EDITORIAL BOARD

Call for Papers

Editor-in-Chief Theme Issue on Augmented,
Dario Schor, Virtual and Mixed Reality
Magellan Aerospace,
IEEE Potentials Theme Issue
Canada
November/December 2023
Student Editor Lead Editors: Stamatis Dragoumanos, sdragou@gmail.com
Erivelton Nepomuceno, Shaikh Fattah, s.a.fattah@ieee.org
Maynooth University,
Ireland IEEE Potentials is the IEEE’s global magazine for students, with a circulation of 140,000. Augmented
(AR), Virtual (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) seem to be the most intriguing emerging technologies with
Associate Editors great potential for many disciplines, which are capable of reshaping human perceptions through real-
Shaikh Fattah, time interactive environments. Due to rapid advancement of various technologies, especially Artificial
BUET, Bangladesh Intelligence and Robotics, VR can offer a user immersive experience of the 3D world and AR can
give the perception of reality and virtuality. Nevertheless, it seems that AR/VR/MR applications are
Thanos Kakarountas, not easily adopted for massive usage and the user experience in such environments is still not the
smoothest one. This theme issue will explore the various technological advancements that are used
University of Thessaly, in AR/VR/MR to create emerging experiences as well as applications of AR/VR/MR including but
Greece not limited to business, industry, healthcare, education, cultural heritage, entertainment and games.
This theme issue will also address the social, political, and ethical impacts of these technologies
Mohammad Faizal Ahmad Fauzi, and applications.
Multimedia University, The evolution of haptics, motion capture, gesture recognition, ubiquitous computing and their role
Malaysia in a more emerging experience is also of interest of this theme issue.
We invite submission of manuscripts for publication. Topics include but are not limited to:
Prashant Nair,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, ■ Augmented Reality Applications ■ Ubiquitous Computing including practical,
India ■ Virtual Reality Applications technical, empirical and theoretical aspects
■ Interactive Technologies ■ Software architectures, toolkits, and
John Benedict, ■ Display technologies for VR/AR; engineering
Amazon, ■ Simulation Design and Engineering ■ Teleoperation and telepresence
India ■ Content creation and management for VR/AR; ■ User experience and usability
Stamatis Dragoumanos, ■ Motion Capture and Tracking ■ Cultural heritage applications
■ Human-Computer Interaction ■ Industrial applications
Freelance Software Engineer,
■ User Interface Design ■ Healthcare applications
Greece ■ Perception/presence in VR/AR; ■ Education applications
■ Performance, cultural heritage and art in ■ Diversity and gender issues
Corresponding Editors VR/AR; ■ Embodied agents, virtual humans and
Syrine Ferjaoui ■ Physiological sensing for VR/AR; (self-)avatars
Raymond E. Floyd ■ User experience/usability in VR/AR; ■ Ethical issues
Justin Cange ■ Visualization/visual analytics with VR/AR; ■ Haptic interfaces and rendering
Greg Linton
Michael Salem Submission of Papers: Prospective authors are invited to submit articles of up to 4,000 words.
Articles should be aimed at a student audience and should not represent original research. The
IEEE Potentials style requires no abstract, no citations from within the main text, and minimal
equations but liberal use of relevant, captioned illustrations and photographs is encouraged. For
more information, refer to the magazine’s information for authors section. Articles for consider-
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Manuscript submission 1 June 2023
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Publication date November 2023

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2022.3226532

 THE MAGAZINE FOR HIGH-TECH INNOVATORS

March/April 2023
Vol. 42 No. 2

FEATURES

4 Characterizing the wireless data transmission

of biosignals within a health-care environment
Madison L. Childress, Russell E. Bruhnke, Clint R. Frandsen,
and Mark A. Benscoter

11 User-adaptive verbal calculator for the

physically challenged: An assistive technology
ON THE COVER:
Pani Prithvi Raj In this issue, explore innovation and
technology solutions in this issue

16 Nanoscale on-chip inductors using a with wireless data transmission of

biosignals, user-adaptive verbal
linearized meminductive circuit calculators, micro- and small-
hydroelectric generation, and more.
Ahmed M. Alaa
©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/MAKUSHIN ALEKSEI

20 Location and characterization of faults in

coaxial cables using reflectometry and
impedance spectroscopy DEPARTMENTS
Padmanabhan Rajaraman, Qinghai Shi, and Olfa Kanoun & COLUMNS

28 Estimating micro- and small hydroelectric

generation potential: A learning tool
3 Editorial
44 IEEE student activities
Paulo S.C. Nascimento, Rodrigo M. Novaes, and Bruno H. Dias
48 Essay

35 Thermal radiation mode: A deployment

perspective for 5G New Radio
Haneet Kour, Rakesh K. Jha, Sanjeev Jain, and Shubha Jain
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Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2023.3235071 I E E E P O T E N T I A LS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 1

IEEE POTENTIALS—THE MAGAZINE FOR HIGH-TECH INNOVATORS

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Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2023.3235073

2 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 I E E E POT E NT I AL S
 EDITORIAL

Time and energy

for networking
by Erivelton Nepomuceno

M
any people think that the time spent with Second, one should devote energy to networking. It
work colleagues in a coffee shop is useless— seems obvious that, if you are together with someone,
or at least that those precious minutes would you are doing that. However, your energy could be di-
be more productive in the lab or in front of rected elsewhere. Mobile phones are an incredible source
a computer. That is quite a big mistake that, hopeful- of distraction. Quite often, we see people prioritizing vir-
ly, age and wisdom can revert. Many times, lonely aca- tual connections over those who are in front of them. This
demics—or worse, solitary individuals—will emerge does not mean that a relationship cannot be nurtured
from those self-entitled focused by virtual meetings. Online calls,
workers. In this second issue of Being in front of another meetings, and education have prov-
2023, I hope that this editorial en to be very useful. In both cases,
could be a call for change in—or person is a precious our attention is the key issue. We
a booster to—the importance of moment that can save only need to answer the question
socialization and networking. lives, keep our mental of which subject we are spending
First point: networking requires our energy on. The answer will de-
time. We should spend time with health in good shape, termine whether meetings are suc-
people for the simple reasons of and create the cessful or not.
getting to know them and letting professional network The power of our networking
them get to know us. A good friend will be defined by the work devoted
is one who understand us very so important for to building relationships over time.
well. It is only possible if he has our success. It is simple, like our first physics
been trained many times and in lessons. Nevertheless, without our
different circumstances. Not so different from a machine energy, entropy tends to grow, and organized social net-
learning algorithm, a relationship requires a substantial works may not appear—again, like physics. The very fact
set of experiences over a considerable time window. Ev- that each of us—human beings—is unique is so incred-
eryone will recognize a friendship certification—or, con- ible and deserves our meticulous exploration. Being in
tinuing to use the machine learning term: a friendship front of another person is a precious moment that can
validation—if, in a circumstance of stress or need, some- save lives, keep our mental health in good shape, and
one jumped in front of us and understood our needs in create the professional network so important for our suc-
a way that no other people could. It could be a personal cess. By the way, it is time to grab a cup of coffee with
matter or a technical and scientific collaboration on a some friends. Fancy a cuppa?
project. Reciprocal understanding comes after a training
time stage. About the author
Erivelton Nepomuceno (erivelton.nepomuceno@mu.ie)
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2023.3234749
is with Maynooth University, Maynooth W23 F2H6, Ire-
Date of current version: 7 March 2023 land, and is the student editor of IEEE Potentials.

IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 3

 Characterizing the
wireless data transmission
of biosignals within a
health-care environment
Madison L. Childress , Russell E. Bruhnke , Clint R. Frandsen, and Mark A. Benscoter
A
dvancements in implant-
able medical devices have
c r e a t e d t h e n e e d fo r
more robust continuous
data transmission abili-
ties. Implantable medical device
wireless data transmission within
a health-care setting is beneficial,
as it has the potential to increase
safety, broaden independence, and
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2019.2911319
Date of current version: 7 March 2023
4 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
i ncrease mobi l it y for pat ients.
Minimizing the need for an indi-
vidual to be tethered to electrical
equipment restores movement,
improves the quality of life for him
or her, and may reduce the safety
risk profile.
Here, we study data transmis-
sion within the health-care en-
vironment at 433 MHz to under-
stand the effectiveness of this at
a frequency range that prevents
patient harm. A three-turn loop
©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/METAMORWORKS
antenna was used as the trans-
mit antenna, and a three-element
Yagi–Uda array was employed as
the receive antenna. The antennas
were characterized to determine
their behavior, and transmission
experiments were conducted in an
operating room (OR). The results
of this study show that using this
antenna combination results in a
signal strength that enables robust
data transmission within a health-
care environment.
0278-6648/23©2023IEEE
Data transmission via antennas
Implantable devices are a mainstay
in patient care and commonly used
in cardiac and neurologic applica-
tions. The use of an implantable
device influences a patient’s quality
of life. For example, an early design
of the pacemaker had to be plugged
into an ac outlet for power, severely
limiting patient movement (Aquili-
na, 2006). The invention of the
implantable pacemaker allowed
patients to move around with much
more freedom. Additionally, the
risks associated with wired power
were reduced through the use of a
battery (Aquilina, 2006).
Similarly, the ability to wirelessly
transmit data from an implantable
device would increase a patient’s com-
fort by allowing him or her to be more
mobile. Due to conflicting electrical
signals and the presence of other elec-
trical equipment, the ability to suc-
cessfully transmit and receive data
from wireless devices in the health-
care environment can be challenging.
This article studies the use of radio
frequencies (RFs) for wireless commu-
nication in implantable devices.
The effectiveness of data trans-
mission for an implantable wireless
device is directly influenced by the
antenna design. The antenna used
for transmitting patient data plays
a crucial role in the strength of a
transmitted signal as well as the size
of the device (Yazdandoost and Koh-
no, 2007). The receive antenna also
influences the system performance;
a high-gain antenna could counter-
act the effects of a low-gain one on
the transmission side. Furthermore,
the number and location of receive
antennas could improve the ability
to maintain a reliable signal with pa-
tient movement. Research has been
done on possible antenna designs
(Rosen et al., 2002; Yazdandoost
and Kohno, 2007; Kiourti and Ni-
kita, 2021; Nguyen and Jung, 2016;
Huang et al., 2011; Duan et al.,
2014; Yakovlev et al., 2012; Kim and
Rahman-Samii, 2004), but few have
been tested in an actual health-care
environment.
The purpose of this study is to
examine a system where the trans-
mit antenna has been designed with
the intent to minimize the transmit
power to send a signal to the receiv-
er while remaining above the noise
level. Both the transmit antenna (a
three-turn loop) and receive antenna
(a Yagi–Uda array) were modeled and
simulated in the antenna modeling
software, 4nec2, before being physi-
cally created and tested. The three-
turn loop antenna for the transmit
one was designed to fit within a tra-
ditional 8-cm-diameter implantable
case. The specific absorption rate
(SAR) was also considered through-
out the design process.
Background and theory
The amount of power the body will
absorb plays an important role in
a nten na desig n. T he power
absorbed by the body from an elec-
tromagnetic field can be represented
by the equation [Federal Communi-
cations Commission (FCC), 1997;
IEEE, 2005]
1 #vE
Pabs = 2 2
dV,
where v is the conductivity of the
tissue (S/m), and E is the electric
field intensity in the body (V/m).
The SAR is the amount of energy
absorbed per unit mass of biologic
tissue. The exposure to RF energy
causes heating of the tissue in what
are called thermal effects. Due to the
rapid heating of tissue at high fre-
quency levels, the FCC instilled lim-
its on the SAR for parts of the body.
In the case of implantable medi-
cal devices, IEEE Standard c95.1
(FCC; IEEE, 2005) states that the
maximum level of the SAR should
be treated as a partial body expo-
sure in an uncontrolled environment
(1.6 W/kg per 1 cm3 of tissue).
The SAR can be calculated by re-
lating it to the electric field by (IEEE,
2005)
2
v E
SAR =
t
where v is the conductivity of the
tissue (S/m), t is the density of the
tissue (kg/m3), and E is the root-
mean-square electric field strength
in tissue (V/m).
IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3
The antenna chosen for the trans-
mit side can affect the amount of pow-
er absorbed in the body from the elec-
tromagnetic field as well as the overall
efficiency of the system. The operating
frequency, transmit power, and an-
tenna size are parameters that need
to be taken into consideration when
designing the transmit antenna.
The frequency used will need to be
low enough to pass through the hu-
man body, as biologic tissue is a poor
transmission medium due to losses
caused by absorption or changes to
the radiation pattern (Duan et al.,
2014). If the frequency is too high,
the body will cause the transmitted
signal to scatter, resulting in a reduc-
tion in the amount that would leave
the body (Skrivervik et al., 2001). A
lower transmit power will also result
in the SAR being less problematic
(Yazdandoost, 2007; IEEE, 2005).
The antenna size needs to be
miniaturized to accommodate a
small, hermetically sealed case. The
overall efficiency of the antenna will
decrease due to the small transmit
antenna. To counteract the lack of
transmit efficiency, an efficient re-
ceive antenna will be used.
The Friis equation is used to cal-
culate the theoretical values of what
the power received should be
Pt G t G r c 2
Pr =
(4rRf ) 2
where Pt is the power transmitted,
G t is the gain of the transmit anten-
na, G r is the gain of the receive
antenna, R is the distance between
the antennas, c is the speed of light,
and f is the frequency of operation.
Methods
The wireless transmission system is
composed of one transmit station
and one receive station, an Agilent
Technologies E4438C signal genera-
tor for the transmit station, and an
Agilent Technologies N9010A spec-
trum analyzer (Santa Clara, Cali-
fornia) for the receive station, as
seen in Fig. 1.
The system was used to deter-
mine the minimal transmit power
required to stay above the noise level
and maintain a reliable signal. The
■ 5
amplitude on the signal generator
was set to 0 dBm.
The transmit antenna was a
three-turn loop with a diameter of
approximately 3.5 cm. This antenna
was created with 16-gauge electrical
wire and soldered to a SubMiniature
version A connector for use with a
Tektronix TTR506A vector network
analyzer (VNA) (Beaverton, Oregon)
and the signal generator.
The receive antenna was a Yagi–
Uda antenna. It was created as a lin-
ear array using 14-gauge wire with a
horizontal half-wave dipole antenna
as the driven element. An antenna
stand made of acrylic was used to
hold the elements in place and was
constructed so the director and re-
flector could be moved closer or far-
ther away from the driver.
1m
Tx
Signal
Generator
FIG1 The test setup for the antenna characterization. Rx: receiver; Tx: transmitter.
C2
S8
1.52 m
1.52 m
Rx
S1
S2
C3
FIG2 The OR test setup.
6 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
The VNA was used to determine
the impedance of each of the anten-
nas and if a matching network was
needed. Inductors and capacitors
were added to form the matching
network for the three-turn loop an-
tenna to resonate at 433 MHz.
The spacing between the elements
of the Yagi were adjusted until the re-
actance was at a minimum. The an-
tennas were also created and simu-
lated in 4nec2 to compare the results.
The transmit antenna was charac-
terized inside a 10-m-long lecture hall
consisting of tables, chairs, a white-
board, a computer, a projector, and a
projector screen. A metal box with di-
mensions of approximately 30 × 30 cm
was present in the middle of the floor,
and the noise level of the room was
–80 dBm. A horizontal half-wave di-
5.4 m
Rx
Spectrum
Analyzer
C1
S7
S6
Tx S5
S4
S3
C4
pole was also used as a receiver for
the initial characterization testing.
Another three-turn loop antenna
was created to resonate in water and
saline at 433 MHz. This antenna
was then tested while submerged in
tap water and then saline to deter-
mine how the use of a human phan-
tom would affect the function of
antenna transmission.
The transmit antenna, the three-
turn loop, was connected to a signal
generator to emit a signal at 433 MHz,
and the receive antenna was con-
nected to the spectrum analyzer to
determine the strength of the signal
received. The space within two wave-
lengths was cleared of all objects to
observe normal antenna behavior.
Both antennas were attached to
stands (see Fig. 1) so that they were
upright and at least two wavelengths
off the ground. The transmit antenna
remained in place for the duration of
the experiment, and the receive anten-
na started 1 m away from the transmit
antenna. Both of them directly faced
each other. The receive antenna was
then moved away from the transmit
antenna at increments of 10 cm until
a total distance of 4.4 m between
the antennas was reached. A total of
45 data points were collected for each
trial, and two trials were conducted.
The received signal strength from
the spectrum analyzer was recorded
at each increment, and the averages
at each interval were calculated to
factor out any differences in reflec-
tions present in the room. The re-
ceive antenna was also characterized
using the same process—with the
three-turn loop as the transmit an-
tenna. The Friis equation for trans-
mission loss was used to calculate all
of the theoretical values for the power
received. These theoretical values as-
sume that the experiment was run in
free space with no cable loss.
The same basic process was car-
ried out inside an OR. The OR con-
sisted of equipment used during a
standard operation, most of which
was located in the upper half of the
room. In the lower left corner, there
were several metal tables throughout
the room as well as a steel door in
the lower right corner (C4 in Fig. 2).
The receive antenna was placed on
a nonconductive tripod, while the
transmit antenna was put on an
acrylic stand in the middle of the op-
erating table, parallel to the surface
of the bed.
The dimensions of the room were
measured. The locations to collect
data for this particular room consist-
ed of two circles—one at a distance
of 1.52 m and another at 3.04 m from
the transmit antenna. The four cor-
ners of the room were also chosen to
collect data points (see Fig. 2).
Each spot was measured and
marked with tape to identify its ex-
act location. Eight points were cho-
sen for each circle—four of them
were exactly in line with the trans-
mit antenna, and another four were
at a 45° angle from the transmit. One
spot in the room was chosen as the
starting point, denoted S1 in Fig. 2.
The receive antenna was moved to
each point to collect data, while the
transmit antenna remained fixed.
VNA and 45.2 –j5 X in the 4nec2
simulation. To attach the stand for
the Yagi to the nonconductive tri-
pod, a plastic holder was 3D printed
with a threaded hole at the bottom
to connect to the tripod. Two acrylic
screws placed between the elements
were used to connect the tripod
holder to the Yagi stand. The imped-
ance was measured with the screws
in place and antenna on the tripod.
The impedance stayed within a
range of ±5 X resistance and ±10 X
reactance (Fig. 4).
After the antennas were closely
matched to 50 X, they were charac-
terized in the lecture hall. The data
presented in Fig. 5 were collected
from the three-turn transmit loop
antenna and the receive horizontal
half-wave dipole in air, water, and
saline. While the water and saline
did have an effect on the received
power, t he sig na l-to-noise rat io
was acceptable.
The data in Fig. 6 show the data
three-turn loop and Yagi antenna
combination, and the results were
compared against the theoretical
values from the Friis equation. The
actual values do not account for
power loss due to the cable.
Overall, the results resembled the
theoretical values, with the received
power decreasing as the distance
increased. This experiment was not

Results
The three-turn loop antenna was
tested on the VNA to determine the
impedance of the antenna, which
was 27 – j245 X before adding the
matching network. Based on the
4nec2 simulation, the impedance of
the antenna was 13.2-j1355 X. This (a) (b)
difference can be explained by the
fact that the antenna from the sim-
FIG3 The transmitter antenna: (a) a 433-MHz three-turn loop antenna and (b) the
ulation was not constructed using 4nec2 gain simulation.
perfect circles. Additionally, the
spacing of the wire in between each
turn in the simulation had to be
larger, as 4nec2 assumes that wires
are overlaid if they are too close to
each other (Fig. 3).
The physical antenna was also
tested in an environment that con-
sisted of objects such as metal cabi-
nets and lab equipment. After adding
the matching network, the imped-
ance was 47 + j2. The impedance
was also checked while attached to
the stands that were used during
testing, and it did not change.
The Yagi antenna was found to
have minimal reactance when the
elements were spaced approximate- (a) (b)
ly 4 cm apart. The impedance at
this distance was 52 –j4 X on the FIG4 The receiver antenna: (a) a 433-MHz Yagi and (b) the 4nec2 gain simulation results.

IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 7

 completed in an open area, which
−30 resulted in reflections within the
Power Received (dBm) −35 room causing interference. Although
−40 using a wide, open space would be
433-MHz Loop (Dry)
−45 best to truly see the behavior of
433-MHz Loop (Water)
−50 433-MHz Loop (Saline) these antennas, the realistic appli-
−55 Metal Box (Start) cation for this experiment would be
Metal Box (End) in a room that has reflections and
−60
points of interference.
−65
After characterizing the anten-
−70
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 nas, an experiment was conducted
Distance Between Antennas (m) in an OR to study the environmen-
tal effects on the system. Tables 1
FIG5 A comparison of the power received at 433 MHz for dry (blue) versus tap water and 2 show the results of this ex-
(red) versus saline (yellow).
periment. The noise level of the OR
was –88 dBm, and the data from
−20 each of the locations were well above
Real the noise level. The worst value was
−25 Theoretical at –61 dBm, which is more than ade-
Power Received (dBm)

Metal Box (Start) quate for the purpose of this project.

−30
−35
−40
−45
−50
0 1 2 3 4 5
Distance Between Antennas (m)
FIG6 A characterization of the actual values collected (blue) versus theoretical ones
calculated (red) in a 433-MHz loop.
TABLE 1. The 433-MHz circle results—Theoretical versus actual.
THEORETICAL (433 MHz) 1.52 m FROM Tx (dBm)
–28.81
433 MHz SPOT 1.52 m FROM Tx (dBm)
1 –29
2 –61
3 –40
4 –38
5 –27
6 –25
7 –35
8 –45
TABLE 2. The 433-MHz corner results—Actual versus
theoretical.
DISTANCE
433 MHz CORNER FROM Tx (m)
1 4.9
2 5.5
3 5.8
4 5.5
Metal Box (End) The Friis equation for transmission
loss was once again used to calcu-
late all of the theoretical values for
the power received. As shown in
both Tables 1 and 2, the results from
the 3.04-m spots were much closer
to the theoretical values than from
6 those at 1.52 m. The results from the
3.04-m spots were also much more
consistent than those at the 1.52-m
distance.
A model of an antenna used on
a commercially available implant-
able device was created and tested.
3.04 m FROM TX (dBm) This is a type of folded monopole
–34.83 (Fig. 7). The performance of this an-
tenna was measured in the lecture
3.04 m FROM Tx (dBm)
hall using the same setup as previ-
–40 ously described. The three-turn loop
–40 was also measured, so a direct com-
–47 parison could be made. The model
antenna was formed and situated
–34
like it would be when implanted in
–31
a patient, and the loop was placed
–37
in the horizontal plane. The receive
–41 antenna was a commercially avail-
–38 able monopole.
The transmit and receive anten-
nas were placed 3.5 m apart. The
signal generator was set to 433 MHz
at a 0-dBm output. Table 3 shows
THEORETICAL the results; as can be seen, the
YAGI (dBm) (dBm) loop significantly outperforms the
–39 –38.98 folded monopole.
The 4nec2 software was also used
–49 –39.87
to model the field strength of the
–40 –40.44
three-turn loop antenna in various
–27 –39.98
tissues. Muscle, fat, and skin were

8 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS

considered, and a transmit power of
0 dBm was used. Using the SAR equa-
tion, the maximum limit for the in-
tensity of the electric field was found
at 433 MHz. Table 4 shows the elec-
tric field limits for each of the tissues.
The environment in 4nec2 was
adjusted to match the conductiv-
ity and dielectric constant of the
tissue. The electric field in the region
surrounding the antenna was mea-
sured to be less than that of the lim-
it needed to meet the SAR require-
ments for all three tissues.
Fig. 8 shows the electric field in-
tensity for muscle. The middle of the
picture denotes the center of the an- (a) (b)
tenna, and the ends of the antenna
FIG7 The (a) edge view of the antenna on a commercially available device and
are the edges of the blue/green band.
(b) test model.
While the antenna itself has a field
intensity larger than the limits for
TABLE 3. A comparison of the 433-MHz antenna results.
the SAR at 0 dBm, the electric field in
the surrounding tissue remains well RECEIVED SIGNAL
below the required level. The field FREQUENCY ANTENNA STRENGTH (dBm)
intensity can be further reduced by 433 MHz Loop –45
using a lower output power from the
Folded monopole –60
transmitter. The power absorbed in
a given volume of tissue can then be
found using the field intensity and TABLE 4. The electric field intensity limits.
conductivity of the tissue.
MAX ELECTRIC
BODY MASS DENSITY CONDUCTIVITY FIELD INTENSITY
Discussion TISSUE (kg/m3) (Xm) PERMITTIVITY (V/m)
Another frequency range was also
characterized and tested for possi- Muscle 1,040 0.826 57.73 45
ble use. The 610-MHz frequency Fat 930 0.082 11.59 135
band is allocated specifically for Skin (dry) 1,100 0.702 46.07 50
medical use. Therefore, a 610-MHz
two-turn loop was constructed with
E Tot in (V/m)
a diameter of about 3.5 cm for the 433 MHz 3.051 V/m for x = −0.1, y = 0, z = 0.87
transmit antenna, and the receive 128
0.1
antenna was a three-element Yagi 120
antenna with a horizontal half-wave 112
dipole as the driven element. 104
W hen tested in the OR, the 96.1 0.05
610-MHz antenna combination was 88.1
checked in corners 2 and 3 against the 80.1
433-MHz combination. The power 72.1
0
y

level reading at C2, the upper left 64.1

corner in Fig. 2, of –45 dBm was 56.1
slightly better at 610 MHz than the 48
–49-dBm reading at 433 MHz, but 40 −0.05
32
the results were the same at C3, the
24
lower left corner in Fig. 2, for a read-
16
ing of –40 dBm. As choosing one fre- −0.1
8.01
quency band over the other does not
0 −0.1 −0.05 −1.5e-9 0.05 0.1
result in any significant difference
x
in the results, it may be beneficial
to examine the possibility of using FIG8 The electric field intensity in muscle at 3.051 V/m for x = –0.1, y = –0, and z = 0.87.

IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 9

the 610-MHz band because it is spe-
cifically dedicated for this purpose.
However, the three-turn loop shows
great promise, as it outperforms the
folded monopole currently in use.
These experiments and simula-
tions were carried out with a trans-
mit power of 0 dBm. The results
showed that significantly less trans-
mit power can be used while still
getting a reasonable signal-to-noise
ratio at the receiver. As an example,
the Silicon Labs Si446X transceiv-
ers specify a typical sensitivity of
–97 dBm for a bit rate of 500 kb/s.
Lowering the transmit power by
10 dB will leave a signal that is well
above this limit and greater than the
measured noise level in the OR.
Additional work will be carried
out using commercially available
transceiver modules. The production
cost of this technology was not part
of the scope of this effort. However, a
number of currently commercialized
solutions include similar abilities,
and we feel they are a predictive in-
dicator for the costs to produce this
system. Additional work is needed to
examine the application of this ca-
pability in other environments, such
as a patient’s home and the clinical
monitoring room.
Conclusion
This study has demonstrated the
antenna configurations of a three-
turn loop antenna for transmission
and three-element Yagi for receiving
that enable a wireless system to
function properly within a health-
care environment. Based on these
results, it can be determined that
only one receive antenna may be
necessar y and that a high-gain
antenna for the receiver would not
be needed. The SAR will also not be
an issue, as 0 dBm is below the
power limit needed to stay within
the 1.6-W/kg limit. It also compared
the three-turn loop against a folded
monopole antenna that is used on a
commercially available device.
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About the authors
Madison L. Childress (mlchildress
107@gmail.com) received the B.S.
degree in both computer engineer-
ing and electrical engineering from
the Missouri University of Science
and Technology (S&T), Rolla, MO
65401 USA. She previously worked
as a n undergraduate resea rch
assistant at S&T and, most recently,
completed a co-op at the Mayo Clin-
ic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Russell E. Bruhnke (bruhnke.
russell@mayo.edu) is a principal
engineer II in the Electronics Devel-
opment Unit in the Division of Engi-
neering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, NY
55902 USA.
Clint R. Frandsen (clint.frandsen@
gmail.com) received the B.S. degree
i n computer eng i neer i ng f rom
Brigham Young University (BYU),
Provo, UT 684602 USA. He previ-
ously worked as an undergraduate
research assistant at BYU’s mag-
netic resonance imaging facility
and, most recently, completed a
co-op at the Mayo Clinic in Roches-
ter, Mi n nesot a. He is a Member
of IEEE.
Mark A. Benscoter (mbenscoter@
gofast.am) earned his M.S. and
Ph.D. degrees. He is the unit head
for electronics development in the
Division of Engineering, Rochester,
N Y 55902, USA. In addition, he
serves as an assistant professor in
neurolog y and biomedical engi-
neering in the Mayo Clinic Col-
lege of Medicine. He is a Member
of IEEE.
 Narrowband
User-adaptive
power line
communications:
verbal calculator
Enabling
for the
physically challenged
smart grid
An assistive technology
Saraju P. Mohanty, Duotong Yang, and Anim Amarsingh

Pani Prithvi Raj

VOICE RECOGNITION—©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/PLATAA, BACKGROUND—©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/VITALY SOSNOVSKIY

N
atural barriers necessitate
technological support. A
user-adaptive verbal calcu-
lator (UAVC) is an attempt
to let differently abled stu-
dents a nd resea rchers per for m
calculations with their voices. Auto-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2020.3027245
Date of current version: 7 March 2023
matic speech recognition in real-
t ime mode is used. T he UAVC
adapts to users’ accents by retrain-
ing the speech models with the ini-
tial data obtained during usage.
For testing the functionality, the
application was initially trained for
eight speakers with a very small vo-
cabulary. It was then tested on a user
with a heavy accent. When used for
the first time, it resulted in a 75.83%
word error rate (WER). However, after
retraining, it was tested with several
mutually exclusive utterances from
the same person. The application
showed an improvement to a 26.47%
WER. After retraining with a few
more utterances, the WER was re-
markably reduced to 3.76%. The im-
portant takeaways are the features of

0278-6648/23©2023IEEE IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 202 3 ■ 11

 Speech recognition essentially means to transform
a speech signal into representational features upon
which various speech models are applied to come
up with the most probable utterance.
the adaptability of the application to
the speaker or ambiance and on-the-
fly system training while decoding.
Introduction
Wit h t he evolution of machine
learning techniques, machines are
learning to interact with humans as
naturally as possible, and speech
recognition is one of the widely
addressed problems in this domain.
Speech recognition e s sent i a l ly
means to transform a speech signal
into representational features upon
which various speech models are
applied to come up with the most
probable utterance.
The words that a normal human
being speaks might require much
greater effort to speak by persons
with speech-related disabilities. This
article describes a user-adaptive
and, more specifically, disability-
adaptive implementation of a voice-
based calculator. Despite its focus on
the calculator, the idea of this work
is highly extensible to other applica-
tions and fields as well.
The key contributions of this ar-
ticle are as follows:
■ A hidden Markov model (HMM)-
based UAVC is developed.
■ The present work highlights the
user -adaptability intuition in
general. It is not always certain
that a physically challenged per-
mppt (1) Prob = δ t (1)
mppt (2)
: :
Prob = δ t (2)
mppt (N)
Prob = δ t (N )
FIG1 The Viterbi decoding concept. A set of the most probable paths is developed
based on the probabilities d t (i ) of the transition to a particular state S j at time t + 1 from
any of the states at time t. mpp: most probably path; Prob: probability.
12 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
son will be able to speak the
same way as a normal person.
Therefore, training the applica-
tion for a particular individual
will make it more assistive than
having the usual voice recogni-
tion application combined with
a calculator.
■ Training is done on the fly so
that the model can be fine-tuned
at the user’s convenience.
■ The same is applicable even
across multiple languages.
Although an example using Eng-
lish vocabulary is presented, the
retraining makes it possible to
work on other languages as well.
However, the acoustic model and
vocabulary concerning the par-
ticular languages have to be
made available to the system.
Despite the current overwhelm-
ing success of neural networks, I
stuck to conventional techniques
because of the multiple complexi-
ties involved in training a neural
network on the fly, considering the
size of the application in the present
work. Overfitting issues are also ab-
sent in conventional speech recogni-
tion techniques.
Viterbi decoding—A simplified
explanation
As with any machine learning pro-
cess, speech recognition also con-
S1
S2 Sj
SN
sists of two sections. The front end,
known as feature extraction, is the
conversion of a speech signal to a
distinctive numerical representation.
The back end, called Viterbi decod-
ing, is a widely used solution to the
decoding problem of HMMs and
extensively used in speech decoding.
It is a dynamic programming meth-
odology to find a single best state
sequence from many possibilities
using some conditioning techniques,
like the maximum (or minimum) of
all possibilities and so on. A simple
depiction is given in Fig. 1.
The toy example depicted in
Fig. 2 describes Viterbi decoding in a
simple illustrative manner. Consider
that a sequence of features is given,
and the sequence of underlying bi-
nary numbers has to be determined.
Starting from an empty state, the
next possible states are determined
based on the trained models and in-
coming feature at a time step.
For each state, we combine the
costs of the transition to another
state as well as an observation of the
feature from that state with the ac-
cumulated cost so far. For instance,
the cost of state A is the sum of the
costs of start state (0), transition (4),
and observation of the feature vec-
tor (2). This process goes on until
the end, at which the state with
the minimum cost is identified.
Then, the past states are traced
back to find the underlying pattern
of binary numbers.
Vocabulary
Most of the words in the vocabulary
shown in Table 1 are commonplace
in a commercial scientific calcula-
tor. However, there are several addi-
tional words. “Open” and “close” are
used for giving matrix inputs to the
UAVC. “Point” is used for speaking
f ract iona l numbers. T he word
“base” is used while making use of
logarithms. The number “ten” is
included in the vocabulary for the
purpose of using exponents in sci-
entific format. The word “equals” is
significant here, as that marks the
end of a calculation input and trig-
gers the computation part that fol-
lows the decoding.
 A A 5/0 A 5/0 D
(6) (6) 1/1 D
(6) 1/1 (12)
4/1 2 4/1 1 4/1 1
Start Start Start 9/1 Start
3/0 B 3/0 B 8/0 3/0 B E
(0) (0) (4) (0) (4) E (0) (4) (9)
2/0 1 2/0 2/0
2 2
7/1
C C 5/1 C 5/1 F
(5) (5) F
(5) (11)
3 1 1
Feature Vector

A 5/0 D A 5/0 D
(6) 1/1 (12) 3/1 (6) 1/1 (12) 3/1
4/1 G 4/1 G
(18)
3/0 3/0 6/0
Start B E Start B E
(4) 2/0 (9) 2/0 3
(0) (9) (0) (4)
2/0 H 2/0
(12) Wins!! H
C 5/1 F C 5/1 F 8/0
(5) (11) (5) (11) 1

Output Pattern: 1–1–0

FIG2 A Viterbi decoding example. Beginning from an empty state, the possible next states are evaluated and scored. Based on the
thumb rule that a state can have a unique parent, a set of the most probable paths are developed with time. At the end of the utter-
ance, the best cost state is selected and traced back to obtain the underlying sequence.

There are two sets of similar-

TABLE 1. The UAVC vocabulary.
sounding words in the vocabulary
that could most probably hit the er- sine arcsin sine-hyperbolic cos
ror rate. They are arccos cos-hyperbolic tan arctan
■ “sine,” “nine,” and “times” tan-hyperbolic A B C
■ “by” and “pi”
square square root cube root cube
One way the issue of similar pro-
inverse exponential log base
nunciations could be resolved is by
training more on these specific angle determinant j plus
words. Nonetheless, there is still a minus by times close
possibility of incorrect decoding. point equals dimension mod
This is, admittedly, a minor limita- matrix pi delete ten
tion of this work. However, the zero one two three
model is f lexible to accommodate
four five six seven
these words along with constants,
eight nine
unit conversions, and so on.

