Magazine

Enhancing Fault Isolation and Detection for Electric Powertrains of UAVs

NASA’s System-Wide Safety (SWS) project is developing innovative data solutions to assure safe, rapid, and repeatable access to a transformed National Airspace System.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including a pressure transmitter, a new pressure instrument, new confocal controller, and more.

Products of Tomorrow

The products of tomorrow.

Product of the Month

The new Indicators feature true absolute sensor technology that minimizes the chance of data loss.

A Self-Healing Structural Composite

Jason Patrick, assistant professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at North Carolina State University, and his team have developed a new composite material for applications like airplane wings and wind turbine blades in which hidden defects and damage can self-heal.

High-Speed Camera Captures Signals Traveling Through Nerve Cells

Combining high-speed camera and interferometer technology enables the detection of electrical pulses travelling through nerve cells.

Leveraging Metal 3D Printing for Manufacturing in Space

One promising metal-based additive technology for in-space 3D printing is Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM). Instead of fusing metal powders, UAM welds foil at (near) room temperature.

Giant Batteries Deliver Renewable Energy When It’s Needed

In developing its flow battery, Oregon-based ESS drew from groundbreaking research and development conducted by NASA more than 40 years ago.

5 Ws of Painless Tattoos

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed low-cost, painless, and bloodless tattoos that can be self-administered and have many applications.

Powering Light Electric Vehicles

Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) such as golf carts have been traditionally powered by lead-acid batteries.

New Products

See the new products for December 2022, including power diodes, a battery management system, gelled tantalum capacitors, and more.

Silicon Forging Ahead for Higher-Performance Battery Anodes

General Motors’ new joint-research agreement with OneD underscores the promise of silicon-anode development.

Proposed Standards and Methods for Leak Testing Lithium-Ion Battery Packs

Battery packs, whether made of prismatic, cylindrical, or pouch cells, are cooled by common automotive thermal management systems.

Compiler Selection for Functional Safety in Robots

A developer needs confidence that the compiler will not introduce errors into the design.

On the Hunt for Asteroids: Positioning an Occultation Telescope

"Early detection of a NEO headed for Earth would give us sufficient time to deflect the threat."

Controlling a Robot Without Programming

Programming a robot for small series production activities with great diversity involves many trajectories, which is time-consuming.

Tentacle Robot Can Grasp Fragile Objects

Researchers designed a new type of soft robotic gripper that uses a collection of thin tentacles to entangle and ensnare objects.

Solar-Powered Smart Robots Walk Autonomously

A team has installed electronic “brains” on solar-powered robots that are 100 to 250 micrometers in size so that they can walk autonomously.

Teaching Robots the Craft of Manipulating Materials

The new system learns directly from visual inputs to let a robot with a two-fingered gripper see, simulate, and shape doughy objects.

New Products

The new products for December 2022, including a micro-sized servo drive, HVAC drives, the LogiDrive system, and more.

Best Practices to Optimize Motor Selection

Optimizing motor selection for motion control applications can have significant performance, cost, and maintenance benefits.

Enhancing Design Efficiency in Linear Motion Automation

The integrated measuring system (IMS) has demonstrated notable cost savings and improved design efficiencies in linear motion automation applications.

Fine-Tuning the Factory Using Simulation

One promising way to meet modern industrial challenges is by using additive manufacturing processes.

Five Tips for Optimizing 5G Private Network Signals

In the coming years, the wireless communications segment will expand significantly as 5G private networks launch.

AI Pilot Can Navigate Crowded Airspace

A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University believe they have developed the first AI pilot that enables autonomous aircraft to navigate a crowded airspace.

Vertiport Assessment and Mobility Operations System

It is widely believed that Advanced Air Mobility is poised to have a significant societal impact in the coming years to move people and cargo more rapidly and efficiently.

3D-Printed Catalysts Propel Hypersonic Flight

Ultra-efficient catalysts were developed that are cost-effective to make and simple to scale.

Solid Electrolyte–Based Microthrusters for Precision Propulsion

Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are developing a novel microthruster that could provide easy-to-control propulsion during spaceflight.

Spacecraft to Remove Orbital Debris

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have designed an Active Debris Removal Vehicle that can remove large orbital debris from low-Earth orbit.