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Has the computer become a black box, even for experienced electrical engineers?
Will we always rely on large, opaque organizations to build them for us? Absolutely not, we said. To prove our point, we built our own laptop from the circuit board up.
Of course, we are not deceiving ourselves into thinking that we can make laptops that are faster, smaller, or cheaper than Apple, Dell, or HP. However, we did set out to build a powerful and convenient machine that could be used every day. Fortunately, our dream has inspired enough people to crowdfund this effort. Our laptop, which we call Novena, began shipping to supporters in January 2015.
The event is conducive to our pursuit. Since Moore's Law is slowing down, it may take several years for garage innovators to develop high-tech gadgets without discovering that the completed version is out of date. It has been three years since we started the Novena project, but the 40-nanometer process on which our central microprocessor is based continues to occupy the best position between cost and performance.
In addition, the economic downturn in 2008 has left a lasting mark on the global supply chain. Even today, manufacturers are no longer busy printing money and have no time to produce small boutique projects like ours; on the contrary, they see us as an opportunity to gain an advantage in the competition. Facts have proved that the owners of small factories in China are eager to learn our agile engineering methods, so they can also deal with the challenges of small batch production and the growing market of hardware startups.
We first consider the constraints of the most complex and fragile part of any such system: the software. We want to build a complete computer, a computer with a long-term support roadmap, but we have neither the resources nor manpower to negotiate with vendors of proprietary hardware and software. We want to be able to check and understand the system and its components as much as possible, so if we encounter errors or other abnormal behaviors, we can rely on our wisdom to solve it instead of relying on profit-driven (usually empty) supplier sales The commitment of the team. Therefore, we decided to produce a laptop that uses closed-source embedded firmware as free as possible.
Firmware is basically software installed at the factory (such as drivers, kernels, and bootloaders) that run on "bare metal"-the computer itself, not its operating system. It can be found not only on the main CPU of a notebook computer, but also on about a dozen embedded controllers-a small dedicated processor that manages the battery, keeps the hard disk error-free, and maintains Wi-network connections. Each of these processors runs some firmware; sometimes the firmware can be updated or modified, usually to fix bugs or add features. But such updates may also introduce errors or security holes. If you cannot check the firmware, then you, as a user, must completely rely on the vendor to ensure security.
Laptop, fully open: When Novena is opened, the circuit board is exposed; when it is closed, the outward-facing display allows you to use it like a tablet. Photo: Scott Torborg/Crowd Supply
Our open source demand ultimately affected the choice of almost all hardware, including the main CPU, battery controller, and Wi-Fi module. For example, we cannot use Intel's x86 microprocessors because they can accept firmware updates that we cannot debug or check. Instead, we chose the ARM-based Freescale i.MX6 system-on-chip, which does not embed such updateable code. (System on a chip or SoC is similar to a microprocessor, but it has more supporting hardware, such as the memory and peripheral interfaces required to form a complete computer.) i.MX6 does have some code burned into it to coordinate the computer's startup process, But this firmware cannot be changed, and its unencrypted binary code can be read and analyzed to analyze possible security issues.
Another advantage is that Freescale’s policy is to distribute a very detailed reference manual that covers most of the chip’s space without the need for a confidentiality agreement. This is important because such an agreement would hinder the community involvement required for our long-term support strategy.
Our next choice has a social impact. When you use the CPU/operating system combination, you also use its developers. We decided to oppose Google Android because it is optimized for mobile phones and tablets, its graphic display usually shows only one application at a time, and its touch screen mode is too inaccurate for computer-aided design work. Therefore, in order to create a system that our target developer and creator market can use, we decided to run a Linux version called GNU/Linux on our ARM chip. GNU created the operating system library and the license for the Linux kernel. It is an organization of coders, all the way to the self-quoting acronym itself (it stands for "Gnu's Not Unix").
Unfortunately, most Linux versions of ARM are not designed for personal computing, but for routers and set-top boxes that convert signals for viewing on TVs. Manufacturers using Linux usually build their own, highly customized systems around the so-called Linux kernel (the core framework of the operating system). In this way, they ensure that customers who integrate software into larger systems never see the Linux command prompt. Examples include TiVo and airlines' inflight entertainment systems. Most importantly, vendors use old "snapshots" of Linux—that is, they copy any kernels when the chip is released. Then they added a lot of patches to create a board support package (BSP) for their product, which is a "quick start" toolkit for hardware developers who don't want to deal with the details of the Linux kernel too much.
