Taiwan is located in a subtropical zone with high temperatures and large rainfall. On average, between three and four typhoons hit Taiwan every year, providing much of the island's water supply, but also causing damage, flooding, and landslides.Project IntroductionIn order to reduce the occurrence of disasters and protect all citizens, the government commissioned an academic institution to conduct the long-term monitoring of debris flow by using technological products to detect changes in the environment. However, these expensive devices must be placed in mountainous areas or at the upper reaches of the river, often resulting in damage when a disaster occurs, and sometimes causes millions of NT dollars of loss. With this in mind, the Taiwanese research institute plans to adopt wireless devices with distributed architecture to more accurately acquire real-time data as well as reducing the risk of equipment loss.System RequirementsThe monitoring systems were set up close to the potential sources of debris flow. The previous system used fiber optic equipment with several sensors which, whilst achieving high data transmission speeds, have the problem of using physical cables. To solve this problem, a wireless solution becomes the first choice for the Debris Flow Monitoring System. Since they would be installed in sparsely populated areas which lack electricity, the new system needed to consume very little power. In addition to requiring a stable operation and real-time data collection, all of the devices must be industrial-grade to meet the challenges of the harsh environment.System DescriptionAdvantech's wireless solution consists of low power consuming devices and a fanless PC with high speed PCI acquisition card. Through the use of an ADAM-2017Z wireless 6-ch Analog Input Node, the signals from the temperature and humidity sensor, anemometer, rainfall meter, and soil moisture sensor can be transmitted to the measurement center which is equipped with a computer and the ADAM-2520Z Wireless Modbus RTU Gateway to receive real-time data.The ADAM-2000Z modules support Over The Air (OTA) firmware updates, which integrate a stable backup buffer and secure mechanism allowing wireless module firmware updates during operation. Due to the low power features of the wireless modules, IEEE 802.15.4 network standard and OTA firmware update functionality, Advantech's ADAM-2000Z input/output and sensor modules powered by two AA Alkaline batteries consume very little power, making them perfect for the remote monitoring application.As for the high-speed data acquisition, Advantech used an UNO-1172A with a PCM-3810I Multifunction PCI-104 Module to collect the vibration signals. With an IntelR Atom D510 as its core processor, the UNO-1172A offers high-performance computing and low power consumption to satisfy the customer's needs. Meanwhile, unlike other sensors, the displacement sensor receives thousands of pieces of data of per second so the PCM-3810I with its high sampling rate is the ideal product to meet the demanding requirements. The products also support wide operating temperature ranges and are moisture proof to meet the demands of the harsh environment.ConclusionFacing the challenge of climate change, soil and water conservation is a priority for many countries. By assembling the above-mentioned devices into a box, Advantech's wireless solution is not only suitable for quick installation in difficult areas, but can also be used as a distributed architecture to implement the monitoring system. Through this solution, the monitoring system no longer needs to be attached in one place but can be flexibly deployed according to the weather conditions. During typhoon and flood seasons, the system can sustain the operation for several weeks by using batteries and taking advantage of the low power features. Furthermore, Advantech is capable of providing various products and expertise to support environmental monitoring projects as well as being willing to cooperate with government and academic institutions to protect the public and preserve the environment.Advantech wireless solution consists of low power consuming devices and a fanless PC with high speed PCI acquisition card.Finding more case study articles

