New-Tech Europe | April 2018

April 2018

16 Photonic communication comes to computer chips 20 Industry 4.0 Technologies: If Only I Had Known 26 Origami for cells: self-folding 3D cell grippers for recording

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April 2018

About New-Tech Magazines Group Read To Lead ‘New-Tech Magazines’ A world leader in publishing high-tech and electronics, producing top quality publications read by tens of thousands professionals from all over the world especially from Europe, innovative electronics, IoT, microwave, homeland security, aerospace, automotive and technological industries. Our specialized target audiences prefer New-Tech Europe because they know that our publications are a reliable source of the latest information in their respective fields. Our multidimensional editorials, news items, interviews and feature articles provide them with a full, well-rounded picture of the markets in which they operate - an essential asset for every technological leader striving to stay ahead, make the right decisions, and generate the next global innovation. Moreover, as an attractive platform for advertisers from around the world, New-Tech Europe has become a hub for bustling international commercial activity. Here, through ads and other promotional materials, Israeli readers obtain crucial information about developers and manufacturers worldwide, finding the tools, instruments, systems and components they need to facilitate their innovative endeavors. Targeting the needs of both the global and european industries and global advertisers, New-Tech Magazines Group constantly expands and upgrades its services. Over the years, the company has been able to formulate a remarkably effective, multi-medium mix of offerings, combining magazine publications with useful online activities, newsletters and special events and exhibitions.

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Contents

10 LATEST NEWS 16 Photonic communication comes to computer chips 20 Industry 4.0 Technologies: If Only I Had Known 22 Mechanical Design for Microphonic-Sensitive Electronics 26 Origami for cells: self-folding 3D cell grippers for recording 30 Mellanox LinkX ® Cables and Transceivers Generation Data Centers Interconnects 34 Stereo Applications Need a Dedicated Lens Choosing

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38 OUT OF THE BOX 40 NEW PRODUCTS 46 INDEX

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New-Tech Magazine Europe l 9

Latest News

Bosch expands its Research and Technology Center

More space and more attractive working conditions for innovative research, development, trend scouting, and venture capital: Bosch has moved to a larger location in Silicon Valley, opening a new Research and Technology Center (RTC) in Sunnyvale. The RTC was previously located in Palo Alto, roughly 15 kilometers to the west. The cost of the new location

an office of Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH. The Bosch Group’s venture capital organization invests in innovative start-up companies around the world at all stages of development. Associates played a role in the design of the new location. Apart from modern laboratories, workshops, and offices, the location offers spaces for collaboration and creativity as

amounts to 36 million euros (40 million dollars). “We have had a presence here for nearly 20 years. Moving forward, the new offices will help us keep our finger on the pulse of Silicon Valley, thanks also to our excellent connections to the local research community and local businesses,” said Mike Mansuetti, president of Bosch in North America, at the grand opening of the new RTC. The facilities bring together 200 associates under one roof for the first time. Covering almost 10,000 square meters, the new location offers 40 percent more space in total and room for up to 300 associates. “From basic research to market-ready solutions, as part of Bosch’s international research network, our associates in Silicon Valley have laid the foundation for innovative products and solutions in areas such as sensor technology and automated and connected vehicle systems,” said Hauke Schmidt, head of the Bosch Research and Technology Center, at the grand opening. Roughly half the company’s associates in Sunnyvale work in basic research and advance engineering to develop processes and solutions in fields such as data mining, sensors, artificial intelligence, and automated driving. The building, which has been leased for ten years, is also home to engineering activities for nine different Bosch divisions. Associates there work to transition research results into deployable solutions and conduct trend-scouting activities. The RTC also houses The technology companies Osram and Continental have successfully concluded their negotiations on the Osram Continental GmbH joint venture. The joint venture, in which each of the partners has a 50 percent stake, aims to combine Continental’s and Osram’s respective expertise in lighting, light control and electronics and is scheduled to start in the second half of 2018, once all the necessary

well as an outdoor area that provide creative minds with sufficient opportunities to explore ideas and advance them through dialogue with each other or with the company’s scientific and business partners in the region. Long-standing presence in the U.S. and Silicon Valley Bosch has had a presence in the United States since 1906, and currently employs some 18,000 associates in the country, more than 2,000 of whom are researchers and engineers. The global supplier of technology and services remains highly confident of its prospects in the U.S. market, as its continuing investments show: from 2013 to 2017, Bosch invested roughly 1.3 billion euros in total in the United States. This included work to expand the Mobility Solutions plants in Charleston and Anderson. The Research and Technology Center in Silicon Valley was the company’s first research operation outside Europe. It started out in 1999, with just three associates. In its research and development activities in the United States, Bosch also relies on its long-term partnerships with renowned U.S. universities such as Stanford University and the University of California in Berkeley. The RTC also maintains offices near Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and directly opposite the MIT campus in Boston. merger control approvals have been granted. CEO Dirk Linzmeier comes from Osram and CFO Harald Renner from Continental. “Digitalization is creating new potential applications in automotive lighting and, in turn, tremendous opportunities that we want to leverage with Continental. By joining forces, we will be in an even better position to drive

