Cognisens concept diagram (via Cognisens)

SOF (Special Operations Forces) soldiers go through some pretty tough unending training to get their bodies into super-athlete condition to be able to handle the missions they’re tasked. However, it’s more of a matter of ‘mind’ than it is physical, as they need to be able to react to the environment around them.

Reconnaissance and FID (Foreign Internal Defense) plays a big part in the community , and that takes quite a bit of intelligence. To keep the mind sharp the SOF community employs a wide range of techniques and tools such as SOCOM’s (US, Special Operations Command) recent implementation of Cognisens NueroTracker. The system was actually designed for professional sports players to increase situational awareness and decreasing response time during game play. To do this Cognisens designed the system as a 3D environment where the participant wears 3D glasses to view 8 targets and has to track 4 designated targets for a period of 8 minutes.

It’s easier said than done as the series of targets increase over the period of sessions. This process becomes harder over time with 8 different gameplay difficulties with ‘Overload’ being the hardest level and ‘Challenger’ mode that pits two players against each other. The company states that just as lifting weights develops increased muscle capacity, NueroTracker ‘re-wires’ the part of the brain uses for memory and increases its performance. SOCOM says that this is the perfect tool in giving commandos the ability to track multiple targets with reduced response time and the ability to predict movement. While it doesn’t seem like the harsh, rigorous, training most operators go through, any tool that improves ability is certainly beneficial.

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Playing with RC cars can be a lot of fun for kids, and as anyone who plays the Call of Duty games know, the army thinks they are fun as well. Now, a company called Boston Dynamics has revealed their latest take on the RC car. Unfortunately you will not find it at any Toy’s R Us. Boston Dynamics and the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force are behind this project because creating military bots is now more profitable than selling RC cars to kids.

Their creation is called the Sand Flea. It is a heavy duty all terrain RC car with a trick up its sleeve to overcome obstacles. Weighing only 11 pounds, the Sand Flea has an on board camera and CO2 piston-like launching mechanism all in a small package. The CO2 launch system propels it up to 30 feet in the air for gaining access to rooftops and clearing walls or obstacles. The Sand Flea jumps very accurately from a stationary position, so it can even get into open windows. The CO2 tank allows for 25 jumps before reloading. To assure a smooth landing and steady camera footage, the Sand Flea is also equipped with a stabilization system that levels it when it is in flight.

See more of Boston Dynamics work:

Advanced humanoid robot designed to test clothes

AlphaDog robot impresses and intimidates

Eavesdropper

See more robots is the element14 Robotics group

(Left) Intelligent Textiles showing off their conductive "e-textiles" (Right) Conductive vest, looks exactly like its non-electrical original

Ask any soldier and they’ll tell you that the more gear you use when you ‘kit up’ the harder it is to move. Communication systems like the PRC-153, while smaller than their predecessors, take up a lot of real-estate on plate-carriers and tactical vests alike. Add up all the other electronic gadgets such as GPS units, tactical tablets and NVG systems and you’ll quickly get lost in the cluster that used to be your body-armor. Oh I almost forgot; each one of those ‘cool’ gadgets requires power, and this power usually (9 times out of 10) comes in the form of batteries, lots and lots of batteries.

To help free up some of the clutter and weight associated with these electronics, a UK company called "Intelligent Textiles" has designed an electrically conducive yarn that can be woven into uniforms or body-armor. The ‘e-textile’ allows for power to be transferred from a single battery pack to any location with a plug built-in to the fabric such as helmets, gloves, backpacks, sleeves or pant legs. The company states that even the soldier’s weapon can be outfitted to take advantage of the fabric and future versions will even come with a fold-out keyboard. This advanced electrical textile does away with a lot of the cable clutter as well as cutting all the batteries carried down to just one needed to power almost everything the soldier carries.

Intelligent textiles have fielded a prototype for testing purposes future versions will need to be waterproofed so the fabric doesn’t short-out or rust in wet environments. The company is currently in talks with BAE Systems with hopes to have their e-textile uniforms on the field by 2017.

