Monthly Archives: September 2016

Ohm Battery: A Battery That Refuses To Die

A dead battery in the car is a misfortune any driver would willingly avoid. When it is important to reach a destination, a car that does not start because its battery is dead gives a terrible feeling. Most people do not want to think about the car battery too much, preferring rather to have it just work every time they start the car. The smart battery from Ohm Laboratories, Silicon Valley, does just that and makes sure you do not have to replace your car battery almost ever.

In spite of modern advancements in car technology, the car battery is still the same huge, heavy electromechanical block that it has been from generations. Although it requires replacement sometimes, it does its job quite well, and does not give you much trouble, unless you have forgotten to switch off the car lights.

One of the major reasons for a dead battery, when it has not yet reached the end of its life cycle, is when you accidentally leave the car lights on making the battery drain itself overnight. The Ohm battery, being smart, can detect when the energy in the battery is reaching its critical level, and shuts itself off. Therefore, next morning, there is still some reserve power left over to allow you to start your car. While driving, the Ohm battery recharges just as any other battery will.

The self shut-off feature is useful while the battery is within its effective life cycle, but it cannot deal with the end of life situation. Therefore, Ohm Laboratories has also provided the battery with a replacement warning system. When the system starts beeping, you know that it is time for a replacement. According to Ohm, the beeper offers a more accurate and quicker warning as compared to the battery warning light on the car dashboard.

Instead of the typical car battery with a lead-acid construction, Ohm offers a unique combination battery consisting of LiFePO4 or lithium iron phosphate and super-capacitors. The super-capacitors deliver the quick burst of energy necessary for starting the car. The LiFePO4 part of the battery keeps the super-capacitors topped up when the engine is off. Therefore, the battery system is ready to go when you perk up the key for ignition.

According to Ohm, the combination of super-capacitors and LiFePO4 has a seven-year lifespan. This is nearly twice that compared to the average life of a lead-acid battery. Ohm claims its battery also performs better in cold weather.

There is another advantage to the Ohm battery. Compared to the lead-acid type, the Ohm battery is a lot lighter. A group size 35 lead acid battery can easily weigh as much as 16 Kg. Therefore, an Ohm battery, at 2.7 Kg, may seem light as a feather in comparison. Not only does that make your vehicle lighter, handling an Ohm battery is easier during replacements.

Ohm Laboratories have made the body of their battery the same size as that of a typical lead-acid battery, which makes it a drop-in replacement. The only downside to their design is the small 10Ah reserve capacity, because of the self shut-off feature. That does not allow running electrical equipment with the engine turned off.

Build a Humanoid Robot from Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi or RBPi is the ubiquitous low-cost, credit card sized single board computer with huge potential starting from teaching youngsters computer programming to driving robots on Mars. However, when Tyler Spadgenske tried his hands on RBPi, he used the SBC to create Andy – a completely open-source humanoid robot.

Tyler has tried to make Andy a connected robot. Andy can connect to humans through speech, using language as humans do – for answering questions. With access to the Internet, he (Tyler assures Andy is male) can also talk to client programs over the Web. With ability to connect via Bluetooth, Andy communicates with other robots such as the Mindstorms NXT.

Using a bipedal mechanism that offers him mobility, Andy can do additional tasks such as moving stuff. Of course, Andy has his limitations, but then, he can collaborate with other robots to get those things done, which he cannot. Tyler has given Andy only speech as the user interface, since he feels a humanoid should have no other. However, that does not limit Andy from interfacing with other computers over the Internet, because basically, he is a computer himself.

Initially Tyler was using Robosapien for Andy’s bipedal movement, but that did not work out satisfactorily. He is using a new bipedal system using SolidWorks. Later, Tyler plans to add a torso, a head and arms for Andy, again using SolidWorks and 3D printing.

Starting up Andy is very simple – flip the switch on his back to the on position. Andy has LiPo batteries rated for 11.1V, 1.3A and 1300mAH. These power his motors through the L298 motor drivers, which the RBPi drives. As soon as the RBPi receives power, which is regulated with a UBEC, it starts executing Andy’s software. This begins with some configuration checks such as for starting the server and running some modes. Then Andy settles down and prepares to listen to his microphones.

Now, Andy is up and running as a state machine. He will listen to commands from either his microphones or his server – first converting any command received from either to text and then executing it.

