Editorial

Esta é a Newsletter Nº 198 que se apresenta com o mesmo formato que as anteriores. Se gostar da Newsletter partilhe-a!

Todas as Newsletters encontram-se indexadas no link.

Esta Newsletter tem os seguintes tópicos:

• Novidades da Semana
• Ciência e Tecnologia
• Documentação
• Projetos Maker

Faz hoje anos que nascia, em 1793, Goldsworthy Gurney. Este inventor inglês construiu carruagens a vapor tecnicamente bem sucedidas meio século antes do advento do automóvel movido a gasolina. A sua carruagem viajou com sucesso entre Londres e Bath a uma velocidade média de 24 km/h. Outra de suas invenções foi o "Bude Light", que acendeu a Câmara dos Comuns por 60 anos. Era uma lâmpada de óleo comum com gás de oxigénio introduzido no meio da chama. O carbono não queimado na chama de óleo queimava com uma luz branca intensa, em vez da fraca chama amarela da lâmpada de óleo. Ele também introduziu o uso dos holofotes nos faróis.

Faz também anos hoje que nascia, em 1819, Christopher Latham Sholes. Este inventor norte-americano desenvolveu a máquina de escrever. Como editor de jornais e revistas, ele desenvolveu uma máquina de numeração de páginas em meados do século XIX. Um amigo sugeriu que ele modificasse a máquina para um dispositivo de impressão de cartas. Sholes patenteou a máquina de escrever em 1868 e em 1873 vendeu os direitos à Remington.

Faz igualmente anos hoje que nascia, em 1838, Margaret E. Knight. Este Inventor norte-americano de máquinas e mecanismos para uma variedade de fins industriais e todos os dias. Ela criou, mas não patenteou, a sua primeira invenção aos 12 anos, um dispositivo de segurança de corte que desligava automaticamente um tear quando a ponta de aço do carreto caía. A sua primeira patente foi em 1870, quando ela inventou uma máquina para fazer sacos de papel de fundo quadrado, uma melhoria em relação aos sacos em forma de V. As 27 patentes que ela possuía para invenções incluíam um escudo de saia e vestido (1883), um fecho para vestimentas (1884), um espeto (1885) e até uma nova manga de válvula para um motor automático. Ela também recebeu seis patentes ao longo de anos para máquinas usadas na fabricação de calçado. Ela nunca se casou e o seu génio criativo nunca a deixou rica. Como uma mulher da classe trabalhadora auto-suficiente, ela raramente tinha sido capaz de esperar por royalties, mas vendeu os direitos de suas invenções directamente. Embora ela não tenha sido a primeira mulher a receber uma patente, ela foi uma das mais prolíficas.

Faz também anos hoje que nascia, em 1839, Hermann Hankel. Este matemático alemão trabalhou na teoria dos números complexos, a teoria das funções e a história da matemática. Na sua educação na Universidade de Leipzig, ele aprendeu física com seu pai, Wilhelm Gottlieb Hankel. Ele estudou matemática lá ensinada por August Möbius, seguido por um ano em Göttingen com Bernhard Riemann e depois completou o seu doutorado em Berlim sob Karl Weierstrass e Leopold Kronecker. Embora tenha morrido tão jovem, aos 34 anos, deixou um legado da transformada de Hankel e da matriz de Hankel. Os escritos que ele deixou estavam às vezes cheios de erros, e outras vezes mostravam compreensão, especialmente sobre o trabalho de Hermann Grassman para o cálculo de vectores e o trabalho sobre séries infinitas de Bernard Bolzano.

Faz igualmente anos hoje que nascia, em 1859, George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.. Este engenheiro e inventor norte-americano inventou a gigantesca roda de observação para a Exposição Mundial de Colombo, Chicago, Illinois (1893), criada para rivalizar com a Torre Eiffel, construída por Gustave Eiffel para o mundo de 1889. Feira em Paris. Ferris começou como engenheiro de construção em projectos de túneis rodoviários e pontes ferroviárias, e mais tarde estabeleceu seu próprio negócio como Ferris & Company. A sua idéia audaciosa para a roda de observação gastou US $ 400 mil do seu dinheiro para financiamento, mas sua construção foi adiada para que a sua abertura em 21 de Junho de 1893 fosse mais de um mês após a abertura da Exposição.

Faz também anos hoje que nascia, em 1869, Charles Thomson Rees Wilson. Este físico escocês dividiu (com Arthur H. Compton) o Prémio Nobel de Física de 1927 pela sua invenção da câmara nebulosa de Wilson, que se tornou amplamente usada no estudo da radioactividade, raios X, raios cósmicos e outros fenómenos nucleares. A sua descoberta foi um método de tornar visíveis os rastos dessas partículas electricamente carregadas. Baseia-se na formação de nuvens, que se desenvolvem quando o ar suficientemente húmido é subitamente expandido, reduzindo assim a temperatura abaixo do ponto de condensação. Após esse momento, o vapor condensa-se em pequenas gotas, formando partículas de poeira redondas ou, até mesmo, uma partícula atómica carregada electricamente. A formação de gotículas é tão densa que as fotografias mostram rastos contínuos de partículas que viajam através da câmara como linhas brancas.

Faz igualmente anos hoje que nascia, em 1877, Greenleaf Whittier Pickard. Este engenheiro electrotécnico norte-americano inventou o detector de cristal que foi um dos primeiros dispositivos amplamente utilizados para receber transmissões de rádio (um componente chave, até ser substituído pelo tubo de vácuo triodo, e depois pelo transístor). A sua patente de 20 de novembro de 1906 descreveu-a como "um meio de receber inteligência comunicada por ondas eléctricas". Ele também foi um dos primeiros cientistas a demonstrar a transmissão electromagnética da fala sem fio. Em 1899, ele transmitiu uma mensagem falada a uma distância de dezasseis quilómetros. Pickard conduziu numerosas experiências para determinar o efeito do Sol e das manchas solares no rádio. No seu estudo sobre a polarização das ondas de rádio, ele contribuiu para o desenvolvimento do localizador de direcção e observou, já em 1908, que erros na leitura de bússolas de rádio poderiam ser causados por construções, árvores e outros objetos.

Faz também anos hoje que nascia, em 1878, Julius Arthur Nieuwland. Este Químico orgânico belga-americano estudou reacções de acetileno e inventou o neoprene. Ele foi ordenado sacerdote (1903) antes de receber seu Ph.D. (1904). Ele não seguiu a sua própria descoberta da reacção entre o acetileno e o tricloreto de arsénio, mas levou ao desenvolvimento do agente de guerra química lewisite apelidado de "o orvalho da morte", um gás venenoso e vesicante usado na Primeira Guerra Mundial. Ele colaborou com Químicos da DuPont na polimerização de acetileno e desenvolvimento de cloropreno, que por sua vez poderia ser polimerizado para a primeira borracha sintética de sucesso - o neoprene. Isto foi superior à borracha em muitos aspectos, como na sua resistência à luz solar, abrasão e temperaturas extremas.

Faz igualmente anos hoje que nascia, em 1898, Fritz Zwicky. Este astrónomo e físico suíço-americano propôs a existência da matéria escura responsável pelo universo de massa adicional no universo. O seu trabalho em supernovas produziu uma melhor compreensão teórica dessas estrelas infrequentes que têm um brilho excepcional por um curto período de tempo. A sua carreira incluiu contribuições para a propulsão a jato e a física de cristais, líquidos e gases, mas ele é mais conhecido pela astrofísica. Ele procurou por supernovas e calculou a sua frequência tão rara quanto uma por milénio por galáxia tipica. Depois de Lev Landau ter proposto estrelas de neutrões extremamente densas e compactas em 1932, Zwicky e Walter Baade sugeriram que elas poderiam estar no centro das supernovas, o que contribuiu para o desenvolvimento da teoria da evolução estelar.

Faz também anos hoje que nascia, em 1911, Willem Johan Kolff. Este médico holandês-americano e engenheiro biomédico foi pioneiro em órgãos artificiais. Ele inventou a máquina de rim artificial em 1943, antes de emigrar para os EUA (1950). Na primavera de 1955, a Sociedade Americana de Órgãos Internos Artificiais foi formada. Kolff tornou-se seu primeiro presidente. Ele liderou uma equipa que inventou o primeiro coração totalmente artificial, uma bomba pneumática, que foi testada em 12 de dezembro de 1957, implantada no peito do cão. Manteve o cão de 20,7 kg vivo por 90 minutos. Esta foi a primeira vez que um animal viveu com um coração totalmente artificial implantado. Em 2 de dezembro de 1982, sob sua supervisão, o primeiro coração totalmente artificial foi implantado em um paciente humano. Foi projectado por Robert K. Jarvik, um dos alunos de Kolff, que implantou o coração artificial que manteve o paciente, Barney Clark, vivo por 112 dias, comprovando assim a viabilidade de tal procedimento.

