Georgia Tech

July 26, 2007 Just how fast does wireless data transfer have to get before it ceases to be a limiting factor in application design? Researchers in Georgia are working on new ultra-high-frequency radio technology that has already achieved a phenomenal 15 gigabits per second (Gbps) over short distances. For reference, that’s a whole DVD worth of data transferred in a little over 3 seconds – and they’re hoping to double that speed within 12 months. With such transfer rates available, high-definition media streaming and file sharing becomes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair. Backups and full hard drive synchronization between different machines will be quick and painless, and distributed application and file sharing around networks will become, for the most part, something the user will simply not have to think about. It’s estimated at about three years from hitting the market, but this amazing technology is set to make big waves.  Read More

July 13, 2007 We all know how important it is to get along with colleagues in the workplace and robots it seems, are no different. With this in mind, industrial robotics manufacturer KUKA has developed a Light Weight Robot (LWR) that hints at a new era where intelligent machines perform service-oriented roles alongside humans. Though still designed for a role in industry, the LWR is able to “sense” its human counterparts and work alongside them in a more harmonious fashion.  Read More

February 25, 2007 Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new protoype engine that allows satellites to take off with less fuel, opening the door for deep space missions, lower launch costs and more payload in orbit. The efficient satellite engine uses up to 40 percent less fuel by running on solar power while in space and by fine-tuning exhaust velocity. It uses a novel electric and magnetic field design that helps better control the exhaust particles. Ground control units can then exercise this control remotely to conserve fuel. Satellites using the Georgia Tech engine to blast off can carry more payload thanks to the mass freed up by the smaller amount of fuel needed for the trip into orbit. Or, if engineers wanted to use the reduced fuel load another way, the satellite could be launched more cheaply by using a smaller launch vehicle.  Read More

August 8, 2006 Georgia Tech researchers have found a way to shrink all the sensing power of sophisticated biosensors — such as sensors that can detect trace amounts of a chemical in a water supply or a substance in your blood — onto a single microchip. In compact communication, signal processing and sensing optics technologies, multiple wavelengths of light are combined as a space-saving measure as they carry information. The wavelengths must then be separated again when they reach their destinations. Wavelengths used for these sophisticated applications have very high spectral resolution, meaning the distance between wavelengths is very small. The device that sorts out these crowded wavelengths is called a wavelength-demultiplexer (WD).  Read More

April 15, 2006 The end is nigh for bifocals, and not a moment too soon. Optical scientists at the University of Arizona have developed new switchable, flat, liquid crystal diffractive eyeglass lenses that can adaptively change their focusing power. The new technology will open the way for a new generation of "smart" eyeglasses with built-in automatic focus. In the foreseeable future, with this technology, you won't change prescription eyeglasses but will have your eyes tested and the optician will dial in a new prescription into the specs you already own. Indeed, we can even see the possibility of geeks doing their own eye tests and creating superglasses designed to focus perfectly depending on what you’re looking at.  Read More

April 9, 2006 The ULTRA AP (Armored Patrol) Concept vehicle was created to investigate options for improving survivability and mobility in future military combat vehicles. On the mobility side of things, the designers naturally looked to high-output diesel power (the military has a one fuel policy) but also looked to high-performance automotive engineering practices by adding NASCAR race expertise to the team, along with the use of on-board computers to integrate steering, suspension and brakes. The protective aspects were enhanced by an innovative crew capsule created by a combination of lightweight composite armour materials, a commercial truck chassis, and faceted crew capsule geometries that provide better deflection of pressure waves from blasts compared to current configurations.  Read More

February 22, 2005 Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are one step closer to someday matching, and possibly surpassing, their human-piloted counterparts, thanks to the successful completion of a project at Georgia Tech. The project showed that Gatech's GT Max rotary wing UAV is able to learn as it flies, manoeuvre aggressively and automatically plan a route through obstacles thanks to its Open Control Platform system. Researchers from several partner institutions and organizations have helped to successfully build, test and fly GTMax, with capabilities of flight control fault identification and reconfiguration, adaptive control and agile manoeuvring - all operating on a single vehicle and under a single software architecture.  Read More