TechBlog

A CubeSat is a type of space research picosatellite with dimensions usually of 10×10×10 centimetres (i.e., a volume of exactly one litre), weighing no more than one kilogram, and typically using commercial off-the-shelf electronics components.

Developed through joint efforts, California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University introduced the CubeSat to academia as a way for universities throughout the world to enter the realm of space science and exploration.

Currently, a large number of universities and some companies and other organizations around the world are actively developing CubeSats. One of these companies Clyde-Space, has just developed an ‘off-the-shelf’ website with information and resources for various sized cubesats and their subsystems. Other suppliers such as ISIS and GomSpace are also offering products and services through their websites.
With their relatively small size, CubeSats can be made and launched for an estimated US$65,000–80,000 each (2004 US dollars). This low price tag, as compared to most satellite launches, has made Cubesat a viable option for schools and universities across the world.

Continue reading ‘Researchers And Students To Develop Small CubeSat Satellites, the Size of a Loaf of Bread’ »

From Tesla and Marconi’s electric coils and arcs to the youngster’s model car that speeds or stops at the nudge of the controls, we’ve had a fascination with wireless control and communication.

And with the explosion over the last 25 years of wireless from cell phones to Internet, interest in industrial uses has grown. This could easily afflict anyone from refinery or public works managers to manufacturing techs with equipment monitoring and control needs.

Regardless of the potential, early attempts to adapt wireless technology to industrial applications met with limited success.

Continue reading ‘Industrial Wireless Modems Come of Age’ »

SWR has selected The Technology Partnership (TTP) to join the ‘Future Radio’ project which will trial innovative new visual interactive radio services in Germany. The ‘Future Radio’ project will start its first trial in Stuttgart this summer. SWR and TTP will present the aims of the ‘Future Radio’ project to broadcasters and operators at CeBIT in Hannover, 4^th - 9^th March 2008.

Under the ‘Future Radio’ project SWR and TTP will work to define an open service delivery specification that enables new visual, interactive and download services on any digital radio receiver. These services will enable mobile phone users to listen to digital radio and to view, navigate and store visual content, such as images, slides, weather information, music tracks and podcasts which are broadcast in association with radio stations.

TTP’s nanoDABTM accessory, the world’s first Bluetooth headset accessory with built-in DAB digital radio, and mobile phone software will provide the test platform for the trial. nanoDABTM was publicly unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona a few weeks ago where it received excellent feedback from both broadcasters and mobile operators.

Continue reading ‘Digital Radio Project To Enable Multimedia-DAB On Mobile Phone’ »

Astronomers from Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, have detected for the first time the molecules methanimine and hydrogen cyanide - two ingredients that build life-forming amino acids - in a galaxy some 250 million light years away. “Just add water!” said Robert Minchin, an Arecibo astronomer on the project, who explained that methanimine and hydrogen cyanide are two of the basic ingredients of life, because when combined with water they form glycine, the simplest amino acid, a building block of life on Earth.

The astronomy team, led by Arecibo astronomer Christopher Salter, announced this discovery today (Jan. 11) in a poster presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin. The Arecibo Observatory is managed by Cornell University for National Science Foundation.

The Arecibo astronomers focused on the distant galaxy Arp 220, an ultra-luminous starburst galaxy, because it forms new stars at a very high rate. They used the 305-meter, or 1,000-foot diameter, Arecibo radio telescope, the world’s largest and most sensitive, to observe the galaxy at different frequencies. In fact, for the first time in April 2007, they used the 800 megahertz wide-band mode of the main spectrometer to make these detections.

Continue reading ‘Radio Telescope Detects Life-Forming Ingredients In Far Off Galaxy’ »

Astronomers from Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, have detected for the first time the molecules methanimine and hydrogen cyanide - two ingredients that build life-forming amino acids - in a galaxy some 250 million light years away.

“Just add water!” said Robert Minchin, an Arecibo astronomer on the project, who explained that methanimine and hydrogen cyanide are two of the basic ingredients of life, because when combined with water they form glycine, the simplest amino acid, a building block of life on Earth.

The astronomy team, led by Arecibo astronomer Christopher Salter, announced this discovery today (Jan. 11) in a poster presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin. The Arecibo Observatory is managed by Cornell University for National Science Foundation.

Continue reading ‘Radio Telescope Detects Life-Forming Ingredients In Far Off Galaxy’ »