January 3, 2019 - No. 001 In This Issue Radar-based motion sensing gets a government thumbs up Australia Looks to Additive Technology to Reduce Aircraft Repair Costs Army's Decision On Huge Helicopter Engine Program Will Impact GE, Honeywell, United Technologies Aviation Safety: Efforts to Combat Hypoxia Win Top Honor Flying Cars Now a Reality With New Innovative Engine From Corporation of Flight Inc Fuelling the future How can AI help speed up airport security? SIU-Carbondale to spend over $2 million on new teaching airplanes MRO Japan Starts Business at Naha January 7. Musk vs. Bezos: The Battle of the Space Billionaires Heats Up Radar-based motion sensing gets a government thumbs up Google hopes one day its users will be able to simply wave their hands through the air to control their mobile devices. And now the Federal Communications Commission is making this goal possible, Reuters reported Tuesday. The technology behind this goal is better known as Project Soli. Google's Advanced Technology and Projects Team first began developing the tech in 2015. Project Soli uses broad-beam radar to capture movements and gestures, which could be used to control a wide variety of devices. "The Soli chip can be embedded in wearables, phones, computers, cars and [internet of things] devices in our environment," Google states on the Project Soli website. Until now, development of the technology was restricted, due to concerns that it would interfere with other tech using that slice of the spectrum. FCC has decided to grant a waiver to let Project Soli develop unabated, however. "We find that the Soli sensors ... pose minimal potential of causing harmful interference to other spectrum users," the FCC wrote, also stating that Google could even test the technology aboard an aircraft. Google will still have to comply with Federal Aviation Administration regulations though. https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/01/fcc-approves-googles-motion-sensor-tech/153878/ Back to Top Australia Looks to Additive Technology to Reduce Aircraft Repair Costs RUAG Australia, a subsidiary of RUAG Aviation, is in the midst of a two-year project to investigate the use of an additive manufacturing process called laser metal deposition (LMD) for quicker, more cost-effective aircraft repairs. In collaboration with Australian researchers from the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC) and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), RUAG is focusing on the use of LMD to manufacture spare parts from steel and titanium. "Strategically speaking, a shift to LMD technology means less downtime for repairs and a dramatic increase in the availability and readiness of aircraft," says Neil Matthews, senior manager of advanced technology and engineering solutions at RUAG Australia. "Instead of waiting for spare parts to arrive from a warehouse, an effective solution will now be available locally." According to RMIT's research team, LMD is essentially a very high-tech welding process where metal parts are rebuilt layer by layer, similar to 3D production technology. Metal powder is fed into a laser beam and deposited across a surface in a precise, web-like formation. The researchers say LMD's bond is exceptionally strong, which makes it a viable process for not only manufacturing spare parts, but repairing existing parts where the repaired part is just as strong-or stronger-than the original. "The ultimate goal of the project is to develop indigenous capability that provides innovative and cost-effective sustainment solutions through the use of additive metal technologies which, in turn, reduce life-cycle costs and maintain reliable operational availability through repair and, when necessary, real-time manufacture," Matthews explains. According to Matthews, LMD could foreseeably be applied in manufacture or repair of high strength steel aircraft parts, such as those used in an aircraft's undercarriage. Within manufacturing, LMD would typically be ideal for small, complex, highly loaded "low volume" parts, such as titanium components, he says. The project's research team is evaluating how LMD could provide demonstrable cost savings in areas such as maintenance and spare parts purchasing, scrap metal management, warehousing and shipping. The project is currently focused on how LMD could be applied to existing military aircraft platforms and newer systems, such as the F-35 fleet, but the team believes the technology could potentially be transferable to civil aircraft or other industries. According to David Chuter, CEO and managing director of IMCRC, the Australian aviation industry stands to benefit significantly from the research project. The Australian Air Force's estimated total cost of replacing damaged aircraft parts is more than AU$230 million. Matthews says RUAG Australia has been working with LMD since 2014 and the company has already identified additional repair applications for the technology, as well as a titanium component that is likely to be manufactured as a demonstration of LMD. The research project began in March 2018 and is scheduled to finish in March 2020. https://www.mro-network.com/advanced-materials-composites/australia-looks-additive-technology-reduce-aircraft-repair-costs Back to Top Army's Decision On Huge Helicopter Engine Program Will Impact GE, Honeywell, United Technologies Sometime in the very near future, probably this month, the U.S. Army will announce the winner of a competition to develop a new engine for most of the service's helicopters. Called the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), it is a multibillion-dollar effort that has often been described as the Army's top aviation modernization priority. It isn't hard to see why. The weight of Army light and medium helicopters has been growing by 70-100 pounds per year since they debuted in the last century as new equipment, munitions and armor were added. As a result, both the Black Hawk utility helicopter and the Apache attack helicopter are under-powered when operating in "high-hot" conditions, meaning above 6,000 feet in temperatures of 95 degrees or greater. Such conditions are common in places like the Persian Gulf, and pose a challenge to conducting missions successfully. In 2006, the Army launched an effort to develop an engine that could provide 50% more power than the existing General Electric T700 engine (3,000 versus 2,000 