techduopulse / Latest
The newest reporting, analysis, explainers, reviews, and practical guides from the techduopulse newsroom.
Showing 97–120 of 320 stories
ExplainerA plain-English guide to optical, capacitive and ultrasonic phone fingerprint readers, where they fit on a handset, and what Android security boundaries mean for unlocking and app sign-in.
ExplainerLearn how phone microphones turn sound into audio for calls, voice notes and video, and why arrays, processing and placement affect the result.
ExplainerA beginner-friendly explanation of the phone GNSS receiver and antenna behind Maps, route recording and location sharing, including what changes between models.
ExplainerA plain-English guide to phone barometer sensor uses, including ambient-pressure readings, vertical-change estimates, model availability and the limits of floor and altitude results.
ExplainerLearn what an ambient-light sensor measures in a phone, how it feeds auto-brightness, and why placement, software tuning and screen glare affect the result.
ExplainerUnderstand how a phone proximity sensor helps switch off the display near your ear, why readings vary, and what to check when the screen behaves strangely during a call.
ExplainerA practical beginner guide to what a phone magnetometer measures, how Android turns field readings into direction, and why nearby metal or magnets can affect a compass.
ExplainerA plain-English guide to how a phone accelerometer detects tilt and movement, supports auto-rotate and gestures, and differs from Android’s software-derived sensors.
ExplainerGNSS radio occultation uses a dedicated LEO receiver to turn small changes in navigation-satellite signals into profiles of the atmosphere and ionosphere.
ExplainerUnderstand what the CERES broadband radiometer measures on NASA’s Aqua satellite, how its channels observe energy, and why radiation-budget data is not the same as a thermometer reading.
ExplainerLearn how the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on GOES-R satellites detects total lightning, what its optical data shows, and why forecasters use it for storms, aviation and wildfire monitoring.
ExplainerAMSU-A is a passive 15-channel microwave instrument that estimates atmospheric temperature structure from the surface to about 40 km, including observations designed to remain useful when clouds complicate infrared sensing.
ExplainerA plain-English guide to how NASA’s AIRS instrument on Aqua reads emitted infrared energy and turns it into three-dimensional atmospheric information.
ExplainerA plain-English guide to how an active microwave radar scatterometer reads sea-surface roughness and turns several backscatter views into a near-surface ocean wind vector.
ExplainerA beginner-friendly explanation of how a satellite radar altimeter measures ocean height, wave conditions and related Earth-surface signals along its track.
ExplainerThe GPM Microwave Imager reads natural microwave signals across 13 channels to support precipitation estimates, while DPR adds active radar measurements of storm structure.
ExplainerA plain-English guide to the GPM Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar, its Ku- and Ka-band measurements, what its 3D rain and snow data reveal, and where the satellite view has limits.
ExplainerA plain-English guide to how an active spaceborne laser altimeter measures ice, land and sea-ice elevation, using NASA’s ICESat-2 as the example.
ExplainerSynthetic aperture radar satellites send microwave pulses to Earth and read the returning signal, enabling useful imaging day or night and in many cloudy conditions.
ExplainerA beginner-friendly explanation of how Landsat 8 TIRS senses emitted thermal infrared radiance and supports observations of water use, glaciers and urban heat.
ExplainerA plain-English guide to the Sentinel-2 multispectral imager, its 13 bands, spatial resolutions, repeat coverage and practical limits for observing land and vegetation.
ExplainerThe GRACE-FO accelerometer does not read gravity directly. It measures drag, solar pressure and other non-gravitational forces so the twin-satellite mission can infer changes in Earth's gravity.
ExplainerAn onboard GNSS receiver listens to navigation satellites to estimate a spacecraft's position, velocity and time. Here is what it measures, how orbit determination works, and why the receiver is not an Earth-imaging payload.
ExplainerA plain-English guide to what a satellite IMU measures, how it supports three-axis attitude control, and why it cannot replace every spacecraft reference sensor.
