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In this document we would like to present our solution for future well-organized online laboratories. This method is currently used at Politehnica University of Bucharest in Romania and thanks to it, faculty staff and students may access equipment via internet to perform experiments and laboratory tasks without being in the physical lab space. Also, remote labs provide additional benefits such as supporting distance learning, improving lab accessibility to handicapped people, and increasing safety for dangerous experimentation. The theme envisages the creation of an integrated platform capable of analyzing, both remotely and locally, the parameters of passive components and circuits. It studies discrete and integrated passive electronic components, considering their characterization, technology, design, modeling, simulation, measurement and use in accordance with the particularities of the electronic circuits in which they are used. The main objective consists in providing remote access to Labs in Electronics & Communications field and motivating students to conduct experiments by arousing their curiosity. To reach the previously set objective, we have designed more experiments related to the field of Electronics and Telecommunications. This lab allows students to perform real time experiments through different devices controls.

The paper presents smart blended learning for fostering students’ performance. It uses models of student activity and detects causes of a possible drop out, using learning analytics and real-time data. Taking advantage of embedded sensors (non-invasive, low-cost, flexible and distraction free) built into wearable devices real-time data can be used to support students’ success, well-being and health. In our contribution to the research topic we evaluate the students' experience with smart blended learning using biofeedback methods, sensor data extracted from wearables for five specific lectures, during study periods and in examinations. The preliminary results indicate a correlation between the physiological signals and the grades in examination.

The Education 4.0 process can be used to foster students' performance, to motivate them by means of adaptive and personalized learning, to automate answering routine questions and to improve the quality of online examinations. It releases teachers from routine tasks, and it enables them to be more involved in the individualization of the educational process and in innovation. We apply artificial intelligence methodology to motivate students to improve their performance, and to identify early in course which students are at-risk of dropping out. In the adaptive Education 4.0 loT framework, the environmental and embedded sensors from wearables examine biosignals with biofeedback, such as pulse (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), thereby increasing students' self-reflection, and allowing for a more personalized learning experience. The first experiments corroborate meaningful correlations between the data-points reached in the self-assessments, and values of the biosignals.

The supercapacitor, the relatively new passive component in the electronic field, has begun drawing attention to more and more users in terms of energy storage and delivery applications in a very short time. Researchers are trying to constantly improve and reduce a number of disadvantages for this component, such as: decrease in equivalent series resistance, increase in maximum working voltage or capacity. All these aspects can be improved only by making different variants of components, from different materials and choosing the variant with the best results. For this, the purpose of this work is to present the realization a supercapacitor, Pouch type cell, by means of the equipment already used in the manufacture of batteries. As materials, will be used for electrodes, aluminum foil on which a porous material will be deposited, and as an electrolyte we will use an ionic liquid, known for its performance regarding much higher working voltage (up to 5V) compared to aqueous electrolytes (maximum 1.2V) or organic electrolytes (maximum 2.7V). Thus, we try to obtain a supercapacitor for which the working voltage exceeds the maximum value encountered so far for a single component and also based on the fact that we have all the information about the realization process we can draw important conclusions about the component made. In this way we can bring improvements to future components, by using other materials instead of those we consider problematic.

The manner in which a secret key is used in symmetric cryptographic systems is a permanent challenge for cryptographers due to its importance in overall security required for information protection. In order to mitigate the success rate of an attacker, a key expansion stage is included in cryptographic algorithms. This article presents an innovative solution that maximizes the key space, without reveal any information to an attacker who might monitor the communication channel. The prerequisites of this approach are the secret keys, a pseudorandom numbers generator and a random number generator, all of these being aggregate by a challenge-response mutual authentication protocol and a permutation function. For an efficient implementation, the already existing conductive mesh and the associated electronic circuits, dedicated to protect the cryptographic module against physical intrusion attempts of an attacker, are used to generate random numbers, without being necessary other electronic circuits. The numbers established as a result of the mutual authentication protocol will be used further to permute the secret key so, after each logical (re)synchronization, different keys will be used in cipher algorithm. Due to this key space extension process, the confusion and diffusion properties belonging to cypher algorithm are improved.

