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| June 02, 2026 | Volume 22 Issue 21 |
Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight
Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops
Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants
As enterprises transition from PoC to real-world edge AI deployment, Aetina has launched its Mini Series Edge AI systems. Powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano and NX modules, these compact, fanless systems deliver high-performance vision and generative AI inference. Engineered for demanding industrial environments, they offer flexible camera connectivity, space-saving designs, and long-term reliability to accelerate smart infrastructure.
Learn more.
On a high-speed food and beverage line, what you can see is not always what is happening. Thermal imaging adds a different layer of control. Instead of relying on surface appearance, it measures heat distribution as seals are formed and products move through the line, providing continuous, 100% in-line inspection instead of just sampling.
Read the full article.
FUTEK's IDC150 Signal Conditioner packages high-performance signal conditioning in a rugged aluminum enclosure. Built for engineers needing accurate, synchronized data from strain gauge sensors, it fits prototyping and lab environments. The device connects seamlessly to existing setups and pairs with SENSIT software and Python APIs. It is ideal for compact, high-performance digital sensor evaluation.
Learn more.
The new MLX81119 from Melexis is an 18-channel LIN RGB LED controller with an integrated DC/DC converter, designed to simplify and optimize automotive lighting systems. By generating the LED supply voltage locally on chip, this unit significantly reduces power dissipation, external components, and space requirements in increasingly dense vehicle applications such as door panels, dashboards, and charge-port lighting.
Learn more.
iST's Moisture-in-Oil Sensor is a compact, digital RH/T module that accurately and continuously monitors the water content in oils and fuels. This sensor does not simply measure the absolute water content -- it measures the relative saturation level in % RH or water activity aw in %. This means you get a direct picture of the current oil quality and can react in time. Applications include: marine engines and gearboxes, commercial and rail vehicles, wind turbines and generators, drilling and paper machines, and more. Eval kit available.
Learn more.
Ouster Rev8 features the world's first patented native color lidar sensors. For the first time, a single lidar sensor can understand road signs, interpret brake lights, or simply capture the richness of planet Earth in survey-grade, colorized maps. Based on patented Ouster Silicon with embedded Fujifilm color science, the L4 chip boasts 42.9 GMACs of processing power, detection of up to 20 trillion photons per sec, and a 40-kHz measurement rate with picosecond timing precision. Sees up to 200 m.
Learn more.
In modern aircraft production, precision is everything. In this application article, learn how an Ensenso 3D camera integrated into an automated process chain ensures accurate detection and alignment of drilling positions in aircraft cabin assembly using the CAD data of the aircraft frame.
Read the full article.
Certified Onshape Professional Too Tall Toby explains how to supercharge your workflow using community-created tools. In this insightful tutorial, he dives into the world of FeatureScript -- the powerful coding language behind Onshape. Learn where to find new scripts and how to use them. Save time. Learn new skills, shortcuts, and maybe even better ways to do things. Incorporate Custom Features into your everyday work. Very useful.
View the video.
Novotechnik has put together an informative video highlighting real-world applications for their RFC, RFE, and RSA Series touchless magnetic angle sensors. You may be surprised at the variety of off-highway, marine, material handling, and industrial uses. You'll learn how they work (using a Hall effect microprocessor to detect position) and their key advantages, including eliminated wear and tear on these non-mechanical components. We love when manufacturers provide such useful examples.
View the video.
Autodesk Assistant brings industry-specific context to help execute tasks and orchestrate actions across your 3D models -- not just answer questions. Designed to understand your workflows, Assistant appears as a dockable panel alongside your Inventor workspace and includes the ability to perform complex tasks or gather information from your designs without writing a single line of code. Find out what this new AI "colleague" can do for you.
Watch this informative Autodesk video.
Seifert StripLite SL 4000 Series LED enclosure lighting provides bright illumination to 700 lumens. On/off switch and motion sensor models are available. Easily daisy chain up to 16 light strips. Magnetic or clip mounting. See video/info on website or contact Bristol Instruments for more information.
Learn about snap-together lighting.
Beckhoff's Next line of multi-touch control panels and panel PCs is engineered for demanding human-machine interface and control tasks. These panels offer convenient operation with advanced multi-touch technology, a high-quality look and feel, anti-glare and anti-ghosting effects, and a wide choice of formats (from 7 to 23.8 in.) and options. A main draw is the line's attractive pricing.
Learn more.
