Category: technology

Interesting Point

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Harold Feld (Full disclosure, he’s a friend, we were at his son’s Bar Mitzvah reception) explains why BART shutting down its cellular service in its stations to prevent a flash protest is more than a 1st amendment issue, but that it is a flagrant violation of the law:

I suppose I am really a telecom lawyer at heart. My reaction to the news that the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police shut down cellphone networks in a number of stations on August 11 had nothing to do with democracy, the First Amendment, Tahrir Square, etc. With all deference to the importance of these concerns, my reaction was WHAT DO YOU MEAN THESE IDIOTS MESSED WITH THE PHONE SYSTEM? From my perspective, and the perspective of traditional telecom law, BART could just as well have turned off the local central office and all this chatter about whether or not BART is a public forum is just a distraction.

Obviously, however, no one at BART thinks of cell phones as the phone system. In BART’s open letter explaining what they did and why it was cool, BART focuses on the First Amendment /public forum issue and completely skips the fact that they shut off a phone system. Mind you, I suppose I can’t blame them – much. A number of folks are asking if there is a right to cell phone service as if this were a novel question rather than something settled by decades of telecom law.

………

In California, where this took place, the governing case is People v. Brophy, 120 P.2d 946 (Cal. App. 1942). In Brophy, the California Court of Appeals held that yes, residents of California have a right to phone service. The federally protected right to access the phone network derives from the duty of common carriage imposed by Sections 201 and 202 of the Act. The California Court of Appeals further found that Earl Warren, then the California Attorney General, could not order the phone company to discontinue service to a person the Attorney General suspected of running a gambling operation by use of the telephone. The court explicitly found that only the California Railroad Commission (predecessor to the California Public Utilities Commission) can give an order in California to suspend phone service.

………

Like the Attorney General in Brophy, the BART is an instrumentality of the State of California. As in Brophy, the mere allegation that someone (or some group of someones) may use their phone for illegal purposes most emphatically does not confer authority to unilaterally shut off access to the phone network – even if that phone network is physically located within the BART. Why? Because the BART is an instrumentality of the state of California and is geographically in California. There is no BARTistahn, and the Directors do not get to decide this on their own.

………

We will savor the irony that the most eloquent annunciation of the right of individuals to access phone service without interference from law enforcement (absent due process) takes us from Earl Warren to Eugene “Bull” Connor.

(emphasis original)

And yes, part of the case law here does involve “Bull” Connor, and BART is taking his side in this.

It’s a good read, and clear and informative to the layman.

I Love My Wife

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But helping her work with her phone and computer makes me f%$#ing crazy.

I am so not a teacher, but I married one, go figure.

I’m showing her how to sync her android phone directly to her Outlook.

(Hint: it uses a PIM called MyPhone Explorer which is actually pretty slick)

I have to have her press all the buttons, because otherwise, she would not get it, and she would be asking me how to do this over, and over, and over, and over again.

Still, getting her over the hump on this drives me buggy.

Sikorsky X2 Makes Final Flight of Program

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Considering that it was developed with private money on a shoe string, the program has had some fairly remarkable accomplishments:

  • Achieving a cruise speed in level flight of 253 kts, a record.
  • Doing so while maintaining the low speed and hover performance of a conventional helicopter. (as compared to the performance of the V-22 in those areas, which is just pitiful)
  • Doing so at noise and vibration levels equal to or lower than current helicopters.

Sikorsky will not be moving onto developing the S-97 light attack/scout helo.

With the Space Shuttle Program Ending

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Let me be contrarian, and say good riddance to bad rubbish.

I worked on the HRS (Radiator for the International Space Station) and among its specifications was a minimum stowed size which was large enough to rule out any other launcher.

It was one of the many lame ass attempts by NASA to create a need for the most expensive, least reliable, and least safe launcher that they ever created.

It was flayed in concept, it was flawed in execution, and it was flawed in basic architecture.

How the Russians Develop Weapons

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The Russians have now successfully test-launched their Bulava missile:

Russia successfully tested on Tuesday its new Bulava intercontinental missile which Moscow aims to make the cornerstone of its nuclear arsenal over the next decade.

