AM signals: fast AFM video, self-driving-car rules, custom MMICs
The Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite burned up in Earth’s atmosphere during a planned reentry on November 28, 2015, leaving behind a treasure trove of data about a part of the space environment that’s difficult to study. The unique set of sustained observations from C/NOFS will improve models currently used to predict satellite trajectories, orbital drag, and uncontrolled re-entry. Scientists from the U.S. Air Force, NASA, and the University of Texas (UT) at Dallas are presenting the results this week at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco.
“One thing we learned clearly from C/NOFS is just how hard it is to predict the precise time and location of re-entry,” said Cassandra Fesen, principal investigator for C/NOFS at the Air Force Research Laboratory at the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, NM.
California has set new draft rules for self-driving vehicles, under which each vehicle must have a steering wheel and a licensed driver ready to take over in an emergency, the AP reports. In addition, automakers would be able to lease but not sell the cars. The industry is likely to contest the rules as overly burdensome.
Plextek RFI has published a new video entitled “Technical Discussion—Custom MMIC Design,” in which CEO Liam Devlin discusses the technical and commercial considerations when deciding whether to employ a custom MMIC design. He notes that despite the design and evaluations fees that apply, a custom device can be more affordable than one might think. And a custom MMIC can be an option when a standard part is becoming obsolete. He also notes the importance of considering die and package test early in the design process. Plextek RFI has an extensive library of technical tutorial videos and technology trends discussions on its YouTube channel.
Microsoft is trying to overcome the headwinds it is facing in China by working with Chinese partner CETC to accelerate the adoption of Windows 10 in the country, the Wall Street Journal reports, adding that Microsoft software is widely used in China but often on a prirated basis.
Engineers at MIT have designed an atomic force microscope that scans images 2,000 times faster than existing commercial models. With this new high-speed instrument, the team produced images of chemical processes taking place at the nanoscale, at a rate that is close to real-time video. In one demonstration of the instrument’s capabilities, the researchers scanned a 70- by-70-μm sample of calcite as it was first immersed in deionized water and later exposed to sulfuric acid. The team observed the acid eating away at the calcite, expanding existing nanometer-sized pits in the material that quickly merged and led to a layer-by-layer removal of calcite along the material’s crystal pattern, over a period of several seconds. View the video at Newswise.
West Virginia could become one of the country’s significant sources for rare earth elements, the “vitamins of modern industry,” without the expense or environmental cost of opening new mines. Last week, the United States Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) selected West Virginia University to conduct a $937,000 research project in support of DOE’s program to recover of REEs from coal and coal byproducts. In Pennsylvania and West Virginia alone, it is estimated that acid mine drainage generates more than 45,000 tons of total REEs per year or about three times the current U.S. demand for total REEs.