Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
I tryed this in 2009, using front plate of the Pellet boiler as heat source for the thermoelectric element (peltier). I burned more than 5-6 of them to dead, the plate temperature went op to more than 180 c .
So, now i made a air space gab at 1 mm to the hot plate, and automatic temperature protection. A gear motor will turn peltiers away from the plate if more than 100 c comes to the peltirs surface.
Friday, December 23, 2011
'solar charger circuit that is used to charge Lead Acid or Ni-Cd batteries using the solar energy power. The circuit harvests solar energy to charge a 6 volt 4.5 Ah rechargeable battery for various applications. The charger has Voltage and Current regulation and Over voltage cut off facilities'
Monday, December 12, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
1: buy inductors with colorcode
2: Use a tonegenerator and a osciloscope to calculate inductance : http://et.nmsu.edu/~etti/fall96/electronics/induct/induct.html
3: Build a L meter / Induction meter http://apexys-toan.blogspot.com/2011/02/ne555-based-inductivty-meter.html
Below i build the inductance meter found at apexys-toan blog.
The schematic is borrowed from the projects homepage, hope this is ok, I will remove the schematic immediately on request from the author.
coil color code
In the original project a 40uA / 2500 ohm meter is used, my meter is 100 uA and 1000 ohm, and works well. I am not sure how to calculate the scale. I found tree inductors vwith colorcode on and plottet them into the scala. I have desided to buy cheap small inductors in different values, to calibrate the scale.
The ne555 at work
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
You can use any kind of load: relay driver, fet switch, LEDS, bulb and more. Design the load driver so the optocoupler is driver for the 'driver transistor' ;)
This circuit can be used as undervoltage detector for LiPo batteries, Li ion bateries and more.
I use this circuit in my automatic grid of offgrid power strip
Monday, November 21, 2011
Update 25-12-2011: added a 3k9 resistor in series with the trimpot, the trimpot burned at low resistance
lm2577 step up converter to be used for my TEG peltier power generator mountet on my pellet boiler.
I decided use this step up converter schematic as base circuit:
Works in first take ;)
I works, but i am not satisfied with the performance. There are lot of lost power in power conversion with this chip, as i only has a standard NPN transistor as switcher instead of a MosFet.
So i will DIY my own switcher circuit for my TEG ;)
Sunday, November 20, 2011
The peltier elements (the white layer between the copper plates) are placed between cobber top plate with pipes for cooling water inside
This show the power block with step up converter. Made to stepup from 1,5 volt tol 9 volt to charge a 6 volt akku.
I found a cheap vaterpump wheel i will try to use in a more power full water cooler driven by PMM with neuro magnets: http://biltema.dk/da/Bat/Pumpe/Vandpumpe/Vandpumpe-12-V-25988/
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Maximum performance was 471 watts a sunny winter day here in Denmark. The total power from 2 pcs 190 watt ulica solarpanels are 1140 watts. So 471 watts are great winter power i think. I use 375 watt in average every hour, so just a little sunshine in the daytime, and my electricity needs are meet.
Monday, November 7, 2011
When i turn on this power strip it automatically detects lowvoltage on tofgrid batteri'es, and chose to turn on the inverter or switch on relay to grid as power source. Also, if low voltage is detectected when i watch television, i switch to grid from offgrid, an stay gridtied to next time power strip is turned on.
To stay safe it has build in two optocouplers, to protect agains 220 volt in the 12 volt offgrid system.
Link to the under-voltage detector circuit
The control circuit on pcb:
This is how i works:
The idee in blocks
My 12 volt to 220 volt inverter:
The power strip and the inverter
I tryed to yúse a simple Set / reset flip flop with transistors, to hold relay, but it was unstable, so i desided to use a small relay with low power consumption instead. You can try to build this circuit to experiment with transistor based set reset logic:
Sunday, November 6, 2011
It has aluminium chassis, and is light weight. Wheels are 26".
I will convert it to electric bicycle.
Step conversion DIY guide
- Make a simple DIY PWM DC moter controller with FET from scrap components, Done
- Make a some kind of magnetic sensor (hall) that can measure than the pedals run round
- Make some kind of brancket for the motor, and batteries
- Make a 24 Volt battery pack from scrap Laptops Li-Ion bateries
- Make a 24 Li Ion Charger with temperature sensor, anti fire protection and more
Thursday, November 3, 2011
his article is my workbench 'Notepad' as i learn and build a buck bost inverter for low voltage from peltier elements seeberg effect (thermoelectric elements) and solarcells.
Both power sources give very low voltage: solarcells typical 0,5 volt and peltier elements 0,5 - 1-2 volts.
My goal is to charge directly on a standard acid battery, both 6 volt and 12 volt.
Latter i will add a Li Ion / LiPo single cell charger and a charger on mulitible Li cells cells
I've saved some defective PC computer power supplies for spare parts, they have quality great coils and more.
I believe i can find all parts needed on these pcb's to build my buck boost chargers
Chips found on deffective boards:
- uc3844 Current-Mode PWM Controller
- uc3842an High Performance Current Mode Controller
- 2 pcs top210pfi Off-line PWM Switch
- Ka7552 pwm controller
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
I found the schematic for stepup converter 12 volt to 24 volt here
- Version 1.0: this version i not covered on this site you can follow the 12 volt to 48 volt solarcharger stepup converter here
- Version 0.8 beta: The version below show my first stepup converter experiment with uc3842. I 'killed' 2 uc3842 in my experiments increasing output voltage to 48-60 volt for my EV, så desided to build a new version, version 1.0
It works as expected, mppt starts charge at 15 volts, not sure why not 10 volt, but output voltage is stable 24 volt. When i turn input voltage up to 20 volt still 24 volt output, i turn down insteps to 10 vlt, still 24 volt output, and when i stay between 10 volt and 20 volt it works totaly as i expected, Great mppt to my diy solarpanels ;)
Some link and ressources:
Monday, October 31, 2011
Original Schematic to this simple and effective switcher can be found here: http://freecircuitdiagram.com/2010/05/22/small-dc-dc-inverter-convert-1-5-to-9-volts/
I decided to make a MosFet based version for better performance. Update follw later opn this subject ;)
Think i will experiment with my fridge, build in som peltiers to help the compressor to cool down food with cheap DIY solar panels.


