Technology Trends

The Paris Air Show opened yesterday at Le Bourget airport and Airbus showed its A380, the world’s largest airliner. You probably know that this giant plane will be able to carry up to 840 passengers. But when I saw it flying today, it had no passengers. And sincerely, it was more pleasant to see this big aircraft from the ground than to be inside. During air shows, pilots are doing things that will lead all the passengers to use their sickness bags. Anyway, it was a gorgeous sunny day in Paris and I’ve selected a few pictures for you.

Of course, for big kids like me, the real stars were the jet fighters, such as the Mirage 2000 and the Rafale from Dassault Aviation, or the Sukhoi Su-27SMK from Russia. It’s absolutely incredible to watch these planes. On the other hand, they’re so noisy, even at subsonic speeds, that their potential enemies would hear them before seeing them. Or maybe not, I’m not a specialist!

But I digress and here are some pictures of the Airbus A380.

Here you can see the A380 on the ground, and it’s really BIG!

Before their demonstrations in the air, the A340-600 and the A380-800 were pulled on the tarmac.

Of course, when it’s flying, the A380 looks like another commercial plane, simply slightly bigger.

Finally, here is the Airbus A380 flying above the Boeing 777.

If you want to see more pictures of the Airbus A380 at the Paris Air Show, you should look at this slide show on Yahoo! News (96 photos as of today).

Source: Roland Piquepaille, June 14, 2005

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• Aerospace
  


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No, it’s not an April Fools Day joke. According to this very brief note from New Scientist, US soldiers will soon be equipped with individual robotic aircrafts. The Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) is a project from DARPA and is developed by Honeywell which is testing it since January 2005. The small plane, which will be carried in a backpack, is 13-inch high and weighs about 12 pounds. It is designed as a ducted fan air vehicle, and flies like a helicopter. Today, its propeller uses gasoline, but a heavy fuel version should be available in 2006. The MAV will be used for surveillance and recognition missions and will be available day and night because of its normal and thermal cameras transmitting images to a ground station. Read more…

Here is how DARPA describes the Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) program.

The objective of the MAV ACTD is to demonstrate a backpackable, affordable, easy-to-operate, and responsive reconnaissance and surveillance system. The system will provide the small unit with militarily useful real-time combat information of difficult to observe and/or distant areas or objects.

The system will also be employable in a variety of warfighting environments (for example: in complex topologies such as mountainous terrain; heavily forested areas; confined spaces; and high concentrations of civilians).

This DARPA presentation (PDF format, 2 pages, 55 KB, unknown date) adds that the nickname for the MAV project was “Private Jones” and emphasizes how the MAV should be easy to use. At least, it’s fun to read.

It’s time to move to the manufacturer of the MAV system. In this press release, Honeywell said it began flight tests of the MAV in January 2005. Here are some details.

Flight tests will continue through March at Honeywell’s facility in Albuquerque. In April, Honeywell will begin delivery of prototype systems to the Army for initial experimentation.

Called a ducted fan air vehicle, the MAV flies like a helicopter, using a propeller that draws in air through a duct to provide lift. The MAV’s propeller is enclosed in the duct and is driven by a gasoline engine. A heavy fuel engine variant of the MAV will be available in 2006.

The MAV is controlled using Honeywell’s micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) electronic sensor technology.

Now, let’s look at this MAV page at the Honeywell Defense and Space Electronic Systems, from where the second illustration was extracted.

The MAV system, consisting of two air vehicles and a ground station, provides enhanced mission effectiveness and force protection. The modular, scaleable family of systems supports soldiers in both urban and open terrain.

Situational awareness is provided by both day and thermal forward and downward looking electro-optical and infrared imaging sensors. The video feed to the ground station provides real-time viewing as well as recall of stored images.

You also should read this fact sheet (PDF format, 2 pages, 155 KB). Don’t miss the first page: it looks like soldiers are playing, and that war is fun — which I find hard to believe.

The second page describes the MAV system features, and has a section on “target detection” which puzzles me.

It says the system can “detect and recognize man-sized target at 250m (day) and 125m (night),” but that there is a possible “target location error of 80 meters.”

