Articles: Test & Measurement

Optimizing Finite Element Material Models in a Crash Test Dummy

Finite element representations of crash test dummies are widely used in the simulation of vehicle safety systems. The biofidelity of such models is strongly dependent on the...

Application Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

MEMS Deformable Mirrors Enable Imaging of Earth-Sized Extra-Solar Planets

The NASA-sponsored space exploration project, PICTURE (Planet Imaging Concept Testbed Using a Rocket Experiment), seeks to obtain a direct image of an extra-solar...

Application Briefs: Materials

Plastic Components Ride Juno Spacecraft to Jupiter

Plastic-molded components produced by Diversified Plastics are currently speeding through space towards Jupiter aboard NASA’s Juno Space Probe. The craft was launched August 5, 2011, and...

Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Single-Frequency, 1,064-nm Laser Designed for Space LIDAR

Redfern Integrated Optics was awarded a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract for further development of its single-frequency, narrow- linewidth semiconductor...

NASA Tech Needs

High-Temperature Seals for Non-Nuclear Test Facility

The United States National Research Council (NRC) has identified Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) as a high-priority NASA Space Technology Roadmap Area. NTP could be an enabling technology...

Articles: Electronics & Computers

The Evolution of AdvancedTCA How Far Has It Come?

AdvancedTCA (ATCA) continues to evolve to meet not just the market demands for the telecom central office, but networking, data center, medical, and military communications applications. The...

Articles: Electronics & Computers

Designing CompactPCI Systems with Serial Interfaces

With more than a year under its belt since it was officially ratified by PICMG in March of 2011, CompactPCI Serial (PICMG CPCI-S.0) has proven to be a good example of how an industry...

Articles: Electronics & Computers

New Standards Allow More CPU Options in Embedded Computing

Embedded system designers often find themselves trapped by CPU design choices they made years earlier, since switching costs can be astronomical. Hardware development often involves...

Products: Electronics & Computers

3-in-1 Communication Board

The TCB1000 series communication board from Tri-M Technologies (Vancouver, BC, Canada) integrates CANbus controllers, serial ports, and wireless functionality into a single board solution. The TCB1000 can be used...

Products: Electronics & Computers

FPGAs

The Virtex®-7 X690T FPGA device from Xilinx (San Jose, CA) uses 80 GTH serial transceivers that run up to 13.1 Gbps to break the 2 Tbps single FPGA bandwidth barrier. The FPGA enables scalable chip-to-chip serial interfaces,...

Products: Electronics & Computers

Mezzanine Connectors

FCI (Etters, PA) has released the FCI MezzoStak™ 0.5-mmpitch mezzanine connector, a “mates-to-self” design that uses the same part number for both mated sides. Guidance features assist users with handling,...

Products: Electronics & Computers

MCU SOC With Embedded Firewall

Zilog® (Milpitas, CA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of IXYS Corporation, has introduced ZGATE™, a pioneering joint technology solution utilizing Icon Labs’ (Des Moine, IA) Floodgate™ Packet Filter, a...

Products: Electronics & Computers

Tablet Computer

QRC Technologies (Fredericksburg, VA) has announced the QPADD™, a customizable, semi-rugged tablet with 55 watt expansion bay. QPADD’s expansion bay provides OEM customers with power and multiple interface/connection...

Articles: Motion Control

Reducing Machine Controller Design and Deployment

Machine design and deployment requires integration of various technologies such as controls, mechanics, vision, lasers, data acquisition, and software, to mention only a few. These...

Application Briefs: Motion Control

Reducing Linear Bearing Wear

To get the longest working life out of a linear bearing, keep it clean and well lubricated. This common-sense advice may sound easy enough to follow. Yet in the real world of round-the-clock, high-cycle...

Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Hull-Cleaning Robot for Large Ships

Toxic paint is used on the bottoms of large ships to prevent fouling, which is when a biofilm layer develops, decreasing the ship’s efficiency moving through the water. To further complicate the matter,...

Products: Motion Control

Rotating Machinery Analysis

Microstar Laboratories (Bellevue, WA) has announced the release of the Rotating Machinery Analysis module with software tools to facilitate mixed time measurements and rotation measurements of rotating machinery....

Products: Motion Control

Thermoplastic Pumps

Hayward Flow Control (Clemmons, NC) has released the T-Series Webster thermoplastic pumps. The vertical, seal-less, immersible pumps feature a single, non-coupled motor/impeller shaft with a proprietary shaft seal. The...

Products: Motion Control

Motorized Microscope Stage

PI, L.P. (Auburn, MA) has introduced the M-687 motorized microscope XY stage for inverted microscopes that features fully integrated, miniaturized ceramic linear drives. The stage is delivered as a complete system...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Accelerometer

Dytran Instruments (Chatsworth, CA) has introduced the Model 3225M39 ultraminiature teardrop IEPE accelerometer with a sensitivity of 10 mV/g, designed to adhesively mount in spaces typically inaccessible to other types of...

Products: Motion Control

Rotary Stages

Aerotech (Pittsburgh, PA) offers the CCS series rotary stages with integrated captured collet chucks that provide automated material handling for a wide range of materials and applications. Collet chucks used with the stages...

Products: Motion Control

Spindle Drive

The GP16 precision spindle drive from maxon motor (Fall River, MA) incorporates a spindle combined with a DC motor to transform rotary motion into axial motion. Gearheads, motors, encoders, and controllers are used to drive the...

Products: Motion Control

Acceleration Sensor and Gyroscope

Bosch Sensortec (Reutlingen, Germany) has integrated two triaxial MEMS sensors in a single package. The BMI055, a combination of an acceleration sensor and a gyroscope, is an inertial measurement unit for...