Light-emitting diodes — LEDs — are important in many more applications than just illumination. These light sources are useful in microelectronics too. Smartphones, for example, can use an LED proximity sensor to determine if you’re holding the phone next to your face (in which case the screen turns

Are you using a giant coordinate measurement machine for inspection? A Tech Briefs reader asked an industry expert if they should switch to laser radar…or just add a laser to their “CMM. A CMM is one of a few choices for a manufacturer looking to make sure that components are being built to required

As hospitals confront a pandemic and assist a growing of patients, they have found a valuable assistant: the robot.  Why a robot? Well, a robot can’t get sick. With a set of wheels, a tray, and some navigation software, a robot can bring supplies and deliver food, without infecting a staff. If robot

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) and NASA’s Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) recently recorded an image showing three of the four inner rocky planets. The image captured more than the local neighborhood; it also captured the ice giant Uranus which was more than 1.7 billion miles (2.7 bill

The pursuit of fusion as a safe, carbon-free, always-on energy source has intensified in recent years, with a number of organizations pursuing aggressive timelines for technology demonstrations and power plant designs. New-generation superconducting magnets are a critical enabler for many of these p

When SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule splashed down off the Florida coast in August following its first crewed mission, the two astronauts inside could not exit the capsule immediately. Technicians outside had to confirm there were no airborne vapors from hydrazine, a highly toxic fuel used by the vehic

When an aircraft veers upwards too much, the decrease in lift and increase in drag may cause the vehicle to suddenly plummet. Known as a stall, this phenomenon has prompted many drone manufacturers to err on the side of extreme caution when they plan their vehicles’ autonomous flight movements. For

Our bodies send out hosts of signals — chemicals, electrical pulses, mechanical shifts — that can provide a wealth of information about our health. But electronic sensors that can detect these signals are often made of brittle, inorganic material that prevents them from stretching and bending on the

Who One of the major hurdles to combating the COVID-19 pandemic and fully reopening communities across the country is the availability of mass rapid testing. Knowing who is infected would provide valuable insights about the potential spread and threat of the virus for policymakers and citizens alike

For any digitally monitored or automated equipment, controllers interact with physical sensors and output devices using electronic input/output (I/O) signals. Equipment of all types needs I/O systems able to physically connect and functionally interface to a multitude of wired electrical signals. Th

Mechanical engineers and computer scientists have developed a 3D printing technique that uses motion capture technology, similar to that used in Hollywood movies, to print electronic sensors directly on organs that are expanding and contracting. The new research is the next generation of a 3D printi

One advantage of drones is that they can go places where people cant including areas that might be too dangerous such as unstable structures after a natural disaster or a region with unexploded devices. Researchers are interested in developing devices that can navigate these situations by sniffing o

Security officials are tasked with preventing criminals from smuggling dangerous materials into a country; detecting nuclear substances has been difficult and costly. Researchers have developed new devices based on a low-cost material to aid in the detection and identification of radioactive isotope

Liquids arent as well behaved in space as they are on Earth. Inside a spacecraft, microgravity allows liquids to freely slosh and float about. This behavior has made fuel quantity in satellites difficult to pin down but a new prototype fuel gauge could offer a solution. The gauge can digitally recre

A method was developed for a swarm of hundreds of small battery-powered drones to autonomously return from military missions to unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) for recharging. Algorithms are being developed to enable route planning for multiple teams of small unmanned air and ground vehicles. This w

Sensors that monitor a patient’s condition during and after medical procedures can be expensive, uncomfortable, and even dangerous. Now, an international team of researchers has designed a highly sensitive flexible gas sensor that can be implanted in the body — and, after it’s no longer needed, safe

In the 2019 Boeing 737 Max crash, the recovered black box from the aftermath hinted that a failed pressure sensor may have caused the illfated aircraft to nosedive. This incident and others have fueled a larger debate on sensor selection, number, and placement to prevent the reoccurrence of such tra

The smart fabrics industry has applications in wearable devices for the consumer, healthcare, and defense sectors — from monitoring vital signs of patients, to tracking the location and health status of soldiers in the field, and monitoring pilots or drivers for fatigue. Smart textiles with built-in

Real-time health monitoring and sensing abilities of robots require soft electronics, but a challenge of using such materials lies in their reliability. Being elastic and pliable makes their performance less repeatable. The variation in reliability is known as hysteresis. Guided by the theory of con

Patches seem to be all the rage these days. There are birth control patches, nicotine patches, and transdermal medicinal patches, just to name a few. Now, a team of researchers at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, have developed a patch of needles connected to a paper sen