Part of the Union Pacific Railroad’s answer is in a Precision Measurement Vehicle (PMV). To develop and improve the company’s infrastructure, the PMV is used to provide accurate locations and detailed descriptions of all facilities that can be seen and measured from the track. Global Positioning System (GPS) data from the PMV provides the location […]
Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)
Fly inside a building with the help of vibration sensors
Due to gravity, when skydivers jump out of an airplane, they immediately fall toward the earth, falling several thousand feet in less than a minute before opening their parachutes. For indoor skydiving, where you float less than 100 feet above ground level, there is no parachute and a rather sophisticated process is involved that uses […]
What advanced sensing techniques are used to find lost treasures? Part 5: LiDAR
This series has previously addressed magnetometry, electromagnetic induction , ground penetrating radar and resistivity measurements. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is another sensing technique frequently used by archeologists and treasure hunters to find objects. While it can be used alone, it is often combined with electromagnetic induction, magnetometry and/or electrical resistivity measurements. LiDAR data analysis […]
What advanced sensing techniques are used to find lost treasures? Part 4: Resistivity measurements
This series has previously addressed magnetometry, electromagnetic induction and ground penetrating radar. Another sensing technique frequently used by archeologists and treasure hunters to find objects involves resistivity measurements. Unlike other sensing techniques, resistance measurements involve inserting metal probes into the ground rather than non-invasive surface measurements. Since electrical currents are conducted through the soil by […]
What advanced sensing techniques are used to find lost treasures? Part 3: Ground penetrating radar
This series has previously addressed magnetometry and electromagnetic induction. While both of these sensing techniques are frequently used by archeologists and treasure hunters to find objects, they are often combined with ground penetrating radar (GPR) to improve the search results. Compared to other commonly available geophysical methods, GPR is the only one that provides true […]
What advanced sensing techniques are used to find lost treasures? Part 2: Electromagnetic induction
Part 1 of this series addressed magnetometry. Another sensing technique used by archeologists and treasure hunters to find objects is electromagnetic induction (EMI or EM). EMI sensing measures the change in mutual impedance between a pair of coils on or above the earth’s surface. Typical EMI instruments use two or more sets of coils, electrically […]
What advanced sensing techniques are used to find lost treasures? Part 1: Magnetometry
While “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” the same types of advanced sensing techniques are used both for investigating archeological sites that frequently reveal much about previous inhabitants from their garbage to true treasure hunts for gold, silver, lost gems and more. Among the more commonly used sensing techniques are magnetometry, electromagnetic induction (EMI […]
Beer’s Law: What is it and how is it used?
No. It has nothing to do with drinking too many beers and getting a beer belly. Named after German mathematician and chemist, August Beer, Beer’s law (or the Beer-Lambert law) observes the linear relationship between absorbance and concentration of a dissolved substance in a solution and is usually expressed as: A = a(λ) * b […]
What cool sensor-enabled products were at CES 2018? Part 6
At CES 2018, exhibit companies displayed many new products for smart homes, smart health, smart cars and more. One of the features that people expect to see in future vehicles is autonomous driving. To go beyond today’s technology demonstrations and be affordable to the masses, automotive suppliers will have to make the sensing technologies more […]
What role does sensing play in bike-sharing?
They’re green. They’re yellow and many other very obvious colors. And, if they are in your town, they seem to be everywhere. Bike-sharing has become a high-volume business for companies with unusual names, like Ofo, Didi Chuxing, Mobike, LimeBike, and more. According to Ofo’s website, the process simply consists of: “Find it. Scan it. Ride […]
