DARPA Working Toward Wireless Future
The future is wireless. As we move toward total Wi-Fi coverage, the need for all those cables that burrow beneath the ground or hang just in range of falling trees will begin to diminish. Total coverage also means large areas need to be covered, so you never have to play the Wi-Fi version of, “Can you hear me now?”
DARPA is working on developing a long range Wi-Fi system that is capable of transferring data at up to 100 Gbps. The idea is to extend the range for communications with soldiers in the field, without slowing down the military’s wireless Common Data Link. Long range wireless would also assist the troops when they’re deployed to areas with limited, or no, infrastructure. Continue reading
UCLA Develops Energy Efficient Computer Memory
As they improve, modern electronics have a way of shrinking. Unfortunately, their power requirements don’t decrease at the same rate. A lot of ongoing research is aimed at reducing the amount of energy required to run electronic devices. With that aim in mind, researchers at UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have been developing a new type of memory that requires less energy than current technology.
According to the research team, the recently developed magnetoelectric random access memory (MeRAM) is up to 1,000 times more energy efficient than other types of memory, while retaining the high density, read speeds and other characteristics of current generation memory. Continue reading
IBM Announces Nanophotonics Advancement
It’s been a big year for nanophotonics, the technology that makes it possible to build chips that use pulses of light to communicate. A year ago we wrote about progress at MIT in developing photonic chips that use light beams to perform computational tasks. Now IBM has announced it has developed a scalable silicon nanophotonics chip on the path to enabling 100 Gpbs networks. Continue reading
Ultrathin Hybrid Drive Just 5mm Thick
I was at a party not too long ago to which someone had brought an old floppy disk drive (yes, my friends are also nerds). For laughs, I plopped down an iPhone on top of it. Keep that image in your mind as an example of how technology continues to shrink.
The Data Storage Institute (DSI) from Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) has introduced a new hybrid they’ve dubbed the “A-Drive” that measures in at a sleek 5mm. The 1 TB hard disk is designed for use in equally thin laptops, such as Ultrabooks or a MacBook Air. Continue reading
Cray Laps Itself in Supercomputing Race
Cray continues to push the boundaries of supercomputing. We previously wrote about the delivery of the Titan to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and that system just nabbed the No. 1 spot on the Top500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers. Titan (a Cray XK7) reached 17.59 petaflops on the Linpack benchmark, but Cray is already shipping systems that promise to leave Titan in the dust. The company has launched its next-generation XC30 supercomputer (previously code-named Cascade) that is designed to achieve HPC workloads of more than 100 petaflops and scale up to 1 million cores. Continue reading
- Highlights from the NAFEMS World Congress 2013
- Design for Assembly Software Updated
- Editor’s Pick: Design for Assembly Software Updated
- Siemens to Integrate Altair HyperWorks
- iBASEt Introduces Integration Package for Creo and Windchill
- Rasterex Releases RxView and RxHighlight R14.1
- Mechatronic Integration for Wiring Harness Development and Manufacture
- SEAL Swim Band Team Dives Into Pool of Design Challenges
- PTC Live Global 2013: This is Your Car, Reminding You to Change Oil
- Intel Haswell Signals Shifting Focus with Mobile Readiness and Power Efficiency
- COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3b Introduces Single-Window Integration with Inventor and Excel, Five New Modules
- Dassault Acquires Apriso to Stake Out Manufacturing Operations Turf
- Additive Manufacturing Produces Microbatteries
- MIT 3D Prints Bone
- Amazon Launches 3D Printer Sales Department
- Autodesk’s Tinkercad Deal: A Boon to 3D Printer Adoption?
- Optomec Launches LENS 450 Metal 3D Printer
- Rapid 2013 Day 2: The State of the Additive Manufacturing Industry
- Multi Proto Lab Debuts at RAPID 2013