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06.08

Washington Technology Digest

Compiled By IEEE-USA Staff

The following is a roundup of news and notable developments in electrical engineering and computer or information technology emerging from the federal government during May 2008. Most of these items are excerpted directly from news releases generated by research universities and government agencies. Highlighted topics include:

1. NASA Seeks Partners for Innovation Transfusion Program

2. Nanosoccer Robots Set to Compete at 2008 RoboCup Open

3. Nanowires May Boost Solar Cell Efficiency

4. NASA Nanotech Biosensor Helps Detect Biohazards

5. Method Demonstrated for Integrating Nanowire Devices on Silicon

6. Spin Control Technique Allows Sorting of Nanotubes by Length

7. New Approach to Supercomputing Proposed for Climate Modeling

8. New Technique Measures Ultrashort Laser Pulses At Focus

9. Brazilian Beetle Scales Offer Model for Ideal Photonic Crystal

10. New Sensors Use Sensory Capabilities of Biological Cells

11. RFID Testbed Speeds Measurement of RFID Tags and Antenna Performance

12. Engineers Demonstrate Room-Temperature Source of Coherent Terahertz Radiation

13. New Ultrafast Laser Has Broad Applications in Communications, Sensors and Astronomy

14. Discovery Promises Enhanced Applications for Piezoelectric Materials

15. U.S. Interpretations Available for Recent SI (Metric) Changes

16. Faster, More Sensitive MRI Technology Developed

17. Photosynthetic “Dimmer Switch” May Have Implications for Sustainable Energy Source

18. New Biomass Research Facility Dedicated

19. Research to Focus on In-Home Health Care Via Wireless Networks

20. New Process Reduces Cost to Manufacture Parts from Titanium Alloys

1. NASA Seeks Partners for Innovation Transfusion Program

On 19 May, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced that it is seeking companies and organizations across America involved in cutting-edge innovation to partner with the agency in the Innovation Transfusion Program.
The program allows NASA employees to spend up to a year working in high-tech environments outside the agency where they can share their expertise while gaining valuable experience and new ideas to bring back to their jobs at NASA. The program also supports innovation workshops between NASA and external organizations that have novel approaches for addressing problems of interest to NASA.

This initiative is part of the agency's Innovative Partnerships Program. The effort will help ensure NASA benefits from creativity and innovation occurring in industry, academia, research institutions, national laboratories and other government agencies. NASA will pay the salary and travel expenses for participating NASA employees.
For more information about the Innovation Transfusion program, visit: http://www.ipp.nasa.gov/ii_transfusion.htm

2. Nanosoccer Robots Compete at 2008 RoboCup Open

On 25-27 May, three student teams fielded nanobot soccer teams at a public exhibition as part of the 2008 U.S. “RoboCup Open” in Pittsburgh, Pa. The nanoscale “soccer players”— computer-driven robots six times smaller than an amoeba operating on a field the size of a grain of rice — showed off their skills under an optical microscope. The soccer nanobots are remotely controlled and move in response to changing magnetic fields or electrical signals transmitted across the microchip arena.

The teams from Carnegie-Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pa.), the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.) and the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) met at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pa., to put their nanobots (nanoscale robots) through their paces. The nanobots demonstrated agility, maneuverability, response to computer control and ability to move objects — all tools that future miniaturized mechanized workers will need for tasks such as microsurgery within the human body or the manufacturing of atom-sized components for microscopic electronic devices.

RoboCup is an annual international competition designed to foster innovations and advances in artificial intelligence and intelligent robotics by using the game of soccer as a testing ground. RoboCup and National Institute of Standards and Technology are jointly organizing the upcoming U.S. Open nanosoccer demonstration as the final step toward the first official Nanogram League competition for soccer nanobots at the 2009 international RoboCup event in Austria.

For more information about NIST and nanosoccer, see http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/calmed/robocup_photos.html

3. Nanowires May Boost Solar Cell Efficiency

University of California, San Diego electrical engineers funded by the National Science Foundation have created experimental solar cells spiked with nanowires that could lead to highly efficient thin-film solar cells of the future.

The new design increases the number of electrons that make it from the light-absorbing polymer to an electrode. By reducing electron-hole recombination, the UC San Diego engineers have demonstrated a way to increases the efficiency with which sunlight can be converted to electricity in thin-film photovoltaics.

Including nanowires in the experimental solar cell increased the “forward bias current” – which is a measure of electrical current – by six to seven orders of magnitude as compared to their polymer-only control device, the engineers found.

