Phosphor is plentiful and found more widely than lithium and combined in its two-dimensional form, known as phosphorene, with sodium, it could replace lithium and graphene at the anode of batteries. Lithium ion batteries use graphene and lithium at the anode, but with phosphorene and sodium instead, researchers are expecting a 50% battery capacity boost and far faster charging times. The phosphorene nanoribbons are also expected to enable faster electronics, more efficient solar cells, improved thermoelectric devices, and have applications in nanoelectronics and quantum computing.

“There are a lot of people working on sodium ion batteries, it is fast charging, the capacity is predicted to be 50% more than lithium,” says University College London department of physics and astronomy associate professor, Chris Howard. “We’re trying to electrify vehicles and you know what the charging problems are with these cars, so if you can make it charge quicker, anything quicker is very important to investigate.”

Researchers isolated the 2D phosphorene, which is considered to be the phosphorus equivalent of graphene, in 2014. Howard pointed out that the many papers had been written predicting the wide range of potential uses for phosphorene nanoribbons. “In energy materials, for example, they are predicted to absorb infra-red light and support the excited electronic states, that are required for solar cells,” Howard added. This higher level of IR light absorption would make the solar cell more efficient.

Mass production

The nanoribbons were created by dissolving lithium in liquid ammonia which is at a temperature of -50 degrees Celsius and mixed with black phosphorus. The lithium would be replaced by sodium for the phosphorene, sodium anodes. After 24 hours, the ammonia is replaced with an organic solvent and it is this solvent that creates a solution of nanoribbons of mixed sizes. “We made this [phosphorene nanoribbon] material kind of by chance,” Howard explained. The nanoribbons look like they are corregated, like corregated iron.

The key to its commercial use is scaling up production to meet the quantities needed by battery and electronics manufacturers. Howard is confident that that is possible. Because a phosphorene battery can use sodium there is a potential cost saving because sodium is 100 times cheaper than lithium and far more widely available, according to Howard. The reason why a phosphorene, sodium battery can charge much faster is that the sodium ions can travel 1000 times faster within the corregations of the phosphorene than lithium ions can in the corresponding graphene material.

The team wants to investigate phosphorene’s use in applications in energy storage and work with new partners to study its possible roles in thermoelectric devices and other applications. The research involved University College London, University of Bristol, Virginia Commonwealth University and Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. The work was funded by the United Kingdom’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

However, Blockchain is more a philosophy than a technology, in that the concept is simple and can be executed in an array of different ways.

In basic terms, Blockchain creates a secure trust group that shares encrypted information in order to secure a common asset. You could theoretically do it on paper. The key is that every transaction is shared with the group, and the group forms its own security, value, enforcement, and management solution. This has the potential to change how everything is done within a shared environment.

Blockchain can be used to track and monitor any asset, whether it is an actual physical object or it has a more intangible manifestation.

For example, it is currently difficult to track ‘conflict minerals’ being shipped out of certain African nations (such as the coltan used to fabricate tantalum capacitors), with the legislation put in place to make it mandatory to disclose the source of such materials being hard to enforce effectively.

In this situation, Blockchain creates a ‘chain of custody’ that tracks every place and person these minerals have encountered, from the moment they come out of the ground until they reach the final buyer. Complete knowledge of this chain is the only way companies can ensure they are compliant with international conflict mineral guidelines.

When dealing with less tangible assets, Blockchain enables groups to secure data in exactly the same manner. Data management is a very complex issue, and new service providers, like Storj, File Coin and Sia, all operate as storage marketplaces, promising faster, cheaper and more secure storage than established options such as DropBox, Amazon, or Google.

Eventually these kinds of services will need to incorporate Blockchain to properly secure the far-flung assets of their clients.

One of the newcomers, Arweave, has released its own data storage Blockchain protocol based on a novel proof-of-access consensus mechanism. Blockweave is a distributed ledger that enables delivery of low cost, permanent on-chain storage.

