There are a good news that ERP Power LLC,one of the leading provider of small,smart and connected LED drivers for the lighting industry,lanched the world's smallest programmable output drivers with wireless communication for indoor lighting applications on 25.Oct.,2017 and demonstrated it on 27-30th,Oct.,2017 at Hongkong.  According to Michael Archer,the CEO of ERP,"ERP is accelerating the Internet of Lights by embedding intelligence, connectivity and dimming into a very small footprint,every LED luminaire design engineer who has held our driver in their hand simply says ‘Wow!' and comments on the industry-leading combination of compact size, extensive dimmer compatibility, and high efficiency at competitive cost. There is no longer a need to compromise the creative style or capabilities of new lighting fixture designs." The UL Class P next generation ERP driver design is one-fifth smaller than similar capacity drivers in the industry; programmable for flexible deployment in a broad range of constant current applications; connected with wired and wireless controls; and high efficiency to reduce electricity consumption. The new ERP drivers are designed in California and built to last with a 5-year limited warranty. Now The patent-pending power electronics design includes 30W/40W/50W models which help LED lighting fixture manufacturers meet the technical requirements of ENERGY STAR®, California Title 24 and the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) specifications.  Programmable OutputCustomers can deploy a single driver across multiple lighting fixtures if the power output is programmable. This lowers inventory costs in the customer's supply chain. The ERP next generation driver output is high efficiency and fully programmable in a wide range of output currents while maintaining efficiency of 90% from 50-100% of load with power factor greater than 0.9 and THD less than 20%. ERP’s programmable LED drivers with integrated Bluetooth® mesh communications make dimming, scheduling, and ambient scene control as simple as a swipe of your finger or the sound of your voice. The secure, plug-and-play, Bluetooth® mesh wireless controls architecture leverages a turnkey solution of app, cloud, and firmware pre-integrated with proven LED drivers designed to last for the lifetime of the installation.  Tri-Mode DimmingExtensive dimmer compatibility is provided through ERP Power's unique Tri-Mode Dimming™ feature which provides TRIAC, ELV & 0-10 V support and dim-to-off along with options for alternative linear and logarithmic dimming profiles from 1-100%.  Wireless ConnectivityOther wireless controls based on Wi-Fi, ZigBee, or IEEE 802.15.4 are available in addition to wired controls protocol support for DALI, DMX, Lutron and others.  

Before I share it ,I would like to warn that: Fireworks are illegal in many countries. Before you go lighting off fireworks, check for any local restrictions. Stay safe!There are many articles about remote control lgnition system if you google it. However,I would like to share one but it has some differences between them cause the circuit is combined with my ideas and my friend who is an engineer. Let's see the the complete project details that allow you to ignite firecrackers from a safe distance! This circuit comprises three equally important key parts: an electronic igniter,an RF transmitter and RF receiver . Electronic IgniterThe “red-hot” part of the project is an electromagnetic relay controlled heating wire/fuse. The circuit diagram of the electronic igniter shown following is straightforward and self-explanatory. Here, galvanically isolated electromagnetic relay driver circuitry is used to control the heating element/fuse (1.5 in. of 40AWG Nichrome80 wire) from the output of the RF receiver. Because the RF remote control has four independent channels (pins 10–13 of HT12D IC in the receiver), you can replicate this electronic igniter circuitry to build multiple (four) heating lines. However, as 1.5 in. of 40AWG Nichrome wire draws current close to 1.5 A, without a healthy 12-V battery, the electronic igniter probably couldn’t ignite a firework on its output channels.   RF Transmitter and Receiver A transmitter (or radio transmitter) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with the help of an antenna. A transmitter generates a radio frequency current applied to the antenna, which in turn radiates radio waves.There are several different kinds of transmitter ICs. At Future Electronics we stock many of the most common types categorized by data rate, supply current, supply voltage, frequency range, packaging type and output power. Well,An RF module (radio frequency module) is a (usually) small electronic device used to transmit and/or receive radio signals between two devices. In an embedded system it is often desirable to communicate with another device wirelessly. ... RF communications incorporate a transmitter and a receiver. The RF transmitter consists of a 434-MHz license-exempt radio transmitter module and an encoder chip HT12E, while the RF receiver consists of a 434-MHz radio receiver module and a decoder chip HT12D. In case you are facing difficulties in getting this specific item, you can build your own circuitry (on perfboards) by following the open-hardware schematic (shown below) rendered by the eBay seller (B.M. Embedded Solutions, New Delhi, India).     TestAfter I made one,I test it with a  9-V PP3-type battery as the power source of the radio transmitter and a 12-V/2-A lab power supply as the power source for the radio receiver and electronic igniter. With the limited free space there, I didn’t want to risk being responsible for a fire that burned my lab. So I just fired only a couple of homemade fuses as the proof-of-concept. Picture is as following: 

As one of the electornic hobbier,I like to make all kinds of electronic projects. Every time I ended an electronic project and saw my trophy,I am so happy and perfectly satisfied. Today I wolud like to share an electronic about LED motorcycle helmet. The costs of helmet you made by yourself are less and meaningful. Now let me introduce it step-by-step. Parts we need: Helmet ( any kind you like)LED RGB Addressable StripQduino MiniLiPo BatteryBattery ChargerString or threadTapeHot GlueSoldering kitWireVelcro tabs Process to create: 1. Plan out your LED design with string and tape (make sure you have a good place to hide the electronics!)2. Cut the LED roll into strips to fit the helmet (make sure they are all in the right direction to make a circuit)3. Stick the LED strips onto the helmet - they are sticky enough to stay on at least temporarily4. Cut open the plastic at the end of the strips to expose the leads you need to solder5. Solder all the LED strips together (this may take some time, so get comfortable)6. Solder the Qduino Mini to the end of the LED circuitGND - GNDDin - D85V - VCC7. Count the number of LEDs and program the Qduino Mini8. Test with a LiPo Battery9. Insulate all solder joints with hot glue, as well as any wires that might be exposed if their plastic casing melted off while soldering10. Optional: If the LED strips don’t stick onto your helmet as well as you’d like, you can either hot glue them or use an adhesive to make sure they won’t come off while riding11. Use Velcro to add the Qduino Mini and LiPo battery to the inside of your helmet12. Plug in, turn on and ride off in style. Trophy Picture Feeling: I'm also an avid motorcycle rider and now I always wear it to go for a drive ! More passer-by will look at me ! 

As the development of social technology,computer is becoming an universal things in families.The huge increase in computing performance in recent decades also has been achieved by squeezing ever more transistors into a tighter space on microchips. However,it's the tighter space on microchips that leads to effects such as signal leakage betwwen components,which will slow down communication between different parts of the chip. People in technology call this kind of delay as " interconnect bottleneck" as it is becoming an increasing problem in high-speed computing system.  Researchers are trying their best and all their professional knowledge to consider how to solve this problem. According to Pablo Jarillo-Herrero,an associte professor of physics at MIT,however,one way to tackle the interconnect bottleneck is to use light rather that wires to communicate between different parts of a microchip.But it is a hard work that the material "sillicon" used to build chips,does not emit light easily. The article about a light emitter and detector that can be integrated into sillicon CMOS chips was published in the Journal Nature Nanotechnology,a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Publishing Group.This paper was written by MIT postdoc Ya-Qing Bie who joined Jarillo-Herrero and an interdisciplinary team including Dirk Englund, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT . According to this paper,the device is built from a semiconductor material called molybdenum ditelluride. This ultrathin semiconductor belongs to an emerging group of materials known as two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides.  Unlike conventional semiconductors, the material can be stacked on top of silicon wafers, Jarillo-Herrero says."Researchers have been trying to find materials that are compatible with silicon, in order to bring optoelectronics and optical communication on-chip, but so far this has proven very difficult,for example,gallium arsenide is very good for optics, but it cannot be grown on silicon very easily because the two semiconductors are incompatible." on the contrary,the 2-D molybdenum ditelluride can be mechanically attached to any material.Another difficulty with integrating other semiconductors with silicon is that the materials typically emit light in the visible range, but light at these wavelengths is simply absorbed by silicon.Molybdenum ditelluride emits light in the infrared range, which is not absorbed by silicon, meaning it can be used for on-chip communication.To use the material as a light emitter, the researchers first had to convert it into a P-N junction diode, a device in which one side, the P side, is positively charged, while the other, N side, is negatively charged. In conventional semiconductors, this is typically done by introducing chemical impurities into the material. With the new class of 2-D materials, however, it can be done by simply applying a voltage across metallic gate electrodes placed side-by-side on top of the material.Jarillo explained continuelly:""That is a significant breakthrough, because it means we do