Electronics & Software

Molecular Highway for Electrons in OLEDs

Now, a team from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research has developed a new material concept that could allow efficient blue OLEDs with a strongly simplified structure. Read on to learn more.

New Technique Could Improve GPS Navigation Devices

For the first time, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin’s Applied Research Laboratories and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have formed a radio interferometer between a GPS antenna and receiver and a large radio telescope. Read on to learn more about the new technique.

A Powerful Vision-Based Autonomy Alternative to LiDAR, Radar, GPS

Southwest Research Institute has developed off-road autonomous driving tools with a focus on stealth for the military and agility for space and agriculture clients. The vision-based system pairs stereo cameras with novel algorithms, eliminating the need for LiDAR and active sensors. Read on to learn more.

HYPERFIRE: A Sub-Scale Non-Reacting Flow Test System

Engineers at NASAs Stennis Space Center have developed the HYdrocarbon Propellants Enabling Reproduction of Flows in Rocket Engines (HYPERFIRE), a sub-scale, non-reacting flow test system. HYPERFIRE uses heated ethane to enable physical simulation of rocket engines powered by a broad range of propellants in an inexpensive, accurate, and simple fashion. Read on to learn more.

Algorithms to Enhance Reliability of Electric Vehicle Charging

American drivers have long been accustomed to quickly filling up at a gas station with plenty of fuel available, and electric vehicle drivers want their pit stops to mimic this experience. Researchers are working to make EV charging more resilient. Read on to learn more about it.

A New Way to Enhance Durability of Lithium Batteries

Researchers have been developing batteries with higher energy storage density, and thus, longer driving range. Other goals include shorter charging times, greater tolerance to low temperatures, and safer operation. One of the more promising such batteries has a lithium-containing cathode supplemented with nickel, manganese, and cobalt (NMC). Read on to learn more.

Iron Could Be Key to Less Expensive, Greener Lithium-Ion Batteries

Researchers are hoping to spark a green battery revolution by showing that iron instead of cobalt and nickel can be used as a cathode material in lithium-ion batteries. Read on to learn more.

Anode-Free Sodium Solid-State Battery

A team has created the world’s first anode-free sodium solid-state battery. This research has brought the reality of inexpensive, fast-charging, high-capacity batteries for electric vehicles and grid storage closer than ever. Read on to learn more.

Cheaper and Safer Battery Storage

Researchers have developed a new technique to solve the problem of how to increase the capacity of sodium-ion batteries. Read on to learn more about it.

A New System for Shape and Contact Detection of Continuum Robots

The sensing and control principles used in this framework could lead to new tactile sensors that can be attached to any existing robotics system, offering new sensing and control paradigms for safe human-robot interaction without altering the robot’s original design. Read on to learn more.

Closing the Design-to-Manufacturing Gap for Optical Devices

A new method enables optical devices that more closely match their design specifications, boosting accuracy and efficiency. Read on to learn more.

Photonics-Based Wireless Link Breaks Speed Records for Data Transmission

The researchers anticipate that with multiplexing techniques (where more than one channel can be used) and more sensitive receivers, the data rate can be increased to 1 terabit per second, ushering in a new era of near-instantaneous global communication. Read on to learn more.

Bird-Eye-Inspired Camera Developed for Enhanced Object Detection

This innovative camera technology represents a significant advance in object detection, offering numerous potential applications across various industries. Read on to learn more.

Rapidly Testing Stretchable Sensors

Engineers have developed a new technique for making wearable sensors that enables medical researchers to prototype and test new designs much faster and at a far lower cost than existing methods. Read on to learn more.

Smart Glove Can Boost Hand Mobility of Stroke Patients

A new groundbreaking “smart glove” is capable of tracking the hand and finger movements of stroke victims during rehabilitation exercises. The glove incorporates a sophisticated network of highly sensitive sensor yarns and pressure sensors that are woven into a comfortable stretchy fabric. Read on to learn more about the smart glove.

Unlocking the Next Generation of Wireless Communications

With a goal to revolutionize cellular communications, Penn engineers have developed an adjustable filter that can successfully prevent interference, even in higher-frequency bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Read on to learn more about the matter.

3D Processors May Revolutionize Wireless Communication

Scientists have pioneered a method for using semiconductor technology to manufacture processors that significantly enhance the efficiency of transmitting vast amounts of data across the globe. The innovation is poised to transform the landscape of wireless communication. Read on to learn more.

New Transistor Could Shrink Communications Devices on Smartphones

After announcing a ferroelectric semiconductor at the nanoscale thinness required for modern computing components, a University of Michigan team has demonstrated a reconfigurable transistor using that material. Read on to learn more.

New Chip May Lead to AI Computing at Light Speed

Penn Engineers have developed a new chip that uses light waves, rather than electricity, to perform the complex math essential to training AI. The chip has the potential to radically accelerate the processing speed of computers while also reducing their energy consumption. Read on to learn more.

Unique Amplifier Could Change Optical Communication

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed an optical amplifier that they expect will revolutionize both space and fiber communication.

A Method to Accurately Center Quantum Dots Within Photonic Chips

Researchers have developed standards and calibrations for optical microscopes that allow quantum dots to be aligned with the center of a photonic component to within an error of 10 to 20 nanometers (about one-thousandth the thickness of a sheet of paper). Such alignment is critical for chip-scale devices that employ the radiation emitted by quantum dots to store and transmit quantum information. Read on to learn more.

A Telerobotic System to Revolutionize Hazardous Nuclear Waste Clean-Up

Because they can go where humans can’t, robots are especially suited for safely working with hazardous nuclear waste. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have designed and tested a remote-controlled, dual-arm telerobotics system with human-like capabilities that has the potential to revolutionize hazardous waste clean-up and holds potential for broader applications.

An Autonomous Drone Based on Animal Brains

A team of researchers at Delft University of Technology has developed a drone that flies autonomously using neuromorphic image processing and control based on the workings of animal brains.

Portable Knee Dynamometer

Researchers at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed the Portable Knee Dynamometer, a device that enables quadricep and hamstring strength assessment, rehabilitation, and exercise capabilities for a user outside of a traditional clinical setting.

Computer Vision Lends Precision to Robotic Grappling

Innovators at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) have developed computer vision software that derives target posture determinations quickly and then instructs an operator how to properly align a robotic end-effector with a target that they are trying to grapple.

Unique Datapath Architecture Yields Real-Time Computing

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed and successfully flight tested a high-performance computing platform, known as the Descent and Landing Computer (DLC), to suit the demands of safe, autonomous, extraterrestrial spacecraft landings for robotic and human exploration missions.

AI Advances Heart Research

A promising way to study disease and test new drugs is to use cellular and engineered tissue models in a dish, but existing methods to study heart cell contraction and calcium handling require a good deal of manual work, are prone to errors, and need expensive specialized equipment. Researchers at Columbia Engineering unveiled a groundbreaking new tool today that addresses these challenges head-on: BeatProfiler.

Harnessing Wind and Solar Power Via Neural Networks

The team hopes this project can better position renewable energy as the primary source of electricity in the industry sector. The project aims to enable researchers and renewable energy installation companies to determine the optimal number of solar panels and wind turbines needed to prevent over or under production.

Pulling Carbon Dioxide Out of the Air

The team plans to integrate such CO2-capturing materials with its earlier porous sponge platform, which has been developed to remove environmental toxins including oil, phosphates, and microplastics.