Search

This research aims to develop ECARsites, an online site designed to support data-related activities in science learning and to facilitate the implementation of data, computational thinking (CT), and self-directed learning (SRL) practices in a more contextualized and relevant way for students. The approach used design-based research (DBR) methods, focusing on developing high-quality learning products or systems that meet user needs. The study was conducted at MA X in Magetan, Indonesia, involving four middle school science teachers and eighteen middle school students. The research findings showed that DBR can be an effective method of professional development for science teachers, focusing on developing relevant and contextual innovations for students. Integrating data practices, CT, and SRL frameworks into the DBR process facilitated the development of students' scientific thinking skills, leading to a more immersive and appropriate science education for today's digital age. The study highlights the importance of using real data in teaching, involving students in data processing, and supporting teachers in designing and implementing data-driven learning. The study also emphasizes the importance of effective professional development in computational thinking and self-directed learning and the need for investment in long-term professional development programs to prepare teachers for an increasingly technology-dependent world of education.

This study has two purposes: To clarify how industrial design relates to electronics knowledge and to determine whether industrial design education is sufficient for teaching it. As digital product design is frequently focused on the design of virtual interfaces until recently, less attention was paid to the design of physical interactions and electronic interfaces. There is increasing interest in electronics education in industrial design, yet electronics is still a bottleneck for many industrial designers. What electronics knowledge industrial designers should have and whether they know it is debatable. Therefore, the study presents a literature review and thematically analyzed interviews to determine its scope. Then, a survey is planned based on the concepts which interviewees remark on. The survey aims to determine whether senior-grade and fresh-graduate industrial designers use correct reasoning in design cases based on electronics. Findings remark that two-thirds of the participants failed in the critical electronics domains and their reasoning scores are distributed equally depending on whether they took electronics courses. Therefore, it is discussed that there is a need for developing a common understanding of the role of electronics in design education. And it is recommended that the approach may focus more on a hands-on terminology education.

Raspberry Pi Pico, based on chip RP2040, is an easy-to-use development microcontroller board that can provide flexible input/output functions and meets the teaching needs of basic electronics to first-year university undergraduates. This article presents our blended laboratory design using Raspberry Pi Pico for the course unit Digital Circuits and Systems. Considering the impacts of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the reduced number of students attending the in-person laboratory, we provide an alternative approach using an online Raspberry Pi Pico simulator produced by Wokwi for those students who cannot attend the physical laboratory. The entire laboratory is designed by design-based learning pedagogical methodology and consists of three dependent sessions. Throughout the three laboratory sessions, first-year undergraduates are expected to understand the basic digital logic and electronic circuits by building a simplified interactive traffic light controller system using Raspberry Pi Pico and Python programming. The intended learning outcomes, full details of the blended laboratory design, and the laboratory design evaluation results are given and discussed in this article to verify the effectiveness of the blended laboratory design using Raspberry Pi Pico. By analyzing the empirical data collected from laboratory participants, the effectiveness of the proposed blended laboratory design can be well supported, and all intended learning outcomes are successfully achieved subject to the impacts of COVID-19.

While there is much research concerning the interpretation of diagrams such as geographical maps and networks for information systems, there is very little on the diagrams involved in electrical and electronic engineering. Such research is important not only because it supports arguments made for other types of diagrams but also because it informs on the cognitive processes going on while learning electrical and electronic engineering domains, which are generally considered difficult to teach and learn. Such insight is useful to have as a pedagogical tool for teachers. It might also benefit would be self-learners, entrepreneurs, and hobbyists in the field because it can guide self-learning practices. When cognitive practices specific to this knowledge domain are more understood, they might give rise to automated intelligent tutor systems which could be used to augment teaching and learning practices in the education of electrical and electronic engineering. This research analyses the spatial cognitive processes involved in the translation of an electronic circuit schematic diagram into an iconic representation of the same circuit. The work shows that the cognitive affordances of proximity and paths perceived from a circuit schematic diagram have great influence on the design of an iconic diagram, or assembly diagram, representing a topologically equivalent electronic circuit. Such cognitive affordances reflect and affect thought and can be used as powerful pedagogical tools within an educational scenario.

