Save Energy Go green

Not with envy, but kindness to the environment, and alertness to your electricity bills

You leave your PC on all day. But you care for the environment, so you switch off the monitor. Good move, but did you know you are still wasting about 45 Watts with the CPU running?

That’s what Tufts University’s Climate Initiative says. And it also says that if you leave your PC on for the entire day, 850-1500 pounds of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere a year. And this means that you need 60-300 trees to absorb that much CO2 in a year.

That does get you thinking doesn’t it! Now, all that noise about climate change because of our insensitivity to the environment starts to make sense. We cut down trees, we waste electricity, we replace cellphones and gadgets with the latest ones, without bothering about what really happens to the old ones. While there could be debates on how much all this really impacts our environment, most of us know intuitively that what we are doing mindlessly is really not right, and is likely to have negative repercussions.

That is why the world over, the word Green is becoming red hot. Green computing is in. This means that you start to use computing resources efficiently. It’s not just about being good to Mother Nature, but also being able to save a lot of money being spent on electricity. For companies that have thousands and thousands of computers running, datacenters keeping their businesses up and running, all this can add to a huge fortune. In fact, going green is now gaining so much momentum that those companies which do not have green computing initiatives are seen as enemies of the environment.

So how does it matter to you? You might have one PC and a laptop at home, in addition to the multiple electronic devices you run. And you might even be considering another PC for the little one. Think if you really need all those PCs. Buy only if you have to. While buying, remember that laptops consume less power, so it could be wiser to go the portable way. Or if you need to look at a PC, opt for monitors that consume less power. LCD monitors need much less power than CRT ones. Look for Energy Star ratings and save energy.

Explore the power saving options of your PC and customize them to suit the way you work. If you often go away from your PC for a long time, you can set the monitor and hard disk to be switched off after a few minutes of no-activity.

To dispose old PCs and gadgets, get in touch with NGOs working in this area and figure out the best way to do so. Or if you own a branded PC or gadget, get in touch with the company and ask how this e-waste can be managed. Most computer vendors and cellphone makers have Green initiatives on, so you might get some help.

These are still early days for green initiatives for companies in India. But if you and I make a start, the rest will fall in place.

LabVIEW the new emerging tool

LabVIEW is a powerfull tool developed by NATIONAL INSTRUMENS having many new features….

Increase Throughput with Parallel Test test engineers use LabVIEW, multicore processors, and new bus technologies to create high-performance test systems capable of parallel processing, parallel measurements, and even parallel test on the production floor. Connect to Any Instrument, Any Sensor, Any Bus Built-in I/O and communication libraries in LabVIEW provide native connectivity to any instrument, sensor, bus, or software interface to simplify integration of these components into your test applications.

Boeing Uses LabVIEW to Develop a Low-Cost Test System LabVIEW software and NI hardware helped a single Boeing developer create a high-channel-count, synchronized test system in only six months to measure the effectiveness of new commercial jetliner designs in reducing noise during flight.

Acquire Measurements from Any Sensor, Any Bus LabVIEW may be used to create a fully functional measurement application with analysis and a custom user interface using a variety of PCI- and USB-based data acquisition hardware. Measure in Minutes with LabVIEW and the DAQ Assistant LabVIEW uses the interactive DAQ Assistant and high-level functions to combine the flexibility and scalability of traditional programming languages and the ease of use of configuration-based data acquisition tools.
Acquire, Analyze, and Present Data Quickly with Express VIs to develop a powerful DAQ application that includes advanced analysis and a custom user interface. See how tasks that would take several lines of code in traditional programming languages are interactively configured with Express VIs in LabVIEW.

Use LabVIEW to Program the Next-Generation PLC Industrial engineers pushing the boundaries of controller technology can use LabVIEW graphical programming and programmable automation controllers (PACs) to combine PC functionality with programmable logic controller (PLC) reliability. Add Advanced Analysis to Your PLC Add advanced analysis, signal processing, decision making, and debugging diagnostics to an existing PLC-based industrial application with LabVIEW and OPC connectivity.