shaft horsepower), while reducing fuel consumption by 25% and extending the life of the engine 20%. That in itself was a tall order, but the new engine also had to fit into thousands of fielded helicopters with minimal modifications, and it couldn't weigh more than 500 pounds (the current engine weighs 456 pounds). The Army also wanted each engine to cost much less than the T700-not just in the cost of manufacturing the new engines, but in the cost of maintaining them across a multi-decade service life. Given these very demanding requirements, and a dearth of money for modernization during the Obama years, it isn't surprising that a dozen years passed before the Army felt it was in a position to pick a design that met all the service's needs. But now it is. The choice is between a successor to the T700 built by General Electric Aviation, and a competing design offered by a joint venture of Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney (a unit of United Technologies, and contributor to my think tank). The decision has probably already been made, and simply awaits formal announcement later this month. There are thousands of Black Hawks and Apaches in the existing fleet, and each is a twin-engine aircraft. At least 10,000 ITEP engines will be needed to upgrade those helicopters. In addition, the Army is developing a new scout helicopter that would probably use ITEP as its powerplant, and it hopes to field Black Hawk and Apache replacements in the 2030s that might employ upgraded versions of ITEP. Beyond that, there are variants of the existing helicopters operated by other military services and allies. So ITEP is a huge franchise for whichever team gets picked to proceed into what is known as engineering and manufacturing development. Just the cost of spare parts for supporting the new engines across their service life will total many billions of dollars. Here is a brief rundown of how the offerings from GE and Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney differ. General Electric. GE Aviation is the incumbent provider of the T700 engine, so it has the most to lose in the competition, but it also has the advantage of having worked with Army aviators on Black Hawk and Apache engines for decades. It has elected to offer a greatly improved version of a "single spool" turboshaft engine in which turbines and compressors run off a single drive shaft. All of the Army's rotorcraft currently use single-spool engines, but GE has greatly enhanced the performance and reliability of its ITEP offering by introducing advanced materials such as ceramic matrix composites. GE has also streamlined its production processes with technologies such as additive manufacturing. It offers the example of a 50-part assembly that has thereby been simplified into a single part. The company contends that in addition to meeting all of the Army's performance objectives, the simplicity of its design makes maintenance much easier than the competing approach offered by its rivals. Maintenance across the lifetime of an engine currently costs the Army more than the initial cost of producing it. Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney. The Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney team has offered a very different "dual-spool" design in which two turbine/compressor assemblies spin off separate drive shafts, with one shaft running inside the other. It says the weight of the engine falls well within the 500-pound threshold set by the Army, but because computers continuously redistribute loads between the two spools for optimum efficiency, the overall engine runs cooler than a single-spool configuration and thus is less subject to wear. It also contends that a dual-spool architecture is more tolerant of sand ingestion. The Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney team says its engine is so much more efficient than GE's legacy T700 engine that once installed in the fleet, it will save the Army a billion dollars annually in fuel and maintenance costs. It has designed its engine in four separate modules that readily disassemble for maintenance. It also argues that its engine has more growth potential than the competing GE engine, which could matter a lot if the weight of the existing fleet keeps rising or the service elects to equip next-generation helicopters with a variant of the ITEP engine. The different design approaches of GE and the competing team parallel a rivalry currently unfolding between GE and Pratt & Whitney over most how best to maximize the efficiency of commercial turbofans. GE is the dominant commercial player, and it has sought to sustain its lead by refining existing technology for greater efficiency. Pratt & Whitney has responded with a geared turbofan that enables the fan at the front of the engine to spin at a third the speed of turbines and compressors in the back. Pratt claims gains in fuel efficiency, noise reduction and emission abatement that GE cannot match. Over the long run, GE will probably have to introduce its owned geared architecture to match the intrinsic advantages of the Pratt concept. Whether a similar asymmetry applies to the rivalry between single-spool and dual-spool designs for helicopter engines is an assessment the Army is likely to render this month. Whatever the outcome, it is clear that both teams have made major gains in performance and efficiency over the helicopter engines in use today, and that the Army was fully justified in assigning high priority to developing a better powerplant for its aviators. