Photonics & Imaging

Imaging

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.

Stories

34
0
30
30
Briefs: Energy
Plans are underway to create more powerful particle accelerators, whose collisions will unleash large subatomic storms. How will researchers sift through the chaos? Read on to find out.
Feature Image
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Maksym Kovalenko and his team have proposed a novel solution that allows them to utilize every photon of light for color recognition. For nearly a decade, they have been researching perovskite-based image sensors. In a new study published in Nature, they show that their new technology works. Read on to learn more.
Feature Image
Briefs: Information Technology
Northwestern engineers have developed a new system for full-body motion capture — and it doesn’t require specialized rooms, expensive equipment, bulky cameras, or an array of sensors. Instead, it requires a simple mobile device. Read on to learn more.
Feature Image
Blog: Design
Two decades after the original idea, RoboBall is rolling across Texas A&M University. The RAD Lab is intent on sending the novel spherical robot into uncharted terrain.
Feature Image
INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The Silicon Technology for Applications Relying on Light with Photonics Devices (STARLight) project brings together a consortium of leading industrial and...
Feature Image
Blog: AR/AI
While the average pampered pup at home may lounge on the couch and demand belly rubs, the robotic dogs being created at Arizona State University are stepping up to take on some of the world’s most dangerous tasks.
Feature Image
Quiz: Photonics/Optics
Television was king during the second half of the 20th century — what do you know about the history of the technology?
Feature Image
5 Ws: Photonics/Optics
North Carolina State University engineers have built a tiny spectrometer that is orders of magnitude smaller than current technologies and can accurately measure wavelengths of light from ultraviolet to the near infrared.
Feature Image
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A new computer vision technique developed by MIT engineers significantly speeds up the characterization of newly synthesized electronic materials. The technique automatically analyzes images of printed semiconducting samples and quickly estimates two key electronic properties for each sample. Read on to learn more.
Feature Image
Briefs: Materials
Engineers at NASA Langley Research Center have developed a cutting-edge thermal inspection technology that enhances defect detection on low-emissivity surfaces by eliminating false readings caused by infrared reflections. Read on to learn more.
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Imaging
For loading and unloading workpiece carriers containing wafers of different sizes in an automated process prior to PECVD coating, acp systems has developed a robotic solution aided by image processing for a leading manufacturer of space solar technology. Read on to learn more.
Feature Image
Articles: Photonics/Optics
Patent-pending imaging technologies created in Purdue University’s College of Engineering could be developed and commercialized for applications as diverse as medical imaging, autonomous navigation, surveillance, microscopy, and advanced manufacturing. Read on to learn more about it.
Feature Image
Briefs: Imaging
Metabolic imaging is a noninvasive method that enables clinicians and scientists to study living cells using laser light, which can help them assess disease progression and treatment responses. But light scatters when it shines into biological tissue, limiting how deeply it can penetrate and hampering the resolution of captured images. Now, MIT researchers have developed a new technique that more than doubles the usual depth limit of metabolic imaging. Read on to learn more.
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Software
Why should you know the right trigger strategy? Read on to find out.
Feature Image
INSIDER: Aerospace
The skies are getting crowded. Every day, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration manages tens of thousands of flights — from drones and helicopters to commercial jets. As air traffic...
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Aerospace
When Hibiscus is sent into orbit at the end of 2026, it will open new possibilities to combat global warming and increase heat efficiency for urban planners.
Feature Image
White Papers: Robotics, Automation & Control
Document cover
The Next Wave of Machine Vision Interfaces — Thunderbolt, RocEv2, and Embedded
One of the biggest game changers for machine vision has been the introduction and standardization of interfaces. In the earlier years of this century GigE Vision...

INSIDER: Imaging
A new imaging technique developed by MIT researchers could enable quality-control robots in a warehouse to peer through a cardboard shipping box and see that the handle of a...
Feature Image
NASA Spinoff: Communications
Satellite builders now have the option of using small, collapsible dish antennas made by Tendeg LLC of Louisville, CO, which developed them with funding and cooperation from NASA, along with the patented technology developed at JPL. Read on to learn more.
Feature Image
On-Demand Webinars: Photonics/Optics
Feature Image
Advancements in silicon photonic and micro-optic technologies are driving the need to perform precision alignments down to sub-micrometer levels. As cutting-edge optical and...
Special Reports: Software
Document cover
AI In Product Design & Manufacturing - June 2025
How swarm robotics could replace the assembly line in aircraft manufacturing…why AI‐powered engineering matters in automotive lightweighting…elevating welding operations with adaptive...

Briefs: Imaging
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a robotic system whose primary structural platform, or “orb,” can be injected into a pipe network and perform reconnaissance of piping infrastructure and other interior volumes. When deployed, this technology uses throttled fluid flow from a companion device for passive propulsion. Read on to learn more.
Feature Image
Quiz: Imaging
Used to discover hidden heat patterns, thermal imaging cameras (TICs) can also save lives. They’re also used in everyday life. How much do you know about TICs? Find out with this quiz.
Feature Image
On-Demand Webinars: Defense
Feature Image
Until now, researchers have had to choose between thermal and visible imaging: One reveals heat signatures while the other provides structural...
Technology & Society: AR/AI
Desperately wanting to bridge the gap between the deaf and people who don't know sign language, a Florida Atlantic University team decided to use AI and computer engineering to build a smart, real-time ASL system.
Feature Image
Articles: Software
Machine vision is a cornerstone of modern manufacturing quality control, ensuring product consistency and reliability. However, many facilities face a dilemma: while their existing vision systems remain mechanically sound, their analytical capabilities lag behind evolving manufacturing requirements. Read on to learn the solution.
Feature Image
Briefs: Medical
New technology developed by researchers at the University of Houston could revolutionize medical imaging and lead to faster, more precise and more cost-effective alternatives to traditional diagnostic methods. Read on to learn more.
Feature Image
Briefs: Medical
Metabolic imaging is a noninvasive method that enables clinicians and scientists to study living cells using laser light, which can help them assess disease progression and treatment responses. But light scatters when it shines into biological tissue, limiting how deeply it can penetrate and hampering the resolution of captured images. Now, MIT researchers have developed a new technique that more than doubles the usual depth limit of metabolic imaging. Read on to learn more.
Feature Image
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Physicists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created a compact laser that emits extremely bright, short pulses of light in a useful but...
Feature Image

Videos