Enhancing personal communication with spatial haptics: Two scenario-based experiments on gestural interaction

Haptic gestures and sensations through the sense of touch are currently unavailable in remote communication. There are two main reasons for this: good quality haptic technology has not been widely available and knowledge on the use of this technology is limited. To address these challenges, we studied how users would like to, and managed to create spatial haptic information by gesturing. Two separate scenario-based experiments were carried out: an observation study without technological limitations, and a study on gesturing with a functional prototype with haptic actuators. The first study found three different use strategies for the device. The most common gestures were shaking, smoothing and tapping. Multimodality was requested to create the context for the communication and to aid the interpretation of haptic stimuli. The second study showed that users were able to utilize spatiality in haptic messages (e.g., forward–backward gesture for agreement). However, challenges remain in presenting more complex information via remote haptic communication. The results give guidance for communication activities that are usable in spatial haptic communication, and how to make it possible to enable this form of communication in reality.     

Constructing maximal slicings from geometry

Summary We present an optimal algorithm to determine whether a placement of N isothetic non-overlapping rectangles (macros) can be represented by a slicing tree, and if so, to find a representation of minimal height. A slicing is a recursive partition of the overall bounding rectangle, by straight horizontal or vertical cuts, into rectangular regions, each one containing exactly one macro. The algorithm first determines a representation of the empty space of the placement by means of maximally extended horizontal and vertical channels. A second phase then generates a maximal slicing tree (an ordered tree with unbounded degree and maximal branching, i.e., minimal height) in a top-down fashion. The complexity of each phase is O(N log N). The problem arises in steps (1) and (2) of our top-down approach to VLSI custom chip design, which consists of (1) floorplanning by slicing, (2) hierarchicial global wiring, and (3) detailed layout of macros.On leave from: Laboratory of Information Processing Science, Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, FinlandOn leave from: Dipartimento di Elettrotecnica, Elettronica e Informatica, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Via Valerio, 10-34127 Trieste, Italy     

Novel Online Diagnostic Analysis for In-Flight Particle Properties in Cold Spraying

In cold spraying, powder particles are accelerated by preheated supersonic gas stream to high velocities and sprayed on a substrate. The particle velocities depend on the equipment design and process parameters, e.g., on the type of the process gas and its pressure and temperature. These, in turn, affect the coating structure and the properties. The particle velocities in cold spraying are high, and the particle temperatures are low, which can, therefore, be a challenge for the diagnostic methods. A novel optical online diagnostic system, HiWatch HR, will open new possibilities for measuring particle in-flight properties in cold spray processes. The system employs an imaging measurement technique called S-PTV (sizing-particle tracking velocimetry), first introduced in this research. This technique enables an accurate particle size measurement also for small diameter particles with a large powder volume. The aim of this study was to evaluate the velocities of metallic particles sprayed with HPCS and LPCS systems and with varying process parameters. The measured in-flight particle properties were further linked to the resulting coating properties. Furthermore, the camera was able to provide information about variations during the spraying, e.g., fluctuating powder feeding, which is important from the process control and quality control point of view.     

Cluster-Based RF Fingerprint Positioning Using LTE and WLAN Signal Strengths

Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) positioning has become a popular localization system due to its low-cost installation and widespread availability of WLAN access points. Traditional grid-based radio frequency (RF) fingerprinting (GRFF) suffers from two drawbacks. First it requires costly and non-efficient data collection and updating procedure; secondly the method goes through time-consuming data pre-processing before it outputs user position. This paper proposes Cluster-based RF Fingerprinting (CRFF) to overcome these limitations by using modified Minimization of Drive Tests data which can be autonomously collected by cellular operators from their subscribers. The effect of environmental changes and device variation on positioning accuracy has been carried out. Experimental results show that even under these variations CRFF can improve positioning accuracy by 15.46 and 22.30% in 95 percentile of positioning error as compared to that of GRFF and K-nearest neighbour methods respectively.     

