Unmanned aerial vehicles are becoming more and more popular with the military forces all around the world. But the only hindrance is that these UAVs need skilled operators. Now, MIT researchers have developed a multiple-UAV test platform which can be controlled by anyone with a speedy Internet connection.
The interesting part is that these unmanned helicopters can stay in air for around a week and come back to the base for recharging their batteries. Jonathan How, an associate professor at MIT cited:
Ultimately, when you are taking these devices out into real-world applications, you want people to perform a task like surveillance of the border. You don’t want them spending a lot of time figuring out how to fly the vehicle.
Each UAV that costs about $700 is networked to a PC. The test platform comprises five minuscule “quadrotor” helicopters with four whirling blades. There is a indoor positioning system and many tiny autonomous ground vehicles that can be tracked by the UAVs. A video camera attached to the UAV makes use of a visual target to find out the vehicle’s distance to the landing platform. This tech can be further used to land these UAVs on a ship at sea.
Boeing’s new X-48B is an aircraft designed using the most basic block of aviation theory. The aircraft is shaped as a wing and features no tail or tube. If these two parts are missing obviously, there is no need of a fuselage. This uniquely shaped Blended Wing Body (BWB) prototype has improved fuel efficiency.
The theory suggests that it will produce low drag, making it up to 30 percent more fuel-efficient than traditional tube-and-wing designs. This 21 feet aircraft will undergo testing at NASA’s Dryden research facility in the Mojave Desert this year. If successful, the design will find great application in aviation and provide a good platform for heavy lifters with enough internal volume to hold vast amounts of cargo and as many as 800 passengers.
Today’s Astronauts are trained to handle forces up to 9Gs. Comparing it with normal humans we cannot with stand forces more than 3Gs. Well breaking all rules a California based company, Launchpoint Technologies is developing a new technology that will exert a 10,000G force on the payload.
The design looks simple on paper with huge magnetic motors that will accelerate the payload in a circular 1.5-mile radius tunnel until the projectile reaches a speed of 6 miles per hour.
On reaching the critical speed a laser will direct the projectile to the launch ramp and into space. The projectile will only be equipped with a small rocket engine that will guide it to orbit once it is out of the earth’s atmosphere.
The U.S. Air Force is showing some interest in the idea and has granted the company a $500,000 capital to prove the idea. Launchpoint Technologies believes that the launch will cost under $50,000 and will be beneficial to provide food and other supplies to the astronauts.
The company also commented that anything that can handle the intense 10,000 G force can be shot into space with the technology that the company aims to fully develop in the next four years.
U.S Air Force has added one more high-end weapon in its artillery. After undergoing almost forty years of detailed engineering the new chaos creating weapon is finally developed to start its operations wherever required by the authorities.
The newly designed weapon is not based on other destruction striking weapons to completely destroy the targets but the idea that arouses behind the development of this unique weapon is to simply control the hostile crowds and perimeter defence at check points.
This Personal Halting and Stimulation Response or PHaSR gun stops people in their tracks by releasing a sparkling nonlethal beam of laser light to create temporary blinding effect that is very much similar to walk out from a dark movie theater into the bright sunshine.
It weighs equal to a fully loaded M60 machine gun and is specifically meant to stop attackers.
The deadly weapon pictured above is a machine gun dubbed Metal Storm that is under development in Australia and is being under consideration for use by US military. It’s in actual an Area Denial Weapon System (ADWS) that plainly fills the air with lead without the need to be operated by a being. The beast can fire 6000 rounds per minute at anything that is set in motion. The technology used in Metal Storm lets the machine fires projectiles sequentially from the barrel. How will it look like if we place the deadly gun in hands of current high-tech robots. Video of the metal Storm after the jump.
US Navy has just unveiled their plans to develop an unmanned combat aircraft that will combat Lockheed Martin’s F-35 joint strike fighter.
Furthermore, to accomplish the project, Northrop Grumman is awarded with $636 million contract to design, build, and fly an Unmanned Combat Air System ‘that would operate from the decks of the Navy’s giant nuclear-powered aircraft carriers’.
Now, if the project goes according to plans, very soon we will see that gunners will join the forces within 10 to 15 years.