By definition, a microprocessor is a single chip: or at most a very few, closely-integrated, chips. The characteristics of chips affect what we can, and cannot, successfully incorporate in the architecture/organisation of microprocessors.
Silicon chips are small rectangles of silicon, typically up to about 4 or 5 square cm in area at the moment. The maximum (economic) size of chips has been steadily rising, for reasons we will consider later. There are many ways in which we can make silicon chips: in some, the silicon itself simply acts as a base on which the chip is built; but in most it plays some part in the electrical operation of the device.
The chip is made up of a number of layers built-up on one side of the silicon rectangle. The lower layers interact to form the active components – usually transistors. The upper layers form the passive components – usually wires. Around the edges of the chip, are pads: (relatively) large areas of metal, used to connect to the outside world.
As the size of chips has steadily grown, so the size of the features that make up their layers has fallen. Currently, the minimum feature size for commercial chips is 65 to 90 nanometers. 45 nanometers is expected in 2007/2008. Typically, for microprocessor-type chips, we can fit (at the moment) around a billion (1000 million) transistors on a chip – though most current processors have significantly fewer. For comparison, a simple logic gate can be constructed with from 2 to 10 transistors; a simple memory circuit with from 1 to 12 transistors. Clearly, 1000 million transistors allows us considerable scope.
Pure silicon is an insulator which is not especially useful. However, if we add certain elements (technically, impurities) to silicon – a process known as doping – we can increase the number of free charge carriers (charged particles that are free to move about within the silicon), and are hence enable it to carry an electrical current. The result of this is that silicon becomes progressively more conductive (i.e. becomes a semiconductor) the more impurity is added.
The type of impurity affects the type of charge carrier. Some doping impurities generate free electrons – negative charge carriers. Such doped silicon is called n-Type. Others generate holes – spaces where electrons should be. Although not strictly `particles' these holes behave like positive charge carriers.
The current dominant silicon technology is CMOS – complementary metal oxide semiconductor. Originally, CMOS was mainly a low-power technology, used for devices like digital watches and calculators – not computers, because it was too slow. However, considerable work went into developing it because of its recognised potential.
To explain how a CMOS transistor works, consider a piece of p-Type silicon with a layer of insulator and a conducting plate. Now apply a positive charge to the plate. Most of the charge carriers in the p-Type silicon are holes, but there will still be significant number of electrons – the minority charge carriers. The positive charge on the conducting plate will repel the holes and attract the electrons – forming a negatively charged region beneath the plate. See figure 17.1, which shows the components in cross-section.
If we now embed two n-Type regions within the p-Type silicon, on either side of the conducting plate, the negatively-charged region acts as a conducting path provided the positive charge is present. When the charge is removed, the negatively charged region will disperse and the conducting path will be broken. This is essentially how an n-Type transistor operates. See figure 17.2. A p-Type transistor is just a reversed version – with p-Type silicon and a negative charge on the conducting plate.
The embedded regions form the source and drain of the transistor (see chapter 15 for a reminder of transistor technology). Because they were traditionally manufactured by a process of diffusing ions into the surface layers of the silicon, such areas are traditionally called diffusion. Currently, such regions are often made from a mixture of silicon and metal (which has lower resistance, allowing signals to travel faster). The insulator between the silicon and the conducting plate is silicon oxide (glass, essentially). The conducting plate, or gate, itself is traditionally polycrystaline silicon, or `poly'. This is silicon without a uniform crystal structure (unlike the silicon substrate on which the chip is made). Again, this is commonly replaced by a mixture of silicon and metal which has lower resistance.
These so-called active layers of the chip form the transistors – the `active' components. We also need passive components – wires essentially – to connect transitors together. These are made from metal layers, which are separated from each other and the active layers by silicon oxide. Holes are made in the silicon oxide (contacts, or vias) to make connections between the layers. There may be many wiring layers in modern chips. Traditionally, the metal used was aluminium, but copper is becoming very common (again because of lower resistance). A small circuit representing an inverter, is shown in figure 17.3.
If you are reading this on-line, in figure 17.3, metal is blue, polysilicon is red, n-Type diffusion is green, p-Type diffusion is yellow, and contacts are black. (And if you are not reading on-line, there are labels – `n', `p', `poly', `metal' – we will get back to the `w's in section 17.6.) These colours are `traditional'. If In is high, then the n-Type transistor (on the left) is on – that is, the two (green) regions marked `n' are connected. This means Out is connected to Ground; hence Out is low. If In is low, then the p-Type transistor (on the right) is on – the two (yellow) regions marked `p' – are connected. This means that Out is connected to Power; hence Out is high.
(If you are familiar with `conventional' transistors, the names and properties may seem strange. CMOS transistors are field-effect transistors (FETs, or MOSFETs) instead of the more usual junction transistors. Hence the different names – gate, source and drain instead of base, collector and emitter. The major difference between field-effect and junction transistors is that field-effect transistors are bidirectional. That is, current can flow either from source to drain, or vice versa. In a junction transistor, current can only flow from emitter to collector.)
Chips consist of a number of layers, each of which is manufactured in turn. Some of the details of each layer differ, but a common part of the process is masking. The surface of the partially-manufactured chip is covered with a layer of light-sensitive material called photoresist. It is then exposed to UV-light through a photographic mask representing the layer being manufactured, or an electron beam `draws' the components of the layer. This process induces changes in the photoresist, which is selectively removed by some solvent: either those parts of the photoresist exposed to the light/electron beam (positive photoresist), or those parts not exposed (negative photoresist), are removed. This exposes parts of the chip surface, which can then be processed in various ways. The usual manufacturing steps are as follows.
On the face of it, it would seem that we could make chips as big as we wish – why are we restricted to 4 to 5 square cm?
First, because the manufacturing process is not perfect. Chips are made in batches on circular silicon wafers: usually 20 to 30 cm in diameter, at present. After manufacture, the wafers are cut up and the individual chips packaged. However, the silicon wafers will have a number of flaws: also, the manufactured layers on the chip surface may have faults. The larger the chip, the more chance there is of one of these flaws falling within its boundary, and stopping it working. Also, fewer large chips will fit on a wafer – so there are fewer possible `good' chips in the first place. Manufacturers are (obviously) keen to maximise the proportion of working chips (some will fail), and there is an economic upper bound to the size of a chip that can be made for a particular cost.
The second reason is to do with power dissipation. A typical modern microprocessor will dissipate tens of watts. This is a very significant amount, given the small surface area: remember the lightbulb thought experiment in chapter 2. To keep chips cool enough to work, substantial heat sinks and fans are needed: the larger the chip, the larger the potential power dissipation. (And remember, that CMOS is a low power technology.)
Integrating an entire processor onto a single chip has many advantages. First, the components are closer together, which means they can run faster: in general, shorter communication paths are quicker. As the minimum feature size shrinks, so do certain unhelpful electronic properties (essentially capacitance), allowing yet faster clock rates.
However, there are also some restrictions. The chip area, and transistor counts, now available are large: however, they are by no means unbounded. Consequently, the available real estate (space, basically) is limited, and our processor has to fit within it. Chips are, by nature, flat. Although there are wiring layers available, it is not a good idea to incorporate too many long wires (e.g. a few mm or more) into chips. Capacitance means that signals travelling down such wires may be unacceptably slow, resulting in lower clock rates. (Resistance is also a potential problem – though for the usual wiring material (metal) this is usually very low.)
Although there are techniques for speeding up the transmission of data down such wires, they take up space and use power. Basically, we can build special driver circuits whose sole function is to drive signals down long wires using large amounts of current, or by modifying logic circuits to do the same. For example, in figure 17.3, if we increase the widths `w', then the inverter will supply more current (using more power, taking up more space). More current means the capacitance of any wire connected to the inverter will charge (or discharge) more quickly.
The net result is that some architectures map to silicon better than others. For example, suppose we came up with a very elegant, and in principle fast, architecture, that we represent as a 3D diagram. Unless we can find an efficient way to map that architecture to 2D, where there are few or no connections between components that are not physically next to each other, then the theoretical benefits may not be realised.
The pads that are used to connect chips to the outside world are placed around the edge of the chip. This limits where we can place IO components: for example, if we put one in the middle, we will have to run long wires to the IO pads on the outside of the chip.
The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, a set of documents dealing with current and anticipated future research in this industry, predicts that after 45nm processes, the next milestone will be 32nm, then 22nm, anticipated for around 2011. Interestingly, due to physical factors, it is expected that in order to achieve this, manufacturers will have to evolve past the current `many flat layers' approach, to a situation in which the transistor elements protude from the plane of the chip (so called `FinFETs'). This will represent a fairly major change in manufacturing process, and it remains to be seen if this actually going to fly or not.
Figure 17.4 shows the basic internal layout of a simple data unit, with a single IO port at the left-hand side. This kind of data unit is now outdated, and we would not use such a layout in a modern, high-performance microprocessor. However, it illustrates a few key points. The design consists of a number of registers, an ALU, an ALU output buffer (also a register), and the IO port. Each register is made up of a number of single-bit register cells, each of which is replicated as many times as necessary to get the required number and width of registers. In this case, there are six 8-bit registers. Similarly, The ALU, buffer, and IO ports are made up of replicated single bit cells. A single-bit horizontal segment of the data unit is called a bit slice. Within each cell, the arrangement of data and control signals is also shown in figure 17.4.
Notice that signals enter and leave cells at the same points on opposite sides, and that data and control are orthoganol – they run at right angles to each other. Also notice that the vertical dimensions of the register and ALU cells are the same, to ensure that they fit together well in a uniform array. This is called pitch matching. Pitch matching and ensuring that inputs/outputs line up on either side of a cell allows the design to be layed-out by simply tiling the plane, with no intervening wiring. Also note that there are not many individual cell designs. We have constructed a relatively few number of individual cells and replicated them, which is obviously an efficient use of a designer's time.
Control circuitry can be commonly constructed using a programmable logic array (PLA). A PLA is based on the observation that any boolean function can be transformed into either disjunctive or conjunctive normal form – either the OR of ANDs, or the AND of ORs – and thence, by de Morgan's Laws, into the NOR of NORs. A PLA allows the systematic implementation of many such Boolean expressions in parallel, and can be (semi) automatically constructed. The basic structure of such a PLA, suitable for controlling a data unit, is shown in figure 17.5.
Inputs are clocked into the input register and then their inverses are generated. The inputs and inverses are then fed into the first NOR gate plane. This is a vertical stack of gates which compute the NOR of arbitrary combinations of inputs and inverses. These results are fed into the second NOR gate plane, before being clocked into the output register. Hence a PLA can compute an arbitrary number of Booleans expressions of a large number of inputs simultaneously. There are limits on the size of PLAs imposed by physical/electrical properties. However, PLAs can be sub-divided to overcome these limits. In practice, PLAs are generated automatically from the Boolean expressions required, reducing the likelihood of implementation errors. A large number of software tools are available to manipulate and minimise PLAs.


Developing groundbreaking autonomous multi-agent systems and a rich multimodal conversational UX.
Rustic AI, a framework at the forefront of developing and deploying multi-agent systems, is paving the way towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Our focus is on distributed problem-solving, scalability, and real-time adaptability, making complex tasks achievable through collective intelligence.
Crafting Conversational UX
With Rustic UI, experience the next level of user interface design. Our framework integrates text, voice, images, videos, and interactive widgets to create dynamic, context-aware conversational interfaces, enhancing user engagement and accessibility.


News center .
With the wide application of road stud reflector in domestic high-grade highways and municipal roads, the quality and service life of road stud reflector have received more attention. In the actual application process, the road stud reflector is damaged and the service life is reduced frequently due to installation problems. Based on years of construction experience, the author summarizes the problems that often occur during the installation of road stud reflector, and proposes a reasonable installation method. I hope to discuss with colleagues in the transportation industry.
E-mark reflector products is a high-tech optical reflector designed for high-resolution DSLR cameras. It increases the light transmission through the lens for a better optical rendition of the original image as well as reducing the dark areas of a cropped picture.Note that the resolution of a camera may be considerably more or less than that of an optical reflector. Also, the resolution of an objective lens may be less than that of the camera's camera sensor.


Dell believes that in a distant area, a little more size is worth it for 4K video calling.
Dell’s Ultrasharp displays have been known for their strength when it comes to professional use cases, but they’ve recently become one of Apple’s best options for MacBook Pro owners looking for an affordable monitor option. It’s been almost two years since we first saw Dell’s new XPS line at CES 2014, but now they’re back for another round.
It comes with an HDMI cable for connecting to external displays and two USB 3.0 ports. Its display supports 4K resolutions at 60 Hz (3840 × 2160) and 30Hz (2560 × 1440). With its five 10 Gb/s USB-C port, it acts like a USB hub. What makes the monitor stand out from the crowd is its 4K camera.
These displays are designed for professional use by people who need accurate colors, such as graphic artists, web developers, marketers, and so on. A high resolution display (4k) is essential. So far, Dell has been focusing its efforts on making sure that employees working from home don’t miss out on their company perks like free snacks and drinks. Now, they might just want to ensure that people who aren’t at an office desk get some sort of productivity boost too.
The IPS monitor has a 2000:1 typical contrast ratio, supports the VESA Display Hdr400 standard, and provides a maxiumum brightness of 400 nit. Unfortunately, excluding monitors from serious video work means they won’t be able to handle some things like gaming and photo editing well at all.
We’re aiming for 99% coverage across both Adobe RGB (1998) and ProPhoto RGB (2002). In terms of response times, this display has an average response time of 3 ms (3 milliseconds), making it suitable for fast action games like first person shooters. However, because its maximum refresh rate is limited to 60Hz, it may be unsuitable for slower paced games such as strategy titles.
It’s designed a bit oddly; there’s a large bezel around just the top, but not the bottom. And its camera bump is quite big. It’s big enough for people who use their computer primarily at home but small enough so they don’t feel like they’re using something too large when they go into Given that the camera is its defining feature, having one built into an external display makes perfect sense.
Luckily, it has the key characteristics needed to attract its target market of mainly Mac-using professionals: It’s got USB-C ports and supports chaining multiple monitors together via just one cable. It may be fairly specific to certain types of workers, but it’s worth checking out for two reasons: First, it probably has one of the better built-in webcameras available; second, its unique design makes it easier than most monitors to use with an external webcam.
Dell has announced plans for its first 4K Ultra HD display, called U3223QZ, which will hit stores beginning March 29. Pricing has not yet been announced for this product. The Dell UltraSharp U3223QZ features a 3840 x 2160 resolution and offers support for HDR10 content. This model also includes 100 percent sRGB color gamut coverage, 1000 nits of peak luminance, and a 5ms
Can Dell’s New 4K Capable UltraSharp Webcam Help You Up Your Work From Home Game?
It comes with an HDMI connector for connecting to external displays or projectors and two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type C connectors for charging and data transfer. Its display supports 4k resolutions at 60 Hz (3720×2160) and 30Hz(2560×1440). With its five 10Gb/s USB-C ports, it acts like a hub. What makes the display stand out from the crowd are its four cameras. These allow you to take photos in 4K resolution up to 120 fps, record videos in 4K resolution up tp 240 fps, and stream live footage to YouTube Live.
The Acer XR341CK is a 34″ curved ultra-wide monitor with a 21:9 aspect ratio and a 3440×1440 resolution. It has a 1920×1080 screen resolution, 300 cd/m² brightness, 350:1 contrast ratio,


