Electronics for You - February 2014 In

For You

FEBRUARY 2014

A Smart Twist to the Power Grid

What is Transforming the Smart Grid

Merits and Demerits of Setting Up Smart Grids

Smart Meters Smart Grid&

Buyers Guide: Thermal Imaging Devices

Merits of Plasma Antenna

How to Get Noticed in the IoT Jungle

Vol. 2 No. 10 ISSN 0013-516X

Pages: 198+8 UK #5; US $10

` 100

Digital Energy Meter Web-Based Water Level Monitor

and Pump Controller GPS Device Using Raspberry Pi Colour-Sensing Robot with MATLAB Square-Wave GeneratorPlus, many more DIY Projects inside

ToP 5MAKE YoUR

oWN...

Whats Latest in India?

contents

94 InnovationSuper-Efficient Electric Ceiling Fans with Infrared Remote Controls

78 Manufacture: ProcurementValue Additions by Component Distributors

82 Design: Embedded Accelerometers and Gyroscopes: The Stars Amongst the Sensors

88 Test & MeasurementSelecting Thermal Imagers for Electronics Professionals

72 Industry Report Merits and Demerits of Setting up Smart Grids

16Buying an Android Jelly Bean Smartphone

eStyle-Buyers Guide

22Wearables... Gaming... Televisions: Gadgets Galore at CES 2014

Consumer Electronics

34Solar-Energy SystemsTechnology: Solar

40Part 1 of 2: How Secure are Your E-mails

Security

50Fourth-Generation Free-Space OpticsTechnology: Telecom

56The Concept of Plasma AntennaTechnology: Telecom

68A Smart Twist to the Power GridTechnology Focus

6 February 2014 | electronics For you plus www.eFymag.com

next issue smart & electric Vehicles Automotive electronics How to Make Your Lab static Proof

62Technology Focus

102Buyers GuideT&M Tools for Field Engineers

What is Transforming the Smart Grid

98 InterviewIn future homes, all household technology will be networkedA R.K. Shenoy, senior vice president, Powertrain Electronics, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Limited

96 Internet of ThingsBluetooth Smart offers rapid rollout of low-power consumer products around the latest smartphone and tablet platforms, creating a large addressable market

147 EFY Plus DVDSoftware in This Months DVD150 Career

Electronic Design Verification and Validation: Excellent Opportunities

Hands-On

dIy: Project 108Energy MeterdIy: Project 112Colour-Sensing Robot with MATLABdIy: Project 115Web-Based Water-Level Monitor and Pump Controller

dIy: Circuit 123-130 Human-Machine Interface through Electromyography Humidity Indicator and Controller Automatic Room-lock and Lights circuit Simple Square-Wave Generator

dIy: development Board 132 Accessing GPIOs using SYSfs interface of Linux

dIy: development Board 135 GPS on Raspberry Pi

dIy: Software 138 Serial-Port Monitor in Visual BasicdIy: Software 143 Part 1 of 5: Designing with FPGAs: I2C Master Controller

electronics for you Plus | february 2014 | Vol. 2 no. 10

Editor : ramesh Chopra

Editorial : Editorial Secretary CorrESpondEnCE phone: 011-26810601; E-mail: [email protected] (technical queries: [email protected])

SubSCriptionS & : phone: 011-26810601 or 02 or 03 miSSing iSSuES E-mail: [email protected]

baCk iSSuES, : kitsnSpares, new delhi bookS, Cds, phone: 011-26371661, 26371662 pCbs etc. E-mail: [email protected]

ExCluSivE : ibH books & magazine distributors ltd, mumbai nEwSStand phone: 022-40497401, 40497402, 40497474, diStributor 40497413; Fax: 40497434 E-mail: [email protected]

advErtiSEmEntS : ph: 011-26810601 or 02 or 03 nEw dElHi E-mail: [email protected] (HEad oFFiCE)

mumbai : ph: 022-24950047, 24928520 E-mail: [email protected]

bEngaluru : ph: 080-25260394, 25260023 E-mail: [email protected]

CHEnnai : ph: 09916390422 E-mail: [email protected]

HydErabad : ph: 09916390422 E-mail: [email protected]

kolkata : ph: 08800094202 E-mail: [email protected]

punE : ph: 09223232006 E-mail: [email protected]

gujarat : ph: 09821267855 E-mail: [email protected]

CHina : power pioneer group inc. ph: (86 755) 83729797, (86) 13923802595 E-mail: [email protected]

japan : tandem inc., ph: 81-3-3541-4166

SingaporE : publicitas Singapore pte ltd ph: +65-6836 2272 E-mail: [email protected]

taiwan : j.k. media, ph: 886-2-87726780 ext. 10

unitEd StatES : E & tech media ph: +1 860 536 6677 E-mail: [email protected]

printed, published and owned by ramesh Chopra. printed at nutech photolithographers, b-38, okhla industrial area, phase-1, new delhi, on the first day of each month and published from d-87/1, okhla industrial area, phase-1, new delhi 110020. Copyright 2014. all rights reserved throughout the world. reproduction of any material from this magazine in any manner without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited. although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility whatsoever is taken for any loss due to publishing errors. articles that cannot be used are returned to the authors if accompanied by a self-addressed and sufficiently stamped envelope. but no responsibility is taken for any loss or delay in returning the material. EFy will not be responsible for any wrong claims made by an advertiser. disputes, if any, will be settled in a new delhi court only.

EFy Plus dVd Resistor Calculator 1.0.6 IFizzim: The Finite State Machine Design Tool V

First Look 10Technology News 28Websites 148Industry News 154

New Products 158Qs&As 163Letters 164Business Pages 165Electronics Mart 187

Product Categories Index 194Organisations Index 195Advertisers Index 195

Regulars

KWK RESISTORS India

Indias leading manufacturer of Power Resistors.

Popular products

KHA series Aluminum Housed ResistorsHigh performance Molded Power resistors for virtually any resistive application.

KSA series General Industrial Silicon coated ResistorsHigh performance general purpose Silicon coated Wire wound Power Resistors.

KABR series Metal Clad Braking Resistors

Resistors for a wide range of applications:

KWK Resistors India Private Limited, Bangalore, India.www.kwk-resistors.in

Designed for high peak power applications. Ideal as Braking resistors.

Custom ResistorsWith Custom resistors forming as much as 40% of our sales, we can make resistors of any shape, power and terminations! Contact us for further details

KWK Resistors India is formed out of a Joint Venture between the well-known resistor manufacturer - K S Instruments Pvt Ltd, and two of Europes leading resistor manufacturer - Krah Group and Widap. The team involved have over 40 years of experience designing and manufacturing resistors for Industrial, Medical, Aerospace, Automotive, Transit and all other applications that require the best Power Resistors.

With offices in Bangalore, Pune and a Distributor network growing all the time, we can service your resistive requirements promptly!

KWK Resistor India Pvt Ltd. All rights reserved. KWK and the KWK logo are trademarks of KWK Resistors. For enquiries [email protected]

General Purpose Resistors Braking Resistors Custom Built Resistive LoadbanksVariable Resistors

The Latest Home And Office ProductsFirst Look!

10 February 2014 | electronics For you www.eFymag.com

Intex Dual-Sim SmartphoneIntex Aqua Octa Smartphone with True Octa-Core CPU'

The war in the segment of smartphones with octa-core processors seems to be heating up. A month after showcasing its first octa-core smartphone, Intex has finally announced the launch of Intex Aqua Octa in the country. The smartphone is powered by a MediaTek MT6592 true octa-core processor. In-tex Aqua Octa packs a 15.2cm (6-inch) 720p HD display and runs on Android 4.2 aka Jelly Bean operating system. Other features of the phablet include 2GB RAM and 2300mAh battery. It also offers 3G support along with a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera. The smart-phone offers dual-SIM support. The smartphone is available across the country.

Lenovo Brings A10An Ultra-Portable Android NotebookPowered by Cotex-A9 quad-core processor

Lenovo has announced the launch of the IdeaPad A10, its first An-droid-based dual-mode notebook. The company has priced the device strategically, making it affordable yet feature rich. The Lenovo A10 comes with 10-point multitouch and flips 300 degrees. It is thin and light making it ultra-portable for the users to carry. The device weighs a p p r o x i -m a t e l y 1kg, and features a 25.7cm (10.1-inch) screen display and enables users to instantly switch between two modeslaptop and stand. This multimode touch device provides the ultimate flexibility between work and play with

up to 10 hours battery life. It is pow-ered by Cotex-A9 quad-core proces-

sor, packs 0.3MP webcam. Its inte-grated speakers al-low users to stay connected with friends and fam-ily through video chats. In addition, the full-size Ac-cuType keyboard with individual rounded keys is

comfortable and ena-bles accurate typing. The

notebook runs on Android 4.2. It packs memory up to 2GB DDR3L 1600MHz (1GB/2GB).

It is available at all Lenovo exclusive stores, multi-brand outlets, large-format retail stores and thedostore.com

Price: ` 19,999

Price: ` 19,990

Panasonic KX-MB1500 Series PrintersOffer convenient copy functions

With the help of Panasonics range of KX-MB1500 series printers, you can take care of all your office re-quirements, including print, copy, scan and fax functions from one compact machine.

