Robotic raptors that look and fly like the real thing

Robot raptors that fly like the real thing are designed to act as a deterrent to flocks of nuisance birds
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Birds that stray into the paths of aircraft, eat crops, or spread disease from foraging in large numbers at landfills are, at best, a nuisance and, at worst, downright dangerous. Over the years people have tried everything from scaring them away with loud noises to trapping them – all with varying results. Now a designer from the Netherlands has come up with robotic birds of prey that look and fly exactly like the real thing.
Dubbed "Robirds," these flying raptor creations are the brainchild of Nico Nijenhuis from Clear Flight Solutions. The remotely controlled, realistic looking birds actually flap their wings to fly, and in a way that makes them remarkably similar to the real thing. According to the designers, this means that their artificial predator birds can fly in and around problem areas, encouraging nuisance birds to leave by exploiting the natural instinct of birds to avoid predators, particularly through silhouette and wing movement recognition.
In addition, the creators claim that – as the system is fully controllable by an operator on the ground with a remote control – especially difficult birds can be persuaded to leave by singling them out with the Robird to chase them away.
The practical upshot of all this is that – according to the designers – targeted bird populations learn to avoid what they perceive as the active stalking grounds of a bird of prey and that bird numbers in the areas of Robird operation drop by 50 percent or more. As a result of continued operations, the creators also claim that Robirds virtually eliminate the chances of nuisance bird flock habituation in the long term.
With a body length up to 58 cm (23 in) and a wingspan of 120 cm (47 in), the peregrine falcon model is capable of reaching 80 km/h (50 mph) and is designed to act as a deterrent to birds of up to 3 kg (6.6 lb). However, the eagle model is even more intimidating. With a body length nearly twice the length of the falcon and wingspan of up to 220 cm (86 in), this robot bird is designed to scare off any type of bird and would probably scare the odd human or two as well.
Though currently still wirelessly controlled by a human on the ground – and not quite as smart as a Festo seagull – plans are afoot to make the Robirds autonomous, with the company pursuing this goal with business and technical partners and trials currently underway that are set to continue into 2015.
The short video below demonstrates a Robird in flight, demonstrating its striking similarity to the real thing.

The Big Picture: Europe's unmanned combat drone concept

Pictured above, a mechanic works on Neuron, an unmanned stealth drone developed by a group of European nations, led by the French. "nEUROn" is a working concept for an "Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle" and includes fuselage designed by SAAB, Sweden. The craft has a 41 ft wingspan, weighs 10,000 lb when empty and can carry two 500 lb bombs. It first launched in December 2012, and has since completed 50 test flights -- the most recent completed this month. The project won't result in commercial production, instead serving to prove various technologies needed to for the next-generation of combat aircraft on the continent.

Solar Impulse 2 spreads its wings for the public

What has a wider wingspan than a 747, weighs the same as a car, and can fly almost forever without a drop of fuel? If you were in Payerne, Switzerland on Wednesday, you would have seen the answer as psychiatrist and explorer Bertrand Piccard and engineer and entrepreneur André Borschberg unveiled the Solar Impulse 2. The result of 12 years work, the ultra-light, solar-powered airplane will attempt to fly around the world next year relying exclusively on solar power to keep it aloft for days and a time.

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Attended by luminaries such as Swiss Councilor Ueli Maurer and Prince Albert of Monaco, and representatives of the various companies that contributed sponsorship and technology to the project, the début of the Solar Impulse 2 marks the culmination of 12 years of effort by 80 technicians. It builds on the success of the previous Solar Impulse, which set eight world records, including a flight across the United States that saw the first day/night flight by a solar-powered plane.
The Solar Power 2 is a single-seater aircraft built of carbon composites with a 72-m (236-ft) wing span, which is larger than that of a Boeing 747-8 and 8 m (26 ft) wider than the previous Solar Impulse. Despite this huge expanse, it weighs only 2,300 kg (5,070 lb), of which 633 kg (1,395 lb) are lithium-ion batteries used to power the plane's four 17.5 hp electric motors that spin the propellers with an efficiency of 94 percent.

During daylight hours, the power to run the plane comes from the top of the wing, which is covered with flexible solar panels that conform to the wing’s curve. A central truss makes up the fuselage, and the wings are formed from a complex latticework of composites. According to Piccard, this new construction is much lighter than the first Solar Impulse with the composite fabric cover weighing a mere 25 g/sq m. The entire plane was also designed for a high degree of reliability to allow it to remain aloft for 12 hours without maintenance, yet keeping the weight trimmed to a minimum.
The solo pilot for the round-the-world attempt will sit in the 3.8 sq-m (40.9 sq-ft) cockpit, which was designed using computer-aided ergonomic simulations and is described as a "business class seat" for the circumnavigator, complete with lumbar massage and the ability to convert into a bunk so the pilot can catch a nap during the five-day ocean crossings. Everything from using an oxygen supply to eating, and even sleeping were tested on the ground using a flight simulator while the pilot’s vital signs were monitored.
To save weight, the cockpit isn't pressurized, nor is it heated. Instead, the pilot relies on an oxygen supply stowed in the cabin area for high altitude flight and both the pilot and batteries are protected against the subzero temperatures by a new insulating foam developed by Bayer.