To create it the engineering team at Arweave have used a self-organising decentralised algorithm, called ‘Wildfire’, that allows the network topology to adapt autonomously to the most efficient routes of information distribution. This algorithm is self-optimising, in order to provide low latency operation, as well as high bandwidth data writing and recall.

Current cloud storage depends on spreading file duplicates throughout various data centres, so as to avoid possible intrusion. Blockchain is highly suited to managing decentralised data assets, significantly improving system redundancy, as the Blockchain enables encrypted data to be stored on dozens of scattered individual nodes, with no central entity needing to control access. This not only improves security but can also lower the associated costs via decentralised file storage.

Arweave’s serverless architecture is much more efficient, optimising network utilisation. Image Credit arweave.org

Another approach using Blockchain that can advance current file storage systems employs an ‘incentive layer’, where data is not actually stored on a decentralised ledger. The relevant storage network uses it to process subscription payments, avoid flat exchange rates and store access information.

This ledger interacts with a storage Blockchain, improving settling times as well as increasing privacy and reliability, due to the decentralised network and Blockchain-based secure group record keeping. Blockchain can thus enhance system flexibility, empower user-centric storage networks and allow the creation of a more agile, customisable system.

Blockchain can also be utilised to secure actual information, guaranteeing its validity to all users of a given system. Start-up company Foamspace is developing a Blockchain-based solution called the FOAM Proof of Location protocol, so as to create a permission-less distributed network of autonomous radio beacons that can offer secure location services independent of external centralised sources such as GPS. FOAM consists of a multitude of beacons, called Zone Anchors, which connect and send messages until a consensus can be formed on the precise time.

The timed difference of messages sent and received allow for location to be calculated and the geometry of the network to be determined.

Blockchain is promising to be a force-enabler for a wide range of applications, be they physical or software-based. The ability to create a shared trust environment, where every member in a network is involved in the sharing of information to secure and manage it, is fundamentally changing the way in which data management works.

Main players

Only a few major companies dominate the 3D printing market. These include: Stratasys (US), 3D Systems (US), EOS GmbH (Germany), GE Additive (US), Materialise (Belgium), SLM Solutions (Germany), ExOne (US), Voxeljet (Germany), HP (US), and EnvisionTEC (Germany). Increasingly, these players are adopting organic growth strategies such as agreements, partnerships and collaborations to strengthen their positions in the 3D printing market.

Stratasys extends Team Penske collaboration

An example is the extension by leading 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys of its collaboration with American sports car racing team Team Penske that was announced last September. The racing team currently uses two of Stratasys’ industrial 3D printers, the Fortus 380mc Carbon Fiber Edition (CFE) industrial 3D printer and the F900.

Matt Gimbel, Team Penske Production Manager said, “While drivers are focused on outperforming one another during racing season, the real competition starts weeks before with design and development in the shop. The power to deploy 3D printing early in the process gives Team Penske a tremendous advantage.” The Fortus 380mc CFE, the latest FDM 3D printer from Stratasys, primarily uses Nylon 12, a high-strength, high fatigue resistant carbon composite.

Arcam Swedish facility

Meanwhile, additive manufacturing specialist Arcam AB’s manufacturing facility at Härryda, Sweden is expected to open in the first half of 2019. This follows the signing of a lease agreement with Castellum, allowing its Electron Beam Melting (EBM) business to move into a refurbished 11,800-square-metre facility in Härryda.

The EBM facility is almost three times bigger than its current site, allowing it to expand and cope with the growth of 3D printing. Magnus René, President and CEO commented, “We recently raised $119 million in a new issue with the plan to invest in our growth. Securing this new facility is testament of our commitment to the future of Arcam and the Additive Manufacturing industry. The new larger facility will accommodate the strong growth of Arcam and allow for further expansion as the market demands.”

