June 2022

Stories

0
0
0
Special Reports: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Document cover
Adas/Connected Car - June 2022
In this compendium of articles from the editors of Automotive Engineering and Autonomous Vehicle Engineering magazines, see how advances in edge computing, lidar and camera technology, cabin design, and more are...

Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
MBDA is one of the leading European manufacturers in the aerospace and armaments sector, specializing in the design of missiles and missile systems for the operational needs of the military....
Feature Image
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
In-space and planetary surface assembly for human exploration is a challenging domain that encompasses various technological thrusts to support human missions. NASA is developing autonomous assembly agents to...
Feature Image
Briefs: Software
Robotic vision has come a long way, reaching a level of sophistication with applications in complex and demanding tasks, such as autonomous driving and object...
Feature Image
Briefs: Medical
MIT engineers have developed a telerobotic system to help surgeons quickly and remotely treat patients experiencing a stroke or aneurysm. With a modified joystick, surgeons in...
Feature Image
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Legged robots are very promising for use in real-world applications, but their operation in narrow spaces is still challenging. One solution for enhancing their environmental adaptability...
Feature Image
Briefs: Medical
Georgia Tech researchers have shown that robots about the size of a particle of dust are capable of precise bidirectional control. By harnessing the power of a magnetic field generated by a...
Feature Image
Products: Motion Control
RiPanel Online Enclosure Rittal North America (Schaumburg, IL) announced the new RiPanel online enclosure configurator — making it easy for machine and control system design engineers to individually configure industrial...
Feature Image
Articles: Transportation
While the U.S. historically has had much lower energy costs than in other parts of the world, today’s volatile energy market combined with the initiatives of many corporations to reduce carbon...
Feature Image
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Any manufacturing facility that uses hydraulics powered by conventional fixed-speed hydraulic power units (HPUs) has engineers and personnel who know all too well how large, noisy,...
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Medical
Inhalers are among the most commonly used devices for treating respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). With each inhalation through the inhaler, the device...
Feature Image
Articles: Electronics & Computers
With AR eyeglasses, the screen of a mobile device can be transitioned to the lens of a pair of eyeglasses. The problem with that is that even though the technology has been around for a while, the...
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Electronics & Computers
We are currently moving into the next automation age. It is a world where your personal devices will help you track your health in real time, while conveniently connecting with your doctor....
Feature Image
Products: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Octoplant Data Management Platform AUVESY-MDT, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany, is releasing octoplant, the next level of development of the versiondog and AutoSave solution. Octoplant is a new data management platform that...
Feature Image
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Sensors Expo is returning to the McEnery Convention Center, San Jose, CA from June 27 – 29, with its new name — Sensors Converge. There are nine conference tracks that highlight the different applications for...
Feature Image
Technology Leaders: Power
While battery range and charging times are getting the most attention when it comes to electric vehicle (EV) charging systems, safety and reliability are a critical...
Feature Image
Articles: Photonics/Optics
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 innovation.
Feature Image
5 Ws: Energy
Who A fully automated net positive submarine fleet, powered entirely on hydrogen, could help cleanse the oceans of toxic pollution. Developed by London-based startup Oceanways, the submarine was named among the...
Feature Image
Q&A: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Professor Robert MacCurdy and his team at the University of Colorado at Boulder have developed and characterized a method to print 3D structures with the simultaneous use of different...
Feature Image
Articles: Transportation
Decarbonization goals across the globe are leading to an increased adoption of electric vehicles. With electric car sales soaring, even the most successful...
Feature Image
Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
This article is a marked departure from my annual reporting on the past year’s performance of the health of the MEMS industry vis-à-vis my MEMS Industry Commercialization Report Card. [1] Here, I have...
Feature Image
Briefs: Internet of Things
For many types of machinery and test equipment, there is a great need to perform basic automatic control functions, or even just sensor monitoring. Developing hardwired automation is...
Feature Image
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Researchers have discovered a single-molecule switch that can act like a transistor and store binary information such as the 1s and 0s used in classical computing. The molecule is around five square...
Feature Image
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-fidelity touch has the potential to significantly expand the scope of what we expect from computing devices, making new remote sensory experiences possible. The research...
Feature Image
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Engineers have added a new capability to electronic microchips: flight. About the size of a grain of sand, the new flying microchip (microflier) does not have a motor or engine. Instead, it catches...
Feature Image
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Computer processors have shrunk to nanometer scales over the years, with billions of transistors sitting on a single computer chip. While the increased number of transistors helps make...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A terahertz laser was developed with high constant power, tight beam pattern, and broad electric frequency tuning for a wide range of applications in chemical sensing and imaging. The optimized...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Diffraction Suppressed Mirror