Polyaniline (PANI) is a valuable, old, complex, organic, nontoxic, cheap, semiflexible, good environmental properties (electrical conductivity value of 10_10 to 10_5 S cm_1), conducting polymer material having interesting properties (and having a huge potential to be applied in industry (especially in microelectronics), beeing among the most studied conducting polymer during the last 50 years.Polyaniline has interesting properties: it has both electronic and ionic conduction, a color changing is observed depending on the degree of its oxidation/reduction state, it has a high chemical and thermal stability, presents piezoresistive properties, and has cytocompatibility. Many of these properties can be controlled by doping/dedoping phenomena. With these remarkable properties, polyaniline is a valuable candidate for large-scale industrial applications, including passive electronic components manufacturing (resistors and capacitors).

The IoT concept keeps the interest of electronics designers for many years. The IoT devices are used in various application domains, such as: consumer, commercial, industrial, infrastructure and medical. They process and communicate data that, in most cases, are confidential or are not intended for the public. The security of the IoT devices has become a major concern for every user. This paper proposes a security system that protects the IoT devices from tampering with no backup power. It consists of an electronic circuit that has two roles: analyzes the physical integrity of the protected device and derivates a key to decrypt the firmware.

The core of this paper is to present an example of use for a growing technology, which is Internet of Things (IoT), with an explicit, complete design and implementation of a custom prototyping embedded system capable of mapping air quality in multiple areas in real time. We designed the system for home use, but also to be mounted in a car or to be transported with the user everywhere, so that not only an area, but also an entire zone to be monitored. Our embedded system is developed on an ATMEGA328PB microcontroller. It combines on a single printed circuit board (PCB) a sensor for atmospheric particles (PM2.5 / PM10), one for measuring temperature and humidity (DHT22), a global positioning module (GPSGY-NEO6MV2) and a module for communications mobile (GSM-SIM800L). The GSM module is used to send measured data from sensors in real time, with precise location, to the server which allows access to monitor an environment through a web interface. The system counts the particles every second, the total mass estimated for PM1.0, PM2.5 and PM10 is averaged for the last 3 seconds and using the Internet of Things (IOT) protocol. The information is sent to the server along with data about temperature and humidity and coordinates received from the GPS module. This way, we provide a general idea of the PM readings in areas where the sensor has traveled.

In conventional RFID applications the total radiated power is constantly focused towards a single area, where are expected objects tagged with transponders. Essentially a transponder needs this energy just for a few milli-seconds. For all the other time the energy could be used for other reasonable purposes, which would lead to a higher energy efficiency. Our proposed solution is Self Switching Antenna (SSA), which is switching in serial manner, each $\tau$ seconds. Each area receives for $\tau$ seconds the total radiated energy and the cycle repeats with a period of T= N x $\tau$. This leads to an unlimited number of areas possible. These areas are geometrically defined and might be independently addressed at a well defined time slot. Such a system may be defined as GDMA communication type (Geometrically Domain Multiple Access).

The core of this paper is to present an example of use for a growing technology, which is Internet of Things, with an explicit, complete design and implementation of a custom prototyping embedded system capable to automatically dispense pills in the right dose at given intervals. We’ve designed the system for use at home and in hospitals by children, adults, the elderly and even by people with visual impairments. The system has been designed to give access to monitor and control through a phone application with no monthly subscription. The user controls the system using the application and on-board keys to set the distribution range of the pills and the number of pills per interval. Also, alerts are sent when the pills were not removed from the tray. The experimental results were obtained by developing the module and using it to dispense pills at certain predefined intervals.

Cryptographic modules and security circuits are the kernels of every piece of equipment that process security data. No matter where they are deployed, the equipment must be protected against physical attacks, as no one can access the electronic circuits that process the security data: firmware implementations, cryptographic keys and secret data. The most effective way to protect this kind of electronic circuits is to wrap them in a special conductive mesh and probe it with proper signals in order to detect intrusions. This paper provides a complete solution for intrusions detection: a system made of a special conductive mesh and an active tamper detection circuit. The conductive mesh consists of three layers that detect intrusions earlier than the effective penetration of the mesh. The active tamper detection circuit is designed to probe the mesh with signals that cannot be emulated by an adversary.

A method is proposed to design the conducted emission filter for a multi-phase Dc/DC converter on the 48V automotive boardnet.