Diameter Signalling Controller (DSC)
A Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC) is a key element for managing and securing diameter signalling, a protocol used for control signalling in LTE networks and IP Multimedia Systems (IMS). Today's 3G and 4G mobile networks utilise the diameter protocol similar to how SS7 is used in 2G mobile networks. The first generation of DSC products was designed as a central “STP-like” elements for providing traffic management, load balancing and session binding for diameter signalling.
For operators to stand out and be successful in the 4G/LTE world, they need to differentiate and personalise their services. This requires DSC’s to evolve from simply providing infrastructure optimisation to support complex service interactions and orchestration in next-generation networks. As such, the traditional, first-generation DSC’s no longer suffice.
Operators now need a next-generation DSC that provides:
- An integrated platform for intelligent routing and any-to-any protocol interworking
- Extensive mediation and service orchestration capabilities to support the fast implementation of new services and policy & charging scenarios
- Cross-domain interworking for multi-play service offerings and seamless user experience
- Detailed traffic insight for billing and traffic analysis
- Low CAPEX & OPEX, running on off-the-shelf servers or virtualised
Certified integrator of next-generation DSC
is a certified integrator of the world’s first next-generation DSC, providing any-to-any interworking, routing and service orchestration. This carrier-grade, high-performance solution is designed for enabling signalling use cases across Network and IT systems from any vendor, without the need for R&D. , is at the forefront of guiding operators through the entire cycle of enabling diameter and non-diameter based routing and interworking. Further providing operators day-to-day hands-on support in the creative process of enabling innovative service scenarios across all their assets, such as 3G, 4G/LTE, Fixed and Wi-Fi network technologies and IT/Billing systems.
Get started with the next-generation DSC, and get a unique capability in your network to supports faster innovation at a fraction of the cost and time associated with traditional router products
- Learn more
5G& mobile solutions
Defining the mobile future.
- Learn more
Equipment identity register (EIR)
In full control of access to mobile networks.
- Learn more
Signaling Transfer Point (STP)
Dealing with end-of-life STPs.
- Learn more
Diameter signaling controller (DSC-DRA-DEA-IWF)
The next generation diameter signaling controller (DSC).
Get in touch with our expertsOur team is ready for you
Do you want to know more about this topic? Leave a message or your number and we'll call you back. We are looking forward to helping you further.
Palo Alto Networks Netscout
NETSCOUT and Palo Alto Networks announce security solutions integration
NETSCOUT and Palo Alto Networks enhance security operations, coupled with advanced DDoS protection, which helps customers more quickly resolve threats while reducing complexity.
Nokia Optical networking
Nomios deploys IP/Optical solution to connect NorthC data centres via high-speed Region Connect Ring
Nomios and Nokia integrated an IP/optical data centre interconnect solution for NorthC Datacenters (NorthC), the largest regional data centre provider in the Netherlands.
Leading security and network company Infradata continues European expansion as Nomios
All Infradata companies in Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and United States are rebranding to Nomios. Together with Nomios in France we now form the Nomios Group.


What is 4g broadband
4G simply stands for fourth generation, and it’s called that because it’s the fourth generation of mobile technology, following on from 2G and 3G.
4G is sometimes referred to as LTE (Long Term Evolution) and it’s similar in a lot of ways to 3G, as it allows you to use data to browse the net, play online games, download and stream, and more, but it does so at around 20Mb, which makes it a great alternative for your home or business broadband.
Standard 4G, which is what all UK networks initially launched, offers average download speeds of around 20Mbps, making it faster than many standard broadband packages and working in 99% of rural areas.
However, while averaging around 20Mbps, standard 4G is theoretically capable of far higher speeds, potentially topping out at around 150Mbps. In short, 4G provides you with a far smoother experience online.
As an example, you could download a 2GB file (a 2hour HD movie) in 3 minutes and 20 seconds using standard 4G.
There’s a similarly big difference with upload speeds – using standard 4G you can expect typical speeds of around 10Mbps and theoretical top-end upload speeds of around 50Mbps. And we’re only talking about standard 4G here – some networks now offer improved versions of the technology with even higher speeds.
The main other advantage you get from 4G is reduced latency. This is the measure of how long the network takes to respond to a request and it’s measured in milliseconds.
It might therefore sound like a reduction wouldn’t make much difference, but for some things it really can. For example, if you’re playing a fast-paced online game then a low latency can be vitally important as you need to respond instantly to what’s happening. Latency using the UK’s 4G networks are averaging between 36ms (EE) and 48.3ms (Three).
Another potential advantage of 4G is clearer voice calls, as 4G can carry more data. The caveat here is that not all networks allow you to call over 4G (usually referred to as either 4G Calling or VoLTE).
Is all 4G the same? No. So far we’ve only really talked about ‘standard’ 4G, but some networks offer faster, better versions of it.
EE is a prime example of this, as for a long time now it has delivered ‘double speed’ 4G to much of the UK. This uses the same technology as 4G, but just allocates twice as much spectrum, offering real-world download speeds that top out at 60Mbps.
However, EE, Three and Vodafone have all gone even further than that in some areas, offering LTE Advanced (also known as LTE-A or 4G+). This in EE’s case delivers top real-world speeds of 90Mbps and a theoretical maximum of 300Mbps. Three’s and Vodafone’s speeds should be similar, though in tests from RootMetrics and the like they rarely quite match EE for 4G speeds.
To understand how LTE-A works you first have to know how normal 4G works. For normal 4G, data is sent using a single antenna on a mobile mast to a single antenna on your phone or tablet. But for LTE-A multiple antennas are used at each end, so much more data can be sent at once. This is known as MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output).
Can I get 4G? Almost certainly. At last count, every UK network offered at least 99% 4G population coverage across the UK.
If you live somewhere rural you might want to use your network’s coverage checker to be sure, but the majority of people will now be able to get a 4G signal most of the time.


The company UGREEN ticks all the boxes for the premium requirement in high-quality electronic gadget accessories such as type-c cables, adapters, power banks, phone stands, etc. They perform better than expected. These are well-made, tried, and tested tools recommended by users and proven by international standards. UGREEN is specialized in manufacturing hardware cables such as USB hardware and AC adapters. Their other consumer electronic equipment such as headphones and earphones are best sellers around the world. UGREEN emphasizes hi-tech workmanship and efficient performance with very cool looks at the same time.
But in this article, the emphasis is only focused on explaining why USB-C type devices are confidently many steps ahead of others in the segment and why it’s an ideal choice to pick only UGREEN’s USB-C type devices.
Why UGREEN USB-C Over Others
Not all USB-C cables can meet the durability and endurance factor like the ones offered by UGREEN USB-C type cables. Not all kinds of cables are capable of delivering the ultimate transfer speeds and protocols as claimed. This is where UGREEN USB-C comes into place. They are the best for fast data transfer up to 10 Gbps of speed and fast charging up to 100 watts of power compatible with all kinds of devices.
Build quality of UGREEN’s USB-C
The USB-C from the house of UGREEN is undoubtedly the best of both worlds when it comes to the value for money quotient as well as uncompromised focus on making the products with the best quality raw materials along with implementing the best production method to achieve the strongest build quality to meet rough and regular usage. Not only its feature and looks but also comes with sturdy braided chords and a strong metallic connector jack, making it unable of fragility and breakability and outlasting up to more than 3000 bends and 8 years as per public test reports.
Moreover, the USB-C multiport adapter is the all-time champion for HDMI, ethernet uses, and other uses. Also, it meets the best of its potential only when it’s used and self-experienced. Time to UGREEN offers discounts and price drops to make it even more accessible no matter how reasonable the price ranges are.
UGREEN’s USB-C Products
There are a lot of articles flooding the internet, based on the user feedback of UGREEN’s flexible quality from different customers all over the world. Here is the summary of them with the example of a few products among all the UGREEN’s masterpieces.
USB C to Micro-B 3.0 Cable
The UGREEN-made USB-C to Micro-B 3.0 Cable supports a high-speed data transfer rate of up to 5Gbps allowing to transfer high quality 1G videos in a few seconds. It connects with most laptops and USB-C 3.0-enabled devices such as hard drive cameras, smartphones, etc. It has high-quality PVC material, constructed strongly for flexibility. The copper conductors, foil, and braid allow fast data transfer and charging.
USB A to USB C Fast Charging Cable. These UGREEN products are very safer and quicker cables compatible with almost all standards. The updated built-in resistor protects smartphones from voltage fluctuations while fast charging. These are the best portable car chargers. Thus, fast charging saves time while traveling. Also, it takes a few seconds, of course even less than a minute to transfer bigger files above 1 GB, supported by 480 Mbps of transferring speed.
USB A to USB C Quick Charging Cable
This UGREEN USB-C is capable of shielding itself and the devices it’s connected to from overcurrent, overcharge, and over-voltage protection. Because it has a built-in 3A MAX 56 K ohm pull-up resistor. It also ensures more stable transfer and safer electrical utilization due to its nylon braided and purely copper thick core. It’s only own designed and developed unique aluminium alloy housing case with reinforced connector jack gives it a much longer lifespan and endurance for regular day-to-day use.
Nothing can beat UGREEN USB-C
Everyone finds UGREEN cables better in terms of everything than others. UGREEN has over 40 million loyal customers in around 100 countries all over the world due to its value and reasonable price. They are acquiring more and more customers very fast along with repeat customers, proving its dependability. In short, the basis of the increasing rate of their business is only due to their understanding of every kind of customer’s needs.
The world knows that UGREEN focuses highly on R & D and updates for their products. The UGREEN USB-C is also compatible with international voltage standards. Their USB-C type 3.0 can support USB type A also. They also look great and feel very premium. Also, from the inside out, they are capable and durable. Hence, as mentioned in the starting, the UGREEN products tick all the boxes.