Osram and Continental sign joint venture contract

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Latest News forward innovations by working closely with

solutions. The joint venture will help us to establish the conditions for this since it combines our expertise in software and electronics with Osram’s automotive lighting expertise. As such, we will be able to offer our customers an unrivaled portfolio in the lighting market,” said Andreas Wolf, head of Continental’s Body & Security business unit. The joint venture will be based within the region of Munich, but

the automotive industry to integrate lighting, sensor technology and electronics seamlessly in a single application. This will allow us to advance new intelligent light functions such as the combination of lighting and sensor technology in a module or light-based communication between the driver, other road users and the vehicle’s surroundings,” explained Hans- Joachim Schwabe, CEO of Osram’s Specialty Lighting division. “We want to actively drive forward technological change in the lighting market within the automotive industry and develop even more innovative and intelligent lighting

Picture: Hans-Joachim Schwabe, CEO of the Speciality Lighting Business Unit at OSRAM Licht AG (left), and Andreas Wolf, Head of the Body & Security Business Unit at Continental AG (right).

will operate globally to ensure rapid development cycles with customers in their local areas. The product portfolio will feature semiconductor-based lighting modules such as LED modules for front and rear headlights, laser modules and light control units.

NI Technology Helps Subaru Reduce Electric Vehicle Test Development Times by 90 Percent

The provider of platform- based systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges,

with short development cycles and pressure to limit costs. To combat these issues, Subaru replaced the roads in the validation tests with a NI HIL simulation solution built on NI PXI products and LabVIEW software. With the HIL system, Subaru can eliminate environmental factors and thoroughly and efficiently test

announced today that major automotive manufacturers like Subaru are using NI hardware- in-the-loop (HIL) technology to simulate actual road conditions for electric vehicle testing, eliminating environmental factors to reduce test time and costs. Traditionally, engineers have conducted vehicle tests using finished cars on test courses or public roads to check the vehicle’s performance and safety response. However, certain limitations, such as weather and fluctuating road surface conditions, can make it difficult to conduct reproducible tests on roads in a timely manner. Moreover, electric vehicles are extremely complex due to their many subsystems, which are all interdependent on each other. This complexity makes the job challenging for automotive test engineers

a vehicle’s embedded controller in a virtual environment before running real-world diagnostics on the complete system. “By using NI PXI products and LabVIEW, we were able to completely implement a customized HIL system in just one to two weeks and develop our software in-house,” said Daisuke Umiguchi, Electrified Power Unit Research and Experiment Dept., Subaru Corporation. “This helped us keep product purchasing costs to around one-third of the cost of adopting solutions from other companies, and, because of our familiarity with LabVIEW, keep our

New-Tech Magazine Europe l 11

Latest News

software development costs to around one-sixth of the cost of commissioning an outside developer.” Subaru further outfitted its vehicle test solution with a controller-driven dynamometer by HORIBA and CarSim vehicle dynamics simulation software deployed by Virtual Mechanics. Together, they produce load conditions equivalent to those generated on actual roads. This driving system transmits the calculated values to the NI HIL system in real time to create closed-loop control between Subaru plans to use this test system at the final stages of development for electric vehicles as a final quality check, and eventually expand its use for all car types. By adopting this system, Subaru anticipates reducing labor hours by half compared to conventional methods. KLA-Tencor Announces Agreement to Acquire Orbotech Ltd. the models on the HIL system and the driving system. As a result, the HIL interaction system can apply the appropriate load to the vehicle throughout the tests.

KLA-Tencor Corporation and Orbotech Ltd. announced they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which KLA-Tencor will acquire Orbotech for $38.86 in cash and 0.25 of a share of KLA-Tencor common stock in exchange for each ordinary share of Orbotech, implying

continued, “Our companies fit together exceptionally well in terms of people, processes, and technology. In addition, KLA-Tencor has had a strong presence in Israel over the years, and this combination further expands our operations in this important global technology region.”

