Neonode's AirBar: Turn Any Laptop into A Touchscreen Laptop

Ever since Microsoft so heartily embraced finger-friendliness with Windows 8, accessory makers have been striving to figure out a compelling way to add touch capabilities to non-touchscreen displays, be it in the form of fancy styli paired with infrared receivers, gesture control scheme like Leap Motion, or touch-sensitive overlays that you plop on your laptop’s display. But sadly, every single solution has been either lacking in functionality or just plain overpriced.

Enter Neonode’s AirBar—potentially.

The AirBar’s a slim sensor that magnetically latches onto the bottom of your Chromebook or Windows laptop’s display and connects via USB. Once it’s hooked up—Neonode says it’s plug and play, with no extra drivers necessary—the device casts a beam of light across your screen, and you can poke, pinch, zoom, swipe and scroll around with your hand the way you would on a touchscreen PC.

Since the AirBar’s powered by light, rather than touch, you can use it to interact with your laptop in ways that traditional touchscreens don’t allow, such as with a glove or even chopsticks, as this video shows.

Unlike some of the other impromptu touchscreen solutions out there, AirBar won’t break the bank, either. You can preorder the sensor on the AirBar website right now for $50, though the only model available currently works with 15.6-inch laptops alone.

'5 Sigma' What's That?

Chances are, you heard this month about the discovery of a tiny fundamental physics particle that may be the long-sought Higgs boson. The phrase five-sigma was tossed about by scientists to describe the strength of the discovery. So, what does five-sigma mean?

In short, five-sigma corresponds to a p-value, or probability, of 3x10^-7, or about 1 in 3.5 million. This is not the probability that the Higgs boson does or doesn't exist; rather, it is the probability that if the particle does not exist, the data that CERN scientists collected in Geneva, Switzerland, would be at least as extreme as what they observed. "The reason that it's so annoying is that people want to hear declarative statements, like 'The probability that there's a Higgs is 99.9 percent,' but the real statement has an 'if' in there. There's a conditional. There's no way to remove the conditional," says Kyle Cranmer, a physicist at New York University and member of the ATLAS team, one of the two groups that announced the new particle results in Geneva on July 4.

Scientists use p-values to test the likelihood of hypotheses. In an experiment comparing some phenomenon A to phenomenon B, researchers construct two hypotheses: that "A and B are not correlated," which is known as the null hypothesis, and that “A and B are correlated,” which is known as the research hypothesis.

The researchers then assume the null hypothesis (because it's the most conservative supposition, intellectually) and calculate the probability of obtaining data as extreme or more extreme than what they observed, given that there is no relationship between A and B. This calculation, which yields the p-value, can be based on any of several different statistical tests. If the p-value is low, for example 0.01, this means that there is only a small chance (one percent for p=0.01) that the data would have been observed by chance without the correlation. Usually there is a pre-established threshold in a field of study for rejecting the null hypothesis and claiming that A and B are correlated. Values of p=0.05 and p=0.01 are very common in many scientific disciplines.

High-energy physics requires even lower p-values to announce evidence or discoveries. The threshold for "evidence of a particle," corresponds to p=0.003, and the standard for "discovery" is p=0.0000003.

The reason for such stringent standards is that several three-sigma events have later turned out to be statistical anomalies, and physicists are loath to declare discovery and later find out that the result was just a blip. One factor is the "look elsewhere effect:" when analyzing very wide energy intervals, it is likely that you will see a statistically improbable event at some particular energy level. As a concrete example, there is just under a one percent chance of flipping an ordinary coin 100 times and getting at least 66 heads. But if a thousand people flip identical coins 100 times each, it becomes likely that a few people will get at least 66 heads each; one of those events on its own should not be interpreted as evidence that the coins were somehow rigged.

So where do the sigmas come in? The Greek letter sigma is used to represent standard deviation. Standard deviation measures the distribution of data points around a mean, or average, and can be thought of as how "wide" the distribution of points or values is. A sample with a high standard deviation is more spread out—it has more variability, and a sample with a low standard deviation clusters more tightly around the mean. For example, a plot of dogs' heights would probably have a larger standard deviation than a plot of heights of dogs from a particular breed, even if that breed had the same average height as dogs in general.

For particle physics, the sigma used is the standard deviation arising from a normal distribution of data, familiar to us as a bell curve. In a perfect bell curve, 68% of the data is within one standard deviation of the mean, 95% is within two, and so on.

