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A New Additive Manufacturing Accelerator for the U.S. Navy in Guam
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2026 Toyota RAV4 Review: All Hybrid, All the Time
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F-22 Pilot Controls Drone With Tablet
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Articles RF & Microwave Electronics
Microcomb Chips Could Improve Accuracy of GPS Systems
The optical atomic clocks that exist today are bulky and require complex laboratories with specific laser settings and optical components, making it difficult to use them outside lab environments, such as in satellites, remote research stations, or drones. Now, a research team has developed a technology that makes optical atomic clocks significantly smaller and accessible for more widespread use in society. Read on to learn more.
On-Demand Webinars Imaging
Breakthrough in Infrared and Visible Imaging: One Dataset with Spatial and Temporal Alignment
Until now, researchers have had to choose between thermal and visible imaging: One reveals heat signatures while the other provides structural...
Articles RF & Microwave Electronics
The Evolution of Autonomous Systems in UAV Technology
So, let’s talk about it: What’s happening in 2025? Well, the sky is no longer the limit — it’s just the beginning of a new era in autonomous UAV technology. Read on to learn more.
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Army Researchers Develop Chemical Threat Scanning on the Fly
U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center researchers are developing a way to scan for chemical biological agent on surfaces on the fly. It is called Hyperspectral Threat Anomaly Detection, or HyperThreAD for short. Read on to learn more about it.
Articles Photonics/Optics
Next Level Rugged Fiber Optic Interconnects: A New Era of High-Speed Data Transmission in Defense
In addition to the high level of complexity, the upcoming generation change from fifth- to sixth-generation fighter jets poses major challenges for component suppliers and accelerates the pace of technological competition. Read on to learn more.
INSIDER Aerospace
Blue Ghost Arrives in Lunar Orbit, Prepares for Landing
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 lunar lander has entered an elliptical orbit around the Moon and captured new images as it prepares for a scheduled landing.
INSIDER RF & Microwave Electronics
Using Squeezed Light to Develop Sensors That Defy Defense Limits
Raytheon’s BBN Technologies is developing next-generation, compact, low-power, deployable photonic sensors that will provide users with better awareness of environmental...
INSIDER Imaging
Ultraviolet Camera System for Small Satellites Could Advance Space Weather Studies
Virginia Tech researchers are collaborating with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to gain new insights on space weather and Earth's upper atmosphere.
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.
Articles Manufacturing & Prototyping
MEMS-Based Accelerometer to Measure Microgravity for In-Orbit Manufacturing
Looking ahead, the continued development of MEMS technology will likely unlock new possibilities for space exploration and utilization, ensuring that projects like ForgeStar remain at the forefront of scientific and technological progress. Read on to learn more.
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Researchers Demonstrate the First Chip-Based 3D Printer
Imagine a portable 3D printer you could hold in the palm of your hand. Researchers took a major step toward making this idea a reality by demonstrating the first chip-based 3D printer. The prototype chip has no moving parts, instead relying on an array of tiny optical antennas to steer a beam of light. Read on to learn more.
Briefs Semiconductors & ICs
Streamlined Microcomb Design Provides Control With The Flip of a Switch
Researchers at the University of Rochester describe new microcomb lasers they have developed that overcome previous limitations and feature a simple design that could open the door to a broad range of uses. Read on to learn more.
Articles Photonics/Optics
Space Lasers: Aiming Towards Next Leap in Global Communications
Space lasers are transforming the world. Not the far-off future of science fiction, but the universe of how data and communications flow today — everywhere from deep space missions to countless applications here on earth, including consumer internet services, military operations, and banking transactions. Read on to learn more.
INSIDER Defense
Space Lasers: Aiming Towards Next Leap in Global Communications
Space lasers are transforming the world. Not the far-off future of science fiction, but the universe of how data and communications flow today — everywhere from deep space...
Briefs Photonics/Optics
NRL Research Physicists Explore Fiber Optic Computing Using Distributed Feedback
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) researchers have outlined a novel contribution in fiber optics computing in a paper recently published in Communications Physics Journal that brings the Navy one step closer to faster, more efficient computing technologies.
