ENGGtalks Newsroom

27 Jun 23

Educational Note: Understanding VHF Propagation

Aerospace & Aeronautical

Very High Frequency (VHF) is widely used in broadcasting, in voice and data communications, in avionics, and even in some types of radar. Although it is commonly believed that VHF propagation is mostly "line of sight," true line of sight propagation is in fact relatively rare in terrestrial applications. Signals…

26 Jun 23

New Moon Rover Gives It the Old College Try

Aerospace & Aeronautical

The United States skipped a step in the space race. Before NASA sent the first astronauts to the moon in 1969, it sent robotic scouts to crash into the lunar surface, land on it, and map it from orbit. The last three Apollo missions included lunar rovers driven by the…

26 Jun 23

Novel 19-Core Fiber Hits 1.7 Petabits per Second

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

Researchers in Japan and Australia have developed a new multicore optic fiber able to transmit a record-breaking 1.7 petabits per second, while maintaining compatibility with existing fiber infrastructure. The team–from Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Sumitomo Electric Industries, and Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia—achieved the…

26 Jun 23

Humans and AI Fight It Out in the Ring, via Robots

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

During the final fight scene of the 2011 film Real Steel, two giant robots battle it out in a boxing ring—and the underdog is losing. Before the final round, Hugh Jackman’s character, Charlie, takes his robot aside and tells it to watch him and follow his lead from the sidelines.…

26 Jun 23

Companies urge Government to ‘step up’ plans to deliver insulation targets

Geotechnical & Environmental

According to a new analysis carried out by Frontier Economics, the Government is on track to insulate just one sixth of the homes needed to meet its target of reducing energy consumption by 15 per cent. WWF UK and ScottishPower said there is a “substantial gap” emerging between what is…

26 Jun 23

View from India: New aviation prospects propel country forward

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The new opportunities are the outcome of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the US at the invitation of President Joe Biden and the First Lady Jill Biden. GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) have forged ties to produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force…

25 Jun 23

Laser-Comb Clocks Pierce Femtosecond Barrier

Aerospace & Aeronautical

By firing a laser from a volcano in Hawaii, scientists now reveal they can synchronize atomic clocks to 320 billionths of a billionth of a second (0.32 femtoseconds or 320 attoseconds) over a distance of more than 300 kilometers. This new study joins a range of findings over the past…

24 Jun 23

How to Build a Power Grid on the Moon

Aerospace & Aeronautical

The early forays to the moon employed throwaway technologies, designed to function during the two-week period of lunar daylight, then to perish in the freeze of the equally long night. But to sustain a colony, everything must be made to survive deathly extremes. During daytime, lunar temperatures can reach 120…

24 Jun 23

Video Friday: Biological End Effectors

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.RoboCup 2023: 4–10 July 2023, BORDEAUX, FRANCERSS 2023: 10–14 July 2023,…

23 Jun 23

Billionaire Brings Tesla Autopilot Rebuke

Civil, Structural & Architecture

Yesterday, in a livestreamed event, Dan O’Dowd—a software billionaire and vehement critic of Tesla Motors’ allegedly self-driving technologies—debated Ross Gerber, an investment banker who backs the company. The real challenge came after their talk, when the two men got into a Tesla Model S and tested its Full Self-Driving (FSD)…