Latest Stories

Articles

Aerospace

Alleviating Memory and Cache Contention in Safety-Critical Applications

In safety-critical systems, the ability to guarantee that safety-critical tasks have sufficient time to execute is key for system integrity and safe operation. A big...

Articles

Communications

Next-Generation Mobile Tactical Communications

After many years of development and well-publicized budget overruns, the DoD’s Joint Tactical Radio System program (since reorganized and renamed) has recently given birth to a set of handheld...

Articles

Aerospace

Commercial Programs Are Flying High

Boeing and Airbus can hardly keep up with demand for 150-seat jets, and both have increased their own monthly production rates to well over 40 aircraft, stretching the capacity of the supply chain to the...

Articles

Aerospace

3-D Manufacturing of Titanium Components Takes Off

With such challenges as base closings, shrinking defense budgets, and sequestration, the worldwide maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) sector is projected to experience a significant...

Articles

Aerospace

New Technique Could Make Sub-Wavelength Images at Radio Frequencies

Imaging and mapping of electric fields at radio frequencies (RF) currently requires the use of metallic structures such as dipoles, probes, and reference antennas. To make...

Articles

RF & Microwave Electronics

Optimizing DSP Techniques for Antenna Site Software Radio

Many applications can benefit from pushing software radio functions up the mast to the antenna as a viable alternative to traditional rack-mounted receiver systems. New technology...

Briefs

Physical Sciences

Automatic-Alignment Fiber Optic Coupling System for Optimal Signal Transmission

Using the current method of characterizing waveguides manufactured for research in optical communications, it can take up to 8 hours to characterize the...

Briefs

Physical Sciences

Detecting Maritime Radiological/Nuclear Threats with Hybrid Imaging

The SuperMISTI detection system is a hybrid detection, identification, and imaging system for sources of gamma-ray radiation at stand-off distances. The system is based on...

Briefs

Physical Sciences

Testing Particle Counters for Detection of Fuel Contamination

Fuel quality assurance is accomplished by conducting periodic fuel sampling for the condition monitoring of aviation fuel by detecting, measuring, and reporting the levels of...

Products

Aerospace

Dual-Purpose Engine Stand

Champion GSE has developed a dual-purpose stand for both the -1B and -2B GEnx engine platforms from GE. Features of the Stronghold stand were designed to increase personnel safety, usability, and function. These...

Products

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, each with a carrying capacity of 15,500 lb. The caster stands 10-1/8-in tall and 21-in long, and is equipped with two 8-in-diameter by...

Products

Defense

Low-Loss RF Coax Cable Assemblies

Crystek’s 50-GHz low-loss RF cable assemblies feature corrosion-resistant 2.4-mm 303 stainless steel connectors and three levels of shielding for low attenuation (loss) over distance (1.44 dB/ft at 50 GHz). They are in stock in standard lengths of 24, 39.4, and 48 in, with custom lengths available. The...

Products

Aerospace

Temperature Indicator With Fixed Probes

Palmer Wahl Instrumentation Group’s Wahl DST500-FM temperature indicator with fixed probes is a high-accuracy, wide-range thermometer designed for hazardous locations where accurate and reliable temperature monitoring is critical. Fixed-stem probes are available in straight or 90° back-, left-, or...

Products

Aerospace

Pressure Switches

Honeywell’s HP Series, HE Series, and LE Series of pressure switches provide high burst pressure ranges, a long lifecycle rating, and IP67 sealing, enhancing durability and reliability. High burst pressure and up to 2 million lifecycle ratings allow the switch to operate and survive in demanding applications and ensure long...

News

Defense

Hybrid-Electric Distributed Propulsion Explored

Recent advancements in electronics, computers, and power distribution have made distributed propulsion feasible, but major challenges remain.

News

Aerospace

3-D Printing in Aerospace: Not Just Winging It

The demand for innovative manufacturing technology that produces lighter parts with stronger material grows each day in the competitive aerospace industry. 3-D printing, also known as “additive manufacturing,” is at the center of this innovation.

News

Aerospace

Embry-Riddle to Offer Master’s in Unmanned Systems

Unmanned systems coursework will examine the application, development, management, and policies of unmanned systems and address issues including regulation; systems design; policy and ethics; education and training; and human performance and machine interaction.

News

Aerospace

Sikorsky, NREC Partner for Matrix Application to Demonstrate U.S. Army Autonomous UGV Delivery

The project is an 18-month program sponsored by the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC) through the Robotics Technology Consortium.

