Full System Integration Research Articles

Commercialization of Ceres SteelCell® Technology for Power Generation and Electrolysis

Ceres’ unique metal supported SOC technology is increasingly establishing itself as the global standard for SOC, combining robustness, efficiency and low manufacturing cost. The technology is rapidly moving from demonstration to true volume production, with Robert Bosch GmbH in Germany and Doosan Fuel Cell in South Korea both having licenses to manufacture Ceres SteelCell® cells and stacks at the hundreds of MW per year scale with factories under construction. Ceres currently have manufacturing plants making MW of stacks per year. Ceres SteelCell® technology has a wide range of applications in the power generation sector, with applications ranging from small scale <10kWe combined heat and power (CHP) systems to systems in the 100s of kW to MW range. An increasing area of interest for the application of SteelCell® technology is in the difficult-to-decarbonize marine sector, where the ability to operate efficiently on a range of fuels with much lower carbon emissions than the heavy diesel normally used for shipping. These include liquefied natural gas (LNG), methanol and liquid ammonia, as well as hydrogen. This is also driving development of higher-power systems in the MW range.An exciting new development is the application of Ceres SteelCell® technology to steam electrolysis. The inherent advantages of Ceres SteelCell® in terms of mechanical robustness, REDOX stability, low production cost and low-cost balance of plant are also applicable to electrolysis applications. In addition, there are potential thermodynamic advantages for integration of high temperature electrolysis with other industrial processes to utilize waste heat stemming from the lower temperature of operation of Ceres SteelCell® technology relative to competing SOC technologies as lower-grade heat is required. To demonstrate the capability of Ceres SteelCell® for electrolysis Ceres is developing a 1MWe-class steam electrolyzer demonstrator using a modular architecture of multiple smaller electrolysis cell modules (ECMs) which can operate standalone. Testing and validation of ECMs is currently ongoing prior to full system integration. These ECMs are built into a standard 40ft shipping container to form the complete system.Ceres has recently signed an agreement with Shell to operate one of these 1MW-class systems at Shell’s R&D center in Bangalore, India running for 3 years from 2023. In addition to gaining valuable experience in plant operation the hydrogen generated will be used for industrial processes on the site.

Design of robust and low‐loss 3‐D printed double‐ridged waveguide to microstrip transition

In this paper, we present a new microstrip to waveguide transition design for interfacing printed circuit board (PCB) microstrip transmission lines with 3-D printed metallised-plastic waveguide components. Compared with traditional metal waveguides, interfacing with plastic-based waveguides are challenging due to thermal and mechanical constraints. Despite the development of 3-D printing technology, the precision of 3-D printed waveguides is not as good as the machined metal counterparts. This is critical for microwave components and must be considered in the design process. To minimise the effect of non-ideal waveguide components, a design methodology minimising sensitivity to geometrical variations in the 3-D printed parts is proposed. By sandwiching the PCB between two waveguide sections and optimising the waveguide impedance transformation geometry, the design shows very low insertion loss. It is mechanically robust, cost effective and simple to manufacture. In full system integration, this transition design eliminates the need for expensive microwave cabling and connectors by directly mounting the waveguide to the microwave transceiver PCB. The proof-of-concept transition structure presented in this paper is suitable for microwave applications where low cost and low weight are critical, for example, drone-based radars for remote sensing and space-born satellites. The fabricated structure is characterised using two sets of waveguide components manufactured with different 3-D printing technology and metallisation process': conductive spray painted Fused Deposition Modelling—Polylactic Acid (PLA Painted) and copper electroplated Stereolithography (SLA Plated). Scattering parameters for both types are measured in a short and back-to-back configuration, obtaining the reflection coefficient and insertion loss. Measurements indicate good agreement with modelling and measured performance exceeding prior art. The measured operation band of the Copper-SLA version is 2.9–7.2 GHz with <−10 dB reflection coefficient (S11) and with an insertion loss (S21) of <0.7 dB. With the reduced metallisation and surface quality of the Spray-PLA model, the band is shifted to 3.0–8.0 GHz with an increased S21 of <1.8 dB. The results demonstrate the importance of adopting new transition structures for 3-D printed microwave components where the surface roughness, metallisation quality, and mechanical properties are less optimal. By combining the proposed design with 3-D printed metallised microwave components, very light weight and cost-effective antenna systems can be implemented. Radiation measurements of a 3-D printed double ridge horn antenna connected to the waveguide and used as a feed are also presented, where the operation band is measured to 3–10 GHz with a gain of 5–10 dBi.