Graph of the Normal Distribution showing

3 Standard Deviation on either side of the Mean.

5 Sigma Observation corresponds to Data even further from Mean 

In the case of the results announced announced by CERN, the process was more complicated than simply taking the results from one experiment and measuring the deviation of the data from the expected background levels; data came from many different channels, and each one had a different expected background signal. In addition, there were uncertainties about the measurements from the detectors that had to be taken into account. Researchers used a complex formula to combine all of these variables and calculate a p-value. This value was then translated into a number of sigmas above the mean, because the number of collisions observed at the energy of the newly discovered particle was higher than the expected background.

This final point led to some confusion in the media about the p-value associated with five-sigma. In a normal distribution, data is symmetrically distributed on both sides of the mean. It is twice as likely for data to be in either the high or low tail than just the high tail, so some outlets reported that five-sigma corresponded to a p-value of 0.0000006, or 1 in 1.7 million, rather than the correct value of 0.0000003, or 1 in 3.5 million.

The excitement about the Higgs discovery led the two teams to announce their results before all the data had been analyzed. Going forward, after both teams' analyses are complete, the groups will combine their observations. Although the two experiments are based on similar physical principles, it is not trivial to combine their data in a meaningful way. If your wallet were filled with both U.S. dollars and Euros (or Swiss Francs if you were visiting CERN), you couldn't simply add the numbers on the bills to find out how much money you had; you would have to perform some conversions first. The groups will use what Cranmer calls "collaborative statistical modeling" to combine the results of the two experiments (ATLAS and CMS). This approach has already been used to perform "conversions" on data sets within each team's experiment. When complete, these analyses will convey a more accurate sense of the strength of the new evidence and determine whether the observed data is consistent with the Higgs boson physicists seek.

The Most Unstably Stable "Neutrino"

The smallest things in the universe

Atoms, despite the Greek name (“cannot be cut”), are not elementary particles, meaning they can be disassembled. An atom is a diffuse cloud of electrons surrounding a tiny, dense nucleus composed of protons and neutrons, which can be broken into up and down quarks.

Particle collider, which accelerate particles to near the speed of light and smash them together, help us discover new elementary particles. First, because of E = mc2, the energy in the collision can be converted into the mass of particles. Second, the higher the accelerator’s beam energy, the more finely we can resolve composite structures, just as we can see smaller things with X-rays than with visible light.

We haven’t been able to take apart electrons or quarks. These are elementary particles, forming the basic constituents of ordinary matter: the Lego bricks of the universe. Interestingly, there are many heavy cousins of familiar particles that exist only for fractions of a second, and thus are not part of ordinary matter. For example, for electrons these are the muon and tauon.

Elementary particles, of which neutrinos are one kind.

What’s a neutrino?

How is this elementary particle – the neutrino – different from all other elementary particles? It’s unique in that it’s both almost mass-less and almost non-interacting. Those features are different, though often conflated, hence we can call it introvert.

It’s a mystery why neutrinos are almost, but not quite, mass-less. We do know why they’re almost non-interacting, though: They don’t feel the electromagnetic or strong forces that bind nuclei and atoms, only the aptly named weak force (and gravity, but barely, because their masses are small).

Though neutrinos are not constituents of ordinary matter, they are everywhere around us – a trillion from the sun pass through your eyes every second. There are hundreds per every cubic centimeter left over from the Big Bang. Because they so rarely interact, it’s almost impossible to observe them, and you certainly don’t feel them.

Neutrinos have other weird aspects. They come in three types, called flavors – electron, muon and tauon neutrinos, corresponding to the three charged particles they pair with – and all of these seem to be stable, unlike the heavy cousins of the electron.

Because the three flavors of neutrinos are almost identical, there is the theoretical possibility that they could change into each other, which is another unusual aspect of these particles, one that can reveal new physics. This transformation requires three things: that neutrino masses are nonzero, are different for different types, and that neutrinos of definite flavor are quantum combinations of neutrinos of definite mass (this is called “neutrino mixing”).

For decades, it was generally expected that none of these conditions would be met. Not by neutrino physicists, though – we held out hope.

Digital Currency- "Bitcoin"

   As I have discussed in the previous blog 'Technological Transformation of Banking Sectors', about how the technological development enhanced and some of them listed also.In the continuation of the previous article it is also essential to discuss about 'Digital Currency' and 'Virtual Currency'.  Always their is a misconception about these two terms. Sometimes these are considered as same but it is not so. The Digital currencies can be used to facilitate payment for physical currencies in real life similar as traditional physical currencies where as virtual currencies are those which are not intended for use in real life and subjected to centralized authority. But digital currencies having decentralized authority. 