Implementation
As depicted in Fig. 3, the UAVC
takes in the speech input of the
standard math data, does the com-
putation, and returns the answer.
As the decoder figures out the
words, if it finds the word “equals”
in the decoded text, it sends the
words decoded so far to a module,
which deciphers the corresponding
meaning of each of the decoded
words, performs the respective
math operation, and returns back
the answer.
The main cause for the adaptabil-
ity and robustness of speech recog-
nition comes from the fact that it is
retrained in the context of a person
and usage. As the application ob-
tains data for decoding, it simulta-
neously stores it for retraining pur-
poses. However, the user may choose
to disable this feature.
A tiny prototype of this idea is
considered to get a working system
for demonstration. Therefore, the ex-
ample considered here varies slightly
compared to the intended use. The
application is trained on eight speak-
ers with clean speech, which is an
extremely insignificant training set.
This is done to have an initial setup
of the application. The digits (zero
to nine) with four basic math opera-
tions (+, –, ×, and /) are considered
as the vocabulary for demonstration
purposes; however, the application is
seamlessly extensible to the intend-
ed number of words.
For example, let the user name
be ramu. If the user utters “two plus
three equals,” the decoder attempts

IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 13

 Start
Save audio in Yes User inputs
Output is
training directory right? choice.
update wav.scp,
User inputs Name? utt2spk, and spk2gender. No
name.
User inputs
Correct
words? words.
Yes
Record Rerun? User inputs
utterance. choice.

No
Acoustic
Model Decode User inputs Train new Retrain the
utterance
choice. data? model.
and display.
Language
Model
No
Yes No
Learn user?
End

FIG3 The entire UAVC processing flow.

■ If the output displayed is any-

thing other than this, then it is a
mistake, as recognized by the
user. Then, the correct words are
taken from the user (Fig. 5), and
the training directory is updated
as stated in the previous case.
This process is repeated several
times. Then, the collected data are
used to retrain the model, after
which the application is trained for
the speaker as an assistance.

Results and inferences

The WER is a negative measure-
FIG4 A UAVC demonstration when the decoding result is correct. ment of accuracy and, so, is used
interchangeably with accuracy. It
is a measurement of how many
words go w rong out of severa l
test utterances.
A new user with a speech dis-
ability was chosen for testing. With
the aforementioned initial setup, the
application resulted in an accuracy
of just 24.17%. It was then trained
FIG5 A UAVC demonstration when the decoding result is incorrect. with 25 utterances from the same
speaker under various ambiances.
to decode it with the existing trained output is correct, the training Then, the same speaker was tested
model. There are two possible cases: directory is updated with an audio under different conditions on a test-
■ The output displayed is “2 + 3 = 5” ramu/twoplusthree.wav file. The ing set that is mutually exclusive to
(Fig. 4). The user is asked if the wav.scp, utt2spk, and text files the training data set. The accuracy
output is correct. If the decoded are also updated accordingly. rose to 73.53%.

14 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS

 When trained on 50 such utter-
ances (which are again collected
while testing), the application re-
sulted in 96.24% accuracy, and,
with 75 such utterances, it gave an
almost 0% WER (Fig. 6). Since we
used HMM-based speech decoding
techniques, the system does not
suffer overfitting issues, as with
neural networks.
The most important takeaway
from this work is that this applica-
tion can be successfully trained to
personalize it for a single or multi-
ple speakers as required. This idea
works across any user without a
loss of generality since no prereq-
uisites are assumed from the user.
Therefore, although the accuracy
and WER with respect to testing on
one person are presented, the trend
will remain more or less the same,
irrespective of the user’s accent, lan-
guage, or disabilities.
The UAVC learns the words as
well as the speaker, which is use-
ful for several applications. For in-
stance, this technique can be used
in voice-and-words-based security
systems where only a particular au-
thority saying a specific utterance
is allowed.
User feedback
This application was developed
and demonstrated to speech pro-
fessionals as well as the student
community. It was highly appreci-
ated. One of the experts suggested
using speech models as a combi-
nation of numbers as well as oper-
ators. However, since the retrain-
ing needs to be very fast, I resorted
to employing individual word mod-
els. A person with a heavy accent
was tested as discussed in the
“Results and Inferences” section.
Despite initial discomfort due to
having to input the correct words
most of the time, the user felt com-
fortable after training on several of
his own utterances.
Conclusion
In this article, speech recognition is
used for a novel application. A
UAVC, a n assist ive technolog y
80
70
60
50
WER
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30
Number of User Data Points
FIG6 The WER trend with the number of user samples.
based on speech recognition, is
demonstrated and used specifically
as an interface for researchers and
educationalists who are involved in
using the scientific calculator but
are physically disabled. The on-the-
f ly t ra ining w it h user data is
exploited, and the idea is extensible
to other techniques, languages, and
so on. This technology, if imple-
mented, can become a great aid for
the scientific community. The com-
plete algorithm is presented with a
flowchart, and an example is dem-
onstrated, validating its utility.
Feedback from experts and a user is
also provided.
Read more about it
• R. E. Savoie, J. Brugler, and J.
C. Bliss, “Development of a hand-
held talking calculator for the
blind,” in Proc. National Comput.
Conf. Expo., 1976, pp. 221–225, doi:
10.1145/1499799.1499833.
• H.-W. Hon, K.-F. Lee, and R.
Weide, “Towards speech recogni-
tion without vocabulary-specific
training,” in Proc. Workshop Speech
Natural Lang., Assoc. Comput. Lin-
guistics, 1989, pp. 271–275.
• U. Shrawankar and V. Thak-
are, “Speech user interface for com-
puter-based education system,” in
Proc. Int. Conf. Signal Image Process.,
2010, pp. 148–152, doi: 10.1109/IC-
SIP.2010.5697459.
• E. C. Bouck, S. Flanagan, G.
S. Joshi, W. Sheikh, and D. Schlep-
penbach, “Speaking math—A voice
input, speech output calculator for
students with visual impairments,”
IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3
40 50 60 70 80
J. Special Educ. Technol., vol. 26,
no. 4, pp. 1–14, 2011, doi: 10.1177/
016264341102600401.
• T. Ahmed, M. F. Wahid, and
M. A. Habib, “Implementation of
Bangla speech recognition in voice
input speech output (VISO) cal-
culator,” in Proc. Int. Conf. Bangla
Speech Language Process. (ICBSLP),
2018, pp. 1–5, doi: 10.1109/ICB-
SLP.2018.8554773.
• S. Davis and P. Mermelstein,
“Comparison of parametric repre-
sentations for monosyllabic word
recognition in continuously spoken
sentences,” IEEE Trans. Acoust.,
Speech, Signal Process., vol. 28, no.
4, pp. 357–366, 1980, doi: 10.1109/
TASSP.1980.1163420.
• T. Bocklet and A. Marek,
“Cepstral variance normalization
for audio feature extraction,” U.S.
Patent Appl. 15/528,068, Nov. 8,
2018.
About the author
Pani Prithvi Raj (paniprithviraj@
smail.iitm.ac.in) is pursuing his
doctoral studies at the Indian Insti-
tute of Technology (IIT) Madras,
Chennai 600042, India. His research
interests include developing hard-
ware solutions for various para-
digms of speech technology, begin-
ning with speech recognition. He is
with the Integrated Circuits and
Systems Group of Electrical Engi-
neering Department at IIT Madras.
He has been a Graduate Student
Member of the IEEE Madras Section
since 2017.
■ 15
 Nanoscale on-chip
inductors using a linearized
meminductive circuit
T
his work presents a novel
RF on-chip inductor that
overcomes the problems
with conventional large-
si z e d i nductor s, wh ich
cannot be placed in an integrated
circuit (IC) for large inductance
va lues. T he proposed i nductor
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2014.2357972
Date of current version: 7 March 2023
16 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
depends mainly on the meminduc-
tor, a new passive circuit element
that has memory properties. This
new circuit element is argued to
be com mon i n t he na nosc a le,
where the dynamical properties of
electrons and ions are likely to
depend on the history of the sys-
tem. Being nonlinear, it is shown
that, by a suitable arrangement of
meminductors and through appro-
Ahmed M. Alaa
©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/JIVACORE
pr i ate i n it i a l va lues for t hei r
inductances, we can achieve a lin-
ear nanoscale inductor.
On-chip conductors
The rapid growth of the wireless
communication market has fueled
the demand for low-cost radio sys-
tems on a chip (Yue and Wong,
1999). On-chip inductors are used
extensively in radio-frequency (RF)
0278-6648/23©2023IEEE
circuits for frequency tuning and
impedance transformation (Long
and Copeland, 1997). Silicon IC
technology has progressed to offer a
device performance suitable for
analog operations up to several
gigahertz and, therefore, presents
the potential for integrating radios
on a chip (Yue and Wong, 1999;
Long and Copeland, 1997; Di Ventra
et al., 2009; Sai et al., 2007.)
For a typical inductance ranging
from 1 to 20 nH, conventional sili-
con technologies can deliver quality
factor values (Qs) of about five. How-
ever, as interconnect technology
advances, the achievable Q is improv-
ing to above 10. Although on-chip
inductors have Qs significantly low-
er than their discrete counterparts
(typical Qs of about 50), they have
been proven to be useful and essen-
tial in highly integrated RF systems
(Yue and Wong, 1999).
The commonly used on-chip in-
ductor is the spiral inductor; physi-
cal models for spiral inductors on
silicon, which are suitable for circuit
simulation and layout optimization,
were introduced recently. Key issues
related to inductor modeling are the
skin effect and silicon substrate
loss. However, having inductors as
on-chip elements is still challenging,
and the realizations of complex poles
in RF circuits, such as active filters,
utilize operational amplifiers instead
of inductors. In addition, currently
known on-chip inductors are limited
by relatively small inductances, as
the inductor’s size is directly propor-
tional to the device’s inductance.
The hypothetical fourth pas-
sive circuit element, the memristor
(Strukov et al., 2008; Pershin and Di
Ventra, 2008), was recently realized
by scientists of HP Labs through
nanoscale titanium oxide films.
This breakthrough in circuit analy-
sis introducing a passive memory
resistor opens the door for creating
similar nanoscale memory capaci-
tors and inductors (namely, mem-
capacitors and meminductors). We
discuss methods of having a lin-
ear nanoscale inductor through
meminductors and canceling its
memory effect to obtain a linear
Currently known on-chip inductors are limited by
relatively small inductances, as the inductor’s size
is directly proportional to the device’s inductance.
small-sized inductor regardless of
the inductance.
Meminductors
We now introduce the inductive
class of memory devices. First, we
define the flux:
z^ t h = # v ^ t h dt,
t
-∞
where v(t) is the induced voltage on
the inductor (equal to minus the
electromotive force), and z is the
time-va r y ing f lu x. We ca ll the
approach described by Sai et al.
(2007) an nth-order current-controlled
meminductive system:
z ^ t h = L ^ x, I, t h I ^ t h
x ) = f ^ x, I, t h,
where L is the meminductance.
The voltage across the inductor is
the derivative of the flux; therefore,
the voltage current relation is
dz
dI dL
VL = dt = L dt + I dt .
Modeling of meminductors
Figure 1 is a graph showing the
relationship between the current
and flux for a meminductor. Anoth-
er idealized characteristic shows
two levels of inductances for a
meminductor (two slopes); these two
levels are switched between thresh-
old current values, and, in Fig. 1, we
note that we have an infinite num-
ber of slopes at both ends of the
plot. The idealized plot has two
slopes only, depending on the histo-
ry of the device’s inductance.
This means that, as the current
flowing through the meminductor
increases toward iT, the meminduc-
tance is on the high level LH until it
reaches the threshold value; it then
switches to the low slope until it
reaches the negative threshold value
and then returns to the high-induc-
tance slope. This corresponds to a
two-level inductor that has a history,
and the level of inductance is decid-
ed by the amplitude of the current
flowing through it (Fig. 2).
Modeling a meminductor versus
the applied current’s frequency
The high- and low-inductance levels
are frequency dependent; they are
(1) assumed to be affected by the speed
of the current alternation through
t he de v ice. A s t he f re quenc y
increases, the meminductor tends
to be a l i nea r i nductor (as it
becomes an linear time invariant
(LTI) system). This means that the
two inducta nce levels a re ver y
close, and the two slopes coincide
to a single straight line. Figure 3
(2) shows the effect of the frequency on
(3) the inductance.
We find that, as the frequency
increases, the high- and low-induc-
tance levels decrease. This makes the
high-level slope approach the low-lev-
el one until they coincide to a single
line representing an LTI conventional
(4) inductor. We assume, ideally, that the
inductance is inversely proportional
with the frequency. As the frequency
increases, the inductance decreases,
φ
i
FIG1 The relationship between the cur-
rent flowing through the device and the
flux.
φ
–iT
iT i
FIG2 The idealized relationship between
the current flowing through the device
and the flux.
IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 17
so, instantly on either the high or low other, and, when one of them switch- nation of the two meminductors
slopes, we have a temporarily linear es to the second slope, the other would have an ideally constant
inductor, and the impedance is di- switches to the first slope. This inductance. The two meminduc-
rectly proportional to the frequency. would result in the effect that the tors should be in a series combi-
Assuming that the rate of change of combination of the two meminduc- nat ion, as each mem i nductor’s
frequency is higher than that of in- tors appears to have a constant history is current dependent; one
ductance, we maintain the direct inductance along the way. should be initially hanged on
relationship between the impedance the high-inductance slope and
and the signal’s frequency. t h e o t h e r o n t h e l o w- i n d u c -
tance slope.
Proposed inductor This could be eas-
The proposed inductor ily done by applying
involves a combina- a current t h at e x-
tion of two ideal ce e ds the thresh-
memristors with old current to one
t wo h ig h- a nd of the meminduc-
low-i nduct a nce tors. Then, when
levels. We aim to t h i s c u r r e nt i s
apply the concept remo ved, the me-
of CMOS operation, m i nduc t or w i l l go
which depends on the to the high-inductance
switching operation of st at e, a nd, w h e n t h e
two connected NMOS and c u r r e nt i s cut, it will keep
PMOS transistors. Here, we desire its high inductance, as nanoscale
that each meminductor operates in a memory elements have nonvolatile
slope that differs from that of the memory properties. This memind-
To g ua r a nte e such dy n a m ic uctor (with a high-inductance state)
oper at ion, we shou ld m a ke t he is connected in series with a low-
8 i n it i a l m e m i n d u c t o r s’ i n d u c - state meminductor, as shown in
t a nce s d i f fer from each other; Fig. 4.
4
i.e., one meminductor is initially Assume that the meminductor
0 in the low-inductance slope, and M1 is initially in the high-inductance
the other is in the high-induc- state, and the other meminductor
–4 tance one; when sw itching, each M2 is initially in the low-inductance
meminductor will have the other state. Initially, the current flows
–8 inductance level, but the combi- through the series combination of
–1 –0.5 0 0.5 1

FIG3 The relationship between the cur-

rent flowing through the device and the flux
φ M1 φ
with varied frequencies. The hysteresis is M1
narrowed as the frequency increases.
–i T –i T
iT i iT i

M1
V M2 M2 φ
φ
+

– –i T –iT
M2 iT i
iT i

(a) (b)

FIG4 A simple circuit showing an inter- FIG5 (a) The hysteresis characteristics of M1 and M2. The current slope of the induc-
connection of two meminductors forming tance is shaded in gray. This plot is for a current below the threshold, where M1 is ini-
a linearized inductor in the nanoscale. tially in a low state and M2 in a high state. (b) The plot for a current above the threshold.

