NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

Watch All The Planes Land: Gotta-See Video

Growing up, I used to sit at the end of the runway by my local airport with my Dad and watch the planes come in. After 9/11, simply stopping by the fence is enough to get security in a tizzy, but here you can get all your childhood flights in 30 seconds.

Watch all the airplanes that landed at San Diego's airport for a whole day, but in one video. The clever thing is, rather than going with a simple time lapse, the videographers overlayed all the airplanes at regular speed. The shot is not only surreal but beautifully executed. I chuckled when that little plane caught up at the end. via iO9

Have a Gotta-See Video to recommend? Tweet it to @Discovery_News with the hashtag #GottaSeeVideos and don't miss today's Must-Read News Nuggets.

Watch more Discovery Curiosity video here.

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FCC Urges Use of In-Flight Electronics

In news that's sure to make Alec Baldwin happy, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is urging the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to allow more electronics on airplanes. Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC sent a letter to the FAA requesting the agency "enable greater use of tablets, e-readers, and other portable devices."

The letter, which was first obtained by The Hill, was addressed to Michael Huerta, the acting administrator of the FAA, and explains that electronic devices are becoming more important in the lives Americans.

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"They empower people to stay informed and connected with friends and family, and they enable both large and small businesses to be more productive and efficient, helping drive economic growth and boost U.S. competitiveness," Genachowski wrote in the letter.

Afters year of grumbling dissent from disgruntled passengers, the FAA has finally agreed to review its policies about electronic devices during all junctures of the flight, even takeoff and landing. However, the review been in somewhat of a holding pattern.

"This review comes at a time of tremendous innovation, as mobile devices are increasingly interwoven in our daily lives," Genachowski wrote in the letter.

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As Nick Bilton pointed out in the New York Times Bits blog, the last time the FAA did any reviews of electronic devices on planes was in 2006, when tablets, smartphones and e-readers where just a glimmer in the eyes of tech developers and consumers. Even then, the FAA found no evidence that supported claims that electronic devices could or couldn't interfere with the plane. Yet passengers still had to abide by strict rules and turn off their gadgets during takeoff and landing.

However, earlier this year, the FAA gave clearance for pilots to use iPads instead of paper flight manuals.

Perhaps the FCC's letter could be the final push the FAA needs to extend those same rules to the rest of plane.

via the New York Times Bits blog

Credit: Mika/Corbis

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Crash-Proof Quadrotor Roves On Land and Air

When it comes to robot mobility, failure to navigate obstacles can often leave a robot looking like a turtle on its back.

Surely, this notion is not lost on researchers at the Robotics Lab at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) who recently created the HyTAQ quadrotor. Designed by Arash Kalantari and Matthew Spenko, the hybrid machine's ability to both fly and roll make it one of the most fluid moving robots I've ever seen. Best of all, its design makes it nearly impossible to crash.

BLOG: Human-Powered Helicopter Makes Record Flight

Here's how IIT's promo video describes it:

The robot is composed of a cylindrical cage connected to a quadrotor connected through two revolute joints. Thus, the cage can roll freely with respect to the quadrotor body. The flexible structure of the cage, fabricated out of polycarbonate and carbon fiber makes the robot crash resistant.

This simple, but arguably elegant design allows the robot to use the same actuators from both forms of locomotion. This keeps the system mass low since the robot does not need to carry the added mass of unused actuators and control electronics.

During terrestrial locomotion, the robot only needs to overcome rolling resistance, therefore it is much more energy efficient than an aerial-only quadrotor.

The researchers say this solves on of the most frustrating problems of quadrotors and rotorcraft -- their short operation time.

"Experimental results show that the HyTAQ can travel a distance four times greater and operate almost six times longer than an aerial only system," according to the team's website.

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The rearchers also tout the hybrid robot's ability to avoid obstacles.

"When an obstacle is encountered," they write, "the system simply flies over it."

via PhysOrg

credit: IIT

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Drone Missile Kills Electronics, Not People

As modern warfare continues to be fought behind key boards and monitors, last week Boeing successfully tested a missile capable of making screens go blank. Boeing says their Counter-electronics High-powered Advanced Missile Project known as CHAMP may one day change modern warfare by knocking out electronic targets with little or no collateral damage.

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Here's how Boeing described the event:

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CHAMP approached its first target and fired a burst of High Power Microwaves at a two story building built on the test range. Inside rows of personal computers and electrical systems were turned on to gauge the effects of the powerful radio waves.

