Cirrus Logic (United States)

This paper describes a 4-channel phase detector based inductive sensing IC targeted at mobile device mechanical button replacement. Salient features include active-drive TX with low EMI sensitivity (<10mV differential drive), interference robustness and scalable performance. First silicon achieves an industry leading combination of performance (0.1μm displacement sensitivity) and power (124μW @100 Hz scan rate). Keywords— Sensors, Inductive Sensing, Resonant Phase Sensing, Mechanical/Virtual Buttons, I/Q Demodulation.

Tranquil environments are considered quiet, peaceful places where people can get away from everyday life, and for many years the University of Bradford's Tranquillity Rating Prediction Tool (TRAPT) has been used to successfully predict the perceived tranquillity of outdoor spaces as a function of their auditory and visual modalities. The Warren, Hull, established 1983, is a citywide free project for marginalised and vulnerable young people aged 14-25 that helps to encourage and support them to take control of their lives and futures by engaging them in all the decisionmaking that has impact upon the strategic and day to day running of project. This short paper provides a consolidation of data from two studies at The Warren relating to an adaptation of the TRAPT for indoor spaces. The first study allowed the young people to design and predict their own environments and soundscapes, which included, for example, utilisation of the YouTube "Lofi Girl" channel; the second study confined the environmental design and soundscapes to meet a citywide maritime theme. Data from the studies is analysed to determine the importance of demographics on the perception of tranquillity, and to present concepts for extending the studies to capture a wider outdoor demographic.

For decades, tele-critical care (TCC) programs have provided expert population surveillance with standardized clinical interventions for critically ill patients. The COVID-19 pandemic created massive strains on critical care resources. For this report, standard questions were used to solicit COVID-19 pandemic workflow and service modifications from a network of TCC leaders to describe the rapid expansion of TCC-supported services during the pandemic. In this article, leaders from 7 TCC programs report on the effective use of services to support changing hospital needs during the pandemic in areas such as clinical education, personal protective equipment stewardship, expansion of virtual care, and creative staffing models, among others.

"Smart cities in the post-algorithmic era: Integrating technologies, platforms and governance, edited by Nicos Komninos and Christina Kakderi." Journal of Urban Affairs, 44(3), pp. 449–450

Autonomous vehicle landing and proximity operations rely on accurate range and velocity measurements for guidance, navigation, and landing. As preeminent examples, Mars Science Laboratory and Mars 2020 both deploy a “Terminal Descent Sensor” (TDS), a purpose-built, Ka-band pencil beam radar designed specifically for the challenging sky-crane landing requirements. Beyond Mars 2020, the availability of the TDS for missions is unclear due to problems of obsolescence and reproducibility; in addition, the TDS is quite large, prohibitively so for smaller missions. Remote Sensing Solutions is currently funded under a NASA Small Business Innovative Research program to continue, shrink, and extend the capability of TDS concept. In this paper we discuss the recent design, prototyping, and validation efforts of a prototype “Terminal Descent Radar” (TDR). The prototype TDR is built around unique, independent beams, pointed appropriately to allow reconstruction of a body-fixed three-dimensional velocity. The TDR includes implementation of the core firmware in the RSS commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) digital receiver, ARENA, as well as a mix of high fidelity and a few other COTS elements. The prototype TDR has undergone initial laboratory and helicopter testing, and we discuss these results in this paper. All early indications are that the RSS TDR is performing according to expectations. We also discuss future experiment and development plans for the TDR concept.

In this paper a novel technique is introduced to extract the quantization noise of a multi-phase VCO-based quantizer (VCOQ) in the time domain as a PWM signal. Using this technique, a new highly linear VCO-based 1-1 MASH delta-sigma ADC structure is presented. This architecture does not require any OTA-based analog integrators or power hungry linearization methods. The first stage is a closed loop multi-phase VCO-based voltage-to-phase (V-to-P) converter and the second stage is an open loop multi-phase VCO-based voltage-to-frequency (V-to-F) converter. Using the proposed technique the phase quantization error of the first stage is extracted as a pulse signal and then fed to the second stage. The input of the first VCO is a very small amplitude signal and the input of the second VCO is a two-level PWM signal. Therefore, the VCO non-linearity does not limit the overall ADC performance, mitigating the need for power hungry linearization methods. The prototype achieves 2nd order noise shaping with a DR/SFDR/SNR/SNDR of 82.7/88.7/80.3/79.7 dB for an input signal BW of 2 MHz. The fabricated design consumes 1.248 mW from a 0.9 V. supply.

A highly linear SAR-VCO MASH delta-sigma ADC architecture is presented. OTA based analog integrators are not needed whereby the ADC is mostly digital and process scaling friendly. A new technique is introduced to extract the quantization noise of the VCO-based quantizer as a PWM signal using digital circuitry. This technique is independent of the OSR and the input signal amplitude of the VCO-based quantizer making it attractive for higher bandwidth applications. The proposed technique is demonstrated with a 0-1-1 MASH deltasigma architecture. Behavioral simulations show second order noise shaping with 75dB SNDR for an OSR of 20.

Human perinatal tissues have been used for over a century as allogeneic biomaterials. Due to their advantageous properties including angiogenecity, anti-inflammation, anti-microbial, and immune privilege, these tissues are being utilized for novel applications across wide-ranging medical disciplines. Given continued clinical success, increased adoption of perinatal tissues as a disruptive technology platform has allowed for significant penetration into the multi-billion dollar biologics market. Here, we review current progress and future applications of perinatal biomaterials, as well as associated regulatory issues.

Analog techniques continues to defy simple categories. This session illustrates the diversity and vigor of modern analog circuitry. Entries span the range of linear regulators, Class-D audio, references and oscillators. New frontiers of precision, power, and performance are established.