January 12, 2011 – GLOBE NEWSWIRE — Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) announced that its Scalable Space Inertial Reference Unit (Scalable SIRU) has been selected as the inertial reference unit of choice for Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems satellite platforms.

Under the terms of a strategic agreement between Boeing and Northrop Grumman, the Scalable SIRU will be included as part of the baseline design for Boeing satellites over the next two years.

"Northrop Grumman’s Scalable SIRU provides outstanding performance that plays an important role in mission success and features the space-proven reliability needed for the wide variety of Boeing missions," said Susan Sloan, vice president of space systems for Northrop Grumman’s Navigation Systems Division.

The Scalable SIRU is a high-precision, long-life attitude control solutions supporting commercial, government and civil space missions. Northrop Grumman’s Scalable SIRU and its predecessor, the space inertial reference unit (SIRU), supply critical rotation rate data for use in satellites and space vehicles for stabilization, pointing and attitude control.

Northrop Grumman’s Scalable SIRU was recently launched aboard the Boeing-built SkyTerra 1 next-generation mobile communications satellite and is performing as part of the satellite’s attitude control system.

At the heart of the Scalable SIRU is Northrop Grumman’s patented hemispherical resonator gyro (HRG) technology, which has operated in space without a mission failure for over 16 million hours since the product first entered service in February, 1996. Installed in Northrop Grumman’s space qualified inertial reference units, the HRG has been used in commercial, government and civil space missions for domestic and international customers and has been launched aboard more than 100 spacecraft. HRG missions include earth observation, communications and science applications in low earth orbit, geostationary and deep space mission profiles.

The HRG combines high performance and long life in space. It has no moving parts and its simple design, small size, low noise output and high radiation tolerance make it an ideal gyro for extended space missions.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global security company providing aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

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January 12, 2011 — DiCon Fiberoptics announced that its Secure Switching Unit–an all-optical switch that allows secure fiber-optic signals to be routed as required using DiCon’s proven microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) optical switch–was a successful participant in Boeing’s first mission systems test flight of the new P-8A Poseidon aircraft. The P-8A Poseidon is a new anti-submarine, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft that the U.S. Navy plans on using to replace their existing P-3C fleet.

"We have taken our proven COTS fiber optic switch components and integrated these into the SSU in an unique way to offer Boeing a reliable way to route secure fiber optic signals in the P-8A," said Robert Schleicher, DiCon’s VP of product development. 

The Secure Switching Unit (SSU) is a complete military spec, common criteria certified, all-optical switching solution. It is a completely passive device able to route secure fiber-optic signals as an automated fiber patch panel. The SSU incorporates DiCon’s MEMS fiber-optic switches, which DiCon says are the most proven and trusted fiber-optic switches in the Telecommunications industry. Hundreds of thousands of DiCon MEMS devices have shipped since the year 2000. Their compact size, low weight, low power consumption, and ability to withstand harsh environments make them ideal for use in military applications. In addition, their frictionless design allows them to operate for billions of switch cycles.

The successful in-flight testing was completed on June 8, 2010 in the T2 aircraft, one of five test aircraft. For more information on Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon’s first in-flight test of mission systems, go to http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1251.

Learn more about DiCon Fiberoptics at www.diconfiberoptics.com

Also read: Fabrication and assembly of 3D MEMS devices by Daniel N. Pascual, Süss MicroTec

January 12, 2011 — DiCon Fiberoptics announced that its Secure Switching Unit–an all-optical switch that allows secure fiber-optic signals to be routed as required using DiCon’s proven microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) optical switch–was a successful participant in Boeing’s first mission systems test flight of the new P-8A Poseidon aircraft. The P-8A Poseidon is a new anti-submarine, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft that the U.S. Navy plans on using to replace their existing P-3C fleet.

"We have taken our proven COTS fiber optic switch components and integrated these into the SSU in an unique way to offer Boeing a reliable way to route secure fiber optic signals in the P-8A," said Robert Schleicher, DiCon’s VP of product development. 

The Secure Switching Unit (SSU) is a complete military spec, common criteria certified, all-optical switching solution. It is a completely passive device able to route secure fiber-optic signals as an automated fiber patch panel. The SSU incorporates DiCon’s MEMS fiber-optic switches, which DiCon says are the most proven and trusted fiber-optic switches in the Telecommunications industry. Hundreds of thousands of DiCon MEMS devices have shipped since the year 2000. Their compact size, low weight, low power consumption, and ability to withstand harsh environments make them ideal for use in military applications. In addition, their frictionless design allows them to operate for billions of switch cycles.

The successful in-flight testing was completed on June 8, 2010 in the T2 aircraft, one of five test aircraft. For more information on Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon’s first in-flight test of mission systems, go to http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1251.

Learn more about DiCon Fiberoptics at www.diconfiberoptics.com

Also read: Fabrication and assembly of 3D MEMS devices by Daniel N. Pascual, Süss MicroTec

(January 7, 2011 – Newswise) — Research by engineers and cancer biologists at Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) indicate that using specific silicon microdevices might provide a new way to screen breast cancer cells’ ability to metastasize.

