Sensors Magazine articles from July 2001

Sensors Magazine archives from July 2001

Still Plenty of Opportunity in M3.(Measurement Specialties Inc.)
July 1, 2001... The past 12 months have been pivotal in the history of MEMS/Microsystems/Micro-machines (M3, a.k.a. micromachined devices or solid-state sensors). Never before has so much hope, expectation, excitement, or money been invested in this arena....

Frost & Sullivan.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Frost & Sullivan (New York, NY) reports that the European automotive market is in the throes of technological competition as telematics in automobiles converges with information technology and the telecom industries. In 2000, the European...

General Motors.
July 1, 2001... A new low-energy radar sensor developed by General Motors (New York, NY) sounds an alarm or contacts police when the lives of children or pets left alone in hot vehicles are in danger. The sensor, installed in the ceiling over the rear...

People.(Graviton; James G. Stewart)
July 1, 2001... Solomon J. Trujill, chairman, CEO, and president of Graviton (La Jolla, CA), announces the appointments of James G. Stewart to chief financial officer. Stewart brings more than 25 years of financial and management experience to Graviton, a...

To All You Humanitarian Engineers...
July 1, 2001... The responses to Mary Blundell's letter (Sensors, May 2001, page 14) have continued to amaze--and hearten us. Those that had arrived by press time appear in the June 2001 issue (page 14). Subsequent letters have offered new suggestions and...

MEMS.(Microelectromechanical systems)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... MEMS is a topic we cover quite frequently in Sensors, and so I'm always looking for good MEMS resources. If you're interested in MEMS, then why not visit the MEMS Clearinghouse, hosted by the University of Southern California's Information...

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... For those of you who are interested in patents (either searching for prior art, filing for yourself or your company, or out of general curiosity), I'd recommend the official Web site for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The site allows you...

The Day The Earth Stood Still?(British Broadcasting Corporation Ltd.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Remember the soaring, otherworldly theme music for the original Star Trek series? Or the alien sound effects in The Day The Earth Stood Still? Well, now you can create your own strange music on your desktop with the Virtual Theremin, available...

An Introduction to Analog Filters.
July 1, 2001... Hundreds if not thousands of different kinds of filters have been developed to meet the needs of various applications. Despite this variety, many filters can be described by a few common characteristics. The first of these is the frequency...

A Comprehensive Guide to Industrial Networks.
July 1, 2001... Part 2: Embedded Networking 101--The Nuts and Bolts of Hardware and Software Design The world of computing was turned upside down by networks and the Internet. Today, a new is redefining the sensor -- embedded network capability. But to...

Extrusion Melt Pressure Measurement for Food and Medical Applications.
July 1, 2001... A new version of the standard mercury-filled pressure sensor uses mineral oil as the pressure transfer medium and a corrugated sensing diaphragm that compensates the effects of oil expansion at high temperatures and pressures. Extrusion...

Choosing a Humidity Sensor: A Review of Three Technology.
July 1, 2001... This discussion of the operating principles of capacitive, resistive, and thermal conductivity humidity sensors also addresses their advantages, disadvantages, and applications. The most important specifications to keep in mind when...

The Promise of Generic Micromachining Technology for MEMS.
July 1, 2001... New, generic technologies for surface micromachining on SOI wafers, along with drastically dropping costs, promise substantial benefits for MEMS development. The silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer is an advanced variation of the conventional...

IR Emission Monitor.(City Technology's Iridium)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... The Iridium from City Technology Ltd., Portsmouth, England, is an IR bench for vehicle emissions monitoring that carriers the California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) approval. The 32 by 42 by 150 mm device used nondispersive IR...

Handheld Chemical Sensor.(AppliedSensor's VOCcheck)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Allowing for onsite detection, analysis and verification of volatile compounds, the VOCcheck from AppliedSensor, Inc. Parsippany, NJ, uses 4 Quartz Micro balance sensors to provide QA for the chemical, food, and environmental industries....

High-Sensitivity Accelerometers.(Kistler Instrument Corp.)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Weighing 12 g each, the stud-mounted Models 8638b5 and 8638b50 from Kistler Instrument Corp., Amherst, NY, are available in 5 and 50 g ranges with sensitivities of 1000 and 100 m V/g respectively. Suited for low-frequency structural monitoning...

Pressure, Temperature Measurement System.(Dresser Instrument)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Dresser Instrument, Newtown, CT, offers the Heise ST-2H digital indicator that is available in ranges from 0-0.25 in. [H.sub.2]O through 0-10,000 psi and can also measure temperature, voltage, and current. The unit uses interchangeable pressure...

Universal Waveform Generator.(Fluke's Model 39A)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Fluke Corp., Everett, WA, offers the Model 39A, which performs as an arbitrary waveform, function, pulse/pulse-train, sweep, trigger, and tone generator and as an AM modulation source. The true variable clock architecture overcomes problems...

Portable Accelerometer Calibrator.(Endevco's 289559F/FV)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... The Model 289559F/FV from Endevco, San Juan Capistrano, CA, provides precision calibration for charge mode piezoelectric, voltage mode piezoelectric, piezoresistive, and variable capacitance accelerometers in the field or on site. Test...

Wireless DA System.(Point Six's HA8-WOW, HA9-WOW)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Point Six, Inc., Lexington, KY, offers a general-purpose wireless DA system that uses 418 MHz WOW wireless sensors that communicate with the HA8-WOW (externally powered), HA9-WOW (parasitically powered), or Point Receiver (radio) receivers. The...