The paper presents an analysis of a growing technology, which is micro‐electromechanical system (MEMS) sensor technology, with an explicit, complete design and an implementation of a custom prototyping embedded system capable of air quality measurement, hazard detection and other functionalities given by the possibility of attaching additional hardware. Air pollution is becoming a major health problem that affects millions of people worldwide. In support of this observation, the World Health Organization estimates that every year, 2.4 million people die because of the effects of air pollution on health [1]. We have designed the system to be used in the automotive industry, but also to facilitate an easy integration in smart houses and smart factories. It is based on ATmega 2560 microcontroller and combines on a single printed circuit board (PCB) several MEMS sensors capable of measuring the pressure, temperature, humidity, volatile organic compound, carbon dioxide, combustible gas, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen oxide, smoke and particulate matter. Our system comes to the fore of the future users who might try to get a new perspective on the atmospheric composition in applications such as air pollution management in the city, where the data requirements of the sensor system have not been firmly established yet, and the methods of data collection are still at the beginning. An increase of system functionality can be easily achieved by using additional hardware that can be stack on the main circuit board. In this way, a display is connected to the prototype system in order to view the values in real-time. As a result, we are presenting a system capable of measuring air quality using a trending technology of MEMS, with all sensors directly mounted on the printed circuit board (PCB), with the advantage of fast respond, low price and easy integration with other systems. The experimental results were obtained by developing the module and using it to monitor the air quality in a closed space, inside of a vehicle.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play a key role in Higher Education. Our contribution leads the road to innovation within IoT for Education 4.0, using a system comprising smartwatch data, health data, learning analytics and Artificial Intelligence. By using embedded sensors from wearable devices, we can add value to Education 4.0. Smartwatches are IoT devices, equipped with a multitude of embedded sensors collecting distraction-free huge amounts of real-time data during students’ learning. In our paper we highlight advantages of wrist-based wearables like smartwatches for Education 4.0. We develop a User Experience Questionnaire for the measurement of acceptance of advanced electronic technology in Higher Education. We identify as experiment’s results the most important sensors and protocols for Education 4.0.

Photovoltaic energy conversion is today a very hot topic. The technical solutions are already on the market, the silicon crystalline or amorphous being the most used solar cells. We present in the paper investigations on a promising different type of solar cell called Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC)[1]. This cell presents different construction and operation principles from silicon cells and is presented as a possible solution for large area or flexible panels. We present here electrical measurements on three DSSC prototype samples, compared with a commercial silicon cell, for different illumination levels. The voltage-current characteristics and the main parameters of the cells, as short circuit current, open circuit voltages, maximum power point (MPP) are comparatively presented in the paper.

The core of this paper is an explicit, complete design and implementation of a custom prototyping embedded system PCB capable of multipoint temperature measurement, hazard detection and other functionalities given by the possibility of attaching additional hardware. The additional hardware are modular printed circuit boards (PCB) that are stackable onto the main prototype PCB in order to increase its functionality. In this way, a GPS and GSM board module together with a relay controlled speaker are connected to the prototype system. They are used to transform the in-car multipoint temperature measuring system into an IoT device accessible everywhere, capable of detecting movement, temperatures, fire and generate alarms in a hazard situation. It is designed to be used in automotive industry but also in home or industry automatization. Thanks to a reduced complexity and having a simple interface, people which are new to electronics and programming can use this prototype to put their own ideas in practice fast and easy. The embedded system is developed on an ATmega 2560 microcontroller and the temperature detection is achieved using AMG8834 sensor which has a two dimensional area with 8x8 (64) infrared pixels providing 64 individual temperature readings. The experimental results were obtained by developing the module and using it to monitor an environment through GSM connection.

This work provides an innovative method for a very important cryptographic function used in securing the communications in an IoT network: authenticating a device based on the identity obtained from a unique physical characteristic. An authentication procedure requires a secret key that is usually protected by an anti-tamper mechanism. IoT devices can use tamper detection circuits to protect secret data involved in cryptographic functions as: encryption, decryption, authentication, key exchange, etc. These functions are implemented in electronic security circuits. The tamper detection circuit is independently powered by a battery in order to permanently protect the secret data, even if the equipment is not supplied with power. This paper presents a solution to obtain a unique key from the probing process of the conductive mesh that protects the electronic security circuit.

