Battery Backup to Mains Electric Grid

Image from National Geographic

Around the United States battery backups are being installed at strategic points on the power network. These power packs are in testing the testing stage of a plan to provide back up power in case of  power shutdowns .

The packs will also be used to store over produced energy where the power companies are producing to much energy.and  will be use at peak demand instead of firing up coal powered station thus reducing the impact on the environment.

Read more  National Geograpfic    The Guardian

Car to be Fitted with Emergency Call Systems

From April 2018 all cars must have fitted a e-call device that automatically calls a control room when the cars are involved in an accident. The EU law encompassing all car and light commercial vehicles  was passed today (Tuesday April 2015) and could be extended to Busses and Lorries  in 3 years.

Full story Reuters

Another Star Trek Device Bought to Life

Another SI Fi piece of equipment looks like it could come into being, MIT have developed a system for monitoring heart beats remotely using wireless technology.
   The device uses the rebound from radio waves to measure the rise and fall of a humans chest and the heart beat is then extrapolated from there. The system has proved to be 99% accurate against current practices,

Source   MIT News
 

Russia Builds Mobile Nuclear Reactor to Power Artic City

Russia is in the process of building a mobile nuclear power plant on board a ship to power any artic 'City'
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that the ship will be built by 2016 and assembly has already begun. The unit is in fact a nuclear reactor that can be connected to the shore via power cables.

Source  TASS

Norway FM Broadcasts to Stop in 2017

Norway will make the switch to DAB radio only in 2017, all the country's FM transmitters will be switched of  leaving only DAB content. The move is expected to save the Norwegian government around  £17  Million  a year.
   It is hoped that enough work has been done to retain listeners on  DAM when it is switched off and not loose them to on-line services such as Spotify and Last FM.

A New Meaning to Toughened Glass

The Prince of Wales the new Queen Elizabeth class Aircraft carrier has 2 meter window in its tower. The glass made from the worlds toughest glass and will withstand the hit from a helicopters spinning rotor blade.
   The bridge will now make its way to Rosyth to be fitted to other segments of the ship.

Russia Pledge 15$ million to EXoMars Mission

         The Proton -M rocket that is set to launch the ExoMars Gas Orbiter.

Russia has been given the Exomars Gas Orbiter a boost with the promise  of $15 million to prepare for the mission.  The Exomars mission is a Joint venture between ESA and Roscosmos and is scheduled to map gasses on Mars in October 2016

Star Wars Droid is Real Not CGI

Yes BB-8 is real the new droid from the new Star Wars film The Force Awakes is not a CGI It is a remote controlled robot made by JJ Adams



Source  International  Business Times  You Tube  Techradar

Fabric 3D Printer By Disney

 The Fabric 3D printer that can embed conductive wire into the fabric to make soft electronics developed by  Disney Research, Carnegie Mellon

Dark Drones

                                          

      

     Drones have come to the for of late with them being used in every area of life. There are drones that have been used in disasvters, Arial photography,security and as a sport. There are also drones that deliver thing parcels etc. and there lies the dark side.

    Large drones used flown by countries as observational platforms have been modified to carry warheads and become  the poor nations cruise missile. The craft can be preprogrammed and taught to evade. Nations such as Iran have already these in there arsenal  

     December 2014 saw the first use of the Suicide Drone in a Iranian military exercise. and since then more have been produced.

Recent scares in the Home terrorist market have been the Drone landing in the White house grounds But that was only a toy?  The Gadget show recently added a BB Gun to a drone as a training tool for athletes that fired when  the presenter was not running fast enough. This was shown as being very accurate.

    With Drones being of  relative  small cost and increasingly being ably to carry more weight this has got to be a headache for the security services of all western Nations. Will it now become necessary to make a Drone no fly zone around are Capital buildings and install laser weapons  on there roofs.

Resources    Breaking Israel News

Digital Radio Sales Rise

Sales of Digital radios have risen due to the warm weather and potential digital switchover reports  the Telegraph .  YouGov also reports that the radio is still the main medium to find new music. The most popular website for discovering new Music is YouTube. 

Read More  Telegraph     YouGov

Sapphire Glass Tough or Not

Sapphire glass could be the replacement for the gorilla glass now used on mobile phones screens. The  glass is coated with an artificial sapphire coating made from aluminum oxide. As sapphires are the second toughest item in the world after diamonds  could be the worlds toughs screens. Watch the video to learn more  or just search Google fror sapphire glass

Autonomous drones on the way

One of the main problems with the latest battery operated drones is that  if they go flat they just fall and if they hit anything they go out of control, This means that they can not can not be fully autonomous.
  Step in Prof. Davide Scaramuzza, Director of the Robotics and Perception Group at the University of Zurich and co inventor of a new system that brings autonomous drone for commercial use (parcel delivery etc) a big step forward.
Using  a camera, acceleration sensors and a smartphone processor  a drone can recognize where and at what angle it is in and correct its orientation. Also if the power is failing the drone can find a safe area to land.


Source Science Daily

UAV \ UUV that Fly's and Swims (Flimmer)

The US Naval Research Laboratory is looking to produce a UAV  ( unmanned air vehicles) \ UUV that is a UAV that becomes a UUV(unmanned undersea vehicles ).

The latest version of this machine is called  Flying WANDA and can fly at  57 MPH and can get up to  11 Knots underwater.

Sources   discovermagazine.com   U.S. Naval Research Lab

Exoskeleton To Help People Walk

Walking with a passive-elastic ankle exoskeleton. An un-powered clutch engages a spring in parallel with the Achilles tendon when the foot is on the ground, offloading the calf muscles and making walking easier.Credit: Stephen Thrift, North Carolina State University

 Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and North Carolina State University have come up with away to help stroke victims and people having trouble walking. 
    A exoskeleton for the ankle that reduces the metabolic cost  of walking by about 7%, the equivalent of a 7-10 lb back pack.


Resource National Science Foundation   Gizmag