The Tesla Tales
Welcome to The Tesla Tales blog! (Read about its namesake,
Nikola Tesla, here). Here is some of the latest information on wireless and energy technologies in the marketplace, plus an occasional off-topic post that's just plain interesting. Got an opinion you want to share?
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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The Office Slump: Time at the Computer Hurts More Than Your Eyes
Some tech announcements just really hit home and this one sure did for me. I work remotely out of my home office and there is not a day that goes by that I don't catch myself hunched over my keyboard for hours at a time without taking a break.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--People today are so busy they rarely have time to take care of themselves at work. In fact, it's a real pain in the neck to even pack lunch, much less pack a healthy one. But, what many people don't realize is their time at work can actually be harmful to their physical health. "We spend more time at work, hunched over a computer, than ever before, and while we may think it's best to stay seated and work for extended periods, in reality, it's not healthy at all," said Dr. Moacir Schnapp, neurologist, pain management specialist and developer of the iPosture.
Wednesday, March 19, 2009
Innovation in the United States: America is it based on its laurels?
A recent report from the Foundation for Innovation and Information Technology (ITIF) entitled "The Atlantic Century Benchmarking EU and U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness" assesses global competitiveness between several European countries and the U.S. Unlike in previous studies, the analysis did not place the United States leading the charge in respect to innovative thinking and competitiveness and, in fact, contained some very sobering statistics. With a score of 64 out of 100, the United States ranks sixth overall among the 40 nations/regions, well below Singapore which ranked first with a sco
re of 73.4. How are we going to get back on track? Do we start at the federal or state level?
Monday, March 9, 2009
Kepler Launches Successfully
NASA's Kepler mission successfully launched at 10:49 p.m. EST Friday. Its objective is to find the first Earth-size planets orbiting stars at distances where water could pool on the planet's surface.
The engineers acquired a signal from Kepler at 12:11 a.m. EST Saturday after it separated from its spent 3rd-stage rocket and entered its final sun-centered orbit. The spacecraft generates its own power via solar panels. This is a positive moment for tech, as well as space exploration, since it will show how well the imaging tech that NASA has implemented works in the "final frontier."
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Obama Picks New FCC Chief
President Obama nominated Julius Genachowski, an Internet executive, as the nation's top telecommunications regulator on Tuesday. This is a very important position since communications is the keystone to our economy.
Genachowski is said to likely to continue the Democratic push for more Net neutrality regulations, which are opposed by some conservatives and telecommunications providers. In spite of the opinion of political pundits who fear for an even more liberal government, I feel that nominating an exec who has an understanding of the Web will benefit the U.S. This is because it's better to have a leader who has working knowledge of today's tech, which will have even more of a global influence in the future than it does now.
Photo courtesy of LaunchBox Digital.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
RF Engines Sponsors 2 MSc Awards
It's always a good thing to see companies interacting with the engineers of the future. Here, RF Engines is sponsoring the 2009 MSc in DSP programme at the University of York.
RF Engines is providing 2 awards of £1,500 each that will be presented to graduates of the course. One will be for "excellence in theoretical signal processing" and the other for "excellence in signal processing design". The programme uses the expertise of the research groups in the Department of Electronics to cover applications of DSP techniques to the fields of communications, instrumentation, bio-engineering, medical sensing, imaging and multimedia, amongst others.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Modem Sends Live Video to Internet
The Internet has become a primary source for information throughout the world. Here's a device that enables a user to send live video to the Internet from a camera.
The Colby Cellular VideoModem sends live video, stereo audio and 4 channels of bi-directional data though any cell system to the Internet. The video can be viewed from any Windows PC by entering an IP address and password into the COLBY CONSOLE VIEWER software. In my view, it's useful for the engineer that needs to show a live demo of a project or the online junky that loves to upload home movies onto YouTube.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
RFID Alternative Becomes New IEEE International Standard
It’s always noteworthy when a technology takes over another as the standard for any organization. In this case, a high-security, harsh-environment RFID alternative is now the standard bearer for IEEE.
RuBee®, a long-wavelength, packet-based, magnetic transceiver protocol, has been designated IEEE 1902.1. RuBee tags perform on steel and in liquids over a range from 1 to 50 ft, depending on antenna configuration. They can be powered by a single coin-size lithium battery with field-proven battery life from 5 to more than 15 years.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
128-bit Organic RFID Transponder Chip Unveiled
Designers are creating more organic components, such as OLEDs, for the sake of efficiency. One company has taken the organic approach to a RFID transponder chip, and this may have an impact on how RFID components are designed.
