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The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for high-frequency (HF) measurements is a cutting-edge technology that has recently attracted attention. The measurements of far and near fields of antennas, mobile network tests, direction finding, and locating the sources of interference as well as radio-frequency (RF) imaging are a few of the HF applications of UAVs. In this article, we discuss the advantages and capabilities of UAVs for HF measurements as well as some recent progress in the use of UAVs for related types of applications.

Premio extraordinario de Trabajo Fin de Máster curso 2019/2020. Máster en Energías Renovables Distribuidas In this document is presented the state of art for domotics cost effective technologies available on market nowadays, and how to apply them in Smart Home Energy Management Systems (SHEMS) allowing peaks shaving, renewable management and home appliance controls, always in cost effective context in order to be massively applied. Additionally, beyond of SHEMS context, it will be also analysed how to apply this technology in order to increase homes energy efficiency and monitoring of home appliances. Energy management is one of the milestones for distributed renewable energy spread; since renewable energy sources are not time-schedulable, are required control systems capable of the management for exchanging energy between conventional sources (power grid), renewable sources and energy storage sources. With the proposed approach, there is a first block dedicated to show an overview of Smart Home Energy Management Systems (SMHEMS) classical architecture and functional modules of SHEMS; next step is to analyse principles which has allowed some devices to become a cost-effective technology. Once the technology has been analysed, it will be reviewed some specific resources (hardware and software) available on marked for allowing low cost SHEMS. Knowing the “tools” available; it will be shown how to adapt classical SHEMS to cost effective technology. Such way, this document will show some specific applications of SHEMS. Firstly, in a general point of view, comparing the proposed low-cost technology with one of the main existing commercial proposals; and secondly, developing the solution for a specific real case. En este documento se aborda el estado actual de la domótica de bajo coste disponible en el mercado actualmente y cómo aplicarlo en los sistemas inteligentes de gestión energética en la vivienda (SHEMS) permitiendo el recorte de las puntas de demanda, gestión de energías renovables y control de electrodomésticos, siempre en el contexto del bajo coste, con el objetivo de lograr la máxima difusión de los SHEMS. Adicionalmente, más allá del contexto de la tecnología SHEMS, se analizará cómo aplicar esta tecnología para aumentar la eficiencia energética de los hogares y para la supervisión de los electrodomésticos. La gestión energética es uno de los factores principales para lograr la difusión de las energías renovables distribuidas; debido a que las fuentes de energía renovable no pueden ser planificadas, se requieren sistemas de control capaces de gestionar el intercambio de energía entre las fuentes convencionales (red eléctrica de distribución), energías renovables y dispositivos de almacenamiento energético. Bajo esta perspectiva, este documento presenta un primer bloque en el que se exponen las bases de la arquitectura y módulos funcionales de los sistemas inteligentes de gestión energética en la vivienda (SHEMS); el siguiente paso será analizar los principios que han permitido a ciertos dispositivos convertirse en dispositivos de bajo coste. Una vez analizada la tecnología, nos centraremos en los recursos (hardware y software) existentes que permitirán la realización de un SHEMS a bajo coste. Conocidas las “herramientas” a nuestra disposición, se mostrará como adaptar un esquema SHEMS clásico a la tecnología de bajo coste. Primeramente, comparando de modo genérico la tecnología de bajo coste con una de las principales propuestas comerciales de SHEMS, para seguidamente desarrollar la solución de bajo coste a un caso específico real.

Commercial starch extraction is a multi-step process which requires high capital cost and infrastructure. The present study aimed at exploring a low cost process for small scale/on-farm processing of potato for isolation of starch which included potato grinding, slurry filtration, starch settling, increased number of starch washings to obtain maximum yield and purity followed by starch drying. Two commercial cultivars (Kufri-Chipsona-3 and Lady Rosette) and two commonly grown cultivars (Kufri Pukhraj and Kufri Ganga) were used for the experiments. The isolated starches varied significantly (p

