Telematics Success ‘Doesn’t Happen Overnight’

As reported by Transport Topics: Investment in a telematics system should be seen as a long-term strategy that can generate results beyond initial goals, fleet management experts said here during the NAFA Fleet Management Association’s annual Institute & Expo.

“We have seen good results so far, but it doesn’t happen overnight,” said Scott Darling, corporate fleet manager for energy company BP PLC in Houston. Speaking during a panel discussion, Darling said his company’s focus is on driver safety and aims to use the data it collects to reduce accidents and injuries across its global fleet of 12,000 vehicles. About 80% of them are pickup trucks, he said.

In the company’s pipeline operation, around 300 trucks have been outfitted with telematics devices. But before those devices were installed, Darling said, BP researched the technology’s lifecycle.

“You have hardware costs, installation costs, activation costs and monthly fees,” he said, adding that fleets also must consider whether a selected vehicle will remain in service for the life of the telematics device. “You have to keep track of that, because it affects overall cost,” he said.

Keeping track of the data collected is a separate challenge, one that can occupy significant staff resources.

“There is a return on investment consideration with people, too,” Darling said. “Who is looking at the data? Do you need an analyst? And do you need someone to manage the devices?”

Data management is important, he said, because the systems are constantly collecting information that could be useful, even if it’s not relevant to a fleet’s original goals.

“You can’t just turn it off,” Darling said. “I have to make sure that if there is something I should be looking at, that I am looking at it,” he said.

In fact, taking a proactive approach to fleet management is a key reason for embracing telematics, said Brad Bohnen, head of fleet management for Ericsson Inc. in Overland Park, Kansas.

“Everything we had done was reactive,” he said during the panel. “We saw telematics as a way to be proactive.” The company’s goals were to improve driver behavior, cut costs, and reduce output of carbon dioxide. It is in the middle of a program to deploy telematics across its fleet, Bohnen said.

With so many goals, the company had to divide responsibility for the information, he said, echoing Darling’s point about data management. “We did not want to ignore any data, so when it came in, we had to decide who did what,” Bohnen said. “There was a negotiation process to come up with action items.”

But taking a thorough approach to mining the information paid off in unexpected ways, he said.  For example, the company used geo-fencing on its trucks to identify which routes took vehicles past compressed natural-gas stations. That helped Ericsson decide where it might deploy CNG-powered trucks.

“You can be creative with the device and leverage it to drive other objectives,” he said.

That can include identifying vehicles that are underutilized, said Anthony Foster, corporate fleet manager for Pioneer Natural Resources Company in Savannah, Texas. “The system we use flags a vehicles that is traveling fewer than 500 miles per month,” he said. “You might look at that and say, ‘Hey, why do we even have this vehicle?’”

Google Acquires Drone Startup Titan Aerospace

As reported by TechCrunch: Google has acquired Titan Aerospace, the drone startup that makes high-flying robots which was previously scoped by Facebook as a potential acquisition target (as first reported by TechCrunch), the WSJ reports. The details of the purchase weren’t disclosed, but the deal comes after Facebook disclosed its own purchase of a Titan Aerospace competitor in U.K.-based Ascenta for its globe-spanning Internet plans.

Both Ascenta and Titan Aerospace are in the business of high altitude drones, which cruise nearer the edge of the earth’s atmosphere and provide tech that could be integral to blanketing the globe in cheap, omnipresent Internet connectivity to help bring remote areas online.

According to the WSJ, Google will be using Titan Aerospace’s expertise and tech to contribute to Project Loon, the balloon-based remote Internet delivery project it’s currently working on along these lines.

That’s not all the Titan drones can help Google with, however. The company’s robots also take high-quality images in real-time that could help with Maps initiatives, as well as contribute to things like “disaster relief” and addressing “deforestation,” a Google spokesperson tells WSJ. The main goal, however, is likely spreading the potential reach of Google and its network, which is Facebook’s aim, too. When you saturate your market and you’re among the world’s most wealthy companies, you don’t go into maintenance mode; you build new ones.

