Understanding student visa takers, who helped the US Embassy break records

Excited to share that almost 200,000 Indian students chose the United States as their higher education destination in the 2021-22 academic year, a 19% increase over the previous year. #StudyInTheUS #OpenDoorsReport #OpenForOpportunity #IEW2022 https://t.co/edELVsrYSH pic.twitter.com/UYlpULoKSI

— U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) November 14, 2022

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Study after the times of Covid

OpenDoors Report is probably the only data to fall back on the close enough numbers on the international student enrollment in the USA. This is supposed to be a record breaking year for the US Embassy. Some people also commented on how and why middle class is sending students to the USA, despite the history of visa difficulty for working visa population based on the Great Backlog. Yes, everything in this country is great.

A few Indian challenges

I would defer to what my ex-supervisor said. I was in two minds to go or no go to the USA when it was my turn. I had already spend fair deal of money back in the United States of India on education, burned through some savings and achieved two degrees and a post graduate diploma. And still struggling for a proper foothold in core engineering jobs viz electrical, mechanical, civil engineering. The entry criteria for all the public sector undertaking (PSU) jobs had changed to GATE, now you need to crack GATE to get into PSU, and that graduating from an accredited university does not guarantee getting through the GATE exam. No wonder it is so competitive and exclusive. There are a few who are successful, but if you did not want to incur any gap in employment and then joined workforce, then studying for GATE becomes a bit harder. The flexibility and freedom is on our side, but the time is never, the clock keeps ticking. I have known various yet unknown places in the country of India by attempting different types of examinations for entrance into public sector undertaking jobs, bank jobs, and so on. It is a journey on its own and takes a character far away from actual engineering. It would remind someone of the initial entrance examinations that we go through to get the Bachelors in engineering in the first place. It was interesting and funny to pose one such GATE electronics circuits problem to a senior scientist at the place I was working, he had a Masters in Engineering already and a working professional. But he got to answer it incorrectly. This proves how useful GATE as an examination is. My advisor, said even if he could not make it big in the land of the states of the Americas, he would still encourage me to go and have that experience.

The challenges for students is not in getting a degree from the USA. There are not many Americans who attend colleges. Like many practical minded population they understand that education can do so much but money trumps, and there are paths of lesser resistance available to them, like associates degree, vocational training and so on. The challenge may actually lie elsewhere. The current population estimate of India is very close to being number one in the world. Statistics is a nice way to look at this. An eye opening map for the global India is given by Xavi’s tweet.

The population of India’s states compared with countries.

🇮🇳 India is on track to become the most populous country in the world in 2023! pic.twitter.com/3XId2a1a59

— Xavi Ruiz (@xruiztru) December 31, 2022

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

So if India is that big and populous, why is the demography not yielding its benefits, why is Tamil Nadu not Germany, why people want to go to Germany instead of Tamil Nadu? There is enough internal migration within India, the data for which is yet unknown.

How do we try to answer the student visa issued by US embassy in this context? Even with so many opportunities to study and work within India, the drive for the people to get educated, to migrate, to see, experience, learn and work with new and different cultures is only increasing. There is also a serious lack in the number of educational opportunities at par with the western standards. Despite having the most universities per country, beating out USA by a huge margin, India is yet to be known as a global educational hub, or one that gives education at par with the places that students flock to. So we have the quantity, and some quality, but overall still more kilometers to go.

Work Culture is one major understanding that comes through foreign work. Be it in another state or a country. Work is a beast, to be tamed. Work culture in India is different from Spain and is much different from the USA. To understand a different work culture and understand the shortcomings and benefits of being in home country is one benefit of immigration, this kind of economic immigration is facilitated by post study work permits in majority of the western world. This is a sample time period for the beneficiary and the employer, kind of like a date to understand each other and to see if this kind of relationship is sustainable in the long term. With good post study work permits such as that in Canada or in the USA for STEM degrees, a student visa holder is ability to get good Return on Investment in terms of cultural exchange and recover the student loan debt. It is not uncommon to have student debt in some countries like the USA, while may be surprise for yet another countries like Germany. Choosing a place of study, so as to transform into a post study worker to undertake such activities is incorporated into visa and study schemes in western world. At the same time, India does not have a culture of Internship, or a smooth transition from study to work. There is a GATE to be opened for a better future. This experience of endless entrance examinations leads to burn out and focusing on the means than the end. Coaching centers galore.

That brings in the relevance of Spadikam (1995) movie to this days.

So to answer the first question based on the tweet from US Embassy, who are all these student visa holders?

