Aviation and Airport

Boeing graduates first military ScanEagle
Seven Georgia airmen will be the first to operate the UAV without Boeing’s assistance
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Israel takes delivery of long haul Heron UAVs
Manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries, internationally popular model comes home and is renamed the Shoval; as craft can fly forty hours without refueling, move is certain to raise eyebrows in Tehran
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T-rays to help in airport screening
New laser design creates usable terahertz radiation — radiation which penetrates materials but does not harm human tissue
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DHS abandons RFID for US-VISIT exit tracking
Tests at land border crossings found the technology unreliable; RFID tags were embedded in government forms; Smart Card Alliance applauds
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SIM sells quadrotor Sky-Eye UAV to China
Small unmanned helicopters to be used by civilian police; craft similar to Diehl’s SensoCopter; company claims at least thirty units sold so far; Flight Global offers technical specifications
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Galileo Avionica wins $26 milliion Aussie Coastwatch contract
Twelve-year contract to install airborne and ground sensors to protect the continent’s coastal waters; Australia homeland security market continues to show stength
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Manchester researchers solve 2D to 3D imaging problem
Multiple X-ray sources used to cut down on processing time; CXR and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council lend a hand
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Air Force closes all seven battle labs
With budget pressures mounting, Air Force can no longer afford the investment; Air Force Space Battlelab, Command and Control Battlelab, and Air Warfare Battlelab among those receiving the axe
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Israeli students develop UAV on UAV refueling algorithm
Technicians at Technion use a camera attached to the end of a refueling pipe to calculate docking movement; in-air refueling a must if UAVs are to take on long-haul tasks
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Europeans plan to monitor airline passengers in flight
System marries video and audio analytics technology to individual passenger profiles in order to preempt terrorist activity; microphones pick up Koranic recitations while tiny cameras look for signs of nervousness
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Munich airport deploys license plate recognition system
GeoVision wins the conract to improve the airport’s parking control system; license plates are scanned on entrance and exit, thereby obviating the need for tickets and cutting down on personnel; frequent fliers rejoice
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India dumps airport Backscatter machine
Revealing images upset socially conservative security guards; cultural values often underappreciated by security officials
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GAO hammers US-VISIT program
Government Accountability Office criticizes DHS for failing to strengthen exit procedures at land crossings, inability to resolve redundancies with WHTI and other programs; Congress dinged for oversight failures
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UAVs struggle to access civilian airspace
Civilian air authorities demand collision-avoidance systems before permitting flight; high rates of operator error worry other pilots; American and European authorities meet to develop technical standards for such a system; industry mourns NASA’s Access Five program
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Florida police challenge FAA over UAV regulatory authority
Palm Bay attempts to launch a Cyberbug to help with patrols, but FAA and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association object; police say FAA lacks authority to regulate what they call a model airplane; Cyber Defense Systems waits for a ruling
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