A team of National Institute of Standards and Technology scientists has invented a “nondestructive” process for quality control testing of carbon nanotube and graphene materials that are increasingly used in the electronics manufacturing sector.

NIST said Friday the method employs a microwave cavity designed for measurement of film properties and an electrical circuit intended to measure resonance frequency changes.

Physicists Christian Long, Nathan Orloff and Jan Obrzut helped assemble the testing equipment, which the agency says is built upon roll-to-roll processing technology used for the bulk production of nanomaterials.

“This method could significantly boost prospects of not making a faulty batch in the first place,” Long said.

Manufacturers use carbon nanotubes and graphene to build composite aircraft components, wearable electronic devices and smartphone screens, according to NIST.

Long, Orloff and Obrzut filed a patent for the nanomanufacturing quality-control technique in December.

Mike Tanner, president and CEO of Hitachi Data Systems Federal Corp., has said the adoption of tiered storage tools and software-defined platforms can help federal agencies address the challenges posed by big data.

Tanner wrote in an article published Thursday on FedTech Magazine that agencies can categorize data based on security level through the adoption of network function virtualization and software-defined networks.

He said SDN aims to help manage agencies’ legacy information technology infrastructures and provide them an opportunity to adopt cloud computing, mobile platforms and other emerging technologies.

Tanner cited tiered storage platforms as designed to help agencies facilitate data migration.

“The automation and effectiveness of these storage settings ease federal chief technology officers’ and chief information officers’ jobs by synthesizing databases through analytics, thus easing the challenge big data presents,” he added.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said the U.S. National Guard‘s cyber squadrons could be called upon to participate in the campaign against the Islamic State militant group, Reuters reported Sunday.

Andrea Shalal writes the squadrons will take part in the government’s effort to assess potential cybersecurity gaps in U.S. industrial infrastructure.

Carter said at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, Washington, the National Guard’s 262nd squadron could engage in cyber missions in the future, according to the report.

“Units like this can also participate in offensive cyber operations of the kind that I have stressed we are conducting, and actually accelerating, in Iraq and Syria, to secure the prompt defeat of ISIL, which we need to do and will do,” Carter added.

The 262nd squadron is a group of 101 people that includes employees from Microsoft and Google, Reuters reports.

Five companies presented multiple technology projects to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and other Defense Department officials during an event held at the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental facility in Silicon Valley last week, DoD News reported Friday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes George Duchak, director of the DIUx organization, said entrepreneurs pitched their cybersecurity, intelligence analysis and unmanned technologies during the showcase program.

“Just as we’ve worked hard to introduce entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley to DoD and opportunities to work more closely together, we’ve worked equally hard to contextualize what we’ve learned here for the Pentagon’s senior leaders,” Duchak noted.

Carter visited the DIUx office last week as part of his West Coast tour to promote collaboration between DoD and the technology sector.

Featured projects at the event include dynamic network mapping, micro-virtualization for endpoint protection, solar energy-powered unmanned maritime system, automated textual analysis, lean startup methodology and aerial and terrestrial mesh networks, Pellerin reports.