Electronics
Secure Virtual Machine Server for Military Applications
April 16, 2012 12:01 pm | Product Releases | CommentsGeneral Micro Systems, Inc. designer and manufacturer of embedded computing products for defense, aerospace and compute-intensive applications, has introduced the “Zeus” (SCZ91X), a six-way server that represents an eight-fold performance improvement over current offerings.
New multicore chip hardware models avoid “deadlock”
April 13, 2012 4:49 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMulticore chips are common, but chips of the future are likely to have hundreds or even thousands of cores. Software simulations will work up to a point, but hardware models facilitated by programmable chips that won’t get bogged down by resource requests will be required to test designs. A new system to improve the efficiency of such model has been developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientists.
Multiplexed photonic chips transfer data at light speed
April 12, 2012 12:36 pm | News | CommentsPowerful microprocessors in computers today use vast quantities of data and perform millions of calculations per second, but the connections simply cannot shift electrons fast enough. Wadimos, an effort in Europe to develop process technology for building wavelength division multiplexed photonic layers on CMOS chips is an effort to bring photon-fast performance to chip connections.
Human Machine Interface Systems for Specialized Machinery
April 12, 2012 8:54 am | Product Releases | CommentsEAO, a maker of human machine interfaces, is now offering custom-built human machine interface (HMI) systems and a full range of components ideal for use in special purpose machinery. EAO can design and manufacture all types of control panels or input devices.
Xerox unveils research projects to make healthcare less of a pain
April 12, 2012 3:42 am | News | CommentsThis week at TEDMED 2012, Xerox pulled back the curtain on some of the healthcare-related research occurring in its labs around the world. The company’s innovations include LiveKey, which captures and shares paper-based information in seconds, and predictive clinical analytics solutions enabled by mobile device technology.
Five more minutes? New clock answers resounding 'no'
April 10, 2012 2:44 pm | by Ted Shaffrey Associated Press | News | CommentsShort of smashing it to bits, the world’s most exasperating alarm clock cannot be defeated. Once it goes off, you must get up, go to another room, and punch the day's date into a telephone-style keypad. According to its inventor, a 25-year-old engineer, he fears his own creation so much gets up before it ever gets a chance to deliver its annoying sonic payload.
Researcher finds faster, cheaper way to cool electronic devices
April 9, 2012 5:32 am | News | CommentsA North Carolina State University researcher has developed a more efficient, less expensive way of cooling electronic devices. The technique uses a heat spreader made of a copper-graphene composite, which is attached to the electronic device using an indium-graphene interface film.
Plastic electronics: A neat solution
April 9, 2012 5:21 am | News | CommentsA breakthrough in the development of a new generation of plastic electronic circuits by researchers at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory brings flexible and transparent intelligent materials—such as artificial skin and interactive playing cards—a step closer.
Google creates a spectacle with project
April 6, 2012 5:55 am | by Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsEarlier this week, Google gave a glimpse of "Project Glass", an effort to bring the features of a smartphone or tablet computer to a pair of glasses. While wearing a pair, a user can see directions to a destination appear before her eyes, can talk to friends over video chat, can take a photo, or even buy a few things online.
Mobile technology helps explore nicotine addiction
April 4, 2012 9:42 am | by Victoria M Indivero, Penn State University | News | CommentsSome people quit smoking on the first try while others have to try to quit repeatedly. Using such mobile technology as handheld computers and smartphones, a team of researchers from Penn State University and the University of Pittsburgh is trying to find out why.
Using cell phones to detect harmful airborne substances
April 4, 2012 8:56 am | by Sean Nealon, University of California, Riverside | News | CommentsThe laboratory of a University of California, Riverside professor was named on Tuesday, April 3 after Innovation Economy Corporation, a Riverside company that plans to commercialize his research focused on using mobile devices, such as cell phones, to detect harmful airborne substances in real time.
Micro motor to power to the Moon on drops of fuel
April 3, 2012 9:22 am | News | CommentsThe first prototype of a new, ultra-compact motor that may allow small satellites to journey beyond Earth’s orbit is just making its way out of laboratories in Switzerland. The goal of the micro motor, which weighs only 200 g including fuel and control electronics, is to drastically reduce the cost of space exploration.
