Sensors Magazine articles from October 2004

Sensors Magazine archives from October 2004

Major players' moves.(Editorial)
October 1, 2004... Product quality, manufacturing productivity, and employee safety. Those are the goals driving North American investment in industrial automation, says Omron Electronics LLC. I visited Omron's Schaumburg, IL, facility as the first stop of a...

Now playing: plug and play.(Business Sense)
October 1, 2004... The "dot-four" flavor of the IEEE 1451 transducer interface standard--the one that enables use of a Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS) for plug-and-play operation--crossed the finish line when IEEE (www.ieee.org) recently approved it. The...

Calendar.(Calendar)
October 1, 2004... FABTECH International October 26-28, Cleveland, OH www.sme.org/fabtech Society for Experimental Mechanics Fall Conference--MEMS October 27-29, Springfield, MA www.sem.org Automotive Testing Expo North America ...

Visions surround imaging.(Business Sense)
October 1, 2004... According to the Taiwanese company Arima Computer Corp. (www.arima.com.tw), the cell phone/camera phenomenon has become a worldwide market with an estimated 200 million units shipping this year, growing to 600 million by 2008. "What was once an...

Projects and projections in wireless.(Business Sense)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... GE Global Research (www.research.ge.com), the centralized research organization of General Electric, has teamed with Sensicast Systems (www.sensicast.com), provider of wireless sensor networking products and solutions, and Rensselaer...

Sensing growth in Shanghai.(Business Sense)
October 1, 2004... China has recently become home to more facilities for sensor-based technology. GE Inspection Technologies (www.geinspectiontechnologies.com) opened its newest Inspection Technologies Application Center on August 9 in Shanghai. The center will...

What's lurking behind your walls?(Research & Developments)
October 1, 2004... Judging from recent news coverage, mold has replaced radon as the top reason to fear your home. Not that all mold is bad, but the kind that stealthily colonizes gypsum wallboard can smell foul, make you sick, and eventually cause serious...

Dog and catfish alliance makes Fridays less chancy.(Research & Developments)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Not all biosensors are created in the lab. Let's take a look at dogs. And catfish. Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service led by Richard A. Shelby, and Larry Myers of the College of Verinary Medicine at Auburn University, are training...

Short takes.(Research & Developments)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Still looking at dogs, there are now hard data indicating that some of them can predict an epileptic seizure minutes to hours before their owners are stricken. In one clinical trial, 9 of 60 dogs predicted with 80% accuracy an approaching...

A smart way to make meds.(AppSnaps)
October 1, 2004... A major manufacturer of specialty bulk pharmaceutical ingredients was rapidly running out of electrical equipment space in its motor control center. And that wasn't all. The company also needed more process control devices that would offer...

Keep that steel a'Rollin.(AppSnaps)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Over the past several years, one of the major breakthroughs in steelmaking has been the development of a better way to make cold-rolled laminated steel. This technique is a continuous process in which the molten steel flows directly into sheets...

Automating a tedious process.(AppSnaps)
October 1, 2004... A beverage manufacturer wanted to update an archaic production step that had workers manually labeling cans and sorting them for shipment according to their contents. A goal of 1.4 s per-piece average cycle time was set, and Innoventor...

Measuring flow with strain and sound: a new type of volumetric flowmeter measures strain exerted by eddies in the process fluid as well as the speed of sound propagation, which can be used to determine fluid composition in both single- and multiphase streams.(Sensor Technology and Design)(Cover Story)
October 1, 2004... The process industries are not always well served by conventional flowmeter technologies. The chemical and petrochemical industries in particular have to wrestle with flow measurements in large-diameter pipes carrying multiphase fluids,...

Shortwave IR imaging in machine vision: principles and practice; Before you specify your next machine vision system, check out what SWIR cameras can do for your manufacturing process.(Technology and Design)(ShortWave InfraRed)
October 1, 2004... Shortwave infrared (SWIR) imaging is establishing a place for itself in manufacturing and process control applications that call for machine vision. The technology is also proving useful in military surveillance. SWIR imagers, sometimes also...

To buy or not to buy? Are ready-made RF systems right for you? If you're an OEM looking to add wireless capabilities to your products, here are some important things to keep in mind.(Intelligent Systems)(Radio Frequency)(Original Equipment Manufacturer )
October 1, 2004... Wireless technology is growing up, providing OEMs with lucrative opportunities in almost any industry you can think of. Because of recent technological advances, OEMs can now offer RF products that make it easier, faster, and more...

Side-polished optical fiber: from the lab to the line card and beyond; High-quality side-polished fiber is now mass producible. The market for products based on this technology is enormous.(Sensor Technology and Design)
October 1, 2004... Side-polished optical fiber components are an integral element of couplers, power monitors, and polarizers for telecommunications as well as pressure, temperature, and chemical sensors for industrial and medical markets. Making these components...