Air Mask Portable Mesh Nebulizer
Air Mask will automatic shut-off after each medication dose(10 mins). You don't need charge the battery again, just need to restart the nebulizer. The nebulizercan work for 7 times (10 mins per time) when you have charged the batteries fully (about 50 mins). Normally,2 ~ 3 times therapy per day and 10 mins per time is enough for kids.
How to use：
Click the middle button for 1 second, then it works. The fog volume can be adjusted manually through add and decrease button to make the nebulization more comfortable.
● Adjustable nebulization rate
● Free switch between variable frequency mode and micro-wave spray mode
● Hands free during spray
● Ultra-light design
● USB cable
● Mouth piece
● Warranty card
● Air Mask main machine


Intelligent Actuator Distributor
Western PA, Eastern OH, and West Virginia
Intelligent Actuator IA-101-X-MW - Software/CB-ST-E1MW050/E-stop Note: Serial option
About Intelligent Actuator
Founded in Japan in 1976, with American headquarters established in 1989, IAI designs, manufactures, and markets a complete line of motion control systems. As the established world leader in linear actuators and low cost, high performance SCARA robots, IAI provides over half of all linear actuators sold in Japan and are a leading source of advanced plug & play automation throughout North America and the world.
With the introduction of a full range of ROBO Cylinders, IAI is also leading the transition away from pneumatics to cost-effective, low-maintenance, and fully-programmable electric cylinders.
Instead of building a robotics system from scratch, design engineers can purchase fully-functional units from IAI and begin production sooner.


Kirloskar Electric Company, Mysore unit is a unit of the 50 year old Kirloskar Electric Company Ltd. (an ISO 9000 company) pioneers in the electrical industry in India.The Company manufactures AC Motors, DC Motors and Generators , Alternators, Transformers, Automotive Motors and Generators and Industrial Electronic Products and has a annual Turnover of 6 Billion Indian Rupees and is manned by 3500 people. Kirloskar Electric, Unit IV, dedicated to Industrial Electronics and Automation products, started operations in the Year 1980. Situated in the historic and beautiful city of Mysore in a large area, this unit is manned by 300 dedicated professionals and has demonstrated R&D and engineering capability to meet the requirements of the engineering industry. This unit has a turnover of 350 Million Indian Rupee. Adjudged as the "Best R&D house in Electronics by the Government of India" in the field of Electronics it has developed and marketed many products successfully.


What is Labster?
You will learn a little about Labster before installing and using it in Canvas.
Labster is a software company dedicated to developing fully interactive advanced science lab simulations based on mathematical algorithms that support open-ended investigations. It combines these with gamification elements such as an immersive 3D environment, storytelling and a scoring system that stimulates students’ natural curiosity and highlights the connection between science and the real world.
Currently, dozens of simulations are available from Labster and are in use by various California State University campuses, including Fullerton.


IOT or Internet of Things basically refers to the network of interconnected physical devices and mechanical objects that are embedded with network connectivity, sensors and software which enables them to collect and exchange data. Internet of Things solutions are creating opportunities for more direct integration of physical devices with computing systems, allowing objects to be controlled remotely across an existing network infrastructure.
Partnering with some of the largest electronic and power companies across the globe, We at Tonext provide cost effective IoT solutions that market demands.
With strong partners across the world, we aim to provide services and solutions tailored according to our clients needs.
Our solutions include;
- IoT Solutions for Transportation
- IoT for Energy
- IoT for Engineering
- IoT for Health Industry
- IoT for Education
- Smart Electronic Devices
- Electronic Equipment and Appliance
- Smart Energy Applications
- Smart Traffic Lights Solutions
- Smart Meters
- RFID Based Systems & Solutions
- IoT for security
- IoT for corruptions & fraud control
- Data Center Power and Appliance
& Many more.


NFC- NEAR FILED COMMUNICATION- A PATH BREAKING TECHNOLOGY
Last week I saw an Ad in the TV showing two friends sharing music,picture and playing games simply by tapping their phones against each other , something like in sci-fi movie.It got me intrigued and i found out that the technology behind this was "NFC -near field communication".
Co-invented by NXP Semiconductors and Sony in 2002, Near Field Communication, or NFC, allows you to share, interconnect many devices, make mobile payments, read NFC-enabled tags and even do multi-player gaming by tapping your device against your friends' cool isn't :) .
Well you may now ask that , why on earth do i need NFC when we have the Blue-tooth technology that allow you to do exactly the same things like NFC.Well then here's some fact :
1) NFC is a gesture based (touch-tap ) process which makes it easier than the two to three step process for Bluetooth.
2)For it to work, both the interacting devices need to be embedded with NFC chips. These chips operate in a short range, generally around 4 cm or less. The speed of data transfer is around 440 kilobits per second which is more than enough for applications like reading card information or connecting devices.Well this speed is at least 10-20 times faster than bluetooth transfer rate.
3)NFC enabled phones which have your credit card information stored enables you to make mobile payments by tapping against the credit card reader without physically swapping the card , so you no longer need your credit cards.
It downloads the song and even makes the payment. You share it with friends by 'touch-tap' again and, finally, you reach home and 'touch-tap' the phone with your home entertainment system to listen to the music in all its glory. This may seem like sci-fi but the technology behind it is already here.ALL this is possible with NFC.
So whats your take Bluetooth or NFC ?
In India, Apple and Samsung have launched NFC enabled phones on iOS and Android respectively . Nokia has also launched six NFC phones and Blackberry-maker RIM two phones. This means that a NFC handset is available for as low as Rs 11,000 today.


A large variety of PAC readers are available to deliver reliable operation in all environments. From the latest aesthetically pleasing Architect Reader range with smartphone ID capability to the highly robust Vandal resistant PAC Readers, there truly is a PAC Reader for all.
A wide range of PAC readers are available to meet different customer requirements. The correct Reader can be chosen based on a variety of factors including security level, installation options, aesthetics and ID Device support. They are all designed and manufactured to high standards with a deserved reputation for their longevity in all environments.
Regional Availability: UK, EMEA, APAC, US
The PAC HF reader range supports all PAC HF ID Devices as well as many Wiegand format Tokens. The PAC HF Readers support high security access control in commercial, educational and residential scenarios especially when deployed with the PAC Ops ID Devices.
The Architect Readers support installations which require reliability and security. The Architect Reader range supports all PAC HF ID Devices. They also support high security Mobile ID’s that allow a user’s smartphone to become the ID Device.
PAC’s MT Readers are ideal for sites where support of multiple ID Device technology types (LF and HF) is required. They are ideal for using during transition from older LF ID Device technology to the more secure HF technology and support deployments in all commerial, educational and residential scenarios
The PAC LF reader range supports all PAC LF ID Devices as well as many Wiegand format Tokens. Designed to work in the most demanding of operating environments, the LF Readers support installations which require reliability and security.
The ievo biometric range of readers comes complete with a PAC output enabling direct connection to any of the PAC 512 range of controllers and is CPNI certified. The ievo readers have been designed after many years of research by a team of professionals who have been at the cutting edge of biometric deployment, installation and integration.


John L. Janick, Esq.
Mr. Janick's practice includes drafting and prosecuting domestic and
international patent applications in the electrical and mechanical arts.
His practice covers a wide range of technical fields, including communications
systems, analog/digital circuits, radar/sonar systems, semiconductors,
automotive components, digital imaging devices, and optics.
In addition to patent preparation and prosecution, Mr. Janick's practice
includes preparing patentability, invalidity and non-infringement opinions,
client counseling, and trademark and copyright registration. Mr. Janick
also has experience preparing requests for
inter partes and
ex parte reexamination proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,
as well as in patent litigation matters, including actions before the
International Trade Commission.
Mr. Janick is admitted into practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and
before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Mr. Janick holds a degree in
mechanical engineering from Lehigh University and has pursued graduate
studies in electrical engineering at Temple University. He received his
law degree from Widener University School of Law.
Contact John Janick


A new tool for non-invasive imaging of ACE2, the SARS-CoV-2 entry receptor
Possible changes in the enzyme ACE2 after SARS-CoV-2 infection have hardly been investigated so far. Cristina Müller's research team is developing an imaging tool to support this research.
The ACE2 enzyme which plays an important role in the cardiovascular system, serves as an entry portal for SARS-CoV-2. It could be that such an infection alters the enzyme, which could have a previously unknown influence on the cardiovascular system. Up to now, this possibility has hardly been explored so far, as there has been no suitable way to make ACE2 visible from the outside.
The research team led by Cristina Müller at the Paul Scherrer Institute is working on a new way to make ACE2 visible by developing a radiotracer that binds to ACE2. This makes it possible to visualise the enzyme from the outside using the imaging technique positron emission tomography (PET). The radiotracers developed so far were first tested in vitro and in a further step studied with mice to investigate their distribution in a living organism.
The first radiotracers successfully bind to the enzyme ACE2, but also accumulate in other body regions. The structure of the radiotracer must therefore be further optimised to improve its distribution in the body. This non-invasive imaging tool could make it possible to better study ACE2 in the future.
This is not only useful for research on SARS-CoV-2, but can also be of great benefit for other research projects around the cardiovascular system.


