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High-Tech Software and Unmanned Planes Allow Scientists to Keep Tabs on Arctic Seals

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2010Environment, Natureaerial photos, aircraft, Arctic, arctic ringed seal, atmosphere, bearded, bering sea, cameras, climate scientists, earth, elizabeth weatherhead, four species of arctic seals, greenhouse gases, ice floes, marine, noaa, novel project, peter boveng, polar ecosystems, ribbon seals, ringed, scan eagle, sea ice, seal populations, seals, spotted, temperatures, terrestrial mammals

A novel project using cameras mounted on unmanned aircraft flying over the Arctic is serving double duty by assessing the characteristics of declining sea ice and using the same aerial photos to pinpoint seals that have hauled up on ice floes.

The project is the first to use aircraft to monitor ice and seals in remote areas without putting pilots and observers at risk, said Elizabeth Weatherhead of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who is leading the study team. Weatherhead is a senior scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, a joint venture of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (more…)

Revolutionary Computing: $100 Million DARPA Program to Develop Next Generation of High Performance Computers

By Guest PostNovember 10, 2010Technology, Weapons57 kilowatts, aircraft, battlefield, computers, computing power, dan campbell, darpa, david bader, energy efficient package, georgia tech, hydrodynamics, mark richards, massachusetts institute of technology, powerful, ubiquitous high performance computing, uhpc

Imagine that one of the world’s most powerful high performance computers could be packed into a single rack just 24 inches wide and powered by a fraction of the electricity consumed by comparable current machines. That would allow an unprecedented amount of computing power to be installed on aircraft, carried onto the battlefield for commanders – and made available to researchers everywhere.

Putting this computing power into a small and energy-efficient package, and making it reliable and easier to program, are among the goals of the new DARPA Ubiquitous High Performance Computing (UHPC) initiative. Georgia Tech researchers from three different units are supporting key components of this $100 million challenge, which will require development of revolutionary approaches not bound by existing computing paradigms. (more…)

Intricate, Curving 3D Nanostructures Created Using Capillary Action Forces

By Guest PostOctober 20, 2010Science3d, 3d nanotube structures, a john hart, acetone condense, aircraft, bending petals, capillary action, capillary forming, carbon nanotubes, concentric rings, drinking straw, evaporate, gravity, john hart, liquids, microdevices, miniature, phenomenon, spacecraft, three-dimensional, twisting spires, university of michigan

Twisting spires are one of the 3D shapes researchers at the University of Michigan were able to develop using a new manufacturing process. Image credit: A. John Hart

ANN ARBOR, Mich

.— Twisting spires, concentric rings, and gracefully bending petals are a few of the new three-dimensional shapes that University of Michigan engineers can make from carbon nanotubes using a new manufacturing process.

The process is called “capillary forming,” and it takes advantage of capillary action, the phenomenon at work when liquids seem to defy gravity and spontaneously travel up a drinking straw.

The new miniature shapes have the potential to harness the exceptional mechanical, thermal, electrical, and chemical properties of carbon nanotubes in a scalable fashion, said A. John Hart, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and in the School of Art & Design.

The 3D nanotube structures could enable countless new materials and microdevices, including probes that can interface with individual cells, novel microfluidic devices, and lightweight materials for aircraft and spacecraft. (more…)

Directed Energy Weapons: New System Developed to Test and Evaluate High-Energy Laser Weapons

By Guest PostAugust 24, 2010Weapons50-kilowatt fiber laser, aircraft, cruise missiles, david roberts, directed energy weapons, georgia tech research institute, gtri, high-energy lasers, kirtland air force base, laser energy, leon glebov, matthew vickers, nathan meraz, optigrate, photo-thermo-refractive glass, sodium-zinc-aluminum-silicate glass, speed of light, tim norwood

Technologies for using laser energy to destroy threats at a distance have been in development for many years. Today, these technologies — known as directed energy weapons — are maturing to the point of becoming deployable.

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Tag Archives: aircraft

High-Tech Software and Unmanned Planes Allow Scientists to Keep Tabs on Arctic Seals

Revolutionary Computing: $100 Million DARPA Program to Develop Next Generation of High Performance Computers

Intricate, Curving 3D Nanostructures Created Using Capillary Action Forces

Directed Energy Weapons: New System Developed to Test and Evaluate High-Energy Laser Weapons