Redundancy and self-diagnostics enhance process safety systems: sensors/transmitters with improved redundancy and diagnostics offer sizable savings for safety systems in the process industries.(Putting Sensors to Work)
October 1, 2004... In the chemical, hydrocarbon, and power industries, an adverse event during processing can create hazardous conditions for both personnel and equipment. To prevent such mishaps, engineers typically use a safety-instrumented system (SIS) that...

Gear-tooth sensor.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The ATS650 from Allegro MicroSystems, Inc., Worcester, MA, provides digital geartooth sensing and zero-speed direction detection in 2-wire applications. The single-shot molded plastic package includes a samarium cobalt magnet, a pole piece, and...

High-performance ADCs.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Analog Devices, Inc., Norwood, MA, offers the AD779x family of 16- and 24-bit [SIGMA][DELTA] ADCs featuring 40 nVrms noise and 400 [micro]A operation and offering a range of analog functions. The family consists of the 16-bit AD7792, 24-bit...

Wireless signal conditioning.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Wilkerson Instrument Co. Inc., Lakeland, FL, offers the sensoRAD wireless signal conditioning system, which accepts analog inputs and switch contacts and transmits the data to a companion receiver, where it is reconstructed into a standard 4-20...

Analytical system.(Product News)(AquaSensors LLC)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The DataStick analytical measurement system from AquaSensors LLC, Brookfield, WI, consists of 3 interchangeable parts: precalibrated sensor heads, a universal sensor body, and a family of communication adapters. The system is available for pH,...

Magnetic proximity switches.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... KSR Kuebler Level Control Products of America, Charlotte, NC, offers magnetic proximity switches for high-cycle, harsh-environment automation applications. Switches are available in more than 12 configurations and feature 1-piece construction,...

Angular accelerometer.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Model 7302BM4 from Endevco Corp., San Juan Capistrano, CA, uses a temperature-compensated piezoresistive accelerometer with a Wheatstone bridge element to reject high cross-axis angular and linear accelerations. Nominal sensitivity is 5.0...

Data loggers.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... GL Series Midi loggers from Western Graphtec Inc., Irvine, CA, are 6.5 by 8 in., have from 10-100 high-isolation channels, and are capable of multi-channel measurement of voltage, temperature, and pulse counts (power, rpm, and flow). The GL400...

Submersible transducer.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Designed to measure water levels in environmental and land management applications, the Series 550 waterMONITOR from Pressure Systems, Inc., Hampton, VA, is a submersible hydrostatic level transducer with internal data logging functionality....

Humidity logger/transmitter.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The HygroLog NT from Rotronic Instrument Corp., Huntington, NY, is a logger/digital transmitter that uses the company's HygroClip humidity sensors to measure RH ranges from 0%-100% RH, -50[degrees]C to 200[degrees]C, depending on probe....

Small 4-channel 24-bit ADC.(Product News)(Acoustic Detection Sensor )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Burr-Brown ADS1224 from Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, TX, offers a 240 sps data rate, 300 [micro]A current draw, and 24-bit resolution with no missing codes, and is packaged in a TSSOP-20. Designed for high-resolution measurement...

High-accuracy ultrasonic sensor.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The RPS-412A-xx-V from Migatron Corp., Woodstock, IL, is an analog ultrasonic sensor with accuracy of [+ or -]0.002 in. or [+ or -]0.05% of range (whichever is greater) and offered in two models, one with a range from 3-10 in, and the other...

Smart accelerometer.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Platinum Digital from Summit Instruments, Inc., Akron, OH, supplies configurable analog and digital output and is available in [+ or -]40 g and [+ or -]5 g models in uniaxial, biaxial, or triaxial configurations. The sensor has sample rates...

Dual-axis, low-g accelerometers.(Product News)(Freescale Semiconductor Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Freescale Semiconductor Inc., a subsidiary of Motorola Inc., Austin, TX, offers MMA62xxQ MEMS-based sensors for measuring small forces resulting from tilt, motion, positioning, shock, or vibration. Sensing ranges are from 1.5-10 g, depending on...

Miniature spectrometer.(Product News)(Brimrose Corp. of America)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Model 5030 portable analyzer from Brimrose Corp. of America, Baltimore, MD, is a solid-state, compact AOTF-NIR spectrometer that is insensitive to ambient light; immune to vibration, dust, and dirt; and designed to work in harsh production...

Tilt sensor assembly.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... The Fredericks Co., Huntingdon Valley, PA, offers its 0729-1723-99 microprocessor-based signal conditioner and 0717-4304-99 MCL dual-axis tilt sensor in a high-impact weather-resistant plastic case. The assembly requires a 7-16 V power supply,...

Mesh network development system.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Sensicast Systems, Needham, MA, offers the Sensimesh Development System for Crossbow Technology's wireless sensor motes. The development system lets you get sensor networks up and running and lets you develop applications as well as build and...

Rotary encoder IC.(Product News)(Integrated circuits)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Austriamicrosystems AG, Unterpremstaetten, Austria, offers the AS5040, a 10-bit multiple-output magnetic rotary encoder IC in an SSOP-16 package. The system-on-chip integrates field-sensing Hall elements, an analog front end, and digital signal...

