Magnetizable Concrete: Q&A with Mauricio Esguerra

MAGMENT is a Germany-based startup that produces magnetizable concrete material — either cement- or asphalt-based. CEO Mauricio Esguerra describes the company’s patented technology.

The principle of magnetic recording had been first demonstrated in 1898 by Valdemar Poulsen. Roughly half a century later, between 1946 and 1954, magnetic recording had experienced a decade of widespread use with the advent of wire recorders (mainly in the USA) and tape recorders (mainly in Germany) used barely for speech (radio, Dictaphones, etc). Here you get to see and hear in action a 63 year old machine that is in pristine condition, Music recording was still compromised by the distortion and noise inherent in the process of magnetic recording without AC bias.

Today we have lots of options for storing information electronically like SRAM, DRAM, Flash and EEPROM. Random access memories (RAM) like SRAM and DRAM store information using capacitance which makes them very fast without a lot of extra complication. But their downside is that all of their information is lost when the memory isn’t powered. Nonvolatile memory like Flash or EEPROM keep their contents while powered off at the expense of speed and requiring more complex access methods like memory paging. Enter magnetic memory which combines the qualities of both kinds of memories.

Imagine you have two pieces of a magnetic latch and switch sensor in a three-pin package. What do you get when you combine the two devices into one? Indeed, a dual magnetic latch and switch sensor in a four-pin package. This doesn’t sound very exciting, but what if we tell you that the device we are talking about actually combines two separate silicon dies into one package? Still not impressed? Well, according to the manufacturer of these new devices, you should.

Researchers at the University of California in San Diego have developed a magnetic ink which can be used to make self-healing batteries, electrochemical sensors and wearable fabric-based electrical circuits.

Fitness-tracking smartphone apps, smartwatches, and bands need continuous location data for mapping and recording, and accuracy is critical for wearers who like to monitor their progress and share achievements online. A built-in eCompass helps calculate location when satellite signals are unavailable, such as inside buildings or when running or cycling under tree cover. A new eCompass reduces the heading error to less than 4° instead of the typical 10° of current devices.

In an effort to show that programming and technology is not always difficult and can even be fun, last month the BBC has started to distribute about one million micro:bit microcontroller boards to eleven- and twelve-year old schoolchildren for free. Although simplicity is key, the young programmers will need some guidance to get started. But what to do if the teachers have as little programming experience as their pupils?

Magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) is faster, more efficient and more robust than other data storage media. MRAM stores data by making clever use of electron spin – a sort of gyroscopic property of electrons. Because it used magnetism instead of stored charge, MRAM is nonvolatile, which means that the stored data can survive a power outage.

To help get Elektor readers up and running with this latest NFC technology we have arranged, together with STMicroelectronics, to give away a free ST25TA02K NFC tag with the January & February 2016 edition of Elektor magazine!

Based on a patented Hall effect technology this new sensor enables for the first time true non-contacting through-hole shaft sensing using standard SMD features. The standard model features a 4 mm double D-flat shaft and an 8-pad SMD footprint that is compatible with most reflow soldering systems.