Author: Techtime

Israel to Build Quantum Communications System

Prof. Nadav Katz at the Hebrew University’s Quantum Information Science Center
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[Phto above: Prof. Nadav Katz with a superconducting detectors at the Quantum Information Science Center]

The Quantum Information Science Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has won a NIS 7.5 million tender from the Government of Israel to lead the construction of a national demonstrator for quantum communications technologies. The goal of this project is to develop homegrown Israeli expertise and technology for a national quantum communications system that will prevent eavesdropping, protect data privacy and secure national infrastructure.

Single Photons Representing Quantum Bits

The contract was awarded by the Ministry of Defense, which is tasked with developing a secure communications infrastructure to improve privacy and secure national infrastructure. Also participating in the project are Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. and Opsys technologies, and an additional researcher from Tel Aviv University.

As part of this project, researchers will build a communication system at the Hebrew University’s laboratories based on single photons representing quantum bits. Quantum bits make it possible to perform calculations in new ways that are not possible in current communications systems or even supercomputers.

Prof. Nadav Katz, director of the Quantum Information Science Center, said that the project will position Israel in the leading edge of ultimately secured communication systems. “This is the first Israeli national project in the emerging field of quantum information technologies.”

Prof. Hagai Eisenberg and graduate student Daniel Istrati study a single photon experiment at the Hebrew University’s Quantum Information Science Center

Current methods of encrypting data are increasingly vulnerable to attack as the increased power of quantum computing comes online. Quantum communication systems use the laws of physics to secure data and are therefore resistant to attack. Quantum information is expected to bring dramatic improvements in computation speed and secured communication. Based on the inherent wave-like nature of matter and light, it will lead to massive leaps forward in our ability to fabricate, control, measure and understand advanced structures. The Quantum Information Science Center (QISC) was founded in 2013 and recruited an interdisciplinary team of over 20 researchers from physics, computer science, mathematics, chemistry, philosophy and engineering.

Digi-Key Secured $300 Million for Expansion Plan

Digi-Key Warehouse Thief River Falls
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Digi-Key Electronics has announced its future plans to create over 1,000 new jobs and build a 1,000,000 square foot building expansion. The new facility will be located adjacent to its current headquarters in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. The announcement came following an agreement with the government, that helped to secure $300 million budget for the expansion program. Dave Doherty, Digi-Key’s President and Chief Operating Officer said that huge cost and competitive hurdles needed to be overcome compared to other location options, “but the State of Minnesota and local Thief River Falls and Pennington County leaders took decisive action to support our growth.”

Dave Doherty
Dave Doherty

Kevin McKinnon, Deputy Secretary at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, on behalf of Governor Mark Dayton, helped craft the initial legislative solution legislative solution to help Digi-Key. Governor Dayton said, “I am extremely grateful to Digi-Key for its commitment to Minnesota and the Thief River Falls community. I congratulate Digi-Key on its planned expansion, which will create over 1,000 new jobs in Thief River Falls. Digi-Key is truly a fantastic success story.”

Digi-Key estimates the economic return for the state of Minnesota will be approximately $184 million in new annual state revenue, or almost $2 billion over 10 years generated by Digi-Key’s expansion in addition to the 1,000+ new jobs that will be created. Brian Holmer, Mayor of Thief River Falls, stated, “Our community worked hard to ensure Digi-Key’s project will be located here because as Digi-Key expands its global reach, it creates good jobs in Greater Minnesota”.

“We want to extend a huge ‘thank you’ to state legislators, community leaders, and countless others who have helped us achieve this milestone in our expansion project,” said Rick Trontvet, Digi-Key Vice President of Administration and Human Resources.

About Digi-Key Electronics

Digi-Key Electronics, based in Thief River Falls, Minn., is a global, full-service distributor of both prototype/design and production quantities of electronic components, offering more than five million products from over 650 quality name-brand manufacturers. With over 1.3 million products in stock and an impressive selection of online resources, Digi-Key is committed to stocking the broadest range of electronic components in the industry and providing the best service possible to its customers.

CE approval for Zebra’s Deep Learning Imaging Engine

Zebra MedicalDeep Learning Analytics Engine
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Zebra Medical Vision from Shfayim, Israel, has been granted the CE approval for its Deep Learning Analytics Engine, for use in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The company’s Analytics Engine provides automated analysis of imaging data, helping radiologists provide faster, more accurate and comprehensive reports. The Engine can be integrated into PACS, RIS, Reporting and EMR systems.

Zebra Medical Liver Image“These recent regulatory approvals allow us to continue driving adoption of our Analytics Engine globally, where we see significant interest in countries that have a problematic ratio of radiologists per capita. Providing tools that assist them in delivering better care is critical and is the driving force behind our mission,” says Elad Benjamin, Co-Founder and CEO at Zebra-Med. “We have already begun working with luminary university hospitals in Europe, and will continue to expand our footprint across the region.”

