Using engineering simulation, big compute and 3-D printing, Optisys achieves orders-of-magnitude reduction in antenna size and weight while reducing development time. By leveraging ANSYS electromagnetic and structural simulation tools running on Rescale’s big compute platform, this startup’s engineers take full advantage of the design freedom offered by 3-D printing to meet radio frequency (RF) performance requirements for an integrated array antenna.

Engineers developed a technique that causes a composite material to become stiffer and stronger on-demand when exposed to ultraviolet light. This on-demand control of composite behavior could enable a variety of new capabilities for future Army rotorcraft design, performance, and maintenance.

Northrop Grumman Corporation
Falls Church, VA
+1 703-280-2900
www.northropgrumman.com/firescout

Fire Scout is a combat proven, autonomous helicopter system that provides real-time Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Target-acquisition (ISR&T), laser designation, and battle management to tactical users without relying on manned aircraft or space-based assets. Fire Scout has the ability to operate from any air-capable ship or land base in support of persistent ISR&T requirements.

DTS
Seal Beach, CA
+1 562-493-0158
www.dtsweb.com

Harsh, wet and dusty environments pose serious reliability issues for data collection. The SLICE IP68 data acquisition system is designed to measure physical signals in challenging test environments. With an ultra-small footprint of only 60 mm x 60 mm, the system can be embedded in most test articles with size and mass constraints. Its compact size means that it can be placed near the point of interest, eliminating the need for long cable runs, waterproof enclosures, or slip rings.

The US Army Research Laboratory (ARL), US Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), DCS Corp., and Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) worked together to advance the capabilities of a software-in-the-loop (SIL) simulation environment in support of the larger TARDEC-Wingman Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration (JCTD).

A team from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) unveiled “SoFi,” a soft robotic fish that can independently swim alongside real fish in the ocean. During test dives in the Rainbow Reef in Fiji, SoFi swam at depths of more than 50 feet for up to 40 minutes, nimbly handling currents and taking high-resolution photos and videos using a fisheye lens.

Unmanned vehicles for air, land, and water represent an increasingly-important capability for virtually all military services worldwide. Because each new generation of device technology promises capabilities and higher levels of overall performance for unmanned vehicles of all types, military customers expect these benefits in the latest UAV offerings. To meet these expectations, systems engineers must deal with increasingly difficult problems of thermal management, power budgeting, EMI emissions and susceptibility, weight, size, cabling, connectors, antenna management, and command/control functions. Several new technologies and innovative packaging concepts now provide better solutions to these issues.

Kittyhawk
San Francisco, CA
+1 415-598-7757
https://kittyhawk.io

Kittyhawk recently announced new features to its flight system software platform. Kittyhawk is adding an automated flight system to its Flight Deck feature set to work in conjunction with its recently released secure live streaming feature.

The advancement of robot capabilities and functionality has changed the way in which soldiers perform many of their operational tasks. The various unmanned air, ground, and submersible vehicles currently deployed have significantly impacted present-day warfare.

The primary objective of this research is to integrate GPS and local sensory data to allow a robot to operate semi-autonomously outside of a laboratory environment. The Pioneer 3-AT, a robust platform capable of operating in the outdoors, is utilized in this project. The P3-AT has acoustic sensors that can calculate distances to obstacles and encoders that calculate how much each wheel has turned. In a laboratory environment, sensory and encoder information can be used to triangulate position or measure distance and direction traveled from a known starting point. Operating outdoors limits the effectiveness of both systems as the obstacles are not known and wheels can often slip and slide on different surfaces. This necessitates external data to determine the location of the robot. GPS was chosen to provide that data. GPS, acoustic, and encoder data were integrated within MATLAB and provided control signals to the robot.