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In most cases, machine-based automated testing is based on visual or physical criteria. In contrast, a new cognitive system detects erroneous sounds up to 99 percent of the errors. In industrial production, it is crucial that the machines work and that the product does not have any defects. The production process is therefore continuously monitored. By humans, but also by more and more sensors, cameras, software and hardware. In most cases, machine-based automated testing is based on visual or physical criteria. Only people also use their ears naturally: if something sounds unusual, a person switches the machine off for safety. The problem is this: Everyone perceives noises somewhat differently. Whether something goes wrong is therefore rather a subjective feeling and presents an increased susceptibility to error.Acoustic measurement technology with AIThe Fraunhofer IDMT develops cognitive systems that accurately identify faults based on acoustic signals. The technological approach combines intelligent acoustic measurement technology and signal analysis, machine learning as well as data-safe, flexible data storage. The rersearchers integrate the intelligence of listening into the industrial condition control of machines and automated test systems for products. Once they have been trained, cognitive systems can hear more objectively than human hearing: instead of two ears, they have, so to speak, many thousands of them at their disposal, in the form of millions of neutral data records. Initial pilot projects with industry are already under way. The researchers have been able to detect up to 99 percent of the defects purely acoustically. Assigning sounds distinctlyThe scientists identify possible sources of noises and analyze their causes, create a noise model of the environment, and focus their microphones there. It is ideal to simulate the human ear: it receives sounds through the air. From the total signal, the system calculates out background sounds, such as voices or from a forklift driving by. This is then repeatedly compared with previously determined, laboratory-pure reference noise. With the help of artificial neural networks, the scientists are gradually developing algorithms that are able to detect noises which occur from errors. The cleaner the acoustic signal is, the better the cognitive system recognizes deviations. The technology is so sensitive that it also displays nuances in error intensity and manages complex tasks. An example from the field of automotive production: In modern car seats, a large number of individual motors are installed, with the aid of which the driver can adjust his seat individually. The design of the motors is not the same, their noises are different and they are installed in different places. In a pilot project with an automotive supplier, our acoustic monitoring system was able to detect all of the error sources perfectly. Flexible, secure data storage in the cloudThe Fraunhofer researchers are able to ensure the data security of the collected acoustic signals through user authorizations as well as rights and identity management. An example is the decoupling of real and virtual identities in order to not violate user rights when evaluating the data by different persons. Machines and test systems are usually installed in the production line. The researchers store their acoustic data records in a secure cloud. Ref.Scientists turn to AI...

In autumn, an abundance of fallen leaves from deciduous phoenix trees are scattered around the streets in Northern China. These leaves are generally burned in the colder season, exacerbating the country's air pollution problem.Investigators in Shandong, China, recently discovered a new method to convert this organic waste matter into a porous carbon material that can be used to produce high-tech electronics. The advance is reported in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, by AIP Publishing. The investigators used a multistep, yet simple, process to convert tree leaves into a form that could be incorporated into electrodes as active materials. The dried leaves were first ground into a powder, then heated to 220 degrees Celsius for 12 hours. This produced a powder composed of tiny carbon microspheres. These microspheres were then treated with a solution of potassium hydroxide and heated by increasing the temperature in a series of jumps from 450 to 800 C. The chemical treatment corrodes the surface of the carbon microspheres, making them extremely porous. The final product, a black carbon powder, has a very high surface area due to the presence of many tiny pores that have been chemically etched on the surface of the microspheres. The high surface area gives the final product its extraordinary electrical properties.(Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) image of porous carbon microspheres.)The investigators ran a series of standard electrochemical tests on the porous microspheres to quantify their potential for use in electronic devices. The current-voltage curves for these materials indicate that the substance could make an excellent capacitor. Further tests show that the materials are, in fact, supercapacitors, with specific capacitances of 367 Farads/gram, which are over three times higher than values seen in some graphene supercapacitors. A capacitor is a widely used electrical component that stores energy by holding a charge on two conductors, separated from each other by an insulator. Supercapacitors can typically store 10-100 times as much energy as an ordinary capacitor, and can accept and deliver charges much faster than a typical rechargeable battery. For these reasons, supercapacitive materials hold great promise for a wide variety of energy storage needs, particularly in computer technology and hybrid or electric vehicles. This research is led by Hongfang Ma of Qilu University of Technology, and has been heavily focused on looking for ways to convert waste biomass into porous carbon materials that can be used in energy storage technology. In addition to tree leaves, the team and others have successfully converted potato waste, corn straw, pine wood, rice straw and other agricultural wastes into carbon electrode materials. Professor Ma and her colleagues hope to improve even further on the electrochemical properties of porous carbon materials by optimizing the preparation process and allowing for doping or modification of the raw materials. The supercapacitive properties of the porous carbon microspheres made from phoenix tree leaves are higher than those reported for carbon powders derived from other biowaste materials. The fine scale porous structure seems to be key to this property, since it facilitates contact between electrolyte ions and the surface of the carbon spheres, as well as enhancing ion transfer and diffusion on the carbon surface. The investigators hope to improve even further on these electrochemical properties by optimizing their process and allowing for doping or modification of the raw materials.  This article is authored by Hongfang Ma, Zhibao Liu, Xiaodan Wang and Rongyan Jiang and is published in Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.  Ref.KY36-5KK560KOAAM(capacitor)KY36-DEBB33F222KA3B(capacitor)KY605-NH12VP(rechargeable battery)  