AI Revolutionize Radiology

Artificial Intelligence in healthcare has been gaining significant support and adoption over the past 12 months. In a recent Research and Markets market report, it was estimated that Artificial Intelligence in healthcare will witness a CAGR of 62.2% between 2016-2022. The Zebra-Med Engine currently analyzes CT data for signs of Fatty Liver, Excess coronary calcium, Emphysema, Low bone density and Vertebral compression fractures.

“Machine Learning will change the way Radiology is practiced in the coming years,” says Prof. Gabriel Krestin, Chairman of the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, the Netherlands. “I believe it will make radiologists more productive, and I also believe that new use cases and value propositions will emerge as the technology is implemented widely. It is a very exciting time for radiology.”

Headquartered in Kibbutz Shefayim, Israel, the company was founded in 2014 by co-founders Eyal Toledano, Eyal Gura, and Elad Benjamin, and funded by Khosla Ventures, Marc Benioff, Intermountain Investment Fund, OurCrowd and Dolby Ventures. Zebra’s technology provides automated analysis of millions of real-time and retrospective imaging studies. This allows early identification of disease, and implementation of decision support tools for population health and risk management. In the coming months Zebra-Medical plans to release more than a dozen new algorithms that detect life threatening diseases.

IBM Research Alliance Builds New 5nm Transistor

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IBM Research Alliance (IBM, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Samsung, and equipment suppliers) have developed an industry process to build silicon nanosheet transistors that will enable 5 nanometer (nm) chips. The details of the process will be presented at the 2017 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits conference in Kyoto, Japan. This new technology paves the way for 30 billion switches on a single silicon die.

Scientists working as part of the IBM-led Research Alliance at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s NanoTech Complex in Albany, NY achieved the breakthrough by using stacks of silicon nanosheets as the device structure of the transistor. IBM Research has explored nanosheet semiconductor technology for more than 10 years. It believes that the electrical properties of its new nanosheet devices are superior to FinFET architecture which is the blueprint for the semiconductor industry up through 7nm node technology.

Better than FinFET

Compared to the leading edge 10nm technology available in the market, a nanosheet-based 5nm technology can deliver 40 percent performance enhancement at fixed power, or 75 percent power savings at matched performance. Gary Patton, CTO and Head of Worldwide R&D at GLOBALFOUNDRIES said: “As we make progress toward commercializing 7nm in 2018 at our Fab 8 manufacturing facility, we are actively pursuing next-generation technologies at 5nm and beyond to maintain technology leadership and enable our customers to produce a smaller, faster, and more cost efficient generation of semiconductors.”

IBM Researcher with Silicon Wafer
IBM Research scientist Nicolas Loubet holds a wafer of chips with 5nm silicon nanosheet transistors

The same Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography approach used to produce the 7nm test node was applied to the nanosheet transistor architecture. Using EUV lithography, the width of the nanosheets can be adjusted continuously, all within a single manufacturing process.

This adjustability permits the fine-tuning of performance and power for specific circuits – something not possible with today’s FinFET transistor architecture production, which is limited by its current-carrying fin height. Therefore, while FinFET chips can scale to 5nm, simply reducing the amount of space between fins does not provide increased current flow for additional performance.

The silicon nanosheet transistor demonstration was detailed in the paper Stacked Nanosheet Gate-All-Around Transistor to Enable Scaling Beyond FinFET, published by VLSI. IBM says it proves that 5nm chips are possible, more powerful, and not too far off in the future.

Autotalks Launched B2V Communication Solution

Autotalks B2V Solution
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Autotalks from Kfar Netter, Israel, expands its V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) wireless communication solutions, with the new Bike-to-Vehicle (B2V) solution, a technology for the prevention of motorcycle accidents. The solution is based on the B2X (Bike-to-Everything) chipset developed by Autotalks. Bosch, a leading global supplier of technology and services for the automotive industry, revealed that it is carrying out a development B2V study that incorporates Autotalks’ B2V technology alongside Ducati’s motorcycles and Cohda Wireless’ software stack.

According to Bosch accident research, the B2V technology could prevent nearly a third of all powered two-wheeler accidents with casualties in Germany. Autotalks’ B2V solution enables detection of motorcycles that are not visible to the human eye or cameras of any sort. Autotalks suggest simple integration, low power consumption, very small form factor, long range wireless communication and  smooth operations in harsh conditions involving extremes temperatures, shock, vibrations and dirt characterizing motorcycles.

Bike to Vehicle Communication Case:

The use of DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) protocol enables cars and motorcycles to safely exchange data such as speed, direction of travel, location and braking mode. Since motorcycles rarely have telematics services and are not obliged to support the eCall regulation, they do not include a cellular modem. Therefore, according to Autotalks, the simplest and cheapest connectivity for motorcycles is DSRC based systems.