18 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS

the meminductors. When the current
is below the threshold level, both
meminductors are kept in their ini-
tial states, and the series combina-
tion’s inductance is equivalent to the
summation of both. If the current
exceeds the threshold level, both
meminductors switch to a different
slope. Therefore, M1 moves to the low-
inductance state, and M2 changes to
the high-inductance one. However,
the summation is kept constant, and
the source V sees a consistent induc-
tance that is the sum of the high and
low states, regardless of the memin-
ductor holding the high state and
the one holding the low state.
Figure 5 illustrates the switch-
ing behavior of the meminductors
M1 and M2. We note that the mag-
netic permeability can adjust to
slow the periodic variations of the
current, while it cannot at high
frequencies, so that this device be-
haves as a nonlinear inductor at
low frequencies and a linear induc-
tor at high ones. This applies to in-
dividual memristors, but the over-
all series combination has a fixed
linear time-invariant inductance.
Therefore, we say that the system
is linearized. The nanoscale induc-
tor’s physical model is still unreli-
able; however, it is expected that a
physical realization of the device
will be implemented in the na-
noscale, similar to memristors (Di
Ventra et al., 2008).
Energy stored
The energy stored in the current-
controlled meminductive system
can, therefore, be calculated as
(Chua, 1971)
dL ^ h
UL ^ t h = :L D
#
t
dI
to dt + I dt I x dx.
W hen L is constant, w e r e a d i l y
obtain the well-known expression
for the energy UL = L I2/2. This applies
only for a single inductor. The energy
stored in the proposed inductor
depends on the fact that there is
always a meminductor with low induc-
tance LL and another with high induc-
The nanoscale inductor’s physical model is still
unreliable; however, it is expected that a physical
realization of the device will be implemented in the
nanoscale, similar to memristors.
tance LH; therefore, we can assume
that L is a constant and equals the
summation of the two slopes:
U L ^ t h = ^L H + L L h I 2 /2.
Passivity criterion
T he passiv it y cr iter ion of t he
meminductive system is guaranteed
when t = t 0; this device is in its
minimal energy state, and UL (t) ≥ 0
at any time. This is valid for a
series interconnection of devices
(Long and Copeland, 1997; Di Ven-
tra et al., 2009).
Conclusion
The article discussed an initial pro-
posal for a nanoscale inductive
device that can be employed as an
on-chip inductor for RF applications
that require on-chip inductors for
t he pur pose of resona nce a nd
impedance transformation. The
inductor is a series interconnection
of two ideal two-state meminduc-
tors. The connection involves one of
the meminductors initially being in
the high state and the other in the
low state of meminductance. There-
fore, we have a constant inductance
seen on the terminal of the series
connection as the states alternate
between the two meminductors. The
passivity criterion and energy stor-
age were discussed.
(5) Read more about it
• C. P. Yue and S. S. Wong, “De-
sign strategy of on-chip inductors
for highly integrated RF systems,”
in Proc. 1999 Design Automat. Conf.
(Cat. No. 99CH36361), pp. 982–986,
doi: 10.1109/DAC.1999.782239.
• J. R. Long and M. A. Cope-
land, “The modeling, characteriza-
tion, and design of monolithic in-
ductors for silicon RF IC’s,” IEEE
J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 32, no.
3, pp. 357–369, Mar. 1997, doi:
10.1109/4.557634.
(6) • M. Di Ventra, Y. V. Pershin, and
L. O. Chua, “Circuit elements with
memory: Memristors, memcapaci-
tors, and meminductors,” Proc. IEEE,
vol. 97, no. 10, pp. 1717–1724, Oct.
2009, doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2009.
2021077.
• N. Sai, N. Bushong, R. Hatch-
er, and M. Di Ventra, “Microscopic
current dynamics in nanoscale
junctions,” Phys. Rev. B, vol. 75, no.
11, p. 115,410, 2007, doi: 10.1103/
PhysRevB.75.115410.
• M. Di Ventra, Electrical Trans-
port in Nanoscale Systems. Cam-
bridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press,
2008.
• D. B. Strukov, G. S. Snider,
D. R. Stewart, and R. S. Wil-
liams, “The missing memristor
found,” Nature, vol. 453, no. 7191,
pp. 80–83, 2008, doi: 10.1038/
nature06932.
• Y. V. Pershin and M. Di Ven-
tra, “Spin memristive systems: Spin
memory effects in semiconductor
spintronics,” Phys. Rev. B, vol. 78,
p. 113,309, Sep. 2008, doi: 10.1103/
PhysRevB.78.113309.
• L. O. Chua, “Memristor-The
missing circuit element,” IEEE
Trans. Circuit Theory, vol. 18, no.
5, pp. 507–519, 1971, doi: 10.1109/
TCT.1971.1083337.
About the author
Ahmed M. Alaa (ahmedalaa@ieee.
org) is with the Department of Elec-
tronics and Communications Engi-
neering, Cairo University, Giza Gov-
ernorate, 12613, Egypt.
IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 19
 Location and characterization
of faults in coaxial cables
using reflectometry and
impedance spectroscopy
F
ault a na lysis is of v ita l
importance in power sys-
tems, and the techniques
employed must be reliable,
accurate, and fast. With the
advent of time- a nd frequency-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2014.2377272
Date of current version: 7 March 2023
20 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
Padmanabhan Rajaraman, Qinghai Shi, and Olfa Kanoun
domain analyses in power systems,
ref lectomet r y tech n iques have
been introduced.
In time-domain ref lectometr y
(TDR), a test signal is used that is
transmitted along the cable length;
when it encounters a discontinu-
ity in the cable, which is seen as an
impedance, a portion of the signal
is reflected. Based on signal pro-
cessing techniques, the fault loca-
tion and nature of the fault can be
determined. The frequency-domain
reflectometry (FDR) method is faster
and has better accuracy than the
TDR approach because power sig-
nals are used as incident signals,
and the Fourier transform, which
IMAGE LICENSED BY INGRAM PUBLISHING
0278-6648/23©2023IEEE
has good resolution in the frequen-
cy domain, is applied to locate wire
faults. However, it is difficult to iden-
tify the types of the individual wire
faults using the FDR method.
Besides these techniques, a
novel approach to detect and locate
faults in a single wire system us-
ing impedance spectroscopy (IS) is
explicated. IS is applied to measure
the input impedance of the wir-
ing system based on a frequency
sweep. The impedance of the single
wire fault can be obtained from the
input impedance to identify the
nature of the fault. The input im-
pedance of the cable is a periodic
function of the frequency of the
input test signal, and the period
of this function is proportional to
the distance to the fault. The fast
Fourier transform (FFT) of the in-
put impedance function gives a
single sharp pulse that can be used
to locate the wire fault. Therefore,
using IS, both the location and
characterization of the fault are
possible using a frequency-domain
analysis of the input impedance of
the system.
FDR versus TDR
Coaxial cables are growing in use
in applications, and w ith their
increased usage in devices and net-
works, the need arises for efficient
and accurate techniques to detect
and characterize faults along their
length. Faults may be of two types:
Using IS, both the location and characterization of
the fault are possible using a frequency-domain
analysis of the input impedance of the system.
hard faults, which comprise open
and short circuit faults, and soft
faults, which include small faults,
such as chafes, frays, and joints.
TDR was one of the first tech-
niques to be proposed in this regard.
The method involves a fast-rising
step signal that is transmitted along
the length of a cable. Whenever the
signal encounters a discontinuity or
a load impedance, a portion of the
signal is reflected, which is based
on the reflection coefficient. The re-
flected signal can be processed to
get information regarding the fault
location and characterization of
the fault.
Contrary to this method is the
FDR procedure, where digital signal
processing in the frequency domain
gives this approach better location
accuracy than TDR. The main dis-
advantage of this technique is that it
cannot identify the type of fault. IS is
a new method that uses the principle
of abstraction of the load impedance
from a measured set of input imped-
ance data from the cable under test.
Using appropriate transmission line
modeling and the FFT technique,
the location and nature of the fault
can be determined in an accurate
and fast manner.
Introduction to reflectometry
theory and IS
Reflectometry theory
Reflectometry is a technique that
provides for the study of the proper-
ties of a given medium. This tech-
nique employs the analysis of the
reflection of waves at a given inter-
face. The input signal propagates
i nto a med iu m, a nd, when it
encounters a discontinuity (which is
seen as impedance), a portion of its
energy is transmitted, and the rest
is ref lected back to the injection
point. A coaxial cable can be mod-
eled as an ideal, lossless, unbal-
anced transmission line (Fig. 1).
The principle behind reflectom-
etry arises from the behavior of sig-
nals in systems. An arbitrary signal
that is transmitted along a system
continues to propagate [according to
the laws of propagation in the me-
dium, discussed by Magnusson et al.
(1979)] with its propagation velocity,
defined as
c
y= , (1)
fr
where c is the speed of light in a vac-
uum (3 × 108 m/s), and f r is the rela-
tive permittivity of the cable material.

Zs

Z0

Ra V

ZL
Rb

Rc

(a) (b)

FIG1 (a) A cross-section of a coaxial cable and (b) a transmission line model of a coaxial cable.

IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 21

 Faults may be of two types: hard faults, which
comprise open and short circuit faults, and soft
faults, which include small faults, such as chafes,
frays, and joints.
The characteristic impedance of
a transmission line or cable is de-
fined as the ratio of the amplitudes
of the voltage and current of a single
wave propagating along the line. This
excludes any reflected waveforms
along the length of the line. The
characteristic impedance as shown
by Schelkunoff (1934) is given by
R+ j $ ~ $ L
Z0 = G + j $ ~ $C , (2)
where R, L, G, and C, respectively,
represent the per-unit length resis-
tance, inductance, conductance,
and capacitance of the line or cable
network.
Due to the location of the cable
fault or load impedance, the signal
encounters a discontinuity in the
medium of propagation, and this is
seen as an impedance at the location
of the fault. This causes a portion of
the signal to be absorbed at the lo-
cation, and the remaining portion is
reflected back to the source end. This
portion of the signal interferes de-
structively or constructively with the
original signal, and its effect is deter-
mined by the nature of the fault.
Fast-Rising
Step-Pulse
Generator
T Connector
Oscilloscope
Calculation of
Time of Flight
Fault Location
Procedure
FIG2 The TDR technique.
22 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
The amount of signal that is re-
flected back is calculated based on
the reflection coefficient, which is
given by Schelkunoff (1934) as
Z –Z
t = Z L + Z0 , (3)
L 0
where Z L is the fault impedance,
and Z 0 is the characteristic imped-
ance of the system. This is in accor-
dance with the work of Rachidi and
Tkachenko (2008) in the fields of
transmission line modeling and
elect roma g net ic f ield coupl i ng
to cables.
If Z L = 3 (i.e., t = + 1), then the
reflected waveform is equal to the
incident waveform, and they super-
impose constructively at the point
of discontinuity. If Z L 2 Z 0 (i.e.,
0 1 t 1 1), then a portion of the in-
cident waveform is reflected, and this
superimposes constructively over the
test signal at the input end. There-
fore, the amplitude of the net signal
is the sum of the amplitudes of the
incident and reflected waveforms.
If Z L = Z 0 (i.e., t = 0), then the in-
cident waveform is unaffected, as no
portion of the waveform is reflected.
Incident Signal
Cable
Reflected Signal
The incident signal is completely
absorbed at the point of discontinu-
ity. If Z L 1 Z 0 (i.e., t 1 - 1), then a
portion of the incident waveform is
reflected, and this superimposes de-
structively over the test signal at the
input end. Therefore, the amplitude
of the net signal is the difference be-
tween the amplitudes of the incident
and reflected waveforms.
If Z L = 0 (i.e., t = - 1), then the re-
flected waveform equals the inverse
of the incident signal, and they su-
perimpose destructively at the point
of discontinuity. Therefore, the am-
plitude of the net signal is zero.
IS
IS is a method of calculating the
impedance of a network as seen from
two test electrodes, which are con-
nected across the input of the sys-
tem under test. The electrodes are
kept in contact with the surface of
the domain being tested, and a volt-
age/current is applied. The induced
voltages/currents provide a map of
the internal conductivity and per-
mittivity in the interface of interest.
The impedance values of electri-
cal transmission lines vary with the
frequency. The IS meter used (Agilent
4294 A) provides a frequency sweep of
40 Hz to 110 MHz, which can be used
to study the electrical properties of a
device under test, particularly the in-
put impedance. This technique mea-
sures the impedance of a system over
a range of frequencies, and, therefore,
the frequency response of the system,
including the energy storage and dis-
sipation properties, is revealed.
Often, data obtained by the IS
method are expressed graphically
in a Bode or Nyquist plot. Using an
appropriate transmission line mod-
el, the fault impedance can be ab-
stracted from the knowledge of the
input impedance. Fault location re-
quires signal processing in the fre-
quency domain.
TDR
TDR is a pulse sampling technique
that gives information regarding
the distributed electrical properties
of transmission lines. A TDR sys-
tem (shown in Fig. 2) implements
low-a mplitude, high-frequency,
fast-rising pulses, which are trans-
mitted along the line, cable, or
waveguide under test. The reflec-
tometry equipment also samples
the ref lected signal amplitudes,
which are displayed on a device
with a calibrated timescale. In this
way, cable impedance changes and
discontinuities can be spatially
located and assessed.
The characteristic impedance,
propagation velocity, and reflection
coefficient determine the voltage–
current relationship of a time-vary-
ing signal along the length of the
coaxial cable, as reported by
Magnusson (1979). The na-
ture of the fault can be cal-
culated from the amplitude
and energy of the reflected
signal, from which the re-
flection coefficient can be
ascertained, and, in turn,
the fault impedance can
be calculated.
The distance to the fault
ca n also be deter mined
by t he simple ex pression
d = v $ t/2, where v is the propa-
gation velocity of the signal in the
medium of the cable, as defined ear-
lier, and t is the time of flight, which
is the difference between the time
instances of the signal injection and
its reception at the source end. The
propagation velocity of the signal is
dependent on the frequency of the
incident signal and properties of the
medium of the cable/line.
The major drawback with TDR,
as reported by Furse et al. (2006), is
that it fails in the case of long cable
lengths, where the attenuation and
dispersion of the signal in the me-
dium become major problems. The
attenuation of the signal is propor-
tional to the cable length, and the
dispersion of the signal is due to
dielectric losses between the two
conductors in a cable. Another is-
sue is that cable faults with minute
impedance variations cannot be de-
tected using TDR. It is also expen-
sive, as a rapid step-pulse generator
and a fast analog-to-digital convert-
er (ADC) is required for processing
the signals.
IS is a new method that uses the principle of
abstraction of the load impedance from a measured
set of input impedance data from
the cable under test.
FDR
FDR implements a waveform genera-
tor, which creates a sequence of
sinusoidal waves that is swept over
a given bandwidth (from the initial
frequency fi to the end frequency fe)
with a frequency step size Tf. A cou-
pler is used to separate the received
signal from the incident signal. The
mixer performs the operation of con-
volution, which is basically the mul-
tiplication of the two signals in the
time domain. This results in a sig-
nal with two frequency components,
which are the sum and difference of
the original two frequencies.
The phase shift between the inci-
dent and reflected signal can deter-
mine the length of the cable and help
to locate the cable fault. A low-pass
filter is applied to remove the high-
frequency components, as only the
difference of the frequencies is of in-
terest. An ADC is used to read the
mixed output signal. Then, the sig-
nals are digitized and sent for pro-
cessing. The FFT is used to locate the
IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3
cable fault. This can be performed by
locating the frequency of the single
spike in the waveform signal which
points to the location of the fault.
With digital signal processing,
the FDR method is far more accurate
than the TDR approach. FDR has the
advantage of adjusting the band-
width of the frequency sweep to
cater to the limited bandwidth
systems. The main drawback
of the method is that it can-
not be used to identify the
type of cable fault.
Wit h t he super i m-
position of the incident
and reflected signals at
the point of the input,
we subtract the superim-
posed signal from the inci-
dent one to get the reflected
waveform alone, which gives
us the phase-shift relation-
ship between the two signals.
The phase shift is a direct indicator
of the fault location. An FFT opera-
tion is performed that extracts the
culmination of the standing waves
of the reflected response (which may
include multiple impedance mis-
matches). The setup is as shown in
Fig. 3.
The main advantage of FDR over
TDR is that the user can program
the acquisition system so as to cor-
rect the cable loss (determined by
the type of cable used) due to atten-
uation of the signal. Therefore, the
length of the cable does not affect
the accuracy of this technique. The
various advantages of FDR over the
conventional TDR and its efficacy
to detect both soft and hard faults
render it more useful than TDR. As
reported by Mukhopadhyay (2011),
both of these reflectometry methods
are useful in various applications,
such as structural testing and di-
agnosis in transmission cables.
For branched networks, he also de-
scribes the use of the reflectometry
■ 23
 The technique proposed using IS is that the
measurement of input impedance of a cable or line
network can be used to abstract the fault
impedance value.
techniques in collaboration with ef-
ficient network topology, extracting
algorithms to make the technique
more practical.
Fault location using IS and
frequency-domain analysis
The technique proposed using IS is
that the measurement of input
impedance of a cable or line net-
work can be used to abstract the
fault impedance value. The
knowledge of the line modeling is a
necessity for this method, as the
characteristic impedance (which is
frequency dependent) is calculated
before determining the fault imped-
ance. As defined by Schelkunoff
(1934), the propagation constant of
the transmission line with an
amplitude attenuation constant a
and phase lag constant b is given
by a + j $ b:
c = ^R l + j $ ~ $ L lh $ (G l + j $ ~ $ C l ) . (4)
The input impedance of a given
coaxial cable is first obtained for a
sweep range in frequency. Knowing
the characteristic impedance of the
cable using (2), the propagation con-
stant c, and the length of the cable
Sinusoidal
Waveform
Generator With
Frequency Signal
Sweep Multiplier
Low-Pass
Filter
Fourier
Transform
Fault Location
Procedure
FIG3 The FDR technique.
24 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
l, the fault impeda nce is then
abstracted using the relation
[Z L + Z 0 $ tanh (c $ l)]
Z in (l ) = Z 0 # [Z + Z $ tanh (c $ l)] , (5)
0 L
from which we obtain the value of
Z L , the fault impedance at the point
of discontinuity. The input imped-
ance is a periodic function of the
frequency, and the period of this
function is proportional to the dis-
tance to the fault, which is caused
by the phase difference between the
incident and reflected signals (as in
FDR). The longer the distance to the
fault, the greater the number of
time periods of the signal in the
defined frequency range.
To locate the fault in the cable,
the pseudofrequency domain is im-
plemented. Bogert et al. (1963) de-
fined the power cepstrum of a signal
as the spectrum of the logarithm of
the frequency spectrum of the sig-
nal. A comparable methodology for
fault location in coaxial cables was
achieved using the pseudofrequen-
cy-domain analysis. Using the FFT,
the input impedance is converted to
the pseudofrequency domain, and,
at the location of a possible fault,
Incident Signal
Coupler Network Cable
Reflected Signal
Difference in Frequencies
Pseudofrequency Domain
a sharp rise is observed (the Dirac
delta function of the frequency). The
pseudofrequency domain is obtained
by the cepstrum of the input imped-
ance signal, which is defined as the
inverse Fourier transform of the
logarithm of the squared magnitude
of the estimated spectrum of a time-
varying signal.
The pseudofrequency of the input
impedance f0l is proportional to the
position of the wire fault:
l
f0l = y/2 . (6)
The value of the velocity of the prop-
agation of a signal in the medium
depends on the material in ques-
tion. The material taken for our
study is an RG58 coaxial cable,
which has a relative dielectric con-
stant of 2.25. Therefore, the speed of
propagation in the cable is 3 ×
108/(2.25)1/2, which is 2 × 108 m/s.
The peaks of the FFT occur pe-
riodically as shown, and the value
of the frequency at which the lo-
cal maximum is reached is taken
into account to determine the fault
distance. It is necessary to calcu-
late the range of the low-frequency
band before proceeding for this tech-
nique. The low-frequency range is
fixed based on the distance to the
wire or cable fault. If the distance to
the fault is large, the low-frequency
range will be correspondingly small,
as attenuation and dispersion of the
signal will be an issue in that case.
According to the studies of Shi and
Kanoun (2013), the distance to the
fault was fixed to a maximum of a
tenth of the minimum wavelength
(v/fmax) of the input signal. Also, the
starting boundary of this low-fre-
quency range was fixed at a quarter
of the range itself.
Therefore, for a 50-m fault, the
maximum frequency was designed
as 0.4 MHz, and the upper fre-
quency boundary was calculated
as 0.1 MHz. Accordingly, the local
peak (maximum) was determined
in the region greater than the
low-frequency range. For a 20-m
fault, the maximum frequency
would be designed as 1 MHz, and
the upper frequency boundary for
this region would be calculated as
0.25 MHz.
Therefore, by calculating the fre-
quency at which the peak value oc-
curs and knowing the velocity of the
propagation of the signal in the me-
dium of the cable, the fault can be
located very easily using the (6). As
observed in Fig. 4, for a fault at 50 m
on the cable length, the frequency of
the signal at which the first (highest)
peak is obtained in the defined fre-
quency range is around 2.001 MHz.
Therefore, the distance to the fault
can be verified by (6), which gives a
calculated fault distance of 49.975 m.
Open circuits and broken cables
are modeled as shunt capacitors in
the line, and, in the low-frequency
range, the real part (resistance) is
neglected. Therefore, the capacitance
of the line at the point of the fault is
given by the imaginary part of the ad-
The maximum error obtained was around 4%, and
the time of processing was found to be a
maximum of 5 s.
by the imaginary part of the imped- and the number of periods of the
ance at each frequency. The value of function depends directly upon the
the inductance is linearly propor- distance of the fault point. Therefore,
tional to the distance of the fault: the larger the distance to the fault,
the greater the number of periods of
imaginary ^Z short h
L= ~ . (8) the input impedance. This observa-
tion is evident from the given figures
The input impedance is a direct and can be easily used to deduce the
periodic function of its frequency, location of the fault by simple linear
0.3
0.25
0.2
FFT Amplitude

mittance at each frequency. The val- 0.15

ue of the capacitance is linearly pro-
portional to the distance of the fault: 0.1

0.05
1
~ # imaginary ^Z openh
C= . (7)
0

–0.05
Similarly, short circuits are mod-
eled as inductors in series with the
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
line, and, in the low-frequency range, Frequency (Hz) ×106
the real part (resistance) is neglect-
ed. Therefore,, the inductance of the
line at the point of the fault is given FIG4 The amplitude of the FFT of the impedance versus frequency.

