From the January 8, 2008 issue of NIST Tech Beat:

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a novel technique for measuring the roughness of surfaces that is casting doubt on the accuracy of current procedures. Their results announced in a forthcoming paper* could cut development costs for automakers as they […]

PCB Piezotroncs’ Model 106M160 is a high-intensity ICP acoustic microphone, designed for measuring airbag deployment noise and total impulse of an inflation event occurring inside of an automotive cabin. The unit offers sensitivities of 79.8 mV/kPa (550 mV/psi); a measurement range of 189 dB (57.2 kPa); 96 dB (1.4 Pa) resolution; and frequency response of […]

The new on-line interactive Agilent Test & Measurement Catalog 2008/09 is now available, with enhanced features that include:

Sending an email to a colleague that links to a specific page within the catalog
Bookmarking pages for ease of future reference
Saving the catalog to your desktop or CD enabling off-line viewing/portability
Making personal reference notes on the catalog […]

Test&Measurement World is offering a white paper by Honeywell on torque measurement and the new NEW 2008 Honeywell Sensing and Control Test and Measurement Catalog. The catalog includes information on:

load cells, pressure transducers, torque sensors, instrumentation accelerometers and displacement sensors,
off-the-shelf products and customized solutions, and
highly accurate, stable sensors engineered for harsh environments.

Modern Tire Dealer reports:
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. has signed a contract with IDIADA Automotive Technology SA, a Spanish company, to allow Yokohama Rubber to preferentially use IDIADA’s new test track.
The test track is under construction. It is scheduled to start operation in April.
The term of the contract is 15 years, from 2008 through […]

R744.Com, which bills itself, “your marketplace for CO2 technology news and policy,” reports that a European Parliament report calls for emissions tests to more accurately reflect real-life driving situations. The article notes:
The European Commission should start to revise emissions testing procedures to better reflect real-life driving conditions, according to Members of the European Parliament […]

The Engineer Online is running an article on the use of the use of high-speed, rolling-road wind tunnels in motorsports testing. The article, titled “Ultimate Test,” notes, “In addition to their obvious benefits these systems, which represent elaborate integrations of materials, mechanical, electronic and control technologies, are also engineering marvels in their own right.”
They’re more […]

This isn’t directly test-related, but it’s so bizarre that I had to post it:
Motorcycle Cancer Seat Patent Granted
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The United Kingdom has granted a patent to Canadian inventor Randall Dale Chipkar for his innovative ‘electromagnetic shielding motorcycle seat’. The invention is designed to shield motorcycle electromagnetic field radiation from penetrating the rider’s vital […]

The Physical Modeling Consortium, a forum in which organizations can share ideas and advance the development of Rapid Plant Modeling methodology based on symbolic computation, held its inaugural meeting today. The meeting was held in conjunction with the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Symposium on Advances in Automotive Control. At this meeting, Toyota presented […]

MTS Systems Corp. is using 3D CAD software to more efficiently design, configure, and assemble its custom test systems, including automotive road simulators, earthquake simulators, aircraft frame testers, and wear testers for biomedical devices. Since adopting the software, the Eden Prairie, MN company has been able to speed up delivery of these systems so that […]