Utilities must organize and make sense of a tremendous tranche of legacy power grid data, but AI may offer answers.

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Edison International (NYSE: EIX)’s stock price has soared by ... Zacks Investment Research reported 2023-10-31 that Let’s focus on utilities like NI, ETR, AWK, DTE and EIX, scheduled to release their third-quarter earnings on Nov 1.

Edison International (EIX) Stock: Evaluating the Market Performance

The Zacks Utilities sector’s third-quarter 2023 earnings are expected to have been driven by warmer weather conditions, new utility rates and usage of new technologies that assisted in reducing operating expenses.

Utilities Due to Report Q3 Earnings on Nov 1: NI, ETR & More

While deciding between gas and electric, the brothers were concerned with the power and price tag attached to an eco-friendly oven. Both surprised them.

Pizza Joint Grooves to a Greener Beat

The price-to-earnings ratio for Edison International (NYSE: EIX) is 25.77x, which is above its average ratio. Moreover, the 36-month beta value for EIX is 0.87. Analysts have varying opinions on the stock,

Edison International (EIX) Stock: A Value Analysis

The Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association hosted a group of government officials and business leaders from Africa and Europe to talk about ethanol.

International guests study Ohio ethanol industry

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The board of directors of Southern California Edison today declared ... California Edison An Edison International (NYSE: EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population ...

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A team of international researchers reported this week that ... But our conversation still left me wondering: Are utility companies such as SoCal Edison up for the task? Before Wednesday’s event, I spent a few minutes talking with Erik Takayesu, Edison ...

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Measures tied to organized labor were the focus at the Illinois Capitol Wednesday as the state House voted to allow legislative staffers to organize while a politically powerful union and a downstate energy company announced a temporary hold on efforts to pass a measure allowing the utility to build transmission lines without going through a competitive bidding process.

Downstate utility, electrical workers union put effort to control transmission line construction on hold

The 5.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Ojai during Hurricane Hilary in August, also known as #Hurriquake, was an excellent reminder to always be prepared.

SCE Completes Seismic Retrofit of the Grid's 'Backbone'

Get the most recent info and news about Edison International on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Edison International, through its subsidiaries, generates and distributes electric power. It delivers electricity to 15 million residential, commercial, industrial, public authorities, agricultural, and other customers across Southern, Central, and Coastal California. The company also provides energy solutions to commercial and industrial users. Its transmission facilities consist of lines ranging from 55 kV to 500 kV and substations; and distribution system consists of approximately 39,000 circuit-miles of overhead lines, approximately 31,000 circuit-miles of underground lines, and 800 substations. The company was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Rosemead, California.

Edison International

This paper is under CC 4.0 license. available on arxiv Authors: (1) Hatem A. Alharbi, CSchool of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom; (2) Taisir E.H. Elgorashi, School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom; (3) Jaafar M.H. Elmirghani, School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom. Table of Links Abstract & Introduction Related Works Repealing Net Neutrality Profit-Driven Model Results Conclusions & References Biographies Biographies received the B.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering (Hons.) from Umm Alqura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia in 2012, the M.Sc. degree in Digital communication networks (with distinction) from University of Leeds, United Kingdom, in 2015. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, UK. He is currently a Lecturer in Computer Engineering department in the School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Taibah, Saudi Arabia. received the B.S. degree (first-class Hons.) in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan, in 2004, the M.Sc. degree (with distinction) in photonic and communication systems from the University of Wales, Swansea, UK, in 2005, and the PhD degree in optical networking from the University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, in 2010. She is currently a Lecturer in optical networks in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Leeds. Previously, she held a Postdoctoral Research post at the University of Leeds (2010– 2014), where she focused on the energy efficiency of optical networks investigating the use of renewable energy in core networks, green IP over WDM networks with datacenters, energy efficient physical topology design, energy efficiency of content distribution networks, distributed cloud computing, network virtualization and Big Data. In 2012, she was a BT Research Fellow, where she developed energy efficient hybrid wireless-optical broadband access networks and explored the dynamics of TV viewing behavior and program popularity. The energy efficiency techniques developed during her postdoctoral research contributed 3 out of the 8 carefully chosen core network energy efficiency improvement measures recommended by the GreenTouch consortium for every operator network worldwide. Her work led to several invited talks at GreenTouch, Bell Labs, Optical Network Design and Modelling conference, Optical Fiber Communications conference, International Conference on Computer Communications, EU Future Internet Assembly, IEEE Sustainable ICT Summit and IEEE 5G World Forum and collaboration with Nokia and Huawei. is the Director of the Institute of Communication and Power Networks within the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, UK. He joined Leeds in 2007 and prior to that (2000–2007) as chair in optical communications at the University of Wales Swansea he founded, developed and directed the Institute of Advanced Telecommunications and the Technium Digital (TD), a technology incubator/spin-off hub. He has provided outstanding leadership in a number of large research projects at the IAT and TD. He received the Ph.D. in the synchronization of optical systems and optical receiver design from the University of Huddersfield UK in 1994 and the DSc in Communication Systems and Networks from University of Leeds, UK, in 2014. He has co-authored Photonic switching Technology: Systems and Networks, (Wiley) and has published over 500 papers. He has research interests in optical systems and networks. Prof. Elmirghani is Fellow of the IET, Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Senior Member of IEEE. He was Chairman of IEEE Comsoc Transmission Access and Optical Systems technical committee and was Chairman of IEEE Comsoc Signal Processing and Communications Electronics technical committee, and an editor of IEEE Communications Magazine. He was founding Chair of the Advanced Signal Processing for Communication Symposium which started at IEEE GLOBECOM’99 and has continued since at every ICC and GLOBECOM. Prof. Elmirghani was also founding Chair of the first IEEE ICC/GLOBECOM optical symposium at GLOBECOM’00, the Future Photonic Network Technologies, Architectures and Protocols Symposium. He chaired this Symposium, which continues to date under different names. He was the founding chair of the first Green Track at ICC/GLOBECOM at GLOBECOM 2011, and is Chair of the IEEE Sustainable ICT Initiative within the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) Future Directions Committee (FDC) and within the IEEE Communications Society, a pan IEEE Societies Initiative responsible for Green and Sustainable ICT activities across IEEE, 2012- present. He is and has been on the technical program committee of 38 IEEE ICC/GLOBECOM conferences between 1995 and 2019 including 18 times as Symposium Chair. He received the IEEE Communications Society Hal Sobol award, the IEEE Comsoc Chapter Achievement award for excellence in chapter activities (both in 2005), the University of Wales Swansea Outstanding Research Achievement Award, 2006, the IEEE Communications Society Signal Processing and Communication Electronics outstanding service award, 2009, a best paper award at IEEE ICC’2013, the IEEE Comsoc Transmission Access and Optical Systems outstanding Service award 2015 in recognition of “Leadership and Contributions to the Area of Green Communications”, received the GreenTouch 1000x award in 2015 for “pioneering research contributions to the field of energy efficiency in telecommunications", the 2016 IET Optoelectronics Premium Award and shared with 6 GreenTouch innovators the 2016 Edison Award in the “Collective Disruption” Category for their work on the GreenMeter, an international competition, clear evidence of his seminal contributions to Green Communications which have a lasting impact on the environment (green) and society. He is currently an editor of: IET Optoelectronics, Journal of Optical Communications, IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials and IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications series on Green Communications and Networking. He was Co-Chair of the GreenTouch Wired, Core and Access Networks Working Group, an adviser to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, member of the Royal Society International Joint Projects Panel and member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) College. He was Principal Investigator (PI) of the £6m EPSRC INTelligent Energy awaRe NETworks (INTERNET) Programme Grant, 2010-2016 and is currently PI of the £6.6m EPSRC Terabit Bidirectional Multi-user Optical Wireless System (TOWS) for 6G LiFi Programme Grant, 2019-2024. He has been awarded in excess of £30 million in grants to date from EPSRC, the EU and industry and has held prestigious fellowships funded by the Royal Society and by BT. He was an IEEE Comsoc Distinguished Lecturer 2013-2016.