a total consideration of approximately $69.02 per share. The transaction values Orbotech at an equity value of approximately $3.4 billion and an enterprise value of $3.2 billion. In addition, KLA-Tencor announced a $2 billion share repurchase authorization. The share repurchase program is targeted to be completed within 12 to 18 months following the close of this transaction. With this acquisition, KLA-Tencor will significantly diversify its revenue base and add $2.5 billion of addressable market opportunity in the high-growth printed circuit board (“PCB”), flat panel display (“FPD”), packaging, and semiconductor manufacturing areas. The broader portfolio of leading products, services, and solutions, as well as increased exposure to technology megatrends, will support KLA-Tencor’s long-term revenue and earnings growth targets. “This acquisition is consistent with our strategy to pursue sustained, profitable growth by expanding into adjacent markets,” commented Rick Wallace, President and Chief Executive Officer of KLA-Tencor. “This combination will open new market opportunities for KLA-Tencor, and expands our portfolio serving the semiconductor industry.” Mr. Wallace

“This acquisition is a true testament to Orbotech’s strong leadership and success,” said Asher Levy, Chief Executive Officer of Orbotech Ltd. “I firmly believe that this deal benefits our employees and creates additional value for our shareholders. Together with KLA-Tencor, we will significantly increase growth potential, accelerate our product development roadmap, and enhance customer offerings.” Mr. Levy added, “Orbotech will continue to operate under the Orbotech brand as a standalone business of KLA-Tencor based in Yavne, Israel.” Total cost synergies are expected to be approximately $50 million on an annualized basis within 12 to 24 months following the closing of the transaction, and the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to KLA-Tencor’s revenue growth model, non-GAAP earnings and free cash flow per share. The transaction has been approved by the Board of Directors of each company and is expected to close before the end of calendar year 2018, subject to approval by Orbotech’sshareholders, required regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of the other customary closing conditions. No approval by KLA-Tencor stockholders is required.

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The transaction is not subject to any financing conditionality. KLA-Tencor intends to fund the cash portion of the purchase price with cash from the combined company’s balance sheet. In addition, KLA-Tencorintends to raise approximately $1 billion in new long-term debt financing to complete the share repurchase. J.P. Morgan acted as exclusive financial advisor to KLA- Tencor; Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati acted as KLA-

Tencor’s U.S. legal counsel; and Meitar, Liquornik, Geva, Lesham, Tal acted as KLA-Tencor’s Israeli legal counsel. Barclays acted as exclusive financial advisor to Orbotech; Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP acted as Orbotech’s U.S. legal counsel; Tulchinsky, Stern, Marciano, Cohen, Levitski & Co.acted as Israeli legal counsel; and Goldman Sachs acted as special advisor to Orbotech’s transaction committee.

Wind River to be Acquired by TPG Wind River ® announced that global alternative asset firm TPG will acquire the company from Intel. Wind River President, Jim Douglas, and his existing executive management team will lead the newly independent Wind River after the transaction closes. “Our technology team is

and connect it to cloud and IT environments. “This acquisition will establish Wind River as a leading independent software provider uniquely positioned to advance digital transformation within critical infrastructure segments with our comprehensive edge

to cloud portfolio,” said Jim Douglas, Wind River President. “At the same time, TPG will provide Wind River with the flexibility and financial resources to fuel our many growth opportunities as a standalone software company that enables the deployment of safe, secure, and reliable intelligent systems.” “This move is designed to sharpen our focus on growth opportunities that align to Intel’s data-centric strategy,” said Tom Lantzsch, senior vice president and general manager of the Internet of Things Group at Intel. “Wind River will remain an important ecosystem partner, and we will continue to collaborate on critical software-defined infrastructure opportunities to advance an autonomous future. We expect this transition will be seamless for our mutual customers and partners.” The transaction, for which Allen & Company LLC served as financial advisor to Intel, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018. The terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

focused on backing strong, market-leading companies in growing industries,” said Nehal Raj, Partner and Head of Technology investing at TPG. “We see a tremendous market opportunity in industrial software driven by the convergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), intelligent devices and edge computing. As a market leader with a strong product portfolio, Wind River is well positioned to benefit from these trends. We are excited about the prospects for Wind River as an independent company, and plan to build on its strong foundation with investments in both organic and inorganic growth.” For nearly 40 years, Wind River has helped the world’s technology leaders power generation after generation of the safest, most secure devices in the world. The company’s software runs the computing systems of the most important modern infrastructure, including manufacturing plants, medical devices, aircraft, railway, automobiles, and communications networks. Wind River’s products and solutions enable engineers, developers, manufacturers, and system integrators to build intelligent connected devices, sensors, gateways, and networks that unlock machine data

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Latest News

Construction Set to Begin on Digi-Key’s 1-Million-Square-Foot Product Distribution Center Expansion in Thief River Falls

