Engineering Seminar Topics and Seminar Topics

Download Full Article Optical Computing Technology

         With the growth of computing technology the need of high performance computers (HPC) has significantly increased. Optics has been used in computing for a number of years but the main emphasis has been and continues to be to link portions of computers, for communications, or more intrinsically in devices that have some optical application or component (optical pattern recognition etc.)                         

        Optical computing was a hot research area in 1980’s.But the work tapered off due to materials limitations that prevented optochips from getting small enough and cheap enough beyond laboratory curiosities. Now, optical computers are back with advances in self-assembled conducting organic polymers that promise super-tiny of all optical chips.

        Optical computing technology is, in general, developing in two directions. One approach is to build computers that have the same architecture as present day computers but using optics that is Electro optical hybrids. Another approach is to generate a completely new kind of computer, which can perform all functional operations in optical mode. In recent years, a number of devices that can ultimately lead us to real optical computers have already been manufactured. These include optical logic gates, optical switches, optical interconnections and optical memory.

         Current trends in optical computing emphasize communications, for example the use of free space optical interconnects as a potential solution to remove ‘Bottlenecks’ experienced in electronic architectures. Optical technology is one of the most promising, and may eventually lead to new computing applications as a consequence of faster processing speed, as well as better connectivity and higher bandwidth.

NEED FOR OPTICAL COMPUTING

        The pressing need for optical technology stems from the fact that today’s computers are limited by the time response of electronic circuits. A solid transmission medium limits both the speed and volume of signals, as well as building up heat that damages components.

        One of the theoretical limits on how fast a computer can function is given by Einstein’s principle that signal cannot propagate faster than speed of light. So to make computers faster, their components must be smaller and there by decrease the distance between them. This has resulted in the development of very large scale integration (VLSI) technology, with smaller device dimensions and greater complexity. The smallest dimensions of VLSI nowadays are about 0.08mm. Despite the incredible progress in the development and refinement of the basic technologies over the past decade, there is growing concern that these technologies may not be capable of solving the computing problems of even the current millennium. The speed of computers was achieved by miniaturizing electronic components to a very small micron-size scale, but they are limited not only by the speed of electrons in matter but also by the increasing density of interconnections necessary to link the electronic gates on microchips.

        The optical computer comes as a solution of miniaturization problem.Optical data processing can perform several operations in parallel much faster and easier than electrons. This parallelism helps in staggering computational power. For example a calculation that takes a conventional electronic computer more than 11 years to complete could be performed by an optical computer in a single hour. Any way we can realize that in an optical computer, electrons are replaced by photons, the subatomic bits of electromagnetic radiation that make up light.

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Download Full Article Ovonic Unified Memory

        Nowadays, digital memories are used in each and every fields of day-to-day life. Semiconductors form the fundamental building blocks of the modern electronic world providing the brains and the memory of products all around us from washing machines to super computers. But now we are entering an era of material limited scaling. Continuous scaling has required the introduction of new materials.

        Current memory technologies have a lot of limitations. The new memory technologies have got all the good attributes for an ideal memory. Among them Ovonic Unified Memory (OUM) is the most promising one. OUM is a type of nonvolatile memory, which uses chalcogenide materials for storage of binary data. The term “chalcogen” refers to the Group VI elements of the periodic table. “Chalcogenide” refers to alloys containing at least one of these elements such as the alloy of germanium, antimony, and tellurium, which is used as the storage element in OUM. Electrical energy (heat) is used to convert the material between crystalline (conductive) and amorphous (resistive) phases and the resistive property of these phases is used to represent 0s and 1s.

        To write data into the cell, the chalcogenide is heated past its melting point and then rapidly cooled to make it amorphous. To make it crystalline, it is heated to just below its melting point and held there for approximately 50ns, giving the atoms time to position themselves in their crystal locations. Once programmed, the memory state of the cell is determined by reading its resistance.

INTRODUCTION

        We are now living in a world driven by various electronic equipments. Semiconductors form the fundamental building blocks of the modern electronic world providing the brains and the memory of products all around us from washing machines to super computers. Semi conductors consist of array of transistors with each transistor being a simple switch between electrical 0 and 1. Now often bundled together in there 10’s of millions they form highly complex, intelligent, reliable semiconductor chips, which are small and cheap enough for proliferation into products all around us.

        Identification of new materials has been, and still is, the primary means in the development of next generation semiconductors. For the past 30 years, relentless scaling of CMOS IC technology to smaller dimensions has enabled the continual introduction of complex microelectronics system functions. However, this trend is not likely to continue indefinitely beyond the semiconductor technology roadmap. As silicon technology approaches its material limit, and as we reach the end of the roadmap, an understanding of emerging research devices will be of foremost importance in the identification of new materials to address the corresponding technological requirements.

        If scaling is to continue to and below the 65nm node, alternatives to CMOS designs will be needed to provide a path to device scaling beyond the end of the roadmap. However, these emerging research technologies will be faced with an uphill technology challenge. For digital applications, these challenges include exponentially increasing the leakage current (gate, channel, and source/drain junctions), short channel effects, etc. while for analogue or RF applications, among the challenges are sustained linearity, low noise figure, power added efficiency and transistor matching. One of the fundamental approaches to manage this challenge is using new materials to build the next generation transistors.

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Download Full Article  Landmine detection using impulse ground penetrating radar

               Landmines are affecting the lives and livelihood of millions of people around the world. The video impulse ground penetrating radar system for detection for small and shallow buried objects has been developed. The hardware combines commercially available components with components specially developed or modified for being used in the system. The GPR system has been desired to measure accurately electromagnetic field backscattered from subsurface targets in order to allow identification of detected targets through the solution of the inverse scattering problem. The GPR has been tested in different environmental conditions and has proved its ability to detect small and shallow buried targets.

