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Briefs

Electronics & Computers

Implementing Interconnected Generation in Future Civil Aircraft

In addition to providing thrust, the engines on conventional civil jet airliners generate power for onboard systems and ancillary loads in the form of pneumatic, hydraulic, and...

Articles

Defense

Electronics Take Charge

Electronic controls are slowly transforming aircraft engines of all types, bringing improved fuel consumption, improved efficiency, and more power. As the functionality of control units for jet engines increases,...

Articles

Aerospace

Optically Transparent EMI Shielding for Defense and Aerospace Applications

Modern electronic devices and computing equipment are often integrated with wireless capabilities which utilize multi-bands for high speed communication, as well as...

Articles

Materials

Pumped Two-Phase Cooling for Thermal Management of High Heat Flux Electronics

Pumped two-phase cooling provides a compact, low pumping power option for thermal management in high heat flux applications (300-500W/cm²). Compared to...

Articles

Aerospace

Thermal Simulation and Testing of Expanded Metal Foils for Lightning Protection

With the implementation of major aircraft structures fabricated from carbon fiber reinforced plastic materials, lightning protection has become a more complicated...

Articles

Defense

Software Defined Radio Enables Flexible Communications for NASA

Communication is key to just about any endeavor. NASA’s ability to update and modify communication capabilities to reflect the latest upgrades without impacts to mission time...

Articles

Defense

Automated Testing of Advanced, High-Performance, Point-to-Multipoint Radio Systems

In 2008, 4RF Communications started development of a new range of radio products to augment their existing point-to-point, long-range wireless link product....

Application Briefs

Aerospace

Pictorial Representation Tool for First-Aid Training

Charles River Analytics
Cambridge, MA
617-491-3474
www.cra.com

Reducing combat fatalities demands quick and effective emergency care on the battlefield, and all soldiers...

Application Briefs

Aerospace

Tactical Fighting System Simulator

Environmental Tectonics Corporation
Southampton, PA
215-355-9100
www.etcusa.com

Most fighter aircraft simulators are fixed-base, with no motion or sustained G-capability. Even those with...

Application Briefs

Defense

Ultra-Light Prototype Vehicle

U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC)
Warren, MI
586-215-8763
tardec.army.mil

At the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering...

Application Briefs

Aerospace

Electro-Optical Boresight Weapon System

Senso Optics
Yokneam, Israel
+972-4-993-5527
www.senso-optics.com

The combat effectiveness of a weapon system depends substantially on its hit probability. The most accurate aiming occurs when an optical device is aligned to the weapon’s bore centerline.

Products

Aerospace

Signal AHPEC Platform

GE Intelligent Platforms (Waltham, MA) has announced the DSP281, a rugged, dual-node, quad-core 6U OpenVPX High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) deployed server platform. GE’s HPEC architecture scales from one to...

Products

Defense

Upmast Radar System

Kelvin Hughes (Enfield, UK) offers a carbon composite housing for its SharpEye™ radar system. With coherent transmission and Doppler processing, the system separates targets from clutter, resulting in greatly improved...

Products

Aerospace

Inductance-to-Digital Converter

Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX) unveiled an inductance-to-digital converter (LDC), a new data converter category that uses coils and springs as inductive sensors. Inductive sensing measures the position,...

Products

Aerospace

COTS Benchtop SDSI

The LibertyGT™ 1200B from RADX Technologies (San Diego, CA) combines RADX real-time measurement science software and firmware with NI PXI modules and NI LabVIEW system design software. The 1200B, a programmable benchtop...

Products

Defense

Thermoelectric Air Conditioners

TECA Corporation (Chicago, IL) offers a flush-mounted thermoelectric air conditioner. For enclosures with limited space, flush-mounted air conditioners provide cooling without physical intrusion into the...

Products

Aerospace

Printer Interface Unit

Sabtech (Yorba Linda, CA) has announced its new Printer Interface Unit™ (PIU). The technology allows any commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) printer to be used in place of a militarized PT-540 or compatible printer....

