The Black Hawk helicopter has served the U.S. Army well, and have been around since 1979. However, the US army have re-modified and upgraded the Black Hawk with advance electronics, more powerful engines and various tweaks.
The Black Hawk helicopter are re-equipped with:
(i) More Powerful Engines
A pair of new turboshaft engines built by General Electric together deliver 3,988 horsepower. Combined with the new rotors, the helicopter generates 500 pounds more lift than its predecessor and can fly 17 mph faster.
(ii) Stronger Rotors
For lightweight strength, the rotor blades contain a honeycomb-shaped core made of a Kevlar-like material called Nomex that’s wrapped in a fiberglass skin.
(iii) Fly-by-wire Controls
The UH-60M Upgrade will be the Army’s first fly-by-wire helicopter: Electronics, rather than a mechanical system of cables, pipes and hydraulics, connect the controls to the actuators that physically steer the aircraft. The fly-by-wire system also does a lot of the pilot’s thinking for him. It automatically handles basic coordination controls so the pilot can focus on the mission plan. It can even hover automatically, with no human input.
(iv) Digital Cockpit
Pilots have at their disposal full-color flat-screen digital flight monitors, a "stormscope" that can spot severe weather fronts, a computerized system that automatically monitors the health of the entire craft, and plenty of other mundane-sounding but essential computer upgrades—new data connections, modems and GPS.
(v) Self-healing Fuel System
The lines and valves connected to the fuel tanks seal off in the event of a crash.
BMW has been researching in creating a car that could assist driver during conditions that drivers are unaware off. BMW's Research & Development have also created a car that could drive by itself. Below is a video of a famous British car review show Top Gear test the under research BMW.
The perspective of automatic driving is real, which was explained by BMW R&D manager Peter Waldmann at the innovation Summit, a high-level discussion forum in Munich. According to the BMW expert, automatic driving has a high potential to improve the safety situation on highways and streets. "Will cars drive autonomously in 20 years?" Waldmann asked. The answer was a clear "I don't know" – not technology alone needs to be considered.
Waldmann sketched the vision of an "electronic co-pilot" which takes control of the vehicle during annoying traffic situations such as congestions or stop-and-go traffic. In critical situations, the electronic co-pilot warns the driver and provides instructions to defuse the situation; in quickly developing dangerous situation it intervenes directly and thus helps to avoid serious accidents. "It is important that the driver under all circumstances can override the system", Waldmann said.
Most components of the technology required for automatic driving are available. Such a system embraces three functional components: Vehicle control, position determination and environment detection. The first group, vehicle control systems, already features a high degree of maturity. BMW demoed a trial in which a serial production car drove lap on the Nürburgring racing track at high speed – with a driver who never touched the steering wheel. "What makes this racing track difficult for automatic driving is its country road character", Waldmann explained; tight curves and a narrow road complicate algorithms and set high demands to the speed of the control loops.
In order to implement such a system, sensor data fusion is a precondition, Waldmann explained. In the case at hand, the system had to process GPS data, camera-based lane recognition data as well as vehicle-internal data – plus the data of a highly precise digital map of the area. The Nürburgring trial has been conducted in October 2010.
Another application for automatic driving is what BMW calls an "emergency stop assistant system". In the case a driver encounters sudden health problems such as a heart attack – not exactly an exotic case in times of an ageing population – the emergency stop assistant steps in, stabilizes the vehicle within its lane and then drives autonomously to the hard shoulder – of course considering the traffic situation. Finally, it makes an emergency call, providing position and other relevant data to the emergency services.
In terms of technology, the emergency stop assistant is a rather complex data processing device: Since it must avoid any collision with other vehicles, it needs to be equipped with rather sophisticated environment detection. BMW has implemented such an assistant system that combines the input signals of a laser scanner as well as video cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors. Again, a case of sensor fusion.
Before the industry integrates such assistant systems into their set of wheels, a number of issues needs to be cleared, Waldmann said. For instance, a reliable environment recognition along with equally reliable situation interpretation algorithms must be available. At the same time, a comprehensive digital map with very high accuracy is required.