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2019/01/02/armys-decision-on-huge-helicopter-engine-program-will-impact-ge-honeywell-united-technologies/#5786e484461b Back to Top Aviation Safety: Efforts to Combat Hypoxia Win Top Honor Helping pilots swiftly recognize and respond to the first signs of deadly oxygen deficiency, or hypoxia, is the focus of two Embry-Riddle research projects that contributed to a U.S. Navy project that won a 2018 Innovation Award from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD). Separate projects led by Assistant Professor of Aeronautical Science Janet K. Marnane and Associate Professor of Human Factors Joseph R. Keebler are designed to better understand, prevent and even predict hypoxia among pilots in flight. The projects are part of the university's programs in Aeronautical Science as well as Human Factors, on the Daytona Beach Campus. The Navy's Hypoxia Training Research and Development projects, supported by Embry Riddle, are setting the stage for "innovative training solutions to better equip the fleet in dealing with aeromedical issues," said Beth F. Wheeler Atkinson, senior research psychologist with the Naval Air Warfare Training Systems Division (NAWTSD). University President P. Barry Butler said: "Embry-Riddle is making contributions toward solving some of the U.S. Navy's most critical problems, including dangerous in-flight physiological episodes among pilots. Hypoxia-response research and training is one of many ways that Embry-Riddle is working to improve aviation safety as well as pilots' well-being." Combating a Dangerous Problem Over the past decade, Marnane noted, the Navy has become increasingly concerned about an increase in hypoxic events (also called "physiological episodes") suffered by pilots flying at high altitudes, particularly in F/A-18, T-45 and EA-18G aircraft. In September this year, the Navy and the Air Force announced a tandem effort - the Joint Physiological Episodes Action Team - to stop hypoxia and hypoxia-like episodes among pilots. At altitudes above 10,000 feet, where the air is less dense, hypoxia can strike pilots as the body absorbs less oxygen. Symptoms range from headaches and tunnel vision to tingling fingers and toes, a feeling of suffocation or "air hunger," turning blue (cyanosis) and loss of consciousness. In Embry-Riddle's High-Altitude Normobaric Chamber, 30 research subjects have so far participated in simulated flights with ascents from sea level to as high as 30,000 feet, at different rates of climb. Symptoms of hypoxia were self-reported by the subjects and by an observer in the chamber. In addition, the subjects' oxygen saturation levels and heart rates were recorded to correlate the onset of symptoms with actual physiological responses. The goal of Marnane's project is to assess the impacts of a special On-Demand Mask-On Hypoxia-Training device developed by Lynntech, Inc., a Texas-based technology development company that develops unique solutions for defense, medicine and energy applications. While most hypoxia-training devices deliver a continuous flow of air, the Lynntech device delivers pressure-on-demand air without exposing the human subject to air starvation when breathing becomes heavier, Marnane explained. This on-demand oxygen flow more closely mimics the air delivery methods of aircraft systems. Using the on-demand hypoxia training device, flight training could be more realistic, allowing pilots to more accurately identify hypoxia at the earliest possible stage. With traditional continuous-flow training systems, Marnane pointed out, subjects who experience air hunger may be less likely to recognize other signs of hypoxia. Although further research is needed, preliminary results suggest that the Lynntech device "shows promise in reducing the symptom of air hunger." In Search Of Hypoxia Rick Factors For his project, Keebler is looking at the relationship between symptoms of hypoxia and demographic variables among pilots - from their body-mass-index and flight hours to their caffeine and alcohol consumption as well as whether or not they have previously experienced hypoxia. Graduate students including Richard Simonson, Emily Anania, and Christopher Rarick have played a key role in the research, Keebler said. They have visited various Naval bases to collect data on some 100 pilots who performed tasks inside hypoxia training facilities. The goal of Keebler's project is to determine how closely factors such as prior hypoxic events track with the risk of experiencing hypoxia. Someday, Keebler said, it might be possible to develop a personalized warning system to alert pilots who are at high risk of experiencing hypoxia, before it strikes. "At the end of the day," Keebler said, "this work is intended to prevent situations where a pilot is hypoxic while flying a plane. It's all about making aviation safer for everyone." http://news.erau.edu/headlines/aviation-safety-efforts-to-combat-hypoxia-win-top-honor/ Back to Top Flying Cars Now a Reality With New Innovative Engine From Corporation of Flight Inc. Corporation of Flight Inc. (corporationofflight.com): Globally, flying cars are the hot topic of the day, yet not one single flying car has been seen in the skies. Why not? Flying car bodies have now been built, helicopters have been in the air for decades and computers can do wonders. So what's the problem? Well, the main problem is engine power. And power, or rather horsepower, is the combination of strength and speed or for flying cars, rotational force and rotational speed. As it turns out, the secret for a successful flying car engine is that the source of force needs to be completely separated from the speed of rotation. In light of these findings, this new engine has been aptly named the Split Power Engine™. Although there are several versions of VTOLs (Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircrafts), aka flying cars, being developed by dozens of companies worldwide, the holy grail of a true flying car is one that looks like a car, is the size of a car, can drive on the road like a car and can take off and land vertically from anywhere. And although electric "flying taxis" and "personal drones" seem to be making all of the headlines, battery science says that battery power density can at most double, meaning that the 10-minute flight time now proclaimed is limited to a maximum of 20 minutes in the future. Not quite enough to get to grandma's house. Corporation of Flight Inc. has developed an entirely new combustion engine platform that unintentionally ended up merging all of the positive aspects of today's leading internal combustion engine designs - the 4-stroke, the turbine, the Wankel rotary and 4-stroke rotary engines. Additionally, rotational energy storage technology, fuel efficiency, quieter muffler tech, as well as cleaner combusted air technology, has also been packed within. The result is a sleek, stylish and compact engine package able to provide the extreme, rotational force and speed required to vertically lift a flying car. And this engine is not just for flying cars, but also for large, 50-plus passenger airships, which will create good competition against today's leg-cramped, non-fun, slim tubular aircraft. Envision in-air restaurant-bars, spacious