Industrial-Style Accelerometers.(Piezotronics' Series 650 capacitive accelerometers)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Series 650 capacitive accelerometers from IMI Sensors Div PCB Piezotronics, Inc., Depew, NY measure low-level, low-frequency vibration and static acceleration. The units offer strong output signals, low-noise operation, shock protection to 3000...

Flexible Temperature Sensor.(Moore Industries' WORM)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... WORM flexible sensors for thermowell temperature assemblies from Moore Industries-Intl., Inc., Sepulveda,. CA, replace straight sensor probes with a flexible design that bends through the top or face of the enclosure, slides through the entry...

Machine Vision Sensor.(Keyence's CV-700)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... The CV-700 system from Keyence Corp. of America Woodcliff Lake, NJ, uses RealEyes shade-scale technology to boost color recognition and detection to nearly that of the human eye. A 32 MB Compact Flash Memory card lets you record up to 128...

Development Platform.(Dallas Semiconductor's TINI (Tiny InterNet Interface))(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... TINI (Tiny InterNet Interface) from Dallas Semiconductor, Dalls, TX, is a microcontroller-based development platform that executes code for embedded Web servers, allowing the microcontrollers to directly serve Web pages. The platform combines a...

Handheld Spectrum Analyzer.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... The Model 401A Personal Spectrum Analyzer from Bantam Instruments, Sunnyvale, CA, is used to measure harmonic and spurious emissions, identify unknown or unwanted signals, and perform signal monitoring, field strength measurements, and EMC...

2-Port Industrial Serial Hub.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Comtrol Corp., Minneapolis, MN, offers the RocketPort (ia), a DIN rail mountable hub with a 10/100Base-T Ethernet interface and two software-selectable RS-232/422/485 serial ports. The serial port expansion device is TCP/IP addressable,...

Spread Spectrum Radio Modem.(Locus' OverAir Solutions OS2400-485)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... A small industrial-grade FHSS radio modem, the OverAir Solutions OS2400-485 from Locus, Inc., Madison, WI, operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band and has integrated support for Modbus RTU. Configurable for point-to-point, broadcast, or...

MEMS Motion Analyzer System.(Etec's MEMS Motion Analyzer)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Etec, Inc., Peabody, MA, introduces its MEMS Motion Analyzer, a turnkey system that can measure complex motions of MEMS/MOEMS in 6 degrees of freedom, with nm resolution, at frequencies from 1 Hz to 10 MHz. The analyzer combines video...

Wireless Sensor System.(MicroStrain's StrainLink remote exciter)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... The StrainLink remote exciter from MicroStrain, Inc., Burlington, VT, works with very thin, flexible polyimide wireless patch transponders which send 16-bit serial data from 3 differential or 5 single-ended sensor inputs. You can program the...

Differential Pressure Sensor.(Sensirion's ASP1400)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Based on a thermal CMOS mass flow sensor, the ASP1400 from Sensirion AG, Zurich, Switzerland, measures from 0 to [+ or -]120 Pa (bidirectional) with [less than]1% precision and min. 150 ms response time. The offset-free device features an 86 dB...

Accelerometer Evaluation Boards.(MEMSIC's MXEB-001L/C, MXEB-S-001, MXEB-TP-001)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... MEMSIC, Inc, Andover, MA, offers the MXEB-001L/C, MXEB-S-001, and MXEB-TP-001 evaluation boards for use with its MEMS accelerometers. The MXEB-001L/C incorporates decoupling circuitry and serves as a simple access and test board. The MXEB-S-001...

Distributed Control Software Tool.(Real-Time Innovations' WaveSurf)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Real-Time Innovations (RTI), Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, offers WaveSurf, a Java-based debugging and visualization tool for NDDS-based distributed systems; NDDS is a communications engine for real-time communication over Ethernet among PLCs and other...

Gallium-Based Calibrator.(Hart Scientific's Model 9230 gallium maintenance system)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Hart Scientific, Inc., American Fork, UT, offers the Model 9230 gallium maintenance system and the Model 5943 gallium cell for fixed-point thermometer calibrations. The Model 9230 maintenance system lets you create gallium melt plateaus that...

Dual-Plate Hall Sensor.(Micronas GmbH's HAL 700, HAL 710)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Micronas GmbH, Freiburg, Germany, offers its HAL 700 and HAL 710 non-contact sensors that detect speed and direction of rotation in automotive applications, The 2 Hall plates integrated on a single Hall sensor chip sense the magnetic fields of...

Triple Remote Head Camera.(Duncan Tech's RH100 digital camera system)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... The RH100 digital camera system from Duncan Tech, Inc., Auburn, CA, has a camera control unit that supports 1,2, or 3 compact remote imaging heads operating exactly in sync. You can select any combination of progressive scan imaging heads...

Linear Measurement Systems.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... Both the Meterdrive linear encoder and Rollzam electronic tape measure from Vectral, Vilette sur Ain, France, use an optoelectric detection head that travels along a perforated, high-tensile SS tape and counts the number of perforations to...

Clamp-Style Sensor Brackets.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The Clamp-style Universal Bracket (CUB) from SoftNoze USA, Inc.; Frankfort, NY, a you aim and securely attach photoelectric and ultrasonic sensors, accommodating virtually every industrial sensor model and brand. The CUB uses 2 matching,...

WISH LIST.(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2001... Sensor for Tracer Control in 3D Wood Carving I need a sensor that acts as a stylus for depth of or proximity to a 3D surface that is being copied on a duplicating machine used in woodworking. This would be interfaced to a stepper motor on...