Usually, these BSPs contain proprietary bits that cannot be copied by the developer, do not take advantage of the features that came with the original kernel, or even follow the standard formatter of Linux code. These undisciplined shortcuts may accelerate the time to market, but they make the kernel impossible to maintain, update, or improve. As a result, the kernel that most Linux-based systems run has been out of date for many years. This is not a plan for long-term customer support.
Therefore, we have adopted the latest kernel available. We patched and extended Freescale's open source BSP code to comply with the Linux community standards, and then submitted our changes to managers throughout the Linux community. They reviewed our code and provided feedback in a few months of iteration.
At that time, our code is finally ready to "upstream" into the Linux mainline. This is a time-consuming and laborious process, but when it ends, the Linux community can adopt our version and maintain it. The main advantage of this upstream process is that you only need to download the latest version of the operating system and compile it to unlock the future features of the Linux kernel without repeating the code review process.
Hardware accelerated graphics proved to be another challenge. Most modern desktop computers allocate an off-screen memory buffer for each application or graphics widget to present their output on the screen. Only in this way, the graphics processing unit (GPU) will "synthesize" various outputs to see seamless images on the screen.
This two-step process separates the drawing rate of the application from the refresh rate of the screen to prevent "race conditions", that is, two input signals compete to become the first signal that affects the output. This competition can create artifacts such as "tearing", where an attempt to drag the window ends up moving only the top when the screen refreshes. Therefore, the newly redrawn half of the window closest to the cursor appears to be torn off from the lower half. In addition, a two-step decoupling process can be used to create subtle cues, such as transparency and blur, where the foreground window and title bar can present the characteristics of frosted glass, prompting what may be contained below it.
Unfortunately, the integrated GPU on Freescale's i.MX6 chip is closed source. Remember when we said that the BSP provided by the vendor is usually a snapshot of the old kernel? The code provided by Freescale for the drivers—that is, the software that controls various peripheral devices (such as printers and GPUs)—is only compatible with outdated Linux versions. This driver has an unfortunate quirk: it needs any application that talks to it to complete all floating-point calculations in software! This is much slower than doing calculations in hardware.
This example illustrates well why closed source products can be so frustrating. If we use this closed source driver, we will lock ourselves in an outdated version of Linux and force other applications to perform floating point calculations in software. However, if we open source to take advantage of all the features and advantages of the latest Linux version and allow floating point calculations in hardware, users will have to reverse engineer the GPU to create compatible open source drivers.
We decided to stick to our position and completely reject closed-source GPUs, which means we have to render graphics in software.
Unlike Windows and Mac OS, Linux allows you to choose how the computer is displayed to the user. This appearance is controlled by a software utility called a desktop window manager. You can choose this look by choosing a specific "distribution" of Linux and coupling it with a specific window manager. We can't use the popular Ubuntu and RedHat distributions because they basically require GPU hardware acceleration, and we refused. Instead, we used a distro that looked slightly older but was more open source friendly, called Debian. We use it in conjunction with the desktop window manager option called Xfce4, which is explicitly designed to run well on systems without GPUs, so it is particularly good at software rendering.
But we hope that this arrangement is only a stopgap measure. The user community behind Novena is trying to create an open source driver through reverse engineering to allow the built-in GPU on the i.MX6 chip to directly render graphics. Currently, we have drivers that can speed up the drawing of two-dimensional graphics on the screen, which makes scrolling and window dragging smoother. We hope that eventually we can find enough GPUs to allow us to make 3D graphics with enough acceleration to produce a user experience very similar to any mainstream laptop.
As the software develops, so does the hardware. The most special step we took was to include a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), which is a processor chip that users can reconfigure to change the specifications and functions of the chip. Basically, this reconfigurability allows the chip to do things in hardware that must have been done in software.
Novena's Peek Array: The brass nuts in the open area on the left form the Peek Array, and users can install the expansion board of their choice at multiple points. The standard version of the laptop lacks this trick to make the hardware easier to crack. Photo: Scott Torborg/Crowd Supply
For example, if you want to accurately control more than a dozen motors, then doing so in the software will encounter a lot of trouble. Motion control requires fine real-time control of the waveform. If you try to make the operating system do this, it will constantly shift from one task to another and back again, thereby adding too much timing jitter. Imagine that the stuttering you see in a web browser is in a self-driving car or drone: an instant crash. However, creating hardware that runs cumbersome timing and critical control loops is a relatively simple matter, and it is trivial to replicate the changes in this hardware again and again in the FPGA.