Products

Aerospace

Optical Backplane Interconnect System

TE Connectivity (Harrisburg, PA) has released the new VITA 66.1 Ruggedized Optical Backplane interconnect system. The optical system is offered in both a receptacle (backplane) and mating plug...

Products

Defense

Graphics Display Module

Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (Ashburn, VA) has introduced a new embedded graphics module, the VPX3-716 3U OpenVPX™ six-head graphics display card. The module is designed for use on deployed airborne and...

Products

Aerospace

Rackmount Recorders

Pentek (Upper Saddle River, NJ) has introduced the Model RTR 2728 rugged portable and the Model RTR 2748 rugged rackmount recorders. SSD (solid state drive) storage technology achieves aggregate recording and playback...

Products

Defense

Interconnect Solutions

Molex (Lisle, IL) manufactures a variety of interconnect solutions for the aerospace and defense industry. Their high performance cable assemblies include a range of RF/Microwave cable assemblies utilizing Temp-Flex®...

Technology Update

Defense

Automated drilling machine takes the burr out of fuselage joint

More than 1200 large-diameter (up to ¾-in) holes must be drilled into titanium/ carbon stacks for the side-of-body joint on a particular Boeing commercial aircraft fuselage....

Technology Update

Aerospace

Redesign of composite parts for structural integrity

In the case of composite materials, material properties are vastly dependent on the manufacturing process. While shifting the manufacturing process of a composite part from preimpregnated...

Products

Defense

Shielded twisted pair cables

W. L. Gore & Associates’ Shielded Twisted Pair Cables reduce weight while maintaining reliable signal integrity. The cables meet ANSI/NEMA WC27500 standards for aerospace and industrial electrical cable,...

Products

Aerospace

Atomic force microscopy imaging

Asylum Research’s blueDrive photothermal excitation is available on its Cypher atomic force microscopes. blueDrive makes tapping mode imaging simple, stable, and accurate. It replaces the conventional piezoacoustic excitation mechanism, instead using a blue laser to directly excite the AFM cantilever...

Products

Defense

Two-component electrically conductive epoxy

Two-component electrically conductive epoxy Made with silver-coated nickel filler, Master Bond EP79FL is a two-part, electrically conductive epoxy for bonding, sealing, and coating applications. It has a low-volume resistivity of less than 0.005 ohm-cm and is suitable for applications in the...

Products

Defense

Custom dial face designs

Palmer Wahl Instrumentation Group's custom dial faces—its BiMetal and Direct Drive Dial thermometers, as well as its pressure gauges with screw-on bezels—may be customized, no matter the dial size. Customers may submit their own ideas and artwork, or they may work with the firm’s in-house engineering services to...

News

Defense

Hybrid copter is first of its kind

Regulatory authorities in Germany decided to develop a new aircraft category called volocopter to accommodate the new 18-motor VC200. Read more at http://articles.sae.org/12585.

News

Defense

Canadian researchers employ recycled carbon-fiber mats to produce thermoset composites

Carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoset composites continue to be difficult to recycle, as they are a complex mixture of different materials such as thermosetting polymers, carbon fibers, and fillers. Researchers from the Universite Du Quebec at Montreal, Bell...

News

Aerospace

Overcoming design challenges of next-generation UASs

Next-generation unmanned air systems will require more performance and must integrate increasing capabilities for guidance control, weaponry, and surveillance—all in a very limited space. Read more at http://articles.sae.org/12546.

News

Aerospace

Heated air technology helps optimize CFRP assembly

Assembly of large and complex carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) components requires the use of liquid resin-based materials for applications such as shimming and aerodynamic sealing. These materials generally require curing times up to 12 h; heated air technology can reduce that time to 2...

