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Rugged photoelectric sensors see up to 4 meters

Automation-Direct has added AchieVe FDM series 12-mm tubular photoelectric sensors that offer a rugged metal construction, high IP67 protection ratings, and sensing distances up to 4 m. These sensors feature selectable light-on/dark-on operation, a 10- to 30-VDC operating voltage range, potentiometer or teach-in button sensitivity adjustment, and a fast 1-kHz switching frequency. Highly visible red LED models are offered with the polarized reflective sensing style, while infrared models are available in diffuse and through-beam styles. Lots of applications. Three-year warranty.
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Engineer's Toolbox: Critical inspection of airplane parts with a SVS-Vistek 10GigE camera

Manufacturers of aviation engine components are being impacted by Industry 4.0's emphasis on quality control, which is challenging them to rethink outdated processes and to embrace new technologies. A new system developed by researchers in Italy uses a Kuka robot, a SVS-Vistek 61-megapixel 10GigE camera, and AI to detect defects in honeycomb aerospace parts faster and with more accuracy.
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What's new in MATLAB and Simulink?

Release 2024b from MathWorks offers hundreds of new and updated features and functions in MATLAB and Simulink including several major updates -- including 5G Toolbox, Simulink Control Design, System Composer, and more -- that streamline the workflows of engineers and researchers working on wireless communications systems, control systems, and digital signal processing applications.
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COTS-based space-ready orbital systems

Aitech Systems' solutions can meet the growing demands for shorter development times and lower costs among satellite buses, subsystems, and payloads. Using a Space Digital Backbone (DBB) approach, which provides a flexible, scalable communication pathway for the increasing number of Internet of Things technologies being implemented into space missions, the company provides a selection of space-rated subsystems for common space platforms including: Earth observation, communications, power control, navigation, and robotics.
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Circuit breakers have magnetic module option

SCHURTER has upgraded its 2-pole classic TA35 and TA36 thermal circuit breaker models with an additional, optional magnetic module. From now on, no additional fuse is required when using a thermal-magnetic type. Depending on the application, the magnetic modules are available either with a slow- or a fast-acting characteristic. Both models are designed for snap-in mounting and with finely graduated rated currents. A variety of colors and lighting options make the designer's choice easier.
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All about magnetic rotary encoder

The precision and reliability offered by modern rotary encoders are essential in many product categories. These include robotics, machine tools, printing presses, motion control systems, medical equipment, aerospace, gaming and entertainment, and automotive. Learn all about magnetic rotary encoders -- and important developments in the technology's future.
Read the full Avnet article.

High-res image sensor for automotive ADAS and AD

OMNIVISION has expanded its TheiaCel™ product portfolio with a new OX12A10 12-MP high-res image sensor for automotive cameras. This sensor, with the highest resolution in its line, improves automotive safety by eliminating LED flicker regardless of lighting conditions. It is ideal for high-performance front machine vision cameras for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD).
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Durable, full redundant angle sensors for automotive and off-highway

Novotechnik's new RSK-3200 Series angle sensors are designed for harsh automotive and off-highway applications. Measurement range is 0 to 360 degrees, and the temperature range is -40 to 125 C. This unit's built-in coupling accepts D-Shaft, with shaft customization available. The sensors are sealed to IP 67 or IP 69k depending on version. RSK-3200 Series sensors are extremely durable with MTTF of 285 years for each of the two channels! Applications include throttle control and EGR valves, transmission gear position, and accelerator position. Very competitive pricing.
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Great design: Handle with integrated lighting/signaling

Signaling and indicator lights, switches, and buttons -- elements that hardly any machine can do without. The new JW Winco cabinet U-handle EN 6284 integrates all these functions into a single, compact element. The new U-handle is designed to enhance the operation of systems and machines. It features an integrated button and a large, colored, backlit area on the handle. These elements can be used individually or in combination, providing a versatile tool for system control and process monitoring that can be seen from across the room.
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World's most popular 3D multisensor metrology systems get next-gen addition

Offered in two benchtop and two floor-model options to handle nearly any size part, the SmartScope M-Series systems from Optical Gaging Products usher in the next generation of enhancements in image accuracy, optics, and throughput to the world's most popular 3D multisensor video measurement platform. SmartScope M-Series features fixed optics with a 20-megapixel camera and proprietary Virtual Zoom, combined with advanced sensors, illumination, and accessories, to achieve class-leading optical measurement speeds. Lots more features.
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SOLIDWORKS Tips: 3 easy ways to focus on your model

SOLIDWORKS Elite Applications Engineer Alin Vargatu demonstrates his top tips for focusing on your model: finding planes the easy way inside your assembly with the Q key, breadcrumbs, and a better way to use the component preview window. Very helpful. Lots more tips on the SOLIDWORKS YouTube channel.
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Push-pull transformer drivers for automotive power supplies

Nexperia's AEC-Q100 qualified, push-pull transformer drivers (NXF6501-Q100, NXF6505A-Q100, and NXF6505B-Q100) enable the design of small, low-noise, and low-EMI isolated power supplies for a range of automotive applications such as traction inverters and motor control, DC-DC converters, battery management systems, and on-board chargers in EVs. Also suitable for industrial applications such as telecommunications, medical, instrumentation, and automation equipment.
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Mini linear position sensor for drones, robots, aero, more

H. G. Schaevitz LLC, Alliance Sensors Group is now offering a miniature, lightweight LZ SERIES linear position sensor product line utilizing LVIT Technology™. These sensors are designed for tight spaces that require excellent stroke-to-length ratio. They are contactless devices for use by drones, OEMs, aerospace, robotics, factory automation, or assembly machinery applications where precision in position sensing is crucial.
Learn all the specs.