Education 4.0 is being empowered more and more by artificial intelligence (AI) methods. We observe a continuously growing demand for adaptive and personalized Education. In this paper we present an innovative approach to promoting AI in Education 4.0. Our first contribution is AI assisted Higher Education Process with smart sensors and wearable devices for self-regulated learning. Secondly we describe our first results of Education 4.0 didactic methods implemented with learning analytics and machine learning algorithms. The aim of this case study is to predict the final score of students before participating in final examination. We propose an Early Recognition System equipped with real data captured in a blended learning course with a personalized test at the beginning of the semester, an adaptive learning environment based on Auto Tutor by N. A. Crowder theory with adaptive self-assessment feedback. It is obvious that focusing on students' success and their experiences is a win-win scenario for students and professors as well as for the administration.

The knowledge of supercapacitors (EDLCs - Electrochemical Double-Layer Capacitors)is based on understanding the electrochemical phenomena inside them and on the behavior of the chemical materials used to obtain the electrodes and the electrolyte. For a better understanding regarding the operation of the superconductor, the present paper focuses on: A. Influence of charge-discharge current on different supercapacitor's parameters such as equivalent series resistance (ESR), loss power and time for charge or discharge the supercapacitor. B. Analysis of series and parallel connections of three 22 F / 2.5 V supercapacitors, considering the theoretical and experimental capacitance calculation, as well as the influence of stabilization time after the charging effect on the capacitance value. The influence of these parameters on the behavior of the supercapacitor can affect the conduction mechanisms that lead to the formation of the Helmholtz double layer [1].

The paper presents a comparative analysis of a growing technology, which is IoT, between two systems that are using this technology, one which can be accessed globally and another system with local access which is gathering data over a period of time and then connects to internet for a limited period of time to transmit and receive informations. We survey the ability to work with Internet of Things (IoT) and ways how we can work offline. The analysis focuses on the distinctive advantages and disadvantages, between online and offline control, by highlighting the specificity of each, that we believe should be addressed in an IoT system solution, and discuss how they are approached by the proposed solutions.

The compactness and high power density requirements for supplying designs make DC-to-DC converters to become an important part of the power distribution network. In this context, the power distribution network (PDN) components have to convert energy with an increased efficiency. Depending on the design complexity, the number of energy conversion elements will have an important contribution to the overall efficiency powering system. Due to the fact that PDN contain just one net for each voltage rail analyzing the power path magnetic components may be of interest. As a continuation of a previous work, the present article will investigate planar core transformer virtual models as part of PDN. The present study aims to investigate the energy conversion quality by extending the analysis over the switching elements. Using Ansys software simulation tools the behavior of converter hard switching embodiments will be subject to multi frequency solver steps from 400 KHz to1.0 MHz.

Physical unique identity patterns, provided by the electronic components and electric circuits, are used in cryptographic applications in many forms. These patterns can act as secret data or cryptographic keys, rather than embodying them in non-volatile memories. This paper proposes a special antitamper conductive mesh that provides a unique identity pattern that can be used as cryptographic key. This key needs no energy for storage and is automatically compromised in case of tampering. In this way, the antitamper conductive mesh has dual role: physical antitamper structure and secret key. The proposed mesh can protect cryptographic modules, communication terminals, security and IoT devices.

The paper presents an explicit and complete implementation of a platform which includes an embedded system and the software necessary to recognize hand gestures on the basis of which an environment is controlled. The platform is developed using an ATmega328P controller and it is based on active infrared (IR) proximity sensor. The proposed platform will be used to detect hand gesture and also approximate the distance with a higher accuracy. This deployment provides the beginner developer with a platform for understanding, testing and learning the concepts of an embedded system, human machine interface (HMI) and a closed loop controller that works in real time. The experimental results were obtained using four active infrared (IR) proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a buzzer and a relay, all connected to the Atmega328P microcontroller. They are used to demonstrate the functionality of the platform. The main purpose is realization of a reliable gesture sensor which is easy to build and understand, also facilitating future improvements and capabilities.

Modern communications are characterized by high speed and large amount of data due to the rapid advance in technology. Home appliances, automotive electronics and portable gadgets are connected to the Internet in order to facilitate communications between them. This is also the result of the humans need to keep in touch with the surrounding world. These interactions are useful as long as the information between parties is kept securely. Cryptography protects communications and stored data but the processing units must also be protected against specialized attacks, like physical intrusions. The attackers may obtain secret data and information about the cryptographic processes. This knowledge can be further used in cryptanalytic and side channel attacks.This paper proposes an innovative conductive structure used for protection of electronic circuits against intrusion attacks. This conductive structure is made of a very fine mesh and is connected to an active tamper detection circuit that analyzes the signals inside the mesh and takes the decision in case of intrusion.