Faz igualmente anos hoje que nascia, em 1917, Herbert A. Hauptman. Este matemático e cristalógrafo norte-americano dividiu o Prémio Nobel de Química de 1985 com Jerome Karle, com quem colaborou, “pelas suas notáveis realizações no desenvolvimento de métodos directos para a determinação de estruturas cristalinas”. Eles desenvolveram métodos matemáticos para interpretar os padrões formados no filme fotográfico por raios X difractados através de um composto químico cristalino para determinar sua estrutura molecular. O conhecimento da estrutura tem dois grandes benefícios. Um, na compreensão da função das moléculas em contextos biológicos, especificamente aqueles de “processos receptores de sinais”. Estes incluem processos como actividade enzimática; antígeno - anticorpo; e substância de cheiro - receptor de aroma. Outra é estudar o mecanismo e a dinâmica química das reações.

Por fim, faz anos hoje que nascia, em 1954, Vladimir Drinfeld. Este matemático soviético cujo trabalho em grupos quânticos e na teoria dos números foi reconhecido com a atribuição de uma Medalha Fields em 1990, quando ele tinha 36 anos, e com o Instituto de Física de Baixa Temperatura e Engenharia em Kharkov, na Rússia. Os seus interesses foram amplos, passando da geometria algébrica e da teoria das formas automórficas para a muito mais nova teoria de grupos quânticos relevantes à física, que ele introduziu em 1985. Este conceito inovador também foi desenvolvido independentemente pelo matemático japonês Michio Jimbo.

Nesta semana que passou ficámos a saber que a NASA finalizou a missão do rover Opportunity em Marte. Ao fim de 15 anos de serviço a missão do rover Opportunity, um dos mais bem-sucedidos e duradouros feitos da exploração interplanetária chega ao fim. O rover Opportunity parou de se comunicar com a Terra quando uma tempestade de poeira em Marte cobriu o local onde se encontrava em Junho de 2018. Depois de mais de mil comandos para tentar restaurar o contacto, engenheiros da Unidade de Operações de Voo Espacial do Laboratório de Propulsão a Jato da NASA (JPL) fizeram a sua última tentativa de reviver o Opportunity na passada Terça-feira, sem sucesso. A comunicação final do veículo movido a energia solar foi recebida em 10 de Junho.

Também esta semana ficámos a saber através de um documento desclassificado do US Homeland Security que a partir do próximo dia 6 de Abril de 2019 poderá haver problemas diversos nos sistemas de localização que usam o sistema de GPS. O Problema decorre de um "overflow" que irá ocorrer nesta data. Os sinais GPS dos satélites incluem um timestamp, necessário em parte para calcular a localização, que armazena o número da semana usando dez bits binários. Isto significa que o número da semana pode ter 210 ou 1.024 valores inteiros, contando de zero a 1.023 neste caso. A cada 1.024 semanas, ou aproximadamente a cada 20 anos, o contador passa de 1.023 para zero. Se os dispositivos em uso hoje não tiverem sido projectados ou corrigidos para lidar com esse último rollover, eles serão revertidos para um ano anterior após essa 1.024ª semana em Abril, causando tentativas de calcular a posição falhar. Os dados do sistema e navegação podem até ser corrompidos.

Ainda esta semana, a ARM apresentou a próxima arquitectura de microcontroladores - a Armv8.1-M. A tecnologia Arm Helium é uma nova extensão vetorial M-Profile que traz recursos avançados de computação para a arquitectura Armv8.1-M. Disponibilizando até 15 vezes de desempenho para machine learning e aumento de até 5 vezes para tarefas de processamento de sinal nos dispositivos mais pequenos.

Na Newsletter desta semana apresentamos diversos projetos de maker. É apresentada a revista newelectronics de 12 de Fevereiro.

João Alves ([email protected])

O conteúdo da Newsletter encontra-se sob a licença Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

NASA's Opportunity Rover Mission on Mars Comes to End

"One of the most successful and enduring feats of interplanetary exploration, NASA's Opportunity rover mission is at an end after almost 15 years exploring the surface of Mars and helping lay the groundwork for NASA's return to the Red Planet. The Opportunity rover stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than a thousand commands to restore contact, engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made their last attempt to revive Opportunity Tuesday, to no avail. The solar-powered rover's final communication was received June 10. "It is because of trailblazing missions such as Opportunity that there will come a day when our brave astronauts walk on the surface of Mars," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "And when that day arrives, some portion of that first footprint will be owned by the men and women of Opportunity, and a little rover that defied the odds and did so much in the name of exploration."" [...]

GPS uses 10 bits to store the week. That means it runs out... oh heck - April 6, 2019

"Nav gadgets will be Gah, Properly Screwed if you don't or can't update firmware Older satnavs and such devices won't be able to use America's Global Positioning System properly after April 6 unless they've been suitably updated or designed to handle a looming epoch rollover. GPS signals from satellites include a timestamp, needed in part to calculate one's location, that stores the week number using ten binary bits. That means the week number can have 210 or 1,024 integer values, counting from zero to 1,023 in this case. Every 1,024 weeks, or roughly every 20 years, the counter rolls over from 1,023 to zero. The first Saturday in April will mark the end of the 1,024th week, after which the counter will spill over from 1,023 to zero. The last time the week number overflowed like this was in 1999, nearly two decades on from the first epoch in January 1980." [...]

Next-generation Armv8.1-M architecture: Delivering enhanced machine learning and signal processing for the smallest embedded devices

"Arm Helium technology is a new M-Profile Vector Extension bringing enhanced compute capabilities to the Armv8.1-M architecture Delivering up to 15x performance uplift for machine learning and up to 5x uplift to signal processing tasks on the smallest of edge devices For next-generation Cortex-M processors, aimed at small, embedded devices, where local decision-making is required The drive towards a world of a trillion connected devices is accelerating and will continue to do so, but only if we can find ways to efficiently expand the compute capabilities on a greater number of constrained devices at the far edge of the network. Increasing the compute capabilities in these devices will immediately open the door for developers to write machine learning (ML) applications directly for the device for decision-making at the source, thus enhancing data security while cutting down on network energy consumption, latency and bandwidth usage. To achieve this, we’re introducing Arm Helium technology, the M-Profile Vector Extension (MVE) for the Arm Cortex-M series processors that will enhance the compute performance of the Armv8.1-M architecture on the secure foundation of Arm TrustZone. Helium will deliver up to 15x more ML performance and up to 5x uplift to signal processing for future Arm Cortex-M processors, unlocking new market opportunities for our partners where performance challenges have limited the use of low-cost and highly energy-efficient devices. The next level of compute Advanced digital signal processing (DSP) is available today through Arm Neon technology in richer Cortex-A based devices. For more constrained applications, Arm also added DSP extensions in its higher performance Cortex-M processors (Cortex-M4, Cortex-M7, Cortex-M33 and Cortex-M35P)." [...]

Announcing the Arduino IoT Cloud Public Beta

"In our pursuit to democratize Internet of Things development, today we are excited to announce the Arduino IoT Cloud! The Arduino IoT Cloud is an easy to use Internet of Things Application Platform. It makes it very simple for anyone to develop and manage IoT applications – freeing them to focus on solving real problems in their business or in everyday life. With the launch of the Arduino IoT cloud, Arduino now provides its millions of users a complete end-to-end approach to IoT that includes hardware, firmware, cloud services, and knowledge. I am very pleased to launch the public beta release of the Arduino IoT Cloud with automatic dashboard generation, Webhooks support, and full TLS secure transport. — Luca Cipriani, Arduino CIO Convenience and flexibility are key considerations for the Arduino IoT Cloud." [...]

Orbex Unveils Prime Rocket at New Facility in Scotland

"Orbex has publicly unveiled its Prime rocket for the first time at the opening of its new headquarters and rocket design facility in Forres in the Scottish Highlands. Designed to deliver small satellites into Earth’s orbit, the rocket was unveiled at an opening ceremony attended by VIPs from the UK and European space community as well as local community stakeholders. The completed engineering prototype of the Stage 2 rocket (the stage that will transit into orbital flight after launch) is made from a specially-formulated lightweight carbon fibre and aluminium composite and includes the world’s largest 3-D printed rocket engine. Orbex Prime is a completely re-thought and re-engineered two-stage rocket, designed by Orbex aerospace engineers with professional experience from organisations including NASA, ESA and Ariane, as well as other commercial spaceflight companies. Thanks to its novel architecture, Prime launchers are up to 30% lighter and 20% more efficient than any other vehicle in the small launcher category, packing more power per cubic litre than many heavy launchers. Seen for the first time, the 3-D printed rocket engine was uniquely manufactured in a single piece without joins in partnership with additive manufacturer SLM Solutions." [...]

