVD and is also available for free download on www.efymag.com website. GPIO pins, I2C interface, SPI interface, serial Tx/Rx pins and PWM pins that can be used to control the external hardware. Fig. 3 shows connection of Raspberry Pi’s GPIO to the 16x2 LCD for displaying the output. Only four data pins are used for writing on the LCD panel. Either the first four or the last four data pins are to be used. In our case, the second set of data pins (pin D4, D5, D6 and D7) are used. Working of the project is simple. When you switch on the Raspberry Pi board, it starts booting up and fires the small Python program. The program determines the IP address of Raspberry Pi and writes it down on the first line of the LCD panel. Once the IP address is known, you can easily access it using SSH. The second line of the LCD shows the current time. www.efymag.com

RS Stock No. 775-7731 Raspberry Pi Model A

Model B

$ sudo nano iptalk.py

Now you can run the code using the below-mentioned command as shown in Fig. 7:

RS Stock No. 756-8317

RS Stock No. 756-8308

$ sudo python iptalk.py

You can set the date and time by writing the following command as shown in Fig. 8:

sudo date --set “23 APR 2012 16:01”

Now the last task is to make this work on every boot. For that, open ‘etc/rc.local’ file using the below command:

$ sudo nano /etc/rc.local

Copy the following line in the beginning of this file:

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RS Components & Controls (India) Ltd.

sudo python /where–your–file-is/ iptalk.py

Save it (Cntrl+o), exit (Cntrl+x) and reboot your Raspberry Pi. Now every time you boot your Raspberry Pi, it will show the IP address of the device along with the time. 

The author is an avid user of open source software. Professionally, he is a thermal power expert and works as an additional general manager at NTPC Limited

Find out more useful resources on Raspberry Pi at,

www.designspark.com Electronics For You | October 2013

99

useful websites

Microcontroller-Based Projects Microcontrollers have always been a topic of interest for engineers. This month we have listed a few websites here that can be helpful if you are interested in microcontroller-based projects

Electronicsforu.com Electroicsforu.com serves as a storehouse of information for the electronics and technology industry. It brings you the latest news, information about new products and a Web search covering not less than 50,000 electronics websites. Not to forget the hugely popular EFY tested circuits, reproduced from Electronics For You magazine! There is also an MCU projects section.

www.electronicsforu.com/newelectronics/microcontrollers/

ElectroFriends.com This is a one-stop educational site for all electronics and computer engineering students. It has a collection of microcontroller and basic electronics projects. The site includes projects and tutorials for computer engineering students as well. You can also submit your own projects and articles related to electronics and computers. The site has a community page at facebook.com.

http://electrofriends.com/category/projects/microcontrollers/

EngineersGarage.com

Engineersgarage is a rich resource for engineering students. It has many sections covering ‘how-to’ articles, invention stories and a forum. There is also a dedicated section on microcontroller projects. This section of EG Labs brings you interesting projects based on 8051 microcontroller. These 8051 projects can serve as a good reference for final-year electronics engineering projects. www.engineersgarage.com/microcontroller/8051projects

eeweb.com Co-founders Joe Wolin and Cody Miller formed Aspen Labs, LLC in 2007 with an aim to create a business media company that will focus on the needs of engineers. In 2010, they partnered with Digi-Key Corporation and launched eeweb, a premier electrical engineering community for hardware designers. The site has many useful information along with projects related to MCU.

http://www.eeweb.com/projects/browse/microcontroller

best-microcontroller-projects.com If you are looking for microcontroller projects and resources then this is a useful site for you. Here you can find microcontroller tools projects and tutorials designed by John Main, a professional electronics design engineer based in the UK. Each project includes source code, description and schematics which you can use as a basis for starting your own projects or just use them standalone.

http://www.best-microcontroller-projects.com/microcontroller-project-ideas.html

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software section

UPC/EAN and Code 39 Barcode Generator Sridhar Bukya

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resented here is a program that generates both UPC/EAN/IAN and Code 39 barcodes using JavaScript. Barcode is an optical machinereadable representation of data relating to the object to which it is attached. Barcodes are of various types and are used in various places. Earlier, barcode was a one-dimensional (1D) code of variable sizes, used to encode information that can be directly fed to a computer terminal with the help of barcode readers, without any physical contact with the item. Now you can

Fig. 1: Typical UPC barcode

Fig. 2: Program output www.efymag.com

also find two-dimensional (2D) codes used in many places. Matrix code, also termed as 2D barcode or simply 2D code, is a twodimensional way to represent information. These codes have information encoded in both horizontal and vertical directions. Quick response (QR) code is one of the examples of 2D codes. (For more details about QR code, please refer to a software article published in EFY Sep. 2012 issue.) 2D barcode is similar to linear or 1D barcode but can represent more data per unit area.

UPC/EAN/IAN barcode Universal Product Code (UPC), European Article Number (EAN) and International Article Number (IAN) are 1D barcodes. These codes have information encoded in only one horizontal direction; there is no information in the vertical direction. UPC barcode. There are different types of UPC codes including UPC-A and UPC-E codes. Each UPC-A barcode consists of a scannable strip of black bars and white spaces, above a sequence of twelve numerical digits. A typical UPC barcode for ‘12345678999’ is shown in Fig. 1. EAN-13. EAN-13 barcode, originally European Article Number but now renamed International Article Number, is a 13-digit (12 for data and one check) barcoding standard that is a superset

o

sani the

of the original 12-digit UPC system developed in the United States. EAN13 barcode is defined by the standards organisation GS1. EAN-13 barcodes are used worldwide for marking products often sold at retail point-of-sale. The numbers encoded in EAN-13 barcodes are product identification numbers. All the numbers encoded in UPC and EAN barcodes are known as Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs), and they can be encoded in other GS1 barcodes. Structure of EAN-13. EAN-13 barcode is a numeric-only code, divided into three parts: first six digits come under one slab, next six digits come under another slab and the last digit is the parity digit. The first digit is placed before the barcode and in the last ‘>’ symbol is used to notify the scanner that it is the last digit, so that the scanner can end the scanning process and begin processing the data bars.

Code 39 barcode Code 39 is a general-purpose code widely used worldwide. It is also one of the examples of 1D barcode. Code 39 is widely used in many industries and is the standard for many government barcode specifications, including the US Department of Defense. It is defined in American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard MH10.8M-1983. Structure. Code 39 is an alphanumeric bar code that starts and ends with an asterisk (*). This barcode was used to encode data of various articles and packages till recently. More information on these barcodes can be found on http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_39 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Universal_Product_Code websites. Electronics For You | October 2013

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software section

Fig. 3: Generating EAN-13 and Code 39 barcodes

Software program The program UPCEANC39.htm is coded in JavaScript and generates barcodes for UPC, EAN and Code 39 using various JavaScript functions. This application requires JavaScript plug-in, which has to be initialised or installed. You also need Internet Explorer browser in your system. If you

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have the plugin installed but currently disabled, you will get a warning message like “Click on the light-yellow bar above, choose ‘Allow Blocked Content...’” Here you need to click ‘Yes’ option. Now you should see the application running, or else install the plug-in from the Internet or a genuine CD/DVD. Main functions used in the source code are: 1. BarCodeGenerator( ): It is used to generate the barcodes. 2. EAN13Generator.method( ): It is used to calculate the checksum of the EAN-13 barcode. 3. getCode39Value(inputchar): It is

efy Note The source code of this project is included in this month’s EFY DVD and is also available for free download on www.efymag.com website. used to get the input characters from the user. When you run the code, you will get the program output as shown in Fig. 2. Enter the code, say, ‘123456789222,’ and ‘EFY Enterprises.’ Now press ‘Display’ button to get the EAN-13 code strip of bars and digits as shown in Fig. 3, where the last digit ‘1’ on the righthand side is the checksum. To generate Code 39 barcode, enter the same digits below as shown in Fig. 3. Code 39 barcode is generated with ‘*123456789222*’digits just below the strip bars.  The author is a B.Tech in electronics and communications engineering. He likes coding and has keen interest in space technology (satellite communications) and mobile communication

www.efymag.com

software section

Finding the Day of the Week in ‘C’ for a Given Date o

sani the

Dushyant Chauhan

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enerally, a novice starts programming with ‘C’ language—the most trusted language in the embedded field. ‘C’ language is quite easy to learn, robust and faster than other higher-level languages like Java and gives immense scope and flexibility due to its very basic nature. Presented here is a utility program written in ‘C.’ This program is mainly meant for students and hobbyists who are new to ‘C’ and want to understand its basic concepts. It often happens that we need to know the day of the week for any past or future date. If you have a wall or table calendar, you can easily find that 4th March, 2012, fell on Sunday. This program exactly does the same and inform what was the day on a given date. The program is rather simple, and uses the concepts of ‘if,’ ‘for’ and ‘switch’ loops and some other simple ‘C’ functions. The compiler used is Turbo C++ V3.0, which is easily available on the website and can be used by students and professionals alike. There is a ‘time.h’ header file available

This program has been made without using the time.h header file so that the logic is exploited to the maximum. For details of the time.h header file, you can visit the links given below: http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/ctime/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_ date_and_time_functions

Fig. 1: Screenshot of the program output

Program testing

Fig. 2: Screenshot of the input date given by the user

Fig. 3: Screenshot of the final program output

efy Note The source code of this project is included in this month’s EFY DVD and is also available for free download on www.efymag.com website. on the Internet for ‘C’ programming, using which you can easily find date and other time related functionalities.

The program (calendar.c) was tested on a Windows XP machine as follows: 1. Install Turbo C++ V3.0 on your system 2. Copy the calendar.c code into your system from EFY DVD of this month’s issue 3. Click the TC.exe file in ‘bin’ folder. Compile the calendar.c code. The output will be as shown in Fig. 1. You should enter the input as per the format given on the screen (refer Fig. 2). The final output should be as shown in Fig. 3. The author is a B.Tech in electrical and electronics. Currently he is a senior software engineer (testing) at iGATE Global Solutions, Noida. His interests include embedded systems and Linux operating systems

calendar.c #include #include int correct_date_calc(int month, int year) { const int ref_year=2012; int lp_yr_flg=0;

day,

if(year<=2012) { if(((ref_year - year)%4) == 0) { lp_yr_flg=1; } } else if(year>2012) {

www.efymag.com

int

if(((year - ref_year)%4) == 0) { lp_yr_flg=1; } }

{ return 0; }

if(month>12 || month<1) { return 0; } if((lp_yr_flg==1) (day>29)) { return 0; }

&&

(month==2)

&&

else if((lp_yr_flg==0) && (month==2) && (day>28))

else if(((month == 1) || (month == 3) || (month == 5) || (month == 7) || (month == 8) || (month == 10) || (month == 12)) && (day>31 || day<1)) { return 0; } else if(((month == 4) || (month == 6) || (month == 9) || (month ==11)) && (day>30 || day<1)) { return 0; }


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software section return 1; } int leap_year_calc(int year_lp) { const int ref_year=2012; int lp_yr_flg=0; if(year_lp<=2012) { if(((ref_year - year_lp)%4) == 0) { lp_yr_flg=1; return lp_yr_flg; } } else if(year_lp>2012) { if(((year_lp - ref_year)%4) == 0) { lp_yr_flg=1; return lp_yr_flg; } } return 0; } int no_of_days(int month, int year) { int day=0; int leap_yr = 0; leap_yr = leap_year_calc(year); if((month == 1) || (month == 3) || (month == 5) || (month == 7) || (month == 8) || (month == 10) || (month == 12)) { day=31; return day; } else if((month == 4) || (month == 6) || (month == 9) || (month ==11)) { day=30; return day; } else if((month == 2) && (leap_yr == 1)) { day=29; return day; } else if((month == 2) && (leap_yr == 0)) { day=28; return day; } return 0; } /*This function caculates the day when the date given by user is before the refernce date*/ int bef_ref_date(int day_bef,int month_ bef,int year_bef) { int day_dec,year_dec,month_dec=12,day=1; for(year_dec=2012; year_dec>=year_bef; year_dec--) { for(month_dec=12; month_dec>=1; month_dec--) {

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for(day_dec=no_of_days(month_dec, year_dec); day_dec>=1; day_dec--) { if(year_dec==year_bef && month_ dec==month_bef && day_dec==day_bef) { return day; } day--;

clrscr(); if(crct_date_flg == 0) { printf(“Date Entered is an Invalid Date!!”); getch(); } clrscr();

if(day==0) { day=7; } } } } return 0; }

if(crct_date_flg==1) { if(year <= ref_year) { day_date = bef_ref_date(day, month, year);

/*This Function calculates the day when the date given by user is after the reference date*/ int aft_ref_date(int day_aft,int month_ aft,int year_aft) { int day_inc, year_inc, day=1, month_day_lim;

month, year);

month_inc=1,

for(year_inc=2012; year_inc<=year_aft; year_inc++) { for(month_inc=1; month_inc<=12; month_inc++) { month_day_lim = no_of_days(month_ inc, year_inc); for(day_inc=1; day_inc<=month_day_ lim; day_inc++) { if(year_inc==year_aft && month_ inc==month_aft && day_inc==day_aft) { return day; } day++; if(day==8) { day=1; } } } } return 0; } void main() { int day, month, year, day_date, crct_ date_flg=0; const int ref_year = 2012; printf(“\nPlease enter the input as per the format\n\n “); printf(“\nEnter the Date in DD format: “); scanf(“%d”,&day); printf(“\nEnter the Month in MM format: “); scanf(“%d”,&month); printf(“\nEnter the Year in YYYY format: “); scanf(“%d”,&year); crct_date_flg = correct_date_calc(day,

switch (day_date) { case 1: printf(“\nThe day break; case 2: printf(“\nThe day break; case 3: printf(“\nThe day break; case 4: printf(“\nThe day break; case 5: printf(“\nThe day break; case 6: printf(“\nThe day break; case 7: printf(“\nThe day break; } }

was Monday”); was Tuesday”); was Wednesday”); was Thursday”); was Friday”); was Saturday”); was Sunday”);

else if (year > ref_year) { day_date = aft_ref_date(day, month, year); switch (day_date) { case 1: printf(“\nThe day break; case 2: printf(“\nThe day break; case 3: printf(“\nThe day break; case 4: printf(“\nThe day break; case 5: printf(“\nThe day break; case 6: printf(“\nThe day break; case 7: printf(“\nThe day break; } } getch(); clrscr(); } }

is Sunday”); is Monday”); is Tuesday”); is Wednesday”); is Thursday”); is Friday”); is Saturday”);



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Career

Instrumentation Engineering: A Vast Field That’s Growing Today the environment, be it in any field, is fast-changing. Had it not been for Instrumentation engineers, we might have remained in the ‘Dark Age’ of electronics. Because without the instruments we have today to verify things, we would have been stuck with imperfect communication technology. Let us find out the scope for a career in Instrumentation in India main even further. Engineers at any level, whether it is design, validation or software development, need proper knowledge of test methods. This domain is growing in India,” she adds. Hemant Kamat, chief technology officer, Shalaka Technologies, too believes that instrumentation is a very important aspect of manufacturing industry. “Instrumentation is applied in R&D, process, manufacturing and quality departments of manufacturing organisations. It is also important in building management systems—a market that is growing significantly in India,” he shares.

