NEW TECHNOLOGIES
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23 Aug 06. DRS Technologies, Inc. has delivered its first production Remote Aerial Refueling Operators Station (RARO) II console to Boeing to support new military airlift and refueling aircraft requirements. The console will be used on the Boeing KC-767 Global Tanker aircraft. Work was performed by the company’s DRS Laurel Technologies unit in Johnstown, Pennsylvania for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Additional systems are expected to be delivered later this year and in 2007. The RARO console is positioned aft of the cockpit in the modern wide-body KC-767 aircraft. It allows the refueling operator to position the boom for fuel transfer operations and to maintain continual visual contact with all aircraft in the area under any weather conditions.
17 Aug 06. Speedy silicon sets world record. Modern circuits contain millions of transistors. A simple tweak to the way common silicon transistors are made could allow faster, cheaper mobile phones and digital cameras, say UK researchers. Devices with the modification have already set a new world record for the fastest transistor of its type. To achieve the speed gain, researchers at the University of Southampton added fluorine to the silicon devices. The technique uses existing silicon manufacturing technology meaning it should be quick and easy to deploy. “It just takes a standard technology and adds one extra step,” said Professor Peter Ashburn at the University of Southampton, who carried out the work. “This is a really cheap method.” The research was carried out using a simple type of transistor known as a silicon bipolar transistor. Transistors are the tiny building blocks of most microchips and millions are found in desktop computers, mobile phones and MP3 players. (Source: BBC)
18 Aug 06. University develops ‘smart’ chips. The microchips could reduce energy use in a range of products. Scientists at Swansea University have been awarded a £1m grant to develop microchips which could “radically reduce” energy consumption. The new microchips could be used in personal computers, mobile phones and in domestic white goods. The Swansea University team will work with the UK’s two largest semiconductor companies – Zetex and X-Fab. The university said “smart chip” technology could save £211bn($400bn) annually in electric costs world-wide. The research team at Swansea University’s Electronics Systems Design Centre were awarded the funding by the Department of Trade and Industry. (Source: BBC)
21 Aug 06. Directed Perception, Inc. announced the world-wide availability of its PTU-D300 family of computer controlled pan-tilt units. The PTU-D300 is designed to provide systems integrators and OEMs a complete positioning solution for IR and Thermal Cameras, antennas, video cameras, and other sensors. The PTU-D300 is 10-times more accurate than available alternatives for computer-controlled positioning of large payloads, offering 0.00643 degree resolution, and is well suited for long-range surveillance applications where smooth, rigid performance is required. The extremely rugged all-in-one design is compact and has flexible mounting options and is designed for fixed and mobile applications. Built-in dynamic control capabilities include on-the-fly speed and position command changes at over 60Hz supporting a wide range of applications including real-time tracking. An available software API supports integration with custom applications. Geo-pointing and stabilizations options are available.
22 Aug 06. Northrop Grumman Corporation recently completed the 12th in a series of ongoing flight tests of an enhanced Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW). The enhanced WNW software, hosted on Northrop Grumman-developed software-defined radios, successfully demonstrated key airborne network waveform capabilities. WNW is designed to facilitate interoperability between the services