Precise optical systems, especially those sensitive to information loss, are typically designed to minimize the use of mirrors. This is due to the Airy disk effect inherent to all conventional mirrors, which is a result of diffraction of the incident light. This effect represents information loss between the incident...
Briefs: Materials
Scientists discovered a new platform for quantum technologies by suspending two-dimensional (2D) crystals over pores in a slab of gold. When heated, the metal reflows to form a porous structure and...
Feature Image
Briefs: Imaging
Super temporal resolution microscopy allows imaging of fluorescent molecules 20 times faster than traditional lab cameras normally allow. A general method has been developed to let a...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The importance of optical image quality and the trend toward thinner smart-phones have pushed manufacturers to increase the number of cameras in order to provide cellphones with better zoom,...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A middle infrared light source can detect greenhouse and other gases as well as molecules in a person’s breath. The compact system, which resembles a tiny suitcase, contains just two parts: a standard...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A new research focusing on topological control capabilities in an integrated acoustic-electronic system at technologically relevant frequencies could pave the way for additional research on...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Classical laser communication gimbals are coupled to 105um multimodal receiving fibers for the high-power transmission of data, fine pointing, and tracking. These fibers cannot be used in free...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
High-Speed Communication Vouchsafed by the Laws of Quantum Physics
Security in encrypted communication is a top priority because of our highly connected and mobile society’s increasing reliance on the internet. Engineers at Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, have developed a...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Light-emitting diode (LED)-based communications techniques allow computing devices, including cellphones, to communicate with one another using infrared light. However, LED techniques...
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The Modular Artificial-Gravity Orbital Refinery Spacecraft (MAGORS) is a technology from NASA Ames Research Center for in-situ refining or recycling of materials in space, including mass...
Feature Image
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
The automation of additive manufacturing (AM) is limited and usually still requires human labor workflows, including the fundamental step of removing the finished object from the printer...
Feature Image
Briefs: Imaging
Traditional glassmaking techniques can be costly and slow, and 3D printing glass often results in rough textures, making them unsuitable for smooth lenses. Using a new...
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Engineers have created a highly effective way to paint complex 3D-printed objects, such as lightweight frames for aircraft and biomedical stents, that could save manufacturers time and money and provide new...
Feature Image
Briefs: Energy
Engineers have invented a way to spray extremely thin wires made of a plant-based material that could be used in N95 mask filters, devices that harvest energy for electricity, and potentially the...
Feature Image
Briefs: Software
Robotic assistants are expected to become increasingly marketable as caregivers; however, the external hard structure of current caregiving robots prevents them from establishing a safe human-robot interaction....
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Researchers have developed a robot that uses radio waves, which can pass through walls, to sense occluded objects. The robot, called RF-Grasp, combines this powerful sensing with more traditional computer vision to...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Robots are good at making identical repetitive movements such as a simple task on an assembly line. But they lack the ability to perceive objects as they move through an environment. A recent...
Feature Image
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A fish-inspired robot that can travel 26 meters through the air after takeoff could be used to collect water samples in hazardous and cluttered environments, such...
Feature Image
Briefs: Software
With a training technique commonly used to teach dogs to sit and stay, computer scientists showed a robot how to teach itself several new tricks including stacking blocks. With the method,...
Feature Image
Briefs: Medical
Researchers have developed a new kind of bandage that helps blood to clot and doesn’t stick to the wound. They tested various superhydrophobic materials — which are, like...
Feature Image
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A patented self-contained device for isolating deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA), proteins, and cells without using pipettes or centrifuges has been developed at NASA’s...
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A new device from Lincoln Laboratory can now alert trainees when they are heading toward injury. The device continuously estimates a person’s core body temperature to determine their risk level...
Feature Image
Briefs: Medical
A technique to grow 3D tissue constructs, similar to human bone, in a laboratory environment has been developed by bioengineers at NASA Johnson Space Center. Problems arise when...
Feature Image
Products: Motion Control
See what's new on the market, including an industrial edge platform, a vertically suspended lineshaft sump pump, and more.
Feature Image
Facility Focus: Research Lab
The University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science, more commonly known as Penn Engineering or SEAS, offers programs that emphasize hands-on study of engineering...
Feature Image
NASA Spinoff: Photonics/Optics
NASA’ Deep Space Network (DSN), a sort of GPS system for space, relies on atomic clocks for extreme accuracy. Any modern navigation system must accurately time radio signals to triangulate a location....
Feature Image
Products: Electronics & Computers
STMicroelectronics’, Geneva, Switzerland, new fully integrated Power-Management IC (PMIC) for AMOLED displays combines a low quiescent current and enhanced flexibility to extend the battery runtime of portable devices.
Feature Image
Special Reports: Aerospace
Document cover
Rugged Computing & Electronics - June 2022
From the battlefield to the extremes of space, electronics and computing advances enable missions in the harshest conditions. Keep pace with the latest developments in this compendium of recent...

