Sponsored By Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
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01 Oct 18. Oxley Appoints New Group CEO. The Shareholders and the Board of the Oxley Group announced the appointment of Mr. Garry North as CEO of the Oxley Group of Companies. As the Chief Executive Officer of Oxley Group, Garry can draw on his background as a Mechanical Engineer and over 40 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, particularly in the Aerospace and Defence sector. During his career, Garry has demonstrated the ability to lead diverse teams of professionals in different geographies to new levels of success. Garry is a leader who inspires people to buy into the vision and deliver business results for all stakeholders. Garry’s considerable experience and knowledge of international business; having worked in the USA, Europe, the Middle and Far East, will further enhance Oxley’s position as a leading UK Export Champion.
Commenting on his new role Garry North, added: “Oxley Group is a fantastic business. With its deep pool of talent, strong customer base, innovative products & solutions and robust balance sheet I am really excited about having the opportunity to work with the team and lead the Group into the next stage of its strategic development.”
Oxley Chairman Peter Bedwin commented: “Garry brings with him a wealth of experience in managing and improving companies, which will be of major benefit as we continue to grow and improve Oxley Group’s performance, we very much welcome him as part of the team.”
27 Sep 18. Chassis Plans, a provider of ruggedized computers and LCD display products designed for harsh military and industrial environments (www.chassis-plans.com), is proud to announce the release of its first rugged High Performance Computer (HPC). The new HPC M5U-22 is based on a ruggedized 5U enclosure that is designed to meet the environmental requirements for a wide range of ground, vehicle, shipboard and aircraft installations. Operating specs include 12,000 feet, 0 to 50 degrees C, 5-95% humidity – noncondensing and vibration/shock resistant. This system also offers a high-power redundant power supply and RAID options for additional hard drive redundancy. The heart of this system is designed around a long-life system board using the new Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs. It also provides 4 3.5 drive bays, a slim slot fed optical drive, 2 USB 2.0 ports, up to 1TB of RAM, and can run Windows 10, Windows 7 Pro as well as other 32 and 64 bit operating systems. The CP SysCool® thermal management system extends the life of the computing system, reduces power consumption, and lowers overall system noise levels.
The system has the capability to support up to 4x NVIDIA Tesla GPU’s in a single package.
Chassis Plans’ rackmount computer systems are designed with a removable back plate that allows a 12V power cord to run from the computer’s power supply to a display or keyboard video monitor. This Exterior Power Jack is available for most Chassis Plans’ monitors. By running the display with the computer systems’ power supply, this Exterior Power Jack option can provide many benefits including fewer needed cables, less weight and cost, and elimination of additional equipment, such as a power brick.
Mike McCormack, President of Chassis Plans, states that: “Delivering ruggedized HPC platforms to the warfighter will enable them to take advantage of portable “Super Computer” performance while deployed and operating in a harsh environment. These platforms will serve as the foundation for many different applications covering scopes of satellite imaging, video enhancement, aerodynamics and simulation, computer vision and signal processing. Most importantly we are proud to deliver a system that is designed and manufactured in the USA.”
Over the years, there has been a growing need from the military for high performance computing (HPC) platforms. By suppling parallel processing techniques for solving complex computational problems in a ruggedized platform the HPC computer has revolutionized data capture and analysis. Previously this type of processing power could only take place in large data centers, but now HPC computers can be deployed and utilized directly where needed.
In the case of video processing, an extremely fast dual-CPU computer can only analyze a single HD (1080p) video stream at about 15 frames per second. The addition of just one NVIDIA Tesla GPU to the server platform will accelerate the video processing software by up to 12 times. This number can also be increased by adding additional GPUs to a platform. This boost in parallel processing power can reduce the time required to analyze 24 hours of HD (1080p) video to under one hour. This enables the military to more quickly identify security threats or targets of interest at a much faster rate with a higher degree of accuracy.
Additionally, HPC systems can be utilized for image-enhancement applications that reveal previously hidden data in satellite or UAV images. Parallel processing allows for the use real-time image stabilization and enhancement techniques to clean up video feeds. Having these computers deployed in the field, versus having to transmit or transport data back to remote locations for further analysis, adds a new dimension when information can be processed and understood in real time.
As each customer’s project is unique and offers different challenges, Chassis Plans has the ability to provide a customized platform solution. With a variety of mechanical and electrical changes and upgrades to several COTS hardware paths available, a customer can custom design a HPC solution that maximizes performance, ruggedization and budgetary price points.
