Exotic Quasicrystal May Represent New Type of Mineral

A team of researchers says it has found in a Russian mineral sample the first natural example of a quasicrystal, an unusual material that displays some of the properties of a crystal but boasts a more intricate and complex structure. Since quasicrystals were characterized 25 years ago, numerous versions have been cooked up in the laboratory, but a natural example would indicate that nature's products are more diverse than previously thought.

Read More

Cloaking Made Simpler, but Invisible Humans Not Yet a Reality

In recent years, optics researchers have come up with numerous concepts for invisibility cloaks—camouflaging that would effectively reroute light so as to conceal an object within. Most of those approaches have relied on so-called metamaterials, carefully engineered structures designed to have bizarre optical properties. But a team of researchers has now designed a much simpler cloaking apparatus that does away with the need for metamaterials entirely. Even if a Harry Potter–style invisibility cloak never materializes, the simplification of such extreme light manipulation may have more immediate applications in communications and computing.

Read More

MC-12 Liberty: The Air Force’s New Eye in the Sky

The Air Force's newest intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, the MC-12 took off yesterday for its first combat mission in Iraq.

Read More

Engineers Take Cues from Beetles to Make a Super-Efficient Robo-Boat

Dolphins are elegant swimmers, but waterlily leaf beetle larvae take first place for the simplest stroke. The insect just arches its back to manipulate a basic physics principle that lets it glide across water. Now engineers have borrowed this technique to make a tiny boat that could autonomously patrol water reservoirs for months on just a watch battery.

The larva's efficiency relies on surface tension, the force that causes water molecules to stick together. By arching its body, the larva disrupts the water's tension in such a way that the bug moves forward. Sung Kwon Cho, an engineer at the University of Pittsburgh, decided to harness the tension, like the beetle does, to move an inch-long boat. But instead of making a bendable craft, Cho attached a Teflon-coated electrode to the plastic boat's stern.

Read More

Unmanned Sub Dives the Marianas Trench on a Hair-Thin Tether

Nereus becomes the third craft to explore the bottom of the Marianas Trench

On May 31, the unmanned submersible Nereus became only the third craft ever to reach the full depth of the Marianas Trench, 35,770 feet below sea level. Built by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the sub is a hybrid of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The Nereus runs on its own battery power, but researchers on a mother ship send it commands over a single hair-thin fiber-optic line that’s 25 miles long but weighs just 1.35 pounds.

Read More

A Word With the Inventor of the Battlefield Snakebot and the Wall-Scaling Snailbot

Israeli roboticist Amir Shapiro looks to the animal kingdom to design robots that can go where humans can't

The Israel Defense Forces are preparing to deploy a camouflage-wearing, camera-toting robot snake. The spybot, which slithers through cracks and caves using principles of motion derived from those of actual snakes, is just one of roboticist Amir Shapiro's clever designs based on animal physiology. We visited Dr. Shapiro's lab at Ben Gurion University of the Negev to get a closer look.

Read More

Ultrafast lasers shape up with femtoFit

The 2009 PhAST/LFW Innovation Award winner was BioPhotonic Solutions (East Lansing, MI) for femtoFit--a miniature pulse shaper that uses proven multiphoton intrapulse interference phase scan (MIIPS) technology to compress ultrafast laser pulses at their target; however, femtoFit is roughly one-third the price, twice as fast during automated pulse characterization, and 1/10th the volume of first-generation MIIPS systems (see "Phast/LFW award puts "innovation" first").

Read More

A New Twist on Memristance

NIST researchers create flexible memory circuits that act like memristors

Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in Gaithersburg, Md., report in the July 2009 issue of IEEE Electron Device Letters that they have created a low-power, inexpensive flexible memory that has the properties of a memristor. Memristors can be used to make brainlike circuits and nanoelectronic memories, because they ”remember” the amount of current that has flowed through them, and that memory is reflected in the device’s resistance.

Read More

Wind tunnel tests set for open rotor engine technology

General Electric and NASA today announced details for a pending series of the first wind tunnel tests for open rotor technology since the late 1980s.

The tests will begin in the third quarter by re-enacting the 1980s-era tests using identical counter-rotating fan blades as used on the GE36, GE says.

Read More

USAF to arm B-2A with massive bunker-buster bomb

The US Air Force today revealed plans to acquire a small arsenal of a new 13,600kg (30,000lb) penetrator bomb to deploy on Northrop Grumman B-2As in three years.

