Thursday, December 26, 2013

▶Russian SOLab Bernard Chapron - Synthetic Aperture Radar Lectures

▶ BChapron_Synthetic Aperture Radars_part1 - YouTube
▶ BChapron_Synthetic Aperture Radars_part2 - YouTube



Satellite Oceanography Lab (SOLab) presents the lecture on Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) given by Prof. Bertrand Chapron (IFREMER/ SOLab) at Russian State Hydrometeorological University on 28 March 2013.

The course of lectures on Earth Remote Sensing from Space was created by SOLab within the Megagrant project No. 11.G34.31.0078.

Education
More info on course schedule and materials are available at: www.solab.rshu.ru/education


Presentation Slides

The first part of the lecture "Satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR)," delivered by Prof.. Bertrand Chapron (Ifremer / SALW) in the course on remote sensing of the Earth from space. This course is created in the Laboratory of satellite oceanography (SALW) RSHMU within Mega-Grant No. 11.G34.31.0078. The presentation of the lectures and other course materials can be found on the website: www.solab.rshu.ru/ru/education

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Crazy Economic Numbers From 2013

83 Numbers From 2013 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe | Pakalert Press

#1  102 million working age Americans do not have a job.  That number has risen by about 27 million since the year 2000.
#2  49.2 percent of all Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program each month.
#3 the NSA intercepts and permanently stores close to 2 billion emails and phone calls in addition to a whole host of other data.
#4  total public and private debt levels around the globe are now 30 percent higher than they were back during the financial crisis of 2008.
#5 private domestic debt in China has grown from 9 trillion dollars in 2008 to 23 trillion dollars today.
#6 In 1985, there were more than 18,000 banks in the United States.  Today, there are only 6,891 left.
#7 The six largest banks in the United States (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) have collectively gotten 37 percent larger over the past five years.
#8 The six largest banks now account for 67 percent of those assets and all of the other banks account for only 33 percent of those assets.
#9 JPMorgan Chase is roughly the size of the entire British economy.
#10 The five largest banks now account for 42 percent of all loans in the United States.

Warnings issued for coming shortages of water | Pakalert Press

Warnings issued for coming shortages of water | Pakalert Press

Drastic measures will be needed to keep supplies available to millions of Americans, the report said, costing trillions of dollars. After all, the human body, which is 65 percent water, can only survive three days without more water, scientists say. The threat encompasses more than just the 10 cities cited in the report –
  1. El Paso, Texas; 
  2. Palo Alto, Calif.; 
  3. Miami, Fl; 
  4. Lincoln, Neb.; 
  5. Salt Lake City, 
  6. San Diego, Calif
  7. Los Angeles, Calif
  8. San Antonio, Texas
  9. Las Vegas, Nevada and 
  10. Atlanta, Georgia.
That’s because the freshwater Great Lakes are at their lowest level ever, reservoirs in California are dry bowls of dust, the life-giving Colorado River now disappears before it reaches its end and underground aquifers are growing tinier each day.

New technology may help in coastal regions.

Special issue: intelligent behaviors in military unmanned systems

Special issue: intelligent behaviors in military unmanned systems
Table of Contents — January 2014, 11 (1)
Military unmanned systems are used to augment a soldier’s capabilities in reconnaissance and combat operations. Traditionally, it is the soldier who controls anunmanned system directly from a remote location via tele-operation, providing the machine with the necessarydecision-making capability to achieve its mission objectives. However, the military’s desire to reduce soldier workload and effectively deploy unmanned teams has spurred researchers to find ways to make unmanned sysytems more autonomous. In essence, the military seeks to develop unmanned systems that not only perceive their environment, but also take actions to maximize the chance of successfully meeting mission objectives. The articles in  this special issue address these military needs by presenting both theoretical and practical results in the growing research area of military unmanned intelligent behaviors.

Northrop Grumman to Operate VADER Man-Hunting Radar for UAV in Afghanistan

Northrop Grumman to Operate VADER Man-Hunting Radar for Unmanned Aircraft Operations in Afghanistan | UAS VISION

The overall idea of the Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar (VADER) system is to detect teams planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to destroy or damage U.S. military vehicles and personnel. VADER also has been demonstrated to track animals and boats. VADER is designed to track vehicles and foot traffic over a wide area from UAS and manned aircraft, and provide Army ground commanders with real-time ground moving target indicator (GMTI) data and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery.