1,200 1,200
10 Ω 10 Ω
1,000 50 Ω 1,000 50 Ω
75 Ω 75 Ω
Real Part of Impedance (Ω)

Real Part of Impedance (Ω)

180 Ω 180 Ω
800 270 Ω 800 270 Ω
462 Ω 462 Ω
1,100 Ω 1,100 Ω
600 600

400 400

200 200

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Frequency (Hz) ×107 Frequency (Hz) ×107
(a) (b)

FIG5 The real part of the impedance measured versus the frequency of the system for (a) a 10-m and (b) a 20-m fault point.

IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 25

 This method can be extended to multiple faults on which, in turn, corresponds to the lo-
cation of the cable fault. The results of
a single line, as the amplitudes of the FFT of the cable faults located at 20 and 50 m on
impedances would be local maxima a given coaxial cable are given in Fig. 7.
at the points of fault.
System configuration
and results
extrapolation. Figures 5 and 6 show ascertaining the nature of fault and A program with a graphical user
the effect of the frequency and value distance to the fault. interface was designed using Lab-
of the fault impedance (considered Now, the fault distance can be di- VIEW to control and interface with
as purely resistive in this case) on rectly estimated using (6), and the the Agilent 4294A impedance spec-
the real and imaginary parts of the first highest peak in the defined fre- trometer analyzer. The frequency
impedance. The uniform and period- quency range is chosen as the point of and sweep data were programmed
ic variation is particularly useful in the maximum amplitude of the FFT, onto the instrument. The impedance

300 300
10 Ω 10 Ω
200 50 Ω 200 50 Ω
Imaginary Part of Impedance (Ω)

Imaginary Part of Impedance (Ω)

75 Ω 75 Ω
100 180 Ω 100 180 Ω
270 Ω 270 Ω
0 462 Ω 0 462 Ω
1,100 Ω 1,100 Ω
–100 –100

–200 –200

–300 –300

–400 –400

–500 –500
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Frequency (Hz) ×107 Frequency (Hz) ×107
(a) (b)

FIG6 The imaginary part of the impedance measured versus the frequency of the system for (a) a 10-m and (b) a 20-m fault point.

0.12
Amplitude of FFT of Impedance

Amplitude of FFT of Impedance

0.05
0.1
0.04
0.08
0.03
0.06

0.02
0.04

0.02 0.01

0
10 15 20 25 30 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Length to Fault (m) Length to Fault (m)
(a) (b)

FIG7 The fault location procedure in the pseudofrequency domain: the amplitude of the FFT versus the length to fault for (a) a 20-m
and (b) a 50-m fault point.

26 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS

data were acquired and stored in
the PC, where a MATLAB program
was implemented for processing the
impedance function in the frequen-
cy domain and performing the fault
analysis procedure. The unknown
parameter—namely, the location of
the fault (l) can be determined.
Also, the value of the fault imped-
ance (Z L ) can be determined from
the value of the real/imaginar y
part of the impedance at the start-
ing frequency. The experiment was
repeated for a set of seven cable
lengths ranging from 2 to 100 m
and with various fault impedances.
The maximum error obtained was
around 4%, and the time of pro-
cessing was found to be a maxi-
mum of 5 s.
Conclusion
Using IS and frequency-domain
analysis, an efficient and fast algo-
rithm to deduce the location of a
single fault point in a cable was
performed. This method can be
extended to multiple faults on a
single line, as the amplitudes of
the FFT of the impedances would
be local maxima at the points of
fault. The chosen value of the step
si ze in t he frequency (df ) was
200 kHz after an analysis of the
relative accuracies of all possible
values. Also, using this value of df,
faults that are closer can be more
sha r ply detected by t his tech-
nique, as the values of the func-
tion maxima at which the peaks
are detected would be at closer fre-
quencies, that is, a smaller band-
width in the frequency domain.
Therefore, this algorithm has prov-
en to be successful and satisfying-
ly accurate with a reasonably low
processing time.
Acknowledgments
T he f irst aut hor would like to
thank Qinghai Shi, Dipl.-Ing., and
Dr. Olfa Kanoun for their support
and guidance in the various phases
of the project and research work
carried out.
Read more about it
• P. C. Magnusson, Transmis-
sion Lines and Wave Propagation,
2nd ed. Corvallis, OR, USA: OSU
Bookstore Inc, 1979, pp. 1–54.
• S. A. Schelkunoff, “The electro-
magnetic theory of coaxial transmis-
sion lines and cylindrical shields,”
Bell Syst. Tech. J., vol. 13, no. 4, pp.
532–579, 1934, doi: 10.1002/j.1538-
7305.1934.tb00679.x.
• F. Rachidi and S. V. Tkachen-
ko, Electromagnetic Field Interaction
With Transmission Lines: From Clas-
sical Theory to HF Radiation Effects.
WIT Press, 2008.
• B. P. Bogert, M. J. R. Healy,
and J. W. Tukey, “The quefrency
analysis of time series for echoes:
Cepstrum, pseudo-autocovariance,
cross-cepstrum and saphe crack-
ing,” in Proc. Symp. Time Series
Analysis, M. Rosenblatt, Ed. New
York, NY, USA: Wiley, 1963, Ch. 15,
pp. 209–243.
• T. H. Park, Introduction to Digi-
tal Signal Processing: Computer Mu-
sically Speaking. Singapore: World
Scientific, 2010.
• C. M. Furse, Y. C. Chung, C. Lo,
and P. Pendayala, “A critical compar-
ison of reflectometry methods for lo-
cation of wiring faults,” Smart Struct.
Syst., vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 25–46, 2006,
doi: 10.12989/sss.2006.2.1.025.
• S. C. Mukhopadhyay, Ed. New
Developments in Sensing Technol-
ogy for Structural Health Monitoring
(Lecture Notes in Electrical Engi-
IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3
neering), vol. 96. Berlin: Springer-
Verlag, 2011, pp. 159–185.
• Q. Shi and O. Kanoun, “Wire
fault location in coa xial cables
by impedance spectroscopy,” IEEE
Sensors J., vol. 13, no. 11, pp. 4465–
4473, 2013, doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2013.
2269218.
About the authors
Padmanabhan Rajaraman (ashwath.
raja@gmail.com) was currently pur-
suing the final year of his B.Tech.
degree in electrical and electronics
engineering at the National Institute
of Technolog y, T ir uchirappa lli,
Tiruchirappalli 620015, India, at
the time of the w riting of this
article.
Qinghai Shi (qinghai.shi@etit.
tu-chemnitz.de) earned his M.S.
degree in electrical engineering
from the Technical University of
Dresden, Germany, in 2008. He was
a scientist and Ph.D. student with
the chair of measurement and sen-
sor technology at the Chemnitz Uni-
versity of Technolog y, D-09107
Chemnitz, Germany, at the time of
the writing of this article.
Olfa Kanoun (olfa.kanoun@etit.
tu-chemnitz.de) studied electrical
engineering and information tech-
nology at the Technical University
in Munich from 1989 to 1996,
where she specialized in the field of
electronics. She was a university
professor and the chair of measure-
ment and sensor technology at the
Chemnitz University of Technology,
D-09107 Chemnitz, Germany, at the
time of the writing of this article.
She has authored several reputed
publications and is recognized for
her work in impedance spectrosco-
py. She is a Senior Member of IEEE.
■ 27
 Estimating micro- and
small hydroelectric
generation potential
A learning tool

Paulo S.C. Nascimento, Rodrigo M. Novaes, and Bruno H. Dias

T
his article presents a compu-
tational tool to calculate some
parameters of hydroelectric
plants, focusing mainly on
microhydroelectric generation;
it also evaluates the energy potential of
small hydro plants. This computation-
al tool was developed using MATLAB,
and it presents a graphical interface
that makes it user friendly. The com-
puter program and related knowledge
are easy to understand and apply;
because the equations implemented
are very simple, the tool is not com-
putationally demanding. In fact,
although it was developed and
designed to help teach undergraduate
electrical engineering students attend-
ing on classes hydroelectric genera-
tion, this tool can be used to estimate
the hydroelectric generation potential
of a site, which is the first step before
starting a hydro plant project.

The hydroelectric generation

Hydroelectric generation is one of the
most important sources of electrical
energy generation; it is considered to
be of the utmost importance for
many countries. This is especially
justifiable since water is a renewable,
clean, and efficient resource. Accord-
ing to Paish (2002), modern genera-
tors present a conversion rate of

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2015.2478635

Date of current version: 7 March 2023
©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/ALF RIBEIRO

28 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS 0278-6648/23©2023IEEE

approximately 90% or more as well
as a low-cost and accessible resource.
Hydroelectric plants are generally
multipurpose reservoirs being used
for irrigation, residential supply, elec-
tricity, and even flood control. There-
fore, if well planned, they may bring
many benefits compared to all of the
other energy resources.
According to the International En-
ergy Agency (2015), the world’s hydro-
electricity production is equal to 17%
of the total generation. Also, there is
still a high percentage of unexplored
hydro potential in the world, espe-
cially in developing countries.
Some countries, such as Norway,
New Zealand, and Brazil, have the
energy matrix predominantly based
on the use of hydroelectric genera-
tion. Regarding the Brazilian elec-
tricity sector, the hydrogeneration
was approximately 65% of all of the
electricity production during 2014.
Therefore, 407.2 TWh out of the
624.3 TWh of total generation origi-
nated from water resources (EPE,
2015), as depicted in Fig. 1.
Also, it must be highlighted that, in
general, the demand for electricity is
continuously increasing, so the power
systems must be expanded to man-
age this increase. The growth in de-
mand is generally related to increases
in countries’ economic aspects, such
as the gross domestic product. Since
large amounts of electricity cannot be
stored efficiently, electricity should be
produced during the time in which
it is consumed. Therefore, a signifi-
cant rise in demand is leading to an
increase in electricity generation us-
ing renewables, such as wind, solar,
and water resources. Some examples
can be seen in the European 2020
climate and energy package from the
European Union.
These facts and figures clearly
highlight the importance of increas-
ing renewables in the energy share;
among them are water resources,
which have unexplored potential
worldwide. It is crucial that engi-
neers understand and estimate the
potential of renewable generation.
Support software is of great im-
portance to improve electrical en-
gineering undergraduate students’
learning. Some subjects present
topics that cannot be easily seen in
practice, so support software can
help boost the learning process. Ex-
amples can be seen in the work pre-
sented by Fortes et al. (2014) and also
in the work by Ayasun and Nwankpa
(2005), both of which are learning
platforms developed in MATLAB.
This article presents a computa-
tional tool to calculate some param-
eters of hydroelectric plants, focusing
mainly on microhydroelectric gen-
eration; it also evaluates the energy
potential of small hydro plants. This
computational tool was developed
using MATLAB, and it presents a
graphical interface that makes it user
friendly. The computer program and re-
lated knowledge are easy to understand
and apply; because the equations im-
plemented are very simple, the tool is
not computationally demanding. In
fact, although it was developed and
designed to help teach undergraduate
electrical engineering students attend-
ing classes on hydroelectric genera-
tion, this tool can be used to estimate
the hydroelectric generation potential
of a site, which is the first step before
starting a hydro plant project.
Hydroelectric generation:
Basic concepts
In practice, the water is collected in
the intake and travels through a
pipeline (the penstock) to the power-
house, where the turbine is located.
The water turns the turbine, which
is attached to a generator. This gen-
Nuclear
2.498%
Oil Products
6.893%
Natural Gas
12.987%
Wind
1.998%
Biomass
7.293%
FIG1 The electricity generation in Brazil by source in 2015 (EPE, 2015).
IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3
erator transforms mechanical power
into electrical power. Then, the elec-
trical energy generated by this pro-
cess can be transmitted to consum-
ers via wires that make up the
transmission and distribution net-
works. A general view of a micro-
hydro plant can be seen in Fig. 2.
Consequently, the energy poten-
tial of a water course is basically
estimated by its head and flow.
Therefore, in a selected river, stream,
or waterfall, the amount of energy
that can be generated depends on the
difference in the height between the
intake and powerhouse and the flow
of water deviated into the turbine.
The net electrical potential that can
be effectively used is actually this
gross energy potential multiplied by
the efficiency rate as it relates to the
conversion of the electromechanical
generation components.
Microhydropower stations
Microdistributed generation (micro-
DG) is related to an electricity gener-
ation plant with an installed capaci-
ty of up to 100 kW. DG generally
refers to generation units installed
near the demand, that is, near the
final consumer. Therefore, DG can
reduce electrical losses or even, in
large scales, transmission conges-
t ion. Consequent ly, numerous
microhydroelectric plants exist in
some countries, like Brazil, due to
their hydrographical characteristics.
It is necessary, at times, to esti-
mate the amount of electrical energy
Coal and
Coal Products
3.197%
Hydro
65.2%
■ 29
generation at a chosen location. The
platform presented here aims at es-
timating this potential and helping
electrical engineering students better
understand hydroelectricity genera-
tion. It combines theoretical studies
with a practical, real-world applica-
tion, making it easier for students to
grasp the knowledge and discuss
some practical aspects of this subject.
Based on information on the head
and flow, the generator power can be
determined by considering the gen-
erator’s and turbine’s efficiencies.
After those basic calculations are
made, it is possible to determine the
main characteristics and equipment
of the microhydropower plant.
Sizing
The preliminar y sizing seeks to
present, in a simplified manner, the
main components of a hydroelectric
generator. In addition, it describes
the steps in the estimation of plant
dimensioning. The sizing estimation
may be considered the first step, as
it allows one to determine whether
Intake
FIG2 Simplified hydroelectrical generation scheme (adapted from US Dept. of Energy).
TABLE 1. The main kinds of turbines and specific speeds.
OPERATION MODE SPECIFIC SPEED (R/MIN)
I 0 A 72
R 55 A 450
R 400 A 1,100
I: impulse turbine; R: reaction turbine.
30 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
the hydromechanical power will be
sufficient to justify further studies
concerning the investment.
Many other aspects must be taken
into account in a final project. Envi-
ronmental factors play an important
role and determine many significant
aspects; for instance, they might de-
termine whether the plant can be in-
stalled in a given location or if some
operation characteristics must be im-
posed, such as the minimum flow that
the river must maintain. Environ-
mental issues are essential aspects
that constrain our economic feasi-
bility and vary not only from coun-
try to country but also from region
to region. Other constraints include
equipment costs, the construction
cost of the dams and powerhouse (es-
pecially when related to some specific
regional characteristic), difficulties in
the transportation of the equipment
to the site, and costs to connect the
power plant to the system.
Some data necessary for the pre-
liminary analysis include the available
head, or net head, which is the height
Canal
Forebay
Penstock
Powerhouse
KIND OF TURBINE HEAD (M)
Pelton 100 A 1,000
Francis 15 A 400
Kaplan 0 A 15
of the water resource, discounting the
losses in the intake and penstock.
Also, it is critical that the flow must
be continuously provided. Therefore,
the intake and penstock are con-
structed to regularize the water flow.
With these data in hand, the avail-
able power can be estimated by (1) in
watts and (2) in cheval vapeur (CV).
PH = c # Q # H
^Wh (1)
1, 000
PH ^CV h = 75 # Q # H, (2)
where c is the specific weight of the
water, Q is the flow, and H is the head.
After calculating the net head,
the type of turbine can be chosen.
The net head is not the only variable
that affects the turbine choice, but it
is the main decision variable. Table
1 shows the main kinds of turbines
and specific velocity characteristics
related to the available head.
Water turbines
The most important part of the
hydroelectric plant is the turbine, as
it converts hydraulic energy to
mechanical energy that is then
transformed into electrical energy by
the generator. A large variety of tur-
bines are available, generally divided
into two main kinds: impulse and
reaction turbines.
Impulse turbines basically con-
vert the available kinetic energy into
mechanical energy. This group is
mainly represented by Pelton wheels.
Fig. 3 provides a historical picture
that shows the original patent draw-
ings of the Pelton wheels.
The Francis turbine shown in
Fig. 4 and Kaplan turbine in Fig. 5
represent the main reaction tur-
bines, in which the static pressure
diminishes between the rotor in-
put and its output. In the Francis
models, the flow is radial. The wa-
ter enters through a circular duct
with a decreased section and then
moves a central rotor. The main
difference between the Kaplan and
Francis turbine is the rotor design.
Platform
The computational platform can be
used to estimate either the large
hydroelectric power station (LHPS)
or the microhydroelectric power sta- ing the dimensioning of a large hydro Input data
tion (MHPS). plant (LHPS). The variables to be provided are the
following:
Considering LHPSs Considering MHPSs ■ water inflow, in cubic meters per
For an MHPS, the program simu- second
Input data lates a case using a Pelton wheel ■ head, in meters
The input data are composed of the with one injector. ■ turbine efficiency
following:
■ water inflow, provided in cubic
meters per second
■ head, in meters
■ pipe efficiency
■ piping losses, in meters
■ turbine efficiency
■ system frequency, in hertz
■ generator voltage, in volts
■ generator power factor
■ generator efficiency.