Impact of the Net Neutrality Repeal on Communication Networks: Biographies

Software Engineering for OpenHarmony—A Research Roadmap: Conclusion & References

We’ve witnessed business visionaries like Steve Jobs, whose groundbreaking presentations captivated audiences worldwide, read countless articles and books on the subject, and yet wonder how such people drive progress. And most importantly, how can we follow in their footsteps? The crux of the matter lies in our approach. The business focuses on selling, which is quite logical, of course. But at every stage of product development, our minds are consumed by sales. Everyone, from engineers to marketers, is immersed in formulas, analytics, and advertising strategies. These aspects are essential and valuable, yes. However, more than these processes are needed to become proper technology and marketing revolutionaries. To surpass mediocrity, one must transcend the singular focus on sales and embrace ideas and meaning above profit. On that unforgettable day when Steve Jobs unveiled a personal computer from a simple bag, more powerful and productive computers already existed. Future advancements were in the works as well. Yet, people weren’t dreaming about RAM capacities or processor speeds. Instead, they yearned for personal computers that mirrored the sleekness, convenience, and aesthetics of everyday household appliances like televisions and video recorders. Twenty-three years later, when Steve Jobs took the stage, unveiling the first iPhone, there were already “smart” mobile devices offering superior communication and longer battery life. However, people truly craved a handheld computer — a device that would fulfil their dreams. Apple’s secret sauce was to bring people’s dreams to life, capture their imagination, and deliver what was envisioned. But to accomplish this, you must be a dreamer yourself. In a serendipitous twist, Jobs once referenced a refrigerator while contemplating the ideas behind the Macintosh. It’s hard to fathom now, but refrigerators and computers share a similar origin story. Once, refrigerators were massive industrial structures found in warehouses or aboard ships. A century ago, even the most innovative and modernist architects didn’t consider refrigerators when designing houses and apartments. Instead, they incorporated ventilated storage rooms or cold cellars, as preserving food was a constant challenge, particularly during summer. Only a fortunate few could afford to install a home cooling unit, which required a separate room for the engine and compressor. It was a complex and cumbersome affair. The dream of a portable refrigerator that could fit into a small space, no larger than a closet, seemed unattainable. However, in 1927, General Electric introduced the Monitor-Top home refrigerator — the first mass-market model that turned this dream into reality. Despite its hefty price tag of $525 (equivalent to $7,500 to $8,000 today) and the looming Great Depression, the Monitor-Top sold over a million units, profoundly impacting the concept of comfort, the food industry, and architectural design. Steve Jobs had a knack for finding relatable examples; one of his favorites was the refrigerator. Like how you effortlessly store and retrieve food without worrying about spoilage, Jobs believed computers should be equally intuitive and hassle-free. The focus should be on using them rather than understanding them. In 1968, Alan Kay introduced the concept of Dynabook, a device encompassing the features of today’s personal computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Kay’s visionary sketch contained elements that would later become a reality in these devices. However, at the time, such advancements only existed in science fiction. Even Alan and other experts understood that they were dreaming, realizing that widespread use of such technology lay in the distant future. The arrival of widespread computerization depended on dreamers like Jobs and Wozniak, who dared to push boundaries and make dreams a reality. Let’s take a moment to acknowledge that Apple wasn’t the sole master of turning dreams into reality. Other pioneers dared to transform ideas that seemed straight from science fiction into tangible products. A massive wave of excitement surrounded the release of the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X cell phone in 1984. How many of those eager customers were avid fans of the intrepid Captain Kirk and his crew’s adventures aboard the Enterprise? In those very adventures, the heroes wielded wireless handheld devices for communication, pushing the boundaries of imagination. Surprisingly, the need to create and bring a cell phone to the mass market wasn’t even apparent to futurists then. In Stanley Kubrick’s visionary film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Dr. Heywood Floyd utilized a specialized cabin apparatus to make wireless calls. Motorola took a risk, charging a hefty $3,995 for the novelty (equivalent to $10,000 to $11,000 today). Still, they bet on the dream and emerged victorious, solidifying Martin Cooper as the “father of the cell phone.” This principle extends beyond the realm of information technology. Consider Lee Iaccoca and his invention of the Mustang. Did you know that the initial base model of the Mustang wasn’t a bona fide sports coupe? Iaccoca tapped into the aspirations of millions of Americans (and beyond) who yearned for sports cars but couldn’t afford the high price tags. By crafting a car based on a family sedan that exuded the essence of speed even when motionless, Iaccoca captivated the hearts of dreamers everywhere. Heinrich Nordhoff had a similar vision when he transformed the Volkswagen Beetle into an international automotive phenomenon. His dream was to create a car that transcended social status and could be purchased without concern for neighbors’ or colleagues’ judgments. Dreams have guided the paths of illustrious figures like Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, Henry Ford, Guglielmo Marconi, and the Lumiere brothers, propelling them towards remarkable commercial success. By now, you’ve likely deduced the conclusion we’re driving at: to become a truly successful techno guru poised to etch your name in the annals of civilization and reap substantial rewards, you must dare to dream. Embrace ideas that others envision, even if they appear crazy and fantastical. Instead of merely “solving the user’s problem” or “selling a product,” you must embrace the art of giving dreams away — for a modest fee.