Moreover, if we consider our land-based automatic soldiers to fire our weapons as deployed in Iraq, then we can forecast that time is not far ahead when a full-blown robotic army will soon wrestle in wars.
To design some giant flying robotic-plane that can fly of its own for minimum two days and spy everything in the air and on the ground for miles, Air Force has signed up all major aerospace companies. As per expectations, we can now actually see incredible design pouring out of the best minds working on it and among them one is the diamond-shaped shuriken that looks like a Boeing. Nevertheless, according to Defense News, Air Force has to embed sensors themselves on the wings of this plane as per the requirements.
To make it lighter, the wings of this SensorCraft are kept empty from inside and can stay in the air at 60,000 feet altitude. Some other designs in the next 5 years unveil designs like B-2-esque flying wing that will consume approximately $12 million. All the planes will be gigantic, whereas the linear distance between the extremities of an airfoil in the area will be around 200 feet with 90,000 pounds or more gross takeoff weight.
According to the industry analysts the designs require good size to sport the king-sized, low-frequency high precision antennas fabricated on to the mid section of the aircraft those are especially designed to bestow ‘high gain and foliage penetration radar capability... to defeat extreme difficult targets.’
Defense News further quotes that an ultra high frequency radar system can form fraction on the outboard wings (at least in the Northrop design) to record long-range moving targets in the air, whereas an X-band radar system with antennas planted at the trailing edges of the inboard wing can facilitate planes to spy in the air targets with accuracy.
Therefore we can assume that sensors have to function twofold because they spy and support plane too for smooth actions. It seems that sensors can perform more functions then this but I think that their functions can vary according to aircraft design. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that these flying spying machines will definitely help to record the data that is essentially important for security reasons and to keep an eye on enemies and on their activities.
Eccentricity doesn’t spare anything!! Not even objects that you equate with style. How would you transform the deadliest objects on earth into objects of bafflement? By designing them with a tinge of wild creativity….
One look at these guns and you would forget that they could kill. Far from their original purpose, these guns do not seem to have even the ‘looks that kill.’ However, they do catch the fancy of art collectors. The shotgun with the viewfinder aside, the rest of the guns look like they have been transported from a different age or possibly, from a different planet altogether. Nevertheless, they do have the looks to grab attention. If you are a lover of ‘all things unique’, these guns are for you!!! Go get’em….
The Pursuader from designer James Piatt is a hand bag that looks like a machine gun. Constructed out of laser cut leather it features no stitching whatsoever and a convenient pocket for your cell phone where a clip of ammunition would normally go. I’m not sure how many would be thieves you’ll scare off with a bag like this, but you’ll make a bunch of new friends next time you set foot in an airport.
If the machine gun bags a little too showy for you then consider a nice brass knuckle purse (below). Visit www.jamespiatt.com
Gordon Murray's Latest Project NEW £35K BRIT SPORTS CAR Exige challenger planned from ex-McLaren designer A new British sports car is on the horizon which is the brainchild of an ex-McLaren Cars designer. Jim Dowle was involved in the design, development and testing of both the F1 road car and the SLR and mostly worked for Gordon Murray. He is now working on the design of his own car and hopes to have a running prototype in 18 months. The car is being described as a competitor to the Lotus Exige and a number of engine options are being considered. Mr Dowle tells PistonHeads that the car will have around 200bhp from a mid-mounted motor, and the whole thing will weigh 870kg. The car is not being built for out-and-out straight line speed; the priority will be on making the car fun to drive. He currently runs JJAD, an automotive design & prototyping business, from a unit in Chobham, Surrey, and is now working on a quarter scale clay model. An important factor will be providing luggage space to make the car a useable GT. Chassis construction will be aluminium/carbon composite and the price will be around £35k. Author: Oli S
Toyota is going to show to the world its latest Hybrid sport car concept at the Detroit auto show. The new concept is called the FT-HS Hybrid Sports Concept. It is a 2-door sports coupe using the Lexus GS450h engine which can put out 400 horsepower.
By combining a 197hp electric engine with a 292hp 3.5L V6, Toyota has created a sports car version of the GS450h - a car that was supremely quick but turned into a yacht when you wanted to take a corner. And with its light weight, the FT-HS should be able to hit the 60mph mark in just 4 seconds, undercutting the GS450h by over a second. [MotorAuthority]
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