[silk] power from thin air
I have to admit, reading this got me thinking once again about the whether mobile phones fry your brain discussion in a new light. What about all of the other ambient radiation that surrounds us? Udhay http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110707131545.htm Power from the Air: Device Captures Ambient Electromagnetic Energy to Drive Small Electronic Devices ScienceDaily (July 8, 2011) — Researchers have discovered a way to capture and harness energy transmitted by such sources as radio and television transmitters, cell phone networks and satellite communications systems. By scavenging this ambient energy from the air around us, the technique could provide a new way to power networks of wireless sensors, microprocessors and communications chips. There is a large amount of electromagnetic energy all around us, but nobody has been able to tap into it, said Manos Tentzeris, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering who is leading the research. We are using an ultra-wideband antenna that lets us exploit a variety of signals in different frequency ranges, giving us greatly increased power-gathering capability. Tentzeris and his team are using inkjet printers to combine sensors, antennas and energy scavenging capabilities on paper or flexible polymers. The resulting self powered wireless sensors could be used for chemical, biological, heat and stress sensing for defense and industry; radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging for manufacturing and shipping, and monitoring tasks in many fields including communications and power usage. A presentation on this energy scavenging technology was given July 6 at the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium in Spokane, Wash. The discovery is based on research supported by multiple sponsors, including the National Science Foundation, the Federal Highway Administration and Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Communications devices transmit energy in many different frequency ranges, or bands. The team's scavenging devices can capture this energy, convert it from AC to DC, and then store it in capacitors and batteries. The scavenging technology can take advantage presently of frequencies from FM radio to radar, a range spanning 100 megahertz (MHz) to 15 gigahertz (GHz) or higher. Scavenging experiments utilizing TV bands have already yielded power amounting to hundreds of microwatts, and multi-band systems are expected to generate one milliwatt or more. That amount of power is enough to operate many small electronic devices, including a variety of sensors and microprocessors. And by combining energy scavenging technology with supercapacitors and cycled operation, the Georgia Tech team expects to power devices requiring above 50 milliwatts. In this approach, energy builds up in a battery-like supercapacitor and is utilized when the required power level is reached. The researchers have already successfully operated a temperature sensor using electromagnetic energy captured from a television station that was half a kilometer distant. They are preparing another demonstration in which a microprocessor-based microcontroller would be activated simply by holding it in the air. Exploiting a range of electromagnetic bands increases the dependability of energy scavenging devices, explained Tentzeris, who is also a faculty researcher in the Georgia Electronic Design Center at Georgia Tech. If one frequency range fades temporarily due to usage variations, the system can still exploit other frequencies. The scavenging device could be used by itself or in tandem with other generating technologies. For example, scavenged energy could assist a solar element to charge a battery during the day. At night, when solar cells don't provide power, scavenged energy would continue to increase the battery charge or would prevent discharging. Utilizing ambient electromagnetic energy could also provide a form of system backup. If a battery or a solar-collector/battery package failed completely, scavenged energy could allow the system to transmit a wireless distress signal while also potentially maintaining critical functionalities. The researchers are utilizing inkjet technology to print these energy scavenging devices on paper or flexible paper-like polymers -- a technique they already using to produce sensors and antennas. The result would be paper-based wireless sensors that are self powered, low cost and able to function independently almost anywhere. To print electrical components and circuits, the Georgia Tech researchers use a standard materials inkjet printer. However, they add what Tentzeris calls a unique in house recipe containing silver nanoparticles and/or other nanoparticles in an emulsion. This approach enables the team to print not only RF components and circuits, but also novel sensing devices based on such nanomaterials as carbon nanotubes. When Tentzeris and his research group began
[silk] INK Salon
For those folks who're interested: AUGUST 11TH INK SALON: Next Thusday, August 11th, INK will be hosting an INK Salon in our Bangalore office from 6:30-8:30 PM. INK Salons will be informal, monthly gatherings of the INK Community where you can network and showcase your ideas, plus listen to great talks by other members of the INK Community. Next week we'll get an update from some of the TEDIndia Fellows about what they've been working on since the conference. Please RSVP to n...@inktalks.com if you'd like to attend. September's INK Salon will be in Mumbai; check your email for more updates about the date and location, and stay tuned for future INK Salons all over the world. The INK Conference, 397, 9th Main, HAL II Stage, Bangalore 560 008, India -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] Subramanian Swamy
Here's what I had written about it. There are some entertaining responses, too. http://www.livemint.com/articles/2011/07/20214319/The-right-to-write.html Salil
Re: [silk] Subramanian Swamy
On 02-08-2011 17:07, ss wrote: I had once written an article about just how Islam has been misused in Pakistan. The article is still online. Will not bother posting the link here. Yes, but you completely evaded the question of what you thought of the article. ;) -- Madhu Menon http://twitter.com/madmanweb MCorp Hospitality Consulting: http://mcorphospitality.com
Re: [silk] Subramanian Swamy
On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 9:12 PM, Anand Manikutty manikuttyan...@yahoo.comwrote: There was an article by Subramanian Swamy in DNA India that has run into some controversy : http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/analysis_how-to-wipe-out-islamic-terror_1566203-all Thoughts/opinions on the article welcome. He's an idiot.