STMicroelectronics Reveals State-Of-The-Art Lighting Controller for Even Greater Energy Savings with Convenience and Simplicity

"STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has combined its cutting-edge LED-control know-how with advanced power technologies in a new all-in-one LED control chip that enables future luminaires to save more energy and deliver better user experiences. STMicroelectronics Reveals State-Of-The-Art Lighting Controller for Even Greater Energy Savings with Convenience and Simplicity The HVLED001B controller simplifies designing LED-lighting modules, maximizes energy efficiency at all dimming levels, and ensures smoother brightness control. Lighting innovator TCI of Italy, a lead customer, has already designed forthcoming products containing the new chip to increase energy savings, safety, and usability. Explaining that to create mid- and high-power LED luminaires to satisfy the latest lighting regulations and market demands is no easy challenge, a technical spokesperson for TCI said, “ST’s new LED driver enabled us to achieve our high performance targets, leveraging built-in features that simplify design and reduce the bill of materials. LED power-up is extremely fast, taking less than 0.4 seconds, and efficiency remains very high even at the lower dimming levels where conventional drivers can lose their edge.” Matteo Lo Presti, Executive Vice President, Analog Sub-Group General Manager in ST’s Analog, MEMS and Sensors Group, added, “As well as further improving energy efficiency under all operating conditions, the latest luminaires must support smart-grid management and power quality by increasing power factor and reducing harmonic distortion. The HVLED001B makes these targets achievable, at the same time as supporting improved start-up performance and dimming accuracy.” The HVLED001B is in production now, housed in the familiar and compact SSOP10 package, and available from $0.687 for orders of 1000 pieces." [...]

You Can Run Windows 10 ARM On Raspberry Pi 3 With This WoA Installer

"A newly launched installer tool can let you experience Windows 10 on the Raspberry Pi 3. The new application comes from the same maker who brought the Windows 10 on ARM onto Lumia 950 and 950 XL handset. The developer named Jose Manuel Nieto Sanchez says the tool is “super easy to use” with “no-hassle.” There is also a dedicated Github page where you can find the WoA installer, to create a bootable Windows 10 on ARM image for Raspberry Pi. For setup, you just need a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B or B+, a microSD card (an A1 rating is recommended) and a Windows 10ARM64 image, the latest core package, and these instructions. With a set of binaries, and the Core Package, the tool could be run easily, but Sanchez points out that these binaries do not belong to him. They are bundled and “offered just for convenience to make your life easier, since this tool is focused on simplicity.” Earlier, the only way to run Windows was only by using the Windows IoT Core, but Windows 10 on ARM is far more capable but don’t expect a super speedy booting or snappy experience." [...]

Google extends chip-making efforts to design hub Bengaluru

"Alphabet Inc’s Google has hired more than a dozen microchip engineers in Bengaluru, India, in recent months and plans to rapidly add more, according to LinkedIn profiles, job postings and two industry executives, as the search firm expands its program to design the guts of its devices internally. The Bengaluru site, which has not been previously reported, makes Google the first among the handful of big internet platform companies developing their own chips to establish a team for those efforts in what has become a leading hub for semiconductor design over the last two decades. Google declined to comment on the hires. Jim McGregor, who follows the semiconductor industry for Tirias Research, said since most traditional chipmakers long have had large presences in Bengaluru, it made sense for the industry’s new players to start following to find experts. “Everyone tries to keep things close to home when starting out, but when you reach a certain level of success you have to expand out,” McGregor said. Since 2014, Google has designed computer server chips for its data centers and an image processing chip for its Pixel smartphones." [...]

New high-altitude platform to revolutionise the way we look at Earth

"Ordnance Survey and a team of world-leading aeronautic engineers are developing a highly innovative solar powered, High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) that is going to change the face of Earth observation and the way we map our planet. The pioneering enterprise, called Astigan, will give quicker and better images of the Earth through a platform which will fly at 67,000 ft, nearly twice the cruising height of a commercial airliner. The platform, which weighs 149kg and has a wingspan of 38m, can be positioned to view any part of the Earth and collect data over much wider areas compared to conventional aerial imagery capture. The platform has been designed to complement existing satellite services and it will fly for 90 days at a time without the need for landing, the equivalent of circling the Earth four-and-a-half times. Business Minister Lord Henley said: “The UK has a particularly successful track record in mapping and associated technology. This exciting new unmanned aircraft project is a brilliant example of the innovative thinking behind our modern Industrial Strategy and should lead to global business opportunities." [...]

Mbed OS 5.11.4 released

"We are pleased to announce the Mbed OS 5.11.4 release is now available. This is the latest patch release based on the feature set that Mbed OS 5.11 introduces. Summary In this release we have added fixes for the following reported issues: 9402 Mbed-OS build fails for LPC546XX and FF_LPC546XX targets with ARM Compiler 6.11 8513 NVSTORE deinit function doesn't free memory 9468 FlashIAPBlockDevice init failing if using default constructor 7308 Deep_sleep_lock Ticker.h Issue 9525 Flow control fails on STM32L476 8626 Update device peripherals for STM32 series 9026 [Wio 3G] PB_7 (RXD) cannot be used for Serial 9504 analogin_device.c doesn't clear internal buffer for Vref 9402 Mbed-OS build fails for LPC546XX and FF_LPC546XX targets with ARM Compiler 6.11 9608 GCC_ARM build fails for v8m secure targets 9611 FUTURE_SEQUANA: failing make nightly exporters Support has been added for: MIMXRT1050 IAR exporter TRNG for STM32F2 There are also a number of other fixes and code improvements. " [...]

NASA's MAVEN Shrinking Its Orbit for Mars 2020 Rover

"NASA's 4-year-old atmosphere-sniffing Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission is embarking on a new campaign today to tighten its orbit around Mars. The operation will reduce the highest point of the MAVEN spacecraft's elliptical orbit from 3,850 to 2,800 miles (6,200 to 4,500 kilometers) above the surface and prepare it to take on additional responsibility as a data-relay satellite for NASA's Mars 2020 rover, which launches next year. "The MAVEN spacecraft has done a phenomenal job teaching us how Mars lost its atmosphere and providing other important scientific insights on the evolution of the Martian climate," said Jim Watzin, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. "Now we're recruiting it to help NASA communicate with our forthcoming Mars rover and its successors." While MAVEN's new orbit will not be drastically shorter than its present orbit, even this small change will significantly improve its communications capabilities. "It's like using your cell phone," said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from the University of Colorado, Boulder." [...]

NASA Selects New Mission to Explore Origins of Universe

"NASA has selected a new space mission that will help astronomers understand both how our universe evolved and how common are the ingredients for life in our galaxy's planetary systems. The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission is a planned two-year mission funded at $242 million (not including launch costs) and targeted to launch in 2023. "I'm really excited about this new mission," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Not only does it expand the United States' powerful fleet of space-based missions dedicated to uncovering the mysteries of the universe, it is a critical part of a balanced science program that includes missions of various sizes." SPHEREx will survey the sky in optical as well as near-infrared light which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way." [...]

How plants expand their capacity to use solar energy

"Research from the lab of assistant professor of chemistry Gabriela Schlau-Cohen advances the understanding of plants' photosynthetic machinery. Green plants capture light that spans the visible solar spectrum, and while a broad spectral range is required for sufficient absorption, the process requires energy to be funneled rapidly and efficiently downhill to drive charge separation and water splitting. Carotenoids, the accessory pigments in photosynthesis, play light harvesting, photoprotective, and structural roles. Understanding these roles, however, has proved to be a challenge due to the fact that carotenoid's energetics are highly sensitive to their environment. Now a team led by Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Assistant Professor Gabriela Schlau-Cohen has discovered that a single carotenoid — LHCII — in the major antenna complex of green plants serves as the nexus of light harvesting by accum ulating energy and transferring it through a debated dark state. These photophysics reveal how plants expand their capacity to capture and utilize solar energy." [...]

Magnetic graphene switches between insulator and conductor

"Researchers have found that certain ultra-thin magnetic materials can switch from insulator to conductor under high pressure, a phenomenon that could be used in the development of next-generation electronics and memory storage devices. The international team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, say that their results, reported in the journal Physical Review Letters, will aid in understanding the dynamic relationship between the electronic and structural properties of the material, sometimes referred to as ‘magnetic graphene’, and may represent a new way to produce two-dimensional materials. Magnetic graphene, or iron trithiohypophosphate (FePS3), is from a family of materials known as van der Waals materials, and was first synthesised in the 1960s. In the past decade however, researchers have started looking at FePS3 with fresh eyes. Similar to graphene – a two-dimensional form of carbon – FePS3 can be ‘exfoliated’ into ultra-thin layers. Unlike graphene however, FePS3 is magnetic." [...]

IT in cars: Computers on standby

"In the future, cars will exchange data via radio and warn each other about obstacles and accidents. There are currently various radio standards in existence to allow this. However, it is almost impossible to compare them, because the requisite hardware is not yet on the market. To address this lack, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute, HHI have developed a software system that will enable users to analyze the future wireless technology. For manufacturers, this is an ideal solution for testing interesting radio applications at an early stage. Slowly but surely, the automobile is developing into the autonomous vehicle, as new functions are added with each new generation." [...]

