NcState
Latest
This colorful cube grounds virtual objects in the real world
You can't usually spin, stretch and otherwise manipulate virtual objects all that easily. You're often relegated to clicking and dragging on a mouse, and even exotic approaches like HoloLens or VR headsets introduce issues like lag. However, North Carolina State University has developed a simple solution that only requires a webcam and a little geometry. Their Captive technology revolves around a color-coded cube that sends visual cues to video recognition software -- all you have to do is rotate the cube to examine a virtual object, resize it or change textures.
Researchers think chaos theory can get us past Moore's Law
Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, believed that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would double every year or two. And, to his credit, that rule pretty much held out between 1965 and 2015, when the laws of physics began to get in the way. Now, researchers at North Carolina State believe that we don't need to obsess over ever-smaller transistors to make chips even more powerful. Instead, they've turned to chaos theory in the hope that mixing things up will provide the performance boost that Intel can't.
Future medical wearables could be powered by body heat
Researchers at NC State think that they have developed a new way to harvest body heat and turn it into electricity. The team has developed a patch that's roughly a centimeter squared, that would attach to a person's bicep. The device would then be able to generate anything up to 20 Microwatts, a significant increase on previous technologies. It's not enough to power a smartwatch, but it's possible that it may be enough to juice a medical sensor, reducing the number of bulky cables a patient has to trail around them.
Researchers take nanocars out for an open-air test drive
Nanocars, those molecular-scale vehicles that might one day carry around tiny payloads, have been zipping around in vacuum environments for awhile now. But one breakthrough the nanocar researchers at Rice University have been searching for is the ability to operate these nanomachines in ambient, open environments.
Researchers use wearable sensors to better communicate with dogs
Sometimes it can be difficult to get your canine companion to get the commands you're giving, but there could be an easier way in the future. Researchers at North Carolina State University are working on a means to improve those communication skills with the help of a smattering of gadgets. The team developed a harness that carries tech for two-way chatting, packing sensors that monitor posture to pick up on a dog's behavioral cues. There are also haptic items built in to enhance the human portion of the equation with software that interprets speech into easily understood signals.
NC State develops personalized web search without the usual server strain
The notion of personalized, contextually aware search is nothing new, but it can put a tremendous strain on servers by asking for a lot of data at once. NC State has developed a search technique that could ease that burden. Its code prioritizes results based solely on the "ambient query context," or the concepts related to a person's recent search history. Look for politicians, for example, and a search for Ford is more likely to bring up Gerald Ford than the car company. By focusing on just a fraction of a user's search habits, the university can customize results using far fewer processor cycles: while a test server could only handle 17 active searchers with an old approach, it can manage 2,900 with the new method. The query engine won't be confined to the lab, either. NC State tells us that a community-driven search beta is due within several months, and there are plans to commercialize the technology in the long run.
Android 'smishing' vulnerability discovered by NCSU researchers; Google has a fix incoming
The art of smishing (SMS-Phishing) has been practiced for some time, but a discovery by the wizards at NC State University has uncovered a new vulnerability that could bring the aforesaid act back into the spotlight. Xuxian Jiang's research team recently identified the hole and confirmed that it impacts Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. Put simply, if an Android user downloads an infected app, the attacking program can "make it appear that the user has received an SMS, or text, message from someone on the phone's contact list or from trusted banks." This fake message can solicit personal information, such as passwords for user accounts. The team isn't going to disclose proof until Google patches it up, but the school has said that Google will be addressing it "in a future Android release." For now, however, Jiang recommends additional caution when downloading and installing apps from unknown sources, while also suggesting that folks pay close attention to received SMS text messages.
NC State nanoflowers can boost battery and solar cell capacity, make great prom accessories
We see a lot of sleek-looking technology pass through our doors, but it's rare that the inventions could be called beautiful by those who aren't immersed in the gadget world. We'd venture that North Carolina State University might have crossed the divide by creating an energy storage technology that's both practical and genuinely pretty. Its technology vaporizes germanium sulfide and cools it into 20-30 nanometer layers that, as they're combined, turn into nanoflowers: elegant structures that might look like the carnation on a prom dress or tuxedo, but are really energy storage cells with much more capacity than traditional cells occupying the same area. The floral patterns could lead to longer-lived supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries, and the germanium sulfide is both cheap and clean enough that it could lead to very efficient solar cells that are more environmentally responsible. As always, there's no definite timetable for when (and if) NC State's technology might be commercialized -- so call someone's bluff if they promise you a nanoflower bouquet.
