This book highlights practical solutions for flight safety improvement techniques, which are currently the focus of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It has become clear that, in order to rapidly and significantly improve flight safety, the integrated use of new aeronautical technologies is called for. Considering the size of the aviation fleet, its constant growth and the long service lives of aircraft, new technologies should be adapted both to cutting-edge air navigation systems and to those that have been used for over a decade. Concretely, the book discusses methodological approaches to the construction of ground and on-board avionics that make it possible to achieve improved flight safety using innovative new methods. The proposed approaches are illustrated with real-world examples of e.g. satellite-based navigation systems and enhanced ground proximity warning systems. The book is written for professionals involved in the development of avionics systems, as well as students, researchers and experts in the field of radiolocation, radio navigation and air traffic control, the book will support the development and modeling of radio technical complexes, as well as the analysis of complex radio technical systems.

A detailed and compelling look at distressed securities investing in today's market

In the corporate world, "vulture" investors in distressed securities serve the same cleanup function as vultures do in the natural world: they deal with failing companies, digest bad debt, and mop up after bankruptcies. Since this market's structural and legal complexities create greater inefficiencies than in other investment fields, it's a style of investing that can make money during both booms and busts. While recent economic carnage has made opportunities for vulture investors, more convoluted bankruptcies, conflicts of interest, and even government intervention have made this arena harder to negotiate.

Nobody understands this better than author George Schultze, founder of Schultze Asset Management. During his successful career as a vulture investor, he's learned a number of lessons and developed an investment philosophy that has served him well. Now, in The Art of Vulture Investing, Schultze shares his valuable insights and experiences with you. Engaging and informative, this reliable guide offers a bird's-eye into the opportunities and risks associated with vulture investing. And while it may not always be pretty, you'll see exactly why this process is necessary for our economic ecosystem.

Throughout this book, Schultze explains the theory and strategy of vulture investing in clear and lively prose, illustrating each concept with examples from his own varied experience that show how the landscape has changed in recent years.Offers valuable information on distressed securities investing since the 2007-2009 financial crisis Examines the opportunities and dilemmas for modern vulture investors Includes in-depth case studies of high-profile bankruptcies, including those of Chrysler Automotive and Tropicana Casinos and Resorts

By its very nature, investing in distressed companies can be a complicated and risky business. But once the dust settles, these investments can yield extraordinary profits. "The Art of Vulture Investing" puts this discipline in perspective and shows you how to excel at this difficult, yet rewarding, endeavor.

If you are interested in electronics, but don't know where to start, Beginning Electronics Through Projects lets you learn the basics through building 10 step-by-step projects. Theory is limited to "need-to-know" information that will allow you to get started right away. No complex math. Common components and their functions are described briefly in everyday terms. All the components used in the book are widely available, and pre-assembled parts kits and circuit boards are available by mail from the author.
Andrew Singmin is President of Singmin Enterprises, an electronics consulting company based outside of Ottawa, Ontario, in Canada. He has been involved in the electronics industry for more than 20 years, and has had numerous articles published in Electronics Handbook and Popular Electronics. His articles have specialized in teaching electronics to the beginner through projects. Mr. Singmin attained his electronics engineering degree in London, UK, and has postgraduate degrees in Semiconductor Physics (Masters) and Solid State Physics (Doctorate).
Learn basic theory and components.
10 easy-to-build projects.
Parts kits and printed circuit board available.

Robots challenge humans' beliefs and expectations. Hence, regardless of whether they are the audience of a conference, the visitors of a lab, the citizens in general, some journalists, or the European Parliament, the first step in order to gain a better understanding of the field of robotics is obviously to consult the experts. Roboticists seem indeed to be in the best position to guide society in this matter, whether it is in the everyday life or within an official institution. Today however, there is a gap between the robots, as they are actually thought and built, and the intelligent and autonomous machines, as they are perceived by the society. How can we explain it? Do the words borrowed from the living organisms and used to describe robots play a role in the confusion about the status of the discipline of robotics? The texts gathered within this book focus on the problematic of wording robotics from various perspectives. They are the results of a unique interdisciplinary meeting gathering roboticists, linguists, philosophers and neuroscientists, the 4th Workshop of Anthropomorphic Motion Factory held at LAAS-CNRS in Toulouse on Nov 31st - Dec 1st 2017.

