Mentor.com :: Electrical & Wire Harness Design Resources

On-demand Web Seminar:AOG: Reducing Aircraft-on-Ground Time via Smart Documentation

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:27:27 GMT

Create service documentation to cut the time, deliver custom documentation for each aircraft and assist to diagnose and fix faults.

Blog Post:Who’s the safest of them all?

John Day — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:47:19 GMT

Which vehicle offers the greatest number of safety features? By that I mean systems like adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, or lane keeping. Safe to say it’s one that’s well beyond the reach of the average car buyer. But features like these are moving down-market rather quickly, so what moderately priced vehicle has the greatest number of safety features? One candidate – and we’ll have to

Blog Post:Capital for Choppers

J VanDomelen — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:51:34 GMT

This geek is an all-around mil/aero enthusiast. Aircraft, spacecraft, ships, ground combat vehicles, unmanned vehicles, missiles—you name a mil/aero platform, and this geek’s interest is piqued. It’s not often that helicopters turn heads; however, Bell Helicopter has been successful in doing so over the past few months. This geek previously discussed the Middle Eastern debut of the Bell Boeing V-22

Blog Post:New packaging for power electronics

John Day — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:21:14 GMT

Infineon Technologies notes that higher performance power electronics components contribute to the primary automotive industry goals of better fuel efficiency and lower emissions. The firm suggests that power MOSFETs with current capability above 200A and R DS(on) below 1mΩ are needed to reduce conduction losses and improve overall efficiency, but it says that MOSFETs to fulfill these needs have not

Blog Post:Double duty

J VanDomelen — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:48:23 GMT

Engineers from Bell Helicopter, a Textron Company, and The Boeing Company have unleashed a unique aircraft that has been turning heads at recent air shows, and for good reason. The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey was designed from the ground up (a rarity in a downturned economy, it seems) to meet the needs of multiple armed services. In doing so, it combines the capabilities of a helicopter with those of fixed-wing

Blog Post:Truly interoperable

J VanDomelen — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:17:54 GMT

System interoperability is a major issue and continual challenge in military and aerospace (mil/aero) applications. Electronic components and solutions from various vendors must all work together. The same is true of legacy versus modern systems. Many industry pundits in the mil/aero community have long compared the challenge to trying to have a 50-year-old communicate effectively with a newborn—they

Blog Post:Dauntingly disparate

J VanDomelen — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:59:20 GMT

Systems integration is no small feat. Ensuring disparate parts and systems—standalone solutions from multiple vendors—talk and work together seamlessly and reliably is a challenge. In fact, the systems integrator, not to mention the MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) specialist charged with keeping systems in good working order over decades of deployment, has been given many nicknames reflective

Blog Post:Autonomous vehicles – so near and yet so far

John Day — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:30:43 GMT

Considering the number of traffic accidents involving driver error, it seems obvious that many lives would be saved if cars could drive themselves. Additional benefits of autonomous vehicles include less traffic congestion and better fuel economy/lower emissions.

The enabling technology is close at hand. Google’s fleet of driverless cars has traveled nearly 200,000 miles, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has sponsored three Grand Challenge events, and automotive electronics applications such as adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, and parallel park assist are increasingly common.

So near and yet so far, as an article by John Markoff in the January 23 New York Times<strong> </strong>makes clear. Speakers at a symposium sponsored by the Santa Clara Law Review (<a href="http://lawreview.scu.edu/page.cfm/events">http://lawreview.scu.edu/page.cfm/events</a>) suggested that questions of legal liability, privacy, and insurance regulation could pose more problems than the technology.

Not that the technology is a slam dunk. Among the problems remaining to be solved are how a driverless vehicle can recognize a safety officer motioning the vehicle to pull over or to proceed in a different direction than the vehicle intends. Or how a driverless vehicle programmed to obey all traffic regulations will fare against human drivers who cut metaphorical corners. Sven A. Beiker, executive director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford University, suggests that completely autonomous vehicles may be operating on limited roads in 20 years. Autonomous driving presents a huge ongoing reliability challenge for automotive electronics engineers

It’s good to know that attention is being paid to liability, privacy, insurance, and other issues in addition to technology. It’s encouraging to think that in as little as 20 years driverless vehicles will be a reality albeit in limited form. In the meantime we can look forward to more quasi-autonomous systems that give drivers the option of letting the car take over.

Blog Post:Challenging conglomerate

J VanDomelen — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:40:42 GMT

Gone, in large part, are the days of military and aerospace (mil/aero) organizations buying a complete, comprehensive, end-to-end turnkey system from a single, solitary vendor. Rather, a vast majority of today’s mil/aero systems combine the technologies, components, and capabilities of myriad technology vendors. Integrating parts from various vendors in a single system, like most things, has its pros

On-demand Web Seminar:Fixing the Change Management Nightmare in Aerospace Electrical Systems Design

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:24:56 GMT

Address the challenges of configuration and change management and simplify the process of electrical configuration control and validation.