However, the cockpit is hardly a return to the days of Alcock and Brown. There’s an autopilot that the designers refer to as a "virtual co-pilot" that can alert the pilot in an emergency via a wrist-mounted alert buzzer, and the flight will be followed by a ground-based mission control that measures 50,000 parameters to modify the flight plan while under way. Communications with control is by means of a satellite communications system by Swisscom, which weighs less than 5 kg (11 lb), and is connected to what the team says is the lightest satellite antenna in the world – it's so light that a Swisscom logo serves as the counterweight.
The Solar Impulse 2 isn't fast, with a top speed of 45 mph (72 km/h), but Piccard says that its endurance is that if its pilot. It operates at 28,000 ft (8,500 m) during the day as it stores solar energy, then descends during the night, using the drop in altitude to maintain airspeed without drawing on the batteries, until it reaches a second cruising altitude between 6,000 and 9,000 ft (1,800 and 2,700 m) and goes back on battery power.

Despite all this, the plane is very heavy to control in turbulence. Taking off and landing are scheduled for early morning and after dark to avoid turbulence and heavy air traffic. This restricts takeoff and landings to very calm conditions, and landing and takeoff need to be carefully planned in advance because the plane has a minimal undercarriage. This means that to keep the wings stable on takeoff and landing, the ground crew use electric bicycles to hold the wings up on takeoff and catch them again on landing like a very low budget version of Thunderbirds. They grab on to posts suspended from the plane, which are also equipped with small wheels, so the Solar Impulse 2 can make emergency landings.
Piccard, compares this to conditions of the earliest heavier-than-air aviators and calls the Solar Impulse 2 the start of a new cycle of aviation.

As to the future, ground tests are under way, which will be followed by flight tests in Switzerland in May, a public air show debut later this year, and the round-the-world attempt in March 2015. If all goes according to schedule, the Solar Impulse 2 will fly over the Arabian Sea, India, Burma, China, the Pacific Ocean, the United States, the Atlantic Ocean and Southern Europe or North Africa before returning to its starting point in the United Arab Emirates. Along the way, the plane will land periodically to change pilots and participate in public events.
'A vision counts for nothing unless it is backed up by action. With eight world records for Solar Impulse 1, the first solar aircraft capable of flying during the night, crossing two continents and flying over the United States, we have shown that clean technologies and renewable energies can accomplish the impossible,” says Piccard.

How satellites tracked down flight MH370 – but why we still can’t find the plane (updated)

Thailand’s Thaicote satellite has spotted another 300 objects in theIndian Ocean, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of the objects spotted by the French satellite. This new imagery was captured on March 24, one day after the French data. Earlier today, the 11 search-and-rescue aircraft were called off after just a couple of hours due to bad weather and zero visibility. We still haven’t physically located any of the objects spotted by satellites — and due to bad weather and strong currents, it may be some time until we finally track down the debris of flight MH370.

300 new objects, spotted by the Thaichote satellite

The MH370 search area, on March 27 [Image credit: BBC]

 

Updated @ 10:45 March 26: 122 objects, possibly debris from flight MH370, have been identified in new satellite imagery captured by the French company Airbus Defence and Space. The objects are up to 23 meters (75 feet) in length, and are spread out over an area of 400 square kilometers. Australian search-and-rescue planes today checked the areas highlighted by the satellite imagery, but left without finding anything. There is still no sign of oil slicks or floating debris that would help pinpoint the wreckage of flight MH370. As you can see in the image below, we’re searching tens of thousands of square kilometers for signs of debris — using just seven military and five civilian planes, and a few ships (but they cover a very small area, very slowly).

Suffice it to say, I would not be surprised if we never find the remains of flight MH370.

The 122 new bits of possible MH370 debris

The original story, about how we tracked flight 370 to its crash landing in the Indian Ocean, continues below.

Yesterday morning, the Malaysian prime minister confirmed that Malaysia Airlines flight 370 crashed in the south Indian Ocean, killing all 239 people on board. Curiously, though, despite the PM’s confidence, this conclusion is based entirely on second-hand information provided by UK satellite company Inmarsat. There is still no sign of debris from MH370, and investigators still have absolutely no idea what happened after the final “All right, good night” message from the cockpit. If you’ve been following the news, you probably have two questions: How did Inmarsat narrow down MH370′s location from two very broad swaths across central Asia and the Indian Ocean, and furthermore, if we know where the plane crashed into the ocean, why haven’t we found it yet?

How Inmarsat tracked down flight MH370

After flight MH370′s communication systems were disabled (it’s still believed that they were disabled manually by the pilots, but we don’t know why), the only contact made by the plane was a series of pings to Inmarsat 4-F1, a communications satellite that orbits about 22,000 miles above the Indian Ocean.

The initial Inmarsat report, which placed MH370 along two possible arcs, was based on a fairly rudimentary analysis of ping latency. Inmarsat 4-F1 sits almost perfectly stationary above the equator, at 64 degrees east longitude. By calculating the latency of MH370′s hourly satellite pings, Inmarsat could work out how far away the plane was from the satellite — but it couldn’t say whether the plane went north or south.