New students

There are fresh students in student visa in this pool. They fall into the category of people who want more experiences and cultural exchanges that we discussed before.

Change of status visas who needed to travel

There are some who are already in the USA in a different visa status, had to change to student status and then get a visa to re enter USA, the news does not say how many fresh F1 visas were issued vs how many are getting a renewal or a change of status and later a changed visa. This two pronged idea of status and visa may confuse a few people, the status is to be legally in the USA. The visa is only to enter the USA internationally. Several people lost jobs through out Covid times since 2019 onward, many lost jobs, many changed plans, many returned to India, many want to return to study or continue studies that was stopped earlier. This needs a visa if they were stuck in India and had to physically reach USA for continuation, completion and post study work.

Choices that we make, some we are forced to make

There are people who wanted to rejoin family, but do not see any pathways and visa and status that are viable other than a student visa. There are aged out children of H1B or other temporary visas, who reached age of 21 and need to hold their own visa status because they are legally not a dependent anymore. F1 visa is their only choice.

Should you come to the USA?

If you have valid reasons, and see benefits beyond the visa troubles and other limiting factors, do come. If you are on the fence, better to get matters sorted out before heading into the USA. If you have better options, better countries, that align with your interests, and ambitions closely, go with them. If you can’t make your own choices, someone or something else would make choices for you.

Notes for MS by Thesis student in the USA

As a student who embarked on the MS by Thesis route in University at Buffalo, I was confused how thesis track worked. How to locate a professor ?How to approach them? What to ask? And when to ask them the questions I had ?

MS education in USA is full of opportunities. Here, students are not tied to the professor or project, which is a common approach elsewhere including many European universities. In the USA, the student is given complete freedom to choose and therefore it is advantageous. Also, it gives an opportunity to speak with multiple professors and get to know their research more, before starting on a rather long, sometimes more than a semester long work with the professor’s research group. Some professors are great in getting together an amazing team of students who work together as a team, just like some startups do. If you are like me, who entered MS in any engineering stream, then it is justified that you get a chance to meet and talk with research team members. Engineering in industry is a group activity. Team work is also a transferable industry skill that can be directly translated into any industry job.

Here are some points I gathered from previous student who did MS by thesis, on their approach. The idea is to find professors and research facilities of interest. There is always an option to do Individual study or project with professors, which can eventually lead to Thesis.

1. Decide 3 profs who will give you recommendation for future jobs or academic applications
2. Check their profiles in google scholar – see for citations, h index
3. Prof could be out of department
4. Keep in touch with prof, make them remember your face, ask Questions in class, sit in front bench, do good work in class, read their research , tell them that u want to do thesis, ask them how to go about it
5. Before meeting a prof get an appointment, read about their latest work, ask questions regarding that
6. Decide if you want PhD
7. If you decide fast , tell prof, they will give longer projects that have funds, that will make PhD an extension of thesis
8. Even if you have not taken a course by prof , keep in mind what the prof is teaching in next semester, see if it is interesting. in other departments too. keep interacting
9. Also, you can ask prof if there is any work that u can do in their lab even without funding this will help in mutual evaluation for the research-professor relation and pave way for further works, networks and research collaborations

Experience at Pre seed workshop, Buffalo

What you do each day adds up to a later success. This was visually evident from the way I cam to know about the workshop and more evident in the kind of people I got associated with. The business mantra of this century is “It is what you know and who you know” that matters.

Call it karma or not. I had this wonderful opportunity to attend the Project Management workshop based on PMI‘s PMBOK by Dr Olewnik during the winter break; after the Fall semester. This led to an opportunity to work on an Intramural project with Curbell Medical Products Inc. This project ended by end of spring semester, which naturally led to a kind of void especially since the summer is around the weekend. Pre seed workshop was pointed out by the Professor and then I was getting ready for another experience.

The idea of the workshop is that a team of IP expert, business coach, professor, idea champion, industry expert and student gather to work together for a week to help the idea champion grow his idea from “idea” to something more tangible. The workshop began with a kick off event, where the concept and the team were introduced with food. Later,the workshop took me through a series of break out sessions interlaced with lessons, networking and food.  I could be part of a team where I worked with my professor and alumni on an idea that was based and close to what I had learned in Electrical Engineering,  University at Buffalo. The work of the workshop involved two days separated by a week. The first day was awesome due to the novelty of the way of presentation and the rising feeling of assisting in something big that is going to happen by working with the idea champion. This concept mostly involved assisting the idea champion to convert his patent into a product and help enhance the vision by putting those in words and presentation with great inputs from the team, this would finally be presented in front of an audience, who also want to learn from the presented idea and give suggestions along with the judges who are also serving or past judges of 43 north; the biggest startup competition on the planet. Since in this workshop no money is involved; that is there is no cash prizes, but exchange of priceless information, tips and suggestions to get there.

