Internet of Things (IoT)

A few decades back, the Internet came into our lives and revolutionized every single industry on the surface of the planet. This internet, popularly known as a network of networks, was basically the Internet of People. It connected billions of people from all over the world via a common medium. Today, after almost 50 years from the origin of Internet, we have something which is again going to revolutionize not only the communication network between people but also things. That is what we call, Internet of Things (IoT).

With IoT, objects will be able to tell their stories, communicate among themselves and track changes in the surrounding, without no human intervention.

IoT architecture:

1.  Things- The thing in IoT can be a human with an implant, an animal with a smart tag or a car with a sensor, basically anything that can be given an IP address and incorporates the ability to transmit data to the cloud.
2. Gateways- Nearly 80% of the things in the planet, are not designed to connect to the internet and share data with the cloud.  
3. A common language for the things to communicate with each other; a set of protocols, interfaces and interoperability.
4.   Cloud – for storing the data transmitted by all the things in the IoT network.

In order to fully implement IoT, a large address space would be required to provide a unique ID to every thing connected to the IoT network. The increase in address space of IPv6 compared to IPv4, addresses this problem. IPv6 uses a 128 bit address when compared to 32 bit address of IPv4. This provides relief to what was anticipated as shortage of network addresses in the future.

“Assign an IPV6 address to every atom on the surface of the earth, and still have enough addresses left to do another 100+ earths.”- Steve Leibson, (who identifies himself as “occasional docent at the Computer History Museum)

Why should you care?

If you think IoT is just another way of making life more comfortable and easy, then there is more to it. Let’s take a simple example. One morning, your smart bracelet vibrates vigorously and wakes you up instead of the quiet buzz it creates every morning. You wake up startled and feel a stinging pain in your left arm, you are dizzy and hyperventilating. You pick your phone to call for help and see that your fitness app is showing some readings that are not normal. Your heart rate is above normal, your blood pressure is high and it is an emergency. Before you can think of a way, your health provider has been alerted and your ambulance is on the way.

Couple of hours later you wake up in the hospital, feeling better. Your doctor says it was a heart attack and because you got help in the nick of the time, you are safe.

So where is IoT in all this?

Your smart bracelet communicated your health data to your fitness app, your smart phone transmitted this data to your health provider (doctor), who based on his understanding decided it was an emergency and called for an ambulance. The doctor’s system communicated to your phone about these advances which helped you to relax somewhat, knowing help would arrive soon. You reached the hospital right on time and that is how IoT just saved your life. 

COMSOL Multiphysics.

If you are a MEMS person and wish to work on something related to it, COMSOL Multiphysics is what you need.

COMSOL Multiphysics is a finite element analysis, solver and Simulation software package for various engineering applications,

Key features:

1.  The packages are cross platform.(Windows, Mac, Linux)

1. Includes a large number of modules for various physics, chemistry and engineering applications.

1. Interfacing with other simulation tools like AutoCAD, Matlab, Inventor etc.

Here's a capacitive pressure sensor I simulated using COMSOL to study the variation in capacitance as a function of pressure. 

Sadly, it is not an open source software and they do not have a student version either. If your institute has a license or two, you can try building some basic models and get a feel of what FEM analysis is.

Problem Statement: Design and simulation of an Implantable wireless Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Capacitive pressure sensor for continuous IOP measurement.

You can use:

COMSOL Multiphysics v4.4 Reference manual

ROBOWARS 2014!

Building something from the scratch and watching it work, the joy is priceless.

These are the pictures of my final year B.E. days. ROBOWARS 2014, one of the most awaited events in almost all the college fests in and around Mangalore.

AGNI! A simple mechanical combat robot, was our first hand-on experience with the basic principle of robotics.


Team Members: Ashwini Shenoy M., Aparna R. Bhat, Disha D. Shetty and Aparna Prasanna Shastry.