Techniques and coding theories in information sciences have helped to design new concepts for faster and better data storage. Rapid and reliable data storage is crucial for the success of businesses, online platforms, information repositories and research centres. The EU-funded INFO-STORE (Novel data storage by advancing information sciences) project investigated how to overcome challenges and limitations in emerging data storage applications.Combining theory, practice and expert discussions in a series of five subprojects, the project examined how to improve information storage through breakthroughs in coding theory and related theoretical disciplines. The project made significant progress with respect to multilevel non-volatile memories and their trade-offs between storage density and read/write speeds. This included designing new coding frameworks to improve read/write speeds, maximising the number of writes, reading memory cells in parallel, and balancing density and speed in multilevel memories. To develop high-throughput memory systems for network switches and routers, INFO-STORE produced a coding framework that switches packets between input and output ports. This also involved new codes for optimal switching guarantees, algorithms that exploit such codes in a network switch or router, and compression of forwarding databases. The achievements in this vein overcame the challenge of memory contention in network switches and routers. High-density memristor (resistive memory) storage and associated reliability challenges were also studied to avoid a key obstacle known as sneak paths. In addition, work on memristor issues involved using regular arrays of memristor devices that combine storage and logic. Another important project milestone involved distributed storage systems and the need for flexible data reconstruction in the presence of failing and busy nodes. To overcome this obstacle, INFO-STORE developed a 2D coding framework that allows only a number of nodes to provide a small portion of their stored information – i.e. partial delivery. Lastly, researchers proposed efficient data distribution schemes that work well with the short packet blocks. As data distribution schemes using fountain codes operate optimally only when the packet blocks are very large, the team produced a coding scheme to optimise encoder operation for the receiver's state. This lowers the overhead considerably for short blocks. The project's results were followed by many other ideas and proposals, including a publication on elastic compression of content in web servers to improve server security against denial-of-service attacks. The project's research findings have already begun contributing to the development of quicker, better and safer data storage. Ref.KY32-CY7C1357S-100AXCKY32-CY7C131E-55NXI

Chemists at the University of Waterloo have developed a long-lasting zinc-ion battery that costs half the price of current lithium-ion batteries and could help enable communities to shift away from traditional power plants and into renewable solar and wind energy production.Professor Linda Nazar and her colleagues from the Faculty of Science at Waterloo made the important discovery, which appears in the journal, Nature Energy.The battery uses safe, non-flammable, non-toxic materials and a ph-neutral, water-based salt. It consists of a water-based electrolyte, a pillared vanadium oxide positive electrode and an inexpensive metallic zinc negative electrode. The battery generates electricity through a reversible process called intercalation, where positively-charged zinc ions are oxidized from the zinc metal negative electrode, travel through the electrolyte and insert between the layers of vanadium oxide nanosheets in the positive electrode. This drives the flow of electrons in the external circuit, creating an electrical current. The reverse process occurs on charge.The cell represents the first demonstration of zinc ion intercalation in a solid state material that satisfies four vital criteria: high reversibility, rate and capacity and no zinc dendrite formation. It provides more than 1,000 cycles with 80 per cent capacity retention and an estimated energy density of 450 watt-hours per litre. Lithium-ion batteries also operate by intercalation—of lithium ions—but they typically use expensive, flammable, organic electrolytes."The worldwide demand for sustainable energy has triggered a search for a reliable, low-cost way to store it," said Nazar, a Canada Research Chair in Solid State Energy Materials and a University Research Professor in the Department of Chemistry. "The aqueous zinc-ion battery we've developed is ideal for this type of application because it's relatively inexpensive and it's inherently safe."The global market for energy storage is expected to grow to $25 billion in the next 10 years. The bonus for manufacturers is they can produce this zinc battery at low cost because its fabrication does not require special conditions, such as ultra-low humidity or the handling of flammable materials needed for lithium ion batteries."The focus used to be on minimizing size and weight for the portable electronics market and cars," said Dipan Kundu, a postdoctoral fellow in Nazar's lab and the paper's first author. "Grid storage needs a different kind of battery and that's given us license to look into different materials."Water in the electrolyte not only facilitates the movement of zinc ions, it also swells the space between the sheets, like tiers of a wedding cake, giving the zinc just enough room to enter and leave the positive structure as the battery cycles. The electrode material's nano-scale dimensions and the battery's high-conductivity aqueous electrolyte also improve its cycling life and response times.Together with researchers at the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research in the U.S., Nazar's team is also investigating multivalent ion intercalation batteries based on Mg2+ in non-aqueous electrolytes. They were the first to report highly reversible Mg cycling in the TiS2 thiospinel and layered sulfides, which represent the first new highly functional Mg insertion materials reported in more than 15 years. Their papers appeared in Energy & Environmental Science and ACS Energy Letters earlier this year. 

