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Tadpole-shaped dirigible to help in communication, surveillance missions
Florida company shows unmanned dirigible which will fly at 65,000 and 70,000
feet; the “Stratellite” will use similar technology to the that used by the
Graf Zeppelin in the 1930s; homeland security applications include vessel
tracking and cargo container surveillance; littoral (shore-proximate)
surveillance for ports, waterways, coastal trails, and urban environments;
ancillary border surveillance activity, and more -
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DARPA scientists seeking lightning on tap
DARPA is seeking proposals for how to create lightning on demand; agency says the purspose is to protect property and other assets from lightning damage, or “advances in… science relating to lightning”
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NICTA gets AU$1.01 million for advanced video surveillance system at Port of Brisbane
R&D body developing advanced system to help ports monitor activities in their locations; the Port of Brisbane is 110 km long and will host around 40 to 60 cameras; the movement of boats will be visible in the system along with the cargo they are carrying and tidal/wind information.
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Handheld touch screen device may lead to mobile fingerprint ID
The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team wanted to replace the 20-pound rugged laptop plus fingerprint scanner their hostage rescue teams lug around with a smaller and lighter device; NIST researchers develop one
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SRI to open new facility in Tampa, Florida
California-based SRI will tomorrow open a new research facility in Tampa, Florida; the company says that the many organizations in the area doing marine research will help it in developing maritime security technologies – among them underwater sensors to improve security at U.S. ports, which the company describes as the “soft underbelly of the soft underbelly” of the United States; SRI is also active in luring other technology companies to the Tampa area for the purpose of creating a technology cluster there.
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New pipe-inspection technology detects leaks in aging pipes
An aluminum ball slightly larger than a softball travel through hundreds of miles of water pipes and water mains; equipment inside the ball picks up the hissing sounds of any leaks, and the data are then wirelessly transmitted to a computer; after the pipe is drained, workers push the cart, which resembles a steel bike, through the pipe, and electromagnetic coils attached to a computer on the cart detect the location of the leak
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Corps speeds testing of tubes for blocking breaches in levees
Lightweight Universal Gasket, called a PLUG, is a fabric tube that can be floated into place and filled 80 percent with water using an attached pump; the tube is pulled into the breach in the levee by the current, blocking more water from going through the breach; the tube is dropped by helicopter near the breach.
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Former OSU student turns professors’ research his business
Two OSU professors developed a nanotechnology-based ink that changes color when it detects a certain type of explosive, and then neutralizes it; an OSU business student made the professors’ invention his business – literally – founding a company aiming to develop the commercial potential of the invention
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Battlefield walker machines received $3 million for more studies
DARPA wants a robotic walker – in fact, a robotic pack mule — to help soldiers in the field by carrying their heavy gear; Boston Dynamics, the company developing the robot, has spoken previously of using the same walker technology in urban environments or indoors, and it has already developed a fairly advanced two-legged machine.
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U.S. Air Force offers more details on stealth UAV
After much speculation and many rumors, the USFA reveals that it has been using a new-design UAV — deep, fat centerbody blended into the outer wings – for surveillance missions in Afghanistan; observers note that with its low-observable design, the aircraft could be useful for flying the borders of Iran and peering into China, India, and Pakistan for useful data about missile tests and telemetry, as well as gathering signals and multi-spectral intelligence
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Scientific conference in India to focus on explosives and advanced propellants systems
Explosive detection is a pressing issue for military leaders and law enforcement, a challenging issue for scientists and researchers, and a growing and attractive field for businesses and investors; leading Indian research organizations host a major conference on the subject
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Irish government urged to heed entrepreneurs to rebuild economy
An Irish scientist and entrepreneur urges to government must do more to protect investment in research to encourage the creation of ‘‘world class’’ Irish companies; Donald Fitzmaurice said there were three ‘‘key enabling technologies’’ in the world — biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information and communications technology. ‘‘They are important on their own but when they converge, they open up new important possibilities, such as new materials, artificial intelligence, modified biological entities”
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DHS looks to tamper-proof cargo containers
DHS has been looking into many different technologies to protect U.S. boarders since 9/11. Now, the department is looking to the for ideas to help enhance security where some argue it is needed most — down by the docks.
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New ID cards will come with built-in holograms
The new Secure ID Technology is much more secure than current technologies because the holograms are built into the volume of the plastic rather than being stamped on the surface
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INL develops safer, more efficient nuclear fuel for next-generation reactors
The advanced nuclear fuel, which would be used in next-generation high-temperature gas reactors, has set a particle fuel record by consuming approximately 19 percent of its low-enriched uranium; this is more than double the previous record set by German scientists in the 1980s, and more than three times that achieved by current commercial light water reactor fuel
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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.
The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.
The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.