Scope, roles and responsibilities (Image courtesy: www.karunya.edu)

Abhishek Mutha

T

he instruments we see today were either non-existent or worked very differently ten to fifteen years ago. It would not be wrong to say that the field of instrumentation is a superset of the fastchanging ﬁelds of electronics, information technology, measurement and electronic communication. Basically, it is a multi-disciplinary stream. Instrumentation engineering is loosely defined because the required tasks are very domain-dependent. For instance, a biomedical instrumentation expert has very different concerns www.efymag.com

from a rocket instrumentation expert, though both might have some common concerns such as selection of sensors based on various parameters. “Instrumentation has been the fundamental engine for catalysing R&D in India. Segments like communication, aerospace and defense, industrial, computers and semiconductors, education and academia, and general-purpose electronics also use instrumentation to validate their devices, designs and deployment,” informs Jyotsna Kukreti Dobriyal, HR operations, Agilent Technologies India. “New concepts of instrumentaware systems have opened this do-

Unlike services vertical, instrumentation industry is not manpower-intensive. However, it requires talented individuals that have specific skills in measurement science and engineering, believes Jyotsna. “Those who are sound in fundamentals and have specific knowledge of measurement systems will find multiple career options within this industry,” she says. With the increasing demand for electrical power and developments in audio and video communication systems and the automation industry, electrical/instrumentation engineers have become vital to the society today. “Industries such as textile, pharmaceutical, paper, metallurgy, automotive, marine, locomotive and Electronics For You | October 2013

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Career Task & responsibilities of an instrumentation engineer  Develop concept designs and feasibility studies  Design or update specifications and designs of electrical systems and equipment  Design ways to generate and manage electricity  Devise ways to control processes using automation techniques and computers  Examine safety aspects of the planned work  Plan manufacture or use of equipment and appliances  Oversee testing of new systems and correction of faults  Supervise the installation and maintenance of systems and equipment  Design new control systems, and develop, maintain and modify existing systems  Work collaboratively with design engineers, operation engineers, purchasers and other

internal staff  Contact clients, suppliers, contractors and relevant authorities  Project management within cost- and time-constrained environments  Write computer software  Develop new business proposals  Liaise with clients, suppliers, contractors and relevant authorities, e.g., the Nuclear

Decommissioning Authority  Understand and ensure compliance with health and safety regulations and quality

standards of the country in which work is undertaken aerospace also require instrumentation engineers,” says Kamat. Instrumentation engineering comprises design and development of more efficient electrical machinery, control equipment and power systems for generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy, and telecommunication. Instrumentation technicians perform operations like commissioning, installation, calibration, maintenance and repair of complex measurement and control systems used in a variety of process control operations. Those willing to make a career in this field should have a sound knowledge of measurement and control principles of pneumatic and electronic instruments theoretically as well as practically. Tasks and responsibilities of instrumentation engineers vary from company to company (please see the box).

Qualification required A BE or B.Tech degree is desirable. However, a diploma course in instrumentation engineering after passing 10th standard will be sufficient for becoming a junior engineer. Even 10+2 passouts in science stream with physics, chemistry and mathematics as main subjects are hired. If research interests you, enroll in a Ph.D pro106


gramme after completing your postgraduation. Besides basic sciences and regular engineering subjects, microwave communication, radar and television engineering, microelectronics, computers, and communication and control systems are taught at graduation level. “Instrumentation engineers can be science graduates in physics, chemistry and geology, engineering diploma holders or graduates in electronics, instrumentation and electrical engineering. Mechanical and chemical engineers with exposure to electronics can also qualify for the job,” says Kamat. Other areas where aspirants could look to develop their skills are intelligent controls, sensor network, speech processing, monitor control and digital signal processing to name a few.

Nature of the job “There are many entry-level roles in the field of instrumentation engineering. Prominent among them are sales engineer, application engineer, service engineer and marketing engineer,” informs Jyotsna. Jyotsna explains, “Sales engineers identify customer requirements and position the right product and solution from their portfolio to best align with www.efymag.com

APPOINTMENT We are looking for Marketing Professionals with a

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE in the field of Active/passive Components We are one of the most dynamic and fastest growing, multi-million dollar company engaged in supplying electronics components. We are ISO 9001 : 2008 certified with more than 20 years of experience in the market.

OUR VISION: To be a dominant and aggressive components supplier in the field of Automobiles/EMS/SMPS/ UPS/Controllers/Testing and Measuring Instruments/Telecom/Medical Instruments/LED Lighting.

For our ambitious growth plans, we are looking for Senior marketing professionals / Business partners across various segments and verticals in active and passive components. We have requirements at the following locations:

WE WANT SENIOR MARKETING HEAD : • North (to be based in Delhi) • West (to be based in either Mumbai or Pune) • South (to be based in either Bengaluru or Chennai) • East (to be based in Kolkata or around)

QUALIFICATION & EXPERIENCE: Candidates must be engineers with an experience of at least 10 years in selling active and passive components Experience in MNCs will be an advantage, the candidate can bring in his experience in sourcing as well as selling to customers.

RESPONSIBILITY: The Candidate will be responsible for ensuring the best sourcing (purchase) across the world and selling them throughout the world using his/her contacts. Additionally, the candidate will be responsible for building a team and leading from the front. The candidate must be prepared to travel across the globe for sourcing as well as selling the products.

REMUNERATION: Absolutely the best in the industry. Revenue – profit sharing arrangements can also be worked out. Interested candidates can send in their resume at

[email protected], [email protected]

Career the customer’s measurement needs. They also manage and grow customer base for the company. An application engineer has in-depth knowledge of measurement techniques and products, and is responsible for demonstrating and applying solutions, mostly on-site at the customer’s place. This enables sales and increases customers’ confidence in the company and its capabilities.” “Marketing engineers execute all marketing-related initiatives to enhance sales activities. They are responsible for introduction of new products and technology in the marketplace and constantly assessing customer needs. Service engineers provide post-sales repair and calibration support to the end-users and help maintain their product uptime and precision,” she adds. Other opportunities are in the areas of automation and control, plant maintenance, instrumentation design, sales and marketing, service engineering and R&D (DRDO, ISRO and DAE). “Instrumentation engineers may be required to travel extensively and frequently to remote areas for equipment installation or maintenance of already installed equipment,” informs Kamat. “R&D and design requires a deep insight into analogue electronics, which is a rare skill these days in fresh

Job prospects (Courtesy: http://education.sulekha.com/)  Instrumentation engineers find jobs in R&D units in both private and public sectors.  Opportunities are available in heavy industries such as steel plants, thermal power

stations, refineries, fertiliser plants and cement plants. Instrumentation engineers are also employed by defense establishments.  Career avenues are available in management, sales and technical projects.  Top employers for instrumentation engineers in India: (a) Private sector: UltraTech Cement, Alchem International, A.R. Software, HCL Infosystems, TCS, Infosys, Accenture (b) Public sector: Railway Recruitment Board, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) graduates from Indian universities,” he adds.

Skills & training “Apart from a training in electronics (digital and analogue), instrumentation engineering aspirants should undergo training in handling, calibration and field diagnostics of instruments in various domains,” informs Kamat. Generally, this training is provided by the employers to graduate trainees. “Instrumentation engineers need to be strong in analytical and logical skills apart from being competent in their core area of academic training,” Kamat says. Talking about the training provided at his company, Kamat says, “Being an embedded systems service provider, my company imparts training in fundamental concepts of embedded systems, microcontrollers and digital signal processors and design of em-

Top institutions for instrumentation engineering  Most of the IITs and NITs  Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani  Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering  Vellore Institute of Technology  PSG College of Technology  International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore  Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT)

THE COMPLETE MAGAZINE ON OPEN SOURCE

bedded systems for instrumentation. We have a comprehensive assimilation programme for experienced newly hired as well as freshers.” Talking about the training at Agilent, Jyotsna shares, “Post the initial company- and business-related orientation, the programme is customised to the new hired. Freshers go through a three to six months long programme where they get trained in measurement science principles, products, technology and processes by subject matter experts. In addition, they get an opportunity to shadow a senior at work for a set period of time so that they can get first-hand experience of the job.”

Pay package Typically, the pay package depends on various parameters such as the size and origin of the company, criticality of the job profile and location. However, a fresh graduate may expect anywhere from ` 20,000 to ` 24,000 per month, informs Kamat. “As with any other industry, pay packages are competitive, and in line with the candidate’s qualifications and previous experience,” shares Jyotsna.  The author is a tech correspondent at EFY Bengaluru

Your favourite Magazine on Open Source is now on the Web, too.

LinuxForU.com Follow us on Twitter@LinuxForYou

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industry nEWS 

corporate news  new ventures  calendar  new appointments

Government may impose duty on electronic goods A government committee is contemplating to impose basic customs duty on selected electronic hardware goods. These electronic items are not there in the obligatory zero customs duty list under World Trade Organisation’s information technology pact signed in the year 1996. The panel, which is headed by J. Satyanarayana, secretary, DeitY, is planning to modify the inverted duty structure in the electronic hardware sector. The committee members also includes Commerce Ministry officials. The government is planning to take this step with a view to promote domestic manufacturing of electronic hardware. Local manufacturing is facing problems due to the inverted duty structure.

` 300 bn investment proposals for electronic and IT sector

In the last six months, the Union government has received investment proposals to the tune of ` 300 billion for the electronics and IT industry apart from 15 proposals for establishing electronics clusters. “The government has already received 15 proposals to set up electronics clusters, out of which six have been approved and some of these have already started setting up these clusters,” Business Standard quoted Ajay Kumar, joint secretary, DeitY. “In last six months, the government has received investment proposals for around ` 30,000 crore for the industry,” he added. According to the new Electronics Policy, 2013, the government would incur 50 per cent of the cost of the project with a ceiling of ` 500 million for each 100 acres of land so that this incentive by the government will boost the establishment of electronics manufacturing clusters. www.efymag.com

In Focus Freescale appoints Satinder Sohi as India director Freescale Semiconductor Inc. has appointed Satinder Sohi as the director for its operations in India. The role of Sohi will involve leading Freescale’s R&D centres in NOIDA, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Genius appoints Gaurav Mathur as country business head Genius India announced the appointment of Gaurav Mathur as the country business head. Mathur would be responsible for driving the company’s growth, through greater market penetration and strengthening the brand equity.

Awards Vishay India declares distributor awards Recognising the contribution of its outstanding distributors, Vishay Intertechnology India declared the Distributor Awards for 2012. The winners of this year’s awards included Elektronika Sales Pvt Ltd, WPG Electronics, Arrow Electronics, Inc., and Future Electronics.

The government of India has already approved three projects to the tune of ` 2 billion under the electronic manufacturing clusters (EMC) scheme. The proposals were received from ELCINA and MPSEDC.

Two semiconductor fabs get Cabinet’s initial nod The Union Cabinet has given an initial approval to set up two semiconductor wafer fabrication (fab) manufacturing facilities in the country. However, the Cabinet would now seek proposals from more chip manufacturers before giving the final nod. The Cabinet took

the decision after reviewing proposals from two consortia and the final decision will be taken soon. According to reports, government has already received two proposals worth ` 263 billion and ` 252 billion to set up semiconductor facilities at Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Prantij in Gujarat, respectively. “The Cabinet has given in-principle approval for setting up of semiconductor wafer fabrication manufacturing facilities,” Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by PM Manmohan Singh.

World PCB market grew 1.7 per cent in 2012

Semiconductor fabrication plant

The world market for PCBs reached nearly $60 billion in 2012, with 1.7 per cent real growth over 2011, according to IPC’s World PCB Production Report. Asia is the largest producer of PCBs with 90 per cent share of world’s PCB production. China is the No. 1 producer of PCBs with 42.8 per cent share, Japan is a distant second with 16 per cent. Electronics For You | October 2013

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industry nEWS South Korea also had a great year in 2012 and it moved to the third place surpassing Taiwan. The United States held onto its fifth rank with just under 5 per cent share. Vietnam is the newest addition to the Top-10 list of PCB-producing countries, with just under 1 per cent. Among the PCB categories covered, rigid flex saw the highest growth in 2012. High growth was also seen in the market for high-density interconnect (HDI) microvia boards, and 97 per cent of its production was done in Asia and only 1.4 per cent was made in North America.

India amongst lowest e-waste generating nations India is one of the few countries generating the lowest quantity of e-waste. According to a report prepared by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) titled ‘Recycling from e-waste to resources,’ India’s annual e-waste is less than 0.15 kg for every individual. This is an encouraging statistics and only a few other countries are in the same league of e-waste from personal computers, Jayanthi Natarajan, Environment minister, revealed in Rajya Sabha recently. Jayanthi further added that the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has duly been notified when the new e-waste rules came up in May 2011. The rules had been put to effect since May 1, 2012.

