The U.S. Army Research Laboratory and industry partners demonstrated the flying capabilities of a unique rectangular-shaped quadcopter during a visit from DOD officials at APG Jan. 10. Dr. William Roper, director of the Strategic Capabilities Office at the Office of the Secretary of Defense and members of his staff visited the laboratory to see the…
The World’s Tightest Knot Could Yield New Building Materials
Scientists from the University of Manchester have tied the world’s tightest knot using molecular strands. The knot was made possible by a new technique for braiding molecular strands. The technique has enabled scientists to loop strands into tighter and more complex formations. Ultra-tight molecular knots could pave the way for a new class of advanced…
Self-Assembling Particles Brighten Future of LED Lighting
Just when lighting aficionados were in a dark place, LEDs came to the rescue. Over the past decade, LED technologies — short for light-emitting diode — have swept the lighting industry by offering features such as durability, efficiency and long life. Now, Princeton engineering researchers have illuminated another path forward for LED technologies by refining…
Dressing a Metal in Various Colors
DGIST announced that professor Kyung-in Jang’s research team succeeded in developing a technology that can control various color changes by coating several nanometers of semiconducting materials on a metal substrate through joint research with a research team led by professor Young-min Song of GIST. Kyung-in Jang’s research team has succeeded in changing the unique color…
MoffettNathanson: It’s Time to Give up the Myth of Spectrum as a Commodity
Spectrum, spectrum, spectrum. We’re always hearing from carriers about the need for more spectrum. But while they certainly may want more spectrum, MoffettNathanson analysts this week said the shockingly low prices in the latest round of the FCC’s ongoing low-band spectrum auction show that it’s time to reevaluate the idea of spectrum as an increasingly…
Raytheon Tests GPS OCX for the Air Force
Raytheon has wrapped up launch and checkout system testing on the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System Next-Generation Operational Control System, known as GPS OCX, the company announced this week. GPS OCX is part of the Air Force-led GPS Modernization Program, which aims to yield new positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities for U.S. military and…
Tuesdays with Roger: A Closer Look at Straight Path’s Spectrum Settlement and Sponsored Data
Roger takes a look at the impact of Straight Path’s recent spectrum settlement with the FCC as well at the Commission’s recent report on sponsored data.
Eugene Cernan, the Last Man on the Moon, Dies at 82
Eugene “Gene” Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon during 1972’s Apollo 17 mission, passed away Monday at the age of 82. Cernan was a Naval aviator and logged more than 5,000 hours of flying time with 4,800 of those logged in jet aircraft. In addition to being the last man on the…
SAGE III to Look Back at Earth’s Atmospheric ‘Sunscreen’
On the upcoming SpaceX CRS-10 resupply mission to the International Space Station, a Dragon spacecraft will deliver the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III instrument to further study ozone in the atmosphere. Liftoff of Dragon atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket currently is planned for no earlier than Feb. 8 at 1:55 p.m. EST…
Watch SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket Land on Platform After Iridium NEXT Launch
Watch as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lands on a platform after its Iridium NEXT satellite launch. Saturday’s launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was the company’s first since the Sept. 1 explosion of another Falcon 9 rocket.
Sonar Maps from MH370 Search Will Reveal More About Seafloor
The deep-sea sonar search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may not have found the plane but will reveal more about how land beneath the Indian Ocean formed over millions of years and where oil fields could lie. National geoscience agency Geoscience Australia will soon release detailed sonar mapping of 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles)…
Study Tracks “Memory” Of Soil Moisture
The top 2 inches of topsoil on all of Earth’s landmasses contains an infinitesimal fraction of the planet’s water — less than one-thousandth of a percent. Yet because of its position at the interface between the land and the atmosphere, that tiny amount plays a crucial role in everything from agriculture to weather and climate,…
Cloud-Native VNFs: What’s All the Fuss About?