The New Threat - Offensive AI vs. Cybersecurity
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is evolving tremendously and significantly impacting various industries. Offensive AI is an emerging technology that combines AI and cybersecurity to create advanced cyber-attacks. With the advancement in AI, the potential for offensive AI is also on the rise. In this article, we'll explore the rise of offensive AI, its potential dangers, and how it can be countered.
What’s Offensive AI?
Offensive AI is a new form of cyber-attack that utilizes machine learning algorithms to create sophisticated and targeted attacks. Offensive AI can be used to automate the attack process, making it more efficient and effective. This technology can target individuals, organizations, or even entire countries. The rise of offensive AI has raised concerns among cybersecurity experts.
The Dark Side Unveiled: How Offensive AI Operates
Offensive AI works by using machine learning algorithms to analyze data and identify vulnerabilities in a system. The AI can then use this information to create a custom attack tailored to the specific system. The AI can also adapt and evolve its attack strategy based on the system's response.
Potential Threats of Offensive AI
Phishing attacks: Hackers use offensive AI to create more convincing attacks. By training machine learning algorithms on large datasets of email communication, they can generate more convincing and personalized phishing emails that are more likely to trick people into clicking on malicious links or providing sensitive information.
Password cracking: Offensive AI can also be used to crack passwords more efficiently. By using machine learning algorithms to analyze patterns in password data, hackers can create more targeted and effective brute-force attacks that can crack passwords in a fraction of the time it would take using traditional methods.
Automated malware creation: Offensive AI can also be used to automate the creation of new malware variants that are more difficult for security software to detect. Hackers can create new variants that bypass existing defenses and infect more systems by using machine learning algorithms to analyze how different malware variants are detected and blocked.
Overall, offensive AI is a powerful tool for hackers, allowing them to automate and optimize their attacks to maximize their impact and minimize their risk of being caught. As AI advances, we can expect to see more sophisticated and dangerous offensive AI tools being developed and deployed by cybercriminals.
The Battle Against Offensive AI: Effective Countermeasures
To counter offensive AI, cybersecurity experts must develop advanced defenses that can detect and neutralize AI-based attacks.
AI-based threat detection: One way to counter offensive AI is by using AI-based threat detection systems that can identify and block malicious AI attacks. These systems use machine learning algorithms to analyze network traffic and identify patterns that indicate an attack. By using AI to fight AI, security teams can stay ahead of evolving threats and quickly respond to new attacks.
Human oversight: Another way to counter offensive AI is by having humans oversee and monitor AI-based systems. While AI can be powerful, it's not perfect, and it can sometimes make mistakes or miss important details. By having humans in the loop, security teams can catch these errors and intervene before they cause significant damage.
Education and awareness: Finally, education and awareness are key to countering offensive AI. By educating employees about the risks of offensive AI and training them on how to identify and respond to attacks, organizations can reduce the likelihood of successful attacks. Additionally, by raising public awareness about the risks of offensive AI, we can work towards a more secure and resilient digital ecosystem.
Offensive AI is an emerging technology that poses a significant cybersecurity threat. This technology can automate and customize attacks, making them more efficient and effective. To counter offensive AI, cybersecurity experts must develop advanced defenses that can detect and neutralize AI-based attacks. Organizations must also implement comprehensive security measures to protect against these attacks.
Protecting Organizations with KPMG Edge
In the face of the escalating threat posed by offensive AI, organizations require robust cybersecurity solutions to safeguard their digital assets.
KPMG Edge’s cyber team stands at the forefront, offering a comprehensive suite of tools and services designed to protect businesses from the perils of offensive AI attacks.
Don't leave your business vulnerable to offensive AI attacks. Take action now and schedule a consultation with us to strengthen your cybersecurity defenses.
Reply to schedule a meeting.


A robotic bellhop? A robotic room service attendant? Technology continues to escalate and amaze us at the same time. The Wall Street Journal summarizes Botlr’s capabilities and how it may change the hospitality industry in this fascinating article.
Robots are driving cars, cleaning kitchens and fighting wars. Now they are bringing room service in hotels.
A robot shaped like the R2D2 character from “Star Wars” is roaming the halls of Starwood’s Aloft hotel in Cupertino, Calif., delivering late-night snacks and complimentary toothbrushes to guests in their rooms.
The machine, called Botlr, is a prototype made by Santa Clara, Calif., startup Savioke. The company began developing Botlr a year ago with the goal of freeing up hotel staff from the routine deliveries they do every day. Google Ventures invested in Savioke earlier this year.
Botlr is a fully autonomous robotic servant, programmed with a map of every hallway, elevator and guest room in the hotel. It uses a special laser-powered sensor called a lidar – the same navigation technology in Google’s self-driving cars — to find its way through the halls, and cameras to avoid people and other obstacles.
When a guest calls the front desk with a request, hotel employees can program the robot to deliver an item by hitting a few buttons.
Among the robot’s tricks, Botlr can call an elevator by tapping into the hotel’s wifi, board the elevator, and then order the elevator to a specific floor without ever touching the control pad. Botlr is in a test run four days a week at the Cupertino Aloft. Savioke plans to open up the pilot program to other hotels some time next year. The company aims to sell Botlr as a service and charge a monthly fee that includes maintenance of the devices.
The device will only work in hotels that have been specially wired up to work with it. For example, the Aloft in Cupertino has outfitted its elevator with a new WiFi system the robot can detect and use to open the elevator doors and select a floor.
Steve Cousins, Savioke’s chief executive, said the devices could also be used in restaurants, hospitals and elderly-care centers.
Savioke will have competition in the field of health care. A range of robotics companies including Aethon, inTouch Health and iRobot – the maker of the popular household cleaning robot Roomba – have already deployed robots to hundreds of hospitals, where the devices are used to deliver linens and medications to patients’ rooms.


1. Spring spiral cargo lane, easy to maintain, can sell different types of goods.
2. Regarding the card goods, the problem of retreating money:
(1) A series of detection and shipping mechanisms have been added to the software. If the payment is successful, but the software does not receive the motor rotation feedback, the software will be driven again.
(2) A light inspection board with infrared detection is added to the hardware. If the payment is successful, but the infrared light inspection board detects the goods, it is automatically refunded to the customer.


Mastering the cross-discipline system development process
Developing smart products has never been more challenging. Developers need an integrated systems engineering approach that enables them to manage the complete development process. Requirements engineering, systems architecture definition, detailed modeling and simulation of complex systems and the development of embedded software all need to be mastered in the context of the complete product.
The Systems Engineering solution from Dassault Systèmes delivers a unique, open and extensible development platform – a platform that fully integrates the cross-discipline modeling, simulation, verification and business process support needed for developing complex ‘cyber-physical’ products. It enables organizations to quickly and easily evaluate requests for changes or develop new products or system variants, while utilizing a unified performance based systems engineering approach that reduces the overall cost of system and product development.


At present, the LCD Writing Board on the market are all one-click-erase, no partial erase, which has become a worldwide technology obstacle. The partial erase function developed by our company achieves the same experience as the traditional teaching blackboard writing and erase, and fully meets the teaching and writing requirements.
The whole screen surface is divided into innumerable horizontal and vertical lines by etching technology. After voltage applied on any line, an electric field similar to one-click-erasure writing screen will be formed in the grid at the intersection of the lines, leading to the liquid crystal configuration change in that grid. At the same time, Infrared technology will be adopted to calculate the size and position of the artificial eraser, with voltage applied in this same area on the screen, the grid area erasing is realized.
We are the first company who has developed partial erase on LCD Writing board all over the world, and we have patents for this invention.
How to use it:
Place the special eraser over the writing on the board, and move the eraser slowly to realize the automatic erase of the area where the eraser passes.


Power Source is an electrical manufacturer’s representative company specializing in sales to the OEM’s, Machine Builders, Panel Shops, and Systems Integrators in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi. Our product offering and market knowledge are the secrets to our customers’ and our success. We provide applied solution expertise through a direct sales effort with engineering, operations, procurement, and management. Our synergistic product offering and professional sales skills enable our manufacturer partners to grow market share.
PR Electronics designs and produces signal conditioning devices for the process industry including temperature transmitters, I.S. interfaces, panel displays, signal converters, signal conditioners and splitters. PR electronics is driven by engineers committed to delivering innovative, leading-edge process instrumentation products utilizing patented technologies. All products have a 5 year warranty.
The 3108/3109 slim 6mm transmitters can isolate, convert and split common analog signals in your process. These devices provide 2.5 kVAC of galvanic isolation and are easily programmed using DIP-switches.
The 4116 multifunctional signal converters are reliable, user friendly and versatile covering hundreds of applications with one single part number. The units operate on a wide range of AC or DC power, have a universal input for the connection of mA, V, RTD, thermocouple, linear resistance, potentiometer or loop powered sensors and flexible analog outputs and relays with programmable ranges. These units can be pre-configured from the factory or easily programmed using our family of detachable displays. All units provide at least 2.3 kVAC of galvanic isolation, fast response times and high accuracy.


