The military's new "Toys"

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http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-07/darpa-tests-first-robotic-ornithopters

Darpa's First Robotic Ornithopter Hovers, Flies Like a Hummingbird
The creepy, tiny wing-flapping UAV, designed for indoor flight, is modelled on hummingbirds
By Anna Maria Jakubek Posted 03.07.2009 at 6:14 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cov7-XWUa18

A few years from now, bird-watchers may be in for a double take: that flapping creature in the distance? Nope, not a bird. Mutant dragon fly? Nope--it's Darpa's latest unmanned aerial robo-sentinel, inspired by the flight mechanics of birds.

The tech company Aerovironment recently won a $2.1 million contract to further their work on the Nano Air Vehicle (NAV). One of many progressive projects from Darpa (the Pentagon's advanced-research unit), the NAV is the first-ever "controlled hovering flight of an air vehicle system with two flapping wings that carries its own energy source and uses only the flapping wings for propulsion and control," says Aerovironment.

In the future, Darpa plans to use the teeny NAV for secret indoor and outdoor government missions, like dropping off listening devices and other cargo, and transmiting sound and video to locations as far as a kilometer away.

The above tasks are, presumably, ones that any small air vehicle could take on--which raises a question: cool factor aside, how is the ornithopter better than any run-of-the-mill tiny helicopter? According to Darpa, the advantages lie in something called the Reynolds number, a measurement of airborne efficiency that is lower (and technologically better) for flying creatures (like hummingbirds) compared to regular aircraft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_number

Aerovironment plans to make the next batch of birds smaller (10 grams and 7.5 cm), faster (22 mph), quieter, and more wind-resistant.

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http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/insect-wifi-network-tracks-down-wmds

Network of Wi-Fi-Enabled Cyborg Insects Hunts Down WMDs
Latest military news: A wireless network allows electronically enhanced bugs to chirp, tweet, and blog (some day!) about weapons they find
By Dan Smith Posted 18.06.2009 at 4:27 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/wififly.jpg
Wi-Fi Fly via MI2G http://www.mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/061007.php

In its attempts to quash weapons of mass destruction, the Pentagon has been trying novel ways to track down dangerous materiel. For years, DARPA has been trying to train insects and bugs to sniff out toxic substances, providing more sensitive detection, as well as access that conventional sensors might not have. The newest twist on this concept is a plan to link up armies of the cyborg bugs in a peer-to-peer, or insect-to-insect, network that will allow them to communicate with each other and with their human masters.

Previous research into this field of detection included landmine-sniffing honeybees and mechanized remote-controlled insects. This next approach will implant insects with a chip that reads certain muscle twitches, which correspond to the presence of certain chemicals. The chips will then modify the chirps of insects like cicadas or crickets into an electronic signal that could be transmitted to other chipped insects in the area. Information about detected weaponized chemicals could bounce around this mobile insect network, and then be picked up by humans.

While the idea seems pretty far-fetched, the idea of creating a decentralized communication network between free-roaming insects could radically increase the bugs' range of detection. Still unclear, however, is if this insect Wi-Fi will allow the information-laden chirps to be more than 140 characters long.

[via Wired] http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/pentagon-wants-cyborg-insects-to-sniff-wmd-offer-wi-fi/

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http://www.popsci.com.au/gear-amp-gadgets/article/2009-06/ultimate-wristwatch

A Lightweight Display Brings Instant Army Intelligence to Your Wrist
Latest military news: The flexible, durable, wearable screen could soon be standard issue
By Arnie Cooper Posted 17.06.2009 at 3:09 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/around-the-bend.jpg
Around the Bend: The Army hopes to squeeze a backpack’s worth of tech into an armband display Bland Design

A special-ops soldier carries a slew of gadgets into battle. There's the GPS unit to pinpoint his squad's location, and a laptop for pulling up blueprints of terrorist compounds or infrared readings of buildings scoped out by robotic surveillance drones. With a radio and its five-pound battery, it's too much gear. But in a couple years, troops could lighten their load with a rugged, flexible, wrist-mounted display that's in development by the U.S. Army and HP Labs.

The solar-powered, bendable computer screen will allow for instant data and radio transmission, all in a half-pound unit, says David Morton, the program manager for flexible electronics at the Army Research Laboratory. The display's thin layer of transistors sends electric signals to an e-ink screen, which converts those signals into grayscale images, similar to the way the Amazon Kindle does. Unlike the Kindle, the two-by-three-inch display can bend to fit around the user's wrist because HP stamps the electronics and optical components onto pliable plastic. The process eliminates the need for the fragile glass backing used in the Kindle and other displays, says Carl Taussig, the director of information surfaces at HP. "You can strike these things with a mallet, and they just keep on working."

While the Army works on a color screen, troops will test the black-and-white device and provide feedback for the final version, which should be ready for military use by 2011.

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http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/meet-inventor-battlefield-snakebot-and-wall-scaling-snailbot

A Word With the Inventor of the Battlefield Snakebot and the Wall-Scaling Snailbot
Latest military news: Israeli roboticist Amir Shapiro looks to the animal kingdom to design robots that can go where humans can't
By John Pavlus Posted 11.06.2009 at 10:10 pm

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid3924348001?bctid=25956559001

The Israel Defense Forces are preparing to deploy a camouflage-wearing, camera-toting robot snake. The spybot, which slithers through cracks and caves using principles of motion derived from those of actual snakes, is just one of roboticist Amir Shapiro's clever designs based on animal physiology. We visited Dr. Shapiro's lab at Ben Gurion University of the Negev to get a closer look.

The inventor's guiding principle is one familiar to engineers everywhere: "KISS: keep it simple, stupid." But the applications of the robot prototypes he designs are anything but routine: besides the snakebots, which can carry explosives for military use or slither into collapsed buildings with a camera to search for survivors, there are tunnel-mapping robots that travel in pairs to correct each other's errors, and robots that use magnetic wheels for inspecting ships below the waterline, or adhesive treads for scaling vertical walls like a snail.

In contrast to versatile robot prototypes like Boston Dynamics' "Big Dog," your robots are each designed to solve a specific mobility problem using simple solutions. Do you have a "low-tech" philosophy?

Not really -- in fact, some of the ways we design and manufacture our components, such as 3-D printing, are very high-tech. But we do work with a bottom-up approach. We are in the stage that each robot has a specific task, and we design something for that task. This is the art of science, to take a complex task and break it into small pieces that are easier to handle, then combine them together. Simple is good in general. The greatest inventions are the simplest ones -- like the wheel, for instance.

What problem were you trying to solve with the snakelike robots?

Robots that move like snakes are not new; what I added is the idea of advancing the snake by creating "rolling contact" with the environment. Rolling contact is just what a wheel does: making contact with the environment in a continuous way. In the snake robot, rolling contact is maintained by a traveling wave through the links on the body. I call it a "deformable wheel," because each link rolls on the ground, and when the contact gets to the end of the link, the next link comes and continues the rolling.

Rolling contact is useful for two reasons: one, for measuring how far the robot advances -- you can obtain odometry information just like you can from a wheel. The traveling wave lets us measure the angle of each link in the robot with respect to the environment, so we can estimate how far it crawls. In the future, we can put tilt sensors and accelerometers on each link to get even more accurate measurements. The second reason is for climbing -- you want contact to be continuous in order to maintain contact force with the environment, so the robot can hold itself up.

The "2-D" snake can only move forwards and backwards, because it only uses one traveling wave in its links, but it can also climb between two rigid surfaces. In the "3-D" snake, two perpendicular waves -- one horizontal, one vertical -- travel through the links, and the superimposition creates a screwlike motion. It's more versatile, and can be steered left or right by changing the speed and phase difference between the waves. It should be able to climb as well, but we haven't tested that yet.

What is the principle behind the tunnel-mapping robots, which work in pairs?

Basically it's error correction. There is a unit [in the IDF] that finds tunnels between Gaza and Israel, and they asked us to design a unit that could be driven into these tunnels to map them safely. Obviously there's no GPS down there, so you need to rely on odometry to do the mapping. But with one robot, if there is any slippage during rotating or turning, then you introduce error into the angle of the robot, and after a certain distance you get a very big error in localization.

With two robots, you can gain additional information about the relative configuration of the pair, in addition to the odometry. The arm that connects them has six passive joints that record the relative positional information between the two, and this redundant data allows for error correction when slippage occurs. The arm can also transfer force between the two robots: one can push or pull the other to help it overcome obstacles, which is particularly useful in confined spaces like tunnels.

Your two other prototypes were designed to attach to specific surfaces while moving. What was your approach for each problem?

The first was brought to me by two students who are both officers in the navy, who wished they had a way to assess damage to the hulls of ships just below the surface without sending a diver out. We needed a robot that could attach to metal structures, so placing magnets on the robot's wheels was the simplest and easiest solution. The problem was that there are usually obstacles that it has to travel over, like rivets and seams. Therefore, we mounted all the magnets on springs, so they could adjust to the terrain.

The second problem was inspired by an incident about twenty years ago when a soldier was kidnapped and held on the second story of a building. Having a robot that could quietly scale the wall outside and survey the interior would be very useful. Suction is often not appropriate, because the wall surface is rough or unsealed, so we looked at the snail, which can climb on almost any surface simply by secreting an adhesive. We discovered that a hot glue gun mounted over each tread of a robot worked quite well for imitating this, and it was strong enough to hold much more than the robot's weight.

What are your plans for future research efforts?

I'd like to study more dynamic mobility processes. All of these prototypes rely on what we called quasi-static motion: the robot is stable at all times. And I think the future would be in investigating processes that are more dynamic -- that can use inertia, jumping, or even falling. After all, when we're walking, we actually fall forward. So I'd like to investigate these applications for dynamic locomotion.

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http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/predator-drone

Drones Hone In On Taliban Targets Marked With Tiny Microchips
Latest military news: Minuscule beacons tell pilotless aircraft where to bomb.
By Dan Smith Posted 02.06.2009 at 8:21 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/predator_0.jpg
Predator Drone

New information is coming to light about how the US military has been directing their bombing attacks by unmanned drone aircrafts via small microchip beacons. These microchips, planted by hand by spies around the homes or meeting places of Al-Qaeda agents, send signals identifying targets for destruction, much like laser designators for smart bombs. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/31/cia-drones-tribesmen-taliban-pakistan

One of the most difficult aspects in the war being conducted in Pakistan is obtaining accurate, real-time intelligence, accessing the region, and ultimately attacking the threat. However, in the remote and mountainous regions of Waziristan and the Swat Valley in Pakistan, populated by factious tribes that may or may not be housing Al-Qaeda operatives, this has proven difficult. Over the past several years the US military has launched many missile attacks by the drone aircrafts, which have solved the problem of the access and the attack. The microchips, called “parthai” by locals, meaning “metal device” in Pashto, have solved the issue of intelligence. The chips are placed by local tribesmen, who are paid by the CIA and who have a more intimate knowledge of the community and targets.

The drone program has been championed by the military as a cheap option that doesn’t directly threaten troops in the region. However, the bombings have been criticized for causing large amounts of collateral damage. These chips could be an attempt to focus their attacks to prevent civilian casualties by pinpointing their attacks as much as possible.

The chips have certainly caused a commotion in the region. Locals are reportedly trying to avoid Taliban fighters so as not to be near future attacks. The Taliban has also started cracking down on people they feel may be chip-carrying spies. A video released by the Taliban in April shows the killing of a man who claims to have been paid by the CIA for planting a chip. The video may be in response to the fact that the drones have supposedly claimed the lives of nine of the top twenty Al-Qaeda leaders in the past 18 months.

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http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-05/meet-ember-littlest-warbot

Latest Military News: Meet Ember, the Littlest Warbot
iRobot's lovable fighting machine can be toted in your pocket. Latest military news from Popular Science.
By Jeremy Hsu Posted 30.05.2009 at 4:18 am

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid3924348001?bctid=24664224001

iRobot's multipurpose PackBot has helped lead the way among war-bots, disabling improvised explosives and carrying out recon missions for snipers. But soon paperback-sized robots such as the Ember prototype could join their larger cousins on the battlefield.

Ember's strength rests with numbers and disposability -- one soldier could theoretically carry around several of the bots and place them to create a networked mobile swarm. Each robot might carry several radios and sensors that make up a small part of the larger wireless network envisioned in the Army's now-gutted Future Combat Systems. http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-04/future-military

The one-pound robot gets around easily enough for its size. Twin flipper mechanisms allow the robot to climb obstacles and even right itself after awkward falls. Future versions are slated to pack enough artificial intelligence to detect and maneuver around obstacles in cluttered urban environments.

Soldiers need not treat Ember gently, either. Dropping or throwing the tiny bot works just fine -- apparently toughness is an inherited trait in the iRobot family, if PackBot has anything to say about it on Facebook.

"I like to think of myself as a rugged, shockproof, waterproof part of the team," PackBot confides on its personal page. Since early this year, the robot has joined college students and narcissists alike in polishing its online credentials and sharing family photos of Ember. It's kind of charming, even if the choice of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" under favorite movies seems a bit random for a robot.

The trend toward smaller robots doesn't completely shunt aside the bigger unmanned ground vehicles, such as the tank-like Ripsaw that won one of PopSci's "Inventions of the Year." Large and small bots alike may simply play their own roles to ensure unmanned domination of the battlefield; as PackBot brags on Facebook, "I came, I saw, I conquered."
http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-05/fastest-tank?

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/Ember_on_paperback.jpg
Ember: courtesy iRobot

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http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-04/speed-bump-sensors-keep-hummers-rolling

Speed Bump Sensors Keep Hummers Rolling
Humvees could get maintenance checkups to go
By Jeremy Hsu Posted 18.04.2009 at 3:02 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/douglas-adams.gif
Douglas Adams and Tiffany DiPetta, Purdue University Purdue News Service photo/Andrew Hancock

Wear and tear on Humvees need not slow down the U.S. Army – soldiers could soon drive over speed bump-like diagnostic cleats to determine the conditions their vehicles are in.

Embedded sensors could detect suspension or tire problems by comparing vibration signatures with the baseline signature of a healthy vehicle. Researchers used triaxial accelerometers to gauge tire forces in a cleat prototype.

"The cleat is a quick first check to determine what's mechanically wrong with a vehicle before wasting time hunting for potentially simple problems," said Joseph Gothamy, who leads the reliability and durability simulation team at Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, in Warren, Michigan. http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-08/military-tech-versus-street-tech-whoacutes-got-edge

The sensor speed bump costs roughly $1,500 and could stave off the more expensive option of rigging all current vehicles with sensors. It also provides an alternative to the current maintenance schedules that are based on reliability estimates for Humvees. Such estimates may not hold up when Humvees are subjected to different tasks and environments, so the sensor speed bump would potentially lead to more accurate and tailored vehicle maintenance procedures.. http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2003-04/shoot-not-kill

"Some vehicles may be used at checkpoints while others may be hauling supplies hundreds of miles," Gothamy said. "Even if the same vehicle variant is used, they are on very different missions, and trying to use the same regular maintenance schedule for both isn't always efficient or effective." http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-08/terrain-negotiation-humvee-vs-h2-sut

Researchers at Purdue University tested the system using Humvees and computer simulations. They found that the sensors could pick up on simulated coil spring damage in the Humvee's front suspension, even at different tire pressures.

According to Douglas Adams, a mechanical engineer at Purdue University, the system could eventually alert maintenance personnel to everything from deflated tires to shock absorber problems.

For now, the main challenge lies in acquiring enough data to build up a library of vibration signatures that can troubleshoot various problems under different conditions. The U.S. Army plans to do further testing at various Army depots, and will conduct a large survey of vehicles returning from overseas deployment – because even Army tough can use a checkup every now and then. http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2004-02/clash-headless-humvees
"Let's say one of the tires is severely under pressure," Adams said. "The cleat tells you to turn around and fill up that tire because you are about to embark on a 10-hour mission with this vehicle."

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http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2008-11/robots-hunt-packs

Robots That Hunt in Packs
The Department of Defense wants your designs for a collaborative robotic team
By John Brandon Posted 06.11.2008 at 3:09 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/Gladiator_240G.jpg
Gladiator Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicle

The Department of Defense has put out a call: design a pack of robots. A so-called Multi-Robot Pursuit System would be used to "search for and detect a non-cooperative human subject." Each robot has to weigh 100 kilograms or less, act autonomously (with a human squad leader), negotiate obstacles, and provide immediate feedback. The robots would report back to a human operator, and defer to that human when the robot AI determines that a "difficult decision" is required.

The first phase of development is to create the sensors for detecting humans and to conduct feasibility experiments. Then comes the building of a prototype with fully functional sensors. At that point, a third phase would try to establish whether a pack of such robots -- about three to five in number -- could realistically be used for missions involving, according to the proposal, "search and rescue, fire-fighting, reconnaissance, and automated biological, chemical, and radiation sensing with mobile platforms."

Part of the latter phase would involve the robots moving through an obstacle course and making search-and-rescue decisions, maintaining awareness of and line-of-site with a subject. Limited information is available about the program's mandate, but the proposal's topic number indicates that it is a U.S. Army project, from which one could infer that the robots would be used in military missions. http://www.dodsbir.net/SITIS/display_topic.asp?Bookmark=34565

Robot drones are currently used as unmanned aircraft to provide early warning in combat. In the past, military officials have noted that robots would likely not be used to replace soldiers on the battlefield because of the ethical dilemmas involved.

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http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2008-10/developing-lasers-battlefield

Developing Lasers for the Battlefield
They're not just for the dancefloor any more. Latest military news...
By John Brandon Posted 08.10.2008 at 8:12 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/lasers.jpg
Laser Show Photo by gabyu (CC Licensed) http://flickr.com/photos/gabyu/

Laser weaponry is a hot topic lately (excuse the pun), especially for those who question the ethics of using them on the battlefield. In late September, the Senate approved a Defense Authorization Bill that would provide new funding for military laser weapons.

So called "directed-energy weapons" use a beam of coherent light to disable attacking troops. According to the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which presidential hopeful John McCain is a member, laser weapons provide a tactical advantage primarily because of their accuracy. In the future, these weapons could be used during combat as a defensive measure, but it's still unclear whether the Department of Defense will decide to develop them as offensive weapons.

A "shoot-down" test from a 747 is planned for the end of 2009. If the test shows that laser weaponry has potential, an additional $30 million in funding will be allocated to develop a missile defense program.

Today, low-power laser weapons are being used in Iraq to "incapacitate" enemies or "deter" vehicles from approaching checkpoints. (The Department of Defense did not immediately return our requests for information about the new funding for laser weaponry.) Similar to a Taser weapon, low-power lasers cause disorientation or temporary blindness.

In August, Boeing announced that the U.S. Army had awarded the company a $36-million-dollar contract to develop a high-powered laser weapon. The Geneva Convention specifically prohibits the use of lasers in combat, but the truck-mounted weapon under development -- called a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck -- would be used as a defensive measure, capable of shooting down rockets, artillery shells, and mortar rounds. The vehicle will use a solid-state laser system (solid-state lasers are also used in computer semiconductors), which is more efficient and accurate than standard laser weapons. http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q3/080819a_nr.html

Lasers are currently used on the battlefield for targeting and tagging enemy units. For example, the LDART (Laser Detection and Reciprocal Targeting) system can read whether a vehicle has been "painted" by a laser, and warn troops of impending threats. Lasers are also used for missile guidance and to determine the range of objects on the battlefield as a guide in troop advancement.

[Via the Washington Post] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/21/AR2008092102432_pf.html

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http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-space/article/2008-03/army%E2%80%99s-telepathic-ray-gun

The Army’s Telepathic Ray Gun
A newly declassified report details the Defense Department's mind-control weapons concepts
By Megan Miller Posted 22.03.2008 at 3:17 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/raygun.jpg
What we imagine the telepathic ray would look like Erin Silversmith

The U.S. Defense department has tested some spooky weapons, but those involving mind control and telepathic attack may be near the top of the list. A newly declassified 1998 document released under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (download the pdf here http://www.popsci.com/files/microwave.pdf ), describes potential weapons for crowd control, such as a microwave gun that could beam words directly into people’s ears, and an electromagnetic pulse that causes epilepsy-like seizures.

The report also discusses a weapon that can heat a victim's body internally, producing an artificial fever. It is unknown whether the fever-inducing technology was actually tested, but the report notes that the equipment needed "is available today" and that the resulting fever would keep a victim incapacitated for "any desired period consistent with safety."

In an interview with New Scientist, Steve Wright, a UK security expert at Leeds Metropolitan University, warned that such technologies could be used for torture. "The epileptic seizure-inducing device is grossly irresponsible and should never be fielded," He said. "We know from similar artificially-induced fits that the victim subsequently remains 'potentiated' and may spontaneously suffer epileptic fits again after the initial attack." http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn13513-us-army-toyed-with-telepathic-ray-gun.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

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http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-04/robots-war

Robots at War
Popular Science talks to the author of Wired for War: the Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century
By Val Wang Posted 08.04.2009 at 1:14 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/packbot.jpg
Soldier with PackBot courtesy iRobot

PackBots roam the streets of Iraq defusing bombs. Remote-controlled SWORDS robots shoot rifles and rocket launchers with deadly accuracy. Predator drones piloted by soldiers in Nevada drop missiles on Iraq and Afghanistan. The Wasp robot flies over neighborhoods full of insurgents, recording what's below with a camera as small as a peanut.

If this sounds like a futuristic science fiction story, it's not. As of today, over 12,000 robots are working in Iraq, up from zero five years ago.

The military is driving the cutting edge of the robotics industry, so forget about Isaac Asimov's Three Laws as laid out in his seminal science fiction book I, Robot: a robot may not injure a human being, a robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, a robot must protect its own existence. We're already living in a strange new world. http://wiredforwar.pwsinger.com/

P.W. Singer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, has written Wired for War, in which he's interviewed a motley crew of people involved with the robotics industry: CEOs of robotics companies, 19-year-old drone pilots, four-star generals, refusenik roboticists who won't build for the military, people in the Middle East on the other end of the bullets and missiles, and science fiction authors who consult for the Pentagon.

Robots do see better than humans, shoot straighter and faster than us, and never get tired, but is it only a matter of time until, as any reader of Western science fiction knows, the robot "wises up and then rises up," as Singer says?

I spoke to Singer about what he found out in his journey into the heart of the robotics industry, and what's to come.

How much did you know about robots before you started on this project?

I could claim I knew a lot in that I grew up playing with Star Wars action figures and sleeping in Battlestar Galactica bedsheets, but the reality is that I'm not an engineer, I'm a social scientist, so the chapter "Robotics for Dummies" was about how I was a dummy, learning everything I could about robotics so I could explain them to a layman, where the field is and where it's headed. There's a wide ignorance -- I mean that in the true meaning of the term, not the slur meaning -- about the exciting and fascinating and sometimes scary things going on with robotics today. It's seen as mere science fiction but it's not. And it's a lot further ahead than most people have a sense of.

Could you talk about the connection between science fiction and what's actually being designed?

It was startling how open people were about talking about science fiction and their use in the real world. The Marine colonel talking about, 'Oh, yeah, I got the idea for building that system from The Empire Strikes Back with my kids.' The people at the Air Force research lab talking about how, "Oh yes, we decided to call it the Phaser because we knew it was more likely to get funding if it had a sci-fi sounding name."

[Science Fiction Museum director] Donna Shirley says, "Science fiction isn't so much about how to build the bomb but what happens if." If you build the bomb you get Dr. Strangelove, and that's the part that interests me. That's really what the book is about. All of the dilemmas that come out of having science fiction come true, having science fiction play out on our modern battlefields.

I went to Human Rights Watch and was asking them about accountability coming out of drone strikes in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan and two of the senior leaders there get in an argument in front of me as to which legal system we should turn to to get the answers, to who do we hold accountable when the drone kills the wrong person, and one says, "the Geneva Convention," and the other says, "No, no, no, it's the Star Trek Prime Directive."

And it shows to me: one, the influence of science fiction in the oddest of places, but two, it also shows the challenges when you enter into this sci-fi-turned-real-world, where suddenly we're really grasping at straws because our current laws just haven't caught up yet.

There are a series of open questions right now: Where is the code of ethics in the robotics field? What gets built and what doesn't get built? Where's the answer to the question of who gets to use these technologies? Who doesn't get them? They're the kind of questions that you used to only talk about in science fiction conventions, but these are very real, live questions right now.

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/predator.jpg
Global Hawk Drone: This spy drone can take off by itself, fly 3,000 miles, spend a day spying on an area the size of the state of Maine, fly back 3,000 miles, and then land itself. -- P.W. Singer courtesy U.S. Department of Defense

How have these robots changed the experience of war?

The very meaning of the term "going to war" has changed in our lifetime. Whether we were talking about the ancient Greeks going to war against Troy in the Iliad, to my grandfather's experience in World War II going to war against the Japanese in the Pacific, that phrase has meant the same thing over the last 5,000 years. It's meant going to a place where there was such danger that you might never return.

You have now the experience of, for example, that Predator drone pilot who appears in the book, who says, "you're 'going to war' for twelve hours, you're putting missiles on enemy targets, you're killing enemy combatants, and then you get back in your car and drive home and 20 minutes after being 'at war' you're sitting at the dinner table talking to your kids about their homework."

We're starting to see ripple effects on our own politics. As that former Secretary of Defense puts it in the book, "I like these systems because they save American lives but I also worry about more marketization of war, more 'shock and awe' talk, to defray discussion of the cost. People are more likely to support the use of force if they view it as costless." We may be taking those bars to war that we were already lowering and dropping them to the ground.

And what is it like for the Iraqis or the Afghanis on the receiving end of this technology?

The leading news editor of Lebanon [Rami Khouri], who was actually saying this [to me] while a drone was flying above him at the time, and he says, "It's just another sign of the cold-hearted, cruel Israelis and Americans who are also cowards because they send out machines to fight us. They don't want to fight us like real men. But they're afraid to fight, so we just have to kill a few of their soldiers to defeat them." That is just a graphic illustration of an absolute disconnect in the war of ideas between the message we think we're sending versus the message being received. In Pakistan, one of the most popular songs last year ["Chacha Wardi Lahnda Kyo Nahen" or "Uncle, Lose the Uniform, Why Don't You?"] talked about how Americans don't fight with honor and they just look at Pakistanis the way they look at insects. That ain't the kind of messaging you want to be sending out.

How much autonomy do you think robots should have? What direction are we going in versus what direction should we be going in?

Every time you ask about this issue of armed and autonomous robots, people always use the phraseology, "No, no, no. We'll always have man in the loop." The "loop" phraseology is like a mantra everyone has to chant. And yet, it's utter B.S.. We have systems right now that we're already granting massive amounts of autonomy to.

There's the example of the CRAM, the Counter Rocket Artillery Mortar, the little R2-D2-like system in Baghdad that automatically shoots down incoming rockets because they're coming in too quickly for humans to respond to. You've got an incoming rocket and the human can barely get to, "Oh, sh---" and it's too late. Yeah, man's in the loop, we turn it on and off, but we don't have the reaction time to decide what it shoots at and what it doesn't.

There's an incredible array of excuses we come up for giving the system more autonomy. It's everything from, 'Things are happening quickly in a war. We'll not allow it to shoot first but we'll give it shoot-back ability.' Or 'We'll design systems that don't shoot at people, they just can shoot at other weapon systems. They can't shoot at the people in the tank, they can shoot at tanks.'

Each one takes us further and further down the slippery slope that we say we'll never, ever cross. Guess what? We are directly researching armed, autonomous systems. The funniest illustration of that is the title of one of the Pentagon research projects on it, which is actually entitled, "Taking Man Out of the Loop."

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/article/2007-10/use-predators-expand-border

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-space/article/2008-06/militarys-mystery-machine

The Military's Mystery Machine
The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP, has been called a missile-defense tool and a mind-control device. The truth is a bit less ominous
By Abe Streep Posted 19.06.2008 at 5:36 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/haarp_main.jpg
Northern Exposure: With HAARP, an antenna array located 200 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska, scientists study the outer atmosphere by zapping it with radio waves generated by 3,600 kilowatts of electricity. Appropriately, it has a great view of the aurora borealis. U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
If the paranoid blogosphere is to be believed, every morning a group of plasma-physics grad students wakes up at a research facility in Gakona, Alaska, 200 miles north of Anchorage, and prepares for another day of playing God. It’s cold, dark as a mineshaft in winter, and the day’s work does little to cheer the mood. Depending on the unpredictable agendas of military scientists, this group of technicians must shoot radio waves into the upper reaches of our atmosphere to create missile shields, eviscerate enemy satellites, set off the occasional earthquake, or control the minds of millions of people.

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_small/files/articles/haarpe,b.jpg
Skywave Propogation: Radio waves travel in straight lines, but the Earth isn’t flat, so sending radio signals to the other side of the world is tricky. HAARP’s findings could lead to ways to extend the range of radio signals by creating irregularities in the ionosphere that would bounce signals across long distances. Paul Wootton

The truth is, though, that the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP—the 180-antenna array that became fully operational last year when the defense-systems contractor BAE finished installing transmitters—is nothing more sinister than a research station. And now, 15 years after construction on the station began, HAARP’s managers are seeing what the fully powered system can do; most recently, they’ve begun zapping the moon with the hope of determining the composition of its soil. “It’s up, it runs, it performs beautifully,” says Ed Kennedy, the former HAARP program manager for the Naval Research Lab. “HAARP is a great example of a project that from start to finish stayed on schedule and on budget.”