Flow monitoring system.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The 3300 Flow Series Doppler sensor system from George Fischer Signet, Inc., Tustin, CA, is tailored for use in water/wastewater and industrial waste applications and municipal water installations, and is offered as a thin-profile pipe strap-in...

Electrical trimming device.(Product News)(Microbridge Technologies, Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Rejustor from Microbridge Technologies, Inc., Montreal, QC, Canada, is an electronically precision-adjustable passive VLSI- and MEMS-compatible microresistor. The device is nonvolatile and readjustable many times, bidirectionally, to 0.01%...

Clamp-on flowmeter.(Product News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... GE Panametrics, GE Infrastructure Sensing, Waltham, MA, offers the DigitalFlow UTX878 clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeter, which uses new ultrasonic transducer technology to achieve low power operation, requiring as little as 60 mW. The flowmeter...

Remote C[O.sub.2] monitor.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... The Model 2005 SPI Series digital remote C[O.sub.2] monitor from VTI-Valtronics, Inc., Valley Springs, CA, uses NDIR technology with temperature compensation and is offered in two model ranges of 0%-2% and 0%-20%. Features include remote...

Wireless radio modems.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... AutomationDirect, Cumming, GA, offers Cirronet CR-HN and CR-SE Series wireless serial and Ethernet radio modems, antennas, and peripherals. CR-HN Series 2.4 GHz FHSS data modems suited for use with SCADA systems use a DIN-rail-mounted serial...

Industrial RTDs.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... Durex Industries, Cary, IL, offers RTDs with platinum, nickel, or nickel-iron elements in 2-, 3-, and 4-wire styles with an assortment of connections, mounting hardware, and enclosures to suit chemical, immersion, and other heavy-duty...

Web-enabled DA system.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... The WEDAQ from Electro Standards Labs, Cranston, RI, is an in-vehicle DA system with GPS used to supply real-time data for on-road development tests. User-supplied vehicle sensors provide input to the DAQ signal-conditioning unit, which...

Wireless information director.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... AVIDWireless, Irving, TX, offers the AVIDirector wireless information director that communicates with a variety of equipment and transmits the collected data over any wireless network. It features a 160 MIPS Java processor; open architecture;...

3D machine vision system.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... ISRA Vision Systems Inc., Lansing, MI, offers the MONO3D, a 3D automated machine vision system that uses a single camera to measure every point in the camera's 3D field of view with accuracy and speed comparable to more expensive laser-based...

IR thermometer module.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... The Radiant Innovation TN9 Series thermometer module, distributed in the U.S. by Metris Instruments, LLC, Los Gatos, CA, measures the surface temperature of objects and materials from -33[degrees]C to 220[degrees]C with NIST-traceable accuracy...

Torque flange.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... The T10FM from HBM, Inc., Marlborough, MA, is available in 3 sizes and has combined linearity and hysteresis of 0.1%. Size 1 has nominal torques of 11, 15, and 18 kft.-lb.; size 2 has nominal torques of 22, 30, and 33 kft.-lb.; and size 3 has...

IR thermometers.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... Land Instruments Intl., Infrared Temperature Measurement, Dronfield, England, has extended the MF3 Series of IR thermometers to include new models with outputs that match the voltage/temperature correlations of Type J and Type K thermocouples....

Low-pressure transducer.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... Designed for low-pressure applications, the Model P356 from Kavlico Corp., Moorpark, CA, is available in pressure ranges from 0-0.5 psid/psig through 0-5 psid/psig. Output is a linear 0.5-4.5 V signal proportional to pressure. The variable...

USB DA modules.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... DT9834 Series USB DA modules from Data Translation, Inc., Marlboro, MA, provide simultaneous 16-bit analog input, 16-bit analog output, digital I/O, and counter/timer subsystems, and have sampling rates of 500 Ksps. The digital I/O provides...

18-/16-channel ADCs.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... The LTC2439-1 from Linear Technology Corp., Milpitas, CA, is an 8-channel, differential input, 16-bit [DELTA][SIGMA] ADC with single-cycle settling. Total unadjusted error is 0.2 LSB, rms noise is 1 [micro]V, offset error is 5 [micro]V, F.S....

Distributed temperature sensors.(Product News)
October 1, 2004... Oluma, Inc., Carlsbad, CA, offers next-generation fiber-optic distributed temperature sensors (DTS) that sense temperature at every point along a SS-sheathed fiber and feature a resolution of 0.5[degrees]C and spatial resolution of 1.5 m. The...

Miniature IMU.(Readers' Choice)(BEI Systron Donner Inertial Div)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Suited for embedded applications such as stabilization or guidance control in missiles, aircraft, and unmanned vehicles, the Model MMQ50 from BEI Systron Donner Inertial Div.., BEI Technologies, Inc., Concord, CA, uses 3 solid-state quartz MEMS...

Mel's picks.
October 1, 2004... Managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, The Collaborator lets you link up with people who need your particular capability, share your interest, or have a common problem statement. The Collaborator maintains a profile of scientists and...