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26 The PCB Design Magazine • February 2016 A second notable trend is the emergence of modular design. Companies are looking to build new products based on trusted functional blocks as opposed to individual components. Imagine that a team of engineers builds func- tional or modular building blocks and another team assembles the blocks at the product level. This revolutionizes the design process with the benefits of reusability, operating at the func- tional level and the incorporation of the nu- merous reference designs being offered by the industry. Taking it a step further, many com- panies are standardizing on platforms that en- compass the hardware and software; new prod- ucts are simply extensions to the standardized platform. Finally, we are seeing early signs that IC packaging or multichip modules (MCM) are becoming more mainstream. MCMs have been around for many years but were too expen- sive for a mainstream product company. Today many silicon vendors are offering bare die and companies like Zuken are offering the capabil- ity to package them. The benefits are enormous when you consider size reduction and reliabil- ity improvements. And you also get the benefit of a physical "module" that can be mounted on the board as opposed to multiple chips. Shaughnessy: Thanks for your time, Bob. Potock: Thank you, Andy. PCBDESIGN Leave your bag unsu- pervised without running the risk of thieves steal- ing it? That could be the case as a unique idea of a small, high-tech alarm from Master's students at Lund University is now coming to life. "I was by myself on a beach in Mexico and had to leave my bag un- attended to take a swim. But while in the water I just couldn't relax, as I was constantly worrying about my things," says Andrew Lentz, Master's student in entrepreneurship and Innovation and one of the students behind the innovation. "It was right then and there that I started to think of a solution to this dilemma, of always hav- ing to worry about your personal belongings get- ting stolen." In cooperation with Bo Möller and Jiang Qian, both Industrial Design programme students, the group thought of a way to construct an alarm that through using Bluetooth technology recog- nises the position of the owner via their smart- phone or wearable. "If your bag is mov- ing and you aren't—in- dicating that someone else is taking it—the alarm will go off and won't stop until the bag is dropped," says An- drew. The same technology is also used to send push notifications, so if you are leaving your bag be- hind, you will still know if it is kept safe. The alarm in its current form, looking very similar to a USB-stick, can be placed inside or outside the bag through a special hook- function. "You can also put the alarm on "do not open" using your personal code and that way if thieves open and ransack your bag without it being moved, the alarm will also go off." The alarm was designed after a lot of research about thieves' behaviour and ways of operating. The group has started a company called Seren- ity and launched a Kickstarter campaign for the product. Students Invent Alarm that Protects Your Unattended Bag what's new at zuken?