 | | Steep-Slope Monitoring
| Although GPS is an efficient tool for deformation monitoring, it also is an expensive one for large projects. The authors developed a remote-controlled monitoring system using an electronic switching device for multiple antennas to monitor steep slopes at the Xiaowan hydropower station in China. | | | Getting into Pockets and Purses
| | Add one more to the list of challenges faced by consumer GPS-enabled devices: the human hand that holds them. Body loading significantly degrades receiver sensitivity. A dielectrically loaded quadrifilar helix antenna can ameliorate this condition. | |  MORE ARTICLES
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| Future Networks
| | The next generation of networks will move beyond disconnected device-specific networks and systems and toward a distributed infrastructure, with intelligent functions residing across the entire network, from its edge to its core. | | | Sensors Tag Assets
| | In the article, "IBM Software Tracks Computers, Trucks," c|netnews.com describes how IBM is planning to offer "unified management tools" capable of tracking IT gear and physical assets—such as trucks and shipping containers—with electronic sensors. | | | Sensors and Privacy
| | A survey of more than 700 IEEE Fellows, done by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in conjunction with the Institute for the Future, sought to learn what science and technology developments are most likely to take hold within the next 10 to 50 years. | | | Safe Boating, Everyone!
| | The cry of "man overboard!" is second only to "fire on shipboard!" as a general alarm for all hands. But what if no one sees that fellow boater or shipmate (or pet) fall into the drink? The Raymarine (www.raymarine.com) LifeTag system, using Ember's ZigBee (www.zigbee.org) networking technology, does away with that unhappy scenario. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Materials Innovations May Challenge Noncontact-Sensor Growth
| | The development of "active," noncontact sensors based on Hall effect, magnetoresistive, and variable-reluctance transformer technologies is penetrating the established market of "passive," contact sensors—and increasingly taking market share for automotive speed and position applications, says market research firm Strategy Analytics. "This is being driven by the need for improved reliability as well as increased functionality and accuracy," notes senior analyst Simon Schofield. | | | Safety and Security Soar, Machine Vision Enters Automotive On Ramp
| | Arecent study by TRW Automotive Inc. reports that 74% of respondents say vehicle safety features and options are more important to them than they were five years ago. And all of the entries on Edmunds.com's Top 10 High-Tech Car Safety Technologies—which the automotive information source recommends consumers look for when car shopping—are sensor based. Most are self-explanatory: | | | Enabling 3D Vision
| | High-end machine vision applications are progressing from 2D to 3D
imaging with techniques such as laser triangulation and
stereovision, say analysts at Frost & Sullivan. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| The Ultimate Sensor
| | In the original Star Trek series, DeForest Kelley played ship's surgeon Dr. Leonard McCoy. This character was especially memorable for his frequent medical pronouncement, "He's dead, Jim," and for his handheld medical scanner, a device that looked like a pepper shaker with a spinning cap. This magical sensor could instantly and noninvasively diagnose any medical condition. | | | The Five-Minute Filter University—August Session
| | Last month we discussed a number of simple passive filters in both low-pass and high-pass configurations. Although these filters could reject out-of-band signals, this capability was relatively limited because they all had an attenuation roll-off rate of –20 dB/decade. You will find that many applications require a much greater ability to reject out-of-band signals than that provided by the passive low-pass filters we looked at. | | | The Five-Minute Filter University, July Session
| | Back in the late 1970s comedian Don Novello (a.k.a. Father Guido Sarducci) had a routine called the "Five-Minute University," which was supposed to impart to you, in the span of only five minutes, all the knowledge you would retain five years after graduating from a regular university. So, in the same spirit, I offer "Dr. Ed's Five-Minute Analog Filter Design University." | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Moving SOA onto the Plant Floor
| | If the sensor manufacturers' products already have the software "hooks" that allow the sensor data to be accessed by the SOA, the implementation has a quicker ROI. | | | MES—A Work In Progress
| | Traditionally, a manufacturing execution system (MES) is defined as a production scheduling and tracking system, which schedules and updates orders, analyzes and reports resource availability, collects execution data—such as material and labor usage, process parameters, and order and equipment status—and maintains statistical quality control. But such a static definition doesn't do this genre of software justice because MESs are a work in progress. | | | OPC—A Question of Relevance
