Special Reports: Propulsion
Vehicle Electrification - June 2019
Demand for electric vehicles is accelerating, with several automakers announcing that their entire lineups will either be hybrid or all-electric by the 2020's. To help you keep pace with the rapid changes...
Products: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
New Products: June 2019 Motion Design
NB Corporation of America (Hanover Park, IL) released a rotary ball spline that can be used for both rotational and linear motion. Applications include SCARA robots, the...
Briefs: Materials
Snake-Inspired Robot
Researchers have developed a new and improved snake-inspired soft robot that is faster and more precise than its predecessor.
Briefs: Motion Control
Calculating the Estimated Fatigue Life of a Disc Spring
In discussing fatigue life, it is important to distinguish between disc springs and conical spring washers, as they differ by design and intended usage. Conical spring washers are...
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Pneumatics for Mechanical Motion
Employing fluid power to achieve mechanical motion can be implemented via hydraulics using uncompressible liquids or via pneumatics using compressible gasses; typically, air. The latter provides several...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Ultra-Low-Power Chips Enhance Performance of Small Robots
An ultra-low-power hybrid chip inspired by the brain could help give palm-sized robots the ability to collaborate and learn from their experiences. Combined with new generations of...
Briefs: Imaging
Model Gives Robots a Better Feel for Object Manipulation
A new learning system improves a robot’s ability to mold materials into target shapes and make predictions about interacting with solid objects and liquids. The system, known as a...
Articles: Test & Measurement
Vision Sensors in Factory Automation
There are a number of ways to extract data from a production line. In factory automation, sensors are used in work cells to gather data for inspection or to trigger other devices. These sensors fall into...
Briefs: Aerospace
Gear Bearings
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center developed gear bearing technology that combines gear and bearing functions into a single unit that significantly improves gear drives for electrical, internal combustion, and turbine motors. The...
Application Briefs: Motion Control
Cross-Training Made Possible by Common Control Platform
EMAG L.L.C. is the U.S. subsidiary of a major German machine tool builder that specializes in machine tools for the production of automotive, off-highway, agricultural, and oil field...
Application Briefs: Transportation
Plastic Bearings Redefine the Wheelchair
For wheelchair users, the feeling of uneven ground can seem all too familiar. Determined to make ride discomfort a thing of the past, Israel-based SoftWheel has completely reinvented the wheel for a...
Briefs: Wearables
Monitor Babies in the NICU Without Wires
An interdisciplinary Northwestern University team has developed a pair of soft, flexible wireless sensors that replace the tangle of wire-based sensors that currently monitor babies in hospitals’...
Application Briefs: Wearables
High Tech Comes to Fitness Monitoring
Early wearable fitness monitoring devices were designed to perform a set of valuable but straightforward activities: tallying the number of steps we take daily, recording the number of hours we sleep,...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
UCI Biomedical Engineers Develop Wearable Respiration Monitor with Children’s Toy
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a wearable, disposable respiration monitor that provides high-fidelity readings on a...
Articles: Internet of Things
Sensors Expo Preview 2019
The 2019 Sensors Expo and Conference will be held at the McEnery Convention Center, San Jose, CA from June 25 – 27. Both the expo and conference are excellent opportunities to get a good sense of important sensor trends. Among the wide variety of themes at the conference, some strike me as being very significant for...
Application Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Smart Agriculture Sensors: Helping Small Farmers and Positively Impacting Global Issues, Too
Smart agriculture, also known as precision agriculture, allows farmers to maximize yields using minimal resources such as water, fertilizer, and...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Spotting Minute Amounts of Disease in the Bloodstream
The difficulty in spotting minute amounts of disease circulating in the bloodstream has proven a stumbling block in the detection and treatment of cancers that advance stealthily with few...
Briefs: Materials
Diagnose Lithium Batteries
Batteries with metallic lithium anodes offer enhanced efficiency compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries because of their higher capacity. However, safety concerns and a short lifespan stand in the way. To...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Stretchable Interlaced-Nanowire Film for Ultraviolet Photodetectors with High Response Speed
Stretchable electronics, which can be stretched, deformed and wrapped onto nonplanar curved surfaces, have attracted much attraction due to their...
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A Sensor that Fits Like a Glove
We recently had a discussion with Sri Peruvemba, VP of Strategy at BeBop Sensors (Berkeley, CA), about the technology and applications for their two-dimensional fabric sensor material. I started by asking Sri...