Virtualized Network Function (VNF) vendors like Versa Networks, Athonet, and Clearwater are working to re-architect their VNFs for a cloud-native world. They’re doing this because VNFs –like any other application – can leverage the economies and agility of the cloud, if they’re architected as a cloud native-application. This transition can unlock tremendous value for the…
New MulteFire Alliance Spec Enables LTE Operation on Unlicensed Spectrum Alone
The MulteFire Alliance has done away with the necessity for an anchor in licensed spectrum in its new Release 1.0 specification, enabling LTE operation using unlicensed spectrum alone. Building on 3GPP’s Release 13 Licensed Assisted Access requirements for the downlink and Release 14’s enhanced LAA for the uplink, MulteFire Alliance’s 1.0 spec for the first…
Watch The World’s Largest Micro-Drone Swarm
During the world’s largest micro-drone swarm (according to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)), 103 micro-drones carried out organized missions in the skies over China Lake, California. The Perdix drones were launched last October from three F/A-18 Super Hornets and autonomously carried out a series of missions that demonstrated decision-making, adaptive formation flying, and self-healing.…
Amazon Plans to Hire 100,000 New Workers
Engineers and software developers might want to look for Amazon for full-time work. According to the IET, Amazon plans to hire 100,000 people for full-time work in the next 18 months at a variety of locations within the United States. Workers will be placed at fulfillment centers across the country, and can vary from highly…
Mars Curiosity Rolls Up to Potential New Meteorite
Rolling up the slopes of Mt. Sharp recently, NASA’s Curiosity rover appears to have stumbled across yet another meteorite, its third since touching down nearly four and a half years ago. While not yet confirmed, the turkey-shaped object has a gray, metallic luster and a lightly-dimpled texture that hints of regmaglypts. Regmaglypts, indentations that resemble…
China Develops World’s Brightest VUV Free Electron Laser Research Facility
A team of Chinese scientists announced on Jan. 15 that they have developed a new bright VUV FEL light source, the Dalian Coherent Light Source (DCLS), which can deliver world’s brightest FEL light in an energy range from 8 to 24 eV, making it unique of the same kind that only operates in the VUV…
SpaceX Falcon 9 Comes Roaring Back to Life with Dramatically Successful Iridium Fleet Launch and Ocean Ship Landing
SpaceX Falcon 9 comes roaring back to life with dramatically successful Iridium fleet launch and ocean ship landing. With Billions and Billions of dollars at stake and their reputation riding on the line, SpaceX came roaring back to life by dramatically executing a picture perfect Falcon 9 rocket launch this morning (Jan. 14) that successfully…
New Ericsson CEO Ekholm Reflects on “Period of Intense Change” As He Takes Helm
Ericsson’s incoming CEO Borje Ekholm on his first day at the helm said the company is weathering a “period of intense change” and is only just embarking on the mobility journey the advent of 5G will bring. In a Monday blog post, Ekholm said the company was prepared to take the “exciting step” to next…
New Atmospheric Detector Technology Demonstrated On a CubeSat
The GEO-CAPE ROIC In- Flight Performance Experiment (GRIFEX) CubeSat was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Saturday, January 31, 2015, as an auxiliary payload to the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission. GRIFEX is a 3-unit (3U, 10x10x30 cm) CubeSat designed to verify the performance of a new spaceborne technology to study conditions in…
Unique Tiltrotor Test Rig to Begin Operational Runs at NASA Ames
Someday, we may be able to commute to our jobs in aircraft that can take off and land like a helicopter, but fly like a plane. Developing these advanced tiltrotors is no simple task, so NASA is installing a new rig that will let experts test them at an unprecedented scale in wind tunnels, where…
NASA Reveals Drone Aerodynamics with Supercomputers
For years, NASA has been using computer models to study the flow of air around flying vehicles, constantly searching for design improvements to further the capabilities of next-generation models. Recently, NASA’s Ames Research Center targeted a DJI Phantom 3 quadcopter in order to test the aerodynamics of a popular, battery-powered aircraft. The drone’s four…
Seeing The Quantum Future… Literally
Scientists at the University of Sydney have demonstrated the ability to “see” the future of quantum systems, and used that knowledge to preempt their demise, in a major achievement that could help bring the strange and powerful world of quantum technology closer to reality. The applications of quantum-enabled technologies are compelling and already demonstrating significant…
Op-Ed: What the FCC Missed in its Zero Rating Report
Chairman Wheeler of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) directed the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) to issue a report on zero-rating and sponsored data plans offered by various wireless providers. The report affirms that zero-rating plans are both popular and good for consumers. The report then criticizes specific sponsored data plans that have launched. What is…