Technology

By Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office When you save an image to your smartphone, those data are written onto tiny transistors that are electrically switched on or off in a pattern of “bits” to represent and encode that image. Most transistors today are made from silicon, an element that scientists have managed to switch…

Recently, I interviewed master inventor Dean Kamen, well known as the inventor of the stair climbing wheelchair and the Segway, as well as the creator of the FIRST Robotics competitions for school children. I explained to Dean how R&D World’s Global Funding Forecast was reporting that China will outspend the U.S. for the very first…

The (Continuously) Rotating Wind Turbine UAV Inspection System, from Metal Industries Research & Development Centre (MIRDC), replaces the existing procedure of implementing the wind turbine examination after the blades stop running. The new method not only redefines the logic to examine the wind turbine blades with the existing UAV, but also recreates the formation mode…

trinamiX, developer of 3D and infrared sensing solutions and a subsidiary of BASF, announced its vision to bring Near-Infrared Spectroscopy into smartphones based on Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile platforms at the Snapdragon Tech Summit Digital 2020.  trinamiX’s sensing technology will empower end consumers to identify the molecular composition of material enabling them to optimize their decision…

Following up on the enormous success of the first two episodes of R&D 100 – The Podcast, we are happy to report that Episode 3 is now live! Today, co-hosts Paul J. Heney and Aimee Kalnoskas, editors with R&D World magazine, are day drinking — but it’s all in the name of science! We swear! In…

By Chris Adam New autonomous sensor technology may help businesses monitor refrigeration and heating systems in real time much faster and easier than current options. Researchers at Purdue University developed the sensor to monitor the oil circulation ratio in real time for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration systems. The oil circulation ratio provides data…

5G’s success relies on the availability of quality mobile devices. Keysight Technologies’ Keysight E7515B UXM 5G Wireless Test Platform is a software-defined test platform that emulates a real network for engineers to validate and test 5G device performance. It combines the most advanced RF and digital hardware with world-class software for chipset/device makers, network operators…

By Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office To capture panoramic views in a single shot, photographers typically use fisheye lenses — ultra-wide-angle lenses made from multiple pieces of curved glass, which distort incoming light to produce wide, bubble-like images. Their spherical, multipiece design makes fisheye lenses inherently bulky and often costly to produce. Now engineers…

By Abby E Bower Horizon31, of Knoxville, Tenn., has exclusively licensed a novel communication system that allows users to reliably operate unmanned vehicles such as drones from anywhere in the world using only an internet connection. The technology, developed by the startup’s founders at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory will enable commercial,…

What scientists and engineers need to know to help keep software, hardware and connected systems secure By Patricia Panchak, Contributing Writer In the cat-and-mouse struggle against bad actors in our inter-networked world, scientists and engineers are on the front lines. As developers of technology that can mean the difference between an adversarial breach and a…

By Kayla Wiles A self-driving car has a hard time recognizing the difference between a toddler and a brown bag that suddenly appears into view because of limitations in how it senses objects using lidar. The autonomous vehicle industry is exploring “frequency modulated continuous wave” (FMCW) lidar to solve this problem. Researchers have built a…

By about 2025, China will likely surpass the U.S. for the first time ever in the amount of dollars spent on R&D. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to sit down with Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a first-term congresswoman from southeastern Pennsylvania (and an industrial engineer), who sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’…

By Becky Chambers Hennessy Collaboration is among the flagship strategies of innovation for research scientists, engineers and technical professionals. Here, three R&D experts weigh in on China as it rises to become the world’s top R&D investor. They also address some of the benefits and challenges of openness in research, and the inclusion of foreign…

A look at whether “to innovate, collaborate” is always the best strategy when it comes to global R&D By Becky Chambers Hennessy If ever there were a need for innovation through intellectual exchange and collaboration it is this: the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), reportedly first identified in China. R&D experts worldwide know this, and the U.S.…

CEA-Leti announced its researchers have broken the throughput world record of 5.1 Gbps in visible light communications (VLC) using a single GaN blue micro light-emitting diode (LED). Their data transmission rate of 7.7 Gbps achieved with a 10 µm microLED marks another step toward commercialization and widespread use of LiFi communication. VLC, commonly called LiFi…

Oscilloscopes with more than two channels present a common problem: none of us have enough hands to hold more than two oscilloscope probes in place. This is especially an issue when using an 8-channel oscilloscope such as the new PicoScope 6800E devices, so it was particularly important for Pico Technology to address it. There aren’t…

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…

Qosina introduces Build-It-Yourself Assemblies, a visual reference that helps customers easily find and order components for their next project.     “With our customer-centric approach, we are constantly trying to innovate our products and services,” said Scott Herskovitz, President and CEO of Qosina. “Our Build-It-Yourself Assemblies program features everyday applications for components displayed in the Qosina…

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…