T-ray antenna (via Tokyo Institute of Technology)

It may seem sometimes that we have exploited the vast reaches of the electromagnetic spectrum, but technologies like WiGig, are showing this notion is not correct at all. T-rays, or electromagnetic waves found in the terahertz band, have traditionally been used for imaging research like X-rays, but now researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology are developing a system to apply this technology to ultra fast data transmission.

The terahertz band actually makes use of the 300 GHz to 3 THz frequencies a range currently unregulated by telecommunication authorities. Using a frequency of 542 GHz the team achieved data transfers of 3 Gb/s using a device called a resonant tunneling diode (RTD). These results are higher than anything achieved so far in the terahertz band.

This device is revolutionary in the terahertz data transmission because of its small size of only 1 mm-squared and low power necessities.  RTDs are unusual in that the voltage across them can be decreased as the current increases. The RTDs generate waves in the terahertz band by making the diode inside them resonate.

Due to the energy usage, the Tokyo researchers hope to some day implement them in hand held devices for short-range data transfers. It is likely that terahertz Internet would work only in short distances of up to 10 m (33 ft), and this short range is something the researchers are trying to improve by making their devices resonate at higher frequencies, but this will also require more power.

It will take a long time before these devices are put in any device consumers can hold, but the future hopes for speeds of up to 100Gb/s, which blows current transfer rates out of the water at 15 greater than 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

Eavesdropper

Digital language translators are used every day. However, there is one dialect that still eludes the automation.

Engineering students, Ranjay Krishna, Seonwoo Lee and Si Ping Wang, from Cornell University are attempting to develop a very different type of translator, one that helps those who cannot make use of auditory signals. The students have created a sign language translator that converts hand gestures to their corresponding letter symbol and sound.

This translator is in the form of a glove for the hand and circuitry that fasten to the forearm. The glove itself contains nine flex sensors, four contact sensors, one x-y axis accelerometers and one z-axis accelerometer. The flex sensors are positioned around the upper/lower knuckles and the contact sensors at the tips of the fingers to distinguish between gestures. The accelerometers are needed because some letters vary only on movements of the hands and other letters vary only on the orientation of the hand.

An ATMega644 Microcontroller is used to analyze the signal from the electromechanical sensors and send transmission requests to the transmitter. The device is made wireless using a Radiotronix transceiver. All of this makes up what they call the Detection Unit, and it is simply strapped to the forearm.  The signal is then received by the base station with outputs the results to an LCD screen as well as transmits the signal to a computer via USB where it can also be outputted as sound through the computer speakers. The students used Matlab, Java and C for all their coding.

As far as can be seen, this device only converts gestures to letters so more development is needed for those gestures that represent nouns or actions but no doubt this is a start towards a world where we can all communicate a little easier.

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LED Wishing Star art show (via Tokyo Hotaru)

LEDs have been used to create some of the world’s most interesting art. One of the more impressive pieces was showcased at the Licht Festival in Belgium last year, showcasing the cathedral of light. This year brought another large display of LEDs from Panasonic for Tokyo’s Hotaru Festival (Firefly Festival) which celebrates an age old tradition of…well…watching fireflies along river-banks. Panasonic took part in the ‘Symphony of Light’ celebration by releasing 100,000 ‘wishing star’ LED free-floating balls into Tokyo’s Sumida river which was complemented by the illuminated Tokyo Sky Tree. Each ball contains an individual LED which is powered by a tiny solar-cell and rechargeable battery making them fully self-sustainable and reusable. The piece is strikingly similar to what Mother Nature does naturally with bioluminescence.

Bioluminescent bloom of plankton, Maldives (via Doug Perrine)

Illuminating art can be found in nature and also uses self-sustainable energy like Panasonic’s ‘wishing star’ LED balls. These however rely on a chemical reactions (chemiluminescence) rather than solar to emit light. Plankton (much like the firefly) use a group of chemicals, known as luciferins, that oxidize and set off a catalyst called luciferase which produces ‘cold light’. Many of this plankton wash up on various shores where lucky on-lookers can appreciate a fantastic light-show like that recently found on Vaadhoo Island in the Maldives. Both of the displays were impressive in their own right, but only one of them was edible which edges Mother Nature as the winner of the illuminated art shows!