The KX-MB1500 series covers two models, i.e. the KX-MB1520CX and KX-MB1500CX printers priced at ` 8999 and ` 10,990, respec-tively. These allow you to save a large amount of office space which can be used for other requirements. Its handy slanted control panel lets the user conveniently operate it whether sitting or standing.

You can also check the file on a PC before print-

ing, or edit it by rearranging pages or changing them to a 2-in-1 or even a 16-in-1 format. With convenient copy functions such as Quick ID copy, PC fax and colour scanner, the KX-MB1520CX printer comes with built-in digital speakerphone which adds to your convenience.

Price: ` 8999



Zync Z605 Android PhabletThe dual-SIM device weighs around 250 grams

Zync, the Indian smartphone maker, has fuelled the phablet war even further with their new An-droid device dubbed as Zync Z605. It has a whopping 16.5cm (6.5-inch) display.

The device supports dual SIM and runs on Android 4.2 aka Jelly Bean OS. It has a TFT capacitive multi-touch display with 800 x 480 pixel resolution and is packed with an unspecified dual-core proces-sor. It features 512MB of RAM. On the camera front, the Zync Z605 has a 2MP rear camera and 0.3MP front camera. The 4GB in-built storage of Zync Z605 is expand-able up to 32GB via microSD card. The connectivity options of this Android phablet include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 3G. Weighing around 250gm, it is juiced up by a 2500mAh battery, promising up to six hours of talktime whilst you are using a 2G connection, which is reduced to 2.5 hours when us-ing 3G. It is pre-loaded with apps like Facebook, Twitter, Viber and WhatsApp.Price: ` 7999

Zebronics Introduces New Tower SpeakersOffer three-dimensional concert-hall sound

Price: ` 6600

(1.5-inch) dome tweeters for higher frequency provide room filling sound. The drivers inherent stiff-ness, low mass and self-damping properties allow them to deliver clean, accurate sound.

Side volume controls, woofers, front ports with LED display all come in superior chrome finish.

In addition, input ports on the side provide the ca-pability to con-nect the sound source to any digi ta l device such as phones or media play-ers via standard accessor y ca -ble. A memory card slot and USB port pro-vide capability to play audio direct ly f rom SD/MMC cards

or USB f l a s h device.

A built-in FM radio receiver and an advanced remote controller com-plete the system.

Whether using it as a stan-dalone music system, or as a part of media player or to complement a large-screen TV, the feature-rich Zebronics Sound Monster ZEB-T7400RUCF brings a new level of affordable performance (and bling) to the tower speaker market. It is available at major IT accessories markets, retail IT outlets as well as Zebronics e-commerce site www.moneyvasool.com.

Indias leading supplier of prod-ucts and accessories for com-puters, consumer electronics and communication under the brand ZEBRONICS, has extended its line-up of speakers in the Sound Monster range with its latest modelZEB-T7400RUCF Tower Speaker system. Dubbed Bring Home the Partythe new speaker is housed in full wooden enclosure for a base-heavy im-mersive music experience. The high-gloss pi-ano black front p a n e l a n d chrome trims give it an el-e g a n t l o o k , whilst a natu-ral wood fin-ish on the box would com-p l e m e n t the dcor o f a n y l i v i n g room or bedroom.

The speaker system is designed such that it can be positioned anywhere in the room for 60W (RMS) of full, three-dimensional concert-hall sound and become the centre of attention at any family occasion, providing a DJ ambience. Audiophiles will love the high-quality sound coupled with multiple functionality that in-cludes dual-MIC karaoke function (wireless microphone is part of the package). Dual 20cm (8-inch) driv-ers for low range, 10cm (4-inch) drivers for mid range and 4cm



GizMo ByTes

Google's Nexus Wireless Charger is Available in India"Featuring a clean, compact design, the Nexus wireless charger adheres securely to a desk, nightstand or counter-top for grab-and-go charging," is what the Google Play describes Nexus Wireless as. Latest in the range of their aggressively launched ac-cessories for Nexus range of devices, search engine giant Google has announced that it has begun selling Nexus wireless charger in four new markets: Australia, India, Japan and Korea. It is priced at ` 3299 in India.

Samsung Galaxy S3 Gets Android 4.3 Update in IndiaSamsung has started rolling out the much-awaited Android 4.3 update for the Indian devices. The update is available over the air (OTA) and via Samsung Kies software. With this, the Galaxy S3 will get features including Knox security platform, Smart Switch, HomeSync, Group Play 2.5, updated user-interface and better DayDream feature. Users will get an OTA notification automati-cally, but if you are one of those who cannot wait for it, Samsung Kies software is the way to go. You can manually download it by going to Settings

for more information please visit us at www.irf.com or www.irf.com.cn

StrongIRFET Rugged,Reliable MOSFETs

Specifications Features: Ultra low RDS(on) High current capability

Industrial qualified

Broad portfolio offering

Applications: Battery Packs

Inverters

UPS

Solar Inverter

DC Motors

ORing or Hotswap

Part Number BVDSSID@ 25C

RDS(on) max@ Vgs = 10V

Qg@Vgs = 10V

Package

IRFH7004TRPbF 40 V 100 A 1.4 m 134 nC PQFN 5x6



IRF7946TRPbF 40 V 90 A 1.4 m 141 nC DirectFETMedium Can

IRFS7437TRLPbF 40 V 195 A 1.8 m 150 nC D2-Pak

IRFS7440TRLPbF 40 V 120 A 2.8 m 90 nC D2-Pak

IRFS7437TRL7PP 40 V 195 A 1.5 m 150 nC D2-Pak 7pin

IRFR7440TRPbF 40 V 90 A 2.5 m 89 nC D-Pak

IRFB7430PbF 40 V 195 A 1.3 m 300 nC TO-220AB


IRFB7437PbF 40 V 195 A 2 m 150 nC TO-220AB



IRFP7430PbF 40 V 195 A 1.3 m 300 nC TO-247

THE POWER MANAGEMENT LEADER

Buyers Guide


Android Jelly Bean is one of the most popular versions of Googles open source operating system. Interestingly, Jelly Bean runs on smartphones of all price ranges. So if you are looking to buy a smartphone, an Android Jelly Bean running device could be an apt choice

Buying an Android Jelly Bean Smartphone

dikShA GuptA

Even if Android KitKat has been released by Google, its predeces-sor Android Jelly Bean remains the order of the day. Released in three versions (Android 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3), Jelly Bean currently runs on nearly 50 per cent of the Android devices across the globe, taking over the extraordinar-ily persistent Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across the globe are working to bring Jelly Bean devices or to port Jelly Bean on their existing devices.

Some deviceS to chooSe from more oPtioNS

Lava XoLo Q800 intex Aqua i5 celkon A119Q Signature hd

Karbonn titanium S5 iBall Andi 4.5d Quadro micromax canvas turbo A250

htc one Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9000

h 11.40cm (4.5-inch) (960 x 540 pixels) 16M colour capacitive touch-screen IPS display at 245ppi

h 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor with 286MHz PowerVR SGX544 GPU

h Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) h 8MP rear camera with LED flash, BSI sensor and 720p HD video recording

h 1MP front-facing camera with BSI sensor

h 9.6mm thick and weighs 143.5gm

h 3.5mm audio jack h Full HD 1080p video playback at 30fps

h 1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory, 32GB expandable memory with MicroSD

h 3G (HSDPA: 21Mbps, HSUPA: 5.7Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS

h 2100mAh battery

h 12.7cm (5-inch) qHD (960 540 pixels) capacitive touch- screen display

h Dual SIM (normal SIM + micro SIM) with dual standby

h Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) OS h 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek

MT6589 processor h 12MP auto focus camera with

LED flash and BSI sensor h 2MP front-facing camera h 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio h Light sensor, motion sensor,

proximity sensor and G sensor h 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Blue-

tooth 4.0 with A2DP and GPS h 1GB RAM, 4GB internal

memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with MicroSD

h 2000mAh battery with up to 5 hours and up to 7 days of standby

h 12.7cm (5-inch) (1280 x 720 pixels) touch-screen display

h 1.2 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor with PowerVR SGX 544MP2 GPU

h Android 4.2.1 (Jelly Bean) h Dual SIM (GSM/WCDMA

+ GSM) h 9.3mm thick and weighs

177gm h 12MP auto focus camera

with LED flash h 3MP front-facing camera h 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio h 1GB RAM, 4GB internal

memory (2.56GB user memory), 32GB expand-able memory with MicroSD

h 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS/A-GPS

h 2100mAh battery

h 12.7cm (5-inch) qHD (960 540 pixels) multi-touch capacitive touch-screen IPS display

h Dual SIM (GSM + GSM) with dual standby

h Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) OS h 1.2GHz quad-core proces-sor

h 8.95mm thick h 8MP auto focus camera with LED flash, 2MP front-facing camera

h 3.5mm audio jack h 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth with A2DP and GPS

h 1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with MicroSD

h 2000mAh battery



h Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) OS h 1.2GHz quad-core processor h 12MP auto focus rear camera

with LED flash h 2MP front-facing camera h 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio h Light sensor, proximity sensor

and G sensor h 3G (HSDPA: 42Mbps; HSUPA:

11Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and GPS


h 2200mAh battery

h 5MP secondary camera h 1.5GHz MediaTek MT 6589T quad-core processor

h 13MP primary camera h 12.7cm (5-inch) capacitive touch-screen

h Wi-Fi enabled h Dual SIM (GSM + GSM) h Full HD recording h FM radio with recording h Android v4.2.1 (Jelly Bean) OS

h Dual SIM: SIM1: Up to HSPA (900/2100MHz) and up to EVDO REV. A (800MHz)

h SIM2: Up to EDGE (900/1800/1900MHz)

h 2.1MP secondary camera h 1.7GHz quad-core processor h UltraPixel primary camera h Full HD recording h Expandable storage capacity of 64GB

h Android Jelly Bean OS h 11.9cm (4.7-inch) full HD capacitive touch-screen

h Dual camera: Dual shot/dual recording/dual video call

h Android v4.3 (Jelly Bean) OS h Full HD (1080p) recording and playback support

h 14.5cm (5.7-inch) full HD super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display

h 2MP secondary camera with smart stabilisation and BSI sensor

h Octa-core processor (1.9GHz quad + 1.3GHz quad) and 3GB RAM

h S pen optimised features: Air command; action memo; scrap-book; S finder; pen window; multi window and direct pen input

h 13MP primary camera with auto focus and BSI sensor

h Samsung smart scroll and Sam-sung smart pause

h NFC support

Price: ` 11,800 Price: ` 9950Price: ` 10,800 Price: ` 10,800 Price: ` 9900

Buyers Guide

17www.eFymag.com electronics For you | February 2014

So if you are looking to buy something latest, Android Jelly Bean smartphones could be a great choice. We take you through the features that you should look for whilst buying one:

Processor. Nowadays, people pay for the experience they get with the de-vice. Processors play an important role in delivering that experience. There is a wide array of Android smartphones available currently running on dual-core, quad-core and octa-core proces-sors in mid-to-high price range. So you can choose one as per your budget.

Display. The Android Jelly Bean User Interface (UI) framework sup-ports a variety of screen sizes and 12.7cm (5-inch) screens are the most popular. However, you can easily go a notch higher or lower in terms of the screen size, but a decent resolution is a must for you to get the real Android and smartphone experience. The reso-lution basically depends on the screen

size of a device. Official Android Jelly Bean document reports, screen size normal must be at least 480dp320dp. Large screen size must be at least 640dp480dp, whilst xlarge screen size must be at least 960dp720dp. The aspect ratio of the Android Jelly Bean smartphones should be between 4:3 and 16:9.

Memory. The bigger memory your smartphone has, the better are the pos-sibilities for you to multitask on your device. Memory size of a smartphone should be directly proportional to the processor packed in it. If you have a device with a powerful processor, you should have decent RAM to support it, else device lag issues may take away the fun of it. A 512MB RAM with dual-core processor is considered decent for performing day-to-day tasks.

Internal storage. Whilst you should note the internal storage capacity of a de-vice, knowing whether it is expandable

Some deviceS to chooSe from more oPtioNS

Lava XoLo Q800 intex Aqua i5 celkon A119Q Signature hd

Karbonn titanium S5 iBall Andi 4.5d Quadro micromax canvas turbo A250

htc one Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9000

h 11.40cm (4.5-inch) (960 x 540 pixels) 16M colour capacitive touch-screen IPS display at 245ppi

h 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor with 286MHz PowerVR SGX544 GPU

h Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) h 8MP rear camera with LED flash, BSI sensor and 720p HD video recording

h 1MP front-facing camera with BSI sensor

h 9.6mm thick and weighs 143.5gm

h 3.5mm audio jack h Full HD 1080p video playback at 30fps

h 1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory, 32GB expandable memory with MicroSD

h 3G (HSDPA: 21Mbps, HSUPA: 5.7Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS

h 2100mAh battery


h Dual SIM (normal SIM + micro SIM) with dual standby

h Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) OS h 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek

MT6589 processor h 12MP auto focus camera with

LED flash and BSI sensor h 2MP front-facing camera h 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio h Light sensor, motion sensor,

proximity sensor and G sensor h 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Blue-

tooth 4.0 with A2DP and GPS h 1GB RAM, 4GB internal

memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with MicroSD

h 2000mAh battery with up to 5 hours and up to 7 days of standby

h 12.7cm (5-inch) (1280 x 720 pixels) touch-screen display

h 1.2 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor with PowerVR SGX 544MP2 GPU

h Android 4.2.1 (Jelly Bean) h Dual SIM (GSM/WCDMA

+ GSM) h 9.3mm thick and weighs

177gm h 12MP auto focus camera

with LED flash h 3MP front-facing camera h 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio h 1GB RAM, 4GB internal

memory (2.56GB user memory), 32GB expand-able memory with MicroSD

h 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS/A-GPS

h 2100mAh battery

h 12.7cm (5-inch) qHD (960 540 pixels) multi-touch capacitive touch-screen IPS display


h Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) OS h 1.2GHz quad-core proces-sor

h 8.95mm thick h 8MP auto focus camera with LED flash, 2MP front-facing camera

h 3.5mm audio jack h 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth with A2DP and GPS


h 2000mAh battery



h Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) OS h 1.2GHz quad-core processor h 12MP auto focus rear camera

with LED flash h 2MP front-facing camera h 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio h Light sensor, proximity sensor

and G sensor h 3G (HSDPA: 42Mbps; HSUPA:

11Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and GPS


h 2200mAh battery

h 5MP secondary camera h 1.5GHz MediaTek MT 6589T quad-core processor

h 13MP primary camera h 12.7cm (5-inch) capacitive touch-screen

h Wi-Fi enabled h Dual SIM (GSM + GSM) h Full HD recording h FM radio with recording h Android v4.2.1 (Jelly Bean) OS

h Dual SIM: SIM1: Up to HSPA (900/2100MHz) and up to EVDO REV. A (800MHz)

h SIM2: Up to EDGE (900/1800/1900MHz)

h 2.1MP secondary camera h 1.7GHz quad-core processor h UltraPixel primary camera h Full HD recording h Expandable storage capacity of 64GB

h Android Jelly Bean OS h 11.9cm (4.7-inch) full HD capacitive touch-screen

h Dual camera: Dual shot/dual recording/dual video call

h Android v4.3 (Jelly Bean) OS h Full HD (1080p) recording and playback support

h 14.5cm (5.7-inch) full HD super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display

h 2MP secondary camera with smart stabilisation and BSI sensor

h Octa-core processor (1.9GHz quad + 1.3GHz quad) and 3GB RAM

h S pen optimised features: Air command; action memo; scrap-book; S finder; pen window; multi window and direct pen input

h 13MP primary camera with auto focus and BSI sensor

h Samsung smart scroll and Sam-sung smart pause

h NFC support

Price: ` 42,990 Price: ` 17,999 Price: ` 46,900

Peripherals for Industrial AutomationO TM

Unit No. G-5 , B Wing , Udyog Bhavan No. 2 , Plot K-3 , Anand Nagar MIDC , Ambernath (E) 421 506 , MH , India.TeleFax: +91-251-2620417/ 2620427 Cell: +91 98 203 62980

Dealers enquiry solicited

O TM

SHAVISON ELECTRONICS PVT. LTD.

Website: www.shavison.com Email: [email protected]

Ahmedabad : Business link - 09320314101 Integrated - 09825438015 Ahmednagar : Tech Edge controls - 09822012595 Ankleshwar / Bharuch : Maharshi - 09879061845 Aurangabad: Chintamani Electricals -09850045468 Chennai : Shree Krishna Ent - 09840332195 Coimbatore : Suriya - 09843356059 Delhi : Powertech - 09212260995 Durg : Aditya - 09827111400 Goa : Kedar - 09850041672 Jalna : Tech Edge - 09822012595 Karnal : Powertech - 09212260995 Kolhapur : Kedar - 09850041672 Madurai : Jagan Ind Traders - 09843062834 Mumbai : Lohar Chawl : A. Harilal - 09321085554 Mahavir - 09821022778 Mulund : Yogesh - 09322251679 Andheri : Kalpesh - 09322231500 Nasik : Nasa - 09422271456 Noida : Nelumbo - 09560311660 Pune : Pendse Electrical - 09325093840 Shrirampur : Tech Edge controls - 09822012595 Silvasa : Vijan - 09824700675 Thane : VE Electricals - 09819646729 Vadodara : Omega Instrumentation & controls - 09687513744 Vasai : Plaschem - 09371048482

Opto Interface Modules

SMPS

SSR Interface Modules

FRC/ D-SUB connector

Power Distribution Modules

Dedicated Controllers

Analog Signal Converters

Redundancy Modules

Diode/ Resistor Modules

NEWAnalogTimers

Relay Interface Modules

Hooters withFlasher

Buyers Guide


or not is equally important before you ac-tually invest in a smartphone. Most of the Android Jelly Bean smartphones come with 8GB, 16GB and 32GB variants. You have to decide the storage space depend-ing on your need. For a low-end device, ensure that the option of expanding the storage is present.