At the kick off event, at the Kleinhans Hall Buffalo,  my mind was blown because the coach of our team is also a judge at 43 north. That was just the beginning. And before the gravity of the event dawned on me, it was the real dawn to get up and get to work, Day 1 followed.

On Day 1 we were taught on how entrepreneurs, inventors and businessmen converge into a single person who has put his efforts into the idea to startup. More sessions followed teaching me basics of how the business is build around the idea and how the idea can be made into a business. The sessions with the team was awesome, getting to know how the idea was generated, the IP perspective, how everyone got together in the team, their work-academic-life and expertise , bit by bit, at work, as we also byte, for there was lot of food besides the work. The day ended with some homework for me and the team to work for the week till we met for Day 2 the next week. And as I headed back home thinking about VCs and angel investors, I accidentally captured an angel made of cloud.

Day 2 was more focused on putting values to revenue potential based on target market and  visualizing the start up office, putting numbers in place , practicing the pitch to perfection. The idea Champion was awesome in gelling together with the team, encouraging positive communications and learning on the way. Then the time arrived after noon. We were geared up with the presentations ready and headed toward the Hauptman Woodward Institute (HWI), home to the Hauptman’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry. I could see the Nobel Prize medal for real, first time in my life.

 

And the team, like other teams also proceeded to the hall of presentation. HWI building is very welcoming, it is not the regular brick building, some architect has really spent his passion on it. It provides a motivating and peaceful ambience which was very important , I believe, for the idea champion. Our champion was all set for the presentation that goes first. Yes we were first. The judges and other teams were very positive in their responses and suggestion. In that, the judges asked very good questions, questions that an investor wanted answer for. A demo for it was shown in the workshop, a cartoon of a typical Silicon Valley Pitch if the genius Nikola Tesla was doing it.

This video is hilarious at the same time and eye opener for an inventor or idea champion. Because and engineer or scientist is not taught how to see the business side of ideas and designs and often this single thing makes or breaks the confidence for a startup pitch. Thanks to the pre-seed workshop we had our champion prepared for most of the questions. The audience was also very patient in providing further suggestions.

And then we got to hear the ideas of other teams and personally I learned a lot from this session. Since, this was the culmination of months of effort for the idea champion and a week’s effort for the team members , getting to know different presentation styles and varied ideas unlocked more levels of understanding. The questions from judges revealed the ways in which a business mind would work. Money is one thing, building a business for the same is like bringing up something to life. It is more than money. But money can do it. How an investor thinks in this manner is different from the regular engineering mind. It was very interesting to listen to the questions. A great learning experience.

The awesomeness of the pre-seed workshop is that it is free. Free stuffs are such that you cannot expect what comes as free. Here, the most celebrated free stuff, knowledge based on experience, is distributed for common benefit. Which is overwhelming and fantabulous.

The day ended with networking event where I got to meet other team members and indulge in some great conversations with great food.

Thanks to the organizers were brilliant and excellent in all the parts of the event, from emails to giving information to name tags, presentations, arranging conference rooms for the team, guidance , suggestions and the positive energy and food. Many thanks to the organizers, team members, sponsors and everyone for making this happen.

 

More Photos in FB, open for my friends.

Kick Off

Day 1 photos

Day 2 photos

 

Solution to TinyOS installation issue – the easiest way

I could not look beyond the java make problem or the error numbers for make in previous post. It was too unfortunate that the installation , with a headache for steps had to end like that.  Without a proper installation procedure, how is one going to work and learn. I’d like no software engineering, no shut down reboot stuff, no re-install, not even shaking my computer and beating it up for this.

The aim of a  framework is to make itself easily available to install and use. TinyOS on Cygwin with Win 7 and the high level detailed step and instructions given by universities of repute and unmatched stand – > stanford, berkeley, KTH all kneeled before this “humbleness” of  tinyOS installation?! I can’t believe that an installation had its own plans to fail. I cannot help but think that I had made some silly mistakes. I go on blabbering like this and you are going to shut your eyes.

 

But, I have solved the TinyOS installation problem. I had a Debian on my PC. I decided to try my luck there. Open source should work with open source , right?

 

I tried the eye-catchy

Two-step install on your host OS with Debian packages

in TinyOS wiki.