A New Hyperloop Transportation System: Design and Practical Integration

This paper introduces a new Hyperloop transportation system’s design and implementation. The main contribution of this paper is the design and integration of propulsion components for a linear motion system, with battery storage. The proposed Hyperloop design provides a high-speed transportation means for passengers and freights by utilizing linear synchronous motors. In this study, a three-phase inverter was designed and simulated using PSIM. A prototype of this design was built and integrated with a linear synchronous motor. The operation of full system integration satisfies a proof-of-concept design. A study of the inverter system in conjunction with a linear synchronous motor for a ridged Hyperloop system is made. The prototype of this system achieves propulsion for the bidirectional movements. Battery state of charge simulation results are given in a typical motoring and braking scenario.

Hemispherical InfraRed (IR) Marker for Reliable Detection for Autonomous Landing on a Moving Ground Vehicle From Various Altitude Angles

Autonomous landing of a quadrotor aerial vehicle on a mobile ground vehicle is a key function required for heterogeneous cooperation between air and ground vehicles to extend mission range. Wide angle detection and localization of mobile landing spot can improve reliability and convenience in autonomous landing processes. In this study, we present a hemispherical InfraRed (IR) marker designed and built for reliable detection and autonomous landing from various altitude angles. IR light has higher transmittance and the hemispherical design provides wide angle radiation. We present the fabrication process of the hemispherical marker from a planar flexible film, followed by full system integration on the ground vehicle. The relatively compact (radius: 2.25 cm, height: 2.3 cm) marker is detectable from wide altitude angles (0–180°) and detectable even when covered by thin foreign objects such as fallen leaves or plastic bags. Outdoor experiments with full system integrating autonomous air and ground vehicles demonstrated the feasibility of this approach to autonomous landing for heterogeneous cooperation.

Bending reliability of screen-printed vias for a flexible energy module

The future of printed electronics involves advancements not only related to full system integration, but also lean process manufacturing. A critical aspect of this progress is developed in this study, which evaluates a highly flexible screen printed through-hole-via using silver microparticle inks, for applications in energy harvesting and storage modules. The printed vias’ fabrication and durability are evaluated by means of a double sided screen-printing method and repetitive (cyclic) bending tests. Vias, through 125-µm-thick PET foil, were laser cut (nominally 50, 100, 150, and 200 µm diameters) then filled, and simultaneously connected to adjacent vias by screen printing. To investigate the use of the printed via in a monolithic energy module, the vias were used for the fabrication of a flexible printed supercapacitor containing aqueous electrolyte and carbon electrodes. The results indicate that the lower viscosity silver ink (DuPont 5064H) fills the via less effectively than the higher viscosity ink (Asahi LS411AW), and as the via size increases (≥150 µm diameter) via walls are coated rather than filled. Conversely, the more viscous ink fills the via thoroughly and exhibited a 100% yield (1010 vias; 100 µm nominal via diameter) with the two-step direct screen-printing method. The 10-mm radius bending test showed no signs of via specific breakdown after 30,000 cycles. The results indicate that this via filling process is likely roll-to-roll compatible to enable multi-layered printed electronic devices.

Transactive Demand Response Operation at the Grid Edge using the IEEE 2030.5 Standard

Abstract This paper presents a transactive demand response (TDR) scheme for a network of residential customers with generation assets that emphasizes interoperability within a transactive energy architecture. A complete laboratory-based implementation provides the first (to our knowledge) realization of a comprehensive TDR use case that is fully compliant with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2030.5 standard, which addresses interoperability within a cybersecure smart energy profile (SEP) context. Verification is provided by a full system integration with commercial hardware using Internet Protocol (IP)-based (local area network (LAN) and Wi-Fi) communication protocols and transport layer security (TLS) 1.2 cryptographic protocol, and validation is provided by emulation using extensive residential smart meter data. The demand response (DR) scheme is designed to accommodate privacy concerns, allows customers to select their DR compliance level, and provides incentives to maximize their participation. The proposed TDR scheme addresses privacy through the implementation of the SEP 2.0 messaging protocol between a transactive agent (TA) and home energy management system (HEMS) agents. Customer response is handled by a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) fuzzy controller that manages negotiation between the customer agent and the TA. We take a multi-agent system approach to neighborhood coordination, with the TA servicing multiple residences on a common transformer, and use a reward mechanism to maximize customer engagement during the event-based optimization. Based on a set of smart meter data acquired over an extended time period, we engage in multiple TDR scenarios, and demonstrate with a fully-functional IEEE 2030.5-compliant implementation that our scheme can reduce network peak power consumption by 22% under realistic conditions.

