Stories

0
7140
30
Facility Focus: Nanotechnology
Sandia National Laboratories — headquartered in Albuquerque, MN, with a principal lab in Livermore, CA — is operated and managed by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC (a wholly owned...
Feature Image
5 Ws: Medical
Who Doctors, nurses, hospitals, paramedics, and other healthcare professionals; and consumers.
Feature Image
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Noncontact Sensor Measures Density and Speed of Sound of a Liquid in a Pipeline or Vessel
The need for non-invasive, real-time measurement of the density and speed of sound of a liquid led to the development of an ultrasonic sensing technique based upon the reflection of ultrasound at the solid-fluid interface.
Briefs: Propulsion
Thruster-Based Attitude and Translation Control with Minimum Pulse-Count Disturbance Rejection
Thruster-based control typically requires a substantial engineering effort in order to mitigate an important issue: the control system tends to use many thruster pulses to accomplish what a single thruster pulse could do instead. This fundamental problem...
Briefs: Data Acquisition
Selective Access and Editing in a Database
NASA has developed a method and system that provides selective access to different portions of a database by different subgroups of database users. In this system, two or more members of a given access subgroup can simultaneously edit a document accessible to each member. This database system provides...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Researchers have developed a lithium-ion battery that uses a water-salt solution as its electrolyte — reaching the 4.0- Volt mark for electronics such as laptops — without the fire and explosive...
Feature Image
Briefs: Software
Integrated Genomic and Proteomic Information Security Protocol
The evolving nature of the Internet will require continual advances in authentication and confidentiality protocols. Nature provides some clues as to how this can be accomplished in a distributed manner through molecular biology. Cryptography and molecular biology share certain aspects...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Polarization Camera Lucid Vision Labs, Richmond, BC, Canada, announced the 5-megapixel Phoenix polarization camera that can be used to detect stress or defects in manufacturing of materials such as plastic, glass,...
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Pressure Sensor Mechanism
The Pressure Sensor Mechanism is designed to measure or monitor tactile pressure. It is based on passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sensor tags and is applicable to a variety of systems. As RFID sensors transmit information wirelessly, they eliminate many challenges associated with traditional wired systems such...
Products: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Product of the Month Opto 22, Temecula, CA, introduced the groov EPIC® system that incorporates into one unit everything needed to connect and control field and operational devices and data through on-premises IT...
Feature Image
Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A report released this week revealed a spike in the adoption of metal additive-manufacturing systems – an increase due largely to a growing number of new companies.
Feature Image
Blog: Transportation
A reader asks our expert: "How do road conditions impact vehicle-to-vehicle responses?"
Feature Image
Blog: Lighting
Physical chemists at the Georgia Institute of Technology discovered an emerging class of semiconductors with some unexpected moves.
Feature Image
INSIDER: Motion Control
A technology not only allows wheels to know when and how to rotate, but also enables them to work together in interactive teams. Simply monitoring the data generated when the motors inside the wheels...
Feature Image
INSIDER: Energy
By replacing the cam, a new valve technology may lead to more affordable — and more environmentally friendly — engines.
Feature Image
Question of the Week: Robotics, Automation & Control
Will social robots play a major role in keeping humans happy?
Our lead INSIDER story today featured a discussion of how robots may someday interact with humans.
Blog: Aerospace
Scientists have an idea to deflect Earth-bound asteroids: a 9-meter-tall, 8.8-ton spacecraft dubbed the HAMMER.
Feature Image
INSIDER: Energy
Thermoelectric devices generate power when one side of the device is a different temperature from the other. Instead of requiring two different temperature inputs at...
Feature Image
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have designed a new lithium-air battery that works in a natural air environment and still functioned after a...
Feature Image
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
Today's humanoid robots are being asked to have more brains than brawn.
Feature Image
Question of the Week: Energy
Will low-cost 'smart glass' catch on?
Our second INSIDER story today featured an achievement from University of Delaware engineers: liquid-activated panels that change from transparent to opaque.
Blog: Test & Measurement
In 1988, a team at Pacific Northwest Laboratories built a mannequin robot. One of the original engineers talked with Tech Briefs about his time making "Manny."
Feature Image
Blog: Photonics/Optics
A switchable window – one that transforms from a clear to tinted state – is not a new invention. What is new, however, is a “smart glass” that is low-cost.
Feature Image
Podcasts: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Every technology begins with an idea.
Feature Image
Question of the Week: Transportation
Will laser-based imaging help self-driving cars someday see around corners?
An autonomous-driving technology from Stanford University gives vehicles the capability to "peek" around corners. Tech Briefs spoke with the creators of the laser-based system. To make the technology road-ready, the team still needs to speed-up the data-acquisition...
Sound-Off: Automotive
Sound-Off: How to Achieve ‘Level 5’ Autonomous Driving
A Tech Briefs reader asked our expert: What is the best data-processing architecture for truly autonomous, 'Level-5' vehicles?
INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics
Color Transmission Calibration Slide Developed with input from bright-field microscopy experts, the IAM-9C-SECCAL color transmission calibration slide from APPLIED IMAGE Inc. (Rochester, NY) offers NIST-traceable color integrity...
Feature Image
News: Sensors/Data Acquisition
With Laser-Based Imaging, Self-Driving Cars See Around Corners
Stanford University is developing a laser-based imaging technology that allows cars to peek around corners.

Videos