This is not the first to propose conductive thread. A team of researchers assembled from different schools developed a wire with a cotton substrate. Their work was for everyday use, not just for the world's war fighters, thankfully.

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(Left) SUGAR high/freeze (Right) supersonic Boeing concept (via Boeing)

"Green" is becoming the norm in new design. Boeing is jumping on the bandwagon and looking to win a major contract from NASA to create new subsonic/supersonic aircraft that will be more environmentally friendly. Concepts for the subsonic aircraft (noted as N+3 for the next three generations of aircraft) are all derived from the project known as SUGAR (Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research). These include "SUGAR free" and "refined SUGAR" (I’m not making this up these puns) that resembles current 737 designs. SUGAR high and the electric/gas hybrid SUGAR Volt are more of a futuristic design and SUGAR ray (a design that looks like a B2 stealth converted for passengers) bringing up the rear. Finally, the SUGAR freeze (based on the SUGAR high) runs on cryogenically frozen liquid natural gas, making it 64% more efficient than current Boeing 737-800 planes.

All planes in this category have been designed to decrease CO2 emissions in one way or another; however the SUGAR Volt stands out from the pack because of its battery/fuel hybrid engines which reduce its energy burn by 55% over the other designs.

(Left) refined SUGAR (Middle) SUGAR ray (Right) SUGAR high (concepts via Boeing)

The supersonic designs are just as diverse as their slower moving brothers that include a swing-wing configuration, a fixed-wing design that uses a ‘v-tail’ concept (called Icon 2) and a joined-wing ‘scissor’ (1 wing joined at the fuselage that rotates on a pivot point) concept. All the supersonic crafts are designed to lessen or reduce the inevitable sonic boom created with super-fast flight. Yes, Boeing understands that while the supersonic models aren’t exactly up-to-speed (as it were) on the whole green initiative, they more than make up for it in raw speed alone. Conceptual designs were also submitted by Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin to NASA as well, all in the hopes of winning a contract. If all goes according to plan, the first group of next generation planes will hit the runway in 2030.

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As citizens and politicians argue about how not to spend tax dollars, the U.S. navy seems to be gaining ground in persuading congress in spending hundreds of millions. A new type of gun that was previously thought as impractical and a waste of time, energy, and money may soon get back on the design track. This new weapon is called an electromagnetic rail gun and it works by accelerating a 20+ lb aluminum “bullet” around hypersonic speeds (Mach 5) towards the enemy.

Congress was skeptical as early designs did not include a barrel for the gun but new footage of preliminary tests by the company BEA Systems and the Office of Naval Research show a functioning rail gun with a barrel. These tests shot a 23 lb bullet at 5500 ft/s using 33 Mega Joules of energy. While these results have convinced the navy that this project should be pursued, there is still more development needed before battleships can handle these weapons.

The Navy wants guns that can shoot 10 times per minute, which means that the barrel will need to withstand the punishment. The firing needs to reduce the demand on the ships energy supplies. So additional energy-dense batteries for the gun will be need to be added. Each projectile has to be equipped with processing systems to guide its trajectory. Lastly, the blast cannot damage the onboard components. A new thermal managing systems are in development as well.

The companies BEA Systems and General Atomics are hard at work on this project. So far the effort has cost about $240 millions dollars, and it is expected to cost around twice this amount by the time it is complete and ready to buy. We may not have jobs in 2020, but the Navy counts on having these rail guns ready for war.