Once, we really wanted to control a lot of motors. We have a weird idea to install Novena on the chassis of the quadcopter so that our laptop can hover in the office and follow us; we think we will use FPGA to connect the necessary motors and sensors. Therefore, the FPGA's input-output connectors were originally aimed at servo systems and motors.
The calm head finally prevailed. Instead, we optimized the FPGA for data acquisition by adding a set of local high-speed DDR3 RAM chips (a type of high-speed dynamic access memory). This upgrade enables developers to implement various expansion cards, including expansion cards for software-defined radio and expansion cards for digital samplers, which allow engineers to use our laptops as portable oscilloscopes.
Because we developed this project with a very low budget, there were no clear requirements other than building the laptop that we wanted to use, so the laptop developed organically. Instead of designing circuits specific to a particular battery or LCD in the motherboard (a typical feature of most consumer laptops), we modularized the system. We use general-purpose connectors with pins to connect to the subsystem. These pins are just educated guesses about what users will eventually connect to.
Therefore, the final version of the notebook computer includes a dedicated adapter board for the battery pack, LCD, and front bezel arrangement (display frame). The advantage of this modularity is that users can adjust the system to meet their own needs. We are very happy to receive reports about users replacing LCDs and building custom battery packs. Users can add a keyboard of their choice. We do not include one.
In addition to including FPGAs, our hardware decisions are rather lacklustre, even when compared to low-end Intel laptops. Our i.MX6 SoC contains a quad-core ARM CortexA9 running at 1.2 GHz-a 32-bit processor, which means that the system's RAM is limited to 4GB. However, we did choose a pretty good 1920 x 1080 monitor, which is the specification limit of the i.MX6 chip. Our battery life is acceptable, slightly more than 6 hours.
Soup To Nuts: the top is the red radiator of the CPU and FPGA; next is the LCD signal adapter (the second from the top) and the battery board (the third from the top); the next is the optional software-defined radio module; then It is a port farm; at the bottom is a digital sampler expansion card, which can turn a laptop into an oscilloscope. Photo: Scott Torborg/Crowd Supply
We added some extra features just for fun. We have an accelerometer built in, although we really don't know what we will use it for. Accelerometers are very cheap, and you can do many interesting things with them when your computer is aware of tilting, bumping, or falling. For example, you can let your laptop play a sound clip of "Goodbye, cruel world!" When it detects that it is in free fall.
Most laptops have at most one Ethernet port, which means they can only be used as endpoints in the network. But we gave Novena two ports to be located between nodes to filter and monitor traffic for security purposes. These ports also allow our laptop to be used as an Internet firewall for Wi-Fi routers and other wired devices-a convenient feature on the go. Although 20 Hz is considered the low end of human hearing, one of us (yellow) has a wider hearing range, so we took unusual measures to extend the analog frequency response of the headphone jack to below 20 Hz.
These small features have never been included in consumer laptops. But it is these customizations that make the project interesting and unique. They increased the cost-but it was our cost overrun! During crowd events, a fully loaded laptop was sold for $2,000. So far, we have sold about 500.
Initially, we did not intend to build a case that could be mass-produced. In fact, we hand-made our first box from leather, bound like a book. It received a warm welcome on social media, prompting us to try crowdfunding campaigns through Crowd Supply, which uses Kickstarter ideas and powers it through online stores and logistics services.
One thing we learned from our interactions with mainstream consumers is that most people are not prepared for the experience we provide. Our laptops will not run Windows or Mac OS, nor are they extremely fast or extremely thin. So, in order to make our laptop unique and make it more attractive to real technicians, we decided to add something that developers like. This includes mounting bosses-an internal metal nut array-we call it Peek Array (named after Nadya Peek, who is famous for FabLab).
A typical laptop cannot be cracked because there is no place to put other... things. If you can find free space in your laptop, you must glue the expansion board in place or drill a hole in the case to install custom hardware. Peek Array is not the case! Its dozens of threaded nuts allow users to screw various small project boards into the laptop casing. Want to add a pulse oximeter to Novena to measure the amount of oxygen in the blood flowing through the capillaries of your fingers? Or maybe a barometer so that you can monitor the cabin pressure of a passenger plane? With just a few screws, you can install your customization in Novena's laptop case.