26 Sep 18. A Silicon Valley Start-Up That Loves the Pentagon. Silicon Valley and the U.S. military are not the chummiest of bedfellows. Companies such as Amazon and Google built their success on a culture of rapid innovation, while the Pentagon is clunky and risk-averse. And recently, a wave of anti-government sentiment has driven several prominent technology firms to cancel major Washington contracts. But despite pressure from many in the tech world to keep their products off the battlefield, there is a less vocal but still sizable group of companies that argue that working with the government can help save lives, not take them. SparkCognition, for example, works on government artificial intelligence projects. Or take Hivemapper. Founded in 2015 by former Yahoo executive Ariel Seidman, Hivemapper uses the military’s own video footage to quickly generate detailed, three-dimensional maps and automatically detect changes the human eye cannot. Seidman, who grew up near Chicago and has no military background, believes Silicon Valley and the U.S. government have to work together to maintain America’s technological edge—lest authoritarian regimes that don’t share U.S. values catch up.
“The Chinese are super aggressive when it comes to machine learning and AI, and they are incredibly hard workers; the Russians are very clever,” Seidman said in a recent interview. “If you believe that America is a force for good, and I do … then you want them to have the absolute best commercial technology.”
Companies like Hivemapper have become a flashpoint in the debate over the ethics of using advanced new technologies, many developed in Silicon Valley, for government purposes. In April, a group of Google employees protested the company’s involvement in Project Maven, the Defense Department’s flagship AI program, which uses sophisticated algorithms to analyze drone footage. The employees wrote a letter to company CEO Sundar Pichai arguing that “Google should not be in the business of war.” Google ultimately opted not to seek another contract for the work.
Meanwhile, employees at Microsoft protested the software maker’s data processing and AI work with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which separated migrant families at the border and placed children in detention centers. And the American Civil Liberties Union has asked Amazon to stop selling a facial recognition software tool called Rekognition to police and other government entities. But Seidman does not believe those views represent the majority of the tech world, and he argues that some of the recent wave of anti-government sentiment could stem from antipathy toward President Donald Trump. It’s a debate that matters. As military budgets declined and investment in tech companies soared starting in the 1990s, the private sector has gained a huge advantage in innovation. Realizing this, the Pentagon has spent the last few years trying to cultivate deeper ties with firms in Silicon Valley that are building the technologies needed to maintain its battlefield edge.
Hivemapper hopes to give the Pentagon this edge by applying advanced technology to a routine task that can have big operational dividends. Currently, military analysts spend countless hours poring over months of video footage looking for changes that can reveal enemy movements or intentions—a use of analysts that is “wildly tedious and inefficient,” Seidman said.
Instead, Hivemapper scrapes data from the military’s own video footage to create a detailed, 3D map of a particular area. The company can detect and alert the user to changes on the ground over time; it can pinpoint, say, an enemy truck that wasn’t there before or one that has gone missing. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/foreignpolicy.com)
27 Sep 18. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has selected Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) to develop and deliver the next generation Integrated Core Processor (ICP) for the F-35 fighter jet. The Lockheed Martin-led competition within the F-35 supply chain will significantly reduce cost and enhance capability. The F-35’s ICP acts as the brains of the F-35, processing data for the aircraft’s communications, sensors, electronic warfare, guidance and control, cockpit and helmet displays.
“We are aggressively pursuing cost reduction across the F-35 enterprise and, after conducting a thorough review and robust competition, we’re confident the next generation Integrated Core Processor will reduce costs and deliver transformational capabilities for the warfighter,” said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 program. “The next generation Integrated Core Processor for the F-35 will have positive benefits for all customers in terms of life cycle cost, capability, reliability and more.”
The new Integrated Core Processor is a key element of the planned “Technology Refresh 3” modernization that takes advantage of fast evolving computing power to ensure the advanced F-35 remains ahead of evolving threats. Additional elements in the tech refresh include the Panoramic Cockpit Display Electronic Unit and Aircraft Memory System, which were also recompeted and awarded to Harris last year.
Reduce Costs, Increased Performance
The Harris-built ICP will be integrated into F-35 aircraft starting with Lot 15 aircraft, expected to begin deliveries in 2023. The next generation ICP system is targeted to generate the following results compared to the current system:
- 75 percent reduction in unit cost
- 25 times increase in computing power to support planned capability enhancements
- Greater software stability, higher reliability, and increased diagnostics resulting in lower sustainment costs
- An Open System Architecture to enable the flexibility to add, upgrade and update future capabilities
“The new F-35 ICP will pave the way for system scalability well into the future,” said Ed Zoiss, president, Harris Electronic Systems. “Open systems are the future of avionics and Harris has invested substantial R&D to deliver more affordable and higher performance solutions than would have been possible using proprietary technology.”
