Critical & Emerging Technologies

An “embedded system” is a word made by shortening “computer embedded system” meaning a system product or an electronic device into which a computer has been integrated.  An embedded system is a controller that sits within a larger system in order to perform a dedicated function. An embedded system is …

A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. This assumes the average gasoline vehicle on the road today has a fuel economy of about 22.0 miles per gallon and drives around 11,500 miles per year. Every gallon of gasoline burned creates about 8,887 grams …

One of the most important features of thermodynamics is that it has improved human quality of life amazingly during the last centuries. Since in 1606, the Spanish inventor Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont patented the first steam engine a great effort has been done in developing new and better thermal …

Current artificial intelligence (AI) systems only compute with what they have been programmed or trained for in advance; they have no ability to learn from data input during execution time, and cannot adapt on-line to changes they encounter in real environments.   The AIE program is one key element of …

Mobile communications systems have evolved through wireless technology innovation into 2G, 3G, and then 4G to keep pace with ever-increasing voice and data traffic. All mobile communication system generations have had a clear key application driver: 1G for analog voice, 2G for digital voice and text messaging, 3G for multimedia …

Laser technology provides major advantages for military applications over kinetic weapons due to High precision and rapid on-target effect, precise and scalable effects, avoidance of collateral damage caused by fragmenting ammunition, Low logistics overhead, and minimum costs per firing.   The proliferation of small, low-cost Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) on …

The fiber optic sensors also called as optical fiber sensors use optical fiber or sensing element.  These Sensors can measure a large variety of parameters, such as temperature, pressure, strain, refractive index, vibrations, displacements, bending, loading, and liquid level or concentration of chemical species.   Over the past decade, the …

Modern electronic products, from computers to smart phones, use silicon chips at their heart. As the name suggests, these chips are made from silicon, which is a highly abundant element found in sand. With a single element, it is possible to scale-up the manufacturing process to make highly complex silicon chips …

In the history of spaceflight, almost all spacecraft have been manufactured and assembled on the ground, then integrated into a launch vehicle for delivery into orbit. This approach imposes significant limitations on the size, volume, and design of payloads that can be accommodated within the fairing of a single launch …