Products: Photonics/Optics
New Products: June 2019 Sensor Technology
The Measuring Division of Kaman Precision Products, Inc (Colorado Springs, CO) announces the availability of its Extreme Environment...
Application Briefs: Wearables
When You Need a Machine for Breathing, You’d Better Have Accurate Sensors
Medical ventilation technology has come far since the original iron lung was first used more than 90 years ago. Using negative pressure to ventilate, the patient was...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
3D Printable Sensors Disposed of Without Contaminating the Environment
Simon Fraser University and Swiss researchers are developing an eco-friendly, 3D printable solution for producing wireless Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors that can be...
Briefs: Wearables
Graphene-Based Technology for Wearable Health Monitoring
Graphene Flagship partner ICFO, based in Barcelona, Spain is developing graphene-based prototypes that aim to turn mobile phones into life saving devices. The first of these will allow...
Briefs: Communications
New Electromyography Biofeedback Device
Anew electromyography biofeedback device that is wearable and connects to novel smartphone games may offer people with incomplete paraplegia a more affordable, self-controllable therapy to enhance...
Briefs: Energy
Using Laser Metal Printing to Cool Computer Chips
Traditionally, electronics are cooled using a heat sink that transfers the heat generated by the electronic system into the air or a liquid coolant. For the heat sink to work, it has to be attached to the CPU or the graphics processor via a thermal interface material such as thermal paste. It...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Cryogenic Cam Butterfly Valve
Typical butterfly valves cannot seal at both ambient and cryogenic temperatures. At cryogenic temperatures, valves grow and shrink, changing critical dimensions such as distance between the disc and seat....
Briefs: Tubing & Extrusion
Vascular Injury Shunt
Extremity vascular injury results in bleeding and lack of blood flow beyond the site of vessel disruption (ischemia). Priorities when this occurs include hemorrhage control, management of life-threatening injuries, and...
Articles: Aerospace
Products of Tomorrow: June 2019
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: Semiconductors & ICs
Single-Photon Detector for Potential Encryption and Sensing
Light is widely used for communications, carrying phone conversations and video signals through fiber optic cables around the world in pulses composed of many photons. Single...
Briefs: Materials
Graphene Coating Takes Oxygen Out of Lithium Battery Fires
Lithium batteries allow electric vehicles to travel several hundred miles on one charge. Their capacity for energy storage is well known — so is their tendency to occasionally...
Briefs: Imaging
Design Software Identifies a Product's Performance Tradeoffs
Designing any product — from complex car parts to wrenches — is a balancing act with conflicting performance tradeoffs. Making something lightweight, for instance, may compromise its durability.
Briefs: Wearables
Modular Blocks Enable Plug-and-Play Diagnostic Devices
Over the past decade, many researchers have been working on small, portable diagnostic devices based on chemical reactions that occur on paper strips. Many of these tests make use of...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Wearable Ultrasound Patch Monitors Blood Pressure
Wearable devices have been limited to sensing signals either on the surface of the skin or right beneath it. A new wearable ultrasound patch non-invasively monitors blood pressure in arteries...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Programming Light on a Chip
Microwave signals are ubiquitous in wireless communications but interact too weakly with photons. A technique was developed to fabricate high-performance optical microstructures using lithium niobate, a material...
Briefs: Propulsion
Double-Fed Induction Linear Alternator
This technology was developed to address the limitations of traditional, single-fed linear alternators that require permanent magnets, adhesive bonding organics, and heavy iron laminations for flux control. They experience eddy-current losses and require electromagnetic interference protection. Furthermore,...
Briefs: Nanotechnology
Wood-Based Technology Creates Electricity from Heat
Researchers have transformed a piece of wood into a flexible membrane that generates energy from the same type of electric current (ions) on which the human body runs. This energy is generated using charged channel walls and other unique properties of the wood’s natural nanostructures. With...
Products: Software
New on the Market: June 2019
dSPACE, Wixom, MI, offers Version 4.4 of TargetLink code generator software that features controller modeling with MATLAB® code from MathWorks. It describes algorithms and...
Briefs: Automotive
Battery Electrolyte Doubles Driving Range for Electric Vehicles
Conventional electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries that power household electronics like computers and cellphones are not suitable for lithium-metal batteries. Lithium-metal batteries that replace a graphite electrode with a lithium electrode are the holy grail of energy...