Creaform, a business of AMETEK, has launched HandySCAN 3D|EVO Series, the most powerful handheld 3D laser scanning solution on the market. This innovative series features a built-in touchscreen display and an integrated high-res 12-MP photo camera, incorporating augmented reality (AR) and advanced on-scanner visualization. Users can streamline repetitive inspections and enhance quality control processes using the new auto-alignment feature. Powered by 46 blue laser lines with accuracy of 0.020 mm. The Creaform Metrology Suite includes four application software modules: Scan-to-CAD, Inspection, Automation, and Dynamic Tracking. So many more features.
Learn more.
Global automotive supplier Continental has developed a new sensor technology that measures the temperature inside permanently excited synchronous motors in electric vehicles directly on the rotor for the first time.
Read the full article.
The new OCI-460 SWIR LED series from EPIGAP OSA Photonics features markedly improved output power compared to the company's previous OCI-480 package and all competitive SMD SWIR LED devices. For example, model OCI-460 ID1550-XS operates at 1,550 nm and features drive current up to 1.5A to deliver approximately 13% higher output efficiency over EPIGAP's OCI-480 package. This impressive advancement features 96% higher output power compared to any other SWIR SMD LED currently on the market. Ideal for use in sensing, machine vision, and more.
Learn more.
Researchers using neutrons at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) discovered hematite, essentially rust, can help design energy-efficient spintronics.
Also known as magnetoelectronics, spintronics rely on electron spin rather than electron charge, as found in traditional electronics. Although spintronics is still an emerging field, spintronic technologies are already found in hard disk drives and giant magnetoresistance sensors used in industrial and automotive applications. Once the right foundational materials are discovered and verified, including economical materials for altermagnets, spintronics could advance technologies from wireless communication to quantum computing.
Published in Physical Review Letters, the team's findings confirmed a key signature of altermagnetism (a new type of magnetism discovered in 2022) in hematite. Altermagnets are magnetic materials in which electron spins align in opposite directions, allowing pure spin currents to flow without a net electric charge -- ideal conditions for spintronics. The team measured spin waves, which move through a material's magnetic order similar to how sound waves move through air. They discovered that these waves show a clear separation in energy, a unique signature that confirms the material's altermagnetic nature.

Spin waves in hematite, essentially rust, show a clear separation in energy, a unique signature that confirms the material's altermagnetic nature -- ideal conditions for spintronics. [Credit: Duncan Harryman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy]
"Hematite is abundant, chemically stable, and nontoxic," said Qiyang Sun, a postdoctoral researcher in ORNL's Neutron Scattering Division and project lead. "By confirming its altermagnetic nature, we open a new platform for engineers to design high-speed, low-power quantum electronics using materials that are inexpensive and widely available."
Hematite is one of the most common minerals on Earth. Its stability across a wide temperature range -- over 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit -- makes it an attractive candidate for room-temperature spintronics applications without the need for excessive power for cooling. Unlike other altermagnetic materials that must be synthesized, hematite occurs naturally in great quantities.
Neutrons suited to study spintronics
To verify hematite's properties, the team used inelastic neutron scattering at SNS. This technique is used to better understand magnetism and spin waves at the atomic scale. Neutrons have no electrical charge; however, they do have a magnetic moment. This makes them well suited to provide researchers with information about magnetic phenomena in altermagnetic materials, such as hematite. Such information cannot be obtained with any other technique.
"Inelastic neutron scattering is the only method capable of resolving these fine spectral features," Sun said. "It provides simultaneous momentum and energy resolution, which allowed us to detect the subtle magnon splitting that defines altermagnetism."
The research combined experimental measurements with advanced modeling using internally developed software, Sunny, and calculations using high-performance computing at ORNL. Sunny was designed specifically for the study of quantum magnetism.
"This was an excellent example of where we combined large experimental data sets with modeling and were able to compare the results in a timely manner in a fast-moving research area," said Wei Tian, a neutron scattering scientist also in ORNL's Neutron Scattering Division. "It's exciting to see everything come together so quickly thanks to internal collaboration."
Future work will explore how spin-wave gaps influence heat transport in hematite, potentially revealing new mechanisms for heat management in spintronic systems.
"The confirmation of altermagnetism in hematite -- a material as common as rust -- demonstrates that a potential component for the next revolution in high-speed, low-power quantum electronics may already be all around us," said Sun. Hematite and common rust share the exact same chemical makeup: iron oxide (Fe2O3).
Experiments were conducted on a single-crystal sample using the ARCS wide angular range chopper spectrometer at SNS, a DOE Office of Science user facility.
Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Published June 2026