Features

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,...

Industry Roundtable: 3D Printing

It seems that every day, designers and engineers are finding exciting new applications for 3D printing, from creating custom prostheses to making tools used for repairs on the International Space Station. 3D...

NASA Spinoff: NASA’s UV Radiation Research Keeps Sun Worshipers Safe

To understand the Sun’s impacts on Earth, NASA initiated the Living with a Star program in 2001, and began developing a key research satellite: the Solar Dynamics...

3D-Printed Functional Antenna Arrays Operate on Exterior of COSMIC-2 Satellites

FDM® (Fused Deposition Modeling™) technology and ULTEM 9085 thermoplastic Stratasys Direct Manufacturing (RedEye, Solid Concepts, and Harvest Technologies) Eden...

Product of the Month

Sensirion, Westlake Village, CA, introduced a gas sensor that, according to the company, is the first in the world to be based on multi-pixel technology. This allows the sensor to perceive its surroundings using various...

Fiber Optic Connectors

With the standardization of 4G wireless, the increase in cloud storage and computing, and the push for faster network data rates, the highest quality passive interconnect systems must be used. While the robustness and...

Intelligent Photonic Multi-Sensor Solutions

With the Internet of Things (IoT) quickly rising in front of us, it would be easy to get caught in the trap of thinking that both the trajectory and applications will be somewhat predictable. While...

UV-VIS Micro-Spectrometer

Hamamatsu Corporation (Bridgewater, NJ) has announced the release of the C12666MA microspectrometer, a UV-VIS spectrometer about the size of a fingertip. Its miniature components, fabricated using MEMS...

310 nm, sub 800 ps Picosecond Pulsed LED

Edinburgh Instruments (Livingston, UK) has released a 310 nm picosecond pulsed LED with a sub-800 picosecond typical pulse width. This LED is optimized for Time Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC)....

UV-Visible-NIR Polarization Spectroscopy

CRAIC Technologies (San Dimas, CA) recently announced the addition of UV-visible-NIR polarization spectroscopy capabilities to CRAIC microspectrophotometers. This feature is offered as a package that...

Circular Variable ND Filters

Reynard Corporation (San Clemente, CA) recently announced the complete customization of their Circular Variable Neutral Density (CVND) Filters. This technology is best used in high quality optical systems to change...

Camera Sensor Module

The VRmTS-20 from VRmagic (Mannheim, Germany) is an external sensor module for the D3 intelligent camera platform. With its compact dimensions of 26 x 26 mm and the flexible cable connection to the camera base unit, the...

Laser Radiation Detector Screens

The path of invisible laser radiation can be verified using detector cards from Laser Components (Hudson, NH). These cards are ready for immediate application and do not have to be activated or optically...

Deep UV Luminescence Spectrophotometer

McPherson (Chelmsford, MA) has announced a new vacuum ultraviolet universal spectrophotometer, an optical test system optimized for emitting samples like phosphors or photo- and electro-luminescent...

sCMOS Cameras

With the addition of two new models, PCO (Kelheim, Germany) now provides eight sCMOS-cameras. The new pco.edge 3.1 and pco.edge 4.2LT are now the company’s entry-level cameras. pco.edge 3.1’s features include: 2048 x 1536...

Samarium Oxide Glaze

Developed for high-energy pulsed Q-switching infrared laser applications, a new, high-absorption samarium oxide glaze from Morgan Advanced Materials (Windsor, UK) means it is now able to offer three grades of glaze for...

The Strain Gauge Gets an Upgrade

The strain gauge, a device commonly used in the aerospace industry to detect stress and deformation, has its limitations. The three copper wires of the strain gauge often lead to labor-intensive efforts; a...

New Control Possibilities for Wireless Switches

Wireless controls have been widely accepted and embraced in the industrial community. Widespread use of monitoring devices in the process industry, the deployment of RFID components in a variety...

Glaucoma Sensor Monitors Eye Continuously

More than three million Americans are currently living with glaucoma, an eye disorder with few symptoms in its early stages. Globally, the number may increase to almost 80 million by 2020, according to...

NASA, UCF Professor Send Sensor to Stratosphere

Planetary Atmospheres Minor Species Sensor (PAMSS) University of Central Florida Orlando, FL www.ucf.edu Using a high-altitude balloon, NASA and a team led by University of Central Florida physics...

Waggle Platform Offers Possible Key to the ‘Smart City’

Data Collection Platform Argonne National Laboratory Lemont, IL www.anl.gov As urban populations expand, some experts envision “smarter” cities, where hundreds or thousands of...

NASA Sensors Detect Aircraft Icing Hazards

Atmospheric Icing Sensors Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/home NASA’s Glenn Research Center scientists are sending up weather balloons to read weather data and validate...

High-Shock Sensors

Diversified Technical Systems (Seal Beach, CA) has released the 6DX PRO, a high-shock sensor with six degrees of freedom. The three angular rate sensors (18000 or 50000 deg/sec) deliver position data, while the three...

Gas Sensors

ENMET (Ann Arbor, MI) has announced the GSM-60, a microprocessor-based gas monitor. The system incorporates an internal sample draw pump and gas sensors. The GSM-60 can be custom- configured, with both internal and external sensors...

Pressure Sensors

Measurement Specialties (Hampton, VA), now part of TE Connectivity, has released the MS5837-30BA, a low-power, compact, gel-filled pressure sensor with an I2C bus interface and high resolution of 2 mm. The device has a 3.3 ×...

Accelerometers

Meggitt (Irvine, CA) has introduced the Endevco® 35B triaxial IEPE accelerometer. The adhesively-mounted 35B places three transducers (measuring acceleration in x, y, and z axes) and integrated electronics into a 0.235-inch,...

Spectral Sensors

The new Spark-VIS spectral sensor from Ocean Optics (Dunedin, FL) measures over the visible wavelength range of 380-700 nm. Available in both OEM and stand-alone configurations, the compact Spark-VIS provides simple absorbance,...

Vision Sensors

VeriSens vision sensors from Baumer (Frauenfeld, Switzerland) include IP 69K protection and stainless steel housings. The new XF-105/205 models can be used in quality- assurance tasks in the food and pharmaceutical industry. The...

Flow Sensors

The SIF1010/1012 flow sensor from Servoflo Corp. (Lexington, MA) includes a MEMS thermal flow die that measures gas or liquid flow. The die has thermal isolation and a ceramic film coating to protect the component from abrasive...