Karl D. Stephan

A Near Field Focused Microstrip Array for a Radiometric Temperature Sensor

A low-cost radiometric temperature sensor system is described, with emphasis on the use of a 12.5 GHz near-field focused microstrip array to provide a low-profile compact product suitable for commercial and industrial applications. An overview of the temperature sensor system is given, followed by design details of the focused microstrip array, including near-field patterns and antenna efficiency measurements. Temperature measurements made with the radiometric system in a food-processing plant field test show that the antenna can resolve individual hamburger patties at a practical measurement distance

Social Implications of Technology: The Past, the Present, and the Future

The social implications of a wide variety of technologies are the subject matter of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT). This paper reviews the SSITs contributions since the Societys founding in 1982, and surveys the outlook for certain key technologies that may have significant social impacts in the future. Military and security technologies, always of significant interest to SSIT, may become more autonomous with less human intervention, and this may have both good and bad consequences. We examine some current trends such as mobile, wearable, and pervasive computing, and find both dangers and opportunities in these trends. We foresee major social implications in the increasing variety and sophistication of implant technologies, leading to cyborgs and human-machine hybrids. The possibility that the human mind may be simulated in and transferred to hardware may lead to a transhumanist future in which humanity redesigns itself: technology would become society.

Is engineering ethics optional

nce upon a time, lessthan a third of a repre-sentative sample of U.S.engineering educatorsconsidered the study ofdifferential equations tobe necessary for an engineer’s edu-cation. When the Society for the Pro-motion of Engineering Education sur-veyed over 500 teachers of engineeringduring the 1920s, it found that only29% of the instructors believed thatdifferential equations were of primaryimportance in the standard engineeringcurriculum [1].

Recent efforts on planar components for active quasi-optical applications

Several novel quasi-optical sources and receiving mixers using both diodes and FETs have been developed and are discussed in the framework of isotropic conversion loss or gain, quantities that were developed to measure the unique properties of these components. The devices covered are periodic-structure quasioptical components, namely, a periodic patch oscillator and coupled rampart line oscillators; components using slots, namely, quasi-optical frequency multipliers, a planar slot oscillator using a resonant tunneling diode, and coupled-slot receivers; and a simple microstrip ring transceiver. Some performance criteria that are unique to quasioptical components are defined.<<ETX>>

Initiation, growth and plasma characteristics of ?Gatchina? water plasmoids

Plasmoids generated by discharging a high-voltage capacitor through electrodes submerged in a weak aqueous electrolyte have attracted attention because of their resemblance to the natural phenomenon of ball lightning. We describe an extensive series of experimental studies which elucidate the mechanism responsible for the production of water plasmoids. We show that a plasma jet from a cathode spot is responsible for the formation of the main plasmoid, which grows in accordance with a current surge due to increasing contact area of the plasma with the liquid–air surface of the electrolyte. Spectra of optical emissions and scanning electron microscope studies indicate that the plasmoids glow because of a combination of chemiluminescence, atomic and molecular excitation, and possible incandescence from small particulates.

Spectroscopy applied to observations of terrestrial light sources of uncertain origin

Sensitive spectroscopic instrumentation is now sufficiently portable to be used in field experiments involving terrestrial light sources as well as for astronomical observations. We report the results of a 20 night investigation of a phenomenon known as “Marfa lights” with the aid of a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a CCD-array spectrometer. We show that the combination of computer azimuth and altitude logging, video recording, and continuous spectroscopy provides enough data for unequivocal identification of false positives such as distant streetlamps, automotive headlamps, and fires. We demonstrate that spectroscopic analysis of atmospheric molecular oxygen absorption can be used to determine distances of continuum-spectrum sources with an accuracy of 6% or better for distances of 4 km or greater. We also used astronomical objects for both directional references and approximate estimation of the system noise level in terms of minimum usable light flux.

Electrostatic charge bounds for ball lightning models

Several current theories concerning the nature of ball lightning predict a substantial electrostatic charge in order to account for its observed motion and shape (Turner 1998 Phys. Rep. 293 1; Abrahamson and Dinniss 2000 Nature 403 519). Using charged soap bubbles as a physical model for ball lightning, we show that the magnitude of charge predicted by some of these theories is too high to allow for the types of motion commonly observed in natural ball lightning, which includes horizontal motion above the ground and movement near grounded conductors. Experiments show that at charge levels of only 10–15 nC, 3-cm-diameter soap bubbles tend to be attracted by induced charges to the nearest grounded conductor and rupture. We conclude with a scaling rule that can be used to extrapolate these results to larger objects and surroundings.

Notes for a histroy of the IEEE society on Social Implications of Technology

This article presents the history of IEEE Technical Activities Board Committee on Social Implications of Technology (CSIT), that was later known as IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT). SSIT draws its members from an eclectic variety of engineering specializations, as well as from professions outside engineering. As awareness of ethical and social implications of new technologies rises, it will make sense for more technically focused societies to participate in further collaborative ventures with SSIT. In principle, every member of IEEE should find something of interest in the activities of SSIT, since it is hard to think of a technology without social implications. But the same factor that makes SSIT such an interesting mix of people with various technical and professional backgrounds also means that SSIT membership is usually not the primary reason that professionals join IEEE. Besides this difference between SSIT and most other IEEE societies, there is a basic philosophical difference as well, at least according to some

Prospects for industrial remote temperature sensing using microwave radiometry

Remote temperature sensing is increasingly important in the processing of semiconductors, chemicals, plastics, rubber, and other materials. Conventional infrared sensors cannot operate in environments where suspended particles such as vapor or dust scatter thermal radiation from the object. However, longer-wavelength microwaves are not scattered by particulates that scatter infrared rays. We have developed a low-cost X-band microwave radiometer which has demonstrated temperature sensing performance superior to infrared sensors in experiments designed to simulate typical industrial situations involving suspended particles. We present data that describes the conditions under which microwave temperature sensing is more accurate than infrared sensing.

Globalizing manufacturing engineering education

The discipline of manufacturing engineering in the U.S. was established in the 1960s, a period when U.S. corporations and products dominated the global economy. Any form of engineering education that ignores the reality of multinational corporations, global supply chains, and international markets looks increasingly outmoded and provincial. The need to acknowledge the global aspects of engineering activity is beginning to be recognized in engineering education, and the need is especially acute in manufacturing engineering education. The shrinkage of the U. S. manufacturing sector portrayed by popular media is an supported by more intensive manufacturing engineering work in order to maintain the status quo of product value produced. The demand for well-educated manufacturing engineers worldwide is likely to increase in the long term. Very few U.S. manufacturing engineering programs explicitly recognize the global aspects of manufacturing at the course level.