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Off-highway Engineering - February 2016

News

Software

New 40%-Scale Wind Tunnel Increases GM's Aero-Development Capacity

Reducing aerodynamic drag by 12 counts (reducing Cd by 0.0012) is equal to gaining about 1 mpg in vehicle fuel efficiency—“and our goal is to eliminate as many counts as...

Technology Report

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Surface Generation Speeds Composites Throughput with One-Shot Stamp-Forming Process

Surface Generation is working with research group WMG, an academic department of the University of Warwick, and AGC AeroComposites to develop new...

Briefs

Test & Measurement

SIRE: A MIMO Radar for Landmine and IED Detection

Low-frequency ultra-wideband (UWB) radar has garnered attention for the detection of landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in recent years. The low frequencies used by these...

Briefs

Aerospace

Multi-Temporal Analysis of Underbody IED Theater Events on Ground Vehicles

Recently, modeling and simulation (M&S) engineers have made impressive strides in improving ground vehicle reliability and soldier safety. This work involved...

Briefs

Test & Measurement

Blast Mitigation Seat Testing

Blast energy-attenuation (EA) seats, although not new to the market, have not been fully tested with respect to energy attenuation capability and the resulting effects on occupant protection. The Ground Systems...

Briefs

Defense

Blast-Induced Acceleration in a Shock Tube

High-fidelity simulation of blast flow conditions can aid in developing strategies to mitigate blast-induced brain injury.

The prevalence of blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has...

News

Software

CAD Toolbox

Maplesoft has released the MapleSim CAD Toolbox, a new add-on to MapleSim that allows engineers to understand and improve their mechanical designs by bringing their CAD assemblies into the advanced system-level modeling and...

Articles

Defense

DPA Countermeasures — Theory vs. Practice

The Threat

In today’s interconnected world, the information that we generate, store, transmit, and receive has become a valuable commodity. We have increasingly turned to cryptography as a tool...

News

Electronics & Computers

CAN Card for Embedded Data Acquisition

Kvaser AB has introduced the Kvaser PCIEcan 4xHS, an integrated controller area network (CAN) card that adds four high-speed CAN channels to any standard computer board with PCI Express capability....

News

Electronics & Computers

Measuring Module with TEDS Support

IPETRONIK supports the use of TEDS (Transducer Electronic Data Sheet) sensors with a Lemo-2B-version of its multifunctional module Sx-STG, under the IEEE-1451.4 defined plug-and-play standard. It enables...

Product Briefs

Automotive

Electronic Vision System

Ficosa has developed an electronic mirror composed of cameras and displays as an alternative to the traditional exterior rearview mirrors of the vehicle. The Camera Monitor System allows the integration of ADAS...

Product Briefs

Test & Measurement

AEB Test Equipment

The Strikeable Surrogate Vehicle (SSV) is the new test system that NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) will be using to test Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) systems in the U.S. As of 2018 the U.S....

Articles

Test & Measurement

A Hardware-Centric Approach to Countering Side-Channel Threats

From laptops and mobile devices to cars and airplanes, we are seeing near-daily threats to the systems and devices we use. Systems being used and deployed in the aerospace and...

Product Briefs

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Testing of Low-Friction Seals

A new test service introduced by Bal Seal Engineering, Inc. offers verified performance results for the company’s low-friction spring-energized seals used in rotary/face applications. Rotary/face seals are...

Articles

Test & Measurement

Optimizing Thermal Management to Meet SWaP-C Requirements

As defense systems continue to shrink, corresponding thermal management concerns expand exponentially. Designers have learned that overheating can be the downfall of even the most...

Articles

Aerospace

Fighting for Life in Military Markets

Visits to the Seville headquarters of Airbus Defence & Space (Airbus DS) have often reflected stormy prospects for the company’s large-capacity A400M Atlas transport, which has suffered cost...

News

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Gleaner Upgrades Cabins, Drives on S9 Series Combines

AGCO’s transverse rotary combine brand, Gleaner, will be debuting for 2016 its new S9 Series combines, which includes three models—the S96, S97, and S98—to meet the needs of...

Articles

Aerospace

Clamoring for More Entertainment

Consumer expectations for information and entertainment are creating big challenges for airlines that need to provide Internet access while providing inflight services that mirror what’s available in the...

Product Briefs

RF & Microwave Electronics

Low-Volatility Gap Filler

Henkel Adhesive Technologies has formulated Gap Filler 3500LV to deliver high thermal conductivity of 3.5 W/m-K and the mechanical property benefits of a silicone, but with low volatility for reduced outgassing....

Articles

Aerospace

Cellular Satellites: Joint Communications with Integrated Acquisition

It’s a familiar image: a soldier crouching with a radio next to a spidery antenna pointing skyward to reach a distant satellite. But that view of military communications...

