Mini-bots

map out building interiors

The rolling droids are being developed by Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, and the California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Equipped with two cameras and laser scanners, they can autonomously explore hallways in an unfamiliar building, detecting doors and windows, and create a map for users such as soldiers or firefighters. The project is part of the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) program and is being sponsored by the Army Research Laboratory. The program is aimed at developing palm-size machines that can hover in place, enter buildings, and perform other insect-like stunts while gathering data and relaying it to human controllers.

Star Functional Specification

LILLIPUTIAN SYSTEMS ANNOUNCES WAFER MANUFACTURING SUPPLY AGREEMENT WITH INTEL AND EQUITY STAKE BY INTEL CAPITAL

Lilliputian Systems, Inc. (www.lilliputiansystems.com), developer of the world’s first Personal Power™ solution for consumer electronics devices, today announced that it has signed a Wafer Manufacturing Supply Agreement with Intel.  Additionally, Lilliputian Systems announced that Intel Capital, Intel Corporation’s global investment arm, has taken an equity stake in Lilliputian Systems.

In connection with the agreement, Intel will manufacture and supply production wafers, which are critical in the production of all of Lilliputian Systems’ product lines, most importantly its first product – the revolutionary USB Mobile Power System.

Light-emitting diode

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source.[3] LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting. Introduced as a practical electronic component in 1962,[4] early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but modern versions are available across the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness. When a light-emitting diode is forward-biased (switched on), electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by the energy gap of the semiconductor. LEDs are often small in area (less than 1 mm2), and integrated optical components may be used to shape its radiation pattern.[5] LEDs present many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size, and faster switching. LEDs powerful enough for room lighting are relatively expensive and require more precise current and heat management than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable output. Light-emitting diodes are used in applications as diverse as aviation lighting, automotive lighting, advertising, general lighting, and traffic signals. LEDs have allowed new text, video displays, live video, and sensors to be developed, while their high switching rates are also useful in advanced communications technology. Infrared LEDs are also used in the remote control units of many commercial products including televisions, DVD players, and other domestic appliances.

D2Plug is a Developer Kit for the Marvell PXA510 Highly Integrated SoC with PC-like performance.

The D2plug can be used by software developers, Independent Software Vendors (ISV), and System Integrators (SI); for evaluation, Application development, Rapid Prototyping, and interoperability testing for a “cloud” based service deployment. The complete solution in an attractive, innovative and “fan-less” enclosure will also be available for bundling solutions for product release with custom branding.

Z-Wave is a wireless communications protocol designed for home automation, specifically to remotely control applications in residential and light commercial environments. The technology uses a low-power RF radio embedded or retrofitted into home electronics devices and systems, such as lighting, home access control, entertainment systems and household appliances.

DASH7 is an open source wireless sensor networking standard for wireless sensor networking, which operates in the 433 MHz unlicensed ISM band. DASH7 provides multi-year battery life, range of up to 2 km, indoor location with 1 meter accuracy, low latency for connecting with moving things, a very small open source protocol stack, AES 128-bit public key encryption support, and data transfer of up to 200 kbit/s. DASH7 is the name of the technology promoted by the non-profit consortium called the DASH7 Alliance.

by Philip J. Corso

Contents Forward Introduction Chapter 01 - The Roswell Desert Chapter 02 - Convoy to Fort Riley Chapter 03 - The Roswell Artifacts Chapter 04 - Inside the Pentagon at the Foreign Technology Desk Chapter 05 - The Cover-up Chapter 06 - The Strategy Chapter 07 - The EBE Chapter 08 - The Project Gets Under Way Chapter 09 - The Project Had Officially Begun Chapter 10 - The U2 Program and Project Corona - Spies in Space Chapter 11 - Project Moon Base Chapter 12 - The Integrated Circuit Chip - From the Roswell Crash Site to Silicon Valley Chapter 13 - The Laser Chapter 14 - The Antimissile Missile Project Chapter 15 - My Last Year in R&D - The Hoover Files, Fiber Optics, Supertenacity, and Other Artifacts Chapter 16 - 'Tesla’s Death Ray' and the Accelerated Particle Beam Weapon Chapter 17 - Star Wars Afterword

Japan collab transmits record data speeds on terahertz waves

Researchers from Japan-based semiconductor manufacturer Rohm, together with a team from Osaka University, have come up with a chip that, in experiments, has achieved a wireless data transmission speed of 1.5 gigabits per second. This is a record breaker as the world's first terahertz wireless communication achieved with a small semiconductor device. The chip’s ability to transmit at such a quick speed is not the end of the story. Even higher transmission speeds of up to 30 Gbps may be possible in the future, according to reports.

“Research into terahertz technology utilising Terahertz frequency (100GHz-10THz) is now receiving increasing attention around the world,” according to an Osaka University publication