Articles
New battery for rail, marine, mining, communications and energy sectors
With world demand for batteries of all types forecast to reach a value of $132 billion by 2016, there is always going to be an opening for new types. Now GE is developing a longer lasting and more durable battery that charges more quickly and could contribute to raising the efficiencies of solar and wind power. [ + ]
Lessons from cockroaches could help robotics
Running cockroaches start to recover from being shoved sideways before their dawdling nervous system kicks in to tell their legs what to do, researchers have found. These new insights on how biological systems stabilise could one day help engineers design steadier robots and improve doctors’ understanding of human gait abnormalities. [ + ]
SIL3 coupling relay connects safety controllers to actuators
In addition to ensuring safety when circuits are opened, accounting for safety when circuits are closed is also becoming increasingly important. Modules for electrically isolating actuators and for adjusting power are used especially in the process industry. For this purpose, the Phoenix Contact PSR-ETP coupling relay has been developed specifically for this industry and is certified in accordance with SIL 3. [ + ]
Highly energy-efficient CMOS logic systems
Non-volatile bistable memory circuits being developed by Satoshi Sugahara and his team at Tokyo Institute of Technology are paving the way for highly energy-efficient CMOS logic systems. [ + ]
Greater range for electric cars in the future
Schott developers are using glass-ceramic as a separator material for lithium-air batteries which will hopefully extend the range of tomorrow’s electrically powered automobiles by several times. [ + ]
F-35 soars when it comes to stealth and sensors
It has taken over 10 years and $60 billion, but Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II aircraft is edging closer towards becoming a reality. [ + ]
Test and measure techniques keeping pace with technology
Advanced software and more sophisticated wireless systems are at the heart of new techniques that are needed for testing some of today’s complex electronics equipment. The increasing integration of RF, microwave and high-speed digital technologies used in many systems, particularly mobile devices, is giving huge challenges to those who test and measure. [ + ]
Scaling up production of graphene microsupercapacitors
While the demand for ever-smaller electronic devices has spurred the miniaturisation of a variety of technologies, one area has lagged behind in this downsizing revolution: energy-storage units, such as batteries and capacitors. [ + ]
The legacy of Henry Sutton
Henry Sutton is not a name that immediately springs to mind as possibly the greatest Australian inventor of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. [ + ]
Production process doubles speed and efficiency of flexible electronics
Stretching out the atomic structure of the silicon in the critical components of a device can be a good way to increase a processor’s performance. [ + ]
Flat boron by the numbers
Two-dimensional sheets of boron that can be lifted off a substrate are possible to make via several theoretical methods suggested in a new paper by Rice University scientists. The material could be a useful complement to graphene and other 2D materials for electronics, they said. [ + ]
Wireless mesh solution for security professionals
BGW Technologies has found the solution to Australia’s growing need for reliable, high-performing wireless infrastructures. It can now provide scalable wireless mesh solutions which reduce the time and cost associated with traditional cable installation thanks to a new strategic partnership with Firetide. [ + ]
Multijunction solar cell breaks efficiency barrier
A collaboration of scientists has proposed a novel triple-junction solar cell with the potential to break the 50% conversion efficiency barrier, which is the current goal in multijunction photovoltaic development. [ + ]
Test and measurement in 2013: the evolution of wireless tools
The major trend for test and measurement in 2013 will be a move to wireless test and measurement. [ + ]
Nanoscopic microcavities offer control in light filtering
Using the geometric and material properties of a unique nanostructure, Boston College researchers have uncovered a novel photonic effect where surface plasmons interact with light to form ‘plasmonic halos’ of selectable output colour. [ + ]