The Arctic region is greatly affected by climate change, with evident alterations in both physical and biological processes: temperatures are changing at a rate that is twice the global average and phytoplankton productivity is directly affected by ice melting. The continuous monitoring of this ecosystem is fundamental to understand the impact of changes on the natural environment, but the Global Ocean Observing System has a lack of coverage in these extreme areas, which are particularly difficult to reach. Technological progresses in oceanographic mea- surement capabilities are indispensable for the implementation of marine observatories, especially in these remote regions. In this context in the last years autonomous systems and cost-effective technologies have proved to be valuable tools for increasing the spatial and temporal coverage of data. In particular the innovative ArLoC (Artic Low-Cost) probe was designed and developed to be easily integrated into various types of platforms, enabling continuous measurement of temperature, pressure and fluorescence of chlorophyll a. This work reports the results of two scientific campaigns carried out in the Kongsfjorden (Svalbard Islands) in 2017 and 2018 in the frame- work of the UVASS (Unmanned Vehicles for Autonomous Sensing and Sampling) research project. The ArLoC probe was integrated onboard the PROTEUS (Portable RObotic TEchnology for Unmanned Surveys) unmanned semi-submersible vehicle which allowed to collect important data in the stretches of sea near the glacier fronts. The acquired data showed some fundamental effects of glacier melting such as: extreme temperature and salin- ity gradients that cause a strong variation on water masses stratification; increasing of turbidity and chlorophyll a concentrations that directly affects the primary productivity and the trophic chain. During the surveys ArLoC demonstrated to be an easily integrable and very reliable instrument that permitted to investigate, at high spatial resolution, ecological processes during glaciers melting as never studied before.

International audience; A cost-effective fabrication process is developed to improve the power performance of AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs). This process uses nitrogen ion (N+) implantation to form multiple parallel NanoRibbons on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures, with thin buffer layer (AlGaN/GaN NR-HEMTs). SRIM simulations of the N+ implantation combined with measured current-field characteristics reveal a good electrical isolation beneath the 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), resulting in substantial increase of the breakdown field of the NRHEMTs, when compared to conventional AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. The fabricated AlGaN/GaN NR-HEMTs performed (i) an ON/OFF current ratio more than two orders of magnitude larger and (ii) a buffer leakage current more than one order of magnitude weaker than that of the conventional AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. The on-resistance, RON, and series resistance, RS, of AlGaN/GaN NR-HEMTs are both reduced by one order of magnitude, when compared to those of the conventional AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. These have boosted the drive current density by up to 435%. Furthermore, we have found that the architecture of the AlGaN/GaN NR-HEMTs reduces the destructive impact of electron traps in the device. An optimized AlGaN/GaN NR-HEMT exhibited a better electrostatic integrity, a subthreshold slope of ∼210 mV/dec instead of 730 mV/dec for a conventional GaN HEMT. A higher linearity in the transconductance, gm, of NR-HEMTs is observed, twice of that of a conventional GaN HEMT. These results demonstrate the great interest of developed process technology, of NR-HEMTs, for high-power switching applications

Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 will require accelerated efforts that include decarbonizing long-haul truck transportation. In this difficult-to-decarbonize, low-margin industry, economic transparency on technology options is vital for decision makers seeking to eliminate emissions. Battery electric (BET) and hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks (FCET) can represent emission-free alternatives to diesel-powered trucks (DT). Previous studies focus on cost competitiveness in weight-constrained transportation even though logistics research shows that significant shares of transportation are constrained by volume, and analyze cost only for selected technologies, hence impeding a differentiated market segmentation of future emission-free trucks. In this study, the perspective of a rational investor is taken and it is shown that, under current conditions in the U.S., BETs outperform FCETs in various long-haul use cases despite charging times and cargo deficits, and will further increase their technological competitiveness to DTs. While future energy and fueling prices are decisive for BET competitiveness, the analysis reveals that autonomous driving may change the picture in favor of FCETs.

In the recent years, increasing labour cost and shortage of labour being the major constraints to follow manual harvesting in cotton in staggered manner. Further, it is very expensive and farmers would like to increasingly opt for mechanical harvesting. In this context, it is suggested that research should focus to reduce cost of cultivation substantially by promoting the use of synchronized maturity in cotton and use of defoliants to encourage mechanical harvesting. In agriculture, defoliants are used to eliminate the leaves of a crop plant so that they do not interfere with the harvesting by machinery. Early harvesting with good boll opening can also be achieved by use of defoliants. The use of defoliants also reduces the trash content in picked cotton which will also help in improving the quality of cotton. There is a need to identify suitable defoliant with suitable dose and time of application so as to facilitate mechanical harvesting in rainfed cotton. Some of the successful defoliants for uniform boll bursting and higher yield of cotton such as rthrel, rthepon, mepiquat chloride (MC), sodium salt and DU (Dropp Ultra) are the hormonal defoliants and TDZ thidiazuron butifos, merphos, tribufos and tribufate are the herbicidal defoliants. The best combination of thidiazuron + diuron (DCMU), pyraflufen ethyl, thidiazuron + diuroncellular isozyme, Ethephon + AMADS, ethephon + cyclanilide ethephon + tribufos Mepiquat chloride (MC) + cyclanilide may be recommended to facilitate mechanical harvesting in cotton.

