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Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that India is making rapid strides in the semiconductor sector and is on track to be among the world’s top five chip‑making nations by 2032.

In a recent interaction, Vaishnaw mentioned that SEMICON India 2025 would be an important event to gain global partnerships, attract investments, and showcase India’s growing semiconductor ecosystem. He added, “With policy support and industry collaboration, our aim is to turn India into the semiconductor hub of the world.”

Recalling the chip making vision of the government, Vaishnaw talked about achievements in chip design, advanced packaging, and talent development. Regarding this, he mentioned that the first commercially available semiconductor chip made in India would be released soon.

The India Semiconductor Mission has allocated $10 billion for its first phase. This funding incorporates a plethora of initiatives such as manufacturing incentives, display fabrication units, compound semiconductors, design linked schemes, and research driven collaborations.

An end to end semiconductor ecosystem approach is being adopted encompassing chip design, equipment, materials and manufacturing so that India is fully plugged into the global semiconductor value chain. This approach is expected to lay a strong foundation for sustained industry growth.

Regarding the talent, 270 universities and 70 startups have been provided with advanced semiconductor design tools. Students have already designed 20 chipsets, several of which have been sent for fabrication, showcasing the country’s growing design capabilities.

With six semiconductor production facilities currently authorized or in development nationwide, manufacturing momentum is increasing in the meantime. In order to increase domestic output and lessen dependency on imports, these facilities are expected to be essential.

He emphasised India’s competitive advantage as policy support, engineering talent, and industry collaboration. The country’s electronics exports have already crossed $40 billion, which is an eightfold increase over the last 11 years.

Vaishnaw stressed the Indian Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry’s strengths because of the semiconductor companies’ policy support and the robust engineering talent base. The ecosystem is getting more robust with several global semiconductor companies starting large R&D and design centres in India.

As India gears up to host SEMICON India 2025, it is expected that the semiconductor industry officials and the policy makers will come up with a roadmap that will expedite the journey of India to become semiconductors self-reliant and also strengthen the role in global supply chain.

By 2032, if present trends continue, India may rank among the world’s top five semiconductor powers, revolutionizing the country’s electronics manufacturing sector and making a substantial contribution to economic growth.

The post India Set to Be Among World’s Top 5 Semiconductor Nations by 2032: Vaishnaw appeared first on ELE Times.

 

• The upcoming facility in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, will have an annual capacity of producing 105MW of electrolysers, with a roadmap to scale up to 500 MW by 2030, contributing direction to the National Green Hydrogen Mission.
• Supported by ₹157.5 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) subsidy, the project stems from a landmark MoU between GH2 Solar and AHES Ltd. It will be backed by GH2 Solar’s UK based partner Rhizome Energy.
• ₹400 crore of total investment, with ₹100 crore allocated in the first phase to set up up a 3 GWh BESS assembly line, and the remaining ₹300 crore to be invested in phases by 2030 to expand the facility.
• The facility is expected to create 300+ direct jobs in the clean energy sector.
• Supported by Invest India and Skill council for Green Jobs to build renewable energy capabilities and train future workforce in line with the Government of India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission.

GH2 Solar Limited, a next generation renewable energy company and one of only five companies in India Government’s PLI scheme for both green hydrogen production and electrolyser manufacturing, announced a major milestone under India’s Green Hydrogen Mission its upcoming state-of-the-art Green Hydrogen Electrolyzer Manufacturing Facility in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, in joint venture with South Korea-based Advanced Hydrogen Energy Solutions (AHES) Ltd.

The facility located in Pipersewa, Morena district (Madhya Pradesh), will begin with an annual manufacturing capacity of 105 MW awarded under SECI’s SIGHT program, supported by ₹157.5 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) subsidy. The total investment in the project is approximately ₹400 crore, with ₹100 crore allocated in the first phase to set up a 3 GWh BESS assembly line, and the remaining ₹300 crore to be invested in phases by 2030 to expand the facility. GH2 Solar has also outlined plans to expand the electrolyser capacity to 500 MW by 2030, directly contributing to the National Green Hydrogen Mission’s target of producing 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030. The announcement was marked by a Bhoomi Pujan ceremony in Gwalior, graced by Shri Dr. Mohan Yadav Ji, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. The project was formally announced by Mr. Anuraj Jain, CEO and Founder of GH2 solar, alongside Prof. Joong-Hee Lee, CEO of AHES Ltd and Mr. Raj Sharma, Director of Rhizome Energy, UK, both key international partners of GH2 Solar’s green hydrogen journey.

