Electronic Warfare, EA-18G Growler Could Get a Funding Boost

Electronic warfare is a key but often overlooked component in modern warfare. Electronic warfare includes protecting friendly aircraft by finding and disrupting antiaircraft radar; jamming enemy communications to support ground forces; and creating communication links between commanders, other aircraft and troops on the ground.

The Growler is a lightly armed variant of the F-18 fighter jet, configured to hold extra fuel but few weapons.

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SpaceX Successfully Delivers First Payload to Space

The first successful commercial space mission deposits a Malaysian satellite in orbit

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Cymer and ASML ship first EUV source that could extend Moore's law ten more years

Lithography systems manufacturer ASML (Veldhoven, The Netherlands) and lithography light-source manufacturer Cymer (San Diego, CA) announced the shipment of the world's first fully integrated laser-produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography source to ASML. The companies say that EUV will support Moore's Law--the trend toward more powerful, energy-efficient yet affordable chips--for at least another ten years.

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Solid-State Laser Ready For On-Board Tests

A U.S. Navy plan to test a high-power laser against the small-boat threat to its warships provides the first real opportunity to transition electric lasers from the laboratory to the field, says Northrop Grumman, which has won a $98-million contract for the Maritime Laser Demonstration (MLD).

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The Air Force's new poster boys: drone jocks

If the Air Force needed a poster boy for the way it is adapting to the 21st century, it has high hopes that a young officer named Captain Bob will fit the bill.

Bob, who asked that his full name not be used because of the sensitivity of his job, has for now turned in his G-suit to be a desk jockey with a joystick. His days are spent, not pulling Gs, but inside an air-conditioned trailer an hour from the Las Vegas strip.

From here, he flies a remote-controlled airplane over Afghanistan or Iraq to produce video feeds of those wars a world away. The images are fed immediately to troops on the ground to track the enemy, spot someone planting a roadside bomb, or monitor other insurgent activity.

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Mars Experiment Crew 'Returns to Earth'

Six volunteers in matching blue flight suits emerged from behind a steel hatch this afternoon at Moscow's Institute for Biomedical Problems, smiling from ear-to-ear after spending the past 105 days in an "isolation experiment" to try to replicate the conditions a spaceship crew would face on a manned trip to Mars.

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Space station pilots 'interplanetary internet'

Disruption tolerant communications protocol being tested on the international space station.
A new networking technology called Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) could give astronauts direct Internet access within a year.

The technology currently is being tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and could lead towards what has been dubbed the "Interplanetary Internet".

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New wonder material, one-atom thick, has scientists abuzz

Imagine a carbon sheet that's only one atom thick but is stronger than diamond and conducts electricity 100 times faster than the silicon in computer chips.

That's graphene, the latest wonder material coming out of science laboratories around the world. It's creating tremendous buzz among physicists, chemists and electronic engineers.

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Superfast airplanes through super tiny technology

Princeton engineers will study how fuel additives made of tiny particles of graphene can help supersonic jets fly faster and make diesel engines cleaner and more efficient. To create the graphene particles, the researchers remove carbon dioxide molecules from graphite oxide (top two molecules) which leaves a irregular bond pattern that creates a buckle in the otherwise flat graphene molecule (bottom molecule). This ridge prevents the graphene molecule from folding into ball.

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Light's Repulsive Force Discovered

A newly discovered repulsive aspect to light could one day control telecommunications devices with greater speed and less power, researchers said today.

The discovery was made by splitting infrared light into two beams that each travel on a different length of silicon nanowire, called a waveguide. The two light beams became out of phase with one another, creating a push, or repulsive force, with an intensity that can be controlled; the more out of phase the two light beams, the stronger the force.

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Boeing/Iridium Team Completes High Integrity GPS Program Milestones

A team led by Boeing [NYSE: BA] with support from Iridium Satellite LLC today announced that it has achieved two major milestones to further develop and demonstrate capability enhancements to the High Integrity Global Positioning System (GPS) program for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

The first milestone, completion of the Enhanced Narrowband (ENB) software modification to computers on Iridium satellites, enables second-generation GPS-aiding signals to be broadcast through the entire Iridium constellation. These broadcasts will enable rapid, more accurate GPS position fixes anywhere in the world.