FPD TV market to grow to $6.39 billion by 2015 Digitisation of broadcast, reduced replacement cycles and increased affordability is driving the growth in the Indian flat panel display (FPD) TV market. FPD TV market in India is estimated to grow to $6.39 billion by 2015 according to a report by Frost & Sullivan. Advent of Internet-ready and smart TVs has altered the characteristics and dynamics of the TV market, which is witnessing a paradigm shift from cathode ray tubes (CRT) TVs to liquid crystal diode (LCD) TVs to light emitting diode (LED) TVs to smart/ high definition (HD) TVs. The FPD TV market comprises LCD, LED, Plasma, 3D and smart TVs. 110


Calendar of Forthcoming Electronics Fairs/Exhibitions/Seminars/Events Name, Date and Venue

Topics to be covered

Contact address for details

Electri Expo October 3-5, 2013 HITEX Exhibition Centre, Hyderabad

Usage of energy-efficient products

John Sudheer, Hyderabad International Trade Expositions Limited, Izzat Nagar, Hyderabad Fax: (040) 23112124, Phone: (040) 23112121

Electronics Rocks 2013 NIMHANS Convention Center October 5-6, 2013 Bengaluru

A platform for India’s electronics design engineering community

Arun Singh, Electronics For You D-87/1, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi Fax: (011) 26817563; Phone: 26810601/2/3 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.efyawards.com

TAITRONICS 2013 October 8-11, 2013 TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall Taipei, Taiwan

Cloud and IoT industry

Cindy Wu Taiwan External Trade Development Council, Exhibition Department Phone: 886-2-27255200 Ext.: 2867 Web: www.TAITRONICS.org, http://www.cloudtaiwan.com.tw

Electronic Asia 2013 October 13-16, 2013 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong

Sourcing for components, assemblies, electronics production, display technologies and solar photovoltaic technologies

Hong Kong Trade Development Council Harbour Road, Hong Kong, Fax: (+852) 28240249 Phone: (+852) 1830668, E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.hktdc.com

SmartCards Expo October 16-18, 2013 New Delhi

The modern tools and trends Amit Raushan, Electronics Today, Andheri West, Mumbai associated with smart cards Fax: (022) 26730547, Phone: (022) 26730869

OSI Days Asia’s mega Atul Goel Open Source For You November 11-13, 2013 open source convention NIMHANS Convention Center D-87/1, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1 Bengaluru New Delhi; Fax: (011) 26817563 Phone: 26810601/2/3 E-mail: [email protected] IPC Conference on Solder and Reliability November 13-14, 2013 Costa Mesa, California, USA

IPC conference on solder and reliability will include presentations addressing strategic considerations related to solder alloys, defects, risk mitigation processes and data analysis

EFY Expo - Western India Edition November 21-23, 2013, Mumbai Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre, Mumbai

Complete electronics Arun Singh ecosystem, including innovation, Phone: +91-8800094213 manufacturing, product design E-mail: [email protected] and product sales

INTEROP November 27-29, 2013 Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre, Mumbai

Conference and exhibition designed to empower information technology professionals

IFSEC India 5-7 December, 2013 India Expo Centre, Greater Noida

South Asia’s largest security Pankaj Jain, project director exhibition Phone: 011-23233975/76/78 E-mail: [email protected]

Source India 2013 December 10, 2013 Chennai Trade Centre Nandambakkam, Chennai

Conference, mini exhibition and buyer-seller meet for electronics industry

Anna Garrido IPC Director of Marketing and Communications Phone: +1 847-597-2804 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.ipc.org/solder-reliability-conference

Salil Warior, group project firector Phone: 022-6172 7413; Mobile: 099875 80188 E-mail: [email protected]

ELCINA Electronic Industries Association of India, New Delhi Phone: +91-9911445890, +91-9911445896 E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Web: www.sourceindia-electronics.com

China Sourcing Fair: A platform for Chinese Electronics & Components suppliers to showcase their December 12-14, 2013, New Delhi electronics products

Global Sources E-mail: [email protected]

LED Expo December 19-21, 2013 Pragati Maidan New Delhi

Dedicated to science, technology and application of LEDs and solid-state lighting

Mex Exhibitions Pvt Ltd 9, LGF, Sant Nagar, East of Kailash, New Delhi Fax: (011) 41071644 Phone: 011-46464848 E-mail: [email protected]

2014 International CES January 7-10, 2014 Las Vegas, USA

Connects the industry and enables CE innovations to grow and thrive

Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) 1919 South Eads Street, Arlington, VA 22202 USA Fax: (703) 907-7601, Phone: 866-233-7968 (U.S.) +1 301-631-3983 (outside U.S.) E-mail: [email protected]

ELECRAMA-2014 January 8-12, 2014 Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), Bengaluru

The world’s largest power transmission and distribution biennial confluence

204, Swiss Complex, 33, Race Course Road, Bengaluru Fax: (080) 2220 1317, Phone: 080-2220 1316/1318 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.elecrama.com

Electronics For You Expo 2014 February 2014 Pragati Maidan New Delhi

An expo covering the complete electronics ecosystem, including innovation, manufacturing, product design and product sales

Arun Singh, Electronics For You D-87/1, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi 110020, Fax: (011) 26817563 Phone: 26810601/2/3, E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.efyexpo.com

www.efymag.com

industry nEWS Calendar of Forthcoming Electronics Fairs/Exhibitions/Seminars/Events Name, Date and Venue

Topics to be covered

Contact address for details

Japan IT Week A business point for both Electronics and Computer Software Export May 14-16, 2014 IT solution providers and Promotion Council, New Delhi IT system managers Phone: + 91-11-47480000 Tokyo Big Sight, Japan E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Web: www.escindia.in Look up under ‘Events’ section in www.electronicsforu.com for a comprehensive list

Since this information is subject to change, all those interested are advised to ascertain the details from the organisers before making any commitment.

Snippets NIELIT centres in north-east The government of India is making efforts to fast track the process of establishing centres of National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) in north-east India. According to DeitY, about 15 centres have already been established in the north-east region to improve ICT training and education.

Emerging ICT centres The Department of Information Technology seems to be highly ambitious regarding its plans meant for Tier II cities. ICT group seems keen on developing Mangalore and other six cities as upcoming ICT centres in Karnataka.

Delhi-NCR to produce 50,000 metric tonnes e-waste According to ASSOCHAM’s recent study on ‘E-waste in India by 2015,’ India’s capital city and the NCR region will possibly generate e-waste of about 50,000 metric tonnes annually by the year 2015, which will be much higher than the existing level of 30,000 metric tonnes annually.

IIT Kanpur gets centre of excellence IIT Kanpur will now have the National Centre of Excellence on large-area flexible electronics. The setting up of this centre is a part of the National Policy on Electronics. The centre is aimed at bridging the gap between Indian and global electronics industry.

Agilent Digital & Wireless Test Symposium 2013 Agilent Technologies’ Digital & Wireless Test Symposium 2013 (ADWTS’13), which was held on September 3 and 5 at Bengaluru and Hyderabad, respectively, had provided a great opportunity to witness first-hand latest revolutionary technologies, view real world product demonstrations and presentations, and communicate with applications experts and industry experts.

Biometrics market to generate $2 bn by 2018

As per India Biometrics Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2018, the biometrics market in India is supposed to generate revenues to the tune of $2 billion by the year 2018. Demand for biometric systems in India is higher compared to most of the developed nations in the world. The initiative taken by the government of India with respect to identity of citizens such as e-passports, national

ID projects, UIDAI projects, employee benefit schemes are the major contributors to this rise in demand of biometric systems in India.

Tablet shipments to outdo PC in fourth quarter of 2013 Research conducted by market research firm IDC says that tablet shipments will outnumber the total number of PC shipments in the next (fourth) quarter of 2013. The firm also said that the tablet shipments will go above annual

PC shipments in 2013. Data suggests that the number of tablets shipped in the fourth quarter of 2013 will be somewhere around 84.1 million units. PC, on the other hand, will remain at 83.1 million units. The IDC also reported that the shipping of smartphones is going to pass 1.4 billion in 2013. Further, the data showed that on an yearly basis, a total of 227.3 million units of tablets are expected to be shipped in the country. The report has also mentioned that the overall market for the smart connected devices is expected to grow by 27.8 per cent yearon-year in 2013.

Taiwanese company set to invest ` 500 million in India With the current happenings in the Indian electronics industry and a boost from the government side, international electronics manufacturers are showing interest in investing in the country. Taiwan-based power backup provider, CyberPower Systems Inc. has revealed its plans to invest ` 500 million in the country. The company aims to sell its products including high-end UPS, USB car chargers and solar chargers. Accordind to an IANS report, Michael Ho, president, CyberPower, said, “We plan to invest ` 500 million over time to strengthen and expand our presence in the Indian market.”

India, Japan to set up JWG to boost IT, electronics India and Japan have already been brainstorming together on ways to work mutually to benefit the IT and electronics industries. Taking a step ahead, the two nations have now planned to set up a joint working group (JWG), which will work to facilitate investments and improve cooperation in information technology and electronics sector. Commenting on the move, the trade and industry ministers of the two countries said in a joint statement, “Steps have been taken to form a joint working group for greater cooperation in the IT and electronics sector.”

Check efytimes.com for more news, daily www.efymag.com


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EFY report

The Battery Market in India The government has started encouraging green environment policies as it is now the need of the country. If these policies get implemented, people will need to switch from sealed lead-acid batteries to Li-ion batteries; currently sealed lead-acid batteries account for 90 per cent of the market that use small VRLA batteries like 6V, 4.5Ah and 12V, 7Ah. Indian manufacturers are addressing these markets adequately,” says Biju Bruno, managing director, Greenvision Technologies. “Indian manufacturers are getting ready for upcoming high demand for batteries. The demand would increase at a very fast pace as China is now not very competitive in battery pricing. Strengthening of dollar has made things worse for Indian battery importers,” informs Bhatnagar.

SMF VRLA ruling the market

Uma Gupta

T

he overall battery market in India is worth more than ` 250 billion. It has been growing by at least 20 per cent yearon-year for the last few years. But the overall organised battery market is estimated at approximately ` 120 billion only. Here we review the Indian battery market by dividing it into two broad categories applicationwise: batteries for industrial applications and dry-cell batteries.

Batteries for industrial applications Batteries find multiple usage in different industrial segments. Sunil Bhatnagar, director-marketing, Artheon Electronics, shares, “Application-wise, the demand is mainly coming from electric vehicle, telecom and solar 112


segments. The demand from solar segment is getting stronger as very high targets are set in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. The growing demand for solar lanterns (CFL and LED based) is driving the demand of batteries in this segment. Telecom segment has come out of a period of lull after two-three years and is forecast to see a good demand this year.” According to Bhatnagar, in electric vehicle segment, the battery demand is growing for four-wheelers but the two-wheeler segment has slowed down due to withdrawal of incentives by the government, though the battery replacement requirement for old electric vehicles is still good. “UPS segment is addressed by valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) and tubular batteries. Solar segment largely uses tubular batteries, except for solarbased LED and CFL lighting systems

In year 2012, the Indian market for SLA batteries was worth around ` 220 billion. Of this market, automotive segment accounted for 60 per cent (` 132 billion), UPS and inverters 20 per cent (` 44 billion), telecom 15 per cent (` 33 billion) and other segments including solar power, e-bikes, bio-gas and wind power 5 per cent (` 11 billion). Exide, Amara Raja, Rocket, HBL, C&D, Panasonic and Leoch accounted for a major chunk of the market. “Sealed maintenance-free (SMF) VRLA batteries are ideal if one is looking for ‘fit and forget’ type of batteries. These batteries are extremely good for solar lanterns, telecom, IT and ITES, security and automation applications. The technology is proven and best suited for a host of applications. New technologies like fuel cells and ultracapacitors are also emerging but these have their own limitations and are yet to prove themselves,” says Bhatnagar. Hiren Pravin Shah, general manager, Panasonic India, Industrial Device Division, informs, “Currently, SMF VRLA batteries are being used in all major storage and backup applications like automotive, UPS and inverters. That’s because www.efymag.com

EFY report it’s a proven technology in terms of field performance, quality, reliability and costto-performance ratio (best output power or capacity vis-a-vis the cost paid). The total cost-of-ownership (TCO) of VRLA batteries makes these the most preferred solution over DG sets and other options as return-to-investment recovery is fastest for VRLA batteries. The only limitation is that abusive conditions of use in India reduce the life of these batteries.” “Within VRLA, there are several technologies, and performance of the battery depends on many factors like design and construction of the battery, materials used for the positive and negative plates, grid and mesh, process and manufacturing technology, and valves,” he adds. “SMF VRLA batteries are convenient to use and transport compared to conventional flooded batteries. For UPS applications, it is the dominant battery type. In small solar LED lighting systems, lithium-ion batteries are replacing SMF VRLA, but their numbers at the moment are not large due to their high cost. We will see variants of VRLA battery like tubular gel and flat-plate gel batteries,” informs Bruno. Manufacturing in India. There are only a few big manufacturers of SMF VRLA batteries in India. At the same time, the domestic battery demand is expected to rise further. Apart from that, a lot of exports would take place due to environmental concerns in other countries. India is now exporting to many countries including the UK and the USA apart from the African continent. Talking about manufacturing ecosystem, Bhatnagar shares, “India is very conducive to battery manufacture as the country has environmental systems and procedures in place and the manufacturers are putting a lot of thrust on ETP equipment.” Shah says, “We have seen the emergence of many VRLA battery manufacturers in the last five years. Even the existing manufacturers are further expanding their capacities. India has the best manufacturing environment due to the huge local demand. SMF www.efymag.com

Major contributors to this report

Biju Bruno, managing director, Greenvision Technologies

Hiren Pravin Shah, general manager, Panasonic India

VRLA batteries need to be charged and stored under recommended conditions, and it’s a challenge to geographically transport the batteries across India. So it makes sense to not only produce these batteries but also have multiple warehousing/charging stations.” “The demand potential for SMF VRLA batteries is very large in India. Infrastructure growth rate makes the demand-supply gap even wider. The demand for electricity is increasing but the supply is limited. The most costeffective solution is VRLA battery. That creates a huge market for VRLA. So even though there are several local makers, companies like Panasonic (which doesn’t manufacture in India) will continue to do good business,” he adds. “There is a good scope for India to emerge as a VRLA battery manufacturing destination as manufacturing in China is becoming expensive due to currency appreciation and increased labour costs. Most of the raw materials are available indigenously and hence the dollar appreciation would be beneficial to manufacturers looking to export,” adds Bruno. Technology trends. Technology is improving with time. Batteries pass through many rough conditions like poor power quality while charging, deep discharge in some applications and use under ‘partial state of charge’ condition. Manufacturers are accordingly changing the recipe of the plates to match the new expectation or usage pattern. “With regards to lead-acid batteries, manufacturers are working on variants using gel that will operate better in solar and UPS applications where high temperatures and deep

Sunil Bhatnagar, director-marketing, Artheon Electronics

S.S. Kandhari, managing director, Kandhari Photo Electronics

cycling are involved. We ourselves are working on flat-plate gel batteries that will be ready for the market by February next year,” shares Bruno. “Panasonic is focusing on longer-life batteries (especially for Indian conditions), special designs for batteries to be used for solar/windmills applications, and electric vehicle batteries for specific customers. We are looking at extending the average life of batteries from 3-3.5 years to five years or more,” shares Shah. Roadblocks. In India the main issue is availability of pure lead as there is only one producer of lead and most of the pure lead is imported. Another major component of SMF VRLA batteries is AGM separator. Unfortunately, there is not even a single AGM separator manufacturer in India, so it also is fully imported. Bruno feels that the only roadblock for the battery industry is the overall economy. “I hope that the government does something fast to improve sentiments. As such, the industry is well positioned since demand is consistent and growing. However, for this demand to continue, it is important that the economy doesn’t tank and consumer sentiments remain positive,” he says. “For Panasonic, the biggest challenge today is the service, logistics and charging infrastructure, especially because our strategic partners are located all over India. We are progressing and setting up the right system to clear all the bottlenecks. Also, in the near future we will set up testing, analysis, and pre- and post-installation support sites. Plus, we will have regular health check and monitoring systems for all our Electronics For You | October 2013

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EFY report Dry cell types 1. Carbon-zinc. These are primary (non-rechargeable type) dry cells. 2. Alkaline. These dry cell batteries use the zinc-manganese dioxide chemistry. Most alkaline batteries are non-rechargeable type, although some are designed to be recharged. Compared to zinc-carbon batteries, alkaline batteries have a higher energy density and longer shelf-life, with the same voltage. These use an alkaline electrolyte of potassium hydroxide, instead of the acidic ammonium chloride or zinc chloride electrolyte of zinc-carbon batteries. Alkaline batteries are used in many household items such as MP3 players, CD players, digital cameras, pagers, toys, lights and radios, to name a few. 3. Portable rechargeable. These include several sealed ‘dry cell’ types, which are useful in applications such as mobile phones and laptop computers. Cells of this type (in the order of increasing power density and cost) include nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells. — Based on a post on Wikipedia key customers. In the mid term we are also considering serious investments in India, to become a leading player in energy solutions by 2016,” shares Shah.