A map showing the location of Inmarsat 4-F1, which received Satcom pings from MH370, and the plane’s radius from the satellite (calculated from the “ping” round-trip time).

Inmarsat’s global coverage. The satellite that tracked flight MH370 is shown in purple.

To work out which direction was taken by flight MH370, Inmarsat, working with the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), says it used some clever analysis of the Doppler effect. The Doppler effect describes the change in frequency (the Doppler shift) as a sound/light/radio source travels towards the listener, and then again as it moves away. The most common example is the change in frequency of a police or fire truck siren as it passes you. Radio waves, such as the pings transmitted by flight MH370, are also subject to the Doppler effect.

Basically, Inmarsat 4-F1′s longitude wobbles slightly during its orbit. This wobble, if you know what you’re looking for, creates enough variation in the Doppler shift that objects moving and north and south have slightly different frequencies. (If it didn’t wobble, the Doppler shift would be identical for both routes.) Inmarsat says that it looked at the satellite pings of other flights that have taken similar paths, and confirmed that the Doppler shift measurements for MH370′s pings show an “extraordinary matching” for the southern projected arc over the Indian Ocean. ”By yesterday [we] were able to definitively say that the plane had undoubtedly taken the southern route,” said Inmarsat’s Chris McLaughlin.

A satellite spotted some possible debris off the coast of Australia — but by the time airplanes arrived to check out the scene, the debris had gone.

So, where is flight MH370?

At this point, if we assume that Inmarsat knows what it’s doing, we know with some certainty that flight MH370′s last satellite ping originated from around 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) off the west coast of Australia. Because we know how much fuel the Boeing 777 was carrying, we know that it probably ran out of fuel sometime after that last ping, crashing into the Indian Ocean. Assuming the plane was flying at around 450 knots (517 mph, 833 kph), the potential crash zone is huge.

The southern Indian Ocean is one of the most inhospitable and remote places on Earth. Its distance from major air and navy bases make it one of the worst possible places to carry out a search and rescue mission. Even if satellite imagery purports to show debris from flight 370, waves, weather, and ocean currents mean that the debris will be constantly moving. ”We’re not searching for a needle in a haystack,” said Mark Binskin, vice chief of the Australian Defence Force. “We’re still trying to define where the haystack is.”

Multiple nations are sending search-and-rescue aircraft and ships to the region to look for flight 370, and the US is deploying its Towed Pinger Locator — a device that can locate black boxes up to a depth of 20,000 feet (6,100 meters). The flight data recorder (FDR) or cockpit voice recorder (CVR) generally only have enough battery power to ping for a month or two, so time is of the essence.

What happened to flight MH370?

So, the million dollar question remains: What series of events led to Malaysia Airlines flight 370 ending up in the Indian Ocean?

There appear to be two likely options. The most pertinent point still seems to be that the plane’s ACARS (automated reporting system) was manually disabled. This would indicate that the plane was either hijacked, or that the ACARS had to be disabled for some other reason (a fire). It’s possible that there was some kind of disaster on-board, killing or disabling everyone, and the plane continued on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel. It’s also possible that the plane was hijacked (perhaps by a passenger or one of the pilots), and they continued to fly the plane on some kind of suicide mission.

Neither of these explanations quite ring true, but really, given the dearth of information, it’s the best that we can do. At this point though, we should be terrified of another eventuality: Given where the plane crashed, we may never find the flight data recorder (FDR) or cockpit voice recorder (CVR) — theorizing about the fate of flight 370 might be all we can ever do.

Nanoparticle coating could let aircraft engines last three times longer

The higher the temperature at which an aircraft engine is able to run, the more efficiently it uses fuel. In order to run at those high temperatures, the metal components of airplane engines are presently treated with heat-shielding coatings. Scientists at Sweden's University West, however, are developing a new such coating that is said to be far more effective than anything presently used – it could extend the service life of engines by 300 percent.

The coating consists a powder made up of ceramic and plastic nanoparticles, that is added to a liquid carrier. While the ceramic particles provide insulation against the heat, the plastic allows tiny pores to form within the coating, giving it some elasticity – that's an important consideration, as the coating must be able to expand and contract with the metal that it's covering.

The powder-containing liquid is heated up to 7,000 - 8,000ºC (12,632 - 14,432ºF), causing the ceramic particles to melt, then applied in a process known as plasma spray application. Once adhered to the metal, it takes the form of a 0.5 mm-thick "forest" of tiny standing columns.

Traditional coatings, by contrast, are more like sandwiched layers that are stacked one on top of the other, on top of the metal. According to the scientists, the new coating's structure not only allows it to be more flexible and thus less prone to cracking, but also allows it to adhere better to irregular surfaces.

In thermal shock tests, that simulate the abrupt changes in temperature experienced by aircraft engines, the coating was found to last three times as long as conventional coatings. This means that the engines shouldn't require servicing as often, and should last longer. As a side benefit, the coating itself should be considerably less expensive than coatings currently used.

It is hoped that the technology will find its way into airplane engines and gas turbines within the next two years.