Andrew “bunnie” Huang visited the studio of collaborator Kurt Mottweiler in Portland, Oregon, where he was working on an heirloom version of the Novena laptop. This special configuration uses a hand-made wooden aluminum shell. Photo: Scott Torborg/Crowd Supply
We also designed the case to open easily under the push of an air spring, just like those used to raise the seat on an ergonomic office chair. Tap the switch once, and the lid (with screen) will automatically open. We prefer this design to the traditional clamshell design, because any laptop that shows its internal organs to the user will be particularly attractive to users who are ready to crack the internal organs. (People who are afraid of bare circuit boards should not buy our laptops anyway!)
The case aims to serve several generations of electronic hardware. For example, in order to fix the liquid crystal display, we use computer numerical control (CNC) processing to make the aluminum frame. Anyone who can enter the entry-level machining shop can make custom bezels to fit different LCDs, as well as install additional sensors (such as cameras or microphones) or additional buttons and knobs.
By placing most of the ports on one edge, which we call a port farm, we can easily replace the panel covering it. In this way, even if the motherboard and Port Farm continue to evolve, users can keep the chassis itself.
We also considered the total cost of manufacturing tools. For example, although injection-molded plastic is very cheap per unit, the steel tools that produce it are not. You need an oil cooling block weighing about one ton, capable of withstanding the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, with internal processing tolerances smaller than the width of a human hair, and moving springs, tappets and points with dozens of thimbles and sliders. The surfaces are separated and recombined smoothly in thousands of cycles. It can easily cost $250,000, which is why the injection molding process can only pay for itself in very large manufacturing runs. Instead, we used a combination of CNC aluminum, optimized plastic design, and household molds, each of which forms a different aspect of a given product. We only need 10 machine tools to produce the shell, and the initial investment is about 50,000 US dollars.
At the time of writing, we have shipped all standard laptops and desktop devices to supporters of the crowdfunding campaign. We have collected nearly a thousand components from dozens of suppliers from Shenzhen, China to Fremont, California.
Thanks to the magic of crowdfunding and the slowdown of Moore's Law, a two-person team has the funds and time to implement a laptop for daily use. In addition, the schematic diagram, circuit board layout, mechanical design files, kernel, drivers, and applications of this laptop are all open source, and anyone can download it.
This kind of transparency is unprecedented. We hope it will encourage other engineers to follow in our footsteps and help users regain technological independence.
This article was originally published under the name "A Notebook Without Secrets".
Andrew Huang and Sean Cross are self-employed American computer scientists living in Singapore. Huang wrote an article about the demise of Moore's Law for our April issue.
Swiss-Mile's robot can stand on two legs, walk on four legs, and drive like a car
Last year, we wrote an article that argued that for robots with legs, electric wheels provide many significant advantages over feet. The locked wheels behave like pointed feet, and unlocking them allows the legged robot to move faster and more efficiently.
Although we have seen several examples of legged robots using wheels, the best example of this strategy is almost certainly from the Robotic Systems Laboratory at ETH Zurich, which has been exploring the construction of four-legged robots around ANYmal Possibility of wheeled leg robot performance. The technology has just been spun off to a company called Swiss-Mile, which hopes to commercialize wheel-leg robots to accomplish various tasks, including surveying and mapping, inspections, disaster relief, and logistics in urban environments.
Leaving aside Tesla’s strange bends, this video shows a real robot doing real things that are very difficult in the real world. At the same time, Tesla robots do not exist at all, and they cannot exist, perhaps forever. But let's stop talking about Tesla and talk more about Swiss-Mile, because the video is very impressive. Here is some background about the research behind performance:
This is a quadruped, humanoid car, driving at a speed of up to 22 km/h, overcoming obstacles and standing on two legs! --Marco Bijeronic
Although the humanoid mode is very cool, I am not sure how useful it will be in practice. It requires dynamic movement to enter this mode (and presumably to exit this mode), and you want to do well while away from the crowd. Then you have an unstable robot that looks like it needs a lot of space to balance properly-personally, I am not sure if it is comfortable to interact with the robot in this mode.
