Features

Wire Feed Laser Welding for Battery Pack Aluminum Enclosure Manufacture in EVs

Lightweight aluminum is a top choice for designing and manufacturing battery pack enclosures due to its durability and ability to enhance vehicle performance. While welding 6000-series aluminum alloys can be challenging, advanced methods like laser welding with filler wire effectively create strong, airtight joints while addressing issues like porosity and cracking. Read on to learn more.

Open to Possibilities: How Controls Have Evolved to an Open Architecture

While there may be some manufacturers who are hesitant to transition to a more open control landscape for fear of abandoning a proven method of operation, it’s clear that a collaborative approach through apps is the future. Read on to learn more.

How SmartCap Uses AI-Powered Robots to Manufacture Steel Truck Cap Systems

For the team at SmartCap, building top-notch gear for outdoor adventurers isn’t just a business — it’s a passion driven by their own love for the wild. But as demand for their rugged, modular truck caps soared after their move to North America in 2022, they hit a snag: How do you ramp up production without sacrificing the meticulous quality you are known for, all while navigating a tough labor market? Their answer? Read on to find out.

Cobots Repair and Refurbish Electronic Appliances for a Sustainable Future

Repartly, a startup based in Guetersloh, Germany, is using ABB’s collaborative robots to repair and refurbish electronic circuit boards in household appliances. Three GoFa cobots handle the sorting, visual inspection and precise soldering tasks enabling the company to enhance efficiency and maintain high quality standards. Read on to learn more.

New Products

See the new products, including PI's V-141 linear motor stage family; Applied Motion's STF Stepper Drives and SSDC StepSERVO Drives, which are now UL Certified by Underwriters Laboratories; Arnold Magnetic Technologies Corporation's Brushless DC Permanent Magnet Motors; ICONICS's release of GENESIS, a new platform that leverages ICONICS’s decades of software development expertise; and more.

Making the Jump to Electric

From greater energy efficiency to more flexible motion profiles, there are many reasons to make the switch to electric actuation technology. Read on to learn more about them.

Gaining a Competitive Edge with Functionally Integrated Components

Machine builders are under intense pressure to keep engineering time in line with shorter delivery schedules and materials, assembly, and inventory cost considerations. Machine builders are also striving to make equipment smaller, lighter, higher-performing, and easier for their customers to maintain. While functionally integrated products have been available for a long time, they are more vital today than ever. And there are more options available to provide solutions. Read on to learn more.

HydRON: Transforming How Data-Collecting Satellites Communicate

In this in-depth interview, Antonio Sturiale, Director of Telecom Domain in Italy at Thales Alenia Space, discusses HydRON and the company’s approach to optical communications as well as the role it will play in upcoming lunar, Martian, and deep-space exploration missions.

Fast Steering Mirrors: Enabling Stable Laser Communication in Satellite Networks

As optical systems become more integrated into communication, sensing, and imaging technologies, FSMs will remain a key enabler of speed, precision, and stability in next-generation photonic applications. Read on to learn more.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including the ZE2531 Isolation Transformer from Coilcraft; Nikon Metrology's three new ECLIPSE microscope models, the LV100NDA LED, LV100ND LED, and LV100N POL LED; Würth Elektronik's expanded STAR-TEC and STAR-TEC LFS snap ferrite families; Walter's new milling grade, PVD-coated Tiger·tec® Gold WSM36G; and more.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a new type of optical receiver able to restore chaotic signals in free-space optical communication links distorted by atmospheric turbulence; a battery that can take any shape; and a new technology for an aircraft configuration that utilizes a strut/truss-braced oblique variable-sweep wing mounted on a constant cross-section geometry fuselage.

Product of the Month

See the product of the month: Lanner Electronics' ICS-P770 rugged industrial-grade computer with ICS/SCADA security. It is designed to power mission-critical substation automation, virtualization, and network security.

Revolutionizing Solid-State Metal 3D Printing

On the heels of its 2018 CTF contest triumph, MELD Manufacturing keeps churning out technology that is advancing 3D printing.

3D Printing Multiple Metals in a Single Complex Structure

Guhaprasanna “Guha” Manogharan and his team at Penn State College of Engineering and the Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D) have developed a method to 3D print complex parts with different materials to achieve multiple design and engineering goals.

From Cockpit Controls to Dashboard Data

NASA feedback enables better display systems for aircraft as well as interfaces on the infotainment and instrument cluster displays of many cars.

