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Category: transportation – Page 605

NASA’s designing a passenger jet that’ll break the sound barrier WITHOUT the boom

NASA has commissioned engineers to design a new kind of jet that can travel faster than the speed of sound, but without the telltale sonic boom. Instead, the aircraft will produce a soft thump as it breaks the sound barrier, which the researchers are adorably calling a “supersonic heartbeat”.

It’s hoped that the new jet could eventually fill the commercial gap left by the retirement of the Concorde — which travelled at twice the speed of sound (Mach 2) and could get passengers from London to New York in just 3.5 hours — but without all the noise complaints.

From an engineering point of view, we’ve long had the ability to travel at supersonic speeds — which is generally anything over 1,234 km/h — but when we do, it triggers a sound explosion that can travel thousands of metres in a jet’s wake, rattling houses and cars as it goes. As you can imagine, not exactly ideal for heavily trafficked flight paths.

DJI’s revolutionary Phantom 4 drone can dodge obstacles and track humans

When The Verge began covering “drones” three years ago, we got a lot of grief about using that word: drone. These were just remote control toys, they couldn’t fly themselves! When drones got smart enough to navigate using GPS, and to follow people around, the naysayers pointed out they still couldn’t see anything. It could follow you, sure, but not while avoiding trees. At CES the last two years we finally saw drones that could sense and avoid real-world obstacles. But those were just tech demos, R&D projects which so far haven’t been made commercially available.

That all changes today with the introduction of DJI’s new drone, the Phantom 4. It’s the first consumer unit that can see the world around it and adjust accordingly, the next big step towards a truly autonomous aircraft. Try and drive it into a wall, the Phantom 4 will put on the brakes. If you ask it to fly from your position to a spot across a river, and there is a bridge in between, it will make a judgement call: increase speed to clear the obstacle or, if that isn’t possible, stop and hover in place, awaiting your next command.

The Phantom 4 accomplishes this feat with the help of five cameras: two on the front and two on the bottom, plus the main 4K camera that has always been onboard to capture video. The images captured by these cameras are run through computer vision software which constructs a 3D model of the world around it that the drone can intelligently navigate.

How to make your own Bluetooth-controlled underlit miniskirt

The Internet full of incredible DIY projects that make you wish you had the years of experience required to build your own Batmobile, flaming Mad Max guitar, or hoverboard. Thankfully with the underlit miniskirt, we’ve come across a DIY item that looks awesome and is still easy to make.

This wearable was inspired by the Hikaru skirt, a programmable LED miniskirt that took certain corners of the Japanese Internet by storm earlier this year.

HKUST students should consider careers in quantum computing, expert says

I have been encouraging my nephews to consider this as well.

After nearly three decades of searching for ways to build superfast computers that operate on the principles of quantum mechanics, the reality of a fully-fledged quantum computer is moving closer, says professor Andrew Yao Chi-chih, dean of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing.

“Quantum computing is no longer viewed as a fad, or a scientist’s pie in the sky,’’ Yao told an audience of students, faculty, and invited guests during his presentation at a Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) 25th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Series event on January 28. Yao also took the opportunity to explain his rationale for quantum computing to be recognised as a Great Science. “Great Science involves the intersection of different scientific disciplines to create new knowledge that allows the exploration of the previously unimaginable,’’ stressed Yao, adding that Great Science also lifts the human spirit.

Yao believes computers built on the principles of quantum physics could revolutionise the information processes used for a range of applications, including precision weather forecasting and replacement aircraft fuselage wind tunnel testing. He also pointed out that increasingly powerful computers are needed to solve fresh challenges.

Why I’m not worried about the LEAF hack or my garage break-in

The person in the article is not very smart. 1st you never offer a tempting challenge to a hacker in public forum. I have known too many and followed to many since the 80’s. 2nd, house burgulars are not even close to the calibur of hackers.

I own a 2013 Nissan LEAF SV with telematics functions known as CARWINGS. CARWINGS connected to my car via an app also called NissanConnect EV that was hacked by Troy Hunt and came into to the news this week. Nissan issued two different statements about the hack and eventually shut off the app completely.

LEAF owners are concerned that because the app was easy to-hack with the LEAF’s VIN number that access could be used for malicious use.

The LEAF’s VIN number can be clearly seen through the windshield.

Circuit Board Tattoos Turn Your Skin Into A Synth

After that stem-cell synth yesterday, we’re in the mood for some serious bodymods—so let’s take it from Cronenberg and into Gibson. Software company Chaotic Moon is currently working on tattoos made with conductive ink, which they’re calling Tech Tats. While still mainly used in the medical field, we can already imagine a fully developed 303 implemented under your skin. Who needs a hoverboard when you can make acid with a tattoo?

(via designboom)

ATR 72 prototype tests all-electrical energy management system

European turboprop aircraft manufacturer ATR said a prototype ATR 72 conducted a demonstration flight to test an all-electrical energy management system that aims to optimize electrical power distribution.

The flight is the second the ATR 72 demonstration aircraft has flown as part of the European Union’s “Clean Sky Joint Undertaking” program. The first test flight by the ATR 72 prototype, conducted in July 2015, trialed “new and more effective composite insulation materials and new vibro-acoustic sensors integrated into a large panel of the ATR aircraft fuselage,” ATR said in a statement.

The manufacturer said the two demonstration flights “also tested new generation optical fibers for improved identification of micro-cracks and easier maintenance.”