Airbus Patents Windowless Cockpit

As reported by GisMag: Imagine showing up at the airport to catch your flight, looking at your plane, and noticing that instead of windows, the cockpit is now a smooth cone of aluminum. It may seem like the worst case of quality control in history, but Airbus argues that this could be the airliner of the future. In a new US patent application, the EU aircraft consortium outlines a new cockpit design that replaces the traditional cockpit with one that uses 3D view screens instead of conventional windows.

There’s a reason why cockpits are traditionally in the nose of a plane – not the least of which is the pilot being able to see where they're going. In addition to flying, being up front provides a clear view forward and downward for landing and taxiing. That’s all very useful, but it does tend to ruin the aerodynamics of the aircraft’s nose, which would ideally be lancet shaped. As aircraft have grown larger and more complicated, the nose has come to also include the radome, crew rest area and the front landing gear, and the current cockpit design reflects this.

Another problem is that aerospace engineers hate windows. They may be popular with passengers who like to see outside, and pilots, who like to not bang into things, but engineers see them as nothing but points of weakness in what should, ideally, be a solid cylinder. If nothing else, they’ll point to the alarming Comet airliner crashes of the 1950s, which were traced back to poor window design fatally weakening the fuselage. Windows mean heavy reinforcements and multiple layers of glass and plastic to strengthen hull integrity. In addition, placing the cockpit in the nose reduces the cabin size, where every inch is measured in thousands of dollars lost per flight.

The Airbus patent shows a windowless cockpit that removes the windows or reduces them to partial views of the outside world. Instead, exterior views are provided by a display formed by back projection, lasers, holograms, or OLED imaging systems fed by cameras outside the fuselage. In addition, there are stereo cameras for taxiing and parking, and augmented reality can be used to highlight weather conditions, navigation beacons, air routes, hazards, and other information. There are even holographic displays of a globe displaying navigation and weather data, and a Star Wars-like holographic projector that Darth Vader would enjoy.

The idea of a windowless cockpit may seem a bit mad at first, but there are some real advantages if Airbus can pull it off and get the public to accept it. The proposed system widens the pilot’s field of view, which is always good, and provides more flexibility about what information is displayed and how it's displayed. It reduces the weight of the aircraft, therefore increasing fuel efficiency, and it increases the flexibility of aircraft design. Security can also be increased by making the cabin as hardened as possible – even separating it entirely from the passenger cabin.

At the moment, the windowless cockpit is just a concept, but if the public is willing to go along with it, the smooth airliner could be the plane of the future.

In Germany, A Robot Valet Will Park Your Car

As reported by Mashable: In Germany, high tech has come to airport parking.

Last week, Düsseldorf airport (DUS) introduced robot valets to take the hassle out of parking for travelers.

Travelers can leave their cars at the arrival level of the ParkingPLUS structure. As they leave, they confirm on a touch-screen that no one is in the car. The robot valet, nicknamed "Ray," takes it from there.

The robot measures the vehicle, picks it up with a forklift-like system, and takes it to the back area, where it will position it in one of the 249 parking spots reserved for automated valets. The machine is capable of carrying standard cars weighing up to 3.31 tons.

The robot valet is even connected to the airport's flight data system, and by checking customer trip data with the database, Ray knows when the customer will return for the vehicle. A traveler can note any itinerary changes in a parking app, which is available for iOS and Android.

Düsseldorf's airport is relatively small, and officials touted the convenience of heading to the terminal from the parking structure entrance. Ray "makes the distances between planes and passengers’ vehicles even shorter," according to a statement from the airport.

“Our product is especially appealing to business travelers, who arrive at the airport shortly before the flight, seek efficient parking, and return within a few days," said Thomas Schnalke, the airport's managing director.

The introductory rate for robot valet parking at Düsseldorf is 29 euros ($39.59) per day or 4 euros ($5.46) per hour. Although the airport is targeting business travelers in a hurry, the service is open to anyone.

If airport customers use the robot valet, airport officials said they would consider expanding the system.

Ray was produced by Serva Transport in the Bavarian town of Grabenstätt. Serva previewed the robot valet in 2013; Düsseldorf is the first installation of the system.

Truck of the Future Aims to Drive Itself

As reported by CNN Tech: Tractor-trailer drivers, if you text while driving in the middle of the freeway, then the future may belong to you.

If you can afford a Mercedes truck, that is.

The German vehicle maker sent an 18-wheeler barreling down the Autobahn recently, while the driver surfed the Internet for food recipes on tablet computer -- at least that's how media photos told the story.

Its test drive was brief, covering about three miles, German media reported.

