Fabrication and Training of 3D Conductive Polymer Networks for Neuromorphic Wetware

The human brain possesses an exceptional information processing capability owing to the 3D and dense network architecture of numerous neurons and synapses. Brain-inspired neuromorphic hardware can also benefit from 3D architectures, such as high integration of circuits and acquisition of highly complex dynamical systems. In this study, for future 3D neuromorphic engineering, 3D conductive polymer networks consisting of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene) doped with poly(styrene sulfonate) anions (PEDOT:PSS) are successfully and stably fabricated between multiple electrodes from scratch in precursor solution by electropolymerization. The networks efficiently emulate the 3D local connections between neighboring neurons observed in the cortex. This novel technology, which allows 3D conductive wiring only between desired electrodes, is unprecedented and has potential as an underlying technology for 3D integration. Furthermore, the experimental results also conclusively prove that conductance modification can be performed by manipulating the physical and chemical properties of 3D branch-wired conductive polymer wires, thus demonstrating for the first time the feasibility of neuromorphic wetware with enhanced biological plausibility in the subsequent post-Moore era.     

Strategies for visualising 3D points-of-interest on mobile devices

3D virtual environments are increasingly used as general-purpose medium for communicating spatial information. In particular, virtual 3D city models have numerous applications such as car navigation, city marketing, tourism and gaming. In these applications, points-of-interest (POI) play a major role since they typically represent features relevant for specific user tasks and facilitate effective user orientation and navigation through the 3D virtual environment. In this article, we present strategies that aim at effectively visualising POI in a 3D virtual environment used on mobile devices. Here, we additionally have to face the ‘keyhole’ situation, i.e. the users can realise only a small part of the environment due to the limited view space and resolution. For the effective visualisation of POI in 3D virtual environments we propose to combine specialised occlusion management for 3D scenes together with visual cues that handle out-of-frame POI. We also discuss general aspects and definitions of POI in the scope of 3D models and outline a prototype implementation of the mobile 3D viewer application based on the presented concepts. In addition, we give a first performance evaluation with respect to rendering speed and power consumptions.     

Flash Papervision3D中3D Web应用程序设计

为了能将日益应用广泛的Papervision3D、能在Flash Player中播放的目的,采用较为新颖的3D引擎方法,做了三维到二维的转换、Flint粒子系统实验,实现了平滑拉近物体从远处拉近及喷泉的效果.通用开源Flash 3D渲染引擎中Papervision3D是基于ActionScript的开源项目,而Flash在3D领域的应用相对贫乏,在Flash Player中播放,则具备体积小、与用户交互能力强、效果逼真的3D Web应用程序特点.     

Design for manufacturing of 3D capacitors

3D capacitor design parameters have been evaluated in order to improve the capacitance per unit die area. The geometrical issues as well as the process manufacturing issues are both investigated. The main manufacturing issues have been experimentally tested: etching, deposition and warpage of the wafer. An improvement has been observed for the robustness of 3D structures and the density of the capacitor has been increased for several proposed 3D pattern. All capacitors tested in this paper are realised with PICS technology.     

3D打印在空间微波部件的应用展望

3D打印通过流体材料或粉体材料的层片叠加,将CAD设计转化为三维实体零件,无需模具或机加工,凭借极大的设计自由度和生产效率,近年来逐渐用于工业产品的直接制造,在配件减重、模型验证、复杂结构一体化成型、零部件受损修复方面具有极大的优势。本文介绍了3D打印技术及其分类,举例分析该技术在航天器微波部件的应用情况,探讨其对射频器件制备的影响。最后,对3D打印在空间部件制造的关键问题和发展进行了展望。     

Smart Energy Bricks: Ti3C2@Polymer Electrochemical Energy Storage inside Bricks by 3D Printing

