Allan Sadowski wants to use jpg files to catch criminals. That's why the Technology Officer for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol contacted Hamid Krim, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University. "Sadowski said it took six to ten minutes to download jpg images of mug shots," says Krim. "Now, we are doing it in seconds." Krim and graduate student Gozde Bozkurt-Unal must work within the 10-byte capacity of the existing wireless data transmission system to develop compression algorithms that speed downloads of jpg files to police and FBI laptops. How does he do it? Krim points out that faces have many features in common. Removal of the redundant ones speeds the transmission of a jpg file that may be accessed by up to 4,000 law enforcement officers at one time in North Carolina alone. "It's not like we were trying to win any prizes with the images," says Krim. "We're just trying to help the police know quickly whether or not they are dealing with a criminal." For more information, visit www.ncsu.edu or e-mail Krim at ahk@eos.ncsu.edu.
Inforbix is leveraging its CAD and product data access technology to power up a free iPad app that lets mobile users search and access engineering data.
Unlike his friends in engineering programs, blogger Jon Titus had little need for calculus except in a few of his college physical-chemistry labs and classes.
In the wake of the Chevy Volt fire investigations, sales are down, and General Motors' (GM) CEO Dan Akerson is blaming the downturn on a spate of bad publicity.
Thanks to embedded electronics, medical devices are getting smaller and smarter than ever. Pacemakers and implantable defibrillators are now able to call physicians. MRIs, CT scanners, and ultrasound machines are gaining mobility. And the venerable Band-Aid may soon be able to detect illnesses ranging from fevers to heart arrhythmias. On February 21, join Design News senior editor Charles Murray for a wide-ranging discussion, "Embedded Angles for Medical Products," which will explore the latest developments in medical electronics. The discussion will examine advances in medical device technology and offer an inside look at the embedded electronics behind it.
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