Seconds later the PC monitors went dark and cheers erupted in the conference room. CHAMP had successfully knocked out the computer and electrical systems in the target building. Even the television cameras set up to record the test were knocked off line without collateral damage.

In one hour, seven test-range targets were hit and all electronics inside the buildings were degraded and defeated.

BLOG: Military's New Radio: Laser Beams

"This technology marks a new era in modern-day warfare," said Keith Coleman, CHAMP program manager for Boeing Phantom Works. "In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy's electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive."

So, uh, al Qaeda, you know those Sexy Tanja videos you like to make and watch in your free time? Heads up.

via io9

Credit: Boeing

 

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Airports Removing Body Scanners: DNews Nugget

Airports Removing Body Scanners: The TSA announced Monday that it's phasing out X-ray backscatter body scanners from O'Hare and four other major airports and replacing them with millimeter wave Advanced Imaging Technology.

The backscatter machines, which were installed after "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a U.S. airliner near Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009, have been widely criticized as being "virtual strip searches." But images from the millimeter wave scanners create a generic human body outline and also pose fewer radiation concerns than the X-ray scanners.

According to the Huffington Post, installation of the new machines began in September, 2012, and will be complete in January, 2013, at O'Hare, Los Angeles' LAX, Orlando International, Boston's Logan Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. via Huffington Post

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Felix Baumgartner Also Shattered YouTube Record

Were you one of the millions of people across the globe who tuned in to watch the live YouTube stream of daredevil Felix Baumgartner's historic leap from the edge of space? If so, you also helped break a record.

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At its peak, there were more than 8 million concurrent live streams of the stunt, YouTube confirmed Sunday in a blog post.

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"We congratulate Felix Baumgartner and the entire Red Bull Stratos team for their successful mission, and for creating a live stream with the most concurrent views ever on YouTube," the blog post stated.

According to All Thing D, the previous record for a YouTube livestream was set during the London Olympics when 500,000 people tuned in. Baumgartner shattered that record before he even stepped out his launch pod, as 7.1 million people tuned in as he made his ascent.

But something tells me the YouTube record will remain a bit overshadowed. In case you need a refresher, here are the other records Baumgartner broke: highest jump from a platform (128,100 feet), longest freefall distance (119,846 feet) and maximum vertical velocity (833.9 mph or Mach 1.24).

PHOTOS: When Felix Jumped, The World Jumped With Him

That last record makes Baumgartner the first human to break the sound barrier outside of an aircraft. If you missed the live stream of the supersonic freefall or just want to relive the glory, check out the video below.

 

via Mashable

Credit: Red Bull Stratos

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Navy Wants to Turn Seawater Into Jet Biofuel

Naval scientists are turning seawater into biofuel. Besides using a readily available resource, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory thinks its special process could make seawater jet fuel as cheap as regular gasoline.

Refueling at sea currently costs a ton of money because all that fuel requires extra fuel to be delivered. This week the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the Navy's scientific lab based in D.C., announced that it's hard at work on an intricate process that breaks seawater down into hydrogen gas and hydrogen, which could then be converted into biofuel.

Human-Powered Helicopter Makes Record Flight

The NRL's press release about their scientific process had echoes of an academic paper for a chemistry journal, but from what I gather they've got a portable prototype called a "carbon capture skid" that's about five feet tall. Inside are three chambers designed to produce hydrogen gas and capture carbon dioxide.

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After the seawater goes through the skid, there'd be a two-step process to make liquid hydrocarbons -- proto-jet fuel if you will -- from the hydrogen gas and CO2. Then that liquid would just need to be converted using another reaction. We're not at a point where this all works smoothly, yet. The NRL is still developing all those steps.

"The potential payoff is the ability to produce JP-5 fuel [jet fuel] stock at sea reducing the logistics tail on fuel delivery with no environmental burden and increasing the Navy's energy security and independence," Navy research chemist Heather Willauer said in the release.

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Over the course of last year, the Navy delivered around 600 million gallons to its vessels at sea. Such a feat required running 15 replenishment oilers worldwide. But as Treehugger's Mat McDermott rightly pointed out, the green aspect here isn't reducing emissions but reducing the energy required to transport fuel in the first place. Emissions would still be similar to what they are now.

The economic advantages to this emerging tech might be more persuasive. The NRL's initial studies predict jetfuel could cost as little as $3 to $6 a gallon using this seawater process. That's a boatload of savings.