Briefs: Energy
Generating Electrical Power from Waste Heat
Directly converting electrical power to heat is easy; however, converting heat into electrical power is not as easy. To address this issue, a tiny silicon-based device was developed that can...
Briefs: Materials
Joining Gun Bonds Metal and Plastic in Seconds
The connection of plastics and metals poses a challenge due to the different physical properties of the two materials. All conventional joining options, such as bonds using adhesives or rivets,...
Briefs: Wearables
Smart, Soft, Back Orthosis Uses Real-Time Motion Detection
Back pain is inevitable with constrained posture over a number of hours. Permanent damage such as premature spine wear is not uncommon in people who do not adopt proper ergonomic...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Algorithm Predicts How Electromagnetic Waves Interact with Materials at the Smallest Scales
Magnetic materials can attract or repel each other based on their polar orientation — positive and negative ends attract each other, while two positives or two negatives repel. When an electromagnetic signal like a radio wave passes through such...
Increase in bioethanol production throughout the US has led to an increase in the process coproduct — distiller’s grains with solubles (DGS). DGS can be used to feed...
5 Ws: Manufacturing & Prototyping
5 Ws of the Insulin-Delivery Pill
Millions of people worldwide with type 1 diabetes.
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Improved Directed Flux Motor
Electromagnetic motors typically convert electrical energy into rotational mechanical energy and are employed across a wide array of applications. While motors represent relatively mature technology, practitioners continue to seek ways to enhance motor operation including a decrease in cost, drop in size/weight,...
Briefs: Automotive
Eliminating Corrosion Extends Life of Lightweight Batteries
Metal-air batteries are one of the lightest and most compact types of batteries but when not in use, they degrade quickly, as corrosion eats away at their metal electrodes. While...
Briefs: Wearables
Full-Spectrum Infrasonic Stethoscope for Screening Heart, Carotid Artery, and Lung-Related Diseases
Microphones and stethoscopes are regularly used by physicians to detect sounds when monitoring physiological conditions. These monitors are...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Rotary Electrical Contact
Researchers have developed a fundamentally new type of rotary electrical contact that addresses the two limitations of conventional brush/slip ring technology: 1) short operating lifetime due to sliding-contact...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Direct-Write Quantum Calligraphy in Monolayer Semiconductors
In contrast with conventional light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that emit billions of photons simultaneously to form a steady stream of light, a single photon emitter (SPE) generates...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
All-Fiber, Optically Controlled Optical Switch
An optical switch is a device where information-bearing light may be directed to one of several outputs. Prior art optical switches have mainly been integrated optical waveguide structures such as titanium-diffused (Ti) waveguides in lithium-niobate (LiNbO3) or gallium-arsenide (GaAs)...
Application Briefs: Transportation
Retinas to Roadways: The Evolution of Optical Coherence Technology
Lafayette, CO
www.sweptlaser.com
A driver’s ability to see and avoid other vehicles is essential to safe driving. The same is true...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Ingestible, Expanding Pill Monitors the Stomach for Up to a Month
An ingestible pill was developed that, upon reaching the stomach, quickly swells to the size of a soft, squishy ping-pong ball big enough to stay in the stomach for an...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Systems and Methods for Correcting Optical Reflectance Measurements
Optical spectroscopy can be used to determine the concentration of chemical species in samples. The amount of light absorbed by a particular chemical species is often linearly related to its concentration through Beer’s Law. For nontransparent materials such as powders,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Electroceutical Bandages Destroy Bacteria
Used since 2013, electroceutical bandages — which use electrical impulses to treat medical issues — kill bacteria around a wound, allowing wounds to heal faster. In addition, if infection is...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) of Structures Using Transient and Lock-in Thermography
Researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center improved their Flash Thermography capabilities by incorporating transient and lock-in thermography. By...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Graphene-Silicon Devices for Optoelectronics Applications
Silicon is a naturally occurring material commonly used as a semiconductor in electronic devices; however, researchers have exhausted the potential of devices with semiconductors made...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Safety Analysis: The Key to a Single-Pass ISO26262 Random Fault Workflow
Advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous drive technologies increase the complexity of automotive integrated circuits (ICs), making it harder to ensure that...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Infrared Light-Focusing Platform
Researchers have integrated two technologies widely used in applications such as optical communications, bio-imaging, and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) systems to create a new infrared light-focusing...