Take the Dream Out of the Bag and Hide it in Your Pocket

Why do we use alternating current (AC) power? Why don’t power companies just distribute direct current (DC) power, since the first thing we normally do with modern appliances is convert the AC to DC? The answer to those questions dates to ’s efforts to Thomas Edison promote his incandescent lamp and electrify New York. Edison’s generators produced DC power, which worked fine for local distribution, but required either very large cables to supply loads more than a few blocks away, or a power station every few blocks. This is because, at voltages practical for end use, large currents were required to electrify more than just a small area. Enter Nikola Tesla, backed by George Westinghouse, who promoted high-voltage AC transmission lines with a low voltage substation every few blocks for local distribution. The important difference was the substation only required a transformer, while the DC solution required a complete steam-powered power plant. Ultimately, Westinghouse settled the war that ensued when he built a hydroelectric plant at Niagra Falls that was able to supply loads hundreds of miles away. However, in the few extremely long, point-to-point transmission lines, the balance tips back toward very high voltage DC transmission lines (e.g., the power line from Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State to Los Angeles). AC power enabled many other inventions key to industrialization, from the induction motor and gas discharge lamp ballasts to light dimmers and electric shavers. But part of the dark side of AC power is this notion of power factor. The voltage for DC power is constant, so there is no phase associated with it; AC power is (ideally) sinusoidal, with the voltage and current crossing 0 V at 120 times a second (twice per 60 Hz cycle). If the load (or even the power line) is slightly inductive or capacitive, the current will either lag or lead the voltage. Figure 1 shows an LTspice model of a 120 VAC, 60 Hz, AC voltage source driving an inductor, a resistor, and a capacitor in parallel. Figure 2 shows the output of this simulation with the voltage of the source V(n001), the inductor current I(L1), the resistor current I(R1), and the capacitor current I(C1). Notice that only the resistor current is in phase with the voltage, the inductor current “lags” behind the voltage by 90 degrees, while the capacitor current “leads” the voltage by 90 degrees. How (And Why) To Determine Power Factor Power factor is classically defined as the cosine of the angle between the root mean square (RMS) AC voltage — defined as the amount of AC power that produces the same heating effect as DC power — and the RMS AC current. To calculate the power consumed by a DC load, simply multiply the voltage at the load by the current through it. , To calculate the power consumed by an AC load the product of RMS voltage and current must be multiplied by the power factor. If voltage and current are in phase (0 degrees phase error), the cosine of 0 is 1, and therefore the same calculation as DC. This occurs when the load is made to look resistive. If the phase error is 60 degrees, the cosine of 60 is 0.5; only half of the product of voltage and current is delivered to the load. So where does the other half go? That current still circulates through the power lines; it just doesn’t deliver useful power to the load. When breaking down the “apparent power” waveform (called volt-amperes, or VA) into its inphase and out-of-phase parts — sometimes referred to as “real” and “imaginary” parts, respectively —the in-phase part (the cosine coefficient) is called power (measured in watts), while the out-of-phase part (the sine coefficient) is called reactive power (measured volt-ampsreactive, or VAR). So, power factor can also be defined as the real power divided by VA (PF = W/VA). The watt meter on your power panel only measures real power, so customers are only billed for real power, but the utility still has to size its equipment to handle the total current flowing, so it strives to make all current “billable” current. How this Applies to Medical Devices But why does any of this matter, particularly if you are not billed for it? First, the utility ultimately bills its customers for all expenses, so the cost of correcting power factor is passed on to consumers. Second, more and more agency specifications — such as EN60601, EN61000, and IEC555 — require power factor correction for medical devices (sometimes referred to as powerline harmonic control). Manufacturers of medical devices are required to provide varying degrees of power factor correction in their products, depending on power output and application. If you are thinking, “My product does not contain any large loads, much less inductive or capacitive types,” there is a subtlety that rears its ugly head: That little switching power supply you put into your product to meet the efficiency/wide input/size/weight/packaging requirements introduces its own peculiar variant of power factor corruption. Remember, a power factor of one occurs when the load appears resistive. A switch mode power supply (SMPS) typically rectifies the power line, and then charges a large capacitor to store energy during the time the voltage sine wave drops to 0V, until it recovers. If this capacitor is large enough, it will store enough energy that the power line can drop out or “brown out” for several cycles, such as occurs when a large load is connected to the line (e.g., air conditioning compressors starting or laser printer heaters cycling). From a power supply designer’s point of view, the bigger that input capacitor, the better. If the capacitor is big enough, it discharges very little during a cycle of the power line, and during steady state, the power line voltage is only greater than the capacitor voltage at the positive and negative peak of the waveform. Therefore, current only flows