Fluorescent nanodiamonds for FRET-based monitoring of a single biological nanomotor FoF1-ATP synthase

Color centers in diamond nanocrystals are a new class of fluorescence markers that attract significant interest due to matchless brightness, photostability and biochemical inertness. Fluorescing diamond nanocrystals containing defects can be used as markers replacing conventional organic dye molecules, quantum dots or autofluorescent proteins. They can be applied for tracking and ultrahigh-resolution localization of the single markers. In addition the spin properties of diamond defects can be utilized for novel magneto-optical imaging (MOI) with nanometer resolution. We develop this technique to unravel the details of the rotary motions and the elastic energy storage mechanism of a single biological nanomotor FoF1-ATP synthase. FoF1-ATP synthase is the enzyme that provides the 'chemical energy currency' adenosine triphosphate, ATP, for living cells. The formation of ATP is accomplished by a stepwise internal rotation of subunits within the enzyme. Previously subunit rotation has been monitored by single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and was limited by the photostability of the fluorophores. Fluorescent nanodiamonds advance these FRET measurements to long time scales.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Advanced information processing system: The Army fault tolerant architecture conceptual study. Volume 2: Army fault tolerant architecture design and analysis

Described here is the Army Fault Tolerant Architecture (AFTA) hardware architecture and components and the operating system. The architectural and operational theory of the AFTA Fault Tolerant Data Bus is discussed. The test and maintenance strategy developed for use in fielded AFTA installations is presented. An approach to be used in reducing the probability of AFTA failure due to common mode faults is described. Analytical models for AFTA performance, reliability, availability, life cycle cost, weight, power, and volume are developed. An approach is presented for using VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) to describe and design AFTA's developmental hardware. A plan is described for verifying and validating key AFTA concepts during the Dem/Val phase. Analytical models and partial mission requirements are used to generate AFTA configurations for the TF/TA/NOE and Ground Vehicle missions

BOOM: Broadcast Optimizations for On-chip Meshes

Future many-core chips will require an on-chip network that can support broadcasts and multicasts at good power-performance. A vanilla on-chip network would send multiple unicast packets for each broadcast packet, resulting in latency, throughput and power overheads. Recent research in on-chip multicast support has proposed forking of broadcast/multicast packets within the network at the router buffers, but these techniques are far from ideal, since they increase buffer occupancy which lowers throughput, and packets incur delay and power penalties at each router. In this work, we analyze an ideal broadcast mesh; show the substantial gaps between state-of-the-art multicast NoCs and the ideal; then propose BOOM, which comprises a WHIRL routing protocol that ideally load balances broadcast traffic, a mXbar multicast crossbar circuit that enables multicast traversal at similar energy-delay as unicasts, and speculative bypassing of buffering for multicast flits. Together, they enable broadcast packets to approach the delay, energy, and throughput of the ideal fabric. Our simulations show BOOM realizing an average network latency that is 5% off ideal, attaining 96% of ideal throughput, with energy consumption that is 9% above ideal. Evaluations using synthetic traffic show BOOM achieving a latency reduction of 61%, throughput improvement of 63%, and buffer power reduction of 80% as compared to a baseline broadcast. Simulations with PARSEC benchmarks show BOOM reducing average request and network latency by 40% and 15% respectively

Pre-Flight Testing and Performance of a Ka-Band Software Defined Radio

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed a space-qualified, reprogrammable, Ka-band Software Defined Radio (SDR) to be utilized as part of an on-orbit, reconfigurable testbed. The testbed will operate on the truss of the International Space Station beginning in late 2012. Three unique SDRs comprise the testbed, and each radio is compliant to the Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) Architecture Standard. The testbed provides NASA, industry, other Government agencies, and academic partners the opportunity to develop communications, navigation, and networking applications in the laboratory and space environment, while at the same time advancing SDR technology, reducing risk, and enabling future mission capability. Designed and built by Harris Corporation, the Ka-band SDR is NASA's first space-qualified Ka-band SDR transceiver. The Harris SDR will also mark the first NASA user of the Ka-band capabilities of the Tracking Data and Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) for on-orbit operations. This paper describes the testbed's Ka-band System, including the SDR, travelling wave tube amplifier (TWTA), and antenna system. The reconfigurable aspects of the system enabled by SDR technology are discussed and the Ka-band system performance is presented as measured during extensive pre-flight testing