Either I don’t understand what this means (it might be military jargon), or this MAV is not precise enough to help soldiers, especially in urban areas. What do you think of this target detection “precision”?

Sources: Various websites

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According to this short article from Reuters, the U.S. is building the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX). The SBX is part of the Ballistic Missile Defense System, and will be used to track, discriminate and assess incoming target missiles. The platform, which is about 240 feet wide and 390 feet long, will measure more than 280 feet from its keel to the top of the radar dome. After extensive tests in the Gulf of New Mexico, this 2,000 tons radar will start its 7-month trip to Alaska after a detour around Cape Horn. And this radar will be manned by approximately 65 crew members. Read more…

Here are the opening paragraphs from Reuters.

The United States is readying an ultra-sophisticated radar system to float slowly around the world to Alaska where it will play a key role in a multibillion-dollar project to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles.

The 2,000-ton Sea-Based X-Band Radar is to be hoisted aboard a platform as large as two football fields this week or next, depending on wind and weather in Corpus Christi, Texas, where it has been under initial sea trials.

The information given by Reuters was mostly picked from a news release from the DoD’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA), “Sea-Based X-Band Radar Platform Completes Initial At-Sea Testing” (PDF format, 1 page, 217 KB).

Here are some more details coming from the MDA.

The Sea-Based X-Band Radar is being developed by the Missile Defense Agency to serve as a primary radar for the Ballistic Missile Defense System, and will be used to track ballistic missiles for both testing and actual defensive operations. The powerful X-band radar will also provide advanced discrimination of decoys and countermeasures that could be used by a hostile ballistic missile during an actual missile attack on the United States.

When completed, the radar and platform will be 282 feet high and displace nearly 50,000 tons when at operating draft. Its on-board propulsion system will allow it to operate throughout the world’s oceans if necessary. Near-term plans call for it to be home-ported at Adak Island in the Aleutian Island chain, but it will also have the capability to support both testing and operations throughout the entire Pacific Ocean missile defense testbed.

This SBX radar is manufactured by the Raytheon Company. For more images, you can visit two pages on its Missile Defense website, here (PDF format, 1 page, 221 KB) and there.

Sources: Jim Wolf, Reuters, March 30, 2005; and various websites

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With recent improvements in graphic cards and in powerful Linux-based PC clusters, virtual 3D prototypes are rapidly replacing actual physical prototypes in a wide range of industries, including early adopters such as aerospace or car companies. But now, software designers are also incorporating sound and tactile feedbacks to their Virtual Reality (VR) systems for real product development. In this long article, Desktop Engineering gives several examples of these new VR developments. But even if PC clusters and off-the-shelf graphic cards are cheap, a state-of-the-art VR facility such as an immersive CAVE can still cost more than one million dollars, because you need to build the viewing facility and buy expensive projection systems. However, costs are still decreasing and virtual prototyping is reaching the mainstream stage. Read more…

Here is the introduction of the Desktop Engineering article.

Once regarded as a pie-in-the-sky slice of science fiction requiring a full-face helmet-like headset, virtual reality (VR) is now fairly easily available, comfortable to use, and becoming affordable. In fact, it’s frequently used for product development in conjunction with CAD/PLM-based visualization solutions from the usual suspects — UGS, PTC, and Dassault Systemes.

In VR prototyping, the 3D image is often viewable with a sophisticated set of glasses that imperceptibly shift the wearer’s vision from one eye to the other using a rapid-fire shutter system synchronized to a computer. The technology can be used on platforms ranging from $2,000 PCs to four-, five-, or six-wall CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) systems that can cost $400,000 and more for fully immersive visualization environments.

But now, new technologies allow engineers to use other senses than vision in their VR environments.

The addition of sound and touch feedback to virtual prototypes has begun to create a sense of realism that blends the virtual with the actual. In some cases — particularly among automotive users — actual vehicle seats and steering wheels are used with tracked 3D viewing, the sounds of simulated car radios synchronized with the visualizations. Haptic gloves provide force feedback to simulate the feel of the visualized car interior while the user manipulates controls.