   The Virtual currencies and Cryptocurrencies are said to be types of digital currency only, but differs in function. The Bitcoin is an example of Digital currency. It is a form of Digital currency, created and held electronically,its growing category of money known as Cryptocurrency. It can be used to buy things electronically such as conventional dollars, euros or yen, which are also traded digitally. This currency is not physically printed instead it is created digitally, this technology is proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto. The idea behind was to produce a currency which will be  independent of any central authority, transferable electronically instantly. The Bitcoin is the result of mathematical calculations not due to any expensive metallic element. The software is open source, any one can check it.
    The invention of paper currencies over metal coins, gold is for convenience, but the invention of Digital currencies is something which is the result of technological advancements. With the use of long chain of software work this can be possible. It has some limitations being digital such as power requirements, software skills etc. But the innovation of the digital currency sets the height of technology and makes the country globally advanced.

Technological Transformation of Banking Sector

    The technologies have changed the banking industry from paper and branched based banks to digitized and networked banking services. It changed the accounting and management system of all banks. All the way the technology giving rewards are limitless. The development of technology in banking sector are listed below:

E- Banking- The use of Graphical User Interface (GUI) with software made the banking process faster and services can be delivered easily to the high end customers. Also Electronic Data Interchange is the software which can be used to transmit business transaction in a computer readable form.

Plastic money- Credit cards, Debit cards and Gift cards have made the banking industry more flexible than before. The customer can pay for any thing using the cards, in this case they do not have to go through the hassle of borrowing small money.

Rural banking- Mobile banking facilities is the boon for rural areas. People can deposit money on the account made by mobile company or banks which is opened for free. This money can withdrawn anytime anywhere comfortably. The earliest mobile banking services used SMS, a service known as SMS banking which further developed into mobile application as smartphones got introduced.

   Their are so many other uses of technology in the banking sector, such as self inquiry facility, remote banking, signature retrieval facilities, multilingual ATM's,multi-functional ATM's, Bio-metrics etc. Technology has became essential part of the business of banking. It is difficult to consider one without the other. Also for the banks it is now becoming easier to fulfill the customer needs. The technological growth played a vital role in the transformation of banking sector in terms of its transactions processing as well as for various other internal systems and processes by virtue of which day to day operations in banking has evolved substantially over the years.

One-Glass Solution to Touch-Screen Technology

Consumers are demanding smartphones and other mobile devices to be as thin and lightweight as possible. The traditional structure of adding pro-cap touch to display to LCD, starts with separate LCD panel that is made up of two glass layers that contain liquid crystal material, top glass sheet covered with polarizer. Above that goes the pro-cap touch module. A protective cover glass is then placed on the top of touch panel so that the top electrodes are not exposed. This stacking up of the glass layer limited the designer from making slimmer and lighter displays.

A method that gaining momentum to solve this problem is “one-glass solution” (OGS). The basic idea is to replace the touch module glass by a thin layer of insulating material.

Sensor on Lens

Sensor on Lens

One approach to achieve OGS is “sensor on lens”. In this case, ITO layer is deposited on the back of the cover glass and pattern it to create the electrodes. Thin layer of insulator added to the bottom of that and then second ITO layer is deposited on the back of that, patterning it to create electrodes running at right angles to the first layer. This module then laminated to standard LCD panel.

The touch technology deposited in the cover glass using the sensor on lens approach, results in a separate touch module that can be sold to the LCD display assemblers.

On-cell Pro-cap

On-cell Approach

The other approach is called “on-cell” pro-cap. In this case, conductive layer of ITO is deposited directly onto the top of glass layer of LCD panel and then patterned into electrodes. A thin insulating layer is applied and then second ITO is deposited, electrodes patterned right angle to first layer. Finally top polarizing layer is applied on the top and display is completed by adding cover glass.

The on-cell enable LCD manufacturer to add these touch layers onto their own LCD panels during manufacturing process. The display assembler just have to purchase a cover glass to complete the display.

In-cell pro-cap

In-cell Approach

Some of the panel makers developing “in-cell” touch panels, where one of the conductive layer actually shares the same layer as the thin film transistors (TFTs) used to switch the display’s sub pixels on and off. Tis approach not only reduces the electromagnetic noise in the system, but also uses a single integrated controller for both the display and the touch system. This reduces part counts and can make the display component thinner, lighter, more energy efficient and more reliable.

What are AMOLED Displays?

OLED display stack is somewhat different from a LCD stack. It only requires one substrate (glass) layer as opposed to LCD’s two. OLED material is much thinner than LCD layer. As a result, the finished display can be half as thick as an LCD panel, saving weight and thickness which is important in smartphone design. A number of smartphones today use a form of active-matrix OLED display called super AMOLED.

