Modeling and implementation of a high-speed high-efficiency DC-DC converter for portable devices

Switched Mode DC-DC Converters (SMCs) are required for portable devices to achieve high power-efficiency. The conventional SMCs use external passive components. To reduce the physical size, the state-of-art SMCs is integrated with the on-chip passive components with the cost of lower power-efficiency, which results for lower battery life. This integration of passive components increases the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the passive components which is now comparable with the output load. Further, as the on-chip inductor is low in quality, smaller die area means lower inductance for the SMC. To still operate in Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM), high switching-frequency (>100 MHz) and higher power consumption is required due to power switches and skin effect. This project involves comprehensive review of a DC-DC converter, derivation of the power loss expression for bonding-wire inductor in high-frequency, derivation of the power-efficiency expression for the overall high-frequency SMC, and verification of the derived expressions by comparing with computer simulation. Design steps for implementing the SMC with emphasizes in power efficiency is presented. The schematic uses 180 nm CMOS process, 100 MHz switching-frequency, 1.8 V input voltage, and 10 nH bonding wire. The simulation obtained 83.29% power-efficiency.Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Supplementary material for Pisani et al: Substandard and falsified medicines: proposed methods for case finding and sentinel surveillance

These tables provide additional details to those presented in the manuscript. They include a more complete list of potential indicators, with alternatives depending on data availability; potential data sources; and suggested scoring methods. They accompany the draft paper Pisani et al: Substandard and falsified medicines: proposed methods for case finding and sentinel surveillance (2020-02-03

Substandard and falsified medicines: Proposed methods for case finding and sentinel surveillance

The World Health Organization and others warn that substandard and falsified medicines harm health and waste money, especially in low- and middle-income countries. However, no country has measured the market-wide extent of the problem, and no standardized methods exist to estimate the prevalence of either substandard or falsified medicines. This is, in part, because the task seems overwhelming; medicine markets are huge and diverse, and testing medicines is expensive. Many countries do operate some form of postmarket surveillance of medicine, but their methods and goals differ. There is currently no clear guidance on which surveillance method is most appropriate to meet specific public health goals. In this viewpoint, we aimed to discuss the utility of both case finding and risk-based sentinel surveillance for substandard and falsified medicines, linking each to specific public health goals. We posit that choosing the system most appropriate to the goal, as well as implementing it with a clear understanding of the factors driving the production and sale of substandard and falsified medicines, will allow for surveillance resources to be concentrated most efficiently. We adapted principles used for disease outbreak responses to suggest a case-finding system that uses secondary data to flag poor-quality medicines, proposing risk-based indicators that differ for substandard and falsified medicines. This system potentially offers a cost-effective way of identifying “cases” for market withdrawal, enhanced oversight, or another immediate response. We further proposed a risk-based sentinel surveillance system that concentrates resources on measuring the prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines in the risk clusters where they are most likely to be found. The sentinel surveillance system provides base data for a transparent, spreadsheet-based model for estimating the national prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines. The methods we proposed are based on ongoing work in Indonesia, a large and diverse middle-income country currently aiming to achieve universal health coverage. Both the case finding and the sentinel surveillance system are designed to be adaptable to other resource-constrained settings

Substandard and falsified medicines

The World Health Organization and others warn that substandard and falsified medicines harm health and waste money, especially in low- and middle-income countries. However, no country has measured the market-wide extent of the problem, and no standardized methods exist to estimate the prevalence of either substandard or falsified medicines. This is, in part, because the task seems overwhelming; medicine markets are huge and diverse, and testing medicines is expensive. Many countries do operate some form of postmarket surveillance of medicine, but their methods and goals differ. There is currently no clear guidance on which surveillance method is most appropriate to meet specific public health goals. In this viewpoint, we aimed to discuss the utility of both case finding and risk-based sentinel surveillance for substandard and falsified medicines, linking each to specific public health goals. We posit that choosing the system most appropriate to the goal, as well as implementing it with a clear understanding of the factors driving the production and sale of substandard and falsified medicines, will allow for surveillance resources to be concentrated most efficiently. We adapted principles used for disease outbreak responses to suggest a case-finding system that uses secondary data to flag poor-quality medicines, proposing risk-based indicators that differ for substandard and falsified medicines. This system potentially offers a cost-effective way of identifying “cases” for market withdrawal, enhanced oversight, or another immediate response. We further proposed a risk-based sentinel surveillance system that concentrates resources on measuring the prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines in the risk clusters where they are most likely to be found. The sentinel surveillance system provides base data for a transparent, spreadsheet-based model for estimating the national prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines. The methods we proposed are based on ongoing work in Indonesia, a large and diverse middle-income country currently aiming to achieve universal health coverage. Both the case finding and the sentinel surveillance system are designed to be adaptable to other resource-constrained settings.</p