The article determines main factors of the need for modern conditions of temporary setting aside trains from the traffic, which require consideration of this operation not as an emergency forced measure, the need for which arises because of operational personnel errors, but as one of the elements of the transportation process technology that require it rational organization. These factors are: formation of large unloading areas in seaports taking into account recurring difficulties in its work, technical equipment failures and traffic safety violations, daily irregularity of train operation, etc. Principles of building a rational strategy for temporary setting aside trains from traffic are considered. It makes provision for: using the capabilities of the operational area infrastructure as a whole for set aside trains, impermissibility of reducing the carrying capacity of previous sections of the difficult section below its carrying capacity as a result of set aside trains, selecting stations for set aside trains based on feasibility studies.Use of a cost-effective strategy for the temporary setting trains from traffic in the event of operational difficulties will minimize the expenses of the JSC “Russian Railways” related to the need to carry out this element of the transportation process technology.

Crop production and ecosystem services are greatly influenced by soil’s physical properties (i.e. soil moisture, organic carbon, particle size distribution, bulk density, etc.). This thesis develops new in-situ and laboratory technologies that can accurately measure soil physical properties rapidly and cost-effectively across the cropping fields. The first challenge is to build a soil water monitoring system that can monitor crop water use at the plot level. The study used a plastic buggy system for electromagnetic induction (EMI) surveys. The electrical conductivity data recorded from the EMI surveys were used for the depth-specific temporal analyses of soil water use by different genotypes. The system was successfully used to monitor soil water uptake by 36 genotypes of chickpeas at the plot level. The second challenge is to develop a rapid in-situ soil organic carbon (SOC) measurement technique using a VisNIR penetrometer system with high-resolution in-situ spectra. This method can measure SOC contents accurately from the surface up to the depth of 90 cm. The thesis also investigates novel laboratory techniques for measuring the particle-size distribution and bulk density. An automated hydrometer method using a ToF distance and a digital temperature sensor was introduced to measure continuous particle-size distribution. A novel technique based on shear wave velocity using piezoelectric sensors was developed for measuring bulk density and soil stiffness moduli in the laboratory. These cost-effective and robust measurement systems for measuring 3-dimensional high-resolution soil physical properties can be used in precision agriculture to optimise the resources for maximum crop yields.

In this technical brief, we investigate the feasibility to use a cost-effective system for the study of frictional losses in hydro- and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows. Experiments are performed in rectangular channels with different aspect ratios, whose dimensions range from 500 μm to 1.835 mm. Fabrication is done with conventional technology, and characterization by commercial sensors and open-source electronic prototyping platforms. Water and GaInSn are used as working fluids. GaInSn experiments are performed for one aspect with and without external magnetic field. For these experiments, Reynolds number varies from 80 to 1000. Characterization is performed in terms of the Darcy friction factor. Uncertainty associated with this common fabrication and characterization methodology is presented.

The MinION is a portable DNA sequencer that allows real time sequencing at low capital cost investment. We assessed accuracy and cost-effectivess of the MinION for genetic diagnostic testing of known SCN1A mutations that cause Dravet Syndrome (DS). DNA samples (n = 7) from DS patients previously shown to carry SCN1A mutations via Ion Torrent and Sanger sequencing were sequenced using the MinION. SCN1A amplicons for 8 exons were sequenced using the MinION with 1D chemistry on an R9.4 flow cell. All known missense mutations were detected in all samples showing 100 % concordance with results from other methods. However, the MinION failed to detect the insertions/deletions (INDELs) present in these patients. Nevertheless, these results indicate that MinION is a cost-effective platform for use as an initial screening step in the detection of nucleotide substitution mutations in in SCN1A, especially in under-resourced laboratories or hospitals. Further improvements are required to reliably detect INDELS in this gene.

To control the total treatment cost of textile dye effluent a new advanced combined treatment technology has been investigated. Advanced oxidation processes like ozonation have much potential to degrade dye but its main drawback is high cost. To reduce the cost of ozonation for dye degradation and decolourization, ozonation followed by anaerobic biodegradation using upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor was carried out. The synthetic textile wastewater containing Reactive Black 5 has been used in this study by this combined treatment process. The system of ozonation and anaerobic treatment by UASB reactor showed that the chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction has reached to about 90% and dye removal 94% respectively. Combined treatment enhanced the overall color removal up to 10 on platinum cobalt (Pt–Co) scale. Thus the combined treatment process results in high color, COD and total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency which would minimize the overall treatment cost. Dye degradation products were analyzed by ion chromatography (IC) and UV–vis spectroscopy.