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04.08

Washington Technology Digest

Compiled By IEEE-USA Staff

The following is a recap of news and notable developments in electrical engineering and computer or information technology emerging from the federal government during the first quarter of 2008. Highlighted topics include:

1. Experts Identify Grand Challenges for Engineering

2. Implantable Medical Devices May Expose Patients To Security, Privacy Risks

3. New Center Funded to Predict Reliability of Micro-electromechanical systems

4. Argonne Lab’s Lithium-Ion battery Technology Commercialized

5. Study Explores Effect of Plug-in Hybrids on Power Grid

6. Effort Underway to Develop “Grid-Appropriate” Nuclear Reactors for Developing Nations

7. New Material Developed to Capture CO2 from Coal-Fired Power Plants

8. Special Coating Promised Improved Solar Cell Performance

9. Research Opens Door to Practical Hydrogen Gas Storage Systems for Vehicles

10. New Institute to Lay Groundwork for Exascale Computer

11. NSF, Google And IBM Partner To Enhance Academic Research Using Large Scale Computing

12. 3-D Photonic Filter Clears Up Fiber Optic Communication

13. Single-Crystal Semiconductor Wire Built Into An Optical Fiber

14. “Environmentally-Friendly” Nanoparticles Developed

15. Block Copolymers Offer New Approaches to Microelectronics

16. Testing Current Flow Through Molecular Electronic Junctions

17. Piezoelectric Fibers in Clothing Generate Electricity from Motion

18. NIST Mini Sensor May ‘Change the Way We Live’

19. DARPA Spotlights Advances in Prosthetics Research

20. Research Seeks to Replace Large Satellites with Clustered Spacecraft Modules

1. Experts Identify Grand Challenges for Engineering

On 13 March, a diverse committee of experts from around the world, chaired by former Defense Secretary William Perry and convened at the request of the National Science Foundation (NSF), announced 14 grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century that, if met, would improve how we live. Established in 2006, the panel received worldwide input from prominent engineers and scientists, as well as from the general public, over a one-year period. The panel's conclusions were then reviewed by more than 50 subject-matter experts. The fourteen challenges identified were:

• Make solar energy affordable
• Provide energy from fusion
• Develop carbon sequestration methods
• Manage the nitrogen cycle
• Provide access to clean water
• Restore and improve urban infrastructure
• Advance health informatics
• Engineer better medicines
• Reverse-engineer the brain
• Prevent nuclear terror
• Secure cyberspace
• Enhance virtual reality
• Advance personalized learning
• Engineer the tools for scientific discovery

The final choices are organized into four themes of sustainability, health, reducing vulnerability and increasing joy of living. The committee did not attempt to include every important challenge, nor did it endorse particular approaches to meeting those selected. Also, the committee decided not to rank the priority of the challenges. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is offering the public an opportunity to vote on which one they think is most important and to provide comments at the project Web site at http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/

2. Implantable Medical Devices May Expose Patients To Security, Privacy Risks

Some medical devices such as implantable cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers are now equipped with wireless technology, allowing for remote device checks and freeing patients from repeated doctor visits. But this convenience may come with unanticipated risks. With support from the National Science Foundation, a team of researchers from three leading universities has demonstrated that patients’ private medical information could be extracted and their devices reprogrammed without the patients’ authorization or knowledge.

The study was led by two computer scientists, Tadayoshi Kohno of the University of Washington and Kevin E. Fu of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and cardiologist Dr. William H. Maisel of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. Their scholarly peer-reviewed report will be presented on 19 May at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in Oakland, Calif., 19 May 2008.

Dr. Maisel, director of the Medical Device Safety Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, notes, “One of the purposes of this research is to encourage the medical device industry to think more carefully about the security and privacy of patient information, particularly as wireless communication becomes more common. Fortunately, there are some safeguards already in place, but device manufacturers can do better.”