The current memory landscape spans from venerable DRAM to hard disk drives to ubiquitous flash. But in the last several years PCM has attracted the industry's attention as a potential universal memory technology based on its combination of read/write speed, endurance, non-volatility and density. For example, PCM doesn't lose data when powered off, unlike DRAM, and the technology can endure at least 10 million write cycles, compared to an average flash USB stick, which tops out at 3,000 write cycles. This research breakthrough provides fast and easy storage to capture the exponential growth of data from mobile devices and the Internet of Things. Applications IBM scientists envision standalone PCM as well as hybrid applications, which combine PCM and flash storage together, with PCM as an extremely fast cache. For example, a mobile phone's operating system could be stored in PCM, enabling the phone to launch in a few seconds. In the enterprise space, entire databases could be stored in PCM for blazing fast query processing for time-critical online applications, such as financial transactions. Machine learning algorithms using large datasets will also see a speed boost by reducing the latency overhead when reading the data between iterations. How PCM Works PCM materials exhibit two stable states, the amorphous (without a clearly defined structure) and crystalline (with structure) phases, of low and high electrical conductivity, respectively. To store a '0' or a '1', known as bits, on a PCM cell, a high or medium electrical current is applied to the material. A '0' can be programmed to be written in the amorphous phase or a '1' in the crystalline phase, or vice versa. Then to read the bit back, a low voltage is applied. This is how re-writable Blue-ray Discs store videos. Previously scientists at IBM and other institutes have successfully demonstrated the ability to store 1 bit per cell in PCM, but today at the IEEE International Memory Workshop in Paris, IBM scientists are presenting, for the first time, successfully storing 3 bits per cell in a 64k-cell array at elevated temperatures and after 1 million endurance cycles. "Phase change memory is the first instantiation of a universal memory with properties of both DRAM and flash, thus answering one of the grand challenges of our industry," said Dr. Haris Pozidis, an author of the paper and the manager of non-volatile memory research at IBM Research - Zurich. "Reaching three bits per cell is a significant milestone because at this density the cost of PCM will be significantly less than DRAM and closer to flash." To achieve multi-bit storage IBM scientists have developed two innovative enabling technologies: a set of drift-immune cell-state metrics and drift-tolerant coding and detection schemes. More specifically, the new cell-state metrics measure a physical property of the PCM cell that remains stable over time, and are thus insensitive to drift, which affects the stability of the cell's electrical conductivity with time. To provide additional robustness of the stored data in a cell over ambient temperature fluctuations a novel coding and detection scheme is employed. This scheme adaptively modifies the level thresholds that are used to detect the cell's stored data so that they follow variations due to temperature change. As a result, the cell state can be read reliably over long time periods after the memory is programmed, thus offering non-volatility. "Combined these advancements address the key challenges of multi-bit PCM, including drift, variability, temperature sensitivity and endurance cycling," said Dr. Evangelos Eleftheriou, IBM Fellow. The experimental multi-bit PCM chip used by IBM scientists is connected to a standard integrated circuit board. The chip consists of a 2 × 2 Mcell array with a 4- bank interleaved architecture. The memory array size is 2 × 1000 μm × 800 μm. The PCM cells are based on doped-chalcogenide alloy and were integrated into the prototype chip serving as a characterization vehicle in 90 nm CMOS baseline technology. Source from IBM