Electronics
Rice, UCLA slash energy needs for next-generation memory
June 7, 2012 7:56 am | News | CommentsResearchers from Rice University and the University of California, Los Angeles unveiled a new data-encoding scheme that slashes more than 30% of the energy needed to write data onto new memory cards that use phase-change memory—a competitor to flash memory that has big backing from industry heavyweights.
How infectious diseases are transmitted on aircraft
June 7, 2012 6:37 am | News | CommentsA new study is expected to provide the first detailed information on how infectious diseases may be transmitted aboard commercial airliners. Sponsored by aircraft manufacturer Boeing, the research will document patterns of passenger movement inside aircraft cabins and inventory the microbes present in cabin air and on surfaces such as tray tables and lavatory fixtures.
iSonea launches mobile asthma technology
June 4, 2012 11:46 am | News | CommentsMedical technology company iSonea Ltd has launched its first asthma management smartphone app, AsthmaSense, which is now available to iPhone, iPad, and Android users worldwide.
Researchers produce largest flexible color organic light-emitting display
June 4, 2012 4:10 am | News | CommentsThe Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University announced that it has successfully manufactured the world's largest flexible color organic light-emitting display prototype using advanced mixed oxide thin-film transistors. Measuring 7.4 diagonal inches, the device was developed at the FDC in conjunction with Army Research Laboratories scientists.
BLE RF test solution speeds development of devices
May 31, 2012 9:59 am | News | CommentsAgilent Technologies Inc. announced its Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) test solution on the N4010A wireless connectivity test set was verified by Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) for use with TI's integrated circuits in Bluetooth Smart and Smart-Ready devices.
Unique approach to materials allows temperature-stable circuits
May 31, 2012 4:16 am | News | CommentsSandia National Laboratories has developed a unique materials approach to multilayered, ceramic-based, 3D microelectronics circuits, such as those used in cell phones. The approach compensates for how changes due to temperature fluctuations affect something called the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency, a critical property of materials used in radio and microwave frequency applications.
Copper-nickel nanowires could be perfect fit for printable electronics
May 29, 2012 12:09 pm | News | CommentsDuke University chemists created a new set of flexible, electrically conductive nanowires from thin strands of copper atoms mixed with nickel. The copper-nickel nanowires, in the form of a film, conduct electricity even under conditions that break down the transfer of electrons in plain silver and copper nanowires, a new study shows.
NLT Technologies, Renesas expand touch panel options
May 25, 2012 7:27 am | News | CommentsNLT Technologies, together with its sales and marketing channels in the Americas and Europe, Renesas Electronics America Inc. and Renesas Electronics Europe GmbH, announced the successful development of three mid-size color LCD modules based on projected capacitive touch panel technology.
Resistive RAM chip promises major jump in speed, efficiency
May 18, 2012 8:42 am | News | CommentsThe first purely silicon oxide-based “resistive RAM” memory chip that can operate in ambient conditions has been developed by researchers in the U.K., and it needs just a thousandth of the energy of Flash-based chips. Unlike other attempts to develop similar silicon-oxide chips, this invention does not require a vacuum to operate.
Return of the vacuum tube
May 18, 2012 8:39 am | News | CommentsWith the advent of the solid-state transistor and semi-conductor-based flat panel display technology, the vacuum tube has virtually disappeared from consumer electronics. But a team of researchers in Korea and at NASA’s Ames Research Center have combined the best traits of both technologies to create a vacuum channel transistor just 150 nm long.
Paralyzed woman uses her mind to control robot arm
May 17, 2012 6:33 am | by Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsNot long after a partially paralyzed man in Switzerland used his mind to remotely control a small robot, a Massachusetts woman paralyzed for 15 years used only her thoughts to direct a robotic arm to pick up a bottle of coffee and bring it to her lips But will the experimental brain-controlled technology ever help paralyzed people in everyday life?
Researcher achieves voltage control in plastic transistor
May 17, 2012 4:44 am | News | CommentsA year after a researcher at Linköping University in Sweden built a fully functional field-effect transistor from plastic, another scientist at the same institution has shown that it is possible to control these transistors with great precision, allowing the device to function as a logic circuit.
