Electronics & Software

Electrical/Electronics

New technologies in power supplies and management, board-level electronics, electronics and computers, and battery systems provide wide-ranging applications essential to military, aviation, medical, and automotive.

Stories

Briefs: Materials

Polymer Mixture Creates Ultra-Sensitive Heat Sensor

An ultra-sensitive heat sensor was developed that is based on the fact that certain materials are thermoelectric. The electrons in a thermoelectric material move from the cold side to the warm...

Articles: Electronics & Computers

Test Strategies to Track Hypersonic Threats

Hypersonic weapons, unlike ballistic missiles, take unpredictable paths and can evade missile defense systems. To counter hypersonic technologies, radar engineers must build systems that have no...

Q&A: Semiconductors & ICs

Q&A: Radar Imaging at Terahertz Frequencies

Professor Kenneth K. O. and his colleagues at The University of Texas at Dallas and Oklahoma State University have developed an innovative and affordable terahertz imager microchip that can enable...

Articles: Electronics & Computers

Using CoaXPress-over-Fiber for High-Speed Machine Vision

High-speed digital imaging expands the benefits of traditional machine vision (MV), transforming it from a process control tool into a diagnostic tool. Traditional MV systems use...

Articles: Electronics & Computers

Understanding Cryocooled Infrared System Reliability

Where the ability to detect mid-wave infrared (MWIR) radiation is mission critical, readiness and the importance of long, maintenance-free infrared (IR) system operation is vital. In...

Products: Photonics/Optics

New Products

Plasma Deposition Process Alluxa, Inc. (Santa Rosa, CA) recently introduced its next-generation SIRRUS™ plasma physical vapor deposition (PVD) platform offering full spectral coverage from ultraviolet (200 μm) to infrared...

Articles: Transportation

Ultracapacitor Solutions to Address Energy-Storage Needs of Vehicles

As the electrification of automobiles continues to accelerate, the need for a safe, reliable, high-power energy-storage technology is greater than ever. Ultracapacitors...

Application Briefs: Automotive

Using Silver Sintering in Traction Inverter Assembly

Traction inverter power density (KW/L) and efficiency ($/KW) strongly impact electric vehicle (EV) weight, driving range, and cost of ownership. Unfortunately, traditional soldered power...

Briefs: Materials

New Material Offers Promise for Solid-State Batteries

Researchers from the University of Waterloo, Canada, who are members of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), headquartered at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne...

Briefs: Unmanned Systems

A High-Energy Density Lithium-Ion Battery

National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and Softbank Corp. have developed a lithium-air battery with an energy density over 500Wh/ kg - significantly higher than currently lithium-ion batteries....

Briefs: Transportation

Micro-Supercapacitors Enable Fast Charging

Micro-supercapacitors could revolutionize the way we use batteries by increasing their lifespan and enabling extremely fast charging. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have...

Question of the Week: Wearables

Would You Wear a Microgrid?

Our April issue of Tech Briefs highlighted a wearable microgrid that powers electronics by harvesting energy from the wearer’s body. The wearable (shown here) has three components: sweat-powered biofuel cells, motion-powered devices called triboelectric generators, and energy-storing supercapacitors. All parts are...

Application Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Configuring Spacecraft’s On-Board Computing Systems

A platform makes space-bound systems quick, easy, and cost-effective to develop.

Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition

AI’s Inherent Limitations Call for an ‘In-Advance’ Safety Mindset

See what Ed Brown’s early days as a high-voltage power supplies designer tell him about today’s efforts with A.I.

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Fast Low-Cost Sensor Prototyping for Wearable Technology

Engineers at UC Berkeley have developed a new technique for making sensors for wearable technology that enables medical researchers to prototype-test new designs much faster and at a...

INSIDER: Electronics & Computers

Atomic Scale Semiconductor Chips — Pushing the Limits

The information age created over nearly 60 years has given the world the internet, smart phones, and lightning-fast computers. Making this possible has been the doubling of the number...

INSIDER: Electronics & Computers

Perovskite High-Performance Transistors Can Be Printed

A Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) research team has improved the performance of a p-type semiconductor transistor using inorganic metal halide perovskite. One of...

5 Ws: Sensors/Data Acquisition

5 Ws of Floating Sensors

Wireless sensors inspired by Dandelions could be used to monitor climate change.

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Piezoelectric Polymers

A Penn State-led team of interdisciplinary researchers have developed a polymer with robust piezoelectric effectiveness, resulting in 60% more efficient electricity generation than previous iterations.