Marko Bjelonic, who leads the Swiss-Mile team with Marco Hutter, told us that one day this could be a useful feature for logistics robots: “By using the front legs as arms, the robot can grab packages from customers, and then They are placed in the cargo hold on the back of it. Then it will go back to its limbs and transport the packages by rolling quickly down the street." But for now, last-mile delivery (whether using humanoid mode or not) is more A long-term vision. Swiss-Mile has instead focused on commercial tasks that require a unique combination of speed and obstacle traversal, but do not involve complex spaces for human interaction, such as mapping or inspecting complex spaces. To be sure, this is a wise choice, but I still hope that one day I can find an ANYmal standing on my doorstep. Safely, that's it.
Instrumentation Association achieves double-digit growth
Kathy Pretz is the editor-in-chief of The Institute, which covers all aspects of IEEE, its members, and the technologies they involve. She holds a bachelor's degree in applied communications from Ryder University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and a master's degree in corporate and public communications from West Roncho Monmouth University, New Jersey
As the saying goes, making small changes over time can bring big results. A good example is the joint efforts of the IEEE Instrument and Measurement Association that began more than two decades ago to provide a more welcoming and inclusive environment for women and members from outside the United States. Since 2012, the number of female members of the association has increased by more than 60%. Authors in China, India, and Italy are now submitting more articles than in North America.
"We deal with one diversity factor at a time," said Ferdinanda Ponce, a senior member of IEEE, who is the liaison between the association and IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE), a position that was established more than 10 years ago to coordinate joint activities And projects.
Ponci said that being a liaison to the WIE committee is a key factor in her participation in diversity, fairness and inclusion activities.
"This amazing group is a continuous motivation, and my reality check shows that women's participation, career development and DEI are very real, life-changing missions," she said.
Punch is one of the people involved in social efforts. She is also a member of the association's administrative committee and conference treasurer.
"I think we are now well represented at all levels," Ponce said, but she added that there is more work to be done.
She is a professor and researcher of area monitoring and distributed control at the Institute of Complex Power System Automation at RWTH Aachen University in Germany.
Ponci recently discussed with The Institute how she and her colleagues can improve the diversity of instrumentation and measurement associations. She said this was done “intentionally, strategically, and systematically” because Ruth Dyer, the president of the association in 2016-2017, reminded Ponzi and others on the association’s AdCom. Dyer is currently the director of IEEE Division II.
In the past 20 years, the association has increased the number of women attending and presiding at its meetings, seminars, and symposiums; holding leadership positions; and serving on the technical program committee.
Ponce said, promoting advocates from social officials, they are determined to increase representation.
In 1992, only one AdCom member of the association was from outside the United States and Canada, and there were no women. This was the case when Dyer's husband Stephen A. Dyer joined AdCom as the editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement. IEEE Life Fellow began to work hard to identify more women and individuals from other geographic regions as candidates for AdCom ballots. Ponzi said that real discussions on diversity, fairness, and inclusiveness started and continued at that time.
Ruth Dyer was elected to the AdCom in 1999, and served in her first officer role in 2007. A second woman wasn't elected to the committee until 2009. Between 2010 and 2021, the society has had between six and nine female voting members, Punch said. They have included elected members, officers not in a current elected position, and appointed representatives. Some of them are recruited from attendees.
Beginning in 2007, IEEE Fellow Reza Zoughi, who would later be elected the society's 2014–2015 president, began nominating many of his current and former students for the appointed positions. He is still a firm advocate of diversity.
Ponci said that since 2007, the association has appointed at least one woman as an undergraduate, graduate or young professional representative almost every year.
She said this is important because the appointee has the right to vote.
Ruth Dyer coordinated the first informal web conference for women in 2006 at the IEEE International Instrument and Measurement Technology Conference, the society's flagship event. Ponci said that at this year's conference, women were more involved as speakers and chairpersons of the Technical Program Committee. Since 2012, Women in Measurement activities have been held regularly as an official part of the plan.
The association’s nomination and appointment committee ensures that experienced women are nominated for leadership positions. The idea is that officials will take turns to appoint other talented women to the committee.
"This has become normal, and people expect the committee to be more diverse," Ponce said. "I think this is a huge change emotionally and culturally."
Ponci said these efforts would not be possible without the obvious support of social leaders including Dyers and Zoughi, and many other officials who advocated diversity at social meetings and supported women’s social activities.
"They participated in these events and encouraged other male and female members of AdCom to participate as a sign of support for society," she said. "We need more male champions, because without them, it looks like a'women's matter', but it's not the case."