Battery. One of the persistent issues that Android smartphones face is loss of battery power. This issue has not improved in Android phones for years. Although, let us not forget that our dealing with smartphones has also changed over a period of time, which also affects

ANdroid 4.1Project Butter. With Project Butter, Google has allowed the CPU and graphics in the device run in parallel, rather than crash into each other. Project Butter allows the entire interface to run at 60 frames per second (FPS) speed on a sufficiently fast hardware clearing issues related to device lag.Offline voice typing. Android 4.1 addressed the issue of dictating something to your phone even if the users do not have a cellular or Wi-Fi data connection.Google Now. With Google Now, Android gets intuitive and tries to predict what you will need and manage it for you even before your realising that you need it. Voice search. More like Apples Siri, the S-Voice search added in Android 4.1 enables Google to get the best answers for your query first, followed by relevant search results.Notifications. The notifications bar in Android 4.1 can do better than ever. You can expand it to show you a portion of your inbox rather than just the number of unread emails.

ANdroid 4.2Better photo editing features. For those who forget how original picture looked whilst editing a photograph, Android 4.2 is there to help with its improvised photo-editing features. It requires only a simple gesture to get back to the original photo without even missing on any of the edits you have made.Jelly Bean Daydreams screensaver mode. This version of Jelly Bean OS comes with an all-new screensaver mode. This screensaver gets activated when your device is docked or is in the

charging mode. Google likes to term these as Daydreams, and not screensavers.

Photo Sphere. This new feature of Android 4.2 allows the users to take a 360-degree panoramic photograph of surroundings. Once the photograph is clicked, you can see the Photo Sphere created and use the gyroscope of your device to view it. You can also upload the Photo Sphere on Google Maps.

ANdroid 4.3

Restricted profiles for users. You can use this feature to ensure that your children do not access anything that you do not want them to see. This feature helps you decide the apps the user of the profile can access and if he can use Google Play Store for adding new apps.

Office suite for managing documents. You can access and edit documents whilst travelling by using certain great free office suites. Amongst them is Kingsoft Office that allows you to open no less than 23 types of document files, which include DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX or PDF. You can download it from the Google Play store.

Not limiting yourself to apps from the Google Play Store. Contrary to iOS, Android permits you to install apps from non-Play Store sources. This helps you in getting better deals on apps that are on offer in other stores.

Stay organised with Google Keep. Google Keep was launched in the early part of last year. It is a user-friendly tool that helps you in keeping yourself organised. It can be used for taking notes like voice recordings, images or text.

Features of different versions of Android Jelly Bean

the battery life. Most of the Android smartphones carry the batteries hav-ing capacities to the tune of 2000mAh or more. Before you invest in an Android smartphone, do understand your usage needs. Also, the larger the screen size, the more battery it consumes.

Android upgrade. Before you buy an Android smartphone, you must check out whether the device is good for future upgrades or not. Usually global brands are more prompt in pro-viding firmware upgrades, whilst the home-grown brands take their time to provide upgrades. So do make an

informed choice before you invest.Camera. OEMs provide somewhere

between 5MP and 13MP rear cameras. Unfortunately, some of them avoid flash feature, which is important for good-quality pictures. An 8MP camera without flash makes lesser sense than a 5MP camera with flash. HD recording is of course a must-have feature for modern-day smartphone users.

Besides the rear camera, a good front camera is something really im-portant for those who like to connect on Skype or video chat.

The author is senior assistant editor at efy


Consumer ElEctronics

Another year, another inter-national CES gone, and just like every year, this year saw quite a few new gadgets as well. From open source to proprietary to prototypes, they were all there. Sur-prisingly though, the number of new smartphones and tablets unveiled at the event was very low, the void hence created being filled by wear-able devices. The CES 2014 was about three things this year, wearable tech, gaming and digitising your home. We take you through a short tour of CES 2014 in case you have missed out on anything.

Smartphones and tabletsMost technology experts expected this years event to go comparatively dry on the smartphones segment, but almost no one expected it to be this dry. Perhaps the only device worth mentioning would be the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. This is a smaller version of the companys flagship Xperia Z1 smartphone, but packs the same 20.7 megapixel camera on the back.

In the tablets segment, we picked two that are worth mentioning. These include the Asus Transformer Book Duet and the humongous Samsung Galaxy Note Pro tablets. Whilst the former is a dual-boot (Android and Windows) device, the latter is a 31cm (12.2-inch) Android-based tablet. There was also the Micromax LapTab dual-boot device unveiled at the event.

But thats about all that we have to

Ces 2014 held recently at Las Vegas has put a couple of things beyond any doubt. First, the age of wearables is officially upon us and it is only a matter of time before we get almost every bit of our clothing digitised and smart. second, with the steam machines and Playstation now, gaming, whether console or PC, is going places it hasnt gone before

Wearables... Gaming... Televisions: Gadgets Galore at CES 2014

PraSid BanErjEE

say in this segment, which brings us to wearable devices.

WearablesMany people say that the Pebble smart watch is the only true smart watch in the market. This is because it is the only one that really looks like a watch. Well, the company seems to have been taking notes, the Pebble Steel Smart watch adds both steel and aluminium straps to the device, making it look more like a regular watch, whilst re-taining the features of a smart watch like getting email, calls, etc.

Also, the sub-segment of the smart watch, fitness trackers, had quite a few to show as well. The Nike+ FuelBand SE led the pack with its waterproof and easy-to-use features. But close

second was Fitbit Force, which is just as useful, but you will have to take it off when you are taking a shower. LG also showcased a fitness band at the event and there was the Jawbone Up24 sleep tracker as well. The sleep tracking feature is also available

in Fitbit Force.To close, it is worth mentioning

the Vuzix M100 Google Glass-type device along with the MetaWatch Frame smart watch, which takes an open source approach for development purposes.

TelevisionsThere were no plasma televisions at the CES this year, but the segment was dominated by LED, LCD and OLED TVs. 4K is the talk of the town and whilst the big question still is whether people really need these TVs or not, it is safe to say that sooner or later most will own one. This is because compa-nies will stop producing anything else.

Anyway, we have to start with the Vuzix Reference Series, which the company says is the best TV in the world. Boasting a 4K resolution, the TV has reportedly outperformed some OLED, plasma and LED LCD models from Samsung, Panasonic and LG, respectively.

Next on the list would be Pana-sonics new curved television. Unlike other curved TVs that we have seen so far, this one curves both ways. But, it

Steam Machine

Pebble Steel


Consumer ElEctronics

is perhaps safe to say that it is going to be too expensive, at least for the aver-age Indian consumers home. Still, it is worth a mention.

Sony and Toshiba also joined the fray, showcasing high-end televisions like the XBR by Sony and two other series by Toshiba.

GamingThis is perhaps the segment that made the most noise at the CES this year. We will have to start with Valves innova-tive Steam Machines. Whilst Valve, which is behind iconic games like Half Life and Counter Strike, did not show-

case any Steam Machines of its own, there were over a dozen third-party Steam Machines put o n d i s p l a y . T h e s e m a -chines aim to bring comput-er gaming to the living room

like never before.Next up is the Razers Project Chris-

tine that showcased a bizarre-looking modular gaming PC, which comes fitted with a custom motherboard and mineral-oil cooling system. Equally

impressive is Ocu-lus VRs Crystal

Cove prototype, which is a vir-tua l rea l i ty -based headset.

It turned quite a few heads at the CES this year.

Playstation Now game streaming ser-vice. This was a major announcement for gamers, which won Sony quite a few points and perhaps even fans.

The author is a correspondent with EFYTimes.com

Best GadetsPebble Steel: Pebbles smart watch was till now the only one that really looked like a watch. Somehow, the company has made it look even better by adding leather and metal straps to it. The company, which had raised $10 million on Kickstarter for the original device, seems to be taking things to a whole new level.

Razer Nabu: This fitness tracker from the well-known gaming peripherals maker is a mix between fitness bands and smart watches. Not only can it track physical activities, it can also take calls and receive emails.

Razer Project Christine: Whilst this is only a prototype device, it is still one of the best. This futuristic-looking gaming desktop is unlike any other desktop PC ever made. It consists of a number of pod-like modules that are connected to a central tower. The tower holds the processor and the motherboard for the computer, and each of the modules have their own cooling and noise-cancellation systems. So you can add separate modules for memory, storage, Blu-ray, etc.

Steam Machines: Valves initiative to give console gaming a whole new avenue has been accepted with smiles. The company itself is planning to launch 13 computers this year, which will all be running the SteamOS, which is an operating system designed for gaming. Add the Steam Controller and you have got a winner!

Samsung Bendable TV: Good image quality and innovative design is what places this television on the list. Indeed, there was a plethora of smart and bendable televisions showcased at the CES, but Samsung has come up with something that gives a completely different experience altogether. If only it had LGs WebOS for televisions along with it.

Worst GadgetsBelkin Crock-Pot WeMo Smart Cooker: This is one of those gadgets that you do not need. Come to think of it, a Crock-pot is not supposed to be smart. You can adjust the settings of this cooker from anywhere using your smartphone and works with Android and iOS devices.

LaCIE Sphere: This is quite literally an out-of-the-box design. Hard drives have traditionally been box-shaped, but LaCIE decided to give it a spherical design. Here is the problem, at $490, it is grossly over-priced and the spherical design does not really make it the best to carry.

