Features

New on the Market: October 2022

See the new products on the market in October 2022, including harsh duty photoelectric sensors, oil temperature sensors, aquatic pumps, and more.

USC Viterbi School of Engineering

The school's research centers have played a major role in development of multiple technologies, including early development of the internet.

Products of Tomorrow

To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that innovation.

Making Low-Cost Automation Accessible

Roose’s Chocolate World, based in Belgium, is using an automated solution, “ChocoMatic,” that doesn’t break the bank.

Q&A: Reinventing Offshore Wind Turbines

Dr. Brandon Ennis, Sandia National Laboratories’ offshore wind technical lead, had a radically new idea for offshore wind turbines: instead of a tall unwieldy tower, with blades at the top, he imagined a towerless turbine with blades pulled taut like a bow.

Preventing Gridlock on the Ground

NASA technology is enabling airline flight managers to improve managing traffic on the ground and scheduling departures.

Create the Future Design Contest: Success Story - Plastic-Eating Enzymes Chomp into the Future

A polymer breaking enzyme when infused into plastic causes the material to break down into its original components when submerged in compost or even warm water.

3D Printing Metal Components for Small Satellite Delivery Systems

Launcher depends on Velo3D to 3D-print complex rocket components for low-cost, small satellite delivery systems.

5 Ws of the Artificial Leaf

Researchers at University of Cambridge have developed floating “artificial leaves” that generate clean fuels from sunlight and water and could eventually operate on a large scale at sea.

Products of Tomorrow

This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow.

Executive Roundtable: Collaborative Robots

Will the adoption of cobots by SMEs accelerate in near future? What are the key challenges cobots need to overcome before they become ubiquitous?

Root of Trust: A Standardization Model that Needs to Happen Now

Billions of connected devices have been adopted within our personal eco-systems, rising two-fold during the pandemic. This means there are even more devices in our lives which can be attacked.

New on the Market: September 2022

New on the market in September 2022, including inductors, a snap-action switch, a stamped spring socket, and more.

Virginia Tech College of Engineering

From artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and manufacturing to health sciences, robotics, and more, the Virginia Tech College of Engineering offers an advanced engineering curriculum.

Fundamental EV Battery Models Explain New Tab Design

Cylindrical cells are one of the most common battery types used in electric vehicles. Tesla recently improved on the typical cylindrical cell design, developing a new tab design that allows for a much larger cell.

Ultrasound Tech Offers Sophisticated Battery-Testing Intelligence

The production and supply of lithium-ion batteries for the global EV and stationary energy storage systems (ESS) markets is growing at an exponential rate. At the same time,...

Niobium: Magic Metal for Battery Anodes?

The element niobium (Nb), a transition metal, stands ready to improve the performance of one of the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery’s confusing array of possible electrode chemistries — the LTO...

New Products

New products for September 2022.

Optimizing EV Performance Through the Power of Data

We are constantly blindsided by unfortunate battery-related events because as any engineer knows, the devil is in the details – the implementation details.

Designing a Silicon Photonic MEMS Phase Shifter with Simulation

Existing infrastructure still relies on many electrical signal processing components embedded inside fiber optic networks.

Meta Optical Elements

The size and complexity of lens systems can be reduced through flat optics that are based on pioneering meta optical elements (MOEs).

Time-of-Flight: Highly Reliable 3D Imaging for Challenging Applications

There are multiple technologies based on the ToF concept. Generally, all of them are synchronized with a light source and estimate the distance by calculating the time taken for the light to travel from the camera to the object and then back again.

Challenges of Fabricating and Coating Laser Crystals

Because laser crystals are sensitive optical components and are often used with high-power lasers, depositing the correct coatings onto them without introducing any defects is essential.

Designing a Human-Robot Collaboration System

Scientists analyzed the stability of the collaborative system based on speed and accuracy, as well as the conditions required for successfully performing tasks from geometric, force, and posture viewpoints.

New Products

The new products in September 2022.

Meeting the Challenges for Space to Earth Optical Communication

Satellite radio communication is widely used in industry and government for high-bandwidth data transfers.

Product of the Month

The compact optoNCDT 1420LL laser sensors from Micro-Epsilon, Ortenburg, Germany, perform precise distance measurements on metallic and structured surfaces. The sensor projects a small laser line onto the measuring object,...

Webb Telescope Mirror Tech Improves Eye Surgery on Earth

Eye surgery patients on Earth are benefiting from early research on the NASA’s James Webb Telescope’s enormous mirrors.

Focusing the Sun – A Big Gain for Solar Power Efficiency

A new kind of optical concentrator can passively focus the sun onto a photovoltaic cell from any angle to reduce the amount of photovoltaic material needed for a given amount of power generation.