As I mentioned above, immersive VR environments are still costly. Here are some details about state-of-the-art technologies.

In its immersive versions, VR costs a great deal of money — mostly for the projection system hardware and construction of the viewing enclosure. However, the software is also available for other, more affordable platforms.

“The software largely involves breaking up an image into different angles of viewing for CAVE type viewing,” says Stu Johnson, visualization product manager for UGS’s Teamcenter Visualization. “Or, if using a 20-foot by 8-foot wall, it takes a single image and sends different chunks out to each projector. With a power wall, the number of projectors can vary from one to almost any number. It’s possible to create a matrix of 64 projectors, with each one focusing into one small space for ultra high resolution.”

And here is the conclusion, from Diane Jurgens, IT manager of Strategic Planning and Benchmarking for General Motors.

“I see a broad extension of the technology for multiple purposes, including data sharing inside companies and with suppliers. Everyone, everywhere will have access to excellent visualization that has ever-better graphics.” That, in turn, spells a bright future for VR and virtual prototyping as designers continue to perfect their products before they see the light of day.

[Disclaimer: As a former employee of Silicon Graphics, I have had access to many VR large facilities around the world. And even if these installations can be costly, they're worth every dollar spent on them. I have to add that I'm not involved with this company in any aspect.]

Sources: Louise Elliott, Desktop Engineering, February, 2005; and various websites

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• Aerospace
  


• Engineering
  


• Transportation
  


• Virtual Reality
  


• Vision and Visualization
  

Four months ago, in “NASA Helps Clearing the Fog,” I was commenting on NASA’s Synthetic Vision program which goal is to reduce airplane accidents by 80 percent. This week, in “Synthetic Vision is no fake,” Washington Technology brings us more details about the technologies used by this program. Synthetic Vision integrates GPS, a high-resolution display, detailed terrain databases and an integrity monitor that ensures the land below corresponds to the synthetic view. The pilot sees the terrain, the potential obstacles, his approach and the runway. NASA says these technologies could also be used for air traffic control or military applications. Read more…

Imagine you are a pilot: this is what you’ll see.

Here are the opening paragraphs of the Washington Technology article.

NASA and its industry partners have developed technology called Synthetic Vision that could nearly eliminate those accidents, said Dan Baize, NASA’s project manager for the effort.

Inspired by the Federal Aviation Administration’s goal of reducing fatal accidents by 80 percent, Synthetic Vision marries several technologies to provide pilots with perfect visibility regardless of the weather or time of day.

So what are the technologies used and how does the full system work?

Synthetic Vision combines a high-resolution display, databases of terrain and Global Positioning System technology to show pilots exactly where they are and how the plane is oriented. The system also has an integrity-monitoring system that ensures that the information Synthetic Vision is displaying corresponds to where the plane actually is.

Synthetic Vision shows the terrain, obstacles, the approach path and runways in a display that looks something like a video game. Databases give pilots photorealistic displays — even including landmarks such as shopping malls and office buildings — but the first-generation projects likely will have more generic displays, Baize said.

And when will we see airplane applications?

Virtually all avionics companies are preparing to launch Synthetic Vision products, Baize said. The first generation of synthetic vision is available from Chelton Flight Systems of Boise, Idaho. Chelton is part of Cobham plc of Wimborne, England.

The business jet industry likely will be an early adopter of Synthetic Vision, and others will follow, said Tim Etherington, a systems engineer with Rockwell Collins Inc., one of NASA’s industry partners on the project.

What other applications will use these technologies?

Air traffic control is a possibility,” Baize said. “Controllers are now limited by the visibility available to them and the line of sight they have. A synthetic tower could be created where the proper traffic information would be viewable to them at all times.”

Synthetic Vision has gone through low-level flight tests on military planes and helicopters, Etherington said. It could be used for military command and control applications too, he said.

My conclusion is identical to the one from four months ago: let’s hope this technology can be deployed as soon as possible on commercial flights.

Sources: Doug Beizer, Washington Technology, December 13, 2004; and various other websites

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• Aerospace
  
  
• NASA
  
  
• Transportation
  
  
• Vision