Most large metropolitan cities rely on integrated public transportation systems like buses, subways or railways to move people efficiently around. The Challenge Transportation systems need to reliably run 24/7 no matter if it's sunny, snowing or raining. Weather and harsh environments cause systems to slowly wear and deteriorate, and system malfunctions are unavoidable, but continuous system monitoring and maintenance can make systems operate longer and run more safely and reliably. Subway systems and tunnels can typically span hundreds of kilometers, so if one part malfunctions, it can be very difficult to diagnose the source of a problem. Without proper monitoring, control centers are powerless, and if problems occur during rush hours, it could be chaotic and dangerous. The Solution To overcome this, Advantech developed SUSIAccess. SUSIAccess is an integrated API utility suite that provides system control, monitoring and recovery functions. It can be a stand-alone utility or communicate between systems becoming a network information utility. Most transportation applications are highly integrated and complex, making it very difficult to analyze potential problems without detailed feedback information. Design Engineers are always looking for more efficient ways to remotely control and monitor their systems, and this is where SUSIAccess comes in. SUSIAccess can provide in-depth monitoring of circuit voltage levels, temperatures, as well as the status and reports of all devices and components in the system. It can even determine wireless transmission strengths. How SUSIAccess Helps Most subway systems are designed to monitor and record the whole system 24/7 and transmit all that information to the control center. If an unfortunate accident happens, management will then have all the relevant data on hand to analyze and remedy the problem. These systems need massive storage capacities to fulfill the huge data requirements. However, it is a fact of life that storage devices occasionally go bad during read and write phases, and writing errors or complete crashes happen from time to time. So far, there are no 100% reliable long life storage solutions for transportation. Traditional storage devices like HDD have natural limitations especially when operating in harsh environments with high vibration or high temperatures. Solid state storage devices like CF cards or SD cards are more suitable to operate in harsh environments, but they have finite read/write times and life spans. Frequently changing and updating storage devices are critical to balance system reliability and cost. One of the outstanding features of SUSIAccess is that it is able to see the status of all peripheral devices. Currently SUSIAccess provides CF card usage status and functions like S.M.A.R.T information, which shows wear levels and life cycles. With this feature, management can easily schedule maintenance or send out technicians to check a system. Another special feature is that SUSIAccess has the ability to monitor wireless signal strengths. Reliable wireless communications are essential in modern transit systems, and clear communication relies on solid signal strength, but many factors can affect their quality especially in concrete underground tunnels. Monitoring signal quality and dynamically adjusting signal output strength can secure data integrity. With SUSIAccess, the control center manager is able to monitor wireless strength and even improve the communication quality in dead spots so that important data never gets lost. SUSIAccess system health monitoring reduces maintenance times, and prevents system malfunctions in advance Finding more case study articles

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) introduced the industry's first fully-integrated, seven-channel relay driver that can support low-voltage relays from as low as 1.8 V up to 5 V. The ULN2003LV relay driver replaces a handful of discrete components with a single device to drive lower voltages for data relays and rails within telecommunications equipment. Using the ULN2003LV integrated circuit (IC), customers can reduce board space by up to 80 percent, while lowering power consumption and cost.Key features and benefits of the ULN2003LV*High performance in noisy environments: Input resistor capacitor (RC) snubber greatly improves the driver performance in noisy operating conditions. *Channel grouping for higher current loads: Internal input pull-down resistor allows input logic to be tri-stated for greater efficiency at higher loads. *Lower power: Seven low-output impedance drivers minimize on-chip power dissipation, providing five times lower power consumption versus the competition. *Wider device compatibility: The relay's 1.8-V to 5-V CMOS logic input interface is compatible with a wider range of microcontrollers and other logic interfaces compared to the competition.Availability, packaging and pricingThe ULN2003LV is available in 10-mm x 4-mm, 16-pin SOIC and 5.1-mm x 4.5-mm, 16-pin TSSOP packages. Suggested retail pricing in 100-unit quantities is $0.15. For more information and to order samples, visit www.ti.com/uln2003lv-pr.TI ULN2003LV