seating and walled suites. As an added bonus, electrical generator power for hybrid electric; aircraft and vehicles, buildings or whatever else that needs electricity can be produced thanks to the engine's modular configurable design and attachments. "Our technology books are open," says Cambridge Yeno, Corporation of Flight's marketing director. "Any interested company, their shareholders or any person can go to the web to see and understand the mathematics and function of this patent-pending engine technology as well as new flying car tech. The site will show why current vertical-takeoff flying cars don't work and how the Split Power Engine, used within the seven laws of flying car engineering, now makes the true flying car a reality today. A true flying car needs to be air-nimble and stable, sort of like a dragonfly or a hummingbird, and that takes a very powerful engine and other unique execution methods and technologies." With many of the global car and aircraft manufacturers now eyeing the flying car market, with researchers placing future monetary value well beyond trillions, Corporation of Flight has now opened the door for licensing. Everyday people can now be the first to purchase pilot, flight ticket and reservation, license options. After the start of the new year, Corporation of Flight will be seeking to issue its first multi-million dollar manufacturing licensing option. More information can be found at www.splitpowerengine.com. About Corporation of Flight Corporation of Flight Inc. is primarily a development and licensing corporation focused on Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft ranging from one person to 50-plus passenger aircraft for arrivals and departures in any location. https://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12439618/flying-cars-now-a-reality-with-new-innovative-engine-from-corporation-of-flight-inc Back to Top Fuelling the future Today's aviation industry is reliant on liquid hydrocarbon fuel. Even with laudable progress on electric and solar capabilities, which will improve over time, the demand for mass travel over ultra-long distances necessitates a dependence on jet engine technology with liquid fuel. Significant strides in engine and airframe technology have been made since jet engines first took commercial passengers into the air in 1952. Today's passenger aircraft generate 80 per cent less emissions per seat than the first aeroplanes produced more than 65 years ago. Each time we get a new-generation aircraft, it is at least 10 per cent, and up to 25 per cent, more efficient than an aircraft it replaces. Nevertheless, the industry recognises its obligations to do more, especially with ever-increasing demands for global travel. A series of ambitious goals set in 2008 include a commitment to work towards 'carbon neutral growth' from 2020 onwards, requiring emissions to be contained within the year 2020 baseline limit. With encouragement from the industry, this aspiration was adopted by the industry's global regulator, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), through a mechanism which will require airlines to purchase eligible carbon offsets to match any growth in emissions above the limit. While offsets will be required for some years, we hope to meet our goals eventually ourselves through advances within the industry. So confident is the international aviation industry regarding its progress that our most ambitious goal is that by 2050 our emissions will be reduced to half the levels observed in 2005. With a reliance on current engine technology, an area of focus is on liquid hydrocarbon fuel with a lower carbon footprint, achieved by using alternative feedstock to fossil fuel. Here in Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways has been working with Khalifa University (formerly known as Masdar Institute), Adnoc Refining, Boeing and others, through a Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium, on an exciting and innovative concept. The system is known as the Seawater Energy and Agriculture System (Seas), which, in addition to being a source of fuel, can yield a sustainable food source, despite the challenges of a desert environment. Seas is an integrated model based around seawater fish and shrimp farming, which itself helps support the domestic demands for seafood and bolsters food security for the growing UAE population. The wastewater from this aquaculture element, heavy with nutrients, is fed to fields of Salicornia, a halophytic, or salt loving, plant with numerous oil filled seeds. This oil, with the expertise of Adnoc Refining, is the basis of the next generation of jet biofuel. This month, all elements of this system come together as we take flight with our first Emirati-grown fuel. Our work in the UAE is the first time outside of the United States where the entire supply chain - feedstock, refining and flight - have occurred locally. The oil from the Abu Dhabi-grown seeds will be converted to jet fuel, using the refining capabilities of Adnoc Refining, mixed with traditional fuel and used on a commercial flight out of Abu Dhabi. This is a truly inspiring example of a synergistic effort across industrial platforms that brings value across the supply chain and strengthens the UAE's reputation as a leader in innovation, sustainability, and the creation of knowledge. Alongside this, Etihad Airways has worked with the Atlantic Council in developing a new report, which highlights the development of biofuels, to ensure those produced, certainly by aviation, meet the very highest sustainability standards. This report will be launched at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Forum, to be held in Abu Dhabi on January 12-13. Our efforts in this area have taken time, as developing a solution to make real reductions in our carbon footprint needs to be developed with care, to ensure our fragile ecosystem, with little freshwater and non-arable land is not compromised. With this new Seas model, we have turned these constraints to our advantage to ensure we can provide local and sustainable solutions to a global challenge. https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/fuelling-the-future-1.61188450 Back to Top How can AI help speed up airport security? Over the last two decades, airports worldwide have significantly ramped up security in response to emerging threats. Meanwhile, rising passenger