What happens when you replace a truck’s fan assembly with an electric fan system? You increase horsepower, reduce under-hood temperature, and become a winner...
Articles: Electronics & Computers
2017 Create the Future Design Contest: Consumer Products Category Winner
Battelle
Columbus, OH...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Flexible, Printable Electronics for Sensor Arrays
Printable electronics — flexible circuitry that is deposited on some type of plastic substrate — has been a major area of research for decades. But the ability to print the substrate...
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
2017 Create the Future Design Contest: Machinery Category Winner
Mansoura University
Mansoura, Ad-daqahliyah, Egypt...
Application Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Injection Molding Service Saves Time and Money for Spring Manufacturer
Maple Plain, MN
www.protolabs.com
As products get smaller, their components need to follow suit, and springs are no exception. In a variety of...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Sample Holder for Evaluating Thin Film Sensor Materials in Gaseous Environments
Thin film gas sensors are small, lightweight, and relatively easy to operate; however, the testing of these thin film gas sensors is difficult in harsh...
Articles: Aerospace
2017 Create the Future Design Contest: Aerospace & Defense Category Winner
Marinvent Corporation
Saint-bruno, Quebec, Canada...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Single Event Upset Suppression System (SEUSS)
Electronic devices are getting smaller and more energy-efficient, meaning that they are more susceptible to single event upsets (SEUs) — malfunctions caused by particles in the atmosphere...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Piezoelectric Actuator with Dual Horns Separately Controllable to Drive Miniature Vehicles Along a Single Axis
Actuators are a critical driver of all the mechanisms used in space, and improvements of their operation mechanism enhance mission...
Briefs: Software
Desktop Status
The purpose of the Desktop Status application is to collect processor, memory, and storage usages of a computer running the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, and record these data with time stamps to files at a user-defined time interval. A graphical user interface (GUI) captures users' inputs and displays them on a plot for...
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Contacts for Hi-Rel Connectors: Comparing Technologies
Contact design is critical to the performance of any connector — especially for devices that must function in harsh environments where extremes of temperature, shock, and vibration are...
NASA Spinoff: Robotics, Automation & Control
Mineral Analyzer Shakes Answers Out of Soil and Rocks
On the Curiosity rover, a tool called CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy) is helping scientists determine what minerals make up the Martian landscape, and whether single-celled or more...
Articles: Energy
Products of Tomorrow: November 2017
This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Diffusion-Bonded CVC SiC for Large UVOIR Telescope Mirrors and Structures
In 2012, the National Research Council called for a new generation of astronomical telescopes to enable discovery of habitable planets, facilitate advances in solar physics, and enable the study of faint structures around bright objects by developing high-contrast imaging...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Device for and Method of Computer Intrusion Anticipation, Detection, and Remediation
Initially, relatively powerful computers were constructed as unique mainframes operated by larger corporations on isolated networks. Then, computers with modest amounts of computing power were made available to individuals as standalone personal computers. The...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Crab Crawl Maneuver for Independently Steerable Wheeled Platforms
An industrial-class excavator was developed for use on the Moon and perhaps on Mars. The model mobility platform uses Ackerman Steering with active drives on all six...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Integrated Three-Dimensional Module Heat Exchanger for Power Electronics Cooling
Critical elements in the operation of electric drive systems are power electronics and power semiconductor packages. Improving thermal management of power electronics can help reduce the cost, weight, and volume of electric drive systems, and thus increase market...
Articles: Imaging
2017 Create the Future Design Contest Special Awards Section
The Create the Future Design Contest was launched 16 years ago by Tech Briefs Media Group (publishers of Tech Briefs magazine) to help stimulate and reward engineering innovation. Since then, the annual contest has drawn more than 14,000 product design ideas from engineers, students,...
Articles: Semiconductors & ICs
2017 Create the Future Design Contest: Electronics Winner
NASA Langley Research Center;
Yeonjoon Park,
National Institute of...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Forging Graphene into Three-Dimensional Shapes
Graphene is a relative to graphite, which consists of millions of layers of graphene, and can be found in common pencil tips. Since graphene was isolated in 2004, researchers have learned to...
Briefs: Medical
App Enables Smartphone Camera to Screen for Pancreatic Cancer
The five-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is one of the worst — 9 percent — in part because there are no obvious symptoms or non-invasive screening tools to catch a...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Continuous Diagnostic System Predicts Industrial Robot Faults
Robots in production lines work with micrometer precision, unless a component fails. If, for example, the linear actuator used to precisely position a car body in front of an...