Altera Corporation announced its OpenCL (Open Computing Language) for FPGAs Early Access Program (EAP), enabling customers to get a first look at Altera's OpenCL for FPGA solution. Leveraging the open standard dramatically simplifies FPGA development by enabling teams to design their systems and algorithms in a high-level C-based framework when targeting FPGAs. As part of the EAP program, customers will be able to preview Altera's OpenCL solution and receive access to an OpenCL for FPGA training course, collateral and technical demonstrations.OpenCL is an open standard for writing programs that execute across heterogeneous platforms, including CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs. OpenCL provides customers a significant time-to-market advantage compared to traditional FPGA development flows that require the user to design in a lower-level HDL (hardware description language). Customers joining the EAP program will see how OpenCL can simplify many of the time-consuming details of hardware design by allowing users to operate in a C-based environment and automatically generate the FPGA implementation.In addition to simplifying FPGA development, EAP customers will also discover how using an OpenCL in an FPGA implementation provides dramatic system performance advantages. Combining an inherently parallel language with the massively parallel performance capabilities of FPGAs delivers significantly higher performance compared to alternate hardware architectures."There has been a tremendous amount of excitement from designers interested in integrating an OpenCL development flow with FPGAs. With very positive results from initial customers we are pleased to be able to give more customers early access to preview the solution," said Jeff Waters, senior vice president and GM of Altera's Military, Industrial and Computing division. "OpenCL enables a broad segment of designers in a variety of end markets including high performance computing, military, medical and broadcast to dramatically increase the performance of their end systems using the latest generation of FPGAs and a highly productive development flow."Altera is currently engaged with a variety of customers to implement designs in FPGAs using an OpenCL flow. These customers have seen the productivity and performance benefits that can be achieved using OpenCL for FPGA development.Koumei Tomida, Manager, Controller Platform Development V, Controller Development Group, at Fuji Xerox commented, "Using an OpenCL flow for FPGAs is intriguing as it gives us access to the latest generation of high-performance FPGAs, while providing us a significant reduction in time to market. Based on our initial use of Altera's OpenCL tool, we have been able to quickly and easily optimize our OpenCL kernels to target Altera FPGAs for higher performance and seamlessly integrate our design into the high-performance fabric of an FPGA."OpenCL for Altera FPGAs training now availableAltera has partnered with Acceleware, the industry leader in OpenCL and parallel programming training, to offer a course titled "OpenCL for Altera FPGAs" which provides detailed training on the OpenCL language and how to use it with Altera FPGAs. The course is available for OpenCL EAP customers only and will be held in a variety of regions. Contact your local Altera sales representative to schedule a training session.Joining the OpenCL for FPGA Early Access ProgramCustomers who join the OpenCL EAP will receive the latest information from Altera representatives on the OpenCL tool and how it works. Customers will also receive early access to product documentation and periodic information from Altera about the OpenCL program. To join, contact your local Altera sales representative: http://www.altera.com/corporate/contact/sales/worldwide/con-sales-ww.jspLearn more about Altera's OpenCL Program for FPGAs: www.altera.com/b/opencl.html

Mega Fluid Systems, Inc., recently announced the opening of its new worldwide headquarters located at 9398 SW Tualatin-Sherwood Rd. in Tualatin, OR. The new facility is 24,000 square feet with space for Engineering, Manufacturing, and a state-of-the-art Research and Development laboratory. In addition, the new headquarters will serve as the hub for the company's worldwide expansion goals over the next few years."We are very excited about our new world class facility," said Jack McCann, Mega Fluid System's President. "It is yet another indication that Mega is committed to not only maintaining, but furthering our current position as the world's leading resource for slurry blend and delivery equipment."Founded in 1990, Mega Fluid Systems has extensive experience offering leading-edge chemical and slurry blend and delivery equipment to the global semiconductor, LED, pharmaceutical, specialty chemicals, and solar/PV industries. With a global installed base in Asia, Europe, and North America, Mega's industry leading systems continue to be the choice of high technology companies to deliver the most difficult chemistries and sensitive slurries to their CMP tools and processes.Mega Fluid Systems offers unsurpassed excellence in engineering, manufacturing, and testing capabilities. Mega's partners benefit from high-level customer service and support from its program management, sales, engineering, service, and executive management teams.The company's new headquarters will reside at 9398 SW Tualatin-Sherwood Rd. in Tualatin, OR, as of July 30, 2012. Additional Sales, Engineering, and Service offices are located in Saugerties, NY, Hsinchu, Taiwan, as well as a strong Field Service Engineering presence in Chandler, AZ.For further information about Mega Fluid Systems or its new headquarters, please visit http://www.megafluidsystems.com.

