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Briefs Electronics & Computers
Implementing Interconnected Generation in Future Civil Aircraft
In addition to providing thrust, the engines on conventional civil jet airliners generate power for onboard systems and ancillary loads in the form of pneumatic, hydraulic, and...
Articles Defense
Electronics Take Charge
Electronic controls are slowly transforming aircraft engines of all types, bringing improved fuel consumption, improved efficiency, and more power. As the functionality of control units for jet engines increases, digital...
Articles Defense
Optically Transparent EMI Shielding for Defense and Aerospace Applications
Modern electronic devices and computing equipment are often integrated with wireless capabilities which utilize multi-bands for high speed communication, as well as high...
Articles Materials
Pumped Two-Phase Cooling for Thermal Management of High Heat Flux Electronics
Pumped two-phase cooling provides a compact, low pumping power option for thermal management in high heat flux applications (300-500W/cm2). Compared to single-phase...
Articles Aerospace
Thermal Simulation and Testing of Expanded Metal Foils for Lightning Protection
With the implementation of major aircraft structures fabricated from carbon fiber reinforced plastic materials, lightning protection has become a more complicated...
Articles Defense
Software Defined Radio Enables Flexible Communications for NASA
Communication is key to just about any endeavor. NASA’s ability to update and modify communication capabilities to reflect the latest upgrades without impacts to mission time or...
Articles Test & Measurement
Automated Testing of Advanced, High-Performance, Point-to-Multipoint Radio Systems
In 2008, 4RF Communications started development of a new range of radio products to augment their existing point-to-point, long-range wireless link product. Used...
Application Briefs Aerospace
Pictorial Representation Tool for First-Aid Training
Charles River AnalyticsCambridge, MA617-491-3474www.cra.com Reducing combat fatalities demands quick and effective emergency care on the battlefield, and all soldiers are expected to provide...
Application Briefs Aerospace
Tactical Fighting System Simulator
Environmental Tectonics Corporation Southampton, PA 215-355-9100 www.etcusa.com Most fighter aircraft simulators are fixed-base, with no motion or sustained G-capability. Even those with six degree of freedom...
Application Briefs Aerospace
Ultra-Light Prototype Vehicle
U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) Warren, MI 586-215-8763 tardec.army.mil At the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), final...
Application Briefs Defense
Electro-Optical Boresight Weapon System
Senso Optics Yokneam, Israel +972-4-993-5527 www.senso-optics.com The combat effectiveness of a weapon system depends substantially on its hit probability. The most accurate aiming occurs when an optical device is aligned to the weapon’s bore centerline.
Products Defense
Signal AHPEC Platform
GE Intelligent Platforms (Waltham, MA) has announced the DSP281, a rugged, dual-node, quad-core 6U OpenVPX High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) deployed server platform. GE’s HPEC architecture scales from one to...
Products Defense
Upmast Radar System
Kelvin Hughes (Enfield, UK) offers a carbon composite housing for its SharpEye™ radar system. With coherent transmission and Doppler processing, the system separates targets from clutter, resulting in greatly improved...
Products Defense
Inductance-to-Digital Converter
Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX) unveiled an inductance-to-digital converter (LDC), a new data converter category that uses coils and springs as inductive sensors. Inductive sensing measures the position, motion,...
Products Defense
COTS Benchtop SDSI
The LibertyGT™ 1200B from RADX Technologies (San Diego, CA) combines RADX real-time measurement science software and firmware with NI PXI modules and NI LabVIEW system design software. The 1200B, a programmable benchtop...
Products Aerospace
Thermoelectric Air Conditioners
TECA Corporation (Chicago, IL) offers a flush-mounted thermoelectric air conditioner. For enclosures with limited space, flush-mounted air conditioners provide cooling without physical intrusion into the...
Products Defense
Printer Interface Unit
Sabtech (Yorba Linda, CA) has announced its new Printer Interface Unit™ (PIU). The technology allows any commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) printer to be used in place of a militarized PT-540 or compatible printer....
