Top Stories

Wireless Communications at Home on the (Firing) Range

Design News Staff, October 13, 2009
U.S. military range puts wireless technology through its paces with a digitally controlled, heavy armor range comprised of 14 moving targets located across a 60 sq km area, with wireless motion control connections for each of the 14 bunker-mover locations. More
All Engineers Need to Understand Electronics

Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, October 13, 2009
2009 Design News survey shows that all engineers - mechanical, electrical, manufacturing and software - need to be comfortable in the electronic realm More
Do the Math: Improve Power Losses in DC-DC Converters

Design News Staff, October 13, 2009
Power systems industry expert Alan Elbanhawy found a way to optimize battery life in notebook computers using mathematics software Maple. More
The 'Never Say Die' Battery

Design News Staff, October 13, 2009
Aclara's pioneering development of networking wireless sensors by installing hundreds of thousands of battery-powered ARM devices for the utility market, demonstrates why continual improvement is essential for maintaining a competitive edge. More
Reviving a 20-Year-Old Robot Using NI LabVIEW

Design News Staff, October 13, 2009
Students built a complete robot drive and control system from scratch after finding a 20-year-old Mitsubishi Movemaster robot in the stores of a department at Imperial College of London. More
Timken® StatusCheck® System Pays off for Toyota Motor Mfg.

Design News Staff, October 13, 2009
The Timken StatusCheck wireless conidtion monitoring system assists users in maximimizing equipment uptime by allowing users to take corrective action before machine failure occurs. More
Miniaturizing Monitoring Equipment Using MEMS Sensor

Design News Staff, October 13, 2009
Omron provides a solution for Magee Scientific's Handheld Aethalometer which uses optical analysis to determine the mass concentration of "Black Carbon" particles collected from an air stream passing through a filter. More
Assembly at the Speed of LED

Design News Staff, October 13, 2009
Bergquist Thermal Clad with pre-applied Bond-Ply 450 PA is simple to peel and place. It's specifically configured for Power LED applications and optimizes thermal performance and speeds assembly for applications like BlueSpan's Luxeon LED streetlight. More
More Common-Mode Tips

Jon Titus, Contributing Writer, October 1, 2009
Unbelievably useful information from a test expert. More
Thunderbolt Aerosystems Brings Rocketbelts to the Public

Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, September 28, 2009
Nino Amarena's company, Thunderbolt Aerosystems, designs, builds and sells rocketbelts to the public. More
Driveline Bearings Cut Friction by 30 Percent

Charles J. Murray, September 28, 2009
SKF Group has rolled out a line of energy-efficient bearings for driveline applications that could reduce friction by up to 30 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 13 gm per mile. More
ARM, NXP Launch Prototyping Tools for 32-bit MCU

Karen Field, Editor-in-Chief, September 25, 2009
The launch of mbed.org, announced at the 2009 Embedded Systems Show held in Boston this week, will help users get off the ground in 60 seconds flat. More
Author Offers Tips on Green Design

Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, September 23, 2009
Pamela Gordon told engineers at Design & Manufacturing Midwest to view environmental regulations as opportunities. More
New Proximity Sensors Designed for Manufacturing Showcased at Design & Manufacturing Midwest Show

Control Engineering, September 22, 2009
Manufacturers of proximity sensors are among those showcasing new products at the Design & Manufacturing Midwest show, Sept. 22-24, in Rosemont, IL, including Balluff, Banner Engineering, Carlo Gavazzi and Turck, among others. More
Optimizing Solar Panel Production

Alberto Cortes and Ricardo Silla, contributing writers, August 19, 2009
Siliken Renewable Energy engineers are hard at work helping to harness sunlight, as well as address escalating environmental and energy concerns. More
DSPs for Data, Voice Networks

Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, August 19, 2009
New DSP products from TI, Freescale and ADI are finding applications in wireless voice and data applications, among others. More
Penn State Program Brings Low-Cost Medical Care to Africa

Karen Field, Editor in Chief, August 13, 2009
Through Penn State's Mashavu program, engineering students are bringing networked health solutions to East Africa by using virtualization and NI LabVIEW to design low-cost devices. More
Graphical Software Streamlines Algorithm Design

Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, August 3, 2009
From NIWeek: New features on National Instruments' LabView will simplify the process of deploying math algorithms to real-time operating systems. More
Engineer and Team Bring Glass Cockpit Technology to Small Airplanes

John Loughmiller, Contributing Editor, July 30, 2009
Gus Kyriakos led the team that created a system to help aircraft avoid collisions at Allied Signal and is now leading Aspen Avionics' engineering group as they bring affordable Glass Cockpit technology to small aircraft. More
Look to Low-Cost 3-D Scanning

Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, July 15, 2009
Inexpensive 3-D scanning technologies are enabling engineers to capture organic shapes for race helmet liners and other products more easily. More

Design News Partner Zones

Light Matters: The Unsung Heroes of Modern Health Care
First, let's define "no-compromise." In an ideal configuration, this lamp would use a high-brightness LED (HBLED) that is built into a small, integrated package and is able to produce a large quantity of focused light, operate with a high level of reliability and generate no audible noise. Is this difficult? Yes, but it is possible.
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Design Engineers' Portal for Sensing and Machine Safety
Whatever industry you're in, or whatever product you manufacture, the right sensors to automate your plant, and to improve your overall efficiency, quality and safety are a must. You'll find Banner Engineering to be an amazing resource of products, training and people with expertise.