Re: [silk] Subramanian Swamy
On Wednesday 03 Aug 2011 9:08:41 pm Madhu Menon wrote: On 02-08-2011 17:07, ss wrote: I had once written an article about just how Islam has been misused in Pakistan. The article is still online. Will not bother posting the link here. Yes, but you completely evaded the question of what you thought of the article. ;) Yes that's right. I am just surprised that Swamy's recommendations 1. Made it to the maistream media insofar as DNA is mainstream. 2. Made it to silk list If Swamy is mad, there are a lot of mad people about. To me, nothing he says is new or surprising. May I ask you a counter question? Do you want me to review that article on here and state my opinions on every point that Swamy has made? I am definitely going to cause irritation on here. I guarantee that. And I would rather avoid that. Silk List is supposed to be for polite conversation based on the principle of assume no malice. Do you believe that this article can be discussed intelligently without assumption of malice on anyone's part? Can these views be discussed intelligently at all? This is India-Forum stuff. Not silk-list. Are you asking for Intelligent Conversation to be made about this article? shiv
Re: [silk] Subramanian Swamy
On Aug 3, 2011 7:37 PM, Salil Tripathi sali...@gmail.com wrote: Here's what I had written about it. There are some entertaining responses, too. http://www.livemint.com/articles/2011/07/20214319/The-right-to-write.html I see that you are still living under the pleasant misapprehension that the fundamental freedoms still apply in India. As a nation, we carry a perpetual chip on our collective shoulder, ever ready to be offended by anything we disagree with. Life is cheap, deaths don't merit any attention unless they are in hundreds or involve the elite. Minority religions live in constant fear of attracting the attention of the majority and desperately waiting for the opportunity to. oppress right back. Peaceful protests are lathi charged. Need I go on? In India the only rational strategy is to keep your head down, your mouth shut and grab your freedoms where you find them. -- b
Re: [silk] Subramanian Swamy
I find something fake and contrived about Indians talking secularism. I am reminded of an event held in schools called a mock UN in which teams of schoolchildren purport to represent various nations. The same Indian kids are seen making impassioned speeches on behalf of Congo, China or Russia. In India, when a man with a Hindu name like Subramanyam Swamy writes a rabid article attacking the holy cow of Indian secularism, the counter arguments in India must come from other Hindus. Counter arguments from non Hindus don't cut it in India because there is an assumed bias attributed to their viewpoint. But this whole secularism debate is an oddly Indian phenomenon - and I would be curious to find out how many nations with a significant minority religion spend a great deal of effort in which the members of the majority religion squabble among themselves about the need to be secular. The question of secularism does not arise at all in an Islamic nation, so those countriees can be ruled out in one go. Communist China has no debate on secularism because anyone of any religion has to keep his had down. Western nations with a predominantly Christian background seem to look at secularism more in terms of separation of various Christian denominations from state affairs. There is hardly any debate about whether Hindus are being mollycoddled and being given an unfair advantage by the majority religious communities in these countries (AFAIK). There is however some debate about Islamophobia. Perhaps this is because in most of the Christian west the only large minority religion outside of various Christian denominations is Islam. Most western countries are predominantly Christian, and only France has a Muslim population approaching 9%. India has a non Hindu population that exceeds 15%. . Nigeria has an interesting mix of 45% Christian and 45% Muslim. But as far as i know - it is only in India here there are big debates where the members of the majority religion are debating with each other as to whether they are secular enough or not. shiv
Re: [silk] Subramanian Swamy
ss [04/08/11 09:20 +0530]: In India, when a man with a Hindu name like Subramanyam Swamy writes a rabid article attacking the holy cow of Indian secularism, the counter arguments in India must come from other Hindus. Counter arguments from non Hindus don't cut it in India because there is an assumed bias attributed to their viewpoint. I have seen counter arguments from across a broad cross section of religions Maybe the counter arguments from people of a particular religion depends on how rabid and frothing at the mouth some of their co religionists are