For more information, see: http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=735

4. NASA Nanotech Biosensor Helps Detect Biohazards

NASA has developed a revolutionary nanotechnology-based biosensor that can detect trace amounts of specific bacteria, viruses and parasites. This biosensor will be used to help prevent the spread of potentially deadly biohazards in water, food and other contaminated sources.

NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California licensed the biosensor technology to Early Warning Inc., Troy, N.Y. Under a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement, NASA and Early Warning jointly will develop biosensor enhancements. Initially, the biosensor will be configured to detect the presence of common and rare strains of microorganisms associated with water-borne illnesses and fatalities.

"The biosensor makes use of ultra-sensitive carbon nanotubes which can detect biohazards at very low levels," explained Meyya Meyyappan, chief scientist for exploration technology and former director of the Center for Nanotechnology at Ames. "When biohazards are present, the biosensor generates an electrical signal, which is used to determine the presence and concentration levels of specific micro-organisms in the sample. Because of their tiny size, millions of nanotubes can fit on a single biosensor chip."

Early Warning company officials say food and beverage companies, water agencies, industrial plants, hospitals and airlines could use the biosensor to prevent outbreaks of illnesses caused by pathogens - without needing a laboratory or technicians.
For more information, see: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/may/HQ_08131_BioSensor_Technology.html

5. Method Demonstrated for Integrating Nanowire Devices on Silicon

Applied scientists at Harvard University in collaboration with researchers from the German universities of Jena, Gottingen, and Bremen, have developed a new technique for fabricating nanowire photonic and electronic integrated circuits that may one day be suitable for high-volume commercial production.

Spearheaded by graduate student Mariano Zimmler and Federico Capasso, Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering, both of Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Prof. Carsten Ronning of the University of Jena, the findings will be published in NanoLetters.

Reliable and controlled strategies for assembling nanowires into functional circuits have posed a major challenge. By incorporating spin-on glass technology, used in Silicon integrated circuits manufacturing, and photolithography, transferring a circuit pattern onto a substrate with light, the team demonstrated a reproducible, high-volume, and low-cost fabrication method for integrating nanowire devices directly onto silicon.
"Because our fabrication technique is independent of the geometrical arrangement of the nanowires on the substrate, we envision further combining the process with one of the several methods already developed for the controlled placement and alignment of nanowires over large areas," said Capasso. "We believe the marriage of these processes will soon provide the necessary control to enable integrated nanowire photonic circuits in a standard manufacturing setting."

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/hu-sdm050808.php

6. Spin Control Technique Allows Sorting of Nanotubes by Length

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have reported a new technique to sort batches of carbon nanotubes by length using high-speed centrifuges. Many potential applications for carbon nanotubes depend on the lengths of these microscopic cylinders, and one of the most important features of the new technique, say the scientists, is that it should be easily scalable to produce industrial quantities of high-quality nanotubes.

For more information, see: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2008_0513.htm#nanotubes

7. New Approach to Supercomputing Proposed for Climate Modeling

Three researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have proposed an innovative way to improve global climate change predictions by using a supercomputer with low-power embedded microprocessors, an approach that would overcome limitations posed by today’s conventional supercomputers.

In their paper, published in the May issue of the International Journal of High Performance Computing Applications, Michael Wehner and Lenny Oliker of Berkeley Lab’s Computational Research Division, and John Shalf of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSCpresent a radical alternative that would cost less to build and require less electricity to operate. They conclude that a supercomputer using about 20 million embedded microprocessors would deliver the results and cost $75 million to construct. This “climate computer” would consume less than 4 megawatts of power and achieve a peak performance of 200 petaflops.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/dbnl-blr050608.php

8. New Technique Measures Ultrashort Laser Pulses At Focus

Lasers that emit ultrashort pulses of light are used for numerous applications including micromachining, microscopy, laser eye surgery, spectroscopy and controlling chemical reactions. But the quality of the results is limited by distortions caused by lenses and other optical components that are part of the experimental instrumentation.

To better understand the distortions, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers developed the first device to directly measure complex ultrashort light pulses in space and time at and near the focus. Measuring the pulse at the focus is important because that’s where the beam is most intense and where researchers typically utilize it. Knowing how the light is distorted allows researchers to correct for the aberrations by changing a lens or using a pulse shaper or compressor to manipulate the pulse into the desired form.

“Researchers have always measured the pulse immediately as it exited the laser, so they didn’t realize the extent to which the pulse became distorted by the time it reached the focus after traveling through the optics and lenses in the system,” said Rick Trebino, a professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Physics and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Ultrafast Optical Physics.