Articles Defense
Image Sensors and Cameras Based on Colloidal Quantum Dots for Defense Applications
This article reports on the image sensor technology and the VS20 camera product developed at Emberion. The article describes the image sensor design comprising the sensor stack based on a p-i-n photodiode implementation with PbS QDs sandwiched between thin-film hole transport (HTL) and electron transport (ETL) layers as well as the CMOS ROIC architecture and pixel front-end interfacing the photodiode stack.
INSIDER Manned Systems
This Avionics Computer Enables Image Data Processing, Payload Control for NASA IM-1 Mission
Aitech provided a complete avionics computer system to Intuitive Machines for the IM-1 Mission, that successfully landed on the Moon on February 22,...
INSIDER RF & Microwave Electronics
New Video Card Enables Supersonic Vision System for NASA's X-59 Demonstrator
During a Jan. 12, 2024 rollout ceremony at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, NASA debuted the new X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft. The...
Articles Imaging
Certified Machine Learning-Based Avionics
Over the past few decades, aircraft automation has progressively increased. Advances in digital computing during the 1980s eliminated the need for onboard flight engineers. Avionics systems, exemplified by FADEC for engine control and Fly-By-Wire, handle lower-level functions, reducing human error.
Articles Photonics/Optics
Physicists Develop a New Type of Antenna
This research and demonstration presents a simple technique for a remote Rydberg-atom-based RF sensor, which was verified for distances of up to 30 m between the passive sensing unit and the base station — currently limited by the length of the hallway used in the demonstration.
INSIDER Imaging
ATHENA Sensor Brings Generational Leap to Airborne MANPAD Protection
Since their introduction, Man-Portable Air Defense Systems – heat-seeking, shoulder-fired missiles – have been a persistent threat to U.S. Army aviation. Infrared...
Products Electronics & Computers
New Products
See the new products, including the NDT 1000 inspection system, a PU-5200 certifiable display computer, RJ45 connectors, servers, and more.
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Free-Space Quantum Communications in Harsh Environments
The project aims to explore the possibility of all-weather secure quantum communication using macroscopic quantum states of light.
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Deep Image Prior Amplitude SAR Image Anonymization
Synthetic Aperture Radar images are a powerful tool for studying the Earth’s surface. They are radar signals generated by an imaging system mounted on a platform such as an aircraft or satellite. As the platform moves, the system emits sequentially high-power electromagnetic waves through its antenna.
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Determining Optical Material Parameters With Motion in Structured Illumination
Ellipsometry measures the amplitude ratio and the phase difference between polarized light reflected from the surface of a film and determines the refractive index or thickness by fitting the experimental data to an optical model that represents an approximated sample structure.
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Towards Greater Sensitivity: A Brief FTIR and Infrared-Based Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy Comparative Study
Cavity Ring-Down spectroscopy (CRDS) is a newer IR absorption-based technique made possible by the use of tunable pulsed lasers. Rather than using a broadband (blackbody) emitter as is done with traditional IR techniques, a pulsed laser is tuned across wavelengths into an optical cavity.
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Spatial Calibration for Accurate Long Distance Measurement Using Infrared Cameras
All commercially available camera systems have lenses (and internal geometries) that cannot perfectly refract light waves and refocus them onto a two-dimensional (2D) image sensor. This means that all digital images contain elements of distortion and thus are not a true representation of the real world.
Articles Defense
How Laser Communications Innovation is Finally Coming of Age and Driving Innovation in Defense
Though laser technology has advantages over radio, and those advantages are growing as innovation accelerates, what is essential to realize is that they need not be in competition.
Articles Imaging
Shaking Outside the Box to Advance Flight Research
A technique called Shake the Box predicts the positions of already-tracked particles and then corrects errors using image matching. The algorithms triangulate the positions of new particles in the measurement domain, enabling scientists to look at higher-particle densities with greater positional accuracy.
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Automotive
Hydrogen Engines Are Heating Up for Heavy Duty
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SAE Automotive Podcast: Solid-State Batteries
Automotive
SAE Automotive Engineering Podcast: Additive Manufacturing
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A New Approach to Manufacturing Machine Connectivity for the Air Force
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Optimizing Production Processes with the Virtual Twin
