Briefs: Energy

Side-Mounted Solar Modules Enhance Energy Sustainability

Research demonstrates the potential of a solar unit that can hang on the outside of a structure.

Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs

Circuit Generates Clean, Limitless Power from Graphene

The chip could provide low-voltage power for small devices or sensors.

Facility Focus: Aerospace

Facility Focus: Stanford University School of Engineering

Stanford University’s School of Engineering has been at the forefront of innovation for nearly a century

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Biocontainment Unit for Virus-Sized Particles

The unit could help healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients.

Briefs: Energy

Next-Generation Computer Chip Has Two Heads

The chip combines two functions — logic operations and data storage — into a single architecture, paving the way to more efficient devices.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Energy-Harvesting Device Turns Wi-Fi Signals into Usable Power

This device for harnessing terahertz radiation might enable self-powering implants, cellphones, and other portable electronics.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Supercool Mini-Thermometer

Applications include monitoring the temperature of processor chips in superconductor-based quantum computers, which must stay cold to work properly.

Q&A: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Q&A: 3D-Printed Polymer Lattice Strengthens Concrete

Brian Salazar and his UC Berkeley team have developed a new way to reinforce concrete with a polymer lattice, an advance that could rival other polymer-based enhancements and improve...

Briefs: Automotive

Liquid Sorbent Carbon Dioxide Removal System

Applications include aerospace, automotive, commercial spaceflight, scuba diving equipment, and for first responders.

Briefs: Energy

Supercapacitor Based on Manganese Oxide

This supercapacitor promises storage, high power, and fast charging.

Briefs: Imaging

Autonomous HVAC System Measures Facial Temperature

The system turns faces into thermostats, providing more comfort with less energy.

Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs

New Method Makes Computer Memory from Titanium Oxide

The material, commonly found in house paint, can be used in a device to more efficiently process information.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Handheld Device Measures Cancer Biomarkers

Researchers have created the prototype for a handheld device to measure a biomarker for cancer. The device works much like the monitors that people with diabetes use to test their blood-sugar levels...

Briefs: Medical

Wearable Device Measures Cortisol in Sweat

This patch offers noninvasive and continuous monitoring of various biomarkers for a range of physiological conditions.

Articles: Energy

Products of Tomorrow: January 2021

A malaria-test "bandage"; underwater navigation via sound; and a biodegrading, implantable sensor.

Briefs: Wearables

Painless Paper Patch Tests Glucose Levels

The patch uses painless, biodegradable microneedles.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Solid-State Technology Enables Smaller, Safer Batteries

The technology is inherently safer and more energy-dense than today’s lithium-ion batteries.

5 Ws: Wearables

5 Ws of the SoundWatch

The smartwatch app identifies sounds that a user is interested in and sends a friendly buzz and information about the sound.

Technology Leaders: Data Acquisition

Processor Power and Energy Efficiency

Just like smartphones, the same trend of combining separate components into one device is also apparent in industrial automation.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Photonic Wireless System Powers Medical Implants

The system can recharge the internal battery of devices without invasive surgery or risky penetrative procedures.

Briefs: Imaging

Handheld Device Diagnoses Skin Cancer

The device could reduce the need for painful biopsies by 50 percent.

Briefs: Medical

Pill-Sized Heating Device for Diagnostic Testing

Combined with smartphone technology, the device becomes a portable system that can track, monitor, and diagnose infections.

NASA Spinoff: Propulsion

Water-Powered Engines Offer Satellite Mobility

The technology could allow deep-space exploration without running out of propellant.

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Software-Connected Wafer Level Reliability Test

As ICs continue to become smaller and chip complexity increases, manufacturers still need to ensure reliability to their customers.

Application Briefs: Aerospace

Cameras Capture Asteroid Debris Retrieval

See how Space Dynamics Laboratory built the electronics for a three-camera suite onboard OSIRIS-REx.

Briefs: AR/AI

“Stethoscope” Monitors Machine Quality and Functionality

This system provides low-cost monitoring for machine health with audio-based artificial intelligence.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Cavity-Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy (CEAS) for Ozone Detection

This simple and inexpensive design achieves high-quality ozone measurements.

