Electronics & Software

Here are innovative solutions for your biggest challenges in Electronics and Software - Power Supplies and Management, Board-Level Electronics, Components and Batteries. You’ll find applications essential to military, aviation, medical and automotive design engineering.

Stories

Briefs: Energy

Extracting Bioproducts from Plants for Biofuels

Biofuels can achieve cost parity with petroleum fuels.

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Disrupting the Automobile Design Process

The more complex the vehicle, the greater the need for comprehensive design solutions.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Supercapacitors for Wearable Devices

These robust supercapacitors still work when stretched to eight times their original size.

Briefs: Materials

Polymer/Ceramic Composite as a Thin-Film Solid Electrolyte

This composite can be used in lithium metal batteries.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Metasurface Focuses Transmissions in the Terahertz Band

Assembling tiny chips into unique programmable surfaces dramatically increases the amount of data wireless systems can transmit.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Ultrasonic Projector

A chip-based technology generates sound profiles with high resolution and intensity to make ultrasound therapy more effective and easier.

Products: Electronics & Computers

Product of the Month

The GVC1001 computer features dual 10-GigE ports for gigabit Ethernet camera or other sensor inputs.

Blog: Test & Measurement

Readers Select 2020 Products of the Year

This year's winners included industrial-automation software, simulation tech, and digital storage oscilloscopes.

INSIDER: Motion Control

Automating the Design of Soft Robots

There are some tasks that traditional rigid robots aren’t cut out for. Soft-bodied robots, on the other hand, may be able to interact with people more safely or slip into tight spaces with ease. But...

Blog: RF & Microwave Electronics

How Much Dynamic Range Do You Need from a Radar Sensor?

Long-range radar is used in air-traffic control. Short-range radar supports automotive applications like collision avoidance. How do you know what range you need for your application?

Blog: Electronics & Computers

A 'Wearable Microgrid' Powers Your Devices

You have the power. That's the idea behind a "wearable microgrid" from the University of California San Diego that harvest and stores energy from your body to power electronics.

INSIDER: Power

Luminescent Windows Generate Energy From Inside and Out

Rice University engineers have suggested a colorful solution to next-generation energy collection: Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) in your windows. The team designed and built...

INSIDER: Power

New Wearable Device Turns the Body Into a Battery

Researchers at CU Boulder have developed a new, low-cost, wearable device that transforms the human body into a biological battery. The device is stretchy enough that you can wear it like a...

INSIDER: Physical Sciences

A Fluid Solution to Dendrite Growth in Batteries

Scientists at University of California, Davis, have proposed a solution to dendrite growth in rechargeable lithium metal batteries using microfluidics. The group proved that flowing ions near...

INSIDER: Materials

Inexpensive Battery Charges Rapidly for Electric Vehicles

Range anxiety, the fear of running out of power before being able to recharge an electric vehicle, may be a thing of the past, according to a team of Penn State engineers who are...

Blog: Transportation

As Vehicles Becomes More Complex, What Should Be Tested First?

Software and electrical engineering is converging in today’s vehicles. A reader asks our expert: “How do you decide which items to test first?”

Question of the Week: Electronics & Computers

Do You See Applications for Electronics-Free Robots?

In our lead INSIDER story today, UCSD researcher Dylan Drotman talked to Tech Briefs about his team’s air-powered robot.

Special Reports: Power

Unmanned Systems - March 2021

Drones that swarm and change shape mid-flight... autonomous combat vehicles on the battlefield...the latest in counter-UAS technology. Read about new advances in air and ground unmanned systems in this report from...

Briefs: Software

3D-Printed Working Heart Pump with Real Human Cells

The functioning human heart pump provides a model to track and trace what happens at the cell and molecular levels in the pump structure.

Briefs: Materials

Stacking and Twisting Graphene Unlocks a Rare Form of Magnetism

The technology could lead to a platform for quantum computation or new types of energy-efficient data storage applications.

Briefs: Nanotechnology

Method Checks Electronic Properties of Oxide Materials

This method is an important step towards smaller, more advanced, environmentally friendly electronics.

NASA Spinoff: RF & Microwave Electronics

NASA Brings Airport Communications into the Digital Age

Pilots and air traffic controllers no longer will rely solely on voice communications.

Briefs: Nanotechnology

Lightweight, Hypersonic, Thermal Protection Material

The material is designed for high-temperature applications in aircraft, building insulation, personal protective clothing, industrial, and automotive.