Q&A: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Q&A: 3D-Printed Hydrogel Blocks Can Aid Robotics and Diagnostics
Ian Y. Wong, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Engineering, Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology at Brown University in Providence, RI. He and colleagues have...
Briefs: Energy
Self-Powered, Washable, Wearable Displays
Clothing usually is formed with textiles and has to be both wearable and washable for daily use; however, smart clothing has had a problem with its power sources and moisture permeability, which causes the devices to malfunction. To solve this problem, a textile-based, wearable display module technology...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Impact-Resistant Battery Electrolyte Solidifies When Hit
Lithium-ion batteries commonly used in consumer electronics are notorious for bursting into flame when damaged or improperly packaged. Inspired by the unusual behavior of some liquids...
Briefs: Imaging
Stretchable, Rubbery Semiconductors
Researchers have created stretchable, rubbery semiconductors including rubbery integrated electronics, logic circuits, and arrayed sensory skins fully based on rubber materials. The semiconductors have...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Running an LED in Reverse Could Cool Future Computers
Researchers devised a method in which running a light emitting diode (LED) with electrodes reversed was able to cool another device nanometers away. They harnessed the chemical potential...
Facility Focus: Materials
Facility Focus: U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory
In October 1962, the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Unit was established with a goal of providing specialized medical and physiological support to help close the gap between Army...
Briefs: Materials
Micro UV Aerosol Detector
The detection of aerosols within fluid samples can be accomplished by optical methods. Such methods are useful in detecting potentially harmful aerosols such as biological aerosols that may be present after a biological agent attack or industrial accident. It is well known that biological molecules fluoresce when...
Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Key Factors to Consider When Designing a Smart Factory
In recent years, the emergence of Industry 4.0 has been steadily transforming the manufacturing sector into an ultra-high-tech industry. Innovative smart technologies such as robotics,...
Briefs: Medical
Flexible, Transparent, Wearable Bio-Patch
Silicon nanoneedle patches are currently placed between skin, muscles, or tissues where they deliver exact doses of biomolecules. Commercially available silicon nanoneedle patches are usually constructed on a rigid and opaque silicon wafer. The rigidity can cause discomfort and cannot be left in the body...
Products: Data Acquisition
Product of the Month: June 2019 Tech Briefs
Maplesoft™, Waterloo, ON, Canada, released Maple™ 2019 software that analyzes, explores, visualizes, and solves math problems. It includes improvements to core functionality such as...
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Energy-Efficient ‘SlothBot’ Moves Only When It Has To
While robots like the WildCat from Boston Dynamics reach speeds of just under 20 miles an hour, engineers from Georgia Tech have gone with a decidedly slower approach.
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A Washable Sensor Can Be Woven into Material
Researchers at University of British Columbia Okanagan’s School of Engineering have developed a low-cost sensor that can be interlaced into textiles and composite materials. While the...
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Building Animal-Inspired Sensors into the Shells of Aircraft, Cars
What if drones and self-driving cars had the tingling “spidey senses” of Spider-Man? They might actually detect and avoid objects better because they would process...
INSIDER: Design
Breakthrough in Stretchable Electronics
With a wide range of healthcare, energy, and military applications, stretchable electronics are valued for their ability to be compressed, twisted and conformed to uneven surfaces without losing...
INSIDER: Nanotechnology
Increase Processing Capacity Without Adding Transistors
Computers and similar electronic devices have gotten faster and smaller over the decades as computer-chip makers have learned how to shrink individual transistors. Scientists’...
Question of the Week: Communications
Will 5G Impact How You Test and Design?
We see a huge ‘Fear of Missing Out’ as companies, or even nations, become the first to release new 5G technologies and products,” said National Instruments’ Charles Schroeder during last month’s NIWeek event.
Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
An ‘Active’ Machine-Vision Tool Adds Intelligence to Traffic Management
Podcasts: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Here's an Idea: Candy
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Clean Fuel Cells Could Be Cheap Enough to Replace Gas Engines in Vehicles
Advancements in zero-emission fuel cells could make the technology cheap enough to replace traditional gasoline engines in vehicles, according to researchers at...