CRATON2 Communication ProcessorHagai Zyss, Autotalks’ CEO, said that the launch of B2V technology is a significant milestone for Autotalks as well as for motorcycle drivers. “Motorcycle accidents are one of the world’s leading causes of unnatural deaths. According to the World Health Organization data from 2015, 23% out of 1.25 million traffic fatalities are motorcycle riders.

A 2013 study conducted by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicates that motorcyclists have a 26-fold higher risk of death than those who drive other vehicles. Motorcycles are characterized by their relatively small size, high speed and maneuverability, which make it difficult to identify them and predict their movements. B2V will enhance motorcyclists’ safety.”

Pioneer of V2X

Autotalks was founded in 2008 ans is considered one of the pioneers of the V2X chipset market. It provides three chips: CRATON communication processor, specifically designed for autonomous vehicles, is the most advanced and secure V2X communication solution. PLUTON automotive-grade V2X RF Transceiver IC that is optimized for V2X and is compliant with 802.11p, and SECTON chipset that integrates an enhanced-range mobility-optimized IEEE802.11p modem, an ultra-low-latency V2X Hardware Security Module (eHSM) and crypto agile hardware verification engines.

SECTON also supports IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac to enable high-bandwidth external Wi-Fi for supplementary value-added services. The chipsets exceed all requirements mandated by the USDOT’s V2V notice of proposed rule making (NPRM). In March 2017, Autotalks announced a $30 million financing round to expand its operations worldwide, which brings and investments in the company to $70 million to date.

For more information: www.auto-talks.com

Elbit to Develop a Cockpit Display for the F-35 Aircraft

f-35 in flight
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Lockheed Martin Aeronautics awarded Elbit Systems of America a contract by  to develop a cockpit display replacement for the F-35 aircraft. The development contract is for the Technology Refresh 3, Panoramic Cockpit Display Unit. The value of the award was not in a material amount.

This award further expands the participation of Elbit Systems on the F-35. Today it already includes power amplifiers, structures, and sustainment work. Elbit also supplies, with Rockwell Collins,  the F-35 Helmet Mounted Display System, through their joint venture Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems (RCEVS). These efforts brings Elbit Systems to a position of a leading provider of advanced cockpit and intelligent pilot interface solutions for the F-35.

Earlier this year, Elbit Systems demonstrated an Advanced Cockpit Station (ACS) for the F/A-18 Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler. The ACS includes mission processors, a low-profile head-up display, and a large area display with touch screen and picture-in-picture capabilities.  This reflects the company’s focus to integrate mission and cockpit situational awareness for pilots.

Orbit hope to take-off with the Russian MC-21 Jet

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The success of the MC-21 passenger plane test flight on May 28th, was a good news for Orbit Communications Systems Ltd. the provider of precision tracking-based communications solutions and airborne audio management systems from Natanya, Israel.

Orbit CEO, Eitan Livneh
Orbit CEO, Eitan Livneh

The plane is built by the Russian aircraft manufacturer, Irkut, to compete with Airbus A320 and Boeing 737. Most importantly from Orbit’s point of view – it  uses Orbit’s Orion audio management system, customized for Irkut by the UAC Integration Center.

Recenty Techtime has learned that each plane consists of Orion systems worth a few hundred thousands of dollars. It means that for a long term – the MC-21 success means $millions worth of order in the next decade.

It is the right development at the right time. Last week the company (traded in Tel aviv) reported a decline in its first quarter sales, from $10 million last year to $7.4 million in the first quarter of 2017. In an interview to Techtime, Orbit CEO, Eitan Livneh, said that the MC-212 project reflect the company’s new strategy: “long term strategic agreements to boost growth.”

Benefits of Mass production

Livne: “After many man-hours of development, working hand-in-hand with Irkut and the UAC Integration Center, the MC-21’s first flight was truly a momentous occasion at Orbit. We are proud to have a part in this project with our Orion audio management system.” The Irkut MC-21 is a single-aisle twinjet airliner produced by Irkut with avionics supplied by the UAC Integration Center. Both are subsidiaries of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation.

It is expected that the MC-21 will be a replacement for Russians outdated airliner’s fleet as well as an attractive offer abroad. Even now Irkut reported a backlog of 185 planes. It goat is to start producing the aircraft in a volume of 20 planes annually, and reach a volume of 70 planes a year by 2023.

Orbit's Orion audio management system
Orbit’s Orion audio management system

Orion’s 3D Audio delivers a 360-degree clear audio experience. Applications include radio separation, crew positioning, directional safety alerts and real-time threat alerts aligned to the pilot’s line-of-sight. Its 3D Audio technology uses binaural and psycho-acoustic principles to provide directional audio delivered into the ears of the pilot, so that the spatial position of the sound source can be located.

Orion is powered by a patented Dual IP Ring topology, which forms the foundation for Orion’s key benefits: 3D Audio, Adaptive noise reduction, Voice-activated detection, Incremental scalability and flexibility, Inherent redundancy and Reduced weight.