• Former spooks run intelligence gathering and analysis outfit

    Erik Prince’s security empire has an outfit called Total Intelligence Solutions which collects intelligence about natural disasters, business-friendly governments, overseas regulations, and global political developments for clients in industry and government

  • Combining RFID tags with sensors

    RFID tags are also in use to track the location of items to which they are attached; a German research institute develops RFID sensors to continuously monitor moisture, temperature, light, and acceleration; new tags will keep a closer eye items throughout the supply chain, and may be used to secure cargo containers

  • Carnegie Mellon wins Urban Challenge

    Tartan racing team wins DARPA’s robotic vehicles contest; Stanford comes in second, Virginia Tech third; cause of robotic driving machines advanced

  • World's first: Fully functional nanotube radio

    U.S.-Berkeley researchers develop world’s smallest radio: All four essential components of a radio — antenna, tuner, amplifier, and demodulator — are implemented within a single carbon nanotube; a carbon nanotube is one billionth of a meter in diameter and less than a micron in length

  • DARPA-funded UCSD research yields world's most complex phased array

    Tritons researchers develop world’s most complex phased array; the 16-element chip is just 3.2 by 2.6 square millimeters, can send at 30-50 GHz

  • Lockheed Martin in successful test of THAAD

    Lockheed Martin, U.S. Missile Defense Agency successfully test missile defense system in detecting, tracking, and intercepting incoming unitary target above the Earth’s atmosphere

  • Nanotechnology used in new anti-ballistic materials

    Breakthrough in personal protection equipment: Aussie researchers use carbon nanotubes to create bullet-resistant materials for use in protection of first responders, law enforcement, and soldiers; material causes bullets to bounce off without trace or damage

  • NEC successfully tests wideband wearable antenna

    The major hurdle in using conductive fabrics was that soldering was not possible; NEC solves problem: Power is supplied to a small flexible print substrate by a soldered coaxial cable, so that power supply is possible through capacity coupling with the substrate

  • A first: Reaper armed UAV fires first Hellfire missile in combat

    The U.S. Air Force deployed MQ-9A Reaper armed reconnaissance UAVs to Afghanistan, and last week a Reaper launched a missile at enemy combatants some seventy miles from the UAV’s base at Kandahar; al-Queda operatives across the border in Pakistan’s North-West Territories would do well to go even deeper underground

  • Maryland State Police to gather critical infrastructure data from air

    Johns Hopkins’s APL develops new technology which allows officers to monitor critical infrastructure facilities digitally from the air and quickly locate, inspect important structures during patrols

  • Winners announced in two new-approach building competitions

    The Solar Decathlon and Lifecycle Building Challenge aim to promote energy independence and better environment through greater reliance on alternative energy and better building design and materials

  • Six teams cut in Urban Challenge qualifying round

    In qualifying rounds in California, robotic vehicles are tested in self-navigation — no driver, no remote control — through a series of urban challenges; some teams don’t make it

  • Belgian police employ blind officers to analyze wiretap recordings

    As wiretapping of potential criminal and terrorist-related activity in Belgium grows, so is the need of the Belgian police for individuals with acute and sensitive hearing to analyze wiretaps; police found that some blind individuals have that extra sensitivity to sounds which allows them better to analyze wiretaps

  • New bomb detector spray

    Israeli chemist develops spray that can detect urea nitrate, a powerful explosive that can be created by amateurs; urea nitrate is commonly used by suicide bombers, and was also used in the first attempt on the World Trade Center in 1993

  • Battery-powered textile allows for glowing garments

    University of Manchester researchers develop yarns which glow in the dark; this is good news for cyclists, joggers, and pedestrians on dark winter days — but also for first responders and police having to operate in buildings or city streets darkened as a result of power outage