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has a pronounced impact on building construction and energy storage devices. Here, the concept of integrating 3D-printed electrochemical devices into insulation voids in construction bricks is demonstrated in order to create electrochemical energy storage as an integral part of home building. The low-cost 3D-printed supercapacitor (SC) electrodes are created using graphene/polylactic acid (PLA) filament in any desired shape such as 3D cylindrical- (3Dcy), disk- (3Ddc), and 3D rectangular- (3Drc) shaped electrodes. To obtain excellent capacitive performance, a Ti₃C₂@polypyrrole (PPy) hybrid is uniformly electroplated on the surface of 3D-printed electrodes. These Ti₃C₂@PPy-coated 3D-printed electrodes exhibit outstanding electrical conductivity, capacitive performance, cycle life, and power density. The bricks themselves act as an excellent scaffold for electrochemical energy devices as they are electrically insulating, fire-resistant, and contain substantial unused thermal insulation voids. A 3Drc Ti₃C₂@PPy SC is integrated into a real brick to showcase a smart house energy storage system that allows to reserve power in the bricks and use it as a power backup source in the event of a power outage in the elevator. This concept provides a platform for future truly smart buildings built from added value “smart brick” energy storage systems.     

Image-based strategies for interactive visualisation of complex 3D geovirtual environments on lightweight devices

In this article, we present strategies for service-oriented, standards and image-based 3D geovisualisation that have the potential to provide interactive visualisation of complex 3D geovirtual environments (3DGeoVE) on lightweight devices. In our approach, interactive geovisualisation clients retrieve sets of 2D images of projective views of 3DGeoVEs generated by a 3D rendering service. As the key advantage of the image-based approach, the complexity that a client is exposed for displaying a visual representation is reduced to a constant factor primarily depending on the image resolution. To provide users with a high degree of interactivity, we propose strategies that are based on additional service-side functionality and on exploiting multiple layers of information encoded into the images for the local reconstruction of visual representations of the remote 3DGeoVE. The use of service-orientation and standards facilitates designing distributed 3D geovisualisation systems that are open, interoperable and can easily be adapted to changing requirements. We demonstrate the validity of the proposed strategies by presenting proof-of-concept implementations of several image-based 3D clients for the case of virtual 3D city models.     

3D Printing of Multifunctional Hydrogels

3D printing technology has been widely explored for the rapid design and fabrication of hydrogels, as required by complicated soft structures and devices. Here, a new 3D printing method is presented based on the rheology modifier of Carbomer for direct ink writing of various functional hydrogels. Carbomer is shown to be highly efficient in providing ideal rheological behaviors for multifunctional hydrogel inks, including double network hydrogels, magnetic hydrogels, temperature‐sensitive hydrogels, and biogels, with a low dosage (at least 0.5% w/v) recorded. Besides the excellent printing performance, mechanical behaviors, and biocompatibility, the 3D printed multifunctional hydrogels enable various soft devices, including loadable webs, soft robots, 4D printed leaves, and hydrogel Petri dishes. Moreover, with its unprecedented capability, the Carbomer‐based 3D printing method opens new avenues for bioprinting manufacturing and integrated hydrogel devices.     

Sn whisker evaluations in 3D microbumped structures

Sn whiskering remains a reliability concern in electronic applications. Despite extensive research on growth rates and mitigation strategies, no predictive theory is in place. Literature data are available for Cu/Sn-based films and coatings as well as for board-level and flip-chip solder bumps but data are scarce for scaled-down solder volumes and for higher intermetallic-to-solder ratios. The current work investigates whiskers in “isolated geometries” for 3D solder-capped Cu microbumps with >2 orders of magnitude smaller solder volumes compared to state-of-the-art. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time Sn whisker growth is reported in isolated solder volumes (e.g. <8 μm-side cube). Whiskers propensity was evaluated using JEDEC industrial specifications. The tested structures were: 5/3.5 μm-thick Cu/Sn films and 15 μm-diameter electroplated solder capping (Sn, SnAg, SnCu) on Cu microbumps (as-plated vs. reflowed). Selected Sn whiskers and “whisker-like” features were analysed and identified experimentally with SEM, EDX and FIB. In the absence of a predictive model, first-order and “what if” calculations based on IMC molar volume and oxide cracking hypotheses were carried out. This approach quantifies “figures of merit” for Sn whisker propensity with (1) different bump-limiting metallization (BLM) cases e.g. Cu, Ni, Co and (2) further microbump scaling. Future research recommendations are outlined to mitigate manufacturing risks by controlling “sit time” between bumping and stacking.     

