The ground-breaking battery-free Game Boy.

Scientists from the US Northwestern University engineered a game console called Engage, which is a replica of the legendary Game Boy, a console first released by the Japanese gaming giant Nintendo 31 years ago. Apart from that there is no battery compartment on the back, it looks exactly like the original. The device has been redesigned and built from the ground up with the existing Game Boy emulation techniques and the latest energy harvesting and discontinuous processing technologies. Unlike batteries, in which energy is first stored and then released, the device operates in a discontinuous mode. It uses innovative energy harvesting technologies and, consequently it is on for only a few seconds. The Game Boy has several rows of miniature solar panels and a mechanism that generates energy when the user presses buttons while playing. In its current state, this allows the device to be powered for about 10 seconds (depending on the type of game running). Then the device turns off as it loses energy.

Engage – Game Boy powered with both, solar energy and
by pressing buttons while playing

To prevent data loss when the power is off and to keep the game progress, the team developed a new software layer consisting of checkpoints that allows all data to be saved and restored in milliseconds. When the system detects a low energy level a checkpoint is created. To speed up the process, it only updates the data that has changed since the last save. During the game, the data from the Game Boy emulator is constantly modified and saved in a special memory that retains its state even after a power loss. So it does not matter if you continue the game in a few minutes or years. The game will start from where it ended. When playing the legendary Mario or Tetris, there is unfortunately no sound played which, for some, may make it difficult to feel the game. If the sound was produced, it might not sound good enough with so little energy generated by the device.

Constant power interruptions and breaks of game are unlikely to satisfy players in 2020, however, this is not yet a commercial project, but it has research and development objectives, to test new technologies for powering such devices.

The contest to end soon!

Only by Friday, September 25, you can send your works to the ”Engagingly about antennas” DIPOL summer photo contest". It is now the nineteenth time that we are waiting for your photographs, whose main focus is on antennas (in the foreground or background) in any form and shape. Winners, to be chosen by Paweł Zechenter, a popular photographer from Krakow, will receive attractive prizes from Seagate and SanDisk. You are welcome to join the contest, and read the contest rules before sending your works.

Cleaning patch cable plugs and OTDR sockets during reflectance measurements.

One of the most common errors made during measurements with an OTDR is the lack of proper cleanliness of connectors. This applies to:

It is particularly important to clean the OTDR measurement connector and the launch cable plug connected to it. Neglecting this can lead to the damage to the measuring connector, the most common defect in the OTDRs.

The NANOCLEAN-E3 L59161 tool allows cleaning connectors with a 2.5 mm ferrule.
For 1.25 mm ferrules, we offer the E1 model (L59162).

Many installers consider the cleaning tools to be unnecessary, since "the system works anyway". Such approach is wrong, leading to both, signal degradation and the measuring equipment failure described in this article. A cleaning tool, e.g. NTT NANOCLEAN L59161 should be purchased straight away when ordering the basic tools for optical fiber processing.

Optical and copper TV/SAT system in a hotel.

The designer was given three main objectives to meet. First of all, the system has to cover 5 buildings of a large complex. It is to distribute the DVB-T signal from the local transmitter, and 15 satellite programs in the form of a digital DVB-T signal. In order to ensure the best possible terrestrial TV signal and to equalize the signal levels at the system input, the contractor has decided to use a digitally programmed four-channel TERRA at440 R82511 amplifier. In addition to that, to add the VHF and FM band signal, the multiband FM/VHF/UHF ma400 R82520 amplifier was used.

The satellite channels are received and converted into DVB-T standard by the tdx-480 R81621 transmodulator. The set of the panels used allows for the reception and conversion of 16 satellite Full HD channels from eight transponders.

The combined terrestrial and satellite channels, in the form of DVB-T multiplexes converted into optical signal, are distributed to the four buildings via single-mode fibers. The conversion is carried out by the TV optical transmitter TERRA mo418 4D31 R82522 with 6 dBm output level that is sufficient for feeding the so414 R82527 4-way optical splitter, installed on the same DIN rail R82538. The optical transmitter and the amplifiers (R82511 and R82520) are powered from the DR-60-12 R82532 power supply (12 VDC/4.5 A).

The reverse conversion from the optical form into RF signals is made in each building by the TERRA OD-005P R81760 optical nodes. The maximum output level of the RF signals is 107 dBµV, which is suitable for distributing them to dozens of R62120 outlets without a need for additional amplifiers. By the way, such configuration of the network would allow for transmission of the DVB-T signals (in the optical form) over distances up to 12 km.

Declaration of compliance from a Polish laboratory for RACK cabinets!

Until recently, the RACK cabinets have been used only in professional telecommunications systems and server rooms. Nowadays, smaller rack cabinets are used in almost every building or even home systems. RACK cabinet is an ideal solution for terminating communication cable systems and for installation of active and passive equipment.

Signal standing RACK cabinets and Signal server RACK cabinets were tested for compliance with the general requirements of the 2014/35/EU Directive of February 26, 2014, by meeting the relevant requirements of the PN-EN 62368-1:2015-03 standard. Hanging RACK cabinets were tested for compliance with the general safety requirements set forth in Section II of the 2001/95/EC Directive of December 3, 2001, by meeting the relevant requirements of PN-EN 60950-1: 2007.

KOMAG Institute of Mining Technology is a research and development unit designated by the Chairman of the State Mining Authority to perform tests and issue certification opinions for mining machinery and equipment. In 2020, the KOMAG Institute of Mining Technology celebrates its 70th anniversary.

Creating quick snapshots of recordings.

Sometimes the documentation of an event in the form of a recording has to be supplemented with image snapshots. In the case of recordings from Hikvision recorders, the VSPlayer software can be used. In addition to just playing recordings, it has several useful functions. One of them is the snapshot creation module.

The Capture window is used for setting the parameters of snapshots taken from video footage

Snapshots can be taken from any recording performed by Hikvision devices. The process of their creation is automated and the user can specify the following parameters:

Group reset and restoring factory defaults in Hikvision devices.

To quickly and effectively reset a larger number of Hikvision devices, such as DVRs, cameras, IP video intercoms, etc. to factory defaults you can use the Batch Configuration application. The software is very user-friendly and, in addition to quick device reset, it offers multiple options to speed up the system configuration process, such as group updates, export of the device list, time synchronization, setting video parameters and many others.

Batch Configuration main window (v3.0.3.8)

After running the program with administrator privileges, it will automatically search for devices in the local network. After selecting, click the +Add button and enter your login details to add them to the program. After adding, select the devices and select the System Configuration -> Restore -> Complete Restoration tab from the upper bar. Once confirmed, the devices will be completely reset to factory defaults.

Hotel TV – SMATV, CATV signal headend. Headends converting satellite programs from DVB-S/S2 to DVB-T COFDM signal are still the most popular solutions used in many hotels. Satellite channels can be an addition to the terrestrial television programs or be the only part of the package offered...>>>więcej

Diagram of a TERRA headend for the reception of programs from two satellite positions.

Signal Fire AI-8 AI-9 / AI-8C fusion splicers