The Virginia Tech researchers are: Masoud Agah, director of Virginia Tech’s Microelectromechanical Systems Laboratory (MEMS) Laboratory in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Jeannine Strobl, a research professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Mehdi Nikkhah of mechanical engineering; and Raffaella DeVita of engineering science and mechanics and the director of the soft biological systems laboratory. Nikkhah was Virginia Tech’s Outstanding Doctoral Student in the College of Engineering for 2009.

Their work appeared in two journal articles they authored in 2010 issues of Biomaterials, titled "Actions of the anti-cancer drug suberoylanilide hydroaxamic acid (SAHA) on human breast cancer cytoarchitecture in silicon microstructures," and "The cytoskeletal organization of breast carcinoma and fibroblast cells inside three dimensional isotropic microstructures." An image of their work provided to Biomaterials was selected as one of the 12 best biomaterials-related images published in the journal’s 2010 catalog.

Cell cytoskeleton refers to the cell’s shape and its mechanical properties, Agah explained. "Any change in the cytoskeletal structure can affect the interaction of cells with their surrounding microenvironments. Biological events in normal cells such as embryonic development, tissue growth and repair, and immune responses, as well as cancer cell motility and invasiveness, are dependent upon cytoskeletal reorganization," the electrical engineer added.

Understanding how the cell interacts with the contents of its surrounding environment inside the human body, including the introduction of a drug, is a fundamental biological question. The answers have implications in cancer diagnosis and therapy, as well as tissue engineering, Agah said.

In previous experimentation by others in the field, researchers have exposed cells to mechanical, chemical and three-dimensional topographical stimuli. They recorded the cells’ various responses in terms of migration, growth, and ability to adhere. Also, in the past, researchers have created substrates of precise micro- and nano-topographical and chemical patterns to mimic in vivo microenvironments for biological and medical applications.

What distinguishes the work of Agah, a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award recipient, and his colleagues, is they developed a specific three-dimensional silicon microstructure for their work. Due to its curved isotropic surfaces, they were able to characterize and compare the growth and adhesion behavior of normal fibroblast and metastatic human beast cancer cells, they reported in Biomaterials.

"In invasive breast carcinoma, tumor cells will fill a milk duct, and the basement membrane," they wrote. This action allows the carcinoma cells and the fibroblast cells of the breast tissue to be in close proximity, constituting "a critical pathobiological transition that leads to the progression of the disease," Strobl said.

Using their uniquely designed three-dimensional silicon microstructure, they were able to incorporate three key cellular components found in any breast tumor microenvironment. Additionally, they were able to determine the detailed interaction of the cells within this environment, including the normal breast cells, the metastatic breast cancer cells, and the fibroblast cells.

Their understanding of cell behavior within the microstructures is what leads them to believe their research could "provide important diagnostic and prognostic markers unique to the tumor, which could ultimately be used to develop new tools for the detection and treatment of cancer."

Following their initial findings, Strobl, Nikkhah and Agah identified a unique application of the experimental anti-cancer drug SAHA in their studies with the silicon microstructure. SAHA, also known as Vorinostat, is the first drug of its type to receive Food and Drug Administration approval for clinical use in cancer treatment.

Unlike many of the conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy agents that target DNA to kill cancer cells, SAHA’s unique properties include its ability to inhibit a family of enzymes referred to medically as "histone deacetylases." These enzymes are known to increase levels of acetylation of many proteins, including beta-actin, alpha-, and beta-tubulin, and additional actin binding proteins comprising the cytoskeleton.

"The role of drugs such as SAHA in the control of cancer cell metastasis is only beginning to be understood," explained Strobl, "however, our work shows that SAHA elicits a very characteristic cytoskeletal alteration specifically in metastatic breast cells that provides a handle for predicting which breast cells in a cell mixture might have the ability to metastasize."

Cell motility is "one hallmark of metastatic cancer cells involving the coordinated actions of actin and other cytoskeleton proteins," Agah explained. When metastatic disease develops, it is usually fatal.

They found SAHA caused cancer cells to stretch and attach to the microstructures through actin-rich cell extensions. By contrast, control cells conformed to the microstructures. This result allowed them to conclude that "isotropically etched silicon microstructures comprise microenvironments that discriminate metastatic mammary cancer cells in which cytoskeletal elements reorganized in response to the anti-cancer agent SAHA."

The Virginia Tech work in this area "is the first to address the use of microdevices to study this emerging class of anti-cancer agents," Agah said.

2011 Newswise, Inc

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(January 7, 2011) — RheoSense Inc. released µVISC (micro VISC), the newest viscometer utilizing VROC technology. VROC (Viscometer-Rheometer-On-a-Chip) is a MEMS microfluidic chip-based viscometry technology.

This instrument provides high accuracy and repeatability in viscosity measurement. The µVISC is reportedly fast and easy to use, and can satisfy industry’s growing demand for an increasingly efficient quality control protocol. The measurement process consists of loading a sample into a disposable pipette, mounting the pipette, and running tests.