Articles: Green Design & Manufacturing
2017 Create the Future Design Contest: Grand Prize Winner
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Optofluidic 3D Printing
Optofluidic three-dimensional printing enables advancements and innovation in optical fibers and biomedical devices. This 3D printing approach uses axial plane optical microscopy (APOM) technology.
Briefs: Medical
ECTemp™
The health and fitness industry strives to provide customers with the best technologies and features available to help users train in the right zone and duration for best results. Core body temperature is a factor in this analysis, but has been largely unavailable due to the invasiveness of accurate sensors, and the variation between...
Briefs: Aerospace
Method for Inflating Uniformly Stiff Tubular Booms
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed a foam-rigidized, inflatable, tubular space boom that can be transported, deployed, and inflated at remote locations. The lightweight...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Product of the Month: November 2017
WinSystems, Arlington, TX, released the PPC65B series IP65-rated panel PC in a thin, fanless design with an operating temperature range from -20 to +70 °C. The panel PC offers a rugged design for...
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
2017 Create the Future Design Contest: Sustainable Technologies Category Winner
Talent...
Briefs: Software
ScienceOrganizer: A Scientific Knowledge Management and Remote Experimentation Tool
The ScienceOrganizer system was designed to facilitate the work of geographically distributed NASA science teams by supporting the organization, administration, documentation, and execution of science projects and missions. The capabilities of ScienceOrganizer...
Articles: Automotive
2017 Create the Future Design Contest: Automotive Category Winner
Enviro-Cool
Sullivan, MO
The Heavy Duty...
Briefs: Medical
Smartphone Camera Measures Heart Health
Currently, a 45-minute ultrasound scan is required to provide detailed information about heart health. Researchers have discovered a method by which a smartphone camera can noninvasively provide the same information.
Facility Focus: Research Lab
Naval Research Laboratory
The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) began operations in 1923 as the United States Navy's first modern research institution, and it continues today as one of the Navy's premier R&D resources. NRL's early 20th...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-Energy-Storage Capacitor
A method was created for electroless deposition of conformal ultrathin (<20 nm) metal oxides on the high-surface-area walls of commercial carbon nanofoam papers, typically 0.1–0.3 mm thick. The resulting...
Articles: Medical
2017 Create the Future Design Contest: Medical Category Winner
University of Michigan
Ann...
Briefs: Software
Knowledge Preservation Management
The Knowledge Preservation Management (KPM) system allows for the capture, management, and Web-based access of manufacturing operations information. KPM also captures retirees' knowledge via transcript-enabled video-taped interviews, and with video data-mining advanced search capabilities. Access to this...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Flexible Wearable Electronics Use Body Heat for Energy
Interest in wearable electronics for continuous, long-term health and performance monitoring is rapidly increasing. The reduction in power levels consumed by sensors and electronic...
Briefs: Software
Development of Automated Structural Health Monitoring for Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels
Virtually all NASA spacecraft use composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) to reduce the weight disadvantage of metal pressure vessels. However, these composite structures are more susceptible to damage than metal PVs, are difficult to inspect,...
Briefs: Medical
Independent Navigation for the Visually Impaired Using a Wearable, Vision-Based Feedback System
Automatic navigation systems have been developed previously to aid the visually impaired, but these devices have not been as reliable and easy to...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Interim, In-Situ Additive Manufacturing Inspection
Researchers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center have developed a novel method for interim, in-situ dimensional inspection of additively manufactured parts. Additive manufacturing...
Products: Photonics/Optics
New Products: November 2017 Photonics & Imaging Technology
McPherson, Inc. (Chelmsford, MA) introduces the flow-controlled windowless, hollow cathode UV lamp Model 629. This broad-spectrum source emits ionized...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
An Electron Caught in the Act
How fast is an electron? Australian scientists were able to measure it. Australia's fastest camera, located at the Attosecond Science Facility, has revealed the time it takes for molecules to break apart. The...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Scientists Demonstrate New Real-Time Technique for Studying Ionic Liquids at Electrode Interfaces
Ionic liquids—salts made by combining positively charged molecules (cations) and negatively charged molecules (anions) that are liquid at...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Optical Probing Deep into the Eye
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a scanning technology commonly used by ophthalmologists to check for eye diseases. A team of scientists has figured out how to retrofit these high-performance machines...