3D Systems and Vertex

In Europe, 3D Systems is now benefiting from its 2017 of Vertex-Global Holding B.V. (Netherlands), the global provider of dental materials. Both companies are leading global innovators and manufacturers of photopolymer, thermoplastic, polymer and monomer materials for traditional and 3D printing dental applications. NextDent has developed 12 dental 3D printing materials to date and has obtained regulatory approval for use of these materials in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Its portfolio of 3D printing materials allows dental professionals to produce tailor made products at lower cost compared to conventional procedures. Commenting on the acquisition Vyomesh Joshi, President and CEO, 3D Systems said, “With the combination of our disruptive Figure 4 platform and NextDent’s revolutionary materials, we have the unique opportunity to deliver transformative digital production solutions from the dentist’s chair to the dental lab.”

3D Product Development (3DPD)

In March, India’s 3D Product Development (3DPD) entered into an agreement with SLM Solutions of Germany a leading additive manufacturing systems manufacturer to purchase two of its SLM 280 systems. Srinivas Shastry from SLM Solutions India commented, “SLM machines enable fast, reliable and cost-effective part production – whether in the medical, automotive or tool making sectors, and their flexibility is ideal for a service provider like 3DPD.”

EOS launches 3D metal printer

Last November, EOS GmbH launched its newest EOS M 300-4 metal 3D printer. The system was first introduced at IMTS, as part of an EOS Metal AM Production Cell that incorporates solutions for optimised part and data flow across all production steps. The modular EOS M 300 platform comes with a configurable and scalable equipment architecture, which enables full flexibility and customised system configurations.

EOS says it is ideal for organisations demanding reliable and robust industrial standard equipment for AM production in a variety of manufacturing fields such as aerospace and automotive. The printer features 4 lasers that offer variable laser power sources, from 4×400, to a mixed set-up of 2×400 and 2×1,000, up to 4×1,000 Watt laser power.

Outlook

It is clear that the 3D printing market will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. Indeed, if the 23.23% CAGR estimate is accurate that will result in a 2024 market valuation of $34.8 billion from its 2018 valuation of $9.9 billion. Government initiatives in the APAC region, especially in Japan and China, will consolidate Asia’s position as a leading power for 3D printing. They are funding research and development to add to the already extensive Asian industrial base.

All electronic devices need to conduct electricity and electrons and holes within their atomic structure bring about conductivity, but different materials are needed to provide the electrons and the holes. In a material’s atomic structure each electron has a negative charge. A hole is the absence of an electron in a particular place in an atom where an electron could sit, and that hole is deemed to have a positive charge. Although a hole is not a physical particle, like an electron, it can move from one atom to another within a semiconductor. Tin arsenide, also known by its formula, NaSn2As2, has been found to be able to provide both, electrons and holes.

“It is this dogma in science, that you have electrons, or you have holes, but you don’t have both. But our findings flip that upside down,” says Ohio State University professor of materials science and engineering, Wolfgang Windl. “And it’s not that an electron becomes a hole, because it’s the same assembly of particles. Here, if you look at the material one way, it looks like an electron, but if you look another way, it looks like a hole.”

Goniopolarity

Tin arsenide’s dual ability was discovered by the then Ohio graduate student researcher, Bin He. While measuring the properties of a tin arsenide crystal, He noticed that the material behaved like an electron-holder and also like a hole-holder at times. He thought he had made a mistake and spent time repeating his experiment, but he continued to get the same result. Tin arsenide is believed to be able to be an electron-holder and a hole-holder because of a unique electronic structure. The Ohio State researchers have called this characteristic goniopolarity.

NaSn2As2 is called a two-dimensional semimetal and also a layered crystal. Because it can provide a single material for conductivity in any electronic device made of it, it is expected to be more energy efficient because the electrons have fewer materials to pass through. This simpler structure is also believed by the Ohio researchers to be more reliable with fewer failures. Candidate devices for the material include smartphone camera light sensors, television light emitting diodes, solar cells and laptops’ transistors.

Tin arsenide is also expected to be only one of many materials that potentially exhibit such a capability. He’s now former team are looking for other such layered materials. This Ohio State research was funded by the United States’ (US) National Science Foundation, the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. He has since accepted a post-doctorate position at the Max Planck Institute in Dresden, Germany.