A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device. A fuel cell converts the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the process it produces electricity.
The other electrochemical device that we are all familiar with is the battery. A battery has all of its chemicals stored inside, and it converts those chemicals into electricity too. This means that a battery eventually "goes dead" and you either throw it away or recharge it.
With a fuel cell, chemicals constantly flow into the cell so it never goes dead -- as long as there is a flow of chemicals into the cell, the electricity flows out of the cell. Most fuel cells in use today use hydrogen and oxygen as the chemicals.
Fuel Cell was invented by Sir William Grove in 1839. Grove knew that water could be split into hydrogen and oxygen by sending an electric current through it known as electrolysis. Sir Grove hypothesized that by reversing the procedure you could produce electricity and water. Sir Grove created a primitive fuel cell and called it a gas voltaic battery.
A fuel cell provide a DC (direct current) voltage that can be used to power motors, lights or any number of electrical appliances.
There are several different types of fuel cells, each using a different chemistry. Fuel cells are usually classified by their operating temperature and the type of electrolyte they use. Some types of fuel cells work well for use in stationary power generation plants. Others may be useful for small portable applications or for powering cars. The main types of fuel cells include:
Polymer exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)
The PEMFC has a high power density and a relatively low operating temperature (ranging from 60 to 80 degrees Celsius, or 140 to 176 degrees Fahrenheit). The low operating temperature means that it doesn't take very long for the fuel cell to warm up and begin generating electricity.
Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)
These fuel cells are best suited for large-scale stationary power generators that could provide electricity for factories or towns. This type of fuel cell operates at very high temperatures (between 700 and 1,000 degrees Celsius). This high temperature makes reliability a problem, because parts of the fuel cell can break down after cycling on and off repeatedly. However, solid oxide fuel cells are very stable when in continuous use. In fact, the SOFC has demonstrated the longest operating life of any fuel cell under certain operating conditions. The high temperature also has an advantage: the steam produced by the fuel cell can be channeled into turbines to generate more electricity. This process is called co-generation of heat and power (CHP) and it improves the overall efficiency of the system.
Alkaline fuel cell (AFC)
This is one of the oldest designs for fuel cells; the United States space program has used them since the 1960s. The AFC is very susceptible to contamination, so it requires pure hydrogen and oxygen. It is also very expensive, so this type of fuel cell is unlikely to be commercialized.
Molten-carbonate fuel cell (MCFC)
Like the SOFC, these fuel cells are also best suited for large stationary power generators. They operate at 600 degrees Celsius, so they can generate steam that can be used to generate more power. They have a lower operating temperature than solid oxide fuel cells, which means they don't need such exotic materials. This makes the design a little less expensive.
Phosphoric-acid fuel cell (PAFC)
The phosphoric-acid fuel cell has potential for use in small stationary power-generation systems. It operates at a higher temperature than polymer exchange membrane fuel cells, so it has a longer warm-up time. This makes it unsuitable for use in cars.
Direct-methanol fuel cell (DMFC)
Methanol fuel cells are comparable to a PEMFC in regards to operating temperature, but are not as efficient. Also, the DMFC requires a relatively large amount of platinum to act as a catalyst, which makes these fuel cells expensive.
Advantage of using Fuel Cell is the reduction of pollution where it is one of the primary goals of the fuel cell. By comparing a fuel-cell-powered car to a gasoline-engine-powered car and a battery-powered car, you can see how fuel cells might improve the efficiency of cars today.
If the fuel cell is powered with pure hydrogen, it has the potential to be up to 80-percent efficient. That is, it converts 80 percent of the energy content of the hydrogen into electrical energy. However, we still need to convert the electrical energy into mechanical work. This is accomplished by the electric motor and inverter. A reasonable number for the efficiency of the motor/inverter is about 80 percent. So we have 80-percent efficiency in generating electricity, and 80-percent efficiency converting it to mechanical power. That gives an overall efficiency of about 64 percent. Honda's FCX concept vehicle reportedly has 60-percent energy efficiency.