| | For ten years, OPC's suite of standards has provided the industrial automation world with open connectivity, but the technology on which its standards are based is no longer on the cutting edge of data sharing. The foundation that rescued manufacturers, systems integrators, and software providers from the chaos of proprietary communications interfaces now has to compete with fast movers such as service-oriented architectures and Web services. The question is: Can the standards evolve, embrace new communications mechanisms, and remain relevant? | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Sensors and Privacy
| | A survey of more than 700 IEEE Fellows, done by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in conjunction with the Institute for the Future, sought to learn what science and technology developments are most likely to take hold within the next 10 to 50 years. | | | Special Report
| | It's hard to overestimate the impact of MEMS—or LabVIEW—on sensor applications. | | | So Much More
| | The Today at Sensors weblog (www.sensorsmag.com) not only gave us Sensors editors an outlet to report daily from Sensors Expo (June 5–7, www.sensorsexpo.com), but also it lets us tell you more about Expo happenings—among other things—than we've been able to before. Thank goodness, because there's much to tell! | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Finding the Right Pressure Switch
| | Selecting a pressure switch that is well suited for a particular application is a multi-faceted process. The trick is to know what questions to ask to optimize your application. | |
| Finding the Right Pressure Switch
| | Selecting a pressure switch that is well suited for a particular application is a multi-faceted process. The trick is to know what questions to ask to optimize your application. | | | Future Networks
| | The next generation of networks will move beyond disconnected device-specific networks and systems and toward a distributed infrastructure, with intelligent functions residing across the entire network, from its edge to its core. | | | The ΔΣ ADC Learns New Tricks
| | A new architecture is blurring the distinction between successive approximation register (SAR) and ΔΣ ADCs, creating devices that couple high resolution with high throughput, achieving exceptional measurement accuracy and ease of integration. | | | Optimizing Motion Control—Getting the Most from Resolvers
| | To take full advantage of the resolver's potential, you have to compensate for error sources. Simulating resolver and cable functions go a long way toward helping you achieve this goal. | | Choosing the Right Pressure Transmitter:
| | Choosing the right pressure transmitter for your application involves more than specifying the pressure range. Don't forget to consider the technologies available, the environmental stresses and strains that will be involved, and the lifetime cost. | | | 3D Image Correlation: Measuring Displacement and Surface Strain
| | 3D image correlation is a general-purpose strain measurement tool that allows us to measure 3D displacement and the true surface strains of any material without contact and without many of the difficulties associated with these measurements. | | Choosing the Right Pressure Transmitter:
| | Choosing the right pressure transmitter for your application involves more than specifying the pressure range. Don't forget to consider the technologies available, the environmental stresses and strains that will be involved, and the lifetime cost. | | | Sensing with Autonomous Mobile Robots
| | Autonomous mobile robots rely on sensors to navigate through their environment. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Future Networks
| | The next generation of networks will move beyond disconnected device-specific networks and systems and toward a distributed infrastructure, with intelligent functions residing across the entire network, from its edge to its core. | | | Future Networks
| | The next generation of networks will move beyond disconnected device-specific networks and systems and toward a distributed infrastructure, with intelligent functions residing across the entire network, from its edge to its core. | | | Optimizing Motion Control—Getting the Most from Resolvers
| | To take full advantage of the resolver's potential, you have to compensate for error sources. Simulating resolver and cable functions go a long way toward helping you achieve this goal. | | Choosing the Right Pressure Transmitter:
| | Choosing the right pressure transmitter for your application involves more than specifying the pressure range. Don't forget to consider the technologies available, the environmental stresses and strains that will be involved, and the lifetime cost. | | Choosing the Right Pressure Transmitter:
| | Choosing the right pressure transmitter for your application involves more than specifying the pressure range. Don't forget to consider the technologies available, the environmental stresses and strains that will be involved, and the lifetime cost. | | |