After converting the command to text form, Andy interprets it by comparing it to the command set in his repertoire. That gives him the correct function he must execute for a specific command. For example, for a shutdown command, Andy initiates a complete sequential software and hardware shutdown, ultimately switching himself off. For any other command, however, Andy executes it and then goes back to wait for commands from his microphone or server.

Andy’s brain, the RBPi, controls almost everything for him, including speech recognition and motor control to Andy’s software. Andy has three L298 motor drivers, with each capable of controlling and driving two motors each. Therefore, Andy is capable of driving a total of six motors. As the RBPi had only a limited GPIO pins, Tyler had to expand them using an MCP23017 chip.

Tyler plans to give Andy 10 degrees of freedom with the new SolidWorks hardware. His new features will include monitoring the battery voltage, a power on LED, an LED output with five segments and ten servos – six for the arms and four for the legs.

Surf the Streets with a Single-Wheel Hoverboard

Most of us relate surfing to either the Internet or seas. Likewise, hovering is more of an activity concerning helicopters, quadcopters or drones. Marry the two and what you have is a hoverboard, with which you can surf the streets and hover while window-shopping. Most astonishingly, the hoverboard does all this with a single wheel – see it in action.

With a top speed of 26 kmph and a range of 19 Km, the single-wheel Hoverboard may not be an ideal device for actually hovering in midair similar to what a drone does. However, it is the closest you can get to hovering while balancing on the ground on a single wheel. The 10-inch wheel has a board mounted atop it on which the user stands. When the user leans to one side, the wheel speeds up in that direction and slows down if the user leans the other way, ultimately to change direction. In between, the user can balance to keep the wheel immobile – that is, hover.

According to Hoverboard Technologies, the manufacturer of the single-wheeled electric skateboard, it is a faster way of getting about and it charges quickly. The Hoverboard has API connectivity and uses sonar technology to stay stable. The entire unit weighs 11 Kg and has a 5 KW motor to power it. The motor and its driving electronics, including the battery, forms the drive-unit positioned at the center of the wheel.

The electronics allows the battery to charge completely in about 20 minutes. A sonar detection system below the board allows it to self-balance and keep it parallel to the ground. When slowing down or when going downhill, Hoverboard uses regenerative braking to recover energy and charge the board.

The single-wheel board also offers feedback to its rider. An LCD on the board does this effectively. For night-time riding, the board has LED lighting, while built-in speakers break the monotony of a long ride by playing music. Although playing music does not consume appreciable amounts of power, the LED lighting may reduce the power available for the motor by about ten percent.

However, riders may not be keen to lean over and read the LCD on the board when surfing the streets. Therefore, the manufacturers have added another useful feature – a mobile app for Android and iOS. The app runs on a smart mobile device connected to the board wirelessly via Bluetooth. Using the app, users can check the charge level and health of the battery, while setting the top speed limit of the board. Users can also customize the lighting on the board, while choosing the song to play. At the same time, one can view raw data such as the distance traveled, the average speed and the top speed the board has reached in its travel.

Owners of the Hoverboard can open it up and service it because Hoverboard Technologies has designed it that way. They claim to have done so to ensure the board has a maximum lifespan. Owners can swap out the components and replace them with improved modules from the company for upgrading their Hoverboard on their own.

Comparing Raspberry Pi to Banana Pi

The new version of the hugely famous single board computer, the Raspberry Pi or the RBPi as it is commonly known, brings many improvements to its users. The RBPi version 2, Model B has improved on the CPU, added RAM, more USB ports and GPIO pins. However, the increasing popularity of the RBPi has sparked off a trend with several other manufacturers chipping in to make available SBCs with features similar to and sometimes surpassing those of the RBPi. The Chinese manufacturer LeMaker is one such manufacturer producing a competing product called the Banana Pi.

The Banana Pi manufacturer, LeMaker, took pains to ensure compatibility with the RBPi while improving on the performance. That made LeMaker replace the CPU with a superior one operating on dual cores clocked at 1GHz. That is, until the manufacturers of the RBPi responded with a V2, Model B that has a CPU with four cores firing away at 900MHz.

That made the difference in performance more dependent on the software running on the individual SBCs. The video processor in the new RBPi is somewhat more advanced as compared to the Mali GPU in the Banana Pi. Therefore, those using HDMI out for playback or media streaming will find the RBPi a better choice.