High resolution doppler and coherent processing is needed for both SAR and GMTI. As SANDIA has shown, Successive SAR images can reveal tracks of movement by the use of coherent change detection (CCD), while as reported in Space-time Adaptive Processing for Radar by J. R. Guerci
and Ward and Kogon of Lincoln Labs have reported, GMTI using Space Time Analysis Processing (STAP) can reveal current moving targets with small RCS and slow radial motion component even in high clutter return. 
Sandia GMTI
Sandia SAR CCD

The VADER’s ground moving target indicators detect the Doppler shift that moving objects produce in radar return signals, Northrop Grumman officials say. Doppler shift is a change in the frequency of the radar return caused by the motion of the target. Because there is no shift caused by stationary objects, the shift reveals moving objects.

A Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL) separate from the host platform transmits VADER data to an exploitation ground station with the remote radar control, mission planning, and exploitation equipment. VADER transmits processed signals from the aircraft to custom ground stations, where operators can view still, high-contrast, black-and-white synthetic aperture radar images, or moving targets displayed as dots on a map.

VADER can be operated from a pod mounted on a manned fixed-wing aircraft such as the twin-engine Britten-Norman Islander, on which the company flight-tested VADER in 2008, as well as on the General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS.


Monday, December 23, 2013

A Guide To Spotting And Hiding From Drones | Popular Science

A Guide To Spotting And Hiding From Drones | Popular Science
Consider it a rough Audubon guide to the mechanical fauna of battlefields. Created by Amsterdam-based designer Ruben Pater, the Drone Survival Guide is, on one side, a rough bird watcher's guide to the modern robot at war. The other side is a short section of printed survival tips, and the guides are available in Pashto, Dutch, German, Italian, Indonesian, Arabic, and English.

The selection of drones included in the guide leads heavily towards those from NATO member countries, with the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and the United States all represented, as well as NATO itself, for the other member countries that use these drones. Partly because those are the countries that have used drones, in Afghanistan and elsewhere, the most, but partly because they are just the countries where it is easier to get information about the scale and wingspan of their flying robots.

Drone Survival Guide

Taiwan Military denies failed CIST $3B Stealth UAV program is waste


Asian Defence News: Taiwan developing weapons-capable UAV
Taiwan's military is developing weapons-capable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with some stealth capabilities at the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, an official at the institute told CNA Friday (12/7/13).

This will mark the first armed UAV from the military-run research center, which has developed various tactical drones for surveillance and reconnaissance that cannot carry weapons, according to the source familiar with the institute's project, who requested anonymity.

Unlike previous models, the drone under development boasts short wings, stealth features and a weapons cabin that can carry missiles and bombs, the official said.
 

Strategic UAV development program proceeding smoothly: official | Politics | FOCUS TAIWAN - CNA ENGLISH NEWS
Chin Shou-feng, who concurrently heads the military-run Chungshan Istitute of Science and Technology (CIST), made the revelation at a Legislative Yuan committee hearing during which he was asked about his views on a media report that the institute's UAV development project has hit a snag.

The Liberty Times said in a Monday report that the Chungshan Institute has spent NT$3 billion (about US$100 million) on a plan dubbed "Long March" that aims to develop a strategic UAV capable of conducting reconnaissance missions over airports in China's southeastern provinces such as Jiangxi and Guangdong.

The CIST-developed UAV, however, has fallen short of the Air Force's requirements and has not been put into mass production, the report said.

Military denies that UAV program is a waste of money - Taipei Times

Long March (長征), failed to meet combat requirements and the military decided to suspend the program. The Long March UAV program was launched in 2009 with a budget of NT$3 billion (US$100 million), but the air force required a vehicle with a combat radius large enough to enable it to conduct surveillance operations around Chinese military airports along the coasts of Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces and the prototype could not match those requirements.

The report quoted Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) as saying that the military wasted NT$3 billion on a system that could not be produced.

Lin was quoted as asking why the air force made the requirement for the UAV, since the military’s US-established early-warning radar system was able to monitor movement along the Chinese coast.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

J Walter Thompson to help USMC find a few good men

J Walter Thompson awarded IDIQ $170M by USMC

J. Walter Thompson, Atlanta, Ga., is being awarded an undefinitized contract action in an amount not-to-exceed $170,000,000 for an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity bridge contract under a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (M00264-08-D-001).  Task order 0001 in the amount of $77,433,499 will be awarded concurrently.  The bridge contract is for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command's (MCRC) Advertising and Recruitment Services Program's requirement.  This contract provides for services to furnish the supplies and services customarily provided by a full-service advertising agency in order to support recruiting programs for MCRC at Quantico, Va., and other locations throughout the United States.  Work will be performed primarily at Quantico, Va., with an expected completion date of Dec. 19, 2014.  With all options exercised the contract will continue through June 19, 2015.  Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Marine Corps funds in the amount of $29,701,083 are being obligated at time of award for the first task order, and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Regional Contracting Office, National Capital Region, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (M00264-14-D-0002).