If the fuel source isn't pure hydrogen, then the vehicle will also need a reformer. A reformer turns hydrocarbon or alcohol fuels into hydrogen. They generate heat and produce other gases besides hydrogen. They use various devices to try to clean up the hydrogen, but even so, the hydrogen that comes out of them is not pure, and this lowers the efficiency of the fuel cell. Because reformers impact fuel cell efficiency, DOE researches have decided to concentrate on pure hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, despite challenges associated with hydrogen production and storage.
A ground breaking technology for every electric cars. It is an air fueled battery. This battery could last 10 times longer than the ordinary battery used by todays electric and hybrid cars. This step-change in capacity will pave the way for a new generation of electric cars, mobile phones and laptops. It started as a research work; which then is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences research Council. The researchers were from the Universtiy of Andrews with partners at Stratchlyde and Newcastle. The air fueled battery enables a constant electrical output from natural sources such as wind and solar. However, the electrical output will not be generated once the weather changes or when night falls. This new design has the potential to improve the performance of any portable electronic products. Oxygen from the air is used as a re-agent rather than carrying the necessary chemicals around inside the battery. The oxygen will be drawn in through the surface of the battery exposed to the air. The oxygen then reacts within the pores of the carbon todischarge the battery. The oxygen, which will be drawn in through a surface of the battery exposed to air and reacts within the pores of the carbon to discharge the battery. This is done due to the improved capacity of the addition of a component in the battery that uses oxygen drawn from the air during discharge. Since the chemicals in the battery is not needed, the battery in turn will offer more energy for the same size of the battery used today. Thus size and the weight of the battery is reduced with the neccessary charge capacity. However, reducing the size and weight of the battery has been a long-running battle for developers of electric cars. This process of the air fueled battery is cheaper, since carbon component is much cheaper than current technology. On the contrary, researchers have been working and improving the chemical reaction of the battery. So that small applications such as mobile phones or MP3 players can be used.
EMP - Electromagnetic Pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation that results from an explosion from a detonation of a nuclear weapon fluctuating the magnetic field, rapidly changing the electric fields which couples with the electronic system to produce damaging current and voltage surges.
In military terminology, a nuclear bomb detonated hundreds of kiolmeters above the Earth's surface is knowns as a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP). Nuclear electromagnetic pulse has three distinct time components that results from different physical phenomena. Effects of a HEMP device will depends on a wide range of factors including the altitude of the detonation, energy yield, gamma ray output, interactions with Earth's magnetic field and electromagnetic shielding of any targets.
A high-altitude nuclear detonation produces an immediate flux of gamma rays from the nuclear reactions within the device. These photons in turn produce high energy free electrons by Compton scattering at altitudes between (roughly) 20 and 40 km. These electrons are then trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field, giving rise to an oscillating electric current. This current is asymmetric in general and gives rise to a rapidly rising radiated electromagnetic field called an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Because the electrons are trapped essentially simultaneously, a very large electromagnetic source radiates coherently.
The pulse can easily span continent-sized areas, and this radiation can affect systems on land, sea, and air. The first recorded EMP incident accompanied a high-altitude nuclear test over the South Pacific and resulted in power system failures as far away as Hawaii. A large device detonated at 400–500 km over Kansas would affect all of CONUS. The signal from such an event extends to the visual horizon as seen from the burst point.
The EMP produced by the Compton electrons typically lasts for about 1 microsecond, and this signal is called HEMP. In addition to the prompt EMP, scattered gammas and inelastic gammas produced by weapon neutrons produce an “intermediate time” signal from about 1 microsecond to 1 second. The energetic debris entering the ionosphere produces ionization and heating of the E-region. In turn, this causes the geomagnetic field to “heave,” producing a “late-time” magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) EMP generally called a heave signal.