Controlling Charge Flow by Managing Electron Holes

"Researchers watch and measure in real time charge dynamics between layers of oxide materials, offering insights into solar cells. The Science Much remains to be learned about how charge moves along the molecules that make up the layers of materials in solar cells. These details have remained hidden because of the challenges of direct, real-time observation of motion of electrons and their holes at interfaces where two solar-cell materials meet. Using ultrafast extreme ultraviolet pulses, researchers watched as holes were injected across the interface materials found in hybrid perovskite solar cells. The bursts of extreme ultraviolet light were only femtoseconds in duration. The bursts allowed ultrafast, element-specific measurements." [...]

Quantum leap

"Cambridge researchers are devising new methods to keep sensitive information out of the hands of hackers. They launched the UK’s first ‘unhackable’ network – made safe by the “laws of physics” – in 2018. When buying an item online, we voluntarily hand over our credit card information. But how do we know that it’s safe? Most sensitive information sent over the internet is secured through encryption, a process that converts information into a code that can only be unlocked by those with the encryption key. Currently, encryption keys are essentially impossible to break with conventional computing equipment – it would simply take too long and too much computing power to do the mathematical calculations that could reveal the key." [...]

New materials for high-voltage supercapacitors

"The new material has an energy density 2.7 times higher than conventional materials A research team led by Tohoku University in Japan has developed new materials for supercapacitors with higher voltage and better stability than other materials. Their research was recently published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science. Supercapacitors are rechargeable energy storage devices with a broad range of applications, from machinery to smart meters. They offer many advantages over batteries, including faster charging and longer lifespans, but they are not so good at storing lots of energy. Scientists have long been looking for high-performance materials for supercapacitors that can meet the requirements for energy-intensive applications such as cars. "It is very challenging to find materials which can both operate at high-voltage and remain stable under harsh conditions," says Hirotomo Nishihara, materials scientist at Tohoku University and co-author of the paper." [...]

Scientists Discover New Type of Magnet

"A team of scientists has discovered the first robust example of a new type of magnet—one that holds promise for enhancing the performance of data storage technologies. “Singlet-Based” Magnet Attracts Promise for Enhanced Data Storage A team of scientists has discovered the first robust example of a new type of magnet—one that holds promise for enhancing the performance of data storage technologies. This “singlet-based” magnet differs from conventional magnets, in which small magnetic constituents align with one another to create a strong magnetic field. By contrast, the newly uncovered singlet-based magnet has fields that pop in and out of existence, resulting in an unstable force—but also one that potentially has more flexibility than conventional counterparts. “There’s a great deal of research these days into the use of magnets and magnetism to improve data storage technologies,” explains Andrew Wray, an assistant professor of physics at New York University, who led the research team. “Singlet-based magnets should have a more sudden transition between magnetic and non-magnetic phases." [...]

Scientists Develop First Fabric to Automatically Cool or Insulate Depending on Conditions

"Despite decades of innovation in fabrics with high-tech thermal properties that keep marathon runners cool or alpine hikers warm, there has never been a material that changes its insulating properties in response to the environment. Until now. University of Maryland researchers have created a fabric that can automatically regulate the amount of heat that passes through it depending on conditions. For example, when conditions are warm and moist, such as those of a sweating body on a summer day, the fabric allows infrared radiation (radiant heat) to pass through. When conditions become cooler and drier, the fabric reduces the heat that escapes. Infrared radiation is a primary way the body releases heat and is the focus of this new technology." [...]

How safe is graphene?

"Graphene is considered one of the most interesting and versatile materials of our time. The application possibilities inspire both research and industry. But are products containing graphene also safe for humans and the environment? A comprehensive review, developed as part of the European graphene flagship project with the participation of Empa researchers, investigated this question. Graphene, a single layer of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms, is regarded as the miracle material of the future: it is flexible, transparent, strong, can assume different electrical properties and has the highest thermal conductivity of all known materials. This makes it extremely interesting for countless possible applications." [...]

Neutrons Unlock Properties of Novel Porous Metal-Hydride for Possible New Energy Storage Applications

"Separating gases such as hydrogen from larger compounds in the air is an important part of manufacturing and energy production. But it’s also an expensive process, requiring large amounts of energy and a complicated network of heavy machinery in order to be profitable. Yaroslav Filinchuk, a professor of chemistry from the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, and Michael Heere, a researcher from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and affiliate of the Forschungsreaktor München II research reactor in Munich, Germany, may have a solution to this problem. Using neutron scattering at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Filinchuk and Heere are investigating a material that could change the way we harvest valuable industrial materials. “We have a unique material. It’s the first porous metal hydride material in its unique class,” said Filinchuk." [...]

Putting neural networks under the microscope

"Researchers pinpoint the “neurons” in machine-learning systems that capture specific linguistic features during language-processing tasks. Researchers from MIT and the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) are putting the machine-learning systems known as neural networks under the microscope. In a study that sheds light on how these systems manage to translate text from one language to another, the researchers developed a method that pinpoints individual nodes, or “neurons,” in the networks that capture specific linguistic features. Neural networks learn to perform computational tasks by processing huge sets of training data. In machine translation, a network crunches language data annotated by humans, and presumably “learns” linguistic features, such as word morphology, sentence structure, and word meaning. Given new text, these networks match these learned features from one language to another, and produce a translation." [...]

Observing hydrogen's effects in metal

"Microscopy technique could help researchers design safer reactor vessels or hydrogen storage tanks. Hydrogen, the second-tiniest of all atoms, can penetrate right into the crystal structure of a solid metal. That’s good news for efforts to store hydrogen fuel safely within the metal itself, but it’s bad news for structures such as the pressure vessels in nuclear plants, where hydrogen uptake eventually makes the vessel’s metal walls more brittle, which can lead to failure. But this embrittlement process is difficult to observe because hydrogen atoms diffuse very fast, even inside the solid metal. Now, researchers at MIT have figured out a way around that problem, creating a new technique that allows the observation of a metal surface during hydrogen penetration. Their findings are described in a paper appearing today in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, by MIT postdoc Jinwoo Kim and Thomas B." [...]

Gummy-like robots could help prevent disease

"EPFL scientists have developed microscopic, hydrogel-based muscles that can manipulate and mechanically stimulate biological tissue. These soft, biocompatible robots could be used for targeted therapy and to help diagnose and prevent disease. Human tissues experience a variety of mechanical stimuli that can affect their ability to carry out their physiological functions, such as protecting organs from injury. The controlled application of such stimuli to living tissues in vivo and in vitro has now proven instrumental to studying the conditions that lead to disease. At EPFL, Selman Sakar’s research team has developed micromachines able to mechanically stimulate cells and microtissue. These tools, which are powered by cell-sized artificial muscles, can carry out complicated manipulation tasks under physiological conditions on a microscopic scale." [...]

New Method Improves Infrared Imaging Performance

"Approach suppresses spectral cross-talk in dual-band photodetectors A new method developed by Northwestern Engineering’s Manijeh Razeghi has greatly reduced a type of image distortion caused by the presence of spectral cross-talk between dual-band long-wavelength photodetectors. The work opens the door for a new generation of high spectral-contrast infrared imaging devices with applications in medicine, defense and security, planetary sciences, and art preservation. “Dual-band photodetectors offer many benefits in infrared imaging, including higher quality images and more available data for image processing algorithms,” said Razeghi, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering. “However, performance can be limited by spectral cross-talk interference between the two channels, which leads to poor spectral contrast and prevents infrared camera technology from reaching its true potential.” A paper outlining her work, titled “Suppressing Spectral Crosstalk in Dual-Band Long- Wavelength Infrared Photodetectors with Monolithically Integrated Air-Gapped Distributed Bragg Reflectors,” was recently published in the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. Dual-band imaging allows for objects to be seen in multiple wavelength channels through a single infrared camera. The use of dual-band detection in night-vision cameras, for example, can help the wearer better distinguish between moving targets and objects in the background." [...]

Scientists image conducting edges in a promising 2-D material

"Experimental study done at UC Riverside and University of Washington on monolayer tungsten ditelluride could lead to more energy-efficient electronic devices A research team comprised of scientists at the University of California, Riverside, and the University of Washington has for the first time directly imaged “edge conduction” in monolayer tungsten ditelluride, or WTe2, a newly discovered 2-D topological insulator and quantum material. The research makes it possible to exploit this edge conduction feature to build more energy-efficient electronic devices. In a typical conductor, electrical current flows everywhere. Insulators, on the other hand, do not readily conduct electricity. In topological insulators, a special type of material, the interior works as an insulator, but the boundaries of such materials are guaranteed to be conductive due to its topological property, resulting in a feature called “topological edge conduction.” Topology is the mathematical study of the properties of a geometric figure or solid that is unchanged by stretching or bending. Applying this concept to electronic materials leads to discoveries of many interesting phenomena, including topological edge conduction." [...]

