"MEMS: Green pressure sensors tap QMEMS"
Pressure sensors got greener recently when Epson Toyocom (El Segundo, Calif.) announced a quartz microelectromechanical system (QMEMS) technology that eliminates the hazardous oils and gases used in most high-precision pressure sensors. High-precision pressure sensors today contain a pressure-transmitting medium, such as oil, that has the potential of leaking into the environment, an Epson Toyocom spokesperson said. The company’s approach instead measures pressure with a frequency-stable QMEMS tuning fork as the pressure-sensing element. As pressure changes against the sensing element, the pressure-transmitting architecture directly reads out pressure without the risk that oil or hazardous gases will leach into the environment, the spokesperson said. The first model of the new architecture, the XP-7000, can directly measure pressure with an accuracy of ±0.05 percent. The QMEMS sensor is also 40 percent smaller than other, similar pressure sensors, according to Epson Toyocom.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218101881
Altera Cyclone III LS — first low power FPGAs with anti-tamper, design security, design separation
The image highlights how Altera is striving to extend its low power leadership with the Cyclone III LS devices.
Source: Altera.
The Cyclone III LS devices offer up to 200K LEs for less than 0.25W of static power. It is said to be targeting power- and board-space-sensitive applications in all market segments. “Any market that requires low power and security features will require this product,” said Ms Susan Chang, AP marketing manager for Cyclone Series, Altera, underlining the growing importance of low-power FPGAs into power-constrained applications. The devices are shipping to customers now.
A closer look at the Cyclone III LS FPGAs reveals the following:
Low power: 200K LE (logic elements) for under 0.25W; TSMC 60nm low-power (LP) process; and Quartus II software power-aware design flow.
* Information assurance design suite: Offering data protection for information-assurance applications, features include anti-tamper, design security, design separation and IP, design examples, etc.
* High functionality: Featuring densities ranging from 70K to 200K LEs; up to 8.2 Mbits of embedded memory; and up to 396 embedded multipliers.
The Cyclone III LS FPGAs are said to have the most comprehensive IP protection in an FPGA. It protects the IP with anti-tamper and design security. “There is a JTAG port protection to prevent reverse engineering,” Chang added.
Security features include CRC to monitor for configuration changes, zeroizing the device if tampering is detected, and an on-chip oscillator that acts as an uninterruptible clock source for system monitoring.
Design separation features include single-chip redundancy and supporting information-assurance applications. This leads to reduction in power and board space, as well as reduction in BOM (bill of materials) cost — by about 50 percent.
Yet another feature is that of data assurance with design separation. Designers can now create physically isolated partitions with design separation. This protects against time-dependent faults and SEU, and increases the system uptime as well. These enable achieving a higher level of integration on a single device.
Military market and SDR
According to Chang, the military market will be among the most important ones for these devices. Hence, Altera’s clear thrust on design security and prevention of reverse engineering!
Focusing on the size, weight, and power (SWaP), these will support next-generation SDR waveforms with small footprint and low power (e.g., MUOS, SRW), night-vision goggles, and secure communications. It features crypto-modernization moving toward standardization.
The Cyclone III LS devices also support existing SDR (software-defined radio) applications. Chang said that SDR is one common design trend in the military market.
The next-generation software-defined radio (SDR) waveforms require more memory and logic for networking in the field and low power for extended battery life. Some other key requirements include small footprint for board space, data security for multiple channels in a single chip, and IP security and anti-tamper.
As far as the next-generation SDRs are concerned, these devices will facilitate reduction of the overall board space by up to 50 percent, an increase in the battery life by up to 2X, besides facilitating a single-chip secure SDR solution.
Cobalt atoms and carbon rings proposed as subnanometer magnetic storage bits
The researchers predict that bonding of Co dimers on hexagonal carbon rings like benzene or graphene results in a perpendicular arrangement of the dimers with respect to the carbon plane and in a magnetic ground state. In this structure, a division of tasks takes place: while the Co atom closer to the carbon ring is responsible for the chemical bonding, the outer Co atom hosts the larger share of the magnetic moment. The huge magnetic anisotropy of the free dimer is preserved in this structure, since the degeneracy of the highest occupied 3d- orbital is not lifted in a hexagonal symmetry. Thus, it should be possible to circumvent the hitherto favored use of heavy metal substrates to achieve large magnetic anisotropies. On the contrary, robust and easy-to-prepare carbon-based substrates are well suited for this task. Once confirmed, the present results may constitute an important step towards a molecular magnetic storage technology.
Carnival of Space 109
This site contributed its article about General Fusion getting funded by the Canadian government.
Astroengine.com:
The Event Horizon Telescope: Are We Close to Imaging a Black Hole?
