Energy

Prototype Aims to Reduce Fuel Use, Improve Tactical Vehicle Performance

The Defense Department maintains a fleet of more than 250,000 tactical vehicles, which frequently operate in austere conditions. These vehicles often spend as much...

Small UAV Satcom System

Honeywell’s Small UAV SATCOM system weighs just only 1 kilogram.

New Products: August 2021 Aerospace & Defense Technology

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

Engineering an Aircraft Hydrogen Powertrain

The commercial aviation industry is taking critical steps towards zero-carbon aviation.

NRL’s Hybrid Tiger UAV Soars at Demonstration

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory engineers recently demonstrated Hybrid Tiger, an electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with multi-day endurance flight capability. The team integrated...

Electric Propulsion Ship

See how the Royal Canadian Navy is using GE’s Integrated Full Electrical Power and Propulsion System (IFEP).

Soft Magnetic Materials Are Key to Electric Aircraft

NASA’s work in Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) is focused on the use of electric motors and generators to help power a plane’s flight. Key to any electric power system are...

Electric-Powered Warship

The first full-electric power and propulsion surface combatant, the USS Zumwalt, has been delivered to the US Navy.

The Role of Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technologies in Defense Applications

Artificial intelligence can be used for a plethora of defense applications, including command and control of military operations.

Exploring the Impact of Fuel Data Acquisition Technology on the USMC Expeditionary Energy Command and Control System

Understanding how delays in resource decision making and tactical supply chains relate to operational reach will give commanders the ability to maximize resources.

3D Printing Aerodynamic Improvements

Learn about microvanes, one of the only types of 3D-printed parts that are FAA-approved for use on the exterior of an aircraft.

Army to Consider Electric Vehicles, Alternative Fuel Options

Commercial-led advancements in electric vehicle technology have pushed the Army Futures and Concepts Center to take a hard look at the capability and find ways to integrate it...

UAV Fuel Management System

Valcor Engineering was tasked with creating a turn-key fuel management system for a new UAV.

Bringing Turbine Power to Small Aircraft

A regenerative, high-temperature heat exchanger doubles the efficiency of low-power turbines.

Limiting Creep in Aerospace Materials

Creep is an especially important consideration for engineers designing jet engine turbines.

Calculating Electrical Requirements for Direct Current Electric Actuators

When designing electro-mechanically actuated systems, there are several electrical design requirements that must be determined.

Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Vehicles

Helping to drive the AI trend is the availability of a new class of embedded AI processors.

Discovery Could Lead to Munitions That Go Further, Much Faster

Researchers from the U.S. Army and top universities discovered a new way to get more energy out of energetic materials containing aluminum, common in battlefield systems, by...

Enhanced Contacts for Inverted Metamorphic Multi-Junction Solar Cells Using Carbon Nanotube Metal Matrix Composites

In order to address issues related to mechanical and vibrational stresses that are commonly experienced in mounting, launch,...

Merging Antenna and Electronics Boosts Energy and Spectrum Efficiency

By integrating the design of antennas and electronics, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have boosted the energy and spectrum efficiency for a new class...

Permeation Tests on Polypropylene Fiber Materials

The Toxic Industrial Chemical/Toxic Industrial Material (TIC/TIM) Task Force MFR#1 published in February 2009 focuses on inhalation hazards in an operational environment and provides a list...

Designing for Compressive Sensing: Compressive Art, Camouflage, Fonts, and Quick Response Codes

Compressive sensing (CS) is a relatively new field that has caused a lot of excitement in the signal processing community. It has superseded...

Content Addressable Memory (CAM) Technologies for Big Data and Intelligent Electronics Enabled By Magneto-Electric Ternary CAM

Content addressable memory (CAM) is one of the most promising hardware solutions for high-speed data searching and...

Slim Wing Can Reduce Aircraft Fuel Use and Emissions by 50%

NASA and Boeing are designing a longer, thinner, and lighter wing that requires a brace, or truss, to provide it with extra support. The lower-drag wing will reduce both fuel burn...

NASA Tests Aircraft Wing Coatings that Slough Bug Guts

Bug guts create drag, and drag increases fuel consumption. But aircraft of the future could be made more fuel-efficient with non-stick coatings NASA recently tested on Boeing’s...

Going Off-Road With Hard-Carbon Lithium-Ion Battery Technology

EnerDel’s second-generation Mobile Hybrid Power System (MHPS) was delivered in May to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Research and Development Center in Champaign, IL. It...

Energy Harvesting Could Help Power Spacecraft of the Future

A consortium is working on a project to maximize energy harvesting on a spacecraft of the future. The initiative seeks to find energy-saving and -maximizing solutions to enable...

Flying on Vegetation

Fuel is expensive for airlines. According to sources interviewed for this article, fuel accounts for 30 to 50% of operating costs, depending on the size of the aircraft. And fuel prices remain volatile.