Engineering News

Just like civilians, soldiers already carry sophisticated wireless devices with them every day. New technology add-ons take advantage of the processing power of smartphones.

NHTSA is investigating the performance of Tesla’s Autopilot system after a driver was killed in a recent crash that occurred while his Model S was in Autopilot mode.

Researchers at Cornell University have found yet another application for graphene: to make mechanical resonators that could be used in future telecommunications applications. T

Intentionally zapping nuclear weapons with lightning sounds dangerous, but it’s actually a safety precaution. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories perform tests to ensure that stockpiles of nuclear weapons will remain safe even if lightning directly strikes the weapons.

Researchers discovered that the ions inside a battery should flow back and forth from one electrode to another, but it turns out that they often get stuck, causing “traffic jams” that reduce capacity. Now that the problem has been identified, several possible solutions could improve batteries in the near future.

A new technique uses lasers to create plasma that can detect chemicals in the air. This new method could be used for environmental monitoring, since the colors of the plasma filaments can indicate the presence a wide range of molecules, including biohazards and pollutants.

India’s space agency just put 20 satellites into orbit on a single launch—a record number for the agency. Only Russia and the United States have ever launched more satellites in a single mission. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is quickly proving to be an inexpensive option for space travel that could possibly rival emerging commercial aerospace companies.

A new technique from researchers at Penn State University demonstrates that atoms could one day become the building blocks of circuits in quantum computers. The team used a combination of lasers and microwaves to squeeze more quantum computing power into a smaller space and with greater control than ever before.

Scientists have developed a new simple design that could lower costs and improve the performance of solar cells. They used alternative, transparent materials that can be deposited at room temperature, which is a huge advantage over traditional chemical doping techniques. Today’s commercially available silicon solar cells are built using doping, a process that increases the cell’s electrical conductivity.

Magnetic materials could help expand the capabilities of traditional electronic components. A new $26 million DARPA program called Magnetic, Miniaturized, and Monolithically Integrated Components aims to integrate miniaturized magnetic components with chip-based RF systems to help meeting growing military and civilian demands for new tools as the electromagnetic spectrum becomes crowded.