Products Aerospace
Optical Backplane Interconnect System
TE Connectivity (Harrisburg, PA) has released the new VITA 66.1 Ruggedized Optical Backplane interconnect system. The optical system is offered in both a receptacle (backplane) and mating plug...
Products Aerospace
Graphics Display Module
Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (Ashburn, VA) has introduced a new embedded graphics module, the VPX3-716 3U OpenVPX™ six-head graphics display card. The module is designed for use on deployed airborne and...
Products Defense
Rackmount Recorders
Pentek (Upper Saddle River, NJ) has introduced the Model RTR 2728 rugged portable and the Model RTR 2748 rugged rackmount recorders. SSD (solid state drive) storage technology achieves aggregate recording and playback rates...
Products Defense
Interconnect Solutions
Molex (Lisle, IL) manufactures a variety of interconnect solutions for the aerospace and defense industry. Their high performance cable assemblies include a range of RF/Microwave cable assemblies utilizing Temp-Flex®...
Technology Update Aerospace
Automated drilling machine takes the burr out of fuselage joint
More than 1200 large-diameter (up to ¾-in) holes must be drilled into titanium/ carbon stacks for the side-of-body joint on a particular Boeing commercial aircraft fuselage. This...
Technology Update Aerospace
Redesign of composite parts for structural integrity
In the case of composite materials, material properties are vastly dependent on the manufacturing process. While shifting the manufacturing process of a composite part from preimpregnated to...
Products Defense
Shielded twisted pair cables
W. L. Gore & Associates’ Shielded Twisted Pair Cables reduce weight while maintaining reliable signal integrity. The cables meet ANSI/NEMA WC27500 standards for aerospace and industrial electrical cable, type...
Products Aerospace
Atomic force microscopy imaging
Asylum Research’s blueDrive photothermal excitation is available on its Cypher atomic force microscopes. blueDrive makes tapping mode imaging simple, stable, and accurate. It replaces the conventional piezoacoustic excitation mechanism, instead using a blue laser to directly excite the AFM cantilever...
Products Defense
Two-component electrically conductive epoxy
Two-component electrically conductive epoxy Made with silver-coated nickel filler, Master Bond EP79FL is a two-part, electrically conductive epoxy for bonding, sealing, and coating applications. It has a low-volume resistivity of less than 0.005 ohm-cm and is suitable for applications in the electronic,...
Products Defense
Custom dial face designs
Palmer Wahl Instrumentation Group's custom dial faces—its BiMetal and Direct Drive Dial thermometers, as well as its pressure gauges with screw-on bezels—may be customized, no matter the dial size. Customers may submit their own ideas and artwork, or they may work with the firm’s in-house engineering services to...
News Defense
Hybrid copter is first of its kind
Regulatory authorities in Germany decided to develop a new aircraft category called volocopter to accommodate the new 18-motor VC200. Read more at http://articles.sae.org/12585.
News Defense
Canadian researchers employ recycled carbon-fiber mats to produce thermoset composites
Carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoset composites continue to be difficult to recycle, as they are a complex mixture of different materials such as thermosetting polymers, carbon fibers, and fillers. Researchers from the Universite Du Quebec at Montreal, Bell...
News Aerospace
Overcoming design challenges of next-generation UASs
Next-generation unmanned air systems will require more performance and must integrate increasing capabilities for guidance control, weaponry, and surveillance—all in a very limited space. Read more at http://articles.sae.org/12546.
News Aerospace
Heated air technology helps optimize CFRP assembly
Assembly of large and complex carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) components requires the use of liquid resin-based materials for applications such as shimming and aerodynamic sealing. These materials generally require curing times up to 12 h; heated air technology can reduce that time to 2 h....
News Aerospace
A holistic approach to aircraft assembly
It is the "automation and tooling partner" who offers a performance-based and advanced manufacturing systems integration approach that offers the next step-change, say Bombardier Aerospace and AIP Aerospace Odyssey. Read more at http://articles.sae.org/12568.
