Researchers in the United States have demonstrated a diesel engine system that can meet Tier 5 emissions standards proposed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

Developed by researchers from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), the diesel engine system is designed to help off-highway diesel vehicles.

“CARB’s Tier 5 rules aim to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions by a significant margin,” said Alex Michlberger, a lead engineer in SwRI’s Powertrain Engineering Division. “However, the industry doesn’t currently have a cost-effective solution to meet Tier 5. Our project is meant to help provide that solution.”

Optimized calibration strategies

SwRI-developed hardware modifications and optimized calibration strategies that allowed an off-road vehicle with a commercially available diesel engine to meet the standards without negatively affecting performance.  

Researchers also revealed an engine’s power level determines the allowable emissions for off-road vehicles. Most off-road engines operating between 19 and 56-kilowatts (kW) do not have a clear technical path for compliance with the new standards. Engines above the 56-kW threshold are expected to use emissions control technologies resembling those used by on-road vehicles, while applications currently using engines below 19 kW are expected to electrify. 

SwRI conducted extensive laboratory testing

It’s also revealed that SwRI conducted extensive laboratory testing on a commercially available 55-kW, four-cylinder diesel engine to identify potential Tier 5 solutions.

The project utilized exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) to mitigate NOx and other calibration strategies to control PM. This approach required both hardware and calibration modifications. To enable a higher EGR rate, the team modified the turbocharger waste gate control to increase boost, and they installed a higher capacity EGR cooler. The hardware and calibration changes together demonstrated low emissions while maintaining engine performance, according to a press release.

The team also revealed that SwRI’s improved system achieved the Tier 5 targets in both ramped modal cycle (RMC) and non-road transient cycle (NRTC) certification tests. The researchers compared NOx, non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) and PM emissions with the Tier 5 targets.

“In the RMC demonstrations, we saw NOx emissions reduced by 22%and NMHC by 56%, compared to the Tier 5 target. For the NRTC, we found NOx emissions reduced by 28%and NMHC by 50%, compared to the Tier 5 target,” Michlberger said. “In short, we achieved significant reductions in emissions with an innovative engine calibration and minimal hardware changes.”

The successful demonstration suggests that off-road vehicle manufacturers may not need to rely solely on costly new technologies or full electrification to meet future emissions requirements. Instead, carefully engineered hardware upgrades combined with advanced calibration techniques could provide a realistic pathway toward cleaner and more sustainable off-road transportation.

As emissions regulations continue to tighten worldwide, SwRI’s work highlights the important role of engineering innovation in helping industries reduce environmental impact while preserving performance, reliability, and economic feasibility.

A new type of radar to detect drones nearby ports, vessels, harbours, and critical maritime infrastructure has been introduced. Developed by Robin Radar Systems, IRIS OTM at Sea is designed for seamless land-to-sea deployments.

The new system is a major expansion of its IRIS On-The-Move (OTM) capability.

The comprehensive update is aimed at strengthening counter-UAS protection for shipping lanes, naval operations, and coastal assets. 

Offshore assets are exposed to low-cost aerial threats

“What we are seeing globally is that the drone threat is no longer confined to the battlefield or to land-based infrastructure. Shipping lanes, ports, harbours and offshore assets are now all exposed to low-cost aerial threats that can disrupt trade, damage infrastructure and threaten civilian safety,” said Siete Hamminga, CEO, Robin Radar Systems.

“The Strait of Hormuz has once again demonstrated how vulnerable critical maritime corridors can become during periods of instability. IRIS OTM at Sea is being designed to answer that challenge with a rapidly deployable, software-defined capability that can move seamlessly between land and sea.”

IRIS OTM at Sea will detect, track, and classify drones

Originally developed to operate from moving land vehicles traveling at speeds exceeding 62 mph (100km/h), IRIS On-The-Move will now be adapted for maritime environments through advanced software enhancements that compensate for sea clutter, vessel movement, and challenging coastal conditions, according to a press release.

