Features

Coupling and Spring Prototypes

Helical Products Co., Santa Maria, CA, announced a new prototype cell for providing new prototype coupling, u-joint, and machined spring designs for test and evaluation. Customers from virtually any industry can...

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,...

Simulation Software is Key to Orion’s Heat-Shield Success

Tecplot 360 EX data visualization and analysis software Tecplot, Inc. Bellevue, WA 800-763-7005 www.tecplot.com NASA chose Tecplot 360 EX for use in the design of the heat shield for...

Cryogenic Seal for Space Launch System Handles Extreme Pressure Conditions

OmniSeal® RACO™ Spring-Energized Seals Saint-Gobain Seals Garden Grove, CA 800-544-0080 www.seals.saint-gobain.com Saint-Gobain Seals produced a cryogenic seal...

NASA-Developed Platform Integrates Sensors with Smartphones

In 2007, when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a call for a sensor that could equip a smartphone with the ability to detect dangerous gases and chemicals, NASA Ames...

Defining and Measuring “LOOSE TIGHT BUFFER” in Fiber Optic Cables

As the optical fiber and cable industry unfolded, several terms were coined to describe specific properties that were new and different from conventional wire processing. One...

Tech Briefs 40th Anniversary: Executive Perspectives

We asked executives to offer perspectives on milestones in their industry or technology area that occurred during the past 40 years. Did their industry exist 40 years ago, and if not, what...

Executive Perspectives: Data Acquisition & Sensing

GRANT MALOY SMITH President and CEO Dewetron, Inc. Wakefield, RI www.dewamerica.com In 40 years, data acquisition products have evolved from paper-based chart recorders and analog tape...

Executive Perspectives: Software

DOMINIC GALLELLO President and CEO MSC Software Corporation Newport Beach, CA www.mscsoftware.com The foundation stones of CAE were laid in the 1960s during the race for space. Because of the obvious defense...

Executive Perspectives: Software

SVANTE LITTMARCK President and CEO COMSOL, Inc. Burlington, MA www.comsol.com With the birth some 50 years ago of computers based on integrated circuits and semiconductors, engineers had a tool that could...

Executive Perspectives: Internet of Things

ALEX IUORIO Senior Vice President, Supplier Management and Business Development Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas Phoenix, AZ www.em.avnet.com In a 1926 interview, inventor Nikola Tesla stated:...

Executive Perspectives: Test & Measurement

DR. JAMES TRUCHARD President, CEO, and Co-Founder National Instruments Austin, TX www.ni.com The world of technology has moved to software — it started in the PC industry, but quickly manifested in...

Executive Perspectives: Robotics

CHETAN KAPOOR Senior Director of Technology Innovation Yaskawa America, Motoman Robotics Division Miamisburg, OH www.motoman.com Programmable machines are increasingly joining the ranks of the workforce....

Executive Perspectives: Software

JON HIRSCHTICK Founder and Chairman of the Board Onshape Cambridge, MA www.onshape.com Over the past four decades, I’ve watched CAD grow to become a vital part of the way virtually all products are designed...

Executive Perspectives: Robotics

JIM LAWTON Chief Product and Marketing Officer Rethink Robotics Boston, MA www.rethinkrobotics.com In 1961, Unimate — the first large-scale industrial robot — transformed the assembly lines at General...

Executive Perspectives: Test & Measurement

JAY ALEXANDER Chief Technology Officer Keysight Technologies, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA www.keysight.com To travel back 40 years in test and measurement, I reached for the paper equivalent of Doc Brown’s...

Advanced Infrared Camera Maps Methane "Hot Spots"

Methane often appears in the atmosphere at an irregular rate, puzzling researchers challenged with the task of tracking the gas’s sources in the landscape. An advanced infrared camera...

Cambridge Researchers Take Computer Vision for Test Drive

Google's driverless car, like many autonomous vehicles in development, is packed with sensors, radars, lasers, and cameras. To lighten the load of sensing devices in self-driving autos,...

Using Optical Imaging to Combat Counterfeit Components

Counterfeit parts and materials pose a serious threat to the United States defense supply chain. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012 (Section 818) laid out strict...

Miniature Single-Axis Mirror Positioning System

New Scale Technologies, Inc. (Victor, NY) has announced a new developer’s kit in its M3 micro-mechatronic product line. The DK-M3-RS-U-1M-20 is a complete piezoelectric mirror positioning system...

Medical-Grade Video Cameras

The IK-HD5UM HD video camera from Toshiba Imaging Systems Division (Irvine, CA) meets IEC 60601-1 medical design standards for surgical imaging applications. The 3- CMOS high-definition camera has a 1920 × 1080...

Radiation Hard Lens for Color Sensors

The new Model 346 non-browning lens from Resolve Optics Ltd. (Chesham, UK) has been designed to operate with color sensors in areas subject to radiation. For any camera lens to survive even quite low levels...

High-Speed Infrared Cameras

FLIR Systems (Wilsonville, OR) has added the FLIR RS8300 to its RS-Series of long-range infrared camera systems. The new FLIR RS8300 couples a proprietary highspeed HD MWIR detector with a 10x continuous zoom lens in...

OTDR Modules

Anritsu Company (Richardson, TX) has introduced OTDR modules for its Network Master™ Pro MT1000A all-in-one transport tester. The new OTDR modules can operate standalone or be simultaneously installed with available multi-rate...

Smart Cameras

Cognex Corporation (Natick, MA) has introduced In-Sight® Micro 8000 series smart cameras. The Power over Ethernet In-Sight Micro 8000 series measures 31 × 31 × 63 mm. The minimizing of cabling supports integration into tight...

Frame Grabbers

Using a half-size PCIe mini slot, the PIXCI® EB1miniH frame grabber from EPIX (Buffalo Grove, IL) can be mounted in an embedded computer chassis. Flexible cables run from the Base Camera Link connector. XCLIB and PXIPL developer...

Back-Illuminated CCD Camera

Andor Technology (Belfast, Northern Ireland), an Oxford Instruments company, has launched the new, enhanced iKon-M 912 back-illuminated CCD camera, offering high dynamic range and low noise performance. The 512 ×...

LN₂-Cooled InGaAs Camera

Princeton Instruments (Trenton, NJ) has introduced the NIRvana:640LN, a high-performance scientific-grade camera for near-infrared and short-wavelength infrared (NIR/SWIR) applications. This new addition to the...

High-Speed Cameras

Basler (Ahrensburg, Germany/Exton, PA) offers two new ace model cameras. Equipped with ON Semiconductor’s PYTHON sensors and Sony’s IMX174 and IMX249 devices, the twelve cameras provide resolutions from VGA to 1.3...