expectations have put pressure on major transport hubs to bolster throughput, cut queues and make the journey from entrance to departure gate as seamless as possible. How can these two objectives be squared? For a number of governments and aviation hubs around the world, artificial intelligence could be the answer. Earlier this year, the UK Government invested £1.8m into the development of new AI systems to boost security and alleviate wait times across some of the country's busiest airports. The US Transportation Security Administration has recently introduced new computed tomography (CT) scanners, which use AI to help target threats, at Los Angeles International Airport, John F. Kennedy and Phoenix airports. AI is popping up across the entire aviation spectrum, from self-service check-in robots to facial recognition checks at customs. An online YouGov poll found that around 68% of UK-based passengers would welcome more AI solutions at airports. But when it comes to speeding up the cautious process of airport security, could it be an effective solution? Security scanners and machine learning Crucially, AI systems improve as more and more information is fed into them. In the case of airport security, machine learning can be used to analyse data and identify threats faster than a human could. Items that previously needed to be scanned separately, such as laptops, can be kept in passenger luggage as they pass through security checkpoints. "AI enables us to do things today that we couldn't do even five years ago," says Evolv TechnologyCEO Michael Ellenbogen. "It enables us to train the computer in ways that we couldn't before. You throw a lot of data at it and you use that data to train a model to recognise objects or signals of interest." The Evolv Edge system uses a combination of camera, facial recognition and millimetre-wave technologies to scan people walking through a portable security gate. Machine learning techniques are used to automatically analyse data for threats, including explosives and firearms, while ignoring non-dangerous items - for example keys and belt buckles - passengers may be carrying. All of this happens in about a hundredth of a second, meaning that passengers can simply walk through a gate, rather than adopting a Village People-style dance pose as they would for a conventional 3D body scanner. According to Evolv, up to 900 people can pass through the security gate in an hour, making it significantly faster than conventional X-ray scanners. Edge has been deployed to screen employees at Oakland International Airport in the US, and is set to be launched at another unnamed major international airport in the country to scan passengers. Ellenbogen says the industry has been training computers to pull out threat information for decades, but up until the last five years, 'conventional computer vision techniques' have had limited functionality when it comes to analysing images. However, recent breakthroughs in neural networks - frameworks for machine learning algorithms that power AI - and high-capacity computer chips have allowed AI systems to flourish. "In the security environment, we can put systems in the field with a certain level of capability, and continuously collect data from those systems," says Ellenbogen. "We can then use that data to further train our algorithms, which makes them that much smarter." Biometrics for airport security One increasingly visible security concept, which goes hand in glove with AI, is biometrics. Earlier this year, tech specialist SITA reported that 77% of airports were planning major programmes in biometric ID management over the next five years. A mainstay in this field is facial recognition, which is already being used to scan passengers as they pass through customs at a number of major airports. At the time of writing, Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is in the process of launching its first biometric terminal in the US. Willing participants can use facial recognition scanners at self-service kiosks, TSA checkpoints and boarding gates. Fingerprinting, facial recognition and retinal scans are expected to become increasingly used for security purposes at airports. Meanwhile, tests are ongoing in behavioural biometrics. Researchers at the UK's University of Manchester recently developed an AI system able to measure a human's individual gait or walking pattern when they step on a pressure pad. "Each human has approximately 24 different factors and movements when walking, resulting in every individual person having a unique, singular walking pattern," said Omar Costilla Reyes, a researcher from Manchester's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, in a university press release. Elsewhere, the recently launched, EU-funded iBrderCtrl project involves the trial of an AI programme to speed up border crossings. The solution consists of a virtual border guard asking passengers questions such as "What's in your suitcase", while a webcam analyses their facial expressions. If the passenger is deemed to be lying, further biometric information is taken before they are passed on to a human officer for review. A key concern over the use of these technologies is accuracy, given that previous studies have identified unintentional biases in these systems. Early testing of iBrderCtrl showed that it only had a 76% success rate, but one of the technology's project coordinators told New Scientist that this could be bumped up to 85%. "In my opinion, the jury is still out on the basic science behind detecting abnormal behaviour as an indication of mal-intent, and using cameras and AI to do that," says Ellenbogen. AI at airports: planning for the future When it comes to boosting security throughput, the question remains about whether investment in AI security scanners will be worth it. The TSA has come under fire for previously failed investments in scanner technology. A 2015 Politico article revealed that the organisation had spent $160m on body scanners, many of which had missed airport security threats during undercover testing. Another issue has come from privacy advocates, who remain concerned about the accuracy of biometrics and the potential misuse of information collected. "Face recognition is a tool, and like any other tool, when used in the right way it can be used to great effect; if used in the wrong way, it can be inappropriate," says Ellenbogen. "If our