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Misplaced wings no sweat for DARPA's new aircraft control system
One of the problems -- outside of the obvious -- with a significantly damaged aircraft is that pilots often overreact and add to the situation. In other words, when a plane gets nailed by something like a missile, the person at the wheel panics. DARPA and Athena's Damage Tolerance and Autonomous Landing Solution adds a full flight automation and backup system that uses a plane's internal inertial navigation system and GPS systems to land safely by automatically adjusting to the new configuration -- a physics computation that a human is in no condition to deal with during such a crisis. In a recent unmanned flight test, Rockwell Collins showed off the tech with a scaled-model F-18 in which nearly half a wing is blown off and then landing the plane safely. Hit the read link to watch the strangely calming video.[Thanks, jr]
Rockwell Collins to outfit Marines with head-mounted ParaNav units
It looks like the US Marines will soon be adding yet another bit of gear to their already well-equipped high-tech arsenal, with Rockwell Collins announcing that it's set to provide 'em with 3,000 of its head-mounted ParaNav GPS units, which will be used to give parachutists a bit of guidance assistance. As you can see at the right, the system makes use of a heads-up display for maximum convenience and added sci-fi effect, which is apparently full-color and able to attach directly to parachutist's goggle's or helmet shield. As if that wasn't enough, the rig also sports built-in WiFi to stay connected with the so-called Joint Precision Airdrop System, and it includes some custom circuitry to allow for "dead reckoning calculations" in the event the GPS decides not to cooperate. No PMP functions though, it seems -- or at least none that they're telling us about.[Thanks, SK]