The present study explored pre-primary students' investigative activity during a longitudinal, integrative technology education project: the Power Creatures project. Investigative activity refers to the way young children act in a learning context that combines inquiry-based activities with creative hands-on activities, such as designing and crafting. Nineteen pre-primary students (aged five to six years) and two teachers participated in the case study. The main data set consisted of six video-recorded small-group sessions in which the children experimented with electronics and designed and made felted creatures containing soft circuits. The data were analysed using a theory-based, deductive content analysis. The results indicate that playful, investigative activities support pre-primary students' learning of everyday technologies and that children can transfer their understanding of the technological process from one situation to another. This process requires careful pedagogical planning and scaffolding that maintains the longitudinal process and adapts to its established and evolving goals.

Contribution: The ability to design circuit layouts is a critical component of circuit design. This article presents an approach wherein layout-based design projects can be integrated into the traditional digital integrated circuit (IC) curriculum targeted at large classes and addresses the relevant challenges. Background: Most circuit design curricula cover aspects of layout design and good layout design practices in some detail, but the actual assignment of layout design is done only in classes with restricted sizes due to various factors, including the lack of propriety software, evaluation, or plagiarism detection strategies. Intended Outcomes: To be able to integrate layout-based design projects into the digital IC curriculum targeting large classes. Application Design: Freely available and opensource tools were used for the projects. Additional tool features were repurposed for plagiarism detection. Findings: Feedback collected from the students and quiz performance indicate a marked increase in meeting the learning objectives with the inclusion of layout-based projects. The proposed plagiarism detection strategy successfully identified instances of plagiarism.

The introduction of maker technology and personal fabrication has radically changed how we learn, design and innovate. In recent years, a growing number of people have begun to use a broad range of these creative technologies. A common challenge in the use of these electronic technologies, particularly for students, is the difficulties that arise during circuit wiring prototyping. Today, few studies have highlighted the factors that cause errors among student during their electronic circuit learning activities. This research investigates the causes of wiring problems and troubleshooting strategies during the prototyping of electronic circuits by students. We conducted an ethnographic study of undergraduate students at a university design school who were involved in prototyping electronic circuits with creative technologies. We performed a microanalysis of the students' interactions and dialogues following the distributed cognition framework. Our results show the significance of meaningful representations of information on circuit wiring tools, in addition to the importance of common knowledge among the students for reasoning about electronic circuit wiring and the detection and solving of wiring errors. This study highlights the relations between the types of wiring errors and the students' troubleshooting strategies. In addition to informing educational practitioners, our conclusions highlight the need for further studies and the demand for a redesign of electronic wiring prototyping tools.

Contribution: This article presents the design, creation, testing, and results after the use of a 3-D-printed educational tool that helped a blind student learning electric circuits theory in higher education. Background: Educational tools oriented to visually impaired and blind students in higher education are limited or even nonexistent in the STEM area. Previous developments on the field present in the literature, including other 3-D printing solutions, have been revised and compared to the proposed educational tool. Intended Outcomes: The tool was tested by a blind student in order to test the potential of the design to achieve a better understanding of the topology and performance of electric circuits. The main purpose of the tool described in this work is helping to increase the resources available in the field of teaching students with visual impairments. Application Design: 3-D technology has the potential to be used to create accessibility tools for visually impaired and blind individuals. Modular systems can be used to create complex structures using simple elements. A modular 3-D-printed tool was fabricated to help blind and visually impaired students to learn net structures. Findings: The 3-D tool has allowed the blind student to work autonomously in the study of simple electric circuits and supplies the teacher with a resource to communicate with the student in an easy and fast way. Updated design can be used to describe more complex net structures that can be applied to most electric circuits despite their complexity. The use of the modular system provided the blind student with a direct representation of the whole subject, even when it involved a great amount of graphical information and manipulation.