And I go to my copied sample  code  of SimpleApp.nc given in the same wiki. It works like a normal C code. I say “make” and it does make.

Now, what do I make of this?

TinyOS 2.x Cygwin Win7 Java Make Error No solution

$ make
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java
make[1]: Entering directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net’
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net
make[2]: Entering directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos’
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos
make[3]: Entering directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/packet’
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/packet
ncg -o Serial.java -java-classname=net.tinyos.packet.Serial java /opt/tinyos-2.x/tos/lib/serial/Serial.h Serial.h
Couldn’t execute gcc
failed to parse nesC file /opt/tinyos-2.x/tos/lib/serial/Serial.h
Makefile:12: recipe for target ‘Serial.java’ failed
make[3]: *** [Serial.java] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/packet’
make[3]: Entering directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/message’
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/message
mig -o SerialPacket.java -java-classname=net.tinyos.message.SerialPacket java /opt/tinyos-2.x/tos/lib/serial/Serial.h serial_packet -I/opt/tinyos-2.x/tos/types
Couldn’t execute gcc
failed to parse message file /opt/tinyos-2.x/tos/lib/serial/Serial.h
Makefile:12: recipe for target ‘SerialPacket.java’ failed
make[3]: *** [SerialPacket.java] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/message’
make[3]: Entering directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/sf’
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/sf
javac SFWindow.java
make[3]: javac: Command not found
../../../Makefile.include:47: recipe for target ‘SFWindow.class’ failed
make[3]: *** [SFWindow.class] Error 127
make[3]: Leaving directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/sf’
make[3]: Entering directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/comm’
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/comm
javac TOSCommLibraryLoader.java
make[3]: javac: Command not found
../../../Makefile.include:47: recipe for target ‘TOSCommLibraryLoader.class’ failed
make[3]: *** [TOSCommLibraryLoader.class] Error 127
make[3]: Leaving directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/comm’
make[3]: Entering directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/mviz’
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/mviz
javac DMoteModelListener.java
make[3]: javac: Command not found
../../../Makefile.include:47: recipe for target ‘DMoteModelListener.class’ failed
make[3]: *** [DMoteModelListener.class] Error 127
make[3]: Leaving directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/mviz’
make[3]: Entering directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/sim’
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/sim
javac LinkLayerModel.java
make[3]: javac: Command not found
../../../Makefile.include:47: recipe for target ‘LinkLayerModel.class’ failed
make[3]: *** [LinkLayerModel.class] Error 127
make[3]: Leaving directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/sim’
make[3]: Entering directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/tools’
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/tools
mig java -java-classname=net.tinyos.tools.PrintfMsg /opt/tinyos-2.x/tos/lib/printf/printf.h printf_msg -o PrintfMsg.java
Couldn’t execute gcc
failed to parse message file /opt/tinyos-2.x/tos/lib/printf/printf.h
Makefile:16: recipe for target ‘PrintfMsg.java’ failed
make[3]: *** [PrintfMsg.java] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/tools’
make[3]: Entering directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/util’
… /opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/util
javac Messenger.java
make[3]: javac: Command not found
../../../Makefile.include:47: recipe for target ‘Messenger.class’ failed
make[3]: *** [Messenger.class] Error 127
make[3]: Leaving directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos/util’
../../Makefile.include:57: recipe for target ‘subdirs’ failed
make[2]: *** [subdirs] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net/tinyos’
../Makefile.include:57: recipe for target ‘subdirs’ failed
make[1]: *** [subdirs] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory ‘/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/java/net’
Makefile.include:57: recipe for target ‘subdirs’ failed
make: *** [subdirs] Error 2

Introduction to TinyOS on cygwin with Windows 7 ends in error. Given here are the errors but no solutions

In cygwin add the options as follows to install
rpm -Uvh –force –nodeps –ignoreos

Links that may help :

http://archive.cone.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/teaching/praktikum/Adhocnetworks-w07/installingCygwin.html

http://tinyos.stanford.edu/tinyos-wiki/index.php/Installing_TinyOS_2.1.1#Step_3:_

Install_native_compilers

http://mail.millennium.berkeley.edu/pipermail/tinyos-help/2010-January/044421.html

http://webs.cs.berkeley.edu/tos/faq.html

http://tinyos.stanford.edu/tinyos-wiki/index.php/Boomerang_Fixes#Compile_fails_with_.22Unknown_target_MCD.22

http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.os.tinyos.users/39229

https://github.com/csiro-wsn/tinyos-csiro-opal/issues/1

The Simple Program given as example in Tiny OS wiki.