Product Briefs

Electronics & Computers

Audio Network Analysis

Mentor Automotive has introduced its A²B Analyzer, which the company claims is the industry's first third-party development platform supporting the Automotive Audio Bus—or A²B—technology developed by Analog...

Articles

Aerospace

Virtual Flight Testing of Radar System Performance

Flight testing is the ultimate way to evaluate the performance of a radar system. During the actual aircraft flight, data such as Probability of Detection, Signal Strength, and clutter might...

Technology Update

Defense

Aerion Progresses on the Supersonic AS2 with Help From Airbus

The joint engineering efforts that Aerion and Airbus Group have dedicated to the AS2 supersonic business jet since 2014 have taken on even more importance as it was announced in...

Technology Update

Defense

Uncovering Safer Solutions for Aircraft Corrosion Prevention

Working with aircraft maintainers at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, researchers from the Air Force Research Laboratory's Environmental Technology (EnviroTech) Program and Coating...

Technology Update

Defense

GE’s Clean-Sheet Turboprop Engine to Launch with Textron Aviation

Textron Aviation has opted for GE Aviation’s all-new turboprop engine to power its single engine turboprop (SETP). The 1300 shaft horsepower (SHP)-rated turboprop engine...

Application Briefs

Aerospace

Satellite System

301-428-5539
http://defense.hughes.com

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes) recently unveiled a new HM Satellite System, engineered around its novel software-definable modem (SDM) technology and scrambled code...

Application Briefs

Aerospace

Lithium Battery Pack

800-537-1368
www.tadiran.com

When designing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), engineers must continually seek to reduce size and weight wherever possible in order to improve aerodynamics and free up critical...

Application Briefs

Aerospace

Digital Optical Comparator

514-694-9290
www.visionxinc.com

VISIONx’s VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator 700 Series, featuring 5-axis inspection, has allowed aerospace supplier Paradigm Precision to improve the inspection...

News

Transportation

2017 Cadillac XT5 Debuts GM’s New Lightweight Crossover Architecture

XT5 stands for Crossover Touring 5, Cadillac’s all new midsized luxury utility unveiled recently at, of all places, a high-end fashion show in Dubai. Slated to...

Products

Defense

Low-PIM Cable Assemblies

San-tron, Inc, (Ipswich, MA) a manufacturer of RF coaxial connectors and cable assemblies, offers a growing line of advanced, outdoor, low-PIM cable assemblies and innovative new pressurized solutions to overcome...

News

Automotive

2016 Altair Enlighten Award Adds New Category to Honor Lightweighting Efforts

Nominations for the fourth annual Altair Enlighten Award are now being accepted, with the 2016 award program including two distinct categories recognizing...

Products

Defense

2U Rack PC/Server

Stealth.com (a Sparton company) (Toronto, Canada) has released the new Model SR-2510, a space saving 2U (3.5" high) rackmount computer/server. This compact rack mountable steel chassis is just over 15" in depth allowing it...

Products

Defense

Day/Night-Vision Data Display

Daisy Data Displays, Inc. (York, PA) has unveiled night-vision technology for displays that provide users with full-color readability in daylight and with night-vision goggles without the need for add-on...

Products

Defense

Forensic RF Test Enclosure

Saelig Company, Inc. (Fairport, NY) has announced the STE3000FAV2 patented RF Test Enclosure, designed to give forensics technicians a highly isolated bench-top environment to perform electronic device...

Products

Defense

32-Bit Microcontrollers

Microchip Technology Inc., (Chandler, AZ) announced a new series within its PIC32MZ family of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) that features an integrated hardware floating point unit (FPU) for high performance and...

Products

Defense

RF-over-Fiber Conversion Modules

HUBER+SUHNER (Pfaffikon, Switzerland) offers a variety of equipment for the defense market including a new series of RF-over-Fiber modules. The company offers three different elements of its RF-over-Fiber...

Products

Defense

Meshing Software

Pointwise (Fort Worth, TX) has announced the latest release of its meshing software featuring new native interfaces to computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes. Pointwise Version 17.3 R4 also includes support for ESP, the...

Products

Defense

Aerospace Gimbals Test Service

A new test service introduced by Bal Seal Engineering, Inc. (Foothill Ranch, CA) offers OEMs verified performance results for Bal Seal spring-energized rotary/face seals used in aerospace and defense gimbal...

News

Electronics & Computers

Argonne Centers to Focus on Expediting Commercialization of Technology

When it comes to enablers for a variety of future technologies that will move the industry forward in terms of efficiencies and cleanliness of power and energy, it is...

Technical Innovation

Mechanical & Fluid Systems

'Super-Precision' Cylindrical Roller Bearings Launched by SKF

SKF recently launched two new "super-precision" cylindrical roller bearings series, targeted at the machine tool industry. The company says both of the new series deliver much...

