advanced helicopter : Draganflyer X6

Draganflyer X6 is an advanced helicopter that can be operated remotely without any pilot. It is designed mainly to carry wireless video cameras and still cameras. The Draganflyer X6 helicopter can be operated very easily with its hand held controller.

The Draganflyer X6 helicopter is based on a unique 6-rotor design that has been under development since early 2006. It uses 11 sensors and thousands of lines of code to self-stabilize during flight which makes it easier to fly than any other helicopter in its class. The on-board software of Draganflyer X6 is developed after extensive testing and development. Draganflyer X6 helicopter is a revolution in the field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

It can be used very efficiently for various applications and it is ideal for spying on the enemy in a safe and reliable manner.

MAJOR FIELDS OF APPLICATIONS

The new Draganflyer X6 can be used in various field such as Industrial Constructions, Government Applications and Educational needs.

1)Industrial Use:

Draganflyer X6 can be used very efficiently in Bridge Constructions, Building Construction, Pipeline / Hydro-Transmission Line Inspection, Road Construction. With the help of this aircraft you can get videos and images of any site from various angels.

Equipped with a high resolution still camera (with remote zoom, shutter control and tilt) it can capture great images. And its high definition video recorder can record videos very efficiently. It has a range of 500 meters and have a flight time of 20 to 30 minutes.

It is designed specifically with easy controlling system for ease of use it. So, it is easy to fly, needs very minimal training, and provides an extremely stable aerial platform from where you can get photographs and video. It's small size and portability makes it suitable to carry it to any construction site and have it ready to fly in minutes.
2)Government Applications:

Draganflyer X6 can be used in many government applications such as Law Enforcement,Fire, Emergency Measures, Wildlife Management, Environment and Transportation. You can use this advanced machine for Disaster Response, Conservation Enforcement, Crime Scene Investigation, Crowd Control, Explosive Disposal Unit, Search and Rescue Missions, Traffic Congestion Control, Criminal Intelligence Applications, Fire Damage Assessment, Fire Scene Management any many more.

3)Educational Applications:

Draganflyer X6 is very useful in educational applications such as Advanced RC Flight Research, Aerial Archeology, Environmental Assessment, and Geological Exploration.

FEATURES AT A GLANCE:

Draganflyer X6 is unique in many terms. It has some very advanced features that make it different and more efficient then other remote controlled helicopters. Some of these features are:

1)Six Rotor Co-Axial Configuration

2)GPS Facility

3)Carbon Fiber Folding Frame

4)Handheld Flight Controller

5)Advanced Power System

6)High Damage Tolerance

7)Specially manufactured Cases

8)Engineered for Safety

9)Electronic Flight Stability

10)Telemetry Software

11)Wireless Video System

12)Anti-Vibration Camera Mount

13)HD Digital Video Camera

14)Low Light Camera

15)Thermal Infrared Camera
These various features of Draganflyer X6 makes it very useful and efficient in its work.

rubber balls bounced: MATERIALS ENGINEERING, LONG AGO

Just about everybody’s bounced a rubber ball. But making that ball bounce the first time was quite an accomplishment. Who did it? We’ll see. Today, on Engineering Works! Listen to the podcast.We’re used to high-tech materials. Lightweight composites. Super strong adhesives. Polymers that shift shape on command. And it’s easy to think that coming up with new materials or changing old ones is something new. It’s not. 

Take latex, or rubber, for instance. Charles Goodyear invented the process we call, vulcanization, in 1839. Before that, rubber was sticky stuff that got soft in heat and stiff in cold. Goodyear’s process gave us the tough rubber that we use in everything from tires to rubber boots rubber bands. Goodyear’s process was important, but the Mayans in Central America were probably the first to understand how to change latex into more useful forms. And they did it hundreds of years before Goodyear. Mayans mixed latex with juice from the morning glory plant and got rubber that they used for all sorts of stuff. Rubber balls. Rubber bands. Rubber sandals. 

