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Aerospace

Air Traffic Management Tool Wins NASA Software of the Year

When planes get caught in traffic, pilots have to keep flying until the backup clears and their runways become available for landing. This means that air traffic controllers must...

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Green Design & Manufacturing

Army 3-D Prints a Building

The Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, Illinois, has successfully three-dimensionally printed a 512 square-foot concrete structure. The structure, called a barracks hut or B-Hut, was...

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Materials

Energized Fabrics Could Keep Soldiers Warm in Frigid Climates

Soldiering in arctic conditions is tough. Protective clothing can be heavy and cause overheating and sweating upon exertion. And hands and feet can grow numb despite wearing such...

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Electronics & Computers

Researchers Print the Unprintable: Kapton

Kapton, a material used in electronics and aerospace applications, has only been available in sheet form. Researchers from Virginia Tech have found a way to 3D-print a polymer with Kapton's structural...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Researchers Develop New Carbide Coating for Hypersonic Flight

Researchers from the University of Manchester have designed and fabricated a carbide coating that can withstand the speed and temperature associated with hypersonic travel. To...

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Erbium Doped GaN Lasers by Optical Pumping

The main objective of this research was to construct an optical pump system that would allow the study of Er:GaN materials under 980 nm resonant excitation to be carried out. The results obtained from...

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Briefs
Materials

Hydrodynamic Drag Force Measurement of a Functionalized Surface Exhibiting Superhydrophobic Properties

With superhydrophobic properties being extended to a variety of metallic substrates through the process of ablation due to femto-second...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

A Secure Attachment to 3D Printing

Additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, is the new best friend in multiple industries, replacing conventional fabrication processes in critical areas ranging from aerospace components to medical...

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News
Sensors/Data Acquisition

Secure 3D Printing: 'Three-Layer' System Protects Parts from Hackers

A 3D printer is essentially a small embedded computer — and can be exploited like one. Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Rutgers University have developed...

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Materials

Optical Method Detects Weak Spots in Jet Engine Coatings

Researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, that an optical analysis method can reveal weak areas in ceramic thermal barrier coatings that protect jet engine turbines from high...

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Defense

New Form of Carbon Is Hard as a Rock, But Elastic Like Rubber

A team of scientists has developed a form of ultra-strong, lightweight carbon that is also elastic and electrically conductive. A material with such a unique combination of...

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Defense

Army Discovers New Energy Source

Army scientists and engineers recently made a groundbreaking discovery – an aluminum nanomaterial they designed produces high amounts of energy when it comes in contact with water, or with any liquid...

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Robotics, Automation & Control

Airborne Sense-and-Avoid Radar for UAVs

Widespread use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) within the National Airspace System is limited because of regulatory restrictions on their access to shared airspace. The Airborne Sense and Avoid...

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News
Design

Protecting Additive Manufacturing’s Digital Thread

According to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) data, counterfeit aircraft components have contributed to almost two dozen crashes since 2010. A review of the FAA records from...

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Briefs
Propulsion

Measuring Propellant Stress Relaxation Modulus Using Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer

Structural analysis of solid rocket motors is challenging for several reasons, but the most important of these is the complex behavior of the propellant. The...

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News
Software

Sound-Off: How to Simulate the Impacts of an Exoskeleton

Over the past decade, warfighters’ personal loads have increased, leading to more injuries, pain, and discomfort. To relieve the burden, the military is investigating...

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Defense

Researchers Achieve Breakthrough in Nuclear Threat Detection Science

Taking inspiration from an unusual source, a Sandia National Laboratories team has dramatically improved the science of scintillators — objects that detect nuclear...

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Energy

Batteries That “Drink” Seawater Could Power Long-Range UUVs

The long range of airborne drones helps them perform critical tasks in the skies. Now MIT spinout Open Water Power (OWP) aims to greatly improve the range of unpiloted...

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News
Materials

Super-Strong 'Glassy Carbon' is Elastic and Electric

A new compressed form of glassy carbon opens up possibilities for applications requiring low weight and high strength — from aerospace parts to football helmets.

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News
Defense

Reaching Forward and Back: 3D Printing Innovates While Breathing Life into Traditional Aero Manufacturing

The first China-built commercial airliner—the Comac C919—took its maiden flight on May 5, 2017 at Shanghai Pudong International...

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Sensors/Data Acquisition

Eye Tracking Technology Improves Imposter Detection Training

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) screens nearly one million people every day and secures and manages 328 ports of entry all over the country, including in remote areas....

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INSIDER
Imaging

Robot’s Speed-of-Light Communication Could Protect You From Danger

Cornell University researchers are developing a system to enable teams of robots to share information as they move around, and if necessary, interpret what they see. This...

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Products
Manufacturing & Prototyping

New Products & Services

On-Line UPS Family Falcon Electric, Inc., (Irwindale, CA) announced the addition of tower models to its on-line rackmount SC UPS family. The new 700VA to 3kVA tower-configured SC UPS protects IT/IoT equipment,...

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Articles
Materials

Verifying Structural Integrity of 3D Metal-Printed Parts

Interest in 3D printing is remaking the manufacturing landscape. Consulting firm IDC says global spending on 3D printers, both desktop and industrial, hit about $11 billion in 2015 and...

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News
Defense

Incremental Improvements Can Lead to Huge Benefits for Aircraft Programs

Today, virtually all commercial aircraft possess sophisticated systems that contribute to a comfortable—not to mention safe and healthy—environment for passengers....

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

NASA to Establish New Space Technology Research Institutes

NASA has selected proposals for the creation of two multi-disciplinary, university-led research institutes that will focus on the development of technologies critical to extending...

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INSIDER
Test & Measurement

AMRDEC Technologies to Improve Air and Missile Defense

Engineers at the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) are working on a trio of technologies to explore improving existing air and missile...

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

Interoperability Standards Pave the Way for Modular Robotic Manipulators

Unmanned vehicles have long been used by the military to handle situations characterized by the three Ds: dull, dirty, and dangerous. As the use of unmanned ground...

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Briefs
Robotics, Automation & Control

The Scaling of Loss Pathways and Heat Transfer in Small Scale Internal Combustion Engines

The rapid expansion of the remotely piloted aircraft market includes an interest in 10 kg to 25 kg vehicles (Group 2) for monitoring, surveillance, and...

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