What is 3D Printed Food?

As the name suggests, 3D printed food is merely food that’s been generated with a 3D printer. Though this may sound strange, 3D printable edible objects range from candy and confectionery morsels to pizza. Natural Machines debuted the first 3D food printer capable of churning our both sweet and savory treats. Its Foodini is a hulking Android-powered 3D food printer. Users may select recipes from the Natural Machines forums site and pick from a variety of shapes and concoctions.

Why Would You Want to 3D Print Food?

Many probably balk at the idea of 3D printing food. Others probably marvel at the sci-fi vibe from 3D printed edibles. Tea, Earl Grey, hot, anyone? From a production standpoint, it’s easy to automate the cooking industry, as well as provide pre-packaged meals. Think of this as the next microwave. While 3D printers are admittedly nowhere near as common, 3D printed food capsules provide the convenience of a TV dinner. Pop in your frozen meal, push a button or use voice commands if you’re using an Alexa-powered microwave, and your food is ready in a few minutes.

Likewise, 3D printed meals boast the same ease of production, albeit with customization. Instead of being beholden to food manufacturers, you’ll be able to customize your meals to use fewer of certain ingredients, such as less salt or sugar. Aside from convenience and automation, there’s even a sustainable element. With 3D printing food, you may utilize the unused and less pretty parts of fish, meat, fruits, and vegetables.

3D Printed Food Downsides

Yet, it’s an imperfect process. Despite the simplicity of meals at the push of a button and automated food production, there’s increased complexity because of the machinery. 3D printers are fickle beasts. You’ll encounter issues aplenty, from unlevel beds to overheating units. Quality control is tough enough with filament, much less food. Moreover, 3D printing can take quite a long time even for a small design. As such, 3D printed food is better suited to smaller items rather than an entire meal. Think tapas, not a three course dinner.

However, the largest deterrents so far are food safety and price. Many affordable 3D printers clock in under $500 or even sub-$200, a specialized printer is required when printing edible objects. They’re a hefty premium. Likewise, food safety prevents 3D printing from catching on more fully.
How is Food 3D Printed?

Essentially, to 3D print food, it must essentially be pureed. As with filament, it travels through a tube, and is ultimately extruded. Whereas filament often comes on a spool, edible materials instead are inserted. Just like a non-food printer, you can print virtually any design you wish by creating your own designs, or using community-created versions. But a special nozzle is required when using raw materials instead of filament, ABS, or traditional 3D printing material. One of these nozzles may be placed on a standard 3D printer, though the end result won’t be as high-quality as food created with a dedicated machine.

What 3D Printers for Food are Available?

You’ll find a few professional-caliber food 3D printers. Since 3D printing with edible material isn’t mainstream, this isn’t a household appliance (yet). CocoJet’s chocolate 3D printer is a sweet 3D printer and the Foodform 3D was showcased by renowned pasta company Barilla. There’s also the ChefJet Pro, a neat offering from 3D Systems. Then there’s the magical Foodini.

Excuse the Extrusion: The Future of 3D Printed Food

Will 3D printing food eventually reach the masses, or suffer a quiet death? All of this depends largely on cost, application, and societal acceptance. While many may shudder at the notion of 3D printing meals, a now-common kitchen staple, the microwave, once befell similar scrutiny. Current costs won’t see much adoption, and right now, 3D food printers are best suited to environments where cost isn’t an issue. Plus, at present automation of food production is a bonus of 3D printed treats. Thus, it’s more effective in a commercial kitchen perhaps, though if cost weren’t an issue, home-based 3D food printers would surely thrive. If, that is, they can overcome a potential stigma.

I mention this because I recently became embroiled in a pub conversation with a couple of friends who have properties in Spain and both of them make full use of the sun’s energy by having solar panels on their roof terraces. Well, why wouldn’t you. Malaga for example has close on 3000 hours of sunshine a year.