(Sub)Millimeter VLBI observations in the near future will combine the angular resolution necessary to identify the overall morphology of quiescent emission, such as an accretion disk or outflow, with a fine enough time resolution to detect possible periodicity in the variable component of emission. In the next few years, it may be possible to identify the spin of the black hole in Sgr A*, either by detecting the periodic signature of hot spots at the innermost stable circular orbit or parameter estimation in models of the quiescent emission. Longer term, a (sub)millimeter VLBI “Event Horizon Telescope” will be able to produce images of the Galactic center emission to the see the silhouette predicted by general relativistic lensing
Several technological advancements are currently in progress to increase the sensitivity of the millimeter VLBI array. A phased array processor to sum the collecting area on Mauna Kea (Weintroub 2008) has been tested. Similar hardware could be used to increase sensitivity at CARMA, Plateau de Bure, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/ submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. Digital backends (DBEs) have been developed to process 1 GHz of data (4 Gbit s−1 with 2-bit Nyquist sampling), and next-generation DBEs will improve upon this by a factor of four. Mark 5B+ recorders can already record 2 Gbit s−1 data streams (presently requiring two at each site per DBE), and the Mark 5C recorders currently being developed will be able to handle even faster data rates. Cryogenic sapphire oscillators are being examined as a possible frequency standard to supplement or replace hydrogen masers to provide greater phase stability, which may improve coherence at higher frequencies.
Future observations will initially focus on improving sensitivity by observing a wider bandwidth and using phased array processors. Dual polarization observations will become a priority not only for the p2 improvement in sensitivity for total-power observations but also to allow full polarimetric VLBI of Sgr A*. Higher frequency observations, such as in the 345 GHz atmospheric window, will provide even greater spatial resolution in a frequency regime where interstellar scattering and optical depth effects are minimized.
The timing is right to move forward on building an Event Horizon Telescope to produce high-fidelity images of Sgr A* as well as other scientifically compelling sources, such as M87. Receivers currently being produced en masse for ALMA could be procured for other millimeter VLBI stations, in many cases providing substantial improvements in sensitivity. Studies of climate and weather will be necessary to provide information on the astronomical suitability of prospective sites for future telescopes, such as those at the present ALMA Test Facility or additional telescopes constructed specifically for millimeter VLBI (which would mesh well with present ALMA construction). Some existing telescopes will require improvements to their systems, such as increasing the bandwidth of the intermediate frequency signal after mixing. It will also be highly desirable to install permanent VLBI hardware at all sites to allow turnkey VLBI observing in order to maximize the efficiency of VLBI observations in terms of personnel time and transportation costs.
Current 1.3 mm VLBI observations have established that the millimeter emission emanates from a compact region offset from the center of the black hole. These data are already being used to constrain key physical parameters (e.g., spin, inclination, orientation) in models of the emission (e.g., RIAF models). Future additions to the VLBI array would allow the millimeter emission to be imaged directly
Check out the Carnival of Space 109 at Twisted physics for a lot more.
Avago’s ultra-thin integrated optical proximity sensor for mobile electronic apps
Avago’s APDS-9120 proximity sensor combines a built-in signal conditioning IC, emitter and detector into a single package which offers both analog and digital output options for easy installation. This proximity sensor is ideal for use in mobile phones, PDAs, handheld games, and notebook computers.
With a surface mountable package size that is 1.1 mm thick by 4.4×4.4mm, the APDS-9120 offers many technical features required by mobile phone manufacturers such as an extended detection range, and superior signal conditioning circuitry, which offers superior performance in bright sunlight conditions.
Additionally, this integrated proximity sensor is very robust and provides application designers with ease of implementation as it eliminates the need for an external LED driver, signal filtering and amplification, as well as sunlight and ambient light immunity. This sensor also incorporates a stuck high protection circuit to preserve LED life.
Competitively priced, the APDS-9120 includes a shutdown mode to conserve power consumption and extend battery life in portable devices. Additionally, the pulse width, burst rate, duty cycle and frequency can be controlled to further minimize power consumption. Moreover, with an external limiting resistor, the LED current of this optical proximity sensor can be configured to a variety of levels.
Key features
* Patented ambient light cancellation circuit. Operational up to 100K lux to prevent false triggering.
* Analog and digital option to provide design and application flexibility.
* One of the longest detection distances available. Typical detection distance of 30 mm based on Kodak 18 percent grey card.
* Sensing capabilities adjustable from 10kHz to 1 MHz to provide faster detector response time.
* Supports burst pulse mode to help reduce power consumption.
* Shutdown current: 1uA maximum.
* Supply voltage: 2.4V to 3.6 V.
* RoHS compliant.
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