The device was described in a presentation at the IEEE co-sponsored Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics on May 8. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and published in the August 2007 issue of the journal Optics Express.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/giot-ntm050808.php

9. Brazilian Beetle Scales Offer Model for Ideal Photonic Crystal

To date, researchers have been unable to build an ideal “photonic crystal” to manipulate visible light, impeding the dream of ultrafast optical computers. But now, University of Utah researchers have discovered the ideal, diamond-like structure in the shimmering, iridescent green scales of a beetle from Brazil.

“It appears that a simple creature like a beetle provides us with one of the technologically most sought-after structures for the next generation of computing,” says study leader Michael Bartl, an assistant professor of chemistry and adjunct assistant professor of physics at the University of Utah. “Nature has simple ways of making structures and materials that are still unobtainable with our million-dollar instruments and engineering strategies.”

The study by Bartl, University of Utah chemistry doctoral student Jeremy Galusha and colleagues is set to be published later this week in the journal Physical Review E.
The beetle’s scales can’t be used in technological devices because they are made of fingernail-like chitin, which is not stable enough for long-term use, is not semiconducting and doesn’t bend light adequately. Bartl and Galusha now are trying to design a synthetic version of the beetle’s photonic crystals, using scale material as a mold to make the crystals from a transparent semiconductor.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/uou-tpb051908.php

10. New Sensors Use Sensory Capabilities of Biological Cells

University of Maryland engineers are collaborating across engineering disciplines to develop advanced "cell-based sensors-on-a-chip" technology. These tiny sensors, only a few millimeters in size, could speed up and improve the detection of everything from explosive materials to biological pathogens to spoiled food or impure water.
For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/uom-ncs050608.php

11. RFID Testbed Speeds Measurement of RFID Tags and Antenna Performance

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering have designed a system capable of simultaneously measuring hundreds of radio frequency identification tags and rapidly testing new RFID tag prototypes. This testbed allows researchers to measure the signal strength of tags hidden behind other tags and to rapidly test unique antenna configurations and multiple antennas without actually constructing new tags for each experiment.

The research, funded by the National Science Foundation and conducted with former graduate student Anil Rohatgi and current graduate student Joshua Griffin, was presented in April at the IEEE International Conference on RFID.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/giot-rtm050508.php

12. Engineers Demonstrate Room-Temperature Source of Coherent Terahertz Radiation

Engineers and applied physicists from Harvard University have demonstrated the first room-temperature electrically-pumped semiconductor source of coherent Terahertz (THz) radiation, also known as T-rays. The breakthrough in laser technology, based upon commercially available nanotechnology, has the potential to become a standard Terahertz source to support applications ranging from security screening to chemical sensing.

Spearheaded by research associate Mikhail Belkin and Federico Capasso, Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering, both of Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the findings was published in the May 19 issue of Applied Physics Letters.
For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/hu-edf051508.php

13. New Ultrafast Laser Has Broad Applications in Communications, Sensors and Astronomy

Scientists at the University of Konstanz (Germany) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated an ultrafast laser that offers a record combination of high speed, short pulses and high average power. The new laser is expected to have a range of applications from gas sensors to communications, but in particular, say researchers, it could boost the sensitivity of astronomical tools searching for other Earthlike planets as much as 100 fold.

The dime-sized laser, described last week at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, emits 10 billion pulses per second, each lasting about 40 femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second). The short, fast pulses make it ideal for use as a “frequency comb” — an ultraprecise technique for measuring frequencies of light. It is 10 times faster than a standard NIST frequency comb, produces much shorter pulses than comparable lasers, and is 100 to 1000 times more powerful than typical high-speed lasers, producing clearer signals in experiments. It was built by Albrecht Bartels at the Center for Applied Photonics of the University of Konstanz in Germany.

14. Discovery Promises Enhanced Applications for Piezoelectric Materials

A research team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has found an explanation for the extreme sensitivity to mechanical pressure or voltage of a special class of solid materials called relaxors. The ability to control and tailor this sensitivity would allow industry to enhance a range of devices used in medical ultrasound imaging, loudspeakers, sonar and computer hard drives.

Relaxors are piezoelectrics — they change shape when a battery is connected across opposite ends of the material, or they produce a voltage when squeezed. “Relaxors are roughly 10 times more sensitive than any other known piezoelectric,” explains NIST researcher Peter Gehring. They are extremely useful for device applications because they can convert between electrical and mechanical forms of energy with little energy loss.

