Critical & Emerging Technologies

The composites industry is constantly being shaped and reshaped by myriad forces – people, markets, technologies – all stimulating innovative new ways to apply fiber-reinforced materials in everything from boats and wind blades to airplanes and automobiles   Thermoplastics are synthetic plastics that can be melted, shaped, and cooled to …

Transmission Line principles Transmission lines are means of transporting RF energy between subsystems. A simple wire lead does not work well for RF and microwave applications due to its large dimensions relative to a wavelength and losses due to the skin effect. To take into account the unique characteristics of …

Intelligence, in military science, information concerning an enemy or an area. The term is also used for an agency that gathers such information. Military intelligence is as old as warfare itself. Even in biblical times, Moses sent spies to live with the Canaanites in order to learn about their ways and …

Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) is the integration of mechanical elements (levers, springs, deformable membranes, vibrating structures, etc.), sensors, actuators, and electronics (resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc.) on a common silicon substrate through microfabrication technology. MEMS devices are today considered as one among the most promising technologies of this century, capable to revolutionize the …

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 …