Recent developments in model-predictive control promise remarkable opportunities for designing multi-input, multi-output control systems and improving the control of single-input, single-output systems. This volume provides a definitive survey of the latest model-predictive control methods available to engineers and scientists today. The initial set of chapters present various methods for managing uncertainty in systems, including stochastic model-predictive control. With the advent of affordable and fast computation, control engineers now need to think about using "computationally intensive controls," so the second part of this book addresses the solution of optimization problems in "real" time for model-predictive control. The theory and applications of control theory often influence each other, so the last section of Handbook of Model Predictive Control rounds out the book with representative applications to automobiles, healthcare, robotics, and finance. The chapters in this volume will be useful to working engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, as well as students and faculty interested in the progression of control theory. Future developments in MPC will no doubt build from concepts demonstrated in this book and anyone with an interest in MPC will find fruitful information and suggestions for additional reading.

This book covers ALL aspects of projected capacitive touch sensors including basic principles, the physics of PCAP, capacitance measurements, touch sensor materials and construction, electrical noise, software drivers, and testing. It is targeted at working engineers who are implementing touch into their products as well as anyone else with an interest in how touch screens work. * Offers readers the first book on the use of projected capacitive (PCAP) touch technology for touch screens; * Explains not only how PCAP touch works, but also addresses the implementation details an engineer needs when incorporating PCAP into their product; * Includes explanations of different cover lens materials, cover lens coatings, software drivers, touch testing, and many other areas of general knowledge that would be useful to a design engineer.

This authoritative new book focuses on recent developments in the instrumentation for sending voltages and currents. It covers new trends and challenges in the field, such as measurements of biocurrents, the increased speed of the components for data taking, testing of computers and integrated circuits where the measurement of rapid voltage and current variations on a very small geometrical scale is necessary. The first chapter concentrates on recent methods to sense voltages and currents, while the rest of the book investigates the applied side, covering for instance electrical power and energy measurements. The main purpose of this volume is to illustrate commonly employed techniques rather than track the scientific evolution and merits and therefore mainly covers patent literature aimed at industrial applications. It is an exciting addition, justifying the series' claim to cover state-of-the-art developments in both the applied and theoretical fields of sensors and actuators.

The measurement of voltages and currents is a common task in the field of electricity and electronics. From a technical point of view it is useful to identify schematically different steps of such a measurement. In a first step a voltage or a current is sensed, intermediate steps such as amplification, transmission and further treatment may follow to yield the result in the final step. Today in most cases microprocessors perform the final steps of such measurements. Analog-to digital converters digitise a voltage that is proportional to the value to be measured and a processor performs further computations and handles the storage and the display of the results. The prerequisite for such measurements are sensors or transducers that respond in a known way to the voltage or current to be measured. The emphasis of this book is put on recent developments of the instrumentation for sensing voltages and currents.

Aside from the general trend towards smaller, cheaper and more reliable instrumentation, new demands have arisen. New applications, like measurements of biocurrents, ask for higher sensitivities. Computers and integrated circuits pose new challenges. To exploit the increased speed of the components for data taking, suitable sensors are required. The accuracy that can be achieved depends more than ever on the first step, the acquisition of the raw data. The influence of the measurement process on the results becomes more crucial. Testing of integrated circuits themselves is a completely new application. For such tests one has to measure rapid voltage and current variations on very small geometrical scales. Here, as well as in the traditional high voltage applications, contactless measurements play an important role.

The organisation of this book is as follows: In the first chapter different methods to sense voltages and currents are described. For the sake of completeness most commonly used methods are mentioned, we concentrate, however, on those developed recently. The chapters address the subject from the side of different applications in which voltages and currents are sensed.

Since the main purpose of this publication is to illustrate commonly employed techniques rather than to track the scientific evolution and merits in particular fields, in general those publications that illustrate a particular measurement principle best have been cited. The citation of a particular reference does therefore not imply that this is the first or most pertinent publication in the respective field.

Rehabilitation Robotics gives an introduction and overview of all areas of rehabilitation robotics, perfect for anyone new to the field. It also summarizes available robot technologies and their application to different pathologies for skilled researchers and clinicians. The editors have been involved in the development and application of robotic devices for neurorehabilitation for more than 15 years. This experience using several commercial devices for robotic rehabilitation has enabled them to develop the know-how and expertise necessary to guide those seeking comprehensive understanding of this topic. Each chapter is written by an expert in the respective field, pulling in perspectives from both engineers and clinicians to present a multi-disciplinary view. The book targets the implementation of efficient robot strategies to facilitate the re-acquisition of motor skills. This technology incorporates the outcomes of behavioral studies on motor learning and its neural correlates into the design, implementation and validation of robot agents that behave as 'optimal' trainers, efficiently exploiting the structure and plasticity of the human sensorimotor systems. In this context, human-robot interaction plays a paramount role, at both the physical and cognitive level, toward achieving a symbiotic interaction where the human body and the robot can benefit from each other's dynamics.