not need to introduce chemical impurities into the material [to create the diode]. We can do it electrically." Once the diode is produced, the researchers run a current through the device, causing it to emit light."So by using diodes made of molybdenum ditelluride, we are able to fabricate light-emitting diodes (LEDs) compatible with silicon chips." The device can also be switched to operate as a photodetector, by reversing the polarity of the voltage applied to the device. This causes it to stop conducting electricity until a light shines on it, when the current restarts,so that the devices are able to both transmit and receive optical signals. This device is a proof of concept and there are a great deal of work need to be done before the technology can be developed into a commercial product, Jarillo-Herrero says. The researchers are now investigating other materials that could be used for on-chip optical communication.Most telecommunication systems, for example, operate using light with a wavelength of 1.3 or 1.5 micrometers, howevermolybdenum ditelluride emits light at 1.1 micrometers. This makes it suitable for use in the silicon chips found in computers, but unsuitable for telecommunications systems. "It would be highly desirable if we could develop a similar material, which could emit and detect light at 1.3 or 1.5 micrometers in wavelength, where telecommunication through optical fiber operates,"  Jarillo-Herrero added. In the end,researchers are another ultrathin material called black phosphorus, which can be tuned to emit light at different wavelengths by altering the number of layers used. They hope to develop devices with the necessary number of layers to allow them to emit light at the two wavelengths while remaining compatible with silicon. The article was ended by Jarillo hopes that communication on-chip by optical signals instead of electronic signals because they can do so more quickly whle comsuming less power. Well,let's cheer researchers on and hope them get success in the near future. 

As one of the world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technology,IMEC announced at the 2017 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits that the world's first demonstration of a vertically stacked ferroelectric,AI doped HfO2 device for NAND applications.Using a new material and a novel architecture,imechas created a non-volatile memory concept with attractive characteristics for power consumption, switching speed, scalability and retention. The achievement shows that ferro-electric memory is a highly promising technology at various points in the memory hierarchy, and as a new technology for storage class memory. Imec will further develop the concept in collaboration with the world's leading producers of memory ICs.  Ferro-electric materials consist of crystals that exhibit spontaneous polarization; they can be in one of two states, which can be reversed with a suitable electric field. This non-volatile characteristic resembles ferromagnetism, after which they have been named. Discovered more than five decades ago, ferro-electric memory has always been considered ideal, due to its very low power needs, non-volatile character and high switching speed. However, issues with the complex materials, the breakdown of the interfacial layer and bad retention characteristics have presented significant challenges. The recent discovery of a ferro-electric phase in HfO2, a well-known and less complex material, has triggered a renewed interest in this memory concept.  "With HfO2, there is now a material with which we can process ferro-electric memories that are fully CMOS compatible. This allows us to make a ferro-electric FET (FeFET) in both planar and vertical varieties," noted Jan Van Houdt, imec's chief scientist for memory technology. "We are working to overcome some of the remaining issues, such as retention, precise doping techniques and interface properties, in order to stabilize the ferro-electric phase. We are now confident that our FeFET concept has all the required characteristics. It is, in fact, suitable for both stand-alone and embedded memories at various points in the memory hierarchy, going all the way from non-volatile DRAM to Flash-like memories. It has particularly interesting characteristics for future storage-class memory, which will help overcome the current bottleneck caused by the differences in speed between fast processors and slower mass memory." Imec recently presented the first, extremely positive results to its partners. The research center is now offering further development and industrialization of the vertical FeFET as a program to all its memory partners, which include the world's major companies producing memory ICs.  Van Houdt explained "FeFETs can be used as a technology to build memory very similar to Flash-memory, but with additional advantages for further scaling, simplified processing, and power consumption,with our longstanding R&D and processing experience on advanced Flash, we are uniquely positioned to offer our partners a head start in this exciting opportunity. They can then decide how best to fit ferro-electric memories in their products and chips." This is a breakthrough in CMOS-compatible ferroelectric memory, let's look forward to the CMOS-compatible ferroelectric memory together.  