The Defense Ministry said the 12-meter long Bulava, or Mace, fired from a submarine near Russia’s border with Finland, successfully hit its target some 6,000 km (3,370 miles) away on the peninsula of Kamchatka in Russia’s far east.

“The launch was successful in all respects. The Bulava missile delivered its warhead to the target area in the Kura testing site in the Kamchatka Peninsula region,” spokesman Colonel Igor Konashenkov told Interfax.

The Bulava, which will face four more trials this year before being introduced into service this year or next, had failed half of its previous fourteen trials, calling into question the expensive missile program.

The program was never in serious question.

The Russians do missile testing: test, fix, test, fix.

Americans just do tests to validate their analysis, we operate under the assumption that our missiles will, after a few decades of simulation and systems analysis will work perfectly out of the box.

One of these methods is faster and cheaper, but it is not ours, and catches serious problems early enough that when you do catch a stinker, you don’t have so much invested in your techno whiz bang that you cannot abandon it.

Yep, The Revolving Door is Shut down

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4 Months after approving the Comcast-NBC merger, outgoing Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker will go to work for them as a lobbyist:

Washington’s revolving door is spinning again this week, with Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker’s announcement that she is resigning to become a lobbyist for Comcast.

Baker’s last day on the commission will be June 3, a few weeks before the end of her term, and just over four months after she voted to approve the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal.
Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, shown at a hearing on Capitol Hill in March, is resigning to become a lobbyist for Comcast.
Enlarge Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, shown at a hearing on Capitol Hill in March, is resigning to become a lobbyist for Comcast.
Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, shown at a hearing on Capitol Hill in March, is resigning to become a lobbyist for Comcast.

Back in 2009, when the merger was proposed, Baker said on C-SPAN that the commission shouldn’t try to regulate too much.

“You shouldn’t attach conditions that are extraneous to the actual deal in front of you,” she said at the time.

And when the vote came last January, Baker complained that some extraneous conditions were there. She said that FCC rulings were too regulatory and could discourage job-creating investment. Still, she voted with the 4-1 majority for the merger.

An important point to make here is that she is not a Bush retread finishing out a term.  She was appointed by Barack Obama.

She pretty much had to be a ‘Phant, the law requires that no more than 3 members of the 5 member commission belong to the same party, but she was hip deep in Bush policy and deregulation, and she is the daughter of the smarmiest bastard ever to hit Washington, DC, James Baker.

In a sane Washington, DC, Comcast would let her go now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag, but I think that sane Washington, DC is an oxymoron.

Sikorsky X2 Wins Collier Trophy

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Demonstrator


Commercial variant


Assault and utility


Search and rescue


Attack

The award of what is arguably the most prestigious award in aerospace is well deserved.

They have validated that their advancing blade concept helicopter can work, and work without the workload or vibration issues that bedeviled its predecessor in the 1980s, and they have done so on a relative shoestring.

It appears to have most of the advantages, and none of the disadvantages of tilt-rotor technology.

Trophy Active Protection System Has First Successful Combat Engagement

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Here is some Video Pr0n from Rafael

Rafael’s active protection system, Trophy, received its baptism of fire along the Gaza border, when it intercepted an RPG fired by Palestinian militants:

According to IDF sources, the Merkava tank was patrolling the border with Gaza, when a missile launch was detected by the tank’s radar system. The Elta System’s EL/M 2133 ‘WindGuard’ sensors classified the threat as ‘severe’, alerted the crew and tracked the missile closing-in on the tank. As the RPG entered the system’s kill-zone, Trophy fired at the missile, destroying it at a safe distance from the tank.

The “on patrol” bit appears to indicate that the tank was on the move when Trophy intercepted the RPG, which is particularly significant, since one of the tougher nuts to crack for such systems is the ability to work when the target is in motion.

I’m not clear on its ability to counter long rod penetrators, or EFPs, both of which through a slug at something in excess Mach 2, as opposed to the subsonic speeds of typical ATGWs and RPGs.

My only question is what excuse the US military, which is looking to smaller, lighter, and more mobile, forces will use not to buy the system.

They will come up with a justification, but the real reason is that retired generals don’t get lucrative consulting gigs at Rafael, and they do from Raytheon.