Real-time monitoring of tailings dams

ABSTRACT Real-time monitoring can improve the performance assessment of tailings dams by reducing the laborious component of data collection while streamlining the analysis process. When planning and installing instrumentation, the challenge exists where if nothing goes wrong, the question is asked whether too much instrumentation is installed, where on the other hand if a failure occurs, the question is asked as to why more investment was not made to prevent it from occurring. This paper identifies the monitoring system requirements, assesses the cost of historical tailings dam failures (Mt Polley and Fundão), assesses the cost of a real-time monitoring system to suit the instrumentation that was in place at time of failure of those dams (including standpipe and vibrating wire piezometers, digital inclinometers, and flow meters), and suggests ways to extract more value from individual instruments to full monitoring system integration.

OpenSHC: A Versatile Multilegged Robot Controller

Multilegged robots have the ability to perform stable locomotion on relatively rough terrain. However, the complexity of legged robots over wheeled or tracked robots make them difficult to control. This paper presents OpenSHC (Open-source Syropod High-level Controller), a versatile high-level controller capable of generating gaits and poses for quasi-static multilegged robots, both simulated and with real hardware implementations. With full Robot Operating System (ROS) integration, the controller can be quickly deployed on robots with different actuators and sensor payloads. The flexibility of OpenSHC is demonstrated on the 30 degrees of freedom hexapod Bullet, analysing the energetic performance of various leg configurations, kinematic arrangements and gaits over different locomotion speeds. With OpenSHC being easily configured to different physical and locomotion specifications, a hardware-based parameter space search for optimal locomotion parameters is conducted. The experimental evaluation shows that the mammalian configuration offers lower power consumption across a range of step frequencies; with the insectoid configuration providing performance advantages at higher body velocities and increased stability at low step frequencies. OpenSHC is open-source and able to be configured for various number of joints and legs.

Real-Time Deep Learning at the Edge for Scalable Reliability Modeling of Si-MOSFET Power Electronics Converters

With the significant growth of advanced high-frequency power converters, online monitoring and active reliability assessment of power electronic devices are extremely crucial. This paper presents a transformative approach, named deep learning reliability awareness of converters at the edge (Deep RACE), for real-time reliability modeling and prediction of high-frequency MOSFET power electronic converters. Deep RACE offers a holistic solution which comprises algorithm advances, and full system integration (from the cloud down to the edge node) to create a near real-time reliability awareness. On the algorithm side, this paper proposes a deep learning algorithmic solution based on stacked long short-term memory for collective reliability training and inference across collective MOSFET converters based on device resistance changes. Deep RACE also proposes an integrative edge-to-cloud solution to offer a scalable decentralized devices-specific reliability monitoring, awareness, and modeling. The MOSFET convertors are Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices which have been empowered with edge real-time deep learning processing capabilities. The proposed Deep RACE solution has been prototyped and implemented through learning from MOSFET data set provided by NASA. Our experimental results show an average miss prediction of 8.9% over five different devices which is a much higher accuracy compared to well-known classical approaches (Kalman filter and particle filter). Deep RACE only requires 26-ms processing time and 1.87-W computing power on edge IoT device.

Programmable optical processor chips: toward photonic RF filters with DSP-level flexibility and MHz-band selectivity

AbstractIntegrated optical signal processors have been identified as a powerful engine for optical processing of microwave signals. They enable wideband and stable signal processing operations on miniaturized chips with ultimate control precision. As a promising application, such processors enables photonic implementations of reconfigurable radio frequency (RF) filters with wide design flexibility, large bandwidth, and high-frequency selectivity. This is a key technology for photonic-assisted RF front ends that opens a path to overcoming the bandwidth limitation of current digital electronics. Here, the recent progress of integrated optical signal processors for implementing such RF filters is reviewed. We highlight the use of a low-loss, high-index-contrast stoichiometric silicon nitride waveguide which promises to serve as a practical material platform for realizing high-performance optical signal processors and points toward photonic RF filters with digital signal processing (DSP)-level flexibility, hundreds-GHz bandwidth, MHz-band frequency selectivity, and full system integration on a chip scale.

Highly granular calorimeters: technologies and results

The CALICE collaboration is developing highly granular calorimeters for experiments at a future lepton collider primarily to establish technologies for particle flow event reconstruction. These technologies also find applications elsewhere, such as detector upgrades for the LHC. Meanwhile, the large data sets collected in an extensive series of beam tests have enabled detailed studies of the properties of hadronic showers in calorimeter systems, resulting in improved simulation models and development of sophisticated reconstruction techniques. In this proceeding, highlights are included from studies of the structure of hadronic showers and results on reconstruction techniques for imaging calorimetry. In addition, current R&D activities within CALICE are summarized, focusing on technological prototypes that address challenges from full detector system integration and production techniques amenable to mass production for electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters based on silicon, scintillator, and gas techniques.