Other than above differences OLEDs have same stack configuration as that of LCDs and both tend to have cover glasses for protection.

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How Capacitive Touch Screen Works?

Projected Capacitance (Also known as P-cap or Pro-cap) is a solid-state technology. Instead of being based on electric resistance, it relies on electrical capacitance.

If the charge is applied to the conductor, it will hold the charge. And then second conductor is brought near it, second conductor will “steal” some of the charge from first one. Stealing a charge is same as when walk on carpet and try to touch any metallic thing you feel some spark at the tip of your finger. Here, metallic thing that you are trying to touch steals charge, which was built during walking on carpet. Pro-cap technology works on this basic principle.

Like resistive design, Pro- cap sensors uses two layers of transparent ITO conductors, separated by an insulator. The conductors on one layer run right angle to the conductors on other layer. The separated conductors are scanned in rapid sequence, so that all the possible intersections are measured many times per second.

When you touch the screen with your finger, it steals a little bit of the charge from each layer of the conductors at that point. The electrical charge involved is very tiny, which is why you don’t feel any shock or spark. This little change in the charge is enough to be detected by electronic devices. Because each conductor is checked separately, it is possible to identify multiple simultaneous touch points.

Pro-cap Touch Technology

Today’s projective capacitance technology relies on the fact that an electromagnetic field project above the plane of the conductive sensor layer. It allows to cover the touch module with sheet of thin glass or specially toughened Gorilla Glass, without losing the sensitivity of screen. It also increase the reliability of mobile.

No technology is without its challenges, so as the Pro-cap. The system of conductors used is susceptible to electrical noise from electromagnetic interference (EMI). Also touch screen won’t respond to non-conducting materials like finger nails.

In spite of all these shortcomings, Pro-cap technology has become dominant choice for the mobile devices.

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How Resistive Touch Screen Work?

The traditional touch screen technology is analog resistive. These panel work by detecting how much the resistance to current changes when a point is touched. It is accomplished by having two separate layers. Typically, the bottom layer is made of glass and the top layer is a plastic film. When you push down on film it makes contact with glass and completes a circuit.

The glass and plastic film are each covered with grid of electric conductor made up of transparent material, mostly of indium tin oxide (ITO). These conductors runs parallel on each of these sheets. Sheets are arranged such a way that conductors on glass should be right angled to those on the plastic film.

Resistive Touch Technology

When you press down the touch screen, contact is made between grid on the glass and grid on the film. The voltage of the circuit is calculated. X and Y coordinates of the touch position is calculated based on the amount of resistance at the point of contact. This analog signal is converted to Digital form using ADC so as to use by processor as user input.

This technology has lot of disadvantages, however. First, the analog system is susceptible to drift, so the user have to recalibrate the touch panel time to time.

The ITO material used for conductor is brittle. Repetitive use can cause ITO to crack over time and can result in dead spot on the touch screen.

The screen uses this technology usually thicker so as to maintain gap between to sensor planes. The gap between glass and plastic layer of resistive touch panel filled with air. The different refractive index of different layers creates visible artefacts that impact the display quality.

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Technology of Touch Screens

What is the technology which revolutionised smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices in last 10 years? Is it VLSI technology, which scaled down complete electronics design and made processors more powerful and increased the storage capacity? Yes indeed but there is one more unnoticed technology which modernised our user experience with mobile devices – Multi Touch Screen, which have sparked the explosive growth of the mobile device market.

It was not so long that we would tap away on a Palm Pilot with tiny stylus or exercise our thumb on QWERTY keyboard phones. Then in 2007, Apple launched iPhone and people were wiping their fingers across the screen, pinching images and performing other manoeuvres that had not previously been part of smartphone interface.

Now we not only take touch input for granted, we expect to be able to use multi-touch and gesture as well. What made this touch screen revolution possible, and where is it likely to take us?

To begin with, not all touch is created equal. There are around 18 distinctly different touch technologies available to design engineers. Some rely on visible or infrared light, some use sound waves while some others use force sensors. They all have individual combinations of advantages and disadvantages, including size, accuracy, reliability, durability, number of touches sensed and of course cost.

Two of these technologies dominated the market for transparent touch technology applies to display in the mobile screen and both have distinct differences.

• Resistive Touch Panels
• Pro-cap Touch Panels

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Science and Technology in India

Indian Scientists and scholars have been contributing in the field Science and technology from ancient time. Many discoveries are made by Indian scientist in field of science, Astronomy, Mathematics, Metallurgy, Medical, etc. Concept of Zero, Cataract surgery, are some of the highlights.