Through the JV with AHES Ltd, GH2 Solar will bring advanced alkaline electrolyzer technology to India, with future expansion into PEM and other generation systems. In addition, GH2 Solar’s partnership with Rhizome Energy (UK) will embed sustainable design principles and advanced engineering practices,  to ensure the facility is competitive, efficient and manufactures tailored solutions as per Indian conditions, strengthening the vision of making India a global hub for green hydrogen.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Anurag Jain, Founder and CEO, GH2 Solar, “As India advances towards energy independence and transitions from fossil fuels to green hydrogen, our Electrolyser Manufacturing Facility will play a critical role in this journey. Through  global partnerships, we are bringing cutting-edge decarbonization technologies, while government support enables us to effectively leverage local resources. We are also committed to collaborating with academic institutions and skill development centers to train engineers and technicians, ensuring India has a robust workforce to drive green hydrogen technologies forward. Ultimately, our goal is to build a complete clean energy ecosystem that positions India as a leading producer and exporter of green hydrogen, with the workforce and technology to truly realize the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat”

Adding to his perspective, Prof. Joong-Hee Lee, CEO of AHES, said, “The future is green, and no nation can achieve it alone. The world must unite in its commitment to sustainable energy. Our joint venture with GH2 Solar, brings this vision closer by producing electrolysers in India for the world. India already has skilled manpower, strong public institutions, and crucial government policy and funding support. We are happy to contribute to this ecosystem and believe our Gwalior facility will be an important step in shaping the world’s green future.”

On the public institution side, the project is supported by Invest India and Skill Council for Green Jobs. The facility’s operations are expected to create over 300 direct jobs in manufacturing, operations and research, along with hundreds of secondary jobs across supply chain, logistics, and renewable energy services. By building renewable energy capabilities and training future workforce, the facility also makes a significant contribution to the Government of India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission.

The project supports the Government of India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission, which targets 5 million metric tonnes of annual green hydrogen production by 2030 and underpins India’s ambition to achieve net zero by 2070. The Gwalior facility is expected to play a crucial role in decarbonizing high-emission sectors such as steel, fertilizers, and refineries, while also creating opportunities for export to Europe and East Asia.

The post GH2 Solar announces ₹400 Crore Green Hydrogen Electrolyzer Manufacturing Facility in joint venture with Korea-based AHES Ltd appeared first on ELE Times.

Because the old one was corroded to the point in which it was basically impossible to take out I've used this knitting needle to burn the plastic that was holding it in place and then I've "welded" the new one in place with the same plastic so it's fixed in place . Now it remains to weld the red wire with soldering iron and it's a job done . This radio is a family heirloom from my grandpa . He used to take it with him when he went fishing . RIP grandpa . submitted by /u/MudMurky5087 [link] [comments]

In this roundup, we cover three sensors pushing the boundaries of durability.

As regular readers may recall, I’m fond of acquiring gear from the “Warehouse” (now renamed as “Resale”) area of Amazon’s website, particularly when it’s temporary-promotion marked down even lower than the normal discounted-vs-new prices. The acquisitions don’t always pan out, but the success rate is sufficient (as are the discounts) to keep me coming back for more.

Today’s product showcase was a mixed-results outcome, which I’ve decided to tear down to maximize my ROI (assuaging my curiosity in the process). Last October, I picked up EBL’s 8-bay charger with eight included NiMH batteries (four AA and four AAA), $24.99 new, for $17.22 (post-20%-off promo discount) in claimed “mint” condition:

The price tag was the primary temptation; that said, the added inclusion of two USB-A power ports was a nice feature set bonus that I hadn’t encountered with other multi-bay chargers. And Amazon also claimed that this Warehouse-sourced device was the second-generation EBL model that supported per-bay charging flexibility.