customers have a watch list, we can put that in the system so the security folks know ahead of time if somebody's a person of concern. That's different from trying to identify everyone who's walking through." There are challenges ahead for AI in the airport security space, but a clear appetite for the technology has been established. Ellenbogen says that technology is being refined, and that as it improves further, systems will become more cost-effective. Where human staff are concerned, they will always be 'part of the loop' to deal with edge cases, such as someone leaving a gun in a bag. "The better the neural networks and the chips get, the smarter the system becomes and there's more and more power available, which allows the neural networks to have more layers and have more intelligence in them, so it's kind of a self-perpetuating cycle," he says. "The better the systems are at focusing the human effort on areas of real concern, the smoother the entire process will go. If 99.99% of people, bags and cargo are automatically cleared by really smart systems and we're focusing our human effort on the very small percentage of potential threats and those edge cases, then the entire process is going to get smoother for everybody." https://www.airport-technology.com/features/ai-at-airports-security/ Back to Top SIU-Carbondale to spend over $2 million on new teaching airplanes CARBONDALE - The aviation programs at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale will be upgrading their teaching fleet with more than $2 million in new aircraft. The university has approved the purchase of five new Cessna 172 planes, which will replace eight older aircraft that are becoming outdated and expensive to maintain, according to Mike Burgener, the department chair of SIUC's aviation programs. "It's just a matter of modernizing the fleet," Burgener said. "Some of these planes are over 40 years old, and they have a lot of hours on them." The aviation programs have been planning the $2,139,000 purchase for multiple years, according to Judy Marshall, SIUC's chief budget officer. The planes will be bought outright, no loans necessary, and will be paid for entirely by student flight fees, which aviation students pay to sustain the programs. "These planes are really purchased by the students," Burgener said. "They pay the fees to have the equipment, and it's our duty to provide the best aircraft possible." Flight fees aren't cheap. They range from $3,000 to $5,000 for most classes, and can exceed $10,000 for others, according to SIUC's website. But those fees are necessary to keep the program running, Burgener explained, covering fuel, one-on-one flight instruction and constant equipment upgrades, which the aviation programs plan out as much as 10 years in advance. "We're tracking engine replacement timetables, propeller change times; We have a schedule so we can accurately project the funds we'll need in a particular year," Burgener explained. "Once we have these aircraft squared away, we'll begin upgrading our twin engine fleet," consisting of bigger and even costlier planes. The Cessnas set to be purchased are four-seat, single-engine planes, which cruise at about 140 miles per hour. At SIUC they are used in private pilot certification courses, instrument certifications, and for single-engine time building, Burgener explained. The university hopes to order the planes soon after the new year, and could begin to receive them as soon as early 2020, Burgener said. "Cessna builds them as the orders come in," he explained, directly to the university's specifications, including adding an autopilot feature that should allow the planes to be used in a broader array of classes. Though it's a big expenditure in the short term, upgrading planes ultimately allows the university to lower students' flight fees, Burgener said, because new planes are much lower maintenance. Interest in SIUC's aviation programs continues to grow, with enrollment up across all three of aviation majors this fall, even as the university's total enrollment dropped 11.9 percent. "There's unprecedented demand right now for pilots and aircraft maintenance technicians," Burgener said. "Airlines are here constantly, recruiting our students." That includes offering SIUC students pathway-to-hire programs that guarantee them a job at an airline upon graduation, Burgener said. SIUC Aviation currently has such programs in place with four airlines, and aviation students' employment rate after graduation is "close to 100 percent," he said. "There are good careers in high demand, and it's important to show students that," Burgener said. "If a student wants to be an airline captain, going through a university program and getting a degree is what most airlines require." https://www.pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/siu-carbondale-to-spend-over-million-on-new-teaching-airplanes/article_315abc7e-18cd-576d-a79f-962bb2088f4a.html Back to Top MRO Japan Starts Business at Naha January 7 MRO Japan plans to start operations at Okinawa's Naha Airport on Jan. 7. An official grand opening ceremony will be held on Jan. 29, explains Tadaaki Nobusue, head of sales and marketing for the young Japanese maintenance company. The government of the Okinawa prefecture constructed a hangar with three narrowbody bays and one widebody bay at Naha at the end of October. MRO Japan has been moving staff and equipment from Osaka to Naha since then. "We focus on narrowbody aircraft maintenance with painting," Nobusue says. Since starting up in 2015, MRO Japan in Osaka has done more than 300 base maintenance events for Airbus A320-family aircraft, Boeing 737s and Bombardier Q400s. Heavy check customers include parent All Nippon Airways (ANA), Vanilla Air, Peach Aviation, Star Flyer and Solaseed. The company plans to add the Boeing 787 and the Mitsubishi Regional Jet to its capabilities, becoming MRJ's preferred provider in Asia. The MRO also has painted the Pokemon livery for ANA. "We are very proud of our painting," Nobusue says. MRO Japan does not yet have component repair capability. The company employs almost 170 mechanics and licensed engineers, and a total employee count of 240. Almost all current employees are seconded from the ANA group, but MRO Japan is now recruiting mainly from the Okinawa prefecture. So far, it has attracted 60 new recruits. Okinawa should be favorable ground for staffing