The traditional model railroad power and control has transitioned from simple hardwired loops to advanced networking in the past decades, bringing many benefits and a few drawbacks. Batteries to the rescue, maybe It turns out that the advances in battery technologies such as high-capacity yet light rechargeable lithium-based cells are not only offering new approaches […]
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IEDM highlights: Vibration-energy harvester on a chip
A MEMs device generates enough power to run a typical GPS IC Researchers at the University of Tokyo have come up with microelectromechanical systems (MEMs) vibrational energy harvester that yields a maximum power of more than 1.2 mW from environmental vibrations of 0.65 G (1 G = 9.8 m/sec2) at 158 Hz. The device works […]
Even model railroads are now networked, Part 3: Rail & power problems
The traditional model railroad power and control has transitioned from simple hardwired loops to advanced networking in the past decades, bringing many benefits and a few drawbacks. DCC is a real step forward, but what comes next? Model railroading is an activity that seems not to need battery power or wireless control of the locomotive. […]
Release 16: Enhancements in power savings can make your day
3GPP Release 16 brings new features to smartphones and IoT devices that reduce power consumption. It’s a start.
Measuring the Hall effect
The Hall effect, first described by Edwin Hall in 1879, results in an electrical output when a thin metal plate is immersed in a magnetic field of sufficient strength. The magnetic field must be perpendicular to an electrical current conducted through the plate. The Hall effect voltage potential depends upon the strength of the magnetic […]
Even model railroads are now networked, Part 2: Digital control takes over
The traditional model railroad power and control has transitioned from simple hardwired loops to advanced networking in the past decades, bringing many benefits and a few drawbacks. Networking changes things (almost) completely This scenario changed radically with the development of digital command control (DCC) for model railroads. What DCC did was bring data and networking […]
Smart grids, software defined grids, and big data
The business models and technology architectures of electric utility grids worldwide are under attack both at the edge and overall. The first FAQ in this series looked at the attack on the edge of the grid in “Nano grids, microgrids and the decentralization of the electric grid.” Virtual power plants, distributed energy resources, and power […]
Virtual power plants, distributed energy resources and power in the cloud
Virtual power plants (VPPs) are increasingly challenging the dominance of traditional large-scale centralized electricity generation. A VPP is defined as a collection of distributed energy resources (DERs) that are aggregated through cloud computing and control for the purpose of providing enhanced power generation and availability. The DERs are often heterogeneous and can include wind power, […]
IEDM highlights: GaN HFETs get a p-channel version that operates at gigahertz speeds
Researchers at Cornell University and Intel Corp. say they’ve devices a wide-bandgap p-type transistor counterpart of the n-channel GaN HFET. In a paper to be presented at the upcoming IEDM conference (Paper #8.3, “GaN/AlN p-Channel HFETs with I max >420 mA/mm and ~20 GHz f T /f MAX ,” K. Nomoto et al, Cornell University/Intel), […]
Good-bye x-ray tubes, hello “vacuum” transistors
Among the presentations at this year’s IEDM: A silicon vacuum transistor that operates at over 38 kV. Examine a hospital x-ray machine or a high-power RF transmitter and you’ll find a beefy vacuum tube. Vacuum devices still rein for applications requiring extremely high voltages (>30 kV) such as for x-ray generation or high-power radar (> […]
