Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

12 Apr 24

Caltech’s SSPD-1 Is a New Idea for Space-Based Solar

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The idea of powering civilization from gigantic solar plants in orbit is older than any space program, but despite seven decades of rocket science, the concept—to gather near-constant sunlight tens of thousands of kilometers above the equator, beam it to Earth as microwaves, and convert it to electricity—still remains tantalizingly…

12 Apr 24

Marco Hutter Wants to Solve Robotics’ Hard Problems

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Last December, the AI Institute announced that it was opening an office in Zurich as a European counterpart to its Boston headquarters, and recruited Marco Hutter to helm the office. Hutter also runs the Robotic Systems Lab at ETH Zurich, arguably best known as the origin of the ANYmal quadruped…

10 Apr 24

Ukraine Is the First “Hackers’ War”

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Rapid and resourceful technological improvisation has long been a mainstay of warfare, but the war in Ukraine is taking it to a new level. This improvisation is most conspicuous in the ceaselessly evolving struggle between weaponized drones and electronic warfare, a cornerstone of this war.Weaponized civilian first-person-view (FPV) drones began…

10 Apr 24

Enhance Your Tech and Business Skills During IEEE Education Week

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

No matter where professionals are in their tech career—whether just starting out or well established—it’s never a bad time for them to reassess their skills to ensure they are aligned with market needs.As the professional home for engineers and technical professionals, IEEE offers a wealth of career-development resources. To showcase…

10 Apr 24

Intel’s Gaudi 3 Goes After Nvidia

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Although the race to power the massive ambitions of AI companies might seem like it’s all about Nvidia, there is a real competition going in AI accelerator chips. The latest example: At Intel’s Vision 2024 event this week in Phoenix, Az., the company gave the first architectural details of its…

08 Apr 24

Better Biosensors Just Need a Touch of Cheap Plastic

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Metallurgy & Material Science

Organic semiconductors are versatile materials used in many flexible displays and sensors. The materials, which are typically made of conducting carbon-based polymers, can bend and fold, but they tend to degrade quickly compared to traditional electronics. These organic semiconductors are useful in bendy biosensors and other consumer devices, including wearables,…

08 Apr 24

Scientists Race to Protect Future Lunar Telescopes

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

If you’re an astrophysicist trying to detect signals from the early universe after the big bang, Earth is not a great place to be. Yes, this planet is our home, warm and wet and brimming with life, but significant chunks of electromagnetic spectrum are blocked by Earth’s atmosphere, magnetic field…

07 Apr 24

How Engineers at Digital Equipment Corp. Saved Ethernet

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

I’ve enjoyed reading magazine articles about Ethernet’s 50th anniversary, including one in the The Institute. Invented by computer scientists Robert Metcalfe and David Boggs, Ethernet has been extraordinarily impactful. Metcalfe, an IEEE Fellow, received the 1996 IEEE Medal of Honor as well as the 2022 Turing Award from the Association…

07 Apr 24

Software Sucks, but It Doesn’t Have To

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

You can’t see, hear, taste, feel, or smell it, but software is everywhere around us. It underpins modern civilization even while consuming more energy, wealth, and time than it needs to and burping out a significant amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The software industry and the code it…

05 Apr 24

These Electronic Textiles Don’t Need Chips or Batteries

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

Sensors, controllers, and other electronic devices embedded in clothing could change the way we interact with computers and with each other. But efforts to turn t-shirts into electronic devices have been hampered by the need to power them with bulky batteries and process their data using stiff circuit boards.Research published…

Caltech’s SSPD-1 Is a New Idea for Space-Based Solar

Marco Hutter Wants to Solve Robotics’ Hard Problems

Ukraine Is the First “Hackers’ War”

Enhance Your Tech and Business Skills During IEEE Education Week

Intel’s Gaudi 3 Goes After Nvidia

Better Biosensors Just Need a Touch of Cheap Plastic

Scientists Race to Protect Future Lunar Telescopes

How Engineers at Digital Equipment Corp. Saved Ethernet

Software Sucks, but It Doesn’t Have To

These Electronic Textiles Don’t Need Chips or Batteries

Google won two major awards at MWC Barcelona 2025.

Expanding AI Overviews and introducing AI Mode

This MRI Can Run on Batteries

The Tiny Star Explosions Powering Moore’s Law