Serving the Electronic Design Community Since 1956
16th R&D-Product Development Metrics Summit
June 7, 2013 12:55 pm | EventsThis Summit will provide participants with a snapshot of the evolution, current status, and projected future of R&D and Product Development Metrics as viewed from the top of corporations. During the first two seminars of the Summit, we will teach the Body of Knowledge of R&D and Product Development Metrics — with a focus towards the measures that company Officers and Senior Executives...
Trends in online tools key to smart bill-of-material strategies
June 7, 2013 12:46 pm | by Joseph Aguilar, Applications Engineer, Vicor | Articles | CommentsOver the past several years, the growing sophistication in power-converter modules and the loads they’re targeted at has led to significant growth in module-makers’ product lines. So, although application schematics may appear far simpler, selecting the right power-converter module is, in fact, a more complex task than ever.
Putting the brakes on Excel: Why the electronics manufacturing industry must embrace BOM management tools
June 7, 2013 12:34 pm | by Amanda Martin, Silicon Expert Technologies, www.siliconexpert.com | Articles | CommentsThe electronics manufacturing industry has often relied on spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel for the creation and management of its Bills of Materials (BOMs). But the always-fluid, always-changing landscape of the industry has given rise to a new method for managing bills of materials—the BOM management tool.
Control techniques affect motor selection in positioning applications
June 7, 2013 12:06 pm | by Chuck Lewin, Performance Motion Devices | Articles | CommentsMachine designers work hard to stay up to date on the latest electronic and software techniques that squeeze out the maximum possible performance from a given mechanical system. But the electronics are only as good as the motor that they are driving. This article will look at the issues concerning the selection of the right type of motor in positioning control applications.
Energy, cost-efficiency biggest concerns for LEDs, sensors
June 7, 2013 10:53 am | by Editors | Articles | CommentsLEDs are a hot topic in the world of electronic components. Ardent supporters claim LEDs are the future while other designers cite cost and environmental impact as negatives. We turned to our readers for the inside scoop on LEDs and the industry. When asked about the biggest trend impacting specifications for lighting components, readers were torn....
Engineering Update 12: A beer-pouring robot ... finally
June 7, 2013 10:22 am | Videos | CommentsIn this week's headlines: Computer scientists at Cornell are in the process of producing a robot with anticipatory cognitive abilities. They've programmed a PR-2 robot to accomplish typical robotic tasks, as well as the ability to pour you a drink ... and anticipate when you want another.
Is Big Data turning government into 'Big Brother?'
June 7, 2013 3:08 am | by MICHAEL LIEDTKE - AP Technology Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsThe revelations that the National Security Agency is perusing millions of U.S. customer phone records at Verizon Communications and snooping on the digital communications stored by nine major Internet services illustrate how aggressively personal data is being collected and analyzed.
Promising material for lithium-ion batteries
June 6, 2013 3:26 pm | by Technische Universitaet Muenchen | News | CommentsSo far, the negative electrode typically consists of graphite, whose layers can store lithium atoms. Scientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have now developed a material made of boron and silicon that could smooth the way to systems with higher capacities.
Study suggests second life for possible spintronic materials
June 6, 2013 3:16 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsTen years ago, scientists were convinced that a combination of manganese and gallium nitride could be a key material to create spintronics, the next generation of electronic devices that operate on properties found at the nanoscale. But researchers grew discouraged when experiments indicated that the two materials were as harmonious as oil and water.
Icahn and Southeastern push against Dell buyout
June 6, 2013 3:11 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsActivist investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc. are formally urging Dell shareholders to reject a buyout offer from the struggling PC maker's founder and investment firm Silver Lake Partners. Dell Inc. has agreed to sell itself to founder and CEO Michael Dell and Silver Lake...
Wi-Fi signals enable gesture recognition throughout entire home
June 6, 2013 3:03 pm | by University of Washington | News | CommentsForget to turn off the lights before leaving the apartment? No problem. Just raise your hand, finger-swipe the air, and your lights will power down. Want to change the song playing on your music system in the other room? Move your hand to the right and flip through the songs.
'Temporal cloaking' could bring more secure optical communications
June 6, 2013 2:39 pm | by Purdue University | News | CommentsResearchers have demonstrated a method for "temporal cloaking" of optical communications, representing a potential tool to thwart would-be eavesdroppers and improve security for telecommunications. "More work has to be done before this approach finds practical application, but it does use technology that could integrate smoothly..."
New all-solid sulfur-based battery outperforms lithium-ion technology
June 6, 2013 12:43 pm | by ORNL | News | CommentsScientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have designed and tested an all-solid lithium-sulfur battery with approximately four times the energy density of conventional lithium-ion technologies that power today's electronics. The ORNL battery design, which uses abundant low-cost elemental sulfur...
Firefighting robot paints 3D thermal imaging picture for rescuers
June 6, 2013 12:41 pm | by UCSD Jacobs | News | CommentsEngineers in the Coordinated Robotics Lab at the University of California, San Diego, have developed new image processing techniques for rapid exploration and characterization of structural fires by small Segway-like robotic vehicles. A sophisticated on-board software system takes the thermal data recorded by the robot’s small infrared camera...
Resistivity switch is window to role of magnetism in iron-based superconductors
June 6, 2013 12:34 pm | by The Ames Lab | News | CommentsPhysicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have discovered surprising changes in electrical resistivity in iron-based superconductors. The findings, reported in Nature Communications, offer further evidence that magnetism and superconductivity are closely related in this class of novel superconductors.