Measurement results, including data necessary for advanced analysis, are displayed in less than a minute for most samples.  Features of the µVISC include:

• viscosity (in mPa-s or cP), shear rate, and sample temperature measurement
• only 100 µL needed per measurement
• no evaporation
• accuracy exceeds 1% of Full Scale or 2% of reading
• repeatability within 1%
• measurements take as little as a minute
• a wide range of viscosities is measurable (0.2 cP ~ 5,000 cP) with hot-swappable sensor cartridges
• lightweight (only 1.5 lbs) and portable (powered by a rechargeable Li-ion battery)
• cleaning is unnecessary when continuously testing analogous or miscible samples.
• up to 20 tests logged, each with a user-definable sample ID
• multiple operational modes to assist any user, whether beginner or advanced
• automated cleaning mode

The operating principle of this technology is well-known for its simplicity and accuracy in the field of rheology, according to the company, which notes that some ISO test methods also adopt this principle.

For additional information, visit www.rheosense.com

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(January 5, 2010 – PRNewswire) — Hillcrest Labs, a leader in motion-control technology and interactive television applications, announced a low-cost, embedded motion-control system for TV manufacturers. The new turnkey solution is designed to support new motion pointing and gesture-enabled user interfaces for navigating the Web, Internet-based applications, and games on televisions.

It will be showcased at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), January 6-10, 2011, in Las Vegas, NV, in the Broadcom Meeting Room, Hillcrest Labs suite at the Renaissance Hotel, and the Universal Electronics (UEI) booth on the CES show floor.

Hillcrest’s patented Freespace MotionEngine is now integrated with Broadcom’s new BCM35230 digital TV system-on-a-chip (SoC) and Broadcom’s new BCM20730 single-chip Bluetooth solution, enabling a turn-key, cost-effective, and fully-featured motion control solution for connected televisions.

In addition at CES, Universal Electronics, manufacturer of TV remotes, will showcase a new Freespace and Bluetooth-enabled TV remote control, utilizing a single-chip, digital-output, 3-axis MEMS gyroscope from InvenSense, that is compatible with the new system from Broadcom and Hillcrest. The demonstrations will include a TV user interface optimized for motion pointing, which includes Hillcrest’s HoMEcast video application and a Webkit browser engine.

"As the demand for Internet-based content on TV continues to rise, manufacturers are seeking differentiated, turn-key, and economical solutions that enable immersive and intuitive user experiences for consumers," said Chad Lucien, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Hillcrest Labs.  "We are proud to have collaborated with Broadcom and the market leaders in remote controls and MEMS devices to create a turnkey solution that enables TV manufactures to quickly add Freespace motion control, pointing applications, and Bluetooth to connected televisions."

"Broadcom is at the forefront of producing very low power chipsets that will enable a growing portfolio of innovative remote control devices for Internet-connected TVs and home entertainment devices," said Craig Ochikubo, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Wireless Personal Area Networking line of business. "We are very pleased to have worked with Hillcrest Labs to incorporate their pioneering Freespace technology into our new class of Bluetooth and digital TV chipsets."

Unlike alternative motion control technologies, both the new chipset and compatible TV remotes use fully-integrated motion sensors that do not require additional external cameras or lightbars in order to control the onscreen viewing experience. In addition, the low-cost Bluetooth-based solution does not require line-of-site, which enables consumers to control their TVs without the need to aim at the TV.  The new system is compatible with a variety of smart TV platforms including Linux, Android or Google TV-based solutions.

Broadcom is a leader in applying Bluetooth wireless technologies to an increasingly diverse range of consumer electronics and media devices. Additional information about Broadcom is available at www.broadcom.com. Additional details about Freespace or Hillcrest Labs are available at www.hillcrestlabs.com.

(January 5, 2011) — InvenSense Inc., provider of MotionProcessors for consumer electronics, announced that LG Electronics (LG) has selected the IXZ-500 dual-axis MEMS gyroscope for the Magic Motion Remote Control within their ultra-slim INFINIA line of LED-backlight LCD 3D TVs.

The LG Magic Motion Remote Control will be showcased in the InvenSense Meeting room #MP25370 in South Hall 2 at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 6th through the 9th. The Magic Motion remote control integrates a MEMS gyroscope and an innovative graphical user interface allowing for simple and intuitive hand movements to control motion-based navigation.
 
As the number of program viewing options proliferates and Internet TV access becomes more ubiquitous, in-air pointing, motion-based remote controls will become an increasingly required functionality for all connected TVs, according to the company. Using simple hand motions to control an on-screen cursor, the Magic Motion Remote Control enables fast intuitive navigation of Internet-based applications, television menus, embedded games, and more using LG’s Netcast Entertainment Access.

InvenSense provides MotionProcessors for the consumer electronics market, with proven technology and cumulative shipments of over 100 million units to leading customers worldwide. More information can be found at http://www.invensense.com.