10 January 2017
Killer on the Loose
It’s becoming painfully evident that we all need to be careful about what gets plugged into our USB ports. For example, Australian police have been investigating
a number of cases in which people found nicely
packaged thumb drives in their mailboxes and assumed
that they must be some kind of free sample or clever
advertisement. After plugging them in, what looked like
a promotional offer from a streaming service like Netflix
appeared, but in reality, the drives were loaded with
ransomware.
More recently, a company in Hong Kong has been
selling a potentially nasty product called USB Kill (www.
usbkill.com). Ostensibly a piece of equipment designed
for testing a device’s resistance to power surges, it draws
power from a USB port, uses that power to charge some
capacitors, and then discharges 240V back into the port.
These spikes continue at a rate of several per second
until: (a) you are satisfied that the device is sufficiently
surge resistant; or (b) the device is fried.
The company has revealed that more than 95 percent
of the tested devices were in some way affected, and
“almost all consumer-level hardware fails when tested
against USB Kill.” It’s not difficult to imagine the mischief
that can be created with one in both private and publicly
accessible equipment. Plus, with a price tag of € 49.95
(about US $55), it’s within the budget of most pranksters.
Interestingly, the company is working both sides of
the street and will also sell you its USB Protection Shield
(€ 13.95/$15.50) which protects a connected device not
only from power surges but also prevents “juice jacking.”
This is where things like public charging stations can use
the USB data connection to access stored data in your
device or inject malware into it. Buy both at once, and
you’ll receive a 50 percent discount on the shield plus
free shipping. Such a deal! ▲
Small Energy Device Introduced
Quite a few Io T (Internet of Things) devices are
designed to operate under power that they harvest from
the surrounding environment, thus eliminating the need
to change batteries periodically. To function properly,
such devices need to incorporate a power source that is
compact, yet high capacity; has a long maintenance-free
life; and offers fast charging and discharging. With this in
mind, Murata ( www.murata.com) has developed a lithium-ion electro-chemical system that is basically a modified
phone battery.
The original product was dubbed the UMAC — a
cylindrical device. To meet the demand for a thinner,
larger capacity device, the company now has the UMAL
laminate-type unit, offering a low profile of 2.0 mm, 12
mAh of capacity, low internal resistance (200 mΩ), and
improved life cycle characteristics. The device is capable
of continuous discharge at a C-rate of 10 (120 mA), and
the charge recovery
rate is 90 percent or
better after 5,000
cycles. Murata plans to
continue to expand its
product lineup to meet
future demand for even
larger capacity. ▲
Shine a Light
In what is referred to as the μAFS project, a German research alliance headed up by OSRAM Licht AG
( www.osram.com; better known
as Sylvania in North America) and
working with functional requirements
specified by Daimler AG (www.
daimler.com), has developed a new
automotive lighting system that promises to revolutionize
road safety. In the system, each headlight contains
three LED light sources, each with 1,024 individually
controllable high-res light points. This means that the
headlights can be adapted to provide optimal lighting to
suit any traffic situation or light condition.
According to a press release, the lights “take account
of every conceivable bend in the road so that there are no
dark peripheral areas.” Sensors in the vehicle analyze the
car’s surroundings to illuminate oncoming traffic without
shining into the eyes of oncoming drivers, so it will no
longer be necessary to flip over to dims.
The so-far unnamed system is still in the form of a
demonstration model, but is highly likely to appear in
vehicles reasonably soon. (A relatively primitive version is
already used in Mercedes-Benz E-Class cars.) It looks like
we’ve come a long way since the sealed-beam headlight
was introduced in 1939. ▲
CIRCUITS and DEVICES
LED control
module for new
headlight system.
USB Kill: Don’t plug it in!
Murata’s UMAL powers Io T and similar devices.