An Air Force study, released without much fanfare on Wednesday, suggests that tomorrow’s dogfighers might not have pilots in the cockpit. The Unmanned Aircraft System Flight Plan. which sketches out possible drone development through the year 2047, comes with plenty of qualifiers. But it envisions a radical future. In an acronym-dense 82 pages, the Air Force explains how ever-larger and more sophisticated flying robots could eventually replace every type of manned aircraft in its inventory — everything from speedy, air-to-air fighters to lumbering bombers and tankers.
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Friday, July 17, 2009
Three atom spintronic device
In today's microelectronics industry, the movement of an electron's charge has been widely exploited to create a plethora of integrated circuits, which has continued to shrink in size and increase in density year after year.
However, anticipating that this trend might not last, engineers are now looking at alternative means from which to create the microelectronic components of the future. One way they might do so is to develop electronic circuitry that uses the intrinsic spin of electrons.
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However, anticipating that this trend might not last, engineers are now looking at alternative means from which to create the microelectronic components of the future. One way they might do so is to develop electronic circuitry that uses the intrinsic spin of electrons.
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One-second boot
Santa Clara, California-based MontaVista Software has developed a version of the embedded Linux operating system running on a Freescale processor that can bring an application to life in just one second.
For industrial automation and other similar applications, fast boot-and-response time is critical to successful operation. Applications must be fully operational at power-on and cannot be delayed due to the volatile nature of the platform and environment.
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For industrial automation and other similar applications, fast boot-and-response time is critical to successful operation. Applications must be fully operational at power-on and cannot be delayed due to the volatile nature of the platform and environment.
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Monitoring radar
Entrepreneurs at the European Space Agency's (ESA’s) Business Incubation centre in the Netherlands have used radar technology from the Envisat remote-sensing satellite to develop a radar that can monitor land and buildings from small aircraft.
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Navy Wants High-Powered Laser for Fending Off Small Boats
Northrop Grumman came away with the $98-million contract for the Maritime Laser Demonstration (MLD) in early July. Next up: installing a prototype of the laser on a ship and testing it on a remote-controlled small boat within the next 18 months.
This may sound like overkill, but the Navy's excitement over the weapon comes from its "graduated response" capability. The same laser can first identify potentially threatening watercraft, and then use illumination to warn the intruder away from Navy warships. As a last resort, the laser can dial up to high-power mode and strike either the craft's motor or hull.
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This may sound like overkill, but the Navy's excitement over the weapon comes from its "graduated response" capability. The same laser can first identify potentially threatening watercraft, and then use illumination to warn the intruder away from Navy warships. As a last resort, the laser can dial up to high-power mode and strike either the craft's motor or hull.
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Thursday, July 16, 2009
Semiconductor Laser that Emits Green Light without using Filters
Sumitomo Electric scientists have developed a semiconductor laser that emits green light without using filters. Sumitomo will be first to market in a race which involved competition from Nichia and Rohm.
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Dow to Test Algae Ethanol
Startup Algenol partners with Dow Chemical on a demonstration ethanol plant.
Florida startup Algenol Biofuels says that it can efficiently produce commercial quantities of ethanol directly from algae without the need for fresh water or agricultural lands--a novel approach that has captured the interest and backing of Dow Chemical, the chemical giant based in Midland, MI.
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Florida startup Algenol Biofuels says that it can efficiently produce commercial quantities of ethanol directly from algae without the need for fresh water or agricultural lands--a novel approach that has captured the interest and backing of Dow Chemical, the chemical giant based in Midland, MI.
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How to Make UAVs Fully Autonomous
A smarter vision system could help robotic aircraft detect airborne obstacles.
To become truly autonomous, UAVs will need to get far better at sensing obstacles and reacting in time to avoid a collision. This will be especially important if they are ever to operate in commercial space.
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To become truly autonomous, UAVs will need to get far better at sensing obstacles and reacting in time to avoid a collision. This will be especially important if they are ever to operate in commercial space.