Supply Chain Optimization
The ICP selection comes on the heels of Lockheed Martin’s selection of Raytheon for the Next Gen Distributed Aperture System, which will reduce lifecycle costs by more than $3bn, enhance reliability and increased capability.
“With production ramping up and the operational fleet growing fast, we are looking at every layer of our global supply chain to find opportunities to increase capacity, reduce production and sustainment costs, improve parts reliability and enhance capabilities,” said Ulmer.
In addition to competition, the company is transitioning several F-35 suppliers to longer term Performance Based Logistics contracts to enhance parts availability and reduce sustainment costs. Previously under annual contracts, the new 5-year PBLs allow each supplier to make longer term investments and actions to reduce costs and improve efficiencies.
With radar evading stealth technology, advanced sensors, enhanced weapons capacity, supersonic speed and superior range, the F-35 is the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter aircraft ever built. More than a fighter jet, the F-35’s ability to collect, analyze and share data is a powerful force multiplier enhancing all airborne, surface and ground-based assets in the battlespace and enabling men and women in uniform to execute their mission and come home safe.
27 Sep 18. TE Connectivity (TE), a world leader in connectivity and sensors, presents its PVF self-laminating labels for aerospace and defense. The PVF labels can be used in a wide variety of applications where there is exposure to extreme temperatures. They operate between minus 40 degrees Celsius and 107 degrees C, which makes them ideal for identification of wire and cable in environments where temperatures fluctuate widely such as during flights.
PVF is a thermal transfer printable, translucent polyvinyl fluoride film with a permanent acrylic adhesive, designed for wire and cable marking applications that require the ‘self-extinguishing’ properties of polyvinyl fluoride. PVF labels feature a white printable area, which is over-laminated upon application with a translucent portion of the label. This ‘self-laminating’ feature protects the printed area from exposure to oil, solvents, water and abrasion. This makes them ideal for use in harsh environments in aerospace and defense, as well as electrical and electronics.
“Our PVF self-laminating labels have a low-profile design making them suitable for wrapping onto thin wire gauges as well as excellent conformability to round, irregular or flexible surfaces,” said Stephen Earley, TE’s global product manager for identification systems. “TE designed the PVF labels as durable and reliable wire and cable identification markers in the tough and extreme environments of the aerospace and defense industry.”
The PVF labels also have excellent UV resistance and exhibit a high degree of resistance to aging. They are supplied with a slotted liner for easy printer recognition and have a great ink receptivity. They can be printed with both bar codes and alphanumeric codes.
TE, TE Connectivity and the TE connectivity (logo) are trademarks of the TE Connectivity Ltd. family of companies.
27 Sep 18. PERSIAN: Platform for high-speed optical applications. To optimize optical systems qualification, TECHWAY has developed an FPGA board up to 4 full duplex links @ 10 Gbps. Optical communications have become the new standard in the embedded industry with the increasing demand for bandwidth. This demand is driven by new high-resolution sensors and by intercommunications needed among processing units. To design, qualify and develop new systems based on optical, TECHWAY has designed a ready-to-use solution with the PERSIAN platform. PERSIAN is a Xilinx Kintex®-7 FPGA board which features up to 10 high-speed optical links based on RADIALL D-Lightsys® technology. Thanks to its PCIe Gen2 x4 form factor and its stand-alone capabilities, the PERSIAN board can be operated for three main usages:
- Platform to qualify very high-speed links integration
- Platform for optical systems qualification
- Platform to realize very high-speed “Proof Of Concept”
In summary, PERSIAN is ready-to-go, easy-to-use, convenient solution to qualify optical systems and build test benches.
26 Sep 18. Airbus Demos Manned-unmanned Teaming for Future Air Combat Systems. The ability to control unmanned systems from a manned aircraft is an important “force multiplier” in Airbus’ vision for future air power that is smart, modular and connected. This know-how has been confirmed in a dynamic and interactive way during manned-unmanned teaming (MUT) test flight campaigns successfully performed by the company. These campaigns included demonstrations with five Airbus-built Do-DT25 target drones controlled from a mission group commander who was airborne in a manned command and control (C2) aircraft. Flown in a test zone of Germany’s Baltic Sea area, the MUT trial flights served multiple purposes, including validating such elements as connectivity, human-machine interface, and the concept of teaming intelligence through mission group management. For the aspect of teaming intelligence, multiple capabilities and enabling technologies are required at sufficient maturity levels – from teaming/swarming algorithms and new sensors to mission management systems for command and control assistance by the manned aircraft’s crew.