Not exactly (or even remotely) as-advertised

When it arrived, however, while the device itself was in solid cosmetic condition, its packaging, as-usual accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny in the following photos for size comparison purposes, definitely wasn’t “mint”:

and the contents (including the quick start guide, which I’ve scanned for your educational convenience) were also quite jumbled:

(I belatedly realized, by the way, that I’d forgotten one piece of paper, the also-scanned user manual, in the previous box-contents overview photo)

Not to mention the fact that the charger ended up being the first-generation model, not the second-gen successor, thereby requiring that both bays of each two-bay pair be populated (also with the same battery technology—Ni-MH or Ni-Cd—and size/capacity) to successfully kick off the charging process. When I grumbled, Amazon offered $4.49 in partial-refund compensation, which I begrudgingly accepted, rationalizing that the eight included batteries were still fine and the charger seemed to function fine for what it truly was. Only later did I realize that the charger was actually extremely finicky, rejecting batteries that other chargers accepted complaint-free:

Turning lemons into lemonade

And like I said before, I’d always been curious to look inside one of these things. So, I decided to pull it out of active service and sacrifice it to the teardown knife instead. Here’s our patient:

Note how both sides’ contact arrangements support both AA and AAA battery sizes:

Onward. Top:

Bottom:

Left and right sides:

And back, also including a label closeup:

Before continuing, here are both ends of the AC cord that powers the charger:

When at first you don’t succeed, muscle your way in

And now it’s time to dive inside. No visible (or even initially invisible) screws to speak of:

So, I resorted to “elbow grease”. The device didn’t give up its internal secrets easily (an understandable reality, given that its target customers are largely-tech-unsavvy consumers, and it has high-voltage AC running around inside it), but it eventually succumbed to my colorful language-augmented efforts:

Mission (finally) accomplished:

Some side (left, then right, at least when the device is upright…remember that right now it’s upside-down) shots of newly exposed circuit glimpses before proceeding:

Close only counts in horseshoes and…

And now let’s get that PCB outta there. At first glance, I saw only three screws holding it in place:

Uhhhh…nope, not yet:

Oh wait, there’s another one, albeit when removed, still delivering no dissection luck:

A bit more blue-streak phrasing…one more peek at the PCB, this time with readers…and…

That’s five minutes of my life I’m never gonna get back:

Upside: the PCB topside’s now exposed to view, too. Note, first off, the four multicolor LEDs (one per pair of charging bays) running along the left edge:

Binary deficiency

I was admittedly surprised, albeit not so much in retrospect, at just how “analog” everything was. I’d expect a higher percentage of “digital” circuitry were I to take apart my much more expensive La Crosse Technology BC-9009 AlphaPower charger (I’m not going to, to be clear):

 

Specifically, among other things, I was initially expecting to see a dedicated USB controller IC, which I regularly find in other USB-inclusive devices…until I realized that these USB-A ports had no data-related functions, only power-associated ones, and not even PD-enhanced. Duh on me:

Flipping the PCB back over once again revealed the unsurprising presence of a hefty ground plane and other thick traces. The upper right quadrant (upper left when not upside-down):

handles AC to DC conversion (along with the transformer and other stuff already seen on the other side); the two dominant ICs there are labeled (left to right):

CRE6536
2126KD
(seemingly an AC-DC power management IC from China-based CRE Semiconductor)

and:

ABS210
(which appears to be a single-phase bridge rectifier diode)

 while the upper left area, routing the generated DC to the USB ports on the PCB’s other side (among other things), is landscape-dominated by an even larger SS54 diode.

Further down is more circuitry, including a long, skinny IC PCB-marked as U2 but whose topside markings are illegible (if they even ever existed in the first place):

I’ll close out with some side-view shots. Top:

Right:

Bottom:

And left:

And I’ll wrap up with a teaser photo of another, smaller, but no less finicky battery charger that I’ve also taken apart, but, due to this piece as-is ending up longer-than-expected (what else is new?), I have decided to instead save for another dedicated teardown writeup for another day:

With that, I’ll turn it over to you, dear readers, for your thoughts in the comments!

—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Vision Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the company’s online newsletter.

Related Content

• Resurrecting a 6-amp battery charger
• Tricky 12V Battery Charger Circuit
• Simplifying multichemistry-battery chargers
• 12V Battery Charger Circuit using SCR

The post Tearing apart a multi-battery charger appeared first on EDN.