up. Osaka and other cities in Japan's main islands are very expensive places to obtain either land or labor, especially near major airports. Okinawa has the youngest and fastest-growing population among all the prefectures of Japan, but has had the lowest employment rate and average income. The island's economy has been significantly driven by tourism and the presence of the U.S. military, although the latter is controversial and is declining. There have been efforts in recent years to diversify into other sectors. Once relocated to the more affordable Okinawa, MRO Japan will first apply for EASA Part 145 approval and expects to obtain it around the middle of 2020. The company then will seek customers from outside of Japan. MRO Japan is also looking into supporting leased aircraft in Japan. Leased aircraft need maintenance at MROs that are approved by either FAA or EASA. "Unfortunately, there is no FAA or EASA 145 repair station in Japan," Nobusue notes. "This is why the airlines in Japan have to use overseas MROs, especially for return maintenance. I used be in charge of aircraft lease-return maintenance at ANA, and we always did return maintenance at an overseas MRO in China or Singapore and then ferried back the aircraft after the return maintenance to get an export authorization from the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau. It was always a headache. In the near future, MRO Japan could be a maintenance provider for leased aircraft with FAA or EASA." https://www.mro-network.com/maintenance-repair-overhaul/mro-japan-starts-business-naha-january-7 Back to Top Musk vs. Bezos: The Battle of the Space Billionaires Heats Up The commercial space business has blossomed over the past decade. Two companies, though, have grabbed the spotlight, emerging as the most ambitious of them all: Blue Origin and SpaceX. At first glance, these two companies look a lot alike. They are both led by billionaires who became wealthy from the Internet: Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin earned his fortune from Amazon.com, and Elon Musk of SpaceX got rich initially from Web-based businesses, notably PayPal. Both companies are developing large, reusable launch vehicles capable of carrying people and satellites for government and commercial customers. And both are motivated by almost messianic visions of humanity's future beyond Earth. This coming year, we'll likely see some major milestones as these two titans continue to jockey for position. Over the past few years, SpaceX has become one of the most active launch companies on the planet. In 2018 alone, SpaceX performed 20 launches (as of press time), with two more scheduled before the end of the year, representing about 20 percent of roughly 100 worldwide launches. The company stands out in another way-it's the only one to recover and reuse its rockets. Landings of its Falcon 9 first stages have gone from being novelties, often with explosive failures, to a routine aspect of most missions. Last May, SpaceX introduced its latest version of the Falcon 9, called the Block 5, the first stage of which is designed to be flown 10 or more times. Although the Falcon 9 will be SpaceX's workhorse for years to come, the company added a new vehicle to its stable three months before introducing the Block 5. Last February, the company launched the first Falcon Heavy, which includes three Falcon 9 first stages lined up in a row. The Falcon Heavy is capable of placing more than 60 metric tons into low Earth orbit, far more than any existing launch vehicle can accomplish. But even the Falcon Heavy pales in comparison with what SpaceX is now developing, a vehicle that until recently was called the Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR. (The R-rated interpretation of that acronym wasn't lost on the rocket's developers, who initially used it as the informal code name for the project.) In late November, Musk announced a name change for the BFR-to Starship for the crewed upper stage, and Super Heavy for the lower booster stage. That booster will have 31 of the company's Raptor engines, which are under development, while Starship will be outfitted with seven Raptor engines. Both stages are intended to be reusable, and Starship will be able to carry dozens of people to destinations far beyond Earth orbit. SpaceX has modified the design of this colossal vehicle a couple of times since conceiving it in 2016. The most recent version was described at a press conference this past September at the company's California headquarters. This version, Musk said, would be able to place 100 metric tons on the surface of Mars, provided that the spaceship's upper stage was refueled in Earth orbit before departing for the Red Planet. "I think it looks beautiful," he added, noting the similarity to a fictional rocket ship of graphic-novel fame. "I love the Tintin rocket design, so I kind of wanted to bias it towards that." Speaking in early September at an event to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, SpaceX's chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, said that the company will begin making the first "hop tests" of the BFR's upper stage (Starship) in late 2019. Blue Origin, by contrast, has yet to launch anything at all into orbit. But the company has similarly big ambitions. It's working on a rocket it calls New Glenn (named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth), which is scheduled to launch for the first time in 2021. The two-stage rocket will be able to place 45 metric tons into low Earth orbit, with its first stage designed to land on a ship at sea and be reused up to 25 times. "We're in build mode right now," said Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin, during a space policy workshop in Washington, D.C., this past October. The company has completed a new 70,000-square-meter (750,000-square-foot) factory for constructing the rocket just outside the gates of the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, and it's currently building a testing and refurbishment facility nearby, which is expected to be completed in early 2019. Blue Origin is also modifying a dormant launchpad at nearby Cape Canaveral for its operations and has signed up several commercial customers for New Glenn. Powering New Glenn will be an engine that Blue Origin has been developing called the BE-4. The company is also selling the engine to