Extant research and engineering education frameworks call for students to engage in personally meaningful engineering projects; however, there are few case studies documenting the work of young engineers working to design solutions to real-world problems that matter to them. This qualitative case study describes the work of a purposively selected group of high school engineering students (the InvenTeam) (n = 15) as they devote a school year to a particularly ambitious invention project: designing and prototyping a device to mitigate deaths occurring when children are left unattended in hot cars. Utilizing cultural historical activity theory as a theoretical and analytical lens, the study triangulates observation, interview, and document data to describe elements of and tensions within the InvenTeam activity system. Data illustrate numerous ways in which invention afforded opportunities for students to apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and practices and develop engineering identities. Additionally, data suggest that students' purposes for engaging in the project were dynamic, telescoping from individual, personal aspirations to expanded possibilities for economic and societal impact. Data also illustrate how students assumed defined yet flexible roles within the project's division of labor. Activity systems analysis revealed four main tensions within the InvenTeam activity system: sustaining motivation in the face of technical challenges, community expectations versus student goals, STEM knowledge/skills constrained by specialized roles, and the institutional norms of schooling versus the process of invention. Implications of the case study findings for engineering and invention at the high school level are discussed.

This paper investigates the effectiveness of the morphological chart method in design divergence. The literature presents the morphological chart as an engineering design method that does not particularly aim novelty, but instead gathers possible means for fulfilling the independently decomposed sub-functions of a product. On the other hand, implementations of this method in design education has shown that this method offers the possibility of design exploration for groups of interrelated sub-functions. Accordingly, this widens the solution space and encourages designers to think on the consequences of their design decisions while generating ideas, hence allowing situated design divergence to take place. The paper presents the findings of a review carried out on twelve morphological charts completed in groups, containing a total of 686 sub-solution sketches made for a pool of 21 sub-functions. The charts were reviewed as a whole in terms of group performance in idea generation for a decomposed design problem. Then the sub-solution ideas were grouped according to sub-functions and were reviewed in terms of idea content. It was seen that a background preparation with product trials, 3D exploration of product configuration, and experience in using the morphological chart method, affected the number of cells that the participants completed. Besides, several factors were found to influence the ways in which participants filled in the morphological charts. The reviews revealed eleven factors affecting design divergence using the morphological chart method, grouping under the headings of: preparations, group dynamics, boundaries of sub-functions, and interrelations of product components. In addition, thirteen strategies were identified that participants followed for idea generation using the morphological chart method, grouping under the headings of: beginning idea generation, ensuring effective idea generation, exploring ideas, diversifying ideas and representing ideas.

In teaching an integrated circuit (IC) design course, many benefits can be gained by offering an industry-relevant project associated with a training to a bundle of electronic design automation (EDA) tools and design methodologies. However, few open-source projects were able to cover the key qualifications needed by industry. Therefore, this article proposes an approach of project-based learning (PBL), aiming at bridging the gap between the industry needs and the learning outcomes from academia. Specifically, this article first conducts an investigation on basic qualifications necessary for entry-level IC designers. By summarizing those results as a specification, the development, implementation, and assessment to an open source project is presented to include the latest EDA tools and methodologies needed by IC design companies, as well as the fundamental knowledge and skills of the course outcomes. The effectiveness of this work is evaluated by the analysis of students' final exam results using "t"-tests. It shows that students who had participated in the project achieved higher levels of acquired knowledge to the design on ICs. Student survey and evaluation also demonstrate positive effect on student achievement with the PBL approach. Further, the public availability of this project has a big potential to offer a framework to practical courses and improve students' knowledge and skills in many topics, such as computer architecture and micro-systems.

Contribution: The information described in this study provides a starting point for discussing an effective robotics curriculum offered by any engineering university or institute. Background: Robotics is a multidisciplinary field that includes mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, and computer science. Several universities have established departments of robotics to teach their students robotics education; however, a comprehensive curriculum to deliver robotics education has not yet been fully developed. Research Questions: What are the significant component courses offered by existing departments of robotics? Methodology: This article investigates component courses among departments of robotics through a title-based aggregation of existing courses and textual analyses. Findings: From a title-based aggregation of robotics curricula from 19 departments established by 2018, control engineering, programming, technical drawing/design, and electronic engineering/electronic circuits were found to be the core courses. From textual analyses of the curricula, robotics departments' course titles were similar to those of mechanical engineering departments.

