A team from A*STAR is helping Singapore companies that specialize in the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of airplanes to deepen their understanding of a technology for repairing high-tech carbon fiber components. Carbon fiber structures are strong enough to replace avionic parts typically made from steel. But when damaged, these lightweight materials require special repair techniques…
Virtually Reality: Future Factories Run by Digital Twins
A*STAR has built a testbed for digital twins, the virtual counterparts of real manufacturing equipment. These factory innovations could help companies save huge amounts of time and money by predicting and adjusting for their partner machine’s condition on the go. Imagine that a manufacturing giant has a machine on one of its factory floors in…
Using a Crystal to Link Visible Light to Infrared Opens a Window on Infrared Sensing
A cheap, compact technique for analyzing samples at infrared wavelengths using visible-wavelength components could revolutionize medical and material testing. Infrared spectroscopy is used for material analysis, in forensics and in the identification of historical artifacts, for example,—but scanners are bulky and expensive. Visible-wavelength technology is cheap and accessible in items such as smartphone cameras and laser…
A Flexible, Low-Cost Technique Could Lead To The Mass Production Of Microelectromechanical Systems
Making increasingly smaller microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) has proved very challenging, limiting their anticipated potential. Now, researchers at A*STAR have developed a versatile and cost-effective technique for making devices with much greater precision and reliability for use in biotechnology and medical applications. MEMS are used in applications ranging from airbag systems and display screens, to inkjet…
Alternative Fabrication Scheme For Microscale Semiconductor Lasers
A systematic study of a simple and general structure for on-chip semiconductor lasers by A*STAR researchers sets the scene for much broader application of integrated semiconductor lasers beyond conventional silicon-based systems. The ability to use, manipulate and sense light is applicable to many technologies, from data interconnection and fiber optics to optical sensors and optical…
A Low-Power Sensor Node Processor for Networked Sensor Applications
The Internet of Things (IoT) describes devices and applications that gather and distribute data for everyday life. Sensor devices and processes that will underpin the IoT need to be small, versatile and energy efficient. Now A*STAR researchers have developed a sensor processor node that is capable of intelligent sensing while using ultra-low levels of power1.…
Novel Photonic Structures Act as Tiny Highly Accurate Sensors
Many machines such as turbines, oil-drills, health monitors and nuclear reactors require internal sensors to monitor physical states such as temperature. To meet this challenge, researchers at A*STAR are developing compact silicon photonic sensors that can provide accurate readings without being damaged by the toxic, corrosive or even explosive conditions within the machines. The expanding…
Using ‘Nanoantennae’ to Manipulate Light Beams Opens Door to Light-Based Tech
Complete control of some of the key properties of light waves – namely their polarisation and phase – at the nanoscale is of major interest for light-based technologies such as display screens, and in energy harvesting and data transmission. It would allow, for example, the miniaturization of traditional optical components, such as lenses, polarizers or…
Continuous Adaptation Makes for More Natural Interactions Between Robots and Humans in Shared Tasks
A robot’s role in a shared task could be continuously adjusted during the activity, thanks to a new adaptive robot control system developed by A*STAR researchers that can sense whether a human operator wants to lead or follow. The innovation takes human–robot interactions to a new level of sophistication and opens a range of applications…