Test + measurement • test equipment

Spain’s PLD Space, supported by ESA, has demonstrated the technologies for a reusable first stage of their orbital microlauncher, Miura 5. Miura 5 (formerly Arion 2) is aimed to provide dedicated launches for small satellites of up to 300 kg to low Earth orbit, in 2021. It weighs 14 t at liftoff, and is powered by…

SABRE, an air-breathing rocket engine, as successfully passed the first phase of its high-temperature testing, making it one step closer to being in the air. Precooler technology will enable a variety of high-speed flight and advanced propulsion systems. Created by Reaction Engines, the precooler heat exchanger passed with flying colors as the first phase consisted…

Modeling the Total Cost of Ownership of an Automated Test System Most organizations do not consider production test a top priority, but it is a necessity to prevent major quality issues in the products that represent the company brand in the hands of customers. The costs, however, can be significant and are often greatly misunderstood.…

As around 40 police officers watch her progress on a large screen, officer Chanika Sookreang’s digital double goes from body to body in the ruined city, photographing tattoos, faces—anything that can later be used to establish who the victim was. “VR is good as it allows us to be trained before we go to the actual scene,”…

In 2011, a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake all but decimated the Pacific Coast of Tohoku, Japan, including the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. A catastrophic meltdown ensued. Many tons of nuclear fuel, boiled down to a radioactive lava, corroded the steel surrounding the facility’s three reactors. Today, the cleanup effort is still projected…

In early April, nine qualified teams will attempt to remotely navigate the dark and dirty corridors of Edgar Experimental Mine in Idaho Springs, Colorado, in preparation for the Circuits Stage of the DARPA Subterranean (SubT) Challenge later this year. The SubT Integration Exercise, known as STIX, offers teams an opportunity to try out their technologies,…

GE Renewable Energy and Future Wind have signed an agreement to install the first Haliade-X 12-MW wind turbine prototype in Maasvlakte-Rotterdam during the summer of 2019. The offshore wind turbine will feature a 220-meter rotor, a 107-meter blade designed by LM Wind Power, and digital capabilities. The agreement includes five years of testing and a…

The University of North Dakota, along with research partners from Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) and the Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site, achieved a major industry milestone on Dec. 21 with the first-ever test flights over a specially developed UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) network of technologies that opens the skies for broad commercial use of…

Hi-tech Singapore is planning to roll out a swarm of drones for tasks that include delivering parcels, inspecting buildings and providing security, but safety and privacy concerns mean the initiative may hit turbulence. Companies have already started testing the devices for commercial use, mainly in an area of over 200 hectares (500 acres) dotted with…

There are few places in the world like NASA’s rocket factory in New Orleans, where the U.S. space agency and its contractors are building the Space Launch System. It’s the most powerful rocket ever designed — and may one day take astronauts as far as Mars. Known as the Michoud Assembly Facility, the plant covers an…

Many of us have been in this situation: after a late Friday night out, you want to sleep in on a lazy Saturday morning only to have your industrious neighbor power up his ancient, noisy, powered lawnmower at the crack of dawn. So much for that plan.  However, the folks at Briggs & Stratton are…

Today, UL Chemical Safety and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) announced a body of research that explored the impact of 3D printing on indoor air quality. Following an in-depth, two-year research period with Georgia Tech, UL’s Chemical Safety found that many desktop 3D printers generate ultrafine particles (UFPs) while in operation. UFPs may…

Elon Musk recently tweeted a video of his company’s rapid-transit tunnel. The tunnel is constructed under a Los Angeles suburb where he will test the new transportation system. Musk tweeted that the length of the tunnel is “disturbingly long” after walking it, according to Tech Xplore. The tunnel runs approximately two miles under the streets…

A new, more powerful generation of a patented Southwest Research Institute magnetostrictive sensor withstands extreme temperatures, automatically adjusts frequencies and incorporates a stronger magnet. The compact magnetostrictive transducer (MsT™) more accurately detects potential problems in oil, gas and chemical industry metal and nonmetal structures such as pipelines, storage tanks and anchor rods. “The MsT system…

A new rocket program could help cut research and development time for new weapons systems from as many as 15 years to less than five. Sandia National Laboratories developed the new program, called the High Operational Tempo Sounding Rocket Program, or HOT SHOT, and integrated it for its first launch earlier this year under the…

Test flights of a driverless hover-taxi will take place in Singapore next year, a German aviation firm said, the latest innovation to offer an escape from Asia’s monster traffic jams. Millions of commuters in the region’s cities have to contend with chronic gridlock every day, sparking a race to develop new ways to avoid the…

These days, curbs are for more than just parallel parking. With the rise of e-commerce and ride hailing, and with all of the new shared vehicles cropping up, they’re becoming the key to understanding city streets. Curbs are used for picking up and dropping off passengers, delivering packages, docking bikes, and getting on scooters. Particularly…

To protect flying robots without hindering their flight, Imperial experts found answers in the ancient art of origami. Taking inspiration from the ancient art of paper folding, scientists at Imperial College London’s Aerial Robotics Lab have equipped drones with lightweight, impact-absorbent cushioning to protect them from bumps and scrapes. Their research, published in Science Robotics, shows…

The safety of testing self-driving technology has garnered global attention recently following fatal incidents on public roads. As a result, the demand for better and much more complex test facilities is increasing rapidly as the automotive industry questions whether the technology is ready to test on public roads. To address this need, Swedish state-owned Research…

A team at the University of Dayton Research Institute has created a video showing what can happen to an airplane when it collides with a drone. They have presented their findings along with the video at this year’s Unmanned Systems Academic Summit. Because of the vast difference in size between small civilian drones and commercial…

UAVOS has announced the prototype of the High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) ApusDuo aircraft that has completed the first stage of flight tests, according to New Atlas. The HAPS aircraft is designed to take up the space between drones and satellites, going up in the air as high as 65,000 ft. From this vantage point,…

DHL’s Parcelcopter delivery drone has just completed its first pilot project in Tanzania, according to New Atlas. The Parcelcopter 4.0 is a tilt-rotor drone that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter. Built by German manufacturer Wingcopter, the company had the idea of having a more energy-efficient fixed-wing flight. The drone can carry…

Honeywell and the U.S. Army are testing a prototype of an advanced helmet-mounted vision system in the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, one of the U.S. Army’s most notable ground vehicles. The vision system, originally developed and tested by Honeywell and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the Ground X-Vehicle Technologies program, applies augmented and…

The discovery of lead in Flint, Michigan’s drinking water drew renewed attention to the health risks posed by the metal. Now researchers at the University of Houston have created an inexpensive system using a smartphone and a lens made with an inkjet printer that can detect lead in tap water at levels commonly accepted as…

Know that sickening feeling when you exit the grocery store and find your car has been banged up by a runaway shopping cart? It may one day be just a bad memory if auto body manufacturers make use of a new suite of tests developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and…