A high speed Tri-Vision system for automotive applications

Purpose: Cameras are excellent ways of non-invasively monitoring the interior and exterior of vehicles. In particular, high speed stereovision and multivision systems are important for transport applications such as driver eye tracking or collision avoidance. This paper addresses the synchronisation problem which arises when multivision camera systems are used to capture the high speed motion common in such applications. Methods: An experimental, high-speed tri-vision camera system intended for real-time driver eye-blink and saccade measurement was designed, developed, implemented and tested using prototype, ultra-high dynamic range, automotive-grade image sensors specifically developed by E2V (formerly Atmel) Grenoble SA as part of the European FP6 project – sensation (advanced sensor development for attention stress, vigilance and sleep/wakefulness monitoring). Results : The developed system can sustain frame rates of 59.8 Hz at the full stereovision resolution of 1280 × 480 but this can reach 750 Hz when a 10 k pixel Region of Interest (ROI) is used, with a maximum global shutter speed of 1/48000 s and a shutter efficiency of 99.7%. The data can be reliably transmitted uncompressed over standard copper Camera-Link® cables over 5 metres. The synchronisation error between the left and right stereo images is less than 100 ps and this has been verified both electrically and optically. Synchronisation is automatically established at boot-up and maintained during resolution changes. A third camera in the set can be configured independently. The dynamic range of the 10bit sensors exceeds 123 dB with a spectral sensitivity extending well into the infra-red range. Conclusion: The system was subjected to a comprehensive testing protocol, which confirms that the salient requirements for the driver monitoring application are adequately met and in some respects, exceeded. The synchronisation technique presented may also benefit several other automotive stereovision applications including near and far-field obstacle detection and collision avoidance, road condition monitoring and others.Partially funded by the EU FP6 through the IST-507231 SENSATION project.peer-reviewe

The coldest of all cold monsters : state infliction of infertility

The state may decide to limit its population due to a variety of reasons. This paper reviews the intersection of state-induced infertility in science-fiction, exploring eugenics, overpopulation, along with state-devised strategies to control both overpopulation and the quality of the remaining population.peer-reviewe

The last (fertile) man on earth : comedy or fantasy?

The trope of infertility in science fiction may be explored through the theme of a single fertile man remaining on earth, with the fate of the entire species devolving on this one single individual. The article will review narratives that deal with this premise, and will outline the obvious, the not so obvious, and the even potentially comic outcomes that arise from the overturning of the usual male-chasing-female paradigm.peer-reviewe

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal : pharmacological immortality in science fiction

Immortality is a common feature in science-fiction (SF). This paper lists the ways in which the pharmacological induction of immortality has been depicted in SF, and the resultant outcomes. Immortality or extreme longevity are often melded with infertility in order to eliminate the overpopulation issues that would inevitably arise. This is only one way in which theoretical utopias which afford life extension become dystopias, cautionary tales that admonish against hubris. In this fashion, SF attempts to divine the paths that scientific discoveries or future events reveal to us, and the possible consequences that our decisions may have, whether taken advisedly and with due deliberation, or carelessly with no attempt to discern the consequences of our actions.peer-reviewe

Infertility in science fiction as a consequence of warfare

Warfare is an indissoluble aspect of humanity, and is an equally indissoluble part of mythology. Greek mythology is replete with strife between the gods themselves, allegories of human strife, and the most epic aspects were the succession myths, with the primordial couple Gaia and Ouranos overthrown by the Titans, who were, in their turn, overthrown by the Olympians. Warfare is a common trope in all branches of fiction, including science-fiction (SF), and the old pulp magazines were replete with such stories, narratives that featured exotic weapons and that often had Faustian implications, with devastating consequences. Military organisations take technological advances very seriously, as several military works show, to the extent that the ‘line between science and science fiction […] has never been totally clear. One of the earliest and most famous SF novels dealing with atomic warfare was Herbert George Wells’s The World Set Free (1914), which prefigures the misuse of atomic energy as a weapon of mass destruction. Wells was cognizant of the fact that technological development would lead to such deadly weapons as ‘[t]he history of mankind is the history of the attainment of external power. Man is the tool-using, fire-making animal’. Warfare can be nuclear, biological, chemical or cyberwarfare. And it is abundantly clear that the entire corpus of work dealing with warfare and SF is too vast to be discussed. Reginald Bretnor has made inroads into this lacuna with three anthologies that assemble both fiction and essays with regard to potential future trends in warfare of all types. Furthermore although the author of this paper is a medical doctor, even the health aspects are too great to realistically discuss in one paper. Hence, only the intersection of infertility in warfare within the genre will be analysed. The approach will thematic, and will attempt to list and taxonomise all narratives that deal with infertility inflicted by warfare in the SF. Many of the narratives now appear dated with entirely new ways of waging warfare that were too far-fetched for ‘that Buck Rogers stuff’, such as electronic warfare, since for the ‘present and for the foreseeable future, electronic systems serve and will continue to serve as the foundation of systems for the control of forces and weapons […] in all branches of the armed forces’. What follows is a brief reading of key texts, a necessarily concise exercise due to the multitude of narratives that have delved into this intersection.peer-reviewe

The pill in the future : pharmacological contraception in science fiction

Contraception dates back to Mesopotamian times. Science fiction (SF) has utilised many contraceptive plot devices and this paper will explore these stratagems from the pharmacological point of view. It will be shown that the oral contraceptive pill and the contraceptive implant were both predicted in SF as well as other forms of contraception of which we only, as yet, have tantalising research possibilities.peer-reviewe

Single-gendered worlds in science fiction : better for whom?