Supercapacitors or Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors (EDLC‘s) have become increasingly used in nowadays applications, for example in the automotive industry. This passive electronic components category, due to their advantages, has been compared to conventional batteries which present a particular interest such as the high number of charge/discharge cycles, low charging time, sustaining high charge/discharge currents and so on. Alongside these advantages they have a series of disadvantages that cause, for users, to become reluctant in using them in different applications. Thus, the relative high values of equivalent series resistance (ESR) and the leakage current, as results of the supercapacitor self-discharge, compared to the batteries, represent disadvantages of the EDLCs. Several aspects regarding the equivalent series resistance (ESR), in a previous paper [1], were determined through various methods. The present paper will focus on the leakage current investigation at different temperatures in a large range of temperature values (from −20 °C to +70 °C). It is important to monitor the variation of this parameter with temperature in order to evaluate the supercapacitors loss and identify how the supercapacitor influences the behavior of the circuit in a certain application, especially taking into consideration that supercapacitor data sheets do not contain such information.

The rise of digital technology creates disruptive innovation, new opportunities in communication, it transforms industrial production and it changes the way we work, learn and live. That leads to the fourth Industrial Revolution, which changes the working world enormously. New skills, future-ready curricula, new learning and training concepts as well as the flexibility in education are necessary. To deliver that, it needs a fourth revolution in the educational system with a strong active presence and most important Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven features for better performance. Education 4.0 needs also a strong partnership between industry and academicals environment in the formation of human resources for Industry 4.0. We present in this paper our answers of education regarding the challenges of fourth revolution in Industry and the seven AI driven didactic methods identified for the University of Future.

Electronic modules designed for processing sensitive data, such as cryptographic modules, firmware solutions protected by intellectual property rights and secure communication devices, use special circuits designed for protecting these solutions from unauthorized physical access. The main components of these circuits are the conductive mesh structure, which acts as a protective cover, and the active tamper detection circuit. Besides the physical attacks, there are side channel attacks, where an attacker takes advantage of the errors produced by the logic circuits functioning in extreme conditions. When logic circuits are subject of temperatures that exceed the operational limits, they may run with faults and create proper conditions for cryptographic attacks. This paper proposes an active tamper detection circuit that analyses the temperature (and its variation gradient) of the conductive mesh. This method improves and complements the protection functions of the active tamper detection circuits.

Ultra-low power nodes of a wireless sensor network (WSN) have limited communication range, usually a few hundred meters. To make the sensor data available outside the local network, a gateway module is required. It interfaces the sensor network to a large coverage network, such as 3G and 4G. This project describes the design of a maintenance-free, energetically independent gateway module using super-capacitors as energy storage devices.

In the last time, the power supplies issues of electronic circuits had become an important issues, especially for mobile devices. The use of classical or Li-ion batteries in the industry, mainly utilized in storage systems, is not a viable solution because these devices, after 2–3 years, lose their ability to store electricity and the materials employed are polluting, even banned in some countries. The European Union regulation like RoHS 1 and RoHS represent sometimes a real bottleneck. Fortunately in the last time on the market more and more are present electronic passive components like supercapacitors. The Supercapacitors (Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors — EDLCs) are the promising solution for the future. They do not contain lead or other polluting materials on a side and on an other side they are able to storage large quantity of electrical charge. EDLCs have a very long lifespan (> 106 unloading cycles) and very small internal resistance, which allows charging and discharging at very high currents (hundreds of A). Also, another advantage of using EDLCs battery systems in power structures is a decrease of the weight of the entire system. We have simulated and analysed the behaviour of a 100F/12V EDLC system by connecting 6 supercapacitors (600F/2.5V) in series. In this context, using an EDLC system, we have obtained interesting results after the primary power source has been disconnected. The proposed model is in the R&D phase, but the test results are promising. EDLC is a very viable solution for use in a hybrid electric system such as a UPS or electric car.

