Cases

In July, Suyash and Stijn worked on a case for the Radio Systems (RS) Research Group. The goal of this case was to measure the performance of a harmonic tag. A typical harmonic tag is a passive battery-less transponder which can absorb the energy of a received signal and then produces its replica at the double frequency. These tags are used in such applications as wildlife tracking, wearable sensors, and industrial monitoring.
The Radio Systems research group has developed such a tag and wanted to test the characteristics of this tag. Suyash and Stijn helped Radio Systems by first planning and preparing a measuring setup, after which the measuring setup was built in an anechoic chamber (see picture). The next 3 days were used to measure the characteristics of the tag.
In the end Suyash and Stijn enjoyed doing this research and Radio Systems was happy with the performed measurements!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlVeJzN9urw

To give potential new students a better insight in what the bachelor Advanced Technology at the University of Twente has to offer an animation was commissioned. In this short animation the content of the study is visualized in an appealing and understandable way.

The animation consists of 2 and 3 dimensional aspects. The 2 dimensional animation is made using Adobe After Effects. The 3 dimensional animation is made using Blender.

In After Effects the effects being used are alpha inverted transitions, text effects, puppet tool, path tracing, composition transitions, motion tracking, parenting and more. Besides that the video is edited in After Effects.

In Blender the models are made using material design (texturing), subdivision, lighting set-up, denoising, animation nodes, camera control, simple animation and more.

During the past months, there has been worked on a case from Mesa+. The goal of this case was to do a feasibility study on the usage of olivine for carbon dioxide reduction in the atmosphere. Olivine is a mineral which has the capability to take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This reaction can be sped up by crushing the olivine to enhance the weathering of it. For this research, there has been looked at spreading olivine out in sea.

To do this feasibility study, there has been looked at different parts. For example, the reaction rate has been discussed and there has also been looked at how the olivine can be transported. Apart from this, health risks have also been taken into account. Taking all these factors into account, the end result turned out to be that the usage of olivine for this application seems promising. However, there are still a lot of obstacles on the road. For example, the possible low reaction rate is worrying. Best would be to do more experiments to find out how fast the reaction rate actually will be.

Nadine and Xander, who worked on this case, really enjoyed doing so. They liked to do something completely different in comparison to the modules they have been following for the past year.

The SSA has collaborated with Menicon. Menicon is a manufacturer of so-called made-to-order contact lenses and these products fall under the Medical Device Regulation (MDR). The MDR is a new ruling, introducing stricter requirements on a wider scope. In the instruction for use (IFU) this means that the manufacturer has to dictate the advised care products for their lenses. The MDR basically expects that all lens care products available on the market are taken into account for this advice. To help tackle this problem a database has been set-up containing categorized lens care products based on their composition and function. This can help Menicon rationalize that untested products are similar to tested products. Consequently, their safety and efficacy can be determined based on a limited amount of products.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions physical open days at Universities are limited, thus less interactive. To engage potential new Advanced Technology (AT) students more with the program of AT an interactive version of the studyguide was commissioned by the staff of AT. In addition members of the SSA updated the current studyguide to make it more up to date.

The interactive version of can be visited at: https://studyguide-at.utwente.nl/studyguide/. With this site high school students can read through the content of the study guide in a more engaging way with more overview. By clicking on the ‘chronological timeline’ page the students can experience the path an Advanced Technology student would take to finish the bachelor. Besides this the site includes more information about the program (numbers and data of the study), videos/photos, interviews and contact information all to guide new students for the optimal study choice.

The staff of Advanced Technology asked us to update and review the study guide that is given to prospective AT students. We went over all content to see what was still relevant, added new information where necessary and collected fresh stories about bachelor assignments and studying abroad from our fellow students.

With stricter regulations coming up in housing construction, the industry has focused its attention on alternative green solutions. One of these is the implementation of phase-change materials, which is exactly what two of our members have researched and brainstormed about. Carlo Boeve and Alex Mo spent several weeks on the analysis of possible implementations for the innovative material in housing environments. With this case, we hope to have given Loohuis Installatietechnieken the right tools to build even greener houses in the Netherlands!

Although our trip to Singapore and Australia has been delayed, we still have been very busy working on cases!
Because of the rising popularity of the French sport Jeu de Boules, the Dutch Jeu de Boules association (NJBB) wanted to know if and how it is possible to color the balls that are used in the sport. With colored balls, the association aims to make the boules easier to distinguish from each other and thus make Jeu de Boules more interesting to watch and play. Ward, Noud and I (Martijn) have researched various methods to be able to give the boules an appealing color, while maintaining the original ball’s properties as much as possible and, most important of all, surviving being thrown around on the gravel.
A thorough literature research followed. A couple of months and some online meetings later, we came up with 3 ideas that are a possible solution to the problem. These solutions either alter the top layer of the boules or apply a thin layer of some material to it, producing all kinds of fancy colors. The ideas were presented to the chairman of the NJBB, from whom we got an enthusiastic response and the proposal to continue this case into the next phase, where we will be researching the 3 ideas in more detail. The focus of this second phase will be on durability and economic aspects of each individual idea.

Among other cases given to us by our own study, Advanced Technology, was a case for the production of videos for a course on Instrumentation. This was because a lot of 1st year students lacked the necessary previous knowledge for this course, and the programme was looking for a way to update their knowledge in a quick and effective manner. Eight videos on subjects ranging from using an oscilloscope to high- and low pass filtering were made. Thanks to these videos, which can be reused for many years, the teaching team of Advanced Technology will have to spend less time ensuring every student has up-to-date previous knowledge.

The first case has been accomplished by the SSA!

Thijs & Xander have provided the study with live streaming the graduation ceremony for bachelor students. Due to Covid-19 regulations attendance was limited. However, by live streaming the event an unlimited amount of people where are able to ‘digitally’ join the ceremony via the platform of YouTube.

These efforts brought us a few steps closer to Singapore and Australia in 2021, which hopefully, does not get cancelled by potentially closed borders.