This unprecedented achievement for Europe is part of Airbus’ future air power vision
The ability to control unmanned systems from a manned aircraft is an important “force multiplier” in Airbus’ vision for future air power that is smart, modular and connected. This know-how has been confirmed in a dynamic and interactive way during manned-unmanned teaming (MUT) test flight campaigns successfully performed by the company.
These campaigns included demonstrations with five Airbus-built Do-DT25 target drones controlled from a mission group commander who was airborne in a manned command and control (C2) aircraft.
Flown in a test zone of Germany’s Baltic Sea area, the MUT trial flights served multiple purposes, including validating such elements as connectivity, human-machine interface, and the concept of teaming intelligence through mission group management. For the aspect of teaming intelligence, multiple capabilities and enabling technologies are required at sufficient maturity levels – from teaming/swarming algorithms and new sensors to mission management systems for command and control assistance by the manned aircraft’s crew.
Advanced flight control and flight management system
A key element contributing to these successful flights was the advanced flight control and flight management system developed by Airbus for unmanned air vehicles – which combines fully automatic guidance, navigation and control with intelligent swarming capabilities.
Manned-unmanned-teaming is expected to increase the mission efficiency of future airborne systems in many ways. Equipped with sensors, the swarm of unmanned systems can provide situational awareness to a mission group commander located a safe distance away aboard the manned aircraft.
The Airbus MUT demonstrations brought together several of the company’s programme and product lines, with the main development and test phases conducted during a short timeframe and at low cost – supported by an agile, rapid prototyping environment and a risk-mitigation approach.
Expertise gained during the manned-unmanned teaming test flight campaigns will be applied by Airbus to develop Europe’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS). (Source: ASD Network)
27 Sep 18. Defence capabilities to benefit from strategic research alliance. Defence technologies are set to take a big leap forward with a new strategic alliance between Defence Science and Technology (DST) and L3 Technologies.
Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne said the new research alliance will focus on developing new technologies in undersea command and control systems, spectrum sensing and shaping, and cyber assurance. Enhanced underwater maritime communications is the first research topic to be explored under the strategic alliance, demonstrating the joint commitment to research and development, where both parties share the risks and rewards.
Minister Pyne said, “The government is investing $80bn in Australia’s future submarines and future frigates, which need to be backed with advanced maritime technologies. I welcome this alliance which will drive innovation, as our Defence scientists and leading maritime industry partners collaborate to deliver new capability solutions for Defence.”
The alliance agreement was signed by Chief Defence Scientist Dr Alex Zelinsky and Alan Titheridge, CEO of L3 Technologies, at the recent Land Forces event.
“With L3 Technologies now on board, DST has strategic alliances with 15 Defence primes and public-funded research agencies,” Minister Pyne said.
SEA 5000 (Future Frigate Project) will provide nine frigates optimised for anti-submarine warfare to replace the Anzac Class frigates. They will be known in service as the Hunter Class frigates. The government has approved the initial budget of over $6bn for the design activity to incorporate the Australian requirements, to conduct prototyping of ship blocks in the new shipyard under construction at Osborne in South Australia, and to order long-lead items for the first three ships.
SEA 1000 (Future Submarine Project) will provide twelve regionally superior submarines to replace the Collins Class submarines. The government has comitted $80bn to procure the submarines designed by Naval Group (formerly DCNS), to be built in Osborne.
L3 Oceania is the partner of choice in the provision of acoustic systems and solutions to the naval and maritime domains particularly in the areas of through-water communications and portable tracking, and geospatial support systems. This capability extends to hydrographic system solutions that leverage the inherent product design and development, instrumentation, systems engineering and system integration capabilities.
