Sensors & Test

Sensors/​Data Acquisition

This is your resource for developments in smart sensor systems and data acquisition. Browse technical briefs, articles, and white papers on advanced applications in transducer technologies, detector systems, data acquisition, and sensor-related technologies.

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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The detection and localization of gas releases, such as methane from leaking natural gas pipelines or nitrogen oxides from failing electrical equipment, require high sensitivity to the target gas and insensitivity to...
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Articles: Test & Measurement
The 2018 Nominees Are: Each December, we ask our readers to cast their votes in the annual Tech Briefs’ Readers’ Choice Product of the Year Awards. Each month, our editors choose a Product of the Month that...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The first laser based on the wave physics phenomenon called bound states in the continuum (BIC) has been developed. The technology could revolutionize the development of surface lasers,...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Optimetric Measurements Over Coherent Free-Space Optical Communication
High-precision ranging (optimetric) instruments are highly desired for both space navigation and communications as well as gravitational-based science missions. Traditionally, these measurements are made with instruments solely dedicated to ranging (i.e. Doppler shift of a...
Briefs: Communications
Printable metal tags have been developed that could be attached to everyday objects to turn them into “smart” Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The tags are made from patterns...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A process has been developed that enables the production of a 2-mm flat camera. The lens is partitioned into 135 tiny facets, similar to the eyes of an insect. The facetVISION camera is suitable...
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Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
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.
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Briefs: Materials
Engineers and software developers are seeking to create technology that lets users touch, grasp, and manipulate virtual objects while feeling like they are actually touching something in the...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Real-Time Ion Mobility Sensor System
A real-time ion mobility sensor developed to detect contaminants and explosives is reliable, sensitive, robust, and inexpensive. The technology improves sensitivity and reduces false alarms for threat agents, and can identify chemicals with a sensitivity of five parts per billion.
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Ionization-Based Multidirectional Flow Sensor
One significant area of research in fuel cell technology includes systems in which a fuel cell is combined with another power generation device (a turbine, for example) to create a hybrid system that combines the advantages of the two standalone systems, resulting in a high fuel-to-electricity...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Trained rescue dogs are the best disaster workers — their sensitive noses help them track down people buried by earthquakes or avalanches. But dogs need breaks. A new measuring device is always ready...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Low-Light Night Vision Imaging and Video Capture
Conventional night vision goggles all use image intensification (I2) tube technology that multiplies ambient, visible, and near-infrared light several thousands of times, allowing a user to see and operate in very-low-light conditions. One shortcoming of I2 tube night vision devices is that they...
Briefs: Materials
Shape Memory Alloy Rock Splitters (SMARS)
Glenn's revolutionary Shape Memory Alloy Rock Splitters (SMARS) device is fabricated from nickel-titanium-halfnium (NiTiHf), nickel-titanium-zirconium compositions, or a combination. These compositions contain a secondary, nanometer-sized precipitate phase that is produced through processes of compositional...
Articles: Motion Control
As Industry 4.0 initiatives bring more and more industrial axes of motion into the realm of automation, the need for cost-effective control across them grows as well. Advances in robotics,...
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Products: Motion Control
Motor/Drive/Controller Advanced Micro Controls (Terryville, CT) offers a size 17 PLC-based SMD Series integrated stepper motor/drive/controller system. The integrated solutions are suited for new machinery, retrofits, and rapid...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Gyroscopes are devices that help vehicles, drones, and wearable and handheld electronic devices know their orientation in three-dimensional space. Originally, gyroscopes were sets of nested wheels, each spinning on a...
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Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A reader asks our industry experts: "How good are the simulation models for automotive ADAS sensors?"
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INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Developing automated systems that track occupants and self-adapt to their preferences is a major next step for the future of smart homes. When you walk into a room, for instance, a system...
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
A team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis was the first to successfully record environmental data using a wireless photonic sensor resonator with a...
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Blog: Imaging
Professor Hadas Kress-Gazit tells Tech Briefs about the "great promise" of autonomous modular robots.
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Articles: Materials
AEROGELS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL WASTES FOR NOVEL ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS Associate Prof. Hai Minh Duong and Prof. Nhan Phan-Thien, National University of Singapore...
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Articles: Materials
ALUMINUM-POWERED ELECTRICITY GENERATION Aluminum has an incredibly high energy density — double that of gasoline and an order of magnitude greater than lithium-ion....
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Articles: Transportation
ISCAD — ELECTRICAL DRIVE WITH 0% RARE EARTHS, 25% HIGHER DRIVING RANGE, AND 100% SAFETY Conventional electrical machines suffer from the problem that due to...
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News: Sensors/Data Acquisition
DETECTING PLASTIC LANDMINES Hidden PFM-1 anti-personnel landmines are unexploded ordnance (UXO) devices that pose a difficult challenge to conventional landmine...
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Articles: Data Acquisition
DON’T MELT. MELD.™ The MELD™ technology enables additive manufacturing (AM) of metals. This patented process is unique because there is no...
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Articles: Medical
IMPLANTABLE SENSOR TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM FOR ADVANCED PROSTHETIC CONTROL The Implantable Myoelectric Sensor (IMES) system transmits localized myoelectric signals simultaneously from...
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Articles: Nanotechnology
FUTURE ANTENNA MINIATURIZATION MECHANISM: MAGNETOELECTRIC ANTENNAS Hwaider Lin and Nian-Xiang Sun, Northeastern University, Boston, MA USA Antenna miniaturization...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
MIT researchers have developed novel photography optics that capture images based on the timing of reflecting light inside the optics instead of the traditional approach...
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Articles: Photonics/Optics
Reliability and longevity directly impact the cost of using Q-switched, diode pumped, solid state, ultraviolet lasers in industrial applications. Damage to the intracavity harmonic crystal is often...
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