Tag Archives: interesting research

Licensing/Technology Transfer The Sandia Cooler

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Sandia researchers have developed a radically new architecture for air-cooled heat exchangers.

via Sandia National Laboratories : Licensing/Technology Transfer The Sandia Cooler.

In this new device architecture, heat is efficiently transferred from a stationary base plate to a rotating (counterclockwise) structure that combines the functionality of cooling fins with a centrifugal impeller.  Dead air enveloping the cooling fins is subjected to a powerful centrifugal pumping effect, providing a 10x reduction in boundary layer thickness at a speed of a few thousand rpm.  Additionally, high-speed rotation completely eliminates the problem of heat exchanger fouling.  The “direct drive advantage”, in which relative motion between the cooling fins and ambient air is created by rotating the heat exchanger, provides a drastic improvement in aerodynamic efficiency.  This translates to an extremely quiet operation.  The benefits have been quantified on a proof-of-concept prototype.

Online Social Networks can be Tipped by as Little as 0.8% of their Population

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The spreading of a trend or behavior in a social network is a very active area of research. One very important model of trend spreading is the “tipping” model. With tipping, an individual in a network adopts a trend if at least half (or some other proportion) of his or her friends have previously done so. An important problem in viral marketing is to find a “seed set” of individuals in the social network. If all members of a “seed set” in a social network initially adopt a certain trend, then a cascade initiates through the tipping model which results in the entire population adopting that trend. So, if a viral marketer wants to provide free samples of a product to certain individuals, a seed set is likely a good place to start.

via Online Social Networks can be Tipped by as Little as 0.8% of their Population | The Central Node.

Our work, “Large Social Networks can be Targeted for Viral Marketing with Small Seed Sets,” will be presented at the IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM) as a full paper this August

Return of the Vacuum Tube

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The new device is a cross between today’s transistors and the vacuum tubes of yesteryear. It’s small and easily manufactured, but also fast and radiation-proof. Meyyappan, who co-developed the “nano vacuum tube,” says it is created by etching a tiny cavity in phosphorous-doped silicon. The cavity is bordered by three electrodes: a source, a gate, and a drain. The source and drain are separated by just 150 nanometers, while the gate sits on top. Electrons are emitted from the source thanks to a voltage applied across it and the drain, while the gate controls the electron flow across the cavity. In their paper published online today in Applied Physics Letters, Meyyappan and colleagues estimate that their nano vacuum tube operates at frequencies up to 0.46 terahertz—some 10 times faster than the best silicon transistors.

Return of the Vacuum Tube – ScienceNOW.

Jamming Grippers Combine to Form Robotic Elephant Trunk

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Jamming Grippers Combine to Form Robotic Elephant Trunk – IEEE Spectrum.

 

“Jamming” has to be one of the coolest new actuation techniques we’ve seen in the last couple years, and we’ve recently covered a bunch of fascinating implementations of it, including walking robots and grippers that can throw stuff. MIT may have just topped everyone by developing a robotic elephant trunk that’s strong, flexible, and, since it’s made mostly out of coffee grounds, absolutely dirt cheap.

The jamming technique was developed jointly at Cornell University, University of Chicago, and iRobot back in late 2010.

Anything Can Be A Touch Screen Thanks To Disney Research’s ‘Touché’

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The system, called Touché, has already been demonstrated in a number of impressive practical prototypes created by the researchers — from a “smart doorknob” that can sense precisely how it is being gripped and lock or unlock itself accordingly, to a container full of water that can detect when a person’s hand is skimming the surface or completely submerged to even a person’s own body, which can be turned into an input for controlling the volume of a smartphone or other digital music player.

via Anything Can Be A Touch Screen Thanks To Disney Research’s ‘Touché’ | TPM Idea Lab.

1Gbps wireless network made with red and green laser pointers

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Now, I think for the first time ever, researchers at the National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan have transmitted data using lasers — not high-powered, laboratory-dwelling lasers; handheld, AAA-battery laser pointers. The setup is rather simple: The engineers took a red and green laser pointer, wired in a 500Mbps data stream into each, and simply pointed them at photodiode receptors. On the receiving end, the signals are amplified and then multiplexed to create a 1Gbps data stream. The complete setup, according to New Scientist, cost just $600.

via 1Gbps wireless network made with red and green laser pointers | ExtremeTech.

Will laser-based VLC actually find its way to market, then? There’s no getting around the fact that laser links are highly directional (even more so than the shoddy IrDA networks of yore), and atmospheric conditions will play a big part in the BER, and thus the actual data rate. With WiGig making its way to market, laser pointer VLC will probably never be seen by consumers. Still, for quick bursts of data between mobile devices, or wireless communications in hospitals, or simply as a fun hobby for amateur radio (?) operators, cheap, laser pointer VLC could be very useful indeed.

UCR Today: Scholars to Apply Facial Recognition Software to Unidentified Portrait Subjects

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Anyone who has admired centuries-old sculptures and portraits displayed in museums and galleries around the world at some point has asked one question: Who is that?

Three University of California, Riverside scholars have launched a research project to test — for the first time — the use of facial recognition software to help identify these unknown subjects of portrait art, a project that ultimately may enrich the understanding of European political, social and religious history.

via UCR Today: Scholars to Apply Facial Recognition Software to Unidentified Portrait Subjects.

“Almost every portrait painted before the 19th century was of a person of some importance,” Rudolph explained. “As families fell on hard times, many of these portraits were sold and the identities of these subjects were lost. The question we hope to answer is, can we restore these identities?”

All-Optical Networks: The Last Piece of the Puzzle

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The functionality of an optical diode is simple to understand, as explained by MIT’s Caroline Ross, whose lab recently published a paper on the diode: “It lets light go one-way, but blocks it from going the other way.” In that sense, it’s no different from electrical diodes that have existed for decades. (While the electronics term is “diode,” the preferred term in photonics is “optical isolator.”)

But controlling photons presents challenges far more complex than controlling electrons. “You need to have a material where light propagating in one direction behaves differently from light propagating in the opposite direction,” says Ross. In order to achieve that, you need a transparent material that when magnetized creates an asymmetrical medium, which allows you to control the light’s direction.

via All-Optical Networks: The Last Piece of the Puzzle – Input Output.