A team of scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, Johns Hopkins University and NIST used the neutron scattering facilities at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) to study how the atomic “acoustic vibrations,” which are essentially sound waves, inside relaxors respond to an applied voltage. They found that an intrinsic disorder in the chemical structure of the relaxor crystal apparently is responsible for its special properties.

The research was funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences within the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science and the Natural Science and Research Council of Canada.

The research results appear in G. Xu, J. Wen, C. Stock and P.M. Gehring. Phase instability induced by polar nanoregions in a relaxor ferroelectric system. Nature Materials. Published online May 11, 2008.

15. U.S. Interpretations Available for Recent SI (Metric) Changes

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a new American version of the English language SI Brochure, the eighth edition of the international standard reference guide to the modern metric system, the International System of Units (known as SI from the French “Le Systeme International d’Unites”). NIST is the U.S. technical representative to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures that defines the SI and coordinates the federal government policy on the conversion to SI by federal agencies.

SI plays an essential role in international commerce and is the common language of scientific and technological research and development. The 2008 edition of NIST’s “The International System of Units (SI)” (Special Publication 330) covers recent changes in the system since 1998. It “Americanizes” the SI to cover correct U.S. usage of metric units, such as the accepted spelling of “meter” and “liter.” In addition, the revised guide includes a new chapter on units for quantities that describe biological effects, and symbols for expressing values for enzyme catalytic activity in biology and medicine.

The 2008 editions of “The International System of Units,” edited by Barry N. Taylor and Ambler Thompson, is available online along with additional information and measurement conversion tables at Technology Services: Metric Information and Conversions.

Obtain the 2008 SI online at: http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/upload/SP330_08.pdf

16. Faster, More Sensitive MRI Technology Developed

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have developed a promising new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology that is much faster, more selective — able to distinguish even among specific target molecules — and many thousands of times more sensitive. Current MRI technology has relatively low sensitivity, requiring patients to remain motionless for long periods of time inside noisy, claustrophobic machines.

For more information, see: http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/CSD-MRI.html

17. Photosynthetic “Dimmer Switch” May Have Implications for Sustainable Energy Source

Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory studying the molecular mechanisms by which plants protect themselves from oxidation damage should they absorb too much sunlight during photosynthesis, have discovered a molecular “dimmer switch” that helps control the flow of solar energy moving through the system of light harvesting proteins. This discovery holds important implications for the future design of artificial photosynthesis systems that could provide the world with a sustainable and secure source of energy.

Support for this research came from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences through its Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division.

For more information, see: http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/PBD-CP29.html

18. New Biomass Research Facility Dedicated

On 8 May, Washington State University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory dedicated a new building for the advancement of biomass research. The new facility will support research into biobased products and fuels that will help reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign petroleum and carbon footprint of energy use. Researchers will focus on biofuels that are more efficient to produce and more compatible with the existing fuels infrastructure than today’s biofuels. The research will advance conversion technologies that can be used with a variety of feedstocks, including non-edible cellulosic biomass and crops specifically grown for fuel. The new $24.8 million facility is located on the WSU Tri-Cities campus.

19. Research to Focus on In-Home Health Care Via Wireless Networks

Rice University, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and Technology For All (TFA) have received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation for research in east Houston that will examine ways to provide novel, low-cost, personalized health monitoring to people with chronic diseases living in working-class communities.

The researchers plan to examine how patients with chronic diseases use inexpensive handheld wireless monitoring devices called Blue Boxes, to participate actively in their own medical treatment. The National Science Foundation (NSF) grant will pay for the development and testing of the Blue Boxes and the wireless broadband network that will connect the devices to a central source for analysis.

The project brings together wireless researchers from Rice, chronic health care researchers and decision scientists at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute’s and University of Houston's Abramson Center for the Future of Health, and experts from TFA, a Houston non-profit that operates the TFA-Wireless network in east Houston's Pecan Park.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/ru-na042408.php

20. New Process Reduces Cost to Manufacture Parts from Titanium Alloys

On 20 May, Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced that a non-melt consolidation process for manufacture of titanium alloys could reduce the amount of energy required and the cost to make titanium parts from powders by up to 50 percent, making it feasible to use titanium alloys for brake rotors, artificial joint replacements, armor for military vehicles and other applications. By significantly lowering costs, researchers expect lightweight corrosion-resistant titanium alloys to make their way into many other products in the future, including automobiles, which will benefit from the decreased weight to deliver improved fuel economy.

The research was supported through a collaboration of the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency and BAE Systems.

For more information, see: http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20080520-00

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.