Retroreflective Material for Nighttime Color-Changing Road Signs

The technology could help call attention to important traffic information when it’s dark, with potential benefits for both drivers and pedestrians.

See Objects Hidden Around Corners

A driverless car is making its way through a winding neighborhood street, about to make a sharp turn onto a road where a child’s ball has just rolled. Although no person in the car can see that ball, the...

The MITRE Corporation

The MITRE Corporation was chartered in 1958 as a private, not-for-profit organization to provide engineering and technical guidance for the federal government. Today, with locations in McLean, VA and Bedford, MA, MITRE...

Facility Focus: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory

The explosion of the first Soviet atomic bomb in August 1949, followed by the Soviet development of bombers that could traverse the Arctic Circle, created a...

Networked In-Flight Validation Environment for Air Traffic Management Concepts

Modernization of the National Airspace System (NAS) will involve future air traffic management (ATM) concepts of operation and technology frameworks that rely on...

Using Formal Methods for Engineering Embedded Systems

Between 1985 and 1987, a radiation therapy device called the Therac-25 was involved in at least six incidents in which the device delivered massive overdoses of radiation. The patients...

Unmanned Aerial Systems Traffic Management

NASA has developed a traffic management system for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) to maintain safe and efficient UAS operations. This novel technology enables the growth in civilian applications of...

2016 Create the Future Contest: Automotive & Transportation Category Winner

Krishan Arora, Mike Baker, Glenn Barber, Peter Brett, Ross Dewhurst, Melvyn Dover, John Gamston, Steven Goodier, Annie Leeson, Vincent Panel, Ben Russell, Alessandra...

Highway Sensor Deployment Gives Valuable Data to ‘Connected’ Drivers

In an effort to improve traffic flow, driver safety, and asset management, the Michigan Department of Transportation (DOT) has installed 17 sensors on a 50-mile stretch...

Advisory Systems Save Time and Fuel for Airlines

In the 1990s, Heinz Erzberger led a team at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California to develop a suite of automated tools to reduce restrictions and improve the efficiency of air traffic...

New Family of Tiny Crystals Glow Bright in LED Lights

Minuscule crystals that glow different colors may be the missing ingredient for white LED lighting that illuminates homes and offices as effectively as natural sunlight.

LED Lighting Units

The LF2B series of LED lighting units from IDEC (Sunnyvale, CA) is available in a universal 100-240V AC input, making it suitable for use anywhere in the world. And the LF2B LUMIFA series does not produce a flicker-affect...

Global Shutter Imaging

In order to deliver crisp images in high-speed machine vision applications, image sensors require high-speed shuttering ability. The industry has traditionally relied on charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors using...

Researchers Identify Links Between Visibility and Safety From Roadway Lighting

Newspapers are filled with stories describing reductions and removal of street lighting in order to reduce municipal costs. Tackling the tricky questions of when...

Researchers Develop Tool to Determine When To Change An LED Traffic Light?

In many of the nation's traffic lights, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with their brighter light and longer life have replaced standard bulbs. But knowing when to...

New ‘Spintronic’ LED Technology Promises Brighter TV and Computer Displays

Physicists at the University of Utah have invented a new “spintronic” organic light-emitting diode (OLED) that promises to be brighter, cheaper and more...

Convention Center Expands LED Lighting Retrofit

As part of its preparations to host the London 2012 Olympic Games, the ExCeL London International Exhibition & Convention Centre expanded its efforts to convert the facility to greener,...

LED Light Engine Standardization

After Nick Holonyak invented the practical visible LED in 1962, the first commercial products were limited in brightness and only to applications such as red indicator lights and seven segment displays. In...

Sizing Up Circuit Protection for LED Strings

As light-emitting diodes (LEDs) find their way into more outdoor applications, they are at higher risk for electrostatic discharge (ESD) and other electrical transients. High-brightness (HB) LEDs...

Taking the Heat: Silicone’s Unique Properties Help Create the Next Generation of LED Lighting

As global energy demand rises, the significant energy-saving potential of light-emitting diode (LED) lighting remains a top consideration for...

LED Street Lights Cut Energy Consumption and Eliminate Bulb Changes

Founded over 200 years ago along the Mississippi River in Missouri, the city of Cape Girardeau is now home to almost 38,000 residents. The Missouri Highway 74 corridor...

NASA Awards 2010 Government and Commercial Inventions of the Year

NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA, has won NASA’s 2010 Government Invention of the Year Award and the Commercial Invention of the Year Award. The Government...