Since publication of the first edition in 1988 many significant advances have occurred in IC chips that have driven the hybrid packaging processes toward even higher densities and greater performance. The almost exponential increase in density, complexity, and performance of integrated circuits over the past ten years (for example, ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), VHSIC (Very High Speed IC), VLSIC (Very Large Scale IC), and ULSIC (Ultra Large Scale IC) have driven developments in the interconnect substrates culminating in what is now known as multichip modules (MCM). However, the fundamentals of design, fabrication, and testing of MCMs are essentially the same as for hybrid microcircuit. In the authors' opinion MCMs are extensions of hybrid circuits that can accommodate the new generation of high-speed high-performance chips.

In this revised edition they have therefore expanded their treatment of hybrid circuits without finding it necessary to change the fundamentals. They have included a separate chapter on multichip modules and throughout the book have included new and emerging materials and processes that are beginning to be used. Examples include: metal-matrix composites and aluminum nitride as substrate materials, plastic encapsulated microcircuits and chip-on-board as low-cost alternatives to hermetic sealed packages, atmospheric friendly cleaning solvents and methods, and advanced high I/O density quad flat packages (QFP) and ball grid array (BGA) packages. Since the first edition, there have also been tremendous advances in software programs for thermal and electrical analysis and these are also treated in this new edition.

The abbreviated Table ofContents below includes the chapter titles and selected sub-headings.

Managers, engineers and technicians will use this book during industrial construction of electronics assemblies, whilst students can use the book to get a grasp of the variety of methods available, together with a discussion of technical concerns. It includes over 200 illustrations, including a photographic guide to defects, and contains many line drawings, tables and flow charts to illustrate the subject of electronics assembly.

Soldering in Electronics Assembly looks theoretically at everything needed in a detailed study, but in a practical manner. It examines the soldering processes in the light of electronic assembly type; solder; flux; and cleaning requirements. It has information on every available process, from the most basic hand soldering through to latest innovatory ones such as inert atmosphere wave soldering and zoned forced convection infra-red machines. The book provides a detailed analysis of solder and soldering action; purpose of flux and relevant flux types for any application; classification of assembly variants; assessment and maintenance of solderability. There is also a detailed analysis of soldering process defects and causes. In addition, Soldering in Electronics Assembly contains a new chapter on Ball Grid Array (BGA) technology.
Mike Judd is MD of Mike Judd Marketing and former MD of Electrovert UK, Director of Marketing Europe for Electrovert, part of the Cookson Group, and Director of OEM at Speedline.
Keith Brindley is a technical author with a wealth of experience of all aspects of electronics technology.
- A practical guide for the industry covering all the main soldering processes currently in use
- Cleaning, faults, troubleshooting and standards are all major topics
- Considers safety and solder process quality assessment

Advanced research in the field of mechatronics and robotics represents a unifying interdisciplinary and intelligent engineering science paradigm. It is a holistic, concurrent, and interdisciplinary engineering science that identifies novel possibilities of synergizing and fusing different disciplines. The Handbook of Research on Advanced Mechatronic Systems and Intelligent Robotics is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of knowledge in both theoretical and practical skills of intelligent robotics and mechatronics. While highlighting topics including green technology, machine learning, and virtual manufacturing, this book is ideally designed for researchers, students, engineers, and computer practitioners seeking current research on developing innovative ideas for intelligent robotics and autonomous and smart interdisciplinary mechatronic products.

This book fills in details that are often left out of modern books on the theory of antennas. The starting point is a discussion of some general principles that apply to all electronic systems and to antennas in particular. Just as time domain functions can be expanded in terms of sine waves using Fourier transforms, spatial domain functions can be expanded in terms of plane waves also using Fourier transforms, and K-space gain is the spatial Fourier transform of the aperture weighting function. Other topics discussed include the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) formulation of antenna gain and what is missing in this formulation, the effect of sky temperature on the often specified G/T ratio of antennas, sidelobe control using conventional and novel techniques, and ESA digital beamforming versus adaptive processing to limit interference. Presents content the author derived when first asked to evaluate the performance of an electronically scanned array under design with manufacturing imperfections and design limitations; Enables readers to understand the firm theoretical foundation of antenna gain even when they must start from well-known formulations rather than first principles; Explains in a straightforward manner the relationship between antenna gain and aperture area; Discusses the relationship between sidelobe control algorithms and aperture shape, how to take advantage of it, and what the penalties are; Shows the equivalence of Minimum-Variance, Distortionless Response (MVDR) and Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) and how these algorithms can be used with ESA subarrays to mitigate interference.

