Design and development of smart interoperable electric vehicle supply equipment for electric mobility

The transportation industry at present is moving towards electrification and the number of electric vehicles in the market increased with the different policies of the directorate. Consumers, who wish to contribute to green mobility are concerned about the limited availability of charging points due to high manufacturing costs and the interoperability issues related to smart charging. This work proposes an Internet of things-based low-cost, interoperable smart electric vehicle supply equipment for deploying in all charging stations. The device hardware is designed to monitor, analyze, and collect consumed energy by the vehicle and transfer this data to a connected network. The pre-defined messages associated with the firmware will help to record this data with a remote management server for further processing. The messages are defined in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), which helps to overcome the interoperability issue. The device is smart because it can gather energy usage, detect device faults, and be intimate with the controller for a better operational environment. The associated management servers and mobile applications help to operate the smart device remotely and keep track of the usage statics. The developed low-cost, interoperable smart model is most suitable for two and three-wheeler vehicles

Atomic-scale friction: thermal effects and capillary condensation

This work entitled as "Atomic-scale friction: thermal effects and capillary condensation" is a study on the fundamental aspects of the origin of friction from the atomic-scale. We study two realistic aspects of atomic-scale friction, namely the effect of temperature and the effect of relative humidity of the environment. To study this, we used a home-built friction force microscope (FFM) where a sharp tungsten tip was scanning over a graphite surface. We find that thermal activation of the tip reduces friction significantly, whereas the water condensing between the tip and the surface as a result of capillary condensation increases atomic-scale friction. Water condensing between the tip and the surface forms ice at room temperature and the tip writes a line of ice on the surface. Therefore, we find that water acts like a glue rater than a lubricant in atomic-scale friction.Fundamenteel Onderzoek Materie (FOM), Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NOW)UBL - phd migration 201

Diffusion-Controlled Faradaic Charge Storage in High-Performance Solid Electrolyte-Gated Zinc Oxide Thin-Film Transistors

An electrochemical device capable of manifesting reversible charge storage at the interface of an active layer offers formidable advantages, such as low switching energy and long retention time, in realizing synaptic behavior for ultralow power neuromorphic systems. Contrary to a supercapacitor-based field-effect device that is prone to low memory retention due to fast discharge, a solid electrolyte-gated ZnO thin-film device exhibiting a battery-controlled charge storage mechanism via mobile charges at its interface with tantalum oxide is demonstrated. Analysis via cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry uniquely distinguishes the battery behavior of these devices, with an electromotive force generated due to polarization of charges strongly dependent on the scan rate of the applied voltage. The Faradaic-type diffusion-controlled charge storage mechanism exhibited by these devices is capable of delivering robust enhancement in the channel conductance and leads to a superior ON-OFF ratio of 108-109. The nonvolatile behavior of the interface charge storage and slow diffusion of ions is utilized in efficiently emulating spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) at similar time scales of biological synapses and unveils the possibility of STDP behavior using multiple in-plane gates that alleviate additional requirement of waveform-shaping circuits

Nanoionics-Based Three-Terminal Synaptic Device Using Zinc Oxide

Artificial synaptic thin film transistors (TFTs) capable of simultaneously manifesting signal transmission and self-learning are demonstrated using transparent zinc oxide (ZnO) in combination with high κ tantalum oxide as gate insulator. The devices exhibit pronounced memory retention with a memory window in excess of 4 V realized using an operating voltage less than 6 V. Gate polarity induced motion of oxygen vacancies in the gate insulator is proposed to play a vital role in emulating synaptic behavior, directly measured as the transmission of a signal between the source and drain (S/D) terminals, but with the added benefit of independent control of synaptic weight. Unlike in two terminal memristor/resistive switching devices, multistate memory levels are demonstrated using the gate terminal without hampering the signal transmission across the S/D electrodes. Synaptic functions in the devices can be emulated using a low programming voltage of 200 mV, an order of magnitude smaller than in conventional resistive random access memory and other field effect transistor based synaptic technologies. Robust synaptic properties demonstrated using fully transparent, ecofriendly inorganic materials chosen here show greater promise in realizing scalable synaptic devices compared to organic synaptic and other liquid electrolyte gated device technologies. Most importantly, the strong coupling between the in-plane gate and semiconductor channel through ionic charge in the gate insulator shown by these devices, can lead to an artificial neural network with multiple presynaptic terminals for complex synaptic learning processes. This provides opportunities to alleviate the extreme requirements of component and interconnect density in realizing brainlike systems

Developmentally Regulated Sphingolipid Degradation in Leishmania major

Leishmania parasites alternate between extracellular promastigotes in sandflies and intracellular amastigotes in mammals. These protozoans acquire sphingolipids (SLs) through de novo synthesis (to produce inositol phosphorylceramide) and salvage (to obtain sphingomyelin from the host). A single ISCL (Inositol phosphoSphingolipid phospholipase C-Like) enzyme is responsible for the degradation of both inositol phosphorylceramide (the IPC hydrolase or IPCase activity) and sphingomyelin (the SMase activity). Recent studies of a L. major ISCL-null mutant (iscl−) indicate that SL degradation is required for promastigote survival in stationary phase, especially under acidic pH. ISCL is also essential for L. major proliferation in mammals. To further understand the role of ISCL in Leishmania growth and virulence, we introduced a sole IPCase or a sole SMase into the iscl− mutant. Results showed that restoration of IPCase only complemented the acid resistance defect in iscl− promastigotes and improved their survival in macrophages, but failed to recover virulence in mice. In contrast, a sole SMase fully restored parasite infectivity in mice but was unable to reverse the promastigote defects in iscl−. These findings suggest that SL degradation in Leishmania possesses separate roles in different stages: while the IPCase activity is important for promastigote survival and acid tolerance, the SMase activity is required for amastigote proliferation in mammals. Consistent with these findings, ISCL was preferentially expressed in stationary phase promastigotes and amastigotes. Together, our results indicate that SL degradation by Leishmania is critical for parasites to establish and sustain infection in the mammalian host

Network Interface Information Module for an API

The seamless computing paradigm provides a framework where a user is able to move freely between heterogeneous networks and is able to change devices and their connection to the internet and the mobile world, while still maintaining application continuity. The issue which needs to be addressed in such an environment is in dealing with how to support data, voice and video streaming where the context of computation may change e.g. disconnections may occur or Quality of Service (QoS) provided by the network may change. Applications are interested in choosing the best interface to connect with, taking into account the QoS parameters. For this reason information regarding the available network interfaces and changes occurring at the link layer which are typically hidden from applications are important for applications in making vertical handover decisions. The thesis focuses on a module called the Network interface information module which gathers the properties of the available network interfaces and link layer notifications from the mobility management system for applications to set application specific rules in choosing a particular interface. The Network interface information module provides an application programming interface (API) with the information collected from the mobility management system. The module is part of a framework which allows the applications to know about the different QoS parameters. The thesis includes the design and functioning of the module in accordance with the API and concludes with a look towards further design. The thesis was done as part of the Innovation Prototyping for Vertical Handover project at the Product Modelling and Realization Group in the Laboratory of Software Technology at Helsinki University of Technology