Want your very own thunderstorm? Well, then you’ll want to buy this interactive cloud! This amazing design brings you all the enjoyable thunder with absolutely zero rain, and it brings it inside your house! This awesome lamp has lights,motion sensors, microphones, and a crazy speaker system. Its remote control allows you to set it to a variety of modes which can even react to its surroundings. Don’t you want one? I know I do!
Be sure to watch the video!
More info available at: http://www.richardclarkson.com/cloud/


LED backfitting-daytime-running-lights VW Passat 3C (2005-2010)
Suitable for VW Passat 3C / Sedan/Limousine + Wagon/Variant / 2005-2010
Our offered daytime running light is a vehicle specific item, especially manufactured for the VW Passat 3C (2005-2010). The daytime running light fits into the original openings of the fog light covers. The mounting is done to already existing mounting points with a vehicle specific mounting adapter to the front bumper. If your car does not have serial fog lights, you can purchase such a cover with corresponding openings for low-cost at your local car dealer or via internet. The fixing / mounting of the daytime running lights is done without drilling to already existing mounting points.
This LED daytime running light backfitting set replaces the factory-provided fog lights of the VW Passat 3C (2005-2010). Because of the modified beam of light and the different wiring, the daytime running light cannot be used as a fog light.
Backfitting LED-daytime running lights:
- Daytime running light with very high power 18x white LED
- The control module of the LED is already installed
- Extreme long life LED with very high illuminating power / white glossy signal light – not comparable with the light of the original fog lights
- Easy to install thanks to vehicle specific brackets
- Waterproof housing
- The daytime running lights are activated by turning on the ignition. So you cannot forget to switch the lights on. The daytime running lights turn off automatically when the headlights are turned on respectively the light dim down 50%. Depending of the choosen model:
With dimming- / parking light function: The daytime running lights dimm down 50% to parking light level when the headlights are switched on
Without dimming- / parking light function: The daytime running lights turn off when the headlights are switched on.
- Set consist of 2 daytime running lights (left + right)
- No measurable increased power consumption compared to driving without lights
- Current consumption: 12 Volt = 3,4W
- STVO / TÜV approved
Scope of supply:
- 2 pcs. LED backfitting daytime running lights 12 Volt with or without dimming- / parking light function, please select the desired execution
- Prefabricated cables + connectors for a faster mounting
- Vehicle specific mounting adapter VW Passat 3C (2005-2010)
- Mounting material + screws
- Mounting- and connection description in german
- 2x load resistors 50 watt / 6 ohm
Vehicles with Can-Bus system!
Vehicles of the newer generations are equipped today with so called Can-Bus respectively LIN-Bus systems. With a low, permanent testing current those systems are checking the light, display and turn signal function. So that no error message is shown when mounting our daytime running lights the scope of supply includes two load resistors which are being connected to the connection wires of the fog lights. So you can mount the daytime running lights without any errors. Please compare us with other suppliers of daytime running lights. We’re not only delivering the daytime running lights but also the resistors.
Regulations for admission:
- Thanks to ECE, E11, R87 and RL-mark Europe-wide admission
- Thanks to the E-proof mark on the lens the item is 100% allowed in the street traffic and approved
- No extra entry in your car documents needed
- Only lights like these with the ECE-87 and RL mark on the lens are approved as daytime running lights in street traffic everything else are just side-marker lamps!
- Thanks to the proof marks on the lens no extra documents (like test reports etc.) have to be carried alongside the normal car documents.
You have the chance to download the mounting instruction at the point “Additional product information” below this description!
Color temperature = 4500 Kelvin, similar to the daytime running lights of AUDI!
This LED daytime running light installation kit replaces the factory fitted fog lights. Just replace the fog lamps with the daytime running lights (with the mounting material) and to reconnect the cables.
The built-in relay controls the circuit of the lights. Please connect the lights as shown in the wiring diagram (included within the delivery). The daytime running lights illuminate automatically when the ignition is switched on and the headlights are off. This is not a substitute for low beam lights used by dawn or darkness. The daytime running lights turn off respectively dim down automatically when the headlights are being switched on, depending of the purchased version! Please choose the type required when ordering whether you want the daytime running lights dimming- / parking light function!
For vehicles with xenon headlights, the headlight plus from the daytime running lights has to be connected to the parking lights!
Differences to other suppliers:
- Vehicle specific backfitting daytime running lights
- Control module is already installed in the housing – therefore no additional wiring is needed for the control module
- Please be aware that our daytime running lights are not, as offered in most of the cases, mounted to / or under the spoiler. This looks like all show and no go. Our daytime running lights do not only provide an optical upgrade, it is also extends your safety in the street traffic and appears like a “Facelift” at your VW.
These daytime running lights are do not only provide an optical upgrade, it is also extends your safety in the street traffic. For years international institutions and associations argue for driving with light during the day. In some countries this is already mandatory! New EU directive! Beginning of February 2011 all new vehicles have to be equipped with daytime running lights.
There are many suppliers of LED daytime running lights. Please compare all the offers before purchasing. For over 25 years we’re producing, developing and selling high quality accessories for Truck’s, Van’s, SUV’s, mobile homes and passenger cars. Set trust in our experience. We’re a reliable and qualified partner in the matter of accessories.
Information about the manufacturer:
Since 2002 Euralight is a brand that develops and manufactures high-quality lights for the automotive industry and is known far beyond the borders of Europe. The product range of Euralight consists, among other, beam headlights and fog lights made out of stainless steel, corresponding halogen bulbs and also LED daytime running lights.


Ultrasonic Sensors - Sensors , Connectors & Accessories! Sensors , Connectors & Accessories! We Have Your Sensor Solution.
Various Technics of Liquids and Solids Level Measurements . This is a short range in front of the sensor within which the ultrasonic .. Level Measurements 13 .. Ultrasonic Level Measurement instruments has .
Piezo Film Sensors Technical Manual - Tufts University Piezo Film Sensors Technical Manual.. i .. / 0 Relative Permittivity 12-13 7-8 .. This does not apply, however, to low to high frequency ultrasonic frequencies, .
PowerPoint Presentation Ultrasonic sensor plays an indispensable role in .. These panels are one of the most efficient by having an efficiency of 13-17 % .
What Is a Sensor? - Lesson - TeachEngineering Introduction/Motivation (Be ready to show students the 30-slide What Is a Sensor? Presentation, a Microsoft PowerPoint file, to teach the lesson, as well as a .
How Does an Ultrasonic Sensor Work? - TeachEngineering The LEGO ultrasonic sensor sends an ultrasonic sound (which you cannot hear) from one of the eyes .. 13 Mini-Activity 2 Answer for the Teacher.
ultrasonic sensor working Ultrasonic Sensors Calibration.. Omar A .. In performing a calibration, the following .. A free PowerPoint PPT .. 42kHz Ultrasonic sensor measures distance to .
Intro to Sensors Ultrasonic Sensor Ultrasonic .. Sound waves emitted are in the range of 2-13 MHz .
Ultrasonic Sensing Basics for Liquid Level Sensing, Flow . Ultrasonic Sensing Basics for Liquid Level Sensing, Flow Sensing, and Fluid Identification Applications .


Now, a Process to Recover Gold from E-Waste
May 21, 2014
Scientists at the National Metallurgical Laboratory, a CSIR lab in Jamshedpur, have successfully developed the process of extracting gold from electronic waste like used mobile phones, medical equipment and telecommunication devices to protect environment and conserve the natural resources and energy.
Precious metals are used widely in electronic appliances such as in printed circuit boards (PCBs) of mobile phones, motherboard of computers and connectors.
Scientists feel that in order to meet the increasing demands and conserve resources, it is necessary to recycle and develop e-waste as an alternate source of these metals.
"We have various collaborations with national and international research institutes and companies for development of processes for recovery of various metals from e-waste. We started working on this gold recovery process development nearly two years back. Now we have even transferred the technological know-how to M/s ADV co. New Delhi and they have been working on it successfully," Dr Manis Kumar Jha, the lead scientist of the team told HT.
Source: Hindustan Times


Oskar Elek, Weston Mossman, Angus G. Forbes
Sifting Strands is an interdisciplinary art project which arose from a collaboration between astrophysicists and computational researchers at the University of California in Santa Cruz in the effort to develop a functional meta-model of the cosmic web. Its core technical component is the MCPM algorithm that builds on a computational model of Physarum polycephalum slime mold. Using this methodology, we built the first accurate density map of the cosmic web, detected the contributions of intergalactic medium to the signal from a fast radio burst, explored novel 3D printing designs, developed a physically realistic visualization of volumetric slime mold networks, and explored language embedding models. Sifting Strands presents an interactive performance that transforms the MCPM algorithm to a more expressive formulation that is also music, video, and scene reactive. Our simulation responds to acoustic transients by spatial distortions of the simulation domain, and uses the video and scene geometry capture inputs as additional signaling modalities to steer the virtual agents. The resulting generative patterns have a mesmerizing organic, fractal nature. We have performed different adaptations of this work within a series of collaborative art events in Santa Cruz, California titled Liminal Space. In one version, the simulation reacts to the live performed music as well as the video recording of the room and the resulting visuals are projected on the wall. In another, we projected the simulation onto a surfboard which the participants could draw on, creating a feedback loop dialogue between the people and the simulation. In another, we used Microsoft Kinect to detect the motion dynamics of the audience and used that to steer the simulation. For VISAP 2022 we will present an amalgam of these performances. Sifting Strands explores how compter generated art and live audience collaborate in the creative act. People appreciate the opportunity to participate in the performances, whether is be through drawing, modulating and steering the generative system in real time, or simply having stimulating cross-disciplinary conversations. For us researchers this presents a unique opportunity to get feedback and spread knowledge of complex systems through the performances as an outreach activity. We believe this work in its own way demonstrates that artistic exploration and scientific research can inform each other, and participatory artistic presentations can make scientific research more accessible and interesting to the general public, with the added benefit of strengthening local art communities.
Oskar Elek is an interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scientist at UC Santa Cruz Computational Media. He designs algorithms that draw from complex fractal systems and explores their applications in astrophysics and cosmology, as well as computational art and design. He is the lead developer of open-source projects Polyphorm and PolyPhy. Find more about his work at elek.pub.
Weston Mossman is a UC Santa Cruz Computational Media alum, Front End software architect, guitarist, electronic musician, and visual/craft artist. Weston organizes a multidisciplinary community art event in Santa Cruz called @LiminalSpaceEvents, performs in an Afrobeats band called @phreeborn, plays live organic ambient music as @swayor_music, and nerds out about anything tech/art.
Angus Forbes is an Associate Professor in the Computer Graphics Technology Department at Purdue University. His interdisciplinary research in computational media focuses on topics in graphics and visualization, and he is also engaged in exploring the creative use of contemporary technologies. More information about his work can be found at angusforbes.com.


