Daily News Briefs

Agilent Technologies Inc. this week introduced a reference design kit for high-resolution, LED-based optical mice aimed at the PC gaming market. Agilent collaborated with Cypress Semiconductor to develop the mouse, which is based on the Cypress CY7C63743-PXC microcontroller and the Agilent ADNS-3080 LED-based optical mouse sensor for gaming mice. The kit includes a sample optical mouse with complete schematics, layout and firmware. For more information, visit: www.agilent.com/view/opticalnavigation . . . Japan's space agency, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), announced it will launch the Astro-EII satellite, carrying five x-ray telescopes that detect traces of light, as early as next month. The goal of the project is to study black holes and far-off galaxies. JAXA plans to use the satellite as an orbiting space observatory after the mission. The Astro-Ell, developed with the United States, was originally scheduled to lift off earlier this year but was delayed as JAXA concentrated on successfully launching its H-IIA communications satellite. Its launch was planned between June 26 and July 15 but could be delayed until August, said JAXA on its Web site. JAXA announced last month it plans to send astronauts into space and set up a base on the moon by 2025, but it later said severe budget cuts threaten its space program's survival. . . . Melles Griot announced that David E. Smith was appointed vice president of global initiatives. Smith was formerly vice president and general manager of the Melles Griot Optics Group, in Rochester, N.Y. Charles E. Synborski was named general manager of the Optics Group, for which he was previously director of marketing and sales. Smith, a past president of the Rochester chapter of the Optical Society of America (OSA), is on OSA's board of corporate associates and its David Richardson medal committee. He is also on the editorial advisory board of Photonics Spectra. Before joining Melles Griot, Synborski held executive positions at Fusion UV Systems, Hansford Automation, Carl Zeiss, Perkin Elmer and Tropel. Melles Griot is a Carlsbad, Calif.-based supplier of photonics products including optical components and systems, lasers, motion control systems, laser measurement instrumentation, optomechanical hardware and vibration-isolated optical tables and workstations. . . . Special Optics Inc., of Wharton, N.J., announced that Rosh Electroptics, of Netany, Israel, will represent its optics catalog and custom sales for military and semiconductor applications in Israel.