This paper addresses the teaching of emerging technologies to design students, using "printed electronics" as an example as it recently became viable to mass manufacture and is ready for use in designs. Printed electronics is introduced as a disruptive technology, and approaches employed in knowledge transfer to industrial/product designers is reviewed. An overview of the technology is provided; the printing processes; material properties; a comparison with conventional electronics; and product examples are identified. Two case studies illustrate approaches for knowledge transfer to student designers. The assessment criteria and design outcomes from the case study projects are reviewed and future/new approaches proposed. The paper concludes that there is a need to develop a thorough knowledge transfer strategy for printed electronics to designers, informed by case studies and extending beyond simply showing examples of existing technology. This is necessary for future proofing both in technological advances and designing for the future.

Contribution: This article presents the design of in-game tools to support learning within an educational video game and investigates the impact of tool usage on engineering students' performance in an introductory digital circuit design course. Background: Despite the level of appeal of video games to college students, there is a lack of empirical evidence of how to design effective games to address educational goals. One component of games that can serve as a support mechanism to help players be successful in the game is the in-game tools. This article investigates the impact of three types of instructional in-game tools on engineering students' performance on digital circuit design tasks. Research Questions: To what extent do different types of in-game tools (content-specific instructional guidance tool, scaffold, and productivity tool) contribute to players' performance on digital circuit design tasks? Methodology: This article presents the design of an educational video game to teach digital circuits design. It presents three discrete types of in-game tools and investigates their impact on students' learning performance. For this investigation, multiple regression analysis was used to show the relations between the tools and learning performance (N=176). Findings: The results show the player use of tools that provide content-specific instructional guidance and scaffolding for troubleshooting is correlated with their learning performance. The productivity tool did not significantly contribute to the learning performance of the students.

The paper presents the results of a study of existing models and mathematical representations of a range of truly peristaltic multiphase micro-pumps with a piezoelectric actuator (piezo drive). Piezo drives with different types of substrates use vertical movements at deformation of individual piezoelectric elements, which define device performance. The dependences of the maximum micro-pump output pressure from the difference between the phases of voltage drives are established. The dynamic properties of piezo drive, deformation forms of its individual piezoelectric elements were defined by theoretical and experimental methods. The dependence of micro-pump output pressure from the phase frequency and difference was determined.

Electronic textiles, especially those that can be worn (wearable textiles) are gaining traction within the P12 education community. The technology provides hands-on learning that is both exciting and personally relevant, especially for females, who have historically responded positively to aesthetics and textile design. A number of studies have examined the potential of wearable technologies in education but they generally use small samples, mostly engage secondary school students, and are carried out in either formal or informal settings. In contrast, this study utilized a large sample of 808 upper elementary students and involved both in- and out-of-school learning contexts led by formal and informal educators. The present study used a quasi-experimental, prepost design with two groups (treatment and control) to measure the impact of a wearable technology intervention on students' (a) knowledge of circuitry, programming, and engineering design and (b) self-efficacy in making a wearable e-textile product. The three-level multilevel (i.e., children nested within teachers which were nested within schools) ANCOVAs were estimated for each outcome of interest (knowledge of circuitry, programming, engineering design, engineering self-efficacy, and programming self-efficacy). Results indicate that wearable technology's integration of engineering, computing, and aesthetics promises to be an excellent interdisciplinary context to support students' STEM learning and attitudes at the upper elementary level. However, differential results between males and females underscore the need to infuse gender-appropriate pedagogical practices to insure that females develop the needed self-confidence to successfully complete tasks involving these two skill areas.

A spin coater is widely used for thin film coating in nano/microtechnology. In this paper, a spin coater with inexpensive mechanical and electronic components was fabricated based on an open-source Arduino microcontroller. To measure and control the spin speed of the spin coater, two sensor types including two infrared (IR) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or a Hall Effect (HE) integrated circuit (IC) were used. The spin coater was tested for coating polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer in the spin speed range of 1000-9000 rpm (revolutions per minute). An optical interferometric method was used to determine the thickness and optical transmittance of the spin-coated PDMS films. The results show that the performance of this spin coater is similar to that of a commercial model and therefore it can be used in the laboratory and for student education. The total cost and power consumption of the spin coater are less than $30 and 5 W, respectively.