(Source: Defence Connect)
26 Sep 18. Elbit, QuantaDyn team to provide mobile JTAC training services. Elbit Systems UK, at the DVD 18 exhibition in September, showcased the mobile Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) training facility that it is providing as a service to the United Kingdom’s 1st Artillery Brigade. Elbit is the prime contractor and is partnered with QuantaDyn for this contract. The system is housed in a 20 ft trailer and provides fully accredited training for Type 1, 2, and 3 close air support control by day and night; laser designation; use of a video downlink; and conventional artillery call for fire training. It is based on a version of QuantaDyn’s QFires Desktop Trainer with the same software baseline that is used in several US JTAC training programmes. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
26 Sep 18. DST helping Army to out-fox the enemy. Minister for Defence, Christopher Pyne has welcomed a new research development between DST and Rheinmetall Defence Australia to assist Army commanders in future operational environments. The Australian Army has identified a need to develop a cognitive edge over adversaries to maintain a competitive advantage. As part of Army’s current modernisation efforts, it is seeking to enhance current training and education methods using new and innovative technologies. In particular there is a focus on enhancing individual decision making by teaching officers ‘how’ to think, not ‘what’ to think using digitised training systems. DST has partnered with Rheinmetall to develop a computer-based program called Bright Fox (BFOX) that attempts to analyse how individual commanders solve tactical problems.
Minister Pyne said, the BrightFox technology analyses how individual commanders solve tactical problems on the battlefield. “Enhanced decision-making will give the Australian Army a tactical advantage on the battlefield,” he added.
Using advanced qualitative data analytic methods, BrightFox automatically generates a time-series trace (or cognitive profile) of an individual’s thinking to allow a detailed and objective assessment of how they generated a tactical solution. BrightFox is a software program developed by DST and Rheinmetall to support research into tactical decision making by combat team commanders.
“Collaboration in new and innovative research and development between Defence and industry, such as Rheinmetall, is essential for building and maintaining Defence capability. It also helps to build a vibrant and responsive Australian defence industry that can deliver on the Australian Defence Force’s unique capability requirements,” said Minister Pyne.
The BrightFox technology is being developed as part of Army’s current modernising efforts. (Source: Defence Connect)
25 Sep 18. DoD Announces BARI Award for US-UK Collaboration on Human-Machine Teaming. The Department of Defense (DoD) announced selection of an academic team comprised of researchers from the U.S. and United Kingdom for the Bilateral Academic Research Initiative (BARI). The awarded team is led by Dr. Maryam Shanechi at the University of Southern California for the U.S. and Dr. Riccardo Poli at the University of Essex for the U.K. The U.S. research team will receive up to $3,00,000m of U.S. DoD funding over three years, and the U.K. research team will receive up to £1,500,000m from the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MOD) core research portfolio over the same time period.
BARI, a pilot program, supports high-risk basic research as a bilateral academic collaboration. BARI’s inaugural year focuses on artificial intelligence and collaborative decision-making. Specifically, BARI sought proposals that build new frameworks for artificial intelligence agents to more truly team with human counterparts. BARI also aims to support academic teams from the U.S. and U.K. to combine unique skillsets and approaches and provide rapid advances in scientific areas of mutual potential interest to both countries.
“The awarded team has proposed an innovative approach to create novel frameworks for humans and machines to be effective, collaborative teammates,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, deputy director for Basic Research. “In addition to its scientific potential, this team also represents an important collaborative effort in the long tradition of U.S.-U.K. partnerships.” Dr. Kate Griffin, deputy head Portfolio Commissioning for Defense Science and Technology (DST) in the U.K. MOD concurred, adding, “The awarded team’s proposal is scientifically ambitious and represents a truly integrated bilateral research team.”
BARI is jointly sponsored by the Basic Research Office in the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense and the U.K. MOD. The project will be managed by subject matter experts from a joint service team from the Army Research Office, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and Office of Naval Research as well as from the U.K. Defense Science and Technology Laboratory.
24 Sep 18. To attract developers, US Navy looks to highlight its ‘cool’ problems. For the military to maintain its combat edge, the Department of Defense needs to move away from the hardware-centric, industrial age paradigm of years past and embrace frenzied software development, a Navy leader said. One way to solve that problem is HACKtheMACHINE, which aims to work with and introduce so-called non-traditional organizations to “cool” Navy problems in the hopes of inspiring talented developers to work with the service.
“That’s how [the United States] won World War II. We were able to out build everyone else in the world. That kind of carried the day to the end of the century until we got to this more software based combat capability,” Rear Adm. Lorin Selby, chief engineer and deputy commander for ship design, integration and naval engineering at Naval Sea Systems Command, told C4ISRNET in an interview. “I think we’re in a new era, where really if you look at our weapon systems today, they’re all software based.”
Selby spoke with C4ISRNET the morning before the fourth iteration of HACKtheMACHINE in Seattle from Sept. 21-23.
“We want to try to reach out to folks in places like Seattle, expose them to our capabilities, what we do and then talk to them about our problems, which I think are kind of cool,” Selby said. “We’re looking to try to tap in to folks who think differently … about problem sets maybe because they’re not a part of our daily ecosystem. They come to the problem sets with a different approach, different mindset.”