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
CoaXPress Blazes Trail for Faster, Higher Quality Machine Vision
Introduced in 2010, CoaXPress (CXP) has become a leading standard for high-end machine vision, as well as life sciences, security, and defense applications. The CXP standard...
News: Semiconductors & ICs
Novel Techniques Examine Solar Cells with Nanoscale Precision
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have for the first time examined, with nanometer-scale precision, the variations in chemical composition...
Articles: Photonics/Optics
Line Scan Cameras
Area array and line scan cameras are each suited for unique machine vision applications. Area array cameras, for all intents and purposes, are “conventional” cameras that use sensors with two-dimensional pixel arrays....
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Improved Surface Characterization with AFM Imaging
To shrink device size yet still tightly control performance, new technology often requires increasingly stringent surface specifications. Characterization tools, in turn, must keep pace by...
Articles: Photonics/Optics
Optical Monitoring System Enables Greater Accuracy In Thin-Film Coatings
The challenges in achieving greater accuracy in optical thin-film coatings, both historically and in today's coating processes, are many and deserve our scrutiny. The...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
R&D Effort Produces Magnetic Devices to Enable More Powerful X-ray Lasers
A team of researchers have designed, built, and tested two devices, called superconducting undulators, which could make X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) more...
Question of the Week: Automotive
Are you confident in a vehicle's cyberattack defenses?
Our second story in today's INSIDER featured a reader's question about cybersecurity standard SAE J3061. What do you think? Are you confident in a vehicle's cyberattack defenses?
Q&A: Photonics/Optics
Q&A: LLNL's Dr. Manyalibo “Ibo” Matthews Uses Lasers to 3D-Print Large Metal Objects
Dr. Matthews and his team have developed a new laser-based method for 3D printing of large metal objects called Diode-Based Additive Manufacturing...
Researchers using Los Alamos' unique neutron-imaging and high-energy X-ray capabilities have exposed the inner structures of the fossil skull of a 74-million-year-old tyrannosauroid...
Squid ink might be a great ingredient to make black pasta, but it could also one day make getting checked for gum disease at the dentist less tedious and even painless. By...
New research has shown future wearable devices, such as smartwatches, could use ultrasound imaging to sense hand gestures. The research team is led by Professor Mike...
News: Imaging
Non-Invasive Imaging Predicts Cancer Malignancy
A new study by Osaka University scientists shows that non-labeling multiphoton microscopy (NL-MPM) can be used for quantitative imaging of cancer that is safe and requires no resection,...
News: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Thinking Ahead with 3D Printing: Five Technologies to Watch
A 3D printer's moving parts can lead to vibrations and a flawed final product. Engineers at the University of Michigan anticipated the problem — and now, thanks to their algorithms, machines can do the same.
In a report published in October, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) used single-walled carbon...
Question of the Week: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Will 'read-ahead' algorithms speed up 3D printing?
Our featured INSIDER story today showcased algorithms that allow 3D printers to anticipate motion and "read ahead" of its programming. The Michigan State University readers believe that the faster, more precise builds will allow 3D printers to create products twice as fast.
News: Automotive
Sound-Off: Without ‘100-Percent’ Security Assurance, Should We Drive Autonomous Cars?
In a Tech Briefs presentation, a reader asked our automotive expert: “How can we achieve autonomous cars without 100-percent cybersecurity?”
INSIDER: Energy
Body Energy as a Power Source
Smartphones, fitness trackers, and medical equipment have a constant hunger for power. The solution: power supply by means of energy produced by body movements. Two systems that meet this requirement were...
INSIDER: Energy
Asphalt Helps Batteries Charge Faster
A touch of asphalt may be the secret to creating high-capacity lithium metal batteries that charge 10 to 20 times faster than commercial lithium-ion batteries, according to Rice University...
INSIDER: Energy
New Solar Power Receivers are Better at Absorbing Sunlight
Sandia National Laboratories engineers have developed new fractal-like, concentrating solar power receivers for small- to medium-scale use that are up to 20 percent more...
News: Materials
Electric ‘Smart’ Paper Picks Up on Pipe Leaks
Although spills inside a lab can often spell trouble, a University of Washington scientist found a way to turn an accidentally doused conductive material into an inventive new sensor. The lab...
Question of the Week: Automotive
Do You Have a High Degree of Confidence in Autonomous Vehicle Security?
