Features

Cable Carriers Promote Efficiency in an Autonomous Hospitality Robot

Since the COVID-19 pandemic that advanced contactless service, robots are increasingly being seen conducting routine deliveries around hospitals and hotels. Developed by Robotise Technologies, JEEVES is one such autonomous service robot used in hotels, healthcare facilities, offices, airports, and other settings. Its main duty is to transport materials and products. Read on to learn more about JEEVES.

3D-Woven Thermal Protection System Technologies Support NASA Space Missions

Over the past decade, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and its team of development partners have developed several unique thermal protection system (TPS) technologies designed to protect spacecraft from the extreme heat conditions and entry environments that space missions face. Read on to learn more about it.

Prepare for Takeoff: NWI Aerostructures Thrusts Forward with CNC Control System

The aerospace industry is in an era of profound innovation. Airplanes and air travel are transforming in response to the needs of the global economy, necessitating the building of aircraft at an accelerated pace. Enter NWI. With over 50 years of long-bed machining expertise, NWI is a contract manufacturer of complex structural components, sub-assemblies, and complete major assemblies of wing structures. Read on to learn more.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including Nikon Metrology NV's Scatter Correction CT; Emerson's next-generation Rosemount™ 3490 Controller; Fischer Connectors' USB 3.2 connectors and cable assembly solutions; Renesas Electronics' R-Car Family of system-on-chips for entry-level Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS); and much more.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a 3D microwave antenna, smart CCTV systems trained to spot blockages in urban waterways, and a full-scale prototype for six telescopes that will enable, in the next decade, the space-based detection of gravitational waves.

Shedding Weight: Connectivity in Military-Aerospace Applications

Weight is among the most critical factors behind component choice when it comes to aerospace applications. Being among the bulkiest of components, connectors and cables need to embrace the latest scientific advances in order to reduce weight and enhance performance, fuel efficiency, and overall system reliability. This article outlines the recent advances enabling lighter connectors for aircraft, satellites, and drones.

Product of the Month

Read about the product of the month, Synopsys' ImSym — Imaging System Simulator, a virtual prototyping platform for imaging systems, encompassing lenses, sensors, and image signal processors (ISPs).

2024 Product of the Year

Each month, our editors choose a Product of the Month that has exceptional technical merit and practical value for our design engineering readers. Those 11 products are the nominees for the 2024 Tech Briefs Readers’ Choice Product of the Year. You’re invited to cast your vote for the one product among the 11 listed in this article that you feel was the most important new product introduced to the engineering community in 2024.

AI Helps UAVs Predict Oncoming Turbulence

Professor Animashree (Anima) Anandkumar and her team at The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have developed a control strategy for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that uses reinforcement learning to adaptively learn how turbulent wind can change over time and then uses that knowledge to control the UAV based on what it is experiencing.

5Ws of 3D-Printed Glass Bricks

MIT engineers have 3D printed sturdy glass bricks for building structures. The interlocking bricks, which can be repurposed many times over, can withstand similar pressures as their concrete counterparts.

3D-Printed Engines Propel Next Industrial Revolution

The new possibility of 3D-printed aluminum engine parts will mean significant savings for NASA in terms of time, money, and, most importantly, the weight of future spacecraft. Elementum 3D Inc., a partner on the project, is now bringing the benefits of that technology to its customers.

Designing the Next Generation of Event-Based Sensing and Vision for Edge Applications

Event-based sensing enables new approaches to machine learning. An object recognition or detection algorithm that, until now, could only use the spatial information from a frame can now access another dimension: time. Read on to learn more.

Researchers Develop Smallest Free-Floating Bubbles for Medical Imaging

A team of researchers from Rice University has introduced 50-nm gas-filled protein nanostructures derived from genetically engineered gas vesicles(GVs) that are referred to as 50 nmGVs. Read on to learn more.

Why Honda Wants FMCW LiDAR in Next Generation Mobility

Photonics & Imaging Technology caught up with Dr. Mehdi Asghari, SiLC Technologies CEO, to discuss their approach to designing and manufacturing FMCW LiDAR technology. Read on for the entire interview.

Product Showcase

See what's in the product showcase, including VSD’s innovative SV-2000 Flex; Keysight Technologies' N7718C Optical Reference Transmitter; MKS Instruments' Newport™ TLS260B Tunable Light Sources; Analog Modules' Picosecond Pulsed Seed Laser Diode Driver, Model 766A; and more.