5Ws of the AstroRad

AstroRad, a next-gen radiation vest for astronauts to wear beyond low-Earth orbit, shields their vital organs from dangerous space radiation during missions beyond low-Earth orbit.

Twisted Light in Optical Fibers May Lead to Substantial Capacity Enhancements

Exploiting the “spatial” degree of freedom of light can mean many things. Read on to learn what they are and what the process can lead to.

Vision System Assures Glass Act at California Shop

Machining metal has its challenges as many shops will attest, but machining glass is another matter – one that Dan Bukaty Jr., President of Precision Glass & Optics (PG&O) is well schooled in. Mr. Bukaty and his 35-person shop manufacture high-end precision glass optics for customers such as IMAX, Intuitive Surgical, Boeing and NASA, to name a few. Read on to learn about PG&O's use of a vision system.

Sustainable Computing for AI Processing

AI-driven computing is at a turning point. The old paradigm — squeezing ever-smaller transistors onto silicon chips — is becoming infeasible. Just increasing the chip size and with it the power consumption is unsustainable. The future lies in photonic processors that operate without electrical resistance, minimize heat dissipation, and deliver unmatched computational speed and efficiency. Read on to learn more.

New Products

See the new products, including TRIOPTICS' ImageMaster® PRO AR Reflection waveguide testing solution; TOP-TICA’s Clock Laser System; Aerotech Inc.'s HexGen® HEX150-125HL Miniature Hexapod, a six degree-of-freedom precision positioning system; Teledyne e2v's Optimom™ 5D turnkey imaging module; Coherent Corp.'s set of pluggable optical transceivers optimized for use in data centers that incorporate optical circuit switches; and more.

Adding AI-Powered Inspection to Existing Machine Vision Systems

Machine vision is a cornerstone of modern manufacturing quality control, ensuring product consistency and reliability. However, many facilities face a dilemma: while their existing vision systems remain mechanically sound, their analytical capabilities lag behind evolving manufacturing requirements. Read on to learn the solution.

Processing and Packaging MEMS to Maximize Functionality

The MEMS industry can’t match the rapid innovation cycles typical of the semiconductor industry — it’s been more than a decade since we’ve seen a major leap in MEMS manufacturing processes. However, Omnitron is confident that they can rapidly improve the approach to manufacturing MEMS. Read on to learn more.

IoT Threat Protection Is a Shared Ecosystem Responsibility

While the rapid advancement of IIoT applications is exciting, it also come with its challenges, especially from a security perspective. A recent study found that 57 percent of all IoT devices are vulnerable to medium- or high-severity threats and that two in five chief information security officers struggle to gain visibility into — and understand — their IoT deployments. Read on to learn more.

NIST Tackles Wireless Industrial Systems

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is working to provide best practice guidelines to help manufacturers use wireless systems. Read on to learn more about it.

New Products

See the new products, including Teledyne FLIR's radiometric models of its high-performance Boson®+ thermal and Hadron™ 640R+ dual thermal-visible camera modules; Insight SIP's ISP2554-HM module — a dynamic IOT node, with support for Bluetooth Low Energy, Thread, and Zigbee radios; Bosch Sensortec's BMV080 particulate matter sensor; dSPACE's MicroLabBox II, a very flexible entry-level system for closed-loop tests at the controller level; and more.

Smart Sensing, Foundation of the IoT/IIoT, is Maturing at a Rapid Pace

Thanks to Internet of Things technologies, there are many ways to make previously unconnected things talk. Processes, conditions, equipment, or machines have much to say about themselves and help keep the industry applications they’re integrally involved in running smoothly.

Generative AI Will Be the Next Evolution in Embedded Design

The use of AI in the design process is seeing strong adoption from engineers of all disciplines and management levels. It can be proven to deliver a faster time to market and an overall improvement in design quality. Read on to learn more about it.

Cislunar Space Exploration: Next Frontier for Propulsion Advancements

The race is on for leadership in cislunar space, considered a gateway to the future of space exploration. Yet operating in this domain introduces unique challenges for propulsion systems. Read on to learn more about the progress being made on the matter.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including SBG Systems' expansion of its high-performance inertial navigation systems, Ekinox, Apogee, and Navsight, with new GNSS receiver options; Littelfuse's 823A Series fuse, an AEC-Q200-qualified, high-voltage-rated surface-mount fuse; Würth Elektronik's Thyone-e radio module; the new handheld scanner from FARO Technologies; and more.