In this paper we present general details about Gasoline Direct Injection system for passenger vehicles with focus to the High Pressure Fuel Pump (HPFP). Main goal of our work is to determine a reliable and accurate electrical simulation model intended to run in Synopsys Saber™ mixed domain simulator [1], to enhance, optimize and improve the cost of the electronic control circuit driving the pump, while covering functionality in worst case scenarios.

Supercapacitors or Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors, briefly named EDLC, are very promising energy storage components. The need for higher rated voltages of capacitors or for the higher capacitance makes necessary the construction of capacitive modules (CM) using series connection or parallel connection. Such modules can be used in large temperature range. The temperature has a very important role in influencing the supercapacitors charge/discharge mode and its electrical parameters change during operation [1]. In order to verify the performances of the CMs and to identify the influence of interconnection solution of the modules, the paper targets to compare the capacitance values for individual capacitors with those obtained by serial or parallel connection for the same components. The measurements are realized at different temperature values.

In the past, hardware and software were easily separated, but now, they complete each other, offering increased functionality and lower costs. The internet is full of examples of low cost IOT boards, reading sensors and sending data to some server, but few were carefully engineered for uninterrupted operation, safe error management and a high degree of flexibility, as for a reliable commercial product. This project illustrates the features and piece by piece operation of this embedded firmware, together with its current bugs and limitations.

Communications have a significant role in our daily activities, whether they concern the private life of people or they provide the data for enterprises (healthcare, industry, media, defense, etc.). In order to trust the communications, they must be protected by cryptographic methods. The secure data are produced and processed in different types of equipment and they must be protected against physical intrusion attacks, using tamper detection circuit. This work proposes an active tamper detection circuit based on statistical analysis of signals used in probing a conductive mesh that covers and seals the security module.

Electromagnetic Analysis (EMA) had become a field of interest well studied among academic researchers because it can be expand so that sensitive data to be explored from electromagnetic leakages. Crypto security implies, among other, immunity to the study of a circuit's electromagnetic footprint, fore mostly via decapsulation. The decapsulation of an integrated circuit (IC) can be made by applying chemicals (such as nitric or sulfuric acid, followed by acetone) or by using mechanical milling up to a point. The target IC's are microcontrollers, memory circuits, which can store sensitive data, but also other distinctive IC's. This paper reports a new technique used to explore the internal structure of an integrated circuit and measure its electromagnetic field. Mixed decapsulation was performed (chemical and mechanical) in order to measure the electromagnetic field after each layer of epoxy. The main idea was to study the electromagnetic pattern of a certain type of operations implemented in a microcontroller. The electromagnetic footprint has a distinctive pattern for each IC, depending on the type of operations that are made, and was measured with in-house built antenna-probes, but also with commercial probes.

Using SMD packages with high power dissipation is challenging. To cool the SMD power packages, the state of the art solution is to use a PCB with thermal vias to extract the heat from the electronic package [1]. This solution has the disadvantage that the thermal resistance from package to heatsink is relatively high, in the range of 5–10 K/W. A new solution for cooling is proposed, in which the heatsink is extended through the PCB such that it will make thermal contact with bottom of the powerpad of the SMD package. With this solution thing is that the electrical contact is maintained to the powerpad. To compare the effectiveness of the solution, a set of thermal simulations was made. To confirm the validity of the simulation, the solution was implemented on two different power packages, and measurements on the performance were performed.

The use of COB (chip on board) LEDs in general lighting is increasing due to the favorable emitted light to source size ratio. COB LED's are compact, modular and provide a generally homogenous light. However, due to compactness, the power densities can be quite large and as such efficient cooling solutions must be found. Active cooling is an attractive solution; however it falls short of the required lifespan which needs to be comparable with that of the LED's. This paper compares two cooling methods: the first uses a passive heat sink and the second is based on synthetic air jets. The paper shows how a synthetic jet cooler can be used to cool high power LEDs, with an energy consumption that is comparable with that of the LED, and without increasing the size and the complexity of the light fixture significantly. Although the use of a synthetic jet cooler for power LED cooling is not new, the aim in this material is to perform a quantitative comparison between the two methods in terms of LED temperature, total energy consumption and lighting parameters.