Supercomputing Propels Jet Atomization Research for Industrial Processes

"Researchers employ HPC to help bring spray simulations to a commercial level. Whether it is designing the most effective method for fuel injection in engines, building machinery to water acres of farmland, or painting a car, humans rely on liquid sprays for countless industrial processes that enable and enrich our daily lives. To understand how to make liquid jet spray cleaner and more efficient, though, researchers have to focus on the little things: Scientists must observe fluids flowing in atomic, microsecond detail in order to begin to understand one of science’s great challenges—turbulent motion in fluids. Experiments serve as an important tool for understanding industrial spray processes, but researchers have increasingly come to rely on simulation for understanding and modelling the laws governing the chaotic, turbulent motions present when fluids are flowing quickly. A team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Markus Klein at the Bundeswehr University Munich (German: Universität der Bundeswehr München) understood that modelling the complexities of turbulence accurately and efficiently requires it to employ high-performance computing (HPC), and recently, it has been using Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS) resources at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Garching near Munich to create high-end flow simulations for better understanding turbulent fluid motion. “Our goal is to develop simulation software that someone can apply commercially for real engineering problems,” says Dr. Josef Haßlberger, collaborator on the Klein team." [...]

New center to bring higher-performance computing at lower cost

"The cost of computing has been steadily decreasing as companies pack more components and functions onto a single chip, for applications ranging from smartphones to large mainframe computers. The problem is that there is a limit to how small the main components that make these functions possible; transistors, can shrink to fit on-chip and still provide higher performance and energy efficiency. Instead of cramming more transistors onto a single chip, companies have been exploring stacking or arranging multiple chips close to each other into a single assembled unit to boost performance and keep manufacturing costs low – a technique called heterogeneous integration. Through a new center funded by the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), Purdue University and Binghamton University will improve how to "package," or protect and supply power to, chips of various functions integrated together. The Center for Heterogeneous Integration Research in Packaging, or CHIRP, will be co-directed by Ganesh Subbarayan, professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue, and Bahgat Sammakia, vice president for research and a distinguished professor of mechanical engineering at Binghamton. Subbarayan developed the winning proposal together with Sammakia and Kanad Ghose, professor of computer science at Binghamton." [...]

KAIST Develops Core Technology for Ultra-small 3D Image Sensor

"A KAIST research team developed a silicon optical phased array (OPA) chip, which can be a core component for three-dimensional image sensors. This research was co-led by PhD candidate Seong-Hwan Kim and Dr. Jong-Bum You from the National Nanofab Center (NNFC). A 3D image sensor adds distance information to a two-dimensional image, such as a photo, to recognize it as a 3D image. It plays a vital role in various electronics including autonomous vehicles, drones, robots, and facial recognition systems, which require accurate measurement of the distance from objects. Many automobile and drone companies are focusing on developing 3D image sensor systems, based on mechanical light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems. However, it can only get as small as the size of a fist and has a high possibility of malfunctioning because it employs a mechanical method for laser beam-steering." [...]

Using artificial intelligence to engineer materials' properties

"New system of “strain engineering” can change a material’s optical, electrical, and thermal properties. Applying just a bit of strain to a piece of semiconductor or other crystalline material can deform the orderly arrangement of atoms in its structure enough to cause dramatic changes in its properties, such as the way it conducts electricity, transmits light, or conducts heat. Now, a team of researchers at MIT and in Russia and Singapore have found ways to use artificial intelligence to help predict and control these changes, potentially opening up new avenues of research on advanced materials for future high-tech devices. The findings appear this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in a paper authored by MIT professor of nuclear science and engineering and of materials science and engineering Ju Li, MIT Principal Research Scientist Ming Dao, and MIT graduate student Zhe Shi, with Evgeni Tsymbalov and Alexander Shapeev at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Russia, and Subra Suresh, the Vannevar Bush Professor Emeritus and former dean of engineering at MIT and current president of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Already, based on earlier work at MIT, some degree of elastic strain has been incorporated in some silicon processor chips. Even a 1 percent change in the structure can in some cases improve the speed of the device by 50 percent, by allowing electrons to move through the material faster." [...]

Chemical Engineering research to turn plastic waste into clean fuels

"The United Nations estimates that more than 8 million tons of plastics flow into the oceans each year. A new chemical conversion process could transform the world’s polyolefin waste, a form of plastic, into useful products, such as clean fuels and other items. “Our strategy is to create a driving force for recycling by converting polyolefin waste into a wide range of valuable products, including polymers, naphtha (a mixture of hydrocarbons), or clean fuels,” said Linda Wang, the Maxine Spencer Nichols Professor in the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University and leader of the research team developing this technology. “Our conversion technology has the potential to boost the profits of the recycling industry and shrink the world’s plastic waste stock.” Wang, Kai Jin, a graduate student, and Wan-Ting (Grace) Chen, a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue, are the inventors of the technology, which can convert more than 90 percent of polyolefin waste into many different products, including pure polymers, naphtha, fuels, or monomers. The team is collaborating with Gozdem Kilaz, an assistant professor in the School of Engineering Technology, and her doctoral research assistant, Petr Vozka, in the Fuel Laboratory of Renewable Energy of the School of Engineering Technology, to optimize the conversion process to produce high-quality gasoline or diesel fuels. The conversion process incorporates selective extraction and hydrothermal liquefaction." [...]

Researchers use X-rays to understand the flaws of battery fast charging

"A closer look reveals how speedy charging may hamper battery performance. While gas tanks can be filled in a matter of minutes, charging the battery of an electric car takes much longer. To level the playing field and make electric vehicles more attractive, scientists are working on fast-charging technologies. “Fast charging is very important for electric vehicles,” said battery scientist Daniel Abraham of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. ​“We’d like to be able to charge an electric vehicle battery in under 15 minutes, and even faster if possible.” “By seeing exactly how the lithium is distributed within the electrode, we’re gaining the ability to precisely determine the inhomogeneous way in which a battery ages.” — Daniel Abraham, Argonne battery scientist The principal problem with fast charging happens during the transport of lithium ions from the positive cathode to the negative anode. If the battery is charged slowly, the lithium ions extracted from the cathode gradually slot themselves between the planes of carbon atoms that make up the graphite anode — a process known as lithium intercalation." [...]

Quantum strangeness gives rise to new electronics

"Citing the startling advances in semiconductor technology of the time, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965 proposed that the number of transistors on a chip would double each year — the accuracy of that observation has been borne out. Still, it’s unlikely Moore could have foreseen the extent of the electronics revolution currently underway. Today, a new breed of devices that bear unique properties is being developed. As ultra-miniaturization continues apace, researchers have begun to explore the intersection of physical and chemical properties occurring at the molecular scale. Advances in this fast-paced domain could improve devices for data storage and information processing and aid in the development of molecular switches, among other innovations. Arizona State University's Nongjian “NJ” Tao and his collaborators recently described a series of studies into electrical conductance through single molecules." [...]

Across the spectrum: Researchers find way to stabilize color of light in next-gen material

"A team of Florida State University physicists has found a way to stabilize the color of light being emitted from a promising class of next-generation materials that researchers believe could be the basis for efficient and more cost-effective optoelectronic technologies that can turn light into electricity or vice versa. The research is published in Nature Communications. “This particular work is solving a critical problem that has inhibited the development of viable applications based on these materials,” said Assistant Professor of Physics Hanwei Gao. Gao and physics doctoral student Xi Wang were working with a class of materials called halide perovskites. Researchers believe these materials have great potential for optoelectronic technologies because they are inexpensive to obtain and highly efficient. However, in these technologies, scientists need to be able to tune the bandgap or the color of the light emission." [...]

What does it take to make a better battery?

"Cambridge researchers are working to solve one of technology’s biggest puzzles: how to build next-generation batteries that could power a green revolution. Like many of us, when I wake up I reach for the phone on my bedside table and begin scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, email and news apps. I listen to streamed music as I get ready for work and podcasts during my commute. By the time I reach the office, my phone already needs a boost. It’s not even 9am. It’s a modern miracle that we have computers in our pockets more powerful than those which supported the moon landings." [...]

New LSB with Theoretical Capacity over 90%

"A KAIST research team has developed a lithium sulfur battery (LSB) that realizes 92% of the theoretical capacity and an areal capacity of 4mAh/cm2. LSBs are gaining a great deal of attention as an alternative for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) because they have a theoretical energy density up to six to seven times higher than that of LIBs, and can be manufactured in a more cost-effective way. However, LSBs face the obstacle of having a capacity reaching its theoretical maximum because they are prone to uncontrolled growth of lithium sulfide on the electrodes, which leads to blocking electron transfer. To address the problem of electrode passivation, researchers introduced additional conductive agent into the electrode; however, it drastically lowered the energy density of LSBs, making it difficult to exceed 70% of the theoretical capacity. Professor Hee-Tak Kim from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and his team replaced the lithium salt anions used in conventional LSB electrolytes with anions with a high donor number. The team successfully induced the three-dimensional growth of lithium sulfide on electrode surfaces and efficiently delayed the electrode passivation." [...]

