Technology

A fresh start for 2020 Welcome to the new R&D World! A lot has happened since the last print issue of this venerable brand hit your desks, and we are proud of the new look and feel of the publication. Formerly known as simply, “R&D,” the brand was purchased out of bankruptcy by Cleveland-based WTWH…

Mitigating ongoing threats to national security requires timely intelligence data, including signals intelligence surveillance (SIGINT). Modern SIGINT systems provide this information by monitoring electronic communications transmitted over the air. In order to improve capability and reduce cost in a terrestrial direction-finding antenna, Southwest Research Institute developed novel sleeved electric dipoles that boost useable bandwidth by…

The approaching holiday travel season brings concerns of what a pilot shortage could mean for the annual overflowing flight schedules. That shortage could soon could be alleviated. Purdue (University) Polytechnic Institute has introduced a Degree in 3 program. It is intended to get more flight students properly trained and in the air a year sooner.…

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games drawing nearer, advanced numerical and experimental studies are being conducted to provide Australia’s most promising athletes with a competitive advantage. The studies are helping Australia’s leading sports scientists and performance coaches to shave vital seconds off their athletes’ times in the velodrome. Studies published in the Journal of Sports Engineering…

Owlstone Medical has joined 3TR, a large-scale public-private research initiative that aims to provide new insights into the mechanisms of response and non-response to treatment within and across seven different immune-mediated diseases. Owlstone Medical will receive funds from the project to provide Breath Biopsy Collection Stations and Kits for the collection of breath samples, and…

A battery-powered, wearable personalized temperature control system could help save energy on air conditioning and heating. A research team from the University of California San Diego has created a wearable, soft and stretchable patch that can cool or warm a user’s skin to a preferable temperature and keep it there as the temperature around the…

Combining agriculture, computer power, statistical models and chemical analysis, researchers have learned how to maximize the flavor of basil plants, a preliminary step toward optimizing food growth, and open-sourcing the technology to do so. The scientists, from the Open Agriculture (OpenAg) Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), say that “cyber-agriculture” could additionally aid…

What should you consider when selecting a vacuum compatible positioner? This article outlines the basics of a vacuum system and presents considerations to keep in mind when gathering requirements for your application. It focuses on motion control and what is essential to achieve reliable performance without compromising vacuum requirements.

What should you consider when selecting a direct drive linear motor? Linear motors, one type of direct drive technology, have developed into a drive type ideal for precision motion control applications. We compare rotary and linear motors and direct and indirect drive systems, highlight benefits of linear motor types, and discuss the benefits of Zaber’s…

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS, or drones) are a rapidly evolving technology that is being used for a variety of applications. With federal regulations making it easier to operate these systems with appropriate commercial certification, the number of UAS pilots has greatly increased. Over the past eight years, the Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) in Ann…

An “interactive surface” refers to an interface whose input and output share a common surface that can be manipulated intuitively with the fingers. However, ordinary multi-touch displays, e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCD), can only provide two-dimensional information, limiting expressions and interactions with such displays to the surface. Novel three-dimensional display systems have been proposed to…

Anatomy students at Taipei Medical University are now able to see every internal organ, tissue and muscle in unprecedented 3D detail, thanks to the world’s largest virtual reality (VR) anatomy lab. The lab, which opened late last year, includes 10 sets of VIVE Pro Headsets loaded with 3D Organon VR Anatomy software, allowing students to…

Many major advances in medicine, especially in neurology, have been sparked by recent advances in electronic systems that can acquire, process, and interact with biological substrates. These bioelectronic systems, which are increasingly used to understand dynamic living organisms and to treat human disease, require devices that can record body signals, process them, detect patterns, and…

As part of a multi-phase study investigating the use of virtual reality (VR) as a teaching tool, Cornell University researchers found that while students were more interested in learning using VR,  actual learning rates were no different with VR than using traditional teaching methods such as hands-on activities and computer simulations. Natasha Holmes, PhD, senior…