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05.10

Tech News Digest

Compiled By IEEE-USA Staff

The following is a roundup of news and notable developments in electrical engineering and computer or information technology reported during April 2010.  Items are excerpted from news releases generated by universities, government agencies and other research institutions. Highlighted topics include:

1. Public Input Sought on Internet Policy

2. Funding Opportunities for Innovative Research in Manufacturing-Related Technologies

3. Falcon HTV-2 Demo Advances Hypersonic Vehicle Flight Capabilities

4. New Solar Concentrator Design Outlined

5. Advance Made in Thin Film Solar Cell Technology

6. Solid-State Photovoltaics Offer New Path to Solar Energy

7. Plastic Electronics Could Slash Cost of Solar Panels

8. Micro-Supercapacitors To Power Microelectronic Devices

9. Metal Catalysts Improve Efficiency of Lightweight Lithium-Oxygen Batteries

10. New High-Speed Integrated Circuit Is Fastest of Its Kind

11. New Software Design Technique Allows Faster Running Programs

12. Mobile Devices Serve As Own Mice With Optical Sensing Method

13. A Quantum Random-Number Generator Has Encryption, Security Applications

14. Brain-like Computing Demonstrated at an Organic Molecular Level

15. “Bizarre Matter” May Enable Fault Tolerant Quantum Computing

16. Argonne Lab’s Innovative Approach to Supercomputer Cooling Earns EStar Award

17. “Sound Bullets” Could Revolutionize Medical Imaging and Other Evaluation Technology

18. New Research Funded

1. Public Input Sought on Internet Policy

On 21 April, the Commerce Dept. announced formation of an Internet Policy Task Force and the release of a notice of inquiry seeking public input on policy and operational issues impacting the U.S. private sector's ability to realize the potential for economic growth and job creation through the Internet, including privacy, cyber security and patent laws.  

For more information, see:  www.commerce.gov/NewsRoom/PressReleases_FactSheets/PROD01_009159

 2. Funding Opportunities for Innovative Research in Manufacturing-Related Technologies

On 15 April, the NIST Technology Innovation Program announced its 2010 call for proposals for high-risk, high-reward innovation research. The new TIP competition offers cost-shared funding for innovative research on “Manufacturing and Biomanufacturing: Materials Advances and Critical Processes.”

For more information, see:  www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/20100413_TIP_comp_announce.html

3. Falcon HTV-2 Demo Advances Hypersonic Vehicle Flight Capabilities

On 23 April, DARPA announced the successful launch of its Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2), an unmanned, rocket-lauhced maneuverable, hypersonic air vehicle capable of Mach 20 speeds.  HTV-2 is demonstrating innovative high-lift-to-drag aerodynamic shape, lightweight thermal protection structures and materials, and autonomous hypersonic navigation guidance and control systems.

For more information, see:  http://www.darpa.mil/Docs/DARPAFalcon%20HTV-2NewsRelease%20Final.pdf

4. New Solar Concentrator Design Outlined

A new solar concentrator design from an electrical engineering Ph.D. student at the University of California, San Diego could lead to solar concentrators that are less expensive and require fewer photovoltaic cells than existing solar concentrators.  The new concentrator collects sunlight with thousands of small lenses imprinted on a common sheet. All these lenses couple into a flat "waveguide" which funnels light to a single photovoltaic cell.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/uoc—nsc042110.php

5. Advance Made in Thin Film Solar Cell Technology

Researchers at Oregon State University have made an important breakthrough in the use of continuous flow microreactors to produce thin film absorbers for solar cells — an innovative technology that could significantly reduce the cost of solar energy devices and reduce material waste.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/osu-ami041610.php

6. Solid-State Photovoltaics Offer New Path to Solar Energy

Berkeley Lab researchers have found a new mechanism by which the photovoltaic effect can take place in semiconductor thin-films. This new path to energy production brightens the future for photovoltaic technology by overcoming voltage limitations that plague conventional solid-state solar cells.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/dbnl-npt033010.php

7. Plastic Electronics Could Slash Cost of Solar Panels

A new technique developed by Princeton University engineers for producing electricity-conducting plastics could dramatically lower the cost of manufacturing solar panels.  By overcoming technical hurdles to producing plastics that are translucent, malleable and able to conduct electricity, the researchers have opened the door to broader use of the materials in a wide range of electrical devices.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/pues-pec040210.php

8. Micro-Supercapacitors To Power Microelectronic Devices

A Lawrence Berkeley Lab team has developed a unique new technique for integrating high performance micro-sized supercapacitors into a variety of portable electronic devices through common microfabrication techniques. Featuring high power densities and rapid-fire cycle times, these new supercapacitors have the potential to substantially boost the performance and longevity of portable electric energy storage devices.