News

Power

Cummins Aims to Boost Heavy-Duty Diesel Efficiency to 55%

The big-rig tractor-trailer trucks that we see on the highway get only about 5.8 mpg of diesel fuel. In tests, the Cummins-Peterbilt SuperTruck—a U.S. Department of...

Product Briefs

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Fatigue Life Analysis Software

Endurica LLC announced the release of version 2.32 of its fatigue life analysis software Endurica CL, a computer simulation that can model the development of damage in an elastomeric part operating...

Product Briefs

Software

Cloud PLM Solution

Infor Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Accelerate, powered by Aras, is a new PLM solution designed for automotive, industrial manufacturing, high-tech, and aerospace and defense customers. Available for both on-premise...

Product Briefs

Electronics & Computers

High-Voltage, High-Current Connectors

Amphenol Industrial Products Group’s ePower connectors series, rated at 800 to 1000 V dc, now includes right angle overmolded connectors for 200 A and 400 A connection systems. New designs for higher...

News

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Optical Liquid Silicone Rubber

High-performance optical liquid silicone rubber (LSR) from Proto Labs is a transparent, flexible material that can replace glass in many optical applications. The injection-molded thermoset does not discolor...

News

Software

Driver Assistance System Development Tool

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as collision avoidance, lane departure warning, parking assistance, and back-up alerts must adhere to a high level of safety requirements, and they are...

Product Briefs

Software

Software Integration for Automated Driving

An automotive platform solution from Renesas Electronics Corp. and TTTech Computertechnik AG provides an electronic control unit (ECU) development platform for advanced driver assistance systems...

Product Briefs

Software

Engine Simulation Tool

EngineLab’s EL129 control units for engine simulation and testing have a range of input and output options and can be adapted for flexible control system development. The hardware features 129 pins on two connectors with dual high-speed USB interfaces for communicating to a PC host as well as logging to any off-the-shelf...

Global Vehicles

Propulsion

2016 Mini Clubman's Torque-Vectoring AWD System Designed to Give 2wd Efficiency

In the 1960s, the front-wheel drive Mini Cooper S famously won the Monte Carlo Rally, propelled by a 52 kW (70 hp) engine and clawing through snow and ice on...

News

Propulsion

2017 Porsche Boxster Loses Cylinders, Gains Power, Adds Frugality

Porsche’s decision to downsize the new generation Boxster’s engines from flat-6 to turbocharged flat-4 may shock purists, but power and torque are up, and fuel...

Product Briefs

Propulsion

Powertrain Vents

Donaldson’s powertrain vents incorporate a breathable ePTFE (expanded polytetrafluoroethylene) membrane and an oil-repellent, coalescing pre-filter for maximum protection in harsh environments. The vents provide...

News

Energy

Polyamide for Low-Friction Timing System

Stanyl PA46 from DSM has been chosen for low-friction slide shoes within the timing system of turbocharged gasoline engines. The timing system parts are produced by Quadrant Creative Molding &...

News

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Micro-Fused Strain Gauge Pressure Sensors

Sensata Technologies, Inc. has developed a line of smaller, lighter micro-fused strain gauge (MSG) pressure sensors for use in next-generation brake systems for hybrid, electric, and conventional...

Technology Report

Green Design & Manufacturing

Rethinking the Route to Lower-Cost Fuel Cells

New fuel cell-powered cars and SUVs from Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz are capturing plenty of publicity on this year's auto show circuit. But the first commercial models are...

News

Green Design & Manufacturing

On-Road Emissions Testing

Intertek’s Milton Keynes Transportation Technologies laboratory has developed a portable vehicle exhaust emissions testing system that enables manufacturers to report real-world driving emissions. The Portable...

News

Software

Augmented Reality Software

As a result of Continental’s consolidation of Elektrobit (EB) as a standalone software company, Elektrobit will develop the Augmented Reality (AR) Creator software solution, in addition to continuing to develop...

Product Briefs

Test & Measurement

Camera-Based 3D Measurement

Imetrum’s precision, noncontact 3D measurement system, the Precision Displacement Tracker (PDT), slashes setup times and provides richer data sets without compromising measurement resolution or sampling speed....

News

Software

Driveline and Gearbox Design Via Apps

Software integration is good news for engineers designing complex automotive systems such as drivelines and drivetrains. Today, sophisticated CAE tools are powerful and proven, aiding design of...

INSIDER

Electronics & Computers

Unique Composite Film Could Become Hard Disc of the Future

A research group from ITMO University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have invented unique conductive magnetic films that will be applied to transparent data storage, flexible...

INSIDER

Electronics & Computers

New Battery Shuts Down at High Temps, Restarts When Cool

Stanford researchers have developed the first lithium-ion battery that shuts down before overheating, then restarts immediately when the temperature cools. The new technology could...