Technological developments, social networking and the emergence of sensory micro-computation platforms have facilitated the recent growth of citizen science-public participation in scientific research. Citizen science provides lay audiences platforms for data collection and classification alongside access to large scientific databases. Although these platforms are intended for non-experts, they are often designed by scientists, who may not fully appreciate their importance. This may result in platforms that are incompatible with users' needs and thus underused . This article describes the use of Human Computer Interactions (HCI) in a citizen science project for monitoring air-quality in the local environment. Using interviews, focus groups, questionnaires and log data from the project website (n = 138), in a three-phase iterative process, we identified public requirments from an online data presentation platform. The findings suggest participants were interested in real time, local, easy to understand information, which is practical, ready-to-use and presented in the context. These insights were implemented in the design of a new platform, constructed as a simple three-layer information display with representations of air-quality standards and practical recommendations. We examine participants' use of the platform and discuss motivations and impediments to participation in the future design of citizen science projects for enhancing public engagement in science.

The Wearable Device Challenge was developed at the Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST). The Challenge is rooted in the research and innovation ecosystem of the Center and its vision: to have a transformational impact on the way doctors and patients manage wellness through wearable, self-powered health and environmental monitoring systems. At its core, the program teaches middle and high school teachers and students how to apply the engineering design process to solve real-world problems through a project-based approach. The program impacts several hundred students in North Carolina annually through real-world, relevant, hands-on engineering design challenges. Teachers are empowered to introduce engineering design into a variety of both formal and informal educational settings, and students are given the opportunity to explore exciting, cutting-edge applications of science and technology that will inspire them to continue in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.

In the context of the evolving Internet, a balance between technological advances and meaning change is crucial to develop innovative and breakthrough "connected electronics" that enable the Internet of Things. Designers and technologists are key enablers of this process respectively, ensuring adequate users' needs and technology development, inside the evolving context of social environment and human relations. Smart electronic product design must be a truly interdisciplinary process, in which technologists are aware of how much their decisions impact the user-product relationship and designers understand the full potential and associated limitations of technology involved. Shared knowledge and communication are essential in this scenario, but, due to their technological limitations, designers are often excluded from high-level decision processes. In this paper, we address the design of constructivist tools and associated strategy to enhance the technological literacy of designers, as a strong foundation for knowledge-based dialogue between these realms. We demonstrate its effectiveness in a long-term multidisciplinary Project-Based Learning application with Design and Electronics students. We present the cases from 2 years' experimentation (with the first year as control group) that demonstrate improvement in the quality of teamwork; in learning results; improved performance of the students reflected in the quality of the projects developed; and positive teachers' and students' evaluations. We conclude that the use of the proposed tool not only provides the designer an active voice in the process of designing smart electronics, but also promotes an effective common language between these two worlds.

Microfabrication is a critical area to many branches of science and engineering. However, to many students accustomed to seeing transistors as things that come in a lab kit, it is an obscure subtopic of their discipline. Beginning in 2009, the authors undertook a broad multidisciplinary approach to bring microfabrication into all aspects of the Binghamton University science and engineering curriculum. This program was coupled with a comprehensive assessment activity to evaluate the program's effectiveness and continuously improve it year by year. This paper reports the details of the implementation process, the techniques that were found to bring a hands-on experience to large classes, and the lessons learned from the assessments of this program to make this topic a mainstream part of engineering and science education.

Wearable devices and ambient sensors can monitor a growing number of aspects of daily life and work. We propose to use this context data as content for learning applications in workplace settings to enable employees to reflect on experiences from their work. Learning by reflection is essential for today's dynamic work environments, as employees have to adapt their behavior according to their experiences. Building on research on computer-supported reflective learning as well as persuasive technology, and inspired by the Quantified Self community, we present an approach to the design of tools supporting reflective learning at work by turning context information collected through sensors into learning content. The proposed approach has been implemented and evaluated with care staff in a care home and voluntary crisis workers. In both domains, tailored wearable sensors were designed and evaluated. The evaluations show that participants learned by reflecting on their work experiences based on their recorded context. The results highlight the potential of sensors to support learning from context data itself and outline lessons learned for the design of sensor-based capturing methods for reflective learning.