Dry cell batteries Dry cell batteries are consumed predominantly by economically weaker sections of rural India as an alternate and portable source of energy for lighting, entertainment, safety and security. In fact, the price-sensitive rural market accounts for as much as 65-70 per cent of the demand. Size of the dry cell batteries market in India is estimated at 2.5 billion pieces by volume and ` 12.5 billion by value. Within the industry, carbon-zinc batteries (which are non-rechargeable) account for 97 per cent of the market, while alkaline and other varieties of batteries account for the rest, according to Subramania Kumaraswami, secretary, Association of Indian Dry Cell Manufacturers. There are only three manufacturers in the organised sector, producing carbon-zinc dry cell batteries. The demand for alkaline, rechargeable and other varieties is met through imports. Industry status. The battery market went through some significant volatility over the last five years. The industry experienced adverse impact of the unprecedented rise in input material costs. These adverse impacts had to be passed on to the consumer. The pricesensitive consumers reacted adversely to these price increases and resorted to reducing or deferring consumption. This resulted in a market de-growth of 114


D-size batteries (the more expensive among various sizes of batteries), which had to bear the highest impact of the cost push, Kumaraswami says. Torches now use LED bulbs, which consume only one-third of the power consumed by conventional torches using incandescent bulbs. This change in technology is also resulting in lower offtake of D-size batteries. There is, however, an increase in demand for AA-/AAA-size batteries due to miniaturisation of transistors, increased use of consumer electronic products such as cameras, electronic toys, remotes and quartz clocks, and more importantly growth of newer devices like new-generation LED flashlights. Technology. In India, carbon-zinc batteries have maintained leading share in the primary (non-rechargeable) battery market for decades due to their lower production costs. The demand for alkaline batteries is forecast to grow in the global market on account of their better performance and a closing price gap with carbon-zinc batteries, particularly in AA and AAA varieties. However, the Indian market will continue to be driven by lower-priced carbon-zinc batteries. Opportunities. Consumption of batteries is driven by growth in the offtake of end-use appliances. A growing need for portable power and the advent of a number of battery-operated gadgets catalyse consumption. Since these address everyday use, batteries have enjoyed non-cyclical demand. India has a low per capita consumption across a number of product

groups, batteries included, indicating an inherent potential for growth. Since dry cell batteries are the cheapest source of power, consumption is expected to increase over time. Besides, growing income levels, changing lifestyles and increased need for convenience have resulted in proliferation of batterypowered gadgets such as remote controls, torches, toys, clocks, cameras, FM radio sets and portable music systems, Kumaraswami informs. Risks. Carbon-zinc batteries do not face any serious threat from alkaline and rechargeable batteries because these are items of recurring use, providing portable energy at an affordable cost. Organised players are adequately protected against competition from imports due to their brand equity, quality and extensive distribution setup. In any case, all the three organised players have presence in alkaline and rechargeable segments and may be able to participate if the market provides indication of an opportunity. A tangible threat to battery consumption lies in making the product unaffordable to poorer segment of the economy as seen in the recent past. Weakening of the rupee continues to put pressure on raw material prices. Also, some of the raw material prices are showing signs of hardening. Apart from that, the overall inflationary trends have also been putting pressures on operating costs. These are areas of concern. Fortunately, the market is used to an inflationary environment, where all producers have to pass on adverse impacts faced by them.

Li-ion batteries ‘Dry cell’ portable rechargeable batteries (in the order of increasing power density and cost) include nickel–cadmium (NiCd), nickel–zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium-ion (Liion) cells. Li-ion accounts for the largest share of the dry cell rechargeable market. NiMH has replaced NiCd in most applications due to its higher capacity, but NiCd continues to be used in power tools, two-way radios and medical equipment. NiZn is a new entrant on the block. Mobile gadgets like cellphones and www.efymag.com

EFY report laptops need a portable power source to work unplugged. Packing more power in a small area is a key requirement in every consumer product today. As laptops, tablets and cellphones shrink in size and weight, without compromising on the quality of audio, graphics, etc, these need batteries which are thinner and lighter with higher power densities. Li-ion battery packs are much lighter and smaller than other battery chemistries, making them highly suitable for such applications. Indian scenario. Despite being the second largest user of mobile phones in the world (which makes India a big consumer of Li-ion batteries too), India meets all of its Li-ion battery requirement through imports. “There is no manufacturing facility in India till date to serve Li-ion cell in the commercial market. There are a few assemblers of Li-ion battery packs who import basic Li-ion cells from China, Korea and Japan. Li-ion battery pack assembly is done in India for the following products: mobile phones and tablets; handheld terminals like ticketing machines with printers, punching machines, credit card swipe machines, energy meter reading instruments and point-of-sale (POS) terminals; solar lanterns and other solar lighting applications; and vehicle tracking systems and weighing machines,” informs S.S. Kandhari, managing director, Kandhari Photo Electronics. Li-ion battery production is a very difficult and complex process, which needs a very clean environment as any kind of contamination may affect the battery’s performance. Low-quality or duplicate Li-ion batteries being imported greatly harm the electronics. So there is need to promote use of standard and original batteries. Kandhari informs, “Basically, there are two segments in assembly of Li-ion battery packs and two different categories of manufacturers. In consumer section, there are a large number of mobile phone and tablet battery assemblers but only a few of them are doing quality business, i.e., using quality/branded cells and quality protection circuits for Li-ion battery pack assembly. Others www.efymag.com

are doing cheap business Li-ion cells and protection and compromising on the PCBs they totally depend quality of batteries by uson imports. Also, small asing B-grade unbranded semblers who don’t have cells and circuits. any battery knowledge “In industrial section, and testing facility to check there are very few asthe battery are ruining the semblers who have deep 3.7V, 850mAh Li-ion battery market by duplication and knowledge about the batcreating cheap competition tery and its controlling PCB nature, in the market,” adds Kandhari. and better assembly and testing equipFuture outlook. Kandhari says, ment. Li-ion battery being dangerous “The government has started encourin nature, it is necessary to use cells of aging green environment policies as a reputed brand and proper protection it is now the need of the country. If circuits.” these policies get implemented, peoHome-grown mobile phone manu- ple will need to switch from sealed facturer Maxx Mobile is one company lead-acid batteries to Li-ion batteries; which is going to produce its own currently sealed lead-acid batteries batteries. The company had invested account for 90 per cent of the market. around ` 4 billion in setting up two “Being light-weight, small-size and units at Haridwar to produce mobile high-capacity, Li-poly battery is widely phone batteries and feature phones. used in electronic gadgets like iPods, But operations were stopped approxi- tablets and mobile phones. In fact, in the mately two years ago, when a handset future, we can expect Li-poly batteries import duty of 1.34 per cent made do- to grow faster than Li-ion batteries. mestic manufacturing unviable. How“The scope of a new battery techever, now that the scene has changed, nology called LiFePO4 (lithium-iron with the government’s decision to phoshate ) is also very big because of levy seven per cent customs duty on its following features: handsets priced above ` 2000, Maxx is 1. Longer life of up to 2000 cycles (as returning to produce its own products. against sealed lead-acid batteries’ only 300 Opportunities and threats. Big cycles and Ni-MH batteries’ 500 cycles) opportunities exist as customers need 2. Higher capacity and voltage (one to change over from sealed lead-acid can install many single cells in series and batteries to Li-ion batteries due to en- in parallel, and the battery can fully disvironment issues. charge) “As green energy is now preferred, 3. More powerful (high discharge there will be no alternative for sealed current, 2C continuous, 5C pulse for lead-acid battery users but to shift to normal cells and 25C for special design) Li-ion in small (like torches and solar 4. Safer (the battery never explodes lanterns) as well as large applications. and is stable in high temperatures, so Also, nowadays all high-standard and no temperature controller is needed) basic consumer gadgets like tablets, 5. Lighter and smaller smartphones and laptops run on Li6. Most environment-friendly ion or Li-poly batteries due to their among lithium batteries (no lead or light weight and compact size,” shares cadmium used) Kandhari. 7. Rechargeable by solar power also” However, to capitalise on this opHowever, Li-ion and Li-poly batportunity, it is important to remove some tery manufacturing can be started in roadblocks. “Currently, government India only if the government provides policies, taxes and duty structure do not support for basic raw material and favour manufacturing in India. Policies subsidies required for manufacturing are only in books and there is no imple- of Li-ion and Li-poly batteries.  mentation. Surge in dollar price is a major cause of concern to assemblers, as for The author is a freelance editor Electronics For You | October 2013

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new products Recently introduced in India, From near and far

Components 16-bit microcontrollers

Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, has launched the new RL78/F13 and RL78/F14 16-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) that contribute to enhanced development

efficiency, reduced system costs, lower system power consumption and improved functional safety features for automotive control systems. The new MCU series consists of a total of 91 products, including 60 products in the RL78/F13 group and 31 products in the FL78/F14 group. The RL78/F13 MCUs are designed for use in an extensive range of automotive applications; from body control systems, such as power window and side mirror control to automotive motor control systems, such as electric water pumps and cooling fans. The RL78/F14 MCUs support the body control system applications, such as BCM (body control module) and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) control that require especially large memory capacities. Renesas Electronics India Office, Bengaluru Fax: (080) 67208777 Ph: 67208700 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://sg.renesas.com/india/office/

4G LTE module series

Swiss company U-Blox, a leading provider of wireless and positioning integrated circuits and modules, has 116

oCTOBER 2013 | Electronics For You

introduced the TOBY-L1 4G LTE module series, a new line of ultra-compact LTE modules. TOBY-L100 and TOBYL110 are ideally suited for tablets, mobile routers and set-top boxes as well as high-speed M2M applications. TOBY-L1 LGA modules measure only 24.8×35.6×2.6 mm, allowing for easy mounting on any application board. The module supports USB 2.0 as well as firmware update over the air (FOTA). TOBY-L1 series delivers ultra-fast data rates. Its key features include LTE Cat 3, 100MBps download speed, 50MBps upload speed, easy migration from the U-Blox UMTS, CDMA and GSM modules, a nested design concept, and an extended temperature range of -40 to +85°C. The series is optimally suited for industrial (M2M) applications, such as remote access to video cameras, digital signage, tele-health functions, vehicle infotainment systems, and security and surveillance systems. U-Blox, India, Bengaluru Ph: (080) 40509200 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.u-blox.com

Bay Trail tablet processors

The company also said that new hybrids and tablets based on the Android operating system would be available later this year. Manufacturers like Acer, ASUS, Lenovo and Toshiba will be unveiling these devices in the fourth quarter of 2013. The cost of tablets being run on the Bay Trail processors is going to be low. They will start from around $199. “What we have delivered with our Bay Trail platform is an incredibly powerful SoC that delivers outstanding performance, long battery life, and a great experience for the way people use these devices today. It is an incredible leap forward,” Gizbot quoted Hermann Eul, corporate vice president and general manager of Intel’s mobile and communications group, as saying. Both quad-core and dual-core processors will be available in the Bay Trail series. In addition, the Intel HD graphics will still be in use along with support from Direct X 11, OpenGL ES 3.0, HDMI 1.4, DP 1.2, eDP 1.3. Intel Technology India Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru Fax: (080) 5202460 Ph: 5075000 Web: www.intel.com

Zero-drift operational amplifier

Linear Technology has introduced LTC2057, a high-voltage, low-noise, zero-drift operational amplifier that offers precision DC performance over a wide supply range of 4.75V to 36V or 4.75V to 60V for the LTC2057HV. Offset voltage and 1/f noise are sup-

Intel has launched the Intel Atom Z3000 processor (Bay Trail) for tablet devices. The new processors reportedly bring 2x boost to the CPU performance and a 3x boost to the GPU performance over the earlier Clover Trail processors. They are based on the next-generation 22nm Silvermont architecture. www.efymag.com

new products pressed, allowing this amplifier to achieve a maximum offset voltage of 4μV and a DC to 10Hz input noise voltage of 200nVP-P (typ). The LTC2057’s self-calibrating circuitry results in low offset voltage drift with temperature, 0.015μV/°C (max), and zero drift over time. The amplifier also features an excellent power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) of 160dB and a common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of 150dB (typ). The LTC2057 provides rail-to-rail output swing and an input common mode range that includes the V– rail. In addition to low offset and noise, this amplifier features a 1.5MHz (typ) gain-bandwidth product and a 0.45V/ μs (typ) slew rate. Wide supply range, combined with low-noise, low-offset, and excellent PSRR and CMRR make the LTC2057 and LTC2057HV well suited for high dynamic-range test, measurement and instrumentation systems. Linear Technology India, Bengaluru Ph: (080) 40124610 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.linear.com

USB port power controllers

Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analogue and Flash-IP solutions, has expanded its programmable USB port power controller portfolio with the three-member UCS100X family. These new power controllers offer advanced USB-based charging capabilities for designing host devices, such as laptops, tablets, monitors, docking stations and printers as well as dedicated AC-DC power-supply and charging products, such as wall adaptors. The new USB port power controllers—the UCS1001-3, UCS1001-4 and UCS1002-2—offer high current and priority charging for smartphones and tablets. The UCS100X have also added support for active cables, such as the Apple Lightning connector, along with 12W charging. The UCS1002-2 features a built-in current sensor that can report on the amount of charging current. This allows a system to optimise its www.efymag.com

supply, body electronics, and braking systems; industrial electronics, such as energy management, measurement control, steering technology, sensors, scales, and bridged and precision amplifiers; and telecommunication base stations.

charging current and appropriately allocate power. Additionally, the UCS100X can support future USB product designs via a flexible method for detecting and creating charging emulation profiles. This allows designers to update their systems as new products are introduced to the market, while providing compatibility with a wider range of existing products. Microchip Technology Inc., New Delhi Fax: (011) 51608632 Ph: 41608631 E-mail: www.microchipdirect.com

Vishay Components India Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru Fax: (080) 25584291 Ph: 25586277 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.vishay.com

Tools & Equipment All-in-one rework station

Den-on Instruments Co. Ltd, Japan, has launched an all-in-one rework system model, RD500V series. RD500V series is suitable for stable, safe rework of large or small boards and large or small sensitive components.