The Holst Centre presented its 128-bit organic RFIC transponder chip at the International Solid State Circuit Conference. The device demonstrates a data rate of 2 kb/s, Manchester-encoded data, a ROM memory capacity of 128 bit and additional WORM (write-once read-many-times) memory. The implementation of ALOHA anti-collision protocol enables the readout of multiple organic RFID tags. The only problem is that it doesn’t meet EPC specifications yet.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Clear Carbon-Nanotube Films Serve Advanced Displays
Bringing about new materials to replace older, less efficient ones has been going on since the beginning of time. Here's an example of a film that could be effective in a number of different applications.
Unidym plans to sell rolls of its carbon-nanotube-coated plastic films in the second half of 2009. The transparent materials are designed to enhance the life of touch panels used in ATM screens and supermarket kiosks, and will enable thin-film solar cells and roll-up color displays, according to the company. The sheets would replace the indium tin oxide (ITO) coatings that are currently used as transparent electrodes.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Ericsson Mobile Platforms and ST-NXP Wireless Merge
STMicroelectronics and Ericsson are 2 of the most powerful electronics companies in the world. In my view, this merger will be a major influence on how semiconductors and platforms for mobile applications will be designed.
STMicroelectronics and Ericsson have closed their agreement, thus merging Ericsson Mobile Platforms and ST-NXP Wireless into a 50/50 joint venture. The company will work in product research, as well as design, development and the creation of mobile platforms and wireless semiconductors. Alain Dutheil, CEO of ST-NXP Wireless and COO of ST, will lead the joint venture as President and Chief Executive Officer. The new company will meet its customers at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from Feb. 16 to Feb. 19.
Friday, January 30, 2009
360° Discussion Covers Mobile Communications Future
Knowing the future trends of any given industry helps designers map out their developments. Simyo has come out with an international dialog platform for users to discuss the future of mobile communications.
Mocom2020 presents an open discussion forum for everyone to discuss issues affecting the mobile communications industry. Users from all over the world are welcome to take part in the discussion with their own video clips and comments and to develop scenarios together. Having an open forum such as this will enable designers to discuss ideas given from around the globe, and it's a good thing if this sort of forum is a future trend for all industries.
Monday, January 26, 2008
Squid Teeth Inspire Device Material
Designers look at material as a key factor in how a device is created. One team of researchers look at how squid teeth could be a possible material for future devices.
Researchers have found that the circular teeth squid use to snag and handle prey could lead to strong, but lightweight and environmentally friendly composite materials. The teeth are a mix of protein and crystallized minerals, where the protein acts as a shock absorber and the crystals provide the strength. The material the teeth can produce doesn't require exotic ingredients, harsh chemicals or temperature extremes to be used, but can be hard to reproduce. If this material does catch on, there could be an issue about poaching squid for their teeth, much like how elephants are hunted for theirs.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Application Offers Image Geo-tagging
Cell phones are presenting many new applications to enhance a user's experience. Here's one application that allows a person to chronicle their life.
The HTC Footprints™ application enables people to capture a digital postcard on their phone onnotes, audio and photos. The program identifies each postcard with its specific GPS coordinates and auto-names each postcard with its general location or area. This application is great for the traveling engineer who frequents many trade shows. Footprints can be found on the HTC Touch Cruise™ mobile phone.
Monday, January 19, 2009
BlackBerry Application Storefront Accepting Submissions
RIM has announced the BlackBerry application storefront. Designers can get their chance at having their applications receive exposure.
RIM is now accepting applications for the BlackBerry application storefront. RIM will contact applicants regarding the results of their evaluation and the next steps to take. I feel that the more BlackBerry looks at outsider input regarding applications, the better. Great ideas can't be seen or used unless they have a platform to be displayed on, so I definitely encourage wireless designers to send their ideas to BlackBerry.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Femtocell Integrates SoC Technology
Femtocell technology is emerging in the wireless world. Two companies have come together to put SoC technology into a femtocell.