This paper explores how, in the light of global economic downturn and rising student populations, new academic-industrial models for research collaboration based upon specific technological expertise and knowledge can be developed as potential mechanisms for preserving and extending central university research infrastructure. The paper explores two case studies that focus upon the new serious games sector: the UK-based Coventry University's Serious Games Institute--a hybrid model of applied research and business, and the Netherlands-based TU-Delft University's Serious Game Center--a networked model of semi-commercial funding and public-private co-operation between industry, public sector and research partners. To facilitate these kinds of academic-industrial collaborations, the paper introduces the Innovation Diffusion Model (IDM) which promotes innovation diffusion by bringing academic and industrial experts into close proximity. Overall, the benefits include: sustained intellectual property development and publication opportunities for academics, employment creation, accelerated development and real commercial benefits for industrial partners.

Personal mobility is a mundane characteristic of daily life. However, mobility is rarely considered an opportunity for learning in the learning sciences, and is almost never leveraged as relevant, experiential material for teaching. This article describes a social design experiment for spatial justice that focused on changes in the personal mobility of six non-driving, African-American teenagers, who participated in an afterschool bicycle building and riding workshop located in a mid-south city. Our study was designed to teach spatial literacy practices essential for counter-mapping--a discursive practice in which youth used tools similar to those of professional planners to "take place" in the future of their neighborhoods. Using conversation and multimodal discourse analyses with video records, GPS track data, and interactive maps authored by youth, we show how participants in our study had new experiences of mobility in the city, developed technically-articulate criticisms of the built environment in their neighborhoods, and imagined new forms of mobility and activity for the future.

This paper discusses the usefulness of employing LEGO as a teaching-learning aid in a post-graduate-level first course on the control of discrete-event systems (DESs). The final assignment of the course is presented, which asks students to design and implement a modular hierarchical discrete-event supervisor for the coordination layer of a complete automated manufacturing system (AMS) built using LEGO blocks. A design approach frequently used in manufacturing is introduced to unify design criteria and nomenclature. Software tools are provided for all calculation and translation tasks required for the implementation of the supervisor architecture in a programmable logic controller (PLC). The assignment reinforces all the basic concepts of supervisory control theory taught during the course. It provides hands-on experience of the advantages and disadvantages and of the important theoretical and practical issues related to the use of DES controllers in an engineering application. (Contains 8 figures and 4 tables.)

Proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers are widely used in process control, and consequently they are described in most of the textbooks on automatic control. However, rather than presenting the overall design process, the examples given in such textbooks are intended to illuminate specific focused aspects of selection, tuning and implementation of the controller. This paper describes in detail the design of a PID controller for temperature control of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) microreactor showing how different aspects, which necessarily are taught separately, interact in a real-world design. After setting the design targets by taking the hardware limitations into consideration, a continuous time controller, having two degrees of freedom, is designed by placing its dominant pair of poles using the root locus technique. Then, the integrator wind-up is addressed, the controller is translated into a discrete time version and, after implementation, the experimental performances are measured. (Contains 2 tables, 10 figures, and 1 footnote.)

Argues that understanding the psychological drivers behind SMS uptake among key user groups could open the door to a range of user-centred applications capable of transforming handset usability--and hence operator revenues--for this inexpensive form of text messaging. Combines the findings of our own web-based survey of SMS users with psychological evidence and research on related text-based conversational systems to draw out lessons for a user-based approach to the design of mobile phone handset displays that capitalise on the social affordances of SMS texting.

Review of similarities and differences between magnetic-based and optical disk drives includes a discussion of the electronics necessary for their operation; describes benefits, possible applications, and future trends in development of laser-based drives; and lists manufacturers of laser optical disk drives. (MBR)

Discusses the basic design and special features of robotic dialing systems that are programmed to make calls to parents of truant students and presents detailed information on seven currently available self-dialing attendance systems. (MBR)

