When a child runs out onto the road, the average human driver takes 1.6 seconds to hit the brake pedal. The reaction time is cut to 0.5 seconds for automated vehicles fitted with radar/lidar sensors and a camera system. But at a speed of 50 km/h, that still means that the vehicle will continue for…
A Smart Radar System for Gesture Recognition and Non-Contact Vital Signs Monitoring
This week, at FutureSummits 2019, imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, presents a compact highly-sensitive 140GHz MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) radar system. The MIMO setup is demonstrated for gesture recognition, supporting intuitive man-machine interactions. In addition, the ultra-fine resolution of this radar allows the detection micro-skin movements related to vital…
Radar Can Wirelessly Monitor Your Vital Signs While You Sleep
University of Waterloo researchers have developed a radar system that monitors patients’ vital signs wirelessly, which eliminates the need to be hooked up to machines. The radar system is enclosed in a device that’s smaller than a smartphone, according to the University of Waterloo, and sends radar waves that record breathing and heart rates. Then,…
Earth System Scientists Produce Online Forest Remote Sensing Handbook
Four researchers at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Earth System Science Center (ESSC) have lead and editorial roles in the production of a new open-access NASA edited volume entitled “Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Handbook: Comprehensive Methodologies for Forest Monitoring and Biomass Estimation.” UAH scientists Africa Flores, Leah Kucera, Kelsey Herndon and Emil Cherrington…
Hera’s CubeSat to Perform First Radar Probe of an Asteroid
Small enough to be an aircraft carry-on, the Juventas spacecraft nevertheless has big mission goals. Once in orbit around its target body, Juventas will unfurl an antenna larger than itself, to perform the very first subsurface radar survey of an asteroid. ESA’s proposed Hera mission for planetary defence will explore the twin Didymos asteroids, but…
The 0708N Series Capacitor Offers Ultra-Stable Performance Over Temperature
Passive Plus, Inc. (PPI) is now offering the 0708N (.065” x .080”) series capacitor. With vertical electrodes which increase bandwidth, these Capacitors have Low ESR/ESL, and High Self-Resonance. Uniquely designed for excellent heat transfer in High RF applications, the 0708N offers Ultra-Stable performance over temperature. These capacitors are 100% RoHS compliant and also available in…
Ford Creates a Self-Braking Shopping Cart
Ford has developed a prototype shopping cart that brakes all on its own, called the “Self-Braking Trolley,” which takes a page from vehicle technology that helps drivers avoid obstacles. In particular, the company used their pre-collision assist tech, found in most Ford car models, as inspiration. The system detects other vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists while…
Tiny, Fast, Accurate Technology on the Radar
A tiny, portable radar device could allow visually impaired people, or unmanned moving devices to detect objects in real time. Radar technology has been used for decades in aviation, defense and speed-camera technology. Now, a team at KAUST, in collaboration with scientists at the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, have created a compact, low-cost…
NASA’s Cassini Reveals Surprises with Titan’s Lakes
On its final flyby of Saturn’s largest moon in 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft gathered radardata revealing that the small liquid lakes in Titan’s northern hemisphere are surprisingly deep, perched atop hills and filled with methane. The new findings, published April 15 in Nature Astronomy, are the first confirmation of just how deep some of Titan’s lakes…
Starship Technologies Surpasses 50,000 Deliveries with Autonomous Robots
In April 2018, Starship Technologies started transporting groceries to residents in Milton Keynes, U.K., from a co-op food store. A year later, the company has announced it has made more than 50,000 commercial deliveries with its autonomous robots. In total, the robo-deliverers have travelled more than 200,000 miles in more than 100 cities worldwide. Lex…