News

Defense

Designing Quieter Aircraft via Acoustic Simulation

Greater fuel efficiency and low emission requirements have grown into such an urgent imperative in aircraft design that it often overshadows an equally significant factor in air travel—noise. Airbus shows that it’s possible to infuse acoustic simulation into design processes from beginning...

Application Briefs

Aerospace

Unmanned Autonomous Helicopter

Northrop Grumman Corp.
West Falls Church, VA
703-280-2900
www.northropgrumman.com

All Navy aircraft must go through electromagnetic interference testing to ensure that they can operate...

Technology Update

Imaging

Unmanned Aircraft Must Rise Above Barriers for Commercial Applications

Historically, the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) market has been dominated by military applications from surveillance to active engagement. In the near term, the...

Application Briefs

Aerospace

Ethernet Switch and Router Technology

Curtiss-Wright Corporation
Ashburn, VA
973-541-3700
www.curtisswright.com

Curtiss-Wright Corporation’s Defense Solutions division recently received a contract from Sierra Nevada...

Products

Defense

DAQ and I/O Control Platforms

United Electronic Industries (Walpole, MA) has announced two military-grade DAQ (Data Acquisition) and I/O Control platforms. Using a modular architecture, the DNR-MIL and DNA-MIL are supported by over 50...

Products

Aerospace

Custom cPCI Backplane

Verotec (Derry, New Hampshire) offers a custom 6U, 2 x 4 slot CompactPCI backplane for flight simulation applications. In addition to integrating two independent 4-slot systems on a single backplane, additional I/O...

Products

Aerospace

RF Inductors

Gowanda Electronics (Gowanda, NY) has announced military approval for four thru-hole RF inductor series: MLRF10M, MLRF15M, MLRF18M, and MLRF17S. The wire-wound, molded, thru-hole RF inductors meet the military’s Qualified...

Products

Aerospace

Power Supply Boards

ADL Embedded Solutions (San Diego, CA) has announced a 150W ADLPS104ISO-150 power supply board. The technology, designed for -40°C to +85°C operation, provides ATX voltages in a stackable PCI/104-Express form factor....

Products

Defense

Accelerometers

Meggitt Sensing Systems (Irvine, CA), a Meggitt group division, has extended its set of Endevco-brand Isotron accelerometers. Features include multiple sensitivity options; wide-band frequency response; signal ground isolation...

Products

Aerospace

Switches

VadaTech (Henderson, NV) offers 40G/10G Layer 3 managed switches for AdvancedTCA (ATCA). Designers can choose throughput levels: 320G, 480G, or 640G. Each slot runs either 40G or 10G. The ATCA switch provides two ports of...

Products

Defense

Air Data Computer

Curtiss-Wright Corporation (Ashburn, VA) has introduced the Air Data Computer Module (ADCM). Designed and manufactured by Defense Solutions’ Avionics & Electronics business unit, the ADCM provides aircraft avionics...

News

Robotics, Automation & Control

Compact Active Vibration Control System

This innovation consists of an analog controller, diamond-shaped patch actuator, and point sensors (such as accelerometers). The actuator is designed to couple to the flexural response of the structure in the same manner as a group of point sensors. This results in a co-located transducer pair. The signals...

INSIDER

RF & Microwave Electronics

Army to Get New IED Detector Technology

Detecting improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan requires constant, intensive monitoring using rugged equipment. When Sandia researchers first demonstrated a modified miniature synthetic aperture...

INSIDER

Defense

Tiny Laser Sensor Heightens Bomb Detection Sensitivity

A team of researchers led by Xiang Zhang, UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering, has found a way to dramatically increase the sensitivity of a light-based plasmon sensor to...

INSIDER

Weapons Systems

Army Develops First-of-Its Kind Phase-Coherent Fiber Laser Array System

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Computational and Information Science Directorate's Intelligent Optics Team, and partners, recently developed, engineered,...

Technical Innovation

Transportation

Longer Truck Cabs for Europe?

European Union proposals affecting the length of semi-trailer trucks and cabs are set to have a dramatic effect on European cab-over truck designs and will also allow for folding aerodynamic aids to be...

News

Propulsion

Honda's New 8-Speed DCT Uses a Torque Converter

Dual-clutch transmissions—essentially two parallel gearboxes that hand off power from one to the other, and do it more efficiently and quicker than either planetary automatics or...

