Bigelow Aerospace, who make inflatable space hotel modules, are in talks with NASA to put an inflatable expansion module onto the International Space Station. The Bigelow demonstration proposal has been received and is being evaluated, said NASA’s Jason Crusan, chief technologist for space operations within the Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, …
Ad Support : Nano Technology Netbook Technology News Computer Software Cisco predicts that high-definition TV and 3D TV content will increase 13 times between 2009 and 2014. In total, HDTV and 3D video will account for 42 percent of the video on the Internet by 2014. Cisco predicts that in the next four years, more than …
Ad Support : Nano Technology Netbook Technology News Computer Software Nanowerk reports that Australian researchers have created a quantum dot of just seven atoms that acts as a transistor. The Age reports that Michelle Simmons, co-author, said the achievement marked the first time scientists had been able to dictate the placement and behaviour of single atoms …
Ad Support : Nano Technology Netbook Technology News Computer Software A new WiGig 60GHz specification is aimed at enabling new, tri-band devices that will be able to leverage 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 60GHz and will scale up to transfer speeds of 7 gigabits per second. Leading the effort is the Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) Alliance in connection with …
1. Fabrication and Characterization of CMOS-MEMS Thermoelectric Micro Generators (11 page pdf) This work presents a thermoelectric micro generator fabricated by the commercial 0.35 μm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process and the post-CMOS process. The micro generator is composed of 24 thermocouples in series. Each thermocouple is constructed by p-type and n-type polysilicon strips. …
Nikkei reports Tadahiro Kuroda andresearchers from Toshiba and the Keio University in Tokyo have developed a technology that will help reduce the size of SSDs by more than ten times. The drives will cheaper and boosting energy efficiency by 70%. They created a 1 Terabyte solid state drive prototype the size of a small postage …
Kotura, Inc., a leading provider of Silicon Photonics products, today announced demonstration of an industry leading modulator with two-volt, peak-to-peak driving voltage, and permitting the use of inexpensive CMOS drivers. Equally impressive, the Kotura modulator achieved speeds in excess of 11 GHz and an ultra-low energy consumption of 50 femtoJoules per bit. The on chip …
Two bills advancing in the Senate aim to spur small modular nuclear reactor projects. Small reactors could do better in economics and security than existing large-scale operations. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was examining two bills that would spur the creation and licensing of the small, modular reactors. One measure would authorize the …
Mark Jacobson has responded to Barry Brooks criticism of Mark’s proposed 2030 plan for complete powering of civilization with solar, wind and hydro power. Mark Jacobson is the Stanford professor who adds the CO2 from burning cities into his calculation of CO2 generated by nuclear power and the deaths from nuclear war from his calculation …
Semiconductor nanocrystals that can be readily mass-produced and retain efficient electrical conductance, which can be used for device manufacturing via inkjet printing and other solution-based processes. This makes them an attractive alternative to the large semiconductor crystals typically used in commercial solar cells and computer chips which are expensive and can make large-scale applications such …
Brown University researchers have modified iRobots Packbot to recognise such standard hand/arm signals as “follow,” “halt,” “wait” and – of course – “door breach”. iRobots Warrior X700 Robot 40mm Grenade Launcher with ammo stored in barrel storage for rapid (all at once) firing. A 4 barrel version mounted on the iRobot Warrior X700 tracked “droid” …