Westinghouse's reactor technology got a major boost with construction commencement on the Sanmen nuclear power plant in China. Power says this plant is the first to use the AP1000 design. China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. is planning additional AP1000 plants nationwide. The Sanmen site will house six units.

Duke Energy is installing 213 solar panels at a North Carolina electrical substation, adding power generation to the substation's function of power distribution. The panels can send power to distribution lines or charge a 500 kW battery. T&D World says the panels and battery will be used with residential energy management systems.

Replacing a failed connector on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) can be a bit expensive as it requires a space shuttle mission. That's why high reliability PCB connectors were on-board the recent Space Shuttle repair mission. NASA selected the connectors because of their unique and highly reliable wire basket design.

When you need to switch a lot of power cheaply with a small footprint, nothing beats a relay. The A6 Series Relays have maximum switching power of 560 W, maximum switching voltage of 75 VDC, and maximum switching current of 35 A. They fit various automotive applications and prices start at less than a dollar.

Sensors magazine recently announced the 'Best Of' award winners at the 2009 Sensors Expo. In the gold category were the miniature six degrees of freedom sensor and the miniature attitude and heading reference system. Also winners: the HS-LINK high-speed wireless sensor node and an energy harvesting module.

What's the biggest long-term threat to widespread RFID use? RFID Journal says it's not economic problems or security concerns, but rather new designs that don't follow industry standards. Some manufacturers deviate from standards for competitive advantage — reducing RFID to a proprietary, closed-loop, client-specific solution tool.

Head-mounted displays are widely used to present images on a hands-free basis. Small Times says problems arise when data input is required, necessitating a mouse or other pointing device. But researchers have now developed a CMOS chip that not only projects images to the retina, but also translates eye movement into data input.

Military researchers have been mechanizing insects for years, even managing to apply remote control to beetles. Wired shows how the U.S. Pentagon is ready to take the next step by implanting insect larvae with gas detectors. Swarms of bugs could be deployed to sense battlefield gasses and transmit collected data via Wi-Fi.

The Energy Policy act mandated higher efficiency standards for six motor types. New U.S. standards will require virtually all industrial motors to comply with high efficiency requirements by December 2010. That's a big change from present regulations that apply to only a few motor types. This Control Design editorial says now is the time to begin discussions with your suppliers and your customers and develop an implementation plan. Position yourself to take advantage of the coming upturn in the economy.

These two professional engineers are making quite a name for themselves on YouTube. Their deadpan delivery, precise comic timing, and original content created by engineers for engineers is sure to make you laugh. Following up on their wildly successful "An Engineer's Guide to Cats" video is this production concerning voting and promotion of their cat for president of the U.S., aka the leader of the free world.

Input Data with Your Eyes

New CMOS chips incorporate data display with eye movement sensing, eliminating the need for hands-on data input devices in head-mounted displays (HMDs). Will this advance revolutionize HMD use? How?