Output data
The output data include the following:
■ piping losses, in meters
■ available head (i.e., the net head
of the hydroelectric plant or the
gross head less the piping loss-
es), in meters
■ mechanical power, in metric
horsepower or CV
■ electrical power, in kilowatts and
kilovoltamperes
■ current, in amperes
■ turbine speed, in rotations per minute
■ number of poles
■ kind of turbine to be used
■ turbine specific speed, in rota-
tions per minute.
In Fig. 6, the screen of the pro- FIG3 The Pelton wheel (L.A. Pelton, U.S. Patent 233 692). (Source: http://www.google.
posed platform is presented, show- com/patents/US233692.)

FIG5 The Kaplan turbine. (Source: Wiki

FIG4 The Francis turbine. (Source: Wikicommons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ commons [http://commons.wikimedia.org/
File:M_vs_francis_schnitt_1_zoom.jpg].) wiki/File:Water_turbine.svg].)

IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 31

 ■ system frequency, in hertz
■ generator voltage, in volts
■ power factor
■ generator efficiency.

Output data
The outputs provide the following:
■ mechanical power, in CV
■ electrical power, in watts and
voltamperes
■ current, in amperes
■ turbine speed, in rotations per
minute
■ number of poles
■ jet diameter, in centimeters
■ nozzle diameter, in centimeters
■ inlet pipe diameter, in centimeters
■ runner diameter, in centimeters
■ pulley diameter, in centimeters.
Figure 7 shows the screen of the
MHPS dimensioning.

Instructions
To choose the LHPS, one must click
on “Calculate”; then, the program
will estimate the output parameter.
If the “Automatic” button is pressed,
FIG6 The LHPS screen. the program will choose one or two
types of turbines that may be
applied to that water resource. If the
user wants to choose a different kind
of turbine than those proposed, he
or she can press the “Manual” but-
ton and then press “Calculate.”

Understanding the menu

File
The user has the option to save the
report as a .txt file that contains the
result of the simulation. As present-
ed in Fig. 8, two options are avail-
able: the file can be saved as an
LHPS or an MHPS case.

Power stations
The user can choose either LHPS or
MHPS, as presented in Fig. 9.

Case studies

Example 1
This example is used to describe
some basic steps for implementing a
hydroelectric plant. Specifically, it
explains ways to determine the most
adequate kind of turbine, available
FIG7 The MHPS screen. electrical and mechanical power,

32 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS

angular speed of the turbine’s axis,
and number of poles in the electrici-
ty generator. Given the availability of
a hydroelectricity source with a
g ross he ad of H BR = 132 m, t he
intake losses are evaluated by
TH TA = 11% $ H BR, where the efficiency
of the penstock can be considered to
be approximately h C = 85%. The flow
of this source is Q = 4 m/s .
Determining the pipe and
intake losses
than one kind of turbine that can be the actual speed depends on the
chosen, as the values are approximate. system’s electrical frequency and
number of poles in the generator.
Determining the available power In the case of the Brazilian sys-
The mechanical power available tem, the frequency is 60 Hz. The
t o t h e g e n e r a t o r (i n C V ) i s number of poles is calculated using
PMG = h t $ 1, 000 75 $ Q $ H. If one con-
^CV h P = 120 $ f/n T = 120 $ 60/938.36 = 7.67
siders the turbine efficiency as poles. As this must be an integer,
h t = 85%, then PMG = 0.85 $ 1, 000/
^CV h it can be rounded to eight poles,
75 $ 4 $ 99.86 = 4, 526.9 CV . To esti-
mate the electrical power, one can
apply the generator’s efficiency:
PE = 75 $ 9.81 $ h G $ PMG = 75 $ 9.81$ 0.98 $
^Wh ^CV h

The intake losses can be calcu- 4, 526.9 = 3, 264.05 kW, o r PE = ^ VA h

l at e d based on available data: (PE /power factor) = (3, 264.05/0.9) =

^Wh

TH TA = _ 11 100 i $132 = 14.52 m ; the 3, 626.72 kVA.

penstock losses are calculated using
the given efficiency: TH CA = (H BR -
TH TA)$^1 - h C h = ^132 -14.52 h$^1- 0.85 h
= 17.62 m.
Determining the available head
The available (net) head can be
measured by discounting the esti-
mate losses from the gross head:
Determining the axis angular speed
and number of poles in the FIG8 The file menu.
synchronous generator
The angular speed of the turbine is
calculated as a function of the spe-
cific speed, mechanical power, and
available head, as presented in the
equation n T = n s $ (H 1.25 /PMT 0.5) = 200 $
CV

H = H BR - ^TH TA + TH CA h =132 - ^14.52 + (99.86 1.25/4, 526.9 0.5) = 938.36 r/ min .

17.62 h = 99.86 m . The turbine’s axis is attached
to a synchronous generator, so FIG9 The power stations menu.
Determining the type of turbine
To choose the type of turbine, it is
necessar y to determine the tur-
bine’s specific speed. This step uses
a set of empirical equations and
makes some prior assumptions.
Supposing that a Pelton wheel is
used, the specific speed may be cal-
culated by n s = R o $ _ A PE H BR i =
1 $_ 510 132 i. 44 r/ min, where R o
is the number of rotors of the tur-
bine, and A PE is an empirical mea-
sure that is considered to be 510 in
the present work.
Supposing that a Francis turbine is
used, the specific speed is calculated as
n s = 2, 300 H BR = 2, 300 132 . 200
r/ min . Table 1 reveals that the
Francis turbine is the most ap-
propriate, with a specific speed of
132 r/ min # n s # 200 r/ min and an
available head between 50 and 100 m.
As the available head is near
100 m, a simple change from
TH TA = 14.52 m to TH TA = 14.3 m
would make H = 100.045 m , chang-
ing the turbine to a two-nozzle Pel-
ton with 36 r/ min # n s # 50 r/ min
and 100 m # H # 400 m. Therefore, for
the same resource, there may be more FIG10 Estimating the potential of a real Brazilian hydroelectric generator.

IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 33

resulting in a rotation speed of
900 r/ min .
Example 2
This example illustrates a real case
of a Brazilian power system hydro
plant. To calculate this example,
we considered some real official
data, like the total generated out-
put and kind of turbine utilized.
T his 50-M W insta lled capacit y
plant is located in the southeastern
region of Brazil; it has a gross head
of 127.9 m and 21.54 m³/s. This
example is shown in Fig. 10; clear-
ly, to achieve the correct output of
electrical power, a high efficiency is
needed. This is due to the fact that
this software presents a first fore-
cast for the energy potential, but it
must be highlighted that, even with
many approximations, the results
are well estimated.
Conclusion
This work presents the dimensioning
of a hydroelectric power plant and
software to size the plant’s main
parameters in a simplified manner.
The objective of this computational
tool is to verify the amount of electri-
cal energy that can be generated in a
selected water resource—more spe-
cifically, to implement microhydro
generation. This software is especial-
ly important to electrical engineering
undergraduate students learning
hydro generation, as it gives them
real-world examples of the evalua-
tion of potential sites for implement-
ing hydroelect r ic projects a nd
exploring water resources.
The basic knowledge involved in
this work, together with the use of this
program, contributes to the learning
process. It may be used to show novice
students some basic information about
hydro generation estimation. This plat-
form can be adapted to include more
detailed equations to present a more
precise model.
Read more about it
• O. Paish, “Small hydro power:
Technology and current status,” Re-
newable Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 6,
no. 6, pp. 537–556, Dec. 2002, doi:
10.1016/S1364-0321(02)00006-0.
34 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
• G. A. Simone, Centrais e Aproveit-
amentos Hidrelétricos - Uma In-
trodução ao Estudo, 1st ed. São
Paulo, Brazil: Érica Ltda, 2012.
• D. M. Tagare, Electric Power
Generation - The Changing Dimen-
sions. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley, 2011.
• S. P. Adhau, “A comparative
study of micro hydro power schemes
promoting self sustained rural ar-
eas,” in Proc. Int. Conf. Sustain. Pow-
er Generation Supply SUPERGEN
‘09, Apr. 2009, pp. 1–6, doi: 10.1109/
SUPERGEN.2009.5348019.
• M. G. Molina and M. Pacas,
“Improved power conditioning sys-
tem of micro-hydro power plant for
distributed generation applications,”
in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Ind. Technol.
(ICIT), Mar. 2010, pp. 1733–1738,
doi: 10.1109/ICIT.2010.5472461.
• T. Sakurai, H. Funato, and S.
Ogasawara, “Fundamental char-
acteristics of test facility for micro
hydroelectric power generation sys-
tem,” in Proc. IEEE 6th Int. Power
Electron. Motion Control Conf., IPEMC
‘09, May 2009, pp. 2612–2617.
• “Brazilian energy balance
2015: Year 2014,” Empresa de Pes-
quisa Energética, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, 2015. Accessed: Aug. 10,
2015. [Online]. Available: https://
www.epe.gov.br/sites-pt/publicacoes-
dados-aber tos/publicacoes/P ub
licacoesArquivos/publicacao-127/
topico-97/Relat%C3%B3r io%20
Final%202015.pdf
• “Brazil: Electricity and heat for
2012,” International Energy Agency,
Paris, France, 2012. Accessed: Mar.
30, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://
w w w.iea.org/data-and-statistics/
data-browser?countr y=BR A ZIL&
fuel=Elect r icit y %20a nd%20
heat&indicator=TotElecCons
• “Hydropower,” Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC, USA, 2015. Accessed: Mar. 30,
2015. [Online]. Available: https://www.
ferc.gov/industries-data/hydropower
• “Planning a microhydropower
system,” U. S. Department of En-
ergy, Washington, DC, USA, Jul.
2012. Accessed: Mar. 30, 2015.
[Online]. Available: https://www.
energy.gov/energysaver/planning
-microhydropower-system
• S. Ayasun and C. O. Nwankpa,
“Induction motor tests using MAT-
LAB/Simulink and their integration
into undergraduate electric machin-
ery courses,” IEEE Trans. Educ., vol.
48, no. 1, pp. 37–46, Feb. 2005, doi:
10.1109/TE.2004.832885.
• M. Z. Fortes, G. P. Brandao,
B. H. Dias, and C. J. M. Albuquer-
que, “Software support for the
evaluation of energy losses from
leaks,” IEEE Potentials, vol. 33, no.
2, pp. 26–31, Mar./Apr. 2014, doi:
10.1109/MPOT.2013.2279178.
About the authors
Paulo S.C. Nascimento (castro.
paulo@engenharia.ufjf.br) earned
his B.Sc. degree in electrical engi-
neering from the Federal University
of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, in 2015. He
is an engineer at ONS the Brazilian
ISO and a Ph.D. candidate at the
Federal University of Juiz de Fora,
36036-330, Brazil. His research
interests include modeling and sim-
ulation of electric power systems
and energetic systems.
Rodrigo M. Novaes (rodrigo.
novaes@engenharia.ufjf.br) earned
his B.Sc. degree in electrical engi-
neering from the Federal University
of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, in 2017. He
is an energy analyst at PSR Energy
Consulting and Analytics, Rio de
Janeiro, 22250-040, Brazil. His
research interests include computer
programming and power system
operation planning.
Bruno H. Dias (bruno.dias@
u f jf.e du.br) e a r ne d h i s B. S c.
degree in electrical engineering
from the Federal University of Juiz
de Fora, Brazil, in 2005 and his
M.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees from Pon-
tifical Catholic University of Rio de
Janeiro in 2006 and 2010, respec-
tively. He is a professor in the Elec-
trical Energy Department, Federal
University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de
For a , 3 6 0 3 6 -3 3 0, Br a z i l. H i s
research interests include applied
optimization, hydrothermal sys-
tems operation planning, and elec-
trical engineering education. He is
a Member of IEEE.
 Narrowband power line
communications:
Thermal radiation Enabling the
mode
smart
A deployment perspective grid
for 5G New Radio

Haneet Kour , Rakesh K. Jha , Sanjeev Jain , and Shubha Jain

©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/SOLARSEVEN

T
he 5G New Radio (NR) tech-
nology is under a standard-
ization process by the 3rd
Generat ion Pa r t nership
Project to provide an outline
for a new radio interface for the next
generation of cellular networks. The
aims of 5G networks include not only
providing greater capacity and cover-
age but also supporting advanced
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2021.3091077
Date of current version: 7 March 2023
services, such as enhanced mobile
broadband, ultrareliable low-latency
communication (URLLC), and mas-
sive machine type communication.
Key features of NR include ultra-
lean carrier design to minimize the
power consumption by limiting the
“always-on” signal transmissions
and reduce interference in neigh-
boring cells (Parkvall et al., 2017).
Another feature is the use of a mas-
sive number of antennas for the
transmission as well as reception of
signals. This rise in the number of
antennas to provide greater coverage
brings about various challenges and
impacts in the system.
With the increase in investiga-
tions in the millimeter-wave frequen-
cies, there is a need to investigate
the health hazards they have on the
human body and environment at
large. This article intends to provide
an insight into the harmful impacts
of radio-frequency (RF) fields. The
radiation metrics used to study the

0278-6648/23©2023IEEE IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 35

 With the increase in investigations in the has led to a decline in the population
of birds, such as sparrows (Cucura-
millimeter-wave frequencies, there is a need to chi et al., 2013). Studies in the litera-
investigate the health hazards they have on the ture have validated a reduction in the
human body and environment at large. growth rate in animals due to EM ra-
diation (Cucurachi et al., 2013). Also,
extreme weather conditions are on
RF impact are the power density for Impact of 5G NR in real-time the rise every year due to an increase
the far field and specific absorption deployment in the emission of harmful gases,
rate (SAR) for the near field These The adverse impacts caused by EM such as CO2 [179 Mt of CO2 emission,
are the two main electromagnetic waves are studied by standards leading to a greater greenhouse effect
(EM) radiation metrics employed to organizations, such as the Interna- (The Climate Group, 2020)].
find out the exposure due to uplink tional Commission on Non-Ionizing In humans, initial symptoms,
(UL) and downlink (DL) phenomena Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) (2018) such as headache; eye and skin
in mobile communications. and IEEE Standard C95 (IEEE, problems; and, in the worst case,
Mobile communication systems 2006). The restrictions presented in traces of carcinogenicity and other
are addressed particularly to discuss these documents are based on sci- diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and
the EM radiation impact as smart entific data and studied by measur- Parkinson’s diseases, can also oc-
phones are used in close proximity ing the effects in terms of the elec- cur (Kshetrimayum, 2008; Wu et al.,
to the body. A proposal in the form tric and magnetic fields. 2015). Figur e 1 i s a d i a g r a m-
of a “thermal radiation” (TR) mode is Rising power density levels dis- matic representation of the find-
given to reduce the radiation emit- turb the photosynthesis of plants and ings from Kshetrimayum (2008), Wu
ted from a mobile phone. The perfor- trees, which leads to their poison- et al. (2015), Jamshed et al. (2020),
mance of the proposed mode is vali- ing and hinders growth and physi- and the World Health Organiza-
dated from the results by achieving ological processes (Tang et al., 2018). tion International EM Field (EMF)
reduced power density, complexity, As birds and animals can detect Project for diseases and effects on hu-
and exposure ratio (ER). magnetic stimuli, rising EM radiation man beings. The effects on animals,

Effects on Animals, Birds,

and Insects The Destruction of Nature by EM Pollution

The Extinction of Honeybees,

Sparrows, Insects, Birds, Cancer Alters Expression, Activity,
and Animals Anxiety, Reproductive Health,
and Locomotor-Linked Behavior

Radiation Poisoning Affecting Plants

CO2

Methane Ozone

Greenhouse
Gases
CFCs
Nitrous
Headache Brain Tumor Oxide Halocarbons
Water HFCs
Vapor

Hearing Increased Emission of Increased

Impairment/ Greenhouse Gases CO2 Footprint
Sleep Disorders Ringing Ears
Heart Problems

Fatigue Eye Problems Effects on the Fetus Natural Greenhouse Increased Greenhouse
Effect Effect due to EM Radiation

Diseases/Effects on Human Beings Global Climate Change

FIG1 The general architecture corroborating the EM radiation impact. CFCs: chlorofluorocarbons; HFCs: hydrofluorocarbons.