Simplify Embedded Development with Graphical System Design Discover how LabVIEW graphical system design software provides domain experts with high-level tools, such as statecharts, to design and implement their systems on off-the-shelf hardware. Get to Market Faster with LabVIEW and COTS Hardware LabVIEW graphical programming and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware help design teams get products to market faster by accelerating every stage of development – from the earliest stages of design and simulation to prototyping the system with real-world signals and deploying to a chosen processor target.
Prototype and Deploy a Custom Controller with LabVIEWDrivven used LabVIEW and COTS prototyping hardware to quickly develop custom IP for an FPGA-based engine control unit (ECU) in a high-performance motorcycle engine.

Control Industrial Machinery Remotely with LabVIEW Nexans uses LabVIEW and NI reconfigurable embedded hardware to control the hydraulic systems on a remotely operated underwater excavator that prepares the ocean floor for a pipeline to extract natural gas.

Combine Graphical and Textual Programming to Reduce Design Time Reduce embedded design time by using a LabVIEW graphical system design approach to combine the traditionally separate tasks of theoretical design and prototyping. Choose between graphical and textual programming throughout the process. Choose the Software Preferred by Students for Signal Processing Professor Mark Yoder, Ph.D., recently transitioned the signal processing course at Rose-Hulman from The MathWorks, Inc. MATLAB® software to LabVIEW software. Dr. Yoder’s research later showed that students prefer LabVIEW as a learning tool by a 3 to 1 margin. MATLAB® is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.

Students Use LabVIEW to Create Segway-Inspired Machine A senior design team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute used LabVIEW to develop a two-wheeled robotic locomotion platform inspired by the Segway Human Transporter. With LabVIEW software and NI hardware, the students could use one platform throughout the project.

source: www.ni.com

How a detector works

The job of a particle detector is to record and visualise the explosions of particles that result from the collisions at accelerators. The information obtained on a particle’s speed, mass, and electric charge help physicists to work out the identity of the particle.

The work particle physicists do to identify a particle that has passed through a detector is similar to the way someone would study the tracks of footprints left by animals in mud or snow. In animal prints, factors such as the size and shape of the marks, length of stride, overall pattern, direction and depth of prints, can reveal the type of animal that came past earlier. Particles leave tell-tale signs in detectors in a similar manner for physicists to decipher.

Modern particle physics apparatus consists of layers of sub-detectors, each specialising in a particular type of particle or property. There are 3 main types of sub-detector:

• Tracking device – detects and reveals the path of a particle
• Calorimeter – stops, absorbs and measures the energy of a particle
• Particle identification detector – identifies the type of particle using various techniques

To help identify the particles produced in the collisions, the detector usually includes a magnetic field. A particle normally travels in a straight line, but in the presence of a magnetic field, its path is bent into a curve. From the curvature of the path, physicists can calculate the momentum of the particle which helps in identifying its type. Particles with very high momentum travel in almost straight lines, whereas those with low momentum move forward in tight spirals.

Tracking devices

Tracking devices reveal the paths of electrically charged particles through the trails they leave behind. There are similar every-day effects: high-flying airplanes seem invisible, but in certain conditions you can see the trails they make. In a similar way, when particles pass through suitable substances the interaction of the passing particle with the atoms of the substance itself can be revealed.

Most modern tracking devices do not make the tracks of particles directly visible. Instead, they produce tiny electrical signals that can be recorded as computer data. A computer program then reconstructs the patterns of tracks recorded by the detector, and displays them on a screen.

They can record the curvature of a particle’s track (made in the presence of a magnetic field), from which the momentum of a particle may be calculated. This is useful for identifying the particle.

Muon chambers are tracking devices used to detect muons. These particles interact very little with matter and can travel long distances through metres of dense material. Like a ghost walking through a wall, muons can pass through successive layers of a detector. The muon chambers usually make up the outermost layer.

Calorimeters

A calorimeter measures the energy lost by a particle that goes through it. It is usually designed to entirely stop or ‘absorb’ most of the particles coming from a collision, forcing them to deposit all of their energy within the detector.

Calorimeters typically consist of layers of ‘passive’ or ‘absorbing’ high–density material (lead for instance) interleaved with layers of ‘active’ medium such as solid lead-glass or liquid argon.

Electromagnetic calorimeters measure the energy of light particles – electrons and photons – as they interact with the electrically charged particles inside matter.

Hadronic calorimeters sample the energy of hadrons (particles containing quarks, such as protons and neutrons) as they interact with atomic nuclei.

Calorimeters can stop most known particles except muons and neutrinos.