Encourage women and individuals from different geographic regions with expertise in instrumentation and measurement technology to publish research papers in the society’s publications and serve as reviewers and associate editors.
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine marked the contributions and achievements of the association’s female members and field experts in its June 2016 special issue [left]. In her presidential address, Dell wrote:
"When we embrace and encourage diversity, I am always impressed by the power and excellence generated. Time and time again, we have discovered that the most powerful solution can be achieved when a large number of perspectives are sought and combined. As the science and engineering disciplines continue to direct their attention and efforts towards increasing inclusiveness, we know that our instrument and measurement association will continue to flourish because we are committed to nurturing and reaping the benefits of an inclusive society."
In June, the association joined 21 other IEEE organizational units, which accepted the IEEE WIE commitment [see below] to "establish a gender-diversified group in all IEEE meetings, conferences, and events."
In order to increase its global representation in society, it turned its attention to IEEE 8, 9 and 10.
"We started our work on geographic diversity purposefully," Ponce said.
The association adopts the same strategy as women: get more qualified people from other regions to vote and serve as ordinary members; promote them to become associate editors and reviewers of papers; and increase their representation on the editorial board. Encourage researchers from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East to submit papers to the Society’s publications.
Ponci said that before 1997, only one or two voters were from the United and Adcom members outside of Canada. However, from 1997 to 2009, at least one of the four representatives elected each year was from District 8, 9 or 10. From 2010 to this year, this number has increased to three.
The first representative from District 9, IEEE senior member Jorge F. Daher, continues to be the chairman of the association in 2012. The association elected the second representative of District 10 in 2010, and has elected one representative each year thereafter.
Beginning in 2017, IEEE Academician Shervin Shirmohammadi, editor-in-chief of IEEE Instrument and Measurement Trade Fair, has been promoting the inclusion of individuals from underrepresented geographic regions as associate editors.
Zone 10 covers Asia and the Pacific coast, with the largest community of instrument and measurement technicians, and is the first target. At present, most of the editorial board members of The Exchange are from the region.
"It is beyond our hopes to be able to select the best from a large group of submitters," Ponce said.
Pangqi said that efforts to improve gender and geographic diversity are paying off.
She said: "We managed to attract the most motivated and active people in all sectors of society." "Social activities have increased and improved."
She added that the current discussions with members are "a mix of commonalities and differences." "Of course, this requires people to be genuinely willing to listen, not to belittle others' opinions. This is something that diversity and inclusion really promote. It allows you to stop and listen before firing and making judgments."
The IEEE Women in Engineering Commitment was launched on April 23 and received commitments from four IEEE associations: Computational Intelligence, Computers, Medical and Biological Engineering, and Electricity and Energy. Since then, great progress has been made. As of press time, 21 IEEE Organization Units (OU) have confirmed their commitment to this commitment, and 13 are considering this commitment. This includes regions, departments, clubs, councils, and a student branch.
Many OUs have expanded the scope of their commitments to cover other aspects of diversity and inclusion beyond gender representation.
OU is making the promise visible through its member newsletter and website. Some people are trying to make it part of their charter.
WIE is working with the Diversity Committee of the IEEE Technical Activities Committee and IEEE meetings to determine how best to implement, share, and improve practices related to the implementation of promises within IEEE.
If your OU is interested in joining the community of promisers and changers, please contact the WIE office.
Signing the WIE Pledge is only the first step to gaining more visibility and fair representation in IEEE meetings, conferences, and events.
Lisa Lazareck-Asunta is the chair of the IEEE Women’s Engineering Committee for 2019-2020. Since 2003, IEEE senior members have been elected and designated IEEE volunteers by IEEE, including WIE and IEEE projects.
Various types and sizes of power switches play many important roles in our daily lives, from turning on mobile phones to safely interrupting the current from large power transformers.
In this talk, we will discuss how to use COMSOL Multiphysics to model switches, especially when more than one type of physics is involved. One such situation we are going to study is the structural contact and resistance heating in the contact switch, which has structural mechanics, electric current and heat transfer. Another example is a magnetic circuit breaker with a magnetic field and multi-body dynamics.
Linus Andersson is an application engineer who provides technical support to customers worldwide within COMSOL, specializing in electromagnetic and acoustic simulation. Linus received a master's degree in engineering physics from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and joined COMSOL in 2003 after completing his graduation thesis at CERN.