WiFi-connected LED matrix clock and weather station based on ESP8266/ESP32 and MAX7219. It displays the current time, day of the week, and local weather (temp/humidity/weather description) fetched from OpenWeatherMap. Setup and configuration are fully managed via a built-in web interface. Glucose monitoring and countdown mode are also available ;) Code is available here: https://github.com/mfactory-osaka/ESPTimeCast submitted by /u/mfactory_osaka [link] [comments]

Співпраця для відбудови енергетичної системи України kpi пн, 09/01/2025 - 14:35

Decision Tree learning is a widely used method in machine learning and data analysis for making decisions and predictions. It employs a tree-like model of decisions, where each internal node represents a test on a feature, each branch corresponds to an outcome of the test, and each leaf node signifies a final decision or classification. The process begins at the root node, which encompasses the entire dataset, and progressively splits into branches based on feature values, ultimately leading to distinct outcomes. This hierarchical structure allows for intuitive visualization and interpretation of decision-making processes. Decision Trees are incredibly versatile and find applications across a wide range of fields. Highlighted below are the top 10 decision tree learning real-world applications and use cases.

1. Fraud Detection

Identifying and preventing fraudulent transactions is one of the primary use cases of Decision Trees, and they are especially beneficial in banking as well as e-commerce centers. For instance, Decision Trees can flag suspicious transactions such as sudden exorbitant spending or transactions from new locations, which helps enterprises to minimize financial risks and combat security threats.

2. Customer Segmentation

Decision Trees are particularly useful in marketing, where customers can be classified into groups based on age, income, and even purchase and browsing history. This form of segmentation is especially useful for marketing as it helps personalize communication and enhances engagement by ensuring the right message is delivered to the appropriate audience.

3. Medical Diagnosis

Decision trees in the healthcare sector are essential for assisting clinicians in making predictions about the likelihood of a disease for a patient. This is derived from the patient’s symptoms, tests, and previous medical records. The trees’ logic is clear, which gives the doctors a chance to follow each step of reasoning, and this makes the tools invaluable in clinical decision support systems.

4. Recommendation systems

Decision trees are used in recommendation systems, such as on Netflix and Amazon, to suggest items, movies, or services by analyzing user preferences, browsing history, and ratings. These models help personalize the user experience and increase engagement by suggesting items that align with individual tastes.

5. Predictive Maintenance

In the sectors of manufacturing and transportation, decision trees based on sensor data, usage patterns, and equipment operating conditions are used to forecast equipment failure. This provides timely maintenance and improves the chance to provide uninterrupted service.

6. Autonomous Driving Decision Systems

Decision trees are important to the development of autonomous vehicles because they incorporate decision making models in driving systems. With their complex environments, these vehicles have to make safe and efficient decisions while learning the rules of the road, functionality of other vehicles, and traffic control. The vehicles accelerate, brake, and even change lanes based on the output of decision trees.

7. Cybersecurity Threat Detection

The use of decision trees in threat detection provides a more in-depth look into network traffic, different login schemes and their failures, as well as different system behaviors. Their use aids in the prevention of attacks and protection of crucial information.

8. Filtering of Email Spam

In order to classify messages, email providers analyze the words used, the sender’s reputation, and the structure of the message. They classify the messages using decision trees as either spam or legitimate email. Making email spam free and increasing security for the users.

9. Space Agencies and Aerospace Companies

Space and aerospace companies use decision trees in monitoring spacecraft systems and in predicting component failure and assist in mission planning. They help ensure safety and reliability in high-stakes environments.

10. Navigation and GPS Functionality

Decision trees are used by mapping and navigation software to provide the best possible route possibilities while accounting for user preferences, roadwork, and traffic conditions. Decision trees also consider the user’s objectives, whether to minimize travel time, fuel consumption, or increase safety. 

Conclusion:

Decision trees learning have a wide array of uses in data driven decision making, and thus can be considered a very strong and useful methodology. Their unique and flexible structure, ease of understanding and use, and transparency make decision trees very useful from the healthcare sector and the finance sector all the way to public administration and environmental care sectors. Decision trees can be used and are very crucial in the healthcare sector to help make very important and life saving decisions, and businesses also stand to benefit through the use of decision trees in optimizing their strategies. The impact of decision trees is very important and will grow even further as technology advances.

