Technology and the built world

Electronic Road Pricing

Electronic Road Pricing is Singapore's electronic congestion-charging system, introduced in 1998 to replace the Area Licensing Scheme, which deducts fees automatically as vehicles pass roadside gantries during operating hours.

Electronic signature

An electronic signature, or e-signature, is data or an electronic sound, symbol, or process adopted with intent to sign a record, and it carries legal effect.

Oct 22, 2026

Electronic skin

Electronic skin, also known as e-skin or artificial skin, is a thin, flexible sensor system that mimics human skin sensing, with uses in health monitoring, robotics, and prosthetics.

Electronic speed control

An electronic speed control (ESC) is a circuit that regulates the speed of an electric motor, most commonly in radio-controlled aircraft, cars, boats, and drones.

Electronic stability control

Electronic stability control (ESC), also called the Electronic Stability Program, is a vehicle safety system that brakes individual wheels to stop skids. It debuted in the 1995 Mercedes-Benz S 600.

Electronic symbol

An electronic symbol, also called a circuit or schematic symbol, is a standardized pictogram representing components such as resistors, batteries, and transistors in circuit diagrams, defined by the international IEC 60617 standard.

Electronic System for Travel Authorization

The Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, is an automated U.S. system that screens Visa Waiver Program travelers before they board a carrier to the United States.

Electronic throttle control

Electronic throttle control, also called throttle-by-wire, is an automotive technology in which an engine control unit positions the throttle with an electric motor instead of a cable.

Electronic ticket

An electronic ticket, or e-ticket, is an airline ticket stored in the airline's database rather than printed on paper, with only an itinerary receipt as evidence.

Electronic toll collection

Electronic toll collection (ETC) is a system that charges road tolls automatically, identifying vehicles electronically so drivers need not stop and pay cash at toll booths.

Electronic trigger

An electronic trigger is a firearm firing control in which an electrical signal, rather than a mechanical linkage, releases or initiates the shot, first widespread in Olympic free pistols.

Electronic waste

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is discarded electrical or electronic equipment and one of the world's fastest growing waste streams, reaching 62 billion kg in 2022.

Electronics

Electronics is the branch of physics and engineering that controls electron flow through components like vacuum tubes, transistors, and integrated circuits to amplify, switch, and process signals.

Electronics manufacturing services

Electronics manufacturing services, often called contract manufacturing, is an industry in which companies design, manufacture, test, and repair electronics on behalf of original equipment manufacturers.

Electroperú

Electroperú (Empresa de Electricidad del Perú S.A.) is a Peruvian state-owned electricity company founded in 1972, whose Mantaro complex supplies about 13 percent of Peru's energy.

Electropolishing

Electropolishing is an electrochemical finishing method that removes metal from a workpiece anodically, ion by ion, to level, brighten, and passivate it, widely used in the medical, food, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor industries.

Oct 22, 2026

Electropulsing treatment

Electropulsing treatment is a materials-processing technique in which short pulses of high-density electric current passed through a metal refine grains, relieve stress, and heal fatigue cracks.

Electroshock weapon

An electroshock weapon, also called an electroshock gun or conducted energy device, is a less-lethal weapon that incapacitates by electric current, as in the Taser.

Electroslag remelting

Electroslag remelting (ESR), also called electro-flux remelting, is a secondary refining process that melts a consumable electrode through molten slag into a water-cooled mold, producing cleaner ingots.

Electrospinning

Electrospinning, also called the electrospinning method, is a fiber fabrication technique that uses an electric field to draw a charged polymer solution or melt into fibers from micrometers down to nanometers.

Electrospray thruster

An electrospray thruster is a spacecraft propulsion device that uses an electric field to accelerate charged droplets from a liquid propellant, producing micronewton thrust for small satellites.

Electrospraying

Electrospraying, also called electrospray, is a technique in which a strong electric field breaks a liquid at a capillary tip into fine charged droplets, down to submicron sizes.

Electrostatic adhesion clutches

Electrostatic adhesion clutches, also called electroadhesive or EA clutches, are lightweight solid-state couplings that transmit shear force through voltage-controlled electrostatic friction, switching on millisecond timescales.

Electrostatic adhesion pad

An electrostatic adhesion pad, also called an electroadhesive pad, is a compliant sheet of electrodes in an insulating dielectric that sticks to surfaces when a voltage is applied.

Electrostatic precipitation

Electrostatic precipitation is an air pollution control method that removes dust and smoke from gas streams by charging particles and collecting them on oppositely charged electrodes.

Electrostatic separation

Electrostatic separation is the sorting of solid particles from a granular mixture by electric forces on charged or polarized particles, used in mineral sands and recycling.

Electrostatic spray deposition

Electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) is a thin-film coating technique that uses a high electric field to atomize a precursor solution into charged droplets that form a film on a substrate.

Electrothermal micromirror

An electrothermal micromirror is a MEMS scanning mirror whose plate is tilted by heat-generating bimorph actuators, giving large scan angles and low voltage but slow response.

Electrothermal-chemical technology

Electrothermal-chemical technology, or ETC, is a gun propulsion technology in which an electrical pulse creates plasma that ignites the propellant, raising muzzle velocities by perhaps 30 to 40 percent.