during the peaks of the power line voltage waveform. It is perfectly in phase, so the power factor should be 1, right? Well, remember that the load should appear resistive. Figure 3 Figure 4 shows the AC current waveform of a resistive load and that of a switching power supply at equivalent power levels. Notice that the resistor produces the expected in-phase sinusoidal waveform, while the switcher front end produces an impulse of current twice per cycle. A pulse is the superposition of multiple sine waves, since this pulse occurs at regular intervals, the sine waves that make up the pulse must all be harmonically related. In this case, 60Hz is the fundamental and the other sine waves are harmonics of 60Hz. The topology of the front end of a simple, offline, switching power supply is illustrated on the right side of Figure 3. The AC voltage source (Vswitcher) is rectified by the four diodes and charges a capacitor (C1). Normally, the switching power supply would operate from the energy stored on the capacitor (the power dissipated by R1 simulates a load on the supply). For comparison, the left half of Figure 3 shows the waveform with just a resistive load (R2). Figure 4 illustrates the waveforms of these circuits. As expected, the voltage and current are in-phase for the resistive load shown in the top pane. There will be a small discontinuity close to the zero crossing due to the diode forward voltage, but that is not visible here because of the scale. The applied voltage is the same for the switcher front end, but the resultant current is shown in the middle pane. Notice the scale of the current (shown on the right side of the top pane) is about 20 times greater in the middle pane (800 mA peak vs 40 mA peak). The bottom pane shows that both circuits consume the same power, measured by the voltage across the resistor multiplied by the current through it. R1 is larger than R2 because R1 is operating at approximately 169 VAC, while R2 is operating at 120 V RMS, but the power dissipated in each is the same. This illustration is something of a worst case, but it shows how much higher peak currents can be for a switched mode input than a resistive load operating at the same power level. Harmonic Generation and Three-Phase Power Generation Two consequences result from the switcher input current waveform in power lines where a large number of switching supplies are installed. First, because a large pulse of current is required at the peak of the line, instead of spreading this over the whole cycle, the voltage sags due to resistive drop in conductors and saturation in transformers or uninterruptable power supplies. This distorts the voltage waveform and generates further powerline harmonics. Even though the current pulse is timed with the peak of the voltage waveform, only the fundamental frequency is truly in phase with the voltage; the harmonic currents flow in and out of the capacitor while the diode is “on,” but do not store significant charge in it. The RMS ammeter measures all of the harmonic current, but the real power is just the energy stored in capacitor each cycle. Therefore, the product of the RMS current and voltage will show an indicated apparent power greater than the real power. Distributed throughout IEC 60601 are paragraphs reclassifying medical devices that would otherwise pass International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR) requirements, except for their distortion of the third harmonic of the powerline. This applies particularly to devices with loads greater than 75 W and less than 16 A per phase. Third harmonic distortion can be generated by any non-linearities in the load, but most commonly derive from switched mode power supply (SMPS) front ends. Figure 5 is a spectral analysis (performed by FFT) of the current in the middle pane of Figure 4 (the simulated input current to a SMPS). Amplitude is shown on the y axis and frequency is shown on the x axis (both axes are plotted on a logarithmic scale). A purely sinusoidal input current would have a single peak at 60 Hz, but the distorted waveform of Figure 4 shows the fundamental at 60 Hz, plus an almost equally large spike at 180 Hz (third harmonic of 60), accompanied by a plethora of higher harmonics. To see the effect of just the third harmonic targeted by 60601, Figure 6 shows the superposition of a 60 Hz current [green trace labeled I(60Hz) with its third harmonic I(180Hz]. The resultant waveform I(load) shows what looks similar to the input current of a SMPS. Notice that the current is disproportionately low on either side of the zero crossing and then peaks with the voltage. The characteristic waveform of the SMPS input current is specifically addressed by 60601. Beyond this harmonic generation, a second consequence (of switcher input current waveform in power lines where a large number of switching supplies are installed) is the phenomenon of three-phase power generation. This is easiest to understand in “WYE” (Y) configuration where three phases, 120 degrees apart, all share a common neutral, as shown in Figure 7. Imagine a resistive load connected from each phase: A, B, and C, to the neutral wire. Without descending into the math, imagine phase A is at the peak of its positive excursion, phase B will be delayed 120 degrees, and phase C will be delayed 240 degrees (which is the same as leading phase A by 120 degrees). The current flowing into resistor R1 is exactly equal to the sum of the current flowing out of R2 and R3. The bottom pane of Figure 7 shows the three currents flowing in each of the three phase resistors. The current in that neutral wire is zero as long as the load is perfectly balanced. The neutral current, I(Neutral) is shown at approximately 0 in the second pane from the bottom. The current in all three phases will balance. This is true for any chosen phase angle: In fact, the neutral wire is only there to deal with minor imbalances between the