BAH wins IDIQ $50M CPFF effort from Army to study Dematerialization ISR

Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Va., was awarded a $49,916,668 cost-plus-fixed-fee indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the dematerialization-centric intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance effort to perform analyses, assessments, studies, and operational exercises of technologies and systems.  Funding and work location will be determined with each order.  Estimated completion date is Dec. 18, 2016. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 999 received. Army Contracting Command, Adelphi, Md., is the contracting activity (W911QX-14-D-0001).

I'm not sure what dematerialization-centric ISR is. Sounds like something out of Star Trek.

RAND says Joint Fighter Programs don't Save Money

Do Joint Fighter Programs Save Money? | RAND

In the past 50 years, the U.S. Department of Defense has pursued numerous joint aircraft programs, the largest and most recent of which is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Joint aircraft programs are thought to reduce Life Cycle Cost (LCC) by eliminating duplicate research, development, test, and evaluation efforts and by realizing economies of scale in procurement, operations, and support. But the need to accommodate different service requirements in a single design or common design family can lead to greater program complexity, increased technical risk, and common functionality or increased weight in excess of that needed for some variants, potentially leading to higher overall cost, despite these efficiencies....

Our analysis shows that historical joint aircraft programs have not saved overall LCC versus single-service aircraft programs and that JSF is currently not on the path to saving LCC versus comparable notional single-service fighter programs. The objective of this research was to inform the formulation of acquisition strategies and program structures for future fighter and other aircraft major defense acquisition programs. These findings do not, therefore, directly address policy questions regarding the current or future status of JSF. However, they can provide insight into how and why JSF has arrived at its current status with respect to cost and cost growth, and they could contribute to broader analysis seeking to develop policy options for the way ahead for the JSF program.

Do Joint Fighter Programs Save Money? Technical Appendixes on Methodology | RAND

After spending multi-billion$ on the JSF the Air Forces own think tank tells us! Anyone who lived through the TFX and F/B-111 could have told them this. 

Root for the MIT DARPA Robotics Challenge team today

Root for the MIT Robotics team
Follow on Twitter   
2nd Place MIT team uses Boston Dynamics Atlas
Boston Dynamics Atlas 
ATLAS looks suspiciously like Arnold Schwarzenegger's innards in Terminator. Is there a time machine and AI chip involved?

now part of the Google empire. Looks like Google has bet on the field.

BBC News - Google's Schaft robot wins Darpa rescue challenge

Why did Google acquire Boston Dynamics and other robot companies? | Digital Trends

This year alone, Google has acquired no fewer than eight robotics firms, including Industrial Perception, Redwood Robotics, Meka, Schaft, Holomni, plus the startups Bot & Dolly and Autofuss. And Google is committing brainpower too: In addition to putting former Android chief Andy Rubin in charge of robotics, earlier this year Google hired machine learning expert Geoffrey Hinton, and last year brought famed inventor and AI advocate Ray Kurzweil on board.

 Google seeks to commercialize humanoid robots - Computerworld

Computerworld - HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The first sign that Google now owns robotics heavyweight Boston Dynamics was when the Google bus rolled into the DARPA Robotics Challenge to offer engineers a place to kick back and take a nap.

Officials at Google, a company known for offering extravagant perks like meditation pods and beach volleyball courts to employees, showed up at the Homestead Miami Speedway in southern Florida today to show support for their new team and to get a look at the Atlas robot, built by Boston Dynamics, and one of the stars of the challenge.

The DARPA challenges is a great place for Andy Rubin, Google's robotics projects lead and the former head of Android, to get a good look at the third-generation Atlas.

On Friday and Saturday, 16 teams, including participants from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Virginia Tech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are vying to create the best software to enable their robot to turn valves, use human tools, climb a ladder and even drive a car.

MIT Beavers hang tough with team SHAFT on day one

DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials: What We Learned on Day 1(Friday 12/20) - IEEE Spectrum
At the end of day one, the score has Japanese team SCHAFT with 18 out of a possible 20 points after five events, which is alarmingly close to flawless. MIT is in second place with 12, and no other teams are in double digits yet. This is not entirely a surprise, since SCHAFT posted video of themselves completing every single task before the competition even started. It's easy to tell that the practice has paid off, as SCHAFT has so far blown through ever task rapidly and confidently. They've got three more events to do tomorrow, and arguably, they're the three hardest: ladder climbing, terrain navigation, and driving.