PaST-NoC: A Packet-Switched Superconducting Temporal NoC

Temporal computing promises to mitigate the stringent area constraints and clock distribution overheads of traditional superconducting digital computing. To design a scalable, area- and power-efficient superconducting network on chip (NoC), we propose packet-switched superconducting temporal NoC (PaST-NoC). PaST-NoC operates its control path in the temporal domain using race logic (RL), combined with bufferless deflection flow control to minimize area. Packets encode their destination using RL and carry a collection of data pulses that the receiver can interpret as pulse trains, RL, serialized binary, or other formats. We demonstrate how to scale up PaST-NoC to arbitrary topologies based on 2x2 routers and 4x4 butterflies as building blocks. As we show, if data pulses are interpreted using RL, PaST-NoC outperforms state-of-the-art superconducting binary NoCs in throughput per area by as much as 5x for long packets.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables. In press in IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivit

Power Reduction Techniques in Clock Distribution Networks with Emphasis on LC Resonant Clocking

In this thesis we propose a set of independent techniques in the overall concept of LC resonant clocking where each technique reduces power consumption and improve system performance. Low-power design is becoming a crucial design objective due to the growing demand on portable applications and the increasing difficulties in cooling and heat removal. The clock distribution network delivers the clock signal which acts as a reference to all sequential elements in the synchronous system. The clock distribution network consumes a considerable amount of power in synchronous digital systems. Resonant clocking is an emerging promising technique to reduce the power of the clock network. The inductor used in resonant clocking enables the conversion of the electric energy stored on the clock capacitance to magnetic energy in the inductor and vice versa. In this thesis, the concept of the slack in the clock skew has been extended for an LC fully-resonant clock distribution network. This extra slack in comparison to standard clock distribution networks can be used to reduce routing complexity, achieve reduction in wire elongation, total wire length, and power consumption. Simulation results illustrate that by utilizing the proposed approach, an average reduction of 53% in the number of wire elongations and 11% reduction in total wire length can be achieved. A dual-edge clocking scheme introduced in the literature to enable the operation of the flip-flop at the rising- and falling edges of the clock has been modified. The interval by which the charging elements in the flip-flop are being switched-on was reduced causing a reduction in power consumption. Simulating the flip-flop in STMicroelectronics 90-nm technology shows correct functionality of the Sense Amplifier flip-flop with a resonant clock signal of 500 MHz and a throughput of 1 GHz under process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations. Modeling the resonant system with the proposed flip-flop illustrates that dual-edge compared to single-edge triggering can achieve up to 58% reduction in power consumption when the clock capacitance is the dominating factor. The application of low-swing clocking to LC resonant clock distribution network has been investigated on-chip. The proposed low-swing resonant clocking scheme operates with one voltage supply and does not require an additional supply voltage. The Differential Conditional Capturing flip-flop introduced in the literature was modified to operate with a low-swing sinusoidal clock. Low-swing resonant clocking achieved around 5.8% reduction in total power with 5.7% area overhead. Modeling the clock network with the proposed flip-flop illustrates that low-swing clocking can achieve up to 58% reduction in the power consumption of the resonant clock. An analytical approach was introduced to estimate the required driver strength in the clock generator. Using the proposed approach early in the design stage reduces area and power overhead by eliminating the need for programmable switches in the driving circuit

Flexible integration of robotics, ultrasonics and metrology for the inspection of aerospace components