Ubiquisys and Percello announced that the companies are working together to integrate SoC technology into the Ubiquisys ZoneGate femtocell. Their baseband processor fully supports cognitive radio technology in the femtocell. The femtocell connects to the service provider’s network through the consumer’s DSL, cable or fiber optic broadband connection.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Smartphone Acts as Universal Remote
Consumer electronics is becoming a more important factor in how a home is set up. Two companies have created an application that enables a BlackBerry smartphone to act as a universal remote control.
The Unify4Life AV|Shadow™ uses CSR’s BlueCore5-Multimedia silicon to transform a BlackBerry smartphone into a universal remote control to manage DVD players, sound systems, TVs, garage doors, iPods and lights. The solution consists of an AV|Shadow that communicates with a BlackBerry smartphone using CSR’s Bluetooth and talks to other electrical equipment via IR or by using IR extenders. Users will be able to stream music directly from their BlackBerry via Bluetooth to an amplifier or receiver up to 30 feet away. It features interactive TV listings (UnifyGuide™) and channel changing functionality to allow users to browse program guides, set reminders on phone calendars and create a TV favorites list.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Laser Emitting Mechanism Enables New Applications
Research teams are crucial to finding new ways to implement existing technologies. Here’s how a Princeton-led team of researchers discovered a new mechanism for making common electronic materials emit laser beams.
The quantum cascade laser could lead to lasers that operate more efficiently and at higher temperatures than existing devices, and find applications in environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics. The device is about one-tenth as thick as a human hair and 3 millimeters long, and is made of hundreds of layers of different semiconductor materials. Each layer is a few atoms thick and electrons cascade down through the layers as they lose energy and give off synchronized protons. According to the team, the laser reduces the absorption of emitted photons by 90%, which could potentially allow the device to run at lower currents.
Monday, December 22, 2008
HD Wireless Video Combines 802.11n and H.264
Wireless video is a growing trend in the consumer electronics world. Two companies have put their forces together to provide HD wireless video in the home.
Quantenna Communications and W&W Communications have integrated 4x4 MIMO 802.11n solutions with H.264 video codecs for full-HD wireless video. This combo will enable standard home wireless networks to deliver multiple, simultaneous and interference-free HD-quality video streams throughout the entire home. Consumer electronics manufacturers will be able to build solutions that will fuel the adoption of standard Wi-Fi to deliver real-time HD video simultaneously to HDTV displays in any size home.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Quality Assurance Program Supports Windows
Testing is essential since engineers have to know how well their products perform under pressure. Here’s one program that can help many engineers.
The Corelis Quality Assurance Department created an Quality Assurance Test Platform (QATP) environment for expanded support of Windows XP 64-bit and Windows Vista 32- and 64-bit versions. The QATP is based upon an HPC (High Performance Computing) platform supporting a scripting environment. It enables test automation and coverage testing of Corelis boundary-scan products before they are delivered to clients.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Camera Application Helps Keep Latchkey Children Safe
Watching out for the well-being of children has become a bigger issue with kidnappings and children going missing. Here's one application that uses technology to protect kids.
Panasonic Systems Solutions Company's i-Pro IP cameras are being used for video viewing latchkey children via cell phones. mobiDEOS' MobileCamViewer plug-and-play remote home monitoring solution allows people to take advantage of pan, tilt, zoom and object tracking capabilities. Parents can now see their children within seconds when they're outside doing activities, such as walking home from the school bus. The cameras can also be used in conjunction with laptops and other mobile devices.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Researchers Create Superconducting Transistor
Faster microchips are essential to the functionality of electronic components. Here's a material that allows for a switchable superconductive FET.
Andrea Caviligia and his colleagues at the University of Geneva claim that its superconductive material, functioning as a FET, is able to be switched on and off by applying voltage to the interface. The team made the transistor by using the lanthanum aluminate side of its crystal as a source-drain channel and the strontium titanate layer as the gate. With an electric field applied to the strontium titanate, the dense electron gas gets shifted away from the interface and the lanthanum aluminate stops conducting current. The speed at which the FET can switch is limited by the resistance of the channel, which creates heat.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
RFID Tracking Hits Home
RFID tags can locate and tell what something is based on the information a user puts into a tag. One company has created a RFID kit that is suitable for home use, making meddling parents everywhere rejoice.
Alcatel-Lucent's Tikitag home RFID kit allows for people to attach RFID tags around their homes or offices. All it takes is to install the software. Users can utilize their own programming skills to make their computers do various things when various RFID tags are presented to your reader, or use Tikitag's application Web site to link the RFID tags to just about anything on the Web. This technology could have saved Caesar, if he suspected Brutus enough to use them in his palace.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Mobile Robot Performs Cardiac Therapy
The medical field can use all of the technological advances it can get since patient care is key. Here's one device that could save lives.