On the other hand, people requiring access to a large storage for consistent read and write, will find the Banana Pi more convenient. The Banana Pi has a SATA port that allows connecting a large hard drive, offering the faster and more permanent options of a mass storage device. Compare this to the MicroSD storage and USB interface that the RBPi relies on for interfacing to memory devices.

Although both devices have Ethernet ports built-in for wired network connectivity, the Banana Pi has gigabit capability. However, that does not tip the scales against the RBPi much, since many devices are yet to have gigabit support anyway. The Pro version of the Banana Pi, however, can simplify a lot of projects with its built-in Wi-Fi and 802.11n support. While with the RBPi, you need to plug in a separate Wi-Fi module, which will tie up one of its USB ports.

The design concept of the RBPi centers on its ease of use and its budget-friendliness. That has made it such an extremely popular entity in the maker community. A large support base of users enforces the usefulness of the device, providing it with a wealth of information on creating software, hardware and innumerable tutorials built specifically for the RBPi. Although such resources do exist for the Banana Pi as well, they are neither as common nor so comprehensible. Moreover, the Banana Pi is somewhat harder to set up when compared to the RBPi setup.

For those planning to use a Banana Pi as a drop-in replacement for the RBPi, there is disappointment in store. Dimensionally, as the Banana Pi is larger than the RBPi, replacement entails a bigger case or an expanded slot for the Banana Pi. A bigger worry is the placement of the CPU, which, for the Banana Pi, is on the bottom side of its board rather than on the top. That may mean additional arrangements for heat removal, as the CPU is the biggest heat generator in any SBC.

LIDAR and the Raspberry Pi

For hackers and DIY enthusiasts, it is always a challenge to make correct measurements between their robots and nearby objects such as an autonomous vehicle. Estimating the distance is important for the robot to make a decision about avoiding bumping into obstacles. Although this may be considered trivial for a small robot running into a wall, it could turn out deadly for the same robot encountering an autonomous vehicle.

In 2013, NASA held a competition called SRR or Sample Return Robot, where several entrants used various techniques for making measurements using visual aids such as cameras. Two entrants used LIDAR, which can also be used with the single board computer, the Raspberry Pi, or RBPi.

Although using similar methods, LIDAR uses light for measurements, rather than its forerunner RADAR or Radio Detection and Ranging. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, LIDAR was first used 1963 for measurement of clouds and Apollo 13 used it to measure the surface of the moon. Since then, the reductions in the size of lasers have led to additional uses, including the military using LIDAR for range finding.

A scanning LIDAR uses the laser beam to sweep a wide area both vertically and horizontally. The feedback provides a cloud of distantness measurement points. This is similar to aircraft control radar swinging a beam through the sky. There are two principal methods for measuring distances using a laser. One is to measure the time of flight of a laser pulse and the other is to measure the angle by which the laser beam deflects.

For the time of flight measurement, you send out a pulse of laser and measure the time for the signal to return. That time divided by the speed of light gives the distance the laser traveled out and back. The distance to the object is then half the calculated distance. Given the high speed at which light travels, it is difficult to measure distances below a meter using lasers, because light would be returning in about seven nanoseconds. LIDAR uses continuous modulation of the laser by amplitude or frequency and measures the phase difference between the transmitted and received signals. This process using modulation allows measurements down to centimeters.

The LIDAR is actually a sealed unit with a motor at one end that spins a turret at about 300 RPM. Inside the turret are the laser and the receiving sensor. Spinning allows a 360-degree scan of the surrounding area. There are two optical ports out of the turret, corresponding to the laser and the sensor. A two-pin connector provides power to the motor. Another four pin connector is for supplying the inner control and serial interface circuits with 5V and 3V3 DC.

WiringPi is a library of programming the GPIO on the RBPi that offers an absurdly simple and minimal user interface for handling the LIDAR. Additionally, WiringPi is suitable for several RBPi models. Another advantage in using WiringPi is its ability to do hardware PWM on one GPIO pin of the RBPi. Another possibility is to use PID or Proportional Integral Differential control system in a loop to maintain constant speed of the turret motor.

How Safe Are the Batteries You Use?

