INRS researchers unveil an ultrafast camera featuring SCARF tech, allowing images to be captured at an unprecedented 156.3 trillion fps.
Category: electronics – Page 18
New topological metamaterial amplifies sound waves exponentially
Researchers at AMOLF, in collaboration with partners from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, have realized a new type of metamaterial through which sound waves flow in an unprecedented fashion. It provides a novel form of amplification of mechanical vibrations, which has the potential to improve sensor technology and information processing devices.
Researchers identify protein sensor that plays a role in lung fibrosis
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered a protein called SEL1L that plays a critical role in clearing collagen from tissue, and that may be a therapeutic target to help prevent fibrosis, scar tissue that interferes with organ function. The paper, published on Feb. 20 in Nature Communications, provides clues that could lead to drug development for diseases like lung fibrosis which have no therapeutic options currently.
MIT’s Self-Powered Sensor Automatically Harvests Ambient Magnetic Energy
A system designed at MIT could allow sensors to operate in remote settings, without batteries.
MIT researchers have developed a battery-free, self-powered sensor that can harvest energy from its environment.
Because it requires no battery that must be recharged or replaced, and because it requires no special wiring, such a sensor could be embedded in a hard-to-reach place, like inside the inner workings of a ship’s engine. There, it could automatically gather data on the machine’s power consumption and operations for long periods of time.
World’s first N-channel diamond field-effect transistor
A NIMS research team has developed the world’s first n-channel diamond MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor). The developed n-channel diamond MOSFET provides a key step toward CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor: one of the most popular technologies in the computer chip) integrated circuits for harsh-environment-applications as well as the development of diamond power electronics.
This research was published in Advanced Science (“High-temperature and high-electron mobility metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors based on n-type diamond”).
World’s First N-Channel Diamond Field-Effect Transistor: (Left) Atomic force microscope image of diamond epilayer surface morphology. (Middle) Optical microscope image of the diamond MOSFET. (Right) Performance of the MOSFET measured at 300 °C. The drain current increased when the gate voltage (Vg) was increased from −20 V (indicated by a black line) to 10 V (indicated by a yellow line). (Image: NIMS)
CERN launches the White Rabbit Collaboration
White Rabbit (WR) is a technology developed at CERN, in collaboration with institutes and companies, to synchronise devices in the accelerators down to sub-nanoseconds and solve the challenge of establishing a common notion of time across a network. Indeed, at a scale of billionths of a second, the time light takes to travel through a fibre-optic cable and the time the electronics take to process the signal are no longer negligible. To avoid potential delays, the co-inventors of White Rabbit designed a new ethernet switch.
First used in 2012, the application of this fully open-source technology has quickly expanded outside the field of particle physics. In 2020, it was included in the worldwide industry standard known as Precision Time Protocol (PTP), governed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
What’s more, CERN recently launched the White Rabbit Collaboration, a membership-based global community whose objective is to maintain a high-performance open-source technology that meets the needs of users and to facilitate its uptake by industry. The WR Collaboration will provide dedicated support and training, facilitate R&D projects between entities with common interests and complementary expertise and establish a testing ecosystem fostering trust in products that incorporate the open-source technology. At CERN, the WR Collaboration Bureau – a dedicated team composed of senior White Rabbit engineers and a community coordinator – will facilitate the day-to-day running of the Collaboration’s activities and support its members.
Researchers Solve Mystery of The Sea Creature That Evolved Eyes All Over Its Shell
Small, shelled, and unassuming, chitons have eyes unlike any other creature in the animal kingdom.
Some of these marine mollusks have thousands of bulbous little peepers embedded in their segmented shells, all with lenses made of a mineral called aragonite. Although tiny and primitive, these sensory organs called ocelli are thought to be capable of true vision, distinguishing shapes as well as light.
Other chiton species, however, sport smaller ‘eyespots’ that function more like individual pixels, much like the components of an insect’s or mantis shrimp’s compound eye, forming a visual sensor distributed over the chiton’s shell.
Implantable sensor could lead to timelier Crohn’s treatment
A team of Northwestern University scientists has developed the first wireless, implantable temperature sensor to detect inflammatory flareups in patients with Crohn’s disease. The approach offers long-term, real-time monitoring and could enable clinicians to act earlier to prevent or limit the permanent damage caused by inflammatory episodes.
Pi calculated to 105 trillion digits, smashing world record
The calculation, which took around 75 days to complete, was carried out with 36 of the company’s proprietary solid-state drives (SSDs) — a storage medium fitted into many of the newest laptops — that stored altogether around 1 petabyte (1 million gigabytes) of data.
Processors are also needed to perform the number-crunching — with more powerful components reducing the time it takes to perform the necessary calculations. However, reliable and large-capacity storage is arguably more important because you need to store a massive amount of data in such a process.
The achievement “was no small feat,” Solidigm owner Brian Beeler said in the statement. “It involved meticulous planning, optimization, and execution.”