phases, and it typically is the same gauge wire as each phase wire. Now, replace sinusoidal drive in the three phases with a triangular pulse, similar to the switching power supply examined above. The overlay of the three triangular phase waveforms is shown in the second pane from the top of Figure 8. Now, when phase A is at the peak of its positive excursion and it generates that big current spike, the other two phases are not carrying any current, and the neutral must carry all of the return current. Since the neutral is the same size as the phase wire, what’s the problem? Well, rotate the phase 120 degrees and phase B will hit its peak and supply the same current which the neutral will need to carry, then rotate the phase until phase C hits its peak. In one cycle of the power line, the neutral had to carry three times the current of each of the phase wires. This is the current shown as I(Neutrl) in the top pane. Even in the best outcome scenario, the neutral wire gets very hot and the voltage sags considerably more than expected. Controlling Power Factor In Your Device OK, so controlling power factor may be something to be concerned about; what can be done to fix it? The good news is that semiconductor companies are working hard to sell you a solution. If your design is close to meeting your requirements without power factor correction, revisit that design and look at the input voltage range your switching IC will operate down to (or choose a new one) with lower input limit. Reduce the size of that input capacitor to increase the input conduction angle and spread that current spike over time (more like a resistor). Of course, doing this will make your supply more susceptible to drop out and brown out. Increasing the size of the output capacitors will help some, but this starts to take up quite a bit of space and can introduce other problems. Passive 60 Hz bandpass filters for the power line also are available, but they tend to require considerable space, as well. Alternatively, you can add a power factor corrector (PFC) to your design. Some switching controllers incorporate power factor correction, but independent front ends are most common. The simplest independent front end to understand is a “constant on-time” (COT) boost converter. It is inserted between the power line and that input capacitor, which caused all the problems above. This PFC has practically no input capacitance (other than the X and Y capacitors in the filter) and, as the name implies, it uses a constant on-time boost topology to charge that input energy storage capacitor to a voltage greater than the highest peak of the power line the device is designed to see. For example, if the high line was 120 VAC + 10 percent (120 X √2 X 1.10 = 187 V), 200 V may be chosen as the boost voltage. The boost controller would turn on the boost inductor for a period of time brief enough to prevent it from saturating at the peak of the line. A “fast” control loop drives the inductor switching, so that each switch cycle is “on” for the same period. Since the inductor current equals LVt (L = inductance, V = voltage, and t = time) — with L and t held fixed — inductor (I) current and therefore power line current are proportional to V. Since I is proportional to V, the input looks resistive. This might work acceptably for a fixed power level, but if the load fluctuates, the output voltage will vary wildly. To solve this, the boost controller actually has two loops: The fast loop described above, and the slow loop, which adjusts the “on” time to control the capacitor voltage, but does so slowly, over several power line cycles, to keep that resistive appearance. The capacitor voltage is only loosely regulated, which means that the capacitor has to be sized and rated to accommodate the variation. But, because the boost circuit makes the input to the capacitor appear resistive, the capacitor can now be relatively large. Because this topology is a boost converter, if the output (energy storage capacitor) voltage is ever less that the input voltage, current will flow from input to output to charge the capacitor. In this case, the power supply would continue to operate just fine, but the power factor correction would be defeated. An exaggerated current waveform for a constant on-time boost converter is shown in Figure 9. The AC supply voltage is shown as V(vac), the unfiltered supply current is shown as I(Ac), and the voltage on the output capacitor is shown as Vout. Notice that the average of the current waveform into the boost converter approximates sinusoidal and is in phase with the voltage. The switching speed shown here is very slow to make the individual pulses more visible. Speeding up the switching would make filtering the switch noise simpler, and operating in continuous conduction mode would further reduce the amplitude of the individual switch cycles. Another advantage to the boost topology is that the actual switching supply — behind the power factor correcting front end — now operates from a relatively fixed voltage. If the boost stage can accommodate a wide input range, the requirement for the rest of the supply to meet this input is mitigated. Other topologies exist, each with their own sets of advantages and disadvantages. Some power supply modules are available now with the power factor correction built in; they just require an input capacitor, a boost capacitor, and an output capacitor. Whatever solution is chosen, simulating the design is highly recommended, because it will provide greater insight into how the circuit responds to the corner cases. TI’s Tina, Intersil’s online simulator, and Linear Technologies’ LTspice are among the choices available for simulation. With many solutions available, power factor correction is not as daunting a task as it once was. The lead image for this article was generated by HackerNoon's via the prompt "thomas edison looking at the lightbulb" AI Image Generator