Briefs Aerospace
Power Management for the Electric Taxiing System Incorporating the More Electric Architecture
With airlines increasingly directing their attention to operating costs and environmental initiatives, the More Electric Architecture for Aircraft and...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Simultaneous Vibration Suppression and Energy Harvesting
The goal of this work was to investigate the concept of using harvested energy to directly control the vibration response of flexible aerospace systems. Small, lightweight, flexible micro...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Cascading Failures in Coupled Distributed Power Grids and Communication Networks
Emerging distributed power grid systems will integrate tightly coupled networks, namely a power grid and a communication network, to provide distributed power monitoring and control. While distributing power monitoring and control away from a central site enhances the...
News Transportation
Systems That Talk Together, Are Efficient Together
The need to trim fuel consumption and emissions is forcing design teams to take a broader look at equipment operations, linking various systems so they work together closely. Engines,...
News Transportation
Injection Strategies for Improving Emissions Characteristics
Traditional diesel engine combustion controlled by fuel injection and fuel-air mixture is typically diffusion combustion. There is a trade-off between NOx emissions and soot...
Articles RF & Microwave Electronics
Managing the Deluge of Data
The software development process known commonly as the V-Cycle for model-based design has served the transportation industry well for managing the complexity of systems. However, given the large scope of...
Articles Transportation
Powering a Drive to Higher Voltages
A push to convert conventional automobiles to high-voltage power systems was a flop back in the 1990s. But a number of factors have prompted many technical strategists to once again promote the benefits...
News Automotive
Designing for Downforce
Aerodynamics currently is a hot topic for the transportation sector, from passenger vehicles all the way to Class 8 trucks. Along with advanced powertrain technologies and light-weight materials, aerodynamics is an...
News RF & Microwave Electronics
Driver Distraction From Connectivity Poses Conflicting Challenges
Screaming children in rear seats have been classic examples of intermittent driver distractions for as long as cars have been family vehicles. However, as DVD players and...
Technology Report RF & Microwave Electronics
Ford and University of Michigan Unveil Automated-vehicle Testbed
Ford recently unveiled a heavily modified Fusion Hybrid that is serving as a testbed for the automaker’s automated-vehicle research. Ford is conducting the program with the...
Original Equipment Transportation
Komatsu America Expands Intelligent Machine Control Dozer Family
Komatsu America Corp.'s D51EXi/PXi-22 is its latest intelligent Machine Control (iMC) dozer for the North American market, and it brings the same iMC technology to another key...
News Automotive
Boeing Advances Automation with Smart and Portable Orbital Drilling Tools for 787
Since robotic work cells have proven to be highly effective in certain applications, and the technology is always improving, some might dream of a day when...
Technical Innovation Propulsion
Refining Heavy-Duty Diesel Fuel Systems
How are heavy-duty diesel fuel systems likely to evolve in Europe, now that Euro-VI, the tightest yet emissions regulations applied to heavy trucks and buses in the European Union, have come into...
News Electronics & Computers
Denso Joins Driver Distraction Consortium
Research into driver distraction has largely been done on a cut-and-try basis to date. A group of researchers comes up with a list of ideas, thinks of ways to put them into hardware, then develops a...
News RF & Microwave Electronics
Audi Pushes Next-Generation Auto Electronics
Audi arrived at the recent 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas ready to showcase a wide array of new electronics technology for its next-generation car models. Among the...
News RF & Microwave Electronics
Bose, NXP Team up to Hush Powertrains
Bose has teamed up with NXP Semiconductors to offer its noise-management capabilities to automakers so they can implement Bose Active Sound Management technology on vehicles that don’t have Bose...
INSIDER Defense
Army Envisions Smarter Robots In Its Future
Unmanned robots have already proven their worth on the battlefield, neutralizing improvised explosive devices, and more capable ones are coming in the future, according to the commander of U.S. Army...
INSIDER Defense
Researchers Develop World’s Highest Quantum Efficiency UV Photodetectors
Researchers from Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed the world’s highest quantum efficiency ultraviolet (UV)...
