Roll-Up Solar Panels

Xunlight, a startup in Toledo, Ohio, has developed a way to make large, flexible solar panels. It has developed a roll-to-roll manufacturing technique that forms thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells on thin sheets of stainless steel. Each solar module is about one meter wide and five and a half meters long.

As opposed to conventional silicon solar panels, which are bulky and rigid, these lightweight, flexible sheets could easily be integrated into roofs and building facades or on vehicles. Such systems could be more attractive than conventional solar panels and be incorporated more easily into irregular roof designs.

Read More

Flash Memory offers up to 40 Mbps read performance

Spansion Inc., the world's largest pure-play provider of Flash memory solutions, today announced a new family of Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) MirrorBit® Multi-I/O Flash Memory devices that deliver breakthrough performance. The family includes devices from 32-megabits (Mb) up to 128-megabits. Each device supports the option for single (one-bit data bus), dual (two-bit data bus) or quad (four-bit data bus) serial I/O data transmission, enabling manufacturers to more easily manage inventory and support multiple product models using a single SPI device. Leading performance of up to 40 Mbps (80 MHz per I/O in quad I/O mode) makes the MirrorBit SPI Multi-I/O family capable of executing code in-place (XIP) for a variety of industrial and consumer electronics applications with performance that matches or exceeds conventional parallel I/O NOR Flash memory.

Read More

Power drill

Thermal energy stored in the Earth's crust could be more easily utilised if it were accessed with a new drilling technique that uses superheated steam.

The technology, being trialled this year by its developer Potter Drilling in the US, could help further exploit geothermal energy, which currently supplies less than one per cent of the world's electricity yet has the potential to provide significantly more.

Read More

Making it with lasers

In Europe, photonics is well on the way to becoming a distinct and strategically important industrial sector with its own aims and objectives. According to the European Photonics Industry Association (EPIC; Paris, France) Europe leads the world in the production of photovoltaics, lasers for manufacturing, and lighting. EPIC’s assessment of the prospects for these industry sectors in light of the current economic downturn is the subject of this year’s European Report.

Read More

General Dynamics, Rafael to Replace the Strykers' SLAT Protection Cages with Reactive Armor

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (GD-ATP) will provide reactive armor tile sets for the U.S. Army Stryker family of vehicles. The $150 million contract is scheduled for delivery within 10 months, by March 2010. Reactive armor system comprises tiles that fasten to the exterior of the Stryker family of vehicles, allowing it to better withstand hits from a variety of anti-armor munitions, primarily RPGs. The reactive armor kit will replace the Slat armor currently used with Strykers in theater. While providing effective defense against RPGs, Slat offers 'statistical' protection rather than an assured defeat of the projectile. Furthermore, the kit, designed by Rafael, can be tailored to address a wide range of threats, utilizing the 'hybrid protection' approach. The reactive armor solutions currently offered by Rafael are presenting enhanced capabilities over the tiles employed on previous systems, including improved effectiveness, protection against a wider range of threats and increased safety, utilizing insensitive sheet explosives activated only when triggered by shaped charges.

Read More

More than Just a Weather Forecast

Unmanned aircraft are becoming an increasingly important part of defense strategies; helping military personnel respond to a greater demand for improved surveillance and attack operations. These sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer enhanced flexibility, speed, intelligence and a reduced risk of loss of life. The most notorious UAV is the General Atomics Predator, which first was responsible for reconnaissance missions. It later launched missiles at targets in Afghanistan, Iraq and regions of Pakistan. But without a pilot on-board, the success of UAV flights depends heavily on accurate information and reporting.

Read More

UK's first future strategic tanker takes flight

Airbus has performed the maiden flight of the first Trent 700-powered A330-200 being built to deliver the UK's Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft capability from 2011.

Read More

Aerial images online endanger national security, critics say

One is a assemblyman in California; the other a piano tuner in Pennsylvania.

But when they independently looked at online aerial imagery of nuclear power plants and other sites, they had the same reaction: They said they feared that terrorists might be doing the same thing.

Now, both have launched efforts to try to get Internet map services to remove or blur images of sensitive sites, saying the same technology that allows people to see a neighbor's swimming pool can be used by terrorists to chose targets and plan attacks.

Read More

$119M to General Dynamics for Army’s WIN-T Satellite Terminals

As the Army’s tactical portion of the USA’s Global Information Grid (GIG) network, WIN-T is designed to help deployed forces tap into that grid and its databases, collectors, and connections to national agencies. At present, this requires multiple private networks, or outright forward deployment of representatives from the agencies in question.

Read More