For more information, see: http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2010/04/23/micro-supercapacitor/

9. Metal Catalysts Improve Efficiency of Lightweight Lithium-Oxygen Batteries

A team of researchers at MIT experimenting with metal catalysts has made significant progress on a lithium-oxygen technology that could lead to batteries with up to three times the energy density of any battery that currently exists.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/miot-mms040210.php

10. New High-Speed Integrated Circuit Is Fastest of Its Kind

A new high-speed integrated circuit to reliably transmit data in the demanding environment of the world's largest physics experiment is the fastest of its kind. The "link-on-chip" — or LOC serializer circuit — was designed by physicists at Southern Methodist University in Dallas for use in a key experiment of CERN's Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator. Designed for a high-radiation environment, it can operate at cryogenic temperatures, with high data bandwidth, low-power dissipation and extremely high reliability.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/smu-nhi040810.php

11. New Software Design Technique Allows Faster Running Programs

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new approach to software development that will allow common computer programs to run up to 20 percent faster and possibly incorporate new security measures.  The researchers have found a way to run different parts of some programs — including, for the first time, such widely used programs as word processors and Web browsers — at the same time, which makes the programs operate more efficiently.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/ncsu-nsd040510.php

12. Mobile Devices Serve As Own Mice With Optical Sensing Method

The same inexpensive, but high-quality optical sensors employed in the common computer mouse can enable small mobile phones and digital music players to be used as their own pointing and gestural input devices, say researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII).   By installing a pair of optical sensors on the back of a mobile phone or mp3 player, the researchers found that the entire device could have many of the same benefits as that of a computer mouse when the device was placed against a surface, a piece of clothing or the palm of a hand. This new input method, called Minput, responds to up-down, and side-to-side motions, like a computer mouse, but also to twisting and flicking motions.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/cmu-mds042610.php

13. A Quantum Random-Number Generator Has Encryption, Security Applications

Random number sequences are essential to a host of encryption schemes. But true randomness in the strict sense is not possible in the classical world; it only occurs in quantum-mechanical processes. Now researchers have devised and demonstrated the first random-number generator in which the output is certified random by laws of physics.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/uom-rbn040810.php

14. Brain-like Computing Demonstrated at an Organic Molecular Level

Information processing circuits in digital computers are static. In our brains, information processing circuits — neurons — evolve continuously to solve complex problems. Now, an international research team from Japan and Michigan Technological University has created a similar process of circuit evolution in an organic molecular layer that can solve complex problems. This is the first time a brain-like "evolutionary circuit" has been realized.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/mtu-bco042310.php

15. “Bizarre Matter” May Enable Fault Tolerant Quantum Computing

New results from Rice University and Princeton University indicate that a bizarre state of matter that acts like a particle with one-quarter electron charge also has a "quantum registry" that is immune to information loss from external perturbations.  The team of physicists found that ultracold mixes of electrons caught in magnetic traps could have the necessary properties for constructing fault-tolerant quantum computers — future computers that could be far more powerful than today's computers.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/ru-bmc042110.php

16. Argonne Lab’s Innovative Approach to Supercomputer Cooling Earns EStar Award

An innovative, energy-saving approach to cooling Argonne's Blue Gene/P supercomputer was recognized with an Environmental Sustainability (EStar) award from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science.  In colder weather Argonne saves as much as $25,000 per month in electricity costs by leveraging the Chicago area's climate to chill the water used to cool the supercomputer for free. That is in addition to the millions of dollars saved by the energy-efficient architecture of the Blue Gene/P, which uses about one-third as much electricity as a comparable supercomputer.

For more information, see: http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/News/2010/news100420.html

17. “Sound Bullets” Could Revolutionize Medical Imaging and Other Evaluation Technology

Taking inspiration from a popular executive toy ("Newton's cradle"), researchers at Caltech have built a device — called a nonlinear acoustic lens — that produces highly focused, high-amplitude acoustic signals dubbed "sound bullets." The acoustic lens and its sound bullets (which can exist in fluids like air and wateras well as in solids) have the potential to revolutionize applications from medical imaging and therapy to the nondestructive evaluation of materials and engineering systems.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/ciot-crc042110.php

18. New Research Funded

• Lithium Ion Batteries:  Through new collaborations totaling $6.2 million, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and American industry will tackle some of the most critical challenges facing lithium ion battery production.  For more information, see:  http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20100420-00

• Smart Grid Workforce:  The UH Energy program, through a coalition led by the University of Houston's College of Technology, has received a $2.5 million stimulus award from the Department of Energy to develop a smart grid workforce training program to prepare the next generation of workers in the electric power industry.  For more information, see: http://www.uh.edu/news-events/stories/2010articles/April2010/0413DOEAward.php

• K-12 Carbon-Based STEM Education: The National Science Foundation has awarded a $2.85 million grant to a team of Penn State faculty for a carbon research/K-12 science education collaboration with two Pennsylvania school districts.  For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/ps-fta041510.ph

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.