HAARP’s purpose is to study the ionosphere (the section of the atmosphere beginning about 50 miles up in which ultraviolet radiation temporarily strips atoms of their electrons), the magnetosphere (the region in space above the ionosphere where the Earth’s magnetic field affects the behavior of charged particles) and the Van Allen radiation belts (bands of highly charged particles contained in the magnetosphere beginning some 400 miles up). Scientists are interested in the ionosphere because of its ability to affect radio signals; the Van Allen belt, because the radiation there damages satellites, and a better understanding of it could lead to ways to make satellites last longer. “It’s an open plasma-physics laboratory,” says Dennis Papadopoulos, a physics professor at the University of Maryland who helped conceive the idea for HAARP with the Naval Research Lab more than 30 years ago. “You test ideas and scientific theories. Then, if something’s important to the Department of Defense, you apply it.”

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/haarp_infog.jpg
Ionospheric Manipulation Made Easy: HAARP’s ionospheric research instrument comprises 180 aluminum antenna towers [1] on a 40-acre plot. Together the towers beam radio waves into the ionosphere, which begins about 50 miles up. There, sunlight temporarily strips gas molecules [2] of their electrons, creating charged particles [3]. Scientists tweak HAARP’s signal [4] to stimulate reactions in the lower ionosphere, causing phenomena such as radiating auroral currents, a.k.a. “virtual antennas,” which send extremely low-frequency waves back to Earth. The waves can reach deep into the ocean and could improve submarine communication. At night, the absence of sunlight causes the lowest layer of the ionosphere to temporarily disappear [5]. This allows HAARP to conduct experiments that could lead to better ways to use a process called skywave propagation. Paul Wootton
One application government scientists are particularly interested in is turning the lower ionosphere into a tool for broadcasting radio signals or bouncing them around the curvature of the Earth. By beaming a signal ranging from 2.8 to 10 megahertz into the ionosphere and then pulsing the signal, HAARP stimulates what’s called a “virtual antenna”—a radio interaction that causes the ionosphere to send a very low-frequency signal back down to Earth. The phenomenon could theoretically improve submarine communication. Because salty, conductive seawater absorbs high-frequency radio waves, submarines currently operate with wires that reach up into shallow depths to receive usable radio signals. Low-frequency signals like the ones HAARP generates in the ionosphere could allow subs to operate at much deeper depths. “It’s a real signal that comes from space as though there were an antenna up there,” says Paul Kossey, HAARP program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate. “But there’s no wire doing it.”

Of course, a vocal minority of HAARP-watchers have their own ideas about the purpose of the $230-million, taxpayer-funded antenna array. For many years, HAARP’s most prominent critic was Bernard Eastlund, a plasma physicist who reportedly worked for the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) and, later, Advanced Power Technologies Incorporated, the company originally tasked with building HAARP. Eastlund, who some believe was dismissed from the company for his extreme ideas, claimed that HAARP was built with his patents—patents for technologies that could be used to modify weather and disable satellites.

Since Eastlund’s death last December, Nick Begich, son of a former Alaskan congressman and co-author of the 1995 book Angels Don’t Play This HAARP: Advances in Tesla Technology, has led the anti-HAARP crusade. “It’s not that I think it needs to be shut down,” Begich says. “It needs to be monitored more closely and scrutinized. The government hasn’t been up-front about the nature of these programs, and they’re utilizing the system to manipulate portions of the environment without full disclosure to the public.” He worries that HAARP may be capable of mind control because the waves it produces can exist at frequencies similar to those of human brain waves. Citing Eastlund’s patents, Begich also worries that the facility can alter weather. More extreme skeptics, like Jerry E. Smith, author of HAARP: The Ultimate Weapon of the Conspiracy, suspect that HAARP was rushed into completion after the 2005 hurricane season, which included Katrina, to keep the storms from making landfall. Others say it was responsible for the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.

Ask a HAARP scientist about allegations like this, and he’ll either laugh or lose his temper. “This is completely uninformed,” says Umran Inan, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University whose research group works with HAARP. “There’s absolutely nothing we can do to disturb the Earth’s [weather] systems. Even though the power HAARP radiates is very large, it’s minuscule compared with the power of a lightning flash—and there are 50 to 100 lightning flashes every second. HAARP’s intensity is very small.”

“You hear these people talking about mind control, and it’s just not serious,” Papadopoulos says. So we don’t need tinfoil hats to prevent evil government scientists from controlling our every thought? “We have difficulty measuring the signal. We do experiments all the time up there, and we don’t wear hats.”

Conspiracy or not? Launch our gallery here to see the great debunking. http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/gallery/2008-06/scientific-tool-or-weapon-conspiracy

Abe Streep is an associate editor at Outside magazine.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-space/article/2006-10/top-secret-warplanes-area-51

The Top-Secret Warplanes of Area 51
Stealth jets? Hypersonic bombers? What's really being developed at the military's most famous classified base?
By Bill Sweetman Posted 01.10.2006 at 5:00 pm

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/blackairplanes_485.jpg
by DigitalGlobe: Satellite imagery taken on January 17, 2006, of Area 51 reveals little. Base security personnel know when satellites are passing overhead, and test aircraft remain indoors at those times. Personnel work in windowless offices and are locked inside when anything other than their own project is outdoors. DigitalGlobe
View Photo Gallery http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-space/gallery/2006-09/new-secrets-area-51

For a closer look at the exotic aircraft the Air Force might be cooking up at Area 51, launch the photo gallery. http://www.popsci.com.au/node/8820

On a trip to las vegas in 2004, observing from my east-facing hotel room in the pyramidal Luxor Hotel at daybreak, I watched a fleet of six unmarked 737s make commuter flights to nowhere. These aircraft depart every weekday morning from a tidy, anonymous terminal on the western side of McCarran International Airport. A long line of cars pours into a 1,600-spot parking lot as the jets pull away from the terminal, taxi to the runways, and head out into the desert sky. At the end of the day, the shuttle flights return and the lot empties. The passengers go home and tell their families nothing about what happened at work that day.

Cut to April 4 this year. San Diego is hit by a rumbling shock that isn´t an earthquake. It is ruled out by the media as a sonic boom after military operators claim it is not one of their aircraft. San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Alex Roth does some digging and comes up with six puzzlingly similar incidents around the country since 2003.

Fast-forward to July, at the Farnborough International Airshow in southeastern England. Frank Cappuccio, the avuncular vice president of Lockheed Martin´s secretive Skunk Works division, opens a press conference by introducing what he calls a promotional video, â€something to show the kids and families about what we do.†Two minutes into the show, a gray, cockpit-less airplane that nobody has seen before-it looks like a B-2 bomber´s chick-soars over a backdrop of stony, barren hills and mountains.

All these events are linked. They are the visible signs of an invisible, parallel world within the universe of aerospace and defense: the classified, or â€black,†world of secret military programs. Those unmarked 737s were ferrying employees to the flight-test center near Groom Lake, Nevada, known to the public as Area 51. The gray airplane is Polecat, a next-generation stealth unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-Cappuccio´s video was his sly way of unveiling the program. Those earthquakes? Quite possibly sonic booms from a long-suspected hypersonic attack vehicle, a sleek aircraft that has consumed the imaginations of black-project enthusiasts and military analysts, including me, for two decades. Though seemingly dormant in recent years, the program appears to be on the move again, and with a renewed vigor that has me feeling, somewhat unsettlingly, a bit like the aerospace industry´s own Ahab.

The black airplane world has, without question, produced the most significant advances in aviation technology. In the 1950s, it spawned the U-2 spyplane, which flew higher and farther than anyone had thought possible. It gave birth a decade later to the SR-71 Blackbird, the exotic, revered speed king. It also produced the slow but stealthy, origami-like F-117 fighter.

But for aerospace sleuths, there´s been little activity recently in the form of declassified vehicles that might hint at current efforts. (Classified programs can be unveiled to aid in broad combat deployment or when the technology appears in other programs.) The F-117 came out of the black world during the first Iraq war 15 years ago, and only three aircraft have been introduced since. One was Polecat. Another was Northrop Grumman´s ungainly reconnaissance aircraft Tacit Blue, nicknamed â€the Whale.†The third was Boeing´s Bird of Prey, which tested visual stealth strategies, including shaping that minimizes shadows and contrast and, rumor has it, body illumination that allows it to blend into its background.

This dearth of unveiled prototypes does not mean, however, that the black-aircraft community is dormant. In fact, all signs point to steadily increasing activity. Google Earth reveals a newly constructed additional runway and multiple new hangars and buildings at the base. The usual vague, untraceable allocations in congressional budgets that often signal classified programs are on the rise, and modern technological innovations are now enabling aircraft designs that might have floundered in the black world for years. Further, there are significant gaps in the military´s known aviation arsenal-gaps that the Pentagon can reasonably be assumed to be actively, if quietly, trying to fill.

The need for such secrecy is simple: It is essential to preserving technological surprise. The Pentagon wishes to prevent enemies from developing strategies to counter the technology. The challenge is to figure out what precisely is happening-without betraying national security-because the bigger the black world gets, the better it conceals its activities. What follows is inescapably an educated guess, arrived at by analysis of the available evidence, at the tantalizing designs being cooked up on the sly at Area 51, including a radical special-forces transport, a stealthy UAV, an agile new bomber, and my own white whale-the mythical, hypersonic dragster and presumed source of those faux earthquakes: Aurora.

Delivering Special Forces Behind Enemy Lines

One of the best pointers to a secret program is an obvious gap in the â€white world†force, and one of these gaps is a stealthy, short-runway transport airplane. The U.S. Air Force´s special
operations community has talked for many years about stealthy transports that could take off and land vertically or on a few hundred feet of level ground (a soccer field is the classic example).

The new V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport is a partial answer to that problem, but the military would really like something faster, so it can fly farther into and out of enemy territory, and the Osprey´s big rotors quickly betray it to radar. So far, there is no sign of unclassified, white-world money developing such a vehicle. In 1992, however, Skunk Works engineers filed a patent application for such an aircraft. (New aircraft can take years to develop. A 14-year-old patent filing could easily represent a current program.)

Tailless, with a blended wing and body, the aircraft is powered by six jet engines driving rotor-like lifting fans ensconced in wide, round bays in the wings. For takeoff and landing, doors and Venetian-blind vanes cascade open, and the fans lift the airplane vertically. While cruising, the engines drive
smaller, forward-thrusting fans. Why six engines? The engines and fans are interconnected by an elaborate system of cross-shafts so that any engine can deliver power to either side of the airplane. With six engines, the airplane can complete a mission if one fails.

Is something like that out there today? The job of a vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft still needs doing, perhaps now more than ever before, and, barring antigravity solutions from the friendly aliens at Area 51, an aircraft like this is one of the few ways to get it done. Technologically, it is probably benefiting from the innovations behind the Osprey´s power-sharing engines-in that aircraft, if one engine fails, the second still drives both propellers-and the development of the shaft-driven vertical-lift fan in the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, or JSF.

New UAVs: Unmanned, Invisible, Unlimited

Although manned fighter jets and bombers have long dominated classified programs, unmanned vehicles are rising as quickly in the black as in the white world, particularly because the Air Force lacks any kind of stealth-reconnaissance aircraft. It plans to replace the U-2 spyplane with the Global Hawk UAV, but even though the Global Hawk has the advantage of being robotic-that is, capable of longer flights and expendable, since there´s no human on board-it doesn´t fly as high and can´t carry the same hefty high-performance cameras as the U-2. Nor does it carry a jammer to spoof enemy missiles.

Polecat, just outed from the black world, is part of the answer. Lockheed Martin representatives talk about an operational version with U-2-like altitude and payload, along with technology to avoid visual detection (including features seen on the Bird of Prey) and, perhaps, an automated system that detects a contrail behind the airplane and tells the flight-control system to change altitude.

Other stealthy UAVs have probably been tested-among them, possibly, armed UAVs. It is known, for example, that engine maker Williams International delivered the first dozen or so of its new FJ33 small jet engines to the U.S. government four or five years ago, but no known project uses that engine. A recent report in Jane´s International Defence Review described another,
larger vehicle that uses different engines from Polecat, apparently recycled from a 1960s UAV program. The article speculated that the engines are probably General Electric J97s, built for a UAV called Compass Arrow.

Why reuse old jet engines? There is only one good reason. The J97 was unusual in that it was designed to operate at up to 80,000 feet, an altitude at which most jet engines cough, stall, and quit. The Air Force does not send the stealthy B-2 and F-117 over hostile territory in daylight, because those planes could be easily spotted. But at 80,000 feet, six miles above a fighter´s cruising altitude, the sky is almost as black as night, and a UAV could survive at high noon. I suspect that both Polecat and the second, larger stealth UAV are currently undergoing high-altitude flight-testing at Area 51.

Some UAV projects may be much slower than even the stealth birds. A Boeing patent filed in 2004 describes a vehicle that is a cross between an airship and an airplane-employing both buoyant lift from helium gas and wing lift generated by forward speed, and capitalizing on recent developments in on-board solar power generation and autonomous flight control.

What would be the advantage of such a vehicle? For one thing, it would have long flight endurance, measured in days or weeks rather than hours. For another, airships can easily be made to accommodate very large and sensitive antennas. If you want to locate weak or sporadic radio transmissions-such as cellphones or scattered satellite phones used by insurgent groups-the airship is an ideal platform.

Revived Avenger Offers Stealthy Ground Attacks

Another surprising gap in U.S. capabilities is the lack of an all-weather, stealthy ground-attack aircraft. The Joint Strike Fighter is supposed to do that, but not until 2014. The new F-22 Raptor, mostly an air-to-air fighter, will be able to do some of it eventually, but that jet carries a relatively modest 2,000-pound bomb load. The F-117 Stealth fighter can be flown only in clear nighttime weather-it has no radar to bomb accurately through clouds, and its black coating easily betrays it to ground spotters.

Fellow black-project sleuth Jeffrey Richelson, author of the 2001 book The Wizards of Langley and one of the leading historians of U.S. intelligence efforts, guessed in a recent conversation that a behind-the-scenes tour of Groom Lake might reveal a revived program to plug that gap sooner than 2014, when the JSF flies.

A hint about possible all-weather attack vehicles now in testing-ones available sooner than 2014 and capable of carrying significant bomb loads-could reside, aerospace historian Peter Merlin pointed out, in a test pilot´s unclassified biography. Daniel Vanderhorst, who flew Northrop´s Whale and six other secret aircraft in a 20-year career, evidently â€tested modified landing gear and conducted initial tests of internal weapons bays and weapon separation tests.†What´s unusual about this is that most prototypes are simple aircraft without weapon bays, which suggests that this airplane was closer to an operational type. Specifically, I´m guessing, it could be an extension of the heavy-payload, all-weather attack jet
A-12 Avenger II, which thenâ€Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney canceled in 1991 because it was overbudget and not meeting its technological goals.

The flying-wing, carrier-based stealth-strike airplane was being developed under a tightly classified but not-quite-black program. The jet was only 11 months from first flight, and nobody has ever disclosed what happened to the partly built prototypes. If one of them had been completed and tested in a revived black program, most likely in the early 1990s, it could have pointed the way toward the F-117 replacement that Richelson suspects is flying now. Unlike the other stealth aircraft, an operational A-12 descendant would combine stealth ground-attack capability with the ability to shoot back at enemy fighters, packing a pair of anti-radar missiles and two AIM-120 air-to-air missiles.

Providing On-Demand Worldwide Attack

Lastly, there´s Aurora. The name itself is mysterious, evoking something you may or may not have seen. This code name leaked out of an unclassified budget document back in 1985. Such a vehicle-a ramjet-powered reconaissance and strike aircraft capable of flying at least five times the speed of sound and deploying anywhere in the world in a matter of hours-has been high on the government´s wish list. Aurora is certainly possible. The basic propulsion unit, the ramjet, is no more than a tapered tube with a fuel injector and burner in the middle and a thrust nozzle at the end. Basic ramjet-powered missiles have topped Mach 6. A wealth of aerodynamic data and test flights suggest that a wedge-shaped aircraft would work at these speeds.

I first heard about this kind of program in the mid-1980s, and the first public hint of the project popped up
in 1988, when the New York Times reported that the Air Force was developing a spyplane capable of better than Mach 5-nearly twice as fast as the
SR-71, then the world´s fastest airplane.

Two years later, the Blackbird was retired. In June 1991, the first in a series of unexplained shock waves rolled across the Los Angeles basin, rattling doors and windows and making people think of earthquakes. But they were not earthquakes, and the military adamantly denied that any of its vehicles caused the booms. In May of this year, I consulted with Dom Maglieri, an ex-NASA sonic-boom expert who has played a key role in the development of low-sonic-boom aircraft. We studied 15-year-old seismograph data from the California Institute of Technology, whose uniquely sensitive sensors could actually track the booms. â€The data showed something at 90,000 feet, Mach 4 to Mach 5,†Maglieri says now. The booms did not look like refracted, â€over the top†booms, as other reports had indicated-booms from aircraft miles away that had traveled up through the atmosphere and bent down toward Los Angeles. The booms looked like direct overflights by a supersonic
airplane that no one admitted to owning. â€The signatures are awfully different,†Maglieri says.

Shortly after the first set of waves appeared, Chris Gibson, an
oil engineer and well-known aircraft-recognition expert, contacted me. In August 1989, Gibson said, he had been working on a North Sea rig when a colleague called him outside to see a formation of airplanes overhead. Clearly silhouetted against the sky were two F-111 bombers, a
KC-135 tanker and-in refueling position behind the tanker-an unidentifiable delta-shaped airplane, about 90 feet long, a near-perfect match for unclassified studies of high-supersonic cruise airplanes.

This evidence helps establish
the program´s initial existence. My investigations continue to turn up evidence that suggests current activity. For example, having spent years sifting through military budgets, tracking untraceable dollars and code names, I learned how to sort out where money was going. This year, when I looked at the Air Force operations budget in detail, I found a $9-billion black hole that seems a perfect fit for a project like Aurora.

Over the years, I´ve learned that few people investigate budget holes seriously. Analysts such as Steven Kosiak of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington, D.C.â€based think tank that pushes innovation in defense, doubt that Congress even knows what´s going on. â€A fair amount of classified spending goes through in supplemental requests,†he told me. â€It´s seen as must-pass legislation, and people don´t look at it closely.†This $9-billion gap and the most recent booms felt in San Diego and elsewhere are the most compelling evidence for the program´s resurgence. (We can´t analyze the new booms because seismic sensors of the same type were not present.)

But if Aurora has been active for years, why would it be surging forward now? The main hold-up has probably been fuel. The way to make a hypersonic cruiser work is to use circulating fuel to soak up the engine´s heat, but conventional jet fuel can´t absorb enough heat to do the job. In the 1980s, Aurora would have been designed to use fuels such as hydrogen or methane, which are gaseous at normal temperatures and had to be supercooled and densified to fuel the aircraft. Although that strategy is possible, it´s not operationally easy, and complicated refueling would be counterproductive for a jet intended to provide prompt overflight when the military needed it. Better fuels and engine technologies exist now.

The question, finally, is does Aurora exist? Years of pursuit have led me to believe that, yes, Aurora is most likely in active development, spurred on by recent advances that have allowed technology to catch up with the ambition that launched the program a generation ago.

Bill Sweetman is a PopSci contributing editor and author of more than 30 books on aerospace technology.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/teched-out-troops-set-touch-down-afghanistan

Army's Most High-Tech Infantry Unit Set to Touch Down in Afghanistan
By Adrian Covert Posted 30.06.2009 at 9:12 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/landwarrior.jpg
Land Warrior Wearable Military Tech Peter Haley / The News Tribune

Each equipped with $48,000 worth of GPS components, electronic maps, and wearable computers, troops of the Army's 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are heading to Afghanistan as part of the resurrected Land Warrior program. The Army is hoping the revised, eight-pound set of gear will be more beneficial than when the $500 million program was canceled in 2006.

As the latest futuristic military program to be made real, Land Warrior gear will allow troops to identify comrades and enemies on the battlefield, receive updated objectives, locate buildings and find the nearest exit--all through a head-mounted eyepiece.

This is the long-awaited realization of the Army's 15 year plus program to help out troops who were previously buying their own walkie-talkies and GPS units to stay in contact with their team.

The problem is, not everyone finds it helpful.

Troops say the technology is more helpful in urban areas such as Iraq, where (presumably), it's easier to become separated from the pack. But in rural Afghanistan, some troops feel carrying the extra 8 pounds around just isn't worth it. I guess Land Warrior's value will be assessed soon enough.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/military/story/786135.html

Networked eyes on the battlefield
SCOTT FONTAINE; The News Tribune
Published: 06/22/09 12:05 am | Updated: 06/22/09 7:01 am
http://media.thenewstribune.com/smedia/2009/06/22/00/597-876361.standalone.prod_affiliate.5.jpg
PETER HALEY/THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Staff Sgt. Mark Gravsky of the 4-23 Infantry Regiment of the 5th Stryker Brigade shows his Land Warrior display as he and Pvt. 2nd Class Joseph Collazo take part in training Thursday in Regensberg, a mock village at Fort Lewis.

The infantry company approached unseen through the thick of the forest. Inside one building in the mock village on Fort Lewis sat the target of the day’s raid. Ten other men sporting Taliban-style robes and assault rifles roamed the streets.

Before the assault, the 120 Stryker Brigade soldiers fanned out across the village perimeter. Snipers set up rifles and tuned scopes. Soldiers carrying Squad Automatic Weapons prepared to lay suppressive fire.

With the sudden crackle of gunfire, the raid began. Soldiers from 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division stormed in and cleared each building, using blank ammunition and role players. The exercise was one of countless such operations at Fort Lewis.

But there was one major difference: A handful of soldiers were tracking their troops’ location through the Land Warrior System, from the mission’s planning stages to its finish.

Land Warrior is real-time network the Army believes should make missions in Iraq and Afghanistan quicker, more efficient and less prone to accidents.

An earlier version was field-tested by a single Fort Lewis Stryker battalion in Iraq. Now it moves to the big stage – an entire brigade, in a different war-torn country.

“I used it on every mission we went on, and frankly, it was one of the best pieces of equipment we had over there,” said Staff Sgt. Dennis Davis, who used Land Warrior during his 2007 Iraq deployment with the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

“It helps with situational awareness on the battlefield,” Davis said. “I can’t imagine doing a mission now without the luxury of having it.”

The system allows users to see the locations of fellow soldiers and track their motion, among other features.

Each pack weighs about eight pounds and features a rotating eyepiece, a handheld controller and a backpack with a computer, radio and geospatial-locating equipment.

It syncs up with computers inside Stryker vehicles and with standalone laptops away from the battlefield.

The soldiers of 5th Brigade begin deploying to southern Afghanistan this month and should see less urban combat than previous Stryker deployments to Iraq. But each unit in the brigade will receive Land Warrior. Team leaders, squad leaders, platoon leaders, platoon sergeants and higher will all be equipped with the system.

The two Fort Lewis Stryker brigades deploying later this year to Iraq have requested the system but are unlikely to receive it before they leave, said John Geddes, the Land Warrior trail boss at Fort Lewis.

The system – which includes the computer subsystem, batteries, hardware-encrypted radios, the eyepiece, controller, laptop and other hardware – costs $48,000 per soldier.

The 5th Brigade is taking 895 systems to Afghanistan.

When a soldier looks in his eyepiece, he sees an aerial map of the battlefield – either a drawn map or a satellite image – and the location of the troops. Commanders can program coordinates and routes before each mission so the troops know where they are and where to go. This can be particularly useful in unfamiliar urban terrain.

The ability to pinpoint locations of individual troops and text message via a keyboard on the controller should cut down on radio chatter. That means less time communicating to set up a mission and, leaders say, less chance of friendly fire accidents.

If a soldier is hurt, he can press a button that calls for a medic.

Land Warrior allows a user to click on an icon on the map and get instant information about who that person is and where they’ve been. Others who are away from the battlefield – such as in a vehicle or a unit’s tactical operations center – can follow the information in real-time.

But Land Warrior is specifically designed to help troops on the ground work more efficiently, said Lt. Col. Burton Shields, commander of the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.

“It allows you to operate faster,” Shields said. “You don’t have to stop to radio in reports. You don’t stop to do map checks. It allows you to be more decentralized.

“You can spread out more because you know where folks are, and you don’t have to maintain as tight of control,” he said. “It prevents fratricide because you know where everyone is.”

The system won true believers among 4th Stryker Brigade on its Iraq tour two years ago. The soldiers of 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment were assigned to Diyala province as part of the troop surge and fought a raging insurgency.

Davis was a weapons squad leader on that deployment and is now preparing to return to Iraq this fall with the same battalion. He said he and others weren’t sold on Land Warrior during their pre-deployment training in 2007.

“But as soon as we got in Iraq, I fell in love with that system,” the 28-year-old Tacoma resident said. “We’d jump off the helicopter, and within seconds we knew exactly where we were and exactly where we the target was. You don’t really need to communicate through the radio to find out where others are or pull a piece of paper out of your pocket to find out where you need to go.”

There are limitations. The system operates on a peer-to-peer basis, turning each radio into a relay, but it also works on a line-of-sight basis, so soldiers inside buildings or other structures can drop off the grid.

The terrain of Afghanistan – known for forbidding mountains and steep valleys – could interfere with that as well.

Some 5th Brigade soldiers have questioned the effectiveness of its use in Afghanistan. The terrain is punishing, and the extra eight pounds will make climbing in the thin mountain air even tougher.

And outside the cities, there could be far fewer scripted missions in which soldiers conduct flash raids inside buildings.

“I definitely see the application in Iraq, in an urban environment,” said Capt. Edward Graham, a company commander with 5th Brigade who has deployed to both countries. “But when you’re at 9,000 feet, sometimes you have to decide what’s appropriate.”

Lt. Adam Smith, a platoon leader with 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, said the system was a bit off on the troops’ exact locations during Thursday’s mock-village exercise.

Smith, a 26-year-old Colorado resident, wasn’t totally sold on the system’s effectiveness for 5th Brigade’s upcoming deployment.

“In an urban environment, it would be great,” he said. “In Iraq, it would be a great system. In Afghanistan, not so much.”

The brigade commander says Land Warrior ultimately will be only as successful as the men who wear it, in whom he said he has full confidence.

“5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is the most advanced ground combat formation in history,” said Col. Harry Tunnell.

“But technology will not reach its full potential unless complemented by tough, disciplined, well-trained warriors.”

Scott Fontaine: 253-320-4758

scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com

blogs.thenewstribune.com/military
http://media.thenewstribune.com/smedia/2009/06/22/00/545-876363.standalone.prod_affiliate.5.jpg
http://media.thenewstribune.com/smedia/2009/06/22/00/913-876362.standalone.prod_affiliate.5.jpg

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/high-tech-brigade-heads-to-afghanistan-loaded-with-gagdets/

High-Tech Brigade Heads to Afghanistan, Loaded With Gadgets
* By Noah Shachtman Email Author
* June 29, 2009

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2009/06/lw_monocle2.jpg
The soldiers of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are shipping out to Afghanistan this month — equipped with a controversial array of infantryman gadgets: electronic maps, GPS beacons, wearable computers, and digital radios. The troops are wondering just how useful the eight-pound, $48,000-per-soldier “Land Warrior” gizmo collection will really be, and whether the benefit will really be worth the extra weight.

It’s not the first time G.I.s have expressed concerns about the Land Warrior system. Nor is it the first time the technology array has proven its its value, despite its doubts.

After 15 years and a half-billion dollars in development, the Army officially canceled the Land Warrior program in 2006. Seeing your fellow troops on a digital map inside helmet-mounted monocle was nice; but it wasn’t enough to justify all the bulk. Money had already been spent to equip a single Iraq-bound battalion with the gear, however. So, despite some pretty horrendous reviews from the troops, the Army told the 4/9th Infantry take Land Warrior with them to war.

To their surprise, many of the 4/9’s troops found the gadgets to be pretty useful in combat. The soldiers stripped Land Warrior down from 16 pounds, made the gear more functional. At their suggestion, “digital chem lights” were added to the electronic mapping software. They let buildings, escape routes, and enemies be marked in green on every soldier’s monocle. During air assaults on Baquba, for instance, troops were regularly dropped a quarter or half-kilometer from their original objective; the chem lights allowed them to converge on the spot where they were supposed to go. In the middle of one mission, a trail of green lights was used to mark a new objective — and show the easiest way to get to the place.

It worked so well, the program was resurrected.

The 5th Brigade is now taking 895 Land Warrior ensembles to Afghanistan. Soldiers are questioning how much they’ll use digital chem lights in Afghanistan’s mountainous, largely-rural terrain. “I definitely see the application in Iraq, in an urban environment,” Capt. Edward Graham tells the News-Tribune. “But when you’re at 9,000 feet, sometimes you have to decide what’s appropriate.”

“In an urban environment, it would be great,” added Lt. Adam Smith. “In Iraq, it would be a great system. In Afghanistan, not so much.”

But the doubters have been wrong before.