Guitar Wing™ from Livid Instruments is the world's first expressive MIDI controller that attaches to the horn of an electric guitar or bass.
This product is a 2017 Edition USB Receiver for Guitar Wing. This product works on all versions of Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu.
This device works with all Guitar Wing models and is capable of immediate device connection/reconnection.
ENABLE IMMEDIATE DEVICE CONNECTION/ RECONNECTION
To semi-permanently bond this USB Receiver to your Guitar Wing:
1. Download Guitar Wing Firmware Update v1.13
2. Plug in the USB Receiver
3. Open Guitar Wing Firmware Update
4. Press the Connect Button in the bottom-left hand corner of the Guitar Wing Firmware Update, window. This will cancel the USB Receiver's search routine. Now, wait 1 second.
5. Press the Connect Button again. This triggers the USB receiver to search for a Guitar Wing.
6. Turn Guitar Wing On, and wait for Guitar Wing Firmware Update to connect to the device.
7. Once connection has been established, click-and-hold the 'connect' button, and select the 'save connected device to usb receiver' option.
- Confirmation will be displayed in the log window.


PORTABLE, SOLAR-POWERED SYSTEM FOR SITE SECURITY.
This off-grid system gives you the power to live stream your cameras or check historic incidents from your laptop.
A DEPENDABLE DETERRENT WITH DISCRETE PLACEMENT.
Minimal infrastructure and low power requirements means 24/7 coverage of your site on a single generator, or tiny power usage.
Our system is designed to be a pro-active tool for enhancing security, rather than an invasive intrusion into people’s lives. By using advanced technology and thoughtful customization, we help you maintain a non-invasive approach to surveillance while still being vigilant about security.


This section explains the lighting properties defined on the product pages together with other lighting facts.
System effect is the total effect used per luminaire, adding the LED module and LED driver together. The unit for system effect is Watt (W).
The light source effect is specified separately. The unit for effect is Watt (W).
Luminous flux is the amount of light coming out of the luminaire after passing through the diffuser. The unit for luminous flux is lumen (lm).
Light efficiency is a measure of the performance of the luminaire.
Formula: Luminous flux lm / System effect W = Efficiency lm/W.
Colour Rendering Index (CRI)
CRI is a general indicator of how natural object colours will appear when illuminated by a particular light source. Generally, a CRI of Ra 70 and above will be required for most interior lighting applications.
The unit for Colour Rendering Index is Ra.
MacAdams is a measure that indicates the level of the sorting (binning). LED diodes have a natural spread in colour temperature even though they are manufactured according to the same specification. In order to have a homogenous installation when containing many luminaires the LED diodes must not differ too much. The way of solving this is to sort (binning) the diodes.
MacAdams 1-3 are typically for applications with high demands for equal colour quality.
MacAdams 3-5 are typically for general interior environments.
MacAdams 5-7 are mainly for outdoor environments and products with less demand.
The unit for MacAdams is SDCM (Standard Deviation of Color Matching).
Light output ratio
Light Output Ratio (LOR) is the percentage of light emitted from the light source that makes it out of the luminaire. For LED luminaires it is stated as 100%.
Light data/polar diagram
Light distribution curve is one in a polar diagram plotted curve. It indicates the luminaire's luminous intensity in cd/klm in different directions as a function of viewing angle in one or more planes. A solid line shows the distribution of light perpendicular to the lamp longitudinal axis, and the dashed line shows the light distribution in the longitudinal direction. Up and down direction shows direct or indirect light output from the luminaire. Light output data can also be used for light planning in a software (eg Dialux).
LED modules are recognized as L70, L80 or L90. The L value describes how light output as a percentage of the value, which can be expected when the specified time is reached and combined with an expected usage or burning.
Example: L90 >100000h = 90% light compared to initial value after 100000 hours burning time.
Lux is a unit of light measurement taking area into account. In other words, light intensity.
We use lux to measure the amount of light output in a given area, where one lux is equal to one lumen per square meter. Lux is a great measurement for determining what we see as the brightness of a beam. If the light output is concentrated over a smaller area, we see this as very bright. If the light output is spread over a larger area, we see this as very weak.
The unit for illumination is Lux (lx).
Ingress Protection (IP)
Light fittings are equipped with an IP Code. IP designation consists of a two-digit code that describes the degree of protection against solid objects, moisture and water. The table below describes the respective IP Code.
Normal indoor IP ratings for office and schools are IP20.
|Object size protection||Protection against moisture and water|
|Not protected||Dripping water||Spraying water||Splashing of water||Water jets|
|Protection against electric shock||IP20||IP21||IP23|
|Protection against electric shock||IP40||IP41||IP43||IP44||IP45|
In the electrical appliance manufacturing industry, the following IEC protection classes are defined and used to differentiate between the protective-earth connections requirements of devices. The table below describes the respective appliance class.
Electrical installations where the chassis is connected to earth with a separate terminal.
A Class II or double insulated electrical appliance is one which has been designed in such a way that it does not require a safety connection to electrical earth (ground).
The basic requirement is that no single failure can result in dangerous voltage becoming exposed so that it might cause an electric shock and that this is achieved without relying on an earthed metal casing. This is usually achieved at least in part by having two layers of insulating material surrounding live parts or by using reinforced insulation.
Class III luminaire is a luminaire in which protection against electric shock relies on supply at safety extra low voltage (SELV) and in which voltage higher than those of SELV are not generated.
CE approval for lighting luminaire
For a luminaire to be marketed in the EU / EEA area it must be provided with the CE mark. CE marking, which is compulsory, means that the product fulfills the requirement of the CE directive.