Thin-film chip resistor arrays

Vishay Intertechnology Inc. has launched Beyschlag ACAS 0612 precision resistor array, which is ideally suited for precision analogue circuit, voltage divider, feedback circuit and signal conditioning applications that require extraordinarily stable fixed resistance ratios.

With Beyschlag ACAS 0612, Vishay enhanced its ACAS 0612 precision thinfilm chip resistor arrays with tighter absolute TCR down to ± 10 ppm/K relative TCR down to ± 5 ppm/K, and relative tolerance down to ± 0.05 per cent for automotive, industrial and telecommunications applications. The device delivers stable performance for automotive electronics, including engine control units; gear box controls; information, safety, power

It is a semi-automated single motorised Z-axis placement and reflow station for all types of components rework. The machine uses a high 3-point heating system with an advanced computer control technology designed for safe lead-free and eutectic rework application. Its three-stage heating system provides 5.6kW overall thermal output for sufficient thermal capacity and control to execute precise profile on small to medium sized boards up to 500×700 mm. Each system comes complete with a trouble-free controller, Internal flash memory hard drive, and no hard drive or separate computer is necessary. RD-500V’s full vision optics with a 2MP high-definition video camera and five separate thermocouple inputs make it the ultimate solution for safe, repeatable removal, alignment, placement and soldering of BGAs, CSPs, ultra-fine-pitch QFPs, QFN, 01005 Electronics For You | oCTOBER 2013

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new products and other delicate components, heatsensitive and expensive SMDs. Qmax Test Technologies Pvt Ltd, Chennai Fax: (044) 24509632 Ph: 24509627 E-mail: [email protected] Web : www.qmaxtest.com

Automatic application program generator

GOEPEL Electronic has introduced an automatic application program generator based on the ChipVORX technology for design validation and test of FPGA integrated high-speed I/O for FPGA embedded instruments.

Along with higher Flash capacity, V1.0C also offers IEEE 1588 precision time protocol (PTP) supporting real-time Ethernet. The IEEE 1588 PTP allows synchronisation of devices connected to an Ethernet network with a high level of accuracy. Apalis T30 1GB V1.0A comes with a smaller memory footprint offering 1GB of DDR3L RAM and 4GB of eMMC Flash. Toradex System (India) Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru Ph: (080) 41119096 Web: www.toradex.com

Test & Measurement Compact broadband amplifier

Users can now evaluate transmission channel quality by utilising bit error rate tests (BERT). This provides a graphical evaluation per dynamic eye diagram to support design validation. The new generator is another option in the integrated JTAG/boundary scan software platform System Cascon, enabling automatic generation of complete application scripts for FPGA embedded HSIO test instruments. GOEPEL Electronic India Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru Ph: (080) 65695605 Mobile: +91-9980881166 E-mail: s.cherukupalli(at)goepel.com Web: www.goepel.com

Computer modules

Toradex has launched Apalis T30 2GB V1.0C and Apalis T30 1GB V1.0A, which are an extension of Apalis computer module product family. Apalis T30 2GB V1.0C features 2GB of DDR3L RAM and increased 8GB of eMMC Flash, which is four times the Flash capacity of its predecessor Apalis T30 2GB V1.0B, making it more ideal for a wide variety of applications. 118

oCTOBER 2013 | Electronics For You

Rohde & Schwarz has launched the R&S BBA150 broadband amplifier with two frequency ranges from 0.8 GHz to 3.0GHz and 2.5GHz to 6.0 GHz. The amplifiers, which have been optimised for high frequencies, deliver high output power, and are still compact and light-weight.

The modularity of the amplifiers makes it possible to configure complete systems flexibly to meet user requirements. The amplifier design yields from 15W to 200W of output power. The broadband amplifiers feature outstanding mismatch tolerance and can handle both short-circuit at the RF end and an open RF output. This reduces both downtime and costs. Rohde & Schwarz India Pvt Ltd, New Delhi Ph: (011) 42535400 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.rohde-schwarz.com

Vector network analysers

Anritsu has expanded its VectorStar family of vector network analysers (VNAs) with the introduction of the MS4640B series. These Network analysers feature a number of new cutting-

edge measurement capabilities, including PulseView, which provides pulse profile, point-in-pulse and pulse-topulse measurements of S-parameters, and DifferentialView for true mode stimulus S-parameter measurements. The MS4640B series helps engineers address the challenges associated with testing and characterising components and sub-systems designed for radar and today’s high-speed serial applications. VectorStar VNAs are available in frequency ranges from 70kHz to 20, 40, 50 and 70GHz and as broadband systems from 70kHz to 125GHz. Anritsu India Private Limited, Bengaluru Fax: (080) 40581301 Ph: 40581300 Web: www.anritsu.com

SECURITY SOLUTIONS IP-based surveillance solution

Matrix Comsec, a leading manufacturer of enterprise security solutions, has introduced an IP-based surveillance solution, SATATYA NVR400, strengthening its portfolio of video surveillance products. This technicallyadvanced SATATYA NVR400 allows scalability from 4 to 16 video channels and recording flexibility from full HD to D1 for crystal-clear images.

It allows sequencing of cameras in different layout formats and facilitates simultaneous live view and playback on a single window to simplify monitoring needs. This NVR, along with recording and monitoring, identifies irregularities and sends prompt notifications with event details in the form of SMS and e-mail to prevent any major losses. To safeguard the data, it allows performing scheduled or manual backup on a network as well as on USB. The search is made efficient by date, time, recording type, event and alarmbased, leading to hassle-free playback. MATRIX COMSEC, Vadodara Ph: +91 2668 263172/73 Web: www.MatrixComSec.com www.efymag.com

interview

Challenge of getting everything to go faster hasn’t eased up a bit Teledyne LeCroy provides oscilloscopes, protocol analysers and related test and measurement solutions that enable companies across a wide range of industries to design and test electronic devices of all types. Headquartered in New York, it has sales, service and development subsidiaries in the US and throughout Europe and Asia. Conrad J. Fernandes, vice president, Asia-Pacific, Teledyne LeCroy, recently spoke to Ashwin Gopinath of EFY about the challenges facing T&M players today, especially when dealing with faster devices. Conrad J. Fernandes

vice president, Asia-Pacific, Teledyne LeCroy

Q

What are the major challenges facing T&M players today? How are you trying to overcome them? One would be the traditional challenge, where we need everything to go faster. That challenge hasn’t eased up a bit. The growth in cloud computing and the need for data rates to go from gigabits to hundreds of gigabits and beyond have only served to create similar challenges all throughout. Different manufacturers have taken different approaches to tackle this problem and make devices faster. For instance, there is a technology called digital bandwidth interleave. This technology allows any silicon implementation of an amplifier to go twice as fast, by interleaving them. Digital bandwidth interleave involves additional hardware, calibration and digital signal processing at the back end to recover the signal input by the oscilloscope user.

Q

What is the biggest challenge to packing faster signals into smaller time periods? The world used to be full of square waves. Digital signals were all square waves. These days, nothing is really square. The top section isn’t flat, the bottom isn’t a zero and the edges aren’t perfectly straight. In fact, not only do they have timing issues but they also move around in time. This jitter becomes very important as you try and pack faster and faster signals into a smaller period of time. Any timing uncertainty, i.e., jitter, creates significant challenges. Hence not only do we need to measure but also characterise jitters and determine where these are coming from. This means that instruments with very, very high timing resolution can help with the above issues.

Q

How is test instruments’ accuracy improving at higher speeds? We are seeing a couple of interesting things going on. Speed is increasing all the time. Timing resolution has also www.efymag.com

gone upwards for a steady while now. Another thing that is becoming more possible is vertical resolution. Our mainstream oscilloscopes are moving up in vertical resolution and what comes with that is increasing vertical accuracy and lower vertical noise. All these features allow you to get much better representations of signals. They are enabling the emergence of a whole new realm of analysis—stuff that wasn’t previously feasible. For example, oscilloscopes have been able to do fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) for a long time. They’ve been kind of a poor man’s approach to spectral analysis; the spectrum analyser has much greater spectral resolution and accuracy, but as you increase the resolution of the analogue-to-digital converter in a test instrument it becomes much more able to perform some of that analysis. I don’t think that the day is getting closer when a spectrum analyser will be replaced with an oscilloscope. But I do think that we can give the designers much better tools than what we’ve been able to, as this is the age of increased vertical resolution and reduced noise in the circuit.

Q

How critical is maintaining signal integrity when signals are getting really fast? As high-speed signals need to be routed into more and more compact and sometimes less friendly environments, signal integrity measurements and techniques become even more important. So we’ve seen things like network analysers being used to ensure the integrity of PCBs. Our signal integrity network analyser has found some really interesting applications there. As the aforementioned high-speed signals move through the boards, you need to manage the impedance of the boards very carefully. SPARQ, which stands for s-parameters Quick, provides s-parameters for printed circuit boards much faster than what is possible with the use of network analysers. Electronics For You | October 2013

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interview

Q

What is the biggest challenge to characterising PCBs for high speeds? Traditionally, it’s been done with a number of tools including network analysers and then time-domain reflectometry systems based on oscilloscopes. These are very powerful tools because you can measure impedances on controlled buses, but they are extremely fiddly to use and, not to mention, get accurate measurements out of. Our team took the basic capabilities of our very highspeed sampling scopes and pulse generators and integrated all of them into an automated system. With the enhanced speed of getting the required parameters, we took a lot of the burden off the designers and allowed them to get the information they want much faster.

Q

Now that we have Internet-enabled oscilloscopes, what are the security issues in test and measurement? Well, these days, most of the oscilloscopes can be hooked up to the Internet. While that creates a lot of opportunities to be more creative, it also poses new challenges. I would say, network security for those instruments is really no different from the network security for a PC connected to the Internet. A related challenge is to protect these instruments from viruses or infections.

Q

What kind of change do you see with the adoption of new 802.11ac wireless standard? The 802.11ac will double both data rates and RF bandwidths for designers in this market. As a result, we expect to see increased demand for high-speed serial data test solutions, and oscilloscopes with bandwidths in the 10+ GHz range. We also believe that the modulation schemes used will make jitter measurements increasingly critical.

Q

EDA on cloud has suddenly found a lot of interest in the electronics industry as EDA vendors try to move analyses to the cloud. Are T&M players looking forward to something similar? We are very interested in the ability to compare simulation results and real-world measurement results. With the explosion of data, we see it becoming more challenging, but at the same time, more valuable. If you can navigate the challenges there, you can really shorten the design cycle, which is what a lot of T&M is all about.

Q

How is the T&M world evolving in terms of ease of use? I think there’s always something interesting coming out in the T&M world. Test equipment are not only becoming faster and more powerful but also more intuitive. So designers are more likely to pick up a new instrument and understand it quickly. I also think that they are gaining more insight into the workings of the circuit because of the kinds of tools and intelligence that are built into the instrument.  (The complete interview can be read at electronicsforu.com)

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interview

Bluetooth low energy is easy to design with... Cypress Semiconductor designs and manufactures mixed-signal, programmable solutions, USB controllers as well as SRAM memories. Its USB controllers product portfolio includes the high-performance West Bridge solution that enhances connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets, PCs and tablets. The company serves numerous markets including consumer, mobile handsets, computing, data communications, automotive, industrial and military. Badrinarayanan Kothandaraman, executive vice president, DCD administration, Cypress Semiconductor, spoke to Dilin Anand and Abhishek Mutha of EFY about challenges in designing wireless products, ways to overcome Badrinarayanan Kothandaraman executive vice president, DCD Administration, them, and working with wireless USB Bluetooth Cypress Semiconductor 4.0 and other exciting developments

Q

When devices are wireless, design and testing present an array of new and varied challenges to the test engineers. How do you manage these challenges? First of all, there is a lot of design for testability that we need to build into the chip. We need to have built-in selftest, where the chip is capable of testing itself. Testing RF is always tricky. We also do what is called system validation testing, which is done completely prior to silicon (presilicon) validation. System validation has a lot of corner cases like ‘how this chip would interface to the external world?,’ and we do it with all kinds of interference, which is called interoperability testing. Only when testing with all interference, tweaking of firmware, algorithm tuning with respect to frequency hopping and so forth are done, we are in a position to deal with it. We will not even make the chip or see silicon on the chip until we do pre-silicon validation. But no matter what we do, the problems cited by all customers are different because it is proprietary, and there is no standardised way of designing the antenna, for example. Considering the Bluetooth low energy, it is easy to design with since it is combined in the chipset itself. But the dongle design is always tricky since everyone wants the smallest dongle. So we haven’t found many issues in routine testing on automatic test equipment but more importantly the issue is always on interoperability, which is interference and validation. www.efymag.com

Q

How difficult is it to integrate low power, reliability and interference immunity into wireless products? What are the design challenges faced? Integrating analogue and digital into the same chip is always a design challenge. Substrate noise is also a very big challenge. On the other hand, with the latest and greatest in technology, CMOS low-power RF is a possibility right now. Consider the WirelessUSB NL chip, which consumes only about 15 milliamperes in both TX and RX communication. Power is not that much of a concern. However, interference is an important factor to be considered as there is a lot of it. To deal with it, there is a technique called ‘frequency hopping’ to move from one frequency to another. Then there is another technique called ‘direct sequence spread spectrum,’ where the transmitted signal will have a higher bandwidth in order to be more robust.

