Driverless car: Behind the Scenes

Google has created a vehicle capable of driving autonomously on roads. But as an engineer its more interesting to calculate the computations behind the scenes in the car.

Here's some explanation of what happens in the car:

A laser range finder mounted on the roof of the car generates detailed 3D map of the surroundings. Four radars, mounted on the front and rear bumpers, that allow the car to deal with fast traffic on roads; a camera, positioned near the rear-view mirror, detects traffic lights. GPS, inertial measurement unit, and wheel encoder, that determine the vehicle's location and keep track of its movements.

All these technologies work together to drive a car. Chris Urmson and Sebastian Thrun better explain the rest in the video, showing what the car does see as it moves.

Source: IEEE Spectrum

Aakash 2: worlds cheapest tablet

Aakash is an Android-based tablet computer. The original Aakash had following configuration 7-inch resistive touch screen, ARM 11 processor, 256 MB RAM and a 2100 mAh battery. It has two USB ports.

Updated Aakash 2 has is about thrice faster with Cortex-A8 700 MHz processor. It also has a 3200 mAh battery and a capacitive touchscreen. Aakash will get also Android 4.0 update.

A review of Aakash:

Raspberry Pi: A credit card sized computer

The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It has an 700 MHz ARM11 processor, 256 MB RAM and uses SD card for storage.

It will be sold in two models.

Model A for $25
Model B for $35

Both model A and model B have the following features:

• CPU: 700 MHz ARM1176JZF-S core (ARM11 family)
• GPU: Broadcom VideoCore IV
• RAM: 256 MB (SDRAM)
• Video outputs: HDMI (rev 1.3 & 1.4), raw LCD Panels via DSI
• Audio outputs: 3.5 mm jack, HDMI
• Onboard storage: SD/MMC Card
• Low-level peripherals: 8 × GPIO, UART, I²C bus, SPI bus with two chip selects
• Power source: 5 volt via MicroUSB or GPIO header

Apart from the price difference the differences include

• Model A:
• 1 USB 2.0 Port
• No Ethernet port

• Model B:
• 2 USB 2.0 Port
• 10/100 Ethernet (RJ45)

Raspberry Pi running Quake 3 game:

Introduction to Model B:

Google testing Augmented Reality Glasses

As defined on Wikipedia, Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated output such as sound  or graphics. It can be considered an extension of Virtual Reality.

A video from Google..

Members of Project Glass Team at Google are testing augmented glasses.

The device features a band that stretches across the forehead and behind the ears, two nose pads, and a small rectangular screen that sits in front of the user's right eye. Required information will pop in real-time right in front of the user's eyes. The device presumably has built-in Wi-Fi and 3G/4G connectivity.

But every technology has disadvantages too..

Self Driving Car by Google

Impossible is an anagram for I'm Possible.

The search enigne giant Google created a car that drives itself when instructed and lets you control the car when you feel so. Check the video below.

GATE 2011 Answer Key

GATE 2011 answer key is available for

• IN: InstrumentationEngineering
• EE: Electrical Engineering
• EC: Electronics and Communication
• CS: Computer Science
• ME: Mechanical Engineering
• CE: Civil Engineering
• PI: Production Engineering

Click the above link to download the answer key in pdf format.

Hacking iPhone (iOS): Jailbreak and Unlock

Hacking iOS installed on an iPhone is easier done than said.

These are two different things:

• Jailbreak: Jailbreaking is done to install apps from non-Apple source (itunes App store) also called third-party apps.
• Unlock: Unlocking is done to remove any operator lock that has been installed. So an AT&T locked iPhone sold in USA can be operated anywhere in the world on any operator network.

Jailbreaking an iPhone does not unlock it. But before Unlocking an iPhone, it needs to be Jailbroken.

• Jailbreaking installs an App 'Cydia' on the iPhone. Cydia is used to add many features to iPhone.
• Use the search feature of this app to install 'Ultrasnow'. Installing Utrasnow Unlocks the iPhone

Following both steps above makes an iPhone usable on any operator around the world.

Step-by-step tutorials for all versions of iOS  are available here.

Latest hacks for iPhone and other devices can be found on Dev-Team blog.