Sensors

Low-Cost Technology for Detecting, Measuring Lead Concentrations in Water

Engineers at MIT, Nanyang Technological University, and several companies have developed a compact and inexpensive technology for detecting and measuring lead concentrations in water, potentially enabling a significant advance in tackling this persistent global health issue. Read on to learn more.

A Smart Sensor Patch to Detect Health Symptoms

A research team from Japan has fabricated a flexible multimodal wearable sensor patch and developed edge computing software that is capable of detecting arrhythmia, coughs, and falls in volunteers. Read on to learn more about the sensor, which uses a smartphone as the edge computing device.

Nanoparticles-Based Wearable Biosensors

A team of Caltech engineers has developed a technique for inkjet printing arrays of special nanoparticles that enables the mass production of long-lasting wearable sweat sensors. These sensors could be used to monitor a variety of biomarkers, such as vitamins, hormones, metabolites, and medications, in real time. Read on to learn more.

Fiber Optic Sensing Technologies

Known as FOSS (for fiber optic sensing system), NASA’s technology portfolio combines advanced sensors and innovative algorithms into a robust package that accurately and cost-effectively monitors a host of critical parameters in real time. Read on to learn more.

Novel Flexible Terahertz Camera Can Inspect Objects with Diverse Shapes

A team of researchers from Tokyo Tech, led by Associate Professor Yukio Kawano, has designed a flexible and free-standing THz sensor array that can be used to image blind ends of irregularly shaped objects. Read on to learn more about it.

Meet SMSPDs: Superconducting Microwire Single-Photon Detectors

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.

How to Optimize Self-Powered Sensing

MIT researchers have developed a method that anyone can use to design an energy management interface between the harvester and the sensor load to minimize the drain on the harvester and maximize the amount of data that can be transmitted by the sensor. Read on to learn more via this Q&A with Daniel Monagle and Steven B. Leeb.

Implementing Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance is based on condition monitoring, anomaly detection, and classification algorithms, and integrates predictive models which can estimate the remaining machine runtime. Read on to learn more about it and how to implement it.

New Products

See the new products, including the VITA 93 QMC Mezzanine Modules from Acromag; fiber-optic sensors of the optoCONTROL CLS1000 series from Micro-Epsilon; AW-Lake's TG Series Gas Turbine Flow Meter; NewTek Sensors' advanced Linear Variable Differential Transformer specifically designed to withstand the extreme environments found in next-gen molten salt reactors; and more.

Low-Power Hydrogen Sensor Detects Leaks in an Instant

KAUST researchers have invented a robust, highly sensitive, low-cost hydrogen sensor that outperforms available commercial detectors, offering a vital safeguard for the burgeoning hydrogen economy. Read on to learn more.

Better Images for Humans and Computers

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.

FAU Engineers Design New Autonomous System to Monitor Arctic Ice Melt

Researchers from the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University have proposed a design for an alternative, autonomous observational method, which holds promise for improving the autonomy of marine vehicles, aiding in maritime missions, and gaining a deeper understanding of how melting Arctic sea ice affects marine ecosystems. Read on to learn more.

Drones Can Detect Fires and Monitor Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Forest fire prevention and control agencies in São Carlos, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, will soon have help from the sky to detect fires more quickly and combat them before they grow out of control, as researchers at the University of São Paulo are developing drones equipped with gas sensors and artificial intelligence systems to detect forest fires.

New App Performs Real-Time, Full-Body Motion Capture With a Mobile Device

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.

Monitoring the Injection Molding Process to Improve Quality and Lower Costs

The digitalization of industrial measurement solutions has come a long way. With the help of these levers, plastic injection molders have effective tools at hand to tackle current challenges, be it cost pressure and competitiveness, high product quality, or sustainability requirements. Read on to learn more.

Collaborative Robots Need More Sophisticated Sensors

The transition from isolated, pre-programmed robots to adaptive cobots marks a significant advancement in industrial automation — one that depends not only on software but on a new generation of sensing technologies. Read on to learn more.

The Impact of AI Across the Industrial Value Chain

It is no exaggeration to say that AI will be the next big leap across all of industry, reimagining the way people work, products are designed, and factories are operated. But AI doesn’t mean a fully autonomous future but rather a harmony, uniting people and technology in a way that plays to the strength of both to achieve a result greater than what either could achieve alone. Read on to learn more.

Flexible Conductive Skin Gives Robots the Human Touch

A team of engineers has developed a low-cost, durable, highly-sensitive robotic ‘skin’ that can be added to robotic hands like a glove, enabling robots to detect information about their surroundings in a way that’s similar to humans. Read on to learn more.

Built-In Smart Sensors Can Prevent Lithium-Ion Battery Fires Before They Start

New smart sensors can help detect dangerous internal failures in lithium-ion batteries before they escalate into fires or explosions, say researchers from the University of Surrey. Read on to learn more.

Meet RoboBall: A Robot with No Fixed Top or Bottom

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.

A New Window into Earth’s Upper Atmosphere

Between 50 and 100 kilometers (30-60 miles) above Earth’s surface lies a largely unstudied stretch of the atmosphere, called the mesosphere. It’s too high for airplanes and weather balloons,...

An AI-Powered Robodog Is Here to Save the Day!

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.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a new tunable laser that uses a series of rings to smoothly emit many light wavelengths from a single chip; a smart capsule called PillTrek, which can measure pH, temperature, and a variety of different biomarkers; and more.

Thin Film Sensor for Ultra High-Temp Measurement

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a thin film sensor that measures temperatures up to 1200 °F, and whose prototype successor may achieve measurements up to ~3000 °F — which was the surface temperature of the Space Shuttle during its atmospheric reentry. Read on to learn more.

‘Exergames’ Aim to Make Working Out Enjoyable

Virtual reality video games that combine screen time with exercise are a great way to get fit, but game designers face a major challenge — adherence to ‘exergames’ is low, with most users dropping out once they start to feel uncomfortable or bored. Read on to learn what a team did to thwart this.