INSIDER Defense
CROWS Second Screen Boosts Situational Awareness For Vehicle Crews
When Spc. Zachary Cline found himself in a Taliban ambush this summer, he was operating the .50 Cal M2 mounted on a Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station from the back of his...
News Design
Variable Trailer Design Drastically Cuts Aerodynamic Drag
Tractor-trailer design is significantly influenced by legal conditions regarding the vehicle dimensions and the provision of a maximum transportation volume.
News Electronics & Computers
Tools, Partnerships Provide Security for Software
Security is becoming a major factor for automakers, driven by several of the dominant industry trends. Connectivity and increasing volumes of software are among the factors prompting many...
News Green Design & Manufacturing
CARB: 54.5 Mpg CAFE Not Enough to Spur EV Technologies
U.S. vehicle fuel economy rules that mandate a 54.5-mpg fleet average by 2025 are insufficient to stimulate major investments in zero-emission electrified vehicles, including battery...
News Automotive
Methodology Developed for Safer Hood Design
Global regulations intended to enhance pedestrian protection in a vehicle collision are presenting significant challenges to vehicle engineers. For example, they are being pushed to use...
News Software
ETS Researchers Develop New Methodology for Wind Tunnel Calibration
In recent years, the École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS) Research Laboratory in Active Controls, Avionics, and Aeroservoelasticity (LARCASE) has acquired several...
News RF & Microwave Electronics
Automakers Expanding 48-V Production Plans, Says AVL Electrification Chief
Automotive battery suppliers are adding 48-V volumes to their prototype and production schedules at a steady rate, as a number of automakers prepare to launch new...
News Propulsion
Kia Soul EV Unveiled in Chicago
As a latecomer to the all-electric vehicle segment in the U.S., the 2015 Kia Soul EV’s auto show introduction follows the market launch of the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Spark EV, Ford Focus Electric, Toyota...
News Automotive
Forming a Strong Bond Between Materials
Lightweighting in automotive design is currently a major trend. This initiative is driven by the need to improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles to meet stricter upcoming regulations. Even so, the...
INSIDER Product Aerospace
Hard Chrome Process
The ANKOR Hydraulics hard chrome process from Enthone delivers corrosion resistance while offering a more sustainable alternative to other high-efficiency, etch-free hard chrome processes for hydraulics/fluid power applications. The process, which imparts pore-free chrome deposits on steel, eliminates failures related to...
INSIDER Product RF & Microwave Electronics
Integrated Servo Motor
Designed for battery-powered and low-voltage applications, the MAC402 from JVL is the V dc version of the MAC400 400-W integrated servo motor. The supply range for the MAC402 is 12 to 48 V dc, and full power of 400 W...
News Aerospace
Nano Circular Connector
TE Connectivity’s CeeLok FAS-T nano circular connector is a nano-miniature, rugged I/O connector capable of meeting 10 gigabit Ethernet performance. The proven, noise-canceling contact configuration minimizes...
Q&A Design
Volvo CE’s Road to the Future
As Vice President of Product Platforms for Volvo Construction Equipment, Alan Berger (SAE member, 2013) is responsible for the life-cycle management of the product line, its profitability, commercial performance,...
News Aerospace
PEEK Wear Compounds
The LUVOCOM 8000 series of PEEK wear compounds from Lehvoss North America incorporates proprietary additives that further elevate the wear resistance of PEEK compounds. Though it is well known that in thermoplastic...
INSIDER Product Aerospace
Inline Caster
Hamilton Standard custom engineered an all-stainless inline caster for a major aerospace supplier. The aerospace company ordered two of these special casters designed for a clean room environment and each with a carrying...
News Automotive
Delphi and Hyundai GDCI Program Aims to Top Diesel Efficiency
Can a gasoline-fueled passenger-car engine achieve diesel levels of efficiency and torque, with lower emissions and cost—in real-world operation? Delphi and Hyundai are close...
News Energy
Battery Guru: Future of 18650 Cells Unclear Beyond Tesla S
Despite Tesla Motors’ proven success with 18650-type Li-ion cells in its Model S, the industry’s best-known EV battery analyst isn’t betting that other automakers will adopt...
