Category Technology/Electronics

By splitting programs across a large number of processor cores, the KiloCore chip designed at UC Davis can run at high clock speeds with high energy efficiency. Credit: Andy Fell/UC Davis

A microchip containing 1,000 independent programmable processors has been designed by a team at the University of California, Davis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The energy-efficient “KiloCore” chip has a maximum computation rate of 1.78 trillion instructions per second and contains 621 million transistors.

“To the best of our knowledge, it is the world’s first 1,000-processor chip and it is the highest clock-rate processor ever designed in a university,” said Prof. Bevan Baas. While other multiple-processor chips have been created, none exceed about 300 processors...

The twisted smart threads developed by KAUST researchers can be woven into pressure-sensitive ‘electronic skin’ fabrics for use in novel clothing, robots or medical prosthetics. Credit: © 2016 KAUST

Smart threads can be woven into pressure-sensitive electronic skin for robots or medical prosthetics. Fabrics containing flexible electronics are appearing clothes with in-built screens and solar panels. These fabrics can act as electronic skins that can sense their surroundings and could have applications in robotics and prosthetic medicine. Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, have now developed smart threads that detect the strength and location of pressures exerted on them.

Most flexible sensors function by detecting changes in the el...

By doping thermoelectric materials with minute amounts of sulfur, researchers have found a new approach to materials for solid-state heating and cooling, and waste energy recapture. Credit: Image courtesy of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

By doping a thermoelectric material with minute amounts of sulfur, a team has found a new path to large improvements in the efficiency of materials for solid-state heating and cooling and waste energy recapture...

Researchers determined that using integrated circuits, including one shown right of the US quarter and below the label ‘CHIP1’ in an electronic nose will make the device more affordable. Credit: UT Dallas

Researchers at Texas Analog Center of Excellence (TxACE) at UT Dallas are working to develop an affordable electronic nose that can be used in breath analysis for a wide range of health diagnosis. While devices that can conduct breath analysis using compound semiconductors exist, they are bulky and too costly for commercial use. The researchers determined that using CMOS integrated circuits technology will make the electronic nose more affordable.

CMOS is the integrated circuits technology used to manufacture the bulk of electronics that have made smartphones, tablets and other devices po...