NAVIGATE: You had GPS in your smartphones, tablets, your car and now you can have it in your jacket. This smart jacket is GPS enabled and connects to your smartphone. Feed in your destination and the jacket will guide to take a left or right through vibrations on your shoulders and LEDs on the sleeves. Really now, we prefer the old smartphone GPS better.

Weirdest GadgetsIntel Mimo Baby: This baby monitor from Intel has been at the top of the weird gadgets list for this years CES 2014. It runs on the Intel Edison processor and relays information about a baby to the parents. It consists of a number of sensors that monitor and relay the information to the parents smartphones. The sensors are attached directly to the babys clothes.

Kolibree Bluetooth toothbrush: Apparently adding Bluetooth to anything makes it more attractive. But a toothbrush? This toothbrush connects to your smartphone and relays the data collected, whilst you brush your teeth, to the device through an app. It even tells you how you are brushing your teeth!

Voyce: There was no shortage of gadgets for pets at the CES this year. This is a health and activity monitor for your dogs collar, which tracks the data for your dogs heat rate, movement and breathing. The information is sent to your smartphone through Bluetooth.

Sony Dogcams: This gadget gives new meaning to living a dogs life. Put this on your dog and these cameras will give you the dogs view of things around you.

Further, when the recently launched Sony Playstation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One appear at the bottom of a gaming roundup, it tells you how big everything else in the segment was. Not much to tell about these two either, except Sonys

Intel Mimo Baby Monitor

Razer Project Christine

LaCIE Sphere


Most happening, fact-filled current affairs froM around the world

technology nEWS

ent Mylar film. Each petal measures 8 cm and is folded together to form a downward-facing cone. A tiny motor attached to the crankshaft pushes the wing outwards and downwards 20 times in a second, forcing air out via the bottom of the cone. The result is an ornithopter that is incredibly stable and does not require constant correction. If, however, it is knocked over, it stabilises by itself. Change in direction of motion is achieved by making one wing out of the four work harder than the others.

Smart contact lens to detect diabetesGoogle, known for some of the best

Now a camera that captures the action after it happensWith technology advancing in leaps and bounds, our memories could last forever. With all this in mind, Ben Bod-ley and Sam Lee have come out with meMINI, a wearable Wi-Fi-enabled camera with recall, which helps users save film-worthy moments in high-definition video after they have already come and gone.

Ideally, the meMINI rewrites a continuous loop of video, but will save the previous few minutes of footage whenever the user presses a button on it. Looping footage is captured every five seconds to five minutes. To perma-nently store the last recorded moment, users can press the recall button to transfer a file to a cloud-based storage or the cameras internal memory.

meMINI can loop video for three continuous hours on a full charge. It continuously records one several-minute stretch of footage after another, each one replacing the one that was recorded before it. In the meantime, if something noteworthy happens, the user can instruct it to save that one stretch of footage, and it is done. It also lets users share moments they have re-corded via e-mail, social media or with the meMINI community.

First ever jellyfish aircraftScientists at the New York Universitys Applied Math Lab have developed the worlds first jellyfish aircraft, which captures the exact motion of a jellyfish in water. Engineers across the globe have long marvelled at a jellyfishs simple, efficient motion and wanted to recreate the same in a drone.

This rare feat was achieved by using four petal-shaped wings made from over-the-counter components: light carbon-fibre ribs to hold the motor and provide the frames of the wings, which are covered by transpar-

innovations, has created a buzz again. It is the latest moonshot project, which might open some eyes to new possibili-ties, with the Internet giant coming up with the smart contact lens. However, it must be noted that the smart con-tact lens must not be confused with Googles soon-to-be consumer-friendly Glass.

The smart contact lens has been designed specifically for people di-agnosed with diabetes, cited to afflict one in every 19 people worldwide, to measure glucose levels in tears. It hosts a tiny wireless chip and miniaturised glucose sensor, both of which are embedded between two layers of soft

contact lens material.The projects co-

founders, Brian Otis and Babak Parviz, highlighted the mo-tivations behind de-veloping the same in an official blog post. Glucose lev-els change frequently with normal activity such as exercising or eating or even sweat-

meMINIa wearable camera that captures lifes important moments

Smart contact lens for diabetes patients from Google

technology nEWS


ing. Sudden spikes or precipitous drops are dangerous and not uncommon, requiring round-the-clock monitoring, reads the blog.

Google is already moving forward into the testing phase and is in talks with the US Food and Drug Administration, whilst also seeking partners to bring the smart contact lens to market. The smart contact lens is still a long way off from mass production.

PARAM in most efficient supercomputer listIndias supercomputer PARAM, developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), has been applauded in a big way. Amongst the most power-efficient computer systems, it has been ranked first in India, ninth in the Asia Pacific Region and 44th in the world. This was revealed in the Green500 List announced at the Super-computing Conference (SC 2013) in Denver, Colorado, in the US.

It is a known fact that supercomputers consume a lot of electrical power and in turn produce huge amount of heat, and so they need cooling facilities to ensure that they operate properly. This affects the total cost of ownership of a supercomputer. Green500 ranks computer systems across the world depending on their compute performance per watt, offering an insight into the world ranking based on energy efficiency.

3D printed house in 24 hoursScientists from the University of Southern California claim to have developed a giant 3D concrete printer that can help you build a 250 sq m house in just 24 hours.

Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis, the maker of the printer, says that his innovation could be used to make a complete house, layer by layer, in a single day. The construction work-ers, in this process, are replaced by a nozzle on a gantry, that squirts out concrete and is capable of building a home based on a computer pattern. It is basically scaling up 3D printing to the scale of building, says Khoshnevis.

With this technology one can construct a single house or a colony of houses, each with a different design along with all the conduits for electrical, plumbing and air-

Indias supercomputer PARAM, developed by C-DAC

Telephone: (033) 4006 9875, 2210 3807, 2210 2039

technology nEWS

31www.eFymag.com electronics For you | February 2014

conditioning embedded in it. This application has immense usage in emergency situations, low-income and commercial housing.

The World Wide Web for robotsEngineers and researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands have developed RoboEarth, or simply put, the World Wide Web for robots.

RoboEarth is a huge network and database that lets ro-bots share data with each other and learn from each others behaviour. It stores knowledge generated by humans and robots in a machine-readable format.

Data stored in the RoboEarth knowledge base include software components, maps for navigation, task knowledge and object recognition models, making powerful computa-tion available to robots.

Now, a brain-like chip2014 is going to take technology to an all new level. A chip has been released that claims to work like human brain. Yes, you read it correct! Scientists have created a chip that will help computers mimic human brains. That is not all. The chip will also make the computer learn from its own mistakes.

Interesting? Here is more! The newly designed chip is capable of connecting with wires and mimicking biological synapses. Fitted with these chips, the new-age computers will be able to beat as well as tolerate errors. These chips are touted to make the term computer crash obsolete.

Larry Smarr, an astrophysicist who directs the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technol-ogy, one of many research centres devoted to developing these new kinds of computer circuits, says, We are moving from engineering computing systems to something that has many of the characteristics of biological computing.

With eyeLock Myris, even passwords lie in the eyes of the beholder Stemming from the necessity of developing newer, more sophisticated authentication mechanisms that are very hard to crack, EyeLock in association with Voxx Electronics has developed Myris, an iris scanner, which does the job

eyeLock Myris, an irris scanner

technology nEWS


of scanning your iris. Iris is unique in every human and it can be used to uniquely identify individuals.

Myris is a mouse-like device that connects with your system via USB cord and captures a video of your eyes to analyse about 240 points on each iris. With the data it captures, Myris generates 2048-bit digital signature for the user. After this, users need only to hold the device up and look into its mirrored lens to gain access to their digital accounts. EyeLock claims that the chances of a false match with Myris are 1 in 2 trillion! Only DNA provides a more accurate means of verification.

Myris can help you securely login to all your social networks, e-mail ac-counts and even the bank accounts if you prefer to. The accounts are linked to Myris via an accompanying appli-cation, but no personal data is stored within the application, or transmitted. Authentication occurs on the device itself. Users are therefore able to set highly complex passwords for their ac-counts and simply forget about them, using Myris to verify their identity in-stead. Though textual passwords have served their purpose for a long time now, they are no longer effective. Most sophisticated algorithms developed around the world have been able to crack passwords easily and in seconds. EyeLock predicts that usernames and

passwords will ultimately cease to be used and that products like Myris will replace them.

Also, Apples iPhone 5S sports a fingerprint scanner and buzz has it that Samsung Galaxy S5 will have an iris scanner in-built to compete against the same.

Human arm sensors make robots intelligent for manufacturingResearchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with a new control system that ensures man and machine work together effortlessly. They have devised a new control system that makes use of human arm sensors to make robots used in manu-facturing plants more intelligent.

The sensors will be used to train robots to mimic, respond to and even predict the movements in a constant tug of war between the person and the robot. However, the current robot systems get confused with the mixed signals. After human operators shift the lever forward or backward, the robot recognises the command and moves appropriately. But when they want to stop the movement and hold the lever in place, people tend to stiffen and contract muscles on both sides of their arms.