The Robotics Institute at CMU is using New Scale's SQUIGGLE micro motor in the mobile robot they're developing for minimally invasive cardiac therapy. The HeartLander OMNI (Onboard Motor Navigational Instrument) reduces tether stiffness, allows for increased turning capability and higher traction during locomotion, and represents the first step in designing a wireless mobile robot for cardiac therapy. The robotic design was developed as a proof of concept to demonstrate mobility on the cardiac surface.
Friday, Novermber 21, 2008
Book Documents Science and Religious Doctrine Clash
The holidays are approaching quickly, and buying the right present could be a struggle. For those with an affinity for scientific history, this book could make a great gift.
Electronics journalist Mike Green writes about the struggle between technological advance and Christian belief. He details the disparate viewpoints taken by scientists and men of the cloth and the outcomes that resulted. The author looks at how this discord has affected branches of science from genetics and astrophysics to telecommunications and electronics. He presents all the major flashpoints between scientific and religious doctrines, while covering the important people who were tortured and/or killed for their beliefs.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Christmas Lights Use LEDs
Around the holidays, people tend to forget about environmental problems since they're busy finding the right present or arranging what Christmas dinner will be. One product out this holiday season addresses environmental concerns and keeps the spirits of the holiday alive.
Evident's dotstrand™ LED Christmas lights are said to be the world's first consumer product to utilize quantum dot technology. The 12-foot set includes 40 lights, 2 replacement bulbs and the ability to connect 50 strands from end-to-end. The UL-rated product can be used indoors or outdoors, and stay cool to the touch when lit.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Collaboration Developing Next-Gen Wireless Chips
It's always a benefit to the industry to see a group collaborate in order to develop designs to offer more uses. Here's an example of how wireless chips could be affected for the better.
AWR's Finnish R&D facility will conduct research within the ICESTARS project to enable the development of low-cost wireless chips that can operate at frequencies up to 100 GHz. Tech being looked into include advanced analog simulation techniques, electromagnetic simulation, accelerated automated testing of analog circuits with digital signal processing, and solving modeling, algorithmic problems, and simulation issues. ICESTARS is funded by the European Commission within its Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7), and is led by NXP Semiconductors.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Radiometrix Helps U.S. Students
It's always great to see companies get involved in projects with engineers of the future. Here's one example of how international collaboration helps engineering.
Radiometrix supplied 2 UHX1 multi-channel radio transceivers tuned to a special VHF frequency (147 MHz) to Idaho State University for its Research Involving Student Engineers (RISE) program. The NASA-sponsered program releases weather balloons with ceilings exceeding 25,000 meters. The balloons have payloads made up of a camera box, an automatic position reporting system for tracking purposes, and a flight computer, all under 12 lbs. They can carry various experiments from extremeophile bacteria research to egg drop mechanisms.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Design Contest Improves Quality of Life
Many competitions use electronic design innovations to better the world. Here's one contest that does that while helping college students in their future engineering endeavors.
Electric Motor Education & Research Foundation's (EMERF) Motorized Ability Design Awards encourages college students to apply their creative energies toward improving the quality of life. Entries in the competition will be judged on innovation, utility, marketability, and presentation. First prize for the winning undergraduate team is $5,000. The closing date for entries is June 30, 2009. EMERF will assist qualified teams in procuring donations of electric motors for use in their projects. EMERF is seeking support from companies in the mobility, accessibility and physical therapy industry who want to participate in the judging process or become cosponsors of the competition.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Bluetooth IC Creates Heart Monitoring Network
Having accurate medical testing is key, and devices on a wireless network must be properly set up, or lives could be at risk. Here's a Bluetooth solution for networking medical heart monitors.
CSR's BlueCore Bluetooth silicon allows wireless connectivity for Polar's Team2 heart rate monitoring system. The system consists of up to 28 Bluetooth heart rate monitors that link up to a PDA, PC or laptop to log and process the data via the Bluetooth Access Server platform from Bluegiga. The heart rate monitors achieve a battery life of up to 30 hours and a range of up to 100 meters. The device will benefit sports teams, research centers and universities by monitoring the performance of athletes.
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