INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Molecular Electronics Could Someday Replace Silicon Chips
Technion researchers have developed a method for growing carbon nanotubes that could lead to the day when molecular electronics replace the ubiquitous silicon chip as the building...
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Research May Lead to More Durable Electronic Devices
Deep inside the electronic devices that proliferate in our world, from cell phones to solar cells, layer upon layer of almost unimaginably small transistors and delicate circuitry...
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Engineered “Sand” May Help Cool Electronic Devices
Baratunde Cola would like to put sand into your computer. Not beach sand, but silicon dioxide nanoparticles coated with a high dielectric constant polymer to inexpensively provide...
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Power Cell Converts Carbon Dioxide — While Creating Electricity
Cornell University scientists have developed an oxygen-assisted aluminum/carbon dioxide power cell that uses electrochemical reactions to both sequester the carbon dioxide and produce electricity.
INSIDER: Energy
Software System Identifies Household Voltage Patterns
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a system that determines exactly how much power is being used by every appliance, lighting fixture, and device in a home.
News: Green Design & Manufacturing
Fuel Tank for World's Largest Rocket
While it may look like a futuristic tunnel to another world, it's actually the inside of the nearly complete fuel tank for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will allow humans to explore deep...
News: Motion Control
Operators Control Multiple Drones by Thought
A researcher at Arizona State University has discovered how to control multiple robotic drones using the human brain. A controller wears a skull cap outfitted with 128 electrodes wired to a...
News: Power
MIT System Identifies How Much Power Is Used
If you want to save on your monthly electric bill and reduce your greenhouse gas emissions at the same time, you might buy a new energy-efficient refrigerator. Or water heater. Or clothes dryer....
News: Medical
Wave-Propelled Robot Swims, Crawls, Climbs
The first single actuator wave-like robot (SAW) has been developed by engineers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The 3D-printed robot can move forward or backward in a wave-like motion, moving...
Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Flexibility of LVIT Technology in Factory Automation Applications
What is a Linear Variable Inductive Transducer (LVIT) and where are they used? LVITs, which have been around for more than 30 years, are relatively low-cost, contactless...
Articles: Motion Control
Balancing Motor Control, Radiation Tolerance, and Power Consumption in Space Applications
Modern satellites use motors for many purposes — moving solar panels for optimum alignment to the Sun; moving reaction wheels to change the...
Products: Motion Control
Ground Fault Sensors
NK Technologies (San Jose, CA) offers AGLD Series ground fault sensors that protect machinery and operators from accidental shocks. The one-piece, solid-core design allows for installation over wires feeding heavy...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Drive Indexer
Nexen Group (Vadnais Heights, MN) introduced the PRD Precision Ring Drive indexer, an alternative to direct drive motors that can start and stop at any incremental position. The motion profile is changed by loading a new...
Briefs: Imaging
3D Imaging Laser System
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has developed a non-scanning, 3D imaging laser system that uses a simple lens system to simultaneously generate a one-dimensional or two-dimensional array of optical (light) spots to illuminate an object, surface, or image to generate a topographic profile.
Briefs: Imaging
Smart Image Enhancement Process
NASA’s Langley Research Center researchers have developed an automatic measurement and control method for smart image enhancement. Pilots, doctors, and photographers will benefit from this innovation that...
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center has developed novel neutron grazing incidence optics for use with small-scale portable neutron generators. The technology was...
A new smart camera developed at NASA’s Glenn Research Center has the ability to process and transmit valuable edge location data for the images that it captures — at a...
Briefs: Imaging
Two- and Three-Dimensional Near-Infrared Subcutaneous Structure Imager Using Adaptive Nonlinear Video Processing
Scientists at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have successfully developed a novel subcutaneous structure imager for locating...
Briefs: Imaging
Methods of Real-Time Image Enhancement of Flash LIDAR Data and Navigating a Vehicle Using Flash LIDAR Data
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed 3D imaging technologies (Flash LIDAR) for real-time terrain mapping and synthetic...
High-performance thermal imagers like Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment on the Lunar...
Briefs: Imaging
A Common-Mode Digital Holographic Microscope
Digital holography is a fast-growing field in optics, recently spurred by the advent of large-format digital cameras and high-speed computers. This method provides a time-series of volumetric...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High Field Superconducting Magnets
This superconducting magnet developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center comprises a superconducting wire wound in adjacent turns about a mandrel to form the superconducting magnet; a thermally...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Distributed Diagnostics and Prognostics
NASA has developed a method that prevents total system failure during emergencies, allowing parts of the system to continue to function, and making overall system recovery faster. A heterogeneous set...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Lens-Coupled Dielectric Waveguides
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed a low-loss dielectric waveguide that provides a simple, versatile, and flexible transmission medium. Dielectric waveguides — long, solid pieces of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Sampling and Control Circuit Board for an Inertial Measurement Unit
Scientists at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have developed a circuit board that serves as a control and sampling interface to an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The circuit board provides sampling and communication abilities that allow the IMU to be sampled at precise...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Efficient Radiation Shielding Through Direct Metal Laser Sintering
Functional and parametric degradation of microcircuits due to total ionizing dose (TID) often poses serious obstacles to deployment of critical state-of-the-art (SOTA) technologies in NASA missions. Moreover, because device dielectrics in which such degradation occurs vary from...
Briefs: Materials
Polyimide Aerogels with Three-Dimensional Cross-Linked Structure
NASA-developed polyimide aerogels are 500 times stronger than conventional silica aerogels. The innovative aerogels represent a revolutionary advance over fragile silica...
Briefs: Materials
Catalytic Oxidation of Organic Contaminants at Reduced Pressure
The current technology for catalytic oxidation of aqueous organic contaminants at elevated temperature and pressure works well at operating conditions of 265 °F and 70 psia with effluent TOCs (total organic carbon) of less than 0.5 ppm. However, it does not perform well at the...
Briefs: Materials
Approach for Achieving Flame Retardancy While Retaining Physical Properties in a Compatible Polymer Matrix
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) seeks to license its Advanced Fire Retardant Materials to industry. KSC’s scientists have developed processes and know-how to impart fire retardancy to common polymers such as nylons, polyesters, and...
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Experts Weigh In: How Will a Robotic Future Impact Nature?
INSIDER: Imaging

Orbiting Instrument Hints That Stored Magnetic Energy Heats Solar...
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Test System Could Enable Reduced Helicopter Vibration
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Question of the Week
Will Robotics and Automation Lead to a Greater Appreciation of Nature?
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Radar Measurements: Triggering, Analysis, and Generation
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