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Day 2 - 21 July

Day 2 - 21 July

Owned by Sara Faour
Last updated: Jul 21, 2023
7 min read

Integrated circuits and architectures for Industrial IoT: remote sensing aspects

Prof. Smail Tedjini

The equipment of RF measurements are expensive because they require very high frequency clocks.

For this reason many comapnies offer the option of renting such equipment, or offer the service of using an equipped lab.

The cost can reach 1 million euros for GHz- frequencies equipment, it decreases for sub-GHz frequencies.

Some companies working with these tehnologies:

cobots: collaborative robots

 

Radar applications:

Radars in the industry:

Radar design needs:

  • transmitted power between 0 and 10 dBm

  • short wavelength for miniaturization

  • range from <1m to 100-200m

  • detection with low SNR of 10-20 dB

  • radar equation:

     

  • the equation could be more complex due to shadowing and other aspects….

  • cross section from tens of cm2 to m2

  • DSP techniques

  • Receiver sensitivity

  • Multiple channels

Lidar: uses light instead of other EM signals with lower frequencies

Lidar allows for better resolution, its cost is much higher, it is based on photonic technology which is still not very much mature.

In example, https://www.navya.tech/en/solutions/moving-people/ such applications require cm-scale precision that is offered by Lidar, however this technology is still challenging.

working at 10 GHz offers lower attenuation compared to higher frequencies

The fact of using a rotating radars increases the cost due to the continuous maintenance because of the motor.

The trend is moving from hardware to software.

In order to be able to distinguish the direction of the arriving signal we need at least two receivers (the case above), comparing the received signal on the two receivers the radar can deduce the direction o the signal.

The transmitter and the receiver have the same carrier signal.

Digital Radar EW is a radar on a chip:

Linear-FMCW waveform: moving target

The frequency increase in a linear way (or other shape), the wave in red is the received signal when there is no obstacle (no reflection), so it reads the same transmitted signal but shifted in time, the change in frequency is due to Doppler effect.

Industrial solutions for COTS radar components: Analog Devices.

Big companies as Analog Devices they sell components and not solutions.

Low complex FPGA used to implement in real-time the complete baseband Radar processing.

Passive radar is important in terms of military radar so that the target is not recognized

Passive radar is a class of radar systems that detect and track objects by processing reflections from non-cooperative sources of illumination in the environment, such as commercial broadcast and communications signals.

V Band automotive radar (77GHz Radar):

Radar dome:

The front side of the car should not be metallic so that the signal of the radar is not reflected.

Meta-materials is a trend towards that.

One application is measuring the heart beats of a human → biomedical application

UWB Radar can be used in military application since there is no constraints on bandwidth.

Active research fields:

  • ISAC Integrating Sensing and Communication

  • ISAC in 6G

in 5G sensing and communication are still separated, however they can be joined in 6G

Companies developing 6G: Hexa-X

Resolving cross-talk, (when there is interference between the transmitted and received signal) is done by decreasing the power of transmision while receiving, or even by cancelling it directly from the received signal.

Electromagnetic propagation issues for Industrial IoT

Prof. Ludger Klinkenbusch

Agenda:

  • Overview

  • Computational Electromagnetics

  • The Finite-DiffernceTime-Domain Method

  • Electromagnetic Compatibility Issues for the Industrial IoT

  • Shielding (incl. Exercise)

Analytical methods do not care about dimensions

Computational Electromagnetics:

  • These are numerical exact methods: the solution of Maxwell’s equations

  • delivers numbers (not formulas)

  • usually requires discretization

    • local numerical methods (i.e. Finite Element Method, Finite Element Method…)

    • global numerical method (i.e. Method of Moments, Integral Equation Method…)

  • Results obtained for a certain limited accuracy(depending on the available hardware)

  • Visualization is usually easily obtained.

The Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) Method:

we can use computer to solve maxwell equations, however computer cannot get derivatives directly, we should discretize things before. → check the slides

Yee cell:

Issues for the IoT:

 

Electromagnetic Compatibility is the ability of a device to reliably work within a well-defined electromagnetic environment without influencing the electromagnetic environment such that it would be unacceptable for other devices in the same environment.

Coupling mechanisms:

  • Galvanic coupling (e.g., using same groundline)

  • Capacitive coupling (e.g., electrodes of the unwanted capacitor are in different devices, used at lower frequencies)

  • Inductive coupling(e.g., circuits in different devices act as primary and secondary part of an unwanted transformer, used at lower frequencies)

  • Electromagnetic coupling (general coupling, all effects included, mostly used for higher frequencies and radiation interference)

  • Electrostatic discharge (ESD):

  •  

EMC: Electromagnetic Compatibility

Electric field is propagated through the conductor → low-frequency electric fields

There is eddy currents in our skin

In some cases we can have resonance, like in slitted cylinder shield because the open space is close to electromagnetic wavelength.

 

Simulations: → the code is uploaded

Advanced phased arrays for communications in industrial scenarios

Prof. Giuliano Manara

Agenda:

  • Principles of antenna arrays

  • Near-Field Focused Antennas (NFFAs): characteristic parameters and properties

  • Basic design criteria

  • Microwave near-field applications

  • Advanced synthesis techniques

  • Technologies for NFF antennas: some examples

  • Conclusions

We use Antenna Array in order to have:

  • High gain

  • Narrow HPBW

  • Beamforming

Array: having two dipoles

Additive Manufacturing for wireless tags and sensors

Prof. Simone Genovesi

  • Envisioned applications of 2D-3D printed RFID tags

  • Overview of additive manufacturing technologies and sensing concepts

  • Chipless RFID tag and sensors

Using 2D-3D printing to fabricate antenna and sensors

Chipless RFID Sensors → 3D printing using a conducting material

additive manufacturing can help reduce the cost of sensors

3D is more complex than other production methods, however it allows full customization

Introduction to AM:

Vat Photopolymerization:

  • based only on resin

  • very high resolution

Extrusion based systems:

  • the material is semi-melted by heat to be attached to the other layers

  • support material is needed

  • in same material another material is used as support and that can be dissolved in water

lots of infill techniques can be used for empty objects:

A sensor is a transducer: changing one form of energy to another

Sensors should be sensitive to their target measurands, and insensitive to any other input
quantities, which might impact on their performance → selectivity