UC Riverside physicists create exotic electron liquid

"The first production of an electron liquid at room temperature opens the way for new optoelectronic devices and basic physics studies y bombarding an ultrathin semiconductor sandwich with powerful laser pulses, physicists at the University of California, Riverside, have created the first “electron liquid” at room temperature. The achievement opens a pathway for development of the first practical and efficient devices to generate and detect light at terahertz wavelengths — between infrared light and microwaves. Such devices could be used in applications as diverse as communications in outer space, cancer detection, and scanning for concealed weapons. The research could also enable exploration of the basic physics of matter at infinitesimally small scales and help usher in an era of quantum metamaterials, whose structures are engineered at atomic dimensions. The UCR physicists published their findings online Feb. 4 in the journal Nature Photonics. They were led by Associate Professor of Physics Nathaniel Gabor, who directs the UCR Quantum Materials Optoelectronics Lab." [...]

Scientists build the smallest optical frequency comb to-date

"Scientists from EPFL and the Russian Quantum Center have built a photonic integrated, compact, and portable soliton microcomb source. The device is less than 1 cm3 in size, and is driven by an on-chip indium phosphide laser consuming less than 1 Watt of electrical power. It can be used in LIDAR, data center interconnects, and even satellites. The study is published in Nature Communications. Optical frequency combs are laser sources whose spectrum consists of a series of discrete, equally spaced frequency lines that can be used for precise measurements. In the last two decades, they have become a major tool for applications such as precise distance measurement, spectroscopy, and telecommunications." [...]

Attosecond Photoelectron Spectroscopy Accelerated

"The laser physicists involved in the MEGAS collaboration have succeeded in reducing the acquisition time for data required for reliable characterization of multidimensional electron motions by a factor of 1000 It may sound paradoxical, but capturing the ultrafast motions of subatomic particles is actually very time-consuming. Experiments designed to track the dynamics of electrons often take weeks. Mapping the frantic gyrations of elementary particles entails the use of extraordinarily brief laser pulses, and low signal-to-noise ratios necessitate the accumulation of huge datasets over long periods. Now members of the MEGAS project – a research collaboration between the Laboratory of Attosecond Physics (LAP) at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics (MPQ), the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich (LMU), and the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering and for Laser Technology – have significantly reduced the duration of such experiments. The advent of ultrafast photoelectron spectroscopy some two decades ago made it possible to observe the motions of electrons in atoms, molecules and solid-state materials on attosecond scales (an attosecond lasts for a billionth of a billionth of a second). However, application of the technique has been limited by the need to collect large datasets." [...]

Running an LED in reverse could cool future computers

"In a finding that runs counter to a common assumption in physics, researchers at the University of Michigan ran a light emitting diode (LED) with electrodes reversed in order to cool another device mere nanometers away. The approach could lead to new solid-state cooling technology for future microprocessors, which will have so many transistors packed into a small space that current methods can’t remove heat quickly enough. “We have demonstrated a second method for using photons to cool devices,” said Pramod Reddy, who co-led the work with Edgar Meyhofer, both professors of mechanical engineering. The first—known in the field as laser cooling—is based on the foundational work of Arthur Ashkin, who shared the Nobel prize in Physics in 2018. The researchers instead harnessed the chemical potential of thermal radiation—a concept more commonly used to explain, for example, how a battery works. “Even today, many assume that the chemical potential of radiation is zero,” Meyhofer said." [...]

newelectronics 12 Fevereiro 2019

"New Electronics is a fortnightly magazine focusing on technological innovation, news and the latest developments in the electronics sector. Downloadable as a digital page turner or pdf file, or offered as a hard copy, the New Electronics magazine is available in a format to suit you" [...]

DIY Stepper Motor Controller

"Remember those DC motors, all you need too do is to hook up the positive and negative leads to a battery and holla it starts running. But as we started doing more complex projects those DC motors doesn't seems to deliver what you need.... yes I mean efficiency, precision and above all torque without any gear reduction. Well the story started as I planned to built a semi automatic drill press which can help you drill through objects like a usual drill press but with the help of a foot pedal so that you can hold the object with both your hands without the need of a helping hand. Long story short I need a motor that can move the drilling head up and down precisely and also offers a good amount of torque. Failing to get all those from a simple DC motor I decided to use a stepper motor. Yes the one that has four wires and thats all I knew about them.So I in this instructables we are going to make a controller for these four wire stepper motors that enables us to control the speed and direction of the motor without using a micro controller." [...]

Building a Spot Welding Machine From a Microwave Oven Transformer

"In this project I am making a DIY spot welding machine to be used for building battery packs with 18650 lithium ion cells. I also have a professional spot welder, model Sunkko 737G which is around $100 but I can happily say that my DIY spot welder out-performs the professional spot welder by outputting higher currents and being able to solder pure nickel strips to the batteries. There were a few obstacles in the process and a few things I've learned so I hope this tutorial will guide you if you decide to build one yourself. " [...]

6502 retro controller board

"Classic CPU as an "Arduino style" microcontroller An attempt to create "Adruino inspired" set of modular boards, containing thirty years old parts - primarily vintage 6502 microprocessor. About one year ago I noticed that some sellers on popular Chinese auction site offer quite cheap MOS6502 chips. Initially I suspected nothing more than broken or counterfeit parts, but out of curiosity I decided to order couple of them anyway. I was pleasantly surprised when my package finally arrived one month later - initial experiments performed on a breadboard confirmed that those parts are in fact genuine MOS6502 microprocessors. So, I decided to use them for something useful. Most obvious idea was to develop own 8-bit retro computer." [...]

Build A Water Quality Tester You Can Hear

"Can you be electrocuted in the bathtub? Sure — but only because the water’s not pure. Many people don’t realize that absolutely pure water doesn’t conduct electricity. This is because the hydrogen and oxygen atoms don’t have free electrons. In a typical domestic water supply, it’s the impurities such as sodium, calcium, and magnesium salts that enable electrons to flow. This interesting fact means that you can assess the purity of water by measuring its electrical resistance." [...]

Individually Addressable LED Hula Hoop

"In this instructable I am going to show you how to make your own individually addressable LED hula hoop. Individually addressable means that each LED in the hoop can have a different color at the same time. I wanted to create some nice LED patterns and with individually addressable LEDs you have much more flexibility. This was my first ever electronics project. As a first ever electronics project I can tell you that this was not an easy one. There were a lot of things to figure out and I wanted to share my discoveries with people who - like me when I started this project - don't have a lot of experience with electronics." [...]

Infinity Mirror Valentine's Candy Box

"An infinity mirror is an optical illusion that makes a single row of lights look like countless rows of lights, receding into the void forever. It's created by placing a one-way mirror over a second mirror with lights in-between. The lights turn the upper mirror transparent from the outside. Inside, the two mirrored surfaces reflect each other in ever decreasing images. The lights appear to be marching in perspective towards a vanishing point, which gives them the feeling of depth. This guide will show you how to build an infinity mirror box lid and light it two different ways: a Mini Box that uses press-on Circuit Sticker LEDs an Animated Box that uses a strip of NeoPixels controlled by an Adafruit Gemma M0 programmed in beginner-friendly MakeCode." [...]

Bluetooth LE MIDI Controller

"A Different Looking MIDI Controller In this guide, I'll show you how I built this strange looking MIDI controller. It doesn't look like your typical drumpad or keyboard, but it does have similar functionality just like any standard MIDI controller. It features six capacitive touch pads that trigger MIDI notes. Tap one of the pads, and it plays a note. It also features a step sequencer so you can record and playback a pattern. The 16 NeoPixel ring displays a glowing dot for each step which also follows the beat of a given tempo." [...]

RIOT: The friendly Operating System for the Internet of Things

"RIOT powers the Internet of Things like Linux powers the Internet. RIOT is a free, open source operating system developed by a grassroots community gathering companies, academia, and hobbyists, distributed all around the world. RIOT supports most low-power IoT devices and microcontroller architectures (32-bit, 16-bit, 8-bit). RIOT aims to implement all relevant open standards supporting an Internet of Things that is connected, secure, durable & privacy-friendly. " [...]

ESP8266 E1.31 Multiplexing Pixel Controller

"Unicast E1.31 to WS2811/WS2812 WiFi controller, output up to 1360 pixels (8 ports/universes, 170 pixels per port, 4080 channels). I was looking for a relatively inexpensive way to drive a large number of WS2811/WS2812 LED Pixels from Vixen/Falcon Pi Player, for my Christmas light display. Most pre-built controllers I found are expensive and most diy versions are a single channel/universe per controller. So, I set out to code/build my own. Hardware: On the hardware side, the ESP8266 fit the price point well, and even though I wasn't initially crazy about a wireless solution, I set out to see how many pixels I could get it to successfully drive. I settled on the Wemos D1 Mini Pro for the job." [...]