This creates a high level of co-con-

traction. The problem is that a persons muscle stiffness is never constant, and a robot does not always know how to correctly react. The robot therefore becomes confused and does not know whether the force is purely another command that should be amplified or not. The robot reacts regardless. It responds to the bounced force, creating vibration. The human operators also react, creating more force by stiffening their arms. The vibrations have been eliminated by using sensors worn on a controllers forearm. The devices send muscle movements to a computer, which provide the robot with the op-erators level of muscle contraction. The system then judges the operators physical status and very intelligently adjusts how it should interact with the human.

New device from MIT measures accurately to millionth of a trillionth of a gramBuilding on a technology previously developed by Scott Manalis, an MIT professor of biological and mechanical engineering, to weigh larger particles, such as cells, engineers at MIT have de-veloped a technique that allows accu-rate measurement of weight particles, viruses, nanomaterials to a millionth of a trillionth of a gram. The suspended microchannel resonator (SMR) could well in fact help researchers better understand the composition and func-tion of small viruses, extracellular vesicles and most of the engineered nanoparticles that are being used for nanomedicine.

The original SMR comprises a fluid-filled microchannel etched in a tiny silicon cantilever that vibrates inside a vacuum cavity. As cells or particles flow through the channel, one at a time, their mass slightly alters the cantilevers vibration frequency, the change in which helps derive the mass of the particle. Further by shrinking the size of the entire system, a resolution to 0.85 attograms was attained: more than 30x improvement over the previous generation of the device.

Check efytimes.com for more news, daily

Human arm sensors to make robot in manufacturing more intelligent


Technology: solar

Solar is the Latin word for sun. Solar energy from sun gives life to earth and its crea-tion. Besides this, solar energy can also be successfully utilised for various applications such as cooking, heating, drying, lighting, power generation, communication, space technology, etc. Our country is blessed with abundant sunlight, which is a very large resource for development of solar photovoltaics (PV) power. There is no negative im-pact on the environment with utilisa-tion of this power and it is freely avail-able. Also, it is the safest renewable energy resource available in the world.

Solar cells, commonly called as PV cells, convert sunlight directly into electricity. The name PV is derived from the process of converting light (photons) into electricity (voltage).

An alternate and renewable source of power generation has become inevitable to meet the ever-increasing power demand. In this situation, solar-power generation has become the need of the day

Solar-Energy Systems

K. Bharathan This is called the PV effect. The PV effect was discovered in 1954 by the scientists at Bell Telephone Company. They discovered that silicon (an ele-ment found in sand) creates an electric charge when it is exposed to sunlight. Since then, these solar cells have been used to operate smaller devices like calculators, watches, lights, etc and also large aircraft and space satellites. In the present day, thousands and thousands of people power their hous-es, business establishments, manufac-turing units, etc with solar PV systems.

In a solar-energy system, the most

important component is a solar or PV cell. This is a solid-state device with a large light-sensitive area that converts the light energy from the sun directly into electricity by the PV effect. To increase the power, a number of indi-vidual PV cells are interconnected in a weatherproof sealed package called a PV module or a solar panel. Solar cells are very brittle and require great care and protection whilst handling. To protect them from damage, they are hermetically sealed between top layer of glass or transparent plastic and the bottom layer is protected with plastic sheet or a combination of metal and plastic. To increase the strength of the solar panel, the outer edge assembly is kept in a metal frame all the time.

A junction box is fixed at the bot-tom side of solar panel to intercon-nect and take the output voltage. A mounting frame made in metal is used to assemble these solar panels which are connected in parallel or a series combination as per requirement of the voltage and current.

Solar-home systemA solar-home system consists of a solar PV module, a battery bank and a power-conditioning unit (PCU). The output voltage from the PCU can

operate light, fan, TV, computer, home appli-ances, etc depending on the capacity of the system.

Solar PV module generates DC voltage in proportion to so-lar panel size and the available sunlight. The power generated in the PV module is sent to the charge control Fig. 1: Solar panel

Fig. 2: Solar-panel assembly

Fig. 3: Solar power plant


Technology: solar

circuit in the PCU. The charge control circuit controls the voltage and current and sends these to the battery bank to charge the battery. The inverter in the PCU processes the 12-24V DC voltage into the required output voltage of 220V AC at 50Hz, which is connected to the load.

The system has a microcontroller-based pulse width modulation (PWM) charge controller which can control the charging current. When the solar energy from the solar panel is avail-able, the mains power will not be used for battery charging or for the load. The load takes power from the solar panel. Power from the mains will be used only when the battery voltage is below the preset voltage (this voltage can be preset). When mains power is on, mains supply and power from the solar unit does not load each other. The charging is carried out with the intelligently-shared current.

An important fact is that if the PCU gets overloaded whilst working on so-lar, the load gets shifted to mains sup-ply automatically and again when the battery charge reaches the preset level, mains supply is cut off and the load gets shifted to solar/battery again. Battery deep discharge, overcharge

protections are incorporated inside the PCU. This ensures health of battery thereby extending its life.

Solar water-pumping systemSoalr water-pumping system is specifi-cally designed to pump water in areas where there is no reliable supply of electricity. The system is used to pump water for domestic use, agricultural irrigation, aquaculture industry, water treatment, etc.

Solar water-pumping system com-prises a set of solar PV modules. The PV modules absorb sunlight energy and generate required level of DC voltage and current in proportion to the solar PV modules and avail-able sunlight. The DC output voltage produced by the PV modules is sent to the pump control unit. The pump control unit processes the DC voltage into required levels of three-phase/one-phase AC voltage for the operation of the pumping system. Drive circuits are also integrated in the pump control unit, so no other additional devices are required either to start or run the motor. The system is also equipped with protection circuits to work against low voltage, overvoltage, overcurrent,

overheat, etc.In the pump control unit, the most

important part is solar-pump inverter which has the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) function. This inverter adjusts the output frequency automati-cally to achieve MPPT according to the intensity of the sunlight.

With solar water-pumping system, the electricity bills and operating and maintenance costs can be minimised or eliminated.

Solar water-heating systemSolar water-heating systems are now widely used. Two types of solar water heating systems are popular. Evacu-ated tube collector (ETC) and flat plate collector (FPC). The collector assembly is installed at an angle facing the south direction. A storage tank is installed at a height behind the collector assembly and it is connected with a connecting pipe to the collector assembly. The wa-ter heating system is installed outdoors in an open space and it is connected to a continuous water supply from the overhead tank. Water flows in the col-lector assembly through tubes, absorbs heat from the solar panel and hot water is produced. This water is stored in the storage tank installed behind the col-

Solar photovoltaic (PV) modules

DC-output voltage fromPV module

Output 220V ACMains input voltage

Power Condition Unit(PCU)

Battery Bank

To Load

Solar photovoltaic (PV) modules

DC-output voltage fromPV module

Submersible pump

Output voltage - AC

Water from submersible pump

Pump ControlUnit

Fig. 4: Solar-home system Fig. 5: Solar water pump


Technology: solar

lector assembly. The water thus stored in the tank can remain hot until the morning of next day.

Cold water from the overhead tank by gravity flow enters in the tank through point A (see Fig. 7) and fills it up. The cold water from the solar water tank flows through outlet pipe B in the bottom header pipe of the solar tube collector and goes into all the cop-per tubes through bottom header C, until all the collector tubes and solar tank at the top are filled with water.

When the sun rises to a level, its energy falls on the absorber fins and collector tubes. Energy from the sun

begins to heat the water stored in the collector tubes. As the heated water is lighter than the cold water, it rises through the top header pipe D of the tube collector and flows into the top of the solar tank through pipe E. At the same time, cold water from the solar water tank flows into the tube collector through tube B. The cold water gets heated and rises to the top and this process continues until the tempera-ture of the water in the solar tank and collector tubes equalises. This process is called thermosiphon process. The solar water tank is now filled with hot water.

Thermosiphon, also known as thermosyphon, is a process used to exchange heat from liquids without a pump. This system simplifies the heat-transferring process and elimi-nates the cost. This technique is com-mercially used in solar water heaters. Whenever the hot water is drawn from the solar tank through outlet F, cold water enters into the solar tank from the overhead tank through inlet pipe A. This lowers the overall tem-perature in the solar water tank and collector tube. In this condition, the thermosiphon process starts function-ing again. At the end of 7-8 hours of operation in the bright sunlight, the average temperature of the water is around 60C.

To collect maximum energy from the sun, the collector assembly should face south direction with proper angle, depending upon the latitude.

According to Indian conditions, 25 to 30 litres per day (LPD) per person is the average usage of hot water. Ac-cordingly, a solar water heater with 100 to 125 LPD system is suitable for a family of three to four members.

Water heaters are available in 100, 125, 200, 300, 500 and 1000 LPD sizes for domestic use. Solar water heaters are also manufactured for use in large hotels, factories, hospitals, hostels, laundries, canteens, etc. Swimming-pool heating with a capacity of 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000 LPD is also done by solar water heaters.

Modern systems such as solar water pumping, solar cooking, solar air-conditioning and solar street light-ing have now become popular in India. At present, the demand for electric-ity is growing along with increase in power costs. So an alternate and renewable source of power genera-tion has become inevitable to meet the ever-increasing power demand. In this situation, solar power generation has become the need of the day.

