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Probably not many of us lie awake nights pondering how we can be sure our GPS positions are firmly related to reality. It just is enormously reassuring to have that machine telling us where we are. Because it is presented via flashing lights and after much button pushing we are inclined to take its accuracy for granted. Well mostly it is very accurate and a marvel of technology it is too. But when one stops to consider there are some technical difficulties which have been very ingeniously addressed. When you are a photon of electromagnetic radiation or a molecule vibrating in space and time as you go about your business, the Earth, rather than being a solid stable reference point, is a shifting plate of vibrating Blancmange. Not even once does a position on or in the earth trace out the same path. The surface of the Earth is perpetually vibrating and quivering and the centre of rotation of the earth is never the same from one moment to the next when one gets close to serious accuracy. Tides, thermal expansion, Nutation, the influence of the moon, relativistic effects due to the alterations in the earths orbital speed all mean we have to look outside the solar system for a base line to refer orbital motions to in order that we have a base line to reference our measuments to. First it was a collection of fixed stars but they too move. Now there is a new and improved base line. Called the ICRF2, this new map uses observations of about 3,000 quasars with the Very Long Baseline Interferometer (VLBI). Sort of does put it all into perspective.

The VLBI is a special network of radio telescopes from all over the world that together have the resolving power of a telescope thousands of miles in diameter. (Though quasars burn intensely brightly, their enormous distance makes them too faint to locate accurately with a conventional optical telescope.)

The new quasar observations were able to reduce the uncertainties in the quasar positions to angles as small as 40 microarcseconds — about the thickness of a 0.7-millimeter mechanical pencil lead in Los Angeles as viewed from Washington, D.C. This uncertainty is five times better than the original ICRF.
http://www.livescience.com/space/091103-st-gps-quasars.html

‘Stealth’ blades take wind turbines off the radar. It seems nothing is ever simple in these days of environmental concern, technological complexity and growing populations and standards of living. A recent example is the innocent windmill. Some see them as a major answers to major problems. Others see them as bird killers, infra noise generators and a con job that will cost too much and deliver too little. Most likely they will find their place but one problem that snuck up on a lot of us is that they can screw with Domestic aviation radars.
The big, fast-moving blades of modern wind turbines interfere with radar for both planes and ships. But ’stealth’ technology could solve the problem. Read more…

There is a saying that if one slowly heats a pot of water with a live frog in it the frog will go to sleep and not get out and so get cooked whereas if he is dropped into a hot pot he will leap out. So it is in many situations in life. We have it in aviation where slowly evolving situations get way past a point where some action should be taken because each development is incremental and not so different from the last situation. So it is with Airbus pitots and standby instruments and now with Flight 188 overflying its destination I think we have the same thing. It does not really matter if they went to sleep or lost track of time there was considerable potential for trouble. Much has been made of the poor match of the human physiology and performance and yet steadily the man is being taken out of the loop in flying so that such things can happen. An extraordinary number of RPT flights pass uneventfully but where a trend emerges it should be addressed. Ground control is now possible and studies should be made, discussed and decisions taken. Pilots do not have to leave the cockpit. It is just another logical progression. The Helios tragedy where apparently a cabin crew member was walking about with a portable O2 system but unable to enter the cockpit is another situation where ground control could have saved hundreds. The reasons why this has not happened are many and various and to do with how aviation has evolved a rigid and inflexible regulatory process. Vested interests are many but it is mainly a sort of general inertia and no one has had the courage really to say come on guys wake up or more to the point, hear those who have been saying such. As usual there will be wails of technical difficulty and cost but it seems clear that it is going to be a small cost in the long-term and long over due for considerations. Maybe the risk of different sort of hostile take over is behind the resistance but we seem to find ways to trust our fellow men in many other situations. Why not? Read more…

While researching STOL airfoils, the Cuanda effect, as well as the Dyson bladeless fan (which uses a blown ring geometry airfoil) , as one does, I came upon an interesting article.   This I am sure will interest those of us who are into aerodynamics. I suppose that is most of us. This article elucidates a surprising understanding of low Reynolds Number flow by the ancient and medieval technologists, and also an insight into pre-industrial revolution industrialisation.

As published in Low-tech Magazine by Kris De Decker this is a truly amazing read follow the link below :

Wind powered factories: history (and future) of industrial windmills

Please follow the link and leave a comment.

