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02.11

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 January 2011. Items are excerpted from news releases generated by universities, government agencies and other research institutions. Highlighted topics include:

1. Fed Agencies Partner to Advance Renewable Energy Modeling and Forecasting

2. Advance Made in Practical Full-Spectrum Solar Cell

3. Breakthrough in Converting Waste Heat to Electricity

4. Gradient Index (GRIN) Plasmonics Demonstrated

5. Stable Transistor Demonstrated for Plastic Electronics

6. Robots Learn to Evolve/Adapt Their Body Forms

7. NIST To Fund New Research Facilities

8. Commerce Dept. Forum Focuses on Gov’t Role in Voluntary Standards Development

9. JILA Develops Efficient Source of Terahertz Radiation

10. NIST Advances Single Photon Management for Quantum Computers

11. IPv6 Guide Helps With Deployment of Next-Generation Internet Protocol

12. Hardware, Software Advances Help Protect Operating Systems from Attack

13. New Device May Revolutionize Computer Memory

14. Real-World Graphene Devices May Have a Bumpy Ride

15. New Technique Allows Low-Cost, Printable Nanotechnology

16. DARPA Developing “Minds-Eye” Machine-Based Visual Intelligence

1. Fed Agencies Partner to Advance Renewable Energy Modeling and Forecasting

On 25 Jan., the Department of Energy and the Department of Commerce announced a new agreement to further collaboration between the agencies on renewable energy modeling and weather forecasting, which will help enable the nation's renewable energy resources to be used more effectively by business and entrepreneurs.

For more information, see: http://www.energy.gov/news/10024.htm

2. Advance Made in Practical Full-Spectrum Solar Cell

Wladek Walukiewicz, who leads the Solar Energy Materials Research Group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and his colleagues have demonstrated a solar cell that not only responds to virtually the entire solar spectrum, it can also readily be made using one of the semiconductor industry’s most common manufacturing techniques. The new design promises highly efficient solar cells that are practical to produce.

For more information, see: http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2011/01/24/practical-full-spectrum/

3. Breakthrough in Converting Waste Heat to Electricity

Researchers at Northwestern University have placed nanocrystals of rock salt into lead telluride, creating a material that can harness electricity from heat-generating items such as vehicle exhaust systems, industrial processes and equipment and sun light more efficiently than scientists have seen in the past.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/nu-bic011811.php

4. Gradient Index (GRIN) Plasmonics Demonstrated

Berkeley Lab researchers have carried out the first experimental demonstration of GRIN plasmonics, a hybrid technology that opens the door to a wide range of exotic applications in optics, including superfast photonic computers, ultra-powerful optical microscopes and "invisibility" carpet-cloaking devices.

For more information, see: http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2011/01/24/grin-plasmonics/

5. Stable Transistor Demonstrated for Plastic Electronics

In the quest to develop flexible plastic electronics, one of the stumbling blocks has been creating transistors with enough stability for them to function in a variety of environments while still maintaining the current needed to power the devices. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have identified a new method of combining top-gate organic field-effect transistors with a bilayer gate insulator. This allows the transistor to perform with incredible stability while exhibiting good current performance. In addition, the transistor can be mass produced in a regular atmosphere and can be created using lower temperatures, making it compatible with the plastic devices it will power.

For more information, see: http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?nid=63912

6. Robots Learn to Evolve/Adapt Their Body Forms

In a first-of-its-kind experiment, a University of Vermont scientist created robots that, like tadpoles becoming frogs, change their body forms while learning how to walk. These evolving robots learned to walk more rapidly than robots with fixed bodies and developed a more robust gait. The research suggests that the quest for adaptive and resilient robots will arrive at better designs by encouraging co-evolution of a robot's body and "brain" (controller) at the same time.

For more information, see: http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=news&storyID=11482&category=ucommfeatureb

7. NIST To Fund New Research Facilities

On Jan. 25, the National Institute of Standards and Technology announced a $20M grant competition to support the construction of new or expanded research facilities at universities or non-profit research organizations. Facilities must support research related to measurement science, engineering, oceanography, atmospheric research and/or telecommunications. Non-federal cost sharing of 20% is required.

For more information, see: http://www.nist.gov/director/ncgp/ncgp_012511.cfm

8. Commerce Dept. Forum Focuses on Gov’t Role in Voluntary Standards Development

At a 25 Jan. forum convened by the Commerce Department and NIST, “thought-leaders” from industry, standards-developing organizations and other interested groups gathered to discuss the federal government’s role in setting, developing, using and adopting standards for critical national needs. The forum was webcast live and archived for follow-on viewing.

For more information, see: http://www.nist.gov/el/standards_roundtable.cfm

9. JILA Develops Efficient Source of Terahertz Radiation

Researchers at JILA, a joint Institute of the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, have developed a laser-based source of terahertz radiation that is unusually efficient and less prone to damage than similar systems. The technology might be useful in applications such as detecting trace gases or imaging weapons in security screening.