Clientron Corp., a world-leading manufacturer of thin client and embedded systems, announces its new L400 PCoIP Zero Client, based on the next-generation Teradici Tera2 PCoIP zero client processor, that delivers high-performance and easy manageability for VMware View, PCoIP remote workstations and Teradici RDSH for Microsoft RDS environments.Clientron's L400 Zero Client applies Teradici TERA2321 dual display PCoIP processor, which brings five times of the VDI pixel performance over the previous generation zero client processor. The L400 Zero Client supports high resolution, full frame rate 3D graphics and HD media, delivering superior graphics experience and high data security for users."Clientron is excited to work together with Teradici to develop fully integrated Tera2 PCoIP zero client solution. We believe that the new L400 zero client, which is optimized for VDI and remote workstations, will significantly enhance the user experience for customers." said Robert Chin, CEO & Chairman, Clientron corp."By combining Teradici's Tera2 zero client processor with Clientron's all new L400 Zero Client, Clientron is providing an exciting solution with an uncompromised user experience for VDI. We are thrilled to be working together to bring our latest PCoIP technology to Clientron's product line," said Dan Cordingley, president and CEO, Teradici Corporation.Clientron PCoIP Zero Client L400 features highlight:*PCoIP protocol and zero client technology with Teradici TERA2321PCoIP Processor*The most secure zero client platform without fan, hard disk, OS, and driver*Dual DVI with resolution up to1920x1200 pixels and imaging performance up to 150 Mpps *Lower power consumption at under 14 Watts*Support onboard 512 MB DDR3 memory, dual DVI displays, four USB2.0 ports*Full power management with Wake-on-LAN support*Optional optical fiber LAN port*Broker connectivity to virtual desktops or remote workstation hosts using VMware View ManagerClientron PCoIP Zero Client L400 will soon be available. Please contact Clientron sales or visit our website (http://www.clientron.com) for more information.Clientron L Series Thin Client

AMD has launched the FirePro S9000 and S7000, dual- and single-slot server graphics cards for compute, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and workstation graphics deployments in data centers. Equipped with next-generation Graphics Core Next architecture and intelligent AMD PowerTune and ZeroCore Power technologies, the AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 reduce power consumption by up to 95% at idle, meaning greater savings and reduced operating costs in the data center.By using the AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 server graphics, information technology (IT) managers can now effectively address a number of daily data center challenges, while empowering IT professionals to manage intense workloads securely from virtually anywhere in the world at virtually any time. By having the flexibility to set up multiple virtual desktops, scientists, engineers and graphics professionals can have access to accelerated productivity suites including computer aided design (CAD), and media and entertainment (M&E) applications, offering them workstation-class performance in a scalable network environment.The AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 server graphics bring improved VDI densities while supporting virtualization technologies from Citrix, Microsoft and VMware, making it possible to install multiple graphics cards in a server and support multiple users remotely. Users can also access their desktops from virtually any device of their choosing, from thin clients to notebook, to tablets to smartphones - with outstanding graphics performance.Both server graphics cards offer a flexible and scalable solution capable of supporting remote desktop deployments; render farms, traditional workstation graphics applications, and high performance computing (HPC) implementations that require massive floating point calculations. With a single unified driver, deploying the AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 server graphics in the data center can enable IT groups to reduce operating costs and time spent on servicing individual systems, increase asset utilization density, improve user experience and ultimately secure critical data.Both the AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 server graphics are rigorously tested to ensure reliable performance for demanding server environments backed by a longer term limited warranty than that typically available for consumer graphics cards, and are supported by AMD 24-hour customer support. The AMD FirePro S9000 server graphics card is available at a price of US$2,499 and the AMD FirePro S7000 server graphics card is priced at US$1,249.AMD FirePro S9000 graphics cardPhoto: CompanyAMD FirePro S7000 graphics cardPhoto: Company

Advantech Industrial Motherboards (AIMB) are used by many KIOSK applications around the world, especially in the field of multi-location ATM applications. The Challenge Simultaneously, remotely, and centrally managing a bank's ATM network normally equates to time savings and cost reductions. This is simply because they require much fewer field technicians to physically reach every single ATM for either on-site diagnosis and/or re-programming. The Solution Advantech SUSIAccess is a Windows XP-based (Linux in later versions) application, it is an ideal software solution which enables ATM operators to not only monitor (Device Monitoring function) each individual ATM system at the same time from a centralized remote site, but also take control of client ATMs by changing system setting and updating firmware (Device Configuration). In addition, when an ATM error occurs, a system can automatically diagnose itself and send a warning message to an operator. Such messages will be shown on an icon-interfaced control panel which can help operators to immediately identify the problem and its exact location. Even with such remote capabilities, some problems can't be resolved, but it still helps operators decide whether to dispatch technicians with appropriate tools for on-site maintenance, rather than traveling blind and finding they still need to go back to HQ for replacements. In addition to remote monitoring and management, one of the major advantages of SUSIAccess is to make system recovery from remote sites possible. All bank managers understand the serious impact if ATM operating systems crash or stop working properly. Downtime critically affects a bank's revenue, customer service, and brand image. With SUSIAccess installed, just select that particular ATM icon and choose the One-Click-Recovery button on the user- friendly control panel. SUSIAccess will then start to re-boot the system through its special eSOS tool which recovers the system by using a pre-installed emergency OS hidden in the partition of the client ATM. Once the ATM has been successfully re-started, SUSIAccess will then continue to restore and recover all necessary system files and data, enabling the ATM to operate normally again. SUSIAccess remote restores a system back online with just a click Finding more case study articles