Initially, the plasma from the weapon is slightly conducting; the geomagnetic field cannot penetrate this volume and is displaced as a result. This impulsive distortion of the geomagnetic field was observed worldwide in the case of the STARFISH test. To be sure, the size of the signal from this process is not large, but systems connected to long lines (e.g., power lines, telephone wires, and tracking wire antennas) are at risk because of the large size of the induced current. The additive effects of the MHD-EMP can cause damage to unprotected civilian and military systems that depend on or use long-line cables. Small, isolated, systems tend to be unaffected.
Military systems must survive all aspects of the EMP, from the rapid spike of the early time events to the longer duration heave signal. One of the principal problems in assuring such survival is the lack of test data from actual high-altitude nuclear explosions. Only a few such experiments were carried out before the LTBT took effect, and at that time the theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of HEMP was relatively poor. No high-altitude tests have been conducted by the United States since 1963. In addition to the more familiar high-yield tests mentioned above, three small devices were exploded in the Van Allen belts as part of Project Argus. That experiment was intended to explore the methods by which electrons were trapped and traveled along magnetic field lines.
Non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NNEMP) is an electromagnetic pulse generated without use of nuclear weapons. There are a number of devices that can achieve this objective, ranging from a large low-inductance capacitor bank discharged into a single-loop antenna or a microwave generator to an explosively pumped flux compression generator. To achieve the frequency characteristics of the pulse needed for optimal coupling into the target, wave-shaping circuits and/or microwave generators are added between the pulse source and the antenna. A vacuum tube particularly suitable for microwave conversion of high energy pulses is the vicator.
NNEMP generators can be carried as a payload of bombs and cruise missiles, allowing construction of electromagnetic bombs with diminished mechanical, thermal and ionizing radiation effects and without the political consequences of deploying nuclear weapons.
The range of NNEMP weapons (non-nuclear electromagnetic bombs) is severely limited compared to nuclear EMP. This is because nearly all NNEMP devices used as weapons require chemical explosives as their initial energy source, but nuclear explosives have an energy yield on the order of one million times that of chemical explosives of similar weight. In addition to the large difference in the energy density of the initial energy source, the electromagnetic pulse from NNEMP weapons must come from within the weapon itself, while nuclear weapons generate EMP as a secondary effect, often at great distances from the detonation. These facts severely limit the range of NNEMP weapons as compared to their nuclear counterparts, but allow for more surgical target discrimination. The effect of small e-bombs has proven to be sufficient for certain terrorist or military operations. Examples of such operations include the destruction of certain fragile electronic control systems of the type critical to the operation of many ground vehicles and aircraft.
NNEMP generators also include large structures built to generate EMP for testing of electronics to determine how well it survives EMP. In addition, the use of ultra-wideband radars can generate EMP in areas immediately adjacent to the radar; this phenomenon is only partly understood.
HP TouchSmart 310 a media-savvy multitouch machine where it balances polish and performances with a simple touch interface that belies a capable PC where normal user could afford to buy and use it, unlike the stuktable.
HP TouchSmart is an impressive multitouch interface and integrated HDTV tuner however it has a frustrating port placement and doesnt have a true 1080p display. 1080p display
HP TouchSmart is a multitouch-capable jack-of-all trades designed to do a little bit of everything. It already comes with a 20inch display and equally adept at streaming videos, movies and slinging spreadsheet. The TouchSmart unit comes equipped with a 2.5GHz Athlon X4 615e CPU, 6GB of DDR3 RAM and ATI Radeon HD 4270 graphics.
The TouchSmart handles television and movies with aplomb, but gamers should not expect to play anything more demanding than simple Flash games. This is due to the unplayable average frame rate of 20fps.
Unfortunately, using the touchscreen to type or to browse the Internet is more trouble than it's worth. But you can plug in a mouse and a keyboard to make workstation chores--answering e-mail, editing documents, and the like--less burdensome. Alas, the peripherals bundled with the TouchSmart 310 aren't wireless--a feature we've come to expect with all-in-ones.
The TouchSmart 310 is designed to function as a midlevel media center: Its recessed DVD burner complements a 1TB hard drive and an SD Card reader. Video playback looked great on the 20-inch touchscreen, though the maximum resolution of 1600 by 900 can't deliver true 1080p fidelity.