Photo: A U.S. Navy aircraft launches from the flightdeck in August. Credit: John Haynes, U.S. Navy

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FAA to Reassess Device Rules: DNews Nugget

FAA Assessing Future Cell Phone Use for Passengers: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) set the rules for what devices can be used when and where in United States (and above it). According to CNN, the FAA is set to reassess their current restrictions on mobile usage.

Likely, the only changes will come with non-broadcasting mobile devices -- hopefully including devices set to "airplane mode."

As of now, the FCC will not allow cell phone usage on airplanes, because the wireless capabilities can interfere with other networks running on the ground. Not to mention, a recent study claimed "75 instances in which consumer electronics were suspected of interfering with plane systems," said CNN.

High-speed internet has come to airplanes in place of the back-of-seat phones that are now as difficult to find as a pay phone.

It will be a long while before we can make cell phone calls on airplanes, and currently the FCC and FAA agree this is the best plan for now. However, a new government group, set to assemble this fall, will begin the process of studying, "current policies and procedures governing portable electronic devices." via CNN

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Autonomous Airplane Dodges Obtacles

There are drones that can hunt hurricanes, land on aircraft carriers and combine helicopter and airplane flight. And now they can even dodge obstacles indoors, without access to global positioning system satellite signals.

It's a massive computing challenge, but an important one for designing autonomous fliers that can operate when they can't "hear" a remote operator or satellite. GPS signals can occasionally be blocked by bad weather or in combat situations by jamming. A plane that can navigate with no outside help at all has an advantage over remotely controlled drones.

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MIT's Robust Robotics Group has built a plane that can fly around a room -- specifically, weaving around pillars in a parking garage, where no GPS signal can penetrate. They were able to write an algorithm that allowed the airplane to determine its own acceleration, speed, orientation and position.

While there are some air vehicles that can navigate around obstacles and even coordinate with each other in the air, they tend to be helicopters. Helicopters can control their flight more precisely at low speeds, but they can't stay up long because they use a lot of power just to hover. A fixed-wing aircraft can stay up longer on a given amount of fuel (or charge), but it can't manuever as easily as a helicopter.

To deal with that, the MIT researchers gave the plane relatively short and stubby wings that allow it greater maneuverability and slower airspeeds.

The MIT team cheated a bit, giving the aircraft a "map" of it's surroundings that they knew was accurate. But that isn't so different from having map data uploaded to any robot's memory. Even with that, the plane still had to figure out where it was and where it was pointed. That required an on-board laser rangefinder, accelerometers and gyroscopes. A dozen values had to be calculated in a fraction of a second.

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The next step is a plane that can figure out a map of its environment as it goes along. That might require adding visual information to the rangefinder -- a big challenge, but they have proved it is possible, at least in principle.

via MIT

Credit: MIT

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Autonomous Plane Lands on Aircraft Carrier

 

Aircraft that fly autonomously, without a pilot on board or even on the ground are taking to the air. Now the U.S. Navy is pushing a robotic airplane to do something many human pilots never master: land on an aircraft carrier.

The plane is the X-47B, and it's the first aircraft that flies completely on its own. The flight took place at the Naval Air Station at Patuxent River, Md., (otherwise known as Pax River), with the plane taking a quick jaunt around Chesapeake Bay.

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Unlike the more familiar Predator drones, the X-47B doesn't need a pilot in a control room. Once programmed it will launch, complete a mission, and come back, with no input from anyone.

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The plane didn't go as fast as many unmanned aircraft currently in use –- it hit a speed of 180 knots, or about 200 miles an hour, whereas some drones hit speeds twice that. It reached an altitude of 7,500 feet and flew for 35 minutes. Such unmanned planes are going to fly a lot higher and longer once they enter service.

It's the first flight by the U.S. Navy, and the second set of test flights for the plane. The idea is to try out the aircraft systems that would be used if it were flying to and from an aircraft carrier. It also has to show it can be launched with the catapults used at sea, and land on the relatively short carrier runways. The only systems on the plane tested were the flight controls – there were no sensors or weapons on board.

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Sometime next year the Navy hopes to test it aboard a real carrier, though it will have to prove itself at Pax River first.

The X-47B, built by Northrop Grumman, made its debut last year at Edwards Air Force Base, where it made a 29-minute flight at an altitude of 5,000 feet. The aircraft was transferred to the Pax River base in June.

via: United States Navy

Credit: United States Navy

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