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Vibration harvesting

A new research project aims to create devices that harvest energy from vibrations, obviating the need for cables and batteries.

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Defence network

Cobham announced today that it has been awarded $14.8m (£9.1m) by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the Wireless Network after Next (WNaN) programme.

Under this cost plus fixed fee contract, Cobham Sensor Systems in Lowell, Massachusetts, will design, develop and demonstrate low-cost wireless network nodes which support adaptation by means of distributed network processing. A key element of the design is affordability, to allow wide deployment throughout the armed services.

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Raytheon Demonstrates Networked Lethality for Army Modernization

By networking sensors and effects, Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) recently demonstrated how the U.S. Army could modernize brigade combat teams to significantly improve situational awareness and targeting efficiency to help save soldiers' lives.

Hosting a live, hands-on demonstration at Fort Benning, Ga., Raytheon validated how networked lethality is achieved by linking emerging capabilities of its Multi-Function Radio Frequency System, Common Mast-Mounted Sight, and combat identification technology with fielded BCT sensors and weapon systems.

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Recycle Today's LCD TVs Into Tomorrow's Human Tissue-Regeneration Systems

Researchers at the University of York's Department of Chemistry propose that instead of just tossing old LCD screens, we recycle them for medical purposes. Polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA), a component used as a coating on the glass surfaces of all LCD panels, can also (as it happens) help in the process of regrowing tissue and regenerating body parts. It could even be used to help target specific parts of the body for drug delivery in pills.

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NASA to De-Orbit International Space Station In 2016

Despite nearing completion after more than a decade of construction, and recently announcing some upcoming improvements to accompany its full crew of six astronauts, NASA plans to de-orbit the International Space Station in 2016. Meaning the station will have spent more time under construction than completed.

The fact that the ISS has already had $100 billion dumped into it over the years is reason for criticism over the proposed de-orbiting. Proponents of the extra-terrestrial shelter feel 2016 would be too soon to let the 700,000 pound craft crash into the Pacific Ocean. Critics against it say it wastes too much money with few tangible outcomes.

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WiMax Growth Slowing Amid Recession

WiMax subscriber growth slowed in the first quarter, and the emerging wireless technology will continue to struggle at least through this year, a survey by research company Maravedis indicates.

The global recession weighed down both subscriber additions and the average monthly revenue from business users in the first quarter, according to Maravedis analyst Adlane Fellah. WiMax operators are also running into a variety of other hurdles, including regulation, delayed allocation of spectrum and their own deployment problems, he added.

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Cloud computing a 'security nightmare,' says Cisco CEO

If anyone has the right to be excited about cloud computing, it's John Chambers. But on Wednesday Cisco's Chairman and CEO conceded that the computing industry's move to sell pay-as-you-go computing cycles available as a service on the Internet was also "a security nightmare."

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ID chips raise privacy fears

Increasingly, government officials are promoting the chipping of identity documents as a 21st century application of technology that will help speed border crossings, safeguard credentials against counterfeiters, and keep terrorists from sneaking into the country.

But Paget's February experiment demonstrated something privacy advocates had feared for years: That RFID, coupled with other technologies, could make people trackable without their knowledge.

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Where Are the Cybercops?

Everyone talks about Internet security, but no one does anything about it. That's not true, of course -- there are many organizations and businesses dedicated to keeping the Web safe. Yet it is true that no one is taking ultimate responsibility for policing the Web. No one is willing -- or perhaps, able -- to say "the buck stops here." Perhaps that's as it should be?

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The next hacking frontier: Your brain?

Hackers who commandeer your computer are bad enough. Now scientists worry that someday, they'll try to take over your brain.

In the past year, researchers have developed technology that makes it possible to use thoughts to operate a computer, maneuver a wheelchair or even use Twitter -- all without lifting a finger. But as neural devices become more complicated, and go wireless, some scientists say the risks of "brain hacking" should be taken seriously.