There is occasional news about exploding smartphone batteries. As this is a safety related issue, the topic has generated a lot of interest. Several researchers, from the National Physical Laboratory, UK, the Imperial College, London, ESRF the European Synchrotron, and UCL, the University College, London have tried to find out the reasons and the mechanism behind batteries exploding. Their research reveals how damage to the internal structure of the batteries can spread to neighboring batteries.

Now, researchers at the Stanford University, San Francisco, have developed a safe lithium-ion battery. Based on the temperature inside, the battery can shut itself down to prevent starting a fire.

When lithium batteries are packed tightly, they can overheat and catch fire if they experience short circuits or damage in some way. In fact, fires from lithium batteries have brought down two cargo jets in the past decade. Tests conducted by the US Federal Aviation Administration have found that overheating batteries can cause major fires.

When punctured or shorted, traditional lithium-ion batteries can catch fire. Temperatures inside the battery under these conditions can rise to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, causing the battery to explode. Preventive techniques of adding flame-retardants to the electrolyte of the battery usually do not work because they make the battery nonfunctional, thus defeating the purpose.

Zhenan Bao, professor of chemical engineering, and Zheng Chen, a postdoctoral scholar, have turned to nanotechnology for solving the issue of explosion of lithium-ion batteries. For this, they used a wearable body temperature monitor that Bao has recently invented. The sensor, made of plastic material, has tiny particles of nickel embedded inside. Nano scale spikes protrude from the surface of these nickel particles. To use the sensor in batteries, researchers used a one-atom thick graphene layer to coat the spiky nickel particles. They embedded the coated particles in a thin film of elastic polyethylene.

The researchers attached the polyethylene film to one electrode of the battery such that the load current of the battery would flow through the film. Under normal temperatures, the spiky particles touch one another and allow conduction of electricity. If the temperature rises, the polyethylene stretches due to thermal expansion. This makes the particles to spread out leading to the film becoming non-conductive. That stops the flow of electricity through the battery, until it cools down.

The polyethylene film starts expanding above 160 degrees Fahrenheit. That causes the spikes on the particles to move apart, causing the battery to shut down. As temperatures drop below 160 degrees, the particles come into contact again with each other, allowing the battery to start functioning again and generate electricity. According to the researchers, they can tune the temperature based on the type of polymer used and the number of nickel particles.

With the film in place, the battery shut down as soon as it got too hot and stopped working. Moreover, it resumed operation quickly as soon as the battery cooled down. As there is no electricity flowing when the battery is hot, chances of it catching fire and exploding are practically nil.

Your Smartphone Can Work as a 3D Scanner Now

Barring professional photographers, almost all possessing smartphones capture images of everyday objects using the onboard camera. Additionally, most smartphones today come with cameras of respectable resolution, with recent ones reaching 21 MP. Now, you can use the camera on your mobile to scan objects to reproduce a 3D image.

Researchers from the Computer Vision and Geometry Group at ETH Zurich have created an application that can transform your smartphone into a portable digital scanner. The 3D mobile technology created by the researchers allows users to scan objects by snapping pictures on the fly. Scanning in outdoor environments is also possible for modeling scenes or arbitrary objects.

Very soon, using the 3D mobile technology, people will be able to use their ordinary mobiles to capture visual 3D representations of scenes and objects as realistically and easily as they take photographs today. Although alternate solutions for 3D scanning do exist, they require hardware dedicate to 3D scanning. With the 3D mobile technology, scanning and generating a three dimensional image becomes as easy as taking pictures. This is of great benefit to the DIY and hobbyist crowd, especially for those without design or engineering degrees.

The user only has to move his phone all around the object of interest. Instead of a conventional photo, the mobile will generate a 3D model of the object on its screen. If any part is missing from the 3D image, the user can add that by [pointing the camera and cover the missing parts. The important part is all the calculations for generating the 3D image happens within the phone, so the results of the calculation are immediate. According to the researchers, apart from being of immense use in daily life, this technology will be of use in the fields of commerce and cultural heritage as well.

Businesses and industries are also showing great interest in the technology, as this has the potential to reshape the 3D scanning and printing industry. As this relatively low-cost duplicating method takes shape, companies begin to grapple with the implications. According to some experts, this method of object reproduction, needing no knowledge of computer design software, will break down the existing barriers in large sections of industry – probably sparking the next industrial revolution.