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More of the Panasonic Tokyo art show:

Concept models (via FXI)

Only a short time after intensely successful Raspberry Pi hit the market, copy-cats came sweeping in to grab some of the frenzy.

FXI, a Norwegian hardware and software developer, has recently announced that the company plans to release their USB-stick sized computer later this month (May, 2012). The stick, dubbed Cotton Candy, is designed to connect to any screen and turn it into a personal computer. Does this sound familiar?

FXI states that the device can be used to complement mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and notebooks but can also provide ‘smart’ capabilities to standalone screens such as TV’s. While Cotton Candy may be small in size, it none the less houses some pretty big hardware. Providing the computational power is an ARM Cortex A9 1.2GHz processor that’s coupled with a quad-core ARM Mali -400P GPU to deliver HD content (native support for MPEG-4, H.263/4) with resolutions up to 1080p on HD-capable screens. The device packs 1 GB of dedicated memory and the ability to upgrade to 64 GB through micro-SD cards for increased storage of media. Another impressive feature of Cotton Candy is its plethora of connection options that include USB (male) 2.0, micro-USB (female) 2.0 and HDMI. The software it uses is pretty much rounded out with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and Ubuntu with a virtualization client for Windows, Linux and Mac (sorry no iOS). Content on-screen can be controlled in various ways with integrated keyboards found on tablets and notebooks, or wirelessly with the devices built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections that let you use your smartphone as the interface.

As it stands right now, only Scandinavians will be able to lay their hands on Cotton Candy at the end of May (2012), while the rest of us have to wait till the end of 2012 and should retail for about $200.00 US. The price is nearly 6 times that of the Raspberry Pi. Are the differences worth the extra $165?

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Sodium in the raw (stock photography)

Batteries are a key part to developing green and more energy sustainable products. Lithium-ion batteries power almost everything we use today. A short list of applications; smart phones, laptops, GPS units, and electric vehicles. However, lithium is expensive and rare. So, having an alternative option to support those applications is a logical decision, especially due to China's dominance in the production of rare earth minerals. A recent project is making table-salt, sodium, an appealing choice for a lithium replacement.

Researchers from Tokyo University have recently created an innovative sodium-ion battery using a new electrode composition consisting of manganese, iron, and sodium oxides. The new metal mix composition allowed the researchers to create  sodium based battery that held a charge close to that of lithium. Lithium batteries are still more powerful due to lithium atoms naturally releasing more energy when they lose an electron. To match this power difference, the new batteries created consisted of a positive electrode that held more ions allowing it to reach energy densities close to that of lithium batteries by using the new metal material as the cathode (positive electrode) and sodium as the anode (negative electrode).

The metal mix was created by mixing the chemicals together and smashing them into a pellet sized shape. From there, the composition was heated at 900 °C for 12 hours. The result was a product with an average voltage of 2.75V and capacity of 190 milliAmp-hours/gram that decreased over 30 cycles. Furthermore, the energy density was very similar to that of the lithium electrodes around 520 mWhr/g. As of now the new batteries will not be smaller or longer lasting than the lithium ones (power density is around 1200 W/kg). However, they are cheaper and provide a nice alternative to their rare earth counterparts. The new finding will help further the development of battery technology, and may create an explosive new battery for consumer products. Let's hope no water is allowed to come in contact with the sodium; instant disaster.

Eavesdropper

Three-dimensional video conferencing seems like something only found in sci-fi movies, but a research team from Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab has designed a life-sized working model made from a few readily available electronic components. The team, led by Professor Roel Vertegaal, designed the 3D video conferencing pod called ‘Telehuman’ around Microsoft’s Kinect sensor device.