Modern India has had a strong focus on science and technology, realising that it is a key element of economic growth. India is among the topmost countries in the world in the field of scientific research, positioned as one of the top five nations in the field of space exploration.

India is among the world’s top 10 nations in the number of scientific publications. Position-wise, it is ranked 17th in the number of citations received and 34th in the number of citations per paper across the field of science and technology (among nations publishing 50,000 or more papers). The country is ranked ninth globally in the number of scientific publications and 12th in the number of patents filed.

With support from the government, considerable investment and development has incurred in different sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, space research, and nuclear power through scientific research. On the occasion of India’s 67th republic day of India, let’s know about some of major scientific projects of modern India.

Space Applications

ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) founded in 1969 under Dr. Vikram Sarabhai with vision to "harness space technology for national development, while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration" and organisation is continuously operating towards the betterment of common people in India. ISRO is pioneer in Space Applications. India has one of the largest fleet of remote sensing satellite operational, contributing in weather forecasting, disaster planning, ground resource management, etc. It also has large number of communication satellite. 

IRNSS is an indigenously developed Navigation Satellite System that is used to provide accurate real-time positioning and timing services over India.The constellation of seven satellites is expected to operate from March 2016 onwards.

At present, ISRO team is actively working on its next generation of GSLV, a heavy liftoff vehicle, GSLV mk-III, which will power India’s Moon Lander Mission, Chandrayaan-2 and Human Spaceflight Program in future.

Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)

Mars Orbiter Mission is India's first interplanetary mission to planet Mars with an orbiter craft designed to orbit Mars in an elliptical orbit. Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan is orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. With success of mission in its maiden attempt India has become fourth country to reach Mars and first Asian nation to do so.

The mission was planned to test and prove ISRO’s capability to reach out in outer space which will propel future interplanetary missions of India. The Mission is primarily technological mission considering the critical mission operations and stringent requirements on propulsion and other bus systems of spacecraft. It has been configured to carry out observation of physical features of Mars and carry out limited study of Martian atmosphere with following five payloads:

• Mars Colour Camera (MCC)
• Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS)
• Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM)
• Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA)
• Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP)

ASTROSAT

ASTROSAT is India’s first dedicated multi wavelength space observatory, launched on 28th September, 2015. This scientific satellite mission endeavours for a more detailed understanding of our universe. One of the unique features of ASTROSAT mission is that it enables the simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical objects with a single satellite.

ASTROSAT observes the universe in the optical, ultraviolet, low and high energy X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, whereas most other scientific satellites are capable of observing a narrow range of wavelength band. Multi-wavelength observations of ASTROSAT can be further extended with co-ordinated observations using other spacecraft and ground based observations. All major astronomy Institutions and some Universities in India will participate in these observations.

The scientific objectives of ASTROSAT mission are:

• To understand high energy processes in binary star systems containing neutron stars and black holes
• Estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars
• Study star birth regions and high energy processes in star systems lying beyond our galaxy
• Detect new briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky
• Perform a limited deep field survey of the Universe in the Ultraviolet region

The Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO)

IAO is located near Leh in Ladakh, India, has one of the world's highest sites for optical, infrared and gamma-ray telescopes. The cloudless skies and low atmospheric water vapour make it one of the best sites in the world for optical, infrared, sub-millimetre, and millimetre wavelengths. It is currently the second highest optical telescope in the world, situated at an elevation of 4,500 meters (14,764 ft).

This telescope is remotely operated from CREST at Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Hosakote, Bangalore. using dedicated satellite links. In addition, IIA is collaborating with University of Washington, St. Louis, in operating a 0.5m photometry telescope for continuous monitoring of Active Galactic Nuclei. The two telescopes, 180 deg apart in longitude, would together constitute the Antipodal Transient Observatory. A 0.3-m Differential Image Motion Monitor, a 220-GHz radiometer and an Automated Weather Station have been installed to facilitate continuation of site characterisation. In addition to night observations, the site is also being characterised for solar observations.

Giant Meter-wave Radio Telescope (GMRT)

In trying to answer big questions about the origins of universe and where we all come from, one could start from here in GMRT. The Facility is situated in Khodad, a rural area at the north of Pune, in Maharashtra, free from any radio interferences.

It is home to unique facility picking up signals from the farthest point in space. As a facility there is only one of its kinds in the world. 30 Antennas, each 45 meter on diameter, spread over 20 km stretch and all focus on, trying to unlock the secrets of universe. Panels of the antennas are designed with SMART (Stretched mesh attached to rope trusses), which provide larger reflective area with extremely light structure. 