Particle identification detectors

Two methods of particle identification work by detecting radiation emitted by charged particles:

• Cherenkov radiation: this is light emitted when a charged particle travels faster than the speed of light through a given medium. The light is given off at a specific angle according to the velocity of the particle. Combined with a measurement of the momentum of the particle the velocity can be used to determine the mass and hence to identify the particle.
• Transition radiation: this radiation is produced by a fast charged particle as it crosses the boundary between two electrical insulators with different resistances to electric currents. The phenomenon is related to the energy of a particle and distinguishes different particle types.

 

WiFi

If you’ve been in an airport, coffee shop, library or hotel recently, chances are you’ve been right in the middle of a wireless network. Many people also use wireless networking, also called WiFi or 802.11 networking, to connect their computers at home, and some cities are trying to use the technology to provide free or low-cost Internet access to residents. In the near future, wireless networking may become so widespread that you can access the Internet just about anywhere at any time, without using wires.

One wireless router can allow multiple devices to connect to the Internet.

WiFi has a lot of advantages. Wireless networks are easy to set up and inexpensive. They’re also unobtrusive — unless you’re on the lookout for a place to use your laptop, you may not even notice when you’re in a hotspot. In this article, we’ll look at the technology that allows information to travel over the air. We’ll also review what it takes to create a wireless network in your home.

First, let’s go over a few WiFi basics.

What Is WiFi?

A wireless network uses radio waves, just like cell phones, televisions and radios do. In fact, communication across a wireless network is a lot like two-way radio communication. Here’s what happens:

1. A computer’s wireless adapter translates data into a radio signal and transmits it using an antenna.
2. A wireless router receives the signal and decodes it. The router sends the information to the Internet using a physical, wired Ethernet connection.

The process also works in reverse, with the router receiving information from the Internet, translating it into a radio signal and sending it to the computer’s wireless adapter.

The radios used for WiFi communication are very similar to the radios used for walkie-talkies, cell phones and other devices. They can transmit and receive radio waves, and they can convert 1s and 0s into radio waves and convert the radio waves back into 1s and 0s. But WiFi radios have a few notable differences from other radios:

• They transmit at frequencies of 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz. This frequency is considerably higher than the frequencies used for cell phones, walkie-talkies and televisions. The higher frequency allows the signal to carry more data.
• They use 802.11 networking standards, which come in several flavors:
  • 802.11a transmits at 5 GHz and can move up to 54 megabits of data per second. It also uses orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), a more efficient coding technique that splits that radio signal into several sub-signals before they reach a receiver. This greatly reduces interference.
  • 802.11b is the slowest and least expensive standard. For a while, its cost made it popular, but now it’s becoming less common as faster standards become less expensive. 802.11b transmits in the 2.4 GHz frequency band of the radio spectrum. It can handle up to 11 megabits of data per second, and it uses complementary code keying (CCK) modulation to improve speeds.
  • 802.11g transmits at 2.4 GHz like 802.11b, but it’s a lot faster — it can handle up to 54 megabits of data per second. 802.11g is faster because it uses the same OFDM coding as 802.11a.
  • 802.11n is the newest standard that is widely available. This standard significantly improves speed and range. For instance, although 802.11g theoretically moves 54 megabits of data per second, it only achieves real-world speeds of about 24 megabits of data per second because of network congestion. 802.11n, however, reportedly can achieve speeds as high as 140 megabits per second. The standard is currently in draft form — the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) plans to formally ratify 802.11n by the end of 2009.
• Other 802.11 standards focus on specific applications of wireless networks, like wide area networks (WANs) inside vehicles or technology that lets you move from one wireless network to another seamlessly.
• WiFi radios can transmit on any of three frequency bands. Or, they can “frequency hop” rapidly between the different bands. Frequency hopping helps reduce interference and lets multiple devices use the same wireless connection simultaneously.

WiFi Hotspots

If you want to take advantage of public WiFi hotspots or start a wireless network in your home, the first thing you’ll need to do is make sure your computer has the right gear. Most new laptops and many new desktop computers come with built-in wireless transmitters. If your laptop doesn’t, you can buy a wireless adapter that plugs into the PC card slot or USB port. Desktop computers can use USB adapters, or you can buy an adapter that plugs into the PCI slot inside the computer’s case. Many of these adapters can use more than one 802.11 standard.

