Designing the 21st Century Aerospace Vehicle - Opening the Door to a New Era in Flight

 

Advanced aerospace vehicles are key to national security, transportation, mobility, freedom, and our quality of life. The answer to ensuring the continued viability of aviation is not through evolutionary or near-term approaches alone, but through careful development of revolutionary, long-term approaches utilizing emerging technologies. The significant advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information technology are opening the door to a new era in aircraft development resulting in designs that will be radically different from today's aircraft.

Aircraft of the future will not be built of traditional, multiple, mechanically connected parts and systems. Instead, aircraft wing construction will employ fully integrated, embedded "smart" materials and actuators that will enable aircraft wings with unprecedented levels of aerodynamic efficiencies and aircraft control.

Able to respond to the constantly varying conditions of flight, sensors will act like the "nerves" in a bird's wing and will measure the pressure over the entire surface of the wing. The response to these measurements will direct actuators, which will function like the bird's wing "muscles." Just as a bird instinctively uses different feathers on its wings to control its flight, the actuators will change the shape of the aircraft's wings to continually optimize flying conditions. Active flow control effectors will help mitigate adverse aircraft motions when turbulent air conditions are encountered.

Intelligent systems composed of these sensors, actuators, microprocessors, and adaptive controls will provide an effective "central nervous system" for stimulating the structure to effect an adaptive "physical response." The central nervous system will provide many advantages over current technologies. Proposed 21st Century Aerospace Vehicles will be able to monitor their own performance, environment, and even their operators in order to improve safety and fuel efficiency, and minimize airframe noise. They will also have systems that will allow for safe takeoffs and landings from short airfields enabling access to this country's more than 5,400 rural/regional airports.

Researchers at NASA Langley Research Center are taking the lead to explore these advanced vehicle concepts and revolutionary new technologies. New analysis methodologies are being formulated to model and predict the best locations for sensors and actuators. Cooperative ventures with industry and other government agencies will be key to the project. Specific technology areas of study include ground-to-flight scaling, reliability-based design, adaptive flow control, robust controls, and autonomic vehicle functions.

 

T-shirt charges your phone by absorbing ambient sound (w/ video)

First there was tie-dye, then there was hypercolor. Could piezoelectric fabrics that charge your mobile phone while you wear them be the next big T-shirt fad? That's what the French telecom company, Orange, is counting on, reports the Telegraph.

The shirts utilize ambient sound as a catalyst to produce electric voltage, and were rolled out just in time for the Glastonbury Music Festival in Britain. Developers hoped that the shirts would offer a convenient, eco-friendly way for festival goers to charge their phones while they're rocking out away from the grid.

The material used in the shirts is made from a product called piezoelectric film, which is capable of transforming sound waves into an electric charge via the compression of interlaced quartz crystals. Once that electric charge is generated, it is stored in a reservoir battery which can, in turn, be used to charge your mobile device.

Prototypes for the technology are being called "Sound Charge." They don't quite have the most fashionable of looks just yet, but it's their forward-thinking, eco-friendly design that ultimately makes them wearable. Besides, unlike most fashion trends, these shirts actually serve a purpose.

After a weekend of mosh pits and camping out, the shirts will undoubtedly need to be washed. The good news is that Sound Charge's developers already thought of that, too. All of the shirt's key electronic parts can be easily removed so that the shirt can be washed just like any other T-shirt.

The Glastonbury Festival was the ideal venue for testing the prototypes because of all the ambient noise, but people who spend a lot of time away from noisy concert scenes may want to wait for the technology to develop before donning their own Sound Charge T's. According to the technology website The Register, even over the course of a loud weekend at Glastonbury, the shirts would only store about six watt hours. That might "recharge a smartphone once, if you're lucky." Even so, that may be all the charge you'll need over the course of a weekend.

The shirts' charging ability may eventually be boosted by being combined with other wearable piezoelectric items. Last year Orange produced Wellington boots with chargers in the heel that generated electricity with each step. Who knows, before long your entire wardrobe may become a portable, wearable power plant.

 

Google’s new social network: Google +

Facebook is the leading social network out there, but that doesn’t prevent other companies from developing their social networks. Speaking of new social networks, Google has just launched Google + social network.

One major problem with social networks is that you share all of your information with people in your friend’s list, despite the fact that you might not even know them or consider them your friends. Luckily, Google has decided to create a special service called Circles that allows you to share specific information with a different circle of friends on a new, easy, and intuitive way.