NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Web Page sponsor Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
01 Nov 05. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) today announced the introduction of a new generation of commercial navigation radars incorporating electronic charts. The new VisionMaster FT products are the first of a new series of highly integrated navigation solutions which are being developed by Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit at its worldwide commercial marine headquarters in New Malden, United Kingdom. The VisionMaster FT Chart Radar provides the navigator with a seamless integration of radar and chart functionality. Combining approved vector-format digital charts with the radar picture enhances situation awareness for watchstanders. The operator can select the desired density of chart information to be shown on the screen, ranging from a simplified presentation of shoreline and navigation to a full-chart display mode. The digital charts, as well as chart updates and system upgrades can be uploaded through a standard DVD reader or USB connection.
Nov 05. Plextek has developed a low cost, high performance tracking system for accurate asset/personnel location and identification over a range up to 10 km. The BLightER Asset Management system comprises of many lightweight low power tags that utilise a sensitive GPS receiver and proprietary low power ultra narrow band telemetry technology to transmit their ID and location to
a digital receiver module or central basestation. The system is expandable to handle an unlimited number of tags and is accurate to better than 5 m. The ID and location of each tag is overlaid onto a map of the area displayed on a standard PC or laptop.
28 Oct 05. Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) today announced that a new lightweight field howitzer developed by its land systems arm, Singapore Technologies Kinetics (ST Kinetics), has been commissioned into service with the Singapore Artillery. The 155mm 39 calibre self propelled howitzer named Singapore Light Weight Howitzer (SLWH) Pegasus by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), is the product of a tripartite developmental effort between the SAF, Defence Science and Technology Agency and ST Kinetics. See details in Fact Sheet attached. ST Kinetics has entered into a confidentiality undertaking with its customer, the Ministry of Defence, and is unable to disclose further details of the contract. This contract was awarded to ST Kinetics in 1996 before ST Engineering was formed and prior to the restructure of ST Kinetics under ST Engineering. This announcement is not a disclosure of a new contract as the contract value had been recognised in the order book of ST Engineering and some revenue recognition has already taken place.
09 Nov 05. Microsoft warns of latest flaws. Microsoft has warned Windows users of three critical flaws in its software and urged them to install patches. The security holes affect the way Windows handles certain graphic files. If left unplugged, they could allow hackers and virus writers to take control of personal computers remotely. Users of Windows XP, Windows Server and an updated version of Windows 2000 are advised to install a patch, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. (Source: BBC)
28 Oct 05. Supercomputer doubles own record. Blue Gene/L is the fastest computer in the world. The Blue Gene/L supercomputer has broken its own record to achieve more than double the number of calculations it can do a second. It reached 280.6 teraflops – that is 280.6 trillion calculations a second. The IBM machine, at the US Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, officially became the most powerful computer on the planet in June. The fastest supercomputers in the world are ranked by experts every six months in the Top 500 list. Blue Gene’s performance, while it has been under construction, has quadrupled in just 12 months. Each person in the world with a handheld calculator would still t