What is a Heatric Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger?

According to Parker Hannifin, "A Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger is a robust, corrosion-resistant, high-integrity plate-type heat exchanger manufactured using diffusion bonding." Learn about the technology and why Heatric, a Parker brand, "can manufacture a unit up to 85% smaller and lighter than traditional technologies such as shell and tube heat exchangers."
Read this informative Parker blog.

Tech Tip: Mastering sheet metal bend calculations in Onshape

Mastering bend calculations in sheet metal design is a key skill that can impact the accuracy and manufactur-ability of your designs significantly. Explore the various options available to become a pro in this Onshape Tech Tip: K Factor, bend allowance, and bend deduction, with guidance on when each should be used. You may learn something even if you don't use this software.
Read the Onshape blog.

New spin control method brings billion-qubit quantum chips closer

Multiple qubits can be controlled using the new "intrinsic spin-orbit EDSR" process. [Credit: Tony Melov/UNSW]

 

 

Engineers in Australia have discovered a new way of precisely controlling single electrons nestled in quantum dots that run logic gates. What's more, the new mechanism is less bulky and requires fewer parts, which could prove essential to making large-scale silicon quantum computers a reality.

The serendipitous discovery, made by engineers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney and the quantum computing startup Diraq, is detailed in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

"This was a completely new effect we'd never seen before, which we didn't quite understand at first," said lead author Dr. Will Gilbert, a quantum processor engineer at Diraq, a UNSW spin-off company based at its Sydney campus. "But it quickly became clear that this was a powerful new way of controlling spins in a quantum dot -- and that was super exciting."

Logic gates are the basic building block of all computation; they allow 'bits' -- or binary digits (0s and 1s) -- to work together to process information. However, a quantum bit (or qubit) exists in both of these states at once, a condition known as a "superposition." This allows a multitude of computation strategies -- some exponentially faster, some operating simultaneously -- that are beyond classical computers. Qubits themselves are made up of "quantum dots," tiny nanodevices that can trap one or a few electrons. Precise control of the electrons is necessary for computation to occur.

Using electric rather than magnetic fields
While experimenting with different geometrical combinations of devices just billionths of a meter in size that control quantum dots, along with various types of miniscule magnets and antennas that drive their operations, Dr. Tuomo Tanttu stumbled across a strange effect.

"I was trying to really accurately operate a two-qubit gate, iterating through a lot of different devices, slightly different geometries, different materials stacks, and different control techniques," recalls Tanttu, a measurement engineer at Diraq. "Then this strange peak popped up. It looked like the rate of rotation for one of the qubits was speeding up, which I'd never seen in four years of running these experiments."

What Tanttu had discovered, the engineers later realized, was a new way of manipulating the quantum state of a single qubit by using electric fields, rather than the magnetic fields they had been using previously. Since the discovery was made in 2020, the engineers have been perfecting the technique, which has become another tool in their arsenal to fulfil Diraq's ambition of building billions of qubits on a single chip.

"This is a new way to manipulate qubits, and it's less bulky to build -- you don't need to fabricate cobalt micro-magnets or an antenna right next to the qubits to generate the control effect," said Gilbert. "It removes the requirement of placing extra structures around each gate. So, there's less clutter."

Controlling single electrons without disturbing others nearby is essential for quantum information processing in silicon. There are two established methods: electron spin resonance (ESR) using an on-chip microwave antenna, and electric dipole spin resonance (EDSR), which relies on an induced gradient magnetic field. The newly discovered technique is known as "intrinsic spin-orbit EDSR."

"Normally, we design our microwave antennas to deliver purely magnetic fields," said Tanttu. "But this particular antenna design generated more of an electric field than we wanted -- and that turned out to be lucky, because we discovered a new effect we can use to manipulate qubits. That's serendipity for you."

Discovery brings silicon quantum computing closer
"This is a gem of a new mechanism, which just adds to the trove of proprietary technology we've developed over the past 20 years of research," said Prof. Andrew Dzurak, CEO and founder of Diraq, and a professor in Quantum Engineering at UNSW, who led the team that built the first quantum logic gate in silicon in 2015.

"It builds on our work to make quantum computing in silicon a reality, based on essentially the same semiconductor component technology as existing computer chips, rather than relying on exotic materials," he said. "Since it is based on the same CMOS technology as today's computer industry, our approach will make it easier and faster to scale up for commercial production and achieve our goal of fabricating billions of qubits on a single chip."

CMOS (or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) is the fabrication process at the heart of modern computers. It is used for making all sorts of integrated circuit components including microprocessors, microcontrollers, memory chips, and other digital logic circuits, as well as analog circuits such as image sensors and data converters.

Building a quantum computer has been called the "space race of the 21st century" -- a difficult and ambitious challenge with the potential to deliver revolutionary tools for tackling otherwise impossible calculations, such as the design of complex drugs and advanced materials, or the rapid search of massive, unsorted databases.

"We often think of landing on the Moon as humanity's greatest technological marvel," said Dzurak. "But the truth is, today's CMOS chips -- with billions of operating devices integrated together to work like a symphony, and which you carry in your pocket -- that's an astounding technical achievement, and one that's revolutionized modern life. Quantum computing will be equally astonishing."

Source: University of New South Wales Sydney

Published February 2023

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