Kyocera acquires Optrex
April 2, 2012 11:51 am | News | CommentsKyocera Corporation, Kyoto, Japan, has acquired LCD manufacturer Optrex Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, to form Kyocera Display Corporation. The acquisition will enable Kyocera to complement its range of resistive and capacitive type touchscreen panels with Optrex's touchscreen bonding capabilities.
ASTRON and IBM collaborate to explore origins of the universe
April 2, 2012 5:19 am | News | CommentsThe international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope when it is built, and will require the processing power of several million of today’s fastest computers to collect the exabytes of data it will generate. IBM and the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) are embarking on a five-year project to solve this data collection problem.
Microprocessors from pencil lead
March 30, 2012 5:53 am | by Daniel Stolte, University of Arizona | News | CommentsGraphite, more commonly known as pencil lead, could become the next big thing in the quest for smaller, less power-hungry electronics. University of Arizona physicists are making discoveries that may advance electronic circuit technology.
More energy-efficient transistors through quantum tunneling
March 26, 2012 11:31 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the University of Notre Dame and Pennsylvania State University have announced breakthroughs in the development of tunneling field effect transistors (TFETs), a semiconductor technology that takes advantage of the quirky behavior of electrons at the quantum level.
A thermal approach to invisibility cloaking
March 26, 2012 8:08 am | News | CommentsIn a new approach to invisibility cloaking, a team of French researchers has proposed isolating or cloaking objects from sources of heat—essentially "thermal cloaking." This method taps into some of the same principles as optical cloaking and may lead to novel ways to control heat in electronics and, on an even larger scale, might someday prove useful for spacecraft and solar technologies.
Nanosatellite makes first-ever measurements of auroral turbulence
March 22, 2012 7:24 am | News | CommentsThe largest solar flare in the past five years triggered a major geomagnetic storm over Alaska on March 8. The same day, a nanosatellite operated by researchers from SRI International and the University of Michigan took a measurement of naturally occurring auroral turbulence. The data was the first-ever recorded using a nanosatellite radar receiver.
New method for boron-doping of 2D carbon materials
March 22, 2012 5:50 am | News | CommentsKyoto University researchers have developed a new method for the boron-doping of 2D carbon materials, which is expected to be a promising approach towards the development of highly efficient electron transporting materials for organic electronics.
Making an emerging technology safe for the environment
March 22, 2012 3:35 am | News | CommentsThe percentage of electronic waste occupying our landfills has grown at an alarming rate over the last decade, giving rise to concerns about the toxicity of components used in consumer electronics. Researchers at the University of Florida are looking for ways to minimize environmental hazards associated with a material likely to play an increasingly important role in the manufacture of these goods in the future.
Better organic electronics
March 20, 2012 7:48 am | News | CommentsAt Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Molecular Foundry, scientists have provided the first experimental determination of the pathways by which electrical charge is transported from molecule-to-molecule in an organic thin film. These results also show how such organic films can be chemically modified to improve conductance for superior organic electronics.
Researchers increase speed of single-molecule measurements
March 18, 2012 3:33 pm | News | CommentsA team of researchers has figured out a way to measure nanopores—tiny holes in a thin membrane that can detect single biological molecules such as DNA and proteins—with less error than can be achieved with commercial instruments. The new integrated circuit design could lead to cheaper, faster DNA sequencing.
Graphene supercapacitor holds promise for portable electronics
March 15, 2012 11:28 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have used a standard LightScribe DVD optical drive to produce electrodes composed of an expanded network of graphene that shows excellent mechanical and electrical properties as well as exceptionally high surface area. These LSG supercapacitors demonstrate high-performance graphene-based electrochemical capacitors that maintain excellent electrochemical attributes under high mechanical stress.
Diamond brightens the performance of electronic devices
March 13, 2012 4:13 am | News | CommentsWhile diamonds may be a girl's best friend, they're also well loved by scientists working to enhance the performance of electronic devices. Two new studies performed at Argonne National Laboratory have revealed a new pathway for materials scientists to use previously unexplored properties of nanocrystalline-diamond thin films.
Fiber laser points to woven 3D displays
March 12, 2012 4:31 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMost light emitters, from candles to light bulbs to computer screens, look the same from any angle. But Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers report the development of a new light source—a fiber only a little thicker than a human hair—whose brightness can be controllably varied for different viewers.