INTRODUCTION               

              Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) are a legacy of war, insurrection, and guerilla activity. Landmines kill and maim approximately 26,000 people annually. In Cambodia, whole areas of arable land cannot be farmed due to the threat of landmines. United Nations relief operations are made more difficult and dangerous due to the mining of roads. Current demining techniques are heavily reliant on metal detectors and prodders.

Technologies are used for landmine detection are:

·       Metal detectors— capable of finding even low-metal content mines in mineralized soils.

·       Nuclear magnetic resonance, fast neutron activation and thermal neutron activation.

·       Thermal imaging and electro-optical sensors— detect evidence of buried objects.

·       Biological sensors such as dogs, pigs, bees and birds.

·       Chemical sensors such as thermal fluorescence— detect airborne and waterborne presence of explosive vapors.

                  In this discussion, we will concentrate on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). This ultra wide band radar provides centimeter resolution to locate even small targets. There are two distinct types of GPR, time-domain and frequency domain. Time domain or impulse GPR transmites discrete pulses of nanosecond duration and digitizes the returns at GHz sample rates. Frequency domain GPR systems transmit single frequencies either uniquely, as a series of frequency steps, or as a chirp. The amplitude and phase of the return signal is measured. The resulting data is converted to the time domain. GPR operates by detecting the dielectric contrasts in the soils, which allows it to locate even non metallic mines.

                  In this discussion we deal with buried anti-tank (AT) and anti-personnel (AP) landmines which require close approach or contact to activate. AT mines range from about 15 to 35 cm in size. They are typically buried up to 40cm deep, but they can also be deployed on the surface of a road to block a column of machinery. AP mines range from about 5 to 15cm in size. AT mines which are designed to impede the progress of destroy vehicles and AP mines which are designed to kill and maim people.

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Download Full Article Line-Reflect-Reflect Technique

             The Line-Reflect-Reflect (LRR) technique is a new self-calibration procedure for the calibration of vector network analyzers (VNA), which are used for complex scattering parameter measurements of microwave devices. 

              The calibration circuits of LRR method consist of partly unknown standards, where L symbolizes a line element and R represents a symmetrical reflection standard. The calibration circuits are all of equal mechanical length. This is advantageous because the complexity of test fixture can be reduced. The LRR method is able to perform a calibration on the basis of reflective networks, which leads to an enlargement of the bandwidth.

                  The calibration structures of the LRR method can be realized very easily as etched structures in microstrip technology or as metal plates for free space applications.

INTRODUCTION

              LRR- LINE REFLECT REFLECT is a new self-calibration procedure for the calibration of vector network analyzers (VNA). VNA measure the complex transmission and reflection characteristics of microwave devices. The analyzers have to be calibrated in order to eliminate systematic errors from the measurement results.

                  The LRR calibration circuits consist of partly unknown standards, where L symbolizes a line element and R represents a symmetrical reflection standard. The calibration circuits are all of equal mechanical length. The obstacle, a symmetrical-reciprocal network is placed at three consecutive positions. The network consists of reflections, which might show a transmission. The calibration structures can be realized very easily as etched structures in microstrip technology.

                  During the calibration [G], [H], which represents the systematic errors of the VNA is eliminated in order to determine the unknown line and obstacle parameters.

MICROWAVE DEVICES

              Microwave devices are devices operating with a signal frequency range of 1-300GHz. A microwave circuit ordinarily consists of several microwave devices connected in some way to achieve the desired transmission of a microwave signal.

The various microwave solid state devices are,

* Tunnel diodes

                  These are also known as Esaki diodes. It is a specially made PN junction device which exhibits negative resistance over part of the forward bias characteristic. Both the P and the N regions are heavily doped. The tunneling effect is a majority carrier effect and is very fast. It is useful for oscillation and amplification purposes. Because of the thin junction and shot transit time, it is useful for microwave applications in fast switching circuits.

* Transferred electron devices

                  These are all two terminal negative resistance solid state devices which has no PN junction. Gunn diode is one of the transferred electron devices and which works with the principle that there will be periodic fluctuations in the current passing through an n-type GaAs substrate when the applied voltage increases a critical value i.e. 2-4Kv/cm.

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Download Full Article Multisensor Fusion and Integration

Multisensor fusion and integration is a rapidly evolving research area. Multisensor fusion and integration refers to the combination of sensory data from multiple sensors to provide more accurate and reliable information.

The potential advantage of multisensor fusion and integration are redundancy, complementarity, timeliness and cost of the information.

Application of multisensor fusion and integration are also in the area of robotics, biomedical system, equipment monitoring, remote sensingand transportation system.

INTRODUCTION

Sensor is a device that detects or senses the value or changes of value of the variable being measured. The term sensor some times is used instead of the term detector, primary element or transducer.

The fusion of information from sensors with different physical characteristics, such as light, sound, etc enhances the understanding of our surroundings and provides the basis for planning, decision making, and control of autonomous and intelligent machines.

SENSORS EVOLUTION

A sensor is a device that responds to some external stimuli and then provides some useful output. With the concept of input and output, one can begin to understand how sensors play a critical role in both closed and open loops.

One problem is that sensors have not been specified. In other words they tend to respond variety of stimuli applied on it without being able to differentiate one from another. Neverthless, sensors and sensor technology are necessary ingredients in any control type application. Without the feedback from the environment that sensors provide, the system has no data or reference points, and thus no way of understanding what is right or wrong g with its various elements.

Sensors are so important in automated manufacturing particularly in robotics. Automated manufacturing is essentially the procedure of remo0ving human element as possible from the manufacturing process. Sensors in the condition measurement category sense various types of inputs, condition, or properties to help monitor and predict the performance of a machine or system.

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