A key roadblock to widespread use of long-range electric vehicles — the longer time needed for a complete recharge compared to a gas station fill-up — may soon be overcome, thanks to DOE support for extreme fast-charging battery research. Fueled by a $1.5 million award from DOE’s Vehicle Technology Office, Sandia and the University of Michigan have teamed up to develop engineered battery materials that can be charged in less than 10 minutes.
Whetstone, a software tool that sharpens the output of artificial neurons, has enabled neural computer networks to process information up to a hundred times more efficiently than the current industry standard. The software, created by Sandia neuroscientists, greatly reduces the amount of circuitry needed to perform autonomous tasks and is expected to increase the penetration of artificial intelligence into numerous markets.
When Sandia tests the performance of high-capacity energy storage devices, the power sources group frequently would hit obstacles that reduced efficiencies and stretched out schedules. Those obstacles have now been removed with the construction of a 7,500 square-foot Battery Test Facility that enables the team to assemble and test batteries more efficiently for customers to validate whether they perform up to expectations.
Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, DOE undersecretary for nuclear security, visited Sandia/New Mexico on Jan. 29. During the visit, Gordon-Hagerty toured some of Sandia's facilities and met with early career staff members to discuss the role of the national labs’ next-generation researchers.
Sandia/California’s medical staff and Protective Force were put to the test last month during a simulated attack involving a drone and a pipe bomb. The exercise also tested the emergency alert system used to notify members of the workforce.
Three Sandia researchers were honored for their leadership and technical achievements at the 2019 Black Engineer of the Year STEM Global Competitiveness Conference. Warren Davis, Quincy Johnson and Olivia Underwood received their awards during the conference in Washington, D.C. The annual meeting recognizes black scientists and engineers and is a program of the national Career Communications Group, which advocates for corporate diversity.
Well-known software developer, author and instructor Robert C. Martin says “clean code” is software code that is simple, easy to read and understand, and easy to change. Martin gave nine talks over two days to launch a series of newly available Clean Code training videos for employees.
A team of Sandia social-behavioral scientists and computational modelers recently completed a two-year effort, dubbed “Mustang,” to assess interactions and behaviors of two extremist groups. The purpose of their study was to inform U.S. and U.K. decision-makers about the groups' possible reactions to specific communications.
Quantum computing is a term that periodically flashes across the media sky like heat lightning in the desert: brilliant, attention-getting and then vanishing from the public’s mind with no apparent aftereffects. Yet a multimillion-dollar international effort to build quantum computers is hardly going away. Now, three new Sandia projects (and a fourth a year underway) aim to bring the wiggly subject into steady illumination.
An EMP emitted by a nuclear weapon exploded high above the U.S. could disable the electronic circuits of many devices vital to military defense and modern living. Fortunately, military equipment is designed to be immune to various levels of EMP, and the validity of those designs has been tested and improved by a “friendly” EMP generator at Sandia.