The latest EM techniques for detecting concealed targets, whether explosives, weapons, or people

Extensively illustrated from basic principles to system design, the fundamental concepts of RF, microwave, millimeter wave, and terahertz detection systems and techniques to find concealed targets are explained in this publication. These concealed targets may be explosive devices or weapons, which can be buried in the ground, concealed in building structures, hidden under clothing, or inside luggage. Concealed targets may also be people who are stowaways or victims of an avalanche or earthquake.

Although much information is available in conference proceedings and professional society publications, this book brings all the relevant information in a single, expertly written and organized volume.

Readers gain an understanding of the physics underlying electromagnetic (EM) detection methods, as well as the factors that affect the performance of EM detection equipment, helping them choose the right type of equipment and techniques to meet the demands of particular tasks. Among the topics covered are:

Ultra-wideband radar and ground-penetrating radar

Millimeter, sub-millimeter, and terahertz systems

Radar systems including Doppler, harmonic, impulse, FMCW, and holographic

Radiometric systems

Nuclear quadrupole resonance systems

Author David Daniels has many years of experience designing and deploying EM systems to detect concealed targets. As a result, this publication is essential for scientists and engineers who are developing or using EM equipment and techniques for a diverse range of purposes, including homeland security, crime prevention, or the detection of persons.

This book focuses on novel bismuth-containing alloys and nanostructures, covering a wide range of materials from semiconductors, topological insulators, silica optical fibers and to multiferroic materials. It provides a timely overview of bismuth alloys and nanostructures, from material synthesis and physical properties to device applications and also includes the latest research findings. Bismuth is considered to be a sustainable and environmentally friendly element, and has received increasing attention in a variety of innovative research areas in recent years. The book is intended as a reference resource and textbook for graduate students and researchers working in these fields.

This book describes the operation of a particular technique for the production of compound semiconductor materials. It describes how the technique works, how it can be used for the growth of particular materials and structures, and the application of these materials for specific devices. It contains not only a fundamental description of the operation of the technique but also contains lists of data useful for the everyday operation of OMVPE reactors. It also offers specific recipes that can be used to produce a wide range of specific materials, structures, and devices.
Key Features
* Updated with new emphasis on the semiconducting nitride materials-GaN and its alloys with In and Al
* Emphasizes the newly understood aspects of surface processes
* Contains a new chapter, as well as several new sections in chapters on thermodynamics and kinetics

DSP Integrated Circuits establishes the essential interface between theory of digital signal processing algorithms and their implementation in full-custom CMOS technology. With an emphasis on techniques for co-design of DSP algorithms and hardware in order to achieve high performance in terms of throughput, low power consumption, and design effort, this book provides the professional engineer, researcher, and student with a firm foundation in the theoretical as well as the practical aspects of designing high performance DSP integrated circuits.
Centered around three design case studies, DSP Integrated Circuits thoroughly details a high-performance FFT processor, a 2-D Discrete Cosine Transform for HDTV, and a wave digital filter for interpolation of the sampling frequency. The case studies cover the essential parts of the design process in a top-down manner, from specification of algorithm design and optimization, scheduling of operations, synthesis of optimal architectures, realization of processing elements, to the floor-planning of the integrated circuit.
* Details the theory and design of digital filters - particularly wave digital filters, multi-rate digital filters, fast Fourier transforms (FFT's), and discrete cosine transforms (DCT's)
* Follows three complete "real-world" case studies throughout the book
* Provides complete coverage of finite word length effects in DSP algorithms
* In-depth survey of the computational properties of DSP algorithms and their mapping to optimal architectures
* Outlines DSP architectures and parallel, bit-serial, and distributed arithmetic
* Presents the design process in a top-down manner and incorporates numerous problemsand solutions

Silicon technology today forms the basis of a world-wide, multi-billion dollar component industry. The reason for this expansion can be found not only in the physical properties of silicon but also in the unique properties of the silicon-silicon dioxide interface. However, silicon devices are still subject to undesired electrical phenomena called "instabilities." These are due mostly to the imperfect nature of the insulators used, to the not-so-perfect silicon-insulator interface and to the generation of defects and ionization phenomena caused by radiation.

The problem of instabilities is addressed in this volume, the third of this book series.

Vol.3 updates and supplements the material presented in the previous two volumes, and devotes five chapters to the problems of radiation-matter and radiation-device interactions. The volume will aid circuit manufacturers and circuit users alike to relate unstable electrical parameters and characteristics to the presence of physical defects and impurities or to the radiation environment which caused them.