A new world of spintronics with topological insulators
May 15, 2012 4:20 am | News | CommentsLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory theorists and experimenters have led in the exploration of the unique properties of topological insulators, where electrons may flow on the surface without resistance and with their spin orientations and directions intimately related. Recent research at beamline 12.0.1 of the Advanced Light Source opens the way to exciting prospects for practical new spintronic devices that exploit control of electron spin as well as charge.
Spin polarized supercurrents optimized with a simple flip
May 14, 2012 5:52 am | News | CommentsResearchers from Michigan State University, the NIST Center for Neutron Research, and the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology have discovered the key to controlling and enhancing the lossless flow of a current with a single electron spin state in a standard superconducting device.
Researchers map path to quantum electronic devices
May 14, 2012 4:28 am | News | CommentsA team of Duke University engineers has created a master "ingredient list" describing the properties of more than 2,000 compounds that might be combined to create the next generation of quantum electronics devices.
Rover on the move after surviving Martian winter
May 10, 2012 6:28 pm | News | CommentsAfter spending nearly five months conducting experiments in one spot, the NASA rover moved for the first time this week, rolling off the rock outcrop where it hunkered down for the Martian winter. Engineers will check its power supply before directing it north to study dust and bedrock.
Floating robots use GPS-enabled smartphones to track water flow
May 10, 2012 4:26 am | News | CommentsA fleet of 100 floating robots took a trip down the Sacramento River in a field test organized by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley. The smartphone-equipped floating robots demonstrated the next generation of water monitoring technology, promising to transform the way government agencies monitor one of the state's most precious resources.
Topological insulator shows promise for new class of room-temperature electronics
May 8, 2012 5:43 am | News | CommentsIn the search for new materials with improved electrical conductivity, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have found what appears to be a promising candidate. New experiments show that electrons on the surface of this so-called topological insulator are "protected" from two kinds of scattering that can potentially interfere with the flow of electric current, even at relatively "warm" room temperatures, where the flow of electricity was expected to break down.
Objects that know when they are touched
May 4, 2012 6:10 am | News | CommentsTouché, a new sensing technique developed by a team at Disney Research, Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University, is a form of capacitive touch sensing, similar to what’s used in smartphone touchscreens. But its ability to monitor capacitive signals across a broad range of frequencies allows it to perform functions based on complex movements: doorknobs that know when to lock based on the type touch, for example.
Smart sensor could lead to flying 3D eye-bots
May 4, 2012 5:47 am | News | CommentsIntelligent swarms of aerial drones equipped with high-resolution 3D imaging systems could be a useful tool for police, crisis managers, and urban planners. Special 3D sensors developed engineers in Germany accurately measures distances in three dimensions, prompting speculation that such drones could be developed.
Textile sensors monitor cardiac signs, communicate with smart phones
May 4, 2012 5:00 am | News | CommentsAn interdisciplinary team of engineers at the University of Arkansas has developed a wireless health-monitoring system that gathers critical patient information, regardless of the patient's location, and communicates that information in real time to a physician, hospital, or the patient herself.
New graphene-based material could advance electronics industry
April 27, 2012 4:44 am | News | CommentsThe most transparent, lightweight, and flexible material ever for conducting electricity has been invented by a team from the University of Exeter. Called GraphExeter, the material is more flexible than indium tin oxide, and could advance the creation of wearable electronic devices.
X-rays reveal molecular arrangements for better printable electronics
April 25, 2012 9:38 am | News | CommentsBy employing powerful X-rays that can see down to the molecular level of organic materials used in printable electronics, researchers are now able to determine why some materials perform better than others. Their findings could lead to cheaper, more efficient printable electronic devices.
Webb telescope spinoff technologies appearing in other industries
April 20, 2012 4:12 am | News | CommentsA critical component of the James Webb Space Telescope is its new technology. Much of the technology for the Webb had to be conceived, designed and built specifically to enable it to see farther back in time. As with many NASA technological advances, some of the innovations are being used to benefit humankind in many other industries.
New brain-machine interface moves a paralyzed hand
April 19, 2012 6:29 pm | News | CommentsA new Northwestern University brain-machine technology delivers messages from the brain directly to the muscles—bypassing the spinal cord—to enable voluntary and complex movement of a paralyzed hand. The device could eventually be tested on, and perhaps aid, paralyzed patients.