The ‘Innovation Factory‘ at the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant: the Site Manager of the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant Michael Bauer (left) and Ergun Lümali, Chairman of the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen Works Council (right) are celebrating the start of production of the compact SUV GLA with the team. “With the GLA, the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant is producing a compact model for the first time proving its high flexibility. With the project ‘Innovation Factory’ we are shaping the future of production at Mercedes-Benz Cars. At the same time we are supporting our global production network by providing quickly additional capacities. Our employees contribute a major part with their long-term experience and a high level of motivation”, explains Michael Bauer. The production of the compact SUV GLA at the Mercedes- Benz Sindelfingen plant, which is about 20 km away of the company headquarters in Stuttgart, marks the starting point for the pilot project ‘Innovation Factory’. Cutting-edge Digi-Key Electronics, a global electronic components distributor, will begin construction of its new facility in Thief River Falls next month. The four-story product distribution center will provide an additional 2.2 million square feet of usable space to the company’s existing Thief River Falls facilities, and will occupy an overall footprint of 1 million square feet. The initial investment is projected at more than $300 Million. Digi-Key reported 26% growth worldwide in 2017, with sales topping $2.3 Billion, exceeding the $2 Billion mark for the first time in the company’s history. The company’s success, driven by its employees’ dedication to customer service, has allowed Digi- Key to add over 170 employees in 2017, 140 in Thief River Falls. “Our original commitment was to generate 100 new jobs in

Thief River Falls per year over 10 years, above and beyond our 2017 base of 3,200, which was conservative, so we are exceeding our projected employment already,” stated Rick Trontvet, Vice President of Administration. Dave Doherty, President and Chief Operating Officer at Digi- Key Electronics, stated, “As our

worldwide revenue growth continues, Digi-Key will need to add more team members in Thief River Falls to keep pace with our growth that has been more than double of others in our industry.” Digi-Key’s new expansion will contribute an additional $500 million in economic output, and will bring 250-300 construction employees to Thief River Falls to construct and operationalize the new facility over three years.

Mercedes-Benz plant Sindelfingen starts production of the Compact SUV GLA

production technologies which feature the ‘Factory 56’, one of the most modern car productions, are tested previously in the ‘Innovation Factory’: from innovative Industry 4.0 solutions to a work organization with flexible working models, the project covers almost all aspects of a future- oriented production. “We do have a highly qualified team that compensates order peaks of the GLA production. Thus Sindelfingen is proving its leading role as an innovation and competence center for new technologies. We, the works councils, are getting closer to our aim producing more vehicles in Sindelfingen. Our effort is to prepare the plant for future challenges and to ensure the employment. I am pleased, that our hard work paid off to make the location strong for the future”, says Ergun Lümali. The GLA has been rolling off the production line at the Mercedes-Benz Rastatt plant since 2013, and also at the Chinese production site of Beijing Benz Automotive

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and Great Britain. The GLA portfolio meets all individual mobility requirements of its customers. About the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant The Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant is the center of competence for upper-range and luxury-class vehicles, and also the lead plant for

Corporation (BBAC) in Beijing since 2015. Since the market launch of the GLA in 2014, more than 500,000 customers have already chosen the compact SUV. Rastatt, the lead plant for the GLA as well as for the A- and B-Class, is running at its full capacity. The production of the vehicle in Sindelfingen creates additional

the production of the S- and E-Class model series. This will also be the location for the prospective production of electric vehicles of the new EQ product and technology brand. Together with the central production organization of Mercedes-Benz Cars, the plant employs a workforce of more than 25,000. The site is the location for the production of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (Sedan and Estate), the CLS, the S-Class (Sedan, Coupé and Cabriolet), the Mercedes- Maybach and the Mercedes-AMG GT family. Around 250 vehicles a day are delivered at the Mercedes-Benz customer center in Sindelfingen.

capacities until the end of the product life cycle. For the first time a compact vehicle with front-wheel drive is produced at the Sindelfingen plant, known as the center of competence for rear-wheel drive vehicles in the luxury and upper-range classes. The GLA is characterized by its sportily dynamic design idiom, light-footed handling and extensive individualization range. As the first compact SUV from Mercedes-Benz it brought a breath of fresh air to its market segment and established itself there as a major player. In 2017 the GLA was most successful in the markets China, USA, Germany A recently started Swedish research project, AD Aware Traffic Control – Emergency Vehicles, conducted by Volvo Cars, Carmenta, Ericsson, SOS Alarm and RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden is developing a cloud-based traffic control platform that builds on the Drive Sweden Innovation Cloud, and enables smooth and seamless information exchange between coordinators of emergency vehicles and automated vehicles. Automated vehicles are expected to bring many benefits to the society, including improved safety, reduced congestion, lower emissions, higher productivity, and greater access to mobility. To ensure these benefits, such vehicles need to be able to exchange information with other vehicles in their vicinity. The research project, AD Aware Traffic Control – Emergency

Swedish cloud platforms paving the way for emergency vehicles

Vehicles, that has previously demonstrated the AD Aware Traffic Control platform is being further developed to include cloud-based services for sharing information between emergency vehicle coordinators and automated vehicles. In addition to weather, visibility and general traffic situation

information, it now combines also real-time emergency vehicle and detailed geospatial information from local road networks and their surroundings to create a shared operational picture of the traffic situation. As part of this, Ericsson’s Connected Urban Transport solution is being used to collects data from various sources and facilitate safe and reliable communication with other clouds.

