Tech Briefs

Electronics & Software

Access our comprehensive library of technical briefs on electronics and software, from engineering experts at NASA and major government, university, and commercial laboratories.

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Briefs: Physical Sciences
A research team from Pohang University has successfully enhanced the performance and durability of all-solid-state batteries. This breakthrough was made possible through the implementation of a novel approach known as bottom electrodeposition. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Materials
Examining lithium metal batteries using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy may help in the design of new electrolytes and anode surfaces for high-performance batteries. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
A new battery formulation captures carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and converts it into a solid form that has the potential to be used in other products. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Energy
A new synthesis process for solid electrolytes marks a crucial stride toward the commercialization of all-solid-state batteries free from the risks of explosion and fire. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Energy
A research team has developed a high-energy, high-power hybrid sodium-ion battery capable of rapid charging. The innovative hybrid energy storage system integrates anode materials typically used in batteries with cathodes suitable for supercapacitors. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Researchers from Tsinghua University worked to break through the difficulties of robotic recognition of various common, yet complex, items. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
In a recent study published in the journal ACS Applied Energy Materials, researchers have utilized poly(vinylphosphonic acid) (PVPA) as a binder for a micro-SiO electrodes, achieving superior performance compared to conventional cells. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Power
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are taking cleaner transportation to the skies by creating and evaluating new batteries for airborne electric vehicles that take off and land vertically. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Energy
A global team of researchers and industry collaborators led by RMIT University has invented recyclable ’water batteries’ that won’t catch fire or explode. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Energy
A team of researchers from Japanese and French universities has developed a practical nickel-based electrode material that opens new avenues to cobalt-free batteries for electric vehicles. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: AR/AI
Professor Angela Schoellig from the Technical University of Munich uses ChatGPT to develop choreographies for swarms of drones to perform along to music. An additional safety filter prevents mid-air collisions. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
In bringing bio-inspired robots to life, scientists must first create soft matter counterparts that match the softness and functionality of biological tissue. University of Nebraska–Lincoln engineer Eric Markvicka is at the forefront of these efforts. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
MIT engineers are aiming to give robots a bit of common sense when faced with situations that push them off their trained path. They’ve developed a method that connects robot motion data with the “common sense knowledge” of large language models, or LLMs.
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Briefs: Materials
A research team from Kyushu University, in collaboration with Japanese company Nitto Denko, has developed a tape that can be used to stick 2D materials to many different surfaces, in an easy and user-friendly way.
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Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics
Innovators have developed a method and apparatus to multiplex Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) signals efficiently. The resulting Hyper-Distributed RFID Antenna (HYDRA) system enhances distribution of the RFID reader signal, providing improved coverage for large areas as well as for small, fixed regions requiring a high density of reader antennas.
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Briefs: Energy
Because it requires no battery that must be recharged or replaced, and because it requires no special wiring, such a sensor could be embedded in a hard-to-reach place, like inside the inner workings of a ship’s engine. There, it could automatically gather data on the machine’s power consumption and operations for long periods of time.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Researchers have found ways to develop soft OECTs for wearable pressure sensors. They first experimented with a solid type of gating substance: a charged, gelatinous substance called an ionic hydrogel. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Microelectronics face a key challenge because of their small size. To avoid overheating, microelectronics need to consume only a fraction of the electricity of conventional electronics while still operating at peak performance. Researchers have achieved a breakthrough that could allow for a new kind of microelectronic material to do just that.
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Briefs: Connectivity
Modern PLC+HMI platforms have overcome weaknesses of older devices and now provide a top-performing and space-optimized option for designers to implement control and visualization for a variety of diverse applications.
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Briefs: Energy
The improved method for fabricating battery electrodes may lead to high-performance batteries that would enable more energy-efficient EVs, as well as such benefits as enhancing power grid storage, according to Hongtao Sun, Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have improved on approaches that dissolve a battery in a liquid solution in order to reduce the amount of hazardous chemicals used in the process.
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Briefs: Power
Flow batteries can serve as backup generators for the electric grid. Flow batteries are one of the key pillars of a decarbonization strategy to store energy from renewable energy resources. Their advantage is that they can be built at any scale, from the lab-bench scale, as in this PNNL study, to the size of a city block.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
An innovative approach to artificial intelligence (AI) enables reconstructing a broad field of data, such as overall ocean temperature, from a small number of field-deployable sensors using low-powered edge computing, with broad applications across industry, science, and medicine.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
To help improve the safety and security of AVs, researchers have devised a novel algorithm designed to mimic an attacking device. The algorithm lets researchers identify areas for improvement in autonomous vehicle security.
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Briefs: Information Technology
The team, led by Data Scientist Sumit Purohit, is trying to create a tool that sorts and prioritizes cyber threats on the fly. The idea is to give grid operators a clear blueprint to identify and address the biggest threats first and to protect against them without a mad scramble for resources down the road.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Modine Targets Off-Highway EVs with ‘Plug-and-Play’ BTMS
Deutronic is not alone in developing and integrating thermal-management solutions to meet the specific demands of off-highway EVs. Modine, for example, in 2023 launched a new edition of its EVantage battery thermal-management system with a liquid-cooled condenser (L-CON BTMS). Read on to learn more.
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
There are times when scientific progress comes in the form of discovering something completely new. Other times, progress boils down to doing something better, faster, or more easily. New research from the lab of Caltech’s Lihong Wang, the Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, is the latter. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Imaging
Mimicking the easy, instantaneous image processing power of the human eye, Penn State electrical engineering researchers created a metasurface, an optical element akin to a glass slide that uses tiny nanostructures, placed at different angles to control light.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Researchers from Japan have developed DPPFA–Net, an innovative network that overcomes challenges related to occlusion and noise introduced by adverse weather.
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