The performance of modern robotic manipulators has allowed research in recent years, for the development of fast automated non-destructive testing (NDT) of complex geometries. Contemporary robots are well suited for their accuracy and flexibility when adapting to new tasks. Several robotic inspection prototype systems and a number of commercial products have been created around the world. This paper describes the latest progress of a new phase of the research applied to a composite aerospace component of size 1 by 3 metres. A multi robot flexible inspection cell was used to take the fundamental research and the feasibility studies to higher technology readiness levels, all set for future industrial exploitation. The robot cell was equipped with high accuracy and high payload robots, mounted on 7 metre tracks, and an external rotary axis. A robotically delivered photogrammetry technique was first used to assess the position of the components placed within the robot working envelope and their deviation to CAD. Offline programming was used to generate a scan path for phased array ultrasonics testing (PAUT) which was implemented using high data rate acquisition from a conformable wheel probe. Real-time robot path-correction, based on force-torque control (FTC), was deployed to achieve the optimum ultrasonic coupling and repeatable data quality. New communication software was developed that enabled the simultaneous control of the multiple robots performing different tasks and the reception of accurate positional feedback positions. All aspects of the system were controlled through a purposely developed graphic user interface that enabled the flexible use of the unique set of hardware resources, the data acquisition, visualisation and analysis. This work was developed through the VIEWS project (Validation and Integration of Manufacturing Enablers for Future Wing Structures), part funded by the UK’s innovation agency (Innovate UK)

Developing tools and methods for object-oriented mechatronics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. [161]-166).The digital revolution has fundamentally changed our lives by giving us new ways to express ourselves through digital media. For example, accessible multimedia content creation tools allow people to instantiate their ideas and share them easily. However, most of these outcomes only exist on-screen and online. Despite the growing accessibility of digital design and fabrication tools the physical world and everyday objects surrounding us have been largely excluded from a parallel explosion of possibilities to express ourselves. Increasingly, webbased services allow professional and non-professional audiences to access computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) tools like 3D-printing and laser-cutting. Nonetheless, there are few (if any) design tools and methods for creating complex mechanical assemblies that take full advantage of CAM systems. Creating unique mechatronic artifacts or "originalMachines" requires more specific and sophisticated design tools than exist today. "Object-Oriented Mechatronics" is a parametric design approach that connects knowledge about mechanical assemblies and electronics with the requirements of digital manufacturing processes. Parametric instances like gears, bearing and servos are made available as objects within a CAD environment which can then be implemented into specific projects. The approach addresses the missing link between accessible rapid-manufacturing services and currently available design tools thereby creating new opportunities for self-expression through mechatronic objects and machines. The dissertation matches mechanical components and assemblies with rapid manufacturing methods by exploring transferability of conventional manufacturing techniques to appropriate rapid manufacturing tools. I rebuild various gearing and bearing principles like four-contact point bearings, cross roller bearings, spur and helical gears, planetary gears, cycloidal and harmonic gear reducers using the laser cutter, the CNC-mill and the 3D-printer. These explorations lead to more complex assemblies such as the PlywoodServo, 3DprintedClock and 3-DoF (Degree of Freedom) Head. The lessons from these explorations are summarized in a detailed "cook book" of novel mechatronic assemblies enabled by new fabrication tools. Furthermore, I use the results to develop a CAD tool that brings together several existing software packages and plug-ins including Rhino, Grasshopper and the Firefly experiments for Arduino, which will allow animation, fabrication and control of original machines. The tool is an example of an object-oriented design approach to mechatronic assemblies. A user calls a DoF (Degree of Freedom) object (parametric servo) with specific parameters like gearing and bearing types, motor options and control and communication capabilities. The DoF object then creates the corresponding geometry which can be connected and integrated with other actuators and forms. A group of roboticists and designers participated in a workshop to test the tool and make proposals for original machines using the tool. The dissertation has contributions on multiple levels. First, the actuator assembly examples and parametric design tool present a body of novel work that illustrates the benefits of going beyond off-the-shelf actuator assemblies and kit-of-parts for robotic objects. Second, this tool and the accompanying examples enable the design of more original machines with custom actuator assemblies using the latest digital fabrication tools. Finally, these explorations illustrate how new CAD/ CAM tools can facilitate an exchange between more design-oriented users and more engineering-oriented users.by Peter Schmitt.Ph.D