• An AI Pilot May Be Able to Navigate Crowded Airspace

    Researchers believe they have developed the first AI pilot that enables autonomous aircraft to navigate a crowded airspace. The artificial intelligence can safely avoid collisions, predict the intent of other aircraft, track aircraft and coordinate with their actions, and communicate over the radio with pilots and air traffic controllers.

  • Why UK Railways Can’t Deal with Heatwaves – and What Might Help

    Like most construction materials, steel, which rails are made from, expands when air temperature increases. When this movement is restrained by the anchorage, which holds the rail and the sleeper (the rectangular supports for the rails) in place, internal stresses build up, and compression buckles or kinks the rail. Trains cannot travel over rail lines with kinks. In the US, kinks caused by the sun caused over 2,100 train derailments in the past 40 years, equivalent to around 50 derailments per year.

  • D.B. Cooper, the Changing Nature of Hijackings and the Foundation for Today’s Airport Security

    Many Americans may associate airport security with 9/11, but it was a wave of hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s that laid the foundation for today’s airport security protocols. Especially, the 24 November 1971 hijacking of a Northwest Orient 727 plane, after take-off from Portland, Oregon, by a man known to the American public as D. B. Cooper, captured the public’s imagination, and drove the U.S. government to establish the first anti-hijacking security protocols.

  • Remote Screening Demonstration at Cape Cod Gateway Airport

    DHS S&T successfully conducted a demonstration of remote screening infrastructure for airport security checkpoints. The Integrated Defense & Security Solutions (IDSS) can send computed tomography (CT) X-ray images of carry-on baggage flagged for threats to remote locations for near real-time analysis.

  • Inside the Government Fiasco That Nearly Closed the U.S. Air System

    The upgrade to 5G was supposed to bring a paradise of speedy wireless. But a chaotic process under the Trump administration, allowed to fester by the Biden administration, turned it into an epic disaster. The problems haven’t been solved.

  • Computer Code to Speed Up Airport Security

    Imagine moving through airport security without having to take off your shoes or belt or getting pulled aside. Researchers are working on the Open Threat Assessment Platform, which allows the Transportation Security Administration to respond more quickly and easily to threats to air travel safety.

  • Electric Flying Boat Could Transform Traveling

    A Norwegian company is now developing a small electric seaplane that can transform passenger traffic on a large scale. With this seaplane you will be able to take off from Trondheim Fjord or Flesland Airport in Bergen, Norway, and land in the Geiranger Fjord one hour later.

  • Marine Highways Bolster Supply Chain Efficiency, Resilience

    The increased use of the nation’s navigable waterways relieves landside congestion, provides new and efficient transportation options, increases the productivity of the surface transportation system, and strengthens the U.S. supply chains.

  • Warning: Objects in Driverless Car Sensors May Be Closer Than They Appear

    Researchers have demonstrated the first attack strategy that can fool industry-standard autonomous vehicle sensors into believing nearby objects are closer (or further) than they appear without being detected.

  • Airports, Airlines Call for Intra-EU COVID Travel Restrictions to Be Dropped

    Airport and airline organizations have called for all remaining COVID restrictions applying to intra-EU and Schengen area travel to be dropped, including all testing requirements, the need to present proof of vaccination, or complete a Passenger Locator Form (PLF).

  • Fog Detection Software Helps Keep Travelers Safe

    Fog and low stratus clouds over airports can create dangerous travel conditions that result in costly delays and disrupted travel plans. A new fog detection software will help.

  • Opening Architecture to Make Air Travel Safer, Easier

    Researchers have developed an open architecture for airport screening systems, which will allow air travelers to experience faster and safer security checkpoints — no need to open bags or remove liquids or shoes.

  • How 5G Puts Airplanes at Risk – an Electrical Engineer Explains

    In 2021 the U.S. government auctioned part of the C-band spectrum to wireless carriers in 2021 for $81 billion. The carriers are using C-band spectrum to provide 5G service at full speed, 10 times the speed of 4G networks. The C-band spectrum is close to the frequencies used by key electronics that aircraft rely on to land safely. Here’s why that can be a problem.

  • Expanding America’s Marine Highways 

    The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded $12.6 million in grants to nine marine highway projects across the United States, saying the  under the America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP). DOT says that the funding will help address supply chain disruptions, enhance the movement of goods along the U.S. navigable waterways, and expand existing waterborne freight services.

  • AT&T, Verizon Agree to Delay 5G Rollout Over Aircraft Safety Concerns

    AT&T and Verizon have agreed to hold off on their 5G rollout amid concerns of problems for aircraft. The move marks a change of heart a day after both companies rejected the government request.