Designed to be mounted on vessels, IRIS OTM at Sea will detect, track, and classify drones while travelling at speeds of up to 54 knots, operating effectively in extreme environments thanks to its salt- and corrosion-resistant engineering, resonance tolerance, and EMC-compliant architecture.Unlike traditional static radars, IRIS is designed to move with the threat itself, providing persistent situational awareness across highly dynamic environments, as per the release.

The company revealed that the radar’s software architecture will be updated to filter out heavy sea reflections and environmental clutter to isolate small airborne threats operating close to the waterline, an increasingly important capability as drone incursions continue to evolve across maritime theatres.

Robin Radar Systems highlighted that the maritime update has been shaped directly by operational lessons from ongoing live-fire environments, where the need for flexible, mobile counter-UAS systems capable of protecting dynamic environments has accelerated dramatically.  The company’s engineering teams reportedly adapted the system specifically to address the increasing use of fixed-wing drones and low-altitude aerial threats around strategic shipping corridors and maritime infrastructure.

“Modern security demands speed and flexibility. Operators need systems that can deploy quickly, integrate easily, and adapt as threats evolve,” said Vivien Croes, Chief Technical Officer, Robin Radar Systems.

“What makes this update important is that we are taking a combat-proven radar and extending its capabilities into one of the most operationally complex environments in the world. The future of counter-UAS is not static infrastructure, it is agile, mobile sensing systems capable of protecting people, critical infrastructure and global commerce wherever threats emerge.”

Researchers in the United States have built a technology that boosts the performance of electron microscopes. Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley physicists’ new technique offers detailed images of the small molecules and cell structures that are crucial to understanding biology and disease.

They have adapted the phase-contrast technique to cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), which has about 10,000 times the magnification of light microscopy. Their laser-based phase plate produces sharp images of molecules that today’s cutting-edge cryo-EM systems struggle to capture. 

The research team revealed that the new technology was brought to fruition by more than 15 years of theoretical and experimental work by leading microscopy scientists, collaboration with expert machinists, and support from Biohub.

More accurate atomic models of the molecules captured

The phase plate is paired with a new, custom Thermo Fisher Scientific microscope that was developed to maximize the benefit of the plate’s ultra-bright laser. Images taken by the system are notably clearer and sharper and contain greater detail that structure-solving software can process to generate more accurate atomic models of the molecules captured, according to a press release.

“Theia is the Formula 1 of microscopes. It has better resolution than the standard cryo-EM, even without the laser. With the addition of the laser phase plate, we hope that it really becomes one of the world’s best instruments overall,” said Holger Müller, a UC Berkeley professor of physics and faculty scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Biosciences Area who led the development effort.

“Before, studying structures with cryo-EM was like trying to look at paintings in a dark gallery. With Theia, it’s like the lights have been turned on for the first time.”

More accurate atomic models of the molecules captured

The team also demonstrated the system’s power by imaging aldolase, a protein in muscle that is relatively easy to capture with today’s cryo-EM machines, and hemoglobin — a protein that carries oxygen in blood. Hemoglobin is a smaller protein that sits at the lower size limit for current machines and is often used as a benchmark for cryo-EM performance. The laser-phase plate improved the resolution of the protein structure in both cases, but more so for the hemoglobin.

“We had a whole spectrum from larger particles that are not that challenging with extremely good specimen preparation to challenging small particles with bad preparation. Of course, the better the specimen, the less important it is that you have a top microscope. It was the most challenging ones is where we see the strongest improvements,” said Müller.

Team to expand microscope beyond single-particle analysis

The system is currently installed at UC Berkeley, and the team is now working to expand the microscope beyond single-particle analysis to perform a newer technique referred to as cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET).

Similar to how CT (computed tomography) scans at the hospital generate images of body parts, cryo-ET assembles different angular views of a molecule or cellular structure into a 3D image. Cryo-ET will provide a huge leap in scientists’ ability to study cellular processes because it captures molecules in their natural states inside cells, unlike single-particle cryo-EM, and offers much higher resolution than light microscopy, as per the release.