Anyway, the gist of the conversation was that while my chums are basking in the sun on their roof terraces guzzling the occasional chilled San Miguel their electricity costs are being slashed by the energy being generated by their photovoltaic (PV) solar panels.

This prompted the question why weren’t their cars harvesting the same solar energy while they are being toasted by the Spanish sun on the villa driveway. This makes enormous sense.

One of my mates was convinced he had hit on the groundbreaking idea of vehicle manufacturers offering solar panels on car roofs as an optional extra.

But before he rushed out of the pub on his way to the Patents Office to register his fortune-making theory I told him that quite a few car makers where already developing models with solar panel roofs. And there is even a solar paint idea, albeit at the experimental stage, that uses photovoltaic technology that in the future could be painted onto cars. More about that later.

But is it really such a good idea to have solar panels on cars? Would it really provide significant energy harvesting to make a noticeable contribution to powering electric and hybrid vehicles? And how would they look? Nothing turns off potential car buyers if the vehicle they are spending bundles of hard earned cash on is not visually appealing.

So efficiency and aesthetics are the two big questions when it comes to solar cars.

The aesthetics is easily dealt with. Take a look at this Tesla Model 3 with a solar roof. Nothing ugly about that.

No, the much harder question to answer is, would it be worth it in terms of electricity generating efficiency?

First pragmatic consideration has to be the size of the vehicle Obviously a bigger surface area is better so those Steroidal (sorry I mean Sports) Utility Vehicles (SUV) would be the ideal car choice rather than a Mini.

An SUV roof may accommodate a 250-300W solar panel and if this gets says 7 hours of daily sunshine (depending on what part of the planet you’re on) then the amount of electricity you’d gain would be chicken feed. It may get you an extra 7 miles in your overweight SUV.

However, to be fair, it could be handy for some supplementary charging issues like providing a trickle charge to the starter battery or running your in-car music and entertainment systems while you’re parked.

But it’s frustrating in terms of freeing Electric Vehicles (EVs) and their owners from the tedium of finding a public plug-in charge point. And lets face it; the speed of the politically-promised EV charging infrastructure implementation makes a Galapagos tortoise look turbo-charged!

But things could change. Painting your wagon could take on a new slant if the conceptual idea of solar paint comes to an efficient fruition. Yes, your future car could be painted with electricity generating paint that uses photovoltaic technology.

This paint would use colloidal quantum dots. These are semiconductor particles that are already used in solar panels as well as LEDs and computers. They are microscopic and have been reduced below the size of the Exciton Bohr radius which means they are between 2- 10 nanometres in size.

They are often called artificial atoms and can be generated in a variety of sizes which means they can exhibit a variety of bandgaps and these bandgaps can be adjusted during the synthesis process. It is this flexibility on bandgaps that makes quantum dots extremely useful in solar panels.

Basically these quantum dots have to be integrated into a paint-like liquid that could then be used on buildings, glass and even you future car to generate electricity. But don’t hold your breath. Currently (sorry), the efficiency levels of about 1% are way too low to make it either technically or financially viable but scientists do believe it will happen.

Meanwhile there are other ways to integrate solar power to make driving greener. They will not be here tomorrow either because the big challenge is getting those efficiency figures up. At the moment it would take at least 100 hours of constant sunny weather to fully charge a small electric vehicle using a solar roof panel. And the chances of that happening anywhere north of Barcelona are slim. But there are technologies that could cut that figure.

Gallium Arsenide is one and developers believe it could boost solar panel efficiency to 45%, but it’s not cheap.

More economical are perovskite solar cells. Their efficiency levels are about 30% and price-wise it would be economical to not only paint the car with them but your garage and house as well.

And while going about the business of electrifying our lives we best not forget the humble solar inverters role in all this.

They play a crucial role in turning all these futuristic ideas into reality

Before all your solar harvested electricity can actually be used it has to be in a form that can be used by most of your devices and appliances. It must be converted from direct current (DC) to utility grade alternating current (AC). This is also the case for fuelling your electric car with solar energy.