More Adventures of People with Small Penises in the Pentagon

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The USAF is looking for a 2000 lb missile replacement for its 5000+ lb guided free-fall bombs for bunker busting and the like, to quote Shrek, I think that someone is compensating:

Penetrate faster, harder with new AFRL weapon

……………
An Air Force Research Laboratory fact sheet with a 2011 time-stamp for public release approval tells us that a 2,000lb-class weapon with 5,000lb-class penetration capability could be available within three years.
“Future fighters will be able to deliver bunker-busting capabilities currently associated with the bomber fleet,” the fact sheet says.
I found the fact sheet for the High Velocity Penetrating Weapon (HVPW) in the AFRL munitions directorate booth at the Air Warfare Symposium a few days ago. The document reveals the USAF has shifted its focus on next-generation penetrator technology on a couple of different levels.

The folks at the USAF do seem to spend a suspiciously large amount of time talking about “penetrators”, don’t they?

BTW, running the numbers, the kinetic energy of a 2500 kg system at 300 m/s (about 650 mi/h), is 112.5 MJ, so for a 1000 kg system, you would need a velocity of only (475 m/s) 1800 m/s km/h (1080 mi/hr) to get the same kinetic energy.
(added correction in red  D’oh!!!)

Vasimr Electric Propulsion System Heading Out to ISS

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NASA will be sending the variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket (Vasimr) up to the International Space Station (Paid subscription required) for tests and validation. (Earlier posts)

It’s expected to put out about 5.7 Netwons, about a pound, with an ISP (fuel economy) of somewhere between 10 and 30 times that of chemical propellants.

While a pound does not seem like much thrust, it’s more than enough for station keeping and orbital, or for that matter interplanetary, maneuvering, as you can get the thrust for months, rather than hours, and compared to other electric thrusters systems, like the ion drive used on the Dawn Probe, it provides a lot more thrust. (Dawn has a thrust of only 90mN, about 1/50 that of the Vasimr).

No Posting Tonight

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I’m not sick or anything, it’s just that I am up to my elbows in removing a Trojan* from my daughter’s computer, for the 2nd time in a week.

I do not know what she is accessing, but I am looking up her browser history, and trying to find a possible source, in addition to running multiple virus/spyware scans.

The joys of children are without number.

*The computer infection, not the condom.  If it were as condom in her computer, my head would have exploded.

It’s Not Just the B Model F-35

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Yes, the F-35B, the STOVL variant has been placed on probation, but the entire program is encountering difficulties.

Most recently it has been revealed that there are problems with the aerodynamics and propulsion for all the models:

Flight testing so far has revealed problems with handling in the transonic and medium angle-of-attack regimes, [reportedly problems with wing drop/sideslip akin to those discovered in flight test for the F/A-18 E/F] and a problem with screech – destructive high-frequency combustion instability in the F135 afterburner – which is preventing the aircraft from achieving maximum power. [Which produces shockwaves, think the “snapping” on a an improperly lit Bunsen burner, writ large]

You know, that alternate engine for the F-35 is starting to look a lot better, huh.

Additionally, there are very real continuing problems with software, with the advanced helmet mounted displays and the vaunted 360° sensor fusiuon for the pilot not working properly.

As to the B model, weight problems is literally a killer.

With conventional and carrier launched variants, weight gain cuts into performance, payload, and range, but with STOVL aircraft, it means that they are simply unable to perform their basic functions:

Gates said that solving the unspecified technical issues now afflicting the aircraft “could” add cost and weight; the program office says that it “will”, and that it will take two years to “engineer solutions … and assess their impact.”

………

Vertical landing is a nonvariable requirement. The required airspeed is zero and can’t be adjusted by a few knots to compensate for extra weight. The JSF key performance parameter for bring-back load – corresponding to two 1,000-pound JDAMs and two Amraams – was set early on at a minimal level.

One reason that Lockheed Martin’s shaft-driven lift fan (SDLF) concept was a winner in 1996 and 2001 was that it seemed to offer thrust margin for vertical landing. At the start of SDD, the F-35B was projected to have an empty weight of 29,700 pounds – not a bad place to be in with (then) almost 40,000 pounds of vertical thrust. But, in the weight crisis of 2004, engineers found that the jet had ballooned to a far higher figure (never actually published) at which it could not land vertically with normal fuel reserves, let alone weapons.

