Relay Array Research Articles

Extending Dynamic Blind Interaction: Microgap Discharge-Induced Flexible Virtual Electrotactile Braille.

Braille is an essential implement for the blind to communicate with outside, but traditional Braille is limited to a paper-based format that cannot directly provide real-time word information. In this work, a flexible virtual electrotactile Braille is proposed that can benefit the blind from blocked interaction. The Braille interface, S-shaped wires and a sphere electrode with a textile fingerstall integrated by silicone, offers flexibility and simultaneously generates the microgap through textile cracks, which achieves virtual electrotactile sensation by electrostatic discharge. Powered by a high-voltage triboelectric generator of 10.2 kV designed through the charge accumulation and induction strategy, the electrotactile stimulation is realized with a microgap discharge of only 40 μA current induced on the finger. A dynamic electrotactile Braille is finally assembled, controlled by a programmable relay array. The strategies of short circuit and voice reminder are employed, so that the recognition of dynamic Braille letters is realized with spatiotemporal electrotactile stimulation and high recognition accuracy. This virtual electrotactile Braille brings convenience for the blind to access the information world and illustrates its applications to promote virtual electrotactility in this special community.

A 28-GHz, Multi-Beam, Decentralized Relay Array

Multi-beam relays can be used to overcome the non-line-of-sight (NLOS) issues in millimeter-wave (mm-wave) communication networks that serve many users in an obstruction-rich environment. We demonstrate a modular multi-beam relay array at 28 GHz, which is scalable and fully decentralized. The individual branches of the array are independent and do not need to share a timing reference or be physically located on the same substrate. Multi-beam capability is facilitated by a multi-channel baseband signal conditioning chain that includes a reconfigurable, passive, inductorless, 3rd-order <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$</tex-math> </inline-formula> -path filter with programmable frequency-independent phase shift. This baseband signal conditioning chain enables beams concurrently multiplexed in spatial and frequency domains. We present the theory, design, and operation of the custom RFIC, which enables independent multi-beam relaying. Multiple RFICs are used to create relay arrays. A four-element relay array demonstrates three independently steered beams that utilize the full array aperture with a total wireless throughput of 625 Mb/s.

Proof-of-concept of a mattress based power harvesting system architecture suitable for wireless physiological monitoring systems.

This work investigates the feasibility of having a mattress based wireless power transfer system with transfer efficiency such that the received power could potentially be enough to fully power up wearable systems intended to provide some level of continuous physiological monitoring; hence eliminating the need for users to ever have to recharge the systems. The novel architecture proposed in this work, to optimise power transfer efficiency against angular misalignment typical of non-static use is based on a non-coupling coil structure combined with a magnetic beamforming scheme. The coil system also incorporates a non-coupling relay array to overcome the significant loss in power transfer efficiency associated to increasing distances between transmitters and receivers. The system is proven to be able to deliver around 11.8mW of power in the worst-case scenario, with a receiver 25cm above the transmitters, whilst meeting the safety requirements associated to electromagnetic exposure to the human body.

Development of sliding contact resistance testing equipment for carbon brush confluence ring

A carbon brush and a confluence ring form a pair of sliding electrical contacts. To reduce the contact resistance between the carbon brush and the confluence ring, the time for the running-in wear of the carbon brush increased during the machining process to increase the actual contact area. As a result, the welding and ablation failure between the carbon brush and the confluence ring happened under the impact of high current during service. To explore the effect of carbon brush wear on sliding electrical contact performance, it is necessary to monitor the dynamic contact resistance of the carbon brush and the confluence ring. In this paper, a set of 8-channel contact resistance testing equipment is developed. The device uses a relay array to achieve 1-8 channel gating and uses a data acquisition card to detect the contact resistance of each carbon brush and confluence ring pair combining with a four-point method. Based on the Labview software, it realizes the selection of acquisition channels, data acquisition card driving, real-time data processing, displaying, and storage. The range of contact resistance that this set of equipment can detect is 10mΩ ∼2Ω, and the accuracy can reach 1% of the full scale. Finally, the simulation experiments show that the testing equipment meets the technical requirements, and the continuous test runs stably and reliably. It can be used for the testing and research of the sliding contact resistance between the carbon brush and the confluence ring during the running-in wear process.

