A survey of carbon nanotube interconnects for energy efficient integrated circuits

This article is a review of the state-of-art carbon nanotube interconnects for Silicon application with respect to the recent literature. Amongst all the research on carbon nanotube interconnects, those discussed here cover 1) challenges with current copper interconnects, 2) process & growth of carbon nanotube interconnects compatible with back-end-of-line integration, and 3) modeling and simulation for circuit-level benchmarking and performance prediction. The focus is on the evolution of carbon nanotube interconnects from the process, theoretical modeling, and experimental characterization to on-chip interconnect applications. We provide an overview of the current advancements on carbon nanotube interconnects and also regarding the prospects for designing energy efficient integrated circuits. Each selected category is presented in an accessible manner aiming to serve as a survey and informative cornerstone on carbon nanotube interconnects relevant to students and scientists belonging to a range of fields from physics, processing to circuit design

A Multi-hop Topology Control Based on Inter-node Range Measurement for Wireless Sensor Networks Node Localization

In centralized range-based localization techniques, sufficiency of inter-node range information received by the base station strongly affects node position estimation results. Successful data aggregation is influenced by link stability of each connection of routes, especially in a multi-hop topology model. In general, measuring the inter-node range is only performed for position determination purposes. This research introduces the use of inter-node range measurement information for link selection in a multi-hop route composition in order to increase the rate of data aggregation. Due to irregularity problems of wireless media, two areas of node communication have been considered. The regular communication area is the area in which other nodes are able to perform symmetrical communication to the node without failure. The irregular area is the area in which other nodes are seldom able to communicate. Due to its instability, some existing methods tried to avoid the irregular area completely. The proposed method, named Virtual Boundaries (VBs) prioritizes these areas. The regular communication area’s nodes have high priority to be selected as link vertices; however, when there is no link candidate inside this area, nodes within the irregular area will be selected with respect to their range to the parent node. This technique resulted in a more robust multi-hop topology that can reduce isolated node numbers and increase the percentage of data collected by the base station accordingly

ESTCube-2 asendi ja orbiidi juhtimissüsteemi prototüübi disain

Esimene Eesti satelliit ESTCube-1 viidi edukalt maalähedasele orbiidile 2013. aasta maikuus ning aasta vältel on satelliit täitnud peaaegu kõik oma eesmärgid välja arvatud päikesepurje eksperiment [7]. Eksperimendi jooksul pannakse satelliit pöörlema kiirusega 1 pööre sekundis, keritakse 10 m pikkune mikrojuhe välja ning laetakse see kõrge potentsiaalini. Teoreetiliselt peaks laetud mikrojuhtme ja Maa ionosfäärilise plasma vastasmõju toimel satelliidi pöörlemiskiirus kahanema [14]. Kuigi missioon pole veel lõppenud, plaanitakse juba Eesti Tudengisatelliidi programmi raames järgmisi missioone [11]. Üks ESTCube-2 ja ESTCube-3 missioonide eesmärkidest on jätkata päikesepurje testimist, kasutades 1 km pikkusega mikrojuhet. Teiseks eesmärgiks on demonstreerida NanoSpace Cold Gas thruster'i kasutamist asendi ja orbiidi juhtimissüsteemi mootorina [12]. Mõlemat meetodit saab potentsiaalselt kasutada kosmoses reisimiseks [13]. Magistritöö jooksul arendati uut satelliidi asendi ja orbiidi juhtimissüsteemi, mis on hädavajalik missioonide teaduslike eesmärkide täitmiseks. Magistritöö eesmärkideks oli: • tuua välja nõuded ESTCube-2 asendi ja orbiidi juhtimissüsteemi jaoks; • kirjeldada süsteemi struktuuri; • tuua välja nõuded satelliidi asendi ja orbiidi juhtimissüsteemi prototüüpplaadi jaoks; • valida riistavara prototüüpplaadi jaoks; • arendada satelliidi asendi ja orbiiti juhtimissüsteemi esimene prototüüpplaat. Prototüüpplaadi konstuktsioon põhineb ESTCube-1 asendi juhtimissüsteemil ja ESTCube meeskonna kogemustel. Tulevalt uute missioonide poolt esitatavatest nõuetest on vajalik ka täiendava riistvara lisamine ning süsteemi suurema jõudluse garanteerimine. On analüüsitud teiste nanosatelliitide lahendused. Töö jooksul oli valitud uued elektroonikakomponendid ja kasutatud uued konstruktsioonilahendusi, mis välistavad ESTCube-1 konstruktsioonis leitud puudusi. Tulemuseks on saadud kõikidele nõudmistele vastav prototüüpplaadi konstuktsioon. Prototüüpplaat võimaldab välja lülitada kõik andurid ühe kaupa, võimaldab korraga läbi testida valikut sobivaid andureid ja võimaldab efektiivselt testida vajalikke riistvara- ja tarkvarakomponente. Töö tulemuseks on prototüüpplaadi konstuktsioon, mida on valmis kokkumonteerimiseks ja testimiseks. Seega peale magistritöö esitamist kavatseb autor tööd jätkata ning arendada tarkvara konstrueeritud platvormi jaoks