3D电视的原理及电路解析

2009年12月,随着阿凡达的大热,消费者对3D的狂热在国际上掀起一轮3D热潮。在3D电影的促动下,3D市场已于2010年开始起飞。而且随着全球消费电子厂商陆续推出一批包括电视机、监视器、笔记本电脑、蓝光盘播放器、数码相机、摄像机、电子相框等3D相关产品进军家庭市场。据DisplaySearch的市场调研数据显示,2010年3D电视全球出货量达到420万台。2011年全球3D电视货量达2 340万台,2014年预计将出货达9 000万台。中国的3D电视产业发展备受业内外人士关注,我国不仅是全球最大的平板电视市场,更是全球最大的彩电制造基地。从平板电视到互联网电视再到3D电视,每一次技术升级,国内彩电企业总是紧跟而上。2010年3月,TCL、创维等企业开始推出3D电视;随后在9月份,海信推出了融合网络多媒体技术、3D显示技术的LED背光电视;康佳一举推出4大系列、20多款智能3D电视。文中主要阐述3D电视的原理及技术分类,并以康佳988系列3D电视为例,解析3D部分电路。     

Synchronous 2D/3D Switching System for Service‐Compatible 3DTV Broadcasting

This paper proposes a new broadcasting system for the service‐compatible 3DTV in which the 3D service can coexist with the conventional digital TV broadcast. In the proposed system, the commercial 3DTV service can be implemented via the existing DTV channel without utilizing the dedicated 3DTV system. This 2D/3D system interworks with the conventional system and can switch to 2D or 3D service according to the broadcast programming and schedule. The system also provides a mechanism that can prevent the synchronization mismatch between left and right video streams and between the stream and the associated signaling in the 2D/3D transition periods. The picture quality measurements are carried out based on the ITU‐R recommended test to check the level of quality of service provided by the proposed scheme. The conformity tests are also performed with the conventional channel and the receiver for the DTV system to confirm the feasibility of the proposed one for the commercial service.     

3DCLIMBER: Climbing and manipulation over 3D structures

This paper describes the development of a novel pole climbing robot with the ability of climbing and manipulating across 3D structures, like petrochemical pipelines. The robot consists of a 4-DOF serial climbing mechanism and two grippers. Unlike many other developed pole climbing robots, 3DCLIMBER can overcome bends, T-junctions, flanges, and sharp changes on the pole’s diameter. With the current gripper, the robot can operate on circular profiles with diameters ranging from 200 mm to 350 mm and is able to scan the exterior surface of the pole. Existence of separate gripping and climbing modules allows application of various grippers for different profile shapes and sizes without any change on the climbing mechanism. In case of power failure the robot maintains its status without slipping on the structure. Furthermore, some nondestructive test operations require fine manipulation over the structure. Fine manipulation with an industrial arm encounters many well known difficulties. Such difficulties become even more problematic when the base of the robot’s arm is mobile. This problem was addressed by a robotic proprioception solution embedded into the robot by integration of inclinometers and range finder sensors as well as error compensation and self calibration algorithms. The proposed algorithms and sensors significantly improved the manipulation accuracy of the robot.     

Real-time 3D multi-pedestrian detection and tracking using 3D LiDAR point cloud for mobile robot

Mobile robots are used in modern life; however, object recognition is still insufficient to realize robot navigation in crowded environments. Mobile robots must rapidly and accurately recognize the movements and shapes of pedestrians to navigate safely in pedestrian-rich spaces. This study proposes real-time, accurate, three-dimensional (3D) multi-pedestrian detection and tracking using a 3D light detection and ranging (LiDAR) point cloud in crowded environments. The pedestrian detection quickly segments a sparse 3D point cloud into individual pedestrians using a lightweight convolutional autoencoder and connected-component algorithm. The multi-pedestrian tracking identifies the same pedestrians considering motion and appearance cues in continuing frames. In addition, it estimates pedestrians' dynamic movements with various patterns by adaptively mixing heterogeneous motion models. We evaluate the computational speed and accuracy of each module using the KITTI dataset. We demonstrate that our integrated system, which rapidly and accurately recognizes pedestrian movement and appearance using a sparse 3D LiDAR, is applicable for robot navigation in crowded spaces.     

