Archive for the ‘Military’ Category

Automated aircraft-carrier landing

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
Landing on an aircraft carrier is a tricky and dangerous business because the complex movements of both aircraft and ship must be taken into account.

For example, an aircraft carrier might be heaving, swaying and pitching at the same time as the aircraft is pitching, yawing and rolling, yet the pilot has to land one neatly on the other.

Handing that difficult task to a computer has proven difficult. One reason is that the signal between ship and aircraft might be lost at any time due to intentional jamming or unintentional interference.

James Waid and colleagues from US firm Honeywell International say that automated landings are possible if the flight computer has access to GPS measurements of both ship and aircraft.

In the event of a loss of signal between ship and aircraft, or between GPS devices and GPS satellites, the system is able to extrapolate the data to determine whether a safe landing solution exists and if not, aborts the landing.

Read the automated aircraft-carrier landing patent application.

Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant

Posted in Military, vehicles | Comments Off

Explosion-absorbing foam

Thursday, June 12th, 2008
Concussion and longer-lasting brain damage caused by the compression waves from explosions are a growing problem for the military. Carbon foam able to absorb a blast could help tackle that.

A team funded by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command in Huntsville, Alabama, has developed panels of carbon foam with pores varying in size from 50 micrometres to 2 millimetres.

Carbon foam is made by heat-treating particular materials made from carbon fibres. In tests, panels of the foam absorbed up to 83% of the energy of a blast wave from the detonation of 2 kilograms of C4 explosives at a distance of only 20 centimetres.

This is possible because the foam's pores collapse when hit by a compression wave, absorbing its energy.

The team says the material could be used to protect rooms and vehicles and, if used to enclose explosives, could prevent their accidental detonation when caught in a blast.

Read the full explosion-absorbing foam patent application.

Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant

Posted in Military, materials | Comments Off

Portable explosives detector

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
The threat of terrorism has made reliable detection of explosives an important goal. While there are many methods for doing the job quickly and reliably, few of them are truly portable.

This is because, before an explosive can be detected, many techniques require significant preparation of a sample, such as dissolving explosive residue in a solution, or collecting large volumes of air containing explosive vapour.

Now, Rolf Hummel and colleagues at the University of Florida in Gainesville, US, have developed a portable technique that requires little or no sample preparation, based on the way explosives absorb and reflect light.

Their device shines ultraviolet, infrared and visible light onto two sample areas at the same time then calculates the difference in reflectance between them for each part of the spectrum. If explosives are present at one sample area, but not the other, the characteristic signature of reflected light should show up clearly in this difference measurement.

The explosive can then be identified by comparing the signature with a database stored in the detector. Hummel say his device is quick, simple to operate and requires none of the care and attention needed by of the current best portable explosives detectors – sniffer dogs.

Read the full portable explosives detector patent application.

Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant

Posted in Military, security | Comments Off

Happy Memorial Day Weekend…..by Susan

Sunday, May 25th, 2008
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!  This holiday is of particular significance to me because my dad was a veteran of WWII and the Korean War.  My brother, David, who co-authors this blog, served in the military during the Vietnam war.   My oldest son served two tours of service on a carrier in the Persian Gulf a few years ago.   Military service by our loved ones is something we can all honor.  

Loss of life, loss of relationships and loss of good mental health are all things that our current military and our veterans are dealing with on a daily basis.   Family problems and problems with depression or suicidal feelings are things our veterans struggle to overcome.  I pray for all who have served our country. 

I found some interesting reading about the origin of Memorial Day, which originally occurred on May 30th each year.  I was surprised that the observance of this holiday goes all the way back to the Civil War.  You can read some of the interesting facts surrounding this holiday at wikipedia.org.  







Posted in Family, His and Hers, Loss, Mental Health, Military, Relationships, depression, ozzieblackcat, veterans | Comments Off