Q

Could you elaborate on wireless USB and its applications? Is there any alternative to it? Wireless USB is primarily in the proprietary 2.4GHz space, which can be thought of as something similar to a wireless mouse with a dongle. We are into devices such as mice, keyboards, remote controls and even toys. These are all proprietary protocols that are not yet standardised. However, we are migrating towards what is called Bluetooth low energy (BLE). BLE is fortunately a standard space technology, which Electronics For You | October 2013

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interview means that the dongle would no longer be required. So what happens is that the BLE mice would directly communicate to the combo radio chip sets inside laptops (for example), thus eliminating the requirement for USB.

Q

How can design engineers incorporate wireless USB solutions into their designs? How will it help them? If a design engineer wants to connect something to a PC wirelessly, all he needs to do is incorporate a couple of chips at each end. Let us consider he is transferring data through UART and wants to get work out of wireless UART. He could use an MCU to convert UART into a serial peripheral interface (SPI) and then the radio chip will take that SPI data and transmit it to a dongle at the other end, for example, that has an MCU incorporated into it. This MCU will convert the RF into USB, which can be plugged into the PC and straightaway the data will be accessible on the PC. It is very easy to add wireless connectivity to any peripheral because it’s not a standard. But note that transfer at high data rates is not feasible. That’s the limitation of this technology.

Q

You mentioned that Bluetooth 4.0 would not require a dongle. Why is this not possible in previous versions? It is possible in previous versions too but Bluetooth 3.0 is much more power-hungry. The throughput of Bluetooth 4.0 is 0.3 Mbps, so it is not designed for data-intensive applications but only for transfer of control signals and low power. The connection efficiency is maximised in 4.0 version. Even in sleep mode, it operates 99 per cent of the time.

Q

What is the most exciting development in USB controllers space that would interest system designers? The important thing today is USB 3.0, where the speed of data transfer is about 5 Gbps. But we need to apply this to the peripheral device segment in the USB. What I mean by peripheral devices is that if you consider any device like a camera, we can add USB 3.0 connectivity to it. A chip like FX3, which is a very flexible USB 3.0 peripheral controller, will be embedded in the camera (machine-vision camera, for example), which will enable the ‘fat’ data pipe to be directly connected to the PC transferring large amounts of video data. For example, on one side we can connect this peripheral controller (FX3) to the PC and on the other side we can connect it to generic programmable interface (GPIS). GPIS can be a parallel interface capable of hooking up to any kind of image sensor. At the end of the day, the data transfer has to come from an image sensor if it is video data. The image sensor has basically a parallel stream of data. With a few firmware programmable modifications, we can make the FX3 chip connect immediately to the sensor and have data flow from the image sensor to the PC in a matter of minutes, enabling video streaming on the PC seamlessly.  (The complete interview can be read at electronicsforu.com)

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Letters Getting EFY in Singapore My sincere thanks to EFY team for testing and evaluating my project successfully and publishing it in September issue. At present, I am in Singapore, so can you please tell me where I can get EFY copy in Singapore? M. Kathiresan The author EFY: Currently, we do not have any outlets in Singapore. You can visit www.efymagonline.com to buy an online copy of the magazine.

Downloading Source Codes of Projects I purchase EFY from a book store. How can I download from your website source codes of projects published in EFY? Ramesh K. Pandey Through e-mail EFY: You can download the source codes from www.efymag.com website free of cost. You need to click ‘Previous Issues’ button and then provide month and year of the particular EFY issue featuring the project of your interest (see screenshot below). Clicking ‘Search’ button will open the next page, where you can browse and select the ‘Download Source Code’ link given under the title of

‘Spot An Error’ Award Winners In circuit idea ‘Solar Charged Emergency Light and Fan’ published in September issue, the value of resistors R10 and R13 in the parts list should be 22 kilo-ohms instead of 10 kilo-ohms. Siddharth Kaul  In article ‘Which Wireless Technology Should You Use’ published in September issue, on page 46, HSDPA is wrongly defined as ‘high-speed download packet access’ instead of ‘high-speed downlink packet access.’ Madhuram Mishra  In circuit idea ‘Moisture Monitor for Plants’ published in August issue, S1 should be an on/off switch instead of push-to-on switch. Tuhin Mal  In construction project ‘Variable Bench Power Supply with LCD and Monitor Display’ published in August issue, please note the following corrections: (i) In Fig. 4, 4700µF electrolytic capacitor (C5) should be replaced with larger capacitance value. Also, a 0.1µF ceramic capacitor should be included at the output of ICs LM7805 (IC3) and 7812 (IC4). The present PCB may have limitations to use a high-valued capacitor, in which case you may want to put a higher voltage transformer. However, using a higher voltage transformer will increase the input voltage to the regulator, resulting to dissipate more power and therefore needs larger heatsink! (ii) In Fig. 5, pins 2 and 3 of DB9 connector should be connected to pins 14 and 13 of IC7, respectively. On the TTL side, pins 11 and 12 should be connected to pins 3 and 2 of IC1, respectively. Dr Ramkumar Ramaswamy the particular project.

VLSI Design Course I am pursuing B.Tech in electronics & telecommunications and like EFY very much. I want to know whether EFY conducts online short-term courses on VLSI design. Mukul Kumar Patna EFY: Thanks for the feedback and your interest in EFY courses. Presently, we don’t have online course on VLSI design.

From electronicsforu.com: Circuits Wi-Fi Embedded Webcam published in September issue is a nice article. Can you please let me know which tools are used to design both schematic and PCB layout? Ravikiran D. Borse EFY: Thanks for the feedback! Both schematic and PCB layout are designed using gEDA software, an open source EDA tool.  I could not find detail on MRF24WBOMA Wi-Fi module used in Wi-Fi Embedded Webcam construction project. Please give a link. Zahi EFY: Microchip provides only data sheet for MRF24WBOMA which can be downloaded from www.microchip.com website or Google search. Mirochip provides TCP-IP stack but lacks detail supporting document on Wi-Fi module. However, there are some similar macros and routines available on their website for reference.

www.efymag.com

EFY DVD I could not install and run the Altium Designer software given in the EFY DVD, August issue. Do I need Internet connection for installation, and what will be the user ID and password for running the software ? Joydep Poddar Through e-mail EFY: We have checked the mentioned software in the DVD but found no problem. You do not need Internet connection for its installation. Also, you do not need user ID and password for running the software.

Renewable Energy Projects I have been reading EFY since last two years. Would you please suggest me any projects based on renewable energy. Balajidevendran Tamil Nadu EFY: We have published many solarbased projects in earlier issues. The recent projects published in 2013 are: 1. Hybrid Solar Charger, September 2. Solar Charged-Emergency Light and Fan, September 3. Smart Solar Charger, January Electronics For You | October 2013

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Qs&As help me find a good Q1.Please electronics circuit simulator

freely available on the Internet. Prashant Through e-mail Hundreds of good-quality circuit simulators are freely available on the Internet. If you are new to circuit simulation, choose one that is simple and easy to learn. Otherwise, your interest will die by the time you learn all the complex features and become ready for your first circuit simulation. Simulation modeling allows designers and engineers to avoid repeated building of multiple physical prototypes to analyse designs for new or existing parts. Before creating the physical prototype, users can virtually investigate many digital prototypes. Electronic circuit simulation uses mathematical models to replicate the behaviour of an actual electronic device or circuit. Simulation software allows modeling of circuit operation and is an invaluable analysis tool. While there are mostly analogue electronics circuit simulators, popular simulators often include both analogue and digital simulation capabilities. This means that any simulation may contain components that are analogue, digital or a combination of both. An entire mixedsignal analysis can be driven from one integrated schematic. So it is best to select a mixed-signal simulation tool. At EFY Lab, we use gEDA project. Within the gEDA Project tool chain there are two analogue circuit simulators: ngspice and gnucap. ngspice is a clean-up of classical SPICE 3f5 for the Linux platform. It is fully functional, and includes XSpice extensions and CIDER framework. gnucap is a new circuit simulator written from the ground up. It offers the ability to perform event-driven as well as continuous-time simulations. But if you are new to circuit simulation, I would recommend Qucs. Qucs is an integrated circuit simulator, which means you are able to set up a circuit with a graphical user interface (GUI) and simulate the large-signal, small-signal and noise behaviour of the

A1.

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Qucs circuit simulator

circuit. After simulation has finished, you can view simulation results on a presentation page or window. Qucs is easy to learn and very user-friendly compared to other tools. are lots of antistatic bags Q2.There available in the market. How

do they differ from one another? Yashoda Through e-mail The capabilities of different kinds of bags are explained below: Pink poly bags (dissipative poly bags).These bags dissipate a static charge to ground that keeps charge from building up on the package. The material is also antistatic, suggesting that it will not charge up by tribocharge. The material’s resistivity is in dissipative range and is usually about 109 to 1011. Unfortunately, these bags have no shielding ability. A static field or discharge occurring outside the bag will easily penetrate the bag and damage the electronics inside. Black conductive poly bags. Black poly bags are highly conductive with surface resistivity of about 103 to 104. These dissipate the charge very quickly but, unfortunately, this fast dissipation also creates the possibility of spark on their surface. As the material is conductive, it does provide some

A2.

small measure of shielding. However, there is no plastic layer (dielectric) to isolate the device inside the bag. The charge may be transferred through the volume of the material to the device instead of around the material to ground. Shielding bags. Shield bags have both the dissipative and antistatic attributes of black poly bags but add a metal shield and polyester dielectric to stop static from entering the bag. Shield bags generally stop 97 per cent of a 1000V static pulse, applied to the outside of the bag, from reaching the inside. Pink poly bags stop only about 10 per cent and black poly bags about 30 per cent. Moisture barrier bags. Moisture barrier bags have dissipation, antistatic and static shielding properties together with moisture vapour barrier. The moisture barrier protects moisturesensitive items and improves longterm storage. Then there are other products like pink bubble bags, antistatic foam and antistatic boxes, which are generally used in packaging for improving the reliability of the equipment in the field. Answer compiled by EFY technical editor, Ankit Gupta. Letters and questions for publication may be addressed to Editor, Electronics For You, D-87/1, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi 110020 (E-mail: [email protected]) and should include name and address of the sender www.efymag.com

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information technology

Broadband over Power Lines Broadband over power lines (BPL) technology is a union of two applications in a single system. It uses the existing power grid hierarchy comprising a network of different transmission lines to carry high-speed digital data over a broad range of frequencies without causing any unreasonable significant interference. Thus, BPL holds great promise as a ubiquitous broadband solution that would offer a viable alternative to existing broadband technologies Dr Rajiv Kumar Singh

BPL building blocks BPL is a power-line communication technology that allows high-speed 142


POWER PLANT

TRANSMISSION LINES

SUBSTATION

REPEATER

COUPLER

EXTRACTOR

OPERATION SUPPORT SYSTEM

AUTHENTICATION OPERATION & CENTRE MAINTENANCE CENTRE BILLING CENTRE

INTERNET BACKBONE, PSTN 2G, 3G, 4G

INJECTOR

D

espite the proliferation of broadband Internet technology in the last few years, many regions of the world, particularly rural and low-income areas, still do not have access to broadband services. Huge costs involved are the main obstacle to creating new infrastructure in such areas for existing broadband wired or wireless technologies like digital subscriber line (DSL), cable and satellite. But if broadband could be served through electric power lines, there would be no need to build a new infrastructure for last-mile access. So wherever electricity is available, there could be broadband. In this perspective, broadband over power lines (BPL) technology seems to emerge as a new business prospective for established telecom operators, utility companies and system manufacturers to provide high-speed broadband services that can cover each and every home or office due to almost omnipresence of power lines. With no need for new wiring or major infrastructure deployment, BPL creates an alternative broadband solution that could lead to lower prices for broadband consumers. Thus it is hoped that BPL has the potential to become an effective means for last-mile delivery of broadband services and may offer a competitive alternative to other high-speed Internet access technologies.

WI-FI ACCESS POINT

TRANSFORMER BYPASS BOX ACCESS BPL

HIGH VOLTAGE TRANSMISSION

WI-FI ANTENNA

MEDIUM VOLTAGE

IN-HOME BPL LOW VOLTAGE

Fig. 1: BPL building blocks

digital data transmission over utility power lines. By utilising the combination of technological principles of radio, power engineering, electromagnetic compatibility, networking and modem technology, it offers instantaneous access to high-speed Internet from in-house electrical outlet. In order to access broadband services, subscribers need to install a modem that plugs into an ordinary wall outlet. BPL systems use the existing electrical power lines as a transmission medium to provide high-speed telecommunications capabilities by coupling radio frequency (RF) energy onto the power line. In order to carry high-speed data, BPL uses radio spectrum ranging from high-frequency (3-30 MHz) to lower portion of very high-frequency (30-300 MHz) allocated to other over-the-air communication services. Because the electric current

(50 Hz) and RF (typically 2-80 MHz for BPL) have different frequencies, the two don't interfere with each other. There are two predominant types of BPL communication configurations: Access BPL systems that couple RF energy onto medium-voltage (MV) and low-voltage (LV) power lines; and in-home BPL networks, which use existing electrical outlets available within a home or office for the provision of a local-area network (LAN). A typical BPL network set-up is shown in Fig. 1. The existing three-tiered power grid hierarchy, which comprises HV, MV and LV transmission lines, is exploited to carry the high-speed digital data over a broad range of frequencies without causing any significant interference to the rightful incumbent users of those frequency bands. The electricity is generated from power plants (thermal, hydro, nuclear, wind turbines or solar), www.efymag.com

information technology which is synchronised three-phase, offset by 120-degree, AC power of the order of thousand volts at the line rate of 50 cycles per second. Three phases are chosen to get nearly peak value at any given instant, which results in a good compromise between cost and performance. More phases could be used but this implies more cost with only a slight improvement in performance. The AC power generated is now ready for its journey to the customers. As mentioned earlier, a three-tiered hierarchy is used to transmit this AC power to distant end-users. Power transferred over lines is given by the product of voltage and carrying current. For a given line resistance, which depends on the line material and line length, the power loss is given by the product of line resistance and square of the carrying current. So in order to reduce power loss in the lines and transfer maximum generated power to long-distant end-users, current must be made as small as possible and voltage as large as possible. That’s why transmission substations located next to power plants use large transformers to step up generator output voltage, thus allowing megawatts of power transmission over distances of 400 km or more. At power substations, voltages are stepped down and lines branched out to cover larger areas. This is performed successively, transforming and branching out from extremely high voltage (typically 345 to 785 kV) to HV (typically 115 to 230 kV), and then from HV to MV (typically 2.4 to 69 kV), and finally from MV to LV (typically 120V to 600V) for delivery to homes or offices. HV lines transmit power over distances that are tens of kilometres, but are very noisy and not used to carry broadband signals. Such a high voltage contains infinite number of harmonic components, and if it spikes at the frequency of the RF used to transmit data, it will cancel out that signal and the data transmission will be dropped or damaged en-route. MV lines are capable of transmitting power over a few kilometres, while LV lines cover only a few hunwww.efymag.com

dred metres. MV and LV lines are preferred for use in BPL data transmission because of their low noise level. In order to use MV/LV lines for broadband services, BPL systems are designed to operate in the frequency spectrum range of 2 to 80 MHz. BPL signal may be injected onto power lines between two phase conductors, between a phase conductor and the neutral conductor, or on a single phase or neutral conductor. The BPL signals are injected into and extracted from MV/LV lines through inductive or capacitive couplers. Injector is a device that aggregates user data onto the power lines and provides an interface between power line and BPL operation support system that is connected to the Internet backbone. Concentrator provides an interface between power lines carrying the BPL signal and the households. In inductive coupling, BPL signal couples onto the line by wrapping inductors around the line. On the other hand, capacitive coupling uses a capacitor for coupling and the signal is modulated onto the line voltage. Inductive couplers are known to be rather lossy, but since they require no physical connection to the network, they are safer to install on energised lines than capacitive couplers. Since HF signals have the rare ability to support long-distance point-topoint communications due to line noise, signal attenuation and limitations on the amount of signal power that can be injected onto power lines without causing unreasonable interference for other spectrum users, repeaters are required in between the transmission and reception ends. This can be done by using MV couplers to couple the broadband signal off the MV line so that it can be regenerated, if necessary, and amplified before being fed back onto the MV line through another coupler. The distribution transformers that change voltage levels between MV and LV lines are particularly harsh on the weak broadband signal. These transformers, due to their high inductance, act as low-pass filters and appear as open circuits for the passage of highfrequency BPL signals. This implies