基于DMD的真三维显示系统及其三维成像引擎设计

结合在体元式三维显示(Volumetric 3D display)中比较有代表性的3种显示系统,在说明了体元式真三维显示系统的实现思路和方法的基础上,从应用的角度解析以DMD为核心构成的三维成像引擎在体元式真三维显示系统中的应用,并给出3种基于DMD的三维成像引擎架构,能够在不同层次上很好地满足真三维显示对海量数据实时、高速、精确处理的要求。     

基于Java3D的三维模型交互设计系统的开发与应用

首先概括地介绍了Java3D技术在三维模型交互设计的应用.提出了采用Java3D用于虚拟三维模型的描述,通过远端客户机读取服务端客户上传的三维图形数据,实现与用户交互的虚拟三维交互建模方案,使用程序提供的绘图工具对图形进行编辑并将结果保存到服务端相应的文件,通过对服务器端文件的读写操作来实现用户之间的信息交互,共享数字化的设计信息,使Internet成为设计工作的主要协作平台.     

液晶材料与3D显示

介绍了3D显示的基本原理,重点介绍了目前3D显示的主流技术类型,包含了眼镜式3D技术以及裸眼式3D技术,其中眼镜式3D技术包含色差式3D技术、偏光式3D技术和主动快门式3D技术;裸眼式3D技术包含视差屏障式3D技术、柱状透镜式3D技术、指向光源式3D技术和多层显示式3D技术。阐述了各种3D显示技术的基本实现原理和应用领域、并对涉及液晶显示的几种3D技术的优缺点进行了对比。结合液晶材料的特点与3D液晶显示的实际要求,阐述了3D液晶面板对液晶材料快速响应方面的要求,以及液晶透镜对液晶材料光学各向异性参数的要求。     

3D Printed Actuators: Reversibility,Relaxation, and Ratcheting

Additive manufacturing strives to combine any combination of materials into 3D functional structures and devices, ultimately opening up the possibility of 3D printed machines. It remains difficult to actuate such devices, thus limiting the scope of 3D printed machines to passive devices or necessitating the incorporation of external actuators that are manufactured differently. Here, 3D printed hybrid thermoplast/conducter bilayers are explored, which can be actuated by differential heating caused by externally controllable currents flowing through their conducting faces. The functionality of such actuators is uncovered and it is shown that they allow to 3D print, in one pass, simple flexible robotic structures that propel forward under step‐wise applied voltages. Moreover, exploiting the thermoplasticity of the nonconducting plastic parts at elevated temperatures, it is shown that how strong driving leads to irreversible deformations—a form of 4D printing—which also enlarges the range of linear response of the actuators. Finally, it is shown that how to leverage such thermoplastic relaxations to accumulate plastic deformations and obtain very large deformations by alternatively driving both layers of a bilayer; this is called ratcheting. The strategy is scalable and widely applicable, and opens up a new approach to reversible actuation and irreversible 4D printing of arbitrary structures and machines.     

3D视音频技术综述

随着2009年底卡梅隆导演的《阿凡达》影片的热映,三维立体(3D Stereo)显示技术成为目前火热的技术之一,通过左右眼信号分离,在显示平台上能够实现的立体图像显示。立体显示是VR虚拟现实的一个实现沉浸交互的方式之一,3D(3 dimensional)立体显示可以把图像的纵深,层次,位置等细节全部展现,观察者更直观地了解图像的现实分布状况,从而更全面了解图像或显示内容的信息。为了配合3D立体视觉环境,介绍了3D音频技术,它是未来的一个趋势,并且对3D音频技术的基本理论、声学特点和发展状况等给出了看法。     

3D电视行业的发展现状与前景分析

3D电视是近年来的一个新的技术亮点和产业热点,主要从3D电视的拍摄、3D节目制作、3D节目传输、3D终端显示等方面介绍了3D电视行业的发展现状,并对3D电视的发展前景进行分析。