Communicating Via Long-Distance Lasers

Adding Predictability to Fleet Communications During Solar Flares

Suppose a U.S. Navy destroyer is operating in the Western Pacific and is impacted by the effects of a massive solar flare that has caused a ripple effect across the globe,...

New Method Accelerates AI Decision-Making

A new solution compresses and offloads critical data from battlefield machines more efficiently, enabling faster AI processing and decision-making on the battlefield.

New Weapons Testing System Produces Richer Data, Saves Time and Money

A team of Sandia National Laboratories engineers developed a new testing capability in support of its nuclear weapons mission. The team completed their first...

NASA Brings Air Mobility Vision to Stratospheric Heights

Designated in the United States as “upper Class E” airspace, the sky above 60,000 feet does not have stringent air traffic control rules since most aircraft are not capable of...

Faster, Cheaper Ethanol-to-Jet-Fuel on the Horizon

A process for converting alcohol sourced from renewable or industrial waste gases into jet or diesel fuel is being scaled up at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest...

New Products: September 2021 Aerospace & Defense Technology

Mezzanine modules, voltage-controlled oscillators, cold-weather servo motors, and more.

Migrating Advanced Signal Processing Technology to Rugged SFF Platforms

By enabling distributed system architectures, SFF systems and subsystems solve many of the toughest problems facing embedded system designers.

Radar Recording Proves Next-Level System Performance

As radar and electronic warfare systems contend with an increasingly crowded environment, recording tests, interactions, and conflicts provide valuable insight.

Facing 5G New Radio (NR) Test Challenges

The use of CA, MIMO, and beamforming technologies will lead to more antennas and radio ports that need to be tested.

Pulse Plasma Nitriding for Aerospace Applications

Aerospace manufacturers who depend on nitriding components can benefit from greater uniformity of results, better-protected materials, and increased throughput.

Fighter Jet Armaments

The F3-R Rafale generates images in both the visible and infrared ranges.

Secure Wireless Communication System

pureLiFi has announced a new deal to supply the US Army Europe and Africa with Kitefin™, a next generation optical wireless communication system

Review of Recent Capability Improvements in Ultrashort Pulse Laser Sources: Closing the Relevancy Gap for Directed Energy Applications

The horizon for directed energy (DE) applications, using ultrashort pulse lasers (USPLs), is quickly approaching.

The Purpose of Mixed-Effects Models in Test and Evaluation

While Defense Test and Evaluation (T&E) is different from agriculture, data attributes can be surprisingly similar.

Nonlinear Effects in Transformation Optics-Based Metamaterial Shields for Counter Directed Energy Weapon Defense

Applying an iterative solution to the Maxwell equations may accommodate the nonlinear effects produced by directed energy weapons.

Machine Could Power the Future of Aviation Propulsion

A one-megawatt electric motor that could help propel future, more environmentally friendly and economically sustainable aircraft was tested by NASA and its industry and academic...

Training Drones to Avoid Obstacles at High Speeds

The faster drones fly, the more unstable they become and at high speeds, their aerodynamics can be too complicated to predict. Crashes, therefore, are a common and often spectacular...

From AUVSI 2021: Man’s Next-Best Friend

One of the most interesting — and definitely the most entertaining — technologies on display at this year’s AUVSI XPONENTIAL trade show was Boston Dynamics’s aptly named Spot robot.

Researchers Bring Attack-Proof Quantum Communication Two Steps Forward

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a method for secure communication that uses quantum mechanics to encrypt information. While the security of QKD is unbreakable in...

AI Research Strengthens Certainty in Battlefield Decision-Making

A new framework for neural networks’ processing enables artificial intelligence to better judge objects and potential threats in hostile environments. Researchers from...

National Hypersonic Ground Test Facility to be Built

A first-of-its-kind in the U.S. facility to test hypersonic technologies will be constructed in the Purdue Aerospace District adjacent to the Purdue University campus. The Hypersonic...

AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2021 in Atlanta

The rescheduled 2021 AUVSI XPONENTIAL unmanned vehicles and robotics technology trade show got underway this week.

Automated Flight Control System for Drone Swarms

An automated system was developed that enables an operator to control a small fleet of up to 10 drones from a single ground station. The operator indicates the mission to be undertaken...

Algorithm Flies Drones Faster than Human Pilots

For the first time an autonomously flying quadrotor has outperformed two human pilots in a drone race. The success is based on a novel algorithm that was developed by researchers of the...

Novel Method De-Ices Planes on the Fly

How do you control ice formation on a plane, even when it’s in flight? A de-icing method exploits how frost grows on pillar structures to suspend ice as it forms into a layer that’s easier to...

New Products: August 2021 Aerospace & Defense Technology

Coaxial connectors, tactical servers, test benches, surge protectors, and more.

EW: New Challenges, Technologies, and Requirements

Developers of electronic warfare technologies must consider emerging U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) initiatives like Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA).

Thermal Management Techniques in Avionics Cooling

Innovation is carrying airborne technologies farther and higher than ever before, and avionic cooling practices have had to evolve to keep up.