[Photo: Peter Haley / The News Tribune]
* 7:35 am

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.noahshachtman.com/archives/003044.html

Army Axing High-Tech Uniforms, "Future"
December 6, 2006 06:57 PM

http://www.noahshachtman.com/images/LW_Training_Dec_117.jpg
The Army made a big decision http://www.noahshachtman.com/archives/002872.html back in October. After 15 years and a half-billion dollars in development, the service would finally take Land Warrior http://www.gdc4s.com/documents/LandWarrior083105.pdf its ensemble of high-tech soldier gear, to war for the first time. The collection of radios, GPS-locators, and next-generation rifle scopes wasn't perfect -- far from it. But, for infantrymen who typically don't even have a walkie-talkie, it was an important first step towards plugging the average soldier into battlefield network.

But, just six weeks later, the Army appears to have reversed itself. According to Inside Defense http://defense.iwpnewsstand.com/ service financiers have decided to kill off Land Warrior in its 2008 budget http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,120100,00.html It's one of a number of high-tech programs slated for big cuts by the Army.

The service got $17 billion less than what it wanted for its 2008 budget from the Pentagon and the White House. "Earlier in October... Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker said if the service got less than what it needed in FY-08 it would be forced to slow the modernization of the force," Inside Defense's Dan Dupont notes. "In submitting its budget plan to Pentagon leaders last week, the Army contended that budget constraints have forced the service to take what it believes are imprudent risks in the readiness of today�€™s forces, as well as in its future plans."

Future Combat Systems -- the Army's plan to connect all its next-generation tanks, robots, and fighting vehicles to that battlefield network -- is also slated to take a good-sized hit. http://www.noahshachtman.com/archives/cat_fcs_watch.html

By delaying key milestones, shifting some pieces of the program out of FCS plans and killing others, the Army believes it can save more than $3.3 billion over the next six budget years (fiscal years 2008 to 2013).

The moves would reduce the cost to field each FCS brigade combat team, but it would also push back procurement plans for BCT equipment, delaying by five years the schedule for fielding the teams, according to sources familiar with the plan.

The FCS cuts also entail the removal of some unmanned aerial vehicles from the program and the deferral of some vehicles, as well as some ammunition. The upshot of the moves would be an FCS program consisting of 14 platforms plus the network, down from the 18 envisioned today, with FCS systems to be fielded at a rate of one brigade combat team per year for fifteen years, beginning in 2015. Prior plans called for those 15 BCTs to be fielded at a rate of 1.5 per year over 10 years.

Now, just because the Army has proposed these cuts doesn't necessarily mean they are going to happen. As you may have heard, there's a new party taking over Congress. And, at least in the run-up to the elections, these guys made a lot of noise about giving the Army a boost http://www.noahshachtman.com/archives/002939.html Then there's the new Secretary of Defense. He may be more favorably inclined to funding the Army than his predecessor was http://www.noahshachtman.com/archives/002799.html Certainly, he seems to look kindly on the larger goal of retooling the military. Check of this exchange with Sen. Elizabeth Dole:

SEN. DOLE: Dr. Gates, the transformation efforts undertaken by Secretary Rumsfeld are critical to meeting the challenges of the 21st century. While Secretary Rumsfeld made transformation of the military a priority, obviously much remains to be done. In your view, which transformation programs are the most important and effective in fighting this war on terror?...

MR. GATES: Senator Dole, one of the things that has impressed me the most in the briefings -- the very short briefings that I've received preparatory to this hearing, is the extent of the transformation that actually has taken place in recent years, compared to when I was in government.

I can't tell you how many crisis meetings I sat through in the Situation Room over a 20-year period, and we would look at military contingencies, and we would be looking at 60 to 90 days to generate a brigade, to get a military force on the move and in place.

So the expeditionary nature of the Army, the mobility, the change in mind-set -- sometimes perhaps those of you who have been really close to it may not fully appreciate just how dramatically the situation already has changed, compared to when I was in government last.

I think that the transformation needs to continue... The two things that I think make a lot of sense has been this shift of the Army from being basically a static force to a more mobile expeditionary force. I think that's very important.

I think that the -- based on very superficial information at this point, this -- the shift from divisions to the brigade structure does make a lot of sense, and I think it provides a lot more flexibility.

I would say that one of the things that I think is very important in the transformation is continuing to strengthen our capacity to fight irregular wars. I think that's where the action is going -- is most likely to be for the foreseeable future. And so I think it's very important that it go forward.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/04/soldiers_hate_h/

Soldiers Hate High-Tech Uniforms
* By Noah Shachtman Email Author
* April 18, 2007
* 11:40 am

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/18/landwarriorhome.jpg
I went to Ft. Lewis last summer expecting the soldiers there to love their new wearable electronics package, called "Land Warrior." http://www.noahshachtman.com/archives/003044.html The reaction I got instead was… different, to say the least. Read the article http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4215715.html in the current Popular Mechanics, to get the full details — and to hear about my own mini-adventure in the new soldier suit. Here’s a snip:

There’s a half-billion dollars invested in the gear hanging off the heads, chests and backs of the soldiers of Alpha company. Digital maps displayed on helmet-mounted eyepieces show the position of all the men in the unit as they surround a block of concrete buildings and launch their attacks. Instead of relying on the hand signals and shouted orders that most infantrymen use, Alpha company communicates via advanced, encrypted radio transmissions with a range of up to a kilometer. It’s more information than any soldiers have ever had about their comrades and their surroundings.

But as Alpha kicks in doors, rounds up terror suspects and peals off automatic fire in deafening six-shot bursts, not one of the soldiers bothers to check his radio or look into the eyepiece to find his buddies on the electronic maps. "It’s just a bunch of stuff we don’t use, taking the place of useful stuff like guns," says Sgt. James
Young, who leads a team of four M-240 machine-gunners perched on a balcony during this training exercise at Fort Lewis, Wash. "It makes you a slower, heavier target."

Pop Mech also has a detailed breakdown of how Land Warrior works. And don’t miss this D.I.Y. video evaluation of the gear that soldiers made a few months back.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4215725.html
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/02/land_warrior_re.html

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/03/land-warrior-ba/

High-Tech Soldier Suit, Crawling Back From the Dead
* By Noah Shachtman Email Author
* March 27, 2008
* 12:51 pm

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/images/2008/03/27/lw_marlboro_sit_2.jpg
(Photo: Noah Shachtman)
The Army’s soldier suit of the future, once left for dead, appears to be crawling back to life.

After 15 years and a half-billion dollars in development, the Army officially cancelled the Land Warrior program http://www.noahshachtman.com/archives/003044.html and its collection of electronic maps, GPS beacons, digital radios, and next-gen rifle scopes for infantrymen. All kinds of configurations of the wearable electronics were tried. But the gear always wound up being too bulky to justify the seemingly-modest help it provided frontline soldiers, the Army decided.

It was a major let-down. Over the last decade, the military has connected nearly all its command posts and all its vehicles into a kind of internet for battle http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/15-12/ff_futurewar That allowed them to, at the very least, see each other’s locations and better coordinate attacks. Land Warrior was supposed to bring the individual soldier into the network.

Money had already been spent to equip a single Iraq-bound battalion with the gear, however. So, despite some pretty horrendous reviews from the troops, the Army let the 4/9th Infantry take Land Warrior with them to war. http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/04/soldiers_hate_h.html

And then, something rather odd and unexpected happened. The 4/9 — known since the early 1900’s as the "Manchus," for their fighting in China — stripped Land Warrior down, made the gear more functional, and discovered the equipment could actually be pretty useful in combat.

By consolidating parts, a
16-pound ensemble was whittled down to a little more than 10. A the digital gun scope was abandoned — too cumbersome and too slow for urban fights. And not every soldier in the 4/9 was ordered to lug around Land Warrior. Only team leaders and above were equipped.

The Manchus suggested new features to Land Warrior’s software, too.
Like "digital chem lights," which let buildings, escape routes, and enemies be marked in green on every soldier’s electronic map. During air assaults on Baquba, for instance, troops were regularly dropped a quarter or half-kilometer from their original objective; the chem lights allowed them to converge on the spot where they were supposed to go. In the middle of one mission, a trail of green lights was used to mark a new objective — and show the easiest way to get to the place. http://defensenewsstand.com/cs_newsletters.asp?NLN=ARMY

Not every Manchu had his mind changed. But enough were impressed that the leaders of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 5th Brigade Combat Team officially asked the Army to give them 1,000 units of an upgraded Land
Warrior system. And now, Inside Defense reports, that request has been approved. Land Warrior may be back from extinction.

If they can get the $102 million needed to field and test the things. Once a program is officially cancelled, that’s hard to do.

Lt. Col. Brian Cummings, program manager for Land Warrior is optimistic, however. “It’s looking very promising that we’re going to get that funding and move forward,” he tells Inside Defense. Last year, the Senate Armed Services Committee asked for $80 million to revive Land Warrior — going over the Army’s head, in effect. This time, the lawmakers won’t have to.
http://defensenewsstand.com/cs_newsletters.asp?NLN=ARMY
http://govexec.com/dailyfed/0607/062207cdam1.htm?rss=getoday

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/f-22-sonic-boom-pretty-pictures

F-22 + Sonic Boom = Pretty Pictures
By John Mahoney Posted 30.06.2009 at 3:45 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/f22-navy.jpg
F-22 Sonic Boom US Navy

I guess Michael Bay was on to something. It may go down as the first $200-million stealth fighter to have its starring roles in action movies outnumber its usages in actual combat before the program bites the dust, but it can certainly throw a pretty sonic boom.

This photo was taken by the Navy last week during a training exercise in the Gulf of Alaska. [Navy photo via Ares]
http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=73057
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3abdad2b3d-2ac1-4116-813f-f0431c5e713f

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/gamers-graphics-cards-power-us-defense-systems

Gamer's Graphics Cards To Power US Defense Systems
The Nvidia cards gamers are buying to make their war-games look better are likely to power US defense systems
By Dan Toose Posted 26.06.2009 at 1:14 pm

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/GPU_powers_defense.jpg
Scientists with Nvidia graphics card Georgia Institute of Technology Research News

Video gaming computers and video game consoles available today all contain a graphics processing unit (GPU), which is very efficient at making calculations required to produce the high-end visuals we see in games. However, the unit’s highly parallel structure also makes it more efficient than a general-purpose central processing unit for a range of complex calculations important to defence applications.

Researchers in the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering are developing programming tools to enable engineers in the defence industry to utilize the processing power of GPUs without having to learn the complicated programming language required to use them directly.

“As radar systems and other sensor systems get more complicated, the computational requirements are becoming a bottleneck,” said GTRI senior research engineer Daniel Campbell. “We are capitalizing on the ability of GPUs to process radar, infrared sensor and video data faster than a typical computer and at a much lower cost and power than a computing cluster.”

The researchers are currently writing the functions in Nvidia’s CUDA™ language, but the underlying principles can be applied to GPUs developed by other companies, according to Campbell. Studies have shown that VSIPL (Vector Signal Image Processing Library) functions operate between 20 and 350 times faster on a GPU than a central processing unit, depending on the function and size of the data set.

“The results are not surprising because GPUs excel at performing repetitive arithmetic tasks like those in VSIPL,” noted Richards. “We’ve just alleviated the need for engineers to understand the entire GPU architecture by simply providing them with a library of routines that they frequently use.”

The research team is also assessing the advantages of GPUs by running a library of benchmarks for quantitatively comparing high-performance, embedded computing systems. The benchmarks address important operations across a broad range of U.S. Department of Defense signal and image processing applications.

For the future, the researchers plan to continue expanding the GPU VSIPL, develop additional defence-related GPU function libraries and design programming tools to utilise other efficient processors, such as the cell broadband engine processor at the heart of the PlayStation 3 video game console.

It would seem things are coming full circle – hard drives and solid state drives were developed for missile guidance systems by defence forces, and now they’re in our PCs. It would seem that the demand for a rapid improvement in gruntier technology doesn’t have to come from the military all the time – gamer's demands for better GPUs are now doing their bit in their own self-indulgent way.

[john connor]

Here you go DJ..just came accross this one too...check out the highlighted part...if they can micro chip 'bug's..imagine how small the bloody chips are now...

Military Developing Half-Robot, Half-Insect 'Cybug' Spies

Miniature robots could be good spies, but researchers now are experimenting with insect cyborgs or "cybugs" that could work even better.

Scientists can already control the flight of real moths using implanted devices.

The military and spy world no doubt would love tiny, live camera-wielding versions of Predator drones that could fly undetected into places where no human could ever go to snoop on the enemy.

Developing such robots has proven a challenge so far, with one major hurdle being inventing an energy source for the droids that is both low weight and high power.

of attempting to create sophisticated robots that imitate the complexity in the insect form that required millions of years of evolution to achieve, scientists now essentially want to hijack bugs for use as robots.

Originally researchers sought to control insects by gluing machinery onto their backs, but such links were not always reliable.

To overcome this hurdle, the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program sophisticated robots is sponsoring research into surgically implanting microchips straight into insects as they grow, intertwining their nerves and muscles with circuitry that can then steer the critters.

Anyone think its still si Fi and we are not next??...and when were no longer any use...DELETE

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532511,00.html?test=latestnews

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/depiction-vs-reality-air-force-hardware-transformers-revenge-fallen

Depiction vs. Reality: The Air Force Hardware of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Feature
By Jeremy Hsu Posted 25.06.2009 at 7:06 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/starscream2-revengeoffallen-485.jpg
Starscream: My other self is an F-22

If you're seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen tonight, prepare yourself for a parade of hardcore military hardware unlike any you've ever seen. As was the case with the first Transformers film, the U.S. Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office played a significant role in assisting with and supervising the placement of military gear.

But what happens when the F-22 Raptor--a weapons system in jeopardy of being canceled entirely--plays a central role in the film, while unmanned drones are flying nearly constant missions over Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan? We talked to the USAF Entertainment Liaison Office to find out.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's list of featured Air Force hardware includes the F-16 fighter jet, E-3 AWACS command and control aircraft, the A-10 tank-killer, B-1 bombers, and the T-38 supersonic jet trainer. And of course there's the $200 million-dollar F-22 Raptor, an air superiority fighter with stealth capability. http://www.popsci.com/article/2007-07/real-reason-behind-raptors-price-tag%3Cbr%20/%3E

"It's the first feature opportunity for showing an F-22 dropping a JDAM [guided bomb]," said Bryon McGarry, a USAF Captain who serves as deputy director for the Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office in Los Angeles.

The franchise is also, undoubtedly, the first time a modern military aircraft has played a featured speaking role. An F-22, filmed flying over Transformers sets at Holloman Air Force Base and the Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, plays the alternate form of Starscream, a Decepticon Transformer and one of the movie's robot baddies. The irony of which is almost too perfect to believe--the Obama administration has expressed strong interest in sharply downsizing or canceling the F-22 program altogether, although the House Armed Services committee just last week approved (by a 31 to 30 vote) plans to build 12 more F-22s--eight more than recommended by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his 2010 budget. Opponents of the expensive F-22 program feel the money would be better served fulfilling the increased demand, for more Predators, Reapers and other aerial drones.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/business/18defense.html
http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-04/robots-war

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/f_22_raptor_485.jpg
F-22 Raptor: USAF

Drones did, in fact, have their first big screen debut in the 2008 movie Eagle Eye which stars Transformers lead Shia LeBeouf as yet another geek fighting a dangerous artificial intelligence construct run amok. MQ-9 Reapers from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada were on hand for that movie, McGarry noted.

The Reapers acted as the long arm of the renegade AI chasing down LeBeouf's character. Yet the Air Force approved this depiction of its unmanned aerial system (UAS)--because besides, Eagle Eye also included Rosario Dawson playing an Air Force agent from the Office of Special Investigations.

"Since the renegade AI’s ability to commandeer varied technology was integral to the story, it was deemed an acceptable portrayal of the UAS in that specific story line," McGarry explained.

This does not mean that moviegoers will necessarily see many drones in near-future films. Filmmakers still crave access to the pilots and planes which have given the Air Force its gallant image, whether it's flying against Transformers or killer robots in another recent summer movie, Terminator: Salvation.

And in the end, it simply comes down to age-old Hollywood aesthetics.

"When you see a wide-angle shot of F-22s or hear the real sound of them flying by or rolling in on a target, there's no substitute," McGarry said. He helped coordinate Air Force resources with the wish lists of Transformers filmmakers, such as timing F-16 training flights with the movie's shooting schedule. For arrangements outside the usual military training, filmmakers paid the hourly operating cost of the Air Force equipment.

Beyond the hardware, filmmakers also value the face-time with real Air Force pilots and personnel in order to get the human stories and interactions right. McGarry had been on the set of an earlier movie for three days when director Michael Bay turned to him and asked what an Air Force character representing top brass might say in a certain scene. Capturing the realism of a UAV remote-piloting facility in the middle of the U.S. desert is, not surprisingly, lower on most summer blockbuster directors' wishlists.

Essentially, if directors want to use the Air Force's toys for a movie, they have to play by the Entertainment Liaison Office's rules. And since the Michael Bays of the world clearly favor the more traditional, personal Air Force in their films, this has been a win-win situation both for the directors and an Air Force interested in maintaining some aspects of this perception. Even as F-16 Fighting Falcons flash across the screen in Transformers, back in the real world, squadrons of Air Force National Guard F-16 pilots are being actively retrained to fly Reaper drones instead.

Echoes of this transition from manned to unmanned are also found in the 2008 movie Iron Man where the fictional Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes opines on the future of air combat by suggesting that "no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct." That movie features F-22 Raptors (again!) dueling with the flight-capable Iron Man.

McGarry, however, is in fact quite open to cooperating with a film prominently featuring UAVs (see: Eagle Eye)--he just hasn't seen many scripts asking for it. He said that he has not seen any similar "Rhodey"-like sentiments in his script read-through of the upcoming Iron Man sequel. He recently helped coordinate Iron Man 2 scenes shot at Edwards Air Force Base in California, described as a "veritable grocery store" of the latest Air Force hardware undergoing final testing before deployment.

"It's a new Air Force," McGarry acknowledged. "We're always looking at the forefront of technological applications."

As for how Iron Man 2 will choose to depict that new Air Force, "you'll have to wait and see," McGarry said.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/missile-shield-sent-guard-hawaii-still-development

Unproven Missile Shield System Sent To Hawaii, Countering Potential North Korean Threat
Rumblings from Pyongyang regarding a long-rage missile test prompt deployment of an experimental missile shield and radar system
By Dan Smith Posted 20.06.2009 at 7:13 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/sbx_alaska_a_2.jpg
SBX Radar: Pop-o-matic radar is watching your back

Thanks to threats from North Korea, an experimental missile shield and radar system may be deployed to Hawaii before testing has been completed. After North Korea’s recent nuclear test and vague threats of launching another Taepodong-2 missile towards Hawaii, the Pentagon has decided to rush the still-in-development Army Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense missile systems and the SBX x-band radar into action. Although the technology has existed for many years it may finally get its first test in real-world conditions.

The shortcomings of the THAAD missile shield and SBX radar, however, are somewhat worrying. The THAAD originally was tested in the 90s with dismal results at intercepting incoming targets. The system was revamped and proved much more accurate. However this was with simulated targets that tend to be easier to hit than their real counterparts. There’s also been criticism of the SBX x-band radar with reports of technological and maintenance problems along with security concerns. It also does not seem to work as well in rough waters, which was its original purpose.

Barring all of that, if there were an attack Joint Chiefs vice chairman General James Cartwright is “90-plus percent sure” the missile shield and radar would be able to intercept incoming targets. Let’s hope we never have to find out if his odds are right.

[Wired] http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/pentagon-deploys-experimental-missile-defenses-to-shield-hawaii/

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/ethics-training-deadly-drones

Ethics Training For Deadly Drones
A new program seeks to develop ethics for the future's autonomous weapons
By Stuart Fox Posted 19.06.2009 at 8:37 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/predator-in-hangar.jpg
Ethics-bot? : USAF
As unmanned drones become a larger part of how America makes war, fully autonomous fighting robots seem less a possibility than an eventuality. But how do we ensure that these future autonomous weapons conform to the ethics we would expect from a human combatant?

To prevent a robot from ever taking the field without the same code of conduct flesh and blood soldiers follow, Ron Arkin, a robotics engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has begun writing computer programs that could help robots follow an ethical code in the heat of battle. And although his military-funded project is not designed to produce ethics software for actual future robots, it has generated interesting results nonetheless.

The main problem revolves around the complexity of human ethics. It was easy for Arkin to design a program, based on an actual 2006 encounter in Afghanistan, that would prevent an autonomous UAV from firing on subjects in a graveyard, a violation of the laws of war. However, many of the other missions Arkin selected as examples had far less clear-cut rules. And since robots follow clear cut rules, programing for those engagements proved much more difficult.

One odd outgrowth of this program are pieces of software that aims to provide not more human rules for machines, but more robot-like advice for humans. Noting that robots don't seek revenge or feel prejudices, the program has spawned investigation into an artificially intelligence adviser for soldiers that would give clear ethical suggestions in situations when humans might be distracted by emotions.

Man and machine, working together for a more ethical world. Almost takes the fun out of being a liquid metal robot, doesn't it?

[via New Scientist] http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17332-plan-to-teach-military-robots-the-rules-of-war.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/dread-zeppelin-armys-new-surveillance-blimp

Dread Zeppelin: The Army's New Surveillance Blimp
The LEMV, being tested soon, is designed to stay aloft for weeks at a time
By Dan Smith Posted 09.06.2009 at 5:12 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/LEMV.jpg
Long Endurance Multi-INT Vehicle: Floating sentinel

Since the airship glory days of the early part of the century, blimps have certainly lost some of their cachet, relegated to hovering over sporting events and not much else. However, the Army is about to test launch an unmanned hybrid airship to be used for surveillance missions in Afghanistan.

The Long Endurance Multi-INT Vehicle, or LEMV, is an impressive combination of endurance, carrying capacity, and speed (relatively speaking). The aircraft can be launched easily for missions with up to 3-weeks of continuous airtime carrying a 2,500 lb payload at altitudes of 20,000 ft. Larger payloads will lower the aircraft’s ceiling slightly.

Its lift and propulsion systems are equipped to maintain an average speed of 20 kts, but can “dash” at speeds of up to 80 kts when needed. Over the course of its flight the LEMV can cover up to 2,500 miles, over which quite a bit of surveillance information can be collected. It is also equipped with a “rapid deflation device” that will ground the ship quickly if control is somehow lost, keeping it from drifting into restricted airspace and preventing the payload from falling into the wrong hands.

All these stats, however, are for the test device alone. Plans to expand the LEMV’s capabilities after initial testing are underway. The final version might be able to carry payloads of 7,000lbs for month-long trips. If the LEMV becomes a regular surveillance device, silently watching the skies for even longer durations than the current crop of UAVs, we may begin to view the blimp much differently. Oh, the humanity.

[Aviation Week] http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a3c0ec60a-4bb5-43d4-b0ff-fefdf0733cb6

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/smart-bullets

New Army Rifle Fires Laser-Guided Smart Bullets With Onboard Targeting Chips
New rifles with explosive rounds can be told where to detonate
By Dan Smith Posted 06.06.2009 at 8:09 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/smart-bullet_MDGDR_54.jpg
Smart Rifle: You won't see the rifle or the bullet until it's too late

It would be hard to describe a bullet as smart, but what if that bullet was laser-guided, radio-controlled, and carried an onboard targeting CPU? The US Army has announced the creation of the XM25 rifle, which can fire a new type of explosive round that fit that exact description. Imagine the implications: hitting targets inside buildings or hiding around walls. Whoa.

First, the scope on the rifle has a laser that gauges the distance to the target. The soldier can set exactly where the 25-millimeter bullet will detonate by adding or subtracting 3 meters from that point. Then, the scope will send a radio signal to a chip inside the bullet telling it how far it should travel before exploding.

Now, here’s where things get truly nuts: Each bullet has a small magnetic transducer that interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field, generating a tiny alternating current every time it spins as it speeds toward the target. Measured against the gun's specially calibrated rifling, this means the bullet can keep track of how far it has traveled in real time. Whoa, again.

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/smartschematic.jpg
Smart Bullets In Action: Trenches are no longer a safe place to hide

The Army has proposed the uses can range from hitting enemies hidden in trenches (as pictured above), or even hitting a sniper hiding in a building by setting the range about a meter beyond the window. They are also proposed as a smarter alternative to grenade launchers, which can serve the same purpose but be less accurate and have limited range, making them more prone to collateral damage.

The Army will begin field tests with the XM25 system soon, with hopes of deploying it into regular duty by 2012.
[New Scientist] http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227116.900-radiocontrolled-bullets-leave-no-place-to-hide.html

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/insect-wifi-network-tracks-down-wmds

Network of Wi-Fi-Enabled Cyborg Insects Hunts Down WMDs
Latest military news: A wireless network allows electronically enhanced bugs to chirp, tweet, and blog (some day!) about weapons they find
By Dan Smith Posted 18.06.2009 at 4:27 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/wififly.jpg
Wi-Fi Fly via MI2G http://www.mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/061007.php

In its attempts to quash weapons of mass destruction, the Pentagon has been trying novel ways to track down dangerous materiel. For years, DARPA has been trying to train insects and bugs to sniff out toxic substances, providing more sensitive detection, as well as access that conventional sensors might not have. The newest twist on this concept is a plan to link up armies of the cyborg bugs in a peer-to-peer, or insect-to-insect, network that will allow them to communicate with each other and with their human masters.

Previous research into this field of detection included landmine-sniffing honeybees and mechanized remote-controlled insects. This next approach will implant insects with a chip that reads certain muscle twitches, which correspond to the presence of certain chemicals. The chips will then modify the chirps of insects like cicadas or crickets into an electronic signal that could be transmitted to other chipped insects in the area. Information about detected weaponized chemicals could bounce around this mobile insect network, and then be picked up by humans.

While the idea seems pretty far-fetched, the idea of creating a decentralized communication network between free-roaming insects could radically increase the bugs' range of detection. Still unclear, however, is if this insect Wi-Fi will allow the information-laden chirps to be more than 140 characters long.

[via Wired] http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/pentagon-wants-cyborg-insects-to-sniff-wmd-offer-wi-fi/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532511,00.html

Military Developing Half-Robot, Half-Insect 'Cybug' Spies
Thursday, July 16, 2009
By Charles Q. Choi

http://www.foxnews.com/images/545525/0_61_bugspy_320.jpg

DARPA

Researchers are now experimenting with developing insect cyborgs or 'cybugs' that could work as spies.

Miniature robots could be good spies, but researchers now are experimenting with insect cyborgs or "cybugs" that could work even better.

Scientists can already control the flight of real moths using implanted devices. http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/080204-cyborg-insect.html

The military and spy world no doubt would love tiny, live camera-wielding versions of Predator drones that could fly undetected into places where no human could ever go to snoop on the enemy.

Developing such robots has proven a challenge so far, with one major hurdle being inventing an energy source for the droids that is both low weight and high power.

Still, evidence that such machines are possible is ample in nature in the form of insects, which convert biological energy into flight.

• Click here for FOXNews.com's Patents and Innovation Center.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/innovation/

It makes sense to pattern robots after insects — after all, they must be doing something right, seeing as they are the most successful animals on the planet, comprising roughly 75 percent of all animal species known to humanity. http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070918_bee_sniffers.html

Indeed, scientists have patterned robots after insects and other animals for decades — to mimic cockroach wall-crawling, for instance, or the grasshopper's leap. http://www.livescience.com/technology/080521-jumping-robot.html

Mechanical metamorphosis

Instead of attempting to create sophisticated robots that imitate the complexity in the insect form that required millions of years of evolution to achieve, scientists now essentially want to hijack bugs for use as robots.

Originally researchers sought to control insects by gluing machinery onto their backs, but such links were not always reliable.

To overcome this hurdle, the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program sophisticated robots is sponsoring research into surgically implanting microchips straight into insects as they grow, intertwining their nerves and muscles with circuitry that can then steer the critters. http://www.livescience.com/topic/robots
Related Stories

* Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532492,00.html
* Researchers Design Tiny Robotic Bat
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532184,00.html
* NASA's Shape-Shifting Robot Is 'Real' Transformer
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529059,00.html

As expensive as these devices might be to manufacture and embed in the bugs, they could still prove cheaper than building miniature robots from scratch.

As these cyborgs heal from their surgery while they naturally metamorphose from one developmental stage to the next — for instance, from caterpillar to butterfly — the result would yield a more reliable connection between the devices and the insects, the thinking goes.

The fact that insects are immobile during some of these stages — for instance, when they are metamorphosing in cocoons — means they can be manipulated far more easily than if they were actively wriggling, meaning that devices could be implanted with assembly-line routine, significantly lowering costs.

The HI-MEMS program at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has to date invested $12 million into research since it began in 2006. It currently supports these cybug projects:

— Roaches at Texas A&M.

— Horned beetles at University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley.

— Moths at an MIT-led team, and another moth project at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research.

Success with moths

So far researchers have successfully embedded MEMS into developing insects, and living adult insects have emerged with the embedded systems intact, a DARPA spokesperson told LiveScience.

Researchers have also demonstrated that such devices can indeed control the flight of moths, albeit when they are tethered.

To power the devices, instead of relying on batteries, the hope is to convert the heat and mechanical energy the insect generates as it moves into electricity. The insects themselves could be optimized to generate electricity.