INSIDER

Electronics & Computers

Scientists Work to Advance Conversational Computing

In an effort to help solve one of the grand challenges of artificial intelligence, the University of Michigan and IBM have launched a $4.5 million collaboration to develop a new class of...

INSIDER

Electronics & Computers

Production Code Generator

dSPACE’s (Wixom, MI) latest production code generator, TargetLink 4.1, supports the Functional Mock-up Interface (FMI) 2.0 and the latest version of the AUTOSAR standard, AUTOSAR 4.2. Moreover, MISRA C compliance...

INSIDER

Electronics & Computers

5mm C-QFN Package

Barry Industries (Attleboro, MA) and Modelithics, Inc. have published a report detailing the broadband performance of Barry's 5mm high temperature co-fired ceramic (HTCC) quad-flat-no-leads (QFN) package to 40GHz. The...

INSIDER

Electronics & Computers

ATX Motherboard

ADLINK Technology, Inc. (San Jose, CA) released its latest industrial ATX motherboard, the IMB-M43, powered by 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 processors and providing up to five PCIe slots. The PCIe slots can be...

News

Automotive

2017 Pacifica Is First Hybrid Minivan, Rides on All-New FCA Platform

Despite the popularity of SUVs and CUVs, nothing beats a minivan for its combination of interior flexibility, ingress/egress, passenger comfort, cargo hauling and, in...

News

Transportation

Prius Is Re-Engineered on Toyota New Global Architecture

With 3.5 million Prius hybrids sold worldwide since its launch, Toyota is understandably keen to maintain the iconic hybrid-electric’s momentum. To that end, the company has...

Product Briefs

Aerospace

Composite Cooling Circuit Parts

Cooling circuit parts installed by automotive manufacturers consist of a direct composite comprising the special polyphthalamide (PPA) VESTAMID HTplus R1033 by the Resource Efficiency segment of Evonik, and a...

Product Briefs

Software

3D-Viewing of CAD Models

KISTERS has released version 2016 of its 3DViewStation Desktop, which features modern user-interface, high-performance 3D-viewing, advanced analysis, and digital mockup (DMU). 3DViewStation ships with current and...

Technology Report

RF & Microwave Electronics

Powering up the New Stop-Start Systems

As stop-start systems gain acceptance in North America, a range of technologies including lithium ion batteries, ultracapacitors, and 48-V "mild hybrid" systems are under consideration to handle the...

Global Vehicles

Transportation

2017 Nissan Armada Steps onto Patrol Platform

No longer sharing its platform with the Titan full-size pickup truck, the all-new 2017 Nissan Armada full-size SUV is now attached to one of the automaker's most iconic nameplates that...

INSIDER

Robotics, Automation & Control

Robotic Falcon Captures and Retrieves Renegade Drones

Michigan Technological University is developing a drone catcher that could pursue and capture rogue drones that might threaten military installations, air traffic, sporting events —...

INSIDER

Robotics, Automation & Control

Cockroach-Inspired Robots Open Doors for Military Missions

Supported by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, University of California-Berkeley researchers have developed a small, crawling robot that mimics a cockroach's ability to squeeze...

INSIDER

Aerospace

“Second Skin” Protects Soldiers from Chemical and Biological Agents

The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at...

Q&A

Electronics & Computers

Controlling GM’s Electrified Herd

As General Motors proliferates electrified powertrain applications among its brands, it is also rapidly commonizing those systems as much as possible. Witness the 2016 Chevrolet Volt and Malibu Hybrid;...

Technology Report

RF & Microwave Electronics

OTA Reflashing: The Challenges and Solutions

Reprogrammable onboard modules have been in automotive use for more than a quarter century. But as electronic controls inhabit virtually every system today, anyone with a late-model vehicle...

Technology Report

Manufacturing & Prototyping

3D-Printed High-Temperature Ceramics

Heat-resistant ceramics are useful for making components such as engine hot parts, rocket nozzles, and nose cones that have to contend with high temperatures or extreme environments. The trouble is...

News

Green Design & Manufacturing

Mainstreaming Hybrids and EVs

Will the inefficiency of the automobile ultimately doom the automobile? Big questions like this one, posed by Ford Technical Fellow Dr. Michael Tamor, hit February’s SAE Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Symposium...

INSIDER

Aerospace

NASA Uses Electric Propulsion in Experimental Plane

NASA is researching ideas that could lead to developing an electric propulsion-powered aircraft that would be quieter, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly than today's...

INSIDER

Materials

Graphene Composite Could Keep Wings Ice-Free

A thin coating of graphene nanoribbons in epoxy developed at Rice University has proven effective at melting ice on a helicopter blade. The lab melted centimeter-thick ice from a static...

News

Automotive

GKN Puts Electric-Drive TV System for 2019 on Ice

GKN Driveline systems integration engineer Rainer Brüning was a little disappointed.