At the turn of the millennium, developments on metasurfaces lead to a significant step forward in the design of radar absorbing structures, especially at lower frequencies, thanks to a reduced thickness. Still, as with other passive impedance matching systems, they remain constrained in their bandwidth-to-thickness ratio. Fortunately, the recent integration of active electronic components onto metasurfaces has multiplied their functionalities, unlocking new ways to overcome these limitations. For instance, using varactor diodes, which act as variable capacitors, an absorbing metasurface can be rendered tunable to cover a frequency range wider than would any passive system of similar thickness. This is a valuable feature when facing modern frequency-hopping radars. However, the bias-dependent resistance introduced by the varactor diodes can compromise the impedance matching throughout the tunable frequency range. This work, therefore, focuses on the design and measurement of a tunable radar absorbing metasurface using varactor diodes, highlighting the necessity for a joint tuning of capacitance and resistance to grant near-perfect absorption over a wide frequency range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the integration of power electronic converters and components, an accurate thermal design becomes essential. Hence, precise thermal models for components are needed for their optimal design. This paper focuses on the development of an analytical model for the design of thermal resistance of planar magnetic cores (PMC). Based on computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations, the PMC design thermal resistance variation is studied, according to ambient temperature and level of losses. Then, a polynomial equation is developed to model those variations, and coefficients are deduced for all the sizes of PMC. This analytical model, useful for designers, is finally validated with thermal measurements on a planar transformer prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the popularity of smart terminals, wearable electronic devices have shown great market prospects, especially high-sensitivity pressure sensors, which can monitor micro-stimuli and high-precision dynamic external stimuli, and will have an important impact on future functional development. Compressible flexible sensors have attracted wide attention due to their simple sensing mechanism and the advantages of light weight and convenience. Sensors with high sensitivity are very sensitive to pressure and can detect resistance/current changes under pressure, which has been widely studied. On this basis, this review focuses on analyzing the performance impact of device structure design strategies on high sensitivity pressure sensors. The design of structures can be divided into interface microstructures and three-dimensional framework structures. The preparation methods of various structures are introduced in detail, and the current research status and future development challenges are summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a drone-based excavation platform prototype with the key objectives of balancing stability during excavation, sensing, and digging the soil pile autonomously without human intervention. The whole platform was first designed in CAD software, and then each part of the excavator assembly was 3D printed by using PLA filament. The physical system was then combined with numerous electronic components and linked to various software applications for a drone to perform autonomous excavations. Pixhawk Orange Cube served as the main controller for the drone, while Nvidia Jetson Nano was used for processing data and controlling the tip of the bucket at a specified location for the autonomous excavator. Two scenarios were considered to validate the functionality of the developed platform. In the first scenario, the drone flies independently to a construction site, lands, senses the soil, excavates it, and then travels to another location specified by the mission to deposit the soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a very simple simulation technique that is able to predict the behavior of a regulated AC-DC power supply. The proposed technique can be easily implemented in an open-source platform for numerical computation. Besides, it allows the simulation of any component, unlike commercial simulation software that has a limit number of components. The information given by the simulation technique is of paramount importance for the selection of the electronic components that compose the power supply. To show the applicability of the proposed technique an experimental prototype was designed, and used for validation purposes. Additionally, a short description about the major capacitor technologies used in power electronics is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of global supply chains of many products. One area that requires improved supply chain resilience and that is of particular importance to electronic designers is the shortage of basic dual in-line package (DIP) electronic components commonly used for prototyping. This anecdotal observation was investigated as a case study of using additive manufacturing to enforce contact between premade, off-the-shelf conductors to allow for electrical continuity between two arbitrary points by examining data relating to the stock quantity of electronic components, extracted from Digi-Key Electronics. This study applies this concept using an open hardware approach for the design, testing, and use of a simple, parametric, 3-D printable invention that allows for small outline integrated circuit (SOIC) components to be used in DIP package circuits (i.e., breadboards, protoboards, etc.). The additive manufacture breakout board (AMBB) design was developed using two different open-source modelers, OpenSCAD and FreeCAD, to provide reliable and consistent electrical contact between the component and the rest of the circuit and was demonstrated with reusable 8-SOIC to DIP breakout adapters. The three-part design was optimized for manufacturing with RepRap-class fused filament 3-D printers, making the AMBB a prime candidate for use in distributed manufacturing models. The AMBB offers increased