When the researchers can properly control the insects using the embedded devices, the cybugs might then enter the field, equipped with cameras, microphones and other sensors to help them spy on targets or sniff out explosives.

Although insects do not always live very long in the wild, the cyborgs' lives could be prolonged by attaching devices that feed them.

The scientists are now working toward controlled, untethered flight, with the final goal being delivering the insect within 15 feet (5 m) of a specific target located 300 feet (100 meters) away, using electronic remote control by radio or GPS or both, standing still on arrival.

Although flying insects such as moths and dragonflies are of great interest, hopping and swimming insects could also be useful, too, DARPA noted.

It's conceivable that eventually a swarm of cybugs could converge on targets by land, sea and air. http://www.livescience.com/technology/etc/090624-pentagon-creat-cyber-command.html

[nosferatu_dj]

Bump!

[decim]

http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content08/minority-report-spider-robot-scan.jpg

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content08/minority-report-spider-robot-scan.jpg

ahh yes, the good 'old "eye opener" :D;)

[nosferatu_dj]

S Korea uses 'cloned' sniffer dogs
http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73671

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/gear-amp-gadgets/article/2009-06/ultimate-wristwatch

A Lightweight Display Brings Instant Army Intelligence to Your Wrist

Latest military news: The flexible, durable, wearable screen could soon be standard issue
By Arnie Cooper Posted 17.06.2009 at 3:09 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/around-the-bend.jpg Around the Bend: The Army hopes to squeeze a backpack’s worth of tech into an armband display Bland Design

A special-ops soldier carries a slew of gadgets into battle. There's the GPS unit to pinpoint his squad's location, and a laptop for pulling up blueprints of terrorist compounds or infrared readings of buildings scoped out by robotic surveillance drones. With a radio and its five-pound battery, it's too much gear. But in a couple years, troops could lighten their load with a rugged, flexible, wrist-mounted display that's in development by the U.S. Army and HP Labs.

The solar-powered, bendable computer screen will allow for instant data and radio transmission, all in a half-pound unit, says David Morton, the program manager for flexible electronics at the Army Research Laboratory. The display's thin layer of transistors sends electric signals to an e-ink screen, which converts those signals into grayscale images, similar to the way the Amazon Kindle does. Unlike the Kindle, the two-by-three-inch display can bend to fit around the user's wrist because HP stamps the electronics and optical components onto pliable plastic. The process eliminates the need for the fragile glass backing used in the Kindle and other displays, says Carl Taussig, the director of information surfaces at HP. "You can strike these things with a mallet, and they just keep on working."

While the Army works on a color screen, troops will test the black-and-white device and provide feedback for the final version, which should be ready for military use by 2011.

Engineers Develop Flexible, Inorganic LED Display (http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-08/engineers-see-light-develop-flexible-tranparent-non-organic-leds)

By Clay Dillow (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/clay-dillow) Posted 22.08.2009 at 2:30 am
http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/flexible_LED.jpg Flexible Inorganic LED Pacific Northwest National Lab via Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/08/researchers-build-bendy-displays-with-inorganic-leds.ars)
The promise of OLED technology is that, unlike its inorganic counterpart, it can be used to create flexible and nearly transparent ultra-thin screens, opening up myriad possibilities for what we can do with displays and lighting. But just as market-ready OLED technology suffered a setback as Sony delayed its latest OLED television this week (only the world’s second commercial OLED TV, after Sony's XEL-1 set (http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-08/%3Ca%20href=)), engineers have devised a way to make cheaper, more efficient inorganic LED technology bend to their whims. Literally.
Just what scientific innovation brought us this flexible LED technology? Make the LEDs smaller. But that’s easier said than done. LEDs are very efficient at converting electric charge to light, so the eye can detect even extremely small LEDs; therefore, in theory, even a display in which only a small fraction of the surface is actually covered by the LEDs is still visible to the naked eye when it’s lit. A layer of microscopic LEDs embedded in a material should bend and flex as that material does, but their small size allows transparent materials to retain their transparency when the LEDs aren’t glowing.
However, the manufacturing processes that churn out the LEDs in our televisions and other displays can’t manufacture LEDs the size of individual pixels. So the engineers came up with a novel approach: manufacture one big LED, and then pare it down into the tiny elements needed to build a transparent, flexible display. The researchers created one large red LED atop a substrate then devised a way to etch a square grid into the LED, leaving behind squares just 50 micrometers across. The individual squares were then anchored together at two corners and the substrate holding them together was removed, leaving just the tiny square LEDs.
This tightly-packed LED grid, however, would lack transparency, so the engineers then crafted a simple process for removing certain subsets of the LEDs–every fourth square, let’s say–and printing that subset onto whatever surface they chose. Add some very small, flexible wiring to create a complete circuit, and viola, you’ve got a flexible, transparent LED display.
While the technology is by no means market-ready right away, the fact that the procedure works with established processes and materials means engineers should be able to develop the technology fairly quickly. Will it leapfrog more expensive, less energy efficient OLED tech? Probably not, but once manufacturing is scaled to mass produce flexible LEDs, it will immediately bring the price of flexible displays down, potentially bringing them to more applications faster than OLED could alone.
[via ArsTechnica (http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/08/researchers-build-bendy-displays-with-inorganic-leds.ars)]

[hobo]

Aww that´s cute.Good to see that no tax-payer money is wasted...:(

[jammasterj13]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/f-22-sonic-boom-pretty-pictures

F-22 + Sonic Boom = Pretty Pictures
By John Mahoney Posted 30.06.2009 at 3:45 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/f22-navy.jpg
F-22 Sonic Boom US Navy

I guess Michael Bay was on to something. It may go down as the first $200-million stealth fighter to have its starring roles in action movies outnumber its usages in actual combat before the program bites the dust, but it can certainly throw a pretty sonic boom.

This photo was taken by the Navy last week during a training exercise in the Gulf of Alaska. [Navy photo via Ares]
http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=73057
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3abdad2b3d-2ac1-4116-813f-f0431c5e713f
Looks nothing more than a F-15 on steroids, what a waste of 'money'.

[nosferatu_dj]

DARPA Wants Morphing Helicopter Blades By Yesterday (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-08/darpa-wants-morphing-helicopter-blades-yesterday)

Future whirlybirds may change their rotor blades to suit the mission
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 01.09.2009 at 2:51 am


http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/Smart%20ROTOR.jpg Smart Blade: Smart blades for better copters. U.S. Air Force

Helicopters won't transform into rampaging Decepticons (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/depiction-vs-reality-air-force-hardware-transformers-revenge-fallen) anytime soon, but near-future rotor blades could actively change shape on the fly.
Military lab DARPA has put out a call (https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=b1aa0c3299c2514d3ae394c14e6e5084&tab=core&_cview=0) for rotor blades that could boost payloads by 30 percent and range by 40 percent, as well as reduce sound by 50 percent and vibration by 90 percent compared to the usual fixed rotor blades.


The agency envisions helicopter blades that can morph into different modes for "fuel efficiency" or "high maneuver," as examples. Adaptive technologies could change the diameter, sweep, chord, and tip shape of the blades, as well as other features. Airfoil sections of the blades might incorporate flaps, slats and active flow control. "Active rotor technology will enable morphing of the rotor to optimize performance, resulting in rotorcraft with revolutionary advances in mission robustness, and facilitating multi-role capabilities," DARPA noted in its announcement earlier this month for the "Mission Adaptive Rotor" program. It plans to invest in key technologies that could lead to such adaptive rotor blades for next-generation military aircraft.
Aviation Week (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a1224e60e-4c96-4213-a896-82d0b35c9709) reports that aircraft manufacturers have already begun experimenting with more limited adaptive blades. Sikorsky has begun experimenting with a rotor system that uses active blade flaps controlled electromechanically, and plans to put the active rotor through a wind tunnel next year at NASA Ames in California. That's the same wind tunnel where Boeing tested a SMART rotor with piezoelectric-controlled flaps.
Any proposals that respond to DARPA's call would do well to account for the trickiness of helicopter rotor dynamics (https://www.popsci.com/video/2006-11/shake-shake-chinook). We say bring on the transforming blades.
[via Aviation Week (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a1224e60e-4c96-4213-a896-82d0b35c9709)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/darpa-wants-few-good-space-debris-cleaners

DARPA Wants A Few Good Space Debris Cleaners (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/darpa-wants-few-good-space-debris-cleaners)

Pentagon seeks solutions for clearing space junk from Earth orbit
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 19.09.2009 at 4:04 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/darpa-wants-few-good-space-debris-cleaners?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/battleofcoruscat.jpg Futuristic Orbital Cleanup: Gentlemen, let's plow the road Lucasfilm

Mad science agency DARPA has a new addition to its wish list: technology to clean up thousands of pieces of orbiting space junk. Surely, world peace can't come far behind on the agenda.
Satellites and manned missions alike have had to dodge a growing swarm (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/discovery-swerves-avoid-orbiting-space-junk) of orbital debris in recent years. The U.S. Space Surveillance Network has detected more than 35,000 man-made objects since the space age began over 50 years ago, with 20,000 such objects currently remaining in orbit.

DARPA also noted that the number of cataloged debris objects has actually jumped by almost 50 percent since January 2007. That uptick in space junk comes courtesy of the Chinese government destroying a satellite (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/article/2008-02/disabled-us-satellite-reportedly-shot-down) in 2007, and a collision between an active U.S. satellite and a retired Russian communications satellite this year.
In a perhaps belated response, the Pentagon agency issued a call for possible cleanup proposals yesterday. It noted a special interest in debris ranging from 1 mm crumbs to entire derelict spacecraft and used rocket segments, and asked for a general cleanup timetable ranging from days to years.
The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/18/darpa_orbital_debris/) reports that U.S. aerospace giant Boeing has already listed itself as an "interested vendor" for the project. Also on the list for the busy bees at Boeing -- morphing helicopter blades (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-08/darpa-wants-morphing-helicopter-blades-yesterday) and figuring out how to control robot swarms (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-09/boeing-patents-motion-controlled-drone-swarms) with simple body motions.
There's already a few proposals floating out there for taking down orbital debris, such as a giant parachute shroud that can mercifully end a satellite's life (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/parachute-pulls-orbital-debris-back-earth) without adding to the space junkyard. But if the U.S. Air Force Command gets its electronic "space fence" (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-07/electronic-fence-could-track-space-junk) upgrade to track all orbital objects greater than two inches, the cleanup job could become just that much more daunting.
[via The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/18/darpa_orbital_debris/)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-09/boeing-patents-motion-controlled-drone-swarms

New from Boeing: Flying Bot Swarms You Control With Body Language (http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-09/boeing-patents-motion-controlled-drone-swarms)

Human operators could use gestures to direct clouds of robot drones
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 19.09.2009 at 2:49 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-09/boeing-patents-motion-controlled-drone-swarms?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/boeingswarm.jpg Motion-Controlled Swarm Minions: Cue "Ride of the Valkyries" -- the drone swarm has arrived Boeing

Robot swarms could someday hover, spin, and attack in response to a simple gesture or graceful pirouette from a human operator. And yes, Boeing has filed a patent on that future vision.
"The method may involve defining a plurality of body movements of an operator that correspond to a plurality of operating commands for the unmanned object," Boeing notes in its patent filing (http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=boeing.AS.&s2=swarm&OS=AN/boeing+AND+swarm&RS=AN/boeing+AND+swarm). "Body movements of the operator may be sensed to generate the operating commands."


Boeing goes further by laying claim to specific body motions for specific commands. A nod of the human operator's head could select one robot out of the flying unmanned swarm. A circular hand motion along a certain plane could order another robot to begin moving from a stationary position. An operator might even select a certain group of drones with a pointing motion that defines a "three-dimensional conical area." The patent filed early this month also includes reflective markers, a motion capture system, and a wireless transmission system for human-to-drone commands. That points to a future where warfighters and civilians can interact more naturally with their friendly neighborhood swarm (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/microbots-work-swarms).
We at PopSci can readily imagine some entertainment spin-offs from such technology as well, given the popularity of motion-control technology with the current generation of video game consoles. Microsoft's upcoming Project Natal (http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-amp-gaming/article/2009-06/microsoft-guns-nintendo-project-natal-full-body-motion-controller) promises a full-body motion controller experience for Xbox 360 games, and Sony has gone a step farther by filing a patent on emotion-controlled (http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-amp-gaming/article/2009-08/dont-giggle-sony-wants-use-emotions-video-game-controllers) gaming.
Could even a Gamer-style future with battle bots remain far behind such developments? We sure hope not, because ascribing any sort of predictive power to that movie seems too terrible (and aesthetically wrong) to contemplate.
[via Baltimore Sun (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/technology/2009/09/boeing_working_to_control_swar.html)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/air-force-displays-ultra-low-collateral-damage-bomb


Air Force Displays Its New "Focused Lethality Munition" (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/air-force-displays-ultra-low-collateral-damage-bomb)

The drone-like bomb packs precision guidance systems and a highly focused lethal blast
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 17.09.2009 at 3:08 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/air-force-displays-ultra-low-collateral-damage-bomb?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/Collateral%20bomb.jpg Real Precision Bombing: A precision flyer aims to pack a punch with less collateral damage Aviation Weekly (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/)

Dr. Strangelove's Major 'King' Kong might have trouble riding this sleek bomb down to the ground, but that's the entire point of a munition meant to reduce collateral damage.
The Focused Lethality Munition, on display at the Air Force Association show, puts the emphasis on precision, with a GPS-guided inertial guidance system that supposedly has hardening against possible jamming.
The bomb's killing power comes from a "multiphase-blast explosive fill" developed by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). That explosive fill probably refers to the fine tungsten powder found in Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) technology (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/dime.htm), which becomes an extremely lethal cloud upon impact, but only travels a short distance, to minimize collateral damage.
Related Articles

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/files/articles/MQ-9.jpgAir Force Shoots Down Runaway Drone Over Afghanistan (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down)http://www.popsci.com.au/sites/all/themes/albert/images/50x50_bullet_point.pngPoint. Click. Kill: Inside The Air Force's Frantic Unmanned Reinvention (http://www.popsci.com.au/drones)http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/files/articles/Picture%201_8.pngThe Massive Ordnance Penetrator Will Be the Largest Non-Nuclear Bomb Ever (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-08/pentagon-wants-deploy-largest-non-nuclear-bomb-next-year)Tags

Military, Aviation & Space (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space), Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu), air force (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/air-force), bomb (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/bomb), collateral damage (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/collateral-damage), munition (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/munition)
A carbon fiber composite warhead similarly breaks up into small fibers upon impact, and avoids creating steel fragments that might cause widespread death and injury. The 206-pound blast from the bomb also stands in stark contrast to the Pentagon's upcoming bunker buster, (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-08/pentagon-wants-deploy-largest-non-nuclear-bomb-next-year) which packs 5,300 pounds of explosives. The bomb's drone-like appearance comes from deployable wings that allow it to home in on its target from a distance. Aerospace manufacturer Boeing notes that Air Force planes ranging from the F-22 Raptor to B-1 and B-2 bombers can carry the bomb, and suggests that even drones could deploy the weapon.
That sounds all well and good, as long as human handlers can keep a hold (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down) on their armed robotic charges.
[via Aviation Weekly (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a42cf58ce-a699-47d3-b90f-ae83fc465d87&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/lockheed-debuts-new-stealth-drone-concept

Lockheed Debuts New Stealth Drone Concept (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/lockheed-debuts-new-stealth-drone-concept)


By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 16.09.2009 at 8:09 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/lockheed-debuts-new-stealth-drone-concept?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/lockdrone.jpg Lockheed's New Stealth Drone Steve Trimble, via Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/lockheeds-debuts-concept-for-stealthy-drone/)

After almost 15 years of spying on America's enemies, and occasionally blowing them up, the venerable Predator and Reaper drones currently used by the Air Force will have to be replaced, sooner or later. The Pentagon has put out a contract for the next generation of UAVs, and Stephen Trimble of The DEW Line (http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2009/09/skunk-works-unveils-mq-x-uas-c.html) has the first shots of Lockheed Martin's stealthy entry, the MQ-X.
The new UAV would have stealth features, the ability to fly at 0.8 Mach and a 24-hour flight life. For comparison, that's twice as fast as the Reaper, and almost six times as fast as the Predator, with comparable flight life.
Other than that, Lockheed hasn't released any details. However, as noted by the folks at Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/lockheeds-debuts-concept-for-stealthy-drone/), Lockheed seemingly stopped making drones, so the appearance of any entry into this contest comes as a surprise.
Lockheed has some stiff competition in the battle to replace the Predator and Reaper drones. General Atomics, the company that makes the Predator, looks to hold onto its UAV contract, while Boeing, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman certainly want to get into this lucrative market.
The competition doesn't begin until next year, and even then, the project won't receive funding until 2012. Ultimately, the Air Force hopes to have this new generation of larger, more capable UAVs in the sky by 2020.
Hopefully, by then they will have solved the "linkage" (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down) problems.
[via Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/lockheeds-debuts-concept-for-stealthy-drone/)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/new-video-shows-military-robot-leap-over-25-foot-tall-fence





Video: Precision Urban Hopper 'Bot Leaps 25-Foot Fence and Keeps Rolling (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/new-video-shows-military-robot-leap-over-25-foot-tall-fence)


By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 16.09.2009 at 1:42 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/new-video-shows-military-robot-leap-over-25-foot-tall-fence?page=#comments)



A couple of months ago (http://www.sandia.gov/LabNews/090424.html), Sandia National Laboratory, in conjunction with Boston Dynamics (they of Big Dog (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2006-03/armys-robot-sherpa) fame) and DARPA, announced the creation of a robot that could jump 25 feet in the air. Designed for use in urban combat, the robot, named the Precision Urban Hopper (PUH), would give special forces troopers their own lightweight, easily deployable ground UAV.


Now, Sandia and Boston Dynamics have released the first video of the PUH in action. And what action it is. As you can see by the above video, the PUH makes short work of obstacles orders of magnitudes taller than the bot itself. Sandia said that they hope to deliver a finished model of the PUH by the end of 2010, and from the looks of it, they're well on their way.
[via BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8253807.stm)]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29oUc8Czdic

[solarwindspirit]

Aww that´s cute.Good to see that no tax-payer money is wasted...:(

yah hobo. . .is mars planet for 'them' its all theirs you know . . .it doesn't belong to 'us'

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/dread-zeppelin-armys-new-surveillance-blimp

Dread Zeppelin: The Army's New Surveillance Blimp

The LEMV, being tested soon, is designed to stay aloft for weeks at a time
By Dan Smith Posted 09.06.2009 at 5:12 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/LEMV.jpg Long Endurance Multi-INT Vehicle: Floating sentinel

Since the airship glory days of the early part of the century, blimps have certainly lost some of their cachet, relegated to hovering over sporting events and not much else. However, the Army is about to test launch an unmanned hybrid airship to be used for surveillance missions in Afghanistan.

The Long Endurance Multi-INT Vehicle, or LEMV, is an impressive combination of endurance, carrying capacity, and speed (relatively speaking). The aircraft can be launched easily for missions with up to 3-weeks of continuous airtime carrying a 2,500 lb payload at altitudes of 20,000 ft. Larger payloads will lower the aircraft’s ceiling slightly.

Its lift and propulsion systems are equipped to maintain an average speed of 20 kts, but can “dash” at speeds of up to 80 kts when needed. Over the course of its flight the LEMV can cover up to 2,500 miles, over which quite a bit of surveillance information can be collected. It is also equipped with a “rapid deflation device” that will ground the ship quickly if control is somehow lost, keeping it from drifting into restricted airspace and preventing the payload from falling into the wrong hands.

All these stats, however, are for the test device alone. Plans to expand the LEMV’s capabilities after initial testing are underway. The final version might be able to carry payloads of 7,000lbs for month-long trips. If the LEMV becomes a regular surveillance device, silently watching the skies for even longer durations than the current crop of UAVs, we may begin to view the blimp much differently. Oh, the humanity.

[Aviation Week] http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a3c0ec60a-4bb5-43d4-b0ff-fefdf0733cb6

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/us-army-plans-send-giant-spy-blimp-afghanistan

U.S. Army Plans to Send Giant Spy Blimp to Afghanistan (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/us-army-plans-send-giant-spy-blimp-afghanistan)


By Anna Maria Jakubek (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/anna-maria-jakubek) Posted 24.09.2009 at 9:38 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/us-army-plans-send-giant-spy-blimp-afghanistan?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/blimp.jpgLEMV: Not Your Father's Blimp: Lockheed Martin

Next time you're in Afghanistan, make sure to keep an eye out for the U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Command's giant blimp-like surveillance airship. The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV), as it's called, will be 250 feet long, autonomous, and able to float at up to 20,000 feet for an impressive three weeks at a time. As for its surveillance capabilities, a 40-foot-long stretch behind the cockpit will house a selection of spy gear, including a motion sensor and radar.
While the LEMV has yet to be built -- the contract itself won't be awarded until October 1 -- you can get a pretty good idea of the colossal scope of this airship via the below video of Lockheed Martin's P-791, which provided the inspiration for the LEMV. As you watch, keep in mind that the P-791 in the video is only 125 feet long, half the length planned for the LEMV!

[Via AviationWeek.com (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3af2996a4f-f738-4cb2-8157-afba2eb5ca28)]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVNV-FFUOnc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVNV-FFUOnc

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/darpa-project-releases-video-remote-controlled-cyborg-beetle

Video: DARPA's Remote-Controlled Cyborg Beetle Takes Flight (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/darpa-project-releases-video-remote-controlled-cyborg-beetle)

A new paper explains how they built the zombie insect
By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 25.09.2009 at 4:04 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/cyborgbeetlee.jpg
Remote Controlled Cyborg Beetle via Wired's Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/01/pentagons-cybor/)

In January, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, told a stunned conference audience that they had managed to create a remote-controlled cyborg beetle by attaching a computer chip to the brain of a giant insect. Now, the paper explaining how they did it has been published in the journal Frontiers In Neuroscience, and they have released a video of the cyber-bug in action.
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Are We Being Watched by Flying Robot Insects? (http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2007-10/are-we-being-watched-flying-robot-insects)

Darpa's First Robotic Ornithopter Hovers, Flies Like a Hummingbird (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-07/darpa-tests-first-robotic-ornithopters)

The cyborg beetle was designed as part of a DARPA project that looks to equip insects with cameras and other sensors in an attempt to turn them into tiny, biological UAVs. The rhinoceros beetle was selected because, as one of the world's largest insects, it could carry the biggest payload. The video below speaks for itself. Zombified with parts available at Radio Shack, the cyborg beetle flies around the room, controlled by a researcher at a laptop.
The day of military-controlled, giant cyborg insects is upon us. Someone call Godzilla, I think we're going to need some help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAeV96bTRiI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAeV96bTRiI

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/self-regulated-morphine-delivery-wounded-warfighters

Self-Regulated Morphine Delivery for Wounded Warfighters (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/self-regulated-morphine-delivery-wounded-warfighters)

DARPA-funded nanotech drug automatically regulates its morphine dose on the battlefield
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 26.09.2009 at 6:40 am[/URL]

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/Medic.jpg Safer Pain Relief Wounded soldiers could soon administer their own morphine without watchful medics U.S. Army

Medics still use morphine to relieve the pain of wounded soldiers on the modern battlefield, but have to watch out for morphine reducing breathing and blood pressure to dangerous levels. That may all change with a DARPA-backed combination drug that has successfully limited morphine delivery when it detects low blood oxygen levels.
The drug relies upon nanotech particles that carry both morphine and its antagonist, known as Naloxone. That creates a self-regulating feedback system where Naxolone only activates to suppress morphine when blood oxygen levels drop too low. The antagonist then goes inactive when oxygen blood levels return to normal, and allows more morphine to become available.



[URL="http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/nanotech"] (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/self-regulated-morphine-delivery-wounded-warfighters?page=#comments)
Such a drug could prove a boon for medics and individual soldiers to self-administer morphine using an auto-injector. It would provide for safer pain relief anywhere on the battlefield, even without the usual monitoring equipment available in hospitals. Medics currently must administer a short-acting drug to improve respiration and heart beat, but in small enough doses to allow morphine to continue its work.
Researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor had to screen several compounds (http://www.popsci.com/article/2007-07/targeted-morphine-battlefield) to find a compound that would activate or inactivate Naloxone as needed. They finally came across one such drug which successfully passed laboratory tests that used human plasma.
Other nanotech has proven promising (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-09/drug-delivery-magnetic-nanoparticles) when it comes to highly controlled and specific drug delivery. But the future debut of this application could prove a particularly sweet day for science, not to mention those far out dreamers (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/darpa-wants-few-good-space-debris-cleaners) at the Pentagon's mad science lab.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-09/stumbling-bumbling-littledog-still-tiptoes-across-tops-cylinders-0

Stumbling, Bumbling LittleDog Can Tiptoe Across Tops of Cylinders (http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-09/stumbling-bumbling-littledog-still-tiptoes-across-tops-cylinders-0)

Harvard researchers showcase new dynamic motions for the LittleDog robot
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 26.09.2009 at 2:59 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-09/stumbling-bumbling-littledog-still-tiptoes-across-tops-cylinders-0?page=#comments)

Who says you can't teach robots new tricks? In this new video, Boston Dynamics' LittleDog delicately navigates a mini-forest of cylinders like a Chinese wuxia martial artist, but also shows plenty of clumsy pratfalls in the course of its training.
LittleDog is the little sibling of the much scarier and noisier BigDog. The latter has gone on to become a robot Sherpa (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2006-03/armys-robot-sherpa) and mule for U.S. Army troops in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan.
The latest footage comes courtesy of Katie Byl, a robotics researcher at Harvard University whose previous exploits include beating casinos with the MIT Blackjack Team. Keep an eye out for the adorable real-life dog that gives the camera a wide-eyed passing stare.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdWpo43b2FI


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdWpo43b2FI

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/video-monocopter-drone-takes-flight

Video: Lockheed's Amazing Monocopter Drone Takes Flight (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/video-monocopter-drone-takes-flight)

Drones based on maple seed pods might act as portable scouts for soldiers
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 29.09.2009 at 7:57 am[/URL]

Drones have become big business for today's military, whether they come in the form of [URL="http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down"]Hellfire-spitting Reapers (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/video-monocopter-drone-takes-flight?page=#comments) and Predators or large airships (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/dread-zeppelin-armys-new-surveillance-blimp) that can hover over battlefields. Then, there's this small monocopter that flies like a maple seed pod.
The SAMARAI system from Lockheed Martin takes its name from the samara seedlings that fly off of trees. Original plans called for a seed pod-sized drone that could somehow send back stable streaming video and deliver a 2-gram payload. Funding for the system supposedly dropped out after a phase 1 DARPA contract, but now here's this recent video of a larger test prototype with a 30-inch wing span.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY38uho9ZdE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY38uho9ZdE

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-10/pew-airborne-military-laser-takes-out-truck

Pew! Airborne Military Laser Takes Out Truck (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-10/pew-airborne-military-laser-takes-out-truck)

By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 02.10.2009 at 10:30 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-10/pew-airborne-military-laser-takes-out-truck?page=#comments)

In a recent test at the White Sands Missile Range, a specially equipped C-130 plane fried a parked truck with a powerful laser. And PopSci's got the video.

As you can see, the laser beam burns right through the truck's hood, and then through the engine, "defeating" the vehicle. Called the "Advanced Tactical Laser" (ATL), this is the first time the megawatt-powered chemical laser has been used to engage a target in a combat simulation situation.
Now, to be far, the car was parked by itself in the middle of the desert. So unless we've got a clean shot at Al-Qaeda's parking lot, the beam isn't ready for prime time. Plus, last year the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board said that "the Advanced Tactical Laser testbed has no operational utility."
Despite those reservations, Boeing is still confident that the laser will soon provide a weapon that can take out a target with little or no collateral damage.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid3924348001?bctid=43003194001

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/air-force-sends-out-call-unmanned-cargo-aircraft-hazard-combat-zones


Air Force Calls for Unmanned Cargo Aircraft To Supply Hazardous Combat Zones (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/air-force-sends-out-call-unmanned-cargo-aircraft-hazard-combat-zones)

Drone aircraft could become the air mules of tomorrow for the military
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 01.10.2009 at 11:49 pm 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/air-force-sends-out-call-unmanned-cargo-aircraft-hazard-combat-zones?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/Cargo%20aircraft.jpg Drone Delivery Imagine this cargo plane without pilots, and you get an idea of what the U.S. Air Force wants U.S. Air Force

Drones already rule much of the skies over modern day battlefields, and could someday begin ferrying cargo to forward bases and troops. The U.S. Air Force put out a call this week for a fully autonomous unmanned air vehicle that can deliver cargo within a combat radius of 500 nautical miles.
Such a drone must have vertical or short takeoff and landing capability of 300 feet, and also have the ability to fly at airspeeds of 290 mph or more. The Air Force wish list for optional features includes: air-launched glide capability, powered capability, ship-based/recoverable capability, and the ability to land on all sorts of rough surfaces or water. A "reusable" and "inexpensive" air vehicle would be nice, too.

