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: Nanotechnology

Bio-Inspired Mechanics to Make Robots More Effective

This technology could impact new directions in robotics design.

Briefs: Materials

Slippery Surfaces Allow Sticky Pastes and Gels to Slide

An engineered surface treatment can reduce waste and improve efficiency in many processes.

Facility Focus: Nanotechnology

Facility Focus: Army Test and Evaluation Command

The Army Test and Evaluation Command provides essential information to acquisition decision-makers and commanders.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Electrically Non-Conductive Ladder Fall Protection

This system protects workers on lightning and telecommunications towers, and on oil and gas platforms.

Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics

Sensor Uses Microwaves to Determine Real-Time Ice Accumulation

The sensor makes it easier to detect and manage ice accumulation on aircraft wings.

5 Ws: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

5 Ws of PAWS Smart Headphones

Learn about the Pedestrian Audio Wearable System (PAWS), a low-cost, headset-based, wearable platform.

Question of the Week: Energy

Will Rain Become a Viable Energy Source?

Our lead INSIDER story today demonstrated the power of a droplet energy generator – specifically the system’s ability to light up 100 LEDs with just a small amount of water.

Blog: Energy

Rain Power: Droplet-Based Energy Generator Lights Up 100 LEDs

An energy breakthrough from the City University of Hong Kong finds power in a single drop of water – up to 140 volts, in fact.

Question of the Week: Electronics & Computers

Will Cooling Coatings Catch On?

This month’s Tech Briefs featured a potential alternative to the air conditioner: A painted-on polymer coating that can cool down a building.

Question of the Week: Connectivity

Do the 5G Benefits Outweigh the Risks?

A feature article in this month’s Tech Briefs explored how the fifth-generation mobile network known as 5G will support the creation of increasingly “smart” factories – ones that allow manufacturers to further improve factory automation, human/machine interfaces, and mobility.

Blog: Photonics/Optics

SPIE Photonics West 2020, Day 2: Sensing LiDAR's Rise

Editor Bruce A. Bennett shares his observations from SPIE Photonics West, including the emergence of LiDAR.

Blog: Transportation

SPIE Photonics West 2020 – Sights from Day 1

See what caught Bruce A. Bennett's eye during Day 1 of Photonics West 2020 in San Francisco.

Question of the Week: Electronics & Computers

In the Near Future, Will Computers Use Light Instead of Electricity?

This month in Tech Briefs: Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed an optical switch that routes light from one computer chip to another in just 20 billionths of a second — faster than any other similar device.

Blog: Software

How to Design an Airless Car Tire? Start with Simulation

Researchers from the University of Illinois are looking at all the different ways to create a non-pneumatic automotive tire.

INSIDER: Power

Microchip Capability Expanded with New 3D Inductor Technology

A team of engineers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has boosted the performance of its previously developed 3D inductor technology by adding as much as three orders...

INSIDER: Electronics & Computers

Laser Diode Emits Deep UV Light

Nagoya University scientists have succeeded in designing a laser diode that emits deep-ultraviolet light. It emits the world's shortest lasing wavelength, at 271.8 nanometers, under pulsed electric current...

INSIDER: Power

New Method Gives Robust Transistors

Scientists at Linköping University (Linköping, Sweden) have described a method to manufacture transistors using gallium nitride and aluminum nitride that have the ability to withstand voltages as high...

INSIDER: Test & Measurement

Method Detects Defects in 2D Materials for Future Electronics and Sensors

To further shrink electronic devices and to lower energy consumption, the semiconductor industry is interested in using 2D materials, but manufacturers need a quick...

Briefs: Software

Augmented Reality System Lets Smartphone Users Interact with Virtual Objects

This system places virtual objects within real-world backgrounds on cellphone screens and lets people interact with those objects by hand as if they were really there.