Error on make
—————-

$ make micaz
mkdir -p build/micaz
compiling SimpleAppC to a micaz binary
ncc -o build/micaz/main.exe -Os -Wall -Wshadow

-Wnesc-all -target=micaz -fnesc-

cfile=build/micaz/app.c -board=micasb –

DDEFINED_TOS_AM_GROUP=0x22 -finline-

limit=100000 -DIDENT_APPNAME=\”SimpleAppC\” –

DIDENT_USERNAME=\”ajaya\” -DIDENT_HOSTNAME=

\”ajaya-PC\” -DIDENT_USERHASH=0x8a243f35L –

DIDENT_TIMESTAMP=0x539add88L –

DIDENT_UIDHASH=0x7144cba9L -fnesc-dump=wiring

-fnesc-dump=’interfaces(!abstract())’ -fnesc-

dump=’referenced(interfacedefs, components)’ –

fnesc-dumpfile=build/micaz/wiring-check.xml

SimpleAppC.nc -lm
/usr/bin/avr-gcc: /usr/bin/avr-gcc: cannot

execute binary file
/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/make/avr/avr.rules:140:

recipe for target ‘exe0’ failed
make: *** [exe0] Error 126

$unset PLATFORM

$make micaz

same error

ajaya@ajaya-PC /opt/tinyos-2.x/apps/Blink
$ make telosb
mkdir -p build/telosb
compiling BlinkAppC to a telosb binary
ncc -o build/telosb/main.exe -Os -O -mdisable-hwmul -Wall -Wshadow -Wnesc-all -target=telosb -fnesc-cfile=build/telosb/app.c -board= -DDEFINED_TOS_AM_GROUP=0x22 -DIDENT_APPNAME=\”BlinkAppC\” -DIDENT_USERNAME=\”ajaya\” -DIDENT_HOSTNAME=\”ajaya-PC\” -DIDENT_USERHASH=0x8a243f35L -DIDENT_TIMESTAMP=0x539ade1bL -DIDENT_UIDHASH=0xecd2214dL BlinkAppC.nc -lm
Couldn’t execute msp430-gcc
/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/make/msp/msp.rules:104: recipe for target ‘exe0’ failed
make: *** [exe0] Error 2

$ printenv
HOMEPATH=\Users\ajaya
APPDATA=C:\Users\ajaya\AppData\Roaming
HOSTNAME=ajaya-PC
SHELL=/bin/bash
TERM=xterm
PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=x86 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9, GenuineIntel
PROFILEREAD=true
WINDIR=C:\Windows
OPENMODELICAHOME=C:\OpenModelica1.9\
PUBLIC=C:\Users\Public
OLDPWD=/opt/tinyos-2.x/apps
ORIGINAL_PATH=/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Common Files/Microsoft Shared/Windows Live:/cygdrive/c/Windows/system32:/cygdrive/c/Windows:/cygdrive/c/Windows/System32/Wbem:/cygdrive/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Intel/OpenCL SDK/2.0/bin/x86:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MiKTeX 2.9/miktex/bin:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Windows Live/Shared:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MATLAB/R2012b/runtime/win32:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MATLAB/R2012b/bin:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Flash Magic:/cygdrive/c/PROGRA~1/ATT/Graphviz/bin:/cygdrive/c/PROGRA~1/ATT/Graphviz/bin/tools
USERDOMAIN=ajaya-PC
OS=Windows_NT
ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\ProgramData
USER=ajaya
TEMP=/tmp
COMMONPROGRAMFILES=C:\Program Files\Common Files
USERNAME=ajaya
PROCESSOR_LEVEL=6
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Common Files/Microsoft Shared/Windows Live:/cygdrive/c/Windows/system32:/cygdrive/c/Windows:/cygdrive/c/Windows/System32/Wbem:/cygdrive/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Intel/OpenCL SDK/2.0/bin/x86:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MiKTeX 2.9/miktex/bin:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Windows Live/Shared:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MATLAB/R2012b/runtime/win32:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MATLAB/R2012b/bin:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Flash Magic:/cygdrive/c/PROGRA~1/ATT/Graphviz/bin:/cygdrive/c/PROGRA~1/ATT/Graphviz/bin/tools
OPENMODELICALIBRARY=C:\OpenModelica1.9\lib\omlibrary
PSModulePath=C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\
FP_NO_HOST_CHECK=NO
PWD=/opt/tinyos-2.x/apps/Blink
SYSTEMDRIVE=C:
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
USERPROFILE=C:\Users\ajaya
TZ=Asia/Calcutta
TOSDIR=/opt/tinyos-2.x/tos
SAL_ACCESSIBILITY_ENABLED=1
PS1=\[\e]0;\w\a\]\n\[\e[32m\]\u@\h \[\e[33m\]\w\[\e[0m\]\n\$
LOGONSERVER=\\AJAYA-PC
PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=x86
LOCALAPPDATA=C:\Users\ajaya\AppData\Local
ProgramData=C:\ProgramData
EXECIGNORE=*.dll
SHLVL=1
HOME=/home/ajaya
PATHEXT=.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC
MAKERULES=/opt/tinyos-2.x/support/make/Makerules
HOMEDRIVE=C:
COMSPEC=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
TMP=/tmp
SYSTEMROOT=C:\Windows
PRINTER=HP Universal Printing PCL 6
PROCESSOR_REVISION=3a09
CLASSPATH=cygpath -w $TOSROOT/support/sdk/java/tinyos.jar;.
INFOPATH=/usr/local/info:/usr/share/info:/usr/info
PROGRAMFILES=C:\Program Files
NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS=8
COMPUTERNAME=AJAYA-PC
_=/usr/bin/printenv