How (And Why) to Determine Power Factor for Medical Devices

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The day appointed for the assembling of the nations in Washington

Why do we insist on stalling our own technological progress? I think history has some answers. For millennia, inventors have been creating technologies that improve our lives. And for millennia, humans have been resisting, scorning, and mocking these inventions before recognizing them as massive value-adds. We’re seeing the same theme play out today in Bitcoin. Clashes between tradition and new technology tend to lead to negative media campaigns and aggressive efforts to distort public opinion. One notable example is . The War of Currents In the final decades of the 19th century, Thomas Edison launched a brutal propaganda campaign against Nikola Tesla and his investor George Westinghouse. In an attempt to demonize Tesla’s alternating current (AC) in favor of his company’s direct current (DC), Edison masterminded a cruel display where he publicly electrocuted an elephant to “demonstrate the dangers of AC”. The aim of the brutish stunt was to forever associate Tesla’s AC with death in the eyes of the public. It didn’t work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoKi4coyFw0?embedable=true JP Morgan, who backed Edison’s business as an investor, pulled strings to cut Tesla’s funding and blocked other investors from supplying any capital. Even though there were legitimate technical concerns about AC that required further engineering to improve, Edison’s crusade fogged its development. At the time Morgan & Edison’s efforts worked to temporarily distort the public’s perception of AC. But seeing as we’re all using primarily AC today to power everything from kitchen appliances to electric lamps, we can infer that Tesla’s technologically-superior invention won out in the long run. As the late Harvard Kennedy Professor of International Development Calestous Juma wrote in his account, , "The biggest risk that society faces by adopting approaches that suppress innovation is that they amplify the activities of those who want to preserve the status quo by silencing those arguing for a more open future." Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies High-ranking figures and institutions who benefit asymmetrically from maintaining the status quo will often stoop down to fear-mongering to demonize technologies that threaten it. Misguided warnings by regarded members of society go back further than Edison. Renowned Swiss scientist was one of the early alarmists about the Printing Press causing information overload. Conrad Gessner His extensive work, , contains passages that warn against the unmanageable surplus of information opened up by the printing press – causing damage to our brains. Bibliotheca Universalis Concerns about literacy’s effect on our minds extend back to the birth of literacy itself. Even Socrates that written documents would cause us to become forgetful due to a lack of face-to-face communication. He believed his arbitrary drawbacks to the written word outweighed the benefits. famously warned Warnings like these are duly repeated throughout history. Older generations cling to their familiar “unharmful” technologies while ignoring the fact that those same technologies were considered harmful when first invented. Consider the extreme example of how, for nearly 400 years, the Ottomans blocked the use of printing technology for religious reasons. In 1485 Sultan Bayezid II banned printing books in Arabic script. And 30 years later, , by Sultan Selim I mandated that “occupying oneself with the science of printing was punishable by death.” a harsher edict Even though Muslims were already familiar with Chinese printing technology (who they traded extensively with) the four-century non-adoption of printing was totally voluntary, driven by an active choice by leadership to bear down on the status quo. Sometimes conservative values can ossify so deeply that, in the absence of a clear argument against new superior technology, status quo proponents appeal to people’s sense of nostalgia. Early 20th-century provides another compelling example. Draft animal producers and traders saw industrialization as a threat to their way of life. But since they understood that blocking the growth of tractor technology was impractical, they launched an advertising campaign glorifying the virtues of farm animals. anti-tractor rhetoric The Horse Association of America – whose publication reached millions of readers – issued pamphlets proclaiming that “A mule is the only fool-proof tractor ever built.” What’s striking is how consistent these progress-blocking attempts are from one century to the next. Certain groups routinely object to technologies that change accepted traditions, even when it’s clear how the next wave of inventions could benefit them personally. When mechanical refrigeration started posing competition for the natural ice industry in the 19th century, the natural ice industry fought back by launching a claiming that mechanical refrigeration was a “dangerous chemical mystery,” deflecting attention away from the fact that it extends the shelf life of foods, breaks bacterial developments, and makes stored foods more accessible and abundant. smear campaign In defense of what had for many decades been an extremely profitable business model, natural ice proponents unsuccessfully clung to “naturalness” as their main argument. Knee jerk dismissal of new technology has perhaps been most rampant across military history. Right at the turn of the 20th century, some members of the military were bringing airplane technology to the attention of leaders after the news of the Wright Brothers broke. French Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch during World War 1 in 1911, “Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.”*This represented the broader attitude of the military towards the application of flying machines at the time, 8 years after the first human flight by the Wright Brothers. famously said Today, the same pattern has emerged with the introduction of Bitcoin. Cynics tend to dismiss the existing body of use cases Bitcoin is bringing to countries like Venezuela, where decades of reckless leadership and have eroded the bolívar’s value to near zero. As thousands of citizens flee to neighboring countries – living on rationed groceries and medicine – those who use Bitcoin are able to escape with their life savings stored in the borderless network. devastating inflation Or how about the who are able to use Bitcoin’s global rails to transport their life savings out of the country by – without having to ask permission or verify their identity? Syrian refugees memorizing 12 words History shows us that the attacks on Bitcoin are unsurprising and, in fact, expected. After all, global, secure savings account for billions of people who have no other option sure does threaten the monetary status quo that currently keeps poor people poor and the wealthy elite even wealthier. One thing’s for sure: resistance to progress has happened before, it’s happening now, and it’ll happen again. If you’re still making up your mind about Bitcoin, it’s helpful to recognize that fact.

