Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
This NASA innovation is a biologically inspired system management method designed to make sensor webs as well as other autonomous and autonomic systems more self-directing and self-managing. Based on the mechanisms of cell apoptosis, this method ensures safe and correct operation...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Highly capable small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) provide substantial business opportunity, especially if allowed to operate in the suburban market. Reliability issues force the use of a safety pilot for each vehicle in...
Articles: Test & Measurement
This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that innovation.
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Anew grasp system with robotic hands works without previously knowing the characteristics of objects, learning by trial and error. The robot features two hands based on human hands in terms of...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Researchers at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) have been developing a fiber optic sensing system (FOSS) that represents a major breakthrough in...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has developed a method to collect suspicious data and analyze them without extensive costs. A common challenge in complex computer systems is the identification of unauthorized use, which can be...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center have overcome limitations plaguing the satellite sector since its inception through the development of a robotic system allowing for the autonomous capture and servicing of in-orbit satellites. By...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The need for non-invasive, real-time measurement of the density and speed of sound of a liquid led to the development of an ultrasonic sensing technique based upon the reflection of ultrasound at the solid-fluid interface.
Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics
The Pressure Sensor Mechanism is designed to measure or monitor tactile pressure. It is based on passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sensor tags and is applicable to a variety of systems. As RFID sensors transmit information wirelessly, they eliminate many challenges associated with traditional wired systems such...
Products: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Product of the Month
Opto 22, Temecula, CA, introduced the groov EPIC® system that incorporates into one unit everything needed to connect and control field and operational devices and data through on-premises IT...
Blog: Automotive
A reader asks our expert: "How do road conditions impact vehicle-to-vehicle responses?"
News: Imaging
Stanford University is developing a laser-based imaging technology that allows cars to peek around corners.
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Researchers have, for the first time, integrated two technologies widely used in applications such as optical communications, bio-imaging and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems...
Question of the Week: Sensors/Data Acquisition
In this week's Tech Briefs TV video, Rice University scientists demonstrated an ability to embed graphene into paper, cloth, and even your breakfast. Why etch patterns into toast? James Tour, a chemist at Rice University, envisions never-before-seen applications, like embedding electronics as a self-cooking heat...
News: Energy
Have a product design idea? The "Create the Future" Design Contest is now open for submissions until July 2, 2018.
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Researchers from the University of British Columbia have developed a stretchable sensor that can be weaved into a fabric to detect a range of complex human movements, including finger gestures and heartbeats.
Products: Photonics/Optics
Optical Design Software
Lambda Research Corporation (Littleton, MA) announced the release of TracePro 7.8.3 and the Early Visibility release of its flagship TracePro software. Some of the new features and enhancements in TracePro...
Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Farming has not been untouched by the IoT revolution. The relationships among field conditions, crops, and strategies for planting, irrigating, and harvesting are complex, yet vital for the...
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to integrate all sorts of devices, near and far, into a connected web. This web is forecast to see exponential growth. But in the rush for companies to maximize their...
Products: Motion Control
Digital Temperature Sensors
The ProSense® ETS series digital temperature sensors from Automation Direct (Cumming, GA) now include a precision RTD sensing element, measuring electronics, and process fitting, combined in a single...
Articles: Communications
Sensor networks are the backbone of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0. They provide the data that drives automated systems: both feedback for control loops and status information for all of the...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A temperature sensor with practically no effect at all on the temperature of the object measured has been created in the laboratory by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) and the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and is awaiting a patent for commercial production.
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
In London's St. Paul's Cathedral, a whisper can be heard far across the circular whispering gallery as the sound curves around the walls. Now, an optical whispering gallery mode resonator developed by Penn...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
A temperature sensor was developed that runs on 113 picowatts of power — about 10 billion times smaller than a Watt. The technology could enable devices that can be powered by harvesting energy from...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The market for smart security access systems is expected to grow rapidly, reaching nearly $10 billion by 2022. Today's smart security access systems mainly rely on traditional techniques...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed an inexpensive electrochemical sensing system that significantly improves the ability to rapidly and accurately detect heavy...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A low-cost sensor technology, called Chemical Identification by Magneto-Elastic Sensing (ChIMES), uses target response materials (TRMs) as actuators in magneto-elastic (M-E) sensors...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A new approach to time-of-flight imaging that increases its depth resolution 1,000-fold has been presented by the MIT Camera Culture group. That type of resolution could make...
Briefs: Medical
Panoramic irradiators are commonly used to disinfect and sterilize products such as medical supplies, cosmetic raw materials, food, food containers, and medical supplies. The irradiators...