Tag Archives: aircraft

Phased-Array Radar: GTRI Supports Test and Evaluation of Next Generation Jammer

Researchers from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and Bennett Aerospace Inc., a North Carolina advanced-technology company, have won a contract to develop the capability for testing a new type of radar jammer for the U.S. Navy.  Called the Next Generation Jammer, this novel device will utilize phased-array radar technology in ways that could provide U.S. military aircraft greater protection from ground-to-air missiles.

GTRI is working with Bennett Aerospace on innovative technologies that will be necessary to thoroughly test the Next Generation Jammer. Bennett Aerospace recently received a $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award for development of a Phased Array Next-Generation Jammer Testbed. This new award, from the Naval Air Command, follows a $150,000 Phase I contract that involved the same technology. (more…)

Read More

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

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…)

Read More

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

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…)

Read More

Intricate, Curving 3D Nanostructures Created Using Capillary Action Forces

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…)

Read More