Update: There is some clash between the versions of the TinyOS that cause the problem. It is better to use older versions to get stable results and installation.

Ingredients of smart / green home

This is a continuation for the previous  post https://ajeya.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/smart-homes/. Here, I would like to reflect upon the ingredients that build the smart building. The words to lookout for are smart, green, low carbon, energy efficient, sustainable, eco-friendly living spaces.

The Architecture of the box:

A house is ultimately a box in which we confine our activities to safeguard ourselves from bad weather and ‘predators’. The architecture of the box should never be congested and aweful.  We intend to live in spaces that are conducive for a healthy happy time. Most bachelors look at the box (read home) as a pplace to rest their head, take bath and move on. Now, for a bachelor to live happy what is required is defined. What about a family? How about a couple of elderly living their last wishes. What about retirees ? A single space need to capture the imagination of many and incorporate and account for each person’s whimsical fantasies on a conducive habitat. This is a up-hill task involving sociological, psychological and habitual aspects of  everyone. Sustainable living spaces have a long lasting life and they should cater to the need of various age groups and prospective dwellers. Architects do  a wonderful way to keep the habitat acceptable and durable, while not compromising on the structural aspects of it. Various aspects such as the interior and exterior design, colour combinations, blinds, contours and aesthetics are taken care of.

Technologies at work:

Civil Engineers and traditional/oriental house designers have their own time tested, scientifically proven techniques to make up the box. This box has to withstand the temperatures, humidity, air content – such as salinity near coastal areas and what not. There is a plethora of factors to be considered, but thankfully only a few need the utmost attention. No one would want to live in a 100 % dust free clean box. The idea is to minimise the harmful affects, increase the comfort, within the budget and please the dweller for the time  they live. Some structures get refurbished and revamped every 10 years. Hence, variations and modifications can be easily adjusted to the existing box. The various considerations include : – usage of bricks, specifications of marble, granite and tiles, the structural stability as per seismic zone classifications, the knowledge of water tables and variations in climate and wind patterns that may affect the structure.

Financial fundamental:

Everything boils down to one single stuff, money. The rich and poor alike would like to spend only a limited amount for their home, either for rent or for purchase. Now this money is a constraint on how much is to be spent on making the building smarter, greener, intelligent, maverick and what not?.

Sustainability:

There is never a perfect design, but their are acceptable and unacceptable designs. the box under consideration would be sustainable if it has the same noble acceptance rate throughout its life time.  The sustainability of any structure depends on those who live. Hence utter veneration are bestowed upon a box that had lived upto expectations and sustained generations. The building then acquires a soul, that is not pluck-able from mind of the generations that have lived through it.

Smart technologies:

Technologies that help sort out the energy issues are always welcome. If something helps reduce cost of the Electricity Board bill what is more satiating? We forget to switch off some appliances and mull over it and spoil our free thinking, sometimes we catch a bus back to switch off the water-heater. Some computers switch off themselves, Air conditioners try to increase their temperature gradually to match the temperature in the morning. There are so many silent technologies. But can each and every light be controlled. Can the Air conditioner be put at the optimum temperature, so that the best thermal comfort is available. Is it possible by technology to satisfy each and every one of these wants?  There are urinals which work automatically, sensor fitted taps and occupancy based lighting. Adding more brilliance and automation into appliances do cost. This should be in acceptable range for the facility it provides. A true trade-off would be how much you can get concerned about the energy usage and cost of automation. If you can be careful and switch off unwanted items then what can be a better control. This is because you know how comfortable you are better than some technologies do. That is a truth.