Fully automated industrial control systems are everywhere in today's large factories. All production line equipment is controlled by computers to achieve higher productivity and efficiency as well as helping reduce human errors. The Challenge Break downs and problems with control systems can cause large-scale production line shutdowns, thereby affecting overall production capacity and output. Therefore, it's vital to keep shutdowns to minimum, but deploying the right solution can be complicated. A business needs to employ a large human resource to conduct routine inspection checks and make sure that all devices are functioning continuously under normal conditions. Due to the large scale of equipment used in factories, it is not always easy to identify problems quickly. Often a problem is only discovered after a system has been shut down, and this interrupts production lines, which in turn costs money. So if potential problems can be discovered early, maintenance personnel and repair equipment can be quickly deployed, saving time and money. The Solution Steady and uninterrupted service has always been the aim of industrial automation applications, whilst also being able to endure a variety of harsh environments. FAE engineers responsible for maintenance in the field need experience and practical know how to properly look after equipment. If a system shows abnormal states, and preventive measures are not taken, problems can quite easily escalate and cause equipment damage. But, if an effective and flexible control system can be employed for monitoring plant and equipment in factories, it can reduce the overall maintenance workload, reduce labor costs and improve safety. In the past, it required a lot of time and manpower to develop system monitoring software for such applications, even if the supplier provided ready-made software or APIs (e.g. Advantech SUSI or iManager). It still needed huge resources to develop an application in-house, or involved huge cost to buy it from other software vendors; especially if remote monitoring and central control needed to be integrated at the same time. Plus, additional considerations in the overall cost were impacted by support, maintenance and upgrades. SUSIAccess was our response. It not only retained the flexible features and ease of use from Advantech's previous SUSI API software suites, but also integrated a remote central monitoring function that allows IT developers to easily implement monitoring functions suitable for all kinds of applications and environments at a very small cost. Through the SUSIAccess console, system operators can implement several of the API functions that give full remote control and access to their applications. It is also possible through mobile devices like smart phones, to see if there are any system abnormalities, and if problems are detected, take preventive measures before things get too serious. SUSIAccess remote monitoring for device maintenance and configuration Finding more case study articles

Global electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry's largest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, announced the signing of a global distribution agreement with Touch Revolution, a world leader in projected capacitive touch products.Touch Revolution designs and manufactures embedded touch displays, touch sub-systems, and touch monitors in multiple sizes for OEM/ODMs and system integrators to help them quickly add an advanced touch interface to their products."We offer industry-leading, high-performance projected capacitive touch solutions for today's most demanding commercial environments. Our suite of products enable an unprecedented user experience comparable to today's most sought after consumer touch technology offerings," said Bob Mitton, Director of Marketing for Touch Revolution. "We are proud to now offer these products through Digi-Key who will play an integral role in expanding the scope of Touch Revolution's distribution network."Touch Revolution was founded by industry pioneers in the touch device market with a vision of enabling the proliferation of intelligent connected touch devices. Innovative products such as the TRū Touch Monitors, Fusion Touch Displays, and NIMble Embedded Touch Computers provide solutions for capacitive touch needs at every level of the design process."Capacitive touch is fast becoming ubiquitous within the realm of new technology," said Mark Zack, Vice President, Global Semiconductor Product, Digi-Key Corporation. "Touch Revolution's innovative product is well-placed to serve this growing demand and we are pleased to partner with them to provide these quality products to our global customer base."These quality products from Touch Revolution are currently available for purchase on Digi-Key's global websites (http://www.digikey.com/).