8x8x8 Led Cube

"In this instructable, we're going to show how to build an 8x8x8 Led Cube. All started as an idea for the subject 'Creative Electronics', belonging to the Electronics Engineering 4th year module at the University of Mlaga, School of Telecommunications (https://www.uma.es/etsi-de-telecomunicacion/ ) The project in general consists in a co-design hardware and software. The hardware part is composed of the Cube, and all the connections, as well as a base which support the design. The software part consists in an scalable library, which has been implemented in order to be useful for other projects. Controlled by an Arduino Uno, five hundred and twelve leds form this cube, and as they are separated in columns and layers, each one can be switched on individually. We present some steps that can make the project easier, although this takes some days soldering." [...]

Beating Heart LED Valentine Ornament

"In this Instructable I'll show you how I've built an LED ornament for Valentines day that I gave as a gift to my wife. The circuit is very simple and it is based on the classic astible multivibrator that uses two transistors with two capacitors to alternatively flash two sets of LEDs. The circuit is most commonly done with just a single LED per transistor but you can add more without issues. The only difference is that the more LEDs you add the faster those blinks will be but that can also be addressed with bigger capacitors. " [...]

BLE Light Switch with Feather nRF52840 and Crickit

"Build your own Bluetooth, remote-controlled robotic light switch to turn on and off the lights! Using CircuitPython running on the Feather nRF52840 Express and Crickit FeatherWing to flip the switch with a servo motor, you can avoid all of the complexities and dangers of high voltage mains wiring! The 3D printed actuator, mount, and case makes it reliable and tidy. And the Adafruit Bluefruit app running on your iOS or Android device makes it fun and easy! " [...]

Spectrum Analyzer

"This project was for 'Creative Electronics', a Beng Electronics Engineering 4th year module at the University of Mlaga, School of Telecommunications (https://www.uma.es/etsi-de-telecomunicacion/). The project has been designed and assembled by Carlos Almagro, Diego Jimnez and Alejandro Santana, we have made a box music player controlled by a Arduino Mega (we have chosen it because Arduino Leonardo wasn't powerful enough for the neopixel matrix), that shows through a 8x32 neopixel matrix the spectrum of music. The main idea is to sample the sound signal in 8 bars (one bar in order to represent each frecuency interval, until 20kHz). The signal enters through a jack 3.5 port and goes to the arduino and the speakears, previous step of being amplified. " [...]

ATTiny10IDE

"ATTiny10IDE is a simple, GNU-based IDE I originally wrote to simplify writing code for the ATTiny10 Series Microcontrollers using C. C++ or Assembly language. This new version is a greatly expanded and updated version I started working on in 2014. See this article for some additional details on how this project started. For this new release, I've added support for the ATTiny25/45/85 and ATTiny24/44/84 series of microcontrollers, as well support for programming them using an ICSP Programmer. And, there's also an experimental feature for automatic generation of function prototypes. If you just want to try out the program, you don't need to download and compile the source code, as I try to maintain a pre-built, executable JAR file in the out/artifacts/ATTiny10IDE_jar folder from which you can download and run ATTiny10IDE as long as you have Java installed on your system." [...]

Infinity Mirror Wall Lights

"After making an infinity mirror clock and an infinity mirror candle holder I decided to make an infinity mirror wall light. This time instead of placing the mirror parallel to each other I decided to place the back mirror at an angle so I can get a curved effect. This was actually the main reason I started this project. As an experiment to see how this would work. Of course I made a video of the process because my English are bad so a video would be a better way to explain! Click on the picture below!" [...]

5W High Power LED Driver

"The project described here is small 5W LED driver, that can be used in variety of applications by changing the mcu code. The example code provided is a simple digital toggle switch using two tactile switches. One switch is used for power ON and the other for OFF. The on board small trimmer potentiometer helps in development of LED dimmer, jumper can be used for LED on/off timer projects. PIC12F683 from Microchip is the heart of the project, TIP122 NPN BJT helps to drive the LED. It is advisable to used large size heat sink for the LED." [...]

ESP32 WiFi Robot

"3D Printed ESP32 Powered Video Streaming Robot The ESP32 WiFi robot is a shrunken-down version of the ZeroBot (https://hackaday.io/project/25092). Instead of a Raspberry Pi, it is powered by the similarly popular ESP32. Despite its lower processing power, the ESP32 robot has a ton of features. It streams color video over WiFi, runs on a small LiPo battery and can be controlled accurately from any web browser. With the 4€ Esp32 and a 3€ camera, it's also really cheap. Features: - Fully 3D printed chassis,(almost) no glue needed - Analog controls using a websocket interface - Low latency streaming (~100ms) at 120x160px - Custom PCB, no more messy wiring - Works with any 3.7V LiPo battery - Micro USB for programming and charging" [...]

DIY Hydraulic Benchtop Press

"Dimensions 750x470x320mm including the truss and the footings. The main frame with the truss can handle a 6T jack mounded at the upper side of frame with no problems of distortions or cracks. If you plan to use a 3T jack, the truss can be skipped. It is a tool, that can handle vary tasks, according the dies that we have or that we will made. It is a circle without end. What isHydraulic Press A Hydraulic Press is a machine press using a hydraulic cylinder to generate a compressive force." [...]

Midi Keypad

"Making music with a keypad? Seems like a weird idea! But we will see with the good software, we can even make an electric guitar out of it! In order to learn how to make MIDI instrument (musical instruments that can be used in music software), I tried to plugging buttons on an Arduino Micro. I figure out, I could simply plug a keypad instead to have 16 buttons! Keypads don't works well when you want to use multiples buttons at the same time, but it still a lot of fun." [...]

EInk Smart Calendar

"What does it do? It's a raspberry pi based smart calendar that can tell you the current date, weather, and your events on Google calendar. Updates once per hour. Also supports manual update with a press of button. Get started First you need to get a few components: Raspberry pi (2 or 3 or zero) and SD card (with OS installed) EInk display: Waveshare 7.5 inch black and white display A 7.5 inch photo frame A pushbutton An LED 330 Ohm resistor Breadboard" [...]

trsnic

"trsnic is a general purpose WiFi TCP/IP network interface for the TRS-80 line of microcomputers. It is a fork of and therefore derived from and inspired by Arno Puder's amazing RetroStoreCard. The product will initially support the TRS-80 Model III and 4 as this is the current support level of the RetroStoreCard source repository. The long term goal is to support all TRS-80s, including the Models I/II/III/4/12/16/16B/6000. See the RetroStoreCard repository for details on how to configure the card. trsnic provides the foundational protocols required to implement existing network interactions on the TRS-80 microcomputer." [...]

Arduino based Multimeter

"In this tutorial we will merge all the parts seen in these past tutorials here. In those tutorials we have seen how to measure resistance, current, indcutnace and capacitance. Measure voltage is very easy. In this tutorial we make a 5 in 1 multimeter based on an Arduino, an ADC module and an LC tank circuit. The case is 3D printed. You have the schematic, code and all you need to amke this project." [...]

DIY Semi-Automatic Drill Press

"This instructable will get you through the idea of making a semi-automatic drill press thats small enough to fit on a table top and is made out of common hardware that anyone can easily get access of. Besides of having a bunch of cordless hand tools I always look forward to build or modify my own tools that make a particular sort of job easier to do than by using a traditional tool. So the idea of making a semi-automatic drill press came in my mind as I was making a bunch of floating shelves and needed to drill a straight hole almost all the way across the hardwood boards. So for that I needed a drill press and I just thought that what if we make a drill press thats operated by a foot pedal so that I can hold the object with both hands making sure the hole goes in the right place. So thats exactly what we are going to do, building a semi-automatic drill press. Lets Built it....." [...]

ATtiny13 - 8bit mono class D amplifier

"I always wonder whether it is possible to make an amplifier of class D on ATtiny13 or not. Some time ago I found George Gardner’s project based on ATtiny85 – TinyD. It was a sign to start challenging it with ATtiny13. It took me a few hours but finally I made it! The code is very short and useses a lot of hardware settings which has been explained line-by-line in the comments. The project runs on ATtiny13 with maximum internal clock source (9.6MHz)." [...]

Tritium Tesseract - HyperCube

"I've had this idea for awhile that involves designing a tesseract in the physical world, at least some type of representation of it. One of the things that comes to mind are the very cool infinity mirror style designs and shapes. In order for those to work they need to be brighter on the inside than they are on the outside. Since I want this to be a small object, able to be held in the hand, I knew it would be difficult to use electronics. I decided to use tritium vials as the light source! This is kind of a first version, a prototype." [...]

Arduino Bluetooth-Controlled Matrix with Scrolling Text

"Scrolling text on 8x8 matrices controlled from an Android phone. After several attempts to make a scrolling text on the 8x8 matrix, I found the most complete manual on the Embedded Lab page : http://embedded-lab.com/blog/portable-bluetooth-enabled-scrolling-led-matrix-display-part-1/. The device contains an Arduino nano, Bluetooth module for receiving data from the smartphone and 8x8 LED matrices driven by MAX7219. Unlike there, I used ready-made 8x8 matrix modules with MAX7219 chip that can be purchase very cheap on Ebay or Alexpress. At the moment, I only had 7 modules, so I made a small modification of the code. An android application does not exist anymore on Google Play store, so you can download it from : https://bluetooth-spp-pro.en.uptodown.com/android ." [...]

