Sensors & Test

Articles: Transportation

Understanding the Implications of 5G Cellular

To clear up some of the confusion about what the industry means when it says 5G, here’s a guide to what it’s all about.

Briefs: Materials

Conductive Polymer/Carbon Nanotube Structural Materials

These materials can be used in aerospace vehicles, automobiles, clothing, helmets, and chemical sensors.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Sensor Uses Microwaves to Determine Real-Time Ice Accumulation

The sensor makes it easier to detect and manage ice accumulation on aircraft wings.

Articles: Imaging

Shortwave Infrared Cameras for High-Temperature Manufacturing and R&D Processes

There are longwave, midwave, and shortwave camera systems—each with its own advantages for specific industries and uses.

Technology Leaders: Test & Measurement

3D Scanning Inspection

CT vs. structured light scanning — See which option is best for you.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Researchers Generate Terahertz Laser with Laughing Gas

In the middle ground between microwaves and visible light lies terahertz radiation, and the promise of “Tray vision.”

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Trunk Support Assists Those with Spinal Cord Injury

The device retrains patients with spinal cord injury to sit more stably and gain an expanded active sitting workspace.

Briefs: Data Acquisition

Improved Model Predicts Heat Loss in Gallium Nitride Semiconductors

This new understanding can help chip manufacturers find ways to better diffuse the heat that leads to device damage and decreased device lifespans.

Technology Leaders: Imaging

Spectral Sensitivity Curves of Cameras

Different line scan prism manufacturers might compare two possible curves in their advertising and argue that the steeper flanks should enable better color reproduction with greater selectivity.

Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs

Electrically Non-Conductive Ladder Fall Protection

This system protects workers on lightning and telecommunications towers, and on oil and gas platforms.

Blog: Test & Measurement

NASA's SuperCam Set to Look for Evidence of Life On Mars

See what the SuperCam will do when it arrives on Mars in 2021.

Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping

New Discoveries, From Just a Grain of Moon Dust

“We’re analyzing rocks from space, atom by atom,” says researcher Jennika Greer.

Blog: Photonics/Optics

SPIE Photonics West 2020, Day 2: Sensing LiDAR's Rise

Editor Bruce A. Bennett shares his observations from SPIE Photonics West, including the emergence of LiDAR.

Blog: Automotive

SPIE Photonics West 2020 – Sights from Day 1

See what caught Bruce A. Bennett's eye during Day 1 of Photonics West 2020 in San Francisco.

INSIDER: Imaging

Microchip Capability Expanded with New 3D Inductor Technology

A team of engineers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has boosted the performance of its previously developed 3D inductor technology by adding as much as three...

INSIDER: Semiconductors & ICs

Laser Diode Emits Deep UV Light

Nagoya University scientists have succeeded in designing a laser diode that emits deep-ultraviolet light. It emits the world's shortest lasing wavelength, at 271.8 nanometers, under pulsed electric current...

INSIDER: Semiconductors & ICs

New Method Gives Robust Transistors

Scientists at Linköping University (Linköping, Sweden) have described a method to manufacture transistors using gallium nitride and aluminum nitride that have the ability to withstand voltages as...

INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Method Detects Defects in 2D Materials for Future Electronics and Sensors

To further shrink electronic devices and to lower energy consumption, the semiconductor industry is interested in using 2D materials, but manufacturers need a...

NASA Spinoff: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Biofeedback Loops Aim to Enhance Combat and Sports Training

Research in astronaut monitoring leads to virtual reality spinoffs.

Briefs: Imaging

Augmented Reality System Lets Smartphone Users Interact with Virtual Objects

This system places virtual objects within real-world backgrounds on cellphone screens and lets people interact with those objects by hand as if they were really there.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Low-Energy Device Rapidly Reroutes Light in Computer Chips

The switch is a major new step toward building a computer that uses light instead of electricity to process information.