Early today at AeroTech Americas – SAE International’s North America-based international aerospace congress – GoFly announced the five Phase II winners of the GoFly Prize for personal mobility vehicles. Each of the innovative winning teams, from the United States, Latvia, Russia, and the Netherlands, were awarded $50,000 in prizes.
The Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant (stylized as “SB>1 DEFIANT”) compound helicopter flew for the first time at Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Florida facility. Unlike current rotorcraft, the SB-1 Defiant’s propulsion system includes a rear-mounted pusher propulsor in addition to two coaxial main rotors. This unique setup allows the Defiant to reach speeds and a service range far beyond that of modern helicopters.
OneWeb has secured $1.25 billion in its latest funding round. The company, which seeks to deploy a satellite communication network by 2021 that will enable global high-speed, low-latency Internet access, has now raised a total of $3.4 billion to fund its mission. Tokyo-based Softbank Group Corp., Mexico’s Grupos Salinas, San Deigo-based Qualcomm Technologies Inc., and the Government of Rwanda led the last round of funding.
The long-range, “high subsonic” aircraft is part of AFRL’s Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) portfolio, which was established to break the escalating cost trajectory of tactically relevant aircraft and provide an unmanned escort or wingmate aircraft for Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
AeroVonics LLC, an aerospace startup based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification for its initial launch product: a two-inch, twelve-function flight avionics instrument for light general aviation aircraft.
In the “What’s Next for Aerospace and Defense: A Vision for 2050” study, AIA, New York City-based McKinsey & Company, and other industry partners reveal a comprehensive 30-year, Industry 4.0 forecast of air travel and spaceflight based on improvements in automation and digitization, next-generation materials, alternative energy sources and storage, and increased data throughput.
Officials at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota Motor Corp. in Tokyo have taken a first step toward collaborating on international space exploration, having agreed to accelerate their ongoing joint study of a manned, pressurized rover powered by fuel cell technologies to enable lunar mobility.
Some OEMs are finding that the traditional solutions for eliminating EMI/RFI are no longer sufficient given increases in operating circuit frequency, noises of higher frequencies that expand the affected frequency range, and the miniaturization of electronic devices that shrink the distance between source and device. This is leading many OEMs to employ monolithic EMI filters instead of traditional options.
Technology transfer and collaboration continue to grow globally among mobility engineering professionals focused on aerospace and automotive applications. Cross-industry partnerships received a boost this week, as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota Motor Corp. officials announced increased cooperation on unmanned, electrified, and automated rovers for space exploration.
The United States Air Force’s 412th Test Wing’s Emerging Technologies (ET) Combined Test Force (CTF) completed the first flight test of Johns Hopkins University’s Testing of Autonomy in Complex Environments (TACE) system. As “middleware,” TACE serves as an “autonomy watchdog,” monitoring commands sent to an aircraft’s autopilot software from its autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) computer and transmitting autopilot information such as position, speed, and orientation back to the AI.
The search for a suitable replacement to hard chrome plating on aerospace components has been a key supply chain priority for aircraft manufacturers. This is because of the documented health risks to workers and the impact on the environment from exposure to hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen that occurs during the chrome plating process and the most toxic form of chromium.