………

Still, the redesign left a fundamental problem: the bring-back load (around 3,000 pounds) was only 8 percent of the landing weight. The result is that the F-35B couldn’t tolerate any OEW growth or thrust shortfall. The engine and transmission are maxed: that’s the issue underlying the repeated delays in powered-lift testing, chronicled here and here.

This is a mess, and much of it is driven by unrealistic requirements for commonality, and placing too much emphasis on the STOVL version, which wastes weight on the A and C variants.

When I worked on the now FCS, it was clear to everyone working on the program that the commonality requirements made the systems more expensive and less combat effective, and the same thing is happening with the F-35.

J-20 Video Pr0n

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What is with those huge landing gear doors?

Yep, someone got some (remarkably high quality) video of the J-20 doing taxi tests.

As an aside, the recent outpouring of “surreptitiously” snapped photos and videos of the new Chinese fighter prototype indicate that this is something that they really want us to see.

Another Day, Another VTOL Concept

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Nice try

It’s a fan in wing concept, with 4 fans and 2 thrusters, (Videos at link) better known as a bunch of complex moving equipment that can fail at an inopportune time.

Remember, you don’t just have the fans,. you 6 fans, and their associated transmissions, plus shutters and vanes for control in VTOL mode, as well as thick low aspect ration wings which don’t have space to carry things like fuel, because they have the fans.

Call me a cynic, but I do not see success here.

This Has Fiasco Written All Over It

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Well, it’s not quite this bad


We have the Army Tilt-Rotor


and the USAF STOVL Hoover

So, the USAF wants a STOL cargo aircraft with greater capabilities than the C-130, while the Army wants a VTOL cargo aircraft with roughly the carrying capacity of the C-130.

Well, it appears that they are looking at a common airframe intended to do both.

So a jack of no trades and a master of none, because when you combine these disparate needs, and requirements, you end up with something that just does not work.

See the cancelled Naval F-111B, for instance.

I’m with Bill Sweetman on this, “The people promoting these abominations are secretly working for Airbus Military.”

Navy Demonstrates a 33 MJ Railgun

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Some notes on the video below

The US Navy Surface Warfare division has set a new record for “muzzle” energy from an electromagnetic railgun. (see also here).

You really cannot determine the mass or size of the projectile accurately from the video, but given an energy of 33MJ, and its size appearing near to that of a 5″ naval round, one could assume a mass of the round of somewhere between 10 and 32 kg. (The latter is the weight of the current 5″ round)

This would give a velocity of somewhere around 1500 to 2500 m/s (5000 – 9000 km/h, 3000-5500 mph, or Mach 4-9.5).

By way of comparison, the 16 inch guns on the Iowa class have a muzzle energy of about 410 MJ, 1225 kg at 820 m/s, but velocity here can translate into a lot more range, something well in excess of 200 km, and this technology is in its early stages, so achieving an order of magnitude improvement in energy is certainly possible.

A note, based on comments with people who have used capacitors to use an arc to generate hypersonic shock waves for high speed simulations.

First, the power cables are almost certainly coaxial to minimize impedance, and the sheath on the outside is doubtless very heavy, because the high current generates forces that would otherwise blow the conducting jacket off. (in the wind tunnel case, the capacitor room looked “like a porcupine turned inside out”, I wish that I had been there for that.)

Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) Tested

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The US Navy has conducted its first successful test of the EMALS electric catapult at its Lakehurst, NJ air field.

The navy is doubtless heaving a sigh of relief, as the Ford class carriers were designed to mount these catapults, and retrofitting steam catapults would be very involved.

The British are probably even more relieved, as their carrier(s) have gas turbine propulsion, and so have no steam available, so without this, they would just be big floating anvils.

It’s a similar technology the Navy’s recently tested railgun, but the energy storage is mechanical (flywheels) on the catapult, and solid state (capacitors) on the railgun.

Given the state of the art in capacitors, it probably makes sense, since the rail gun is much higher power (a few orders of magnitude), and lower energy (by around a factor of 5) than the catapult.