What’s different about this iteration of the program is the number of participants from the private sector (550 compared to around 500 from the last event in Boston), the problem sets the Navy is using for the event and the number of program communities from the Navy participating. The problems the Navy presented in the early versions of HACKtheMACHINE were abstractions of Navy problems, Zac Staples, founder & CEO of Fathom5, an industrial cybersecurity company focused on the maritime industry, rather than the true problem.
“The maturity that we’ve got with HACKtheMACHINE this year that makes it special is that we have a major program manager sponsoring each one of the three tracks,” Staples, who formerly was the director of the Center for Cyber Warfare at the Naval Postgraduate School and co-creator of HACKtheMACHINE, told C4ISRNET.
The three tracks included;
– a maritime “Capture the Flag” in which NAVSEA is going to better understand what happens to the maritime testbed and how the Navy can rewrite standards aboard deployed vessels;
– the program manager for electronic charting and navigation will focus on using navigational data, and;
– a DevOps and app development track in which the Navy can learn how to replicate lessons from companies for agile development in programs such as Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services.
“If you look at what Apple and Google and Microsoft and what others are doing, they can turn around an app and modify it in days, maybe even hours. They can do it a lot faster than we can,” Selby said. “We recognize that for us to maintain our combat credible power in this century, we’ve got to develop that same software pipeline. That’s kind of the DevOps concept.”
The Navy hopes to learn from the event and use it as a recruiting tool for sailors in an software-centric environment.
Selby said last year during HACKtheMACHINE in Boston, the Navy learned much about its own data by observing a data science track. Then, Navy leaders recognized that the refresh rate of its data was not fast enough.
The event wrapped up as the Pentagon released a new DoD cyber strategy that discusses the need to work with industry in non-traditional methods in crowdsourcing and vulnerability detection. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/C4ISR & Networks)
25 Sep 18. Singapore’s HES Energy Systems to Launch Autonomous Zero Carbon Hydrogen Aviation Program in France. HES Energy Systems, developer of high performance hydrogen fuel cell propulsion systems for aerial platforms, is announcing its expansion to France to begin work on the first decentralized hydrogen infrastructure for autonomous fuel cell powered aerial vehicles. The move is part of HES’ broader goals to introduce long range zero emission aviation powered by renewable hydrogen, the most energy dense element in the universe. Thinking big yet starting small, the same company that started introducing its range-extending propulsion technology to small drones several years ago, is now evolving towards manned aerial platforms, such as flying cars and inter-urban electric aircraft.
From its lab in Singapore, HES has spent the last ten years developing advanced ultra-light hydrogen propulsion systems that are up to 10 times lighter than batteries. Following a number of international experiments powering small unmanned aircraft for record durations, HES’ systems are now being scaled up to power larger manned electric aircraft, potentially revolutionizing aerial logistics and mobility – increasing their flight range while eliminating carbon emissions. A subsidiary of H3 Dynamics, HES is part of the France-Singapore innovation link that continues to intensify between both countries. Last year H3 Dynamics set the tone by opening its European headquarters in Paris with the warm welcome of President Macron. HES is now following suit and joining forces with France’s world-class aerospace and hydrogen eco-system.
As part of its set up in France, HES is announcing its partnership with France’s leading professional unmanned aircraft builder Delair and ERGOSUP, a French start-up developing energy-efficient hydrogen production systems.
Derived from a broader 2016 French National Call for Projects looking to deploy hydrogen technologies into airport applications in Toulouse, HES’ partnership will focus on creating infrastructure around smaller-scale hydrogen unmanned aircraft. “Starting with smaller scale aerial vehicles help turn bigger visions to reality faster, and reduces the challenges related to commercializing complex technology” says Taras Wankewycz, CEO of HES and parent company H3 Dynamics.
HES envisions scaling up the program a continental network of hydrogen air bases for a fleet of autonomous, long-range and electric aircraft. The joint initiative will create economic and social benefits, while starting the path to reducing carbon emissions in aviation. “We are proud to start our initiatives in France and we look forward to bright outcomes together with our partners. This is a major step toward an exciting prospect: zero emission aerial mobility”.