Read More

Wide Area Augmentation Comes of Age

The FAA's Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), first commissioned in 2003 and now fully operational, is providing large-scale benefits for operators flying WAAS-equipped aircraft. The system provides the levels of accuracy, integrity, continuity and availability needed to transform GPS from a supplemental-means navigation system into a primary- or sole-means nav system. It's a key element in the FAA's master plan to transition from ground-based navaids to satellite navigation, thereby improving airspace system efficiency and reducing the agency's operating costs - or so it is hoped.

Read More

Visibility from End to End

During the Internet boom, retailers and consumer packaged goods manufacturers began talking about a new kind of demand-driven supply chain. Rather than build product based on historical forecasts, load up a warehouse and then push it out to the marketplace, savvy supply chain managers would capture real-time demand from point of sale systems and cash registers and use the emerging supply chain planning and management tools to make things according to demand. Sell one, make one. If a company could really capture what its customers were buying, less excess inventory would pile up in warehouses.

Read More

RAF Revisits Core Air-Launched Weapon

The Royal Air Force is recasting a key capability in its air-to-surface repertoire as it tries to secure cash for the initial elements of the program in the next funding round.

Known as Selective Precision Effects at Range (Spear), the project is being redrawn as a multistage rather than a two-tier effort, as previously envisioned. Weapons procured to meet elements of Spear will be carried by the Tornado GR4, Eurofighter Typhoon and the Joint Combat Aircraft (Lockheed Martin F-35B).

Read More

Boeing Studies Stealth Eagle Options

Boeing is studying the levels of radar cross-section (RCS) reduction possible with its F-15SE Silent Eagle in advance of licensing discussions with the U.S. government on possibly exporting the stealthy fighter.

“It’s not how low can you go, it’s how low are you allowed to go, and the U.S. government controls that,” says Brad Jones, Boeing program manager for F-15 future fighters. “We can get to different levels depending on the country.”

Read More

Squad-sized ‘Super Units’ May Best Confront Hybrid Warfare, Leaders Say

The U.S. military is studying how to improve smaller-unit capabilities to better confront enemies who practice irregular or conventional warfare, or both, a senior U.S. military officer said here today.

The studies are part of U.S. Joint Forces Command’s National Program for Small Unit Excellence initiative, Army Maj. Gen. Jason K. Kamiya, chief of the Norfolk, Va.,-based command’s joint training directorate, and the commander of its Joint Warfighting Center, told reporters at a Pentagon roundtable meeting.

Read More

SLD 500 Counter Sniper Systems Delivered to the US Marines

CILAS is delivering two SLD 500 counter snipers systems to the US Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC). The order was placed last December after several trial campaigns in various weather and distance conditions.

Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) intends to test in depth the capabilities of this system before using it to protect the US Forces engaged in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read More

Iridium Awarded US Navy Contract for DTCS Development

Iridium Satellite LLC (Iridium) announces that the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren has awarded one of its subsidiaries a $21,688,808 indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity cost-type contract to support development and delivery of the Distributed Tactical Communications System (DTCS). DTCS is an extension of "Netted Iridium," the company's push-to-talk communications capability. DTCS will provide over-the-horizon, on-the-move, beyond line-of-sight netted voice and data communications over the Iridium network for the tactical warfighter.

Read More

New Vehicles Square Up to the Challenge

Tougher vehicles to deal with the harsh Afghanistan terrain have been put to work on frontline operations.

The first batch of more than 300 new Mastiff 2 and Ridgback armoured vehicles are now in Afghanistan and operational with trained crews, giving troop commanders better capability for battlefield tasks.The vehicles have been given a number of upgrades including:

-- explosive attenuating seats to provide better protection to the soldier on impact;
-- improved armour;
-- improved axles and suspension to cope with the difficult terrain;
-- better thermal imaging for the drivers;
-- greater crew capacity.

Read More

Boeing Team Delivers 1st Block II Super Hornet TOFT to US Navy

Boeing and teammate L-3 have delivered four Block II F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Tactical Operation Flight Trainers (TOFT) to the U.S. Navy and declared them "Ready for Training." Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, Va., has two of the trainers, and two are located at NAS Lemoore, Calif."These are the first Block II TOFTs, the new generation of trainers," said Steven Dent, F/A-18 Training Systems manager for Boeing. "The Boeing/L-3 team is able to offer a high level of aircraft concurrency with these new devices."

