Manufacturers are continuing to design and introduce products and components aimed at the growing Internet of Things (IoT). Two recent announcements confirm the continued manufacturer interest and response Texas Instruments (TI) announced 46 new ultra-low-power MSP430 FRAM (ferroelectric RAM) microcontrollers (MCUs) with more memory, features and integration. TI’s MSP430FR69x MCUs are scalable up to 128 […]
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The Power of Motion Control
This year’s Motion Control Handbook is the 4th edition of Design World’s annual motion control compendium. What you’ll find within is the same commitment to the basics of motion control as well as tips for selecting motion control components. We’ve tweaked a few things this year, including the look of the handbook itself. In addition, […]
National Instruments Poised to Capitalize on IoT Explosion
Hype or not, here it comes, the much ballyhooed Internet of Things (or IoT). Essentially the next phase in the evolution of the Internet, it is the envisioned future in which billions of devices (from computers to anything that has a computer embedded in it such as medical devices, refrigerators, your shoes, and so much […]
Elevator cable lifts help Cedar Point’s Millennium Force reach new heights
Cedar Point’s Millennium Force was a record-breaking achievement when it opened in 2000, carrying riders up a 310-ft hill, then dropping them at speeds of 93 mph at an 80° drop. The “giga coaster” became in instant hit with fans and still is, but embarking on this ambitious adventure required some creative engineering. In our […]
Tried-and-true chain lift and motor technology makes Cedar Point’s Gatekeeper roller coaster soar
Reliability. Longevity. Simplicity. Those are just a few of the key words that come to mind when you learn why Cedar Point, a world-famous amusement park located in Sandusky, Ohio, went with tried-and-true chain lift technology on its winged roller coaster, the Gatekeeper. For the first installment in Design World’s Summer Tech Vacation video series, […]
Costa Concordia Update
The Costa Concordia is back in the news again. Last fall, I posted about the enormous engineering effort to right the 1,000-foot long ship stranded off the coast of Isola del Giglio on the western Italian coast. Almost a year later, the next phase of the operation has begun; towing the righted ship to a […]
Japanese R&D Firm Develops Energy-efficient Motors
i-Motor Co., Ltd. of Kyoto, Japan has developed a new variable flux brushless permanent magnet (PM) motor currently undergoing testing at the nationally recognized test laboratories Advanced Energy’s test facilities. i-Motor is a subsidiary of T.N.G. Technologies, a research and development company working on products that enhance energy efficiency. The new Type 5 variable flux […]
Microcontrollers Simplify Motor Control Design
Specialized microcontrollers (or MCUs) are making it easier for engineers to design motor controllers. A new addition to Texas Instruments’ (TI) line of 32-bit MCUs is said to provide scalability and efficiency in analog system designs as well as significantly reducing design time. The latest devices, C2000 Piccolo TMS320F2805x MCUs, are equipped with InstaSPIN-FOC (field-oriented […]
Focus on Automotive Electronics at Design Automation Conference
The 51st Design Automation Conference (DAC) took place at San Francisco’s Moscone Center the week of June 2nd. The show highlighted the latest developments in electronic design automation (EDA) such as design tools for integrated circuits (ICs) as well as reliability, verification and analysis tools, among others. A number of tech trends got a nod […]
Instant Relevance: The Power of a Hands-on Introduction
Brooke Turner, Project Manager, Academic Courseware National Instruments In the quest for engineering education not much has changed in terms of process. From grade school to grad school, most school years end with a flurry of projects and presentations. This rush at the end of the semester is to prove that the material students spent […]