History's Notes on Resisting Progress: From Airplanes & The Printing Press to Bitcoin

Notas de la historia sobre la resistencia al progreso: de los aviones y la imprenta a Bitcoin

Notes d'histoire sur la résistance au progrès : des avions et de l'imprimerie au bitcoin

विरोध प्रगति पर इतिहास के नोट्स: हवाई जहाज और प्रिंटिंग प्रेस से बिटकोइन तक

進歩への抵抗に関する歴史のメモ: 飛行機と印刷機からビットコインまで

Notas da história sobre como resistir ao progresso: dos aviões e da imprensa ao Bitcoin

Ghi chú của lịch sử về việc chống lại sự tiến bộ: Từ máy bay & máy in đến Bitcoin

抵制进步的历史笔记：从飞机和印刷机到比特币

AI is approaching the next level of maturity, coming out of the hype cycle, says Gartner. Its adoption is expanding across industries beyond automation to building new-generation intelligent products and services for business growth. Around 90% of companies in the US and UK view artificial intelligence as a priority, with AI projects either in planning or production. However, half of them acknowledge that they lack the skill to make the most of AI advances. This is where experienced AI consulting firms come in to help. The market of AI consulting is vast, ranging from tech giants like IBM and Accenture to Big 4 firms and smaller-scale innovators. Here, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 AI consulting firms that have earned a reputation for disruptive innovations. These experts run product discovery and deliver proofs of concept (PoC) and MVPs. This way, they help organizations bring pioneering products and services to the market and build proprietary AI systems for transforming operations. Let’s explore these top AI consulting companies — they are worth their salt. In this blog, you will find an overview of each of them and useful tips on picking the right partner for your AI project. Our list of the top 10 AI consulting firms for 2023 1. ITRex is a full-cycle AI and big data solutions provider with teams in Poland, the US, and Mexico and a dedicated R&D lab where they design new AI concepts and build prototypes. They are tech savvy in all AI-related fields (ML, deep learning, NLP, and computer vision), delivering AI projects end to end, from preparing data for algorithms to rolling out systems to thousands of users. ITRex Having adopted a start-small-and-scale-up approach, ITRex helps Fortune 500 companies and startups launch breakthrough AI products, apart from automating operations, boosting customer experiences, and supporting smart decision-making. They’ve delivered quite a number of impressive AI projects, from an AI-powered big data platform for the world’s biggest retailer to a fitness mirror with a personal coach experience, an ML-based clinical decision support system for cancer patients, a SaaS cybersecurity solution using face recognition, and many others. Walmart, 21st Century Fox, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. are just some of their big-name clients. Rates: $50 – $99/hr Size: 300+ Founded: 2009 Headquarters: Aliso Viejo, California 2. Deeper Insights The UK-headquartered is fully focused on providing AI consulting and development services, with its expertise spanning from AI exploration to ML engineering, NLP, and computer vision. As they say on their website, they solve their clients’ “impossible problems,” helping them achieve the desired business results. Deeper Insights The company develops custom AI algorithms and ML models using either their clients’ data sets or data collected via their proprietary ML web scraper – the Skim Engine™. They have delivered many innovative AI projects for big-ticket and smaller clients, including an automated insights app for sales teams at Deloitte, a custom media monitoring platform for the global real estate services company Jll, and bespoke computer vision algorithms integrated with deep learning to recognize body parts in images in robotic surgeries. Rates: $50-$99/hr Size: 10-49 Year: 2014 Headquarters: London, UK 3. InData Labs also specializes in AI consulting and implementation services. As most top AI consulting firms on our list, they offer not only advice but also AI R&D, PoCs, MVPs, and development of AI web/mobile apps, empowering clients with data science and AI technology. InData Labs The company helps clients leverage predictive analytics, NLP, computer vision, and intelligent automation to get meaningful insights from data, understand audiences, forecast demand, reduce risks, and eliminate cost overruns. Examples of their AI-powered solutions include a computer vision system for pose estimation in fitness, face recognition for a surveillance system, image analysis for ticket processing software, and many more. They’ve also delivered different kinds of predictive analytics systems for logistics, eCommerce, sports, entertainment, and healthcare, along with NLP tools for simultaneous interpreting, remote education, and sentiment analysis. Rates: $50-$99/hr Size: 80+ Year: 2014 Headquarters: Nicosia, Cyprus 4. Cambridge Consultants With over 20,000 sqm of R&F facilities and a 900-strong team, helps organizations develop AI-based products that “will transform how we live and the world around us.” Cambridge Consultants Being part of the French-based tech consultancy Capgemini, Cambridge Consultants is a big and established player on our top AI consulting firms list, operating since 1960. Cambridge Consultants is honored for AI breakthroughs in many fields across industries. Projects in their portfolio range from a drone delivery service to military robots using AI-based navigation and reinforcement learning, a proprietary crop spraying technology, an AI system for an automated response to cyberattacks built for the UK Ministry of Defence, and a piano music classification tool. Rates: Undisclosed Size: 900+ Year: 1960 Headquarters: Cambridge, UK 5. ThirdEye Data Based in Silicon Valley with delivery centers in the US and India, describes itself as a one-stop shop for data science, analytics, and engineering services. Apart from providing end-to-end big data and AI solutions, the company has developed its own open-source tools for anomaly detection and predictive analytics. ThirdEye Their expertise is recognized by multiple industry awards. Microsoft, Walmart, British Petroleum, and AWS are among their Fortune 500 clients. The company has implemented over 30 end-to-end data and AI projects, such as an image quality detection system for Southern California Edison, MLOps engineering for XPERI, and predictive metrology for Glas Trosch. Rates: $25 – $49 hr Size: 51 – 200 Founded: 2010 Headquarters: San Jose, California 6. LeewayHertz Operating since 2007, specializes in many AI fields, from ML and NLP to computer vision. Among its big-name clients are Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, Siemens, and Hershey’s. LeewayHertz With the mission to help organizations adopt AI at scale, LeewayHertz has entered our top AI consulting firms list for delivering innovative AI solutions across sectors. Among its landmark projects in collaboration with an Indian food tech