Pressure-Resistant Proxes: New Generation Proximity Switches For Hydraulic Applications
| | A new generation of inductive proximity sensors are engineered to withstand the high pressures now common in fluid power applications. | | | A New Breed of Tilt Sensors
| | High accuracy at a low cost over a wide temperature range makes thermal MEMS accelerometers the hot choice in tilt sensing. Find out whether they're right for your application. | | | Keeping it Sealed
| | App Snaps | | | A Machine That Watches
| | During an automated manufacturing process, the product typically moves along a production line at either constant or variable speeds. The first task of optoelectronic inspection is to discard that motion. For example, machine vision systems use triggers and shutters and photoelectric sensors use gates to freeze the object at a particular point in time so that it can be analyzed. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Mel's Picks
| | Online Vision Tutorial; Job Search Site; Personalized Ringtones | | | Mel's Picks
| | I've mentioned Sensorland.com, a Web site for information on sensing and measurement, before in this column. The people behind Sensorland.com have now added Sensorwatch to the main site. This is a series of internal Web sites, each devoted to a particular type of sensor. Currently, there are sites for pressure, position/proximity, vibration, load/force, and instrumentation. Look here for lists of suppliers, new product updates, and other relevant information. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| App Snaps
| | Having a bad back is no fun, and the corrective measures can be just as unpleasant. So Disc Dynamics, Devicix, and MTS Sensors Div. got together to devise a minimally invasive way to treat degenerative disc disease. The result is the Dascor Disc Arthroplasty System, in which the nucleus of a spinal disc is removed and replaced with an artificial nucleus that restores the correct gap height between the vertebrae. | | | App Snaps
| | The current conflict in Iraq is proving to be a war of amputations. If it's any consolation, an extremely well engineered prosthetic, the Boston Digital Arm (BDA), promises to reproduce much of a lost limb's functionality. The BDA's operating principle has been well demonstrated—the user's remaining muscles and nerves activate the device and control its movements. This arm goes beyond conventional prosthetics, though, by having five axes of motion as well as a variable gripping force in the hand that gives the user the ability to "sense" a held object. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Toolbox
| | Innovative Sensor Technology IST AG, Wattwil, Switzerland, offers the FemtoCap 2 ? 4 mm, SMT-compatible humidity sensor. The capacitive humidity sensor has a linear transfer function, a base capacitance of 180 pF, and a basic slope of 0.3 pF/%RH. | | | Toolbox
| | Handy New Products | | | Toolbox
| | Second-Generation Wireless IC | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| FLIR Introduces Low-Cost Thermal-Imaging Camera
| | The system is targeted at emerging thermography markets. | | | Wireless Sensor Networks—Solutions and Market Opportunities
| | The Research and Markets study reports on current trends and the future prospects of the technology that promises to revolutionize the way we live, work, and interact with the physical environment. | | | RF Digital Announces Wi-Fi Module with Years of Battery Life
| | The low power consumption of the RFD21715 is based on GainSpan's GS1010 SoC. The module also offers AES encryption, TCP/IP (IPv4), UDP, DHCP, and SNMP, which provides for remote device configuration and management. | | | Arch Rock and Cisco Chair New Internet Engineering Task Force
| | The group has been chartered to bring interoperable IP routing to low-power wireless networks used to connect large numbers of sensors and other embedded assets. | | | Augusta Systems Releases EdgeFrontier 4.0
| | The middleware enables the creation and management of intelligent enterprise networks, featuring data from sensors and other edge assets. The enhancements in the software's latest version include additional data-integration options and more robust event-processing capabilities. | | | ADI Introduces High-Bandwidth Mems-Based Vibration Sensor
| | The ADXL001 provides reliable, continuous system-performance monitoring without interrupting normal operation of the equipment and meets the cost criteria of industrial applications. | | | Freescale Named No. 1 Chipmaker of Automotive Industry
| | A Strategy Analytics report finds the global automotive semiconductor market grew by 9.2% in 2007, to $19.3 billion, and Freescale commands 10.3% of that growing market. | | | World’s Smallest Java-Based Computers to Debut at JavaOne
| | Sentilla's Perk Kit pervasive computing kit allows developers to create Java applications for tiny wireless computers used for low-power, large-scale wireless networks. | | |
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