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Transportation

Preparing for a 48-volt Revival

More than a decade after the widely anticipated 42-volt electrical revolution died—the victim of increasingly efficient 12-volt components, wiring strategies, and digital controls—demand for greater...

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Transportation

Defying the disruptors and Driving Innovation

Need proof of the auto industry’s crazy pace of change? Look no further than the daily news, where reports of each emergent player — and their impact on what remains of the status quo —...

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Articles
Automotive

The e-LSD alternative to AWD

Is engineering a new vehicle for all-wheel drive worth the cost, weight, and fuel consumption penalties for perhaps 10% of volume on some platforms?

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Articles
Transportation

Designer Yin Meets Engineer Yang

The interface between design and engineering may be the oldest yin-and-yang in vehicle development. And while there are numerous challenges in turning the stylists’ work into practical, manufacturable and...

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Articles
Transportation

Hands Off, Eyes Off, Brain Off

Euro NCAP’s president warns that without coherent policies, the growing availability of automated technologies may result in piecemeal technology development—and unintentional consequences. Read on to learn more.

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Articles
Propulsion

A Peek at Electrify America’s Charging Station Future

The move to electrification has hit a snag. The charging infrastructure hasn’t quite lived up to the needs of those with EVs. The Inflation Reduction Act requires that charging...

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Articles
Regulations/Standards

Automated Driving Meets Regulation NHTSA and the Next 50 Years

HTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind recently spoke on the prospects for reaching zero deaths on America’s roads. “Conceptually, the challenge is extremely straightforward. If...

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Transportation

New Dawn at Honda R&D

Honda’s new 10-speed automatic has not yet entered production, but it is already among the technologies that competitors are clamoring to benchmark when it enters the market. Designed and built in house, the new...

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Articles
Materials

Multi-material Body Solutions: Possibilities and Manufacturing Challenges

In the automotive industry, mass reduction and lightweight design is a continuing trend that does not show signs of declining. When examing where to reduce weight in...

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Electronics & Computers

Smile, You’re on Magna Camera!

Near the small Michigan town of Holly (pop. 6300) an hour north of Detroit, the Magna Electronics complex has quietly become a goliath within the automotive sensor industry.

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Articles
Propulsion

Pushing the ICE Forward, Gradually

Free lunches don’t exist in the quest to improve vehicle efficiency and reduce emissions. No one knows this better than powertrain engineers whose work is a constant series of tradeoffs that must be...

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Articles
Power

A 24-hour Battle of Speed and Efficiency

World endurance racing at Le Mans is no longer only about who finishes first after a grueling 24 hours, but also about winning with the greatest energy efficiency. For 2016, the Federation...

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Everyday Life, Improved by Light: GRYPHON’s Photonic Discoveries

GRYPHON will leverage recent developments in nonlinear photonics and photonic-electronic integration to develop microwave sources with noise performance that meets or exceeds that of the best discrete oscillator modules. Read on to learn more about the endeavor.

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Articles
Physical Sciences

This Laser Clock Could Transform Satellite Navigation Accuracy

A new laser clock from the German Aerospace Center has achieved a record level of accuracy for optical clocks with gas cells: in 30 million years, it would be off by just one second. Read on to learn more about it and what it could mean for satellite navigation accuracy.

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Quality Gearing Keeps Mission-Critical Systems Rotating for Combat

Power transmission and gear components must meet extreme performance and reliability demands in order to prove effective on the battlefield. That’s because they are the heart of rotating mechanisms used to rapidly detect threats, home in on targets, and fire projectiles quickly aboard combat vehicles and ships. Read on to learn more about the gear and its uses.

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Articles
Aerospace

How Aerospace Startups Can Seek Partnerships to Secure Their Future

There usually is no blueprint for innovation. Ultimately, the key to creating productive, successful partnerships is finding the right partner with a winning track record and starting with a defined process that includes understanding new technology from the inside out. Read on to learn more.

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Articles
Software

Microchip’s New Microprocessor to Enable Generational Leap in Spaceflight Computing

Microchip is launching a new class of microprocessors that the company claims will provide a generational leap in the computational performance of spacecraft avionics. Read on to learn more about it.

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Articles
Weapons Systems

How Next-Generation Edge Computers Will Shape Drone Warfare

Drones – or uncrewed aerial systems, as they are known by the military – have become ubiquitous in most armed forces around the world. Across all domains, drones employ a range of sensors. Read on to learn more about how next-gen edge computers will advance them.

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Articles
Automotive

Large-scale Additive Manufacturing for Rapid Vehicle Prototyping

In model-based development of vehicle powertrains, through hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) to mule integration, a new enabling design tool is emerging from recent advances in...

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Articles
Propulsion

Doing It Again — This Time With 10

Almost exactly a decade after Ford and General Motors initiated production of 6-speed planetary-gear automatics derived from the two companies’ first-ever transmission-development collaboration, the...

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Articles
Power

Bringing the Heat on Cooling Technologies

Thermal management continues to become more complex as engineers strive to cool engines while generating enough heat to burn away unwanted emissions matter. Ever smarter electronic controls are...

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Articles
Power

Clearing The Air

They’re not as certain as death and taxes, but tighter emissions regulations have become a constant presence in off-highway vehicle development programs. Design teams continue to focus on meeting mandates or fine-tuning...

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Articles
Automotive

Lightweighting: WHAT’S NEXT?

Are there any automakers who haven’t yet put at least one new model through the weight-reduction wringer? Vehicle mass efficiency has joined the vanguard of product development where every gram lost is...

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

Inside the Autonomous Vehicle

As self-driving technology eventually becomes reliable and safe, the role of the human driver will change dramatically. Instead of acting as a full-time operator, the driver will become a part-time operator...

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Articles
Automotive

Solving the GHG Puzzle

When the U.S. EPA published its Technical Assessment Report (TAR) draft in July on how well the auto industry is meeting federal fuel economy mandates, as a prelude to the Mid-Term Evaluation of the 2022-2025 national...

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Articles
Transportation

U.S. Army Marches Toward Driverless Future

Four tractor-trailer rigs barreled eastbound on Interstate 69 in rural Michigan, their non-reflective olive drab and desert-tan paint and blast-resistant glass the giveaways that this was a U.S....

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Articles
Automotive

Touch Takes Hold, Switches Lend a Hand

System developers are leaving no technology unturned in their effort to boost performance by improving comfort. Touch screens dominate human-machine interface (HMI) development, but rotary knobs and push...

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Articles
Automotive

MEMS the Word for Next-gen HUDs

Nearly 30 years after the first automotive head-up display (HUD) for production cars was offered by GM on the 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and Pontiac Grand Prix — and 55 years after the first airborne...

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Articles
Transportation

Delphi’s Multi-domain Mindset

Mary Gustanski lives in a James Bond movie. It hasn’t yet been released but she’s certain it will be at some future date. In her film-nightmare, the evil-genius villain on the remote island has hacked...

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