The Army is rolling out a new gaming system, called Operation Overmatch, that soldiers can use to test virtual versions of gear and operation concepts that could be implemented in the future.

Sandia National Laboratories and University of New Mexico researchers have developed unique microneedle-based sensor technology that they hope can someday be used to help soldiers on vital missions. Ronen Polsky, a Sandia materials scientist who leads the design of the microneedle sensor, said the technology is the first way to extract large volumes of pure interstitial fluid for further study.

Researchers from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory have shown that early fatigue damage behavior in structures may be predicted through the study of the microscale mechanical behavior of the material. By understanding the behavior of the material prior to damage, it could lead to vehicle structures that act as sensors themselves, with the ability to report their health state and adapt to varying conditions.

Engineers have revealed a new technology concept –Adaptable UAVs – which can alternate between fixed and rotary wing flight modes in the same mission. When in rotary wing mode, the UAVs can be launched and recovered from battlefields and docked on a special pole.

Digital Copilot is an intuitive technology that listens, talks—and to some extent—thinks like a human, offering enhanced air safety. It performs like a virtual copilot, helping to increase in-flight situational awareness and reduce pilot workload.

Rugged computing platform manufacturer Themis Computer® released its next-generation XR6 Rugged Enterprise Servers (RES) featuring the newest Intel® Xeon® Scalable (Skylake) Processors.

While the future of vehicles may be driverless, West Virginia University is steering the technology in the right direction. More and more cars being sold today include semi-automated features ranging from self-parking to lane departure to automatic braking, but fully automated vehicles are on the horizon. WVU’s researchers are working to improve vehicle and smart infrastructure technology that underpins their development and their benefit to communities in areas such as safety, energy, traffic, economic opportunity and more. One of those researchers is Victor Fragoso, an assistant professor in the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, whose research is focused on improving the artificial intelligence of autonomous agents, which includes driverless vehicles.

The Southern Ocean is key to Earth’s climate, but the same gusting winds, big waves and strong currents that are important to ocean physics make it perilous for oceanographers. So instead their job is increasingly being given to ocean drones, the autonomous floating vehicles that collect data from the world’s oceans. With an urgent need to better understand climate to predict how it will shift with more heat-trapping gases, scientists are developing new tools to measure waters below where satellites can penetrate, and in places that are too dangerous or expensive to reach regularly by research ship. They are also sending those instruments on increasingly ambitious missions.

A researcher from Arizona State University wants to command machines with the human brain. In fact, within ten years, Panagiotis Artemiadis, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Arizona State University, envisions a swarm of brain-controlled drones playing a critical role in a range of applications, including agriculture and search-and-rescue operations.

An average flight from Miami to Seattle takes about six hours and 40 minutes, but imagine being able to reduce that time to 50 minutes or less. A recent study by NASA and Binghamton University researchers focuses on boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs).