• Rethinking strategy for finding bin Laden

    The effort to bring Osama bin Laden to justice has so far failed; there are many reasons for that: Half-hearted efforts by the Pakistani authorities; failure to win the hearts and minds of tribal leaders in Pakistan’s Northwest Territories; limits Pakistan imposed on direct U.S. action inside Pakistan; the invasion of Iraq, which consumed vast resources which otherwise would have been invested in the effort against al-Qaeda; and more; U.S., Pakistan, are now rethinking the strategy

  • Canada replaces Sperwer UAV with Heron, Skylark

    The Canadian military has spent more than a quarter billion dollars on the French-built Sperwer UAV over the past five years; the military has concluded that the Israeli-built Heron and Skylark would provide Canadian troops in Afghanistan with better protection

  • Forecast: AeroVironment Warms Up

    AeroVironment reports its first quarterly earnings numbers for fiscal 2009 today; the tiny UAV company has proven its competitiveness over bigger hitters in its, well, airspace

  • U.S. start-up develops uncloneable RFID chips

    Silicon Valley start-up says it has developed RFID chips which cannot be cloned; the company uses technology called Physically Unclonable Functions (PUF) which was developed by researchers at MIT

  • New first response RFID system developed

    In a scene of a disaster, first responders want to make sure they know where each member of the rescue team is; they often also need to tag and monitor the whereabouts of equipment and gear; long-range RFID is the solution

  • Protecting wireless sensor networks

    Detecting compromised sensors in a wireless sensor network is of vital importance to homeland security as well as for successfully tracking natural events with the potential to devastate cities; by countering sabotage, false alarms that waste response efforts could be minimized in times of impending crisis

  • Analyzing shadows to catch terrorists

    NASA scientist says that one way to catch terrorists is by marrying space-based surveillance with gait analysis biometrics: By analyzing the movements of human shadows in aerial and satellite footage it should be possible to identify people from the way they walk

  • Environment-friendly spook: Solar-powered UAV breaks endurance record

    Qinetiq’s Zephyr high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) aircraft flies for 82 hours and 37 minutes

  • Modified helicopters help in search and rescue missions

    Researchers in Hong Kong develop a helicopter installed with a video camera and linked to the Global Positioning System (GPS), and which flies on its own on a preset course; helicopter used to survey the Sichuan earthquake area; researchers in U.K. work on a similar concept — but one which envisions using a swarm of self-coordinating helicopters

  • U.K. start-up to demo serious flying robo-saucer in 2009

    Innovative British company will demonstrate a robotic flying saucer next year; the hovering craft is based on the Coanda effect, and will be of help to soldiers and first responders in urban settings

  • Technology companies help governments augment surveillance capabilities

    Technology companies have often been criticized for assisting governments in what many see as unwarranted intrusion, most notably in China; such criticism notwithstanding, these companies find rich business opportunities in the growing surveillance market

  • Prisons of the future: High-rise structures, smart cards for inmates

    Israel is building new prisons based on new concepts: High-rise structures which will deter escapes (how many prisoners will risk a jump from the tenth floor?), and smart cards which will allow inmates to roam unescorted — but monitored

  • Robot aircraft rides thermal currents to save fuel

    Soaring birds use thermal air currents to keep them aloft for hours and save energy; the same principle is now being applied to UAVs

  • Team Stellar wins U.K. MoD's Grand Challenge

    The U.K. Ministry of Defense holds a competition to determine the best autonomous robots that can identify, monitor, and report military threats faced by U.K. troops; Team Stellar, comprising several technology-savvy companies, wins

  • Unmanned helicopter to aid in search and rescue

    The UAVs will search for people in isolated regions, monitor large-area disasters such as floods or forest fires, sample gas emissions over industrial disaster sites, and act as a communication platform when the regular infrastructure is down