Solar power inverters have special functions adapted for use with photovoltaic arrays, including maximum power point tracking and anti-islanding protection.

Power point tracking is all about operating efficiencies and how varying levels of sunlight can impact on load characteristics. The job of power point tracking is to maintain a load characteristic that provides the highest power transfer efficiencies and this is called the maximum power point.

So all the technical ideas are there but for the moment remain conceptual and the idea of solar panels on cars remains a good but pricey one when compared to the amount of power that can currently be generated. Foe example, those of us living under predominantly cloudy skies would be lucky to generate 500 driving miles of electricity a year.

And as much as the idea of solar power paint is an intriguing one I’m still not sure how you’d get the electricity generated by the paint into the car battery. I might ask my pals that question next time I’m in the pub.

With a number of high-profile accidents involving automated vehicles, however, it seems that the technology still has some way to go before it can be safely introduced to roads, sea, and air.

To improve autonomous technology, several competitions have been launched, driving developers and engineers to improve their AI-controlled vehicles.

Autonomous Racing Cars

Several racing competitions for autonomous cars have been launched, including Roborace (a Formula E spinoff which pits self-driving cars against manually controlled vehicles) and Formula Student Driverless.

Big names are involved in the development of autonomous racing cars. For example, Porsche is developing software to capture data from a car being driven by a professional driver, which it intends to upload to a self-driving Porsche prototype to learn from.

Meanwhile, engineers at Stanford University have developed a neural network that enables driverless cars to drive as well as racing drivers. A highlight of this technology is the ability of their test cars to negotiate hairpin turns on a racetrack at high speed.

Drones

Self-driving cars aren’t the only computer-controlled entering competitions. 2019 sees the launch of the Artificial Intelligence Robotic Racing (AIRR) Circuit, which will feature four AI vs AI races. The winner on the AIRR Circuit will win $1 million. This joins the AlphaPilot Innovation Challenge where humans challenge AI pilots, which has a prize of $250,000.

The AlphaPilot Innovation Challenge was launched in 2018, an open challenge for teams of up to 10 to design an AI capable of flying a drone, powered by the Nvidia Jetson. Aerospace and defence giant Lockheed Martin is funding the competition, targeting U.S. undergraduate and graduate students, although any enthusiasts and coders over 18 can enter.

Boats

In August 2018 a transatlantic crossing by a robot boat was completed, reaching the coast of Ireland two and a half months after embarking from Canada.

The Sailbuoy Met was developed by Norway’s Offshore Sensing AS to compete in the Microtransat Challenge, a challenge for robotic boats. Sailbuoy Met is the first vessel to complete the challenge, after 20 previous attempts by other teams ended in failure. Since SailBuoy Met reached its destination, another drone boat, SeaLeon, has been found in Ireland several months after contact was lost.

Aiming to “stimulate the development of autonomous boats through friendly competition,” the Microtransat Challenge is returning for another competition in 2019.

With enhancements made with every race, these events are contributing important development to drone and autonomous vehicle technology.

Magnetic Shield Corp. announces two projects

Recently, Magnetic Shield Corporation the US manufacturer and distributor of specialty magnetic shielding alloys and custom shields announced the installation of its new state-of-the-art MuROOM® installation at the University of Illinois’ (UOI), Electron Microscopy (EM) facility for advanced low-field testing applications. MuROOM is the company’s proprietary nickel-iron alloy and it is used to create highly effective EMI barrier chambers.

Magnetic Shield Corporation said, “Our MuROOM enables the research teams to reliably and accurately conduct sensitive scientific applications that require reduced electromagnetic interference. High resolution and atomic resolution imaging are achieved using precision instruments such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission, and Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM/STEM) respectively.” Another large scale project was completed by Magnetic Shield Corporation at Virginia Technical Institute USA (VTI) in the summer of 2018. Like the UOI facility, the Virginia university installation was also designed and built using the trademark MuROOM® alloy.