Nature of the Eastern Boundary of the Mesozoic Ordos Basin and the Formation of the Lüliangshan Anticline

The Mesozoic to Cenozoic intraplate deformation of the North China Craton (NCC) is an intriguing phenomenon that led to different evolutions of the Ordos Basin and the eastern part of the NCC. Located in the central part of the NCC, the Lüliangshan is regarded as a boundary between the Ordos Basin and the eastern NCC, but the exact location of this boundary is still debated. Our field investigations suggest that the Lüliangshan anticline is a classical Mesozoic basement-involved anticline. The Lishi fault on the west of the southern part of the Lüliangshan anticline is argued to be a large fault and the east boundary of the Ordos Basin. However, our investigations show that it is not a continuous single fault but a deformation zone composed of several segments without connection along the strike. In front of the western Lüliangshan, this tectonic zone is a top-to-the-west breakthrough thrust placing the western Lüliangshan basement-involved anticline in the hanging wall with limited displacement. Field investigations show that the traditional view of the northern segment of the Lishi fault as a boundary between blocks is not clear. With a similar deformation style, the southern Lishi fault passes Lishi City, extends northeastward, connects to the Ximafang fault, and then extends to link with the Kouquan fault as the west boundary of the Datong Basin. All these faults show a map pattern of relay array. The eastern margin of the Ordos Basin was deformed by a series of thrusts that controlled the basement-involved folds. The Lüliangshan anticline and its boundary faults were formed in the Late Jurassic, and the driving force of the intraplate deformation is inferred to the westward low-angle subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate from the east.

Cone-in-cone and beef mineralization associated with Triassic growth basin faulting and shallow shale diagenesis, Edgeøya, Svalbard

AbstractCone-in-cone (CIC) and beef (BF) carbonate lenses ornament detachment zone faults underlying Triassic growth basins on Edgeøya. Field relationships place CIC and BF growth as during early diagenesis and a transition from hydroplastic to a later brittle-style of faulting that is marked by coarser calcite veining. Deformation is constrained to have occurred at &lt;300 m depth. Multiple models exist for CIC formation. For the Edgeøya example, textural analysis of thin-sections suggests that small tensile fractures and carbonate shell fragments nucleated development of calcite aggregates with CIC and BF morphology within unconsolidated to poorly consolidated sediment to form asymmetric antitaxial tensile aggregates subparallel to bedding and fault surfaces. The conical forms result from differential growth on stepped, cleavage-parallel faces of fibres facing host sediment, with preferential inclusion incorporation at inner corners. The preferred directions of calcite growth are attributed to local stresses and seepage flow associated with pore pressure gradients. Substantial framboidal pyrite in the sediments represents an early phase of microbially driven sulphate reduction, which may have induced calcite mineralization. The transition to brittle-style faulting was marked by development of deformation twins in CIC/BF fibres, and a transition to coarse, blocky calcite growth in relay arrays of steeply oriented microveins. This indicates local fault-related stresses substantially changed during shallow diagenesis and lithification, an evolution attributed to changing pore pressures, seepage forces and material moduli. Calcite mineralizations at Edgeøya track the very significant changes in mechanical properties and stress states that occur during synlithification deformation at very shallow crustal levels.

Electrostatically actuated MEMS relay arrays for high-power applications

Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) relays should have high current-carrying capability and high device reliability for high-power applications. The current-carrying capability of MEMS relays is mainly limited by the thickness of metal contacts fabricated by micromachining process. Another significant limiting factor is the high contact resistance resulted from the low driving force, which is provided by microactuators. This paper presents a matrix configuration of electrostatically actuated microcantilever relay arrays that are connected in parallel to shunt high currents to individual relay elements. This method allows the matrix to be configured for different power requirements. The proposed novel hollow suspended spring lowers the driving voltage and enhances the device stability considerably because of its low longitudinal stiffness while high lateral stiffness. The average of pull-in voltages is approximately 39.4 V and the overdamped switching-on time is approximately 180 μs when 42 V of driving voltage is applied. Contact resistance of each relay is less than 1 Ω, and the equivalent contact resistance of the 2 × 2 relay arrays is lower than 250 mΩ. Each relay can operate in over 6.5 × 103 hot-switching cycles without failing at a current of 20 mA with 0.3 μm thick Au contacts, thus the 2 × 2 relay arrays can carry four times currents more than one single relay. Therefore, the proposed MEMS relay arrays are suitable for applications in high-power switching systems that require high reliability and stability, such as space applications.

Development of Detecting System of Fighter Electrical Boxes

Traditional fighter electrical boxes detection system can not be efficient and accurate implementation in detecting electrical boxes, in order to achieve accurate detection of the electrical box, this paper had designed a detection device consists of upper machine and lower machine system. The system is based on the C8051F120 single chip microcomputer as the core. It is controlled by a machine on and off of the FPGA to drive the relay array to detect the safety status of electric box, through the communication between upper machine and lower machine to display the measurement results. The integrated test system can detect various fighter electrical control boxes, which overcomes the shortcoming of a test equipment in the past can only test a class of products, improves test accuracy and efficiency.