Alt-week 9.8.12: Moon farming, self powered health monitors and bringing a 50,000 year-old girl to life
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Some weeks things get a little science heavy, sometimes it's a little on their weird side, and there's usually a bit of space travel involved, but these week's trend seems to be "mind-blowing." Want to grow carrots on the Moon? We got you covered. How about bringing a 50,000 year-old ancient human back to life? Sure, no biggie. Oh but what about a solar eruption that reaches some half a million miles in height. We've got the video. No, really we have. Mind blown? This is alt-week.
Researchers take full control of cockroach's movement, turn it into a wireless sensor
Built-in power supply? Check. Ability to survive anything? Check. Easy to control? Okay, anyone who's had a cockroach as an uninvited houseguest knows that's not the case. So, rather than re-inventing the biological wheel with a robotic version, North Carolina State university researchers have figured out a way to remotely control a real Madagascar hissing cockroach. They used an off-the-shelf microcontroller to tap in to the roach's antennae and abdomen, then sent commands that fooled the insect into thinking danger was near, or that an object was blocking it. That let the scientists wirelessly prod the insect into action, then guide it precisely along a curved path, as shown in the video below the break. The addition of a sensor could allow the insects to one day perform tasks, liking searching for trapped disaster victims -- something to think about the next time you put a shoe to one.
Researchers propose à la carte internet services, overhaul for web infrastructure
A quintet of researchers funded by the National Science Foundation have envisioned a new internet architecture, one where features could be purchased à la carte. The proposed framework would allow users to fine tune their experience by choosing from a variety of connection services. Let's say, for example, that a customer's connection is fine for browsing the web, but it doesn't pass muster for streaming content -- a service dedicated to video delivery could be added to close the gap. "Ultimately, this should make the internet more flexible and efficient, and will drive innovation among service providers to cater to user needs," report co-author Rudra Dutta told The Abstract. A piecemeal next-gen web is no easy feat, however, as it would require revamping the web's infrastructure with new protocols for choosing particular features, completing payments and monitoring network performance. The group's rough blueprint will be presented at a conference next week, but you can thumb through their short paper at the source.
NC State's new efficient pico projector raises hopes for smartphone cinema
A team at North Carolina State University has developed a new liquid crystal projector that could spell the end of bulky and noisy cinema gear. Conventional tech passes unpolarized light through a filter, but the process is so inefficient that nearly 50 percent of the energy is wasted just keeping things cool. Fortunately, the Wolfpack and ImagineOptix filter claims to be 90 percent efficient -- meaning that future projectors could be far sleeker. It's also a good sign for future smartphone pico projectors, although we're not sure how the owners of our local theater will feel when we start undercutting them with just a phone and a white wall.
Researchers partially automate CPU core design, aim to fast track new PC processor production
Tired of the year wait (or more) in between new silicon architecture offerings from Chipzilla and AMD? Well, if some Wolfpack researchers have anything to say about it, we'll measure that wait in months thanks to a new CPU core design tool that automates part of the process. Creating a new CPU core is, on a high level, a two step procedure. First, the architectural specification is created, which sets the core's dimensions and arranges its components. That requires some heavy intellectual lifting, and involves teams of engineers to complete. Previously, similar manpower was needed for the second step, where the architecture spec is translated into an implementation design that can be fabricated in a factory. No longer. The aforementioned NC State boffins have come up with a tool that allows engineers to input their architecture specification, and it generates an implementation design that's used to draw up manufacturing blueprints. The result? Considerable time and manpower savings in creating newly designed CPU cores, which means that all those leaked roadmaps we're so fond of could be in serious need of revision sometime soon.
Mobile security researchers present Android Malware Genome Project at IEEE
Android's openness, combined with its popularity, has lead a few of the developer faithful astray -- with malware being a legitimate concern for the mobile operating system. To help combat the issue, Xuxian Jiang, an NC State researcher, has created the Android Malware Genome Project, which was presented at the IEEE Symposium on Security this week. The aim is to collect and analyse all the known malicious software, and share the findings so that more effective and preventative measures to be taken by the community. Jiang claims that the main drawback has been understanding the malware, and getting access to examples, something the project aims to solve. More than 1,200 malware samples have been collected so far, and if you're curious, the dataset is available for download via the source.
Scientists tweak wireless power transfer, Tesla nods happily in his grave
Wireless charging may be all the rage these days, but actually beaming electricity -- as sketched above by the man Tesla himself -- still has some snags. North Carolina State U researchers have found a way to possibly vanquish the biggest problem: the difficulty of exactly matching resonant frequencies to amplify current. If external factors like temperature change the tuning of a transmitter even slightly then power drops will occur, but circuitry developed by the NC State scientists would allow receivers to detect these changes and automatically re-tune themselves to match. This could make for more potent car and device charging in the future and, if they stretch the distances a bit, maybe we'll finally get the wire-free utopia Nikola dreamed up 120 years ago.