BPL can be deployed either as end-to-end BPL or as hybrid BPL. The endto-end BPL system uses both the access BPL and the in-house BPL while in hybrid BPL, the bypass box does not couple the broadband signal to/from the LV line but converts it to/from a wireless format and delivers it to the wireless access point that BPL signals going between MV and LV lines need to bypass the transformers. Typically, a bypass box can be used, which may consist of coupler and built-in repeating functionality. Connectivity to the backhaul network (Internet, PSTN, UMTS, 2G, 3G, 4G, CDMA, WiMAX, etc) is provided through the operation support system (OSS) coupled to an MV distribution line. The OSS converts data formats, aggregates and concentrates uplink data streams, provides routing functionality, helps allocate bandwidth and resources, generates billing and charging data, and provides various backhaul Ethernet interfaces to fibre-optic or wireless connections. It consists of various servers like authentication and authorisation server, dynamic host control protocol server, domain name system server and billing server to perform the required back-end tasks. BPL can be deployed either as endto-end BPL or as hybrid BPL. The endto-end BPL system uses both the access BPL and the in-house BPL, i.e., power lines are used all the way from the power substation to the end user. In this case, BPL signal can either bypass the MV/LV transformer or go through the transformer (Fig. 1). In hybrid BPL, the bypass box does not couple the broadband signal to/ from the LV line but converts it to/ from a wireless format and delivers Electronics For You | October 2013

143

information technology RADIATED WAVE SOURCE

COUPLER

LV WIRE

MV WIRE GUIDED WAVE

COUPLER FIELD

GROUND PLANE Fig. 2: BPL electromagnetic model

it to the wireless access point (AP) located on the pole (Fig. 1). For end-to-end BPL, bypass boxes and LV couplers must be installed on all LV lines, and in-house BPL modems are required. For hybrid BPL, bypass boxes with wireless conversion boards, wireless APs and existing standard wireless user modems are required.

Architecture and standards Based on seven-layer open system interconnection model defined in ISO7498, BPL systems are designed to work on a two-layer architecture comprising physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers. The PHY layer defines electrical and physical specifications for devices, i.e., relationship between a device and a physical medium. It includes all the electrical power line distribution system and the in-home electrical wiring down to the wall sockets. The major functions of PHY layer include establishment and termination of a connection to a communication medium, communication flow control, modulation and coding. MAC layer, consisting of MAC lower sub-layer and logical link control layer, provides an interface between PHY layer and higher layers for connection to physical media. At initial stage, manufacturers of BPL systems have developed their own proprietary solutions for injectors, repeaters, extractors and couplers. These solutions have been implemented in a variety of system architectures, which feature different modulation techniques and designs at PHY, MAC and LLC layers. Such systems have raised 144

incompatibility issues. In order to combat c h a nnel impairments COUPLER (noise, multipath, strong channel selectivity, non-linear channel characteristics), GUIDED a number of different techWAVE nologies at PHY layer have been employed that range from spread spectrum to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). OFDM is a type of frequency-division multiplexing system that provides better channel throughput, better spectrum efficiency and robustness against frequency selectivity because all of the underlying sub-carriers are orthogonal to one another. There are numerous modulation and access design techniques that can be used in association with OFDM. These include binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and 6-bit, 64-constellation QAM. Various forward error correction codes are also used. Since BPL access networks operate in a shared transmission medium where subscribers compete to use the same transmission resources, MAC has been designed for point-to-multipoint applications and is based on collisionsense multiple-access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA). MAC layer also describes how secure communications are delivered, by using secure key exchange during authentication and encryption (using advanced encryption standard or data encryption standard) during data transfer. In order to streamline the functionality of BPL systems, Open Power line communication European Research Alliance, European Telecommunications Standards Institute, Universal Powerline Association, European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization, HomePlug Powerline Alliance and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have developed standards for BPL systems. The IEEE has constituted IEEE P1675 ‘Standard for Broadband over Power

RADIATED WAVE


Line Hardware,’ IEEE P1775 ‘Powerline Communication Equipment—Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Requirements—Testing and Measurement Methods’ and IEEE P1901 ‘Draft Standard for Broadband over Power Line Networks: Medium Access Control and Physical Layer Specifications.’ HomePlug Powerline Alliance has developed in-house BPL specifications: HomePlug 1.0 for speeds up to 14 Mbps and HomePlug AV for speeds greater than 100 Mbps.

BPL issues Interference issues. Most BPL systems are designed to operate in the frequency spectrum from 2 to 30 MHz, but occasionally up to 80 MHz, using MV and LV power distribution network lines. The frequency spectrum from 2 to 30 MHz constitutes a limited natural resource that includes the HF band (3 to 30 MHz), which is being used for many decades by shortwave radio stations, military, aviation agencies, etc. Above the HF band, the frequency spectrum from 30 to 54 MHz is reserved for use by public service and business communications. The spectrum from 54 to 80 MHz hosts television channels (channel numbers 2 to 5) with a small segment used for some other emergency services. However, because BPL uses some of the radio frequencies used for overthe-air radio systems, mutual interference is a major problem. In order to mitigate interference at some specific frequency, OFDM may be used as it has the ability to notch these specific frequencies. Moreover, power lines are unshielded and act as radiating antennae for the signals they carry, resulting in interference with communication systems of broadcast radio, military, aviation agencies, etc. Electromagnetic fields associated with access-BPL system are shown in Fig. 2 and can be categorised as guided mode, coupler fields and radiation mode. Guided mode serves to transport signal energy along the line. Signal energy decays rapidly in www.efymag.com

information technology directions perpendicular to the line but slowly along its length. Coupler fields are associated with the coupler itself rather than the power line. Radiation fields are considered to be a source of interference because these fields decay relatively slowly. Interference associated with BPL can be broadly categorised into two groups: near-field (0.62(D3/λ)1/22D2/λ) radiation, where ‘r’ is the distance from the radiator, ‘D’ is the largest linear dimension of the radiator and ‘λ’ is signal wavelength. Near-field effects persist along the entire length of the wire and may cause serious interference issues. Far-field effects can be quite troublesome because ionospheric propagation of HF radiation can travel thousands of kilometres. In order to reduce these radiations, a balanced configuration of two MV wires driven differentially and spaced appropriately can be employed. Power line noise. MV/LV power lines are inherently very noisy due to changing nature of the load connected to power lines, number and types of line branches, length of line branches, type of power line equipment connected (such as capacitor banks and transformers), and impedance mismatch caused by unterminated stubs and line branches. In addition, on/ off switching of capacitor banks used to correct power factor and switching power supplies often introduce noisy harmonics into the line. Unlike twisted-pair (used in DSL) or shielded coaxial cable, power lines have no inherent noise cancellation mechanism. In order to cope up with noisy environment of power lines, OFDM along with a number of channel interference noise ratio based modulations such as QAM, BPSK and QPSK may be a solution. OFDM is very robust against frequency selectivity but any time-varying characteristic of the channel limits system performance. Time variations deteriorate the orthogonality of the sub-carriers, resulting in inter-carrier interference. To eliminate inter-carrier interference, a guard time is inserted with a length www.efymag.com

longer than the duration of the impulse response of the channel. The insertion of guard time has the penalty of a loss in the signal-to-noise ratio that further increases the bandwidth requirement. Bandwidth issues. Each distribution transformer feeds power to 10 to 50 houses/offices. Since bandwidth to the transformer is limited and the same power line is shared by all these houses, there is scarcity of bandwidth available to each customer. Moreover, BPL is a contention-based system (CSMA/CA), which again imposes additional challenges. Similar to DSL, speeds (bit-rates) of BPL systems available to customers are also dependent on the distance between the supplying substation and the customer’s home. Security issues. BPL signal propagates in a LAN-like manner, which makes detection and interception of neighbouring transmissions simple. So in order to prevent interception of legitimate customers’ data by unauthorised intruders, strong authorisation, authentication and data encryption algorithms such as DES and AES should be used.

BPL in a nutshell BPL technology is a union of two applications in a single system, holding great promise as a ubiquitous broadband solution that would offer a viable alternative to cable, digital subscriber line, fibre and wireless broadband solutions. Additionally, it offers the ability to employ intelligent power line networks that make use of supervisory control and data acquisition devices. As standardisation, interference mitigation and improvement in technology are on their way, the future of BPL looks very bright.  The author is a junior telecom officer at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, currently working in Ludhiana, Punjab. He holds Ph.D in electronics engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, BHU, Varanasi, and has authored and co-authored several research papers in peer-reviewed national/ international journals including IEEE and conference proceedings. His current research interests include wired and wireless technologies for highspeed Internet access; use of renewable energy sources; and analysis, design and simulation of high-power high-frequency microwave devices and systems for communication purposes Electronics For You | October 2013

145

product categories index

advertisers’ product category index Products

Page No.

Automation & Robotics Digi M2M Solutions India Pvt Ltd ...................... 126 ISOFT ................................................................. 81 Kits n Spares ...................................................... 21 Ossian Agro Automation Private Limited .......... 141 Batteries & Power Supplies Bose Electronics ............................................... 137 Digital Promoters (I) Pvt Ltd ............................. 137 DREDO ............................................................. 130 Eita Technologies ............................................. 139 Elektro Power Systems .................................... 138 Elnova Ltd ......................................................... 139 Exide Industries Ltd ............................................ 45 Guna Power Systems ....................................... 138 Gurukirpa Electronics ....................................... 137 Indo Powersys Pvt. Ltd. .................................... 138 Indus Industries ................................................ 128 J K Power Guard .............................................. 138 Kandhari Photo Electronics P Ltd ..................... 141 Lzen Electronics (India) .................................... 140 M.S Electronics ................................................. 138 Max Electronics ................................................ 140 Mornsun Guangzhou Science & Technology Co. Ltd ............................................................. 63 National Controlling & Equipments ................... 141 Perfect Systems ............................................... 139 Raj Electronics................................................... 140 Recom Asia Pvt Ltd ............................................ 65 Unipar Energy Systems Pvt Ltd ........................ 140 Cabinets, Enclosures & Accessories Anand Enterprises ............................................ 139 Chhabra Electronics ......................................... 139 S K Metal Works ............................................... 141 Shrey Plastic Moulders ..................................... 141 Components (Including Active & Passive) Allegro Micro ....................................................... 47 Avago Technologies ........................................... 43 Cirkit Electro Components P Ltd ...................... 131 Digi-Key Corporation ............................................ 5 EDOM ................................................................. 73 Element14 India Pvt Ltd. ...................................... 1 Element14 India Pvt Ltd. .................................... 97 International Rectifier Hong Kong Ltd ................. 57 Laxmi Electronics ............................................. 138 Madhu Subtronic Components Pvt. Ltd .............. 35 Maxim Integrated ................................................ 41

Products

Page No.

Microchip Technology Inc. .................................. 49 Mouser Electronics (Hong Kong) Ltd .................. 13 Perfect Radios .................................................. 140 Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd ............................. 130 Radiant Electronics ........................................... 141 Renesas Electronics Singapore Pte Ltd.............. 61 Renesas Technology .......................................... 27 ROHM Semiconductor ........................................ 67 RS Components & Controls (I) Ltd ..................... 99 Shavison Electronics Pvt. Ltd. ............................ 17 ST Microelectronics Marketing Pvt. Ltd .............. 31 Supreme Components International Pte Ltd....... 69 Texas Instruments (India) Pvt Ltd ......................... 7 Toradex Systems (India) Private Limited .......... 149 Trade Corp. ...................................................... 135 Display Systems Amptronics Systems Pvt Ltd ............................. 130 Shree Archi Embedded Solution ....................... 141 Educational Training Kits Eashtech Embedded Solution .......................... 137 Kits n Spares ...................................................... 21 Rhydo Technologies P Ltd ................................ 127 Robosapiens Technologies (P) Ltd.................... 133 Industrial & Manufacturing Equipment DSM India Private Limited ................................ 131 Max Technology & Co. ........................................ 37 IT Products Azure Shipra Krishna ........................................ 139 Digi m2m Solutions India Pvt Ltd ...................... 126 Scientech Technologies Pvt Ltd .......................... 15 Materials (Including Chemicals & Consumables) EMS Technologies .............................................. 59 Max Technology & Co. ........................................ 37 Progressive Engineers ..................................... 130 Optics & Optoelectronics Arham Electronics & Electricals (Nimra Products) ....................................................... 139 Aura Emergency Systems ................................ 137 Binay Opto Electronics Pvt Ltd ........................... 22 Buljin Elemec Pvt Ltd ........................................ 137 DSM India Private Limited ................................ 131 Eclat International ............................................. 134

Products

Page No.