The complete facility is supported by powerful computer not only for image processing, also for pinpoint focusing of all antennas at a point in vast space. Scientist working 24X7, searching the early formed hydrogen gas clouds in deep space for better understanding of how the universe came in to being. Apart from it GMRT is making new discoveries involving pulsars, binary star system, etc. Working at relatively low frequency (100 MHz – 1000 MHz) GMRT became famous among Radio astronomers around the world and performing better than its counterpart in New Mexico, USA.

India’s Thorium Reactor.

India has one of the largest supplies of thorium in the world (around 319,000 Tons), with comparatively poor quantities of uranium. India has projected meeting as much as 30% of its electrical demands through thorium by 2050. It is the "only country in the world with a detailed, funded, government-approved plan" to focus on thorium-based nuclear power.

In February 2014, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), in Mumbai, India, presented their latest design for a "next-generation nuclear reactor" that will burn thorium as its fuel ore. Once built, with a target date of 2016, they estimate that the reactor could function without an operator for 120 days.

India's first commercial fast breeder reactor the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is approaching completion at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu; making India the most advanced country in thorium research, while other countries planned their programme in the end of last decade.

LCA Tejas, India’s Light Combat Aircraft.

Tejas is the smallest, light weight, single engine, single seat, supersonic, multirole, combat aircraft, consider to be best in its class in the world.

This fourth generation combat aircraft has Carbon Composites, light weight/high strength material for primary structures, quadruplex Digital Flight Control System, glass Cockpit and digital Avionics to give multirole capabilities with carefree maneuvering. These capabilities are further enhanced by several on-board Sensors, Communication and Navigation Systems that are supported by powerful Mission Computers and Cockpit Display System.

The LCA programme was launched in the early eighties for two primary purposes. The principal and most obvious goal was the development of a replacement aircraft for India's ageing MiG-21 fighters. The other main objective was to give an impetus for an across-the-board advancement of India's domestic aviation capability. Many complex technologies like Composite Material, Avionics, and sophisticated test facilities like wind tunnel, Iron bird test facility, simulators for training fighter pilots, etc. has been set up during development of aircraft first time in country. The programme has successfully able to create and sustainable environment for aircraft manufacturing industry in the country.

ALH Dhruv is Advance Light Helicopter developed by HAL, introduced in 2002 has already proved its capability for military and civilian use.

ORV Sagar Kanya

Sagar Kanya is a Ocean Research Vessel (ORV) owned and operated by India's National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR). The ship has helped in India's studies of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean.

In the year 1983, under Indo-German collaboration, a multidisciplinary research vessel was built in Germany and delivered in India to Ministry of Earth Sciences (then Department of Ocean Development). The vessel is a versatile ocean observing platform equipped with technologically advanced scientific equipment and related facilities. The ship is continuously monitoring the nutrients dissolve in water salinity, temperature, etc. The on board sampler takes samples from ocean surface water as well as from deep ocean bed and testing it in its 14 Laboratories on the ship. Along with ocean research Sagar kanya is contributing a lot in locating of Poly metallic Nodules on ocean bed. These nodules are rich source of many strategic metals such as copper, nickel and cobalt. Large area of Indian Ocean is identified as a rich source of future development and India has been granted United Nations status as a pioneer investor.

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)

TMT is a planned, eighteen stories, astronomical observatory and extremely large telescope to be built on the summit of Mauna Kea in the state of Hawaii. The TMT is designed for near-ultraviolet to mid-infrared (0.31 to 28 μmwavelengths) observations, featuring adaptive optics to assist in correcting image blur. The TMT will be at the highest altitude of all the proposed ELTs. India has government-level support in R&D along with China, Japan and Canada. The observatory and telescope are expected to be operational on Mauna Kea by 2024.

These are glimpses of Science and technology projects in modern India. Many more scientific projects and invisible innovations are going on in India. India is aggressively working towards establishing itself as a leader in industrialisation and technological development and to become centre of science and technology in world.

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY !!!

What’s so special about Gorilla Glass?

Many vendors are quick to trumpet the use of Corning's Gorilla Glass in their products. The glass is used as a protective outer layer for many devices, from smartphones to large flat panel televisions. But what makes Gorilla Glass different?

The answer lies in the composition of the glass itself. Most display glass is an alumina silicate formulation, which is made up of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. The glass also contains sodium ions spread throughout the material. And this is where the difference starts.

