Design News articles from March 2009

Design News archives from March 2009

Banish the Mundane: It's TED Time.(Technology, Entertainment, Design)
March 1, 2009... By Geoffrey C. Orsak The annual Technology, Entertainment, Design conference is a must-attend event for any engineer Imust be crazy. Having completed a detailed application that would make the HR folks at Intel proud, then paying a...

Post Office.
March 1, 2009... By Design News Staff DN's most popular blog posts 1. SolidWorks Gets Sage about Environmental Impact With all the focus on green product development, SolidWorks believes engineers can play a much stronger role in dictating the...

The Case of The Raving Racer.
March 1, 2009... By Myron J. Boyajian, President, Engineering Consultants Spring fatigue causes a race car to surge ahead at full throttle A Chicago-area drag racing team decided to "go pro" by upgrading its car from a time handicapped "bracket racer"...

Best of the Engineering Marketplace.
March 1, 2009... Compiled by Elizabeth M. Taurasi and Sasha Brown-Worsham Crystek's 2850–3210 MHz VCO Elizabeth M. Taurasi, Sasha Brown-Worsham Features typical phase noise, output power Crystek's CVCO55CC-2850-3210 VCO (Voltage...

Energy Scavengers.(electronic equipments without batteries)
March 1, 2009... By Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, Electronics Ultra-low-power electronic components are enabling a new breed of battery-less, wireless electronic applications MEMS sensors from Analog Devices draw as little as 120 [micro]A....

Plastics Power.
March 1, 2009... By Doug Smock, Contributing Editor, Materials and Fastening New solar projects are boosting efficiencies Flower power fueled the 1960s. Now get ready for plastics power. Third-generation solar technologies use advanced materials,...

What? You've Never Seen a Pregnant iPod Before?
March 1, 2009... By Karen Field, Editor-in-Chief I for one had not, until I came across the freakish photos at left of a Nano that looks as if it's about to give birth to a bunch of baby Shuffles. I found the images on a blog by Brit David Kerry. Upon...

Spy Plane Employs Green Technology.
March 1, 2009... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Reducing fuel consumption and emissions is a goal even in the world of espionage. AeroVironment Inc. is designing an unmanned aircraft that runs on liquid hydrogen-power. Its Global Observer will fly at...

Portable System Finds Entertainment Everywhere.(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Increasingly, TV is being augmented by entertainment pulled from the Internet and other media sources. Internet Media Tablets from Archos let consumers explore and navigate the Internet, then switch to...

Tiny Projectors, Big Pictures.(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Pico-projectors are getting smaller, but they're projecting sharp high resolution images as large as 60 inches. 3M(TM) recently unveiled the MM200 Mobile Projection Engine, which uses less than 1W of...

Speech Generators Enhance Communication.(O'Brien Technologies Inc.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Digital technologies continue to help improve the lives of stroke victims and others. O'Brien Technologies is finalizing design of a speech-generating device that will assist those who can't speak. The...

Robots Invade More High Schools.(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor The FIRST competition, designed to get high school students interested in science and technology, continues to expand. Founded in 1992, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology gives...

CASE: #137 Attention-Grabbing 'Blue Light Special'.
March 1, 2009... By Design News Staff William Grill wanted to draw attention to a trade show booth. He considered a big neon sign, loud music and a provocative attitude, but instead he created this attention-getting gadget -- his "Blue Light Special."...

Bridging the Proverbial Gap.
March 1, 2009... By Kevin Craig Next-generation computer tools need to be as dynamic as the engineers using them In my last mechatronics' article, "Is 'Engineer Programmer' An Oxymoron?" (DN 02.09 , http://designnews.hotims.com/23098-572 ), I posed...

3M(TM) Targets Renewable Energy.
March 1, 2009... By Doug Smock, Contributing Editor, Materials and Fastening New division will tap existing products, develop new technologies 3M(TM) will leverage its wide technology portfolio in a new Renewable Energy Div. that will include existing...

Home Theaters Employ Bigger, Brighter LEDS.
March 1, 2009... By Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, Electronics New chipsets are the key to bringing LEDs to DLP projectors Home theater projector makers at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas demonstrated a new...

Novel Long-Fiber Injection Technology Cuts Weight.
March 1, 2009... By Doug Smock, Contributing Editor, Materials and Fastening Bayer and Krauss-Maffei help Camoplast develop a polyurethane-based system for large molded parts The first application of a new long-fiber injection molding technology is...

Motor Control Platform Simplifies Communications.
March 1, 2009... By Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, Electronics FPGAs simplify process of linking fieldbuses and Ethernet National Semiconductor, Altera Corp. and Arrow Electronics have teamed up to deliver an FPGA-based motor control...

Aras Innovator Outfitted with Cloud-Based Search Functionality.(Aras Corp.)
March 1, 2009... By Beth Stackpole, Contributing Editor, Design Tools Integration with Microsoft Live Search and GlobalSpec lets engineers perform advanced part searches within the context of PLM Aras, which staked its claim in the PLM market as the...

Sakor Rolls Out Tester for Hybrid Vehicle Batteries.(Sakor Technologies Inc)
March 1, 2009... By Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, Electronics Designed for the high voltages and variable loads of hybrid cars Manufacturers of hybrid vehicles now have a dedicated battery tester designed for the high voltages, currents...

MIT Develops Robotic Forklift for Battle Zones.
March 1, 2009... By Howard Baldwin, Contributing Editor Unmanned device incorporates voice commands, LIDAR for safer operation in war zones A new unmanned remote-controlled forklift under development by MIT's Computer Science and Artificial...

Sensors Help in Plant Selection, Diagnosis.(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... By Randy Frank, Contributing Editor Data furnished to website-based algorithm provides a total solution for plant health care PlantSense's EasyBloom Plant Sensor uses a combination of sensor technologies to provide diagnostic and plant...

Do You Know Where Your E-Waste Is Going?
March 1, 2009... By Ken Manchen, Corporate Director of Safety, Health & Environmental Affairs, Newark and Premier Farnell The U.S. Needs Federal Rules Regarding Proper Disposal of Outdated Electronics, rather than Shipping Them Overseas In the U.S., we...

Impedance Measuring Chip Offers Little Resistance to Applications.
March 1, 2009... By John Ardizzoni Q: I came across your Impedance measuring chip (IMC) in a recent article. It sounds interesting, but how does it work and what can it be used for? A: The impedance measuring chip you mention is an extremely versatile...

Technology-Based Features Drive Automotive Sales.
March 1, 2009... By Randy Frank, Contributing Editor Automakers agree the latest technology plays a key role in stimulating sales The current automotive sales slump is impacting nearly all automakers around the world. While outstanding pricing and...

Delivering New Technology to Showrooms Faster.
March 1, 2009... By Randy Frank, Contributing Editor Automobiles with in-vehicle connectivity stimulate buyers' interest At the 2009 Consumer Electronics' Show, Ford made its second announcement of improvements to its popular SYNC platform for...

Wireless Automation Solutions.(briefs)
March 1, 2009... By Al Presher, Contributing Editor Reliability, security improve as wireless applications rapidly expand Wireless continues to be one of the fastest growing segments in the automation market for two reasons. One is that it's a lot less...

Let's Learn More about Statistics.
March 1, 2009... By Jon Titus, Contributing Writer Some engineers might never have had an opportunity to take a statistics class so they struggle through standard distributions, variances, correlations and other aspects of data analysis. Even people who...