ETS-Lindgren launches ‘SMART’ chambers

ETS-Lindgren GmbH, the innovator of systems and components for the detection, measurement and management of electromagnetic, magnetic and acoustic energy, recently unveiled its ‘SMART’ (Statistical Mode Averaging Reverberation Test-Site) reverberation chambers. According to the company, “These use the latest developments in proven reverberation technology and experienced chamber construction to create a superb electromagnetic environment (EME) for EMC testing.”

SMART chambers operate by using their interior surfaces to reflect internally radiated RF fields. One or more rotating paddles, or tuners, are used to change the cavity boundary conditions. Adding to the appeal of reverberation chambers is that robust field strengths can be generated using less power than required by other test environments. The benefit is that less expensive amplifiers can be used without sacrificing performance.

Frankonia Group opens second chamber facility

The second Frankonia FAC-3 L fully anechoic chamber was recently inaugurated at the VDE Institute in Offenbach, Germany. The chamber comes equipped with Frankonia’s unique non-combustible Frankosorb® absorbers technology. The new EMC full absorber hall is said to be currently the most modern facility on the German test market. Wolfgang Niedziella, Managing Director of the VDE Institute today in Offenbach explained, “More and more devices and systems are networked via Bluetooth or WLAN. If the electromagnetic compatibility of a device is disturbed, it affects other devices or systems and causes unacceptable system perturbations.”

The hall is equipped with a time-domain measuring device with a very high bandwidth (> 600 MHz). It also has a very high measuring speed in the frequency range from 30 MHz to 18 GHz. Measurements up to 40 (67) GHz are also possible with the system. In particular, the facility enables the VDE Institute to cover the test and measurement requirements of the Radio Equipment Directive for manufacturers.

Telemeter Electronic GmbH. collaborates with Siepel

Meanwhile, Telemeter Electronic, the German based provider of electronic and mechatronic components, devices and systems in cooperation with its partner Siepel has announced a range of EMC measuring chambers. The measuring stations come with both hardware and software thereby enabling EMC tests to be conducted in accordance with all current standards. The customers benefit from the modular production concept, different chamber sizes and door concepts, as well as DUT (device under test) recordings. “We offer measurements of the shield attenuation according to the following: 10 kHz to 40 GHz; 30 kHz to 1 GHz and 1 GHz to 18 GHz,” said the company.

Outlook

A recent study published by Market Research Future (MRFR) predicts that the signal and impulse generators segment of the EMC shielding equipment market will remain highly lucrative over the next several years. Its forecast for this segment is a CAGR of 7.69% to 2024, reaching a market valuation of $389.3 million. MRFR concludes that the consumer electronics segment accounts for the most significant share of the EMC shielding equipment market in terms of value. “Increased penetration of smart-phones and wearable electronics products is supporting the growth of the segment. Moreover, advances in wireless technology and network infrastructure are having a positive impact on the segment,” it says.

Metamaterials are composite materials whose structures have been designed to carry out a function, in this case to compute in an analogue way an incoming signal or wave. Computers today are digital, meaning they calculate using ones and zeros. Those ones and zeros would represent an equation’s figures, while an analogue process uses an electromagnetic wave’s amplitude and frequency, for example, to represent such figures. University of Pennsylvania researchers have created a polystyrene plastic metamaterial that can manipulate electromagnetic waves in such a way to compute an answer.

“We can design meta structures that can solve integral equations for any given input,” says University of Pennsylvania electrical and systems engineering department’s H. Nedwill Ramsey professor, Nader Engheta. “The choice of plastic is not crucial you can choose other dielectric materials in which you can create these air holes to achieve similar functionality.” The air holes in the plastic are key elements of this computing structure. A dielectric material is an electrical insulator that electric fields can polarise. Examples of dielectric materials include glass and rubber.