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Raytheon Awarded $30 M for Space Fence System Design and Prototyping
Raytheon Company was awarded one of three $30 million contracts for Phase A system design and prototype of the Space Fence system. Space Fence will provide the U.S. Air Force enhanced space surveillance capability to detect and report space objects.
"Space Fence is the future of space situational awareness," said Pete Franklin, vice president for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' National & Theater Security Programs. "This sensor will have the capability to detect and track very small objects in low Earth orbit."
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"Space Fence is the future of space situational awareness," said Pete Franklin, vice president for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' National & Theater Security Programs. "This sensor will have the capability to detect and track very small objects in low Earth orbit."
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Hurricane forecast
Scientists at Florida State University's Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) have developed a new computer model that they hope will predict with unprecedented accuracy how many hurricanes will occur in a given season.
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New Material Could Cool Electronics 100 Times More Efficiently
Georgia Tech researchers are working on a new novel material for cooling high-powered military radar gear up to 100 times better than current conductive heat-dissipation technology.
Developed in conjunction with Raytheon and DARPA, the material is a composite of copper and diamond, two of the most effective heat-conducting materials. The composite would serve as part of a sandwich of cooling materials called a Thermal Ground Plane, which, combined with a liquid cooling setup, would surround the transmit/receive module in a radar system.
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Developed in conjunction with Raytheon and DARPA, the material is a composite of copper and diamond, two of the most effective heat-conducting materials. The composite would serve as part of a sandwich of cooling materials called a Thermal Ground Plane, which, combined with a liquid cooling setup, would surround the transmit/receive module in a radar system.
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CMOS digital camera reaches 1.4 million frames per second
Vision Research has unveiled the Phantom v710, the latest addition to the company's v-Series of advanced digital high-speed cameras. The Phantom v710 offers an unrivaled throughput of more than 7 gigapixels/s, which allows the camera to record at 7,530 frames/s at its maximum resolution of 1280 x 800.Wealthy arm their yachts with military-level security
The world's richest people are spending millions arming their super-yachts with military-style technology and trained personnel to fight off potential attackers.
The threat of pirates and growing fears that yachts may be their next target have led many owners to equip their vessels with the latest James Bond-like technology.
Hidden chambers, escape pods, tracking devices and ex-marines employed as security guards have all risen in popularity.
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The threat of pirates and growing fears that yachts may be their next target have led many owners to equip their vessels with the latest James Bond-like technology.
Hidden chambers, escape pods, tracking devices and ex-marines employed as security guards have all risen in popularity.
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US Military Robot Insect Technology in Progress
Military scientists are currently working on a new type of robot technology - insect cyborgs, affectionately known as 'cybugs'! The vision is to adapt actual insects to become surveillance platforms, equipped with cameras and able to access combat areas impenetrable to humans. Generally speaking, the main difficulty experienced so far in the creation of hugely scaled-down variants of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) like the Reaper and Predator drones currently tasked with surveillance missions over conflict zones like Afghanistan has been that of developing a power mechanism for them that combines low weight with high performance.
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Iron Dome tested successfully
An Israeli interceptor system developed to shoot down the short-range rockets favored by Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas passed its first live trial on Wednesday, a defense official said.
Iron Dome's success could improve the prospects of Israel eventually ceding West Bank land to the Palestinians, as Israeli officials have said that any withdrawals should be conditional on the deployment of a reliable defense against rocket attacks.
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Iron Dome's success could improve the prospects of Israel eventually ceding West Bank land to the Palestinians, as Israeli officials have said that any withdrawals should be conditional on the deployment of a reliable defense against rocket attacks.
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NASA suits get makeover for moon missions
The new spacesuits being designed for NASA's return to the moon by 2020 as part of the Constellation program are set to be much more sophisticated. As second-generation moon suits, they will be sturdier, easier to move around in, and should be able to recycle resources such as oxygen and water.
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US considers expanding army: Pentagon
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is weighing a possible temporary expansion of the US army to ease the strain from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, his press secretary said on Wednesday.
