Re-inventing postgraduate level teaching and learning in nanoelectronics

Abstract: In the world where technology changes almost daily, the field of microelectronics or nanoelectronics is becoming an area driving the future. Therefore, more engineers specializing in micro- and/or nanoelectronics are needed in industry internationally. Globally, a distinct shift in nanoelectronic education has already been observed, where postgraduate coursework and part-coursework degrees in microelectronics and nanoelectronics are now being offered alongside the traditional research or coursework degrees in electronics or electrical engineering (light currents). However, in South Africa the situation is lagging; microelectronic or nanoelectronic specializations are offered either as honors degrees or as the research-based studies mentioned, with no dedicated coursework specialization at the master’s level. The Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has, therefore, diversified the program and qualifications mix because of this need to teach nanoelectronics at the master’s level as well, via global partcoursework and a part-research method of delivery. However, approval for a new degree takes a number of years to be completed. Therefore, as an alternative route, nanoelectronic modules with some cross-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary modules are offered as continuing education programs (CEPs) at National Qualification Framework levels 8 and 9. The CEPs bear continuing Engineering Council of South Africa professional development credits, and can be credited as modules in the envisaged master’s degrees. The CEPs are delivered via an online approach, which develops student accessibility and brings about flexibility for students who are studying part-time. Enhanced accessibility and the fastgrowing level of internet access in Africa will allow the UJ to serve students both regionally and internationally. This paper explores the rationale for the chosen content of the CEPs and ultimately the proposed master’s degrees and discusses in detail the online mode of delivery and its benefits, as well as the approach taken to deliver courses according to this model, together with innovative opportunities

Energy autonomous systems : future trends in devices, technology, and systems

The rapid evolution of electronic devices since the beginning of the nanoelectronics era has brought about exceptional computational power in an ever shrinking system footprint. This has enabled among others the wealth of nomadic battery powered wireless systems (smart phones, mp3 players, GPS, …) that society currently enjoys. Emerging integration technologies enabling even smaller volumes and the associated increased functional density may bring about a new revolution in systems targeting wearable healthcare, wellness, lifestyle and industrial monitoring applications

Project-Based Course in Electronic Engineering Education

In the teaching of electronic engineering, some practical projects need to be added in order to connect various courses together. To strengthen the connections between courses, the project-based teaching method proposed in this paper advocates linking the knowledge of different courses through the combination of theory and practice. With this as a guide, projects have been set up for students. One of them is about designing and making a managed ethernet switch. In the process of making and completing this project, the students’ ability has been significantly improved, which fully proves the benefits of the teaching method

Electrothermal PSpice Modeling and Simulation of Power Modules

Integrated power electronics modules (IPEMs) represent an innovative typology of power electronics assemblies able to guarantee several advantages such as increasing of power density, better management of the thermal flows, and a significant reduction of the package sizes. Their characteristics make them suitable for applications like motor drives or power conditioning. IPEM usage in emerging fields like hybrid automotive traction and electric generation from renewable energy sources is continuously increasing. In this paper, we describe the implementation of a devised flow to generate the layer-based electrothermal PSpice model of an IPEM and the simulation flow of the model. The proposed modeling methodology allows reducing an electrothermal multidomain problem to an electrical single one. The general PSpice-like nature of the proposed model makes it suitable for a wide range of simulation frameworks where the integration of heterogeneous multiphysics models could be a difficult task. The outlining of both electrical and thermal PSpice layers is discussed, and the implementation into the final model, by the assistance of custom electronic-design-automation flow, is presented. Moreover, we describe the validation procedure of the proposed approach, and the results are compared with the ones obtained by a commercial finite-element-based package used as a benchmark. Two simulation approaches related to specific conversion systems, and related issues, are presented and discussed