flexibility during circuit prototyping by allowing arbitrary connections between the component and prototyping interface as well as superior organization through the ability to color-code different component types. The cost of the AMBB is CAD $0.066/unit, which is a 94% saving compared to conventional PCB-based breakout boards. Use of the AMBB device can provide electronics designers with an increased selection of components for through-hole use by more than a factor of seven. Future development of AMBB devices to allow for low-cost conversion between arbitrary package types provides a path towards more accessible and inclusive electronics design as well as faster prototyping and technical innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Falls can be detrimental to the quality of life of older people, and therefore the ability to detect falls is beneficial, especially if the person is living alone and has injured themselves. In addition, detecting near falls (when a person is imbalanced or stumbles) has the potential to prevent a fall from occurring. This work focused on the design and engineering of a wearable electronic textile device to monitor falls and near-falls and used a machine learning algorithm to assist in the interpretation of the data. A key driver behind the study was to create a comfortable device that people would be willing to wear. A pair of over-socks incorporating a single motion sensing electronic yarn each were designed. The over-socks were used in a trial involving 13 participants. The participants performed three types of activities of daily living (ADLs), three types of falls onto a crash mat, and one type of near-fall. The trail data was visually analyzed for patterns, and a machine learning algorithm was used to classify the data. The developed over-socks combined with the use of a bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) network have been shown to be able to differentiate between three different ADLs and three different falls with an accuracy of 85.7%, ADLs and falls with an accuracy of 99.4%, and ADLs, falls, and stumbles (near-falls) with an accuracy of 94.2%. In addition, results showed that the motion sensing E-yarn only needs to be present in one over-sock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Railway Signalling & Communication Engineering is the property of Railway Signalling & Communication Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Design and manufacturing sectors are vital agents of an economy. However, multiple challenges influence product designs such as the predicted scarcity of energy and primary materials, the ubiquitous integration of electronic components and computing science in systems' architectures, the pervasive production of data by most systems, the emphasis given to CO2 free energy solutions, recycling, and reuse, the transformation of the consumption model from product ownership to product as a service, as well as the geopolitical conflicts. Major technological advancements leading to transformation in socio-economic practices would be required to address these challenges which can have a profound effect on design and manufacturing activities. This research aims to evaluate the potential impact and modification induced by such transformations on product design process. The research identifies that early design automation can enable coping with unmanageable cognitive load generated by cascading changes. A list of modifications to current design practices is proposed to enable the development of a new generation of design tools. The article provides an initial prospective effort to discuss the potential services and functionality that will be offered by future design tools'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamism of the reliability of machines and equipment has the objective of availability, leading to the development of several techniques of predictive maintenance, to define the ideal point for the intervention. Among the several predictive techniques, the analysis of lubricants has its highlight. In this sense, lubricants are used to reduce friction and wear between two interacting surfaces, filling the space of surface imperfections. In this way, wear is common even with the use of lubricating oils on the interacting surfaces. Thus, an artefact for ascertaining the wear particles by size in lubricating oils is analytical ferrography. In this way, this work presents the development of a low cost rotary separator prototype to obtain ferrograms, through five distinct combinations of permanent magnets and electronic devices. Several combinations of magnets were used and it was concluded that the 03, 04, and 05 combinations showed a better formation quality of ferrous wear particle rings. In addition, only two rings were formed in the 04 combination, but this was the best combination by size separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A circular polarization (CP)-agile and continuous beam-steerable array antenna is presented using a hybrid design approach. It is accomplished by combining digital reconfigurable antenna elements with analog continuously tunable phase shifters. To realize both polarization reconfiguration and initial phase generation for beam scanning simultaneously, the designed antenna element enables eight states that correspond to two CP modes with four quantized phases. The phase shifters further provide additional variable phases of −90° to 0° for antenna element excitation. Superposition of the initial and additional phases helps to satisfy full and continuous 360° phase coverage for a beam-steerable array. Meanwhile, phase decomposition also facilitates the design of phase shifters without complex or cascaded structures. By altering the bias states of the electronic components loaded in the array antenna, CP switching and beam scanning can be independently controlled. For verification, prototypes of the antenna element, phase shifter, and a four-element array are all fabricated and tested. Reasonable agreement is obtained between simulation and measurement. The resultant array could scan up to nearly ±40° off the boresight, along with stable radiation patterns and good CP performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]