Autonomous HVAC System Measures Facial Temperature

The system turns faces into thermostats, providing more comfort with less energy.

“Racetrack Memory” Digital Data Storage

This technology offers the possibility to both bolster computer power and create smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient computer memory technologies.

Nature-Inspired Green Energy Technology

A new design enables artificial photosynthesis to generate fuel that can power homes and vehicles.

Enhancing Materials for High-Resolution Patterning

Hybrid organic-inorganic materials transfer ultra-small, high-aspect-ratio features into silicon for next-generation electronic devices.

Rose-Inspired Device Collects and Purifies Water

A new device, inspired by a rose, inexpensively collects and purifies water. The device is a new approach to solar steaming for water production — a technique that uses energy from sunlight...

Energy Harvesting for Smart Home Sensing

The key to acceptance and adoption of a "smart home" will be enhancing total ease of ownership.

See-Through Film Rejects 70 Percent of Incoming Solar Heat

A heat-rejecting film was developed that could be applied to a building’s windows to reflect up to 70 percent of the Sun’s incoming heat. The film remains highly transparent...

Ancient Pigment Can Boost Energy Efficiency

Egyptian blue, derived from calcium copper silicate, was routinely used on ancient depictions of gods and royalty. Previous studies have shown that when Egyptian blue absorbs visible light, it then...

Photonic Communication Comes to Computer Chips

With novel optoelectronic chips and a new partnership with a top silicon-chip manufacturer, MIT spinout Ayar Labs aims to increase speed and reduce energy consumption in computing, starting with...

Rethinking FPGAs for Smart Cameras

The term “smart camera” has been used for decades, but there has been little agreement on the actual definition. This article will use the term “smart” as the Merriam Webster dictionary defines it:...

Taking It to the Streets: Designing Streetlamp Optical Components

The task of creating a streetlamp optical system has changed over the last 20 years and due to this change, so has optical design software. Let’s compare the task of...

Tiny Injectable Sensor Could Provide Unobtrusive, Long-Term Alcohol Monitoring

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a miniature, ultra-low power injectable biosensor that could be used for continuous, long-term...

Shape Memory Alloys Achieve High Force and Precision

With very little fanfare, a special class of alloys has been finding its way into our daily lives. From indestructible eyewear, to smartphone cameras, to coronary stents, this material is...

Composite Film Enables Windows that Switch from Transparent to Color

Commercial buildings in the United States account for nearly 40% of the total energy consumption. Among them, electricity is the largest energy source for buildings....

Painted-on Coating Transforms Walls into Sensors and Interactive Surfaces

Walls often make up more than half of indoor surface area, especially in residential and office buildings. In addition to delimiting spaces, both for functional and...

Integrating Optical Components into Existing Chip Designs

Moving from electrical communication to optical communication is attractive to chip manufacturers because it could significantly increase chips’ speed and reduce power consumption,...

Thermal Energy Storage and Monitoring

Water heaters and other thermal energy storage devices increase the temperature of a medium above an ambient or normal temperature, and store the warmer medium. Water heaters, in particular, must store...

Direct AC LED Engines

As the lighting industry continues to mature, vendors continue to pursue inexpensive lighting solutions that offer universal compatibility and are easy to install. For OEMs and manufacturers, LEDs have proven to be a...

Space Imaging

The term Space Imaging covers a wide variety of mission types and technologies.

Hunting New Mining Deposits with Hyperspectral Imaging

How much gold remains to be mined on Earth? How about the lesser-known element, indium, necessary for computer and smartphone displays? With known sources of some essential metals facing...

5Ws of the Quanta Image Sensor

Learn the Who, What, Where, When, and Why of the Quanta Image Sensor.

Don't Let Obsolescence Cause Your Test System to Flatline

If you are testing devices and components that will last a decade or more, and you have to plan technology updates and obsolescence events for test systems that might live even...

Ad-Hoc Cache Hierarchies Increase Processing Speed and Reduce Energy Consumption

The efficiency of computer chips has increased by using caches — small, local memory banks that store frequently used data and cut down on time- and...

Radar Scanner Tests Wind Turbine Blades for Defects

Wind power has become an indispensable part of an environmentally friendly power supply. Therefore, it is important for this growth market that wind turbines become more efficient, more...