36 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS

birds, and insects are based on re-
search from Cucurachi et al. (2013),
and the destruction of nature by EM
pollution is from an investigation by
Tang et al. (2018). The increase in
the CO2 footprint due to RF waves is
based on findings from The Climate
Group (2020).
Various works discuss new op-
portunities for reducing EM exposure
and planning future networks in a
way so that the EMF limits and con-
straints are abided by (Chiaraviglio
et al., 2018). There is a requirement
to update the safety guidelines and
EMF evaluation framework while
keeping in view the impact of the
wireless communication industry on
EMF exposure (Jamshed et al., 2020).
EM radiation reduction
techniques
For future-generation networks, the
heterogeneity increases as we move
toward ultradense networks (UDNs)
with incorporation of newer technol-
ogies. There will be a significant role
of the EM radiation that will be
emitted with these networks and
the effects produced by them. We
discuss some techniques that can
be incorporated to reduce this
impact (Sambo et al., 2014):
■ Massive multiple input, multiple
output: This approach involves a
single base station or transmitter
deployed with large number of
small antennas on it that increase
the spatial diversity by transmit-
ting parallel streams of informa-
tion channels. Each antenna
deployed is a low-power antenna.
The higher the count of the anten-
nas on the base station, the lower
the power level required for each
one. With this method, the total
power transmitted by the base
station significantly decreases.
■ EM shielding: This technique
incorporates the use of conduc-
tive or ferrite materials to block
the EMF between the mobile
device and a human head. It
reduces the SAR for the body
and is also called SAR shielding
or RF shielding.
■ Beamforming: This method has
the advantage of decreasing the
Rising power density levels disturb the
photosynthesis of plants and trees, which leads to
their poisoning and hinders growth and
physiological processes.
transmission power required in a
system without compromising
with the quality of service. As the
transmitted beam is directed
toward a desired receiver, the EM
radiation toward undesired users
is reduced along with a decrease
in the interference caused to
them, thereby promoting green
communication.
■ Coordinated multipoint: In this
reduction technique, the trans-
mission and reception points
coordinate dynamically to have
enhanced coverage, increasing
the throughput and spectral effi-
ciency of a system.
■ Spectrum sharing: Sharing the
available radio resource is neces-
sary, and it can largely help in
the efficient utilization of the EM
spectrum. The sharing of the
licensed, unlicensed, and TV
white spaces by secondary users
of the spectrum can improve the
overall radiation exposure pro-
duced in a network.
It has still been found that the
expected percentage of the CO2 foot-
print has not reduced and is pre-
dicted to rise considerably in the
years to come. This calls for more
enhanced techniques or proposals to
be introduced for the upcoming 5G
NR scenario.
Half-duplex radio: A road map
for the TR mode
The large amount of interference
caused in UDNs increases t he
requirement for self-interference
cancellation techniques, such as
nonor t hogona l mult iple access
schemes, and so on. Various chal-
lenges in a full-duplex system
i nclude U L -to-DL i nter ference
among different users in a single-
cell scenario and a complex version
of it in a multicell situation, where
there can be DL-to-DL interference
between user equipment and UL-to-
IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3
UL interference at the base stations.
They have an adverse impact on the
overall performance of a system.
In Fig. 2, a proposal is presented to
reduce the EM radiation impact and
improve the signal-to-interference-
plus-noise ratio (SINR) for mobile
communication systems. The scenar-
io presents the conventional and pro-
posed approaches. There is consider-
ation of 50 users in the active mode
(AM), and, in the TR mode region, 30
users are assumed to be in the AM
and 20 in the TR mode. Nonstation-
ary and wideband channels are as-
sumed considering the Rayleigh fad-
ing distribution (Jha and Kour 2020).
Catering to the issue of “always-
on” signals in current mobile com-
munication systems, the TR mode
switches the communication mode
from full to half duplex. When the
“TR mode” is switched On in the
network, only the DL information
transfer signals remain active, and
the UL ones are disabled. Only the
reference signals required for DL
information transfer and to main-
tain a stable connection with the
base station remain active; i.e., the
reference signals are on only when
there are data to be transmitted, and
the base station detection signal is ac-
tive (Fig. 2).
The proposed methodology for a
device transitioning in the TR mode
is based on an adaptive switching
operation. The switching occurs
when the mobile phone does not
have adequate signal strength to
support applications requiring high
bandwidth. We consider a mobile
device communicating with “always-
on” signals in a cell. The received sig-
nal strength changes in accordance
with the channel conditions between
the base station and mobile user.
When the received signal strength
degrades below a threshold, the de-
vice cannot support applications
requiring a high data rate.
■ 37
38
■
Active Mode to
TR Mode
Conventional Approach Proposed Approach

M a rc h /A pr il 2023
Half-Duplex
Full-Duplex Communication
AP1 Communication

U5 AP4
U6 AP3

IEEE POTENTIALS
AP2 U4 U5
U1 U2 U3
U1 U3
U4
U2
AP5

Base Station UL Information

Smart U6 U7
Transfer
Phone
TR Proposed Mode DL Information
Mode (Incorporating Ultralean Transfer (Only on Request)
Integrated Integrated Design)
Circuits AP Reference Signals (Only on
Circuits
Request) Smart Phone
Battery TR Mode
Battery Base Station Detection
Operation Signal

Low Substrate
Substrate High Radiative High Power
Power
Field Density Low
Density Reduced Radiative High Power
Antenna Antenna Power
Field Density
Density

TR Mode to
Active Mode

FIG2 The proposed TR mode. AP: access point; API: application programming interface; U: user.
 One Frame
One Subframe = 1 ms
0 ms 10 ms
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Slot 0 Slot 1

Subframe 5 (14 OFDM Symbols)

Slot 0 Slot 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
11
10
9
8 Proposed
7
6 10 ms Subframe
5
4 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
3 Conventional Behaves as a
2 Frequency D D D D D D D D D D Conventional
1 Resource Block
0
U U U U U U U U U U 0/1
Mini-Slot for URLLC Services Frequency-Switching
Frame (Slot 0 = 0
10 ms Subframe and Slot 1 = 1)
For FDD Frame Type 1
D D D D D D D D D D (Proposed)
Frequency
LTE FDD Frame
U U U U U U U U U U
10 ms Subframe
For FDD Frame Type 1 (Conventional)
Proposed Only DL
D U D D D U D D
Subframes Active
10 ms Subframe
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
D U D D D U D D Superframe
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 LTE TDD Frame (TR Mode)
Hold/
Special Subframe DwPTS GP Release
DwPTS GP (Slot 0 = Hold and
UpPTS Slot 1 = Release)
UpPTS
Time Time
For TDD Frame Type 2 (Conventional) For TDD Frame Type 2

IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3

(Proposed)

■
FIG3 The frame format for 5G NR (the FDD and TDD frame types). D: downlink; DwPTS: downlink pilot time slot; FDD: frequency-division multiplex; GP: guard period; TDD: time-division

39
multiplex; U: uplink; UpPTS: uplink pilot time slot.
 We propose adapting switching in
the mode of the device from “active”
to “TR.” With this mode, the device
supports only applications requir-
ing a low data rate, such as voice
calls and regular text messages. All
applications requiring a high band-
width cannot be supported until the
signal strength improves. Whenever
the channel conditions are favorable,
and the received signal strength is
greater than the threshold, the de-
vice automatically transitions to AM,
thereby supporting all of the applica-
tions with “always-on” signals.
This mode improves the SINR of
the entire network. With respect to
near-field communication, the ther-
mal heating produced in the device
is reduced, which, in turn, decreas-
es the SAR. Regarding the far-field
communication, the power density
in the network is lower; therefore,
both factors collaboratively help in
reducing the EM radiation exposure
produced in the network.
Adaptive frame structure design
for the TR mode in 5G NR
The waveforms supported in 5G NR
are similar to those in LTE, which
include cyclic prefix-orthogonal fre-
quency-division multiplexing (OFDM)
(UL/DL) with discrete Fourier trans-
form-spread-OFDM (UL). There is
flexible numeric support in 5G NR
with 15 kHz × 2n subcarrier spacing.
The proposed frame structure for
5G NR is depicted in Fig. 3, keeping
the LTE frame format as the basis,
Power Up
RRC_Connected
RRC_Idle
RRC
Release
Connection
Failure
FIG4 The potential state transition model for the TR mode in 5G.
40 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
along with the supported duplex
schemes for the spectrum allocation.
One radio frame consists of 10
subframes, each of 1-ms duration.
The duplex schemes supported are
similar to LTE; i.e., frequency-divi-
sion duplex (FDD) and time-division
duplex (TDD). As depicted for the
full-duplex frame type, both the UL
and DL frames are of 10-ms duration
each and transmitted simultaneous-
ly, as they are separated by differ-
ent UL and DL frequencies. For the
TDD frame type, the transmission
frequency remains the same, and
the multiplexing takes place in the
time domain. For the FDD one, on
activation of the TR mode, the mobile
device receives only DL information
and does not transmit in the UL.
A frequency-switching subframe
has been added in the UL frame,
which, on activation of the TR mode,
changes its state from zero to one;
i.e., it stops the UL transmission.
On activation of the TR mode in the
handset, slot 1 is active—that is, the
frequency switching occurs; other-
wise, the UL frame continues its
transmission, and slot 0 is active.
For the proposed TDD frame type,
a subframe has been added in the
previously termed special subframe,
which is now called the superframe
(TR mode). On activation of the TR
mode, the added subframe goes in
the “hold” mode; i.e., it avoids the
switching of the subframe from DL
to UL and stops all of the UL trans-
missions in the TDD frame. When
RRC Inactivated
Only DL
Information
Transfer
RRC_Active RRC_EE RRC_Inactive
UL DL
Application Information
Required Transfer
Connection
Failure
the TR mode is deactivated, it is re-
leased, and the TDD frame contin-
ues its transmissions in the conven-
tional way. The hold/release modes
are allocated one slot each in a sub-
frame for the proposed mode.
Radio resource control state
transition handling for the
TR mode
According to the standardization for
5G NR, there are three protocol
st ates t hat ex ist i n t he radio
r e s ou r c e c ont r ol ( R RC) st ate
machine: RRC_Idle, RRC_Inactive,
and RRC_Connected. RRC_Idle is
optimized for a lesser consumption
of power as well as resources in the
network. RRC_Connected is for high
activity of the user equipment. RRC_
Inactive is a state that reduces/
lightens the transition procedure.
We propose an RRC_Energy Effi-
cient (RRC_EE) state for the pro-
posed TR mode, which is a low-
activity state in the transition model.
In the proposed state transition
model for the TR mode, the state ma-
chine consists of RRC_Idle, RRC_Ac-
tive, RRC_Inactive, and the novel
RRC_EE, as depicted in Fig. 4. The
proposed state—i.e., RRC_EE—is
the one corresponding to the TR
mode, that is, a low-activity state.
The characteristic of RRC_EE is that
the 5G Core-NG‐Radio Access Net-
work (5GC-NG-RAN) connection is
kept for the user equipment only for
DL, and not UL, information trans-
fer. This reduces the overhead sig-
naling in the air interface.
The transitions among the idle,
connected, and inactive states are
expected to follow the LTE proce-
dure. The state transition to RRC_EE
is initiated when the user equipment
is in the TR mode. Whenever there
is a UL information transfer to take
place, the mode is changed to active,
and AM communication resumes.
This state has been configured for
quick transitions and to incorporate
URLLC services.
Performance analysis
The performance of the proposed
mode is presented in ter ms of
reduced power density, ER, and
complexity of the system. As we posure allowed in that area. A com- standards, as depicted in Table 1. It
move on to the higher generations of parison of the ER is made for 1G to is evident that the TR mode reduces
wireless communications, the power 5G with the ICNIRP and IEEE C95 the ER in both of the scenarios for
density levels also increase corre-
spondingly in the atmosphere. Fig-
350
ure 5 depicts the power density as a
function of rising generations of AM TR Mode
wireless communication, with the 300 1G = 26.6 1G = 20.5
2G = 60 2G = 54.26
highest value being obtained for 5G
3G = 70 3G = 63.72
[IEEE Standard C95 (IEEE, 2006)]. 4G = 106 4G = 91.55
250
The comparison of the power densi- 5G = 316.7 5G = 170

Power Density (W/m2)

ty values is made with the TR mode.
As the TR mode operation suspends 200
the UL transfer of information, Reduction in the Power
Density With the TR Mode
there is less overhead signaling
150
involved. This decreases the trans-
mitted power from each device and,
therefore, the overall power density 100
in the network. The initial and new
values obtained are given in the 50
graph in Fig. 5.
The TR mode in a device reduces
the ER obtained, which is a ratio of 0
1G 2G 3G 4G 5G
the electric field produced by the de-
Evolution of Wireless Generations
vice and the reference level of electric
field or maximum permissible ex- FIG5 The evolution of wireless generations versus the power density.

TABLE 1. A comparison of the ER values for wireless generations

with the ICNIRP and IEEE C95 standards.

ICNIRP IEEE C95

ER ER OBSERVATION
WIRELESS WIRELESS
GENERATIONS AM TR MODE GENERATIONS AM TR MODE It is observed from the compar-
ison of ERs for 1G to 5G com-
1G 0.2403 0.211 1G 0.1848 0.1622
munication networks that the
2G 0.361 0.3432 2G 0.277 0.264 incorporation of the TR mode
3G 0.41 0.3719 3G 0.31 0.286 decreases the ER in each of
4G 0.481 0.4458 4G 0.369 0.3429 the generations substantially.
5G 0.83 0.6075 5G 0.6379 0.4673

1 1
0.9 0.9
0.8 0.8 0.5 0.8

0.6 0.7 0.4 0.7

0.6 0.3 0.6
ER

0.4
ER

0.5 0.2 0.5

0.2 0.4 0.4
0.1
0.3 0.3
0 0
40 0.2 40 0.2
30 30
20 20 0.1 20 20 0.1
Time (s) 10 Time (s) 10 0
Skin Depth (s) 0 Skin Depth (s)
0 0 0 0
(a) (b)

FIG6 The 3D patterns for the ER rise in the (a) AM and (b) TR mode for wireless generations (IEEE Standard C95).

IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3 ■ 41

the ICNIRP standard as well as IEEE
Standard C95.
With the suspension of the UL in-
formation transfer signals, the EM
radiation produced from the device
on activation of the TR mode is also
limited. Therefore, the interference
produced due to each device oper-
2
1.8
1.6
(High EM Radiation)
1.4
Outage Probability
ating in the TR mode reduces with
the suspension of some signals tem-
porarily. A 3D pattern for rising ERs
for AM and TR mode is obtained.
The obtained ER values increase as
we move from 1G to 5G and are evi-
dently lower for the TR mode in com-
parison to the AM (Fig. 6).
Low EM Radiation
AM TR Mode
As we have considered a non-
stationary and wideband channel,
there is fluctuation in the received
signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio due to
fading, multipath, and so on. The
outage probability has been ob-
tained for devices communicating in
the AM and TR mode. Those commu-
nicating in the TR mode produce less
interference in the network, which
improves the associated SNR. This
helps in achieving low EM radiation
exposure without compromising the
target data rate. The outage prob-
ability graph in Fig. 7 denotes the
low-SNR region as a zone of high
EM radiation, and, when the device

transitions to the TR mode, there is

1.2
an improved SNR obtained with less
1 EM radiation emission.
The reduction in interference
0.8 caused due to adjacent cells in the
TR mode decreases the complexity
0.6
of the entire system. The graph in
Fig. 8 depicts a comparison of the
0.4
Threshold complexity in the network as a func-
SNR (AM) SNR (TR) tion of the interference power for ac-
0.2
tive devices in the AM and TR mode.
0 It is evident from the graph that
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
SNR (dB)
there is reduced complexity in the
network for the TR mode in compari-
FIG7 The outage probability versus the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the AM and TR mode. son to the AM.