News

Aerospace

A holistic approach to aircraft assembly

It is the "automation and tooling partner" who offers a performance-based and advanced manufacturing systems integration approach that offers the next step-change, say Bombardier Aerospace and AIP Aerospace Odyssey. Read more at http://articles.sae.org/12568.

Briefs

Electronics & Computers

Power Management for the Electric Taxiing System Incorporating the More Electric Architecture

With airlines increasingly directing their attention to operating costs and environmental initiatives, the More Electric Architecture for Aircraft...

Briefs

Physical Sciences

Simultaneous Vibration Suppression and Energy Harvesting

The goal of this work was to investigate the concept of using harvested energy to directly control the vibration response of flexible aerospace systems. Small, lightweight, flexible...

Briefs

Physical Sciences

Cascading Failures in Coupled Distributed Power Grids and Communication Networks

Emerging distributed power grid systems will integrate tightly coupled networks, namely a power grid and a communication network, to provide distributed power monitoring and control. While distributing power monitoring and control away from a central site enhances...

Original Equipment

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Komatsu America Expands Intelligent Machine Control Dozer Family

Komatsu America Corp.'s D51EXi/PXi-22 is its latest intelligent Machine Control (iMC) dozer for the North American market, and it brings the same iMC technology to another...

News

Propulsion

Refining Heavy-Duty Diesel Fuel Systems

How are heavy-duty diesel fuel systems likely to evolve in Europe, now that Euro-VI, the tightest yet emissions regulations applied to heavy trucks and buses in the European Union, have come into...

INSIDER

Defense

Army Envisions Smarter Robots In Its Future

Unmanned robots have already proven their worth on the battlefield, neutralizing improvised explosive devices, and more capable ones are coming in the future, according to the commander of U.S....

INSIDER

Defense

Researchers Develop World’s Highest Quantum Efficiency UV Photodetectors

Researchers from Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed the world’s highest quantum efficiency ultraviolet...

INSIDER

Defense

CROWS Second Screen Boosts Situational Awareness For Vehicle Crews

When Spc. Zachary Cline found himself in a Taliban ambush this summer, he was operating the .50 Cal M2 mounted on a Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station from the back of...

Technical Innovation

Automotive

Variable Trailer Design Drastically Cuts Aerodynamic Drag

Tractor-trailer design is significantly influenced by legal conditions regarding the vehicle dimensions and the provision of a maximum transportation volume.

Q&A

Energy

Volvo CE’s Road to the Future

As Vice President of Product Platforms for Volvo Construction Equipment, Alan Berger (SAE member, 2013) is responsible for the life-cycle management of the product line, its profitability, commercial...

INSIDER

Software

Virtual Reality Immerses Passengers in "See-Through" Cabin

In the VR-Hyperspace project, Fraunhofer IAO has teamed up with eight partners from six European countries to investigate how flight journeys can be made into a more pleasant...

INSIDER

Aerospace

Launching the Fastest Plane of the Future

It's a sci-fi concept that's at the center of a 25-year exploratory project: building a hypersonic aircraft that takes off from the runway and doesn't need a rest, inspection or repair after it lands...

INSIDER

Aerospace

Transparent Display System Could Provide Heads-Up Data

Transparent displays have a variety of potential applications — such as the ability to see navigation or dashboard information while looking through the windshield of a car or plane,...

Articles

Power

The E-Up! Points Way to VW’s Electric Future

Exclamation points are sometimes scattered like self-seeding grammatical saplings through the pages of company press releases. Often unwanted, unwarranted, and...

INSIDER

Defense

World War II-Era Equipment Gets Restored For Today's Research Needs

It sounds like the ultimate recycling project. The Naval Research Laboratory and the Office of Naval Research, through its INTOP Program, have taken a 96,000-pound piece of...

INSIDER

Defense

Army Secures Critical Component for Artillery, Mortar Ammunition

The U.S. Army is nearing completion on a project to eliminate its dependency on foreign countries for a critical energetic component in artillery and mortar ammunition,...