Sensors Unlimited's SU320US-1.7RT InGaAs NIR Snapshot Microcamera is part of the payload compartment of some miniature UAVs and other robotic systems. According to the company, the camera's size--it weighs less than 70 grams--makes it useful for surveillance. The Microcamera is also suited for machine vision, fiber-optic components inspection and tracking free space communication lasers. It captures 320 X 256-pixel images in the shortwave IR waveband, from 900-1,700 nm., and can capture images from pulsed laser and moving events.
Saflink's SAFcard is a turnkey solution for integrating biometrics into existing legacy access control systems. The product couples a smart card reader with the DSU, thereby becoming an independent digital identity product capable of emulating a variety of common access control reader interfaces including Weigand, clock-and-data and magnetic-stripe Track 2 format.
Alexey Komarov, Douglas Barrie and Andy Nativi (Zhukovsky)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended MAKS 2005, held at the Zhukovsky flight test research center near Moscow Aug. 16-21, and viewed aircraft that, for the most part, his air force cannot afford. Also notable at the show was the larger presence of Western business jet manufacturers, whose Russian clients continue to register aircraft outside of the country. The ongoing preoccupation with industry restructuring was in evidence, as well.
Barry Eccleston has been appointed president/CEO of Airbus North America Holdings Inc., Herndon, Va. He succeeds Henri Courpron, who has become executive vice president-procurement at Airbus' Toulouse headquarters. Eccleston was vice president/general manager of the Propulsion Systems Enterprise within Honeywell's Engines, Systems and Services Div.
The national media described the successful removal of the tile gap filler from Discovery as a "great triumph for NASA." I don't know whether to laugh or cry at such a glowing depiction of what amounts to picking lint off the space shuttle. Where is the NASA of our collective hopes and dreams?
Portuguese flag carrier TAP incurred a first-half loss of 44 million euros, 9 million euros more than for the same period last year. The performance was blamed on fuel prices, but management says the situation would have been worse if not for other cost reductions. Operating revenue rose to 605 million euros, 8% higher than last year's.
USMC Capt. (ret.) Steven R. Hulland, Sr. (Amado, Ariz.)
Peter Trapp's suggestion that the U.S. government confiscate someone's airplane for flying too deep into an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) would seem to make the pilot's error a criminal rather than civil offense (AW&ST July 25, p. 6).
Hal Chrisman has been named a principal in the Ann Arbor, Mich., office and Richard Brown an associate consultant in the Great Missenden, England, office of AeroStrategy Management Consulting. Chrisman was senior vice president of the Pemco Aviation Group, while Brown was marketing manager for the Actuation Systems Div. of the Goodrich Corp.
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Mark Fullerton has become senior research and development scientist for QuantumSphere Inc., Costa Mesa, Calif. He was senior scientist at the Dynachem Corp.
The July campaign of tube and bus bombings in London once again underscores the inherent vulnerability of mass transit. It also raises questions of emphasis with regard to U.K. airport security. An understandable focus of aviation security is passenger screening, attempting to ensure that terrorists cannot access aircraft. The nature of the attacks in London raises the specter of similar attacks simply within airport terminals.
The six-year global effort by the International Civil Aviation Organization to strengthen safety oversight of the commercial sector is reaching a critical stage that recalls the admonition: "It's time to fish or cut bait."
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy got a lot of laughs--and not a few headlines--last year after recounting how he was barred from boarding a plane in Boston, because he was mistakenly identified as someone on the government's "No-Fly" list of possible terrorists.
Cognitive abilities and commanding a transport airliner are individualized traits. An arbitrary age limit seems out of step with scientific research on aging and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines, as mentioned by Capt. Al Spain in his Viewpoint (AW&ST Aug. 8, p. 66).
As traffic grows at airports around the world, so does concern for increased risk of runway incursions. To help promote safe runway operations, the Air Line Pilots Assn. (ALPA)--in conjunction with the FAA Runway Safety Office and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn.--this month plans to unveil a new educational web site (see www.alpa.org for details).
As worries about Iran, China and North Korea grow, the Defense Dept. is getting serious about a new, stealthy, long-range unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. A senior Pentagon official says the department funded a number of studies of a penetrating, air-breathing drone in a "high-end" air-defense environment. "They've got a lot of data on that. It's interesting.
Karl Martinson has been named business development manager for defense and aerospace for Janos Technology Inc., Keene, N.H. He was a business development executive at the Thermo Opticon Corp.
Airline passenger numbers are increasing, but so are waiting times at airport security checkpoints, nearly four years after terrorists turned four U.S. airliners into weapons of mass destruction. Thousands of federal employees screen passengers and their bags for explosives, but screeners aren't scoring well on government tests of their performance. Cockpit doors have been hardened against intruders, but pilots still wait in security lines with passengers. These facts underscore the dilemma: Is it more effective to search for dangerous people or dangerous things?
Poor interpretation of weather radar data is a likely causal factor in aircraft accidents and could be remedied through clearer system displays, an Australian study suggests. Although modern aircraft feature onboard weather radars that provide lots of information to aid pilot decision making, a combination of factors, including inadequate training and vagaries in how data is displayed, appear to create room for errors. One problem is that the effect of weather on a flight isn't always clear.
I have been reading with bemusement the arguments about whether there should be a system of Trusted Traveler (TT) cards, because a large part of the solution is right under our noses and is being ignored.
A Soyuz-Fregat rocket organized by Starsem orbited PanAmSat's Galaxy 14 communications satellite Aug. 14, placing the Orbital Sciences Corp. Star 2 small geostationary spacecraft on its way to a slot at 125 deg. W. Long. There it will join Galaxy 12 as an in-orbit spare for the operator's U.S. fleet. It carries 24 C-band transponders. A partnership of Arianespace, EADS, the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and the Samara Space Center, Starsem handles international marketing for Russia's Soyuz human-rated launch vehicle.
Space Exploration Technologies may move to another launch pad at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., depending on the outcome of talks that U.S. Air Force officials started around April. Even though SpaceX has already prepared a launch pad at Vandenberg, the company may be asked to move because of concern about a SpaceX accident damaging nearby Lockheed Martin Atlas V activites. SpaceX hopes to make its first liftoff at Vandenberg in December, after a Titan 4 launch set for Oct. 19, but a move could take two years, the company estimates.
General Electric InVision Inc.'s CTX 9000DSi Explosives Detection System (EDS) is an in-line checked baggage screening system designed for integrated airport installations. According to the company, it is the world's fastest operational TSA-certified EDS, accommodating BHS bag flow rates. In-line baggage screening systems use machines installed on a behind-the-scenes baggage handling conveyor system, increasing efficiency of screening for explosives as well as allowing for passengers to drop off their checked luggage.
