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Technical Innovation

Power

Sinonus Carbon-Fiber Structural Batteries Would Reduce Weight While Adding Range

Carbon-fiber structural batteries are not entirely new, but now Sinonus, a company spun out of Chalmers Technical University in Gothenburg, Sweden, is further...

Application Briefs

Aerospace

PHASA-35 Stratospheric Flight

British engineers have successfully completed a stratospheric flight trial of BAE Systems’ High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) - PHASA-35.

News

Energy

Magna Shows off Electric Offroad Powertrain, In-Cabin Tech

If a mid-20th century engineer could time travel and see Magna’s electric off-road powertrains, they might ask “why is the rear differential so gigantic?” But that’s no...

Briefs

Materials

Extending the Lifetime of Organic Aqueous Flow Batteries

Over the course of their research, the team discovered that these anthraquinones decompose slowly over time, regardless of how many times the battery has been used.

Application Briefs

Communications

Communications Infrastructure UAVs

Solar-powered unmanned aircraft can provide a resilient inter-vendor, mesh-based communications infrastructure to provide over-the-horizon networks that are self-aware and can cover large areas beyond line-of-sight.

Briefs

Energy

Technique Merges Solar Cell and Liquid Battery

A highly efficient and long-lasting solar flow battery generates, stores, and redelivers renewable electricity from the Sun in one device.

Articles

Propulsion

Solar-Powered Satellite Hardware in Orbit

The Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module is the first orbital experiment designed to convert sunlight for microwave power transmission for solar power satellites.

Briefs

Energy

Sustainable Aluminum-Anode Batteries

The rechargeable batteries could be a safer and more environmentally friendly alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

Briefs

Energy

Enhancing Hybrid Flow Battery Electrodes with Nanomaterials

This technology provides highly efficient grid-scale electricity storage at a fifth of the cost of current storage technologies.

Briefs

Energy

Using Electric Vehicle Batteries for Solar Energy Farms

Battery reuse systems could be profitable for both electric vehicle companies and grid-scale solar operations.

Application Briefs

Energy

Solar-Powered Structures

Pvilion, a solar-powered fabric provider, was recently awarded a contract by the United State Air Force (USAF).

News

Power

Lightyear One: 20 Miles of Daily Solar Driving Range

It’s been more than a decade since Toyota first developed a photovoltaic system for the roof of a Prius hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV). Those solar cells, available on Japan-based...

Briefs

Materials

Electrodeposition of Metal Matrix Composites and Materials Characterization for Thin-Film Solar Cells

Metal matrix composites can electrically bridge the cracks that appear in semiconductor substrates and the composite grid lines.

News

Aerospace

High-Altitude Pseudo Satellites: New Battle for Inner Space, Part II

A new development applicable to the production of the Airbus Zephyr lightweight, solar unmanned aircraft is the Airbus Spider radar payload, a novel commercial...

News

Manned Systems

High-Altitude Pseudo Satellites: New Battle for Inner Space, Part I

Farnborough International Airshow 2018 coincided with the opening of the world’s first serial HAPS assembly line by Airbus Defence and Space, with the Farnborough-based...

Briefs

Aerospace

Testing Multijunction Solar Cell Efficiency

The photovoltaic community is closer than ever to achieving ultra-high multijunction solar cell efficiencies (>50%). Subcells from III–V compound semiconductors are approaching ideal...

Articles

Imaging

Controlling the Seas: Introducing a New Concept in Autonomous Surface/Underwater Vehicles

The boundary between the sea and sky is an important place to be. It’s the critical connecting layer for commercial and military information exchange...

Articles

Energy

Assembling Aluminum Vehicles in Volume

The next six months will be challenging times for Ford workers. Dearborn has redesigned its best-selling and most profitable model, the F-150 pickup truck. The tried-and-true, all-steel truck has been...

News

Design

Bosch Adding Engineers, Expanding Tech Center

By doubling the size of its current U.S. technical center, Bosch lays the foundation for adding another 200 specialists to its Michigan workforce.

Application Briefs

Aerospace

Photovoltaic Thermography From the Air

Micro-Epsilon Raleigh, NC 919-787-9707 www.micro-epsilon.com Defective solar cells can destroy an entire module. Therefore, conducting regular inspections using thermography is a great way to perform...

Application Briefs

Defense

Buoy System Tracks Ships in Real Time

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the nation’s 360 ports and waterways remain especially vulnerable to attack from small vessels carrying improvised explosive devices, including...

Articles

RF & Microwave Electronics

A Fundamental Key to Next-Generation Directed-Energy Systems

Imagine an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) unit on a routine scouting patrol deep in the notorious “Triangle of Death” south of Baghdad, where marines, sailors, and soldiers...

Articles

Aerospace

Modern Military Energy Storage Technology

The risk of human casualties associated with fuel convoys, combined with the long-term cost issues of unreliable technologies, has the military exploring greener, more sustainable options with the goal...

Articles

RF & Microwave Electronics

Microwave Energy Transmission for Aircraft

Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, are used in many applications to gather intelligence without risking human lives. These aircraft, however, have limited flight time because of their reconnaissance...

Briefs

Electronics & Computers

Conjugated Polymers Having High Charge-Carrier Mobilities

A three-year research project encompassed multiple studies of (1) polymer semiconductors that exhibit relatively high electric-charge- carrier mobilities and (2) applications of these...

Briefs

Information Technology

Simulation of a Flywheel Energy-Storage System

A computational model has been developed to simulate the operation of a laboratory flywheel energy-storage system that is a subsystem of the Flywheel Attitude Control, Energy Transmission, and Storage (FACETS) system located at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The FACETS, which includes three...

Briefs

Electronics & Computers

Advances in Organic-Based Electronic Devices

A program of research has addressed multiple topics in the field of electronic and optoelectronic devices based on polymers and other organic substances, with special attention to memory devices and...