Hiroshima University researchers say Ultraviolet-C light with a wavelength of 222 nm effectively kills SARS-CoV-2. Other studies involving 222-nm UV-C have so far only examined how well it kills seasonal coronaviruses structurally similar to the SARS-CoV-2 but not on the COVID-19-causing virus itself. Operation at 222 nm is said to be safer than emitting light […]
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LVDT electronics, Part 2: Interface circuitry
The interface electronics for the LVDT must excite the primary-side winding with a sine wave and then demodulate the two resultant secondary-side waveforms; modern ICs make this analog-signal process fairly straightforward. Part 1 of this FAQ looked at the basics of LVDT excitation, demodulation, and waveforms. This part looks at two standard ICs which implement […]
LVDT electronics, Part 1: Excitation and demodulation
The interface electronics for the LVDT must excite the primary-side winding with a sine wave and then demodulate the two resultant secondary-side waveforms; modern ICs make this analog-signal process fairly straightforward. The first two parts of this LVDT article (see References) looked at the LVDT transducer itself, along with its attributes and history. This second […]
Higher contrast, better resolution: Automotive display full-array local dimming
By Logan Cummins, Infotainment Systems Engineer, Texas Instruments A local dimming backlight technology individually adjusts LEDs in an LCD panel to save power and improve contrast ratios in automotive displays. Compared to globally dimmed displays and organic LEDs (OLEDs), local dimming with LEDs is a more practical design choice because it can withstand the extreme […]
A better automotive display from pixel to picture with local dimming
By Logan Cummins, Infotainment Systems Engineer, Texas Instruments Automotive specifications and environmental conditions have caused the automotive display market to lag behind the consumer display industry in contrast ratio, black levels, resolution, curvature, and form factor. Automakers try to differentiate their infotainment human-machine interface (HMI) displays and catch up to the technological advances now common […]
What is the Air Quality Index? Pt 3
AirNow and PurpleAir report the Air Quality Index (AQI) using different methodologies. With two different techniques to measure air quality (See Pt1), how does the data from the two approaches correlate? While AirNow’s monitors cost tens of thousands of dollars and require significant infrastructure and trained personnel to operate, PurpleAir’s sensors may only cost a […]
How “green” is your Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems face a set of conflicting goals: being accurate (consuming large amounts of computational power and electrical power) and being accessible (being lower in cost, less computationally intensive, and less power-hungry). Unfortunately, many of today’s AI implementations are environmentally unsustainable. Improvements in AI energy efficiency will be driven by several factors, including […]
Benchmarking AI from the edge to the cloud
Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL) are fast-changing and complex fields. Until relatively recently, there were no performance benchmarks for AI, ML, or DL systems. That is changing. Today, several industry organizations have developed AI, and ML benchmarks, with more complex benchmarks for DL coming soon. Those efforts stretch from the […]
5G test moves into production
5G Technology World’s video interview with NI’s David Hall looks at 5G ICs coming off the production line and what’s coming next.
The back and forth of interferometer technology
Conceptually, the interferometer is a relatively simple instrument that compares two distances typically differing only by a slight amount. Two waves, often coherent light waves, reflect from standard mirrors mounted at the object under investigation. The light from one mirror passes through a half-silvered mirror while the light from the other reflects from the back […]