Read More

How 18th Century Technology Could Down an Airliner

While the mystery of what caused Air France Flight 447 to vanish into the Atlantic Ocean is far from solved, preliminary reports suggest equipment first developed in the 18th century may have contributed to the crash of one of the most sophisticated airliners ever built.

The Associated Press reports some investigators suspect airspeed indicators (ASI) on the Airbus A330-200 iced over, giving faulty readings that directed onboard flight computers to accelerate fast enough to shear off the rudder and vertical stabilizer.

The air speed indicators on the doomed plane included a Pitot tube, named for Henri Pitot, the French engineer who in 1732 created an instrument that could measure the velocity of a fluid.

Read More

New Small Reactor Could Revitalize Power Industry

A major manufacturer of power-generation equipment announced plans today to build a small nuclear reactor that company officials touted as a "potential game changer for the global nuclear market."

Babcock & Wilcox Co.'s 125-megawatt reactor would be significantly smaller than the average 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor and is aimed at plugging a major "market gap," CEO Brandon Bethards said at a Washington press conference. The new reactor might come online as early as 2018.

Read More

OPTICAL ASSEMBLIES: Light comes to the computer chip

Optical technology can break the bottleneck of density and power consumption inside computing systems. Equally compelling for semiconductor manufacturers, it is now able to fit into production processes and cost models.

Read More

Rescue Robots (Audio)

In 2001, when the September 11th terrorist attacks caused the twin towers of the World Trade Center to come crashing down, rescue professionals from many parts of the country raced to New York City to help search for victims. Among them was Robin Murphy, a robotics expert whose efforts after 9/11 marked the birth of the new and still rapidly evolving field: rescue robotics.


Listen

Low-Cost Low-Power Screen from Dream Jobber Jepsen

The screen, reviewers agreed, was revolutionary. Oh, sure, it could have been bigger, the resolution in color mode could have been better, but its low power consumption, visibility in bright light, and dual color and black and white modes were standouts.

Read More

E3 2009: Project Natal hands-on preview

It was demoed during Microsoft’s keynote on Monday to an appreciative crowd. However, unlike many of the video games on display here at the expo, you won’t find Natal on the show floor.

We were one of a handful of journalists given the opportunity to put Natal through its paces. Although Milo, Peter Molyneux’s extraordinary virtual child game, was not part of the demo, what we did see of Natal was incredibly impressive.

Read More

American plans precision altitude flight on NextGen demo

American Airlines plans to fly a more precise altitude on an 11 June flight as part of the launch of testing to prove efficiencies of aircraft equipped with avionics to support next generation (NextGen) air traffic control modernization.

Read More

Dyed solar cells to improve endurance

The US Air Force Research Laboratory foresees dye-sensitised solar cells powering long-endurance unmanned air vehicles following scale-model ground and flight tests.

AFRL Researchers have found that solar cells made from carbon-based materials that use dyes and anti-reflection technology film have a higher specific power convergence efficiency.

Read More

Raytheon Submits KillerBee® Unmanned Aircraft System Bid to U.S. Navy

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) submitted its KillerBee unmanned aircraft system in response to the U.S. Navy's Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Tier II request for proposal.

The KillerBee UAS features a blended-wing aircraft body design. It also has systems for land or sea launch, recovery and ground control. The unique design of KillerBee enables growth for future payloads and additional mission capabilities.

Read More

LockMart And USAF Mark Successful Sniper ATP Site Activations

Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force have successfully completed Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) A-10C site activations at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, AZ, and Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany.

Sniper ATP site activations involve pod installation, maintenance and aircrew training. Coordinated with the Air Force Precision Attack Systems Project Office and Air Combat Command, Sniper ATP site activation efforts ensure maintainers are prepared to fully support the system in theater and that aircrews are proficient with pod operations and capabilities.

Read More

$363.1M to ITT for U.S. Army SINCGARS Radios

ITT Corp in Fort Wayne, IN won a $363.1 million 24-month-base-firm-fixed-price contract for the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS), system enhancements and logistics support. ITT will provide 58,000 RT-1523 SINCGARS radios [PDF], 34,800 vehicle adapter assemblies/Internet routers and 34,800 radio frequency amplifiers to the Army’s Communications-Electronics Command.

Read More