The author is an ex-manager (R&D), UMS Radio Factory, Coimbatore, ex-general manager, Sulax Corporation, Bangalore and advisor, Electronics and Controls Corporation, Coimbatore

BA

E

F

C

D

Cold water inletSolar water tank

Hot water outlet

Top header

Copper tubes

Solar absorber/collector assembly

Bottom header

Overhead water tank

Fig. 6: Solar water heaters

Fig. 7: Solar FPC (flat plate collector) water heater

Flat Plate Collector Evacuated Tube Collector

security


despite all the advice, we treat our e-mails as if they are the same as personal conversation. Private. Off the record. We also assume that no one else is going to be able to read it, and that it cannot ever get into the wrong hands. slowly but surely we are finding out, the hard way, that, as in the words of the song, it aint necessarily so. it appears that everyone, from our e-mail administrator to half the hacking community, can pick up what we are doing, even off the internal network

How Secure are Your E-mails

RAKESH SHUKLA

E-mail security has been a grow-ing concern over the past few years. The average individual, who uses e-mail, naively believes that his e-mail is private and secure but he is wrong, as the electronic world is filled with snoopers who can access all types of data over the network. As the world goes digital, with more and more raw information about individu-als available electronically, the need for security increases. Ubiquity and speed of e-mail have made it increasingly effective. So providing reliance over this medium has become an inevitable requirement.

The e-mails of today can be made secure by encrypting the content on an external medium and sending this

as an attachment over the mail. But this increases the size of the mail and makes it inconvenient for the user. There are other systems that provide specific security and are strongly tied to the mail servers and browsers. Enter the answersecure e-mail (Se-mail). Run it just like an ordinary mail but click on the secure button and you are done. Somehow it seems obvious to anyone that the immense complexity of the computer can be made safe and secure by a single act (the laying on of hands perhaps).

Let us take an analogy that explains a typical e-mail scenario. Suppose a person is in a crowded room and spots a friend to whom he wants to convey an important message, but he does not want to yell. He writes a message on a paper-slip and asks the person next to

him to pass it on, trusting no one will read it on its journey through dozens of handshands belonging to people he has never met. What are the odds that the persons friend will be the only one to read the message intended for him or her alone? Untold number of people, including you and me, employ this useful aspect of network and Inter-net communication to exchange data and documents.

Whilst there are strong legal pen-alties that deter snooping in the traditional media, such as posted or courier mail, the sheer novelty of computer-aided communication has created gaps in the legal net, allowing for tampering and snooping on others e-mails or personal information. As the world goes digital, with more and more raw information about individu-als available electronically, the need for security increases.

The major problems that ordinary e-mails suffer are data origin authen-tication and connectionless integrity apart from privacy. Which means that it is quite difficult with the ordinary e-mail to prove that the sender actually wrote the message, or that it has not been tampered with? Here, we will be discussing about the various chal-lenges in e-mail security and try to find out the solution for the same. At the same time, we will discuss a few tips and tricks that can ensure e-mail security.

How e-mail works Sending an e-mail message is like sending an ordinary letter (not a cou-rier, registered letter or speed post).

Part 1 of 2

security


When you send a letter, you drop it off at your local post office. Your local post office looks at the address and figures out which regional post office the letter should go to. Then the re-gional post office looks at the address and finds out which local post office is closest to your recipient. Finally, the recipients local post office delivers your letter to its recipient.

Computers are like post offices, and the simple mail transport protocol (SMTP) is the procedure, rather a pro-tocol which a post office uses to find out where to send the letter next in the process. Any program that sends an e-mail message uses SMTP protocol (de-fault port 25) to deliver that message to the next post office for relaying to its final destination.

Now, we have sent the mail us-ing SMTP. What about retrieving the e-mail or reading the e-mail? Well for this, two common protocols are used, which are namely POP3 (post office protocol) (default port 110) and IMAP3 (Internet message access protocol) (de-fault port 143). The working of e-mail is depicted in Fig. 1.

In todays scenario, the objective for the user might be summarised as follows (borrowing from the paper world): To be certain what they send goes to the right person/place; to be certain that the right person/place can read the information; to be able to use signed receipt as proof to a court or other body; to stop the wrong people from reading personal and private information. Some of these wishes are more difficult than others.

Just as in the paper world you cannot stop anyone from seeing the address on the letters envelope, the same is true for an e-mail. If someone alters that address, it does not go to the right place, and if someone alters the return address, the recipient may not know where it has come from, or it may not, if delivery fails, be returned to the correct sender.

We are familiar with the paper world and it has some benefits. You can usually see if someone has already opened your mail. The post office can

often cope with wrong addressing and still get it to the right place. E-mail is rather different. There is no way of telling who reads the mail unless you take actual steps to make it impossi-ble. The e-mail post office cannot cope with any address errors whatsoever. It has no idea if any of the addresses on the mail are correct and cannot tell if they have been altered. There is no plain envelope to stop people read-ing the contents and it is possible for

hackers, government agencies and almost anyone else to read the mail. Proof of delivery is worth the paper it is printed on.

Most people send mail in two wayswith a Web-based interface like Yahoo!, Gmail or Hotmail, or with an e-mail client program like Outlook or Eudora. When we send a message with an e-mail program on our personal computer (or cell phone or PDA), we have to specify a server so that our e-mail program knows where to send the message. This server is like our local post office. An e-mail program talks di-rectly to the server using the computer protocol (language) known as SMTP.

This is like dropping off a letter at the local post office.

When we use some tool on our personal computer for an Internet con-nection to communicate with a Web server, the language that the Internet connection uses is HTTPhypertext transfer protocol. When we send our message with Web mail, the Web server contacts its SMTP server and sends our message to it.

To summarise, when we use the Web-based e-mail programs like Gmail (which is also a cloud service), the Web server already has the SMTP/POP3/IMAP3 address inserted. If we want to access other e-mail accounts main-tained by any other e-mail server (term used for SMTP/POP3/IMAP3 server), it can be done using these Web-based services, by mentioning the specific

e-mail server address. Let us see the security in both these cases.

In case of e-mail clients like Out-look or any other non-Web-based application, we can apply security on the message and send the e-mail. This kind of security is shown in Fig. 2. In case of Web-based scenario, we can have an SSL kind of environment be-tween client and Web server, and SSL or some other kind of security between the Web server and the e-mail server. Between Web server and client, we can invoke SSL in the form of https://www.site.com. Here SSL, which runs at the transport layer (default port 443), takes care of all the communication be-

SSL (HTTPS)SSL

(HTTPS)

WEB AccESSWEB SErvEr

E-MAIL SErvEr (SMTP/POP3/IMAP3

NON-WEB AccESS OuTLOOk/EudOrA

SSL (SMTPS/

POP3S/IMAP3S)

ANy OTHEr fOrM Of SEcurITy

ANy OTHEr

fOrM Of SEcurITy

Fig. 1: E-mail flow diagram

Fig. 2: Secure e-mail access with and without Web server

security


ing encrypted between client and Web server. Between Web server and e-mail server, we can have SSL-enabled SMTP in the form SMTPS, SSL-enabled POP3 in the form POP3S, SSL-enabled IMAP in the form IMAP3S or some other kind of security. It all depends upon the requirement and ease of usage. The above-mentioned scenarios are depicted in Fig. 2.

We have mentioned a phrase, some other kind of security many a times above, but what does it mean? In the scenario of Web-based e-mail access, we can take S/MIME or MOSS as different security standards that can be used. Similarly, in the scenario of non-Web-based access, we can take PGP or PEM as different security standards. But MOSS and PEM are not much used these days for e-mail security.

Issues in e-mail securityE-mail can be made secure, but we have to take a few things into ac-count. The first thing to understand is that we cannot do much about the addresses, or the subject line. Nothing about these can be made secure. Dif-ferent systems may allow us to secure the message text of the e-mail, but we have to be very certain what that security is, when it is added, when it is removed and how we could prove it had been secured, afterwards. These are fundamental and important if we are going to rely on the security mechanisms later as proof that some-thing happened.

The second thing to understand is that we can never (with current sys-tems) send anything secret to someone we do not know. It is not possible. We have to have a public key of theirs before it can be done. We cannot, with conventional systems, send informa-tion to anyone in a particular group, function or business. We have to send to specific individuals.

The third thing to understand is that the protection that we apply to an e-mail has to be something that the recipient can deal with. E-mail sys-tems do not currently relate the keys

used for information protection to the recipients of the e-mail, and do not know what algorithms the recipient is likely to have. This is because there are far too many unnecessary choices forced onto users of these systems and services (or set by administrators who are making choices based upon their own prejudices rather than look-ing at usability). If we use something the recipient cannot process, we are wasting time. But we cannot afford the time needed to sort this kind of problem out.

Most of the difficulties identified can be avoided by ignoring the e-mail systems completely and concentrat-ing instead on the information to be sent. This could be anythinga word document, a text file, some HTML, a graphic or even a video. Whatever we do should not alter its content, and it should not be possible to remove your security before the information reaches securely in the computer system of the recipient.