startup, which has resulted in the creation of the world’s first tea-making robot Arya using ML, speech recognition, and NLP. They’ve also built a computer vision-enabled marketplace for AI applications and an AI-based employee time-tracking app. Rates: $50-$99 hr Size: 51-249 Founded: 2007 Headquarters: San Francisco, California 7. DataRoot Labs is a fast-growing company with teams in Ukraine and Israel. As a top AI consulting firm, it helps ambitious startups and startup accelerators turn their boldest AI ideas into reality. DataRoot Labs DataRoot Labs prides itself on driving tech innovation by running the DataRoot University, which offers data engineering and data sciences courses. They have accomplished a great number of projects around computer vision and other AI technologies for clients, delivering, for instance, a solution for defect detection in solar panels, a personal coach app, an in-store customer activity tracking app, an empathetic virtual assistant, and many others. Rates: $51-$99/hr Size: 10-49 Founded: 2016 Headquarters: Kyiv, Ukraine 8. Azati Software Creating fully functional AI solutions since 2016, shares its expertise on a consultancy basis across AI fields, from supervised/unsupervised learning to NLP, computer vision, predictive analytics, and conversational AI. Azati Software Their featured AI-based projects include a data processing tool to analyze inputs from oil and gas meters using ML and computer vision, an ML model for pharmaceutical marketing, a semantic search engine to tap into scientific datasets, and an AI-powered app that changes the interior of smartphone pictures. With an R&D center in Poland, this top AI consulting firm successfully helps clients translate their AI vision into prototypes and MVPs. Rates: $25-$49/hr Size: 150 Founded: 2001 Headquarters: Warsaw, Poland 9. Tooploox The EU-based AI consultancy has built its AI expertise by working extensively with US startups, innovators, and VCs. Tooploox With the mission to improve people’s lives through cutting-edge technology, Tooploox has extensive R&D capabilities that have widened after the company joined forces with Microscope IT, a development shop offering AI-related services for healthcare, medtech, and life sciences. Their skillsets around AI now extend to computer and 3D vision, deep learning, sensor fusion, NLP, data capture & OCR, and beyond. Tooploox has been recognized for its research at international conferences, such as NIPS and ICML. They are also known for building Virtum, an AI-powered image analysis system that helps spot cancer cells. Rates: $100-$149/hr Size: 150 Founded: 2012 Headquarters: Warsaw, Poland 10. Addepto is another fast-growing company that deserves a spot on our list of top AI consulting firms. It was established in 2017 and now helps companies grow with the power of data and AI. Addepto With expertise in all data-related fields, the Addepto team has won the trust of a few Fortune 500 companies, which they support in creating complex AI solutions. Among them are Citibank and P&G. Addepto has helped build a digital twin monitoring airport operations, an intelligent passenger and baggage tracking system, a shipping schedule and inventory management system using predictive modeling for the world’s second-largest aluminum company, and an ML-powered demand forecasting tool for postal services. Rates: $50-$99/hr Size: 10-49 Year: 2017 Location: Warsaw, Poland How to choose your AI partner - Tips from the ITRex CTO Reducing a lot of options available in the AI consulting market to just a few should make life simpler. However, you still need to choose only one of them at the end of the day. What should you consider? We’ve asked ITRex CTO Kirill Stashevsky, who has over 15 years of experience helping companies deliver innovative solutions, to share his tips. Here they are: 1. Explore the vendor’s website to make sure they indeed offer AI consulting services, not just development. [ ] This can be especially helpful for those with little or no technical background. The thing is, an experienced consulting partner might figure out a more elegant tech solution for translating your vision into a reality. This solution can be cheaper, quicker, and more efficient than the one you had in mind. The latest AI breakthroughs can be fascinating, but it is useful to make sure first before any coding begins that they are exactly what you need to build a fascinating product. A good AI consulting firm would be happy to look at your vision from different perspectives and give you free advice over the phone. Don’t hesitate and ask for it first. 2. Look through the vendor’s portfolio to check if they delivered a similar solution in the past. [ ] Companies’ portfolios with featured projects or case studies are a great source of valuable information. They let you understand which clients they served and what projects they accomplished previously. It is best to reduce your list of top AI consulting firms to companies that have a demonstrable experience with what you are trying to achieve. These guys should know your domain well so you will speak the same language with them without having to waste time explaining the basics. They are also likely to know all the potential pitfalls that might be typically encountered on a journey like yours. However, don’t be too quick to strike off a vendor of your choice that doesn’t have the exact expertise you are looking for. The firm can still be a perfect fit for your project if they specialize in AI consulting services (see the first tip). 3. Do a bit of homework to define your business objectives clearly. [ ] Instead of contacting all the 10 or 20 companies on your top AI consulting firms list to discuss your future product, prepare a one-pager describing what you are trying to build from the business point of view, and send it out. Some vendors would reply they don’t know how to help; some might figure out how they can implement your idea best, while others might offer you cost-efficient customization of a tool already in the market. This way, you will narrow down your list quicker, saving time and energy. 4. Don’t forget about social proof [ ] Check out previous reviews from clients who partnered with the company and the company’s rating. This information can be found on sites like clutch.co or goodfirms.co. Ask your acquaintances, colleagues, and people you meet at hackathons and industry conferences — they might have heard something about a firm of your choice. You can also ask the vendor for feedback from their previous clients. Wrapping it up Artificial intelligence is already profoundly impacting our daily lives while transforming the business landscape. that AI could add more than $15 trillion to global GDP by 2030, meaning that it has the potential to change the way we live completely. Capitalize on the emerging trend and put your company at the front of the line by partnering with the right AI consulting firm. PwC estimates Originally published . here

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