Piezoelectric Switch for Controlling Lighting

Piezoelectric materials convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, and electrical energy into mechanical energy. They generate electrical charges in response to mechanical stress and...

Demystifying Optical Ethernet Networks

The TDM-to-packet network transformation has been underway in transport/ telecommunications networks for some years now, fueled primarily by two trends: (a) the advent of triple-play (voice, video,...

Nanoionics-Based Switches for Radio-Frequency Applications

Nanoionics-based devices have shown promise as alternatives to microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and semiconductor diode devices for switching radio-frequency (RF) signals in...

All Motors are Stepping Motors

In 1938, General Electric began producing a two-phase synchronous induction motor which, at 60 Hz, ran at 75 RPM. The low speed resulted from using a different number of rotors to stator poles or teeth, which...

Siemens Processor Helps KUKA Boost Robot Productivity

KUKA Flexible Production Systems is a leading producer of production systems for car bodies and chassis. When KUKA decided to become a Tier I supplier of automobile bodies to Chrysler,...

G⁴FET Implementations of Some Logic Circuits

Some logic circuits have been built and demonstrated to work substantially as intended, all as part of a continuing effort to exploit the high degrees of design flexibility and functionality of...

Electrically Variable or Programmable Nonvolatile Capacitors

Electrically variable or programmable capacitors based on the unique properties of thin perovskite films are undergoing development. These capacitors show promise of overcoming two...

Developing a Tactical Switch Router for Rugged Ethernet Applications

Ethernet—with a steady migration towards Gigabit Ethernet—is now the defacto choice for today’s “electronic battlefield.” The Department of Defense’s (DoD’s)...

Efficient Multiplexer FPGA Block Structures Based on G⁴FETs

Generic structures have been conceived for multiplexer blocks to be implemented in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) based on four-gate field-effect transistors...

OpenVPX

For 25 years, the VME architecture defined COTS systems that met the demand for increases in computing and connectivity. Successive generations of new processors provided more and more compute cycles, while VME bandwidth evolved in a...

Cloud Computing: What Are the Networking Implications?

The growth of data centers and the concept of infrastructure as a service is leading to significant focus on cloud computing architectures. Pundits have proclaimed cloud computing as the...

Valve-“Health”-Monitoring System

A system that includes sensors and data-acquisition, wireless data- communication, and data-processing subsystems has been developed as a means of both real-time and historical tracking of information...

System Synchronizes Recordings From Separated Video Cameras

A system of electronic hardware and software for synchronizing recordings from multiple, physically separated video cameras is being developed, primarily for use in multiple-look-...

Increasing System Flexibility Using FPGAs

The proliferation of FPGAs into the embedded computing industry has opened up many new pathways for designers to design cost-effective systems that will withstand technology upgrades, changes in...

Improved Signal Chains for Readout of CMOS Imagers

An improved generic design has been devised for implementing signal chains involved in readout from complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors and for other readout...

Multi-turn Encoders Find Home in Industrial Applications

Single-turn encoders have long been used in industrial automation to gauge angular displacement in a broad range of applications, ranging from steering control on a mobile equipment...

Safely Stopping Motion Using Discrete Wiring

Functional machine safety using discrete wiring is an established way to protect workers from injury, and protect companies from the expense associated with accidents and downtime.

100-GHz Phase Switch/Mixer Containing a Slot-Line Transition

A circuit that can function as a phase switch, frequency mixer, or frequency multiplier operates over a broad frequency range in the vicinity of 100 GHz. Among the most notable...

Accuracy versus Resolution in Analyzing System Errors

To ensure a system’s accuracy meets required needs, system error budgets must be an integral part of system design. Considerations should include necessary levels of accuracy for system...

Flexible Digital Servo Drives Speed Machine Control Design

Advances in digital hardware technology and software innovations now allow a single digital servo drive to be configured to work in a variety of machine control architectures.