The Design of a Rubik's Cube Robot

This paper depicts the system design of a robot that can recover the disrupted Rubiks Cube automatically. The robot is a typical mechatronics system consisted of the mechanical structure and the electrical system. The recovery procedures of the Rubiks Cube are shown as follows. Firstly, the color recognition of each face of the Rubiks Cube is conducted with an industrial CCD camera. Then the embedded recovery algorithm is called, and the recovery steps are achieved. Finally, the pneumatic manipulators are driven by the pressurized air controllable via an electrical relay array, the Rubiks Cube is recovered step by step following the recovery sequences. The Rubiks Cube robots have been exhibited in several science museums in China, they are well welcomed by the audiences.

Typical behavior of relays in communication channels

The typical behavior of the relay-without-delay channel under low-density parity-check coding and its multiple-unit generalization, termed the relay array, is studied using methods of statistical mechanics. A demodulate-and-forward strategy is analytically solved using the replica symmetric ansatz which is exact in the system studied at Nishimori's temperature. In particular, the typical level of improvement in communication performance by relaying messages is shown in the case of a small and a large number of relay units.

Performance and Scalability of MJ Sequentially Fired Pulse Forming Networks for Linear and Nonlinear Loads

The principal advantages of the sequentially fired pulse forming network (SFPFN) over its passive analog are its utility in both linear and nonlinear load applications. Operation of the SFPFN consists of charging multiple capacitor banks to different voltage levels and sequentially firing these banks into the load at appropriate times. The load characteristics and the desired pulse attributes determine the module charge voltage and sequential firing schedule. This paper describes the pulsed power system and computer control system design of a 750-kJ SFPFN. Typical experimental results in the case of a linear load are presented and compared with simulations, and pulse-shaping capabilities are demonstrated. Scaling considerations are discussed in the case of increasing the SFPFN energy capacity to 7.5 MJ. The SFPFN uses a computer-controlled field programmable gate array to initiate the trigger signal for each module's output switch. The use of a computer-controlled firing circuit provides an opportunity to incorporate real-time load monitoring and feedback to select the optimal firing times and durations based on dynamic load conditions. The incorporation of feedback during a pulse sequence also allows for the firing sequence to be halted in the event of a fault or other potentially harmful event. The charging controller features a computer monitoring and control system to allow a single power supply to charge multiple capacitor modules by an array of switching relays, even though each module may be charged to a different voltage. In linear load testing, the SFPFN provided a relatively constant current pulse to a resistive load. Pulse-shaping capabilities are demonstrated by varying the charge voltage of individual banks prior to a firing sequence. Future applications of the SFPFN include powering a helical launcher

High-density digital free-space photonic-switching fabrics using exciton absorption reflection-switch (EARS) arrays and microbeam optical interconnections

We describe a compact digital free-space photonic-switching module that uses microbeam optical interconnections based on stacked planar optics and exciton absorption reflection-switch (EARS) arrays. Microbeam optical interconnections become increasingly attractive as the number of optical input and output (I/O) ports increases because of their small size. The EARS device provides the digital-signal regeneration needed for constructing a multistage switching network. This paper mainly describes the experimental investigation of a prototype switch having a two-stage, 16-input, 16-output structure (four sets of 4/spl times/4 switches), with highly dense two-dimensional fiber array pigtails acting as high-density optical I/Os. The prototype is approximately 30/spl times/90/spl times/22 mm [60 cc]. A relay lens array inserted between stages eliminates the beam spreading caused by diffraction, which decreases the required positioning accuracy for the optomechanical packaging. Two-stage switching at a data transmission rate of 4 Mb/s has been demonstrated. Increasing the operating speed of the switch and introducing an easy assembly method to reduce assembly costs are future enhancements.

High-density digital free-space photonic switches using micro-beam optical interconnections

We describe a compact free-space photonic-switching module that uses micro-beam optical interconnections based on stacked planar optics and exciton absorption reflection switch (EARS) arrays. The switching module has two-dimensional fiber array pigtails and a two-stage, 16-input, 16-output structure (four sets of 4/spl times/4 switches). The microbeam optical interconnections can provide a compact switching module (approximately 30/spl times/90/spl times/22 mm [60 cc]). A relay lens array inserted between stages eliminates beam spreading in the switch and decreases the coupling loss and crosstalk of interconnections. Two-stage switching at a data transmission rate of 4 Mbit/s is demonstrated.