Under the guidance of
Dr. Pinto Paes,
Dept. of Electronics and Electrical Engineering,
St. Joseph Engineering College,
Vamanjoor, Mangalore.

Duration: approx. 6 months.
Bot Specifications:

• 60 rpm, torque 38kg/cm (8 motors)
• 12V relays
• microswitches for control circuit
• On board battery
• Weight: 16kgs

• 

MICRO ELECTRO MECHANICAL SYSTEMS (MEMS)

Basics of MEMS PDF

An Introduction to MEMS- Prime Faraday 

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) refer to a collection of microsensors and actuators that can sense its environment and have the ability to react to changes in that environment with the use of
a microcircuit control. They include, in addition to the conventional microelectronics packaging, integrating antenna structures for command signals into microelectromechanical structures for desired sensing and actuating functions. The system may also need micropower supply, microrelay, and microsignal processing units. Microcomponents make the system faster, more reliable, cheaper, and capable of incorporating more complex functions.

Quick notes on Verilog HDL

Verilog HDL Basics Free Download Pdf

Here is a quick notes on Basics of Verilog which can be handy if your a VLSI Design Engineer or if you are learning Verilog HDL for the first time. All the information in this document is taken from standard textbooks like Botros.
Hoping thisis what you guys were looking for.

Do leave a comment and +1 if you found it useful.

Thanks in advance!

Regards
Ashwini :) 

M.Tech Sem 1: VLSI lab manual free pdf

VLSI Lab Mtech Sem 1 Verilog codes

BCI Control For Wheelchair Movement

ABSTRACT: 

A Brain computer interface (BCI) is a system that allows direct communication  between a computer and a human brain, bypassing the body‘s normal neuromuscular pathways. Instead of depending on peripheral nerves and muscles, a BCI directly measures brain activity associated with the user‘s intent and translates the recorded brain activity into corresponding control signals for certain applications. The signals recorded by the system are processed and classified to recognize the intent of the user. Well, moving things through mere thought process is no more a science fiction!

Though the main application for BCIs has been in rehabilitation of disabled patients so far, they are 

increasingly being used in other application scenarios as well. One such application is 

the control of wheelchair movement.

Independent mobility is core to being able to perform activities of daily living by oneself. Millions of people around the world suffer from mobility impairments and hundreds of thousands of them rely upon powered wheelchairs to get on with their activities of daily living. However, many patients are not prescribed powered 

wheelchairs at all, either because they are physically unable to control the chair using a conventional interface, or because they are deemed incapable of driving safely. For some of these people, non–invasive brain–computer interfaces (BCI) offers a promising solution to this interaction problem.

In this project we have developed a cost effective BCI application that will help the physically challenged to lead an independent life with the help of their brain signals in a noninvasive techniques.

The project is at its infant stage, with just 3 wheelchair movements mapped successfully to the brain activities and considerable delay. Nevertheless it was a successful project, successful because
1. It can read and adapt to brain activities of different users.
2. It can map 3 wheelchair movements (front, stop and reverse) using just one sensor (at the P1 one position on the forehead according to the international 10-20 system).
3. It is a portable unit- all it needs is a laptop for signal processing and a microcontroller for motor control (the whole unit can be replaced by a single more powerful microcontroller).

Check out the working of our project on Youtube:

http://youtu.be/jG-IYj8J-mE

FUTURE WORK:

With the help of a better headset( electrode cap with more sensors) we can have 2D motion of the wheelchair. Also by using a more powerful microcontroller, replacing the entire signal processing unit and the motor control unit and reduce the delay considerably.

Studies suggest that if the same user (Patient) uses it for a long time, the delay can be reduced. The headset gets trained and learns from the brain activity of the person. Something similar to teaching an infant how to identify objects and people.

Another cool addition would be a high powered battery to support both the headset and the processing unit along with the motors of the wheelchair.

You can read more about our project here:
https://www.pantechsolutions.net/bci-control-for-wheelchair-movement-using-mindwave-mobile