The trucker's hands didn't touch the wheel and his eyes were fixed on pork cutlets. But that could be the way some drive in the future, perhaps in the next decade or so.

That's the message of the prototype "Future Truck 2025," which Mercedes says is the first self-driven freight vehicle. It may seem illogical right now, but the hands-off idea is aimed at eliminating human error.

Special cameras and multiple radar systems watch the road, the sides of the road, and cars and trucks behind the vehicle.

Future Truck is also envisioned to communicate with other vehicles and connect to growing sources of online information as Big Data balloons on the road.

Its computerized controls will also make it more fuel efficient, Mercedes boasts.
Once the truck merges into traffic, it won't accelerate to clichéd Autobahn breakneck speeds. The system will throttle it to a meek 50 mph, Mercedes says.

Many of the component parts to put a vehicle like this into production are already available in trucks on the market: Systems that help drivers keep their distance from other drivers, active braking assistance, guidance and mapping systems, and fine-tuned cruise control and tons of other hi-tech tchotchke.

If a puttering slowpoke pulls out in front of Future Truck 2025, it will slow down automatically to keep off of its bumper, but the 18-wheeler won't pass it by itself.

That's when the driver will have to turn off the ball game, put down the iPad or lay away the knife and fork, then take the wheel.

But he'd be ill advised to goof off too much, because two cameras and a sensor under his seat will monitor his activities.

Mercedes says that the trucker will still be expected to be responsible for controlling the vehicle. But by then they won't be called that anymore.

In 2025, they'll be promoted to "transport managers."

Artistic Topographical Patterns Found on Earth’s Surface, Using Google Earth

As reported by Wired: In the early days of photography, getting an aerial shot of a landscape meant attaching a camera, with a timer, to a balloon. That’s no longer necessary. These days, a bird’s eye view of the entire world is available, free of charge, through Google Earth’s satellite images. It’s a seemingly bottomless well of content that’s practically spawned a new art movement: Google Earth images have already exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and inspired a designer to launch a line of bespoke, topographical carpets.

Sequin farms - Saudi Arabia	Kau Nature Reserve, Australia	Castro Marim, Portugal
Huelva, Spain	Huelva, Spain	Quinta da Ria Golf Course, Portugal
Santa Cruz, Argentina	Loncopué, Neuquén, Argentina	Portimão, Portugal
Guayaquil, Ecuador	Solar farms	Escher farms - Ankara Turkey
Iran	Austbo, Norway	Iran
Iran	Ashoro-Gun Hokkaido, Japan	Villarino - Buenos Aires

One such body of work is Lauren Manning’s Tumblr, Earth Patterns, where she documents some of the most breathtaking swatches of the earth’s surface. “Anytime I’d use Google Maps functionally—looking up where something was or how to get somewhere—I’d end up spending much longer than I’d intended just looking around at how amazing everything looks from above,” Manning says of her passion project. (She works for digital agency Code and Theory by day.)

Texas Gulf Potash Pond in Monticello, Utah. Google Earth 

Manning says she’s taken a couple hundred screen grabs—all on her iPad, where the retina display allows for big, clear images—and posted about 100 of those to Earth Patterns. The diversity in texture is stunning: some shots look like needlepoint, others look like Rothkos. In the deserts, the foliage and the housing are in plain sight, like dollhouse replicas of day-to-day life. And other shots—like the electric blue Texas Gulf Potash Pond in Monticello, Utah—look almost supernatural.

Manning says she would like to someday offer the screenshots as prints or postcards, but for the time being, she’ll continue to collate images on Earth Patterns.

U.S. World Cup Team Used GPS Devices To Track Player Health

As reported by iHealthBeat: When the U.S. Men's National Team played Belgium, physicians tracked their every movement using small GPS devices that measured players' physical workload and the distances they covered over time, Bloomberg reports.

Background
According to a study published after the 2010 tournament by Jiri Dvorak -- chief medical officer of Fédération Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA -- improved injury prevention among all World Cup teams has contributed to a lower number of match injury cases.

Dvorak applauded FIFA's acceptance of the new injury prevention methods, adding that during this year's tournament FIFA expects there to be fewer than two injuries per game, down from 2.7 injuries per game in 1998.

GPS-Tracking Device Details
The matchbox-sized GPS systems are commonly used by coaches to track players':

• Exertion and energy expenditure; and
• Positioning.

U.S. Men's National Team physician George Chiampas said that the information collected by such devices is "just one example of the data" he and his staff use.

The U.S. Men's National Team has at least 10 physicians and coaches who are responsible for players' health.