"Rubber statues. Adhesives, glue.The interesting part of this is that each of these things uses a different kind of rubber. Bouncy for balls. Tough for sandals. Sticky for adhesives. What they got depended on how much of morning glory juice they added to the raw liquid latex. But they did it and it worked.We’ve done it for today and it’s time to bounce out of here. See you next time."

SWALLOWING DIAMONDS COULD FIND WHAT'S AILING YOU

THE GIST

• Swallowing nanodiamonds could someday to help diagnose disease.
• Plain nanodiamonds coat the digestive tract, coated nanodiamonds could target other organs and tissues.
• Nanodiamonds have been proven to be nontoxic and safe in animal tests.   

Scientists from Taiwan have developed nanodiamonds that, when swallowed, harmlessly coat the digestive track. When coated with special sugars or proteins, the nanodiamonds are absorbed into the body and attach themselves to specific cells.

The research, which is currently limited to animals, could eventually diagnose and eventually treat diseases in humans.

"This research work demonstrates that nanodiamonds are non-toxic in both cellular and organismic levels," said Yi-Chun Wu, a scientist who, along with Huan-Cheng Chang and their colleagues in Taiwan, co-authored a new study in the journalACS Nano Letters.

Nanodiamonds are tiny pieces of pure carbon only a few of nanometers across. (One nanometer is about 100,000 times smaller than a human hair.) Most nanodiamonds are formed by blowing up TNT or other explosives to create high temperate and high pressures that bond carbon atoms together in a classic 3D diamond nanostructure.

These nanodiamonds are not solid, however. Inside those tiny structures are tiny holes, called vacancies, where a nitrogen atom from the air has replaced two carbon atoms. Nitrogen vacancies in diamonds are common. Natural diamonds with lots of nitrogen have a yellow tint to them. The nanodiamonds the scientists from Taiwan used absorb yellow light and emit violet light.

Next, the scientists fed two types of nanodiamonds to the round worm C. elegans. The first batch of nanodiamonds were uncoated, just pure carbon with a few nitrogen atoms. Those nanodiamonds coated the digestive tract of the transparent roundworm.

The second batch of nanodiaonds the roundworms ate were coated with a special sugar. Once inside the roundworm, the nanodiamonds passed through the digestive tract and into the body of the worm, congregating at various points inside the body.

Both the coated and uncoated nanodiamonds glowed purple when yellow light was shined onto the roundworms, revealing their location inside the worm. All the bejeweled worms had normal lifespans, and none of them showed any sign of distress, said the scientists.

The scientists fed the nanodiamonds to the worms just to measure their toxicity and to see where the diamonds ended up. More specific functions will come soon though, said Vadym Mochalin, a scientist at Drexel University who uses nanodiamonds in his own research.

Virtually any kind of protein or chemical can coat nanodiamonds. When placed into the body, those coated nanodiamonds could seek out and attach themselves to cancer cells, immune cells, pathogens and other cells.

At first, coated and glowing nanodiamonds will likely help doctors and scientists find and map cancers and other things that harm humans. After that nanodiamonds will likely be used to deliver low doses of powerful drugs to help treat those diseases.

Some researchers are most excited about using nanodiamonds to track stem cells.

"One of the most exciting applications of [fluorescent nanodiamonds] in humans is the long-term imaging, tracking, and sorting of human stem cells," said Chang.

Those stem cells could jump-start immune responses, help repair nerve damage, and potentially even regenerate entire organs if the research pans out. Those kinds of advanced therapies are still years, if not decades away however, caution scientists. But this research, along with dozens of other papers and groups working with nanodiamonds, opens the door for powerful therapies in the future.

"The nanodiamond looks very promising compared with other carbon-based nanoparticles," said Mochalin. "It's the least toxic carbon-based nanomaterial to date."

 

Tech fixes to wind turbine-radar conflict face hurdles

Emerging technology can ease the problem of wind farms causing interference with air-traffic control systems. But deployment of that technology in the U.S. has been slowed by questions over authority and cost.

Since 2006, radar maker Raytheon and National Air Traffic Services, which provides air traffic control in the U.K., have been working on a project to upgrade air traffic radar so it can distinguish between aircraft and wind turbines' spinning blades. Concerns over the disturbances turbines can cause on air traffic control systems are already stunting the growth of wind power: radar and wind turbines conflicts derailed nearly as much as the total amount of installed wind power capacity in the U.S. last year.

