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News
Robotic Insects Achieve Vertical Takeoff and Steering

Inspired by the biology of a fly, with submillimeter-scale anatomy and two wafer-thin wings that flap almost invisibly, 120 times per second, a tiny device from Harvard University researchers represents cutting-edge micromanufacturing and control systems.

Question of the Week
Would You Enjoy This Kind of Tech-free Weekend?

A new summer camp, called "Camp Grounded," invites over 200 adults to take a break from technology for a weekend. The retreat, which takes place near Anderson Valley, Calif., brings people together in a "summer camp" atmosphere. The rules are: No technology use, no cell phones allowed, and no...

News
Army Improves Vehicle Design with Blast Tests

With the growing threat of improvised explosive devices over the past decade, Army researchers have been hard at work testing and evaluating ways to keep Soldiers safe from bomb blasts. The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command analyzes under-body blasts, known as UBBs.

News
Fly's Eye Inspires Hemispherical Digital Camera

Inspired by the complex fly eye, an interdisciplinary team led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University has developed a hemispherical digital camera with nearly 200 tiny lenses, delivering wide-angle field of view and sharp images.

News
Acoustic Time Delay Device Could Reduce Size of Phased Array Radar Systems

Radar systems today depend increasingly on phased-array antennas, an advanced design in which extensive grids of solid state components direct signal beams electronically. Phased array technology is replacing traditional electro- mechanical radar antennas – the familiar...

News
Soldiers Use New Network to Prepare for Advise, Assist Mission

For Staff Sgt. Stephen Kovac, getting important information and instructions to the rest of his platoon was a struggle. He could radio back to higher headquarters and wait for the calls to filter back down, losing precious seconds during an operation. Or, he said, he could "yell and...

News
Researcher Explores New Use For Weapons-Detecting Radar?

Kamal Sarabandi is an electrical engineering professor at the University of Michigan. His specialty is remote sensing—detecting objects and gathering information from a distance. For several years ending in mid-2012, he was funded by the Department of Defense to tweak a type of radar not...

News
Robots Use Whole-Arm Sensing to Reach Through Clutter

Robots are now able to intelligently maneuver within clutter, gently making contact with objects while accomplishing a task. The new control method has wide applications, ranging from robots for search-and-rescue operations to assistive robotics for people with disabilities.

Blog: Imaging
On the Floor at SPIE Defense, Security & Sensing

The SPIE Defense Security & Sensing Show in Baltimore, which began on Monday and ends today, provided attendees with an exhibit hall full of new products and technologies. If you weren’t at the show, here’s some of what you missed:

Articles: Photonics/Optics

In many laser-based types of bioinstrumentation, including flow cytometers, confocal microscopes, and array readers for proteomics, laser output is delivered to the system’s final optics...

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Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics

In many applications, 2D cameras are used to produce 3D imaging for general purpose inspections. There are numerous 3D inspection applications. Some of them include reverse engineering, electronics...

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Articles: Energy

For more than two decades, nearly all renewable energy endeavors have incorporated the latest advances in turbomachinery design and turbomachinery manufacturing technology in an...

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Who's Who: Aerospace

Rob Mueller is the Lead Senior Technologist for the RASSOR (Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot) project, as well as all Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Human Robotics...

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Articles: Lighting

Energy can be found everywhere — in the movement of doors and windows or machine components, the vibration of motors, changing temperature or variances in luminance level. These energy...

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Articles: Lighting

Lighting, as an industry, has seen very few significant innovations in the basic technology of light production in the past century. As a result of this static situation, lighting companies have...

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Articles: Lighting

One of the most pervasive challenges in the world today is increasing energy efficiency. The consumer electronics industry is evolving towards higher efficiency due to newer and stricter energy...

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Podcasts
Rob Mueller, Lead Senior Technologist, Kennedy Space Center, FL

Rob Mueller is the Lead Senior Technologist for the RASSOR (Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot) project, as well as all Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Human Robotics Systems. The RASSOR mining robot will collect soil (known as regolith) on the moon or Mars so it...

Briefs: Software
Test Waveform Applications for JPL STRS Operating Environment

This software demonstrates use of the JPL Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) Operating Environment (OE), tests APIs (application programming interfaces) presented by JPL STRS OE, and allows for basic testing of the underlying hardware platform. This software uses the JPL...

Briefs: Physical Sciences
ESD Test Apparatus for Soldering Irons

ESDA (Electrostatic Discharge Association) ESD STM 13.1-2000 requires frequent testing of the voltage leakage from the tip of a soldering iron and the resistance from the tip of the soldering iron to the common point ground. Without this test apparatus, the process is time-consuming and requires several...

Briefs: Medical
Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Signals Measure Neuronal Activity in the Cortex

Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging optical neuroimaging technology that indirectly measures neuronal activity in the cortex via neurovascular coupling. It quantifies hemoglobin concentration ([Hb]) and thus measures the same...

Briefs: Physical Sciences

Heat flow is a fundamental property of a planet, and provides significant constraints on the abundance of radiogenic isotopes, the thermal evolution and differentiation history, and the mechanical...

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Briefs: Information Technology
Sequential Probability Ratio Test for Spacecraft Collision Avoidance Maneuver Decisions

A document discusses sequential probability ratio tests that explicitly allow decision-makers to incorporate false alarm and missed detection risks, and are potentially less sensitive to modeling errors than a procedure that relies solely on a probability of...

Briefs: Physical Sciences
FPGA-Based X-Ray Detection and Measurement for an X-Ray Polarimeter

This technology enables detection and measurement of x-rays in an x-ray polarimeter using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The technology was developed for the Gravitational and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS) mission. It performs precision energy and timing...

Briefs: Information Technology
Cursor Control Device Test Battery

The test battery was developed to provide a standard procedure for cursor control device evaluation. The software was built in Visual Basic and consists of nine tasks and a main menu that integrates the set-up of the tasks. The tasks can be used individually, or in a series defined in the main menu.

Briefs: Physical Sciences
Method to Measure Total Noise Temperature of a Wireless Receiver During Operation

A method has been developed to measure the total effective noise power in a GPS receiver, including contributions from the system temperature, the antenna temperature, interference, lossy components, etc. A known level of noise is periodically injected before the...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Advanced Materials and Fabrication Techniques for the Orion Attitude Control Motor

Rhenium, with its high melting temperature, excellent elevated temperature properties, and lack of a ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT), is ideally suited for the hot gas components of the ACM (Attitude Control Motor), and other hightemperature...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

A proof-of-concept device is being developed (see figure) for hydrogen gas production based on water-splitting redox reactions facilitated by cobalt tetra-aryl porphyrins (Co[TArP])...

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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
RF Reference Switch for Spaceflight Radiometer Calibration

The goal of this technology is to provide improved calibration and measurement sensitivity to the Soil Moisture Active Passive Mission (SMAP) radiometer. While RF switches have been used in the past to calibrate microwave radiometers, the switch used on SMAP employs several techniques...

Webcasts

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On-Demand Webinars: Defense

From Data to Decision: How AI Enhances Warfighter Readiness

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Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace

April Battery & Electrification Summit

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Upcoming Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Tech Update: 3D Printing for Transportation in 2024

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Upcoming Webinars: Materials

Unleashing Epoxy's Potential: Ensuring Hermetic Sealing in Modern...

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Upcoming Webinars: Test & Measurement

Building an Automotive EMC Test Plan

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Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace

The Moon and Beyond from a Thermal Perspective

Videos