Like me, you may have a 1977 EA Miniscamp microcomputer tucked away. It is fun to get out every now and again, but it is very tiresome having to enter in the machine code via the front panel switches.
And also like me, you probably have a Maximite computer tucked into the same cupboard next to the Miniscamp.
This simple interface will allow the Maximite to drive the front panel switches of the Miniscamp, thereby allowing the tedious procedure of programming the Miniscamp to be programmed, and for those programs to be stored on the Maximite and quickly loaded into the Miniscamp.
But then, having done that, it opens the prospect of being able to program the Miniscamp for larger tasks. The Miniscamp kit was originally designed with only 256 bytes of RAM, and that is how mine has remained for the last 45 years. But with an old spare 6116 RAM chip, I will expand the memory from 256 bytes to a whopping 2kB which will allow the Miniscamp to run the original KITBUG monitor program.
That will leave one other essential upgrade, and that is to replace the ancient 110 baud 20mA serial current loop interface used by KITBUG with a modern USB serial interface so you can use a terminal emulator on your PC instead.
The Miniscamp, published in Electronics Australia in 1977 provided a good introduction to computers, since it was a classic “lights and switches” design where you had to enter machine code directly into the RAM. This was possible with the SC/MP microprocessor which could be detached from the address and data buses and given to the front panel switches via the direct memory access (DMA) switch.
All the address and data switches are attached to open collector NAND gates which drive the bus. When the switch is open, the bus signal will be low and when it is closed, the bus signal will be high. (See figure 2 below).
The Maximite was the first iteration of a family of computers published more recently in Silicon Chip magazine which are all based on the BASIC interpreter developed by Geoff Graham. The Maximite provides 20 GPIO through as 26 pin DIL socket on the back of the computer.
This interface will connect these GPIO from the Maximite, configured as “open collector” outputs, to the NAND gates in the Miniscamp so that they can act as the switches (as long as the physical switches are open). And one of the GPIO outputs will also drive the write strobes to act as the “deposit” switch.
Maximite interface technical description
The interface uses all 20 I/O pins of the Maximite configured as digital outputs. There are 8 pins wired to the data switches and 11 pins wired to the address switches (allowing 2kb address range), plus 1 pin for the memory write strobe line. The interface is very simple without any active components; only a single diode on each pin (plus an additional one on the write strobe to provide two signals “WR1” and “WR2”). The outputs are normally held high, and are driven low to sink the TTL load from the Miniscamp’s address and data switch NAND gates. This has the same effect as if the front panel switch is closed, indicating a binary 1.
To fill memory on the Miniscamp, the Maximite will write 11 bits of the memory address to pin 12 (address bit 0) and pins 1 through 10 (address bits 1 through 10), and then write the 8 data bits to pins 13 through 20. The output of these pins is inverted, so that a zero is set for binary 1, and a one is set for binary 0. Then the write strobe (pin 11) is driven low momentarily to write the data to the selected address.
Figure 1 shows the wiring to the standard 26 pin Maximite interface. This shows the only additional components required to make this interface.
Figure 2 shows the interface points on the original Miniscamp circuit. The diode anode of each data and address line is wired to the same point in the circuit where the respective data switch or address switch connect to the TTL NAND gate. And the write signal is connected via two diodes. One will drive the ‘NWDS’ line low to enable the RAM write signal, and the other will trigger the RC circuit which enables the data switch NAND gates. Note that the circuit shown in figure 2 is taken from the “deposit timing modification” shown in the May 1977 publication; not the original April circuit by Dr. Kenwell. This is the design of the printed circuit board which was adopted in all the commercial kits.
Maximite interface construction
The DIL socket can be mounted on a piece of blank perforated board along with all the diodes as shown in the Photo 1. The 11 address and 8 data lines are wired onto the main PCB in parallel with the front panel switch connections (Photo 3), and the two write strobe signals are wired into the existing Miniscamp circuit at two points as shown in figure 2. One will drive the ‘NWDS’ line low to enable the RAM write signal, and the other will trigger the RC circuit which enables the data switch NAND gates. This piece of Veroboard is then simply mounted onto the back panel with silicone, as shown in Photo 2.
Photo 1 – The interface was simply constructed on a piece of blank perforated board. The diodes are wired directly between the DIL socket pins and the respective signal wires. There is also a green earth which will be connected to the chassis.
Photo 2 – The interface is held in place by silicone on the back panel behind the front panel LED driver PCB. The silicone provides a sufficiently solid mount without any other mechanical means.
Photo 3 – The data and address signals are wired directly into the underside of the main PCB where the front panel switches are terminated (circled above).
Maximite interface programming
scmp.bas is a BASIC program which will load the “binary count and display” test program from the original design article for the Miniscamp. Load and run this program on the Maximite while all the switches on the front panel of the Miniscamp are in the off position. It is satisfying and fun to watch the front panel LEDs blink as the program is loaded into memory when this BASIC program is run.
Then when the program has completed and the lights have finished blinking, reset the Miniscamp and place the DMA/CPU and Halt/Run switches into the CPU and Run positions. The program will start running.
RAM expansion technical description
The KITBUG monitor program originally resided in a 512 byte PROM and occupied memory address 0000-01FF. But additionally, it stores variables on a stack in RAM at location 0FFF and below; in other words, it expects to have 4kB of addressable memory, but the memory expansion design presented here only provides 2kB (mainly due to the fact that I only had 6116 RAM chips, and the Maximite interface only provides a 2kB addressable range).
Additionally, the Miniscamp has the DMA input switches and and LEDs at memory address 0801 and 0802 respectively; right in the middle of the 4kB address space.
But this design provides a nice compromise to address all of these requirements. The 2kB of memory is mirrored in address ranges 0000-07FF and 0800-0FFF, although the first 256 bytes at 0800-08FF are disabled so as not to conflict with the Miniscamp DMA switches and lights. This means that all the existing Miniscamp programs can continue to run unmodified, whilst allowing the KITBUG monitor to have full access to the 2kB RAM and its stack.
To achieve this, pin G3 on the 74LS138 address decoder, which previously connected to AD11 so that the decoder is only active for the 0000-07FF address range, is instead tied to ground, so the decoder is active for both the 0000-7FF and 0800-0FFF range. And 74LS138 output “0”, which previously enabled the 2112 RAM chips in the 0000-00FF range, is gated with AD11 so that the 6116 RAM chip is disabled when AD11 is high and output “0” is low; i.e. address range 0800-08FF.
And the same signal which disables the 6116 RAM is also connected into the existing 74C10 3 input NAND gate, in place of address line AD11, so that the front panel switches and LEDs are enabled in this same address range, which is identical to the original Miniscamp design. So the new memory address map is;
- Address 0000-07FF: This is the full 2kB addressable range of the 6116 RAM
- Address 08×1: Front panel switches DMA input
- Address 08×2: Front panel LEDs DMA output
- Address 0900-0FFF: This is a mirror of address range 0100-07FF
RAM expansion construction
The memory expansion board I built piggy backs directly onto the 2112 RAM chip DIL sockets, and most of the data and address signals are acquired directly from these pins; in fact pins 13-16 of the 6116 RAM chip piggy back directly into 9-12 of one of the 2112 sockets to pick up data lines DB0-DB3. This can be seen in photo 5.
Photo 4 – Modifications to the main PCB include lifting pin 4 of the 74LS138 chip to disconnect it from address line AD11, and soldering it to adjacent pin 5 (circled in green above). And the wire link from pins 2 and 3 of the 74C10 to address line AD11 is replaced with a wire jumper (circled in yellow above). The Miniscamp will continue to operate with these modifications, and should be tested at this time.
Photo 5 – The memory expansion board plugs directly in place of the two 2112 RAM chips. Most of the existing data and address signals are brought up to this piggy back board directly from where it plugs into the IC DIL sockets, so there are only five additional signals which need to be wired from the board into the main PCB. Notice how pins 13-16 of the 24 pin DIL socket are configured directly above pins 9-12 of the 2112 RAM socket below on the main board. Then the two other 8 pin headers access all the other signals from the 2112 RAM sockets
Photo 6 – The RAM expansion board in place and populated with the 6116 RAM chip and the 74HC01 logic element. The wire link from the 74C10 (see photo 4) is disconnected from AD11 and connected to GOUT on this piggy back board instead. And the four address lines AD8-AD11 and wired to the main PCB.
Figure 4 – This is the wiring on the underside of the piggy back board (viewed from the top). The solid circles in the DIP IC positions represent pins which plug into the 2112 RAM sockets. The open circles show all other DIP IC pins and the five external connections
Kitbug USB interface technical description and construction
Kitbug uses the FLAG0 and SENSEB pins on the SC/MP processor for serial I/O. The 20mA current loop interface can be simply replaced with a CP2102 USB serial module (available for a few dollars on ebay, etc.) by wiring the transmit/receive data signals directly to these pins, except that the FLAG0 output pin needs to be inverted. This is simply done by using the unused NAND gate of the 74HC01 chip in the memory expansion as an inverter.
The only other change that needs to be made is to alter the baud rate used by Kitbug from 110 baud to 300, since this is the lowest speed supported by the CP2102 module. This table shows the address vectors which need to be changed to do this, and you will notice that it can also be set to higher speeds of 600 and 1200 baud, but I have found 1200 baud to be quite marginal. And unless your Miniscamp has a crystal oscillator, you may even find achieving stable operation at 300 baud difficult. So if your Miniscamp only uses a capacitor for the timing component, you should probably consider replacing this with a 1MHz crystal or another stable timing method. (See appendix A of the SC/MP applications handbook for alternate methods).
Photo 7 – The exciting moment when my Miniscamp ran KITBUG for the first time after 45 years. Notice that my ancient old ICL terminal (which has 20mA current loop) is running at 110 baud (circled on the screen).
To do this, I wired up the original transistor circuit for the 20mA driver on a prototype board and ran the unmodified 110baud kitbug.bas program on the Maximite.
Photo 8 – The CP2102 module is mounted on a pad of silicone at the rear of the Miniscamp, and it is wired, via the inverter on the memory expansion board back to the SENSEB and FLAG0 pins on the Miniscamp PCB.
The serial output on pin FLAG0 is inverted in the original Kitbug driver and needs to be inverted for the CP2102 USB interface. Here are a couple of options to achieve this, although I used the second option, utilising the spare NAND gate on the RAM expansion board.
Using terminal emulators with Maximite and Miniscamp running Kitbug
My terminal emulator of choice is “PuTTY”. This terminal emulator does not provide any file transfer capabilities (although there are variants of PuTTY with file transfer extensions), but this is unnecessary when programs can be simply loaded into the Maximite using the AUTO command, which leaves you free to also use your favourite source editor of choice (mine in Notepad++).
PuTTY is also a superior terminal emulator in all other circumstances. It works perfectly well with the Maximite because it provides ANSI/VT220 emulation as standard. You simply need to maximise the window when connected to the Maximite serial port so that it has more than 36 lines, and the change the default backspace keyboard encoding from chr(127) to Control-H. This is described in step 2b below.
Step 1 – Identify the serial ports
Step 1 – With both the Miniscamp and Maximite computers attached to your PC via USB, open the Windows Control panel (Devices and printers) to identify the serial port numbers that they have been assigned by Windows.
As you can see in this screenshot, the assigned port numbers are;
- COM26 – Maximite
- COM27 – Miniscamp
Step 2 – Connect to the Maximite
Step 2a Open a new Putty session. Select “serial” as the “connection type”, and enter the Maximite’s COM port number as the “serial line”.
Step 2b – You will also need to change the encoding of the backspace key which is chr(127) by default in the Putty emulator. To do this, select “Terminal > Keyboard” from the configuration categories, and change the backspace key setting to “Control-H”.
Step 2c – After clicking the “Open” button in the Putty configuration window, a terminal window will be opened to the Maximite and you should see the welcome message and prompt.
Step 3 – Connect to the Miniscamp
Step 3a – Open a new Putty session. Select “serial” as the “connection type”, and enter the Miniscamp’s COM port number as the “serial line”.
Step 3b – The Kitbug program was designed to operate with Teletype terminals which use 7 bit even parity, so you need to configure Putty the same. To do this, select “Connection > Serial” from the configuration categories and change the speed, data bits, parity and flow control accordingly.
Last steps – Load and run KITBUG!
Step 4 – Load KITBUG – After clicking the “Open” button in the Putty configuration window, a new Putty terminal window will open, but it will blank, since there is nothing running on the Miniscamp yet.
Instead, switch to the Maximite terminal window, load the kitbug3.bas program. See the steps below to save the program into your Maximite.
Before running it, you need to ensure that all the front panel switches on the Miniscamp are off (open circuit, zero state). Then “run” the program and watch the lights on the front panel of the Miniscamp blink as the progam is entered.
Step 5 – Run KITBUG – When the lights have stopped blinking, the Miniscamp will be loaded and ready to run Kitbug!
On the Miniscamp, press the “reset” button and set the DMA/CPU switch to CPU and the Halt/Run switch to Run.
You should see a “-” prompt in the Miniscamp terminal window. Hit “T” then “Enter” and Kitbug will start to “type” the contents of memory. Hit “Enter” again and it will stop and print another “-” prompt.
See Chapter 4 of the SCMP Kit Users Manual for instructions to use Kitbug.
Saving 300 baud Kitbug to your Maximite
I have extracted the Kitbug machine code from it’s assembly code listing in the “Kitbug user manual” (using OCR! and lots of other tricks), and kitbug3.bas is the resultant BASIC program for the Maximite program which will load a 300 baud modified version of Kitbug into the Miniscamp.
But first of all, you will need to load this program and save it to the storage in your Maximite computer so it can be subsequently loaded and run. To do this, you will need to have a terminal session open to your Maxximite, as per step 3 above, then do the following;
- Open the kitbug3.bas into another window and press Ctrl-A and Ctrl-C to copy it into the Windows cut and paste buffer.
- In the Maximite terminal window;
- Enter the new command to erase memory
- Enter the auto command. Anything now type will be loaded directly into immediate program memory
- Click the right mouse button. This will paste the Kitbug progam from the Windows copy and paste buffer, thus loading it into immediate program memory
- Press Ctrl-C to stop the “auto” command
- Enter save “kitbug3.bas” to write the program to storage
- Kitbug source code
- Original 110 baud Kitbug loader for Maximite
- Putty terminal emulator download
- Miniscamp design articles