Related Articles

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/files/articles/LEMV.jpgDread Zeppelin: The Army's New Surveillance Blimp (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/dread-zeppelin-armys-new-surveillance-blimp)http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/files/articles/MQ-9.jpgAir Force Shoots Down Runaway Drone Over Afghanistan (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down)http://www.popsci.com.au/sites/all/themes/albert/images/50x50_bullet_point.pngPoint. Click. Kill: Inside The Air Force's Frantic Unmanned Reinvention (http://www.popsci.com.au/drones)Tags

Military, Aviation & Space (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space), Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu), air force (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/air-force), aircraft (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/aircraft), CARGO (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/cargo), drones (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/drones), robotics (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/robotics), robots (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/robots), uas (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/uas), uav (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/uav), unmanned (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/unmanned)
The official query marks yet another step toward the robot-filled battlefield (http://www.popsci.com/drones) of tomorrow, or at least a battlefield well-supplied by robots. That should help humans avoid hazardous combat supply missions under enemy fire, although someone might want to be on hand in case any drones get confused (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down) about their mission orders.
Aviation Weekly (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a775a40b1-2900-4c01-81e5-d65e4ac17796&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest) calls a drone cargo carrier the next "killer app" for unmanned aircraft. The military probably agrees: the U.S. Marine Corps has already picked helicopter prototypes from Boeing and Lockheed Martin/Kaman for unmanned cargo demonstrations and early deployment to Afghanistan.
Get ready to see more hard concepts emerge when the Air Mobility Command hosts its "Unmanned Cargo Aircraft Day" on November 17 at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. Between that and the recent Robotics Rodeo (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/saddle-us-armys-robotics-rodeo) hosted by the U.S. Army, robot makers seem set for a very happy holiday season.
[via Aviation Weekly (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a775a40b1-2900-4c01-81e5-d65e4ac17796&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-10/human-pilots-fly-drones-military-training

With Drone Shortage, Air Force Pilots Train With Cessnas Dressed Up Like Predators (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-10/human-pilots-fly-drones-military-training)

Converted manned aircraft with mounted sensor balls will imitate Predators and Reapers during military exercises
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 03.10.2009 at 3:09 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/Surrogate%20Predator.jpgSurrogate Predator: A Cessna 182 wears the sensor ball of a Predator Lon Carlson, L-3 Communications


A high demand for Predators and Reapers on the front lines has led the U.S. Air Force to take an unusual step: asking human pilots to mimic the drones for training purposes back in the States. Cessna 182 aircraft have become converted "Surrogate Predators" with the installation of a "Predator ball" that typically serves as the surveillance and tracking eyes for drone operators. Such Predator balls give the manned Cessnas the ability to lock onto targets and track them.
"We're using a manned aircraft to simulate an unmanned aircraft," said CAP-U.S. Air Force Commander Col. Bill Ward. A group of 18 pilots from the Civil Air Patrol have volunteered for initial training to learn the same tactics and procedures of Predator operators on combat missions. All CAP pilots have prior military experience.
Related Articles

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/files/articles/MQ-9.jpgAir Force Shoots Down Runaway Drone Over Afghanistan (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down)
http://www.popsci.com.au/sites/all/themes/albert/images/50x50_bullet_point.pngPoint. Click. Kill: Inside The Air Force's Frantic Unmanned Reinvention (http://www.popsci.com.au/drones)
http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/files/articles/dronestrike-thumb.jpgVideo: An Annotated Predator Drone Strike in Afghanistan (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-08/video-annotated-predator-drone-attack) The retrained Cessna cadre will then take part in Green Flag military exercises, in which they play out hunter-killer scenarios by identifying targets and providing video to an Army or Marine brigade. The only difference between the Cessnas and the real thing is that pilots won't shoot Hellfire missiles themselves. PopSci has previously examined how the Air Force wants to reinvent itself (http://www.popsci.com/drones) by training thousands of drone pilots overnight. Reaper and Predator drones have already launched countless strikes on enemy targets from up high, as seen in this exclusive PopSci gun camera footage (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-08/video-annotated-predator-drone-attack) narrated by a Predator instructor pilot.
Still, the manned Surrogate Predators hold at least one advantage over the real thing -- they probably won't escape the control (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down) of human handlers so easily based on an internal malfunction or communications glitch.
[via Aviation Weekly (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3af1d867e5-afbe-417b-bc1b-71f9a67ff75b)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/insect-wifi-network-tracks-down-wmds

Network of Wi-Fi-Enabled Cyborg Insects Hunts Down WMDs

Latest military news: A wireless network allows electronically enhanced bugs to chirp, tweet, and blog (some day!) about weapons they find
By Dan Smith Posted 18.06.2009 at 4:27 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/wififly.jpg Wi-Fi Fly via MI2G http://www.mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/061007.php

In its attempts to quash weapons of mass destruction, the Pentagon has been trying novel ways to track down dangerous materiel. For years, DARPA has been trying to train insects and bugs to sniff out toxic substances, providing more sensitive detection, as well as access that conventional sensors might not have. The newest twist on this concept is a plan to link up armies of the cyborg bugs in a peer-to-peer, or insect-to-insect, network that will allow them to communicate with each other and with their human masters.

Previous research into this field of detection included landmine-sniffing honeybees and mechanized remote-controlled insects. This next approach will implant insects with a chip that reads certain muscle twitches, which correspond to the presence of certain chemicals. The chips will then modify the chirps of insects like cicadas or crickets into an electronic signal that could be transmitted to other chipped insects in the area. Information about detected weaponized chemicals could bounce around this mobile insect network, and then be picked up by humans.

While the idea seems pretty far-fetched, the idea of creating a decentralized communication network between free-roaming insects could radically increase the bugs' range of detection. Still unclear, however, is if this insect Wi-Fi will allow the information-laden chirps to be more than 140 characters long.

[via Wired] http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/pentagon-wants-cyborg-insects-to-sniff-wmd-offer-wi-fi/

Here you go DJ..just came accross this one too...check out the highlighted part...if they can micro chip 'bug's..imagine how small the bloody chips are now...

Military Developing Half-Robot, Half-Insect 'Cybug' Spies

Miniature robots could be good spies, but researchers now are experimenting with insect cyborgs or "cybugs" that could work even better.

Scientists can already control the flight of real moths using implanted devices.

The military and spy world no doubt would love tiny, live camera-wielding versions of Predator drones that could fly undetected into places where no human could ever go to snoop on the enemy.

Developing such robots has proven a challenge so far, with one major hurdle being inventing an energy source for the droids that is both low weight and high power.

of attempting to create sophisticated robots that imitate the complexity in the insect form that required millions of years of evolution to achieve, scientists now essentially want to hijack bugs for use as robots.

Originally researchers sought to control insects by gluing machinery onto their backs, but such links were not always reliable.

To overcome this hurdle, the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program sophisticated robots is sponsoring research into surgically implanting microchips straight into insects as they grow, intertwining their nerves and muscles with circuitry that can then steer the critters.

Anyone think its still si Fi and we are not next??...and when were no longer any use...DELETE

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532511,00.html?test=latestnews

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532511,00.html

Military Developing Half-Robot, Half-Insect 'Cybug' Spies

Thursday, July 16, 2009
By Charles Q. Choi

http://www.foxnews.com/images/545525/0_61_bugspy_320.jpgDARPA

Researchers are now experimenting with developing insect cyborgs or 'cybugs' that could work as spies.

Miniature robots could be good spies, but researchers now are experimenting with insect cyborgs or "cybugs" that could work even better.

Scientists can already control the flight of real moths using implanted devices. http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/080204-cyborg-insect.html

The military and spy world no doubt would love tiny, live camera-wielding versions of Predator drones that could fly undetected into places where no human could ever go to snoop on the enemy.

Developing such robots has proven a challenge so far, with one major hurdle being inventing an energy source for the droids that is both low weight and high power.

Still, evidence that such machines are possible is ample in nature in the form of insects, which convert biological energy into flight.

• Click here for FOXNews.com's Patents and Innovation Center.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/innovation/

It makes sense to pattern robots after insects — after all, they must be doing something right, seeing as they are the most successful animals on the planet, comprising roughly 75 percent of all animal species known to humanity. http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070918_bee_sniffers.html

Indeed, scientists have patterned robots after insects and other animals for decades — to mimic cockroach wall-crawling, for instance, or the grasshopper's leap. http://www.livescience.com/technology/080521-jumping-robot.html

Mechanical metamorphosis

Instead of attempting to create sophisticated robots that imitate the complexity in the insect form that required millions of years of evolution to achieve, scientists now essentially want to hijack bugs for use as robots.

Originally researchers sought to control insects by gluing machinery onto their backs, but such links were not always reliable.

To overcome this hurdle, the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program sophisticated robots is sponsoring research into surgically implanting microchips straight into insects as they grow, intertwining their nerves and muscles with circuitry that can then steer the critters. http://www.livescience.com/topic/robots
Related Stories

* Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532492,00.html
* Researchers Design Tiny Robotic Bat
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532184,00.html
* NASA's Shape-Shifting Robot Is 'Real' Transformer
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529059,00.html

As expensive as these devices might be to manufacture and embed in the bugs, they could still prove cheaper than building miniature robots from scratch.

As these cyborgs heal from their surgery while they naturally metamorphose from one developmental stage to the next — for instance, from caterpillar to butterfly — the result would yield a more reliable connection between the devices and the insects, the thinking goes.

The fact that insects are immobile during some of these stages — for instance, when they are metamorphosing in cocoons — means they can be manipulated far more easily than if they were actively wriggling, meaning that devices could be implanted with assembly-line routine, significantly lowering costs.

The HI-MEMS program at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has to date invested $12 million into research since it began in 2006. It currently supports these cybug projects:

— Roaches at Texas A&M.

— Horned beetles at University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley.

— Moths at an MIT-led team, and another moth project at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research.

Success with moths

So far researchers have successfully embedded MEMS into developing insects, and living adult insects have emerged with the embedded systems intact, a DARPA spokesperson told LiveScience.

Researchers have also demonstrated that such devices can indeed control the flight of moths, albeit when they are tethered.

To power the devices, instead of relying on batteries, the hope is to convert the heat and mechanical energy the insect generates as it moves into electricity. The insects themselves could be optimized to generate electricity.

When the researchers can properly control the insects using the embedded devices, the cybugs might then enter the field, equipped with cameras, microphones and other sensors to help them spy on targets or sniff out explosives.

Although insects do not always live very long in the wild, the cyborgs' lives could be prolonged by attaching devices that feed them.

The scientists are now working toward controlled, untethered flight, with the final goal being delivering the insect within 15 feet (5 m) of a specific target located 300 feet (100 meters) away, using electronic remote control by radio or GPS or both, standing still on arrival.

Although flying insects such as moths and dragonflies are of great interest, hopping and swimming insects could also be useful, too, DARPA noted.

It's conceivable that eventually a swarm of cybugs could converge on targets by land, sea and air. http://www.livescience.com/technology/etc/090624-pentagon-creat-cyber-command.html

http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-09/boeing-patents-motion-controlled-drone-swarms

New from Boeing: Flying Bot Swarms You Control With Body Language (http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-09/boeing-patents-motion-controlled-drone-swarms)

Human operators could use gestures to direct clouds of robot drones
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 19.09.2009 at 2:49 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2009-09/boeing-patents-motion-controlled-drone-swarms?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/boeingswarm.jpg Motion-Controlled Swarm Minions: Cue "Ride of the Valkyries" -- the drone swarm has arrived Boeing

Robot swarms could someday hover, spin, and attack in response to a simple gesture or graceful pirouette from a human operator. And yes, Boeing has filed a patent on that future vision.
"The method may involve defining a plurality of body movements of an operator that correspond to a plurality of operating commands for the unmanned object," Boeing notes in its patent filing (http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=boeing.AS.&s2=swarm&OS=AN/boeing+AND+swarm&RS=AN/boeing+AND+swarm). "Body movements of the operator may be sensed to generate the operating commands."


Boeing goes further by laying claim to specific body motions for specific commands. A nod of the human operator's head could select one robot out of the flying unmanned swarm. A circular hand motion along a certain plane could order another robot to begin moving from a stationary position. An operator might even select a certain group of drones with a pointing motion that defines a "three-dimensional conical area." The patent filed early this month also includes reflective markers, a motion capture system, and a wireless transmission system for human-to-drone commands. That points to a future where warfighters and civilians can interact more naturally with their friendly neighborhood swarm (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/microbots-work-swarms).
We at PopSci can readily imagine some entertainment spin-offs from such technology as well, given the popularity of motion-control technology with the current generation of video game consoles. Microsoft's upcoming Project Natal (http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-amp-gaming/article/2009-06/microsoft-guns-nintendo-project-natal-full-body-motion-controller) promises a full-body motion controller experience for Xbox 360 games, and Sony has gone a step farther by filing a patent on emotion-controlled (http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-amp-gaming/article/2009-08/dont-giggle-sony-wants-use-emotions-video-game-controllers) gaming.
Could even a Gamer-style future with battle bots remain far behind such developments? We sure hope not, because ascribing any sort of predictive power to that movie seems too terrible (and aesthetically wrong) to contemplate.
[via Baltimore Sun (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/technology/2009/09/boeing_working_to_control_swar.html)]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/darpa-project-releases-video-remote-controlled-cyborg-beetle

Video: DARPA's Remote-Controlled Cyborg Beetle Takes Flight (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/darpa-project-releases-video-remote-controlled-cyborg-beetle)

A new paper explains how they built the zombie insect
By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 25.09.2009 at 4:04 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/cyborgbeetlee.jpg
Remote Controlled Cyborg Beetle via Wired's Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/01/pentagons-cybor/)

In January, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, told a stunned conference audience that they had managed to create a remote-controlled cyborg beetle by attaching a computer chip to the brain of a giant insect. Now, the paper explaining how they did it has been published in the journal Frontiers In Neuroscience, and they have released a video of the cyber-bug in action.
Related Articles

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/files/articles/wififly.jpgNetwork of Wi-Fi-Enabled Cyborg Insects Hunts Down WMDs (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/insect-wifi-network-tracks-down-wmds)

Are We Being Watched by Flying Robot Insects? (http://www.popsci.com.au/scitech/article/2007-10/are-we-being-watched-flying-robot-insects)

Darpa's First Robotic Ornithopter Hovers, Flies Like a Hummingbird (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-07/darpa-tests-first-robotic-ornithopters)

The cyborg beetle was designed as part of a DARPA project that looks to equip insects with cameras and other sensors in an attempt to turn them into tiny, biological UAVs. The rhinoceros beetle was selected because, as one of the world's largest insects, it could carry the biggest payload. The video below speaks for itself. Zombified with parts available at Radio Shack, the cyborg beetle flies around the room, controlled by a researcher at a laptop.
The day of military-controlled, giant cyborg insects is upon us. Someone call Godzilla, I think we're going to need some help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAeV96bTRiIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAeV96bTRiI

http://singularityhub.com/2009/10/07/free-flying-cyborg-beetles/

Free Flying Cyborg Beetles (http://singularityhub.com/2009/10/07/free-flying-cyborg-beetles/)

October 7th, 2009 by Aaron Saenz






http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cyborgbeetle-300x187.jpgThis is how you make a big bad beetle-borg.

In the future, when a spy worries about a room being bugged, she might have to look for actual bugs. Back in March we told you about Michel Maharbiz attaching electrodes to beetles’ brains (http://singularityhub.com/2009/03/24/cyborg-insects-take-flight/) to get them to beat their wings. Well, Maharbiz and his colleagues at the University of California Berkeley (http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/%7Emaharbiz/members.html) have taken the next step and taken their cyborg beetles out for a wireless flight. The experiment is funded by DARPA in the hopes of eventually creating a fully remote controlled spy insect that could listen in to conversations or possibly find missing people after a disaster. Check out the brief video from New Scientist below.
In the recent experiment shown in the video, the species Mecynorrhina torquata was big enough to handle the necessary electronic devices to allow it to fly wirelessly. Looking at it, you almost can’t tell the beetle is under someone else’s control. Researchers are hopeful that whether or not the insects could be cybernetically enhanced to become spies or rescuers, they will still reveal interesting knowledge about the way the neural systems of insects function.

http://brightcove.newscientist.com/services/player/bcpid2227271001?bctid=42939806001
http://brightcove.newscientist.com/services/player/bcpid2227271001?bctid=42939806001The project is remarkable because the signals that the beetles are receiving aren’t very precise. Unlike another wireless neural system like Braingate, the Berkeley team isn’t targeting individual motor neurons. Large sections of the insect brain are being stimulated to get the beetle to take off, and again to begin landing, but continuous pulses don’t control the bug. Researchers steer the beetle left or right by stimulating muscle tissue. After the command for a turn is given, the beetle is allowed to right and balance itself. In other words, the remote controlled insect is actually much more like a horse with reigns. Creating cybernetic insect spies and rescuers involves implanting electrodes into beetles while they are still pupae. As the beetle matures, their capacity to carry electronics on their head increases, but it’s quite a battle to get devices small enough to be carried by the bugs. Batteries are heavy, and the beetles still haven’t been saddled with GPS trackers, cameras, microphones, or any of the various gizmos a spy might require. Considering the rapid pace that Maharbiz is keeping, he may have the beetles ready to fly missions before the electronics are small enough to ride shotgun. In fact, reliably powering electronics on that scale may require enough effort that creating robotic bugs will be a better choice than making cyborg ones.
Still, it’s pretty cool that electric pulses applied to vague areas of beetle brains can essentially turn them into insect-sized beasts of burden. The next course of action should be to see if the Berkeley team can get their wireless flying bugs to navigate an obstacle course reliably. Whether or not we then see the beetles adapted to espionage, disaster relief, or a weird miniature version of NASCAR remains to be seen.
Related Posts:



Cyborg Insects Take Flight (http://singularityhub.com/2009/03/24/cyborg-insects-take-flight/)
Army's Cyborg Beetle Takes Flight (http://singularityhub.com/2009/01/30/armys-cyborg-beetle-takes-flight/)

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/dread-zeppelin-armys-new-surveillance-blimp

Dread Zeppelin: The Army's New Surveillance Blimp

The LEMV, being tested soon, is designed to stay aloft for weeks at a time
By Dan Smith Posted 09.06.2009 at 5:12 am

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/LEMV.jpg Long Endurance Multi-INT Vehicle: Floating sentinel

Since the airship glory days of the early part of the century, blimps have certainly lost some of their cachet, relegated to hovering over sporting events and not much else. However, the Army is about to test launch an unmanned hybrid airship to be used for surveillance missions in Afghanistan.

The Long Endurance Multi-INT Vehicle, or LEMV, is an impressive combination of endurance, carrying capacity, and speed (relatively speaking). The aircraft can be launched easily for missions with up to 3-weeks of continuous airtime carrying a 2,500 lb payload at altitudes of 20,000 ft. Larger payloads will lower the aircraft’s ceiling slightly.

Its lift and propulsion systems are equipped to maintain an average speed of 20 kts, but can “dash” at speeds of up to 80 kts when needed. Over the course of its flight the LEMV can cover up to 2,500 miles, over which quite a bit of surveillance information can be collected. It is also equipped with a “rapid deflation device” that will ground the ship quickly if control is somehow lost, keeping it from drifting into restricted airspace and preventing the payload from falling into the wrong hands.

All these stats, however, are for the test device alone. Plans to expand the LEMV’s capabilities after initial testing are underway. The final version might be able to carry payloads of 7,000lbs for month-long trips. If the LEMV becomes a regular surveillance device, silently watching the skies for even longer durations than the current crop of UAVs, we may begin to view the blimp much differently. Oh, the humanity.

[Aviation Week] http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a3c0ec60a-4bb5-43d4-b0ff-fefdf0733cb6

http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/us-army-plans-send-giant-spy-blimp-afghanistan

U.S. Army Plans to Send Giant Spy Blimp to Afghanistan (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/us-army-plans-send-giant-spy-blimp-afghanistan)


By Anna Maria Jakubek (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/anna-maria-jakubek) Posted 24.09.2009 at 9:38 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/us-army-plans-send-giant-spy-blimp-afghanistan?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/blimp.jpgLEMV: Not Your Father's Blimp: Lockheed Martin

Next time you're in Afghanistan, make sure to keep an eye out for the U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Command's giant blimp-like surveillance airship. The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV), as it's called, will be 250 feet long, autonomous, and able to float at up to 20,000 feet for an impressive three weeks at a time. As for its surveillance capabilities, a 40-foot-long stretch behind the cockpit will house a selection of spy gear, including a motion sensor and radar.
While the LEMV has yet to be built -- the contract itself won't be awarded until October 1 -- you can get a pretty good idea of the colossal scope of this airship via the below video of Lockheed Martin's P-791, which provided the inspiration for the LEMV. As you watch, keep in mind that the P-791 in the video is only 125 feet long, half the length planned for the LEMV!

[Via AviationWeek.com (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3af2996a4f-f738-4cb2-8157-afba2eb5ca28)]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVNV-FFUOnchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVNV-FFUOnc

http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/moon-the-balloon/

Moon the Balloon? (http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/moon-the-balloon/)

Posted by Xeno (http://www.xenophilia.com/) on October 9, 2009
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www.edmontonjournal.com/news/giant+white+blimp+kandahar+edge/2081893/2081901.bin (http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/moon-the-balloon/void%280%29;)There’s a giant blimp, white with three tail fins, hanging over the city these days and it’s causing a stir among Kandaharis who believe the Americans are using it to spy on them.And it could be they’re right.
“Many people believe it’s a spy blimp that can see through walls to look at our women,” said Ghulam Ghami, a local fixer attuned to the buzz in coffee shops and kebab stands.
While that notion is outlandish, the U.S. is developing a $400-million blimp-like surveillance airship. It is expected to be deployed in Afghanistan by 2011.
Lockheed Martin’s long endurance multi-intelligence vehicle (LEMV), as it’s named, will be 250-feet (76-metre) long, and able to float at up to 20,000 feet for three weeks at a time. As for its surveillance capabilities, a 40-foot-long (12 m.) stretch behind the cockpit will house a selection of spy gear, including a motion sensor and radar.
While the LEMV has yet to be built — the contract will be awarded this month — Lockheed Martin has already produced a prototype: the P-791.
The P-791, which flew six times in 2006, is half the planned length of the LEMV. In test flights, the P-791 showed itself capable of carrying heavy loads and executing sharp turns
Could the blimp over Kandahar actually be an eye-in-the-sky P-791 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVNV-FFUOnc)? It’s plainly visible to the naked eye, and looks spectacular lit up at night. That seems counter to the notion of spying as a furtive, clandestine pursuit.
Calls to the U.S. Defence Department were not returned.
http://blog.800hightech.com/wp-content/uploads/lockheed-martin-lemv-concept.jpg (http://blog.800hightech.com/wp-content/uploads/lockheed-martin-lemv-concept.jpg)Might the blimp be a weather balloon of sorts, used to gather scientific data for research purposes? Possibly, but most weather develops over water, and Afghanistan is land locked.
Whatever it is, the blimp is making locals uneasy.
“People don’t like it,” said Ghami. “Some are saying they are going to shoot at it.”
The LEMV is sure to be an imposing sight when it is test deployed in Afghanistan in 2011.
As a hybrid airship, the LEMV is heavier than air but will get some of its buoyancy from gas compartments. It will feature turbines on its underside to help launch it into the air and will require a short runway.
In the early 20th century, airships were used in warfare, with dirigibles being employed for bombing and for intelligence gathering. However, the advent of airplanes and horrific disasters such as the Hindenburg fire put an end to the airship as a war weapon.
Now airships are poised to make a return to the battle front. The LEMV will be used primarily for intelligence gathering on such area as the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Annoyed Kandaharis could consider borrowing a tactic from the people of Sarnia, Ont. About 70 people there dropped their pants to “moon the balloon.”
It was a protest against a spy balloon that a U.S. company began using over the summer to monitor the border, including their town. …
- via Edmonton (http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Giant+white+blimp+Kandahar+edge/2081893/story.html)

[nosferatu_dj]

EATR Military Robots to Use Biomatter as Fuel
http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72072

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/us-general-demands-robot-army-claims-bots-could-save-lives

US General Demands Robot Army, Counts 122 Lives That Bots Could Have Saved (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/us-general-demands-robot-army-claims-bots-could-save-lives)

By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 14.10.2009[/URL]

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/talon-swords-02.jpg Robo-grunt There was something unnerving about how it kept asking about John Connor... via [URL="http://www.ccnmag.com/article/robot_infantry_ready_for_the_battlefield"]California Science and Technology News (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/us-general-demands-robot-army-claims-bots-could-save-lives?page=#comments)

Like most Army commanders, Lt. General Rick Lynch says that he needed more troops in Iraq, and that they would have saved the lives of men lost under his command. Unlike most commanders though, Lynch isn't demanding flesh and blood soldiers, but steel and rubber robotic infantrymen.
Speaking at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference, Lynch said that robot systems already in place could have saved 122 of the 155 men who died during his time in Iraq.
Lynch's concerns hold particular weight, as he has both the combat experience of leading the Army's Third Infantry Division in Iraq, and the academic experience of earning a Master's Degree in robotics from MIT.
Echoing similar statements he made in August, Lynch claims that deploying remotely, or autonomously, navigated ground vehicles could have lowered casualties as a result of IEDs, and that robotic infantry could have replaced humans on dangerous surveillance missions.
Some robot infantry had been deployed to Iraq, specifically the SWORD gun platform, but the Army severely restricted their use over safety concerns.
Lynch went even farther than most in his talk, demanding the implementation of autonomous, armed robot systems. He countered other Army critics, saying that he believed the current level of technology was advanced enough to overcome problems with autonomous robots shooting the wrong people.
"There's a resistance saying that armed ground robots are not ready for the battlefield. I'm not of that camp," Lynch said.
[via Wired's Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/general-iraqs-robot-lack-killed-122-gis/)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/hydrogen-powered-navy-uav-shatters-flight-endurance-record

Hydrogen-Powered Navy UAV Shatters Flight Endurance Record (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/hydrogen-powered-navy-uav-shatters-flight-endurance-record)

By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 14.10.2009[/URL]

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/ion-tiger_e9e4F_69.jpg Ion Tiger courtesy of the Naval Research Laboratory

While most research directed at improving UAVs focuses on upgrading their weapons or sensor packages, the Naval Research Laboratory is also working to ensure that the next generation of killer drones are as fuel-efficient as they are deadly. And a recent test of their hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered Ion Tiger UAV proves how successful they have been: it staid aloft for just shy of 24 hours on a single fuel load.
Flying out of the Aberdeen Proving Ground, the Ion Tiger UAV set a new record for hydrogen-powered flight by staying aloft for 23 hours and 17 minutes. This places close to the 30-36 hour endurance of the Tiger's gas guzzling Predator and Reaper cousins.
Unlike its larger relatives, Ion Tiger only weighs 37 pounds, thus requiring only .75 horsepower to fly around for the better part of a day. However, the hydrogen powered motor did prove four times more efficient than similarly powerful combustion engines and seven times more powerful than a comparably sized battery.
So far, the Ion Tiger exists only as a proof of concept, and has not been deployed on land or at sea.
[via [URL="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091013123350.htm"]Science Daily (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/hydrogen-powered-navy-uav-shatters-flight-endurance-record?page=#comments)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/blog/robotics/robotics-software/automaton/irobot-soft-morphing-blob-chembot

Video: iRobot's Shape-Shifting Blob 'Bot Takes Its First Steps

(http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/blog/robotics/robotics-software/automaton/irobot-soft-morphing-blob-chembot#)
POSTED BY: Anne-Marie Corley // Tue, October 13, 2009

This is by far one of the coolest and weirdest robot prototypes we at IEEE Spectrum have ever seen.
Meet iRobot's soft, shape-shifting robot blob. It rolls around and changes shape, and it will be able to squeeze through tiny cracks in a wall when the project is finished.
(Skip the first 1:50 minutes of the video above to see the blob in action.)
Researchers from iRobot (http://www.irobot.com/) and the University of Chicago discussed their palm-sized soft robot, known as a chemical robot, or chembot (http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=86&id=400&referrer=85), at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems yesterday. It's "the first demonstration of a completely soft, mobile robot using jamming as an enabling technology," they write in a paper presented at the conference.
The concept of "jamming skin enabled locomotion" is explained quite nicely in the video. The polymer used for the bot’s stretchy skin is off-the-shelf silicon two-part rubber.
By controlling the parts of the blob that "inflate," the researchers can make it roll.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/1412478 http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/1412479 http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/1412480
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/1412484 http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/1412485 http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/1412486
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/1412487 http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/1412488 http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/1412489
The video shows the project as it was about a year ago. The current stage has a bit different design and is moving toward the ability to include sensors or even connect different blobs together, but those details are sketchy.
When asked about the usefulness of such a bot, iRobot researcher Annan Mozeika promptly answered, "to squeeze into small holes." And who wants to do that? DARPA (http://www.darpa.mil/dso/thrusts/materials/multfunmat/chembots/index.htm), of course. End of questions.
Video: iRobot


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbqHERKdlK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbqHERKdlK8

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/us-special-forces-field-test-plasma-knife

US Special Forces Field-Testing Plasma Knife (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/us-special-forces-field-test-plasma-knife)

By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 16.10.2009[/URL]

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/spaceballs2.jpg May the Schwartz Be With You via DVD.net.au (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/us-special-forces-field-test-plasma-knife?page=#comments)

Emergency medical care for soldiers wounded on the battlefield has come a long way since Hawkeye and Hot Lips. But for Special Forces troopers operating deep behind enemy lines, that care often remains out of reach. Blood loss in particular makes seconds count, and imperils commandos operating far away from friendly bases.
To help with the problem of blood loss from traumatic wounds, the military has started field-testing a device more Mandalorian than M.A.S.H.: a plasma knife.