Aligning well with HES’ roadmap, 50+ global leaders in the energy, transport, and industrial sectors, led by the CEO and Chairman of Air Liquide and the Chairman of Hyundai came together on September 14 to announce their landmark commitment to 100% decarbonized hydrogen for all mobility applications by 2030. France’s government has meanwhile launched a national hydrogen plan to utilize hydrogen across all sectors. (Source: UAS VISION)
25 Sep 18. NUAIR Alliance and Thales Join Forces on UTM Research. The Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR), a coalition of New York and Massachusetts aerospace and academic institutions has signed a multi-year collaboration agreement with Thales. The agreement supports NUAIR’s efforts to safely integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into traditional, controlled airspace and supports its ability to conduct operations at its New York UAS test site’s 50-mile UAS traffic management (UTM) corridor. Thales is working with NUAIR at the Griffiss test site to examine how advancement in UTM could provide a glimpse into future airspace automation capabilities. Thales will do this by integrating the entire airspace situation into its software solution for NUAIR to enable the tracking of unmanned flights and keep operators a safe distance from manned aviation. Thales brings other key capabilities for the safe integration of drones into airspace including cyber security and the concept of centralized, airspace management for drone operations to ensure the safety and security of the National Airspace System.
This agreement follows the recent notice by the FAA that Thales was named as a Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability approved partner to help directly support UAS integration into the NAS. The Thales LAANC system is an important software application that will allow small UAS operators to access airspace safely and efficiently by receiving authorization from the FAA in a matter of minutes – a significant departure from the nearly 90 day approval process that was in place prior to LAANC. As one of only five companies approved by FAA to provide LAANC services, Thales will provide tools to plan flight operations for commercial drone users at more than 225 airports across the U.S.
Thales established a presence in Central New York at Syracuse University in 2017 as part of a broader UTM initiative to partner with world class organizations in advancing UTM globally.
Central New York is well positioned to lead the world in UAS integration efforts and to advance public policy issues that will govern how the federal, state and local authorities will allow for drone use within individual communities.
“This partnership helps advance the critical tools needed for beyond visual line of site testing; these are capabilities not found at any other test site in the nation,” said Major General Marke F. “Hoot” Gibson (ret), chief executive officer of the NUAIR Alliance. “This region is leading the industry and attracting partners from across the globe due to investments being made by New York State. We look forward to working with Thales and deploying this industry-leading technology in coming months, taking our capabilities to a new level.”
“Oneida County’s UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport is leading the nation in industry research and innovation,” said Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. “The corridor between Rome and Syracuse continues to grow and establish the Mohawk Valley and Central New York as the epicenter for UAS development. Adding Thales into that mix will further strengthen our position within the U.S. and throughout the world.”
This announcement builds on a $30m investment announced by New York State Governor, Andrew M. Cuomo to develop the 50-mile flight traffic management system between Syracuse and Griffiss International Airport, in Rome, New York to advance the burgeoning UAS industry as part of the CNY Rising initiative.
“We look forward to adding this world-class company to the team that is leading the way in developing the first-in-the-nation UAS corridor in Upstate New York,” said Howard Zemsky, president, CEO and commissioner of Empire State Development. “The state is busy making strategic investments to ensure that we remain at the forefront of a burgeoning UAS industry that is growing jobs and strengthening our economy.”
“Thales is excited to enter into a partnership with NUAIR and Griffiss to help advance the CNY UTM drone corridor,” said Frank Matus, director of strategy and business development for Thales. “No other location offers what New York does in the advancement of UAS Traffic Management and integration. Thales provides a unique value proposition to NUAIR. We are involved in airspace integration activities at a global level, enabling us to leverage global advancements while also actively promoting the region and the exciting technology and policy advancements taking place here.”
Thales is a global leader in air traffic management with systems deployed in over 140 locations across the world. Thales’ solutions provide safe, efficient management for two out of every three airplanes that fly every day worldwide.
The NUAIR Alliance is an organizational partner of CenterState CEO and manages one of seven FAA designated UAS test sites in the country. The organizations are strategically aligned in their efforts to build public and private partnerships to advance leading edge UAS and UTM technologies, and create a hub for the industry that will attract investments and business development.
“This partnership enables the test corridor to take an important step forward in its capabilities, which further establishes New York and the Mohawk Valley as a national leader in UAS testing and development,” said Robert Simpson, president of CenterState CEO. “We know the investments being made by the state are driving results and creating opportunities to advance the research and development of UAS technologies, which in turn is attracting new businesses to locate in the region.” (Source: UAS VISION)
24 Sep 18. Integrated Navigation Systems by Polynesian Exploration Inc.. Polynesian Exploration Inc. introduced today PolyNav 2000P, a high accuracy navigation solution for emerging applications such as autonomous driving and UAVs. PolyNav 2000P is designed to fully utilize the advantages of both Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and inertial navigation systems (INS) to provide centimeter level position and velocity accuracy with dual frequency Real Time Kinematic (RTK) technology, with simultaneously accurate attitude information (roll, pitch and heading). The system is ultra-stable in terms of short time satellite signal outages and capable of providing highly accurate heading information no matter whether the system is static or moving. PolyNav 2000P is also packaged with rugged and waterproof enclosure for applications in severe environment conditions.