Easy Very Low Power BLE in Arduino Part 3 - Nano V2 Replacement

"This instructable, A Redbear Nano V2 Replacement, is Part 3 of 3. Part 1 – Building Very Low Power BLE devices made Easy with Arduino covers settting up Arduino to code nRF52 low power devices, the programming module and measuring the supply current. It also covers specialized low power timers and comparators and debounced inputs and using pfodApp to connect to and control the nRF52 device. Part 2 – A Very Low Power Temperature Humidity Monitor covers using a Redbear Nano V2 module and an Si7021 temperature/humidity sensor to build a low power battery / solar monitor. It also covers modifying the Si7021 library to be low power, tuning the BLE device to reduce its current consumption to <25uA and designing a custom temperature/humidity display for your mobile. Part 3 – A Redbear Nano V2 Replacement, this one, covers using other nRF52 based modules instead of the Nano V2." [...]

TM4C123G LaunchPad Starter Guide

"As an introduction to embedded programming, development boards such as the TM4C123G launchpad provide a simple way to set up the hardware enough to start programming. However, the process of setting up a development environment for your board can be a little tricky. This guide aims to help you get around all the kinks of getting your launchpad ready to go. " [...]

Start Developing STM32 on Linux

"In this Instructable, I'm going to show you how easy it is to start developing STM32 programs on Linux. I started using Linux as my main machine 2 years ago and haven't been let down. Everything works faster and better than windows. Of course is less convenient from time to time, but it forces you to learn things deeper so you can use it. Anyway, in this instructable, part of a series I'm starting here AND on youtube is about how to start it. Please make sure to watch my youtube video as well where I explain everything as one segment and you can code along side me." [...]

TinyPC - A miniature gaming PC

"Components: - ATtiny1614 microcontroller - SOP14 adapter board - 128x64 OLED screen with SSD1306 driver - JS5208 5 way switch - WS2812B LED - 2mm PMMA optic fiber - micro usb breakout (I used part of a custom PCB from an earlier project, you could use this one for example. Unfortunately all the breakouts I can find use connectors without through hole pins, so they tear out easily.) - power switch (this one looks similar to mine) - Threaded inserts for the LCD case back (These are pretty unnecesary, you can just screw directly into the plastic if you make the hole smaller, or glue the case together. I have a lot of them so I use them for everything. They push into the plastic with a soldering iron set to low heat (~100 °C).) The hole in the side cover (opposite the window) is used to reprogram the MCU without dissasembling the tinypc." [...]

DIY Arduino Cocktail Machine!

"Here's an easy six-step tutorial on how to build your own Arduino cocktail machine! It is relatively easy and cheap to build so let's begin! See the video below to see how the project was built. You can follow the tutorial and build it yourself, but I recommend that you check out this tutorial afterwards, so you can look back at it and see how it was done! Step 1: Building the frame The frame is basically built by eye, and can be sawed out by a jigsaw in some plywood, or you can use a cnc cutter like we did. the measurements aren't that important, as long as they match what you want to have in your final product." [...]

AtticTemp - Temperature / Climate Logger

"High tolerance temperature gauge and climate logger for your attic or other outdoor structures" [...]

AVR HVPP Configurator

"Recently I have got some ATMEGA8L chips that cannot be read nor programmed through USBASP. I was wondering whether these chips are usable or totally broken. I have read the datasheet of chip and realized that the chip may not be able to read if it is locked and/or the fuse settings are wrong. It also mentioned that High Voltage Parallel Programming (HVPP) can be used to rescue the chip. Therefore I build this to test it out. You can make one to rescue your chips as well." [...]

Open Source Data Logger (OPENSDL)

"The aim of this project is to design, build, and test a low-cost measurement system for Building Performance Evaluation studies that includes at least temperature, relative humidity, illuminance, and is extensible to additional sensors, and to develop the prototype of these devices. This results in a customized and affordable system that enable stakeholders conduct the measurements required for building performance evaluation in an efficient and affordable manner by logging multiple environmental parameters at once. The Open Source Data Logger (OPENSDL) developed was compared against a HOBO U12-012 data logger. This commercially available counterpart system, can measure 3 parameters, namely- temperature, RH, and illuminance, and one external channel for other sensor types. A different sensing device would be required for measurement of any other parameter. The characteristics of parameters to be measured are limited to the proprietary hardware and software, which restricts the system to measuring of certain parameters with specific accuracies." [...]

MirrorClock

"Just a side project for fun (actually trying out other combinations with the spy mirror, in this case a combination of diffuse acrylic as kind of light guidance). Nothing new by itself, just a remix/thrown together of well-known technologies 2 circles of spy mirror acrlic hold sheets of normal acrylic in between, where the middle layer holds spaces for diffuse acrylic rods as clock pointer. A strip of WS2812b Leds is then wrapped around, everything covered with 3D-printed parts. In the socket a 3*AA battery holder is used for power supply, control is done with an Arduino Nano (clone) and a PCF8523 real time clock module. Minutes and Hours should be at the moment distiguished by brightness (not really the best way), while both change color over time. Easier and better to distinguish would be of course two different (constant) colors for hours and minutes, but where is the art in useful displays ^^." [...]

ESP-LINK: Wifi-Serial Bridge w/REST&MQTT

"The esp-link firmware connects a micro-controller to the internet using an ESP8266 Wifi module. It implements a number of features: - transparent bridge between Wifi and serial, useful for debugging or inputting into a uC - flash-programming attached Arduino/AVR microcontrollers and LPC800-series and other ARM microcontrollers via Wifi - built-in stk500v1 programmer for AVR uC's: program using HTTP upload of hex file - outbound REST HTTP requests from the attached micro-controller to the internet - MQTT client pub/sub from the attached micro-controller to the internet - serve custom web pages containing data that is dynamically pulled from the attached uC and that contain buttons and fields that are transmitted to the attached uC (feature not fully ready yet) The firmware includes a tiny HTTP server based on esphttpd with a simple web interface, many thanks to Jeroen Domburg for making it available! The REST and MQTT functionality are loosely based on espduino but significantly rewritten and no longer protocol compatible, thanks to tuanpmt for the inspiration! The following people contributed significant functionality to esp-link: brunnels (espduino integration), cskarai (custom dynamic web pages), beegee-tokyo (lots of code documentation), susisstrolch (syslog feature), bc547 and katast (misc contributions). Esp-link is the work of many contributors! Note that http://github.com/jeelabs/esp-link is the original esp-link software which has notably been forked by arduino.org as Esp-Link and shipped with the initial Arduino Uno Wifi." [...]

Humidity and Temperature Monitor with E-Ink Display

"Depending on your climate (and HVAC system) dried herbs can go moldy. A big cause of mold is too high of humidity. That's the reasons for all those silica gel packets in items you get. If you store a lot of dried herbs or anything that requires a controlled humidity (and/or temperature) environment, this project can help by monitoring the temperature and humidity in a container and warn you if they go out of the desired range. In a previous guide: Storage Humidity and Temperature Monitor, we built a simple monitoring project. Specifically, for a small jar." [...]

Build, Hack, and Deploy Detectors to Measure Solar UV Radiation

"Sunlight is essential for our survival, but too much of a good thing can sometimes be harmful. That certainly applies to the invisible ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths of sunlight, for too much exposure to UV can cause sunburn and even skin cancer. Yet, moderate exposure is important, for both mammals and reptiles depend on ultraviolet sunlight to manufacture the vitamin D that supports the growth of bones and fights some diseases. ULTRAVIOLET AND HEALTH Light is specified according to its wavelength. For example, green light near the peak response of human vision has a wavelength of 500 nanometers (nm) or half a micrometer. If UV wavelengths were visible, they would appear adjacent to the violet portion of a rainbow." [...]

Infinity Earrings

"Reusing some left over spy mirror acrylics (because we didn't want to throw away stuff) and experimenting with UV light. While the big led cubes can be scaled up easily, for smaller cubes using LED stripes become to complicated and take to much space. Therefore we needed another light source for the columns. Thats why i exchanged the active stripes with the passive fluorescent material, enlightened by a single LED. As a result, infinity earrings were born (just by chance happening at valentines day :). Since they are easy to make, can reuse left over material and use few different construction techniques as well as electronics, they might be a also a nice idea for children workshops (or even easier/faster: just one micro cube on a small podest similar like the big one in an instructable before) For each mini cube we need a little bit of spy mirror (lasercut into 6 27*27 square millimiter pieces), a 3D printed frame for both mirrors and batteries (2 2032 3V coin cells), a 5mm UV diode and fluorescent paint." [...]