NC State researcher finds more efficient way to cool devices, looks to cut costs too
Does your electronic device have you a bit hot under the collar these days? A researcher at NC State has developed a faster and less expensive method for cooling gadgets -- especially those that tend to crank the heat up. Dr. Jag Kasichainula, an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, authored a paper on the research that implements a "heat spreader' composed of a copper-graphene composite and an indium-graphene interface film to cool devices. Because the two materials exhibit a high thermal conductivity, they allow the device to cool more efficiently while distributing said heat -- 25 percent quicker than the pure copper in many pieces of tech. And if that wasn't enough, the research also details the process for creating the composite using electrochemical deposition. "Copper is expensive, so replacing some of the copper with graphene actually lowers the overall cost.," Kasichainula notes. If you're itching to read a full rundown of the findings, the full text can be accessed via the source link below.
Scientists make magic auto-origami using ink and light (video)
We've seen nano-origami and robo-origami, but nothing quite as rapid and simple as this. Researchers at North Carolina State University have figured out how to neatly fold plastic using infrared light and an inkjet printer. Deep black lines are printed onto the plastic sheets, which then absorb the light and cause the material to fold without anyone having to touch it. The wider the line, the greater the angle of each fold, so it's possible to set, say, a 90-degree bend for a cube or 120 degrees for a pyramid. What's more, by giving the lines different patterns, folds can be made to work in specific directions, potentially producing the most perfect, most hygienic bento box that's ever contained your lunch. Click past the break to watch the folding unfold.
NC State researchers team with IBM to keep cloud-stored data away from prying eyes
The man on your left is Dr. Peng Ning -- a computer science professor at NC State whose team, along with researchers from IBM, has developed an experimental new method for safely securing cloud-stored data. Their approach, known as a "Strongly Isolated Computing Environment" (SICE), would essentially allow engineers to isolate, store and process sensitive information away from a computing system's hypervisors -- programs that allow networked operating systems to operate independently of one another, but are also vulnerable to hackers. With the Trusted Computing Base (TCB) as its software foundation, Ping's technique also allows programmers to devote specific CPU cores to handling sensitive data, thereby freeing up the other cores to execute normal functions. And, because TCB consists of just 300 lines of code, it leaves a smaller "surface" for cybercriminals to attack. When put to the test, the SICE architecture used only three percent of overhead performance for workloads that didn't require direct network access -- an amount that Ping describes as a "fairly modest price to pay for the enhanced security." He acknowledges, however, that he and his team still need to find a way to speed up processes for workloads that do depend on network access, and it remains to be seen whether or not their technique will make it to the mainstream anytime soon. For now, though, you can float past the break for more details in the full PR.
Researchers develop method to measure effects of WiFi attacks
America is built on the principles of life, liberty and WiFi, the latter of which has increasingly become a target for hackers hoping to mess up our chi. To predict what would happen as result of an assault, researchers at North Carolina State University created two models -- one based on a continuous jam of service, and one on an intermittent disruption that would cut off service during specific times. They then measured "order gain," which compares the probability of an attacker having network access to the probability of a legitimate user having access. Basically, the more control a hacker has, the more regular users that will lose service and be shut out -- making it harder to regain control. Researchers hope the new method will help identify the most vulnerable networks, opening the doors to create effective countermeasures to keep our WiFi safe -- something that Starbucks customers will surely be thankful for.
New program makes it easier to turn your computer into a conversational chatterbox
We've already seen how awkward computers can be when they try to speak like humans, but researchers from North Carolina State and Georgia Tech have now developed a program that could make it easier to show them how it's done. Their approach, outlined in a recently published paper, would allow developers to create natural language generation (NLG) systems twice as fast as currently possible. NLG technology is used in a wide array of applications (including video games and customer service centers), but producing these systems has traditionally required developers to enter massive amounts of data, vocabulary and templates -- rules that computers use to develop coherent sentences. Lead author Karthik Narayan and his team, however, have created a program capable of learning how to use these templates on its own, thereby requiring developers to input only basic information about any given topic of conversation. As it learns how to speak, the software can also make automatic suggestions about which information should be added to its database, based on the conversation at hand. Narayan and his colleagues will present their study at this year's Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment conference in October, but you can dig through it for yourself, at the link below.
