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Manufacturing & Prototyping

Test Socket Thermal Solutions

Aries Electronics (Bristol, PA) recently introduced a new thermal profiling solution for its test and burn-in socket line of products. Unlike standard heat-sink and fan options, this solution incorporates advanced...

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NASA Spinoff
RF & Microwave Electronics

Radio Relays Improve Wireless Products

In order to transmit communications through Earth’s atmosphere, satellites and space vehicles need radio equipment that can operate at higher frequencies than on Earth. These higher frequencies, until...

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Enhance EMC Testing with Digital IF

Modern electromagnetic interference (EMI) receivers and spectrum analyzers used for compliance and precompliance testing employ digital intermediate-frequency (digital IF) processing technology for signal...

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INSIDER
Data Acquisition

Tool Nondestructively Characterizes Structural Materials as they Deform

Materials scientists are busy developing advanced materials, while also working to squeeze every bit of performance out of existing materials. This is particularly true...

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INSIDER
Propulsion

NASA Tests New Green Propellants for Satellites

To stay in the proper orbit, many satellites have thrusters – small rocket engines – that fire to change altitude or orientation in space. On Earth, where gravity dominates, five pounds of...

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INSIDER
Test & Measurement

Crash Test Helps Improve Emergency Response

NASA’s Langley Research Center hoisted a Cessna 172 aircraft 100 feet into the air by cables and released it. The plane plummeted onto a slab of dirt in a violent but controlled experiment that will...

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News
Propulsion

Lifting 3D Printing to New Heights

Whether it’s through 3D printing jet engine fuel nozzles by the thousands or validating metal rocket injectors for space flight, aerospace has consistently proven itself to be on the cutting edge of the...

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Articles
Test & Measurement

Synthetic Vision Guidance Systems Giving 2D data a 3D perspective

Synthetic Vision (SV) displays replace the pilot’s traditional 2D primary flight display (PFD) with a 3D perspective view display. The 3D SV perspective display is rendered...

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Briefs
Test & Measurement

Thermal Conductivity Measurement Setup for Low-Temperature Characterization of Laser Materials

Operating lasers at cryogenic temperatures gained maturity only in the mid-90s due mostly to the progress in transparent, laser-grade ceramics and...

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Briefs
Test & Measurement

Thermal Response of Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) Materials in a Flash Flame Test

Testing was performed on Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabric and composite material in a flash flame environment when...

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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...

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News
Defense

SAKOR Develops 'Spacecraft Emulator' to Test Dream Chaser Control System

SAKOR Technologies, Inc. has supplied a test system to Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to be used to test the atmospheric flight control system for the Dream...

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INSIDER
Aerospace

NASA Tests Green Aviation Technology

Two NASA experiments designed to help reduce fuel consumption and emissions will fly this spring on a specially outfitted Boeing 757 airplane called the ecoDemonstrator. One includes 31 small devices that...

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INSIDER
Test & Measurement

Explosive Destruction System Begins Eliminating Chemical Weapons

The Explosive Destruction System (EDS), designed by Sandia National Laboratories for the U.S. Army, has begun safely destroying stockpile chemical munitions.

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Briefs
Defense

Selective, Sensitive, and Robust Electrochemical Detection of Anthrax

There exists an unmet need for rapid, sensitive, and field-stable assays for pathogen detection. Bacillus anthracis is the causative agent of anthrax poisoning. This Gram-positive bacterium secretes a tripartite toxin including a cell-binding protective antigen (PA), and the...

Products
Test & Measurement

Digital Meter

The New Technology Meter (NTM) from OTEK (Tucson, AZ) has everything you need to measure and control your process while operating with less than 50mW of power. OTEK’s NTM boasts a full tricolor bargraph with 2% resolution and...

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Products
Test & Measurement

Signal Conditioning Modules

Precision Filters Inc. (Ithaca, NY) has introduced a new family of signal conditioning modules for measurement systems built on National Instruments™ rugged, compact, low power cRIO™ platform. The four analog...

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Briefs
Test & Measurement

Isotope Beta-Battery Approaches for Long-Lived Sensors

The energy density of isotopes exceeds that of chemical energy storage by six orders of magnitude. Isotopes are used in many commercial applications, and are produced and available at modest prices. The power requirements of many sensors and communications equipment can greatly reduce the power...

Briefs
Defense

Sensing Suspicious Powders Using Noncontact Optical Methods

Suspicious powder incidents continue to be a disruptive and costly problem. In-situ assessment of suspicious powders within inorganic matrices, particularly with powders of biological...

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Briefs
Defense

Damping Measurement for Wafer-Level Packaged MEMS Acceleration Sensors

Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) three-axis acceleration threshold sensors have been developed to measure acceleration threshold levels using voltage switching when the...

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INSIDER
Aerospace

Sound Waves Detect Aircraft Structural Defects

A system for using sound waves to spot potentially dangerous cracks in pipes, aircraft engines, and nuclear power plants has been developed by a University of Strathclyde researcher. A study...

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News
Test & Measurement

F-35 Gets Cold Treatment in Step Toward IOC Remedy

Since it first became an active cold-weather testing facility in 1947, the 96th Test Wing's McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, FL, there have been a wide variety of...

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News
Test & Measurement

Magnetic Field Lines Made Visible in 3-D and Real Time

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute have developed a high-resolution magnetic line camera to measure magnetic fields in real time, which is particularly useful for quality assurance...

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Briefs
Software

Software Tool Enables High-Fidelity Simulation of Explosive Device Effects

High-fidelity simulation tools are used as an acceptable surrogate for real-world tests. These tools accelerate development and reduce cost, while informing weapons...

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Briefs
Information Technology

Reduced Order Modeling for Rapid Simulation of Blast Events of a Military Ground Vehicle and its Occupants

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) pose a significant threat to military ground vehicles and soldiers in the field. Full-system...

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Articles
Test & Measurement

Testing Reality in an Increasingly Complex Design Space

The universal adoption of digital 3-D design tools has truly changed forever the way that advanced products are created, from original concept studies, development, testing, and...

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Articles
Aerospace

Advancing the Use of Beryllium Bearing Materials for Unmanned Platforms

Aerospace and defense platforms are often regarded as the earliest adopters of new materials and processes technologies. Materials test programs provide validations of...

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INSIDER
Energy

Energy Harvesting Could Help Power Spacecraft of the Future

A consortium is working on a project to maximize energy harvesting on a spacecraft of the future. The initiative seeks to find energy-saving and -maximizing solutions to enable...

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News
Defense

NASA Testing Under Way of Shape-Changing Aircraft Flap

The Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge (ACTE) project, a joint effort between NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), has taken another step forward with the completion of...

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