Electric Double Layer Capacitors (EDLCs) are relatively new electronic components developed in the late 1980s; their operation is based on a Helmholtz double layer of charge formed on an activated carbon surface (of high equivalent surface) and an electrolyte. The advantages of this constructive solution are a very small capacitive distance and large effective capacitive area, leading to remarkably large capacitances. EDLCs tend to be low voltage, low impedance devices, sustaining high currents, and with a capacitance dependent on the charge-up voltage. In this context it is important to accurately know their parameters in order to design the associated circuitry — in particular of interest are values for equivalent series resistance (ESR) and parallel resistance (self-discharge) of the EDLC. The results presented in this paper are focused on a comparison between using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) method and the direct method (DM) in determining super capacitor parameters. This comparison was performed in the 10−… 105 Hz range, albeit (due to parasitic components) only the 10−…103 Hz range is effective.

Tamper detection circuits provide the first and most important defensive wall in protecting electronic modules containing security data. A widely used procedure is to cover the entire module with a foil containing fine conductive mesh, which detects intrusion attempts. Detection circuits are further classified as passive or active. Passive circuits have the advantage of low power consumption, however they are unable to detect small variations in the conductive mesh parameters. Since modern tools provide an upper leverage over the passive method, the most efficient way to protect security modules is thus to use active circuits. The active tamper detection circuits are typically probing the conductive mesh with short pulses, analyzing its response in terms of delay and shape. The method proposed in this paper generates short pulses at one end of the mesh and analyzes the response at the other end. Apart from measuring pulse delay, the analysis includes a frequency domain characterization of the system, determining whether there has been an intrusion or not, by comparing it to a reference (un-tampered with) spectrum. The novelty of this design is the combined analysis, in time and frequency domains, of the small variations in mesh characteristic parameters.

The automotive electronics needs to be designed to withstand a harsh electric environment (high transient pulses, electromagnetic interference), as described in [1][2] and [3]. Oftentimes the need arises to use an electronic circuit which was not design to operate, and might be even destroyed by automotive electric environment. A supply circuit was designed to allow the non-automotive compliant circuit to operate in such an environment. The response of the protection circuit was analyzed with a simulator, were all the expected faults were applied. Hardware measurements were made to confirm the simulation result.

Super-capacitors are highly reliable devices, outlasting any existing battery in operating conditions, cycle number and ruggedness. They are perfect candidates for energy storage in remote wireless sensor network nodes. Other applications [1] use a combination of rechargeable battery as the main storage device and a low capacity EDLC as energy buffer. This paper describes the design and the results from a module consisting of a single large capacitor, a MPPC charger and a boost converter. Unlike other devices, this prototype uses one storage device (a single EDLC), it does not involve software components [2] and it can operate from a single solar cell.

Although only at the stage of proof of concept, a basic approach in Occam technology is: placement of components on a dielectric substrate, encapsulation, reversal of the substrate, drilling down to pins of components, creation of conductive traces, a.s.o. Since a reversed order of construction of a simple circuit is considered to be much cheaper in terms of required equipment, this paper presents some preliminary tests regarding conductive traces issues. As new materials [1] and new technologies [2, 3] are emerging on the market, a new conductive paste proposed to interconnect layers of a multi-layer printed circuit board through filled vias [4] was used to create traces. Printing of conductive paste and electrical measurements at the pin and trace interface were investigated.

Using Finite Element Method this paper performs analysis over different type of magnetic core shapes from both electromagnetic and thermal perspectives. In this article,the planar transformer modeling and simulations intend to reveal the aspects that help the designer to choose between types of core shapes considering a more efficient use of copper, a better use of board space and an improved thermal dissipation. Using Solidworks application two planar transformer models have been developed taking into account both rectangular and a round centre post. For the FEM analysis 3F3 and 3F4 magnetic material properties were applied to models and the secondary top and bottom winding were used.

The supercapacitor is a relatively young electronic component which bases its operation on the principle of the Helmholtz double layer of charge formed on the surface of an activated carbon (with an extremely high equivalent surface) and an electrolyte which allows both a short distance between the electric layers as well as a very large useful area. For optimal use of an EDLC (Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitor) it is necessary to know the time behavior, specific electrical characteristics (discharge current, charge current, voltage variation at the terminals, equivalent series resistance, and especially leakage current (self-discharge current), as well as behavior over a long time - days or even months - under electric charge at different voltages, etc.) and the influence of environmental operating conditions (temperature, humidity, vibration, etc.). For modeling in more detail the behavior of an EDLC in time and voltage a comparison between the Zubieta model and actual behavior was performed. The research is focused on the accuracy of the Zubieta model related to the real behavior of supercapacitors.