MIT Beavers score Only 4 points on day 2 - did Atlas shrug, or was it software bug.

Team SCHAFT Sticks It to Competition, Wins DARPA Robotics Challenge
After two days of competition, MIT came in 4th:
  1. Tokyo's team SCHAFT has won the DARPA Robotics Challenge in Miami. With 27 out of a possible 32 points in eight challenges, SCHAFT pulled out a decisive victory. 
  2. IHMC Robotics (20 points), 
  3. Tartan Rescue (18 points), 
  4. MIT (16 points) and 
  5. Robosimian (14 points) 
round out the top five. We can't wait for the final competition to come in 2014 with $2M at stake.
Science and Technology: Eight Teams Earn DARPA Funds for 2014 Robotics Finals

SCHAFT : DARPA Robotics Challenge 8 Tasks + Special Walking
 
Team from Japan Clinches Gold at the Robot Olympics
 
Robot Funded by Google Dominated DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials 2013

 

#DARPADRC

Twitter news feed
Twitter Pictures from competition

MIT | DRC Trials



▶ Meet DRC Team MIT - YouTube

  •  Seth Teller (team lead), Russ Tedrake (co-lead)
  • Ø  Bryt Bradley (procurement & logistics), 
  • Ø  Dehann Fourie (state estimation), 
  • Ø  Mark Pearrow (software, test infrastructure), 
  • Ø  Matt DiCicco (testing & validation), 
  • Ø  Robin Deits (interface, planning), 
  • Ø  Toby Schneider (networking), 
  • Ø  Julie Shah, Karl Iagnemma (co-I's) 
  •  Maurice Fallon (perception and infrastructure lead), 
  • Ø  Matt Antone (perception), 
  • Ø  Pat Marion (infrastructure, perception), 
  • Ø  Peter (Kuan-Ting) Yu (perception), 
  • Ø  Steve Proulx (safety, test infrastructure), 
  •  Scott Kuindersma (planning and control lead), 
  • Ø  Andrés Valenzuela (planning & control), 
  • Ø  Claudia Perez D'Arpino (planning), 
  • Ø  Hongkai Dai (planning & control), 
  • Ø  Michael Posa (planning & control), 
  • Ø  Twan Koolen (planning & control), 
  •  Sisir Karumanchi (manipulation lead)

Team MIT completes first hurdle in DARPA Robotics Challenge - MIT News Office
A team from MIT has advanced to the next stage of the prestigious DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), a competition sponsored by the Department of Defense to promote innovation in robotics technology for disaster-response operations. The MIT team beat out more than one hundred other teams in the first stage of the competition — the Virtual Robotics Challenge (VRC) — to gain one of seven prized spots in the next stage of the competition, slated for December.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Fate of the USS America, CV-66

CV66 current location.
CVW-1 over CV66 in her prime

USS America, CV-66 - YouTube



http://youtu.be/E5GAW70uei8?t=1m20s

Wreck of USS America (CV-66)


First she gave of herself to her sister, 

The America was towed into NISMF Philadelphia where she was slowly stripped of her parts and electronics to support her sister USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), in service and forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan until she in turn was decommissioned on 12 May 2009 after almost 49 years of service.
Several efforts were mounted to save the America as a museum ship however all proved unsuccessful as the US Navy decided that she would be far more valuable as a target ship for weapons tests, as much of the Kitty Hawk Class design has been repeated in the Nimitz Class of Supercarriers.

then couldn't be sunk, even with no damage control (no aircraft, ordnance, or fuel).

Towed out of Philadelphia on April 19, 2005, the USS America was the subject of 4 weeks of extensive live-fire exercises, purportedly involving Cruise Missiles, Mines and small boat IED's. USS America survived all these tests and was eventually sunk at this location by controlled scuttling on May 14th, 2005 in 2,180 fathoms (16,860ft) approximately 250 miles east of Cape Hatteras and now lies on an even keel on the seafloor. The exact details of her final exercise and sinking will likely remain classified for some time. 