The post Top 10 Decision Tree Learning Applications and Use Cases appeared first on ELE Times.

🎓 Адаптаційні курси КПІ для першокурсників kpi пн, 09/01/2025 - 14:02

Gallium oxide (Ga2O3) can make electronic devices much more energy efficient than existing silicon-based technology. For electronic diodes, researchers have been able to reliably produce n-type gallium oxide layers but struggled to create stable p-type layers because gallium oxide's crystal structure naturally resists the atoms needed for these layers. This limitation resulted in gallium oxide semiconductors with poor performance and reliability issues...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba visited the Tokyo Electron Factory (TEL Miyagi) in Sendai. This visit was significant because it marked a focus of India and Japan’s cooperation in advanced technologies, especially semiconductors. The two leaders also emphasised the importance of this industry by taking the bullet train from Tokyo to Sendai, which is more than 300 km.

During the visit, Modi engaged with TEL executives regarding their position in the global semiconductor ecosystem and future partnerships with India. He emphasized how India’s growing manufacturing ecosystem and Japan’s cutting-edge semiconductor machinery and technology work in tandem.

In his remarks at the India–Japan Economic Forum, Modi highlighted semiconductors, batteries, and robotics as focus areas for Make in India collaborations. Prime Minister Ishiba laid out three goals: building stronger people-to-people ties, fusing technology with green initiatives, and boosting cooperation in high-tech fields, especially semiconductors.

The visit to Sendai came as a follow-up of the bilateral agreements made under the India-Japan Industrial Competitiveness Partnership and the Economic Security Dialogue. Both these agreements cover fields like critical minerals, ICT, pharmaceuticals, and more. An understanding was made to speed up the projects in these fields alongside semiconductors.

Involvement from the private sector is increasing steadily. Japanese firms have entered into around 150 MOUs over the last two years in sectors such as aerospace, automotive, semiconductors, energy, and human resources, as per the Ministry of External Affairs of India. Modi also remarked that the Digital Partnership 2.0, AI collaboration, and work on rare earth minerals will continue to be the focus of partnership.

Modi and Ishiba reiterated their vision of developing strong and trusted supply chains and India and Japan’s roles as critical partners in the framework of global technology security by keeping semiconductors as the focus of this visit.

The post PM Modi, Japan’s Ishiba Visit Sendai Plant to Boost Semiconductor Ties appeared first on ELE Times.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated India’s first tempered glass manufacturing facility in Noida, marking a major milestone in the country’s electronics manufacturing ecosystem.

Noida now owns the distinction of having inaugurated India’s first tempered glass manufacturing unit, a step ahead in the electronics manufacturing journey.

The plant built in collaboration US technology giant Corning is owned and operated by Optiemus infracom. The factory will manufacture tempered glass for smartphones and other electronic devices, which is used as a protective layer and is used extensively.

Optiemus has emerged as a key player in India’s electronics manufacturing ecosystem, known for its strategic partnerships and innovation, Minister Vaishnaw described Optiemus, “a new gem in India’s fast-growing electronics manufacturing ecosystem,” and further stated that production of covered glass with Corning’s collaboration is slated to begin before the end of this year.

Investment and Production Capacity:

The Noida facility has been built with an initial investment of ₹70 crore and is, and it is furnished with an annual capacity of 2.5 crore units. In addition to supporting domestic manufacturing, the plant is projected to generate more than 600 direct jobs in the area.

Optiemus has set forth expansion plans of a larger scale. In the second phase of growth, the company aims to significantly increase its capacity to 20 crore units per year for the domestic market as well as for exports.

Phase 2 Expansion: 

For the next phase, the company wishes to open another plant in Noida with an annual capacity of 10 crore units. In addition, a new plant in southern India with a capacity of 15 crore tempered glass units is planned. An additional ₹800 crore is earmarked for this expansion, with the southern plant receiving more than ₹450 crore.

In addition, the company plans to launch its own brand of tempered glass, RhinoTech, in September 2025. Emphasizing domestic manufacturing, a ‘Made in India’ tag will be attached to the product. RhinoTech will have consumer-friendly features. For instance, it will be covered by a one-year warranty with unlimited replacement, which is bound to add value to the product in the market.