This means that the protection software is going to protect the file in such a way that an attacker cannot re-move the protection without us being able to detect it. (That is not the same as pretending a fake document is real. Since much of the information we get is not protected, today we make value judgements on what is right based

upon our own feelings, or we phone the sender and ask them to confirm what they actually sent. So removing the protec-tion and making subtle changes to documents that we might then be-lieve is perfectly feasi-ble.) The recipient is then in a position where his/her first step is to check the authenticity of the file he/she has received. That avoids any possibil-ity of misunderstanding what is protected and what is not. The file is the thing that is protect-ed, and not other parts

of the e-mail, that may or may not be correct.

Once the recipient has checked that the file is authentic, he/she can go ahead and use a copy of it whose pro-tection has been removed. This is an essential step, because he or she must not be able to alter, or add to, the file that they received and still claim that it was ever authentic (unless, of course, we have some system that maintains a copy of different things in the file, pro-tected by each person that has altered or added to it). This approach may not seem as elegant as having everything automated, but it is a lot more secure, and prevents any mistakes or misun-derstandings about who has signed what, and therefore what can be relied upon. Now let us see the various is-sues in e-mail security. Normally, two kinds of threats can be there in e-mail security, and these are:

Threats which can be there on the security of e-mail itself. These are the threats which can make an e-mail vul-nerable. These threats are basically of five types. These are:

1. Loss of confidentiality. This threat arises due to lack of privacy of an e-mail, which occurs when an e-mail is sent over open networks. This threat can be removed by providing encryption over the message part. Such a message will not make any

NOrMAL E-MAIL

LOSS Of INTEgrITy

dATA cHANgEd

dATA fOrgEd ANd SENT

E-MAIL cLIENT 2

E-MAIL cLIENT 2

E-MAIL cLIENT 2

E-MAIL cLIENT 2

E-MAIL cLIENT 1

E-MAIL cLIENT 1

E-MAIL cLIENT 1

E-MAIL cLIENT 1

E-MAIL cLIENT 1

E-MAIL cLIENT 2

NO I dId NOT gET THE E-MAILgOT THE E-MAIL

SENT THE E-MAILNO

OLd dATA cHANgEd

LAck Of dATA OrIgIN AuTHENTIcATION

LAck Of NON-rEPudIATION ANd LAck Of NOTIfIcATION Of rEcEIPT

E-MAIL BEINg INTErcEPTEd ANd PASSIvELy MONITOrEd

LOSS Of cONfIdENTIALITy

Fig. 3: Security issues in e-mail

security


sense, even if read.2. Loss of integrity. When an e-mail

travels over a network, the body of the e-mail, which is the message part, can be altered in transit, resulting in the loss of integrity. This threat can be removed by creating a hash of the mes-sage at its origin and sending it along with the message. Hash of the message can be recalculated at the receivers end and matched to find out if any change has been made in the message over the network by any intruder, and thus in a way takes care of the integrity of the message.

3. Lack of data origin authentication. This threat occurs when a person who appears to have sent the e-mail is actu-ally not the person to have sent the e-mail. This can be due to telnetting the SMTP server directly, sharing the e-mail passwords. This threat can be solved by using the concept of public key certificate, with the usage of public key and private key pair, with public key certificate from a certification au-thority (CA). We should also not allow direct telnetting to the e-mail server and restrict the common password for

individual e-mail accounts.

Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 depict the problem of di-rect telnetting to the e-mail server and sending an e-mail, lacking data origin au-thentication. In Fig. 4, we are tel-netting to an IP address (of the e-mail server) on port 25, which is the default port for SMTP. When writing mail from :< >, we have written impersonator@ipaddress and sent to alice@ip-address. Whilst retrieval of the

e-mail, as shown in Fig. 5, we have telnetted to an IP address (of the e-mail server) on port 110 for the same. When logging on to Alices e-mail inbox, we see the mail to have arrived from im-personator@ipaddress. One important point to remember is that we have taken the example as impersonator@ip-address. This address can be replaced with any other e-mail ID and can cre-ate lots of problems.

4. Lack of non-repudiation. This threat arises when the receiver cannot trust the contents sent. There is also mistrust that the sender can deny hav-ing sent the e-mail.

5. Lack of notification of receipt. Similar to the above situation, there is a threat in which the sender can have a mistrust whether the receiver has received the e-mail or not. The message which was marked as sent may not have been sent.

The last two threats can be re-moved by the usage of digital sig-natures. A digital signature is an electronic means of authenticating an online identity. Along with the authentication, it takes care of the

non-repudiation and ensures that an actual sender has sent the e-mail and the authentic receiver has received the e-mail. Digital signature is cre-ated when we encrypt the hash of the e-mail message with private key of the sender.

To add to this, we can make this scheme more powerful by encrypt-ing the hash of the e-mail message with the private key of the sender and then again encrypting the result with the public key of the recipient. This ensures that only the receiver is able to read the e-mail and also makes it clear that only the sender has sent the e-mail. This scheme is also known as bidirectional hashing. A fully-secure e-mail can be sent by using the com-bination of hashing, encryption and digital signature. This scheme is shown in Fig. 6.

Threats to an organisation that arisse due to an e-mail. These threats mainly include:

1. Disclosure of sensitive information. As we know, disclosure of informa-tion can be done quickly by e-mail compared to paper-based mail. The information can be quite sensitive/strategic or of proprietary nature. We do not want to get into the disclosure, whether the disclosure was deliber-ate (and malicious) or unintentional. Whatsoever it was, disclosure has happened. At the same time, we also have to take into account the fact that disclosure may be internal or external. By external we mean that an e-mail can cross the LAN limit into the In-ternet world. Such disclosures can lead to loss of information and can even cause loss of reputation of an organisation.

2. Exposure of systems to malicious code. E-mail is the main vector by which computer viruses spread. Self-replicating code embedded in e-mail exploits features/vulnerabilities of the e-mail client. Such vulnerabilities mainly include VBScript, JavaScript in HTML-formatted e-mail and exe at-tachments of dancing pigs.

3. Exposure to denial of service attacks. Denial of service (DoS) is an attack

Fig. 4: Problem of direct telnetting to the e-mail server and sending an e-mail

Fig. 5: Spoofed e-mail sent, being viewed


Technology: telecom

With no need for new wiring or major infrastructure deployment, free-space optical communication creates an alternative high-speed solution that has the potential to become an effective means for last-mile delivery of telecom services. let us have a look on this

Fourth-Generation Free-Space Optics

DR RAJIV KUMAR SINGH

Security is for the most part non-existent on these connections and is dependent upon preventing physical access to the cabling. But if such high-speed connectivity could be served through some other viable telecom-munication technology, there would be no need to build a new infrastructure for last-mile access. This is possible through free-space optics (FSO) tech-nology.

What is free-space optics Free-space optics is a high-bandwidth cost-effective solution to the last-mile problem. It is a wireless, point-to-point (PTP), fibreless, laser-driven and line-of-sight optical communication tech-nology that uses invisible light propa-gating in free space to transmit infor-mation. FSO can transmit data, voice and video simultaneously through the air at speeds capable of reaching 1.25Gbps at a distance of 6.4 km (four miles) in full-duplex modeenabling fibre-optic connectivity without requir-ing a physical fibre-optic cable.

FSO was originally developed by US military and NASA, and is cur-rently being used for more than three decades in various forms to provide fast communication links. With the technological advancement in opti-

Despite the availability of high-speed telecommunication fa-cilities in the neighbourhood of last-mile locations such as business centres, offices and homes, there are still some technological constraints that hinder high-bandwidth availability. Moreover, wide area network (WAN) between major cities is fibre based and extremely fast (>2.5Gbps). Local area network (LAN) in buildings is also fast (>100Mbps). Most of these businesses run high-speed data networks within their buildings, such as fast Ethernet (100Mbps) or gigabit Ethernet (1Gbps). But the connections in between access networks are typically a lot slower (64kbps-14Mbps), whether they are wired or wireless (Fig. 1).

Wireless access network has its constraints such as electromagnetic in-terference (EMI)/electromagnetic com-patibility (EMC) problems, atmospheric attenuation, hazardous electromagnetic radiation and limited throughput, scar-city of frequency spectrum availability.

Wire-line connections using copper linessuch as xDSL (digital subscriber line) (8Mbps), T-1 (1.544Mbps), E1 (2Mbps) and cable modem (5Mbps shared)have speed and/or reach limitations. Although fibre-optic solu-tionfor example, synchronous trans-port module, say (STM1) (155.52Mbps), S T M 4 ( 6 2 2 . 0 8 M b p s ) , S T M 1 6 (2588.32Mbps), STM64 (9953.28Mbps)could be a very attractive option for providing high-speed connectivity, till date only five per cent buildings are lit up with fibre-optics due to huge cost and time involved in taking permission, digging, trenching and laying these ca-bles under existing streets, sidewalks, lawns, buildings, etc.

cal technology, tracking mechanism, implementation of dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) kind of technologies, fourth-generation FSO systems capable of offering speeds up to 10Gbps are expected to hit the markets.

How it works FSO is a line-of-sight technology that uses a pair of FSO units consisting of an optical transceiver with a laser (trans-mitter) and a photo detector (receiver) to provide full-duplex (bi-directional) capability between two p

Documents

Electronics for You - February 2014 In