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Photonic communication comes to computer chips

Rob Matheson, MIT

Startup’s optoelectronic chips could reduce energy usage by up to 50 percent in data centers while increasing computing speeds. With novel optoelectronic chips and a new partnership with a top silicon-chip manufacturer, MIT spinout Ayar Labs aims to increase speed and reduce energy consumption in computing, starting with data centers. Backed by years of research at MIT and elsewhere, Ayar has developed chips that move data around with light but compute electronically. The unique design integrates speedy, efficient optical communications — with components that transmit data using light waves — into traditional computer chips, replacing less efficient copper wires. According to the startup, the chips can reduce energy usage by about 95

percent inchip-to-chipcommunications and increase bandwidth tenfold over their copper-based counterparts. In massive data centers — Ayar’s first target application — run by tech giants such as Facebook and Amazon, the chips could cut total energy usage by 30 to 50 percent, says CEO Alex Wright-Gladstein MBA ’15. “Right now there’s a bandwidth bottleneck in big data centers,” says Wright-Gladstein, who co-founded Ayar with Chen Sun PhD ’15 and Mark Wade, a University of Colorado graduate and former MIT researcher. “That’s an exciting application and the first place that really needs this technology.” In December, the startup penned a deal with GlobalFoundries, a top global silicon-chip manufacturer, to bring its first product, an optical input-output system called Brilliant, to market next year.

The chips could also be used in supercomputers, Wright-Gladstein adds, which have similar efficiency issues and speed constraints as data centers do. Down the road, the technology could also improve optics in various fields, from autonomous vehicles and medical devices to augmented reality. “We’re excited about not just what this can do for data centers, but what new things this will enable in the future,” Wright- Gladstein says. Seeing the light Ayar’s core technology — now backed by more than 25 academic papers — is a decade in the making. The research collaboration began in the mid- 2000s at MIT as part of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Photonically Optimized Embedded Microprocessors (POEM) project, led by Vladimir Stojanovic, now an

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associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California at Berkeley, in collaboration with Rajeev Ram, an MIT professor of electrical engineering and principal investigator for the Physical Optics and Electronics group, and Milos Popovic, now an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Boston University. The idea was to help data transmission keep up with Moore’s Law. The number of transistors on a chip may double every two years, Wright- Gladstein says, “but the amount of data we push across those copper pins hasn’t grown at the same rate.” Computer chips send data between chips with different functions, such as logic chips and memory chips. With copper-based communications, however, the chips can’t send and receive enough data to take advantage of their increasing processing power. That’s caused a “bottleneck,” where chips must wait long durations to send and receive data. More than half the time in data centers, for instance, circuits are waiting for data to come and go, Wright-Gladstein says. “It’s a huge waste,” she says. “They’re using almost as much power idling as when they are working.” One solution is light. An optical wire can transmit multiple data signals on different wavelengths of light, while copper wires are limited to one signal per wire. Optical chips can, therefore, transmit more information using significantly less space. Moreover, photonics produce very little waste heat. Data passing through copper wires generates large amounts of waste heat, which hurts efficiency in individual chips. This is an issue in data centers, where copper wires run inside and between servers. At the time that the research groups of Ram, Stojanovic, and Popovic were working on the POEM project, large companies such as Intel and IBM were

Image 1: Ayar Labs’ optoelectronic chips move data around with light but compute electronically. Image courtesy of Ayar Labs