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Sikorsky X2 Files With Engaged Propeller

Sikorsky's X2 Technology demonstrator recently completed two test flights with a fully engaged the propeller for the first time. The helicopter reached speeds of 52 knots in one test and 42 knots with the propeller providing forward thrust in the second flight. The demonstrator is designed to fly at 250 knots, about twice the speed of current helicopters.

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Boeing's Two Flying Lasers Face Different Futures

Although the Airborne Laser (ABL) and the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) have different missions, both projects are led by aviation and defense giant Boeing, and both consist of a chemical laser mounted on a large aircraft.

Both projects also cleared major technical hurdles in June, with ABL successfully targeting a missile in flight, and ATL firing its full-power laser at a ground target for the first time.

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Intel May Release New Nehalem Chips Next Month

Intel appears ready to deliver, starting next month, new server, laptop and desktop processors based on its new microarchitecture, which offers improved performance.

The new chips will be based on the Nehalem microarchitecture, which cuts down on bottlenecks that plague its current chips. Nehalem chips are also able to execute more tasks while drawing less power.

An industry source with knowledge of Intel's plans said the company will deliver new Xeon server processors belonging to the 5500 and 3500 chip families starting early August. Chip specifics weren't immediately available.

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Bill Gates, the Hurricane Tamer?

Bill Gates, one of the most powerful men on the planet, appears to be taking on one of Mother Earth's most fearsome forces: the hurricane.

An application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Jan. 3, 2008, lists Gates and 12 others as the inventors of a number of methods to control and prevent hurricanes.

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Intel adds virtualization tech to five processors

Intel informed system vendors that its virtualization technology (VT) will be available in five additional processors beginning in August.

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Nanotechnology's Evolving Role in Semiconductors

According to SEMI, the big contributor to this market is what they termed “designer molecules”. These were essentially polymeric materials engineered at the molecular level to obtain specific properties. Examples of these molecules include dendrimers and macromolecules.

Applications for these molecules in semiconductors include photoresists, mould compounds, packaging adhesives and low-κ dielectrics. They also will find use in displays for improved transmission films and electronic ink. These molecules will also become critical to enabling self-assembly processes.

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A Radical New Router

oday Internet traffic is rapidly expanding and also becoming more varied and complex. In particular, we’re seeing an explosion in voice and video applications. Millions regularly use Skype to place calls and go to YouTube to share videos. Services like Hulu and Netflix, which let users watch TV shows and movies on their computers, are growing ever more popular. Corporations are embracing videoconferencing and telephony systems based on the Internet Protocol, or IP. What’s more, people are now streaming content not only to their PCs but also to iPhones and BlackBerrys, media receivers like the Apple TV, and gaming consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation 3. Communication and entertainment are shifting to the Net.

But this shift is not without its problems. Unlike e-mail and static Web pages, which can handle network hiccups, voice and video deteriorate under transmission delays as short as a few milliseconds. And therein lies the problem with traditional IP packet routers: They can’t guarantee that a YouTube clip will stream smoothly to a user’s computer. They treat the video packets as loose data entities when they ought to treat them as flows.

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Inside Gazelle, Microsoft Research's "browser OS"

Microsoft has published a research paper on Gazelle, an experimental "multi-principal OS" for the Web. But it's not actually an operating system; it's really a browser prototype that runs on Windows, and it just might be the future of browsing. Ars takes a close look at the technology behind Gazelle to show you how it compares to Chrome and Internet Explorer.

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Proton Energy Systems is Granted Patent for Breakthrough Hydrogen Technology

Wallingford hydrogen-technology producer Proton Energy Systems (www.protonenergy.com) said today it earned a patent for its proprietary control system for regulating the purity and pressure of the hydrogen gas used to cool large electric power generators. Proton’s StableFlow system is a breakthrough product for electric power generators that actively controls purity and dew point, monitors pressure and, enables more efficient power production while also enhancing capacity and generator life.

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