The glass is put in a bath of molten potassium at about 400 degrees. The sodium ions are replaced by potassium ions in a process that's a bit like soaking a pickle in salty brine. It's a diminishing process: More of the sodium ions are replaced by potassium at the surface of the glass, and then fewer and fewer are exchanged as you go further into the glass.

Why change from sodium to potassium? Sodium (Na) has an atomic number of 11, while potassium (K) has an atomic number of 19. If you remember your high school chemistry, this indicates that the potassium atoms are significantly larger than the sodium atoms. (The atomic radius of a neutral sodium atom measures out as 180 pico-meters and potassium at 220 pico-meters, so potassium measures out as more than 20% larger.)

Imagine that you have a box packed tightly with tennis balls. What would happen if you took out the top layer of tennis balls and replaced them -- one for one -- with larger softballs? The softball layer would be squeezed together much more tightly and it would be harder to get one out.

That's what happens with glass when the potassium ions take the place of the sodium ions. The potassium ions take up more space and create compression in the glass. This makes it more difficult for a crack to start, and even if one does start, it is much less likely to grow through the glass.

The concept of strengthening glass through ion exchange is not new; it has been known since at least the 1960s. And other companies offer glass that has been strengthened by this type of process. Corning's Gorilla brand of strengthened glass has gained considerable market share, however, and has a very visible presence in the marketplace.

The company Corning working on this technology and come up with innovations like Gorilla Glass Windshield for Automobiles (Ford GT) and "A Day made up of Glass" Concept.

CGI Technology Transforming Film Making

     The technological development in the film making made the process much easier. Multiple cameras can run on the same shot, so that it is easy to get the desired angle. Film makers spend less time re-shooting the same scene due to technologically advanced systems. Motion capture and Computer generated imagery (CGI) captured the attraction of the film makers. CGI is traditionally done by placing reflective markers all over, an actors face and body, which are then interpreted by computer technology to create digitized expressions for the CG character. Now this technology is growing at faster rate.

     The best example for the technological integrated film-making could be a film "Avatar". A team of talented artist transferred basic renderings into photo real images, particularly using new breakthrough in lighting, shading and  rendering. In this movie 3D and CG technology were tied together for visualizing the film by virtue of which two new Cameron intermediary inventions made that are Virtual camera and Simulcam. The virtual camera used by the Cameron in the volume motion capture stage, wasn't actually a camera at all, it was like video game controller, it simulated on camera that was fed CG images by supercomputers surrounding the volume. This allowed amplification of each small adjustment on the virtual production stage, from camera movement to actor interaction, to gauge the overall effect on the final big-screen cut. The Simulcam is term associated with camera system by virtue of which integration of CG characters and environments into our live action are possible.

    Multiple cameras can run on the same shot, so that it is easy to get the desired angle. Technology greatly simplified and reduced the cost of making films, as expensive film has been replaced by the digital storage methods that last longer. Now new technologies are readily invented,tested, and perfected. Technology has opened up greater possibilities and opportunities for film-maker.

IRNSS - Indian Navigation System on The Edge of Complition

By the time you read this post, ISRO, Indian Space Agency would have launched its fifth regional navigation satellite IRNSS 1E into the space, today. [Press Release] 

IRNSS Service Area

IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System) is an independent regional navigation satellite system being developed by India. It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. The Extended Service Area lies between primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30 deg South to 50 deg North, Longitude 30 deg East to 130 deg East.

The requirement of such a navigation system is driven because access to foreign government-controlled global navigation satellite systems is not guaranteed in hostile situations, as happened to the Indian military depending on American GPS during the Kargil War.

The fully deployed IRNSS system consists of a constellation of seven satellites, approximately 36,000 km altitude above earth surface and a support ground segment. Three of the satellites in the constellation will be located in geostationary orbit at 32.5° East, 83° East, and 131.5° East longitude. Two of the GSOs will cross the equator at 55° East and two at 111.75° East. Such an arrangement would mean all seven satellites would have continuous radio visibility with Indian control stations. The satellite payloads would consist of atomic clocks and electronic equipment to generate the navigation signals

IRNSS will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all the users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorized users. Both will be carried on L5 (1176.45 MHz) and S band (2492.028 MHz). The SPS signal will be modulated by a 1 MHz BPSK signal. The Precision Service will use BOC (5, 2). The navigation signals themselves would be transmitted in the S-band frequency (2–4 GHz) and broadcast through a phased array antenna to maintain required coverage and signal strength.

The system is intended to provide an absolute position accuracy of better than 10 meters throughout Indian landmass and better than 20 meters in the Indian Ocean as well as a region extending approximately 1,500 km around India.