Fu, an assistant professor of computer science at UMass Amherst, noted that the study developed several prototype defenses. “One of our primary contributions is the invention of three defense mechanisms that require no battery power, making them potentially easy to incorporate in the devices without extensive redesigning. While there has been much research that explores the biological safety of implantable medical devices, there is limited understanding about the related issues of wireless security and privacy. Understanding the security and privacy of implantable devices is essential for protecting the nation’s health and cyber infrastructure.”
For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/uow-imd031208.php

3. New Center Funded To Predict Reliability of Micro-electromechanical systems

On 7 March, Purdue University announced that it has been awarded a five year, $17 million cooperative agreement by the National Nuclear Security Administration for a research center at Purdue University's Discovery Park to develop advanced simulations for commercial and defense applications. Purdue will collaborate with the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the University of New Mexico in the new Center for Prediction of Reliability, Integrity and Survivability of Microsystems, or PRISM, which will work to develop advanced science and engineering models and software for simulations needed to predict the reliability and durability of "micro-electromechanical systems," or MEMS.

For more information, see: http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2008a/080307MurthyMems.html

4. Argonne Lab's lithium-ion battery technology commercialized

The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Japan’s Toda Kogyo Corp. have reached a worldwide licensing agreement for the commercial production and sales of Argonne's patented composite cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, designed as longer-lasting, safer batteries for hybrid-electric vehicles, cell phones, laptop computers and other applications.

For more, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/dnl-alb031208.php

5. Study Explores Effect of Plug-in Hybrids on Power Grid

A recent Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) study, featured in the current issue of the ORNL Review examined how an expected increase in ownership of hybrid electric cars and trucks will affect the power grid depending on what time of day or night the vehicles are charged. In an analysis of the potential impacts of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles projected for 2020 and 2030 in 13 regions of the United States, ORNL researchers explored their potential effect on electricity demand, supply, infrastructure, prices and associated emission levels. Electricity requirements for hybrids used a projection of 25 percent market penetration of hybrid vehicles by 2020 including a mixture of sedans and sport utility vehicles. Several scenarios were run for each region for the years 2020 and 2030 and the times of 5 p.m. or 10:00 p.m., in addition to other variables.

The study essentially concluded that the growing number of plug-in hybrid electric cars and trucks could require major new power generation resources or none at all — depending on when people recharge their automobiles. The best-case scenario occurs when vehicles are plugged in after 10 p.m., when the electric load on the system is at a minimum and the wholesale price for energy is least expensive. Depending on the power demand per household, charging vehicles after 10 p.m. would require, at lower demand levels, no additional power generation or, in higher-demand projections, just eight additional power plants nationwide. In the worst-case scenario — if all hybrid owners charged their vehicles at 5 p.m., at six kilowatts of power — up to 160 large power plants would be needed nationwide to supply the extra electricity, and the demand would reduce the reserve power margins for a particular region's system. The report also found that the need for added generation would be most critical by 2030, when hybrids will have been on the market for some time and become a larger percentage of the automobiles Americans drive.

Source: http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20080312-02

6. Effort Underway to Develop “Grid-Appropriate” Nuclear Reactors for Developing Nations

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced on 12 March that it is part of a partnership to develop grid-appropriate nuclear reactors for developing nations. Grid-appropriate reactors are typically between 250 megawatts and 500 megawatts, making them far more affordable and practical for developing nations than the typical 1,300-megawatt commercial light-water reactor.

"These reactors hold the promise of economic development because they are projected to be able to be built in just a little more than half the time required to build a large power plant," said ORNL's Dan Ingersoll, a member of the Nuclear Technology Programs Office and Global Nuclear Energy Partnership national campaign director.

With a staggered build strategy, two or more reactors can be built in a series, which minimizes cash outlay and provides for quicker return on investment. Many nations have entered the nuclear age using reactors of this size range, Ingersoll noted, and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership sees this as a strength to build on as it works to facilitate the global expansion of nuclear energy.

Making nuclear power an option for developing countries is of great importance, Ingersoll said, because their energy demand will be met regardless of whether they use nuclear energy. By using nuclear energy, countries can offset negative consequences — such as higher prices caused by increased demand — of expanded use of fossil fuels. Nuclear power also could slow the rate of greenhouse gas emissions.

For more information, see: http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20080312-00

7. New Material Developed to Capture CO2 from Coal-Fired Power Plants

With support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, have developed a new, low-cost material for capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants and other generators of the greenhouse gas. Produced with a simple one-step chemical process, the new material has a high capacity for absorbing carbon dioxide — and can be reused many times.

“This is something that you could imagine scaling up for commercial use,” said Christopher Jones, a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “Our material has the combination of high capacity, easy synthesis, low cost and a robust ability to be recycled — all the key criteria for an adsorbent that would be used on an industrial scale.”

