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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

DARPA’s Recent Deal With Arm Reflects a History of Microelectronics Innovation

From a three-year partnership with Arm to sponsoring ongoing Electronics Resurgence Initiatives, here’s how the U.S. DARPA is forging onward in microelectronics.

August 27, 2020 by Tyler Charboneau

An Inside Look at the New SpaceX Spacesuits

Manned spaceflight isn’t possible without reliable spacesuits.

June 01, 2020 by Tyler Charboneau

“Honey, I Shrunk the NASA Payload”: A Call for Engineers to Help Send Mini Rovers to the Moon

NASA is headed to the moon again, and this time, they're reaching out to the public engineering community for help.

April 13, 2020 by Gary Elinoff

US Space Force Revs Up a “Space Fence” With Wolfspeed’s Power Amplifiers

The US Space Force spends millions of dollars preventing spacecraft collisions in earth's increasingly crowded orbit. The Space Fence, powered by Wolfspeed's power amplifiers, aims to change that.

March 31, 2020 by Gary Elinoff

NASA Is Dedicating a Grant to Developing Power Systems for Space Exploration

Universities and research institutions play a huge role in helping NASA develop and propel its technology forward, helping it realise innovations that have included everything from unique rocket engine designs to vehicles that can interact with the surfaces on other planets.

March 18, 2020 by Luke James

Mitsubishi Electric Aims to Improve In-flight Connectivity With Electronically-steered Array Antenna and RF IC

Mitsubishi Electric has announced an RF IC and a new electronically steered radio antenna that will deliver high-speed in-flight satellite connectivity.

February 17, 2020 by Robin Mitchell

What’s New in Space? Components Designed to Weather Aerospace and Defense

This article highlights a few recent products that aim to meet the engineering pain points for harsh environments, including processing, power usage, size, and weight.

January 05, 2020 by Hannah DeTavis

Reader Question: What Is the Most Difficult Specialty Within Electrical Engineering?

There are some disciplines that many call "black magic"—but which is the most difficult field an EE can pursue?

October 21, 2019 by Kate Smith

How Do Avionics Systems Communicate? New ARINC-429 Bus Board Announced by UEI

Learn about a new board that uses an FPGA for serial communication in avionics applications.

May 28, 2019 by Gary Elinoff

Meet the Aquatic Drone Saving the Great Barrier Reef with Machine Learning and Computer Vision

The Queensland University of Technology has announced that its robotic hunter-killer aquatic drone will now double as a seaborne midwife to save the Great Barrier Reef.

November 07, 2018 by Gary Elinoff

Raytheon’s New GPS OCX (Operational Control System) to Enable Era of Next-Gen Satellites

The newest GPS satellites require an upgraded control segment for launch and control. Scheduled to launch in late 2018, the GPS III satellites need OCX. Let's take a look at what the OCX offers.

September 19, 2018 by Marie Christiano

The World’s Largest “Ultrahigh-Sensitivity” Sensor Could Defend the Earth from Meteors

Canon has demonstrated the world's largest sensor at a whopping 400cm square that can be used in light levels as low as 0.3 lux. What challenges does such a sensor face and how could it be used to defend the earth?

July 09, 2018 by Robin Mitchell

60 Years of DARPA Technological Advancements: The ARPANET to the Atlas Robot

Since 1958, DARPA has been credited with the development of some of the most important technologies used today, including the Internet and GPS. Here is a look at DARPA’s 60 year history and some major projects in electrical engineering.

June 13, 2018 by Chantelle Dubois

A Modern Day Icarus: The Parker Solar Probe’s Mission to the Sun

How do we design, build, and test a sensitive piece of equipment for millions of times more heat and radiation exposure?

May 21, 2018 by Chantelle Dubois

Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation and Power System Design: An Interview with Dr. Sudipta Chakraborty

Sudipta Chakraborty is the Director of Energy Systems at OPAL-RT. In this Engineer Spotlight, he speaks about challenges facing power system design, how hardware-in-the-loop simulations are important for problem-solving with grid integration, and his work on the IEEE-1547 standard for power grid test procedures.

April 18, 2018 by Chantelle Dubois

Spacecraft Applications: A New Radiation Hardened Digital Temperature Sensor from Texas Instruments

A new radiation-hardened temperature sensor offers both local and remote digital temperature monitoring.

March 14, 2018 by Nick Davis

What Happens to a Tesla in Space? (Or, Why Spacecraft Aren’t Built Like Sports Cars)

It is probably unlikely the car was launched with its full suite of electronics on board, but just for fun, let’s take a look at what would happen if a fully outfitted, typical Tesla Roadster were sent into space.

February 12, 2018 by Chantelle Dubois