Study of Single-Event Transient Effects on Analog Circuits

Radiation in space is potentially hazardous to microelectronic circuits and systems such as spacecraft electronics. Transient effects on circuits and systems from high energetic particles can interrupt electronics operation or crash the systems. This phenomenon is particularly serious in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits (ICs) since most of modern ICs are implemented with CMOS technologies. The problem is getting worse with the technology scaling down. Radiation-hardening-by-design (RHBD) is a popular method to build CMOS devices and systems meeting performance criteria in radiation environment. Single-event transient (SET) effects in digital circuits have been studied extensively in the radiation effect community. In recent years analog RHBD has been received increasing attention since analog circuits start showing the vulnerability to the SETs due to the dramatic process scaling. Analog RHBD is still in the research stage. This study is to further study the effects of SET on analog CMOS circuits and introduces cost-effective RHBD approaches to mitigate these effects. The analog circuits concerned in this study include operational amplifiers (op amps), comparators, voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), and phase-locked loops (PLLs). Op amp is used to study SET effects on signal amplitude while the comparator, the VCO, and the PLL are used to study SET effects on signal state during transition time. In this work, approaches based on multi-level from transistor, circuit, to system are presented to mitigate the SET effects on the aforementioned circuits. Specifically, RHBD approach based on the circuit level, such as the op amp, adapts the auto-zeroing cancellation technique. The RHBD comparator implemented with dual-well and triple-well is studied and compared at the transistor level. SET effects are mitigated in a LC-tank oscillator by inserting a decoupling resistor. The RHBD PLL is implemented on the system level using triple modular redundancy (TMR) approach. It demonstrates that RHBD at multi-level can be cost-effective to mitigate the SEEs in analog circuits. In addition, SETs detection approaches are provided in this dissertation so that various mitigation approaches can be implemented more effectively. Performances and effectiveness of the proposed RHBD are validated through SPICE simulations on the schematic and pulsed-laser experiments on the fabricated circuits. The proposed and tested RHBD techniques can be applied to other relevant analog circuits in the industry to achieve radiation-tolerance

Iot-based computer laboratory equipment tracking system: a case of Université du lac Tanganyika

A Project Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Award the Degree of Master of Science in Embedded and Mobile Systems of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyIn today’s digital age, computer laboratories’ adoption in academic institutions and the security of equipment are crucial to ensure their effective functioning and prevent equipment loss or damage. These laboratories have valuable equipment, such as laptops, switches, routers, projectors, printers, and scanners, that require proper security measures to prevent losses or damages. Manual methods such as pen and paper, spreadsheets and tracking software have been commonly used in the past for equipment tracking. However, these approaches have certain limitations, such as being time-consuming, having limited storage and retrieval abilities, and not providing real-time updates. To overcome these challenges and enhance the lab equipment tracking system, the objective of the developed system is to identify the necessary requirements for designing, developing and validating an IoT-based computer lab equipment tracking system to manage high-value lab equipment at Université du Lac Tanganyika (ULT) university and prevent the unauthorised removal of equipment from the laboratory. The study employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to track and identify automatically tags attached to the equipment. This study used Agile’s Scrum framework as a system development approach, and a qualitative research approach, including interviews, observations, and focus group discussions, was used to collect data for the functional and non functional requirements. An ESP32 microcontroller was used to collect and process data from sensors and send the data to the IoT cloud. An Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption and decryption algorithm using a 128-bit key was implemented to ensure the secure transmission of RFID data. The system also features an automatic lock-unlock mechanism to prevent equipment from moving out of the lab without authorisation. A web application with a simple interface was developed for the equipment management system. Ultimately, the system validation process engaged 51 participants comprising IT managers, lab assistants, lab technicians, and lab users. All participants filled out a system evaluation form which resulted in positive responses. The results of the system validation analysis indicate an average of 87% of performance, availability, accuracy, efficiency, and effectiveness. Therefore, ULT University accepted the system due to its effectiveness, security features, and user-friendly interface

2017-18 Graduate Bulletin

After 2003 the University of Dayton Bulletin went exclusively online. This copy was downloaded from the University of Dayton\u27s website in March 2018.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/bulletin_grad/1048/thumbnail.jp