 

Renewable Energy:

If the box is located in a nice very hot sultry area then you have all the possibilities to have a solar panel and start generating the energy needed for the home. This is like direct to home connection. You tap directly from the sun for your usage. If you are on vacation and the solar panel faithfully works out to give electricity , you may feed it to the electrical grid and generate money. This is useful. The same works for windy places. Feed the excess produce to the grid , count how much you have given and get money for it. Such mini power plants could harvest for self sustaining homes in addition to generating some money. There are devices that make the electrical grids smarter to make this smart technology work. USA is in the process of implementation of the same through NSF funded projects, research, development and deployment

Comfort Level:

Technology does not turn any stone un-turned.  Technology tries to automate many stuffs that you are forgetful about. It tries to generate electricity give you money and also judge how good you are feeling. Algorithms, programs and embedded systems in ubiquitous computing make this possible. this increases your comfort level  physically and mentally.

Customer/Owner’s Satisfaction:

That all these smart homes and technologies will really satisfy anyone for a long time is yet to be tested. Deployment of smart grids, smart buildings and smart technology are happening world over at a good space. Customer may get to give his feedback very soon and it will not be disappointing.

Smart Homes , Oh ! Really ?

A buzz word in its on right smart homes find a standing on its own.
Moreover, a learned man would use the terms, systems engineering, Cyber-physical systems, Mathematical modelling, Stochastic determination and multivariate analysis and probability theories to go hand in hand on the design of smart home. All of these would throw a normal/ casual searcher to stop his pursuit.

What is a smart home?, Let’s Capture the basics

How stuff works

Get some technical stuff from :-

Dr. Amarjeet Singh (https://www.iiitd.edu.in/~amarjeet/) in IIIT Delhi have some nice really nice statistical tools that help reduce the carbon footprint.

His startup Zenatix provides more information

http://www.iiitd.ac.in/news/zenatix

http://www.zenatix.com/

IIT Hyderabad has done many smart works in the field. The idea is again to move to zero energy smart environments.
http://www.iith.ac.in/IITHSH/Home.html

CDAC Chennai has some bearing towards smart homes R&D

http://www.ubicomp.in/cdac-chennai

When Honda opened its smart home in UCDavis.(Video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8WvOroEUyo&feature=em-subs_digest

I was happy about someone talking about the colours to be used. That has impact in saving lighting related energy expenditure.

Nevertheless, I have this odd feeling that when there is more analysis and scientific data crunching to get to the essence, there is a lurking doubt on whether all this is necessary.

Talks relate to use of Information and Communication Technology for the betterment of day to day lives. The cost of houses rise like anything and these technologies become affordable in the related sense. But, in the beginning, there was a house that was decently priced, is it even necessary to modify it.

Here, is a traditional home (in Kerala). Image taken from http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/

A traditional house in Kerala, the image is taken from TripAdvisor.in

The pillars of the house is brick and reinforced cement. The roofing is brick-tile. There is lot of shade around the house. The central plot would be free of any construction. Mostly,Ocimum tenuiflorum (Tulasi) stands in the central plot. Air flows from main and back doors and windows into the building, and towards the central plot. From there the comparatively hot air (after absorbing the heat dissipated from the buidling ) could rise up and leave the premise. Rain falls in the middle and around the building. Very often we can see a couple of glass tiles on the roof corresponding to each room. This gives natural light. That is good enough for normal life, except living. There is no much colour sense and aesthetic painting done on the walls, interior or exterior. Does this act as a smart home? Partly yes, with natural lighting and cooling (26-34 degree Centigrade during summer). What is missing is the lighting during night. If supplemented by lights then it does not give as great a illuminance as a concrete roof with white painting on underside. The traditional brick-tile has brown colour and is not great reflector of the light. But lights can be so arranged as to suit the reading requirement of the reader. Other cons , would be non-optimum structure as far as cost -generated per occupant is considered .

 

 

Click for weather forecast

Let’s us see another example of planned building construction. This one is from Yemen

Click for weather forecast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemen. Wikipedia provides image for High-rise architecture at Shibam, Wadi Hadramawt and many details. At Shibam, the high rise buildings gave protection to residents, low cost of maintenance and no need for high tech eco-friendly cost-effective “energy-efficient” HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) control and related hassles of sensors, actuators and automation algorithm, software and what-not.

