Engineering connections

REMEMBER when the estimated number of connected devices in 2005 was around six billion, followed about five years later with the acronym “IoT” achieving buzzword/hype status? Now fast forward to next year, when that number is expected to skyrocket to a staggering 75 billion, or roughly nine devices per person on the planet. That’s a lot of devices — and a lot of design.

The expectations around the Internet of Things seem to rise exponentially with each new iteration of a device, platform, or communications technology. Can it be faster, smaller, and cheaper? Can it be simple to implement and integrate? Oh, and by the way, does it have bulletproof security that’s transparent to the user? Tall orders, to say the least.

One of the biggest hurdles is ensuring secure authentication and unique identification for each connected IoT device. Without that foundation of trusted communication, the whole system falls apart. And even once you’ve got that locked down, integrating all the data and devices with regular business applications and processes remains a major challenge.

Then there’s the connectivity issues — maintaining reliable, seamless wireless links for IoT gadgets, even in tough environments? That’s no easy task. On top of that, you’ve got to protect all that IoT data from cyber threats and ensure user privacy is airtight. The lack of common standards for IoT devices and protocols just compounds the compatibility and interoperability nightmares.

Many of these connected devices also have pretty weak or non-existent authentication, leaving them vulnerable to attacks. Securing the embedded software and firmware in those resourceconstrained IoT products? That’s a whole other level of complexity. Scaling up IoT systems to handle growing numbers of devices and mountains of data without performance degradation? That’s a major challenge too.

Finally, (maybe), the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is driving the mainstream adoption of IoT technology, but also introducing new design complexities that need to be addressed.

Despite these and other daunting obstacles, engineers continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the IoT space. As the number of connected devices skyrockets, the challenges will only become more complex. But talented minds are tackling these challenges with innovative new components and tools, while reaching for resources like this Handbook…and maybe some AI.

Aimee Kalnoskas
Editor-in-chief

The post April 2024 Issue: Internet of Things Handbook appeared first on Power Electronic Tips.

Cold starts, hot power markets, and great expectations

Recent cold spells across the United States have shifted the focus from “range anxiety” in electric vehicles (EVs) to concerns about their performance in cold…how they start, and how far they can go. Buzzworthy? Apparently. Newsworthy? Maybe, but it’s not new news.

Reflecting on a youthful personal experience with a three-on-the-column 1964 Dodge Dart, “range anxiety” meant the onerous mental calculations involved in determining how much spare change was needed to get enough gas to reach home after a night out. “Cold starts” involved the struggle of starting an internal combustion engine (ICE) in Northeastern Pennsylvania winters, usually resulting in a dead battery with whining, rapid clicking, and the anxiety of locating someone for a jump start.

The current discourse around EVs seems to reflect the unrealistic expectations of technology overall — almost understandable given the rapid advancements in electronics to which consumers have grown accustomed. The intricate electronics found in EVs and most of the electronic devices we use daily didn’t simply materialize out of thin air. Developing these power electronics devices is a complex process, and the engineers who bring them to life are highly skilled professionals.

Contributing writer Bill Schweber, in a recent EEWorld Online blog post, emphasized the underappreciated role of engineers in these technological advancements who are frequently overshadowed by the pop culture that benefits most from their engineering advancements:

“My view is that non-recognition is the downside of innovating so much while making it all look so easy, regardless of how hard it was. In many ways, the astounding success of the engineering community at creating so much wonderful stuff, with the resulting advances we live with and routinely use, makes it all look like no big deal: it all “just happens.” Of course, it’s not that way at all.”

As consumers, we often take for granted the complex technology and sophisticated engineering skillsets that power our everyday lives. We expect constant connectivity, rapid charging, and minimal latency when browsing, streaming, or listening online. Similarly, do we think our EV batteries should be unaffected by cold weather, and the driving range on a single charge be comparable to that of a full gas tank?

The transition to electrification, the rise in the number of power electronic components in EVs, and the integration of artificial intelligence into numerous applications are just some of the challenges electronics engineers face today. The solution to these challenges will involve the efficient use of currently available power and significant leaps in energy generation for the power-intensive needs of the future.

It’s not simple stuff, but reigning in expectations appears a lot more complicated. Demand does help to inspire and drive innovation. Maybe it’s time for demanding consumers to spend more time in the driver’s seat with the folks behind that innovation.

The articles included here are definitely for you, the engineer. But it wouldn’t hurt to pay it forward to those who benefit from your work. They don’t have to know what RDson or bidirectional power means in detail; maybe it would be more impactful to explain what you do in a context they can appreciate — and not take for granted.

Aimee Kalnoskas
Editor-in-chief

The post February 2024 Issue: Power Electronics Handbook appeared first on Power Electronic Tips.

Engineering a green mindset and sustainable future

Growing up in the pre-2000s era with a power electronics engineer for a father, my family’s first introduction to power and energy efficiency efforts was primarily analog. The word “vampire” was associated with a TV show called Dark Shadows; it had nothing to do with standby power back then. Still, we were taught to unplug cords from outlets when an appliance was not in use, and inspections of our progress or lack thereof were not uncommon. We learned early on about “natural” air cooling and warming as air conditioning was for the new, big houses, not our 250-year-old farmhouse that also lacked central heating. This involved the daily ritual of opening windows at night and turning on the gigantic attic fan to welcome the cool night air, then closing the shades as the hot summer sun began rising. My Dad’s workarounds for no heat other than a Franklin stove for most of my childhood…well, you engineers can probably imagine how “imaginative” he got with that. (No details here as the memory of Pennsylvania winters still brings up a bit of trauma.)

Even before the word came into common usage in the early 2000s, he taught us how to “hypermile” to maximize fuel efficiency in our very technologically straightforward used vehicles. Stretching out coasting was a personal favorite of mine because, really, why would you hurry to the red light ahead of you? If the car did have AC, you only used that at higher speeds because leaving the windows down in other than city-street environments caused enough drag to decrease fuel economy.

All of this made for a practical education in preparation for lay ahead. Now, even in the time of technological marvel (and some despair), we have entered an era where the world is grappling with climate change, resource scarcity, and the ever-increasing demand for electricity. The quest for more efficient, cleaner, and sustainable power solutions to energy challenges is paramount.

Electronics engineers who focus on power efficiency are at the forefront of these technological advances. As essential contributors who address these challenges, your task to design efficient and sustainable products means incorporating rapidly evolving and innovative technologies and approaches. The impact of these efforts brings us LEDs, low-power MCUs, energy-efficient HVAC systems, solar-powered electronics, energy harvesting, high-efficiency power supplies, EVs, low-power wireless communications, data centers with energy-efficient cooling, efficient power management integrated circuits, green building automation, efficient solar inverters, and more.

Some of these examples are profiled in his handbook and pretty much sum up the bulk of EE World’s editorial content from authoritative contributing writers, including Bill Schweber, Jeff Shepard, Rick Nelson, and Ken Wyatt. It also includes contributing articles from subject matter experts at key technology companies, some of whom have written here addressing critical technologies that can help to meet fundamental challenges electronics engineers face in designs that impact the environment, cost, performance, and sustainability of electronic devices and systems.

My early education in power and energy efficiency may have seemed rudimentary, but, like many of us, the opportunities to expand it now seem limitless. We hope our handbook inspires you to test those limits.

Aimee Kalnoskas
Editor-in-chief

The post October 2023 Issue: Power & Energy Efficiency Handbook appeared first on Power Electronic Tips.