The knife, whose blade consists of heated, ionized gas, cuts through flesh just as easily a steel scalpel, but also cauterizes the wound. By sealing off the damaged flesh, the plasma knife protects against infection, and stops the bleeding that imperils the wounded soldier. Think the crispy stump of Luke's severed hand, and you'll get the picture. For now, the plasma blade remains a life-saving device, not a weapon. But I think it goes without saying that we all look forward to the day when the military converts this technology into a more elegant weapon, for a more civilized time.
[via [URL="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/commandos-field-test-plasma-knife/"]Wired's Danger Room (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/wounds)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/china-bootlegs-us-uavs-designs-indigenous-uav-stealth-fighter

China Designs Indigenous UAV Stealth Fighter, and Bootlegs Some US Models (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/china-bootlegs-us-uavs-designs-indigenous-uav-stealth-fighter)

By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 16.10.2009

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/chinesestealthUAVfight.jpg China's Dark Sword UAV Stealth Fighter via Defense Professionals (http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/424/)

When I hear the phrase "knock-off Chinese products", I usually think of either the bootleg DVDs I get on the subway or the cheap electronics I get in Midtown. But a new report in Defense Professionals (http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/424/) notes that the Chinese military has channeled that same skill for replication towards closing their UAV technology gap. By simply copying US technology, China has created a stock of advanced drones, and gained the technical knowledge to create some interesting native UAVs as well.
The story lists most of China's major UAV programs, most of which simply knock off successful American UAVs like oh so many cheap copies of Crank 2 or Louis Vuitton handbags. They claim that the Yi-long reconnaissance drone is nothing more than a xerox of our Predator, with the Xiang-long and WuZhen-2000 drones copying the Global Hawk.
However, the article also notes that despite the pervasive replication of US technology, the Chinese military has also developed some interesting indigenous drone technology. In particular, the Dark Sword drone seems unlike anything the American military fields today. The Chinese describe it as the "future of Chinese unmanned combat aviation," and emphasize the high maneuverability, stealth features, and air-to-air combat specialization.
Considering how badass that Dark Sword UAV sounds, maybe the US should think about copying it. Turnabout is fair play, after all.
[via Wired's Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/chinas-unmanned-knock-off-air-force/)]

[jakemaverick]

cool...where do i get myself one of those?

[lizzy]

EATR Military Robots to Use Biomatter as Fuel
http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72072


hi nosferatu :).that was a short thread but it just about says it all.....one day they will fed on us......OMG

[entrangermercenary]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/china-bootlegs-us-uavs-designs-indigenous-uav-stealth-fighter

China Designs Indigenous UAV Stealth Fighter, and Bootlegs Some US Models (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/china-bootlegs-us-uavs-designs-indigenous-uav-stealth-fighter)

By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 16.10.2009

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/chinesestealthUAVfight.jpg China's Dark Sword UAV Stealth Fighter via Defense Professionals (http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/424/)

When I hear the phrase "knock-off Chinese products", I usually think of either the bootleg DVDs I get on the subway or the cheap electronics I get in Midtown. But a new report in Defense Professionals (http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/424/) notes that the Chinese military has channeled that same skill for replication towards closing their UAV technology gap. By simply copying US technology, China has created a stock of advanced drones, and gained the technical knowledge to create some interesting native UAVs as well.
The story lists most of China's major UAV programs, most of which simply knock off successful American UAVs like oh so many cheap copies of Crank 2 or Louis Vuitton handbags. They claim that the Yi-long reconnaissance drone is nothing more than a xerox of our Predator, with the Xiang-long and WuZhen-2000 drones copying the Global Hawk.
However, the article also notes that despite the pervasive replication of US technology, the Chinese military has also developed some interesting indigenous drone technology. In particular, the Dark Sword drone seems unlike anything the American military fields today. The Chinese describe it as the "future of Chinese unmanned combat aviation," and emphasize the high maneuverability, stealth features, and air-to-air combat specialization.
Considering how badass that Dark Sword UAV sounds, maybe the US should think about copying it. Turnabout is fair play, after all.
[via Wired's Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/chinas-unmanned-knock-off-air-force/)]

Check this out later thanks :)

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/googles-android-allows-warfighters-put-drones-buddy-list

Google's Android Allows Soldiers to Put Drones on Buddy List (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/googles-android-allows-warfighters-put-drones-buddy-list)

Defense giant Raytheon has turned Google's mobile operating system into a military application
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 22.10.2009[/URL]

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/army%20phone.jpg
Phones for Warfighters U.S. Army/Tech. Sgt. Cohen A. Young

Google's Android operating system (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-10/googles-android-allows-warfighters-put-drones-buddy-list?page=#comments) for cell phones could allow soldiers to track fellow squad members and even unmanned drones in real time on a map -- as long as the humans and robots are on their buddy list.
That's just one use of an Android-based application developed by defense giant Raytheon. The Raytheon Android Tactical System (RATS) costs just a few hundred dollars per user, as opposed to thousands for other systems, and allows anyone familiar with a smart phone (http://www.popsci.com/gear-amp-gadgets/article/2009-09/motorolas-cliq-android-were-looking) to immediately start using it.


For instance, warfighters can watch their [URL="http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down"]little drone buddy's (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/warfighters) flight patterns on a map, or even get streaming video from the overhead aerial view. RATS also enables soldiers to send snapshots of suspects to the Department of Defense's private data network for immediate identification, and could even include biometric scanners to capture fingerprints (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-09/no-contact-fingerprinting-3-d-scanning) in the near future. Raytheon plans to deploy RATS within the next month or so, after two years of development, according to Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/19/android-google-military-technology-wireless-raytheon.html). We're looking forward to the future editions where users can control their robot swarms (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-09/boeing-patents-motion-controlled-drone-swarms) using basic body language.
[via Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/19/android-google-military-technology-wireless-raytheon.html)]

[deca]

Air Force Bugbots
Micro Air Vehicle (MAVs) buglike drones
video on link
http://video.designworldonline.com/bugbots.html

[lw71]

http://luxefaire.com/devilvision/tableofcontents.html

[cobra]

every metal is easy disabled.... by strong magnets...... that can be used as meatal mines......

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-12/platoon-level-cloud-lets-soldiers-swap-data-increases-network-lethality

Platoon-Level 'Cloud' Lets Soldiers Swap Data, Increases 'Network Lethality' (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-12/platoon-level-cloud-lets-soldiers-swap-data-increases-network-lethality)

By Clay Dillow (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/clay-dillow) Posted 22.12.2009 at 3:46 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-12/platoon-level-cloud-lets-soldiers-swap-data-increases-network-lethality?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/800px-Air-assault_mission_in_Paktika_province.jpg Better Connectivity A unit-level "cloud" will allow soldiers in the field to communicate vertically up the chain of command, as well as with other ground and air units operating nearby for seamless sharing of intel, orders, and other data. U.S. Army

There's no question that the U.S. military is operating at a very high technological capacity, but the tactical edge that commanders have back at HQ doesn't always translate to grunts in the field. That gap is closing however, as the Army recently networked (http://www.dodbuzz.com/2009/12/17/army-develops-small-unit-cloud-computing/) two distant infantry units together in a mobile "cloud," allowing them to trade video imagery, voice commands, text messages and other data between between them as they operated, as well as with far-flung command posts.
The Man-packable Network Integration Kit (M-NIK, in mil-speak) is a router and network mediator packaged with a satellite radio and other data transmitters -- including elements of the much-hyped but too-heavy Land Warrior system -- giving troops on the ground unparalleled ability to download video feeds from drones and satellites and share intelligence and other data vertically up the command chain, as well as horizontally to fellow soldiers platoons.




But that's not even the best part. The next level of the system will inject some "network lethality" into the unit cloud, linking artillery, aerial drones and bombers into the system so soldiers in the field can call in fire support or air cover directly, without translating orders, coordinates and the like through a command post. Likewise, patching platoon leaders into the video feeds from Apache helicopters hovering over a battlefield would greatly increase their ability to pinpoint targets at night or in tough terrain. After all, it's far easier to accurately convey "they're 50 meters northwest of where you're targeting" than "they're over by that big tree." The downside: Like the Land Warrior, at 20 pounds the M-NIK is simply too heavy. But with advances in miniaturization and battery technology occurring at breakneck speed these days, the brass thinks a much lighter comms package with cloud connectivity is not too far away. The biggest technological hurdle between 20th-century infantry and the next generation of super-connected soldiers is packing satellite connectivity into a small, lightweight radio.
But in contrast to its Land Warrior efforts, the Army isn't looking for a catch-all communications solution. It plans to deploy elements of the new system as soon as they are battle-ready, leaving the architecture open so lighter, better tech can be added to the system as the technology catches up to the vision. That means a smarter, cloud-connected force could begin taking shape in the very near term.
[DoD Buzz (http://www.dodbuzz.com/2009/12/17/army-develops-small-unit-cloud-computing/)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-12/nuclear-power-cyborg-insect-spies

Darpa's Cyborg Insect Spies, Now Nuclear-Powered (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-12/nuclear-power-cyborg-insect-spies)

By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 11.12.2009 at 10:02 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2009-12/nuclear-power-cyborg-insect-spies?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/cyborgbeetlee.jpg Remote Controlled Cyborg Beetle via Wired's Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/01/pentagons-cybor/)

When you write for Popular Science, it's easy to become desensitized to wild and crazy future tech. To wit: When I first heard (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/darpa-project-releases-video-remote-controlled-cyborg-beetle) that Darpa wanted to develop cyborg insects to carry surveillance equipment, I thought "ok, cyborg insect spies are pretty cool, but not blowing me away."
Then today, Cornell researchers working on the program unveiled a prototype transmitter (http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/nuclearpowered-transponder-for-cyborg-insect?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IeeeSpectrum+%28IEEE+Spectrum %29&utm_content=Google+Reader) for the cyborg bugs that runs on radioactive isotopes. Nuclear powered cyborg insect spies? Ok, now you have my attention.
While the bugs can fly under their own power, any electronics added to the lil' sentry for keeping in contact with HQ or other cyborg drones in the swarm need some kind of external power. And a radioactive isotope working as a nuclear battery does the trick perfectly. The isotope in question is Nickle-23, a barely radioactive isotope that doesn't emit enough radiation to harm a human. However, even slight beta-particle emissions are powerful enough to fuel the on board electronics of our arthropod cyborgs for up to 100 years.
For fun, let's see that cyborg moth flight test from September (http://www.popsci.com/node/38759) one more time, shall we?



Right now, the nuclear-powered electronics only include a 5-milliwatt RFID transmitter. But eventually, the cyborgs will carry a full suite of sensors, and hopefully, since we are talking about nuclear powered cyborg insects going to war, some kind of death ray.
[IEEE Spectrum (http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/nuclearpowered-transponder-for-cyborg-insect?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IeeeSpectrum+%28IEEE+Spectrum %29&utm_content=Google+Reader)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-01/israeli-sonic-cannon-control-rioters-scare-birds

Israel Developing Semi-Lethal Sonic Cannon To Control Rioters (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-01/israeli-sonic-cannon-control-rioters-scare-birds)

By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 20.01.2010 at 3:48 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-01/israeli-sonic-cannon-control-rioters-scare-birds?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/lrad654.jpg LRAD Sonic Weapon The LRAD, another sonic weapon, has been used successfully to disperse protestors via Discovery.com (http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/futureweapons/photo/photo_07.html)

A desert people have developed a new weapon that uses sound instead of bullets. But this time, it will be used to control crowds instead of fighting giant worms or devious members of House Harkonnen. The Israeli Defense Ministry has contracted (http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4447499&c=FEA&s=TEC) for the production of sonic-boom stun-guns called "Thunder Generator cannons," which they hope to use in crowd-control situations.
The cannons are built by farming company PDT Agro, which originally designed the sound blasters as a means of warding birds away from crops. Eventually, someone realized the powerful sonic blasts could do the same to people.



The weapon runs on LPG, a common cooking gas, which mixes with oxygen to generate powerful bursts of sound. Each sound burst lasts around 300 milliseconds, and generates a shockwave that travels from the cannon at almost six times the speed of sound. Although it's intended to be less than lethal, the Thunder Generator cannon can cause death to people within 30 feet of the blast. For people farther away than 30 feet, the sonic boom will deafen them and knock them back, and hopefully disperse an unruly crowd.
The Israeli military hopes to use the sound blaster as an alternative to the rubber bullets and caustic chemicals they currently deploy against rioting Orthodox settlers and rock-throwing Palestinians alike. Either way, it sounds less dangerous than a weirding module.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-01/robotic-super-soldier-suit-gets-more-juice

Lockheed's HULC Super-Soldier Exoskeleton Gets More Juice (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-01/robotic-super-soldier-suit-gets-more-juice)

HULC want longer-lasting batteries!
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 23.01.2010 at 3:42 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-01/robotic-super-soldier-suit-gets-more-juice?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/HULC%20run.jpg HULC Hey, I can still feel my legs Lockheed Martin

Even the finest super-soldier suit can end up as expensive deadweight if the batteries run out of juice. Lockheed Martin wants to avoid that fate for its robotic exoskeleton by turning to fuel cells that can power the suit for days, The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/22/hulc_protonex_fuel_cell/) reports.

Lockheed's Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) is a mechanized frame that allows soldiers to march or even run easily with loads of 200 pounds, as well as squat or kneel without trouble. But the current li-ion batteries supporting the suit typically run down after just a few hours of walking, not to mention running. That could all change with fuel cells that could sustain 72-hour missions on a single charge, and provide power sockets to spare for military accessories that require their own batteries. Lockheed announced its choice of the Protonex Technology Corporation to develop such fuel cells on Wednesday.
We here at PopSci love our Iron Man (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-04/building-real-iron-man?page=4) suits, and so we're happy to see longer-lasting versions in the works. After all, it'd be a shame for our robotic warfighters to run down when the Energizer Bunny keeps going on its dinky batteries.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1CeBOWm67A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1CeBOWm67A

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-02/darpa-throws-32-million-bigger-dog-boston-dynamics

DARPA Gives $32 Million For A Bigger Big Dog From Boston Dynamics (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-02/darpa-throws-32-million-bigger-dog-boston-dynamics)

By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 03.02.2010 at 3:20 am[/URL]

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/LS3_concept.jpg LS3- The Bigger Dog via [URL="http://bostondynamics.com/robot_ls3.html"]Boston Dynamics (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-02/darpa-throws-32-million-bigger-dog-boston-dynamics?page=#comments)

After years of development (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2006-03/armys-robot-sherpa) and several creepy videos (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/article/2008-03/darpas-amazing-robot-pack-mule-keeps-its-balance-ice), Boston Dynamics' Big Dog robot is scheduled to get bigger. Working off a $32 million request from DARPA and the Marine Corps, Boston Dynamics has developed a souped-up version (http://www.botjunkie.com/2010/02/01/darpa-asks-boston-dynamics-for-bigger-bigdog/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Botjunkie+%28BotJunkie%29) of the quadrupedal Big Dog robot called the the Legged Squad Support System (LS3). This new robot will have a longer range, heavier carrying capacity, and more agility than its predecessor.
Boston Dynamics designed the original Big Dog as a robotic replacement for flesh and blood pack animals. Mountainous or uneven terrain often proves impassible even for hardy vehicles like the Humvee, forcing soldiers to carry heavy loads themselves or forsake equipment entirely. The agile Big Dog robot would carry that equipment, lightening the load for the soldiers, or allowing them to bring even heavier systems through nearly impassable terrain. The LS3 serves the same function, only more so.
The original Big Dog can carry a load of 340 pounds almost 13 miles at a pace of four miles per hour, while being remotely operated by a human. Plus, it's agile enough to navigate a 30 degree incline.
The LS3, on the other hand, will carry a 400 pound load 20 miles, only refuel every 24 hours, and use a mixture of cameras and GPS signals to follow a squad autonomously. Boston Dynamics also plans to make the LS3 faster than the original Big Dog, and even capable of jumping over obstacles.
The Big Dog gained a degree of Internet fame through videos showing off it's remarkable capabilities and animal-mimicking gait. Unfortunately, it's going to be at least another 30 months before Boston Dynamics releases similar video of the LS3, so that awesome concept art, featuring a very Halo-esque head for the robot, will have to sate our robotic pack mule hunger until then.
[Boston Dynamics (http://bostondynamics.com/robot_ls3.html), via Bot Junkie (http://www.botjunkie.com/2010/02/01/darpa-asks-boston-dynamics-for-bigger-bigdog/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Botjunkie+%28BotJunkie%29)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/22/2826089.htm?section=justin

Giant new Israeli drone can reach Iran

Posted 22/02/2010


http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201002/r518423_2853862.jpg (http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201002/r518423_2853867.jpg) 26-metre wingspan: The Eitan drone takes to the air (Reuters: Gil Cohen Magen)


A new drone that can remain airborne for more than 24 hours and reach as far as Iran was added to the Israeli air force's arsenal, the military said.
Described by the army as a "technological breakthrough", the Eitan - which means 'strong' in Hebrew - is a Heron-TP type drone with a wingspan of 26 metres, similar to that of the Boeing-737.
It is 24 metres long, weighs 4.5 tonnes and can remain in the air for more than 24 hours, enabling it to fly as far as Iran, Israel's arch-foe.
The drone was built by Israel Aerospace Industries in cooperation with the air force and is equipped with radar, cameras and high-tech electronic equipment including mapping devices.
The drone can reach an altitude of 13,000 metres and carry payloads of about one tonne.
"This aircraft constitutes a very important turning point in the development of unmanned aircraft," Air Force chief General Ido Nehustan was quoted as saying.
-AFP

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Tech/2010/0217/New-role-for-robot-warriors

New role for robot warriors

Drones are just part of a bid to automate combat. Can virtual ethics make machines decisionmakers?




http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/2010/0214-weekly/0214-vrobotics-01-defense-security-usa-drone-army/7353254-1-eng-US/0214-VROBOTICS-01-DEFENSE-SECURITY-USA-DRONE-ARMY_full_380.jpg (http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/2010/0214-weekly/0214-vrobotics-01-defense-security-usa-drone-army/7353254-1-eng-US/0214-VROBOTICS-01-DEFENSE-SECURITY-USA-DRONE-ARMY_full_600.jpg)
http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/2010/0214-weekly/0214-vrobotics-02-israel-army-defense-security/7353271-1-eng-US/0214-VROBOTICS-02-ISRAEL-ARMY-DEFENSE-SECURITY_full_380.jpg (http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/2010/0214-weekly/0214-vrobotics-02-israel-army-defense-security/7353271-1-eng-US/0214-VROBOTICS-02-ISRAEL-ARMY-DEFENSE-SECURITY_full_600.jpg)





Airmen roll out a Predator unmanned aircraft in Indian Springs, Nev. Such aircraft are tightly controlled by remote human operators. Some artificial-intelligence proponents believe next-generation robots could function more autonomously.
Tony Avelar/The Christian Science Monitor/File

Enlarge (http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/2010/0214-weekly/0214-vrobotics-01-defense-security-usa-drone-army/7353254-1-eng-US/0214-VROBOTICS-01-DEFENSE-SECURITY-USA-DRONE-ARMY_full_600.jpg) Photos (1 of 2) http://www.csmonitor.com/extension/csm_base/design/csm_design/images/btn_prev.gif (http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Tech/2010/0217/New-role-for-robot-warriors#)http://www.csmonitor.com/extension/csm_base/design/csm_design/images/btn_next.gif (http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Tech/2010/0217/New-role-for-robot-warriors#)




By Gregory M. Lamb (http://www.csmonitor.com/About/Contact-Us-Feedback) / Staff writer / February 17, 2010
Science fiction sometimes depicts robot soldiers as killing machines without conscience or remorse. But at least one robotics expert today says that someday machines may make the best and most humane decisions on the battlefield.
Skip to next paragraph (http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Tech/2010/0217/New-role-for-robot-warriors#nextParagraph)

http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/csm-photo-galleries-images/in-pictures-images/drone_jockeys/1/6698190-1-eng-US/1_thumbnail_90_cropped.jpg (http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Drone-jockey-New-Air-Force-poster-boys)
Photo Gallery
Drone jockey: New Air Force poster boys (http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Drone-jockey-New-Air-Force-poster-boys)




Guided by virtual emotions, robots could not only make better decisions about their own actions but also act as ethical advisers to human soldiers or even as observers who report back on the battlefield conduct of humans and whether they followed international law.
As militaries around the world invest billions in robotic weapons, no fundamental barriers lie ahead to building machines that "can outperform human soldiers in the battlefield from an ethical perspective," says Ronald Arkin, associate dean at the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. The result would be a reduction in casualties both for soldiers and civilians, he says.
Dr. Arkin has begun work on an ethical system for robots based on the concept of "guilt." As a robot makes decisions, such as whether to fire its weapons and what type of weapon to use, it would constantly assess the results and learn. If the robot established that its weapons caused unnecessary damage or casualties, it would scale back its use of weapons in a future encounter. If the robot repeatedly used excessive force, it would shut down its weapons altogether – though it could continue to perform its other duties such as reconnaissance.
"That's what guilt does in people, too, at least in principle," Arkin says. "Guilty people change their behavior in response to their actions."
Though "Terminator"-style warriors will likely remain fictional long into the future, thousands of military robots are already operating on land, sea, and in the air, many of them capable of firing lethal weapons. They include missile-firing Predator and Reaper aircraft used by the American military in Iraq and Afghanistan, remotely controlled by human soldiers. Naval ships from several nations employ Phalanx gun systems (sometimes called "R2D2s" on American ships, referring to the robot from "Star Wars"), capable of shooting down incoming planes or missiles without command or targeting from a human.
South Korea has deployed armed robotic systems along its demilitarized zone with North Korea. The Israeli army patrols its borders with Gaza and Lebanon with roving unmanned ground vehicles.
Among systems being developed for the future by the US military are the Vulture, a pilotless helicopter that could stay aloft for up to 20 hours, and an unmanned ground combat vehicle.
But Arkin's sunny forecast for the future of ethical robot warriors has met with deep skepticism among some in his field.



New laws will be needed to constrain the use of autonomous (without a human operator) robot weapons on the battlefield, argues Noel Sharkey, a professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at Britain's University of Sheffield, in an essay last year. He sees two huge ethical hurdles in the way: One is the unproven ability of robotic weapons to discriminate between friend and foe, avoiding hitting civilians and other noncombatants. The other questions a computer's ability to judge "proportionate" force, enough to gain military advantage while minimizing civilian casualties.

Both these concepts are seen as essential to waging ethical warfare.
"Humans understand one another in a way that machines cannot," Dr. Sharkey writes. "Cues can be very subtle and there are an infinite number of circumstances where lethal force is inappropriate." International talks on the use of autonomous robots in warfare "are needed urgently," he says.
What experts do agree on is that today's robots fall far short of the kind of artificial intelligence (AI) they need to operate effectively on their own, let alone act ethically. "When it comes to high-stakes decisions that hinge on understanding subtle human preferences and intentions, we still have a bunch of research to do at the level of basic science to give AI systems the same common sense that people have," says Eric Horvitz, principal researcher at Microsoft Research and immediate past president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. The AAAI plans to issue a report later this year on the challenges and opportunities presented by the growing relationship between humans and AI.
Arkin's work is of great interest to Patrick Lin, director of the Ethics and Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. His group is working on software for military robots that would include ethical behavior.
"We're sending machines to do our dirty work," says Dr. Lin, who is also an ethics fellow at the US Naval Academy and is working on a book on robotic ethics. The military should adopt a slow "crawl, walk, run philosophy" to introduce autonomous robots to the battlefield, he says.
Many kinds of limits could be put on military robots, Lin says. For example, their use could be confined to a "kill box," an area known to contain only enemy troops. They could be authorized to fire only on opposing robots or other nonhuman targets. Or they might carry only nonlethal weapons, such as water cannons or devices that only stun.
Right now, Arkin argues, the discussion about the use of robots in war is in its infancy. It reminds him of the attitudes people held before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane. At that time, some wondered if humans were intended to fly at all or whether flying could ever become a safe thing to do.
Robots don't need to have a perfect ethical record to win a place on the battlefield, Arkin argues. They only have to behave better than humans, who have a deeply flawed ethical record in warfare.
"This is not about robot armies out to kill us," Arkin says. "This is actually about reducing noncombatant fatalities."

[nosferatu_dj]

Military Biological Weapons Exposed by Don Scott

http://vactruth.com/2010/02/24/military-biological-weapons-exposed-by-don-scott/

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-02/video-eurocopter-introduces-silent-rotor-blade-stealth-choppers

Video: A Silent Rotor Blade Paves the Way for Super-Stealth Choppers (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-02/video-eurocopter-introduces-silent-rotor-blade-stealth-choppers)

By Stuart Fox (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/stuart-fox) Posted 27.02.2010 at 8:33 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-02/video-eurocopter-introduces-silent-rotor-blade-stealth-choppers?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/500x_main-660x440.jpg The Stealth Blue Edge Rotor Blade via Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/5481081/the-blade-that-would-make-helicopters-almost-silent)

For all the government conspiracy militia nuts out there, I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there is no such thing as silent, stealth black helicopters. The bad news is that, thanks to Eurocopter's noise-canceling Blue Edge rotor blades (http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/02/eurocopter-moves-one-step-closer-to-whisper-mode/), there soon will be.
The extremely loud noise made by helicopter blades results primarily from the blades chopping through eddies in their own wakes, a phenomenon known as blade-vortex interaction. By changing the shape of the rotor blades, Eurocopter manages to pair down the blade-vortex interaction so thoroughly that the sound only reaches the whisper volume of 3 or 4 decibels.
To hear just how drastic the difference between a normal rotor and the Blue Edge rotor is, check out this video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBS1NRsYuF8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBS1NRsYuF8

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-03/assassin-micro-drone-enters-final-development-stage

Air Force's Flying Assassin Robot Enters Final Development Stage (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-03/assassin-micro-drone-enters-final-development-stage)

The deadly drone could find and dispatch single-person targets, with "very low collateral damage"
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 06.03.2010 at 8:46 am 0 Comments (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-03/assassin-micro-drone-enters-final-development-stage?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/switchblade.jpg Assassin Drone Aerovironment's new "Anubis" project sounds eerily similar to the Switchblade drone, seen here Aerovironment

Missile strikes by Predators, Reapers, or other aerial drones usually result in messy explosions (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-08/video-annotated-predator-drone-attack) on the ground. Now the never-ending but perhaps futile quest to attain zero collateral damage may take another step forward, with a small micro-drone missile that can kill individual targets from afar. A new $1.18-million, Phase-III Air Force contract (Phase III is typically the final development phase) for the "Anubis" drone has been awarded to the firm Aerovironment, Aviation Week's Ares Defense Blog (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a430a806f-b4b6-4fcc-ab86-2d45361498ab) reports.
A recent federal budget document references Anubis as a micro air vehicle that can track down "high-value maneuvering targets" -- also known as wanted persons running for dear life. There is also mention of "non-line-of-sight" capability with "very low collateral damage," so that someone could presumably launch Anubis from a hidden spot and let it home in on any unfortunate individual, with less risk than having a sniper do the job.
The documents also specifically mention that Anubis would also keep a human operator in the loop before firing off at any old target, so don't worry about Terminator scenarios (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-02/darpa-orders-terminator-hands-better-future) just yet. But the possibility of runaway drones (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down) may still rear its head.

[/URL]
Ares Defense Blog notes that Aerovironment has also been developing the Switchblade drone that can quietly loiter overheard before zooming in to target an enemy. The firm already advertises Switchblade as giving warfighters a "magic bullet," so we wonder how much better the Anubis can do -- if it isn't indeed some variant of the Switchblade. We imagine that such weapons should prove popular among both stealthy spooks and regular warfighters who just want to get the drop on enemies. And we expect it won't be long before we're writing about [URL="https://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/darpa-project-releases-video-remote-controlled-cyborg-beetle"]DARPA's cyborg beetles (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/tags/uavs) becoming living bombs.
[via Aviation Week's Ares Defense Blog (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a430a806f-b4b6-4fcc-ab86-2d45361498ab)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-03/air-force-issues-call-airborne-electric-lasers-can-target-land-and-air

Air Force Calls for Airborne Electric Lasers That Can Target Land and Air (http://www.popsci.com.au/technology/article/2010-03/air-force-issues-call-airborne-electric-lasers-can-target-land-and-air)

The challenge is packing the power of a chemical laser into an electric laser's smaller, more portable package
By Jeremy Hsu (http://www.davidicke.com/category/popsci-authors/jeremy-hsu) Posted 18.03.2010 at 4:45 am 0 Comments (http://www.davidicke.com/technology/article/2010-03/air-force-issues-call-airborne-electric-lasers-can-target-land-and-air?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/DARPA laser.jpg Laser Fight in the Sky I'll get you, Joes! DARPA

Skyborne chemical lasers have successfully shown off their potential killing power, and so the Air Force has now turned toward putting a more compact electric laser aboard its aircraft, Aviation Week'sAres Defense Blog (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3ae9da3ae2-f663-40fd-a5cb-d626410503e4&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest) reports.
The request by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory takes aim at developing a high-power electric laser that can fly aboard a bomber or gunship. Such a laser would also have the ability to strike ground targets and even engage in air-to-air self defense.