As for why an exit to Google looked appealing to a company like Titan, Sarah Perez outlines how Titan had sparked early interest from VCs thanks to its massive drones, which were capable of flying at a reported altitude of 65,000 feet for up to three years, but how there was also a lot of risk involved that would've made it difficult to find sustained investment while remaining independent.

Google had just recently demonstrated how its Loon prototype balloons could traverse the globe in a remarkably short period of time, but the use of drones could conceivably make a network of Internet-providing automotons even better at globe-trotting, with a higher degree of control and ability to react to changing conditions. Some kind of hybrid system might also be in the pipeline that marries both technologies.

Titan Aerospace also represents just the latest in a string of robotics acquisitions Google has been making lately, which include Boston Dynamics and seven other companies purchased to help fuel its experimental robotics program under Andy Rubin. There’s no question Google has bots on the brain, but thanks to Loon ambitions, the reasoning behind the Titan buy might be the most transparent yet.

SpaceX Rocket Launch Scrubbed Due To Helium Leak

As reported by CBS News: Launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule bound for the International Space Station was scrubbed Monday afternoon because of an apparent first stage helium leak. A new launch date has not been announced, but the flight is off until Friday at the earliest, officials say.

The Falcon 9 version 1.1 rocket was on track for liftoff from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 4:58 p.m., roughly the moment Earth's rotation would have carried the pad into the plane of the station's orbit.

But engineers preparing the rocket for liftoff ran into what NASA described as a helium leak in the plumbing of the rocket's first stage, an issue that could not be resolved in time for launch. SpaceX launch director Ricky Lim ordered a scrub at 3:39 p.m.

"As folks heard on the anomaly net, we have encountered an issue that will result in our scrubbing today's 4/14 launch attempt," he said. "The team here will start to safe the vehicle, offload propellants and then working on the details of the next few days forward. So for now, launch is scrubbed. Propellants offload will be commencing here shortly."

Based on the space station's orbit and the requirements of the Dragon rendezvous sequence, the next launch opportunity is Friday at 3:25 p.m., setting up a berthing at the International Space Station early Sunday.

The unpiloted Dragon spacecraft is loaded with nearly 5,000 pounds of equipment and supplies, including a new spacesuit, spare parts for suits already aboard the station, food and clothing, an experimental laser communications system, high-definition video cameras and equipment to grow salad-type crops in weightlessness in research that also will augment the crew's menu.

Whenever it arrives, Expedition 39 commander Koichi Wakata and Rick Mastracchio, operating the station's robot arm and berthing system, will be standing by to lock onto a grapple fixture to pull the spacecraft in for attachment to the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module.

The launching was approved by NASA's Mission Management Team Sunday after engineers showed the failure of an external computer aboard the space station Friday posed no increased risk for normal lab operations.

The computer, which serves as a backup for commanding solar array motion, a robot arm transporter and other critical systems, will be replaced during a contingency spacewalk next week. In the meantime, modified procedures have been developed to keep the station operating normally even if another failure occurs.

Mike Suffredini, the space station program manager, said Sunday a launch delay would not have any major impact on NASA's plans to operate the station "as is" until the contingency spacewalk can be carried out.

Getting the Dragon spacecraft safely into orbit is the primary objective of SpaceX's third commercial resupply mission, or CRS-3. But the company also plans to used the launch as an incremental step in an ongoing series of tests aimed at learning how to recover, and eventually reuse, Falcon rocket stages.

With the Dragon capsule and the Falcon's second stage safely on their way, the discarded first stage is programmed to attempt what amounts to a "soft landing" in the Atlantic Ocean east of Cape Canaveral, firing its engines for a controlled descent and deploying four 25-foot-long landing legs just before ocean impact. Recovery crews aboard a nearby ship will be on station to monitor the descent and possibly recover hardware.

Earlier experiments with controlled stage re-entries have been problematic, and Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of mission assurance at SpaceX, is not overly optimistic this time around, putting the odds of controlling the descent all the way to the ocean at just 40 percent at best.

But if SpaceX engineers eventually perfect a recovery system, future rocket stages could be guided to nearby landing sites for refurbishment and reuse, dramatically lowering costs compared to traditional throw-away boosters.