There is another aspect to this innovative technology. According to professor Pollefeys of Computer Vision and Cultural Heritage, this new 3D mobile technology can also modify the way cultural assets are digitized and preserved at present. This will make the assets accessible to all and will unlock the potential for reuse of the assets. Archaeologists and other cultural heritage professionals can use this technology to combine computer vision, 3D modeling, and virtual reality.

Museums could make exact replicas and precisely simulated objects that visitors could handle or touch without causing damage to the real artifact. A new market could open up with the demand for 3D portraiture or personal statuettes, which people could generate on their own or order. It would be possible to enhance, morph or tweak the models using a computer, opening up space for creative play or editing.

What are UltraHDTV, HDR and 4K TV?

The TV industry is presently going through a turmoil with fresh format battles brewing over HDR or High Dynamic Range technology, which experts deem essential for making a 4K TV look even better. As usual, there are issues related to intellectual property rights. First, let us understand what 4K is about and why should people care about 4K and HDR.

Recently, the UHD Alliance has announced a set of new specifications for Ultra High Definition Premium along with a logo for products and services that comply with the specifications. The UHD Alliance is an industry group consisting of 35 member companies. The group has recommended enhanced performance metrics related to resolution, black levels, high dynamic range, wide color gamut, and peak luminance.

With the new specifications, there is ample clarity about the definition of Ultra High Definition or Premium UHD, which the panel makers were after. According to Myra Moore, the president of Digital Tech Consulting, with the clarity in the definition of Premium Ultra HD, consumers can differentiate and upgrade their TVs to what they think is necessary.

For example, while HDR is about expanding the range between the darkest and the brightest images a TV display can produce, Ultra High Definition Premium goes even further. Premium UHD specifies high dynamic range, content master and display, and distribution, along with color palette, color bit depth and image resolution. The Alliance has adopted HDR 10 from SMPTE as a baseline for HDR.

So far, four companies have developed their own technology and intellectual property rights for achieving the HDR format – the BBC, Philips, Technicolor, and Dolby. Now, the battle is about which technology will finally be added to Ultra High Definition TV. For the past one year, proposals from the four companies are under review.

Over the years, both consumers and filmmakers have been showing tepid interest in 4KTV, usually defined as TV with resolution higher than 3840×2160 pixels. For example, Walt Disney Studios and Hollywood feel that merely adding more pixels will do little to change the marketplace over to a new format. In their opinion, more contrast and dynamic range is necessary to make consumers take to the new format.

With 4K UHD, although there are more pixels, you are unable to see the extra pixels unless very close to the screen. Added resolution does not mean much unless there is more contrast as well.

At present, the contention is about maintaining backward compatibility with SDR or Standard Dynamic Range TV displays. What this means is no matter what TV consumers use, they will be able to see content. With backward compatibility, as proposed by Philips and Technicolor, distributors will be sending only one signal to their consumers. That signal will contain an SDR signal layer and other parameters to reconstruct the HDR from the SDR video stream. As the unique signal is part of the MPEG stream, no change is necessary for the transmission infrastructure.

Dolby is offering three different packages with various characteristics, one of which uses less bandwidth and could be less expensive to implement. The UHD Alliance is yet to complete an official HDR format, which means the battle over HDR is hardly over.

Raspberry Pi and Mathematica Control Telescopes

The single board computer, the Raspberry Pi or RBPi is a versatile device helping youngsters learn computer programming. Its advantages do not stop there, because many hobbyists and DIY enthusiasts also use the RBPi for their numerous innovative projects. For example, Tom Sherlock, an amateur astronomer, has put the RBPi to good use for controlling his telescope. Along with the RBPi, Tom uses Mathematica and the Wolfram language for his telescope control.

Amateur astronomers such as Tom use Mathematica in their hobby to process and improve the images they take of planets and nebulas. They use the Wolfram language to control their astronomical hardware. This consists mainly of controlling the drive on the telescope mount, as this is necessary when automating an observing session.

The process is an important one for the amateur astronomers who use their computerized telescopes for hunting down transient phenomenon such as supernovas. Existing software can take care of the several tasks required by astronomers such as locating objects, managing data and performing image processing, However, automating all the various tasks that an observation session needs, is a great help.

Mathematica is a very useful tool for astronomers. It helps in automating and unifying many of the above operations. Within Mathematica, you have a huge amount of useful astronomical data, which includes the coordinates of several thousand planets, asteroids, galaxies, nebula, and stars. The image handling and processing capability of Mathematica is extremely useful when processing astronomical data.