Touch panel performance is very demanding problem in automotive market and it is requested to be keept during lifetime of the device with which it is sold. This paper presents a problem that may appear when touch panels with a specific structures are placed under temperature variation of automotive environment

This paper presents how to design and setup a Simple Power Analysis (SPA) attack and a Differential Power Analysis (DPA) attack on a smartcard and on a 32 bit microcontroller. SPA and DPA are power analysis attacks developed by Paul Kocher, Joshua Jaffe, and Benjamin Jun in 1995. These are non-invasive techniques which allow us to observe electrical patterns of different types of cryptographic algorithms, only by measuring the power consumption of the cryptographic devices. This paper presents the results obtained by measuring the power consumption of a secure smartcard and a 32 bit microcontroller programmed with the tiny AES128 implementation and introduces the mathematical knowledge needed to extract the encryption keys based only on measurements. Using the DPA correlation coefficients algorithm, implemented in Matlab, we were able to extract the AES128 encryption key from captured power consumption traces. To obtain the measurements, an USB Scope was used. The interface to the smartcard was made using a Java platform to connect to the card reader.

Since the ancient times apiculture relies one hundred percent on the bee-keeper's skills and experience. He constantly checks the hives to perform the required activities at the right moment. The rising demand for apiculture products leads to larger and larger apiaries, and checking every hive by hand becomes costly and time consuming. This project suggests a durable solution for bee hive monitoring. The prototype can be used by unqualified personnel, with minimum maintenance.

The EDU-Factory — Learning Factories Alliance to Enhance Teaching in the field of Electronics Technology — project proposal was submitted to the Call: H2020-SEAC-2015-1, Topic: Innovative ways to make science education and scientific careers attractive to young people, as a Research and Innovation action, by the deadline of 16th Sep 2015. UPB-CETTI, the proposed coordinator brought together eleven partners from higher education institutions (HEIs) and industrial enterprises to plan research and innovative actions and to develop — based on the existing learning factories of the consortium members — forward-looking education methods in order to achieve the objectives of the Call. Although the evaluation scores of the proposal reached or surpassed the thresholds of all the different criteria, the European Commission informed the coordinator that the project could not be funded because the score obtained did not suffice for funding, given the budgetary resources available for the Call. Despite of the rejection, a few very positive comments of the evaluators encourage the authors to consider the preparation of a proposal for the H2020 Science with and for Society programme, for the Call: SwafS-15-2016: Open Schooling and collaboration on science education.

Random Number Generators are widely used in cryptographic applications (symmetric and asymmetric encryption, digital certificate generation, etc.) and other related areas. True Random Number Generators (TRNG) are based on physical non-deterministic phenomenon. Most of these generators are based on a large number of interconnected high frequency ring oscillators (RO), which are most commonly implemented in FPGA. This paper describes an optimized solution which increases the speed and the complexity of these ring oscillator-based TRNG. The proposed solution combines a personalized approach on the Ring Oscillator scheme, based on preprocessed raw data and a well-known one, based on the desynchronization of a large number of free running ROs, therefore minimizing the resource used within the FPGA. The paper covers the most known statistical testes (provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology — NIST) applied on a large amount of data and proves the stability of a generator by providing positive experimental results that were obtained from measurements using different operating frequencies.

The paper is the result of studies, experiments and simulations regarding electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) performance of an intelligent electronic module used to obtain variable and controllable power injection during the Vapour Phase Soldering process (VPS) including the power-on and power-off phases. The module represents an original solution for low conducted and especially low radiated emissions by switching the power semiconductor devices close to the zero crossing of the mains voltage. The necessity to be optimized from EMC points of view is resolved by modelling and simulating using 3D EM simulation software, REMCOM XFdtd, for evaluating the performance and electromagnetic field effects of the VPS process power control module considered as a radiating device. The modelling process is based on preliminary measurements already taken and validated by other complex measurements which imply the need for the new experiments design. The authors intend to develop a design methodology based on the works presented in the paper which will include modelling and EM simulation, in order to complete the design for excellence (DFX) activities in case of the new products development processes.