Details of the new material, known as hyperbranched aluminosilica (HAS), appear in the 19 March issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/giot-lrm030608.php

8. Special Coating Promises Improved Solar Cell Performance

Supported by the Department of Energy, a team of Northwestern University researchers has developed a new anode coating strategy that significantly enhances the efficiency of solar energy power conversion. This breakthrough promises to bring researchers and developers worldwide closer to the goal of producing cheaper, more manufacturable and more easily implemented solar cells.

To date, the most successful type of plastic photovoltaic cell is called a “bulk-heterojunction cell.” This cell utilizes a layer consisting of a mixture of a semiconducting polymer (an electron donor) and a fullerene (an electron acceptor) sandwiched between two electrodes — one a transparent electrically conducting electrode (the anode, which is usually a tin-doped indium oxide) and a metal (the cathode), such as aluminum. When light enters through the transparent conducting electrode and strikes the light-absorbing polymer layer, electricity flows due to formation of pairs of electrons and holes that separate and move to the cathode and anode, respectively. These moving charges are the electrical current (photocurrent) generated by the cell and are collected by the two electrodes, assuming that each type of charge can readily traverse the interface between the polymer-fullerene active layer and the correct electrode to carry away the charge — a formidable challenge.

The Northwestern researchers employed a laser deposition technique that coats the anode with a very thin (5 to 10 nanometers thick) and smooth layer of nickel oxide. This material is an excellent conductor for and an efficient “blocker,” which prevents misdirected electrons from straying to the “wrong” electrode (the anode), which would compromise the cell energy conversion efficiency. In contrast to earlier approaches for anode coating, the Northwestern nickel oxide coating is cheap, electrically homogeneous and non-corrosive. In the case of model bulk-heterojunction cells, the Northwestern team has increased the cell voltage by approximately 40 percent and the power conversion efficiency from approximately 3 to 4 percent to 5.2 to 5.6 percent.

The researchers currently are working on further tuning the anode coating technique for increased hole extraction and electron blocking efficiency and moving to production-scaling experiments on flexible substrates.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/nu-scg022208.php

9. Research Opens Door to Practical Hydrogen Gas Storage Systems for Vehicles

With funding support from the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have solved a decade old mystery that could one day lead to commercially practical storage materials for use in hydrogen gas fueled vehicles.
With current technologies, hydrogen gas storage tanks have to be as large as or larger than the trunk of a car to carry enough gas to travel only one to two hundred miles. Widespread commercial acceptance of these vehicles will require finding the right material that can store hydrogen gas at high volumetric and gravimetric densities in reasonably sized light-weight fuel tanks.

In 1997, it was discovered that adding a small amount of titanium to a well-known metal hydride, sodium alanate, not only lowers the temperature of hydrogen release from the material but also allows for an easy refueling and storage of high density hydrogen at reasonable pressures and temperatures. In fact, the weight percent of stored hydrogen was instantly doubled in comparison with other inexpensive materials. However, according to Vidvuds Ozolins, associate professor of material science and engineering, and lead author of the study “nobody really understood what the titanium did. The chemical processes and the mechanisms were really a mystery.”

Ozolins’ group decided to analyze the sodium alanate in its pure form, without added titanium. The computation suggested a reaction mechanism that is essential for the extraction of hydrogen from the material which involves diffusion of aluminum ions within the bulk of the hydride.

“This method and this knowledge can now be used to analyze other materials that would make for better storage systems than sodium alanate. We are still on the fundamental end of the study. But if we can figure this out computationally, the people with the technology in engineering can figure out the rest,” said Hakan Gunaydin, a UCLA graduate student in Ozolins’ lab and another one of the study’s authors.

The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Feb. 25, 2008.

10. New Institute to Lay Groundwork for Exascale Computer

Preparing groundwork for an exascale computer is the mission of the new Institute for Advanced Architectures, launched jointly at Sandia and Oak Ridge national laboratories.

An exaflop is a thousand times faster than a petaflop, itself a thousand times faster than a teraflop. Teraflop computers — the first was developed 10 years ago at Sandia — currently are the state of the art. They do trillions of calculations a second. Exaflop computers would perform a million trillion calculations per second.
The idea behind the Institute is “to close critical gaps between theoretical peak performance and actual performance on current supercomputers,” says Sandia project lead Sudip Dosanjh. “We believe this can be done by developing novel and innovative computer architectures.”