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Cheeta concept drawing (via Boston Dynamics)

Robots are best known for their superhuman strength or computational prowess but not necessarily their speed. That’s all about to change with the introduction of DARPA’s new M3 (Maximum Mobility and Manipulation) robot. Called the Cheetah, the robot is the brainchild of Boston Dynamics and can reach speeds of 18 mph, which is a world record for multi-legged robots (unseating the previous contender from MIT). The Cheetah is designed after the animal of the same name and uses a mechanism, powered by a hydraulic pump, which flexes its back making the legs move (much like a muscle). Increasing the flexibility rate results in faster movement of the legs, but the robot needs to be held in place and run on a treadmill to do so at the moment. Outdoor testing without a leash will be done this year (2012) according to Boston Dynamics for further development. DARPA is funding the Cheetah and plans to adapt it to EOD teams, as well as other military applications, to help with IED disarmament and removal in rugged terrain that other robots ca not traverse. Sounds like a good project that would help save the lives of our ground-pounders. I just hope the final rendition of the Cheetah look like the concept graphic shown above.

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See some of Boston Dynamics other robots:

The AlphaDog, a heavy equipment carrier

Petman, the robotic human soldier

CleanSpace concept drawing (via EPFL)

Space is a messy place. According to NASA, it is littered with over ten million pieces of debris orbiting the Earth at a rate of around 36,000 km/h. That junk is potentially hazardous not only to astronauts but can damage or destroy spacecraft and satellites, as well. To combat this problem engineers from the Swiss Space Center at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) have designed a satellite that performs a kind of intergalactic housekeeping. Called ‘CleanSpace One’, the satellite finds its target and latches on with a grappling mechanism. Once the garbage is taken hold of, CleanSpace One then de-orbits the Earth and both it and the garbage are harmlessly burned up in the planet’s atmosphere. To match the speed of the space junk in orbit, CleanSpace One will use a special ultra-compact motor that is being developed in EPFL labs to catch its target that travels anywhere from 28,000 to 36,000 km/h. The costs for developing and deploying CleanSpace One costs about $10,000,000 Swiss Francs and will be tested in the next five years with the retrieval of either the Swisscube picosatellite (launched in 2007) or the Tlsat (launched in 2010).

This development comes after a long line of other proposed space debris collection. Anime story line inspires many to clean up the skys. The Russian POD system is like a garbage truck in space. SETI will be used to track debris. NASA wants to use laser to shoot down larger pieces. The space station has to move constantly to avoid large bits flying into its path.

A Messy, and scary, place indeed.

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(Left) F-Bomb in 3D printed enclosure (Right) F-Bomb hardware hidden in a CO monitor

Of all the mini computers available, this one might have the biggest potential of all. It is appropriately called the F-Bomb, which stands for, Falling or Ballistically-launched Object that Makes Backdoors. Malice Afterthought's Brendan O’Connor, a security researcher, has developed a system made from commercially available components and put together, costs less than 50 dollars and is capable of breaking into a network with the right software.

The purpose of the device is exactly as its name dictates. When dropped, the F-Bomb searches for networks within its range and infiltrates all the networks it finds. The size of this computer is 3.5 in by 4 in by 1 in. It is made using a Pogo Plug, 8 gig flash memory, small antennae, and a case made on a 3D printer. The components of the F-Bomb are so small that they can be easily be fitted inside any ordinary device, like a smoke detector, and covertly operate for as long as the batteries last.

The F-Bomb will be inexpensive, around $50 USD, on purpose. O'Connor explained why, "If some target is surrounded by bad men with guns, you don’t want to have to retrieve this, but you also don’t want to have to pay four or five hundred dollars for every use The idea is that it’s as close to free as possible. So you can throw a bunch of these sensors at a target and get away with losing a couple nodes in the process.”

In essence, the F-Bomb is a data collecting device. O’Connor designed it with Wi-Fi cracking software to create back doors into the network and collect private information. However, any applications and programs compatible with its Linux OS can run on the F-Bomb. With the correct sensors, it can performs other valuable data collections like meteorological or atmospheric information.

Originally, O'Connor won the DARPA awarded project "Reticle: Leaderless Command and Control" for the Cyber Fast Track program. F-Bomb was a follow up project, funded independently. The purpose of Reticle is on the hush-hush.

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