An excess of one gender is a regular and problematic trope in Science Fiction, instantly removing any potential tension between the two sexes while simultaneously generating new concerns. While female only societies are common, male-only societies are rarer. This is partly a true biological obstacle because the female body is capable of bringing a baby forth into the world after fertilization, or even without fertilization, so that a prospective author’s only stumbling block to accounting for the society’s potential longevity. For example, gynogenesis is a particular type of parthenogenesis whereby animals that reproduce by this method can only reproduce that way. These species, such as the salamanders of genus Ambystoma, consist solely of females which does, occasionally, have sexual contact with males of a closely related species but the sperm from these males is not used to fertilise ova. Instead, it stimulates ovum development without any exchange of genetic material. It is believed that this species has survived due to the extremely rare (perhaps one in one million matings) fertilisation of ova by sperm, allowing genetic mixing and a modicum of biodiversity due to the introduction of new material in this salamander’s gene pool. On the other hand, the male body needs to be considerably re-engineered in order to carry a baby to term, necessitating a uterus, placenta and a delivery mode/orifice. However, conception may be dispensed with through an asexual method of reproduction, such as cloning or parthenogenesis, and the gestating process may be bypassed by a postulated ectogenetic process. The latter may also serve to gestate a baby that is produced by a sexual reproduction, through the conventional recombination of a spermatozoon with an ovum, and the resulting zygote implanted in an artificial uterus in the same way that a zygote is now implanted in a uterus by in-vitro fertilisation. Yet another reason that explains why women-only worlds are commoner than men-only worlds is that a number of writers have speculated whether a world constructed on strict feminist principles might be utopian rather than dystopian, and ‘for many of these writers, such a world was imaginable only in terms of sexual separatism; for others, it involved reinventing female and male identities and interactions’. These issues have been ably reviewed in Brian Attebery’s Decoding Gender in Science Fiction (2002), in which he observes that ‘it’s impossible in real life to to isolate the sexes thoroughly enough to demonstrate […] absolutes of feminine or masculine behavior’, whereas ‘within science-fiction, separation by gender has been the basis of a fascinating series of thought experiments’. Intriguingly, Attebery poses the question that a singlegendered society is ‘better for whom’?peer-reviewe

Warpage issues in large area mould embedding technologies

The need for higher communications speed, heterogeneous integration and further miniaturisation have increased demand in developing new 3D integrated packaging technologies which include wafer-level moulding and chip-to-wafer interconnections . Wafer-level moulding refers to the embedding of multiple chips or heterogeneous systems on the wafer scale. This can be achieved through a relatively new technology consisting of thermal compression moulding of granular or liquid epoxy moulding compounds. Experimental measurements from compression moulding on 8” blank wafers have shown an unexpected tendency to warp into a cylindrical-shape following cooling from the moulding temperature to room temperature. Wafer warpage occurs primarily as a result of a mismatch between the coefficient of thermal expansion of the resin compound and the Si wafer. This paper will delve into possible causes of such asymmetric warpage related to mould, dimensional and material characteristics using finite element (FE) software (ANSYS Mechanical). The FE model of the resin on wafer deposition will be validated against the measurement results and will be used to deduce appropriate guidelines for low warpage wafer encapsulation.peer-reviewe

Utilisation of microsystems technology in radio frequency and microwave applications

The market trends of the rapidly growing communication systems require new product architectures and services that are only realisable by utilising technologies beyond that of planar integrated circuits. Microsystems technology (MST) is one such technology which can revolutionise radio frequency (RF) and microwave applications. This article discusses the enabling potential of the MST to meet the stringent requirements of modern communication systems. RF MST fabrication technologies and actuation mechanisms empower conventional processes by alleviating the substrate effects on passive devices and provide product designers with high quality versatile microscale components which can facilitate system integration and lead to novel architectures with enhanced robustness and reduced power consumption. An insight on the variety of components that can be fabricated using the MST is given, emphasizing their excellent electrical performance and versatility. Research issues that need to be addressed are also discussed. Finally, this article discusses the main approaches for integrating MST devices in RF and microwave applications together with the difficulties that need to be overcome in order to make such devices readily available for volume-production.peer-reviewe