"I must point out that the entire recovery of the first stage is completely experimental, it has nothing to do with the primary mission," said Koenigsmann, adding that SpaceX is "really low-balling the probability of success here because this is a really difficult maneuver."

Koenigsmann stressed that the test was designed to have no impact on Dragon's flight to the space station.

The pressurized section of the Dragon capsule, the cabin accessible to the station crew, is packed with 1,576 pounds of research equipment, 1,049 pounds of food and other crew supplies, 271 pounds of spacesuit tools and parts and 449 pounds of space station hardware.

The equipment includes a fresh spacesuit, a set of legs for the station's humanoid robot, Robonaut 2, and the Vegetable Production System, or VEGGIE, the crew will use to grow food and carry out research.

"Based on anecdotal evidence, crews report that having plants around was very comforting and helped them feel less out of touch with Earth," Gloria Massa, a project scientist at the Kennedy Space Center, said in a NASA description. "You could also think of plants as pets. The crew just likes to nurture them."

The Dragon spacecraft also features and unpressurized "trunk" section that can be accessed by the station's robot arm. The trunk is being utilized for the first time in the CRS-3 mission to carry up components that will be mounted on the station's exterior.

One trunk-mounted payload is NASA's Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science, or OPALS, which will be mounted on the station's solar power truss. The OPALS hardware will test high-speed laser data transmission to and from a California ground station in a demonstration that could pave the way to improved communications with future spacecraft.

Compared to traditional radio communications, the laser technology represents an increase in speed reminiscent of what home computer users experienced upgrading from dial-up modems to DSL or cable for high-speed internet access.

"Future operational laser communication systems will have the ability to transmit more data from spacecraft down to the ground than they currently do, mitigating a significant bottleneck for scientific investigations and commercial ventures," said Michael Kokorowski, the OPALS project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Another trunk-mounted payload includes four high-definition cameras that will be mounted on the station's exterior as part of the High Definition Earth Viewing, or HDEV, project. The cameras will be used to downlink live, streaming video of Earth while engineers monitor the effects of the space environment on the camera hardware.

Because of the space station computer failure Friday, however, the crew will not move the lab's robot arm to begin extracting the trunk-mounted payloads until after a replacement is installed. As of this writing, engineers at the Johnson Space Center are targeting April 22 for a planned 2.5-hour spacewalk by astronauts Steven Swanson and Rick Mastracchio.

The crew spent part of the day Monday replacing components in spacesuit 3005, which Swanson will wear, to minimize any chance of a water backup like one that flooded a European astronaut's helmet during a spacewalk last year.

The Dragon capsule will remain attached to the space station until around May 8 when it will be unberthed for re-entry and splashdown off the coast of California. The Dragon is the only cargo ship currently servicing the station that is capable of bringing components, experiment samples and other materials back to Earth for post-flight analysis.

This time around, the spacecraft will be packed with some 1,600 pounds of experiment samples and other station components.

This will be the third commercial resupply mission carried out by SpaceX under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for 12 missions through 2016 to deliver some 44,000 pounds of supplies and equipment.

Another company, Orbital Sciences Corp., holds a $1.9 billion contract covering eight cargo delivery missions using its Antares rockets and Cygnus supply ships. Both contracts were awarded after the decision to retire NASA's shuttle fleet.

Google Maps Displays Crimean Border Differently In Russia, U.S.

As reported by NPR: The U.S. sees Crimea as "occupied territory," as the government said in a recent statement. But in Russia, Google Maps now shows the peninsula as part of Russian territory. America and its allies have refused to accept the region's separatist move to join Russia.

A look at the maps available on two Google Maps Web addresses — one ending in .com and another in .ru — shows the disparity. In Russia, Web visitors see a solid line dividing Crimea from neighboring Ukraine. In the U.S., a dotted line separates the two, implying a disputed status within the country.

NPR's Corey Flintoff reports for our Newscast unit:

"If you check Google Maps from the United States, you'll see Crimea portrayed as part of Ukraine. If you check from Russia, you'll see an international boundary drawn between Ukraine and the Black Sea peninsula, indicating that Crimea is part of Russia."  A spokeswoman for Google Russia told the Itar-Tass news agency that Google follows local laws on representing borders — and since Russia claims Crimea, that's represented on the Russia version of the map.  Google says it tries to be objective in marking disputed regions in various parts of the world."