Berkeley made the first processor to communicate using light and published the results in Nature. The chips, manufactured at a GlobalFoundries fabrication facility, contained 850 optical components and 70 million transistors, and performed as well as traditional chips manufactured at the same facility. Taking the plunge Behind the scenes, Wright-Gladstein was already thinking about commercialization. The year before the publication, she had enrolled in the MIT Sloan School of Management, specifically to meet researchers tackling clean energy. Taking 15.366 (Energy Ventures), which focuses on commercializing MIT clean technologies, she was chosen to select the technologies to bring into the classroom. “That was the perfect excuse to meet every researcher doing energy-related research,” Wright-Gladstein says. From the vast pool of 300 labs, she came across Ram’s optoelectronic chips — which “blew me away,” she says. The energy industry was focused on equipment innovations

trying to design inexpensive, scalable optical chips. The collaboration — which then included Sun and Wade — took a different approach: They integrated optical components onto silicon chips, which are fabricated using the traditional CMOS semiconductor manufacturing process that churns out chips for pennies. “That was radical idea at time,” Wright-Gladstein says. “CMOS doesn’t lend itself well to optics, so industry veterans assumed you’d have to make major changes to get it to work.” To avoid making changes to the CMOS process, the researchers focused on a new class of miniaturized optical components, including photodetectors, light modulators, waveguides, and optical filters that encode data on different wavelengths of light, and then transmit and decode it. They essentially “hacked” the traditional method for silicon chip design, using layers intended for electronics to build optical devices, and enabling chip designs to include optics more tightly configured than ever inside a chip’s structure. In 2015, the researchers, together with Krste Asanovic’s team at UC

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and development, increasing the communication data rates of the technology. Last year, GlobalFoundries took interest in these constant innovations and struck a partnership with the startup, which included some undisclosed funding. This year, Ayar’s first prototypes should reach U.S. data centers, with a planned 2019 commercial release. Solving the chip input-output problem is just the start. Ayar is also excited about what its new technology means for the field of optics, Wright- Gladstein says. Optical sensors, for instance, are used in self-driving or semiautonomous vehicles and expensive medical equipment. Lowering manufacturing costs, while increasing the computation power, of optoelectronic chips could make those technologies much less expensive and more accessible. “We’re starting out solving this

to save energy in data centers. “But there wasn’t much focus on reducing energy through computing itself,” Wright-Gladstein says. “It seemed like a great way to make an impact.” Wright-Gladstein formed a team in class to create a business plan and pitch deck. She also collaborated frequently with Sun and Wade in speaking with potential industry clients. When the MIT Clean Energy Prize rolled around, the three students entered the technology under the name, OptiBit — and won both grand prizes for $275,000, solidifying their decision to launch a startup. “Having funds early on to pay ourselves low salaries and having a little cushion before raising venture capital funds really persuaded us all to take the plunge,” Wright-Gladstein says. Setting up shop in San Francisco, the startup continued research

bottleneck problem in traditional silicon chips, but ultimately we’re excited about all the different places this technology will go,” Wright- Gladstein says. “This is going to change the availability of optics, and how the world can use optics, in ways beyond what we can predict right now.”

Image 2: The co-founders of Ayar Labs (from left) Chen Sun, Alex Wright- Gladstein, and Mark Wade. Image courtesy of Ayar Labs

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New-Tech Magazine Europe l 19

Industry 4.0 Technologies: If Only I Had Known

Michael Ford, Aegis Software

The introduction of a fundamental new technology in 2018 is poised to be the catalyst for the now long- awaited Industry 4.0 revolution. What is coming is not a single master Industry 4.0 solution as people may expect, but rather the opportunity for everyone in the industry to play their part, re-evaluating what can be done in their processes or products to take maximum advantage of the new CFX- fueled Industrial IoT environment. Time for everyone to get a serious heads-up. If Industrial IoT were a transport infrastructure, we would look back on this time as when trails and dirt- tracks were replaced with paved roads and highways, enabling the development and evolutions of high-performance automobiles. Not everyone today buys or drives the same car. There is no single perfect model or configuration for all, but

the one thing that we can rely on, is that all of our cars work and co- exist on the same road network. This is the principle also for IoT solutions, though in the CFX world, there are no toll roads, no competing commercial options that we would have to pay subscriptions to and have to select what road network vendor we wish to use. No matter what the intent, scale budget or capability, many individual IoTsolutionsaregoing tobedeveloped to support specific business needs, which will run through the same IoT infrastructure. As we have seen with automobiles replacing horses and carts, the expectations are changed, for example in terms of distances that can be covered, the time taken for journeys and the amount of baggage or freight that can be carried. With the CFX Industrial IoT solution, we are not simply seeing a horse that

can run a little faster, or a cart with a couple more wheels, this is a real revolution, a fundamental change to what can be achieved. The IPC Connected Factory Exchange (CFX) standard specification defines all three major components of a “plug and play” IoT communication solution. These comprise of the protocol, which is the secure connection (AMQP v1.0), the encoding method, which is the way in which the data is represented in messages (JSON), and also the message content definition. CFX is uniquely created in this way to bring genuine inter-operability across machines on the shop-floor, with no licensing or middleware required. Companies will be able to pick and choose CFX-based Industry 4.0 solutions from machine vendors, solution providers, and will even find it easy to augment solutions with in- house development.