For more information, see: http://www.nist.gov/pml/div689/radiation_011911.cfm

10. NIST Advances Single Photon Management for Quantum Computers

The quantum computers of tomorrow might use photons, or particles of light, to move around the data they need to make calculations, but photons are tricky to work with. Two new papers by researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have brought science closer to creating reliable sources of photons for these long-heralded devices.

The new NIST papers address one of the many challenges to a practical quantum computer: the need for a device that produces photons in ready quantities, but only one at a time, and only when the computer's processor is ready to receive them. The team's first paper addresses the need to be certain that a photon is indeed coming when the processor is expecting it, and that none show up unexpected. In a second paper, the NIST team describes a photon source to address two other requirements. Quantum computers will need many such sources working in parallel, so sources must be able to be built in large numbers and operate reliably; and so that the computer can tell the photons apart, the sources must create multiple individual photons, but all at different wavelengths. The team outlines a way to create just such a source out of silicon, which has been well-understood by the electronics industry for decades as the material from which standard computer chips are built.

For more information, see: http://www.nist.gov/pml/div685/photon_011911.cfm

11. IPv6 Guide Helps With Deployment of Next-Generation Internet Protocol

As the day draws nearer for the world to run out of the unique addresses that allow us to use the Internet — now predicted to happen by the end of 2012 — researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have issued a guide for managers, network engineers, transition teams and others to help them deploy the next generation Internet Protocol (IPv6) securely.

Guidelines for the Secure Deployment of IPv6 (NIST Special Publication 800-119), describes the features of IPv6 and the possible related security impacts, provides a comprehensive survey of mechanisms to deploy IPv6 and suggests a deployment strategy for a secure IPv6 environment.

For more information, see: http://www.nist.gov/itl/csd/ipv6_010511.cfm

12. Hardware, Software Advances Help Protect Operating Systems from Attack

North Carolina State University researchers have developed an efficient system that utilizes hardware and software to restore a computer’s operating system (OS) if it is attacked At issue are security attacks in which an outside party successfully compromises one computer application (such as a Web browser) and then uses that application to gain access to the OS. The concept is to take a snapshot of the OS at strategic points in time (such as system calls or interrupts), when it is functioning normally and then, if the OS is attacked, to erase everything that was done since the last “good” snapshot was taken — effectively going back in time to before the OS attack. The mechanism also allows the OS to identify the source of the attack and isolate it, so that the OS will no longer be vulnerable to attacks from that application.

For more information, see: http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wmssolihinos/

13. New Device May Revolutionize Computer Memory

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new device that represents a significant advance for computer memory, making large-scale “server farms” more energy efficient and allowing computers to start more quickly.

Traditionally, there are two types of computer memory devices. Slow memory devices are used in persistent data storage technologies such as flash drives. Fast memory devices allow our computers to operate quickly, but aren’t able to save data when the computers are turned off. The necessity for a constant source of power makes them volatile devices. The NC State research team developed a single “unified” device that can perform both volatile and nonvolatile memory operation and may be used in the main memory.

For more information, see: http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wmsfranzondfg/

14. Real-World Graphene Devices May Have a Bumpy Ride

Electronics researchers love graphene. A two-dimensional sheet of carbon one atom thick, graphene is like a superhighway for electrons, which rocket through the material with 100 times the mobility they have in silicon. But creating graphene-based devices will be challenging, say researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), because new measurements show that layering graphene on a substrate transforms its bustling speedway into steep hills and valleys that make it harder for electrons to get around.

For more information, see: http://www.nist.gov/cnst/graphene_011911.cfm

15. New Technique Allows Low-Cost, Printable Nanotechnology

Northwestern University researchers have developed a new technique for rapidly prototyping nanoscale devices and structures that is so inexpensive the "print head" can be thrown away when done. Hard-tip, soft-spring lithography rolls into one method the best of scanning-probe lithography — high resolution — and the best of polymer pen lithography — low cost and easy implementation. The new method could be used in the areas of electronics, medical diagnostics and pharmaceuticals, among others.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/nu-map012511.php

16. DARPA Developing “Minds-Eye” Machine-Based Visual Intelligence

Ground surveillance is a mission normally performed by human assets, including Army scouts and Marine Corps Force Recon. Military leaders would like to shift this mission to unmanned systems, removing troops from harm’s way, but unmanned systems lack a capability that currently exists only in humans: visual intelligence. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is addressing this problem with Mind’s Eye, a program aimed at developing a visual intelligence capability for unmanned systems. DARPA has contracted with 15 different research teams to develop fundamental machine-based visual intelligence and related systems integration concepts.

For more information: http://www.darpa.mil/news/2011/MindsEyeNewsRelease.pdf

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