The tech company's approach also reflects its need to follow the laws wherever its servers are located. Many countries keep a close eye on maps that cover disputed areas.

"Google maintains different versions of their mapping platform in different countries," John Gravois of magazine tells NPR guest host Tess Vigeland on . "Last time I counted, there were over 30."

Other companies that create widely referenced maps have taken slightly different tacks on the Crimea issue.

"National Geographic has done sort of a version of what Google has done," says Gravois. "They note the border, but they shade Crimea differently from the rest of Russia, or Ukraine."

Rand-McNally has a different approach, he says. Following the lead of the U.S. State Department, the mapmaker continues to show Crimea as part of Ukraine.

Gravois says the sensitivity over how countries and territories are depicted on maps is both old and real.
"Historically, the most powerful mapmaker in the world was often the most powerful country in the world," he says. He adds that for many years, that distinction was held by the British Empire.

Instead of making one binding decision, Google can represent the viewpoints of different states in its maps, Gravois says.

But that doesn't mean everyone is happy with its approach. Take, for instance, the tech company's portrayal of the same body of water as the Persian Gulf for users in Iran and as the Arabian Gulf for those in neighboring states.

"And in the process," he says, Google "infuriates Iranians."

US Navy's Future: Electric Guns, Lasers, Water As Fuel

As reported by CNN Tech: Imagine ships that fire missiles at seven times the speed of sound without using explosives, or that use lasers to destroy threats at the cost of about a dollar a shot, and vessels making fuel from the very seawater in which they're floating.

That's the glimpse of the high-tech future the U.S. Navy gave this week. And these aren't just ideas. They've all been shown to work to some degree.

Saturday, the Navy will christen its most advanced warship ever, the destroyer USS Zumwalt, which may one day be using these new technologies.

The Zumwalt, which was launched last year and is to be christened at Bath Iron Works in Maine, is the Navy's first stealth destroyer. At 610 feet long and 80 feet wide, it's about 100 feet longer and 20 feet wider than ships in the Navy's current fleet of Arleigh Burke class destroyers, but the canopy and the rest of the Zumwalt is built on angles that help make it 50 times harder to spot on radar than an ordinary destroyer.

"It has the radar cross-section of a fishing boat," Chris Johnson, a spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command, told CNN when the ship was launched last year.

In its current configuration, the Zumwalt will carry a considerable arsenal of weapons, including two Advanced Gun Systems (AGS), which can fire rocket-powered, computer-guided shells that can destroy targets 63 miles away. That's three times farther than ordinary destroyer guns can fire.

But in the future, it could be fitted with the even more advanced systems the Navy talked about this week.

One, a laser weapon prototype, will be tested aboard the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf this summer, the Navy said.

"This is a revolutionary capability," Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of Naval Research, said in a statement. "This very affordable technology is going to change the way we fight and save lives."

The laser weapon is design to take on aircraft or small surface vessels that may pose threats to Navy ships. Tests in 2011 and 2012 showed it can accomplish that mission.

The laser can be fired by one sailor using a video game-like console and do it at little cost, the Navy said.

"Spending about $1 per shot of a directed-energy source that never runs out gives us an alternative to firing costly munitions at inexpensive threats," Klunder said.

The Navy thinks the other weapon prototype it discussed this week, the electromagnetic railgun, will save money while providing a more potent force.

The gun uses electromagnetic force to send a missile to a range of 125 miles at 7.5 times the speed of sound, according to the Navy. When it hits its target, the projectile does its damage with sheer speed. It does not have an explosive warhead.

"The electromagnetic railgun represents an incredible new offensive capability for the U.S. Navy," Rear Adm. Bryant Fuller, the Navy's chief engineer, said in a statement. "This capability will allow us to effectively counter a wide range of threats at a relatively low cost, while keeping our ships and sailors safer by removing the need to carry as many high-explosive weapons."

The railgun projectiles could cost about 1/100th the price of current missiles, according to Klunder.