Once you’ve installed your wireless adapter and the drivers that allow it to operate, your computer should be able to automatically discover existing networks. This means that when you turn your computer on in a WiFi hotspot, the computer will inform you that the network exists and ask whether you want to connect to it. If you have an older computer, you may need to use a software program to detect and connect to a wireless network.

Being able to connect to the Internet in public hotspots is extremely convenient. Wireless home networks are convenient as well. They allow you to easily connect multiple computers and to move them from place to place without disconnecting and reconnecting wires. In the next section, we’ll look at how to create a wireless network in your home.

Building a Wireless Network

If you already have several computers networked in your home, you can create a wireless network with a wireless access point. If you have several computers that are not networked, or if you want to replace your Ethernet network, you’ll need a wireless router. This is a single unit that contains:

1. A port to connect to your cable or DSL modem
2. A router
3. An Ethernet hub
4. A firewall
5. A wireless access point

A wireless router allows you to use wireless signals or Ethernet cables to connect your computers to one another, to a printer and to the Internet. Most routers provide coverage for about 100 feet (30.5 meters) in all directions, although walls and doors can block the signal. If your home is very large, you can buy inexpensive range extenders or repeaters to increase your router’s range.

A wireless router uses an antenna to send signals to wireless devices and a wire to send signals to the Internet.

As with wireless adapters, many routers can use more than one 802.11 standard. 802.11b routers are slightly less expensive, but because the standard is older, they’re slower than 802.11a, 802.11g and 802.11n routers. Most people select the 802.11g option for its speed and reliability.

Once you plug in your router, it should start working at its default settings. Most routers let you use a Web interface to change your settings. You can select:

• The name of the network, known as its service set identifier (SSID) — The default setting is usually the manufacturer’s name.
• The channel that the router uses — Most routers use channel 6 by default. If you live in an apartment and your neighbors are also using channel 6, you may experience interference. Switching to a different channel should eliminate the problem.
• Your router’s security options — Many routers use a standard, publicly available sign-on, so it’s a good idea to set your own username and password.

Security is an important part of a home wireless network, as well as public WiFi hotspots. If you set your router to create an open hotspot, anyone who has a wireless card will be able to use your signal. Most people would rather keep strangers out of their network, though. Doing so requires you to take a few security precautions.

It’s also important to make sure your security precautions are current. The Wired Equivalency Privacy (WEP) security measure was once the standard for WAN security. The idea behind WEP was to create a wireless security platform that would make any wireless network as secure as a traditional wired network. But hackers discovered vulnerabilities in the WEP approach, and today it’s easy to find applications and programs that can compromise a WAN running WEP security.

To keep your network private, you can use one of the following methods:

• WiFi Protected Access (WPA) is a step up from WEP and is now part of the 802.11i wireless network security protocol. It uses temporal key integrity protocol (TKIP) encryption. As with WEP, WPA security involves signing on with a password. Most public hotspots are either open or use WPA or 128-bit WEP technology, though some still use the vulnerable WEP approach.
• Media Access Control (MAC) address filtering is a little different from WEP or WPA. It doesn’t use a password to authenticate users — it uses a computer’s physical hardware. Each computer has its own unique MAC address. MAC address filtering allows only machines with specific MAC addresses to access the network. You must specify which addresses are allowed when you set up your router. This method is very secure, but if you buy a new computer or if visitors to your home want to use your network, you’ll need to add the new machines’ MAC addresses to the list of approved addresses. The system isn’t foolproof. A clever hacker can spoof a MAC address — that is, copy a known MAC address to fool the network that the computer he or she is using belongs on the network.

  Sources

  • Borisov, Nikita, Ian Goldberg and David Wagner. “Security of the WEP algorithm.” University of California, Berkeley. (Aug. 7, 2008)
    http://www.isaac.cs.berkeley.edu/isaac/wep-faq.html
  • Geier, Jim. “802.11 WEP: Concepts and Vulnerability.” Wi-Fi Planet. June 20, 2002. (Aug. 6, 2008)
    http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/1368661
  • IEEE. (Aug. 6, 2008)
    http://www.ieee.org
  • IEEE. “IEEE Standard for Information technology — Telecommunications and information exchange between systems — Local and metropolitan area networks — Specific requirements.” (Aug. 6, 2008) http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.11-2007.pdf