Minor In Unmanned Aerial Systems Now Offered In Greenville, SC | Aero-News Network

Minors | Embry-Riddle Worldwide

Minor In Unmanned Aerial Systems Now Offered In Greenville, SC | Aero-News Network

Minor in Unmanned Aerial Systems Now Offered in Greenville, SC - Page 2

An event held last Saturday at Greenville Downtown Airport in South Carolina focused on civilian uses of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) included the announcement of new degree programs offered in the field by ERAU, Minors | Embry-Riddle Worldwide. At the event, video was shown and examples were given of the many civilian ways UAS can be used.


"Careers are available in this new and growing field. Many potential employers can't find individuals with the skills necessary to excel in this technologically advanced area. Some education needed to prepare students will now be offered in Greenville," stated Margaret Evans, Greenville Campus Director, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide. ERAU hosted the event along with Greenville Downtown Airport, Airwolf Aviation Services and Runway Cafe.
CONTACT: Neil Keifer, charleston@erau.edu,  (843) 767-8912  or Margaret Evans, greenville@erau.edu,  (864) 233-5288 

About Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, is a nonprofit, independent institution offering more than 40 baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., and through the Worldwide Campus with more than 150 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The university is a major research center, seeking solutions to real-world problems in partnership with the aerospace industry, other universities and government agencies. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu, follow us on Twitter (@ERAUworldwide) and www.facebook.com/EmbryRiddleWorldwide, and find expert videos at http://www.YouTube.com/EmbryRiddleUniv.
- See more at: http://worldwide.erau.edu/newsroom/press-releases/charleston-greenville-campuses-to-graduate-27.html#sthash.QFf6j6Ea.dpuf
CONTACT: Neil Keifer, charleston@erau.edu,  (843) 767-8912  or Margaret Evans, greenville@erau.edu,  (864) 233-5288 

About Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, is a nonprofit, independent institution offering more than 40 baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., and through the Worldwide Campus with more than 150 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The university is a major research center, seeking solutions to real-world problems in partnership with the aerospace industry, other universities and government agencies. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu, follow us on Twitter (@ERAUworldwide) and www.facebook.com/EmbryRiddleWorldwide, and find expert videos at http://www.YouTube.com/EmbryRiddleUniv.
- See more at: http://worldwide.erau.edu/newsroom/press-releases/charleston-greenville-campuses-to-graduate-27.html#sthash.QFf6j6Ea.dpuf
CONTACT: Neil Keifer, charleston@erau.edu,  (843) 767-8912  or Margaret Evans, greenville@erau.edu,  (864) 233-5288 

About Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, is a nonprofit, independent institution offering more than 40 baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., and through the Worldwide Campus with more than 150 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The university is a major research center, seeking solutions to real-world problems in partnership with the aerospace industry, other universities and government agencies. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu, follow us on Twitter (@ERAUworldwide) and www.facebook.com/EmbryRiddleWorldwide, and find expert videos at http://www.YouTube.com/EmbryRiddleUniv.
- See more at: http://worldwide.erau.edu/newsroom/press-releases/charleston-greenville-campuses-to-graduate-27.html#sthash.QFf6j6Ea.dpuf



Wednesday, December 18, 2013

New TRS-4D naval radar for German F125 frigates

TRS-4D - Cassidian.com
New GaN AESA C band radar brings Aegis like performance to small ships.

IEEE Xplore - Processing reference model for TRS-4D radar tests
TRS-4D is the latest generation of the naval radars of Cassidian. The TRS-4D is a multifunction radar for sea and air surveillance and target acquisition, operating in C-band. The radar is based on the latest Active Electronically Scanning Array (AESA) technology. Two variants of the radar are developed - a rotating version and a non-rotating version with four fixed array panels. The processing algorithms of the radar were reproduced in a Matlab reference model.

New TRS-4D naval radar for German F125 frigates demos capabilities in
Cassidian’s new radar for the German Navy’s F125 class frigates has demonstrated its particular reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities during tests in the North Sea and Baltic Sea and during factory acceptance tests. In two test series of several weeks, the TRS-4D naval radar showed an extraordinarily high precision, particularly when detecting small targets such as UAVs, guided missiles and periscopes. Subsequently, the customer confirmed the system’s capabilities during the factory acceptance test at Cassidian’s Ulm location.




Drone Uses a Smartphone to Find Its Way

Drone Uses a Smartphone to Find Its Way | MIT Technology Review
Researchers are using a smartphone as the brains behind a small, inexpensive drone—the phone enables it to find its way around enclosed indoor spaces without using GPS or a remote guide. Although it’s still at an early stage, the so-called SmartCopter could eventually make it safer and cheaper to scout out disaster scenes before human responders plunge in.

Annette Mossel