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/dnl-omt022108.php

11. NSF, Google And IBM Partner To Enhance Academic Research Using Large Scale Computing

On 13 March, the National Science Foundation's Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate announced the creation of a strategic relationship with Google Inc. and IBM that will enable the academic research community to conduct experiments and test new theories and ideas using a large-scale, massively distributed computing cluster.

"Access to the Google-IBM academic cluster via the CluE program will provide the academic community with the opportunity to do research in data-intensive computing and to explore powerful new applications," according to Jeannette Wing, the assistant director at NSF for CISE. "It can also serve as a tool for educating the next generation of scientists and engineers."

For more information, see: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111186&org=NSF&from=news

12. 3-D Photonic Filter Clears Up Fiber Optic Communication

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have come up with a potentially perfect way to sort and distribute the massive amounts of data that travel daily over optical fibers to people throughout the world. The new technology, a three-dimensional photonic crystal add-drop filter, promises greatly enhanced transmission of multiple wavelength channels (wavelengths of light) traveling along the same optical fiber. The innovative filter is a significant achievement in the effort to develop all-optical transport networks that would eliminate electrical components from optical transmission links and guarantee virtually flawless data reception to end users of the Internet and other fiber-based telecommunications systems.

The add-drop filter created by the Ames Laboratory team contains an entrance waveguide and an exit waveguide created by removing rod segments from the layered photonic crystal. A one-rod segment separates the two waveguides. (A waveguide is a system or material that can confine and direct electromagnetic waves.) A defect cavity is located one unit cell above the waveguide layer. The waveguides can communicate through the cavity, allowing a specific wavelength frequency to be selected from the input waveguide and transmitted to the output waveguide, excluding other input frequencies and resulting in near 100 percent efficiency for the drop frequencies.

Although the research shows 3-D photonic crystals would make highly efficient add-drop filters, there are still problems to address. Getting the size of the photonic crystals down to work at the wavelengths used for Internet communications — 1.5 microns — is the big challenge.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/dl-nfc021808.php

13. Single-Crystal Semiconductor Wire Built Into An Optical Fiber

An international science team from Penn State University in the United States and the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, with support from the National Science Foundation, has developed a process for growing a single-crystal semiconductor inside the tunnel of a hollow optical fiber. The device adds new electronic capabilities to optical fibers, whose performance in electronic devices such as computers typically is degraded by the interface between the fiber and the device. The research is important because optical fibers — which are used in a wide range of technologies that employ light, including telecommunications, medicine, computing, and remote-sensing devices — are ideal media for transmitting many types of signals.

The development of the single-crystal device, which will be described in a paper to be published later this month in the journal Advanced Materials, builds on research reported in 2006, in which the team first combined optical fibers with polycrystalline and amorphous semiconductor materials in order to create an optical fiber that also has electronic characteristics. The group's latest finding — that a single-crystal semiconductor also can be integrated into an optical fiber — is expected to lead to even further improvements in the characteristics of optical fibers used in many areas of science and technology.

For more information, see: http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Badding3-2008.htm

14. “Environmentally-Friendly” Nanoparticles Developed

With research support from the National Institutes of Health, University of Missouri scientist Kattesh Katti recently discovered how to make gold nanoparticles using gold salts, soybeans and water. With the nanotechnology industry expected to produce large quantities of nanoparticles in the near future, researchers have been worried about the environmental impact of typical production methods. Commonly, nanoparticles have been produced using synthetic chemicals. Katti’s process, which uses only naturally occurring elements, could have major environmental implications for the future. Since some of the chemicals currently used to make nanoparticles are toxic to humans, Katti’s discovery also could open doors for a wide array of applications, including cancer detection and treatment, the production of “smart” electronic devices, the treatment of certain genetic eye diseases and the development of “green” automobiles.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/uom-bin022808.php

15. Block Copolymers Offer New Approaches to Microelectronics

Speaking at the March Meeting of the American Physical Society, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reported that they have improved manipulation of so-called block copolymers — polymers made of a mixture of two or more different molecule building blocks that are tethered at a junction point — which can form arrays of tiny dots that could be used as the basis for electronic components that pack terabytes (1000 gigabytes) of memory in something as small as a pack of gum.

