Hypervision has released both software and hardware upgrades to Chip UnZip, its precision milling system that removes backside silicon to permit backside imaging of chip-level defects in advanced devices. The Version 2.0 system bases all milling functions on MS Windows 98. Intuitive icons simplify setup of the automated milling process. A built-in laser now zeros the milling table to permit quicker setup and greater dimensional accuracy. Computer-directed probes provide feedback that guides the milling operation.
Canadian Forces Capt. Martin J.G. Brisebois, who is chief of NASA support for the North American Aerospace Defense Command at Peterson AFB, Colo., has received NASA's Silver Snoopy Award for ``establishing new capabilities and procedures for astronaut and vehicle safety.''
Robert J. Kelly has been named senior vice president-international development of the Airis Corp. of Atlanta. He was director of the Aviation Dept. of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Work has begun on the National Air and Space Museum annex at Dulles International Airport, now known as the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The official ground-breaking ceremony will not take place until mid-October, though. That seems to be the time that the namesake, who is president and CEO of International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC), will be available. Udvar-Hazy contributed $60 million last year to the project, estimated then to cost $130 million. Since then, the price tag for the facility has escalated to close to $190 million.
SAirGroup CEO Philippe Bruggisser will temporarily succeed Jeffrey G. Katz, who has resigned as president/CEO of Swissair. Alexandre Couvelaire will head the joint supervisory board of Air Liberte, Air Littoral and AOM, the SAirGroup's French affiliates. Paul Reutlinger will become president/chief operating officer of the three carriers. Couvelaire was chairman/CEO of Air Liberte and AOM. Reutlinger was CEO of Sabena Belgian World Airlines and has been succceeded by Christoph Mueller, who was chief operating officer.
Researchers here are studying how flight crews make decisions, as decision errors were second only to procedural errors in being the direct cause of flight crew-involved accidents. ``Why are poor decisions made?'' asks Judith Orasanu, a principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center. ``Why are some pilots more effective than others? What are the precursors that set this up?'' She and fellow researchers hope to provide practical help from the answers.
Kerry M. Rowe has become senior vice president/manager of the Advanced Technology Group of the ITT Research Institute, McLean, Va. He was vice president-remote systems for Raytheon Systems.
Jim Tapp has been appointed sector vice president-marketing and Harry Pearce has been promoted to vice president-international from director of business strategy and development for North- rop Grumman Integrated Systems and Aerostructures in Dallas. Tapp was vice president-business development.
Key Dismukes is the chief scientist for Human Factors at NASA's Ames Research Center. He holds a commercial pilot license and a Cessna Citation type rating, and is a glider instructor. Capt. Frank Tullo recently retired from Continental Airlines as a human factors facilitator and check airman completing a 33-year career. He was instrumental in initiating the carrier's Cockpit Resource Management and Error Management programs. He also served as the chairman of the ATA Human Factors Committee for four years.
EUROCONTROL IS USING a new height monitoring unit (HMU) near Linz, Austria, to collect data on aircraft equipped for Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) flight to determine if they can safely operate in mid-levels of Eurocontrol airspace. Decreasing the vertical separation to 1,000 ft. between suitably equipped aircraft in the block of intermediate altitudes between FL290-FL410 (29,000-41,000 ft.) would allow more aircraft to use the efficient altitudes, while increasing airspace capacity.
Leo Mondale (see photo) has been named president of Washington-based Arianespace Inc. He succeeds Doug Heydon, who has become chairman. Mondale was executive vice president.
The U.S. defense industrial base is in a state of decline--its underlying health seriously suspect--and national security will be affected if current trends go unchecked. That's the assessment of Booz-Allen&Hamilton, a management and technology consulting firm that will soon release a study describing why it believes the industry has grown weaker and what must be done to revitalize it. Symptomatic of the industry's weakened condition is its declining financial performance since the mid-1990s.
Cockpit designers are capitalizing on commercial-sector technology advancements to give future Joint Strike Fighter pilots powerful, yet flexible system control options backed by a wealth of tactical information.
The expanding fractional ownership market added a new player last week: CitationShares, a $20-million, 50-50 joint venture of Cessna Aircraft Co. and TAG Aviation USA Inc., a leader in corporate aircraft management.
A Crossair BAe Avro RJ100 veered off the runway after landing at Zurich airport on July 13. None of the passengers or crew were injured and the aircraft incurred only ``slight damage,'' Crossair said.
NASA Associate Administrator Frederick D. Gregory, a former space shuttle commander, delivered the commencement address and received an honorary doctor of science degree from the College of Aeronautics in New York. Matthew Wald, national transportation reporter for The New York Times, gave the convocation speech and also received an honorary doctor of science degree.
The old ValuJet gimmicks--the critter-like airplane cartoon logo and antique bells peeling in the headquarters to alert for company announcements--are long gone. They would be out of place in the quiet, business-like main office of AirTran Airways, ValuJet's successor, which has transformed itself in the last year into a new and tough competitor.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector will upgrade AN/ALQ-155 electronic countermeasures systems for the U.S. Air Force's fleet of 76 B-52H bombers. Plans call for integrating hardware and software from the AN/ALQ-135 and -165 systems to improve reliability and maintainability, according to the company.
SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES' RESEARCHERS have developed a process compatible with standard semiconductor batch-processing tools to develop microfluidic devices. These chips have microscopic canals through which gases or liquids can flow from one chip feature to another. The microfluidic devices can benefit from the electrical properties of semiconductors and the chemical properties of liquids and gases. The technique has created raised hemispherical canals on silicon, glass and quartz surfaces with diameters from 8-100 microns and curves with radii as small as 8 microns.
ANALOG DEVICES HAS DEVELOPED a new family of high-speed, low-power analog to digital converters (ADCs) in small packages that could have applications from high-speed signal processing to digital control loops, because of the high throughput and small package footprint. Each of the 8-, 10- and 12-bit ADCs (AD7476, 7477 and 7478, respectively) operate with a one-million-sample-sec. throughput rate, consuming only 4.8 milliwatts when operated at 3 volts.