A process for designing algorithm-based personalized gamification

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Personalization is an upcoming trend in gamification research, with several researchers proposing that gamified systems should take personal characteristics into...     

壹号住宅楼

建筑过程中砂雕玻璃和预制混凝土等材料的运用,在降低项目造价的同时,实现了实用与艺术效果的结合,同时多色彩的叠加增添了外观的活泼和生动性。     

Thermal Cycling Reliability of Sn-Ag-Cu Solder Interconnections. Part 1: Effects of Test Parameters

The work presented in part 1 of this study focuses on identifying the effects of thermal cycling test parameters on the lifetime of ball grid array (BGA) component boards. Detailed understanding about the effects of the thermal cycling parameters is essential because it provides means to develop more efficient and meaningful methods of reliability assessment for electronic products. The study was carried out with a single package type (BGA with 144 solder balls), printed wiring board (eight-layer build-up FR4 structure), and solder interconnection composition (Sn-3.1Ag-0.5Cu) to ensure that individual test results would be comparable with each other. The effects of (i) temperature difference (ΔT), (ii) lower dwell temperature and lower dwell time, (iii) mean temperature, (iv) dwell time, and (v) ramp rate were evaluated. Based on the characteristic lifetimes, the thermal cycling profiles were categorized into three lifetime groups: (i) highly accelerated conditions, (ii) moderately accelerated conditions, and (iii) mildly/nonaccelerated conditions. Thus, one might be tempted to use the highly accelerated conditions to produce lifetime statistics as quickly as possible. However, to do this one needs to know that the failure mechanisms do not change from one lifetime group to another and that the failure mechanisms correlate with real-use failures. Therefore, in part 2 the observed differences in component board lifetimes will be explained by studying the failure mechanisms that take place in the three lifetime groups.     

Characterization of Submillimeter Wave Absorbers from 200–600 GHz

This paper presents measurements of both specular and non-specular scattering from several submillimeter wave absorber materials designed for antenna testing and from low-cost carpet materials. The frequency range is 200–600 GHz in specular scattering, and 300–400 GHz in non-specular scattering measurements. The constructed bistatic test bench allows testing of the full continuous angular range of 0°–90°. The measurement results show large differences in performance of different materials. It is shown that reflectivities below ?50 dB over limited angular ranges are possible with a correct alignment of the material. Also, low-cost carpet materials have lower than ?15 dB reflectivities in most angles, and may be useful in non-critical parts of the antenna test range. The results can be used to optimise the absorber placement inside an antenna range, concerning both best performance and lowest cost.     

The Reliability of Microalloyed Sn-Ag-Cu Solder Interconnections Under Cyclic Thermal and Mechanical Shock Loading

In this study, the performance of three microalloyed Sn-Ag-Cu solder interconnection compositions (Sn-3.1Ag-0.52Cu, Sn-3.0Ag-0.52Cu-0.24Bi, and Sn-1.1Ag-0.52Cu-0.1Ni) was compared under mechanical shock loading (JESD22-B111 standard) and cyclic thermal loading (40 ± 125°C, 42 min cycle) conditions. In the drop tests, the component boards with the low-silver nickel-containing composition (Sn-Ag-Cu-Ni) showed the highest average number of drops-to-failure, while those with the bismuth-containing alloy (Sn-Ag-Cu-Bi) showed the lowest. Results of the thermal cycling tests showed that boards with Sn-Ag-Cu-Bi interconnections performed the best, while those with Sn-Ag-Cu-Ni performed the worst. Sn-Ag-Cu was placed in the middle in both tests. In this paper, we demonstrate that solder strength is an essential reliability factor and that higher strength can be beneficial for thermal cycling reliability but detrimental to drop reliability. We discuss these findings from the perspective of the microstructures and mechanical properties of the three solder interconnection compositions and, based on a comprehensive literature review, investigate how the differences in the solder compositions influence the mechanical properties of the interconnections and discuss how the differences are reflected in the failure mechanisms under both loading conditions.