While speaking at the event, Minister Vaishnaw focused on the achievements of India’s electronics sector. In the past 11 years, this sector’s production value has increased six times, reaching ₹11.5 lakh crore. Exports have also grown to more than ₹3 lakh crore, and the industry supports 25 million jobs both directly and indirectly across the country.

The inauguration of this factory marks India’s entry into the tempered glass manufacturing industry, which was previously reliant on imports. The impact of this development is the expected improvement of the supply chain for smartphones and other electronic devices, which is in line with the government initiative to make India a global hub for electronics production.

The post India’s First Tempered Glass Production Unit Inaugurated in Noida appeared first on ELE Times.

💯 Конкурс рішень з гуманітарного розмінування: TechBridge x Sikorsky Innovation Challenge kpi пн, 09/01/2025 - 11:47

In the evolving landscape of precision sensing, contactless potentiometers are quietly redefining what reliability looks like. By replacing mechanical wear points with magnetic sensing, these devices offer a frictionless alternative that is both durable and remarkably accurate.

This post offers a quick look at how contactless potentiometers work, where they are used, and why they are gaining ground.

Detecting position, movement, rotation, or angular acceleration is essential in modern control and measurement systems. Traditionally, this was done using mechanical potentiometers—a resistive strip with a sliding contact known as a wiper. As the wiper moves, it alters the resistance values, allowing the system to determine position.

Although these devices are inexpensive, they suffer from wear and tears due to friction between the strip and the wiper. This limits their reliability and shortens their lifespan, especially in harsh environments.

To address these issues, non-contact alternatives have become increasingly popular. Most rely on magnetic sensors and offer a range of advantages: higher accuracy, greater resistance to shocks, vibrations, moisture and contaminants, wider operating temperature ranges, and minimal maintenance. Most importantly, they last significantly longer, making them ideal for demanding applications where durability and precision are critical.

Where are contactless potentiometers used?

Contactless potentiometers (non-contact position sensors) are found in all sorts of machines and devices where it’s important to know how something is moving—without touching it directly. Because they do not wear out like traditional potentiometers, they are perfect for jobs that need long-lasting, reliable performance.

In factories, they help robots and machines move precisely. In cars, they track things like pedal position and steering angle. You will even find them in wind turbines, helping monitor movement to keep everything running smoothly.

They are also used in airplanes, satellites, and other high-tech systems where accuracy and reliability are absolutely critical. When precision and reliability are non-negotiable, contactless potentiometers outperform their mechanical counterparts.

What makes contactless potentiometers work

At the heart of every contactless potentiometer lies a clever interplay of magnetic fields and sensor technology that enables precise, wear-free position sensing.

Figure 1 The STHE30 series single-turn single-output contactless potentiometer employs Hall-effect technology. Source: P3 America

The contactless potentiometer shown above—like most contemporary designs—employs Hall-effect technology to sense the rotational travel of the knob. This method is favored for its reliability, long lifespan, and immunity to mechanical wear.

However, Hall-effect sensing is just one of several technologies used in contactless potentiometers. Other approaches include magneto-resistive sensing, which offers robust precision and thermal stability. Then there is inductive sensing, known for its robustness in harsh environments and suitability for high-speed applications. Next, capacitive sensing, often chosen for compact form factors, facilitates low-power designs. Finally, optical encoding provides high-resolution feedback by detecting changes in light patterns.

Ultimately, choosing the right sensing technology hinges on factors like required accuracy, environmental conditions, and mechanical limitations.

Displayed below is the SK22B model—a contactless potentiometer that operates using inductive sensing for precise, wear-free position detection.

Figure 2 The SK22B potentiometer integrates precision inductive elements to achieve contactless operation. Source: www.potentiometers.com

Contactless sensing for makers

So, contactless potentiometers—also known as non-contact rotary sensors, angle encoders, or electronic position knobs—offer precise, wear-free angular position sensing.

Something worth pointing out is that a quick pick for practical hobbyists is the AS5600—a compact, easy-to-program magnetic rotary position sensor that excels in such applications, thanks to its 12-bit resolution, low power draw, and strong immunity to stray magnetic fields.