In addition to the aforementioned optical drive and card reader, the SmartTouch 310 sports line-in and headphone jacks in the right panel, and a pair of USB 2.0 ports in the left. On the rear of the unit, you'll find four more USB 2.0 ports, a gigabit ethernet port, and a built-in TV tuner. An integrated Webcam/microphone combo peeks out from atop the 20-inch display, and you can plug in a separate infrared sensor if you prefer to use a handheld remote with your media center.
Maingear Shift Gaming Desktop PC - isnt one of those normal PC but is a gaming PC hardware that is not cheap.
Its expensive due to the system's graphics - three single -GPU XFX Radeon HD 5780 graphic cards [not your ordinary graphic card] which delivers and eye-popping CrossFrie performance thats currently unmatched by any system PC World has reviewed so far.
Maingear Shift is extremely impressive on paper. The included 3.33GHz Intel Core i7 975 Extreme Edition processor is the fastest money can buy, and an unobtrusive liquid cooling system helps Maingear overclock it all the way to 4.0GHz. Coupled with six gigabytes of DDR3-2000 memory and two Intel X25-M 80GB solid-state drives in a boot-drive RAID configuration (with an accessory 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black drive for storage), the Shift is able to deliver dominating performance on our WorldBench 6 test suite. As you might expect, the tri-CrossFire graphics setup delivers a punishing blow as well: The 204 frames per second it spits out on PC World’s Unreal Tournament 3 benchmark (2560-by-2100 resolution, high quality) sets a new performance record for any gaming or mainstream power PC that have been tested.
However, the Shift's general performance is only 15 percent faster than the E&C Black Mamba Power PC. The Black Mamba costs a mere $1979--72 percent less. That's plenty of headroom for an extra dual-GPU GTX 295 video card and, if you’re feeling crafty, a switch from the system’s included 640GB primary drives to SSDs (or a RAID setup of multiple terabyte drives). Heck, replace the included Intel Core i7 920 processor with an i7 975. You could afford all these tweaks andstill beat the Maingear Shift’s price. You might not top its performance, but you’ll come pretty darn close with a sack of money to spare.
To its credit, Maingear delivers a full complement of additional accessories and components on the Shift that does sweeten the deal a bit. Every possible permutation of connection is offered on this system--including two USB ports, a FireWire 400 port, and a multiformat card reader on the system’s front, as well as three HDMI ports, three DisplayPort connections, eight USB ports, two gigabit ethernet ports, one eSATA port, one FireWire 400 port, and integrated 7.1 surround sound on the system’s rear. The Shift’s single optical drive is a Blu-ray burner
The beautiful wiring job on the inside of this monster-size, full-tower chassis is a sight to behold, in that there are…virtually no wires to look at. This makes tinkering with the Maingear’s insides a seamless, frustration-proof process. The Shift’s four free hard drive bays lock into place using trays, and the system’s three free 5.25-inch bays use huge a button to snap your components into place. One complaint: The case has only a single PCI Express x1 slot for motherboard cards--and good luck wedging a PCI card into place in an area that’s dominated by the Shift’s huge video cards.
The PC’s case looks as smooth as silk, perfectly unadorned by any fancy external trappings or eye-catching glitz. The entire system itself is vertically mounted, in that the motherboard connections you usually find on the rear of a system are on the Shift’s top. It’s a unique design that improves the accessibility of these connections. A grilled top preserves the airflow of the chassis and conceals unsightly wires. It’s a great way to eliminate unnecessary distractions in this otherwise beautiful box of a system.
Maingear’s Shift takes a number of dramatic steps forward in the world of high-performance computing. From its tricked-out load-out, to its dominating graphics performance, to its interior and exterior that are as pretty as they are easily accessible, it’s hard to find much fault with this well-designed system. But not everyone can easily afford this Lamborghini of power PCs. Of course, you could build a comparable system for less than the Shift’s $7000 asking cost, but you’ll never be able to get the kind of TLC that’s been built into this beautiful monster.