Gates was discussing the idea, backed by Senator Joseph Lieberman, with senior officers to add 30,000 troops to the active-duty army, press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.
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Gates was discussing the idea, backed by Senator Joseph Lieberman, with senior officers to add 30,000 troops to the active-duty army, press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.
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Martin JetPack
Capable of 30 minutes of flight at around 60 miles per hour, the Martin Jetpack can apparently go as high as 8,000 feet in the air. Naturally, its creator has equipped the device with an integrated ballistic parachute.
Purchase Price: US$ 100,000 plus any applicable sales taxes, plus adjustment for inflation as measured by the consumer price index.
Here
Purchase Price: US$ 100,000 plus any applicable sales taxes, plus adjustment for inflation as measured by the consumer price index.
Here
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Laser technology creates new forms of metal and enhances aircraft performance
Dr. Chunlei Guo and his team of researchers for the project discovered a way to transform a shinypiece of metal into one that is pitch black, not by paint, but by using incredibly intense bursts of laser light. The black metal created, absorbs all radiation that shines upon it.
"With the creation of the black metal, an entirely new class of material becomes available to us, which may open up a whole new horizon for various applications," said Guo.
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"With the creation of the black metal, an entirely new class of material becomes available to us, which may open up a whole new horizon for various applications," said Guo.
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'Cloak of Illusion' Tech Could Disguise Objects
A cloak of illusion, or a material that disguises one object as another, is being developed by scientists in Hong Kong.
"The metamaterial can turn the appearance of one object into that of another," said CT Chan, a scientist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and coauthor of a paper that recently appeared in the journal Physical Review Letters.
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"The metamaterial can turn the appearance of one object into that of another," said CT Chan, a scientist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and coauthor of a paper that recently appeared in the journal Physical Review Letters.
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IronKey launches USB drive for militaries
California-based IronKey has launched its new Flash drive technology to support military and government markets with tamper-resistant information security.
IronKey has released its S200 Flash drive that is designed with cryptochip and anti-malware technologies to secure sensitive government or military data.
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IronKey has released its S200 Flash drive that is designed with cryptochip and anti-malware technologies to secure sensitive government or military data.
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Taser Tests New Tri-Fire X3 On Their Own Employees
Beyond the very general details of the X3, Taser is still keeping mum with the specifics on how it works, confirming only that the X3 fires equal or less voltage than their current model, the X26, which can unload 50,000 volts at its peak. Taser claims the actual shock delivered to the body is in the range of 400-1,200 volts. The X3 also includes a feature that reports back on whether the shock delivered was "good, partial or no connection."
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Discovery of new optical forces has implications for optical signal processing, telecom
Belgian researchers--at the University of Ghent (Ghent) and the nanoelectronics research center IMEC (Leuven)--have demonstrated repulsive and attractive nanophotonic forces that depend on the spatial distribution of the light used. These fundamental research results could have major consequences for telecommunications and optical signal processing .
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Physicists Find Way To Control Individual Bits In Quantum Computers
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have overcome a hurdle in quantum computer development, having devised a viable way to manipulate a single "bit" in a quantum processor without disturbing the information stored in its neighbors. The approach, which makes novel use of polarized light to create "effective" magnetic fields, could bring the long-sought computers a step closer to reality.
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Internet pioneers warn of VoIP wiretap danger
U.S. government efforts to require most voice-over-IP providers to permit law enforcement agencies to wiretap phone calls could introduce new security problems to the Internet, a group of Internet security experts said today.
A Federal Communications Commission rule requiring providers to allow wiretapping by May 2007 would either require a massive re-engineering of the Internet or introduce broad cybersecurity risks, said authors of a new study released by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), an IT vendor trade group.
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A Federal Communications Commission rule requiring providers to allow wiretapping by May 2007 would either require a massive re-engineering of the Internet or introduce broad cybersecurity risks, said authors of a new study released by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), an IT vendor trade group.
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