Also keep in mind that while the AS5600 is favored for its simplicity and reliability, other magnetic position sensors—like the AS5048 or MLX90316—offer robust contactless performance for more advanced or specialized applications.

Another notable option is the MagAlpha MAQ470 automotive angle sensor, engineered to detect the absolute angular position of a permanent magnet—typically a diametrically magnetized cylindrical magnet mounted on a rotating shaft.

Figure 3 Functional blocks of the AS5600 unveil the inner workings. Source: ams OSRAM

And a bit of advice for anyone designing angle measurement systems using contactless potentiometers: success hinges on tailoring the solution to the specific demands of the application. These devices are widely used in areas like industrial automation, robotics, electronic power steering, and motor position sensing, where they monitor the angular position of rotating shafts in either on-axis or off-axis setups.

Key design considerations include shaft arrangement, air gap tolerance, required accuracy, and operating temperature range. During practical implementation, it’s crucial to account for two major sources of error—those stemming from the sensor chip itself and those introduced by the magnetic input—to ensure reliable performance and precise measurements.

A while ago, I shared an outline for weather enthusiasts to build an expandable wind vane using a readily available angle sensor module. This time, I am diving into a complementary idea: crafting a poor man’s optical contactless potentiometer/angle sensor/encoder.

The device itself is quite simple: a perforated disc rotates between infrared LEDs and phototransistors. Whenever a phototransistor is illuminated by its corresponding light sender, it becomes conductive. Naturally, you will need access to a 3D printer to fabricate the disc.

Be sure to position the phototransistors and align the holes strategically; this allows you to encode the maximum number of angular positions within minimal space. A quick reference drawing is shown below.

Figure 4 The schematic shows an optical alternative setup. Source: Author

It’s worth pointing out that this setup is particularly effective for implementing a Gray Coding system, as long as the disc is patterned with a single-track Gray Code. Developed by Frank Gray, Gray Code stands out for its elegant approach to binary representation. By ensuring that only a single bit changes between consecutive values, it streamlines logic operations and helps guard against transition errors.

That’s all for now, leaving plenty of intriguing ideas for you to ponder and inquire further. But the story does not end here—I have some deeper thoughts to share on absolute encoders, incremental encoders, rotary encoders, linear encoders, and more. Perhaps a topic for an upcoming post.

If any of these spark your curiosity, let me know—your questions and comments might just shape what comes next. Until then, stay curious, keep questioning, and do not hesitate to reach out with your thoughts.

T. K. Hareendran is a self-taught electronics enthusiast with a strong passion for innovative circuit design and hands-on technology. He develops both experimental and practical electronic projects, documenting and sharing his work to support fellow tinkerers and learners. Beyond the workbench, he dedicates time to technical writing and hardware evaluations to contribute meaningfully to the maker community.

Related Content

• When potentiometers go to pot
• Contactless electric bell on a gradient relay
• Gear Potentiometers – A Quick Introduction
• The Contactless Passive Multifunctional Sensors
• Hall-effect sensors measure fields and detect position

The post Contactless potentiometers: Unlocking precision with magnetic sensing appeared first on EDN.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Engineering Centers Building on 5 August hosted the grand opening of the Ultra-Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) Laboratory, attended by university and national R&D leaders including UW-Madison’s vice chancellor for research Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska; College of Engineering Dean Devesh Ranjan; and Vivek Prasad, VP for design engineering ecosystem enablement at NatCast (a nonprofit that operates the National Semiconductor Technology Center). They joined Susan Hagness, chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and ECE assistant professor Shubhra Pasayat, who oversees the new facility as the lab’s principal investigator...

made this diy relay modules with relays I had lying around and made it smart using the esp32 submitted by /u/Rare-Town5273 [link] [comments]

It's been a while since my previous prototype. I always test new projects on proto boards, since parts on Spice can't explode :). This is a NE555 PWM MOSFET driver with adjustable off and on state pulse width. On state is about 100ms and off state is about three seconds. This is a part of a flyback driver for electrical fence. Since everything works fine it's time to fire up KiCad and map everything. submitted by /u/orefat [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/6gv5 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/rcplaner [link] [comments]

Learn how a varactor diode's variable capacitance, together with an LC tank circuit, can drive a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) to create FM waveforms.