Technology transfer and collaboration continue to grow globally among mobility engineering professionals focused on aerospace and automotive applications. Cross-industry partnerships received a boost this week, as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota Motor Corp. officials announced increased cooperation on unmanned, electrified, and automated rovers for space exploration.
Just down the road from SAE International’s headquarters in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, Mark Sokalski has been quietly working out how to maximize piston-driven engine efficiency – with an internal combustion engine mechanism that doesn’t follow the norm.
Two new installments in the burgeoning SAE International Podcast Series cast a spotlight on additive manufacturing, which is fueling innovation, greater efficiencies, and the future of mobility engineering. Additive manufacturing continues to advance and transform mobility engineering, as aerospace and automotive firms increasingly adopt and invest in 3D printing technologies, which are becoming more capable and cost-effective.
Ricardo introduces a unique service to re-industrialize complex service parts with critical inventory shortages, leveraging expertise in low-volume and high-complexity powertrain sourcing.
Demand for high-performance plastics (HPPs) is up across the aerospace industry, driven by such key trends as growing performance requirements, increased use of additive manufacturing or 3D printing, supply chain globalization, and tightening environmental regulations. Growing passenger traffic coupled with the need to reduce emissions – being accomplished through lightweighting, engine downsizing, and vehicle electrification – present opportunities for HPPs, research analysts at Frost & Sullivan in San Antonio, Texas, explain.
Bye Aerospace completed the first flight of its solar electric technology demonstrator prototype. The first flight – on August 20 – and subsequent flight tests occurred at Northern Colorado Regional Airport and will provide crucial flight data required for the development of Bye Aerospace’s “StratoAirNet” and “Solesa” families of medium-altitude aircraft systems.
Boeing has successfully completed the first suite of synchronized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight tests using new onboard autonomous command and control technology developed by the company in Australia.
Kepler Communications, Inc.’s (Kepler’s) TARS six-unit cubesat – the company’s third satellite scheduled for launch later this year – will feature an innovative smart radiator device (SRD) designed to significantly optimize heat dissipation on communication satellites where environmental conditions have a big impact on transmission signals.
Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation (UTC), has laid out its plans for what is calling “The Grid” – an 25,000-square-foot advanced electric power systems laboratory for designing and testing next-generation, more-electric aircraft technologies for commercial, military, and business aviation.
The China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd. (CATARC), TÜV SÜD Group, and Shanghai SH Intelligent Automotive and International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC) have joined with SAE International to establish the International Alliance for Mobility Testing and Standardization (IAMTS).
Officials at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota Motor Corp. in Tokyo have taken a first step toward collaborating on international space exploration, having agreed to accelerate their ongoing joint study of a manned, pressurized rover powered by fuel cell technologies to enable lunar mobility.
Last week, Aurora Flight Sciences’s Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility System (AACUS) achieved a major operational milestone when it successfully delivered cargo to US Marines in the Integrated Training Exercise at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California.
OneWeb has secured $1.25 billion in its latest funding round. The company, which seeks to deploy a satellite communication network by 2021 that will enable global high-speed, low-latency Internet access, has now raised a total of $3.4 billion to fund its mission. Tokyo-based Softbank Group Corp., Mexico’s Grupos Salinas, San Deigo-based Qualcomm Technologies Inc., and the Government of Rwanda led the last round of funding.
As mobility software becomes increasingly complex and connected, so does the risk of human error and system safety. To combat this, New York-based software company AdaCore will work with Nvidia Corporation of Santa Clara, California to apply open-source Ada and SPARK programming languages for select software security firmware elements in highly-complex, safety-critical systems like Nvidia’s DRIVE AGX automated and autonomous vehicle solutions.
Airbus SE is shifting its Connected Experience cabin concept into the first stages of reality with cooperative buy-in from gategroup Holding AG, Stelia Aerospace, and Recaro Aircraft Seating. Up until the partnership announcement, Airbus had been collecting extensive market feedback and refining its Internet of Things (IoT) approach to aircraft interiors, with real-time interconnected galleys, in-flight service carts, seats, and overhead bins.