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There is something for everyone with CFX. Machine vendors, will replace the need for the support of many different data customer- dependent outputs being able to satisfy all customers with just one CFX interface. Not only that, Vendors also get the opportunity to obtain data from all other production machines and stations, as well as factory level information through the same CFX interface. Each machine process now has an unprecedented “digital visibility” that includes changing factory work-assignments, the line status and condition both upstream and downstream, materials availability and assignment, the digital product model, resource availabilities etc. Instead of hearing the phrase, “if only I had known”, for example when materials arrive with different supply forms and rotations than those expected, or the line stops for maintenance when nothing was prepared, or an unexpected change-over happens which causes extensive setups of materials and inefficient machine programs etc. CFX makes all of the information available to each machine, so that unprecedented levels of optimization can be achieved through the use of that performance information. Machine options will undoubtedly appear in the form of added value digital Industry 4.0 solutions for higher mix optimization, active quality management, enhanced flexibility, faster new product introduction etc. As well as commercial machines, other processes such as, bespoke functional testers, manual assembly, inspection, test operations and transactional operations etc. are supported by CFX. In-house jig development teams for example can easily include interfaces into machines that they create or processes that they execute etc. The IPC CFX SDK makes integration of

CFX possible with the minimum of development overhead. All solution providers, in areas such as ERP, MES, MOM etc. suffer from having to decipher data derived directly or through middleware from the many different types and vendors of machines. It is not only the complex conversions and unexpected changes in the data itself that cause problems, but the fact that legacy machine interfaces can only provide a defined and limited amount of data. This definition was in many cases made by a machine engineering team many years ago. If only they had known then what the customers would need in the future and the direction that IoT solutions would take, and if only companies had had the vision to work together. CFX resolves these content problems, bringing everyone up to a level playing field, so that factory solutions need no longer be dependent on the lowest common denominator of process capabilities across the factory. Values created and offered to customers are therefore transformed through enhanced content, accuracy, detail, and timeliness, to the extent that operational decisions can be automated or at least augmented. Work-order allocation, planning and sequencing, material control etc. can all be enhanced by decision-making logic based on such digitalizations, with managers having a complete and accurate understanding of trends and potential effects from proposed changes, such as a request for greater quantities of a certain product. The real winner, of course, is the manufacturing operation itself. Industry 4.0 digitalization based on CFX means that ultimately, the complete factory operation can be digitally modelled. Rather than having critical operational production management decisions taking days

with many meetings and phone calls, using the digital factory model, changes and adjustments can be confidently executed in minutes or even seconds, for example, to introduce new products, adjust order or delivery quantities, with the assurance that materials will be available, where and when needed, that utilization and efficiency of machines will not suffer, and that no excess finished goods stock need be accumulated. No more excuses in management meetings with the phrase, “if only I had known”. The digitalized factory based on CFX becomes a very lean, digital, high- performance manufacturing engine, that can cope with a far higher mix of products yet also provide far higher throughput and efficiency. The digital model extends further, to provide automated conformance and compliance, a complete digital traceability record, with qualified meaningful data fed to the cloud for enterprise-grade analytics for future business development. Though we will look back to see that 2018 was the year in which digitalized Industry 4.0 factories with CFX started, the growth that follows in terms of accessible, available and uncomplicated digitalization will be remembered over many years. CFX digitalization is available to all sizes and sectors of manufacturing companies. It will be stable and dependable, as Industry 4.0 technologies based on CFX evolve into everyone’s everyday tools. While “off-roading” may continue to be enjoyable by many, unless you are a farmer, it is probably best kept as a hobby or a sport, rather than something on which your business transportation needs depend.

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Mechanical Design for Microphonic-Sensitive Electronics

Sergey Sokol, Analog Devices, Inc.

Abstract Modern RF/microwave electronic systems and subsystems often rely on precision frequency sources that contain microphonic-sensitive components, like DROs, crystal oscillators, etc. Designing enclosures and other mechanical structures for such systems and subsystems presents substantial challenges, especially when aimed at mobile applications. The requirement to reduce size, weight, and power (SWaP) makes this task even more challenging for mechanical engineers working in the field of electronic packaging design. This article describes considerations for finding the optimal balance for often conflicting requirements like minimizing size while providing adequate sway space for vibe isolated modules/ components, maintaining high rigidity of the structure while minimizing weight, and other details. We will

touch on the constraints imposed by SWaP reduction requirements and on vibe isolation system designs as well. However, a more detailed review would require a separate article. Introduction Microphonic-sensitive devices and/or components are often used in modern electronic systems and subsystems. When such a system or subsystem is intended for mobile applications, such as missiles, aircraft, or shipboard uses, the microphonic-sensitive device needs to be protected against shocks and vibrations to reduce degradation of electrical performance such as phase noise, spurious, etc. This can be achieved with passive or active vibe isolation systems. Active vibe isolation systems generally require significantly more space, are heavier than passive vibe isolation systems, and require power, which is usually

