Archive for the ‘Tech-News’ Category.
US Air Force testing new transparent armor
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) — Engineers here are testing a new kind of transparent armor — stronger and lighter than traditional materials — that could stop armor-piercing weapons from penetrating vehicle windows.
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s materials and manufacturing directorate is testing aluminum oxynitride — ALONtm — as a replacement for the traditional multi-layered glass transparencies now used in existing ground and air armored vehicles.
The test is being done in conjunction with the Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., and University of Dayton Research Institute, Ohio.
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Land Warrior Movie
New Land Warrior Movie Technology that changes the Look and Feel of War on the battle grounds and Streets.
The video is from Discovery channel.
A nanotechnology based upon writing in 3D produces long fibers and complex structures
As a step toward advanced nanotechnology, general methods for producing complex nanoscale structures in three dimensions are useful stepping stones from current nanotech to atomically precise functional nanosystems. Although the nanomaterials and nanostructures produced are far from atomically precise, a recently developed method of using a micropipette and rapidly drying ink to draw long fibers and complex 3D structures is an important advance.
Excerpts from a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign news release “New process makes nanofibers in complex shapes and unlimited lengths“
The continuous fabrication of complex, three-dimensional nanoscale structures and the ability to grow individual nanowires of unlimited length are now possible with a process developed by researchers at the University of Illinois.
The fly’s a spy
A new type of flying machine is watching you Onera JUST below a half-opened garage door a tiny device can be seen at the feet of someone lurking in the shadows. It looks like a blue dragonfly. Then its miniature wings begin to flap as it slips under the door and darts along the street. After rising through the air it stops to hover outside the window of a building several storeys high. There is an opening on the roof, and it slips inside. As it flits from room to room its video-camera “eye” transmits pictures to a screen on a remote-control unit strapped to the wrist of its clandestine operator. This is not a scene from a James Bond film, in which 007 tests a new device from “Q”, but an animated video produced by Onera, France’s national aerospace centre, to explain REMANTA, a project to develop the technologies needed for miniature robotic aircraft. More bug-like flying devices are being developed in other research laboratories around the world. A few are already small enough to be carried in a briefcase; others are the size of a jet fighter and need a runway for take-off.
Having evolved from military use, drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are taking to the air in increasing numbers for public-service and civilian roles. They are being operated by groups as diverse as police, surveyors and archaeologists. A UAV helped firemen track the blaze that recently ravaged southern California. The most immediate advantage of a UAV is cost: operating even a small helicopter can cost $1,000 an hour or more, but the bill for a drone is a fraction of that. However, the growing use of UAVs is causing a number of concerns.
The first is safety. Last month America’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) completed its first-ever investigation into an unmanned-aircraft accident. Pilot error was blamed for the crash in Arizona in April 2006 of a 4,500kg (10,000lb) Predator B, a type of UAV used by American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was being operated by Customs and Border Protection when its engine was accidentally turned off by the team piloting it from a control room at an army base. No one was hurt, but the NTSB issued 22 recommendations to address what Mark Rosenker, its chairman, described as “a wide range of safety issues involving the civilian use of unmanned aircraft.”
Army Unveils High-Tech Future Combat Systems
OROGRANDE, N.M. — The Army unveiled parts of its high-tech Future Combat Systems on Thursday in a mock raid on a fictitious village, demonstrating equipment that aims to make soldiers’ work safer.
The late morning exercise was the first public glimpse of a series of camera mounted-robots, small unmanned planes, radios that can send text messages and other equipment that Army and defense officials say will make combat safer for U.S. personnel.
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Bacteria and nanofilters — the future of clean water technology
Bacteria often get bad press, with those found in water often linked to illness and disease. But researchers at The University of Nottingham are using these tiny organisms alongside the very latest membrane filtration techniques to improve and refine water cleaning technology.
These one-celled organisms eat the contaminants present in water — whether it is being treated prior to industrial use or even for drinking — in a process called bioremediation.
The water is then filtered through porous membranes, which function like a sieve. However, the holes in these sieves are microscopic, and some are so small they can only be seen at the nanoscale. Pore size in these filters can range from ten microns — ten thousandths of a millimetre — to one nanometre — a millionth of a millimetre.
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U.S. Navy Breaks Record with Railgun Test-Shot
DAHLGREN, VA. — The Navy set a new world record for the most powerful electromagnetic railgun when it fired a test shot here Thursday morning.
The gun fired an aluminum projectile at 10.68 megajoules. A joule is the work needed to produce one watt of energy for one second. A megajoule is 1 million joules.
Guests including Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead and Rear Adm. William Landay, head of the Office of Naval Research, witnessed the shot via a live video feed at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren. The gun was launched from a control center after approximately four minutes of charging the electromagnetic rails. After the charge, the gun fired and witnesses saw a quick burst of flame as the projectile, traveling at 2,500 meters per second, or Mach 7, hit its target.
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PicoScope 3224 PC Based Oscilloscope
Power, performance and portability
Quickly capture, view, measure and store signals with the PicoScope 3224. This high precision, high resolution, PC oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer is quick and easy to use. The USB connection ensures a fast screen update rate, while making the scope simple to set up. The powerful PicoScope oscilloscope software lets you measure and evaluate complex signals with ease.
With the PicoScope 3224 you can replace many traditional test equipment tools with one lightweight, portable, and economical instrument — giving you a powerful, integrated test and measurement solution with all the functions of traditional equipment, at a fraction of the cost.
Solid-State, Dye-Labeled DNA Detects Volatile Compounds in the Vapor Phase
1 Department of Neuroscience, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 2 CogniScent, Inc., North Grafton, Massachusetts, United States of America, 3 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, United States of America
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