Podcasts: Aerospace
CTO Daniella Sladen and her team at Zulu Pods have created an oil-delivery system that fits in the palm of your hand.
Feature Image
Question of the Week: Physical Sciences
Lessons from How Dragonflies Right Themselves While They're Falling
A group led by Jane Wang, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the Cornell University College of Engineering, has untangled the intricate physics and neural controls that enable dragonflies to right themselves while they're falling.
Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
As I was scrolling through research lab press releases for a Q&A column, one caught my eye: “Remote High-Voltage Sensor Unveiled at Sandia Gamma Ray Lab.” High voltage is not the sexiest of technology...
Feature Image
Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
With its instant repellency and its ability to repel rather than kill or deactivate pathogens, RepelWrap presents an effective alternative to current technologies.
Feature Image
Question of the Week: Electronics & Computers
EV Managed Charging Improves Vehicle-Grid Integration
It is 5 p.m., and you arrive home from work when it is peak demand for the grid. Your electric vehicle (EV) is 50% charged — you could either plug it in and charge right away or, if it works for your plans, schedule the vehicle to charge at a better time for the grid.
INSIDER: Nanotechnology
A team from the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering has developed a new family of two-dimensional materials that researchers say has promising applications, including in advanced...
Feature Image
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Imagine a more sustainable future, where cellphones, smartwatches, and other wearable devices don’t have to be shelved or discarded for a newer model. Instead, they could be upgraded with the latest...
Feature Image
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Scientists at Berkeley Lab have discovered a physical phenomenon that is the basis for a new material that has 150% better thermal conductivity than conventional materials used in...
Feature Image
Question of the Week: Electronics & Computers
Smart Molecules Act as Computer Transistors
Researchers have discovered a single-molecule switch that can act like a transistor and store binary information. The molecule is around five square nanometers in size — more than one billion of them would fit onto the cross-section of a human hair.
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
A number of the engineers I’ve interviewed have taken their inspirations from nature. As one said to me, nature has been evolving and perfecting its designs over thousands of years — we should take...
Feature Image
Question of the Week: Electronics & Computers
LEGO-Like Artificial Intelligence Chip
Imagine a more sustainable future, where cellphones, smartwatches, and other wearable devices don’t have to be shelved or discarded for a newer model. Instead, they could be upgraded with the latest sensors and processors that would snap onto a device’s internal chip — like LEGO bricks incorporated into...
INSIDER: Unmanned Systems
Fireflies that light up dusky backyards on warm summer evenings use their luminescence for communication — to attract a mate, ward off predators, or lure prey.
Feature Image
INSIDER: Motion Control
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Pennsylvania have developed soft robots that are capable of navigating complex environments, such...
Feature Image
INSIDER: Propulsion
Northwestern University engineers have developed the smallest-ever remote-controlled walking robot — and it comes in the form of a tiny peekytoe crab.
Feature Image
INSIDER: Motion Control
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University took an all-terrain vehicle on wild rides through tall grass, loose gravel, and mud to gather data about how the ATV...
Feature Image

Videos