Electronics & Software

Led by the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Nottingham (U.K.), a research team is using thermoacoustic technology for the first time to convert biomass fuels into energy to power a combination stove, refrigerator, and generator. Part of the ~$4M SCORE (Stove for...

As noted in the article "Mini CW Lasers Enable Next-Generation Bioinstrumentation" in May's edition of Photonics Tech Briefs (PTB), continuous-wave (CW) lasers have helped advance research in fields such as cell sorting and DNA sequencing. Written by Jurgen Niederhofer, product manager of Newport's Spectra-Physics Lasers...

A model predictive control (MPC) algorithm that differs from prior MPC algorithms has been developed for controlling an uncertain nonlinear system. This algorithm guarantees the resolvability of an associated finite-horizon optimal-control problem in a receding horizon implementation. Given...

A versatile computer program analyzes the link-design control table necessary for designing the telecommunication subsystem of a spacecraft in orbit around the Earth or on a deep-space mission. The program helps to calculate all the important parameter values for spacecraft-to-ground telemetry links...

Avionics systems are becoming more powerful and more dependent upon data exchanged between instruments. These instruments and subsystems reside on a network and must share time-critical data to achieve their mission. For example, targeting systems require real-time input of...

Aitech Defense Systems, Inc. (Chatsworth, CA) has expanded the C900 series of rugged 3U CompactPCI (cPCI) single-board computers (SBCs) with the C903, available in air- or conduction-cooled models; both conform to PICMG 2.0 R3.0 and ANSI/VITA 30.1-1991 specifications, respectively.

Radstone Embedded Computing (Billerica, MA) released two versions of its 6U VPX form factor family, the DSP230 and the SBC610. Both are "AXISenabled" — they support Radstone's AXIS Advanced Multiprocessor Integrated Software. VME interoperability is featured at the board level, allowing integration between the 6U VPX line...

The IP-EP200 series Industry Pack I/O modules from Acromag (Wixom, MI) interface digital I/O signals to a user-configurable Altera® Cyclone™ II FPGA. With JTAG access to the SignalTap® II embedded logic analyzer, users can monitor internal device operation.

BittWare (Concord, NH) has released the GX-AMC (GXAM) FPGA-only board based on Altera Corporation's high-density field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The Advanced Mezzanine Card (AdvancedMC) uses the Altera Stratix II GX FPGA for development and deployment of systems such as wireless infrastructure.