Experimental evidence supportive of the quantum DNA model

The DNA molecule can be modeled as a quantum logic processor in which electron spin qubits are held coherently in each nucleotide in a logically and thermodynamically reversible enantiomeric symmetry, and can be coherently conducted along the pi-stacking interactions of aromatic nucleotide bases, while simultaneously being spin-filtered via the helicity of the DNA molecule. Entangled electron pairs can be separated by that spin-filtering, held coherently at biological temperatures in the topologically insulated nucleotide quantum gates, and incorporated into separate DNA strands during DNA replication. Two separate DNA strands that share quantum entangled electrons can be mitotically divided into individual cells, and thus into two individual cell cultures. Initial experiments to validate the quantum DNA model have shown correlations in the depolarizations between separated cloned neuronal cell cultures, and additional investigations are indicated for further validation

Implications of the quantum DNA model for information sciences

The DNA molecule can be modeled as a quantum logic processor, and this model has been supported by pilot research that experimentally demonstrated non-local communication between cells in separated cell cultures. This modeling and pilot research have important implications for information sciences, providing a potential architecture for quantum computing that operates at room temperature and is scalable to millions of qubits, and including the potential for an entanglement communication system based upon the quantum DNA architecture. Such a system could be used to provide non-local quantum key distribution that could not be blocked by any shielding or water depth, would be simultaneous over any distance, and could not be electromagnetically interfered with or eavesdropped upon. The quantum DNA model also has implications for artificial neural networks and can provide architecture for a system of quantum random number generation

2011 Exhibitors

Listings and Descriptions of 2011 Small Satellite Conference Exhibitor

Small Magnetic Sensors for Space Applications

Small magnetic sensors are widely used integrated in vehicles, mobile phones, medical devices, etc for navigation, speed, position and angular sensing. These magnetic sensors are potential candidates for space sector applications in which mass, volume and power savings are important issues. This work covers the magnetic technologies available in the marketplace and the steps towards their implementation in space applications, the actual trend of miniaturization the front-end technologies, and the convergence of the mature and miniaturized magnetic sensor to the space sector through the small satellite concept

Measuring Shadows: FPGA-based image sensor control systems for next-generation NASA missions

Astronomy and astrophysics are fields of constant growth and exploration, and discoveries are being made every day. Behind each discovery, however, is the equipment and engineering that makes that science possible. The science and engineering go hand in hand in two ways: advances in engineering make new scientific discoveries possible, and new scientific questions create the need for more advanced engineering. The work that led to this thesis is an example of the latter statement. The big-picture goal is to support the development of next-generation detectors such as the Quanta Image Sensor (QIS), a gigapixel-scaleble Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) photon-number resolving image sensor. This thesis focuses on one crucial part of the development process: the characterisation of the QIS. In order to advance the NASA Technology Readiness Level (TRL) from three to four, the detector needs to undergo extensive laboratory and telescope environment testing. The testing framework is being run by an FPGA hardware design that includes a processor, and this set of hardware and software is responsible for operating the detector, managing experiment parameters, running experiments, and collecting resultant data and passing it to a host PC. The majority of the work of this portion of the project revolved around creating, improving, and testing the framework to allow for fully functional and automated detector characterisation. Test systems already exist for the QIS in a room temperature environment, as well as for current-generation image sensors in cryogenic vacuum environments. However, there is no existing test system that allows the QIS to be tested in a cryo-vac environment. This thesis details a functional system that fills that niche. The system is built to be modular and extensible so that it can be expanded upon to characterise other types of detectors in the future as well. For now, however, the system shines as the only one that allows the QIS to be tested in an environment that simulates its behaviour in outer space

2012 Exhibitors

Listings and Descriptions of 2012 Small Satellite Conference Exhibitor