Things really can be simple and they really work. The role of technologist is to make life better, not more complicated. Just like a fast use doesn’t need graphical eye-candies to get his routine work done. Just like some people stick onto to notepad and keep the memory required low (which is really low carbon) remove unwanted fonts, formatting and fanciful items. Life could be made simple. Only if we had thought of it.

People call the frugal Indian’s miss-call communication as an innovation, as Jugaad. We have been doing this for ages, without anybody telling it. We could use a pen to open a difficult-to-open pack of snacks, no scissors, no blades are really a requirement. I would say people are made to believe to do certain things in certain way, say bad education, and make them feel developed, well-researched, “knowledgeable” mind. These refinements have become a hurdle to free thinking. It had also hampered the clear judgement of a common-belief. Is this a practice to corrupt the mind of masses? Does technology wish to do it, inadvertently? What do technologists and evangelists, educators and professionals do to correct the mechanism?

If we had an answer, we could proudly say , we are smart people in a smart world, with smart technologies and smart homes.

Studying about MSP430

We had this group who had some embedded development boards.

We have MSP430 Launchpad, Beagleboard and could 8051 and arduino board from the net. We wanted to develop some application and in the process learn something. We are trained men in the embedded field, hence we believe that we could come up with some nice application.

We start scouring through the internet jungle. Forums and magazines are helpful, but they give construction and sometime leave nothing for imagination. All the angles of perception get covered in most cases with forums and discussions.

So we get stuck in the select mode: either do monkeying or wait for the eureka moment. We have a bunch of experts who are accessible, knowledgeable and could guide us anytime. But we wait for the idea moment!

We start by reading the manuals and start with LED blinking in MSP430. Yes! we get stuck. No light. And we ponder over the question of copy pasting some net given code or read the manual for the code.

Sample code is the foundation or building block of any project. We do the sample code. The light blinks. What further? Standard exercises of UART, LCD interface and other communication protocols or get (copy) ideas and do something incremental?

Finally stuck there. With monkeying vs innovating question.

BEL is recruiting Probationary Engineers ; And they don’t reply to your queries and doubts

The mail that I have sent BEL

From: Mail Delivery System <MAILER-DAEMON@zimbrasata04.ocpwebserver.com>
Date: 3 May 2011 10:50
Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
To: ajeyaajeya@gmail.com

This is the mail system at host zimbrasata04.ocpwebserver.com.

I’m sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It’s attached below.

For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.

If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.

The mail system

<bel@specialtest.in>: host zimbrasata04.ocpwebserver.com[

10.10.1.2] said: 452
4.2.2 Over quota (in reply to end of DATA command)Final-Recipient: rfc822; bel@specialtest.in
Original-Recipient: rfc822;bel@specialtest.in
Action: failed
Status: 4.2.2
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Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 452 4.2.2 Over quota———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Ajeya Anand <ajeyaajeya@gmail.com>
To: bel@specialtest.in
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:29:08 +0530
Subject: Seeking clarity regarding Recruitment Advt for probationary engineers
Sir / Madam,

I am writing this e-mail to get some clarification regarding BEL advertisement in the website http://specialtest.in/bel2011/Detailsadv.htm

In the advertisement for recruitment of probationary engineers it is mentioned
”

• For PROBATIONARY ENGINEER, GEN / OBC candidates with first class in B.E / B.Tech / B.Sc Engineering Graduate from AICTE approved Colleges in Electronics / Electronics and Communication / Electronics & Telecommunication / Communication / Telecommunication / Mechanical / Computer Science / Computer Science and Engineering. Candidates with first class in AMIE / GIETE, in the above disciplines are also eligible to apply. SC/ST/PWD candidates with pass class in the above degree/disciplines are eligible to apply.

”

I am BTech in Applied Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering and I have studied two papers in Electronics and Communication of which one was my elective ” Wireless Communication systems”.

I am in doubt whether I am eligible to apply and appear for the test.

This is because in a walk in interview conducted in last year, September, by BEL bengaluru, for Graduate Apprentice Trainee I did not get a chance to attend interview and was send off at the gate itself. The reasons told were that even-though I have studied papers related to communication, even-though my  degree is a combination with electronics I would be treated as Instrumentation person. They said they did not require instrumentation people.

Kindly advice me in regard to this situation as a lot of my batch-mates are also waiting to apply.

Thank you in advance,

Awaiting your reply,

Read a related post https://ajeya.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/bel_walkin/