Microblower-based microfluidic pump

This paper reports on a highly economical and accessible microfluidic pump using a piezoelectric air microblower for the controlled pumping of small-volume fluids into microfluidic chips. The present pump exerts high-accuracy control over the driving pressure to deliver fluids into and flexibly alter their flow rate inside microfluidic channels with a fast response at the millisecond scale and high pumping pressure stability. We have demonstrated the applications of this pump to shift the fluidic interface between laminar flows across a microfluidic channel, produce microdroplets with controllable sizes and chemical ingredients, and generate a discrete concentration gradient when incorporating a microfluidic concentration generator. Owing to its easy assembly and low cost, the microfluidic pump can provide a highly accessible and inexpensive solution to pumping and manipulating liquids in microfluidic devices for many chemical and biological studies, and will be particularly suitable for applications requiring full system integration and flow rate control automation within a limited space and financial budget.

A High-Speed Camera-Based Approach to Massive Sound Sensing With Optical Wireless Acoustic Sensors

This paper introduces an optical wireless audio system, which takes advantage of the parallel transmission feature offered by the arrangement of LEDs and a high-speed video camera. The motivation for building such system is the limitation encountered when deploying huge arrays of sound sensors, as existent wired and RF wireless microphones are undermined by complexity, energy, and bandwidth issues. In contrast, the proposed prototype is able to simultaneously capture 120 audio channels with full bandwidth each. Although the scalability to more channels is currently constrained by the camera interface hardware, our numerical analysis suggests that the proposed algorithms can decode optical signals of over 12 500 audio channels in a single GPU card. We discuss the various challenges involved in its deployment from the optical, image, and audio signal processing standpoints, and develop theoretical and practical solutions to accomplish a full real-time system integration. We further present examples of typical applications such as acoustic imaging of sound fields by beamforming with microphone arrays.

A Low-Power Low-Cost 24 GHz RFID Tag With a C-Flash Based Embedded Memory

The key factor in widespread adoption of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is cost minimization. This paper presents the first low-cost, ultra-low power, passive RFID tag, fully integrated on a single substrate in a standard CMOS process. The system combines a 24 GHz, dual on-chip antenna, RF front-end, and a C-Flash based, rewritable, non-volatile memory module to achieve full on-chip system integration. The complete system was designed and fabricated in the TowerJazz 0.18 mu m CMOS technology without any additional mask adders. By embedding the RF, memory, and digital components together upon a single substrate in a standard digital process, the low-cost aspirations of the 5-cent RFID tag become feasible. Design considerations, analysis, circuit implementations, and measurement results are presented. The entire system was fabricated on a 3.6 mm x 1.6 mm (6.9 mm(2)) die with the integrated antennas comprising 82% of the silicon area. The total read power was measured to be 13.2 mu W, which is sufficiently supplied by the on-chip energy harvesting unit.

Real-time control for long ohmic alternate current discharges

The ISTTOK tokamak has a long tradition on alternate plasma current (AC) discharges, but the old control system was limiting and lacked full system integration. In order to improve the AC discharges performance the ISTTOK fast control system was updated. This control system developed on site based on the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) standard now integrates the information gathered by all the tokamak real-time diagnostics to produce an accurate observation of the plasma parameters. The real-time actuators were also integrated, allowing a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) control environment with several synchronization strategies available.The control system software was developed in C++ on top of a Linux system with the Multi-threaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) Framework to synchronize the real-time code execution under a 100μs control cycle. In addition, to simplify the discharge programming, a visual Human–Machine Interface (HMI) was also developed using the BaseLib2 libraries included in the MARTe Framework.This paper presents the ISTTOK control system and the optimizations that extended the AC current discharges duration to more than 1s, corresponding to 40 semi-cycles without apparent degradation of the plasma parameters. This upgrade allows ISTTOK to be used as a low-cost material testing facility with long time exposures to nuclear fusion relevant plasmas, comparable (in duration) with medium size tokamaks.

A Fully Integrated Hall Sensor Microsystem for Contactless Current Measurement

Contactless current measurement based on Hall-effect sensors can be performed in either closed- or open-loop configuration. In this paper an open-loop sensor system with a current-mode output is described. The system measures the magnetic field induced around the current path targeting high linearity, accuracy, and speed. As the accuracy of the Hall sensor microsystem is affected by temperature-dependent offset and sensitivity of the sensing element, system-level solutions are developed to minimize these effects. The full system integration represents a design challenge as both voltage and current references are directly involved in the sensitivity calibration and both contribute to the system sensitivity drift. The measurements show a sensitivity drift lower than 80 ${\rm ppm}/^{\circ}{\rm C}$ , the offset drifts less than 300 ${\rm nT}/^{\circ}{\rm C}$ and the nonlinearity is less than ${\pm}{0.08\%}$ . The effects of the varying external field on the calibration loop are analyzed and the theoretical prediction is validated by measurement.