The Navy said the railgun will be tested at sea aboard the USS Millinocket, a non-combat ship known as a joint high-speed vessel, in 2016. No decision has been made on which combat ships might eventually be deployed with a railgun.

No matter what ships are chosen, other Navy scientists said this week those vessels may someday draw their fuel from the oceans they're crossing.

Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Materials Science and Technology Division, said this week they have demonstrated proof-of-concept on the ability to draw carbon dioxide and hydrogen from seawater and turn it into forms of gasoline.

Heather Willauer, a Naval Research Laboratory chemist, called the technology "game changing."

"This is the first time technology of this nature has been demonstrated with the potential for transition, from the laboratory, to full-scale commercial implementation," she said in a statement.

The lab's researchers used "an innovative and proprietary NRL electrolytic action exchange module" to remove the carbon dioxide from the water and produce hydrogen gas in the process.

"The gases are then converted to liquid hydrocarbons by a metal catalyst in a reactor system," the research lab's statement said.

The fuel produced was used to power the engine of a small model aircraft, the researchers said.

The process could be ramped up to produce a replacement for jet fuel at a cost of $3 to $6 per gallon within a decade, the researchers said. That step would come on land, with versions to be used on ships coming later, they said.

Writing on the Navy's official blog this week, Vice Adm. Phil Cullom, deputy chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics, also called the new technology "game changing" and potentially life saving.

"After more than a decade of war, our adversaries have found certain soft underbellies to our operations.

They know that when you go after the logistics and resupply of fuel, that's an easier target than confronting our frontline forces. What if we removed that from the equation? Can you imagine a time when an aircraft carrier doesn't have to wait for the oiler to come steaming alongside it to deliver jet fuel? It truly does change things. It prevents what could one day be our 'maritime IED moment,'" Cullom wrote.

Spy Satellite Soars To Space

Thursday's on-time launch of a U.S. intelligence satellite gave the Air Force a few days to prepare the Eastern Range for its next mission: SpaceX's planned 4:58 p.m. Monday liftoff of cargo to the International Space Station.

United Launch Alliance kicked off the nearly back-to-back countdowns at 1:45 p.m. Thursday, when an Atlas V rocket bolted from its Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with nearly two million pounds of thrust.

Trailing a white column of exhaust as it shot east over the Atlantic Ocean through a clear sky, the 196-foot rocket carrying a classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite was performing well several minutes into flight, before ULA ended its launch broadcast to preserve the mission's secrecy.

About four hours later, ULA confirmed the launch was a success.

"We are honored to deliver this national security asset to orbit," said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president for Atlas and Delta programs, in a statement.

Amateur astronomers experienced in tracking satellites, including secret NRO payloads, believe the satellite may be first of a new type of signals intelligence spacecraft, bound for a geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles above the equator.

The speculation takes into account the flight's trajectory and a powerful Atlas V rocket capable of delivering the satellite directly to a high-altitude orbit. The booster was aided by four strap-on solid rocket boosters, and the Centaur upper stage was thought to be equipped for a longer-than-usual flight requiring several engine burns.

The mission's logo featured a blue Pegasus and the Latin motto "In Scientia Opportunitas," or "In knowledge, there is opportunity."

The launch was delayed more than two weeks when an electrical short disabled an essential Air Force tracking radar.

The 45th Space Wing activated a backup radar so launches could proceed while the damaged one is repaired, and reported no problems Thursday.

"I am proud of the persistence and focus of the launch team, the wing, NRO, ULA and other mission partners, to make this launch happen," Brig. Gen. Nina Armango, 45th Space Wing commander, said in a statement.

It was the 45th Atlas V launch since it began flying in 2002, but only the second in this configuration.

And it was ULA's second Atlas V mission in a week, following the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture's successful April 3 launch of a military weather satellite from California.

Denver, Colo.-based ULA could try two Cape launches next month. A Delta IV rocket is targeting a May 15 liftoff with a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite, before an Atlas V flies with another NRO mission.

But first, SpaceX on Monday will attempt to loft its third ISS resupply mission under a $1.6 billion NASA contract, and possibly follow that with a commercial satellite launch before the end of the month.