INSIDER: Energy
Winter Could Pose Solar Farm ‘Ramping’ Problem for Power Grid
By adding utility-scale solar farms throughout New York state, summer electricity demand from conventional sources could be reduced by up to 9.6% in some places. But...
Solar power researchers have traditionally only used the power measurements from single residential solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to estimate the...
INSIDER: Power
Flexible Generators Turn Movement into Energy
Wearable devices that harvest energy from movement are not a new idea, but a material created at Rice University may make them more practical.
Question of the Week: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Would You Use a Device That Bonds Metal and Plastic in Seconds?
The connection of plastics and metals poses a challenge due to the different physical properties of the two materials. A joining gun from Fraunhofer Institute bonds metal and plastic in seconds.
News: Test & Measurement
Engineers Develop Concept for Hybrid Heavy-Duty Trucks
Heavy-duty trucks, such as the 18-wheelers that transport many of the world's goods from farm or factory to market, are virtually all powered by diesel engines. They account for a...
News: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Next-Generation, Low-Cost Stop Sign Improves Driver Safety
It's dark on the back road as a motorist speeds toward the intersection. Up ahead, the stop sign blends with the night and in seconds a deadly crash occurs. According to the U.S....
News: Transportation
Energy Monitor Can Find Electrical Failures Before They Happen
A new system devised by researchers at MIT can monitor the behavior of all electric devices within a building, ship, or factory, determining which ones are in use at any given time and whether any are showing signs of an imminent failure. When tested on a Coast Guard cutter, the...
News: Electronics & Computers
Renewable Oils for Use in Lubricants Synthesized
Engine gears, plane thrusters, refrigerator compressors, wind turbines – the list of important industrial machinery, agricultural equipment, transportation vessels, and home applications that depend on lubricants might be endless. These slick substances quite literally keep the world turning,...
Blog: Energy
How to Produce More Clean Water? Resemble the Rose.
Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
LASER World of PHOTONICS 2019
Question of the Week: Robotics, Automation & Control
Will Microbots Like HAMR-E Improve Search and Rescue?
Researchers from Harvard University's Wyss Institute created a 1.5-gram microbot called HAMR-E.
News: Photonics/Optics
LASER World of PHOTONICS, Day 2: Bigger is Better
INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Tool Tells Robots Where Nearby Humans are Headed
On a factory floor, robots are programmed to stop momentarily if a person passes by. The robot often freezes in place long before a person crosses its path. While robots can predict where...
Blog: Test & Measurement
LASER World of PHOTONICS, Day 3 — Unusual Exhibits
Blog: Data Acquisition
At Sensors Expo: SST Wireless on a 'Journey of Innovation'
White Papers: Electronics & Computers
Achieving Outdoor IP Resilience with IEEE 802.3bt PoE
There are more than 85,000 commercial options for plastic materials listed in materials databases. Needless to say, narrowing down that extensive list of materials can sometimes seem like...
Top Stories
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A Former NASA Mission Manager Reflects on a 'Flawless' Mars Landing
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
A Robot Walks — No Electronics Needed
Videos: Photonics/Optics
'LaserFactory' Manufactures Fully Functional Devices & Drones
Videos: Motion Control
Watch NASA's Perseverance Rover Land on Mars
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
High-Speed Infrared Reveals Safer Hypergolic Propellant
INSIDER: Motion Control
Question of the Week
Do You See Applications for Electronics-Free Robots?
Webcasts
Upcoming Webinars: Materials
Ultra-High Purity Silicone in Aerospace and Defense Product Design
Webinars: Medical
Lunch & Learn: Pitfalls of Medical Cord Sets
Upcoming Webinars: Automotive
A Four-Pillar Approach to Driving Greater Efficiency ePowertrain...
Upcoming Webinars: Automotive
Confident TCU Connectivity Through Efficient Functional Testing
Upcoming Webinars: Transportation
7 Levers for Electric and Autonomous Vehicles
Upcoming Webinars: Information Technology
Trending Stories
Application Briefs: Software
Online Tools Reduce Time and Expense in Selecting, Configuring, and Ordering...
Articles: Communications
5G in Manufacturing: What’s Here and What’s to Come
Articles: RF & Microwave Electronics
2020 Create the Future Design Contest: Automotive/Transportation Category...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Capacitive Sensors for Measuring Masses of Cryogenic Fluids
Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
Bacteria-Based Hydrogel Beads Clean Up Contaminated Groundwater
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