Options are available to meet various customer requirements, which include, but are not limited to, up to 100 Hz position, velocity, attitude outputs, and meters to centimeter level position accuracy. They can also be operational in all weather conditions and will be available globally. Additionally, we are able to integrate special sensors such as Lidar and cameras for each unique application as requested by our customers. We are driven by customer satisfaction and strive to offer the best experience for our customers. Polynesian Exploration will have a demonstration of PolyNav 2000P in ION 2018 in Miami. Anyone who is interested in PolyNav 2000 navigation systems are welcome to come to our Booth 601 for further discussion. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
21 Sep 18. BAE Eyes Novel Way of Flying. Eye tracking technology to control fighter jets in development. Experts at BAE Systems are developing technologies to enable pilots to control the fighter jet of the future with the blink of an eye. As military domains become more contested, technologies become more complex, and sources of data multiply it is crucial that pilots are able to quickly access, assess and act on critical information. BAE Systems’ specialist team of Human Factors engineers collaborate with pilots to better understand and anticipate their needs in this challenging environment. These insights shape the intuitive technologies that the team is developing for the cockpit of the future. One area the team is focusing on is technologies that enable pilots to control the cockpit in new ways.
Lead Technologist Jean Page explains; “In terms of future concepts, we are looking at what we are calling a ‘wearable cockpit’. Here, you remove many of the physical elements of the cockpit, and replace it with a virtual display, projected through the helmet. Essentially, it’s a software-only cockpit that’s upgradeable, adaptable and reconfigurable.”
“In such a world, we need to think about what controls are critical to the pilot and then make them easier to manage. Eye-tracking gives you the option of looking at something to highlight it and then making a gesture to ‘press’ a button, rather than having a series of physical buttons on the aircraft.”
In cockpit design terms, simply understanding where a pilot is looking during a particular phase of a mission is hugely beneficial. For example, enhancing the effectiveness of warning signals so that the pilot is given the right cues and subsequently making it easier for them to react.
Jean continues: “The really clever bit will be that based on where the pilot is looking, we can infer the pilot’s goal and use intelligent systems to support task performance and reduce the pilot’s workload. We want to do it in a way that doesn’t always ask for permission, because that would get very annoying very quickly but equally, it is essential that it is always evident to the pilot what task the intelligent system is performing.”
BAE Systems Human Factors team demonstrated this approach in the future combat aircraft concept model, Tempest, which was unveiled for the first time at the 2018 Farnborough International Air Show. This concept model, developed by the UK Ministry of Defence, RAF and industry partners including BAE Systems illustrates how technologies such as eye tracking will shape the types of cockpit we expect to see in the combat air systems of the future. (Source: ASD Network)
21 Sep 18. JFD and US Navy unveil hands-free combat diver navigation system. Global subsea engineering company James Fisher and Sons (JFD) and the US Navy have unveiled the Shadow NAV advanced combat diver navigation module. The first Shadow NAV module has been developed by the expert technical team S3D at the US Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Centre Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) to provide hands-free underwater navigation capability. JFD will be responsible for making the capability widely available to divers operating across the globe. Equipped with a diver’s standard half mask, the new navigation system offers a clear visual display of a combat diver’s compass heading, depth and time even in near-zero visibility environments. The mask-mounted head-up display provides combat divers with an unrestricted and continual visibility of accurate information in poor visibility conditions. With the use of the system, divers might not be required to carry a handheld or tactical swim board, which to date has created serious limitations to potentially dangerous underwater military combat operations.
JFD products and support director Danny Gray said: “Traditional kit such as the compass and depth gauges not only increases the amount of equipment required, but, more critically, they are of little, or no use in water with very limited visibility, even with auxiliary illumination. This puts the diver at too great a risk of injury or even fatality.
“To address these challenges for potentially dangerous underwater combat missions, the expert technical team S3D at the NSWC PCD worked to develop a small, low-cost, low-power enhanced navigation capability to significantly improve safety standards for military divers and give them the best possible chance of successfully completing their missions.” (Source: naval-technology.com)
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Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector. Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components. Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training. The company’s long experience of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
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