This book presents the statistical theory of complex wave scattering and quantum transport in physical systems which have chaotic classical dynamics, as in the case of microwave cavities and quantum dots, or which possess quenched randomness, as in the case of disordered conductors - with an emphasis on mesoscopic fluctuations. The statistical regularity of the phenomena is revealed in a natural way by adopting a novel maximum-entropy approach. Shannon's information entropy is maximised, subject to the symmetries and constraints which are physically relevant, within the powerful and non-perturbative theory of random matrices; this is a most distinctive feature of the book. Aiming for a self-contained presentation, the quantum theory of scattering, set in the context of quasi-one-dimensional, multichannel systems, and related directly to scattering problems in mesoscopic physics, is introduced in chapters two and three. The linear-response theory of quantum electronic transport, adapted to the context of mesoscopic systems, is discussed in chapter four. These chapters, together with chapter five on the maximum-entropy approach and chapter eight on weak localization, have been written in a most pedagogical style, suitable for use on graduate courses. In chapters six and seven, the problem of electronic transport through classically chaotic cavities and quasi-one-dimensional disordered systems is discussed. Many exercises are included, most of which are worked through in detail, aiding graduate students, teachers, and research scholars interested in the subject of quantum transport through disordered and chaotic systems.

This book focuses on the microscopic understanding of the function of organic semiconductors. By tracing the link between their morphological structure and electronic properties across multiple scales, it represents an important advance in this direction. Organic semiconductors are materials at the interface between hard and soft matter: they combine structural variability, processibility and mechanical flexibility with the ability to efficiently transport charge and energy. This unique set of properties makes them a promising class of materials for electronic devices, including organic solar cells and light-emitting diodes. Understanding their function at the microscopic scale - the goal of this work - is a prerequisite for the rational design and optimization of the underlying materials. Based on new multiscale simulation protocols, the book studies the complex interplay between molecular architecture, supramolecular organization and electronic structure in order to reveal why some materials perform well - and why others do not. In particular, by examining the long-range effects that interrelate microscopic states and mesoscopic structure in these materials, the book provides qualitative and quantitative insights into e.g. the charge-generation process, which also serve as a basis for new optimization strategies.

An indispensable resource for the use of infrared thermography in industrial nondestructive testing

Machine vision, especially infrared thermography, provides industries with a more efficient and cost-effective method of detecting production flaws than traditional means of human inspection. The trend in industry today is toward inspecting and evaluating products in a nondestructive manner. For that purpose, infrared thermography has become a prime means of ensuring quality without damaging product. This comprehensive reference for professionals provides total coverage of infrared thermography inspection, theory, and practice in nondestructive testing (NDT).

Xavier Maldague provides a comprehensive introduction to Thermographic Nondestructive Testing (TNDT) and its current applications, followed by major sections on the fundamental concepts, passive and active thermography, and case studies in industry. A complementary package called IRNDT is available on the Internet for use with problems at the end of each chapter or as a tool for image processing. Detailed coverage includes:

• Introduction to thermal emission and heat transfer
• Infrared sensors and optics fundamentals
• Images and image analysis
• Experimental concepts
• Active thermography and quantitative analysis: pulsed, step, lockin, and vibrothermography
• Case studies in passive and active thermography

The book presents innovative scientific research works by academics, research scholars and students, presented at the 2017 International Conference on Energy, Materials and Information Technology at Amity University Jharkhand, India. It includes contributions on system solutions based on soft computing techniques, and covers innovative soft computing techniques and tools with advanced applications. A major focus of the book is on presenting interdisciplinary problems and how they can be solved using information technology, together with innovative connections to other disciplines. It also includes papers on cloud computing and WSN-related real-time research.

Mapping and localization are two essential tasks in autonomous mobile robotics. Due to the unavoidable noise that sensors present, mapping algorithms usually rely on loop closure detection techniques, which entail the correct identification of previously seen places to reduce the uncertainty of the resulting maps. This book deals with the problem of generating topological maps of the environment using efficient appearance-based loop closure detection techniques. Since the quality of a visual loop closure detection algorithm is related to the image description method and its ability to index previously seen images, several methods for loop closure detection adopting different approaches are developed and assessed. Then, these methods are used in three novel topological mapping algorithms. The results obtained indicate that the solutions proposed attain a better performance than several state-of-the-art approaches. To conclude, given that loop closure detection is also a key component in other research areas, a multi-threaded image mosaicing algorithm is proposed. This approach makes use of one of the loop closure detection techniques previously introduced in order to find overlapping pairs between images and finally obtain seamless mosaics of different environments in a reasonable amount of time.