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News and features about the latest technology, engineering, and science advances including electronics, computing, energy, biomedical, robotics and more.

Designing Broadband LPDA-Fed Reflector Antennas With Full-Wave EM Simulation

17 April 2026 @ 2:00 pm

A practical guide to designing log-periodic dipole array fed parabolic reflector antennas using advanced 3D MoM simulation — from parametric modeling to electrically large structures.What Attendees will LearnHow to set design requirements for LPDA-fed reflector antennas — Understand the key specifications including bandwidth ratio, gain targets, and VSWR matching constraints across the full operating range from 100 MHz to 1 GHz.Why advanced 3D EM solvers enable simulation of electrically large multiscale structures — Learn how higher order basis functions, quadrilateral meshing, geometrical symmetry, and CPU/GPU parallelization extend MoM simulation capability by an order of magnitude.How to apply a systematic three-step design strategy with proven workflow starting with first optimizing the stand-alone LPDA for VSWR a

IEEE Entrepreneurship Connects Hardware Startups With Investors

16 April 2026 @ 6:00 pm

Roughly 90 percent of hard tech startups fail due to funding constraints, longer R&D timelines for developing hardware, and the complexity of manufacturing their products, according to a number of studies.Generally, these startups require up to 50 percent more investor financing than software ones, according to a Medium article. Typically, they need at least US $30 million, according to

Stealth Signals Are Bypassing Iran’s Internet Blackout

15 April 2026 @ 1:00 pm

On 8 January 2026, the Iranian government imposed a near-total communications shutdown. It was the country’s first full information blackout: For weeks, the internet was off across all provinces while services including the government-run intranet, VPNs, text messaging, mobile calls, and even landlines were severely throttled. It was an unprecedented lockdown that left more than 90 million people cut off not only from the world, but from one another.Since then, connectivity has never fully returned. Following

Crypto Faces Increased Threat From Quantum Attacks

15 April 2026 @ 1:00 pm

The race to transition online security protocols to ones that can’t be cracked by a quantum computer is already on. The algorithms that are commonly used today to protect data online—RSA and elliptic curve cryptography—are uncrackable by supercomputers, but a large enough quantum computer would make quick work of them. There are algorithms secure enough to be out of reach for both classic

Sarang Gupta Builds AI Systems With Real-World Impact

14 April 2026 @ 6:00 pm

Like many engineers, Sarang Gupta spent his childhood tinkering with everyday items around the house. From a young age he gravitated to projects that could make a difference in someone’s everyday life.When the family’s microwave plug broke, Gupta and his father figured out how to fix it. When a drawer handle started jiggling annoyingly, the youngster made sure it didn’t do so for long.Sarang GuptaEmployerOpenAI in San FranciscoJobData science staff memberMember gradeSenior memberAlma maters

What It’s Like to Live With an Experimental Brain Implant

14 April 2026 @ 1:00 pm

Scott Imbrie vividly remembers the first time he used a robotic arm to shake someone’s hand and felt the robotic limb as if it were his own. “I still get goosebumps when I think about that initial contact,” he says. “It’s just unexplainable.” The moment came courtesy of a brain implant: an array of electrodes that let him control a robotic arm and receive tactile sensations back to the brain.Getting there took decades. In 1985, Imbrie had woken up in the hospital after a car accident with a broken neck and a doctor telling him he’d never use his hands or legs again. His response was an expletive, he says—and a decision. “I’m not going to allow someone

Squishy Photonic Switches Promise Fast Low-Power Logic

13 April 2026 @ 12:00 pm

Photonic devices, which rely on light instead of electricity, have the potential to be faster and more energy efficient than today’s electronics. They also present a unique opportunity to develop devices using soft materials, such as polymers and gels, which are poor conductors of electricity but are easier to manufacture and more environmentally friendly. The development of these potentially squishy, flexible photonics, however, requires the ability to manipulate light using only light, not electricity.In soft matter, that’s been done primarily by changing th

Working With More Experienced Engineers Can Fast-Track Career Growth

10 April 2026 @ 6:49 pm

This article is crossposted from IEEE Spectrum’s careers newsletter. Sign up now to get insider tips, expert advice, and practical strategies, written in partnership with tech career development company Parsity and delivered to your inbox for free!The Worst Engineer in the RoomMy salary doubled. My confidence tanked. That’s what happened when I had just joined a five-person startup in San Francisco in my third year as a software engineer. Two of the founders had been recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30. T

Remembering Gus Gaynor: A Devoted IEEE Volunteer

9 April 2026 @ 6:00 pm

Gerard “Gus” Gaynor, a long-serving IEEE volunteer and former engineering director at 3M, died on 9 March. The IEEE Life Fellow was 104.Readers of The Institute might remember Gus from his 2022 profile: “From Fixing Farm Equipment to Becoming a Director at 3M.” Just last year, he and I coauthored twoar

GoZTASP: A Zero-Trust Platform for Governing Autonomous Systems at Mission Scale

9 April 2026 @ 3:06 pm

ZTASP is a mission-scale assurance and governance platform designed for autonomous systems operating in real-world environments. It integrates heterogeneous systems—including drones, robots, sensors, and human operators—into a unified zero-trust architecture. Through Secure Runtime Assurance (SRTA) and Secure Spatio-Temporal Reasoning (SSTR), ZTASP continuously verifies system integrity, enforces safety constraints, and enables resilient operation even under degraded conditions.ZTASP has progressed beyond conceptual design, with operational validation at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7 in mission critical environments. Core components, including Saluki secure flight controllers, have reached TRL8 and are deployed in customer systems. While initially developed for high-consequence mission environments, the