Products: Electronics & Computers

New on the Market: January 2021

Radar sensors, cameras, RF processing systems, and more.

Briefs: Energy

Generating Renewable Hydrogen Fuel from the Sea

Membranes that remove salt from water help split sea water into fuel.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Mobile Bedside Bioprinter Prints Skin Directly into a Wound

The system is filled with a patient’s skin cells.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Platform for All-Optical Computing

Computations are done solely with beams of light.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Microstrip Circuit and Material Characterization System

The system enables measurement of active or passive microstrip line devices with DC probing capability.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Inexpensive Method Decontaminates Personal Protective Equipment

The system uses off-the-shelf materials combined with ultraviolet lights to decontaminate N95 masks.

Briefs: Unmanned Systems

Lithium Metal Battery Allows Cold Charging

The battery could be used for drones, cars, or underwater applications at low temperatures.

Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Product of the Month: January 2021 Tech Briefs

Modules from Pickering Interfaces simulate industrial control transceivers.

Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Experts Weigh In: How Will a Robotic Future Impact Nature?

A survey of over 170 experts assessed the opportunities and challenges that drones, robots, and autonomous systems could have for urban nature and green spaces.

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Orbiting Instrument Hints That Stored Magnetic Energy Heats Solar Atmosphere

A phenomenon first detected in the solar wind may help solve a long-standing mystery about the sun: why the solar atmosphere is millions of degrees hotter than...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Combining Electronic, Photonic Chips Enables Super-Fast Quantum Light Detection

Researchers from the University of Bristol’s Quantum Engineering Technology Labs (QET Labs) and Université Côte d‘Azur have made a new miniaturized...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Large-Area Flexible Organic Photodiodes Can Compete with Silicon Devices

The performance of flexible large-area organic photodiodes has advanced to the point that they can now offer advantages over conventional silicon photodiode...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Products: January 2021 Photonics & Imaging Insider

Bandpass Filters

MidOpt® (Palatine, IL) introduced the BP450 Indigo Bandpass and the BN450 Narrow Indigo Bandpass, two new filters designed for multi-application use. The...

Blog: Transportation

CES 2021: How COVID-19 Turned the Car into a Personal 'Second Space'

In a roundtable presentation at the virtual CES 2021, panelists said the COVID-19 pandemic has changed driving patterns and consumer preferences – and that those shifts are here to stay.

Podcasts: Materials

Here's an Idea: RepelWrap

Learn how RepelWrap began, and how the material can fend off drug-resistant bacteria, from MRSA to coronaviruses.

Blog: Materials

A New Way to Cure Adhesives on Demand? Magnets.

The non-contact method of curing leads to adhesives that can be activated on demand.

Blog: Photonics/Optics

A Squid-Like 'Muscle' Senses Light and Changes Shape

Inspired by the squid's color-changing chromatophore, Rutgers engineers set out to create an artificial one.

On-Demand Webinars: Automotive

Reducing the Cost of Quality in Automotive BiW

Automotive production relies on quality to maintain an automaker’s brand image within its customer base. But in the production process, suboptimal dimensional quality can lengthen lead...

Blog: Electronics & Computers

Self-Heating Battery Addresses Key Barrier to Electric-Vehicle Adoption: Range Anxiety

If you're concerned that electric vehicles don't have the reliability to get you where you need to go, Penn State engineers are working on a battery for...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

T-REX Rover Looks to the Dark Side

The Tethered permanently shadowed Region EXplorer (T-REX) rover, designed and built by a team of Michigan Technological University students – is designed to provide reliable power and data to other...

INSIDER: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Chemically Driven Wheels “Morph” Into Gears

University of Pittsburgh researchers have utilized a catalytic reaction that causes a two-dimensional, chemically coated sheet to spontaneously “morph” into a three-dimensional...

Blog: Materials

A Recycling Breakthrough: Researchers Discover a Molecule That 'Zips Up'

The "polymer of squares” could one day enable the use of plastic products many times over.

Blog: Materials

How Smashing Nanoparticles Together Led to Super-Strength Metal 'Coins'

The hard “coin,” could be used to make super-strength metal coatings or larger industrial components.