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Mapping the Moon—NASA Announces LiDAR-based Lunar Backpack

The focus is back on the moon, with NASA, backed by Aeva's LiDAR technology, creating a backpack to help map the moon.

April 28, 2022 by Jake Hertz

Knock on Wood: Researchers Turn to Wood as a Surprising Electronic Substrate

Wood and electronics seem an unlikely duo. But researchers are finding promise in cellulose substrates in energy-harvesting wooden floors and even "Woodsat" satellites.

September 10, 2021 by Ikimi .O

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

In Its First Public Acquisition, SpaceX Snatches Up Satellite Startup Swarm

SpaceX is known to create almost all of its technology in-house. What inspired the tech giant to acquire Swarm's technology?

August 12, 2021 by Adrian Gibbons

A Week of GaN: 3 MMICs Target Ka-band, Reduced Area, and 5G Base Stations

Qorvo, Microchip, MaxLinear, and Cree Wolfspeed have gone wide, electrically wide-band that is, with newly released GaN-based RF products for 5G and satellite communications.

June 28, 2021 by Adrian Gibbons

Public Design Competitions Accelerate Open Innovation for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Government actors around the globe continue a trend of challenging public-sector innovators to accelerate the development of various technologies, including a recent surge in interest in autonomous underwater vehicles

May 01, 2021 by Lianne Frith

3 Ways the EE Industry Is Affecting Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Programs

With life cycles under five years, LEO satellite rollouts require trusted technology and rapid development windows where industry partnerships are key.

April 27, 2021 by Adrian Gibbons

u-blox’s Key to Centimeter-level GNSS Precision? “Real-time Kinematic Corrections”

ArduSimple and u-blox are teaming up with a module and single-board computer for real-time kinematic calculations. The result, they claim, is accurate m^-2 GPS measurements.

April 12, 2021 by Adrian Gibbons

Landing on Mars Today, the Perseverance Rover Hosts New Tech to Search for Ancient Life

As the fifth rover sent to Mars, Perseverance is outfitted with a whole suite of new technologies to search for microbial life.

February 18, 2021 by Jake Hertz

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

How Bad Cabling Cost a Spanish Engineering Team 200 Million Euros

This past week, Spain’s attempted launch of its first optical imaging satellite ended in tragic failure—and the reason was frustratingly avoidable.

November 20, 2020 by Jake Hertz

Silicon Labs Sends Its Isolated Gate Drivers to Space

Silicon Labs has announced a "high-reliability partnership" with Teledyne e2v HiRel, a provider of high-performance semiconductors to the aerospace and defense markets.

October 30, 2020 by Luke James

A New Low-Power GNSS Solution Creates More Precise Indoor Positioning

Synopsys and Nestwave are combining hardware IP and algorithms to give GNSS receivers in battery-operated IoT devices extra nap time.

September 08, 2020 by Adrian Gibbons

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

A New RF Upconverter Can Test Satellites Operating in the Q/V Band

This week, Rohde & Schwarz released news of its new Q/V band upconverter meant to test satellite payloads. But what is the Q/V band?

August 12, 2020 by Jake Hertz

From Space to Anywhere: New Ka-Band Transceiver Promises to Connect Remote Areas

Socionext and Tokyo Tech have developed what they claim is the first Ka-band SATCOM transceiver that uses CMOS technology.

August 06, 2020 by Antonio Anzaldua Jr.

Amazon Establishes a Specialized Business Segment for Aerospace Data Processing Technologies

Amazon's new Aerospace and Satellite Solutions division represents the company's expanding commitment to space-based enterprise.

July 05, 2020 by Gary Elinoff

US Navy Turns to Optical Beamforming for Real-Time Communication, Connectivity

The Navy will be testing Isotropic Systems’ multi-beam terminals for the turbulent environments at sea. The results may indicate a shift in satellite communications.

May 19, 2020 by Gary Elinoff

The Pitfalls of Contact Tracing are Addressed in New Wireless Ranging Tech and a BLE Chip

Radio Signal Strength Indicators, a common method of contact tracing, often yield inaccurate positioning results. Dialog Semiconductor says they have a better solution.

May 19, 2020 by Robin Mitchell

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