The characterization of recycled concrete aggregate as filter in removal of phosphorus

Phosphorus (P) is one of the key nutrients that lead to eutrophication problem in surface water. However, the existing conventional wastewater treatment system to remove phosphorus is expensive and require a complex process. Therefore, a system using low cost and environmental friendly should be practiced to overcome this problem. Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) used as a filter system emerged as an alternative technology for phosphorus removal. This can overcome the problem of construction site waste by converting the waste into something valuable products. Thus, this study aim to investigate the physical and chemical characteristic of RCA that influenced adsorption of P. RCA was analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) testing to determine chemical composition. Results shows that RCA is highly contained with Aluminium, Calcium and Magnesium elements that enhanced the Phosphorus adsorption

MISSED: an environment for mixed-signal microsystem testing and diagnosis

A tight link between design and test data is proposed for speeding up test-pattern generation and diagnosis during mixed-signal prototype verification. Test requirements are already incorporated at the behavioral level and specified with increased detail at lower hierarchical levels. A strict distinction between generic routines and implementation data makes reuse of software possible. A testability-analysis tool and test and DFT libraries support the designer to guarantee testability. Hierarchical backtrace procedures in combination with an expert system and fault libraries assist the designer during mixed-signal chip debuggin

A design for testability study on a high performance automatic gain control circuit.

A comprehensive testability study on a commercial automatic gain control circuit is presented which aims to identify design for testability (DfT) modifications to both reduce production test cost and improve test quality. A fault simulation strategy based on layout extracted faults has been used to support the study. The paper proposes a number of DfT modifications at the layout, schematic and system levels together with testability. Guidelines that may well have generic applicability. Proposals for using the modifications to achieve partial self test are made and estimates of achieved fault coverage and quality levels presente

Scan Test Coverage Improvement Via Automatic Test Pattern Generation (Atpg) Tool Configuration

The scan test coverage improvement by using automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) tool configuration was investigated. Improving the test coverage is essential in detecting manufacturing defects in semiconductor industry so that high quality products can be supplied to consumers. The ATPG tool used was Mentor Graphics Tessent TestKompress (version 2014.1). The study was done by setting up a few experiments of utilizing and modifying ATPG commands and switches, observing the test coverage improvement from the statistical reports provided during pattern generation process and providing relatable discussions. By modifying the ATPG commands, it can be expected to have some improvement in the test coverage. The scan test patterns generated were stuck-at test patterns. Based on the experiments done, comparison was made on the different coverage readings and the most optimized method and flow of ATPG were determined. The most optimized flow gave an improvement of 0.91% in test coverage which is acceptable since this method does not involve a change in design. The test patterns generated were converted and tested using automatic test equipment (ATE) to observe its performance on real silicon. The test coverage improvement using ATPG tool instead of the design-based method is important as a faster workaround for back-end engineers to provide high quality test contents in such a short product development duration

Phase Locking Authentication for Scan Architecture

Scan design is a widely used Design for Testability (DfT) approach for digital circuits. It provides a high level of controllability and observability resulting in a high fault coverage. To achieve a high level of testability, scan architecture must provide access to the internal nodes of the circuit-under-test (CUT). This access however leads to vulnerability in the security of the CUT. If an unrestricted access is provided through a scan architecture, unlimited test vectors can be applied to the CUT and its responses can be captured. Such an unrestricted access to the CUT can potentially undermine the security of the critical information stored in the CUT. There is a need to secure scan architecture to prevent hardware attacks however a secure solution may limit the CUT testability. There is a trade-off between security and testability, therefore, a secure scan architecture without hindering its controllability and observability is required. Three solutions to secure scan architecture have been proposed in this thesis. In the first method, the tester is authenticated and the number of authentication attempts has been limited. In the second method, a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) is utilized to secure scan architecture. In the third method, the scan architecture is secured through a clock and data recovery (CDR) technique. This is a manuscript based thesis and the results of this study have been published in two conference proceedings. The latest results have also been prepared as an article for submission to a high rank conference

Desynchronization: Synthesis of asynchronous circuits from synchronous specifications

Asynchronous implementation techniques, which measure logic delays at run time and activate registers accordingly, are inherently more robust than their synchronous counterparts, which estimate worst-case delays at design time, and constrain the clock cycle accordingly. De-synchronization is a new paradigm to automate the design of asynchronous circuits from synchronous specifications, thus permitting widespread adoption of asynchronicity, without requiring special design skills or tools. In this paper, we first of all study different protocols for de-synchronization and formally prove their correctness, using techniques originally developed for distributed deployment of synchronous language specifications. We also provide a taxonomy of existing protocols for asynchronous latch controllers, covering in particular the four-phase handshake protocols devised in the literature for micro-pipelines. We then propose a new controller which exhibits provably maximal concurrency, and analyze the performance of desynchronized circuits with respect to the original synchronous optimized implementation. We finally prove the feasibility and effectiveness of our approach, by showing its application to a set of real designs, including a complete implementation of the DLX microprocessor architectur

From Vision Sensor to Actuators, Spike Based Robot Control through Address-Event-Representation

One field of the neuroscience is the neuroinformatic whose aim is to develop auto-reconfigurable systems that mimic the human body and brain. In this paper we present a neuro-inspired spike based mobile robot. From commercial cheap vision sensors converted into spike information, through spike filtering for object recognition, to spike based motor control models. A two wheel mobile robot powered by DC motors can be autonomously controlled to follow a line drown in the floor. This spike system has been developed around the well-known Address-Event-Representation mechanism to communicate the different neuro-inspired layers of the system. RTC lab has developed all the components presented in this work, from the vision sensor, to the robot platform and the FPGA based platforms for AER processing.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2006-11730-C03-02Junta de Andalucía P06-TIC-0141