GSR Infocom Pvt. Ltd. ...................................... 139 Jaydeep Industrial Corporation ......................... 138 Key Operations & Electrocomponents Pvt Ltd.... 69 Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd ............................. 130 Sanjay Electronics ............................................ 138 Shree Archi Embedded Solution ....................... 141 PCBs, Assemblies & Sub Assemblies Amptronics Systems Pvt Ltd ............................. 130 Azure Shipra Krishna ........................................ 139 Buljin Elemec Pvt Ltd ........................................ 137 Element14 India Pvt Ltd. .................................... 97 Guna Power Systems ....................................... 138 Indus Industries ................................................ 128 ISOFT ................................................................. 81 Kits N Spares ...................................................... 21 Propress Instrumentation & Solutions Pvt Ltd..... 65 Rhydo Technologies P Ltd ................................ 127 RS Components & Controls (I) Ltd ..................... 99 S.M Semiconductors ........................................ 141 Salasar INC ...................................................... 141 Shavison Electronics Pvt. Ltd. ............................ 17 SMD Electronics Pvt. Ltd. ................................. 140 Srishti Electronics ............................................. 137 Toradex Systems (India) Private Limited .......... 149 Plugs, Sockets & Connectors Madhu Subtronic Components Pvt Ltd ............... 35 Perfect Radios .................................................. 140 Shavison Electronics Pvt. Ltd. ............................ 17 Recruitment Power Palazzo Pvt Ltd ..................................... 107 Reseller and Distributors Cirkit Electro Components P Ltd ...................... 131 Digi-Key Corporation ............................................ 5 Electro Systems Associates.............................. 133 Element14 India Pvt Ltd. ................................ 1, 97 Indo Powersys Pvt. Ltd. .................................... 138 Kits N Spares ...................................................... 21 Laxmi Electronics ............................................. 138 Madhu Subtronic Components Pvt. Ltd .............. 35 Mouser Electronics (Hong Kong) Ltd .................. 13 Perfect Radios .................................................. 140 Progressive Engineers ..................................... 130 RS Components & Controls (I) Ltd ..................... 99 Supreme Components International Pte Ltd....... 69 Trade Corp. ...................................................... 135

Products

Page No.

Safety & Security Products Emsoniq Telecom Pvt. Ltd. ............................... 140 TekBrains Pvt. Ltd ............................................. 140 Sensors & Transducers ISOFT ................................................................. 81 Rhydo Technologies P Ltd ................................ 127 Services Caron Technologies .......................................... 138 Eashtech Embedded Solution .......................... 137 Goodwin Electronics Pvt. Ltd. ........................... 138 Super Technologies ............................................ 25 Solar Products Elektro Power Systems .................................... 138 Evergreen Solar Systems ................................. 137 Raj Electronics .................................................. 140 Test & Measurement Equipment (Including Indicators & Monitors) Acumen Measurement & Consultancy Pvt Ltd.. 141 Agilent Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.............Gatefold Anritsu India Pvt Ltd ............................................. 9 FLIR Systems ..................................................... 39 Good Will Instrument Co. Ltd ........................... 148 Megger India Pvt ltd ............................................ 40 NI Systems (India) Pvt Ltd .................................... 4 Precision Mastech Enterprises (Hong Kong) Ltd ................................................................. 129 Scientific Mes Technik Pvt Ltd ............................ 19 TekBrains Pvt. Ltd ............................................. 140 Tektronix India Pvt Ltd. ..................................... 150 The Motwane Manufacturing Company Pvt Ltd.. 29 TTL Technologies Pvt. Ltd. ................................. 53 Trade Shows and Events NEPCON Japan ................................................. 23 Training and Certification Institutes EFY Tech Center .................................................11 ISOFT ................................................................. 81 Transformers Arihant Impex ................................................... 139 Miracle Electronic & Devices Pvt Ltd .................. 93

EFY Magazine Attractions During 2013 Month

Technology Focus

EFY Report

Buyers’ Guide (FOR LABS)

trade FAIRS pARTICIPATION

t&m

January

Ten Scientific Findings that could Influence the Future of Electronics

Passive Components

Variable DC Power Supplies

Elektrotek, Coimbatore

Automation in T&M

February

Automotive Electronics

Power Sector Electronics

Hand-held Multimeters

EFY Expo, New Delhi

Simulation for T&M

March

Wearable Technology

Connectors and Terminals

Digital Storage Oscilloscopes

EFY Awards, Bengaluru

Electro-medical T&M

April

Telemedicine/Health Monitoring

Industrial Automation

Temperature-controlled Soldering Stations

• China Electronics Fair, Shenzen • NEPCON China, Shanghai

Geological T&M

May

Extreme Temperature Electronics

Rooftop Solar Systems

Tool-Kits (including Smart Tweezers)

Global Digital Surveillance Forum, Bengaluru

—

June

New Technologies in the filed of Energy

Transistors and Diodes

Anti-Static Material

CommunicAsia 2013, Singapore

T&M in RF & Wireless

July

Ten Interesting Devices for Special Needs

Independent Design Houses

RFID Modules

KE Show 2013, Jiangsu, China

T&M of high-speed memory

August

Innovations for the Social Cause

SMD Components

Signal Generators

Solarcon India, Bengaluru

T&M of LTE

September

Wireless Charging

Aerospace and Defence Equipment

EDA Tools for PCBs and Simulation

Renewable Energy Expo, Delhi

Software-centric T&M Methodologies

October

The Growing DIY Phenomenon

Batteries (SMF, VRLA, etc)

Microcontroller Boards

Electronics Rocks 2013

Big Data in T&M

November

Micro-satellites

EFY Top 100 Electronics Companies

Temperature-controlled De-soldering Stations

IFSEC India, New Delhi OSI Days 2013, Bengaluru EFY Expo, Mumbai

T&M During Design

December

Electronics at the Bottom of the Pyramid

LED Lighting

Hand-held Digital Microscopes

—

Increased role of FPGA’s in T&M

146


www.efymag.com

advertisers’ & organisation index

advertisers’ index Client name

Page No.

Client name

Page No.

Client name

Page No.

Acumen Measurement & Consultancy Pvt Ltd......................................141

EMS Technologies (www.peters.de).........................................................59

Agilent Technologies India Pvt. Ltd................................................. Gatefold

Emsoniq Telecom Pvt. Ltd......................................................................140

Precision Mastech Enterprises (Hong Kong) Ltd...................................129

Allegro Micro (www.allegromicro.com).....................................................47

Evergreen Solar Systems (www.evergreensolar.in )..............................137

Progressive Engineers............................................................................130

Power Palazzo Pvt Ltd (www.powerpalazzo.com).................................107

Amptronics Systems Pvt Ltd...................................................................130

Exide Industries Ltd (www.exide4u.com).................................................45

Propress Instrumentation & Solutions Pvt. Ltd.........................................65

Anand Enterprises(www.anandenterprises.org)....................................139

FLIR Systems (www.flir.com)....................................................................39

Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd (www.peplectronics.com).........................130

Anritsu India Pvt Ltd (www.anritsu.com).....................................................9

Good Will Instrument Co. Ltd (www.goodwill.com.tw)...........................148

Radiant Electronics.................................................................................141

Arham Electronics & Electricals (Nimra Products).................................139

Goodwin Electronics Pvt. Ltd..................................................................138

Raj Electronics........................................................................................140

Arihant Impex (www.golecha.com).........................................................139

GSR Infocom Pvt. Ltd.............................................................................139

Recom Asia Pvt Ltd...................................................................................65

Aura Emergency Systems......................................................................137

Guna Power Systems.............................................................................138

Renesas Electronics Singapore Pte.Ltd...................................................61 Renesas Technology................................................................................27

Avago Technologies..................................................................................43

Gurukirpa Electronics (www.gurukirpaelectronics.com).........................137

Azure Shipra Krishna..............................................................................139

Indo Powersys Pvt. Ltd...........................................................................138

Rhydo Technologies P Ltd (www.rhydo.com).........................................127

Binay Opto Electronics Pvt Ltd (www.binayLED.com).............................22

Indus Industries.......................................................................................128

ROHM Semiconductor..............................................................................67

Bose Electronics.....................................................................................137

International Rectifier Hong Kong Ltd (www.irf.com)...............................57

RS Components & Controls (I) Ltd (www.rsindia.com)............................99

Buljin Elemec Pvt Ltd (www.flexiblepcb.com)........................................137

ISOFT........................................................................................................81

S K Metal Works (www.skmetals.com)...................................................141

Caron Technologies................................................................................138

J K Power Guard.....................................................................................138

S.M Semiconductors...............................................................................141

Chhabra Electronics................................................................................139

Jaydeep Industrial Corporation...............................................................138

Salasar INC.............................................................................................141

Cirkit Electro Components P Ltd............................................................131

Kandhari Photo Electronics P Ltd...........................................................141

Sanjay Electronics..................................................................................138

Digi m2m Solutions India Pvt Ltd............................................................126

Key Operations & Electrocomponents Pvt Ltd.........................................69

Scientech Technologies Pvt Ltd (www.scientech.bz)...............................15

Digi-Key Corporation (www.digikey.com)...................................................5

Kits N Spares............................................................................................21

Scientific Mes Technik Pvt Ltd (M) (www.scientificindia.com)..................19

Digital Promoters (I) Pvt Ltd (M).............................................................137

Laxmi Electronics....................................................................................138

Shavison Electronics Pvt. Ltd. (www.shavison.com)...............................17

DREDO...................................................................................................130

Lzen Electronics (India)..........................................................................140

Shree Archi Embedded Solution.............................................................141

DSM India Private Limited .....................................................................131

M.S Electronics (www.essmaups.com)..................................................138

Shrey Plastic Moulders (www.shreyplasticmoulders.com)....................141

Eashtech Embedded sulution.................................................................137

Madhu Subtronic Components Pvt. Ltd. Ltd............................................35

SMD Electronics Pvt.Ltd.........................................................................140

Eclat International (www.eclat-international.in)......................................134

Max Electronics.......................................................................................140

Srishti Electronics (www.acedigital.co.in)...............................................137

EDOM.......................................................................................................73

Max Technology & Co. (www.maxtechnoloindia.com).............................37

ST Microelectronics Marketing Pvt. Ltd....................................................31

EFY Expo West’13..................................................................................132

Maxim Integrated (CM Media)..................................................................41

Super Technologies..................................................................................25

EFY Expo’14 India....................................................................................55

Megger India Pvt ltd (www.megger.com/in).............................................40

Supreme Components International Pte Ltd............................................69

EFY Group iPad........................................................................................75

Microchip Technology Inc. (www.microchip.com).....................................49

TekBrains Pvt. Ltd...................................................................................140

EFY Group: EFY Subscription Form........................................................18

Miracle Electronic & Devices Pvt Ltd (www.toroidal.com)........................93

Tektronix India Pvt Ltd. ...........................................................................150

EFY Tech Center....................................................................................... 11

Mornsun Guangzhou Science & Technology Co.Ltd...............................63

Texas Instruments (India) Pvt Ltd...............................................................7

efytimes.com...........................................................................................136

Mouser Electronics (Hong Kong) Ltd ......................................................13

The Motwane Manufacturing Company Pvt Ltd.......................................29

Eita Technologies....................................................................................139

National Controlling & Equipments.........................................................141

Toradex Systems (India) Private Limited (www.toradex.com)...............149

eleb2b.com......................................................................................120, 122

NEPCON Japan........................................................................................23

Trade Corp..............................................................................................135

Electronics Rocks...................................................................................128

NI Systems (India) Pvt Ltd (www.ni.com)...................................................4

TTL Technologies Pvt. Ltd........................................................................53

Elektro Power Systems...........................................................................138

Ossian Agro Automation Private Limited ...............................................141

Unipar Energy Systems Pvt Ltd..............................................................140

Element14 India Pvt Ltd........................................................................1, 97

Perfect Radios........................................................................................140

Elnova Ltd (m) (www.elnova.com)..........................................................139

Perfect Systems......................................................................................139

Page numbers subject to final dummy corrections

Organisations Covered in This issue Organisation

Page No.

Organisation

Page No.

A.R. Software ................................................... 108

Autodesk India & SAARC ................................... 30

Accenture ......................................................... 108

Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)

Organisation

Page No.

International Institute of Information Technology,

Organisation

Page No.

Panasonic India .................................................112

Bangalore ...................................................... 108

PSG College of Technology .............................. 108

Acer .............................................................. 12, 14

Pilani ............................................................. 108

Internet of Things DIY group (IoTBlr).................. 28

Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering.. 108

Agilent Technologies India ................................ 105

Broadcom ........................................................... 60

Kandhari Photo Electronics ...............................115

Raspberry Pi Foundation .................................... 33

Alchem International ......................................... 108

CSR Sunnyvale .................................................. 59

Kitsnspares.com ................................................. 32

Samsung ...................................................... 10, 14

Apple............................................................... 8, 12

Cypress Semiconductor ................................... 121

Lenovo India ................................................. 10, 14

Shalaka Technologies ....................................... 105

Arduino India ...................................................... 32

Dell ..................................................................... 14

Maker Media ....................................................... 28

Sony ................................................................... 12

ARM India ........................................................... 36

Greenvision Technologies .................................112

Manav Rachna College of Engineering .............. 53

TCS .................................................................. 108

Artheon Electronics ...........................................112

Harman India ........................................................ 8

MathWorks Inc. ................................................... 50

Teledyne LeCroy ................................................119

Asimov Robotics.................................................. 28

HCL Infosystems .............................................. 108

Microsoft.............................................................. 12

UltraTech Cement ............................................. 108

Association of Indian Dry Cell

Hewlett Packard ................................................. 14

Moser Baer ........................................................... 8

Vellore Institute of Technology .......................... 108 Wind River .......................................................... 60

Manufacturers..................................................114

Infosys .............................................................. 108

Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT).... 108

ASUS .................................................................. 14

Instructables ....................................................... 30

Nokia ............................................................ 10, 12

www.efymag.com


147

Engineered for Excellence

Colibri Vyb Powere rid VF 50 d by F reescale

& VF61

Vybrid A

Key Features & Benefits

RM Cor

tex A5/

M4 SoC

Based on a heterogeneous dual core system. A complete solution with extensive features like Floating Point unit, CAN support, integrated graphics controller and much more. Offering an array of interfaces from simple GPIOS to I2C and SPI buses through to high speed USB 2.0 interfaces. Also featuring secure boot, anti-tamper & anti-clone capabilities. Pin Compatible with the existing Colibri product family providing customers the benefit of easy migration. Product Compliances

Toradex Network

Toradex Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd., Third Floor, LXY Aura, 99/D, KHB Colony, Koramangala 5th Block, Bangalore–560 095, India +91 80 4111 9096 | +91 80 4096 0546 | [email protected] | www.toradex.com

Electronics for You 201310

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