United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing that was formed in 2006 to serve U.S. government customers. ULA will use the BE-4 on the first stage of its Vulcan rocket, a successor to its existing Atlas and Delta vehicles. Last October, both Blue Origin and ULA received contracts from the U.S. Air Force to support development of their launch vehicles: $500 million for Blue Origin and nearly $1 billion for ULA. (SpaceX did not receive an award as part of this Air Force Launch Service Agreement program, although the company did not disclose whether it had even submitted a bid.) "It's exciting to see that we'll be powering two launch vehicles in the United States Air Force's arsenal for decades to come," Smith said at that workshop. New Glenn builds on the lessons Blue Origin has learned with its suborbital tourist vehicle, New Shepard, named after Alan Shepard, whose 1961 suborbital trip made him the first American in space. New Shepard, featuring a reusable booster and capsule, is being tested at Blue Origin's West Texas launch site. Blue Origin plans to fly passengers soon on New Shepard, which has room in the capsule for six people. Timing of the first tourist flight is unclear, though. "I'm hopeful it will happen in 2019," Bezos said when asked when commercial flights would start, during an interview at the Wired 25 conference last October. At the same time, he included the appropriate notes of caution: "I was hopeful it would happen in 2018. I keep telling the team that it's not a race. I want this to be the safest space vehicle in the history of space vehicles." Unlike Blue Origin, SpaceX has no apparent interest in suborbital spaceflight and is focusing instead on sending people into orbit, most immediately using the Block 5 version of its Falcon 9 booster. SpaceX and Boeing both have NASA contracts to develop crewed spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Development of SpaceX's Crew Dragon, a variation of the Dragon spacecraft currently used for carrying cargo to the space station, is nearing completion. NASA released a schedule last October that calls for a final test flight of the Crew Dragon, with people aboard it for the first time, this coming June. Blue Origin also anticipates flying people into orbit one day, on its New Glenn rocket. The company participated in earlier bidding rounds of NASA's commercial crew program and maintains an unfunded agreement with the agency, whereby NASA will provide technical support for Blue Origin's efforts in human spaceflight. "All of our early flights will be payloads," said Rob Meyerson, formerly the senior vice president of advanced programs at Blue Origin, speaking of the company's New Glenn rocket at a conference at MITlast March. "We'll evolve to flying people probably seven, eight years down the road." Even further down the road, both Bezos and Musk see their companies truly enabling the expansion of humanity beyond Earth. But they have different visions of where we should go and how. Musk has long talked about his desire to make humanity "multiplanetary" and thus not vulnerable to a calamity, natural or human-made, affecting Earth. We should try "to become a multiplanet civilization...to ultimately have life on Mars, the moon, maybe Venus, the moons of Jupiter, throughout the solar system," he said at the September press conference where he described the most recent version of the BFR. His primary focus, though, has been on Mars. The design of the BFR has been based on its ability to take large amounts of cargo and people to the surface of Mars to establish settlements there. In a 2017 speech, he said the first BFR cargo missions to Mars could launch in 2022, followed by crewed missions in 2024, a schedule he acknowledged was "aspirational." Yet Musk has shown an increasing interest in missions to other destinations, particularly the moon. At the September press conference, he announced that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa had paid for a BFR flight, scheduled for 2023, that will go around the moon. Maezawa, an art enthusiast who made his fortune in online fashion retailing, plans to fly on that mission accompanied by a small number of personally selected artists. Musk has also suggested that the BFR could support permanent stations on the moon. "We should have a lunar base by now," he said in that 2017 speech, but he hasn't disclosed any details about who would build it, or how. Blue Origin has a similar view of humanity's destiny. "Blue Origin believes in a future where millions of people are living and working in space," the company states on its website. But Blue Origin has focused on going to the moon, not Mars, as an initial step beyond Earth. It has proposed developing a lunar lander called Blue Moon for delivering cargo and, eventually, people to the lunar surface. "At Blue, we believe there are certain steps that you have to take," Smith said. "We believe that the moon is the next logical step. It has resources. It is an incredible gift." Bezos, a Princeton University alumnus, said he was inspired by Gerard O'Neill, a Princeton physicist who in the 1970s proposed the development of giant space settlements that could be home to thousands of people. "My role is to help build that heavy-lifting infrastructure, because I have the financial assets to do that," Bezos said last May while accepting an award created in memory of O'Neill, from the National Space Society. "That will set things up for this dynamic entrepreneurial explosion that will lead to this Gerry O'Neill world." Those financial assets are in the form of his stake in Amazon.com, which makes him the wealthiest man alive, worth more than $100 billion. He said he spends about $1 billion a year on Blue Origin and suggested at the Wired 25 conference last October that his outlays for the company may go up in 2019. "Blue Origin is the most important thing I'm working on," Bezos said, "but I won't live to see it all rolled out." Musk, too, speaking about colonizing Mars, has said, "I probably won't live long enough to see it become self-sustaining." Clearly, these titans of today's gilded age are thinking hard about their legacies, which despite their many other accomplishments may end up being for what they do in space. https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/space-flight/musk-vs-bezos-the-battle-of-the-space-billionaires-heats-up Curt Lewis