News

Automotive

Sportier TLX All About Proportion and Performance

Proportion is one of three “P”s that Honda R&D engineers and designers focused on when developing the all-new 2015 Acura TLX, the other two being prestige and...

Q&A

Transportation

Yokohama’s Take on Commercial Tire Trends

Fuel-efficiency gains for commercial vehicles can come from many areas, the powertrain and aerodynamics chief among them. But where the rubber meets the road—the tires—is another...

Articles

Power

Big Performance in Small Packages

Optimizing fan control strategies enables engineers to achieve a machine performance greater than expected from limited power sources. Additional power savings are available by controlling the fan in...

Technical Innovation

Transportation

Ashok Leyland Develops Bimetal Brake Drum to Improve Heat Dissipation, Reduce Weight

To achieve weight savings in vehicles, OEMs and component suppliers are increasingly using ultra-high-strength steel, aluminum, magnesium, plastics, and...

Products

Safety Laser Scanners

Omron Automation and Safety's (Schaumburg, IL) new OS32C-4M Type 3 safety laser scanners provide a 4 meter safety range, 15 meter warning zones and a 270 degree detection angle for safeguarding large robotic cells and...

Products

High-Speed Imaging System

Photron, Inc. (San Diego, CA) has introduced the FASTCAM Mini UX50 rugged, lightweight high-speed camera. The new, 1.3 megapixel (1,280 x 1,024 pixels) high-speed sensor operates at 2,000 frames per second (fps) at...

Products

Tunable Blue Diode Laser

New Focus (Santa Clara, CA), a Newport Corporation brand, has extended its range of Littrow tunable lasers with the TLB-7102-02 Vantage(TM). The direct blue diode laser is tunable from 421 to 423 nm and ideally...

Products

Custom Optical Mounts

Optical Surfaces Ltd. (Kenley, UK) specializes in providing custom modified versions of its high-precision optical mounts for challenging applications. Typical custom modifications include mounts for non-circular...

News

Test & Measurement

Putting Lightweighting to the Test

Addressing the transportation industry megatrends to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, lightweight polymer composites are replacing heavier metal counterparts in automotive,...

Technical Innovation

Electronics & Computers

Volvo, ABB Partner on Fast-Charging Electric Buses

Volvo Bus Corp. and Swiss technology group ABB are collaborating to develop and commercialize hybrid- and full-electric buses that employ “open standards-based” dc fast-charging...

INSIDER

RF & Microwave Electronics

DARPA Teams With Industry to Create Spaceplane

DARPA has created an Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) to create a new paradigm for more routine, responsive, and affordable space operations. In an important step toward that goal, DARPA has...

INSIDER

Test & Measurement

Custom Surface Inspection System for Safety-Critical Processes

Researchers have engineered a high-precision modular inspection system that can be adapted on a customer-specific basis and integrated into the production process. Before a...

INSIDER

Manufacturing & Prototyping

NASA 3D Printing Technique Creates Metal Spacecraft Parts

Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are implementing a printing process that transitions from one metal or alloy to another in a single object. JPL scientists have been...

Technical Innovation

Electronics & Computers

Joysticks Increase Safety and Reliability While Reducing Weight

Joysticks are evolving rapidly, improving ergonomics to help improve operator efficiency and increase safety and reliability. The controllers are helping increase safety and...

News

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Several World Firsts Highlight Volvo XC90 (Video)

Volvo Cars on Aug. 26 unveiled the redesigned XC90 for the 2015 model year as part of what the company says is a $11 billion investment program that includes a new platform for the XC90...

News

Energy

Peterbilt, Exa Examine the Aerodynamics of Drafting

On-highway tractor-trailer vehicles operate in a complex aerodynamic environment that includes influences of surrounding vehicles. Typical aerodynamic analyses and testing of single...

Technical Innovation

Power

Construction Equipment Benefits from Advanced Electromagnetic Design Tool

Ricardo may look back on 2014 as THE year for TorqStor technology. Though it had been in development for about seven years, this was the year it won a Tech Award...

Original Equipment

Power

Deere Upgrades Excavators with Tier 4 Final Engines

John Deere's goals in the development of its new G-Series Final Tier 4 excavators went beyond making the machines emissions ready, but to also include design and functionality...

News

Transportation

Volkswagen's New Euro Passat Switches to MQB Matrix

The essential design criteria for the creation of a new generation of a high volume production car has become thoroughly formulaic: improved fuel consumption; lower emissions; more...