Related Articles

http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/articles/BoeingLaserWhiteSands.jpgPew! Airborne Military Laser Takes Out Truck on Video (http://www.davidicke.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-10/pew-airborne-military-laser-takes-out-truck)http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/articles/19Airbornelaserturret_0.jpgVideo: Airborne Laser Tracks and Engages A Missile in Flight (http://www.davidicke.com/technology/article/2010-01/video-airborne-laser-tracks-engages-missile-flight)http://www.popsci.com.au/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/articles/airborne-laser.gifAirborne Laser Blasts Off (http://www.davidicke.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2008-12/airborne-laser-blasts) (http://www.davidicke.com/category/tags/tactical-lasers)
That latter part presumably refers to striking incoming air-to-air missiles, which may prove more challenging than blasting a ballistic missile (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/video-airborne-laser-tracks-engages-missile-flight). But it may also refer to simply burning down an enemy aircraft.
Electric Laser on Large Aircraft (ELLA) would represent a stepping stone toward the Air Force's long-sought Next Generation Tactical Laser Weapon, which could eventually find its way to fighter-sized aircraft. The challenge rests with creating a powerful electric laser that packs the same punch as bulkier chemical lasers.
Existing chemical lasers such as the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) require a massive cargo plane (http://www.popsci.com/node/19965) like the C-130 to lift them into the sky, so no laser-outfitted F-22 Raptors (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-06/f-22-sonic-boom-pretty-pictures) will be flying around just yet. But at least the ATL can burn a pretty hole (http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-10/pew-airborne-military-laser-takes-out-truck) in ground vehicles.
[via Aviation Week's Ares Defense Blog (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3ae9da3ae2-f663-40fd-a5cb-d626410503e4&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/seven-sci-fi-weapons-from-tomorrow-are-here-today/

Seven Sci-Fi Weapons from Tomorrow Are Here Today (http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/seven-sci-fi-weapons-from-tomorrow-are-here-today/)

Posted by Xeno (http://www.xenophilia.com/) on June 18, 2010

http://www.technewsdaily.com/images/stories/railgun-100614-02.jpgDeath Ray … Boeing recently offered a powerful proof-of-concept of the lethal capabilities of airborne laser weapons when it blasted a ballistic missile into oblivion from its Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB). The modified B 747-400 is fitted with a Northrup Gruman megawatt-class laser (read higher energy) and a Lockheed Martin beam and fire control system. The ALTB uses one low-energy laser to track the target and a second one to measure and compensate for atmospheric disturbances. Then it unleashes its killer laser that heats the target to “critical structural failure.” That’s defense-speak for oblivion.
Doomsday Cannon … Fans of “Battlestar Galactica” will instantly warm to the concept of railguns, which use electrical energy instead of gun powder to fire projectiles at very high speeds, destroying their targets with kinetic energy rather than conventional explosives. It works by sending electric currents along parallel rails, which creates the electromagnetic force needed to fire projectiles at a higher rate of speed than traditional powder-powered cannons. Railguns also have a much great range, as much as 200 to 250 miles. This allows ships to fire deep into enemy territory while staying safely out of harm’s way. Because they don’t require gun powder they are inherently safer than conventional cannons, and free up storage space aboard ship. They also provide a more uniform power charge, which gives them greater accuracy. The U.S. Navy is currently testing early prototype railguns to replace their conventional weapons aboard ship. The service hopes to have a full-capability prototype by 2018. …
http://www.technewsdaily.com/images/stories/tank-100614-02.jpgInvisibility Cloak … In secret tests in 2007, they coated a tank in silicon, turning it into something like a movie screen. Video cameras on the tank take footage of the tank’s environment in real time and project the images on the surface of the tank. Voila, an invisibility cloak of sorts. Not to be outdone, the boffins at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have launched their own work to investigate “urban obfuscants” to develop protective shields for soldiers in urban combat situations.
[Robot Walkers]… The Imperial forces in “Star Wars” had the AT-AT (All Terrain Armored Transport) walkers to ferry its troops. Not to outdone in our galaxy, DARPA and the U.S. Marine Corps have awarded a contract to Boston Dynamics to develop a prototype for Darpa’s Legged Squad Support System (LS3). The L3 will be a walking quadruped that will augment squads by carrying traditional and new equipment autonomously and will be able to cover complex terrain where tactical vehicles can’t go. It will be able to carry a payload of 40 pounds over as much as 20 miles and provide 24 hours of self-sustained capability.
X-Ray Vision …This year, the U.S. Army will attempt to give the troops in Afghanistan a similar advantage when it issues hand-held sensors that can see through walls, detect buried explosives and spot enemy combatants crawling through underground tunnels or hiding behind trees. These Eagle5 scanners — an M model and a P model —use low-power, ultra-wideband radio frequency (RF) waves to produce images of what’s concealed by wood, stone, brick, concrete or dirt. The M, which looks like an oversize cell phone and weighs 3.5 pounds, is designed to detect motion and can pick up people more than 20 feet away though eight-inch concrete slabs. The larger P, which weighs 6 pounds, is designed to penetrate the ground and can detect people in tunnels and buried explosives at depths greater than 10 feet.
http://www.technewsdaily.com/images/stories/taser-100614-02.jpgBots at War … the Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System (MAARS), is a robot that can open doors and set explosives or remove objects with a gripper claw. Its turret is fitted with an M24b machine gun, which gives it major firepower, and it has a gunshot detection capability, so it can determine where shots are coming from and return the fire. It also has 360-degree vision, two-way communications, night and thermo vision and lasers. This is a G.I. Joe on steroids, but one that doesn’t bleed. …
Stunning … The problem is that it’s hard to shoot someone just a little. Taser has come up with an alternative, the eXtended Range Electronic Projectile (XREP), a self-contained wireless electronic control device that is fired from a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun. It can paralyze a person without pain at up to 88 feet and can penetrate clothing. When it reaches its target, the XREP projectile autonomously generates neuromuscular incapacitation for 20 seconds, long enough for a solider or law officer to determine if the person is friend or foe.
via Seven Sci-Fi Weapons from Tomorrow Are Here Today (http://www.technewsdaily.com/seven-sci-fi-weapons-from-tomorrow-are-here-today-0694/5).

[nosferatu_dj]

http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/anti-gang-mosquito-device-should-be-banned/

Anti-gang ‘mosquito’ device should be banned (http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/anti-gang-mosquito-device-should-be-banned/)

Posted by Xeno (http://www.xenophilia.com/) on June 22, 2010
http://www.ideaconnection.com/invention-success/images/mosquito-anti-loitering-system-159.jpgA device that uses high-frequency sound to disperse teenage gangs is illegal under human rights law and is degrading and discriminatory to youngsters, a report claims.
An investigation by the Council of Europe found the controversial “mosquito” device should be banned in Britain because it violates legislation prohibiting torture.
It found that “inflicting acoustic pain on young people and treating them as if they were unwanted birds or pests, is harmful [and] highly offensive”.
The report also expressed concern its use could constitute a health hazard and lacked adequate medical research.
Britain has more devices in use than any other European state. It has been installed at more than 3500 sites across the country – compared with 5000 across Europe as a whole – since it first went on sale in January 2006.
It works by emitting a pulse at 16-18.5 kilohertz that switches on and off four times a second for up to 20 minutes. It emits an irritating, high-pitched sound that can be heard only by children and people into their early 20s, and is used to prevent teenagers congregating outside shops, schools and railway stations.
Critics, however, say the device targets all children and young people, including babies, regardless of whether they are misbehaving.
The council, which oversees the European Court of Human Rights, says the device contravenes international law prohibiting torture and inhuman and degrading treatment.
“It is neither politically acceptable nor consistent with the safeguard of fundamental human rights. For these reasons, legislative measures should be taken throughout Europe against the marketing of such devices and their use in public places should be banned.” …
The mosquito is the brainchild of former British Aerospace engineer, Howard Stapleton, who came up with the device after his daughter was intimidated by a gang of boys hanging around outside shops.
via Anti-gang ‘mosquito’ device should be banned – report – World – NZ Herald News (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10653254).


more from the crazy's

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/06/video-insect-like-pincers-allow-flying-swarmbots-to-perch-on-nearly-any-surface/


http://www.popsci.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/insect.jpg (http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/06/video-insect-like-pincers-allow-flying-swarmbots-to-perch-on-nearly-any-surface/) Video: Insect-Like Pincers Allow Flying Swarmbots To Perch On Nearly Any Surface

Image: EPFL
more>> (http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/06/video-insect-like-pincers-allow-flying-swarmbots-to-perch-on-nearly-any-surface/)


You are here: Home (http://www.popsci.com.au/) / Technology (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/new-science-technology/) / Aircraft (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/new-science-technology/aircraft-aviation/) / Video: insect-like pincers allow flying swarmbots to perch on nearly any surface
Video: insect-like pincers allow flying swarmbots to perch on nearly any surface

John Mahoney (http://www.popsci.com.au/tag/john-mahoney/)
Published on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 7:22 am

A swarm of buzzing dragonfly bots passes overhead. Suddenly, they make a kamakaze dive toward a nearby tree–but wait a minute, instead of crashing and careening to the ground, they're sticking to the tree. Resting, recharging, waiting for orders. All thanks to Mirko Kovac's new system allowing swarming robots to perch on nearly any surface, then take off again.
Working out of Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne (http://lis.epfl.ch/), Kovac's mechanism uses two needles mounted to the front of a small glider or robo-copter. When extended, the 'bot can fly straight into the surface it intends for its perch–no additional landing maneuver's necessary. When it's time to take off again, an electric motor and gearbox connected to the needles pulls them out, and flight resumes. Kovac claims the needles work on a variety of different surfaces, including concrete and wood. The whole assembly weighs just 4.6 grams.

What would you do with a swarm of lightweight, autonomous, sensor-laden flying robots? That's the question currently being considered by countless government agencies, research institutions, Bond supervillains–everyone–as miniature robotics systems continue their march onwards.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDR-yC3wK0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDR-yC3wK0

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/07/how-do-three-legged-dogs-walk-robot-makers-study-injured-animals-gait-to-build-resilient-machines/

http://www.popsci.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/3legdog.jpg (http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/07/how-do-three-legged-dogs-walk-robot-makers-study-injured-animals-gait-to-build-resilient-machines/) How Do Three-Legged Dogs Walk? Robot Makers Study Injured Animals' Gait to Build Resilient Machines




How do three-legged dogs walk? Robot makers study injured animals’ gait to build resilient machines

Laurie J. Schmidt (http://www.popsci.com.au/tag/laurie-j-schmidt/)
Published on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 8:07 am

Schwarzenegger's Terminator memorably thrashed and crawled onward towards its victims even after its robotic limbs had been mutilated by explosions and crashes. Now, a German research team is trying to bring that ability to the robots of today, looking at how three-legged dogs move in order to design robots that can recover from injury or damage.
In the German study, dogs with front and hind leg amputations ran on a treadmill for two-minute periods. Reflective markers were placed on the dogs' skin, enabling the team to follow the movement of separate part of the body using a set of high-speed infra-red cameras. They then compared the movements of dogs with different limbs missing (i.e., front-rear, left-right) with the natural movements of normal four-legged dogs to see what physical coping techniques the dogs employed to re-establish movement and limb function.
The team found that when a dog's hind leg is missing, the front legs continue to function as they normally would, with little or no modification needed. But when a dog has lost a front leg, the remaining limbs must undergo extreme adaptation to coordinate with each other, in a strategy known as “gait compensation.” The researchers believe this is because fore-limbs are loaded more and have a much greater influence on the distribution of body weight in a four-legged animal. “Natural terrestrial locomotion is designed for an even number of limbs,” said the study's lead researcher Martin Gross of the University of Jena in Germany. “After limb loss, a reorganization of the locomotive system is required.”
Living creatures can evaluate their surroundings and injuries and adjust their movement or behavior accordingly, but robots are hard-wired to move and react in a specific way. The research was designed to help develop robots that can recover from an injury by adapting their movement, just as dogs learn to function with a handicap.
Results will be presented on Thursday at the annual meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology in Prague.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/phantom-eye-hydrogen-powered-spy-plane-unveiled/

Phantom Eye hydrogen-powered spy plane unveiled (http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/phantom-eye-hydrogen-powered-spy-plane-unveiled/)

Posted by Xeno (http://www.xenophilia.com/) on July 14, 2010
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/48351000/jpg/_48351241_071210phantomeye02-1.jpgBoeing has unveiled its unmanned hydrogen-powered spy plane which can fly non-stop for up to four days.
The high-altitude plane, called Phantom Eye, will remain aloft at 20,000m (65,000ft), according to the company.
The demonstrator will be shipped to Nasa’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California later this summer to prepare for its first flight in early 2011.
Boeing says the aircraft could eventually carry out “persistent intelligence and surveillance”.
It is a product of the company’s secretive Phantom Works research and development arm.
Boeing says the aircraft is capable of long endurance flights because of its “lighter” and “more powerful” hydrogen fuel system.
“We flew Condor [the company's previous reconnaissance drone] for 60 hours in 1989 on regular jet fuel, and that was the maximum,” said Chris Haddox from Boeing Phantom Works. “Now we’re talking 96 hours.”
The company explained in a statement that Phantom Eye was “powered by two 2.3 litre, four-cylinder engines that provide 150 horsepower each”.
It is also very large, with a 46m (150ft) wingspan.
“It isn’t built for stealth – it’s built for endurance,” Mr Haddox told BBC News.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has an ongoing interest in long-endurance high-altitude planes for surveillance and is considering a several different technologies, including solar power, to meet the requirements of what it refers to as its “Scavenger project”.
The aerospace and defence company Qinetiq are carrying out trials in conjunction with the MoD to develop a solar powered plane called Zephyr.
A spokesperson for the MoD said: “Four days is very good but we are considering a range of options for our deep and persistent reconnaissance requirements.
“Some of these options could be airborne for over a week.”
via BBC News – Phantom Eye hydrogen-powered spy plane unveiled (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10617075).

[nosferatu_dj]

from a user on here..
http://www.geekologie.com/2010/07/13/kill-theeeeem.jpg
Sure it may look like a couple boards nailed together into a T, but just imagine if it were a human body. Pretty creepy huh? What do you mean you're having trouble imagining it's a body? I swear, you have no imagination. You having lost your childlike innocence forever and never being able to get it back aside, the quadricopters are back and ready to work together to pick things up and carrying them around. And I'm not talking bags of dogshit either

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/in-a-first-full-sized-robo-copter-flies-with-no-human-help/

In a First, Full-Sized Robo-Copter Flies With No Human Help



By Olivia Koski (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/author/oliviakoski/) http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/wp-content/themes/wired/images/envelope.gif (okoski@gmail.com)
July 14, 2010 |
8:12 am |
Categories: Drones (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/category/drones/)



http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2010/07/Landing-close-to-a-Casulty-Dummy-2-660x366.jpg (http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2010/07/Landing-close-to-a-Casulty-Dummy-2.jpg)
In mid-June, a single-turbine helicopter took off from a test field in Mesa, Arizona, avoided obstacles during flight, scoped out a landing site and landed safely. It’s the kind of flight choppers have made tens of thousands of times before. Except this time, the helicopter did it entirely on its own — with no humans involved. It was the first fully autonomous flight of a full-sized chopper (http://new.rotor.com/Publications/RotorNewssupregsup/tabid/177/newsid375/71130/Default.aspx), ever.
The trial, overseen by Army-funded research team from Carnegie Mellon and the Piasecki Aircraft Corporation, has sent robo-choppers into the sky before (see the video, after the jump). And this Boeing-modified MD530F helicopter, known as the Unmanned Little Bird (http://www.army-technology.com/projects/littlebirdhelicopter/) has been making flights since 2004. But this was its first test without a pre-programmed flight path.
Unmanned smart choppers could help the military better handle dangerous territory and low-visibility conditions to evacuate wounded soldiers or bring supplies to the front lines. In areas with bad or nonexistent roads (like Afghanistan), helicopters are sometimes the only mode of transport. Finding a place to safely land in a dust storm, on rugged terrain, or with bullets flying at you presents a major challenge for pilots. Artificially intelligent helicopters could help pilots stake out good landing spots, or perhaps even allow them to stay safely behind at base.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skdh4Nwm6r4&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skdh4Nwm6r4&feature=player_embedded

While on-the-fly autonomous navigation is a first for a full-sized helicopter, the technology developed by Sanjiv Singh and his team from Carnegie Mellon is not so different from what they used to outfit a Chevy Tahoe to win Darpa’s 2007 Urban Challenge (http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/index.asp). “It’s not as if we started from scratch,” says Singh. “A lot of the technology was there already.”
To make the helicopter self-flying, the team installed a scanning LIDAR that uses lasers to collect range information from its surroundings. The laser data is processed by a computer that relays commands to the helicopter controllers.
The data also creates a 3-D map that enables the helicopter to “see” the ground or obstacles in the air — and then adjust its trajectory accordingly. The algorithms helped the helicopter miss a tall tower during one of the tests. In another trial, the team deceptively instructed the helicopter to land on top of a car, but the chopper was not fooled, resolving instead to land on flat ground nearby.
With its ability to avoid obstacles while it’s in flight, the system has more in common with autonomous SUVs that maneuver through rough terrain than high-flying remote-controlled flying drones like the Global Hawk. Like many military umanned aerial vehicles, the Global Hawk (http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=13225) is fixed-wing, and avoids obstacles by simply flying where there aren’t any – at 65,000 feet.
“There aren’t a lot of autonomous helicopters,” Singh observes. The army recently scrapped its order of Northrop Grumman’s remote-controlled MQ-8 Fire Scout (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_MQ-8_Fire_Scout) in favor of the fixed-wing RQ-7 Shadow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAI_RQ-7_Shadow).
With the cancellation of Future Combat Systems (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/04/gates-rips-hear/) — the military’s plan to roboticize the military by 2020 — it’s tough to say what the future of autonomous helos looks like. But a defining moment in robo-choppers appears to have been reached last month in Mesa.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/anti-aircraft-laser-unveiled-at-farnborough-airshow[/URL]
Anti-aircraft laser unveiled at Farnborough Airshow

July 20, 2010 Xeno (http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/author/xeno735/)
http://www.jerrypippin.com/ISRAEL_US_LASER_WEAPON.jpgUS firm Raytheon has unveiled its anti-aircraft laser at the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire.
The Laser Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) can either be used on its own or alongside a gunnery system.
In May, the laser was used to shoot down unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a series of tests.
Raytheon said the solid state fibre laser produces a 50 kilowatt beam and can be used against UAV, mortar, rockets and small surface ships.
The idea of using lasers as weapons has been around almost as long as the laser itself, invented in 1960.
Initially, the systems were chemical lasers, which get their power from a chemical reaction. They are very large pieces of equipment and are very fuel hungry, requiring a significant quantity of chemicals to drive them. The fuel is frequently toxic, requiring operators to don protective clothing.
Solid state lasers, in contrast, consist of a glass or ceramic material to generate a laser beam.
They are smaller, more compact and only require an energy input to generate the beam, although the energy required is still significant.
However, until recently, solid state lasers were not able to reach the same power levels as chemical lasers and so were not deemed suitable for military use.
“OK, so a UAV isn’t armoured, nor is it flying fast, but as you can see from the video they shot it down in flames,” he said.
“That’s the very beginnings of what we can expect to see as firms miniaturise their technology and make them more effective.”
Speaking to BBC News, Raytheon Missile Systems’ vice president, Mike Booen, said that the tests, performed in a maritime environment, were a big step forward for laser technology.
“We’ve tied this into Phalanx, the US Navy’s anti-missile defence system that links a multiple barrelled 20mm Gatling gun to a radar guidance mechanism.
“This system is already installed in many ships, both in the US and other Nato nations, such as the Royal Navy.
“It functions as the last line of defence, so if you can fit a laser onto it, you have a longer reach and an unlimited magazine, cause it keeps on throwing out photons,” he added. …
via [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10682693"]BBC News – Anti-aircraft laser unveiled at Farnborough Airshow (http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/anti-aircraft-laser-unveiled-at-farnborough-airshow/#comments).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXQ11aRxjS8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXQ11aRxjS8

[kahn2010]

Combine Aircraft and mobile land Laser Platforms, with armoured vehicles and naval vessals armed with railguns (AND lasers in the case of ships) plus UAV Spyplane/high-payload bomber like the global hawk and you get a very powerful military.

Hell, maybe a combination of Lasers AND Railguns. Double trouble :D

[zmanforever]

Fucking investing in under ground bunkers and militias time to get ready Terminator bullshit going down.

Wonder when the AI realizes that changing the simple HTML coding and basic C++ and JAVA lines of code can alter its full possible actions.

[nosferatu_dj]

.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1297361/US-withdraws-pain-ray-Afghan-war-zone.html

U.S. withdraws ‘pain ray’ from Afghan war zone


By Mail On Sunday Reporter (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Mail+On+Sunday+Reporter)
Last updated at 3:46 AM on 25th July 2010


Comments (28) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1297361/US-withdraws-pain-ray-Afghan-war-zone.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1297361/US-withdraws-pain-ray-Afghan-war-zone.html)




Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/24/article-1297361-0A8F5D2A000005DC-419_233x282.jpg (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/24/article-1297361-0A8F5D2A000005DC-419_233x282_popup.jpg) Pulled out: The Active Denial System, or 'Pain Ray' has been withdrawn from Afghanistan by the US military

A ‘pain ray’ that blasts the enemy with unbearable heat waves hasbeen pulled out of Afghanistan by the US military.
The Active Denial System (ADS), which cost about £42 million to develop, was on the brink of being deployed to disperse members of the Taliban as they attacked US forces.
The weapon, which causes immense pain to subjects but no lasting physical damage, was pulled from the war zone last week but US army chiefs in Afghanistan have stayed silent about the reason for the U-turn.
The ADS, which has been in development for almost 20 years, works by firing a beam of high-frequency waves at the speed of light.

The beam can cover a person’s entire body, causing agonising pain as it heats water and fat molecules beneath the skin’s surface.
The beam can hit someone up to a third of a mile away, and they are only relieved of the pain when they move out of the way.
A spokesperson from the American Department of Defence said: ‘The decision to recall the weapons back to the US was made by commanders on the ground in Afghanistan.

[nosferatu_dj]

.
Cal Tech scientists invent new tech' with "extreme destructive capabilities!"

A team of scientists from Cal Tech have invented a device for firing extremely destructive & powerful 'sound bullets', high amplitude acoustic pulses of sound.

What is it? How does it work?

It makes use of a Newton's Cradle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4p-LTt6fsk) type device that is modified to produce a higher intensity compression wave that is collected & concentrated in a new design of acoustic lens that takes the sound wave being fed into it, and focus's it to an extremely precise point several inches away.

This in turn multiplies the sound waves amplitude by 100 times more than ever possible before; not 100 times its base value, 100 times the best result they had ever achieved before.

If you read the 'lets get nonlinear' section here (http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/04/sound-bullets-could-improve-acoustic-imaging-quality.ars)
It gives an in depth explanation of how it all works.

Part of the reason this acoustic lens is producing these extraordinary results is due to the meta-materials being used. These are the same materials being used to make invisibility technologies.

I'm NOT talking about this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1XRCgP7LPQ) clever piece of tech making use of optical camera's and projectors...

but the Meta-Material Invisibility Technology (http://news.discovery.com/tech/invisibility-cloak-3d.html) already invented & in use.

THE GIST:
*A functional invisibility cloak has been created by European scientists.
*The invisibility cloak was minute, measuring 100 microns by 30 microns.
*Recreating the invisibility cloak on a larger scale could prove challenging technically.


Meta-materials: The Next Photonics Revolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taSfueSfmaghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taSfueSfmagSo this Meta-Material stuff is some pretty wild innovation & looks to be going to change the world dramatically if given the opportunity. But back to the sound bullet tech specifically -

What is it capable of?

the acoustic/kinetic energy wave produced can be scaled to a vast range of physical sizes, velocities and Frequencies, for a wide range of uses.

If the sound bullets fired were within the audible bandwidth of human hearing -

The sound waves Daraio and Spadonia manipulated were too high pitched for human ears to detect. Properly adapted to audible sound, the new meta-material could turn a normal sentence into a split second ear drum rupturing explosion. source (http://news.discovery.com/tech/sound-bullets-newtons-cradle.html)



scaled up it could be used against submarines -
sound bullets have been described as able to punch a hole right through the sub, or simply melt the entire sub.

I interpreted this as being due to whether a bullet/wave being used to engulf the sub entirely or target a part of it.
scaled down it could be used to destroy tumors by concentrating heat on malignant tissue below the skin without any damage to surrounding tissue

(Likewise, they could scale that one up & use it to simply heat tissue & kill people. but of course they don't mention that...)
Powerful & tightly focused waves could be used to destroy kidney stones, again without surrounding tissue damage
apparently a doctor could use it to 'image' a patients body as they do with ultrasound transducers (transducer means speaker, like on your stereo) but without high doses of radiation
structural engineers can use it as a surveying tool on bridges & the like


as sound is able to travel through virtually every medium -
air, water, solid matter, you name it and the destructive capabilities have been epitomized in the following:

If these sound bullets were actual bullets, the meta-material would be like transforming hot lead projectiles into rocket propelled grenades, all converging on one place at one time. The damage such concentrated waves of pressure could create would be devastating. source (http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/04/06/2865165.htm)


Its pretty obvious that when this tech starts being used as weaponry it will be like a wet dream for the warmongers......

so who invented this device?

A group of Scientists & Researchers from the California Institute of Technology including:

Chiara Daraio (http://www.daraio.caltech.edu/)


Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Applied Physics at Caltech.
person interviewed in articles referenced


&
Alessandro Spadonia


scientist at Cal-Tech - involved in development of technology.
Graduate Aerospace Laboratories
Author of Peer Review paper/article:
Generation & control of sound bullets with a non linear accoustic lens (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/03/29/1001514107.abstract)


From the Abstract:
Currently however the performance of acoustic devices is limited by their linear operational envelope, which implies relatively inaccurate focusing and low focal power. Here we show a dramatic focusing effect and the generation of compact acoustic pulses (sound bullets) in solid and fluid media, with energies orders of magnitude greater than previously achievable.

Here is a video of the concept in action -
Stress waves traveling in a nonlinear acoustic lens and sound bullet formation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqWD-ri9ssghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqWD-ri9ssgThat's all I know about it so far, after a quick search I saw this had not been mentioned at ATS yet, and I thought definitely needed to be.

