Embedded Systems: invisible technology that has a substantial impact!
Henk de Vree is an enthusiastic Embedded Systems alumnus. He came to UT in 2014 to start a pre-master in Electrical Engineering after studying Electrical Engineering at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. After completing this pre-master in 2015, his life as an Embedded Systems Master student began. He stepped into the world of Embedded Systems and did so within the Integrated Circuit Design Group.
The Embedded Systems programme (EMSYS) gave me insights into both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. This programme allows you to contribute to innovations that improve the world e.g. by increasing the joy of life of patients suffering chronic diseases. It makes me happy to be a part of it. As an EMSYS alumnus, you are trained to be able to contribute to a wide range of different projects, in my case this knowledge allows me to work on custom chips used in e.g. DNA analysis, Healthcare products, new automotive sensors, etc. Think of any technology and an Embedded System Engineer has somehow been involved.
Team Leader Analog & Mixed-Signal IC Design
After graduating in 2017, I found a job at Cyient (formerly AnSem) where I’m working as a Team Leader Analog & Mixed-Signal IC Design and I am responsible for a great team of analogue IC design Engineers and design flow. We work on projects for Industrial applications, Healthcare, Consumer electronics, Automotive, Smart Home, and Satellite communication. For the automotive industry, we design chips which can recognise and report unsafe situations by themselves. Sensors working with high-power lasers must go into safety mode immediately if something is not right. There is no time to first figure out what is wrong; you have to take action right away. Because we formally need to prove that the system is safe you cannot use deep learning (self-learning after repetition), you have to design the chip so it knows what is wrong and what is needed to ensure the safety of the driver and everyone else in traffic. Maybe it is only a very small part of the self-driving car, but it is all the more important for the car owner and everyone's safety in traffic. You could say these are simple solutions with very big effects. It also often gives me an eureka moment during the design of a system when I see that everything comes together and works!
A chip in your eye
Often, I am working on a product development where I do not immediately think about the impact this product can have on society or the individual human being. And yet that is often the case with the work I do. For example, I collaborated on a chip that was applied as an implant in an eye so that the (almost) blind patient could learn to see again through this technology. The chip we designed is embedded in the eye of someone who is blind but with the eye nerve still intact. The nerve was stimulated by up to 20-volt pulses, allowing the nerve to recognise this stimulus and send it to the brain. By connecting the chip to wireless glasses with a camera, the patient could learn to see again and distinguish dark and light and even colour based on the stimuli picked up by the nerve. The more electrodes you connect to it, the more detail the patient can see.
The effect of this treatment also depended on the age of the patient. The younger the patient, the easier he could master the new way of seeing. However, patients can never again see as well as someone with normal vision, but you can manage very well in society independently again. It felt fascinating to be part of this innovation and have an impact on someone's life!
Trackers used in the animal kingdom
We also work on chips that use satellite technology, for animal tracking. You have to bear in mind that you cannot change batteries very often (or at all, really) when it comes to wild animals or water animals, such as sharks. Animals get tagged with a chip that allows the researcher to track them via satellite. These trackers have to be very power-efficient because you cannot track wild animals every time you want to replace the tracker's batteries. So we devised a way to make the satellite that is out of range of the tracker go into sleeping mode to save power. Once the satellite has made its lap around the Earth and is back in range, the tracker automatically turns back on. These trackers allow you to investigate the presence of certain animals, and keep track of whether they are healthy or if there are any abnormalities in their behaviour. That way, you can keep an eye on the behaviour of endangered species. However, you cannot use the ARGOS satellite system for any application, it is currently restricted to use in environmental protection, awareness or study, or protecting human life.