Features

Susan Draper, Materials Research Engineer, Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH

Susan Draper performs microstructural analysis of metals and determines where fractures have occurred and propagated. Draper is currently characterizing...

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,...

15 Questions to Ask About Circuit Protection for Wearable Electronics

Have you attended an electronics or design tradeshow lately? Have you visited a big-box retailer or browsed an online electronics vendor? If so, you’ve probably seen many...

Design and Analysis Software Ensures Safety of Launch Vehicle Structures

NX and Teamcenter® softwareSiemens PLM SoftwarePlano, TX800-498-5351www.siemens.com/plm One of ATK Aerospace Group’s current projects involves the Space Launch System...

Tiny Camera Lets NASA Inspection Tool “See”

micro ScoutCam 1.2 micro camera Medigus, Ltd. Omer, Israel 011 972 8646 6880 www.medigus.com NASA has incorporated the micro ScoutCam 1.2 into its Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot...

Brainwave Monitoring Software Helps Distracted Minds

Imagine moving an object using only your mind. Software company Unique Logic’s Time on Task exercise makes that possible, at least on a computer screen. The game is one of the company’s...

Product of the Month

SpaceClaim Corp., Concord, MA, released ANSYS® SpaceClaim™ 2015 software for the creation, editing, and repair of 3D data. It provides editing and management of faceted models, improved toolpath functionality for the...

Cabin Pressure Monitors Notify Pilots to Save Lives

NASA Technology Typical cruising altitudes for business and commercial aircraft are up to 50,000 feet or more. At such altitudes, the oxygen concentrations in the air are much lower than on...

Brian Trease, Mechanical Engineer, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA

Brian Trease, JPL Mechanical Engineer, uses origami principles to design large-scale and small-scaled deployable structures. In 2013, Trease collaborated with...

Product of the Month

COMSOL, Burlington, MA, announced COMSOL Multiphysics® software version 5.0 that features product updates, three new add-on products, and the new Application Builder. The Application Builder lets users build applications...

Thermal Imaging’s Pocket-Sized Potential

Let’s say you’re a prospective buyer touring an older home that you suspect has some weatherization issues. What if you could verify your hunch by literally seeing cold air seeping under doors or...

Camera Considerations When Inspecting Printed Circuit Boards

PCB manufacturing is a very competitive market, and manufacturers must be able to confidently ship accurate printed circuit board (PCB) products. Delivery of incorrect boards may have...

Infrared ‘Optical Biopsy’ Reveals Tumors and Lesions

A new medical imaging method being developed at Rutgers University could help physicians detect cancer and other diseases earlier than before, speeding treatment and reducing the need for...

Top Prizes Awarded in the Create the Future Design Contest

On November 7, the top prizes in the 2014 Create the Future Design Contest were presented in New York City. Winners in seven categories, as well as the Grand Prize winner, received...

Industry Roundtable: Analysis & Simulation Software

In our annual poll of executives at leading analysis and simulation software vendors, we found that both 3D printing and the cloud will have increasing impact on CAE in 2015, and users will...

Reverse Engineering Helps NASA Analyze Icing Conditions

ROMER Absolute Arm with integrated laser scanner Hexagon Metrology North Kingstown, RI 800-274-9433 www.hexagonmetrology.us While air travel is considered the safest form of...

Data Acquisition System Helps NASA Improve Aircraft Crash Performance

Data acquisition system DTS (Diversified Technical Systems) Seal Beach, CA 562-493-0158 www.dtsweb.com Aircraft impact testing and hard landing tests are an important part of...

Thermal Materials Protect Priceless Personal Keepsakes

Most of us cannot comprehend the task of building something to withstand temperatures over 4,000 °F, but NASA can. The space shuttles endured such temperatures when returning to Earth’s...

Specifying Actuators for Cleanroom Environments

Selecting the right actuator for use in any manufacturing operation involves a host of application-specific variables, including aspects such as the required stroke length, load capacity,...

Naval Shipyard Automates Dry Dock Operation

Pearl Harbor Naval Station and Hickam Air Force Base have grown up together around the historic port known as Wai’Momi, adjacent to Honolulu. Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (PHNSY), located at Joint...

Robotic Arm

Global Specialties (Yorba Linda, CA) introduced the R700 Vector Robotic Arm that is fully assembled and ready to be programmed in the C language. The robot comes with pre-written example programs that can be downloaded to the...

Optical Encoders

Avago Technologies (San Jose, CA) announced the AEDR-87xx series of 3-channel reflective optical encoder devices for use in low-power miniaturized motion control systems such as stepper motors, electrical actuators,...

Motor Drive Controllers

ElectroCraft (Dover, NH) released the PRO Series integrated motor drive controllers that include brushless motor drives, stepper motor variants, and linear actuators, all incorporating a fully integrated drive with the...

Human-Machine Interface

Mitsubishi Electric Automation (Vernon Hills, IL) introduced the GOT2000 Series human machine interface (HMI) that monitors and controls machine components with a graphical touchscreen. It allows operators to interact...

Shaft Grounding Ring

Electro Static Technology (Mechanic Falls, ME) offers the AEGIS® iPRO-MR ring that combines shaft voltage bearing protection with continuous monitoring of shaft voltage levels from a remote location in real time. It is an...

Force Transducers

HBM (Marlborough, MA) introduced the C10 line of compressive force transducers. The stainless steel version is hermetically sealed, and they have an IP68 rating for use in environments where dirt and moisture can be a problem....

Linear Position Sensors

Macro Sensors (Pennsauken, NJ) offers the CD 375 series of miniature LVDT linear position sensors that attach to a robotic arm to detect position change when an actuator moves the robotic arm, providing an analog voltage...

Shaft Locking Bushings

Zero-Max (Plymouth, MN) offers ETP Techno shaft locking bushings for bore sizes of 110, 120, and 130 mm. They are designed for locking components to large shafts with repeatable precision for applications requiring...

Digital Servo Drive

The SXD 15 digital servo drive from Allied Motion (Amherst, NY) is a compact, modular unit that can drive a DC brush, DC brushless, or AC brushless motor requiring up to 1 kW of power. It can be either panel- or DIN-- rail...