Features

Video Development Kit

The MatrixCam™ video development kit (VDK) from On Semiconductor (Phoenix, AZ) streams video over Wi-Fi and Ethernet, at 60 fps. Available at the imaging technology distributor Framos Technologies (Ontario, Canada), the...

Mike Krainak, Laser and Electro-Optics Branch Head, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

In 2020, NASA's first-ever integrated-photonics modem will be tested aboard the International Space Station. Mike Krainak leads the development of...

Products of Tomorrow

The technologies NASA develops don’t just blast off into space. They also improve our lives here on Earth. Life-saving search-and-rescue tools, implantable medical devices, advances in commercial aircraft safety,...

NASA Drives Automotive Innovation

Standards for Comfortable Seats In the beginning, safety trumped comfort in spacecraft designs for human space travel. Early space capsules were small and had a seat-driven design in which most of the flight...

SAE 2016 World Congress: Powering Possibilities

The SAE 2016 World Congress, presented by SAE International and taking place April 12-14 in Detroit, will gather experts, management teams, engineers, and executives from the automotive industry...

Super Pressure Balloon Provides NASA with Valuable Data

Super pressure balloon Raven Aerostar Sioux Falls, SD 605-336-2750 www.ravenaerostar.com A super pressure balloon (SPB) designed by Raven Aerostar, and the largest SPB ever built,...

New Spacecraft Design for Asteroid Redirect Mission

Geostationary (GEO) satellite Space Systems/Loral (SSL) Palo Alto, CA 650-852-4000 www.sslmda.com NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has chosen Space Systems/Loral (SSL) to conduct...

Software Helps Restore Fire-Ravaged Habitats

NASA Technology Idaho is a nature-lover’s dream. Forests there blanket swaths of terrain, from the glassy lake regions of the northern Panhandle to the famous trout-fishing streams of the...

Robots and Humans - Let the Collaboration Begin

A collaborative robot is essentially an industrial robot with additional safety capabilities. These safety features include: Safety-rated monitored stop (zero speed limiting) Speed and...

Motion Control Challenges for Deep-Sea ROVs

Deep-sea remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) present motion control design engineers with some difficult challenges. Applications may include ROV propulsion, position thrusters, dive vanes, rudders, or...

Advanced Capabilities of PXI-Based Semiconductor Test Systems

The ongoing challenge for today’s semiconductor test engineers is to identify and create new test solutions that can offer significantly lower test costs as well as address the...

Calibration Requirements for Testing Coupling-Decoupling Networks

Coupling-Decoupling Networks (CDNs) are the unglamorous workhorses that get “hitched up” to an impulse generator in order to perform impulse testing on powered equipment. As...

NASA Monitoring Technologies Shake Up Earthquake Prediction

The seconds to minutes of advance warning of an earthquake can allow people and systems to take actions to protect life and property from destructive shaking. Earthquake early warning...

Reducing Torque Measurement Uncertainty in Turbine Engine Testing

Torque is among the most important of all the measured quantities in applications ranging from characterizing high-power gas turbines, to determining the level of force required...

Linear Motor

Nippon Pulse America (Radford, VA) released the SL083 scaleless linear motor with a built-in linear encoder for positioning applications that would benefit from the repeatability, reliability, and robustness of a linear motor, with...

Panel-Mount Piezo Drives

The Ndrive QLe digital, panel-mount nanopositioning piezo drives from Aerotech (Pittsburgh, PA) are designed for use with the Aerotech Automation 3200 (A3200) motion controller. The drives enable coordinated motion...

Encoders

Celera Motion (Bedford, MA) introduced the MicroE Veratus™ Series encoders incorporating VeraPath™ technology. All interpolation, automatic gain control (AGC), and signal processing is performed in the sensor head that measures 35...

Brushless DC Motors

Crouzet Motors (Vista, CA) introduced brushless DC motors with CANopen® technology. The new communications protocol allows design engineers to connect multiple brushless motors to the various components in a system. The...

Lead Screw Assembly

The Micro Series ZBM anti-backlash lead screw assembly from Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions (Waterbury, CT) can be customized to specific applications that require unique geometry and custom materials such as Kerkite®...

Position Sensors

Macro Sensors (Pennsauken, NJ) offers the BBP Series air extended, spring-loaded LVDT position sensors to measure range of motion in pneumatic cylinders. The 3/8 "-diameter, pencil-type gaging probes measure the position of a...

Drive Couplings

Automation Direct (Cumming, GA) offers SureMotion drive couplings in four styles: jaw/spider, double loop, Oldham, and beam-style servo. The jaw/spider coupling is a clamp-style coupling with 14- to 65-mm aluminum hubs, and...

Track Motion Platform

ABB (Auburn Hills, MI) introduced the IRBT 2005 flexible, compact, modular, medium track motion platform for robots and transfer applications. It is designed to accommodate rapid product changes in applications that...

Rotary Actuator

The Hydraulic Unibody (HUB) Series rotary actuator from Parker Hannifin Corp. (Cleveland, OH) is built with a hard-coat anodized housing and hardened alloy steel pinion and racks for applications exposed to harsh weather...

Drive Starters

NORD Gear Corporation USA (Waunakee, WI) introduced the SK135E/SK175E soft start drives designed for use in a distributed control system. They can be mounted directly on the motor or near the motor. The starters regulate the...

Brushless Motors

maxon motor (Fall River, MA) offers ECX high-speed brushless micro motors in diameters of 8, 16, and 19 mm achieving speeds of up to 120,000 rpm. They are available with different power stages and in standard or sterilizable...

Electronically Commutated Motors

EC Fans & Drives, a division of Epec Engineered Technologies (New Bedford, MA), announced EConomy and EXRi50 electronically commutated motors. The EConomy features a slim profile that enables use in...

Angle Sensors

Novotechnik, U.S. (Southborough, MA) introduced the RSC3200 angle sensors that feature shaft connectivity options and provide absolute rotary position measurement. Analog outputs are 0.25 to 4.75V or 0.5 to 4.5V. Built-in...

Brush DC Motors

Portescap (West Chester, PA) introduced the Athlonix™ 22DCP brush DC motors available in a 22-mm diameter. They feature a coreless design with a self-supporting coil and magnetic circuit, and are available in two...

Linear Actuator

The Servo Cylinder from Ultra Motion (Cutchogue, NY) is a compact brushless DC linear actuator with Phase Index™ absolute position feedback. The integrated Phase Index sensor is digital, high-resolution, and non-contacting...