Conclusion
This article aims to provide insight
24
into the 5G NR interface standard
AM that will be operating at a very wide
22 TR Mode spectrum range, utilizing high-fre-
quency bands to incorporate a large
number of devices and high-band-
20 width-demanding applications. The
concern of high EM radiation expo-
Complexity (dBm)

sure that arises with the growing

18 w i reless com mun icat ions is
Reduction in Complexity addressed. Rising EM radiation is
With TR Mode
responsible for increasing power
16
density levels in the environment.
A proposal has been given for
14 mobile communications with a pro-
posed mode (the TR mode) to reduce
the radiation levels in the atmo-
12 sphere and also improve the biologi-
cal safety of human exposure. For
this, a frame structure design and
10
10 20 30 40 50 RRC state handling procedures were
Number of Active Users also presented for 5G NR. The per-
formance of the proposed mode can
FIG8 The complexity versus the number of active users. be seen in terms of reductions in the

42 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS

power density, complexity, and ER
produced.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge
the support provided by 5G and the
Internet of Things Lab, Department
of Electronics and Communication,
and the Technology Business Incu-
bation Center, Shri Mata Vaishno
Devi University, Katra, Jammu.
Read more about it
• S. Parkvall, E. Dahlman, A.
Furuskar, and M. Frenne, “NR: The
new 5G radio access technology,”
IEEE Commun. Standards Mag., vol.
1, no. 4, pp. 24–30, Dec. 2017, doi:
10.1109/MCOMSTD.2017.1700042.
• C. Tang et al., “Electromag-
netic radiation disturbed the pho-
tosynthesis of Microcystis aeru-
ginosa at the proteomics level,”
Scientific Rep., vol. 8, no. 1, p. 479,
Jan. 2018, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017
-18953-z.
• S. Cucurachi, W. Tamis, M.
Vijver, W. Peijnenburg, J. Bolte,
and G. R. Snoo, “A review of the
ecological effects of radiofrequency
electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF),”
Environ. Int., vol. 51, pp. 116–140,
Jan. 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.envint.
2012.10.009.
• “SMART 2020: Enabling the
low carbon economy in the informa-
tion age,” The Climate Group, Glob-
al eSustainability Initiative (GeSI),
2010. https://greentechinnovations.
blogspot.com/2010/04/smart-2020
-enabl i ng-low-ca rbon-economy.
html
• R. S. Kshetrimayum, “Mobile
phones: Bad for your health?” IEEE
Potentials, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 18–
20, Mar./Apr. 2008, doi: 10.1109/
MPOT.2008.919701.
• T. Wu, T. S. Rappaport, and C.
M. Collins, “Safe for generations
to come: Considerations of safety
for millimeter waves in wireless
communications,” IEEE Microw.
Mag., vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 65–84, Mar.
2015, doi: 10.1109/M M M.2014.
2377587.
• “The international EMF proj-
ect,” World Health Organization,
Geneva, Switzerland, 2016. [Online]
Available: https://www.who.int/ini
t i at i ve s/t he -i nt e r n at ion a l- e m f
-project
• L. Chiaraviglio et al., “Plan-
ning 5G networks under EMF con-
straints: State of the art and vision,”
IEEE Access, vol. 6, pp. 51,021–
51,037, Sep. 2018, doi: 10.1109/AC
CESS.2018.2868347.
• M. A. Jamshed, F. Héliot, and
T. W. C. Brown, “A survey on elec-
tromagnetic risk assessment and
evaluation mechanism for future
wireless communication systems,”
IEEE J. Electromagn., RF Microw.
Med. Biol., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 24–36,
Mar. 2020, doi: 10.1109/JERM.2019.
2917766.
• Y. A. Sambo, F. Heliot, and
M. A. Imran, “A survey and tuto-
rial of electromagnetic radiation
a nd r e duct ion i n mobi le c om-
munication systems,” IEEE Com-
mun. Surveys Tuts., vol. 17, no. 2,
pp. 790–802, 2014, doi: 10.1109/
COMST.2014.2364136.
• “Revision of the guidelines on
highfrequency up to 300 GHz,” In-
ternational Commission on Non-
Ionizing Radiation Protection. Ac-
cessed: Jul. 30, 2018. [Online].
Available: https://www.icnirp.org/
cms/upload/publications/ICNIR
Pemfgdl.pdf
• R. K. Jha and H. Kour, “Elec-
tromagnetic radiation reduction
in 5G networks and beyond us-
ing thermal radiation mode,” IEEE
Trans. Veh. Technol., vol. 69, no. 10,
pp. 11,841–11,856, Oct. 2020, doi:
10.1109/TVT.2020.3020004.
About the authors
Haneet Kour (hani.kpds@gmail.
com) earned her B.E. degree in elec-
trical and computer engineering
from Jammu University, Jammu
and Kashmir, India, in 2015, and
her M.Tech. degree from Shri Mata
Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU),
K at r a , Ja m mu a nd K a sh m i r,
182320, India, in 2017. She is earn-
ing her Ph.D. degree at SMVDU. Her
resea rch i nterests i nclude t he
emerging technologies of the 5G
wireless communication network.
Cur rently, she is investigating
power optimization in next-genera-
IEEE POTENTIALS March/Apri l 20 2 3
tion networks, and she is working
on MATLAB tools for wireless com-
munication. She is a Student Mem-
ber of IEEE.
Rakesh K. Jha (jharakesh.45@
gmail.com) is an associate professor
with the School of Electronics and
Communication, Indian Institute of
Information Technology, Design
a nd Ma nufactur i ng, Jaba lpur,
482005, India. He has published
several journal articles on scalable
coherent interfaces, including in
IEEE transactions, journals, and
IEEE maga zines. His resea rch
interests include wireless commu-
nication, optical fiber communica-
t ion, a nd secu r it y issues. He
received an Asia Pacific Advanced
Network fellowship in 2011, 2012,
2017, and 2018. He is also a mem-
ber of the Association for Comput-
ing Machinery and the Computer
Security Institute. He holds many
patents and has more than 2,900
citations to his credit. He is a
Senior Member of IEEE.
Sanjeev Jain (dr_sanjeevjain@
yahoo.com) earned his postgraduate
and doctorate degrees in computer
science (CS) from the Indian Insti-
tute of Technology, Delhi. He has
more than 24 years of experience in
teaching and research. He has
served as director of the Madhav
Institute of Technology and Science,
Gwalior. Presently, he is vice-chan-
cellor of the Central University of
Jammu, Jammu a nd K ashmir,
180001, India. He has the credit of
making a significant contribution to
R&D in the areas of image process-
ing and mobile ad hoc networks. He
is a Member of IEEE.
Shubha Jain (shubhajain1203@
gmail.com) earned her bachelor’s
degree in electronics and telecom-
munications from Shri Govindram
Seksaria Institute of Technology and
Science, Indore, India, and her mas-
ter’s degree in telecommunications
from the University of Maryland,
College Park, Maryland, USA. Cur-
rently, she is working with Amazon,
North Seattle, Washington, 98109,
USA. She is a Student Member of
IEEE.
■ 43
IEEE STUDENT ACTIVITIES

Visiting the Montreal

Science Centre
A spirited afternoon of scientific recreation

by Azfar Adib

I
n the IEEE community, we’ve become used to organiz-
ing and attending different technical events throughout
the year, like technical talks, workshops, conferences,
etc. How about trying something different—technical
learning combined with interactive fun activities?
Such an idea came to the student members in the
IEEE Montreal Section when they had an educational
visit to the Montreal Science Centre on 13 August 2022.
The initial plan was to have a summer meetup, which
ultimately transformed into an enjoyable experience
consisting of both social activities and technical learn-
ing. It was attended by participants from five Student
Branches (SBs) in the Montreal Section: Polytechnique
Montréal, McGill University, École de technologie supéri-
eure, Institute national de la recherche scientifique, and
Concordia University.
Established in 2000 and situated in the historic Old
Port Area of Montreal, the Montreal Science Centre has an
enriched exhibition of science and technology. Through
a group visit program, the center hosted and guided us
through an interactive experience.
The exhibition started with a demonstration of our
body structure and functions in the “Human” section. It
was quite interesting to see and experience reflections of
our different organs in different scenarios. For example,
there was an exercise about visual orientation. There, we
first looked at a simple picture (like a circle). Then, we
closed our eyes and tried to draw it on a digital board.
When we opened our eyes, it was cool to see the differ-
ences between our drawing and the actual picture! This
simple activity demonstrated the capability and limita-
tions of our visual orientation. Overall, this section gave
us a good idea about the long evolution that made us
what we are today.
The next section, “The Windmills of the Imagination,”
contained the world’s first electricity-to-water transform-
er, which was created for the inauguration of this center.
It is a hydroelectric generator station that produces water
from electrical energy. This unique idea came from its in-
ventor when he became concerned by the alarming rate
at which we consume our planet’s water. By automating
various recycled objects, he created a machine that pro-
duces an endless flow of water!
This section also contained a windmill that produces
electricity. These big machines sparked our engineering
curiosity, which was amplified as we moved into the next
segment, “Life-Sized Science.” This is the largest section
of the center, with a wide range of activities. There, we
explored so many things—light, water, air, electricity,
metal, geometry, and artificial intelligence!
While some of us built water circuits to generate electric-
ity, others experimented with the mysterious impact of air
pressure. We could step into the spectrum of light to explore
reflection, refraction, ultraviolet, infrared, and so on. We ob-
served some simple but fascinating phenomena of geomet-
rics and discovered the secrets of magnetic attraction.
In a segment about artificial intelligence, we got first-
hand experience with reinforcement learning by training

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2022.3210350

Date of current version: 7 March 2023 A group photo of participants during the visit.

44 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS

 Master of Science in
Biomedical Image Computing
A unique program at the intersection of AI and biomedical
imaging. Exceptional professors. Hands-on coursework.
Practical applications. Industry experience. The chance to
shape the future of healthcare.

go.bioengineering.illinois.edu/BIC

The Grainger College of Engineering

Department of Bioengineering
Playing with air pressure and having fun with electric circuits.
Working in teams to solve challenges in the Fabrik workshops.
an autonomous car in a simulated setup. There, we first
picked a car and defined its setting. Then came the impor-
tant task of defining its training parameters, such as the
time to train, the number of training inputs from the sur-
roundings, speed versus safety, etc. Once the training was
done, the on-screen car started moving across the road by
itself. Sometimes, it went smoothly for a while; sometimes,
it crashed on the roadside very quickly. It showed us the
importance of proper training for autonomous vehicles.
The last section that we visited, “Fabrik—Creativity Fac-
tory,” was probably the most engaging one. It is basically a
workshop space, containing creative challenges of assem-
bly work using a variety of random pieces. We worked there
in three different teams, each addressing a particular goal
with the provided materials. For instance, one team was
tasked with making a moving device using some raw ma-
terials, without wheels, that was able to move downward
by just hanging on a pair of ropes! Problems like this were
a fascinating engineering challenge, and they were quite
fun to brainstorm, plan, and execute. We ended the visit
with some refreshments in the center’s cafeteria.
46 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS
It was an exciting summer afternoon, which made us
further energized to accelerate IEEE endeavors in our
Section. We are looking ahead to run our different activi-
ties a little more creatively in 2023, thanks to what we
learned from this visit!
This visit simultaneously sparked our curiosity, en-
gineering passion, and—most importantly—the spirit of
fun learning! It just reminded us that engineers/scien-
tists are both problem solvers and change makers. They
can be pragmatic, and also creative. They can dream,
and they can also adapt. Ultimately, being engineering
students, it was so inspirational to get immersed in our
vocation on this trip. Every SB should host a trip like this!
About the author
Azfar Adib (azfar.adib@concordia.ca) is the Student Activ-
ities chair in the IEEE Montreal Section and a Ph.D. can-
didate with the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at Concordia University, Montreal, QC H3G
1M8 Canada.
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ESSAY

Power grid?
What is that?
by Raymond E. Floyd

T
he electric grid that exists today, frequently called with then-current technology, so, as the demand in-
the power grid and serving millions of homes and creased, additional power plants had to be built to
businesses in North America, began its existence supply the local market.
in the late 1800s. Unless you are an engineer— In that same time frame, Westinghouse and Tesla
more specifically, a power engineer—it is doubtful that were advocating the use of ac power systems for gen-
you have ever given a single thought to what is behind eral distribution and use. The current dc systems had a
the switch whenever you turn on lights, televisions, radi- limited application range, but, through the use of trans-
os, or other electrical devices. The normal expectation is formers, which do not work with dc power, ac voltages
that, when the switch is thrown on, the lights will come could be stepped up or down to allow distribution across
on—every time and always. Outstanding availability and far more distant applications. In what is described as
reliability are expected of the system. the “War of Currents,” Edison and Westinghouse argued
back and forth as to which was the “ideal” form of elec-
History trical distribution. In the end, Westinghouse won out,
One of the first patents, U.S. Patent 0,223,898 (the origi- and ac became the de facto standard—but the debate is
nal patent number was 223,898, issued 27 January not yet over.
1880, but it was modified with the addition of a leading
zero to maintain consistency with patents issued after The structure of the grid
1976 for search purposes), was issued to Thomas Edison Going back to the original discussion, just what is
for the incandescent light bulb, a beyond that switch that is being
carbon filament-based light. It turned on? The entire system
operated on a dc power source In what is described as the begins at the power producing sta-
with a supply voltage of approxi- “War of Currents,” Edison tion, which may be a hydroelectric
mately 100 V.
That patent was followed by
and Westinghouse argued dam, fossil fuel-fired power plant,
land- or offshore-based wind gen-
many more, with two being U.S. back and forth as to which erator farm, solar panel farm,
Patents 0,251,551 (“System of was the “ideal” form of nuclear plant, or geothermal gener-
Electric Lighting”) and 0,263,142
(“Electrical Distribution System”),
electrical distribution. ator. Regardless of the source, each
plant will generate electric power,
which provided a description and typically in the 5,000–15,000-V
basis for a dc power distribution system. This offered three-phase output. When selected to become part of the
an easy way to supply power to homes, businesses, grid power system, that output is stepped up through
and cities. It did have a number of limitations, in- the use of transformers, with typical voltages ranging
cluding that it typically offered only 110-V power; had from about 100,000 V to more than 700,000 V to feed the
major problems in operating consistently; and was re- transmission network over large distances.
stricted in its distribution range, with the limit being Most people will recognize the transmission network as
fewer than 2 mi from the source to the outer bounds of the tall electric poles running along a highway, mile after
the system. To go beyond that range was not possible mile. Periodically, there is a fenced area with cables run-
ning from the transmission lines down into the enclosed
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2021.3127430
equipment. These facilities are referred to as substations,
Date of current version: 7 March 2023 and they use transformers to step-down the high voltage

48 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS 0278-6648/23©2023IEEE

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from the transmission lines to, typically, 35,000–100,000 V. Canada. The Québec Grid does tie into the Eastern Grid
The output of the substation then feeds a series of distribu- but is isolated for control purposes. The Western Grid cov-
tion lines, carrying power to consumers. ers the area across the Rockies, including the U.S. states
Once in the vicinity of a consumer or consumers, the and Canadian provinces. Beyond the two major grids,
electric lines enter another level there are smaller ones, including
of distribution substation, where
In the United States, there the Texas, California, and Alaska
the line voltage may be reduced Grids (actually two independent
further to 6,000–35,000 V. At the are almost 200,000 mi of grids). The Alaska Grids are unique
industry level, this output is input distribution wiring, with in that, because of the nature of the
to local transformers to reduce the
more than 500 state, there is a need for two inde-
voltage to 500–600 V for commer- pendent grid operations. Even with
cial use or, via pole/pad-mounted power-generating such grid availability, many remote
transformers, to a household level stations involved. villages or island communities
of 120–240 V. must have local diesel power opera-
In the United States, there are almost 200,000 mi of tions for their electricity.
distribution wiring, with more than 500 power-generating
stations involved. The interesting point is that there is not High-voltage dc systems
a “single” grid but a number of primary and smaller grids. Where loads and limited distance were problems in the
The grid systems are illustrated in Fig. 1. It might be asked systems of the 1800s, those limitations have been over-
why Mexico is not included in the North American grid come in modern high-voltage dc (HVdc) systems. Today,
system. At one time, there was an interconnect between long distances—in excess of 1,200 mi—can be achieved
the Mexican and Texas grids, but it is no longer in use. with voltages in the 800,000-V range (with plus and
There are two major wide area distribution grids, the minus polarity lines achieving a capacity of 1.6 million V).
Eastern and Western Grids. The former covers the area There are some problems noted with HVdc sys-
from the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern edge of the Rocky tems, with the primary ones being maintenance and
Mountain range, with the exception of Texas and Québec, availability. HVdc systems have an availability typically

FIG1 The U.S. grid. (Source: Wikipedia, 2020.) NPCC: Northeast Power Coordination Counsel; RFC: Reliability First Counsel; SERC:
SERC Reliability Counsel; FRCC: Florida Reliability Coordination Counsel; MRO: Midwest Reliability Organization; SPP: Southwest Power
Pool; TRE: Texas Reliability Entity; WECC: Western Electricity Cooperative Counsel; ASCC: Alaska Systems Cooperative Counsel.

50 ■ M a rc h /A pr il 2023 IEEE POTENTIALS

in the 97–98% range, when compared to ac distribu- • E. Wolf, D. Kahn, and Z. Coman, “Texas and Cali-
tion grids operating in the 99+% range. With the recti- fornia built different power grids, but neither stood up
fication, sw itching, inversion, and other control ele- to climate change,” Politico, 2021. https://www.politico.
ments required, there is simply more equipment failure com/ne w s/2021/02/21/te x a s- c a l i for n i a- cl i m ate
to be considered. -change-power-grids-470434
Another problem is that manu- •“North American power trans-
facturers of dc power equipment Typically, an HVdc line mission grid,” Wikipedia, https://
have not standardized to the same suffers less transmission e n .w i k ip e d i a .or g /w i k i/ N or t h
level that those of ac power equip- _ American_power_transmission
ment have. There are specific ap-
loss, ranging from 30% to _grid (Accessed: Apr. 27, 2022).
plications where dc systems are the 50% less, thereby enabling •“Alaska’s energy infrastructure,”
better choice. For example, under- longer distances for power Renewable Energy Alaska Project
water lines powered by dc are more (REAP). alaskarenewableenergy.org/
efficient than those with the equiva-
transmission. ppf/alaskas-energy-infrastructure
lent ac power due to capacitive loss- (Accessed: Apr. 27, 2022).
es suffered by the ac system. Similarly, where there are long • S. W. Blume, Electric Power Systems Basics for
lines with no intermediate access taps, dc lines are more the Nonelectrical Professional (IEEE Press Series on
effective and cheaper. Power and Energy Systems), 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ,
There have been a number of large HVdc grids installed USA: Wiley, 2016.
over the past 10 years, with the majority in China and
European countries (England, Scotland, France, Spain, About the author
and The Netherlands). Typically, an HVdc line suffers less Raymond E. Floyd (r.floyd@ieee.org) earned his B.S.E.E.
transmission loss, ranging from 30% to 50% less, thereby degree from the Florida Institute of Technology, Mel-
enabling longer distances for power transmission. bourne, Florida, USA, in 1970, his M.S.E.E. degree from
The next time you turn on the light, the stove, or some Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, in 1977,
other electrical appliance, take a moment and imagine where and his Ph.D. degree in engineering management from
that power originated. How far did it travel? What kind of California Coast University, Santa Ana, California, USA,
power generators were involved? It is an impressive highly in 2009. He spent 26 years with IBM, Armonk, New York,
technical, solution for your use in everyday operations. USA, retiring in 1992 as a senior engineer. He is a Life
Senior Member of IEEE, life senior member of the Society
Read more about it of Manufacturing Engineers and member of the Society of
• T. K. Grose, “Power play – The re-current rivalry,” Petroleum Engineers and American Society for Engineer-
PRISM, Feb. 2016. ing Education, and he holds four patents. He has served
• “Applications for high voltage direct current trans- as a program evaluator for the Engineering Technology
mission technologies,” U. S. Dept. of Energy (DOE), Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for
Arlington, VA, 2013. Engineering and Technology for 25 years and is a corre-
• J. Jones, Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westing- sponding editor of IEEE Potentials. He is currently a visit-
house, and the Race to Electrify the World. New York, NY, ing lecturer at Northwest College, Powell, Wyoming,
USA: Random House, 2003. 82435, USA, where he teaches a variety of engineering-
• “HCDC vs. HVAC transmission”, Electriceasy, Feb. 2016. and computer-related courses.
http:www.electricaleasy.com/2016/02/hvdc-vs-hvac.html

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