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Chesapeake Innovation Center struggles
Interim director resigns as CIC confronts looming budget problems; calls mount to take the center under private management; new leadership reaches out to Northrop Grumman and others; loss of NSA contract a major blow
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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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Army breaks ground on New Jersey R&D park
Picatinny Arsenal to be transformed into a public-private research and development park; one million square feet of office space planned, including 100,000 for high security work; planners look for companies working on technology with both commercial and military applications
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Lockheed bullish on rise in defense and homeland security spending
The world’s largest defense contractor is confident Congress will respond to an “uncertain security market” by maintaining a robust defense budget, and the company’s CEO points to his company’s increased focus on homeland security and law enforcement work in addition to its core aircraft, ship, and missiles business as a source of increasing revenue
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U.S. military testing heat-generating non-leahtal weapon
Some non-lethal weapons are already in use 9for example, taser guns and rubber bullets), while others are still being debating (for example, troop-blinding laser weapons); the U.S. military is testing another non-lethal system: A beam which engulfs enemy sodiers wiht a 130-degree heat blast
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Guidelines released for DARPA's Urban Challenge
Track B teams required video submissions and site visits in order to continue in DARPA search for autonomous ground vehicle
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DHS to push for seamless emergency communication in top 75 U.S. cities
A DHS survey released this week gives low grades to most U.S. urban centers for emergency communication; DHS says it aims to achieve major imporvements in emergency interoprability by 2009
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Mantech in $159 million mine-clearing contract
Land mines is the curse that keeps on killing and maiming the innocent long after wars end; Mantech receive large contract to help clear mines in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait
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Direct brain control of umanoid robot demonstrated
In a move with implications for first responders and military alike, researchers show that robots may be controlled by their “master’s” human brain waves
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Sandia develops an imporved sensor network
The future — well, a part of it at least — belongs to sensor networks; rsearchers at Sandia Natioal Lab have developed the unattended ground sensor (UGS), and system whcih combines off-the-shelf components with in-house developed elements to create a better andre useful network; investors and manufacturers may want to make the lab an offer for the technology
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Textron completes acquisition of Overwatch Systems
A subsidiary of a mutli-industry heavy-weight Textron acquires a New Jersey company specializing in gathering and presenting actionable intelligence; acqusition will strengthen Textron’s already-strong line of offerings
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Industry questions U.S. RFID technology choice for new passport
Smart Card Alliance urges U.S. to reconsider selection of “vicinity” over “proximity” RFID technology for proposed passport card
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Researchers show that hydrogen can form multicenter bonds
Hydrogen is the simplest of elements, typically forming a single bond to just one other atom; it is thus big news that hydrogen can form multicenter bonds, in which one hydrogen atom simultaneously bonds to as many as four or six other atoms
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IAF to develop UAVs as unmanned refueling plane
UAVs are being used for more and more missions; the Israeli Air Force has a new mission for them as unmanned refueling planes
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More headlines
The long view
Autonomous Vehicle Technology Vulnerable to Road Object Spoofing and Vanishing Attacks
Researchers have demonstrated the potentially hazardous vulnerabilities associated with the technology called LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, many autonomous vehicles use to navigate streets, roads and highways. The researchers have shown how to use lasers to fool LiDAR into “seeing” objects that are not present and missing those that are – deficiencies that can cause unwarranted and unsafe braking or collisions.
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.
Prototype Self-Service Screening System Unveiled
TSA and DHS S&T unveiled a prototype checkpoint technology, the self-service screening system, at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, NV. The aim is to provide a near self-sufficient passenger screening process while enabling passengers to directly receive on-person alarm information and allow for the passenger self-resolution of those alarms.
Falling Space Debris: How High Is the Risk I'll Get Hit?
An International Space Station battery fell back to Earth and, luckily, splashed down harmlessly in the Atlantic. Should we have worried? Space debris reenters our atmosphere every week.
Testing Cutting-Edge Counter-Drone Technology
Drones have many positive applications, bad actors can use them for nefarious purposes. Two recent field demonstrations brought government, academia, and industry together to evaluate innovative counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
Strengthening the Grid’s ‘Backbone’ with Hydropower
Argonne-led studies investigate how hydropower could help add more clean energy to the grid, how it generates value as grids add more renewable energy, and how liner technology can improve hydropower efficiency.