BOEING CHOOSES SOLID OXIDE FOR VULTURE PROGRAMME
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems has placed a contract with Colorado based-Versa Power Systems to develop solid oxide fuel cell technology for its ultra-long-endurance unmanned air vehicle concept that it is designing for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Vulture programme.
EADS, CANADIAN GOVERNMENT SIGN LONG-TERM AGREEMENT
A five-year memorandum of understanding for co-operation on aerospace research and technology development has been signed by EADS and the National Research Council Canada. The research will include manufacturing and environmental technologies, aerodynamics and flight testing. The NRC has collaborated with EADS on projects for Airbus and Innovation Works for 20 years, and the new agreement extends that work to other EADS business units, such as Eurocopter and EADS's military transport aircraft division.
QUEBEC'S CTA TO BE HOME FOR COMMON ACCESS SME R&D FACILITY
Montreal's aerospace technology centre CTA is to become the location for a shared research and development facility that has a range of equipment for small- and medium-sized companies to access. The CTA is based at Quebec's National Institute of Aeonautics in Montreal.
CERAMIC COATING PROMISES HOTTER COMPOSITES
A patent application has been filed for a ceramic coating that could enable composites to operate in temperatures above their melting point. UK company Zircotec has filed the application for the process, which it says can achieve a reduction in composite surface temperature of more than 125°C (257°F). Sprayed on using a plasma process, the coating thickness can be as low as 0.03g/cm2 or it can be made thicker at different locations for known hot spots.
BASF PAINT ENABLES CHEMICAL REMOVAL OF ALUMINIUM
Airbus is to use a BASF solvent-free, two-component masking paint that dries in 30min and is cut with a laser, following eight years of development. The paint is used to coat thin aluminium parts that require a portion of their surface area to be removed using a sodium hydroxide solution. The laser is used to cut out the area of paint that needs to be removed to enable the etching chemicals to dissolve the aluminium. The area of paint cut by the laser can be peeled off by hand. The entire part is then dipped in sodium hydroxide. Once the process is completed the masking paint can be removed.
GERMAN RESEARCHERS REALISE MULTIPLE UNMANNED ROTORCRAFT PAYLOAD TRANSPORT
Flight experiments conducted by the Berlin Institute of Technology have demonstrated that multiple unmanned rotorcraft can, using cables, transport a single payload. Three unmanned rotorcraft, each with a mass of 12kg (26.4lb), a rotor span of 1.8m (5.9ft) and a rotor speed of 1,400rpm, carried a payload of 4kg at an altitude of 49ft using ropes 13m long and with a distance between the helicopters of 8m. The helicopters used wireless local area networks, inertial measurement units and a differential global positioning system. The challenge is the UAR flight control laws, which differ substantially from conventional piloted helicopters. The TU Berlin researchers expect a team of up to eight unmanned rotorcraft could be used to move one payload.
Source: Flight International