Every so often there is a buzz that someone has made a stunning break through in the Physical Sciences and achieve something wondrous. Antigravity, a space warp, cold fusion, action at a distance or some such. There are persistent rumors that people who know better than us are seriously researching exotic physics and indeed physics is become so bizarre that it would take a really arrogant person (such as the English scientists who declared the end of Physics after Newton had enunciated his laws of motion) to say any of these things are really truly impossible. There is a sort of suspicion that if we can’t go through the problem maybe we can go round it.
The latest example of this is the so called Emdrive developed initially by a small English company SPR (Satellite Propulsion research) Ltd The developer Roger Shawyer has good credentials and does not seem a lunatic but that has not stopped a lot of people some of them very well qualified themselves responding to a recent article in New Scientist with a mixture of scorn outrage and the scientific version of frothing at the mouth. This is because the claim if true will transform space travel and given that the Chinese have taken up the idea ahead of the rest of the space faring world it will see the Chinese with a healthy lead in a radical new development.
The Chinese team has purchased rights to part of the process and claims to have verified the theory and made progress with its practical application since June 2007. The team headed by Professor Yuan at Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) in Xi’an is building a thruster based on Shawyer’s theories scheduled to be completed by end of this year.
The device that has sparked their interest is an engine that generates thrust purely from electromagnetic radiation – microwaves to be precise – by exploiting the strange properties of relativity. It has no moving parts, and releases no exhaust or noxious emissions. Potentially, it could pack the punch of a rocket in a box the size of a suitcase. It could one day replace the engines on almost any spacecraft. More advanced versions might allow cars to lift from the ground and hover. It could even lead to aircraft that will not need wings at all. One can’t help thinking that it sounds too good to be true.
Read more…

Finally the capability to use mobile telephones is being offered by an increasing number of airlines. We, the passengers have been clamouring for this for years in despair. This was a fight with too many dogs.  National aviation and communication regulatory authorities,  Industry  governing bodies,  manufacturers, air crew associations, telecommunications providers, you name it, and of course us, the customers. Eventually an acceptable model emerged for the enabling technology to go forward.

Each aircraft is equipped with a picocell. This is a low power cell phone tower operating within the cabin . This interfaces with the on board satellite communications links to interoperate with  the terrestrial  telecommunications networks and so process the call normally with full functionality.  That is actually very elegant and many enhancements are in the works for Wi-Fi internet access for example raising issues about VOIP and firewalls and the rest of it.
The main providers at the moment are OnAir (http://www.onair.aero) and AeroMobile (http://www.aeromobile.net). The rush is on….

Read more…

Single stage to orbit (SSTO) is the way to go for cheaper space travel but so far it has defeated the available technology. Basically the reason for needing multiple stages is that carrying all the mass of a rocket into orbit makes the process inefficient and costly. With multiple stages mass can be dropped as the fuel in it is used. The problem with multiple stages is that re-using stages is difficult because they obviously have to be retrieved in one piece and without salt water damage if they are to be reused and there is obvious waste if they are expended. Despite the existance of some wayout plans for vastly more efficient techniques such as Space Towers which will lower an elevator down from orbit and Launch Fountains which would use a stream of projectiles to suspend structures in space, the near term technique of choice seems to be the use of air breathing engines for the initial boost to something like mach 5 after which an efficient rocket provides the remaining boost into orbit.
The suggestion that the SSTO is a step closer comes with claims by Reaction Engines Limited a British company to have under development a new form of hybrid engine which does not have the drawbacks of earlier planned hybrid strategies. They predict economically viable SSTO could be with us by 2012 Read more…

ATC is complex and resistant to computerization as many failed attempts to introduce advance automation into ATC has shown. Despite this the need to remove human error and to optimize trajectories which will over time lead to massive fuel and cost savings as well as efficiencies and time savings for the consumer has meant that the goal has been doggedly pursued. Numerous trials of various systems have taken place and are still talking place. Modern FMS and autothrottle and autopilot systems now permit such precise management of cruising speed that the time is now deemed by many to have come for the NextGen ATC which will provide these efficiencies.
In an announcement on 21st of August the FAA and Embry Riddle said that the dimension of time would be introduced into a demonstration of flight management. Read more…

A number of pioneers have been chipping away at the problems involved in creating electrically powered aircraft. A variety of approaches are being actively pursued and as yet it is not clear which direction will prove to be the most successful. Contemporary electric motors are already up to the job of powering aircraft up to the light twin level with motors up to 500 kwatts being feasible and available but the problem of power storage or fuel remains opaque to really successful commercially useful solution. Exceptions to this are some niche application such as drones and long duration UAVs where applications are being perfected now.
Read more…

Oshkosh, Wisconsin, July 31, 2009

The NASA Innovative Partnerships Program and the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation today announced the CAFE Green Flight Challenge (CGFC), a flight efficiency competition for aircraft that can average at least 100 mph on a 200-mile flight while achieving greater than 200 passenger miles-per-gallon. The prize for the aircraft with the best performance will be $1.5 million. This is the largest prize ever offered for a general aviation competition. A $150,000 prize for best score by a bio-fueled aircraft is also offered. Read more…