New-Tech Europe | March 2016 | Digital edition

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Hitachi and Honda Successfully Develop Prototype of Portable Breath-based Alcohol Detection Device for Vehicle Smart Keys

Gabriele Manganaro, an Analog Devices, Inc. engineering director, has been named an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Fellow for his leadership in the design of high speed converters. Elevation to an IEEE Fellow involves a rigorous evaluation procedure and less than 0.1% of IEEE voting members are selected annually for this prestigious honor. Manganaro, who holds a Dr.Eng. and a Ph.D. degree in Tokyo, Hitachi, Ltd. and Honda Motor Co., Ltd.’s subsidiary Honda R&D Co., Ltd. (Honda) announced they have successfully developed a prototype of a portable alcohol detector that is tamper-resistant as it can distinguish human breath from alternative gases and that can be integrated into smart key. This device is capable of distinctively detecting the saturated water vapor from human breath and accurately measuring alcohol level within 3 seconds once a driver exhales breath onto the device. Hitachi and Honda jointly collaborated on this technology development in an effort to create the ideal alcohol detector. They also developed a system that can show the alcohol level measured by the detector on the vehicle’s display panel. It can become an ignition interlock to stop a vehicle starting its engine when it detects a driver under the

influence of alcohol. The effort to prevent or stop drunk driving is global and is an on-going focus of progress in safe driving technology. In Japan, transportation operators are required to use an alcohol detector to test whether professional drivers are under the influence of alcohol before they begin their shifts. Meanwhile, in the U.S., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched and directed the development of ignition interlock technology that connects alcohol detectors to a vehicle’s engine. In addition, the Hitachi/Honda device can confirm that the applied gas is human exhaled breath and can detect the level of alcohol at the same time, an enhancement over currently available devices.

Analog Devices’ Gabriele Manganaro Elevated to IEEE Fellow actively supports our engineers’ engagement in the IEEE and other organizations to foster technical exchange across the industry.”

Manganaro holds 13 U.S. patents, with more pending. He has been the recipient of numerous scientific awards, including the 1995 CEU Award from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK), the 1999 IEEE Circuits and Systems Outstanding Young Award, and the 2007 IEEE European

Electronics from the University of Catania, Italy, has been engineering director for high speed converters at Analog Devices since 2010. His career in data converter design spans more than 20 years. “Gabriele has been a highly visible part of the industry’s data converter community for many years, and he was able to contribute to the efforts of ADI’s high speed converter group immediately when he joined us more than five years ago,” said Dave Robertson, product line director, High Speed Converter Group. “The IEEE award recognizes the breadth and depth of Gabriele’s impact over the course of his career. Analog Devices

Solid-State Circuits Conference Best Paper Award. Manganaro has authored/ co-authored 60 papers and three books, including “Advanced Data Converters,” published by Cambridge University Press in 2011. He was associate editor, then deputy editor in chief, and finally editor in chief for IEEE Trans. On Circuits and Systems – Part I. Manganaro served on the technical sub-committee for data converters of the ISSCC for seven consecutive years. He is a Fellow of the IET (since 2009), a member of Sigma Xi, and a member of the Board of Governors for the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society.

Gabriele Manganaro, an Analog Devices, Inc. engineering director

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