P.L.U.R.I
-B.M

~~~RESOURCES & FURTHER STUDY~~~

Right Click & save As to download a 43 Minute lecture on the Meta-Materials & 'Sound Bullets' Technology given by Chiara Daraio (http://today.caltech.edu/theater/09_10/watson/daraio/daraio.mp3)
~
Article: Deadly 'Sound Bullets' spring from Newtons cradle (http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/04/deadly-sound-bullets-spring-from-newtons-cradle/)
~
Article: Sound Bullets could blast sub, Cancer (http://news.discovery.com/tech/sound-bullets-newtons-cradle.html)
~
Article: Sound Bullets inspired by Newton's toy, Target Cancer (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Sound-bullets-inspired-by-Newtons-toy-target-cancer/articleshow/5785663.cms)
~
Article: How can sound be used as a weapon? (http://www.patrol-log.com/2010/07/13/how-can-sound-be-used-as-a-weapon/)
~
Article: Making surgery scalpels from sound waves (http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/04/sound-bullets-could-improve-acoustic-imaging-quality.ars)

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/27/2964952.htm?section=justin

Aussie robots to help train Marines

Posted 47 minutes ago
A Sydney company has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract to make robots for the United States Marines.
The Marines will be trialling the special robots that mimic human motion and behaviour, to train soldiers in live firing exercises.
Marathon Robotics was founded by three PhD students from the University of Sydney.
If the trial is successful it could be taken up by the US Defence Department.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.physorg.com/news204989352.html

The real 'Iron Man' exoskeleton does the work of two to three soldiers (w/ Video)

September 29, 2010

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/1-therealironm.jpg

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new version of what some refer to as the "Iron Man" suit was unveiled Monday by Raytheon at the company's research facility in Salt Lake City.

The Exoskeleton (http://www.physorg.com/tags/exoskeleton/), also known as XOS 2, was developed for military use, both in and out of direct battle, with an enhanced design that is more resistant to environmental factors. At 95-kilograms, XOS 2 was created to be stronger, faster and lighter than it's 88-kilogram predecessor, XOS 1, while using 50 percent less power and allowing more fluid movement with the use of flexible hoses as opposed to hard, hydraulic pipes for greater efficiency for soldiers wearing the suit.
The upgrade was primarily intended to reduce strain-causing injuries, particularly orthopedic, caused by repetitive heavy lifting and exertion. One XOS 2 suit is the equivalent of two or three soldiers (http://www.physorg.com/tags/soldiers/) which allows military personnel to be reassigned to more important tasks.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViL4bAUGuGY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViL4bAUGuGY

Built from a combination of structures, sensors, actuators and controllers while pressured by high pressure hydraulics, the suit allows wearers to lift 200 pounds with ease, repetitively and without injury or tiring. The key to making the XOS 2 practical to the military is the reduction of power consumption (http://www.physorg.com/tags/power+consumption/). Because developers thought Lithium-ion batteries might be a danger to the wearer in close range, XOS 2 uses an internal combustion engine with electrical systems run by a wire that's tethered to the XOS 2 power source. Though even with the many improvements, the biggest limitation is the exoskeleton's range due to the tethered cables. Engineers continue to examine the internal combustion engine and the impact of the high pressure hydraulics on power consumption. Though they have no plans to develop a better internal combustion engine (http://www.physorg.com/tags/internal+combustion+engine/), they will continue to optimize the use of high-pressure hydraulic fluid.


http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2-therealironm.jpg

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/therealironm.jpg

Tentatively planned for 2015 military use, XOS 2 will be tethered, to be followed by an untethered version three to five years later. The exoskeleton has been under development since 2000.

[nancies]

What means The military's new Toys? I don't understand.

[nosferatu_dj]

What means The military's new Toys? I don't understand.

LMAO you are not sirus are you?

it means there "new" technoligy and wepons and stuff.....
like a kid with a new toy they love to show em off

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/10/in-new-attempt-to-build-a-practical-military-laser-weapon-lockheed-inverts-a-prism/

http://www.popsci.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/RELI+laser.jpeg (http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/10/in-new-attempt-to-build-a-practical-military-laser-weapon-lockheed-inverts-a-prism/) In New Attempt to Build a Practical Military Laser Weapon, Lockheed Inverts a Prism

Image: Lockheed Martin
more>> (http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/10/in-new-attempt-to-build-a-practical-military-laser-weapon-lockheed-inverts-a-prism/)


You are here: Home (http://www.popsci.com.au/) / Features (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/latest-news-articles-features/) / In New Attempt to Build a Practical Military Laser Weapon, Lockheed Inverts a Prism
In New Attempt to Build a Practical Military Laser Weapon, Lockheed Inverts a Prism

Rebecca Boyle (http://www.popsci.com.au/tag/rebecca-boyle/)
Published on Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 at 12:57 am
Lasers can be powerful weapons – they can take down an aircraft (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-07/video-raytheon-demonstrates-ship-based-solid-state-laser-weapon-incinerating-uav-flight) at long ranges and in unstable conditions, for instance. But they are hampered by power and size limits, so they’re not widely used by the military (yet). Lockheed Martin has a solution: a fiber laser that basically works like a backward prism.
Lockheed is among three firms recently awarded contracts to develop a laser for the military’s Robust Electric Laser Initiative, which seeks to improve the power of electric lasers. Fiber lasers are efficient and compact, but until now they have been weaker than other types, like chemical lasers. The RELI program seeks to improve laser strength while reducing power and cooling, so systems can be small enough to install on ships or airplanes.
A Lockheed subsidiary developed a first-of-its-kind high-powered fiber laser capable of producing 100 kilowatts or more, according to Lockheed. It uses fiber optics to produce near-perfect beams. The method also confines the laser light to the fiber’s glass structure without using mirrors or other optics.
John Wojnar, director of business development for the laser systems business, said in a September issue of Aviation Week that it works like a inverse prism: lasers with slightly different wavelengths enter a combiner, and the result is a single, focused beam. It’s called Spectral Beam Combining.
Lockheed won an initial $14 million contract from the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command to develop the system. Along with General Atomics and Raytheon, the firm must demonstrate a 25 kW system that can be scaled up to 100 kW within five years.
General Atomics will improve its Hellads distributed-gain laser approach to improve efficiency, while Raytheon will pursue a planar waveguide laser, according to Aviation Week.
Northrop Grumman is also expected to obtain a RELI contract.

.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/09/video-militarys-new-water-guns-can-rip-through-steel-disabling-ieds-2/

http://www.popsci.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ied.jpg (http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/09/video-militarys-new-water-guns-can-rip-through-steel-disabling-ieds-2/) Video: Military's New Water Guns Can Rip Through Steel, Disabling IEDs

Stingray Water Blade This propane tank has no idea what's coming. Sandia Labs
more>> (http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/09/video-militarys-new-water-guns-can-rip-through-steel-disabling-ieds-2/)


You are here: Home (http://www.popsci.com.au/) / Features (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/latest-news-articles-features/) / Video: Military’s New Water Guns Can Rip Through Steel, Disabling IEDs
Video: Military’s New Water Guns Can Rip Through Steel, Disabling IEDs

Rebecca Boyle (http://www.popsci.com.au/tag/rebecca-boyle/)
Published on Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 at 4:45 am
Need to disarm an IED? Make sure you’ve got your Super Soaker handy. Sorry, make that your “Fluid Blade Disablement Tool.” (http://www.physorg.com/news203345401.html)
The Stingray, the military’s newest bomb-fighting tech, is a small water gun developed by Sandia National Laboratories and a firm called TEAM Technologies. Far from dousing roadside bombs with water, it uses an ultra-high-pressure water beam to slice through steel, ripping bombs open before they can harm troops. Watch below as a propane tank meets an untimely end.
The Stingray involves a clear plastic water tank, about the size of a coffee pot, attached to an explosive charge. The detonation creates a shock wave that propels water toward a concave opening in the reservoir, which shapes the water into a blade. The device works at short range and over long distances, according to Sandia Labs.
Its plastic legs can be attached in various configurations so it can be placed almost anywhere to disable bombs. Paul Reynolds, TEAM Technologies’ program manager, said it is simple enough for robots to set up.
Sandia first built the Stingray (https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=cbb88e7a094bfc3f02eb36f2bca0730d&tab=core&_cview=0) in 2009 and licensed the technology to Albuquerque-based TEAM Technologies for mass production. Perhaps appropriately, the water gun’s inventors include retired Navy personnel, including a sailor with IED experience and a former Navy SEAL explosives expert.
The water acceleration happens too quickly to be observed by the human eye, so researchers had to use computer simulation and high-speed flash X-rays to fine-tune their design. Active-duty troops visited New Mexico to test the Stingray, according to Sandia Labs.
TEAM Technologies sent its first shipment of about 3,000 Stingrays to Afghanistan this summer.
[PhysOrg (http://www.physorg.com/news203345401.html), Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/09/new-way-to-stop-roadside-bombs-super-soak-em/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Ind ex+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Reader)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/2011/02/on-its-way-to-ultradestructive-megawatt-power-navys-death-ray-laser-breaks-another-record/

http://www.popsci.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20100719100042ENPRNPRN-RAYTHEON-COMPANY-WEAPON-SYSTEM-1y-1279533642MR.jpeg (http://www.popsci.com.au/2011/02/on-its-way-to-ultradestructive-megawatt-power-navys-death-ray-laser-breaks-another-record/) On Its Way to Ultradestructive Megawatt Power, Navy's Death Ray Laser Breaks Another Record

Image: Raytheon
more>> (http://www.popsci.com.au/2011/02/on-its-way-to-ultradestructive-megawatt-power-navys-death-ray-laser-breaks-another-record/)


You are here: Home (http://www.popsci.com.au/) / Features (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/latest-news-articles-features/) / On Its Way to Ultradestructive Megawatt Power, Navy’s Death Ray Laser Breaks Another Record
On Its Way to Ultradestructive Megawatt Power, Navy’s Death Ray Laser Breaks Another Record

Rebecca Boyle (http://www.popsci.com.au/tag/rebecca-boyle/)
Published on Saturday, February 19th, 2011 at 8:47 am

The Navy’s death ray weapon keeps burning through laser records (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/unexpectedly-navys-superlaser-blasts-away-a-record/), on its way to the ultimate goal of searing through 2,000 feet of steel per second.
The Free Electron Laser’s latest milestone involved running its electron injection system for eight hours at 500 kilovolts. That will help the laser become more powerful and more deadly, as Wired’s Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/unexpectedly-navys-superlaser-blasts-away-a-record/) reports.
The FEL will be a multiple-wavelength weapon that can be altered to account for all the variables it would encounter at sea, like aerosols and moisture in the air. The laser doesn’t use any crystals or inverted prisms (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-10/lockheeds-new-fiber-laser-packs-punch-inverse-prism) or any other materials to focus its light – it works like a particle accelerator, moving electrons around a racetrack to speed them up.
To make it more powerful, you would add more electrons, and the electron injector takes care of that. The latest achievement proves that lots and lots of electrons can be injected over a long period of time, meaning it’s possible to make the laser much more powerful.
It currently produces a 14-kilowatt beam, and it needs to reach 100 kW to become a viable defense weapon. The ultimate goal is a 1-MW laser.
In December, ONR researchers said they proved their injection system is capable of producing the necessary electrons to fuel a megawatt-class laser beam (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-01/navys-free-electron-laser-weapon-takes-big-leap-forward-powerful-new-electron-injector), and they’re months ahead of schedule.
[Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/unexpectedly-navys-superlaser-blasts-away-a-record/)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com.au/2011/02/yale-scientists-create-the-worlds-first-anti-laser/

http://www.popsci.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/antilaser.jpeg (http://www.popsci.com.au/2011/02/yale-scientists-create-the-worlds-first-anti-laser/) Yale Scientists Create the World's First Anti-Laser

Image: Science/AAAS
more>> (http://www.popsci.com.au/2011/02/yale-scientists-create-the-worlds-first-anti-laser/)


You are here: Home (http://www.popsci.com.au/) / Features (http://www.popsci.com.au/category/latest-news-articles-features/) / Yale Scientists Create the World’s First Anti-Laser
Yale Scientists Create the World’s First Anti-Laser

Clay Dillow (http://www.popsci.com.au/tag/clay-dillow/)
Published on Friday, February 18th, 2011 at 8:49 am

There are aspects of science that lend the subject its reputation, at least among schoolchildren, for being “boring” (Punnett squares come to mind). Then there are things like lasers that are completely awesome, regardless of whether you’re eight years old or 80. Which is why it’s mind-blowing that in what must be the least fun science lab in all the universe, researchers have developed an anti-laser (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12453893). That’s right, Yale scientists are undoing perfectly good laser beams.
But the development of a device that can absorb an incoming laser beam entirely does have some decidedly interesting implications, not least in optical computing systems.
The researchers were looking into theories to explain which materials might be used to create lasers, and their theory predicted that it should also be possible to create a medium capable of absorbing incoming light. The device they ended up with turns to lasers tuned to a specific frequency into a silicon optical cavity. The cavity traps the light, forcing it to bounce around until all of its energy is dissipated as heat.
Their demo device can absorb 99.4 percent of incoming light at a specific wavelength, a property that could be used as an optical switch in future computing schemes that use light rather than electrons to carry out operations. Such a computer could potentially turn certain wavelengths of light off without affecting others, allowing for high degree of control within a computing system. It also might be useful in medical applications, like imaging through opaque biological tissues.
[BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12453893)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365049/Its-flying-Big-Brother-Police-unveil-drone-inside-houses.html

It's the flying 'Big Brother': Police unveil drone that can see inside houses



By Daily Mail Reporter (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Daily+Mail+Reporter)
Last updated at 9:22 PM on 10th March 2011

It seems that there's just no escape from 'Big Brother' seeing into our lives.

Now police in Miami, Florida, have unveiled their latest crime-fighting tool that is literally an 'eye in the sky'.

Their state-of-the art 'Micro Air Vehicle' is a remote controlled flying drone fitted with cameras that can capture images from heights.


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/10/article-1365049-0D8FF7F3000005DC-882_468x379.jpg Surveillance: Police in Miami spent $50,000 on the remote controlled drown which will can see inside people's homes if it flies low enough


Police will be able to control the flying surveillance camera while real-time pictures are relayed to the officer on the ground.

Similar devices are currently used by the military to check dangerous areas such as empty buildings or areas of suspected land mines before the enter.

But with the possibility that the device will be used on civilians it has raised concerns about privacy.

'What happens when they fly over backyards and they see something without a warrant that they want to take against,' the American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Howard Simon told CBS Miami.





Miami police used a $50,000 grant to buy one of the machines which stand around 40cm high on four thin legs.

The devices are able to fly straight up and manoeuvre in different directions. They can also hover like a helicopter.

Police admitted the MAV has the ability if flown low enough to look into people’s home but they claim that is not its intended purpose.

Miami-Dade Sgt. Andrew Cohen said drone will be used to gather real time information in situations which may be too dangerous for officers.

This includes riots or stand-offs with dangerous criminals. It could even be used to chase criminals who are on the run from police.

'If an SRT (Special Response Team) has to go into an area they don’t know what’s there, we don’t know what is in the backyard,' said Cohen.

'They want to know if there are dogs in the backyard, if there is a shed, things that could be a threat to us.

'If this thing is deployed, it’s only going to be used in situations where we already have an ongoing police scene.

'They are going to know we are there because we will have tactical teams, SRT teams, we’re going to have a perimeter, it’s going to be secure.'

The police have submitted an application to the Federal Aviation Authority use the machine but the approval process can take up to six months.

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-stealthy-robot.html

A more stealthy robot may be hearing you soon

March 23, 2011 (http://www.physorg.com/archive/23-03-2011/) by Katie Gatto

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2011/clipboard-1.jpg (PhysOrg.com) -- Stealth is a trait that few of us posses naturally. Most of us are really kind of obvious as we walk down the street or sashay through the halls of the office. That is why people who are trying to be sneaky have designed all kinds of stealth means of conveyance, from cars to bomb dropping fighter jets, and now robots.


That is right. A new generation of sneaky bots were unleashed on the world today when researchers at Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Laboratory showed off a robot (http://www.physorg.com/tags/robot/) that is designed to be super stealthy around humans.
The bot is more than just small, and quiet, two factors that make it much harder to spot than a humanoid model. The robot, which does not seem to have a name at this time, hopes to be stealth by understanding how humans perceive the world around them, and making a series of educated guesses. The bot listens for sounds of human activity and the based on those sounds, and some clever programming, makes a guess as to where the humans might be looking. Then, if it needs to, the robot will find itself a dark hiding spot.
Of course, the obvious question is, how does the robot know where it is, let alone where you are? Well our little mechanized friend is equipped with a 3D laser scanner that allows the bot to create detailed maps of the building or area it is in. Along with a set of acoustic sensors that allow the robot to localize footsteps and voices, it can make a fairly accurate predictions about where you are on the map.
When the robot sense a human is near it takes its pre-determined escape route to the dark and waits for the danger to pass, which means it may not be so stealthy in places lacking darkness or escape routes, but the pretty much just puts it on par with humans.

More information: http://www.lockhee … Robotics.pdf (http://www.lockheedmartin.com/auvsi/factsheets/DS-ATL-CovertRobotics.pdf)

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-experimental-scramjet-aircraft-flight.html

Experimental Scramjet aircraft set for test flight

March 23, 2011 (http://www.physorg.com/archive/23-03-2011/) By Nancy Atkinson, Universe Today


http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2011/experimental.jpgEnlarge (http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2011/experimental.jpg)
Artists concept of the X-51A Waverider. Credit: US Air Force
The X-51A Waverider hypersonic scramjet project is set for its second test flight today, and the U.S. Air Force hopes it will demonstrate technology that can eventually be used for more efficient transport of payloads into orbit. The craft will be carried to 15,240 meters (50,000 ft.) by a B-52 from Edwards Air Force Base in California, and be dropped over the Pacific Ocean. A booster rocket will fire, getting the Waverider to Mach 4.5; then the scramjet will kick in, and designers hope it will reach Mach 6 or more.


The X-51 Waverider program is a cooperative effort of the Air Force, DARPA (http://www.physorg.com/tags/darpa/), NASA (http://www.physorg.com/tags/nasa/), Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

In May 2010, the first test of the vehicle had a kind sort of a “successful” flight of 200 seconds of autonomous flight, which set a duration record for an aircraft powered by a scramjet (short for “supersonic combustion ramjet”) engine. However, it was hoped that the X-51A would fly for as long as 300 seconds (or 5 minutes) and reach Mach 6. But during that flight, the Waverider suddenly lost acceleration, and the vehicle was “terminated” (destroyed – as planned, the Air Force (http://www.physorg.com/tags/air+force/) said) while moving at Mach 5. The loss of acceleration was attributed to a design flaw, which led to hot exhaust gas leaking from the engine into electronics bays. The scramjet is an air-breathing engine, where intake air blows through its combustion chamber at supersonic speeds. This has been compared to lighting a match in a hurricane, and the concept has had limited success. The engine has no moving parts, and the oxygen needed by the engine to combust is taken from the atmosphere passing through the vehicle, instead of from a tank onboard, making the craft smaller, lighter and faster. Designers say it could reach speeds of anywhere from Mach 12 to Mach 24. Mach 24 is more than 29,000 km/hour (18,000 miles per hour.) This could cut an 18-hour trip to Tokyo from New York City to less than 2 hours.

Source: Universe Today (http://www.universetoday.com/)

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-japan-artificial-intelligence-rockets.html

Japan brings artificial intelligence to rockets

March 28, 2011 (http://www.physorg.com/archive/28-03-2011/) by Deborah Braconnier http://cdn.physorg.com/tmpl/v3/img/img-dot.gif (http://www.physorg.com/weblog/)

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2011/japanbringsa.jpgEnlarge (http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2011/japanbringsa.jpg)
Image credit: JAXA
(PhysOrg.com) -- In order to look at trimming costs when it comes to rockets, researchers in Japan are looking to create a ‘smart’ rocket. With the use of artificial intelligence, they hope to create a rocket that can diagnose, and in some cases even repair, its own system malfunctions.


As the project manager for the current Epsilon launch and a professor at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science at JAXA (http://www.physorg.com/tags/jaxa/), Yasuhiro Morita is leading the push for the artificially intelligent rockets.
Current rockets are equipped with onboard sensors, but these do nothing more than make ground control aware of the problems the rocket may be experiencing. Similar to an automobile’s check engine light, this does nothing more than give an alert to a problem. The goal of artificial intelligence use in rockets will be to not only identify a problem, but to provide solutions and, when possible, fix the problem onboard.
The new Epsilon rocket hopes to use some basic artificial intelligence in its proposed maiden voyage in 2013. The idea being that Epsilon’s sensors will function much like a brain, diagnosing the problem and cause of a malfunction, and implementing a possible solution.
In an example, researchers discuss the electrical currents that work to control a rocket’s main thrusters. These thrusters control the rockets direction, and should there be an electrical surge, the rocket is moved off course. The new Epsilon rocket would be able to protect against these surges, or in the case of a surge, correct for it and maintain the rocket (http://www.physorg.com/tags/rocket/)’s course.
The ability for these ‘smart’ rockets to perform their own tests and needed maintenance also opens the ability to cut current costs and manpower needed to operate a ground control team. Current mission control teams are composed of dozens of people in a large facility. The hope is that by using artificial intelligence and electronic communication, the mission control teams could be reduced to just a handful of people operating on laptops and not the current large computers used.
With many people concerned with the idea of artificially intelligent rockets controlling themselves, Japan (http://www.physorg.com/tags/japan/)’s researchers are taking the addition of artificial intelligence (http://www.physorg.com/tags/artificial+intelligence/) slowly. The idea of possible rockets which are able to control their own guidance and complete flight performance will not be looked at for several years into the program.

More information: http://www.jaxa.jp … index_e.html (http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/rockets/epsilon/index_e.html)
via Space.com (http://www.space.com/11181-rocket-launches-artificial-intelligence-japan.html)

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-bird-plane-robot-video.html

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a robot bird (w/ video)

March 29, 2011 (http://www.physorg.com/archive/29-03-2011/) by Katie Gatto

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2011/clipbjhfhfoard-1.jpgEnlarge (http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2011/clipbjhfhfoard-1.jpg)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The great thing about robots is that they come in all shapes and sizes. Of course, that is also one of the creepiest things about robots too. You never know what is going to be a robot these days. There are people shaped robots, there are robots that are designed to explore the depths of space. That bird that you see on the building. It could be a robot too.


The robot bird, who has been given the to-the-point name of SmartBird, was shown off by robotics company Festo. Festo is a robotics company that seems to enjoy making bots that are shaped like animals. They have previously created both a robotic elephants trunk (http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-robotic-arm-elephant-trunk-video.html) that is sensitive enough to grab items, and a set of robot (http://www.physorg.com/tags/robot/) penguins that have learned to avoid each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnR8fDW3Ilo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnR8fDW3Ilo

The SmartBird design is based on a real life bird, a herring gull, who is able to take off, with the help of an on board motor. Then the wings begin to flap. Once they get beating at the right speed, the wings begin to imitate the way that real birds (http://www.physorg.com/tags/birds/) fly. The front edge of the wing twists, and generates thrust, and the tail acts the same way that a rudder would, steering the bird in different directions. http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2011/clipbgoard-1.jpg
Who knows, maybe this remote controlled gull will be the spy bot of the future. One, slightly more pragmatic goal may be to co-opt the wing technology to create what are known as 'stroke wing generators', which can use this same motion in order to generate power from water. So, this little bird may actually be green.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fbmWQ3ExEs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fbmWQ3ExEs

More information: http://www.festo.c … rp/11369.htm (http://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/11369.htm)

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-blood-simple-circuitry-cyborgs.html

Blood simple circuitry for cyborgs

March 30, 2011 (http://www.physorg.com/archive/30-03-2011/)

Could electronic components made from human blood be the key to creating cyborg interfaces? Circuitry that links human tissues and nerve cells directly to an electronic device, such as a robotic limb or artificial eye might one day be possible thanks to the development of biological components.


Writing in the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, a team in India describes how a "memristor" can be made using human blood. Memristors were a theoretical electronic component first suggested in 1971 by Berkeley electrical engineer Leon Chua and finally developed in the laboratory by scientists at Hewlett Packard using titanium dioxide (http://www.physorg.com/tags/titanium+dioxide/) in 2008. A memristor is a passive device, like a resistor, with two terminals but rather than having a fixed electrical resistance (http://www.physorg.com/tags/electrical+resistance/), its ability to carry a current changes depending on the voltage applied previously; it retains a memory of the current, in other words.
There are countless patents linking the development of memristors to applications in programmable logic circuits, as components of future transistors, in signal processing and in neural networks. S.P. Kosta of the Education Campus Changa in Gujarat and colleagues have now explored the possibility of creating a liquid memristor from human blood. In parallel work they are investigating diodes and capacitors composed of liquid human tissues.
They constructed the laboratory-based biological memristor using a 10 ml test tube filled with human blood (http://www.physorg.com/tags/human+blood/) held at 37 Celsius into which two electrodes are inserted; appropriate measuring instrumentation was attached. The experimental memristor shows that resistance varies with applied voltage polarity and magnitude and this memory effect (http://www.physorg.com/tags/memory+effect/) is sustained for at least five minutes in the device.
Having demonstrated memristor behavior in blood, the next step was to test that the same behavior would be observed in a device through which blood is flowing. This step was also successful. The next stage will be to develop a micro-channel version of the flow memristor device and to integrate several to carry out particular logic functions. This research is still a long way from an electronic to biological interface, but bodes well for the development of such devices in the future.

More information: "Human blood liquid memristor" in Int. J. Medical Engineering and Informatics, 2011, 3, 16-29

Provided by Inderscience Publishers (news (http://www.physorg.com/partners/inderscience-publishers/) : web (http://www.inderscience.com/index.php))

.

[zmanforever]

No offense why would you put smart bird and smart seagull experiments in here honestly we got Navy laser's crazy other tech, then smart bird... does it smart poop?

[nosferatu_dj]

No offense why would you put smart bird and smart seagull experiments in here honestly we got Navy laser's crazy other tech, then smart bird... does it smart poop?

well i am soooo sorry for not bringing you more interesting information....

dfid u read threw the entire thread??? if you did then you are not conecting the dots....

there is in this thread.... cyborg insect's.... remote controll insects... smart helicopters.... and other kinds of man made flying things.....

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-07/darpas-vehicleforgemil-aims-crowd-sourcing-next-gen-combat-vehicles

DARPA's Vehicleforge.mil Aims to Crowd-Source Next-Gen Combat Vehicles (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-07/darpas-vehicleforgemil-aims-crowd-sourcing-next-gen-combat-vehicles)

By Clay Dillow (http://www.popsci.com/category/popsci-authors/clay-dillow) Posted 07.27.2011 at 2:01 pm 4 Comments (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-07/darpas-vehicleforgemil-aims-crowd-sourcing-next-gen-combat-vehicles?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/d5cef5c3-3f7b-4e2a-90b8-57029b002c77.jpeg A Ground Combat Vehicle Concept DARPA via Ares (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a6c2fec30-e748-4a31-8a59-3d7be96b2027&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest)

With the national debt talks moving into day whatever and Congress arguing about how best to fix the budget deficit, the bloated defense budget continues to be a touchy topic in Washington. So perhaps it’s a good thing that DARPA is moving forward with its best effort to mend the broken military procurement process by selecting Vanderbilt University to set up vehicleforge.mil, the new open-source development tool (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a6c2fec30-e748-4a31-8a59-3d7be96b2027&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest) that aims to get everyone involved in designing the next generation of military machinery, a la the FLYPmode (http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2011-06/how-first-crowdsourced-military-car-can-remake-future-defense-manufacturing). First up: a new ground combat vehicle.
Vehicleforge is the tool that DARPA hopes will make things like XC2V (a.k.a. FLYPmode) a military reality. The FLYPmode, if you missed our previous coverage (http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2011-06/how-first-crowdsourced-military-car-can-remake-future-defense-manufacturing), is a military concept support vehicle built by Arizona-based Local Motors and presented to President Obama last month amid much fanfare. It was designed by an open online community and built from scratch in just four months, beating the drawing-board-to-prototype time for most military hardware by an eternity or two.

(http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/xc2v)
FLYPmode falls under DARPA’s Fast, Adaptive, Next-Generation Ground Combat Vehicle program, which lives under the larger umbrella of the META program--DARPA’s larger initiative to tap open source designs to minimize production times for military vehicles. Vehicleforge will be the place where all that happens, and that starts with creating a place for people to collaborate. The idea is to create a high level “metalanguage” and a library of component parts that the online community can tap into via Vehicleforge, which will also provide the online infrastructure for discussions, design submissions, and the hashing out of design problems. But it won’t just be a space to talk vehicle design. Vehicleforge, as its name implies, will link directly to a reconfigurable “build-to-print” facility that can manufacture different versions of these vehicles.
In other words, where the FLYPmode was a demonstration that crowd-sourcing military vehicles is viable, Vehicleforge will be the place where it becomes a regular thing. A $4.3 million contract to develop the online infrastructure calls for the site to be operational and chock full of component model libraries that designers can access by sometime next year. Design challenges start in 2013, and prototype infantry combat vehicles (like the concept above) could be rolling out of the fabrication facility by fiscal 2014.
[Ares (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a6c2fec30-e748-4a31-8a59-3d7be96b2027&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest)]

[nosferatu_dj]

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-07/how-make-deadly-chain-gun-even-deadlier-add-laser-cannon

How to Make a Giant Chain Gun Even Deadlier: Give It a Laser Cannon (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-07/how-make-deadly-chain-gun-even-deadlier-add-laser-cannon)

By Clay Dillow (http://www.popsci.com/category/popsci-authors/clay-dillow) Posted 07.26.2011 at 11:08 am 23 Comments (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-07/how-make-deadly-chain-gun-even-deadlier-add-laser-cannon?page=#comments)

http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/mk-38-product-card.jpeg BAE/Boeing's Laser Augmented Mk 38 Naval Defense System It's a 25-millimeter chain gun with a laser cannon attached. What's not to like? BAE Systems via Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/07/navys-next-laser-mashes-up-machine-guns-and-death-rays/)

BAE System’s Mk 38 chain gun was already a formidable opponent: a 250millimeter cannon capable of putting 180 rounds per minute into the air from the deck of a naval ship, strongly urging those without clearance to keep a safe distance (of about 2,000 yards). But in a tip of the hat toward what the U.S. Navy considers the future of shipboard defense, BAE and Boeing have teamed up to accessorize the Mk 38 with a laser death ray (http://defensetech.org/2011/07/25/bae-putting-lasers-on-mk-38-naval-gun/). You know, just in case.
Yesterday, the two defense contractors announced that they are jointly developing a demonstration model Mk 38 with dual capabilities. The chain gun--originally designed to be manually aimed and fired--will now be remote-controlled and use an electro-optical/IR sensor ball to detect and track incoming targets, like UAVs or small watercraft (like the one that perpetrated the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen several years ago).

(http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/shipboard-defense)
But according to a BAE-Boeing announcement, “the system also provides the ability to deliver different levels of laser energy, depending on the target and mission objectives.” Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/07/navys-next-laser-mashes-up-machine-guns-and-death-rays/) tells us that the fiber laser system can pack up to 10 kilowatts of punch, far below what the U.S. military has previously considered weapons grade but nonetheless effective--just a few months ago an Office of Naval Research laser fried the engine (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-04/video-roiling-seas-navy-laser-sets-ship-fire) of a small watercraft with a 15 kilowatt beam (though that was designed to be scaled up to a more impressive 100 kilowatts). Presumably, the Mk 38’s laser package could be upgraded as well, making the death ray part of the system quite a bit deadlier. Which is good, considering that sea air--rife with moisture and particulate stuff that degrades focused laser beams--compounds the many problems inherent in laser weapons systems.
[Defense Tech (http://defensetech.org/2011/07/25/bae-putting-lasers-on-mk-38-naval-gun/), Danger Room (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/07/navys-next-laser-mashes-up-machine-guns-and-death-rays/)]