Four out of Seven Satellite Constellations are already in space, the fifth satellite is launched today from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Shriharikotta (SHAR) in Andhra Pradesh. Remaining two satellites are scheduled to launch in February and March of this year. So, very soon consumer in India will find option of IRNSS on their Smartphone.

Some applications of IRNSS are:

• Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation
• Disaster Management
• Vehicle tracking and fleet management
• Integration with mobile phones
• Precise Timing
• Mapping and Geodetic data capture
• Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travelers
• Visual and voice navigation for drivers

The IRNSS Signal-in-Space Interface Control Document (ICD) for Standard Positioning Service (SPS) is released to the public to provide the essential information on the IRNSS signal-in-space, to facilitate research & development and aid the commercial use of the IRNSS signals for navigation-based applications. Click here to Register and Download the Document.

6 Best Linux Based Mobile Operating Systems

Android 

You cannot find anyone who simply does not know Android. Since, the android mobile operating system is now commanding the smartphone industry. Being it a Google product, the android OS is widely using in numerous mobiles.Using the Google’s Android OS, one can develop dashing smartphones at reasonable rates. Android is an open source OS and it is based on the Linux Kernel. Android codes are easily accessible by anyone and they can modify the codes according to their needs and demands. You no need to have special training or knowledge to access or customize the android code. Rather, you can make alterations on the code just like that. This is why the android operating system is familiar. 

Firefox OS 

Very recently, Mozilla was shifted to Firefox OS from Boot to Gecko OS. As you all know that, the Linux based mobile OS is absolutely open source and connects all the open standards. This operating system operates and executes by the assistance of HTML5 application. In the coming days, Mozilla is planned to introduce the smartphones with Firefox OS. The Mozilla Company is still in discussion about their plan with companies like LG, Orange, ZTE, Panasonic, Deutsche Telekom and several other companies. Obviously, you can anticipate the smartphones with Firefox OS in future days.

Sailfish OS 

The credit goes to Nokia developers for creating this Sailfish operating system. It is also an open source operating system. Due to some reasons, the Nokia Companywas planned to close all the open source projects. This operating system is derived from MeeGo.Itis utterly based on Mer Open Source Technology. 

Ubuntu Touch

Canonical company reports to the media that, they are going to launch a mobile phone with the Ubuntu operating system. Normally, Ubuntu is an open source and desktop operating system. The Ubuntu has flawless features and specifications in it. Also, a user can easily customize this OS in accordance with his needs. This company is very much interested in creating the combined open source platform for all such computing devices. The company is now planning to introduce their first Ubuntu phone and Ubuntu touch device by the end of this fiscal year. 

Plasma Mobile 

It is a recently launched Linux based mobile operating system. But the operating system is actually based on Kubuntu. This OS has the ability to be on the top of the list of open source mobile operating system. The KDE community contributes dynamically to the development of plasma mobile operating system. You can expect more devices with plasma mobile OS in the near future. 

Samsung Tizen

Tizen is an open-source platform generally associated with Samsung. Tizen is actually the umbrella of the Linux Foundation, and both Samsung and Intel are on its steering committee. Samsung’s own Android “Galaxy” devices run the TouchWiz skin with Samsung’s own look, and Tizen looks very similar to TouchWiz. This is clearly a backup operating system for Samsung. If they wanted to leave Google Android and go in their own direction, they could start pushing Tizen on the next Galaxy S phone

Some Heavy Stuff: Four New Elements Added to Periodic Table

Elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117, and 118 have been added to the periodic table. The new elements were added after the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) reviewed scientific studies published by teams of researchers in the United States, Japan, and Russia. 

Though the periodic table was created in 1869, scientists haven’t yet filled it in completely, or answered many of the lingering questions surrounding these building blocks of the universe; as these superheavy elements decay, they become other elements that scientists cannot yet identify.

These newly added elements are among the heaviest in the periodic table and aren’t known to exist outside the lab. They’re highly unstable—just to formulate them in the lab, the researchers had to crash lighter nuclei into one another. The new elements existed for less than a second before breaking down into other elements.

These elements, which complete the seventh row of the periodic table, are the first to be added since 2011, when flerovium (element 114) and livermorium (element 116), also super heavy metals, were added. 

The new elements have been temporarily named temporarily named ununtrium, (Uut or element 113), ununpentium (Uup, element 115), ununseptium (Uus, element 117), and ununoctium (Uuo, element 118). In the next few months, the teams that discovered these elements will propose new names for them. That's no easy task, but hopefully they will choose names that roll off the tongue a bit better than the placeholders.