One of the challenges in polymer nanotechnology is how to control their self-assembly — a hard-to-control process for materials which require precision. An important recent NIST accomplishment has been in developing accurate measurements of thin film polymeric nanostructure in 3-D. NIST researchers also have developed new insights on how best to nudge these self-assembling material into those positions and how to force block copolymers into standing perpendicular to the template, a difficult feat deemed important for nanotech applications.

For more information, see: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tbx2008_0312_copolymer.htm

16. Testing Current Flow Through Molecular Electronic Junctions

Using an unusual spectroscopic technique, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have confirmed that current flows through a simple silicon-based molecular “sandwich,” which is the most basic structure of molecular electronics. The work represents an important step toward realizing organic molecule-based electronics that could enable much denser, cheaper computer memories and other replacements of traditional electronic devices.

For the past few years, scientists have been building and testing structures made of a hybrid of traditional silicon-based components and more futuristic molecule-based components. The typical junction is a sandwich of a metallic contact layer, a layer of organic compound just a single molecule thick arranged like bristles on a brush, and a substrate of silicon. While electric current seems to pass through the molecules, the current could be finding a way around it or the molecules could have been damaged in fabrication. Scientists want to know what is really happening inside this “black box.”

Using three types of silicon-molecule-metal junctions provided by Purdue University, NIST researchers applied a technique called inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) to measure the vibrations of the molecules inside the junction. By measuring minute changes in the current passing through the junctions and their relation to specific molecular vibrations, the NIST researchers verified both the existence of the molecules and that the electric current passed through them.

NIST physicists plan to continue research into silicon-molecule-metal junctions. “Once we understand the physics of the devices, we can begin to assess how viable the technology is and also determine which molecules may supply the best chance for a technological breakthrough,” says NIST researcher Curt Richter.

For more information, see: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2008_0305.htm#junctions

17. Piezoelectric Fibers in Clothing Generate Electricity from Motion

Nanotechnology researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing a shirt that harvests energy from the wearer's physical motion and converts it into electricity for powering small electronic devices worn by soldiers in the field, hikers and other users.

The research, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and described in the 14 Feb. issue of Nature, details how pairs of textile fibers covered with zinc oxide nanowires generate electricity in response to applied mechanical stress. Known as "the piezoelectric effect," the resulting current flow from many fiber pairs woven into a shirt or jacket could allow the wearer's body movement to power a range of portable electronic devices. The fibers could also be woven into curtains, tents or other structures to capture energy from wind motion, sound vibration or other mechanical energy.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/nsf-rnc020708.php

18. NIST Mini Sensor May ‘Change the Way We Live’

Miniature magnetic sensors made at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have won a spot on Technology Review’s annual list of 10 technologies “most likely to change the way we live.” The atomic magnetometers, made by NIST physicist John Kitching and collaborators, are about the size of a grain of rice and require little power but are highly sensitive to very weak magnetic fields. Technology Review points out that tiny, inexpensive magnetometers could lead to portable magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines and tools for detecting buried explosives or evaluating mineral deposits remotely. The magazine also notes NIST’s miniaturization of magnetic sensors could greatly expand their use in the coming decade.

For more information on the NIST Mini Sensors, see: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/magnetometer.html and http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2008_0219.htm#nmr

19. DARPA Spotlights Advances in Prosthetics Devices

In February, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency highlighted progress in its “Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2007” program, including a “strap-and-go-arm” developed with DARPA support by DEKA Research and Development Corporation. Embedded electronics enable users of the arm to activate a switch, either with a foot or their chin, to activate it. They can cycle through five different gripping actions to match the task at hand, whether it’s using a pen, picking up a key, lifting a coffee cup or using a power drill.
For more information, see: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48987

20. Research Seeks to Replace Large Satellites with Clustered Spacecraft Modules

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded funding to four contractor teams led by Boeing Corporation, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Orbital Sciences Corporation for the first phase of the Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange (System F6) space technology and demonstration program.

The DARPA System F6 program intends to demonstrate that a traditional, large, monolithic satellite can be replaced by a group of smaller, individually launched, wirelessly networked and cluster-flown spacecraft modules. Each “fractionated” module can contribute a unique capability to the rest of the network, such as computing, ground communications, or payload functionality. The ultimate goal of the program is to launch a fractionated spacecraft system and demonstrate it in orbit in approximately four years.

For more information, see: http://www.darpa.mil/body/news/2008/F6.pdf

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.