Do you know graphene? Graphene is made of a single layer of carbon atoms that are bonded together in a repeating pattern of hexagons,it is one million times thinner than paper,so thin that it is actually considered two dimensional. Nowadays more and more electronic components are made of graphene such as solar cells,transistors or transparent screens cause it can help computing performance continue to grow.After a brief introduction of graphene,let's go into the subject--graphene sensors.  As far as we concern,graphene's ability to detect a variety of chemical and biological molecules would seem to make it a perfect match for sensors,however, graphene is hard to fashion the material into a transistor that can be turned on and off cause it's a conductor and lacks an inherent band gap. In order to make a sensor out of graphene, you need to use multiple layers of the material, which leads to high levels of electronic noise and reduces its effectiveness. Now, an international team of researchers has proposed a graphene-based semiconductor device that reduces electronic noise when its electric charge is neutral (referred to as its neutrality point). The group achieved this neutrality point without the need for bulky magnetic equipment that had previously prevented these approaches from being used in portable sensor applications.The researchers used their new sensing scheme to detect HIV-related DNA hybridization at picomolar concentrations.Scientists have fabricated a charge detector out of graphene that can detect very small amounts of charges close to its surface. The sensing principle of the device relies on charge species detection through the field-effect, which brings about a change in electrical conductance of graphene upon adsorption of a charged molecule on the sensor surface. According to Wangyang Fu, the author of the paper and a postdoc at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands,"Graphene is perfect for such application,it's unique among other solid state materials in that all carbon atoms are located on the surface,making the graphene surface highly sensitive for detection of changes in the environment." However, Fu notes that our ability to create practical electrochemically gated graphene-based field-effect transistors to detect charged species also requires a small amount of electronic noise, the existence of which fundamentally limits a sensor’s resolution."I believe we have discovered an elegant and simple approach to improve the sensitivity of next generation graphene electronic biochemical sensor devices,” said Fu. “Our device is able to function at its low-noise neutrality point without the need for complicated magnetic equipment that other approaches using graphene have depended upon.”Fu added.  "The electronic noise can be reduced without compromising the sensing response, enabling significant improvement to the signal-to-noise ratio compared to that of a conventionally operated graphene transistor to measure conductance." Fu added. This noise reduction and maintaining of the sensing response is achieved by making use of one of the unique properties of graphene field-effect transistors: its ambipolar (being both n- or p-type) behavior near the neutrality point.The neutrality point manifests itself in graphene as the lowest point of conductance in the material and is the result of graphene’s unique electronic band structure. At this low conductance point, the graphene sensors can operate at a lower noise level. While this doesn’t compromise the sensing response, it does lower the signal-to-noise ratio of the device, resulting in an overall improved sensing response.Another feature of the latest device is the use of so-called in-situ 'electrochemical cleaning' to ensure a clean graphene surface, which is a new technique meant to enable graphene electronic biosensors to provide reliable performance. While they were able to test their sensing scheme on HIV, more work must be done before this device could find its way into the next generation of biochemical sensors. First of all, Fu believes that there is a need to scale up the miniaturized graphene electronic arrays. In addition, microfluidic or nanofludic liquid handling should also be integrated into the arrays.He says there will also be a need for on-site electrochemical cleaning on each of the devices and the more surface functionalization to suit different cases of biomolecule detection. “Finally, on-chip read-out circuits and false detection evaluations are needed to evaluate sensor performance under different conditions,” he adds. In continuing research, Fu and his colleagues intend to adopt this low-noise technology for other single molecule detection methods and evaluate the sensor performances when scaled up. Finally,let's look forward to seeing the new era of new sensor soon.