Open Access

Radio frequency identification (RFID) antennas are popular for high frequency (HF) RFID, energy transfer and near field communication (NFC) applications. Particularly for wireless measurement systems the RFID/NFC technology is a good option to implement a wireless communication interface. In this context, the design of corresponding reader and transmitter antennas plays a major role for achieving suitable transmission quality. This work proves the feasibility of the rapid prototyping of a RFID/NFC antenna, which is used for the wireless communication and energy harvesting at the required frequency of 13.56 MHz. A novel and low-cost direct ink writing (DIW) technology utilizing highly viscous silver nanoparticle ink is used for this process. This paper describes the development and analysis of low-cost printed flexible RFID/NFC antennas on cost-effective substrates for a microelectronic vital parameter measurement system. Furthermore, we compare the measured technical parameters with existing copper-based counterparts on a FR4 substrate.

Printed electronics can benefit from the deployment of electrolytesas gate insulators,which enables a high gate capacitance per unit area (1–10 μFcm−2) due to the formation of electrical double layers (EDLs). Consequently, electrolyte-gated field-effect transistors (EGFETs) attain high-charge carrier densities already in the subvoltage regime, allowing for low-voltage operation of circuits and systems. This article presents a systematic study of lumped terminal capacitances of printed electrolyte-gated transistors under various dc bias conditions. We perform voltage-dependent impedancemeasurements and separate extrinsic components from the lumped terminal capacitance. The proposed Meyer-like capacitance model, which also accounts for the nonquasi-static (NQS) effect, agrees well with experimental data. Finally, to verify the model, we implement it in Verilog-A and simulate the transient response of an inverter and a ring oscillator circuit. Simulation results are in good agreement with the measurement data of fabricated devices.

With this generation of devices, Virtual Reality (VR) has actually made it into the living rooms of end-users. These devices feature 6-DOF tracking, allowing them to move naturally in virtual worlds and experience them even more immersively. However, for a natural locomotion in the virtual, one needs a corresponding free space in the real environment. The available space is often limited, especially in everyday environments and under normal spatial conditions. Furnishings and objects of daily life can quickly become obstacles for VR users if they are not cleared away. Since the idea behind VR is to place users into a virtual world and to hide the real world as much as possible, invisible objects represent potential obstacles. The currently available systems offer only rudimentary assistance for this problem. If a user threatens to leave the space previously defined for use, a visual boundary is displayed to allow orientation within the space. These visual metaphors are intended to prevent users from leaving the safe area. However, there is no detection of potentially dangerous objects within this part of space. Objects that have not been cleared away or that have been added in the meantime may still become obstacles. This thesis shows how possible obstacles in the environment can be detected automatically with range imaging cameras and how users can be effectively warned about them in the virtual environment without significantly disturbing their sense of presence. Four different interactive visual metaphors are used to signalize the obstacles within the VE. With the help of a user study, the four signaling variants and the obstacle detection were evaluated and tested.

Process engineering industries are now facing growing economic pressure and societies' demands to improve their production technologies and equipment, making them more efficient and environmentally friendly. However unexpected additional technical and ecological drawbacks may appear as negative side effects of the new environmentally-friendly technologies. Thus, in their efforts to intensify upstream and downstream processes, industrial companies require a systematic aid to avoid compromising of ecological impact. The paper conceptualises a comprehensive approach for eco-innovation and eco- design in process engineering. The approach combines the advantages of Process Intensification as Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE), inventive tools of Knowledge-Based Innovation (KBI), and main principles and best-practices of Eco-Design and Sustainable Manufacturing. It includes a correlation matrix for identification of eco-engineering contradictions and a process mapping technique for problem definition, database of Process Intensification methods and equipment, as well as a set of strongest inventive operators for eco-ideation.

Growing demands for cleaner production and higher eco-efficiency in process engineering require a comprehensive analysis of technical and environmental outcomes of customers and society. Moreover, unexpected additional technical or ecological drawbacks may appear as negative side effects of new environ-mentally friendly technologies. The paper conceptualizes a comprehensive ap-proach for analysis and ranking of engineering and ecological requirements in process engineering in order to anticipate secondary problems in eco-design and to avoid compromising the environmental or technological goals. For this purpose, the paper presents a method based on integration of the Quality Func-tion Deployment approach with the Importance-Satisfaction Analysis for the requirements ranking. The proposed method identifies and classifies compre-hensively the potential engineering and eco-engineering contradictions through analysis of correlations within requirements groups such as stakehold-er requirements (SRs) and technical requirements (TRs), and additionally through cross-relationship between SRs and TRs.