Tom had earlier interfaced with telescope mounts using an existing library of functions known as ASCOM, a powerful tool for driving domes and filter wheels, mainly associated with astronomy. However, ASCOM has to be pre-installed on a PC and therefore, is rather limited in its use. Using Mathematica allows one to drive the telescope mount directly from any platform and does not need any special setup.

According to Tom, most telescope mounts follow one of two serial protocols for their control. These are the Celestron NexStar protocol or the Meade LX200 protocol. Many non-Meade telescope mounts, such as those from Astro-Physics and Losmandy, also follow the LX200 protocol. Those produced by the Orion Atlas/Sirius family of computerized mounts follow the NexStar protocol just as the Celestron telescopes and mounts do.

The LX200 protocol requires the right ascension (RA) function specified by a string such as HH:MM:SS and the declination (Dec) by a string in the form of DD:MM:SS. These are the basics for slewing the telescope to a target at coordinates specified by the RA and the Dec strings.

You will need an inexpensive USB-to-Serial adapter for creating the RS232 port that the RBPi does not normally have. You also need a small wireless network adapter that fits in the RBPi USB socket. As RBPi uses the Linux operating system, it is easy to use the Wolfram language code for controlling the telescope through the serial port. Additionally, the RBPi can be networked wirelessly. That makes it possible to control it from inside the house, necessary when the weather outside is cold.

Digital Temperature Sensor with High Accuracy

Whether it is the body temperature, room temperature or the average temperature of the day, we take important decisions based on the various temperatures we measure and record. Although the mercury-based thermometer is still the most commonly used instrument, industrial temperature measurement has largely shifted to electronic sensors, data logging and digital displays. Accuracy in measurement is highly desirable and sensor manufacturers are constantly improving on their products offering better quality.

Sensirion is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of temperature and humidity sensors. Their new digital temperature sensor STS3x offers high accuracy. The tiny eight-pin DFN package of the STS3x is 0.9 mm high and measures only 2.5 x 2.5 mm across. Sensirion has based the STS3x on the same chip as their existing SHT3x humidity sensor. Because of its tiny size and wide range of supply voltage – 2.4 to 5.5 V – users can integrate the STS3x in a large variety of applications. The sensor is specifically suitable for battery-operated devices, as it consumes very low power – typically 6.6µW at 3.3V and one measurement per second. Nevertheless, it delivers outstanding performance, as it is remarkably accurate at +/-0.3°C, over an extensive temperature range spanning -40°C to +90°C.

Sensirion has based their temperature sensor STS3x on the industry-proven CMOSense technology. Compared to its predecessors, the STS3x has more intelligence, improved accuracy, and greater reliability. Added to this is the very fast start-up and response times of the STS3x, as well as enhanced functionality of high-speed signal processing and communication speeds of up to 1 MHz via two distinctive and user selectable I2C addresses.

Users of STS3x get a temperature sensor that comes pre-calibrated and offers a linearized, digital output, which is compensated for supply voltage instabilities. Sensirion has qualified the STS3x based on JESD 47, according to a dedicated automotive qualification plan certified by AEC Q100. Users have the choice of using the sensor as a watchdog, as it offers an alert option with definable set temperature points – strongly optimizing the overall power consumption. However demanding your data logger may be, and however complicated the temperature compensation of your application, the STS3x is an ideal solution.

Based on its high accuracy, the main target applications of the STS3x are the temperature calibrations in automotive components and body temperature measurement in wearable devices. Other applications that also benefit include a multitude of HVAC devices. This is because of the sensor’s highly accurate temperature data, resulting in precision, power savings, and reliability.

The automotive market benefits from the STS3x sensor solution because of its outstanding quality and low prices – automotive manufacturers can meet stringent emission standards of their industry. The STS3x offers new benchmarks in comfort, safety, and energy consumption. For instance, when combined with humidity sensors, the cabin air inside the vehicle can remain optimally regulated, using climate-controlled seats or air-conditioning. Moreover, by determining the dew point, the air-conditioning of the vehicle may be controlled to eliminate fogging of the windshields, thus ensuring a clear view of the road ahead.

Overall, the STS3x temperature sensors fulfill many stringent requirements of several applications considering cost-effectiveness, performance, and quality.