In the test, due for completion next spring, Raytheon and NATS are seeking to certify a combination of wind turbine mitigation techniques, including upgrading radar hardware and changing signal-processing algorithms.

"When you start putting a set of turbines across an area, what it looks like to the radar is a whole great field of moving objects," said Peter Drake, Raytheon's technical director for Digital Airport Surveillance Radar, the radar system used for airport terminals. "It's a very real problem."

A military plane takes off at Dyess Air Force base near Abilene, Texas.

(Credit: Abigail Vander Hamm/AWEA)

Even though there are technical solutions, it's not clear how quickly they will make it into the field in the U.S. because air safety touches multiple government agencies with different priorities and budgets. "There's a lot of discussion taking place between everybody, but there isn't anybody who is tagged as lead," said Drake.

Mapping clutter

Wind farms can cause interference, or "clutter," on radar systems in more than one way. Spinning blades can appear on radar screens as an airplane, creating a false "target." Or, signals from the turbines can cause legitimate targets, such as an aircraft above a farm, to suddenly jump position, Drake explained.

A few turbines near an airport may not cause serious issues, but having wind farms with hundreds or thousands of turbines is far more challenging, he said. Exacerbating the issue is that wind-rich areas are often located near landing strips.

The problem is particularly troublesome at some military bases. So far, no serious safety incidents have occurred, but concerns with radar conflict have delayed or scrapped a number of wind farm projects in the U.S.

Raytheon began investing in wind turbine mitigation technology years ago in anticipation of the issue coming to a head as governments push for more renewable energy. The same techniques used in the NATS project could be applied to airport terminal radar systems in the U.S., said Brian Smith, the general manager for Raytheon Canada.

One technique, called concurrent beam processing, allows radar systems to discriminate between objects in the air and in the ground. Another creates a more accurate map of what the terrain looks like in all directions to help screen out stationary turbines from moving objects.

Implementing these technical fixes requires upgrading the electronics in radar systems so they can process more data and changes to the software that handles the data. These capabilities could be added as part of radar upgrades done for other reasons. "We're very confident that we have good solutions to solve the problems," said Smith.

Case-by-case mitigation

There are other mitigation strategies in addition to upgrading radar, but people should not think that one single solution is a "magic bullet" that completely solves the problem in every case, said Gary Seifert, a program manager for renewable energy technologies at the Idaho National Laboratories and an expert on wind-radar conflicts.

"Anybody who says they can solve all the problems is probably overstating," he said. "You can't just put in a magic box and have all the radar clutter disappear without impacting some performance issue."

Seifert recommends that each location be evaluated individually and that potential problems get identified early on in the process, so that wind developers' projects are not scuttled at the last moment.

Often, reducing the density of turbines can help address the issue, he said. In other cases, relatively straightforward software upgrades can greatly improve the ability of radar systems to filter out turbines.

Turbine manufacturers, including Vestas, are working on "stealth turbines" that have a material on the blades that cuts down on their reflectivity and cuts the amount of noise on radar systems.

Many other aerospace companies are working on the issue as well. Lockheed Martin, for example, is working on a long-range radar system that has more pinpoint control over radar performance near wind farms, said Seifert. Air traffic controllers could also use neighboring radars to improve the overall picture.

Even promising technologies, however, take many months or years to certify, whereas wind farm developers may have tight deadlines to keep costs under control. Also, there's the question of who will pay for the technical fixes: should it be taxpayer-funded agencies or wind farm developers?

The American Wind Energy Association said that there needs to be an increase in cooperation between wind developers and government agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Authority, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security. Without it, the U.S. will not be able to meet a Department of Energy goal of getting 20 percent of electricity from wind, it said in a paper from April (click for PDF).

"I can't imagine a better example of everyone wanting to do the right thing and nobody doing it," aviation consultant and former FAA official Howard Swancy told The New York Times. "We need an infrastructure-size development plan."