News Unmanned Systems
Bringing Nissan’s Future into Focus
The daughter of a pair of psychologists, Rachel Nguyen took her natural inclination for psychology and combined it with a personal interest in consumer research and cross-functional teaming to pursue a...
News Regulations/Standards
Hyundai Creates Environment to Explore 'New Possibilities' at SAE World Congress
“Whether we’re talking about eco-friendly technologies, safety, or the connectivity of vehicles, we can achieve success if we collaborate to create new...
News Software
In-Sight Software
Cognex Corp.’s In-Sight Explorer 4.9 software offers an expanded set of inspection tools and an enhanced Cognex Connect communications suite that features the iQ Sensor Solution network (iQSS). This latest version of...
News Automotive
Active Tilting System Modeled for Three-Wheeled City Vehicle
Megacities were in mind when a team of researchers from the University of Waterloo undertook a study on an active tilting system for a three-wheeled personal vehicle.
News Automotive
Hot for Powertrain
Are you looking for deep and valuable powertrain knowledge that only comes from top-level technical presentations and insider-quality networking? Then point your GPS towards North America’s “Motor City” next month...
News Electronics & Computers
Hella and Vahle Co-Developing Wireless Charging for Electrified Vehicles
Two Germany-based suppliers are co-developing wireless electrified vehicle charging in which the principle of inductive power transfer moves energy through an air gap...
INSIDER Software
Virtual Reality Immerses Passengers in "See-Through" Cabin
In the VR-Hyperspace project, Fraunhofer IAO has teamed up with eight partners from six European countries to investigate how flight journeys can be made into a more pleasant experience...
INSIDER Aerospace
Launching the Fastest Plane of the Future
It's a sci-fi concept that's at the center of a 25-year exploratory project: building a hypersonic aircraft that takes off from the runway and doesn't need a rest, inspection or repair after it lands...
INSIDER Nanotechnology
Transparent Display System Could Provide Heads-Up Data
Transparent displays have a variety of potential applications — such as the ability to see navigation or dashboard information while looking through the windshield of a car or plane, or...
News Transportation
Aurora Wins DARPA VTOL X-Plane Program Contract
Aurora Flight Sciences has been awarded a Phase I contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) X-Plane program. Aurora’s innovative...
News Propulsion
Maintenance Tools for Improved Engine Bearing Performance
Of all industrial sectors, aircraft engine manufacturing and maintenance have possibly the most stringent requirements and specifications for rolling bearings and related components....
News Power
The E-Up! Points Way to VW’s Electric Future
Exclamation points are sometimes scattered like self-seeding grammatical saplings through the pages of company press releases. Often unwanted, unwarranted, and unnecessary, they may be a...
Product Briefs Manufacturing & Prototyping
Software Tool Monitors Supply Chain
To accommodate the dynamic global economy where suppliers must work in close partnership with their customers throughout the supply chain, BorgWarner’s Supplier Performance Monitor (SPM) system optimizes...
News Energy
Ford Solar Hybrid Concept Recharges Off-Grid
One of the more noteworthy cars to debut at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was Ford’s C-MAX Solar Energi Concept, a version of its compact plug-in hybrid vehicle that can...
News Defense
Boeing Selects Site for New 777X Composite Wing Center
Boeing has selected its Everett, WA, site as the location for a new composite wing center for the 777X program. Boeing evaluated criteria that were designed to find the wing fabrication...
News Defense
Ball Aerospace Awarded Contract for Ion Velocity Meter
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been awarded a $5.8 million contract from the Defense Weather System Directorate at the Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles, CA,...
News Defense
Airbus and COMAC to Cooperate on Sustainable Air Transport Growth
Airbus and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a mutual understanding on new air traffic management concepts and...
News Defense
GKN Aerospace-Led Project Automates Assembly of Aircraft Wing Structures
GKN Aerospace is leading a project under the Structures Technology Maturity (STeM) program that aims to automate the assembly of aircraft structures with the goal of...