Our second INSIDER story today featured an answer to the question: "How can we achieve autonomous cars without 100-percent cybersecurity?"
News: Materials
Sound-Off: Thermoset Composites vs. Traditional Metals
INSIDER: Materials
Soft Sensor Material Enables Tactile Technology
iSoft, a new type of soft and stretchable sensor, is capable of sensing in real time, and can perform “multimodal” sensing of stimuli such as continuous contact and stretching in all...
INSIDER: Test & Measurement
New Way to Test Body Armor
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new way to investigate the high-performance fibers used in modern body armor. The testing of soft body armor has been a...
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Technique Produces Wearable Gas Sensors
A transfer technique could allow high-performance gallium nitride gas sensors to be grown on sapphire substrates and then transferred to metallic or flexible polymer support materials. The process...
A reversible fabric from Stanford University could warm up or cool down its wearers, depending on their preference – and which side of the material faces...
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Scientists Develop Extreme Light Trapping Technology
A silicon solar cell harvests the energy of the sun as light travels down through light-absorbent silicon. To reduce weight and cost, solar cells are thin, and while silicon absorbs...
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
‘Twisted’ Light Could Illuminate New Path for Wireless Communications
Scientists have taken an important step towards using ‘twisted’ light as a form of wireless, high-capacity data transmission which could make fiber optics...
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Prototype Shows How Tiny Photodetectors Can Double Their Efficiency
Physicists at the University of California, Riverside have developed a photodetector by combining two distinct inorganic materials and producing quantum mechanical...
INSIDER: Imaging
New Products: November 2017 Photonics & Imaging Insider
The new Olympus (Waltham, MA) LEXT® OLS5000 3D laser confocal scanning microscope delivers precise imaging in a fast, easy-to-use system...
Blog: Software
NASA Supercomputer Simulations Reveal 'Noisy' Aerodynamics
News: Automotive
Sound-Off: Can Executives Make or Break Your Cybersecurity Program?
News: Manufacturing & Prototyping
With a Commercial Printer, Researchers Manufacture Motion Sensors in Bulk
Using a commercial printer and some silver ink, researchers from Florida State University have found a novel way of producing motion sensors en masse. The low-profile...
Question of the Week
Can Senior Execs Make or Break a Cybersecurity Program?
Our second INSIDER story, a response from infosec expert Michael Morgan, highlighted the importance of "C-Suite" support when implementing a cybersecurity program.
INSIDER: Motion Control
Magnetic System Turns Heat into Motion
Scientists at the University of Exeter have discovered a technique to transform ambient heat into motion in nanoscale devices. This thermal ratchet is made from a material known as “artificial...
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
New Motion Sensors Enable Low-Cost Wearables
Researchers from Florida State University developed a class of motion sensors made using buckypaper. The new technology is versatile, and the sensors are affordable to print.
Top Stories
Blog: Electronics & Computers
How to Keep Batteries from Catching Fire? Nanotech Energy Goes with...
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Next Challenge for Soft Robots? Beat the Cheetah
Blog: Materials
Gecko-Inspired: Researchers Find Easier Way to Mass-Produce Adhesives
Videos: Automotive
Design Contest Winner Jon Sumroy Shares Success Story
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Starting In the Garage, NASA Engineer Makes Oxygen Helmet for COVID-19...
Videos: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Question of the Week
How Would You Use Gecko-Inspired Adhesion?
Webcasts
Upcoming Webinars: Medical
Redefining Healthcare Delivery with Robotics-Assisted Therapy
Webinars: Medical
Materials Qualification of Healthcare Products to Radiation...
Upcoming Webinars: Imaging
Back to the Future of Video Compression
Upcoming Webinars: Robotics, Automation & Control
Mars 2020: The Legacy Continues for NASA Space Robotics
Upcoming Webinars: Test & Measurement
Linking FMEA, FMEDA, and FTA for Safety Analysis and Hardware...
Upcoming Webinars: Imaging
Producing Optimal High-Speed Images for Automotive and Industrial...
Trending Stories
Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Executive Roundtable: 3D Printing
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Remote Sense Helps Power Sources Accurately Simulate Batteries and Charger...
Articles: Motion Control
Choosing Stepper- or Servo-Driven Actuators to Replace Air Cylinders
Features: Photonics/Optics
Products: Communications
New Products: March 2019 Sensor Technology
