DETECTING PLASTIC LANDMINES

Hidden PFM-1 anti-personnel landmines are unexploded ordnance (UXO) devices that pose a difficult challenge to conventional landmine detection methods like metal detecting because the mines are primarily composed of plastic and only weigh 75 g. As a remnant of the Soviet-Afghan War, there are an estimated 10 million such devices scattered throughout Afghanistan. These mines remain in isolated locations, frequently out of reach of de-mining nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and act to thwart local economic and social development. The PFM-1s are infamously referred to as “toy mines,” as children often mistake the mines for toys and set off the 525 kg of cumulative pressure it takes to detonate them.

Airplane winglets reduce drag, which can translate to higher speed or to allow a pilot to throttle back and save fuel. It also helps to reduce wingtip vortices that can be problematic for airplanes flying in their wake. Although winglets have been around since the mid-1970s, there is still a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and angles.

Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim)
Orlando, FL
1-407-608-7000
https://bisimulations.com

Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim), a global developer of advanced simulation and training software, has been selected by the U.S. Navy to provide air crew training technology that leverages emerging augmented and virtual reality technologies. Supporting the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) via PMA-205 and the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD), BISim will provide an augmented reality visual system that enables trainees to interact with a physical T-45 simulator cockpit while immersed in a high-fidelity virtual environment displayed in a head mounted display (HMD).

Manufacturers around the world are grappling with the challenge of continuous innovation in the face of increasing complexity. In aerospace and defense (A&D), complexity is nothing new, but digital transformation to become a more connected enterprise that allows programs to run independently while achieving enterprise-wide processes remains an elusive goal. Today, organizations around the world are rethinking their strategies and turning to more open and agile approaches to create a connected enterprise that can enable faster innovation.

This research investigates a new vision for increasing the resilience of computing clouds by elevating continuous change, evolution, and misinformation as first-rate design principles of the cloud's infrastructure. The work is motivated by the fact that today's clouds are very static, uniform, and predictable, allowing attackers who identify a vulnerability in one of the services or infrastructure components to spread their effect to other, mission-critical services. The goal is to integrate into clouds a new level of unpredictability for both their services and data so as to both impede an adversary's ability to achieve an initial system compromise and, if a compromise occurs, to detect, disrupt, and/or otherwise impede their ability to exploit this success.

This research deals with the problem of modelling the orbit and attitude motion of uncontrolled manmade objects in orbit about the Earth, which tumble due to the natural influences of the near-Earth space environment. A mathematical, physics-based and computational approach is taken to model the forces and torques that drive the orbit and attitude evolution of such objects. The main influence modelled is solar radiation pressure (SRP), which is the interaction of solar electromagnetic radiation with the surface of an object, leading to both forces and torques that influence the orbital and attitude motion. Other influences, such as the gravitational field of the Earth, are also modelled.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
Poway, CA
858-312-2810
www.ga-asi.com

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is using an integrated fuel tank structure to maximize fuel offload for the proposed MQ-25 unmanned aerial refueling aircraft for the U.S. Navy. GA-ASI applied its knowledge of advanced composite aircraft structures to develop integrated fuel tanks in a large-scale wing box test article and a full-scale wing skin pre-production validation article.

Satellites launched with the purpose of relaying communications have been enabling around-the-globe transmissions of information for half a century. And in this current era of hybrid warfare, that means this decades-old hardware needs to be able to manage the command and control of unmanned aircraft.

Pin Fin Heat Sinks

Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. (ATS) (Norwood, MA) has a family of Pin Fin heat sinks designed as cost-effective solutions for systems with adequate airflow. The high aspect ratio design enables ATS Pin Fin heat sinks to provide low thermal resistance from base to fins in systems where the airflow measures 200-plus LFM (linear feet per minute). The cross-cut design also allows the Pin Fin heat sinks to be effective in systems where airflow is ambiguous.

As satellites and astronauts travel further out in space, the more communication challenges they face. NASA launched the InSight Mission on May 5, 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. InSight was designed to collect data on Mars quakes and the processes that shaped the rocky planet to help us better understand how it formed. Getting the information back to the scientists here on Earth required a variety of antennas on the spacecraft.