The design uses an opaque acrylic cylinder that’s approximately 5.6 feet tall with a diameter of 29.5 inches mounted on a plywood platform as the Telehuman’s display screen. Six Kinect sensors are arranged in a circular fashion on top of the acrylic screen which is used to capture a person’s image from the front, back , and both sides to create a real-time 3D image at 30 fps. Located in the bottom of the screen’s base is a DepthQ projector (in conjunction with a Nvidia 3D Vision kit) that’s aimed upward toward a convex mirror which allows the projected image, at a resolution of 720p, of the other user to cover the entire screen.

The images captured from the Kindest sensors are sent to a series of PC’s (1 for every 2 Kindest sensors) to process the image data as well as distance and position relative to the screen and broadcasts the result over a gigabit LAN connection to the corresponding party in conference. The Telehuman is  based off of Human Media Lab’s BodiPod 3D imaging system that allows researchers a cut-away 3D view of the human body. However, unlike the Telehuman, the BodiPod has a gestural interface allowing users to manipulate images of human anatomy. An example being using a ‘peel’ gesture to remove an imaged layer of anatomy of what’s displayed on the screen while other gestures could be used to focus on the depth of the anatomical image with ‘proximity-based slicing’. Both systems share the same technological base and prove that 3D real-time imaging systems aren’t just an aspect of science fiction any longer.

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During his first year at Berkeley, student Derek L. My set out to create the ultimate automated dorm room the likes of which were never before seen at the prestigious institution. Called ‘BRAD’ (Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm), the room features automated curtains, lights and a music system that can be controlled through voice activation, remote control or apps to initiate a series of ‘modes’ for all occasions. To get the room automated Derek used a series of X10 modules connected to just about everything in the room including the various lights (strobe, balck-light, CFL’s and laser-light), sound system and fog machine (yes you read that right) that can be controlled using a remote or voice recognition. Derek connected an X10 controller to his MacBook Air that allows him to automate the various systems using modded voice application software based on Apple’s Siri. A free app allows him to use an iPhone or iPad that connects to his MacBook to control the room remotely. His system is configured for several modes that include study-mode, romantic-mode and party-mode which can be initiated through a party-panic button located on his bunk for emergencies purposes. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see this room at MIT but not at Berkeley; however Derek did a fantastic job for his first year at the Californian dorm.

See how each function was creates after this link.

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Concept and image of the junction (via The Imperial College London)

The common touch panel interfaces have a delay in response time, and it doesn't get better over time as the system gets burdened with software. The Imperial College London (ILC) and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) are teaming up to solve this issue. They have come up with a new organic composite material made of a blend of two organic semiconductors to make up organic thin film transistors (OTFTs).

These scientists, along with the Center For Plastic Electronics, have combined the distinct useful qualities of polymer semiconductors with soluble small-molecule semiconductors to create a thin film. Small-molecule semiconductors are very effective, but they are difficult to manufacture into a thin film. Contrary, polymer semiconductors make thin films easily, but they do not have high charge carrier capabilities. The team found that creating a composite material with both materials resulted in a thin film with a charge carrier mobility that exceeds 5 cm²/V*s, which similar to the high mobility of a single crystal made of small-molecules semiconductors.

This film has a crystalline texture due to the small-molecule component and a remarkable flatness and smoothness atop the polycrystalline film. Both of these factors improve the performance of the materials response time and are crucial in top-gate, bottom-contact configuration devices.

Using methods like x-ray scattering, cross-sectional energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy in topographic and phase modes, researchers may be able to obtain OTFTs with higher mobilities.  Speaking about the future of OTFTs, Dr. Anthopoulos from the Imperial team said, "In principle, this simple blend approach could lead to the development of organic transistors with performing characteristics well beyond the current state-of-the-art."

Microsoft demonstrates the benefits of a faster response time in their "Path for the next 10 years" announcement. Follow the link to see more.

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