Data from the GPS-tracking devices are combined with information collected from other monitoring devices that can track players':

• Cardiovascular efficiency;
• Fatigue;
• Hydration; and
• Movements during running, jumping and playing

Ford and Intel Use Facial Recognition for In-Car Tech

As reported by Motor Authority: In order to expand the capabilities of in-car tech, Ford is working with Intel to bring facial recognition to the dashboard. The joint research project, called Project Mobil, will allow engineers to see how inward-facing cameras can be integrated into a car's existing systems to provide useful features. Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] already believes the technology can help improve privacy and give parents a way to monitor their kids as they drive.  

When someone enters a Project Mobil-equipped car uses a front-facing camera to authenticate each driver. If the system doesn't recognize the driver, it would be able to send a photo to the vehicle's owner, who could then give permission for someone else to use it.

Once a driver is identified, the car can automatically adjust various settings to suit them. Drivers can also set different parameters for other people who use their cars, like requiring seat belt use or limiting audio volume or vehicle speed. This would theoretically allow parents to keep a leash on young drivers.

They may also be able to watch their children driver. Ford says Project Mobil can let owners remotely peek into their cars through a smartphone app, although this NSA-style monitoring could make other drivers--teenage or not--hesitant about borrowing the car. Maybe that's the whole idea.

A less creepy feature is gesture-recognition technology. Ford believes this can be combined with existing voice controls to make things like adjusting the climate control or opening and closing a sunroof easier while driving.

Project Mobil is still just an experiment, so Ford has no immediate plans to put any of this technology into production. Don't be surprised if your dashboard stares back at you eventually, though.

Mayors of Atlanta and New Orleans: Uber Will Beat the Taxi Industry

As reported by The Atlantic: The car service Uber is fighting in cities all over America to end the regulatory capture enjoyed by the taxicab industry. According to the mayors of Atlanta and New Orleans, they're going to win–but not before there's a long, intense fight about regulations.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed put it this way:

I think they're going to fight a 15 round fight, and I think that Uber's going to win. And the taxicab industry is going to have to change and get more flexible.
But in the interim, they're going to flat out fight it out, and mayors are going to be in the middle of it, because the taxicab industry is so old and staid and never had real competition, and now it's being forced to innovate.
Uber has a real challenge. Uber has to maintain the level of quality that made Uber the brand it is today. And I think that at this point in the life cycle of that business, and that space, they haven't had time to go out there and do 5 years and 7 years and 8 years to see, is your Uber experience the same. Because I had one the other day that was pretty close to a cab. So they're going to have to fight that out. I know that I'm going to get a mean letter, Uber.
I love you.

The fact that he described his worst Uber experience as "pretty close" to as bad as a cab, but not quite, struck me as telling.

Said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu:

We're having the battle with Uber right now in the city of New Orleans. As we speak, our city council is being the host of the battle with the taxi cab industry. I think at the end of the day Uber is going to win. I think that their technology model is superior. I think their political skills need some work, if I might.
I think at the end of the day, there will be some resolution that's going to be more in favor of Uber than not. Although it does take a little bit of time -- you saw this in New York -- transforming a regulatory scheme that has been in place for however many years... is not as easy as just coming in and ask the mayor to change it. 
It actually is going to be a 15 round fight. And it's going to take time to work out, hopefully sooner rather than later. But that debate will be held. One of the issues... we want to make sure that people are riding in safe spaces. We told the cab industry you've got to have cars that are not older than, the national average is 3 years, we kind up kicked it up a little bit in New Orleans and allowed it to be seven. But we told them, you cabs have to be clean, and you've got to work it. But it is a forceful fight, and our city council is full of people on Uber's side, people on the cabs' side, and it's a battle. 

Mayor Reed of Atlanta then expressed how politically powerful the taxi cartels can be:

I tell you, Uber's worth more than Sony, but cab drivers can take you out. So you've got to [weigh that]. Get in a cab and they say, 'Well that mayor, he is sorry.' You come to visit Atlanta, they say, 'Well that Mayor Reed is as sorry as the day is long. Let me tell you how sorry he is while I drive you to your hotel. And I want you to know that crime is up.' This guy might knock you out.
I want you to know it can get really real. It's not as easy as it looks. 

Janette Sadik-Khan, former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, agreed:

The taxi cab industry is powerful in lots of ways. Lots of ways. Anybody who tries to make changes in a city runs up against them. I think they don't like bike lanes, they don't like bus lanes, they don't like plazas, they don't like Uber, you name it, they don't like it. In fact, I think if anybody knew who I was, like a cabbie, I'd be [gestures as if hit by a car] dead. But I do think that shared economy is here to stay. That train has left the station. It is happening.