Latest Avionics Articles and Videos

Categories

World’s First TinyML Vision Challenge Crowns 2021 Winners

Competitions are always an exciting way to test the limits and ingenuity of both technology and the designer. This week the winners of the first inaugural TinyML Vision Challenge were announced.

October 13, 2021 by Jake Hertz

Messages Through the Cosmos: A Review of Data Transfer in Space

Space data transfer has come a long way since those early calls to Houston. Here's a forward-looking glance at space communication technology.

September 01, 2021 by Tyler Charboneau

Qualcomm Brings ML and 5G Communication to Drones

Communication is often a pain point in drone design. Now, Qualcomm says it is leveraging "swarm support" and its tensor accelerator to vault these challenges.

August 23, 2021 by Antonio Anzaldua Jr.

Baseless Power Modules Clear the Way for a More Electric Aircraft

The push for greener technology keeps aiming higher, this time targeting avionics. Microchip and Clean Skys have teamed up to create a family of baseless power modules.

August 14, 2021 by Tyler Charboneau

A Trip Through the Decades: LiDAR’s Journey from NASA to Today

LiDAR technology seems to be everywhere lately, in cars, phones, etc. However, it wasn't always like that. LiDAR had a long, 50-year journey to become the latest "hot" tech that it is today.

August 03, 2021 by Tyler Charboneau

From Garage to Tech Giant: Bill Hewlett and David Packard Ignited the Tech World

Everyone recognizes the name "Hewlett-Packard" but who were the two halves of the HP coin? From the garage to a tech giant, Bill Hewlett and David Packard shook up early technology.

July 12, 2021 by Tyler Charboneau

Moving Space to Earth: Perseverance Tech for Earth Applications

Space technology is a testbed for promising, new technologies, not only for space but for Earth applications as well. How are recent advances in space affecting Earth?

May 21, 2021 by Tyler Charboneau

From CMOS to Batteries: Past Space Tech Improved Earth Applications

Pushing technological limitations to extremes can cause benefits beyond its original scope. Looking back at past space technology, it is clear the effects they have had here on Earth.

May 19, 2021 by Tyler Charboneau

How the Montreal Protocol Is Changing Chemical Sensors in HVAC Applications

Learn how the Montreal Protocol influenced this chemical sensor released by NevadaNano, a company tackling sensor applications from vending machines to flying noses.

April 26, 2021 by Antonio Anzaldua Jr.

NASA’s Infrasound Microphone Detects “Clear-Air” Turbulence Hundreds of Miles Away

NASA's infrasound microphone allows pilots and air traffic control to identify aircraft wake vortices, clear air turbulence, and tornadoes hundreds of miles away.

March 22, 2021 by Antonio Anzaldua Jr.

MEDLI2, the Sensors That Monitored the Perseverance Rover’s Landing on Mars

The MEDLI2 sensor package on the Perseverance rover is not only gathering data for future missions; it's also demonstrating how commercial-off-the-shelf parts can be used in space.

February 25, 2021 by Rushi Patel

The Glass Cockpit: The Story of Display Technologies in Space Shuttles

In this final part of the Glass Cockpit series, we look at how displays have reached their current iteration in Space X shuttles.

January 10, 2021 by Steve Taranovich

Display Technologies for Aerospace Applications: The F/A-18 Super Hornet

Learn about real-world display technology design in aerospace applications in a legendary example—the F/A-18 Super Hornet—from an engineer who's flown them.

January 08, 2021 by Steve Taranovich

Touchscreen vs. Button Interface Design: Capacitive and Resistive Touchscreens and Haptics

Learn about some of the most important fundamentals for understanding how interface technologies have evolved.

January 07, 2021 by Steve Taranovich

Hydrogen Fuel Cells Take to the Sky to Power Commercial Aircrafts

Hydrogen-fueled aviation could be a common reality within the next 15 years, according to a new report.

December 31, 2020 by Jake Hertz

On the 12 Days of Christmas, an EE Gave to Me…

In this electrical engineering edition of the 12 days of Christmas, we take a look at a few familiar highlights of the season and zoom in on the technologies electrical engineers have contributed to make them possible.

December 25, 2020 by Hannah DeTavis

How Altimeters are Taking to the Sky—Satellites, Aircrafts, and Even Skydiving

One rewarding aspect of engineering is seeing where designs end up in applications. Electronic altimeters are such devices that have found their way into a number of interesting airborne use cases.

December 03, 2020 by Tyler Charboneau

As Mission-Critical Applications Boom, Reliability Engineering is More Important Than Ever

Transphorm recently suggested that its GaN transistors may be significantly more reliable than rival SiC transistors. How do we measure reliability in components anyway?

November 06, 2020 by Jake Hertz

Altimeter Technology—Pressure, Radar, and Optical—Rises to Great Heights

Altimeters have taken off since the 1920s. Now, with piezoresistive ICs and LiDAR-like technology, they're more advanced than ever.

October 30, 2020 by Tyler Charboneau

A Closer Look at MARSIS, the Radar that Discovered Lakes on Mars

This week, the European Space Agency discovered underground lakes of liquid water on Mars. What circuit-level hardware made this discovery possible?

September 30, 2020 by Jake Hertz