at a premium in mobile systems and subsystems. Therefore, we will limit our discussion to applications where only passive, elastomer-based vibe isolation systems are utilized. However, most recommendations presented here will improve the performance of the systems/subsystems that employ active vibe isolation. Background All the mechanical structures of an electronic system/subsystem can be viewed as a mechanical oscillator, as the unsupported sections of it, between attachment points to the next higher level assembly, will deflect under load. If such an external load is cyclical in nature, like the vibration of an airframe or a ship hull, the structure will exhibit properties of an oscillator with its own natural frequency driven by rigidity of the structure and its mass. The more rigid the structure,

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the higher the natural frequency. The higher the mass, the lower the natural frequency. This relationship between the aforementioned properties of the structure, pertinent to a simple harmonic motion type of response, is best described using the following equations:

possible f n of the structure to minimize linear displacements of such structures under shock and vibration. In the case of new designs, using multiple mounting points along each side of the structure helps keep f n reasonably high. However, it might be more difficult to achieve higher f n when one is working on a drop-in replacement design, where mounting points are often located far from each other, given the general tendency that each next-generation system/subsystem is smaller and lighter than the previous one. That requires spanning considerable distances, which corresponds with the lower natural frequencies of the structure, in general. Using the Full Extent of the Envelope to Improve the Rigidity of the Structure Quite often, the mechanical engineer working on packaging design for mobile applications is pressured to keep the lowest possible cover height or housing depth based on the height of the tallest electrical components in the volume to be encapsulated/covered. While it’s reasonable from the standpoint of minimizing the weight (and, often, cost of parts), it would be a bad trade-off for designs where a passive vibe isolation system is employed. In these cases, the cover height (or housing depth) is one of the most powerful contributors to the rigidity of the structure. Steiner’s theorem of parallel axis describes this relationship very well. Where I is a moment of inertia with respect to a given axis; I cm is a moment of inertia with respect to the axis drawn through the center of gravity; m is mass; and d is the distance between the two aforementioned axes (axes are parallel to each other). As deflection of the structure is reverse-proportional to the moment of inertia, increasing the distance between structural members is a very

effective way to improve response of the structure exposed to shock/vibe environments. Material Sets While a mechanical engineer has very little leverage for choosing materials for printed circuit boards, microwave substrates, surface-mount components, or related items, where the major driving force is electrical performance regardless of structural properties (essentially, turning such parts of the design into dead weight from the structural standpoint), the materials used for enclosures and chassis can and need to be selected based on their structural properties. Quite often, the choice is made in favor of the lowest density materials (aluminum and magnesium are rather popular from that standpoint), without taking into consideration other important properties, such as the modulus of elasticity (aka Young’s modulus) and Poisson’s ratio. The more appropriate approach, however, would be to use a quality one might call specific stiffness—a ratio between Young’s modulus and density. Namely, the elastic modulus per mass density of the material. From this standpoint, both aluminum and steel are about equally attractive as the specific stiffness is about the same for both. In one of our experiments, aluminum stiffener was replaced with steel stiffener for comparison. Both configurations performed well, but the one with steel stiffener produced higher Q; therefore, aluminum was chosen for the final design. For extreme situations, there are some exotic materials available, like CE7, CE11, and aluminum-silicon-carbide (AlSiC). Some of them require extensive custom tooling, which translates into significantly longer lead times and cost. Others can be machined using conventional CNC milling machines (like CE7 and CE11), but require carbide tools

Where ω is the radial frequency, k is the spring constant, and m is the mass of our system/subsystem. It is expressed in radians per second. To convert this into cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz), we need to convert radians into full cycles:

Structural Design Structures intended for mounting vibe isolated, microphonic-sensitive devices usually serve as a chassis for the subsystem or system as a whole. To get the most performance out of a passive vibe isolation system, it is beneficial to design a chassis as rigid as possible. This will move the resonant frequency of the structure as far away from the resonant frequency of a vibe isolated dielectric resonator oscillator (DRO) as possible. In this case, when determining the chassis resonant frequency, one must include the masses and/or point- loads of all the modules mounted to it. At this stage, using finite element analysis (FEA) software for determining the natural frequency appears to be more practical. Ideally, the natural frequency (f n ) of the whole structure should be higher than the operating (electrical) frequency of the suspended microphonic-sensitive device (for example, DRO). However, with modern devices operating in the GHz range, it’s hardly possible. Still, it’s advisable to push for the highest

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