Chicago, IL — Numerous useful solutions and products from exhibitors highlighted National Manufacturing Week 2004, Feb. 23-26, at McCormick Place. Here are some of the show's most significant releases and exhibits:

• Cincinnati Tests Systems (CTS) Inc. exhibited its Falcon Leak Test System and its Sentinel M24 Leak Test Instrument. These two advances in leak test technology offer enhanced leak detection capabilities, and provide features that reduce process costs. Falcon Leak Test System simultaneously locates and calculates the leak rate, eliminating the need for costly additional leak tests.
• Flir Systems reports that its new infrared cameras, E4 and P60, can embed 30 seconds of voice annotation. This spoken input downloads with the other data into a standard Microsoft Word document by using Flir's ThermaCam Reporter 7 Report Wizard.
• The newly enhanced, highest-accuracy Interface Model 9840 smart indicator from Interface Force features a ±999,999 display range, peak and valley retention, full-duplex RS-232 interface, scaleable ±10 V dc output, selectable filters, and a straight-through high-speed analog output.
• Intermec Technologies Corp. showed its its RFID-ready CV60, which it reports is the first rugged, vehicle-mount computer to integrate RFID with both Bluetooth technology and a wireless base station.
• A new embedded computer-on-a-module from Men Micro has a large, 250,000-gate field programmable gate array (FPGA) that gives system designers the extreme flexibility they need to quickly implement functionality with resources already on-board. The EM04N embedded system module (ESM) features the Cyclone FPGA from Altera and a 266- or 400-MHz Kahlua II PowerPC processor (MPC8245).
• Pilz exhibited its new PIT emergency stop pushbutton, which is available for applications up to Category 4 in accordance with EN 954-1. It also meets the new requirements of IEC/EN 60947-5-5 and EN 418 to make it even safer. The pushbutton's safety contact prevents contact elements from being released without detection.