Can Optical Component Manufacturers Design Better Devices With AI?

Opto Generative Pretrained Transformer (OptoGPT), a decoder-only transformer, developed by University of Michigan engineers, harnesses the computer architecture underpinning ChatGPT to work backward from desired optical properties to the material structure that can provide them. Read on to learn more.

New Upgrade Will Supercharge Atomic Vision of the World’s Most Powerful X-Ray Laser

The Department of Energy has given the green light for construction to begin on a high-energy upgrade that will further boost the performance of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world’s most powerful X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) at the DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Read on to learn more about it.

Silicon Carbide Crystal Growing Industry Tests for Minute Defects

To meet the ever increasing demand for silicon carbide (SiC) crystals, the world needs much higher yields without sacrificing quality. However, without advanced metrology tools capable of promptly detecting minor flaws, the SiC crystal growing sector essentially operates blindly, resulting in unacceptable defects and costly product losses. Read on to learn more.

2024 Award Finalists

The Create the Future Design Contest, launched in 2002 by SAE Media Group, recognizes and rewards engineering innovations that benefit humanity, the environment, and the economy. Read on to learn about the finalists in all seven categories chosen from new product ideas submitted from more than 50 countries. The Grand Prize winner and category winners will be chosen at a live competition on November 15.

Aerospace & Defense Finalist: Laser-Generated Anti-Icing and Anti-Fogging Transparent Materials

AlchLight has invented and pioneered a non-coating laser surface processing (LSP) technology that turns regular transparent materials such as glass and polymers superhydrophobic. It's the Aerospace & Defense Finalist. Read on to learn more.

Robotics & Automation Finalist - AstroAnt: A Miniature Symbiotic Robotic Serving on the Outside Surfaces of Spacecraft, Rovers, and Landers for Inspection and Diagnostic Tasks

“AstroAnts” are small robots for inspection and diagnostic tasks on external spacecraft surfaces, both in orbit and on planetary surfaces. They're also the Robotics & Automation Finalist. Read on to learn more.

Automotive & Transportation Finalist: Multi-Modal Traffic Detection System

The Transensys Multi-Modal Traffic Detection System is an attempt to provide widespread, low-cost, and accurate traffic measurement. It's also the Automotive & Transportation Finalist. Read on to learn more.

Electronics Finalist: Thin-Film Thermoelectric Cooling Device

The wearable Thin-Film Thermoelectric Cooling (TFTEC) device is one of the world’s lightest, thinnest, and fastest refrigeration devices. It's also the Electronics Finalist. Read on to learn more.

Medical Finalist - NETrolyze: A Novel Immunotherapy for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Meet NETrolyze, the Medical Finalist. It consists of a small molecule loaded into a slow-release gel, designed to continuously fight off metastasis. It systematically targets only the cancerous tumor while preserving the integrity of the body’s overall immune system.

Manufacturing & Materials Finalist: RHOBARR™ Barrier Dispersions Platform

Meet Allyson Marianelli, Lead Researcher at Dow, whose RHOBARR™ Barrier Dispersions Platform is a Manufacturing & Materials Finalist.

Sustainable Technology Finalist: Cosmetic Silica Upcycled from Rice Husk as Natural Alternative to Microplastic Powders

Meet Dow Silicones Belgium SRL’s Anne-Marie Vincent, Sustainable Technology Finalist. Her project focuses on commercializing silica upcycled from rice husk to address these needs.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including Pi Americas' S-335 fast steering mirror; Smalley's new online shopping tool for its customers; Markforged Holding Corporation's FX10 Metal Kit, a print engine that brings metal printing capability to the FX10; Automated Precision, Inc.'s iScanMagic Composite 3D Scanner and iScanLite 3D Blue Laser Line Scanner; Navitas Semiconductor's portfolio of third-generation automotive-qualified SiC MOSFETs in D2PAK-7L (TO-263-7) and TOLL packages; and much more.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a self-powered “bug” that can skim across water; a sweat-powered wearable that has the potential to make continuous, personalized health monitoring as effortless as wearing a Band-Aid; and a novel foot-pedal operated system and device to control movement of an object in three-dimensional space.

Product of the Month

See the product of the month: Seeq Vantage, Seeq's first industrial enterprise monitoring app. Read on to learn more about it.