Science Daily November 27, 2018 High levels of radiation would modify the optical properties of silicon in the devices, leading to incorrect readings. NIST test results indicate the sensors could be customized for measuring radiation dose in both industrial applications and clinical radiotherapy. Researchers at NIST examined the impact of cobalt-60 γ-ray radiation up to 1 megagray (MGy) absorbed dose on silicon photonic devices. They did not find any systematic impact of radiation on passivated devices, indicating the durability of passivated silicon devices under harsh conditions…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Category Archives: Sensors
Innate ‘fingerprint’ could detect tampered steel parts
Science Daily November 28, 2018 All materials typically display some variation in their microstructure simply as a result of the manufacturing process, thus providing the potential that Barkhausen noise measurements between nominally similar components will be unique. Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have demonstrated that Barkhausen noise measurements are both repeatable in time for a single sample made from a ferromagnetic material, and unique across several instances of nominally similar samples. As the method inherently results in a time series measurement at each point on a sample, it is expected to have far higher dimensionality than physically similar […]
VitalTag to give vital information in mass casualty incidents
Phys.org November 27, 2018 VitalTag, developed by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a low-cost suite of sensors that detects, monitors and wirelessly transmits vital signs, including blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate and other metrics such as blood oxygen levels, shock index and data from a single-lead electrocardiogram. It adheres to a patient’s sternum and connects seamlessly via Wi-Fi to securely transmit patient data to a mobile device or laptop in real time. This comprehensive view could enable emergency medical technicians and paramedics to tend to more patients faster, armed with more detail than ever before. The VitalTag […]
Detecting dengue, Zika, and chikangunya within minutes
MIT News November 21, 2018 Researchers at MIT have developed a paper-based diagnostic test to detect Zika, dengue, chikungunya and other related viruses within minutes. The test can quickly and accurately identify Zika, dengue 1-4, and chikungunya at the point of care at an affordable cost. They have commercialized the technique to change the way mosquito-borne illnesses are diagnosed and enable governments to effectively prevent and respond to an outbreak from turning into a public health crisis, especially in high-risk, resource-poor areas across the world…read more.
How to Encode a Secret Message in a Fingerprint
IEEE Spectrum November 2, 2018 Researchers in China have developed a sophisticated way to construct digital fingerprints that encode secret messages into the continuous lines that occasionally swirl into spiral points. The technique involves mapping the message to a polynomial and encode it into a set of points with different polarities, from which the spiral phase is computed and constructed. The continuous phase is constructed by decomposing a fingerprint image synthetically generated. The spiral phase and the continuous phase are combined to form the hologram phase to form a common from. They have demonstrated that the encoded message can be […]
New technique locates robots, soldiers in GPS-challenged areas
Science Daily October 9, 2018 Researchers at the US Army Research Laboratory have developed a technique for determining DoA of a radio frequency signal source based on an algorithm that statistically models the received signal strength (RSS) gradient and controls for spatial outliers and correlations. When the signal is extremely noisy, the estimator correctly outputs that no DoA is present and the output is an estimated DoA and associated uncertainty. The technique works in conditions of heavy multipath, does not require any fixed infrastructure, does not rely on prior training data, knowledge about the environment, multiple antennas, or prior calibration […]
New laser technology can identify unknown white powders from safe distance
Phys.org October 8, 2018 An international team of researchers (UK, USA – industry) was able to identify 11 white powder samples using their infrared laser system. No samples or disturbance of the powders were required, and they could be identified from up to one metre away. They illuminated each sample with broadband coherent light in the 8–9-µm band. Similarities between different spectra were quantified using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, confirming that spectral features in the 8–9-µm wavelength region were sufficient to discriminate between all eleven powders evaluated in the study. The researchers believe that the identification system will prove most useful […]
Possible game changer in detection of submarines
Next Big Future October 9, 2018 Researchers in China are working on a device they hope will be able to reveal the location of a target as far as 500 metres below the ocean surface monitoring tiny disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field caused by metallic objects such as submarines. They are also working on sensors using cutting-edge quantum technology to chase the gravitational abnormality that a submarine creates in a large body of water. Powerful listening devices have also been planted in strategic seabed near the American naval base in Guam and in the South China Sea, some of […]
Crowd counting through walls with WiFi (w/video)
Science Daily September 24, 2018 Researchers at UC Santa Barbara propose a framework to sense occupancy attributes of an area, such as speed of a crowd traversing through the area, the total number of people in the area, and the rate of arrival of people into the area, using only the received power measurements (RSSI) of two WiFi links. They developed a mathematical model to relate these parameters to the occupancy attributes of interest. They tested the technology in different locations, with different wall properties and with several different numbers of people — up to and including 20. They showed a counting […]
‘Papertronics’ could fold, biodegrade and be the basis for the next generation of devices
Nanowerk September 21, 2018 Researchers at the State University of New York‐Binghamton have developed a bacteria‐powered battery by building microbial fuel cells with inactive, lyophilized exoelectrogenic cells which generates power within minutes of adding saliva. An oxygen‐tight interface and engineered conductive paper reservoir boosts microbial electron transfer efficiency. Exoelectrogenic bacteria preinoculated in the paper battery is freeze‐dried for long‐term storage and can be readily rehydrated for on‐demand power generation. Sixteen microbial fuel cells are incorporated on a single sheet of paper while all are connected in series with two electrical switches mounted on a paper circuit board, produced more than […]