DECam Integration Tests on Telescope Simulator

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is a next generation optical survey aimed at measuring the expansion history of the universe using four probes: weak gravitational lensing, galaxy cluster counts, baryon acoustic oscillations, and Type Ia supernovae. To perform the survey, the DES Collaboration is building the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a 3 square degree, 570 Megapixel CCD camera which will be mounted at the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory. DES will survey 5000 square degrees of the southern galactic cap in 5 filters (g, r, i, z, Y). DECam will be comprised of 74 250 micron thick fully depleted CCDs: 62 2k x 4k CCDs for imaging and 12 2k x 2k CCDs for guiding and focus. Construction of DECam is nearing completion. In order to verify that the camera meets technical specifications for DES and to reduce the time required to commission the instrument, we have constructed a full sized telescope simulator and performed full system testing and integration prior to shipping. To complete this comprehensive test phase we have simulated a DES observing run in which we have collected 4 nights worth of data. We report on the results of these unique tests performed for the DECam and its impact on the experiments progress.

High-Speed Data-Injection for Data-Flow Verification at LHCb

The High Level Trigger (HLT) and Data Acquisition System select about 2 kHz of events out of the 40 MHz of beam crossings. The selected events are consolidated into files in onsite storage and then sent to permanent storage for subsequent analysis on the Grid. For local and full-chain tests a method to exercise the data-flow through the High Level Trigger is needed in the absence of real data. In order to test the system as much as possible under identical conditions as for data-taking, the solution would be to inject data at the input of the HLT at a minimum rate of 2 kHz. This is done via a software implementation of the trigger system which sends data to the HLT. The application has to simulate that the data it sends come from real LHCb readout-boards. Data can come from several input streams, which are selected according to probabilities or frequencies. Therefore the emulator offers runs which are not only identical data-flows coming from a sequence on tape, but physics-like pseudo-indeterministic data-flow, including lumi events and candidate b-quark events. Both simulation data and previously recorded real data can be re-played through the system in this manner. As the data rate is high (100 MB/s), care has been taken to optimize the emulator for throughput from the Storage Area Network. The emulator can be run in stand-alone mode, but even more interesting is that it can emulate any partition of LHCb in parallel with the real hardware partition. In this mode it is fully integrated into the standard run-control. The architecture, implementation, and performance results of the emulator and full tests will be presented. This emulator is a crucial part of the ongoing data-challenges in LHCb. Results from these Full System Integration Tests (FEST) will be presented, which helped to verify and benchmark the entire LHCb data-flow.

Integration of one-dimensional nanostructures with microsystems: an overview

<title/>The current state of solutions provided for the issue of integration between micro- and nanoscales is reviewed for the specific case of nanowires and nanotubes. Such structures serve as field emitters, transistors or laser sources, digits for manipulation and handling, as sensing elements or as agents for the modification of surface properties such as the adhesive strength. However, it is noteworthy that the majority of reported device work remains confined to component level prototype development without the prospect of full scale system integration due to the lack of batch compatible fabrication and processing techniques. On the one hand, nanostructures made by self-assembly do not possess a high level of control on their orientation and numbers, and hence, their interfacing and integration with a microsystem pose difficulties. On the other hand, top-down approaches such as manipulation, serial deposition and high resolution lithographic techniques do not satisfy the needs of large scale fabrication due to their expensive and/or non-parallel working principles. These techniques along with hybrid approaches taking advantage of the structural control of self-assembly and geometric control of high resolution lithography will be discussed and major applications will be highlighted to shed light on the capabilities and limitations associated with each process.

Microwave De-/Anti-Icing Using the Midas-Technology

For aviation, a suitable alternative for currently used in-flight anti-/de-icing technologies for today’s aircrafts with metal structures and future aircrafts with replaced composite structures is necessary. Intense investigations performed at FZK have been together in collaboration with aircraft manufacturers to design and develop a new avionic microwave technology for monolithic composite structures.The full system integration has been evaluated for several airplanes considering the structural and efficiency demands. The concept of this MIDAS (Microwave Deicing Anti-icing System) technology as well their recent results will be presented. A full system integration has been tested and is visualized in the paper.