Your destination for advances in imaging systems, machine vision, visualization software, and human-machine interfaces (HMIs) technologies. Design engineers can access news, technical briefs, applications, and product developments.
Wide-scale applications for Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) became practical in the 1980s when they started being fabricated with the same silicon wafer processes as semiconductor chips. Once they could be mass produced, they found a major market in automobile safety systems as inertial sensors for airbag deployment. Then came the introduction of smart phones in the late 2000s. Read on to learn where they're heading.
Early LiDAR sensors, built on legacy mechanical architectures, proved the possibility of 3D perception but struggled to meet the demands of production. As the industry matures, the focus has shifted from simply detecting objects to doing so reliably, at scale, and at a price point suitable for commercial deployment. Read on to learn more.
A team of biomedical engineers at Georgia Tech has unveiled a breakthrough in adaptive optics: a bio-mimetic, light-powered soft lens that mimics the human eye’s ability to refocus and adjust to varying light conditions. Read on to learn more.
Astronomers and amateurs alike know the bigger the telescope, the more powerful the imaging capability. To keep the power but streamline one of the bulkier components, a Penn State-led research team created the first ultrathin, compact metalens telescope capable of imaging faraway objects, including the Moon. Read on to learn more.
See what's new on the market, including Nikon Corporation's newest version of NEXIV software, “AutoMeasure”; the ImageIR® 6300 Z, from InfraTec; PI's new technology platform for electro-optical wafer-level testing; HORIBA's release of EzSpec-SDK, a flexible and robust software development kit; and more.
Improving energy conversion efficiency in power electronics is vital for a sustainable society. Wide-bandgap semiconductors like GaN and SiC power devices offer advantages due to their high-frequency capabilities. However, energy losses in passive components at high frequencies hinder efficiency and miniaturization. Find out what a research team from the School of Engineering, Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan, developed to help.
By folding AI algorithms into a camera’s sensor itself, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have now eliminated a data-processing bottleneck that has long plagued the performance of spectral imaging technology. The result is an intelligent sensor capable of identifying chemicals and characterizing materials quickly and efficiently. Read on to learn more.
In a new study, researchers at CU Boulder have used doughnut-shaped beams of light to take detailed images of objects too tiny to view with traditional microscopes. The new technique could help scientists improve the inner workings of a range of “nanoelectronics,” including the miniature semiconductors in computer chips. Read on to learn more.
When materials function inside an operating device, they can behave as if they are dancing. This dynamic disorder is difficult to study because the clusters are not only so small and disordered, but they also fluctuate in time. Researchers report that they have developed a new kind of “camera” that can see the local disorder. Read on to learn more about it.
Keep up with the rapid development of autonomous systems impacting warfare, homeland security, naval operations and more in this collection of articles from the editors of Aerospace...
Whether in the kitchen or on a workshop floor, robot assistants that can fetch items for people could be extremely useful. Now, a team of Brown University researchers has developed...
Last December, Tech Briefs readers were asked to select one product from our 2025 Products of the Month to be named Readers’ Choice Product of the Year. Thanks to all of our readers who cast their votes. Read on for the three 2025 winners.
See what's new on the market, including Aerotech's PICAlignTM architecture, a new active alignment solution designed to overcome the manufacturing challenges of high-volume Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) production; PI's 6-axis piezo alignment platform: the P-616.65S Nano-Cube® 6-DOF piezo-flexure nano positioning system; a high-impedance miniaturized ferrite-core wire wound inductor from Coilcraft; and more.
University of Washington researchers have developed IRIS, a smart ring that allows users to control smart devices by aiming the ring’s small camera at the device and clicking a built-in button. The prototype Bluetooth ring sends an image of the selected device to the user’s phone, which controls the device. Read on to learn more.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo developed a framework to enable decentralized artificial intelligence-based building automation with a focus on privacy. The system enables AI-powered devices like cameras and interfaces to cooperate directly, using a new form of device-to-device communication. In doing so, it eliminates the need for central servers and thus the need for centralized data retention, often seen as a potential security weak point and risk to private data. Read on to learn more.
Engineering the next generation of surgical robots...conductive skin gives robots the human touch...how vision integration is transforming collaborative robotics. Read about these innovations and more...
See what's new on the market, including COMSOL Multiphysics® version 6.4; Novotechnik's Vert-X 26 Series of non-contacting magnetic angle sensors; HMS Networks' N-Tron NT110-FX2, an unmanaged Ethernet switch with two fiber ports; Littelfuse's MMIX1T500N20X4 X4-Class Ultra-Junction Power MOSFET; and more.
Harvard research breakthrough could speed development of room‐temperature quantum computers…New generation of ultra‐lightweight, high‐res space cameras takes flight…NASA LiDAR advance gives...
Stanford researchers have developed a flexible material that can quickly change its surface texture and colors, offering potential applications in camouflage, art, robotics, and...
Ultrashort laser pulses — that are shorter than a millionth of a millionth of a second — have transformed fundamental science, engineering and medicine. Despite this, their ultrashort duration...
NVIDIA is bringing Ethernet networking with co-packaged optics to artificial intelligence (AI) factories, enabling scale-out and scale-across on the NVIDIA Rubin platform...
Endoscopic imaging system development requires coordination between various engineering disciplines, especially for optical illumination and imaging engines, particularly when adding fluorescence imaging capabilities. Read on to learn more about it.
From autonomous vehicles navigating in darkness to UAVs detecting threats, thermal imaging steps in when visible cameras fail — and lens design determines performance, cost, and reliability. Read on to learn more.
This article highlights requirements for an IR imaging C-UAS platform and examines the design of one state-of-the-art lens system for this application. Read on to learn more.
We here at Tech Briefs want to remedy that toxic part of the holidays. So, we put together a list of terrific gift ideas for anyone — but especially the engineer — in your life.
Miniaturization ranks as the driving force behind the semiconductor industry. The tremendous gains in computer performance since the 1950s are largely due to the fact that ever smaller...
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has developed a Space Qualified Rover LiDAR (SQRLi) system that will improve rover sensing capabilities in a small, lightweight package. The new SQRLi package is developed to survive the hazardous space environment and provide valuable image data during planetary and lunar rover exploration. Read on to learn more about it.