Everyday photonic calculus

To make the technology more practical for everyday computing, the goal is to scale down the technology to where light waves could pass through a microchip-sized metamaterial analogue device. The use of light has been described as photonic calculus. Engheta and his fellow researchers are proving that the concept works using large metamaterials, a two-square feet (0.18 square metres) polystyrene plastic with wave guides that feed in the signal and output the answer. The size of the material was to match the wavelength of the microwave; so it was about eight wavelengths wide and four wavelengths long.

In that 0.18 square metre structure it is the pattern of hollow regions that are designed to solve an integral equation of the incoming wave’s parameters, phase, amplitude, for example. “Controlling the interactions of electromagnetic waves with this Swiss cheese metastructure is the key to solving the equation,” Estakhri explains. “Once the system is properly assembled, what you get out of the system is the solution to an integral equation.” Whether the metamaterial structure is 0.18 square metres or on the micron scale, the pre-set equation, designed into the structure, can be solved with any arbitrary inputs; the phases and magnitudes of the waves that are introduced into the device.

Because dielectric materials can be used by 3D printing technology, Engheta says: “Someday you may be able to print your own reconfigurable analogue computer at home.” The research was supported by the United States (US) government Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering’s basic research office, under its Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship programme, and the US Navy’s Office of Naval Research.

New wireless technologies are in development, each with the potential to disrupt the Wi-Fi status quo. The future could see the use of very different routers, with data sent and received without an obtrusive device hanging on a wall.

Wi-Fi 6

Wi-Fi 6 is the latest iteration of wireless networking, and also goes by the name of IEEE 802.11ax. It is successor to IEEE 802.11ac and features robust security, high speeds, and low power requirements. This makes Wi-Fi 6 ideal for Internet of Things applications.

With a Wi-Fi 6 compatible network, speeds of up to 12Gbps can be enjoyed (usually 10Gbps), with increased support for multiple device connections, and more efficient data throughput. This is an advantage for 4K, VR, and AR video applications.

Wi-Fi 6 is expected to be launched in 2019.

Li-Fi

Whereas Wi-Fi transmits data using radio waves, Li-Fi uses light.

This gives Li-Fi several advantages, such as being able to work in areas of electromagnetic interference (such as hospitals), and faster speeds. There is also the possibility of greater bandwidth, especially compared to older versions of Wi-Fi.

Li-Fi can currently be transmitted using LED lamps over the visible spectrum, as well as ultraviolet and infrared. It comes with its own unique strengths and weaknesses. For example, Li-Fi cannot transmit data through walls, so each room needs its own router. This means that access to a Li-Fi network can be more carefully managed.

While it might prove useful in offices and labs, Li-Fi could be a particular advantage to Industrial Ethernet applications. There may be a use for Li-Fi on the road, too, allowing smart vehicles to communicate with each other, perhaps to manage speeds in the event of an incident ahead.

Bluetooth and Passive Wi-Fi

Bluetooth is a useful wireless technology, albeit one restricted in range and bandwidth. This could be made obsolete by a new wireless tech, Passive Wi-Fi.

With data transmitted with 10,000 times less power than Wi-Fi and 1,000 times less than Bluetooth LE, Passive Wi-Fi was developed by a team from the University of Washington.

Passive Wi-Fi uses a technique similar to RFID cards to communicate, with smoke detectors, temperature sensors and security cameras cited as likely applications for Passive Wi-Fi in future.

It seems likely that certain IoT applications may benefit from Passive Wi-Fi rather than 5G or Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. With a low 11Mpbs speed, however, it is unlikely to contribute to office, design collaboration, or industrial applications.

Wireless Charging Plus Data

While wireless charging seems limited to a few general release smartphones and various industrial portable devices, it continues to offer possibilities for the future.

Limited by its short range, wireless charging could become far more common with the introduction of data transmission. Currently, wireless chargers usually communicate wirelessly with the charging device, merely to monitor power levels.

A team from North Carolina State University has developed a system allowing short-range charging and data transmission, which could have considerable implications once developed further.

While Wi-Fi 6 is likely to dominate wireless networking for the foreseeable future, these alternative technologies seem strong candidates to replace (in the case of Li-Fi) or merge in the years to come.