News Materials
Aluminum Sheet Capacity in N.A. to Increase
Constellium N.V. and UACJ Corp. recently announced their intention to form a joint venture for production of aluminum automotive sheet for body-in-white (BIW) applications. The companies plan to...
News Manufacturing & Prototyping
Vehicle Dependability Takes Hit
In a recent report, owners of MY2011 vehicles reported a higher rate of problems than did owners of MY2010 vehicles in a similar report a year ago. Lexus had the best overall score for the third year in a row...
News RF & Microwave Electronics
Mitsubishi Electric Introduces Advanced HMI
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has introduced a human-machine interface (HMI) that it says predicts a driver’s needs to safely and easily operate complex HMI tasks in one or two steps and in no more...
News Automotive
New Highlander First Mid-Size SUV to Get IIHS Top Safety Pick + Rating
Toyota may have been trailing a few competitors in meeting the small offset barrier test set by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). But with the new...
News Automotive
New Auto Plant in Mexico Brings Honda N.A. Capacity to 1.92 Million Units
In 2013, more than 90% of Honda and Acura automobiles sold in the U.S. were made in North America. With the recent start of production at a new plant in Celaya,...
News Automotive
Touchscreen Concepts, Thin-Foam Seats Among Interiors Topics at SAE Congress
Technical sessions focused on interiors at the SAE 2014 World Congress span the designated technology areas, including electronics, materials, and safety/testing....
News Green Design & Manufacturing
Sales of Light-Duty Natural-Gas Vehicles to Reach 40 Million by 2023, Forecaster Says
Increasing supplies of low-cost, readily available natural gas, along with expanding refueling infrastructure and increasingly strict vehicle emissions...
News Electronics & Computers
Dassault Magnifies Focus on Its 5X
The “glass cockpit” concept transitioned very rapidly in commercial aviation, replacing familiar analog cockpit layouts to embrace the adaptability of multi-functioning displays and the flexibility to...
News Defense
Architecture Developed for Monitoring and Anomaly Detection of Space Systems
The ability to interface real-time instrumentation data from remote hardware to local data analysis systems is important in the space industry. NASA, for example,...
News Electronics & Computers
Driver Distraction and Inattention Book
Driver Distraction and Inattention: Advances in Research and Countermeasures, Vol. 1 published by SAE International and Ashgate Publishing Co. explores the definition and meaning of driver distraction...
News Automotive
New 'Innovation Institutes' Designed to Strengthen U.S. Manufacturing Capabilities
President Barack Obama on Feb. 25 announced that the creation of two “manufacturing innovation hubs” in which the public and private sectors will work...
INSIDER Defense
World War II-Era Equipment Gets Restored For Today's Research Needs
It sounds like the ultimate recycling project. The Naval Research Laboratory and the Office of Naval Research, through its INTOP Program, have taken a 96,000-pound piece of...
INSIDER Defense
Army Secures Critical Component for Artillery, Mortar Ammunition
The U.S. Army is nearing completion on a project to eliminate its dependency on foreign countries for a critical energetic component in artillery and mortar ammunition, officials...
Top Stories
INSIDERRF & Microwave Electronics
FAA to Replace Aging Network of Ground-Based Radars
PodcastsDefense
A New Additive Manufacturing Accelerator for the U.S. Navy in Guam
NewsSoftware
Rewriting the Engineer’s Playbook: What OEMs Must Do to Spin the AI Flywheel
Road ReadyPower
2026 Toyota RAV4 Review: All Hybrid, All the Time
INSIDERDefense
F-22 Pilot Controls Drone With Tablet
INSIDERRF & Microwave Electronics
L3Harris Starts Low Rate Production Of New F-16 Viper Shield
Webcasts
Energy
Hydrogen Engines Are Heating Up for Heavy Duty
Energy
SAE Automotive Podcast: Solid-State Batteries
Power
SAE Automotive Engineering Podcast: Additive Manufacturing
Aerospace
A New Approach to Manufacturing Machine Connectivity for the Air Force
Software
Optimizing Production Processes with the Virtual Twin
