Orion Capsule Moves to NASA Launch Pad for Test Flight

As reported by the Denver Post: NASA's new Colorado-made Orion spacecraft is now at the launch pad for next month's test flight.  

The spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, was moved 22 miles overnight at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and reached the launch pad early Wednesday.

It was then hoisted into place on top of a Delta IV heavy rocket, made by Colorado-based United Launch Alliance, for the Dec. 4 launch.

In the next few weeks, the rocket and spacecraft will be integrated and powered up, and engineers will test and verify interfaces between the two in preparation for the test flight.

The test flight will last slightly more than four hours and will propel the unmanned capsule 3,600 miles from Earth, before returning it for a splashdown in the Pacific.  

Data collected during the flight will provide engineers insight into the performance of systems, including the massive Colorado-built heat shield, as well as avionics, parachute deployment and recovery operations, Lockheed said in a news release.

The information will be used to validate the spacecraft's design before it begins carrying human astronauts on deep-space exploration missions, including trips to Mars. Astronauts are expected to start flying on Orion in 2021. The capsules are built for four passengers, one more than the old Apollo spacecraft.

Carmakers Unite Around Privacy Protections

As reported by AP News: Nineteen automakers accounting for most of the passenger cars and trucks sold in the U.S. have signed onto a set of principles they say will protect motorists' privacy in an era when computerized cars pass along more information about their drivers than many motorists realize.

The principles were delivered in a letter Wednesday to the Federal Trade Commission, which has the authority to force corporations to live up to their promises to consumers. Industry officials say they want to assure their customers that the information that their cars stream back to automakers or that is downloaded from the vehicle's computers won't be handed over to authorities without a court order, sold to insurance companies or used to bombard them with ads for pizza parlors, gas stations or other businesses they drive past, without their permission.

The principles also commit automakers to "implement reasonable measures" to protect personal information from unauthorized access.

Many recent-model cars and light trucks have GPS and mobile communications technology integrated into the vehicle's computers and navigation systems. Information on where drivers have been and where they're going is continually sent to manufacturers when the systems are in use. Consumers benefit from alerts sent by automakers about traffic conditions and concierge services that are able to unlock car doors and route drivers around the path of a storm.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also working with automakers on regulations that will clear the way for vehicle-to-vehicle communications. The technology uses a radio signal to continually transmit a vehicle's position, heading, speed and other information. Similarly equipped cars and trucks would receive the same information, and their computers would alert drivers to an impending collision.

"As modern cars not only share the road but will in the not too distant future communicate with one another, vigilance over the privacy of our customers and the security of vehicle systems is an imperative," said John Bozzella, president of Global Automakers, an industry trade association.

The automakers' principles leave open the possibility of deals with advertisers who want to target motorists based on their location and other personal data, but only if customers agree ahead of time that they want to receive such information, industry officials said in a briefing with reporters.

"Google may want to become an automaker, but we don't want to become Google," said Mitch Bainwol, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

The possibility of ads popping up on the computer screens in cars while drivers are behind the wheel worries some safety advocates.

"There is going to be a huge amount of metadata that companies would like to mine to send advertisements to you in your vehicle," said Henry Jasny of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. "We don't want pop-up ads to become a distraction."

Industry officials say they oppose federal legislation to require privacy protections, saying that would be too "prescriptive." But Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said legislation is needed to ensure automakers don't back off the principles when they become inconvenient.

"You just don't want your car spying on you," he said. "That's the practical consequence of a lot of the new technologies that are being built into cars."

The automakers signing on to the principles are Aston Martin, BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Why Nearby Phones May Soon Be Borrowing Your Bandwidth - and Your Battery

As reported by MIT Technology Review: The Chinese Internet giant 21Vianet will launch a cell-phone network in Hong Kong early next year that will use a new trick to offer fast data downloads. When a phone on the network has a poor data signal, it will borrow the connection of a nearby handset with a stronger signal by linking with it over Wi-Fi. The technology, an implementation of a technique known as mesh networking, may come to other countries, including the United States, soon after.

Having devices share bandwidth can boost the download speeds by 50 percent or more, according to M87, the Austin, Texas, startup behind the technology. This could be especially useful in situations where cellular signals are weakened—for example, when someone is using a phone indoors, or in the shadow of a skyscraper. M87 says two U.S. mobile carriers looking for ways to improve their mobile data coverage are also evaluating the technology.

The company raised $3 million in investment earlier this year, including from its Hong Kong partner 21Vianet and from leading mobile chip company Qualcomm.

There’s just one catch to this altruistic sharing of bandwidth: a device that donates its connectivity to another uses some of its battery life doing so. M87 CEO David Hampton says the penalty is small, and that a device will likely be configured to only share its connection if it has more than 60 percent of its battery life remaining. (See a video of M87’s software boosting data rates in a Texas mall.)

A common scenario in which the technology could help would be a person at the back of a coffee shop, says Hampton. His or her phone could improve its data downloads by linking to the device of someone near the window, with a better signal from the nearest cell tower. Inside a building, devices can link up over distances of around 30 to 50 feet; outside that jumps to as much as 180 feet, says Hampton.

M87’s technology requires a mobile carrier to pre-install software onto handsets sold for use on its network. That software runs in the background and constantly monitors a device’s data signal while looking for nearby devices with the same software.

Carriers can tune the exact rules for when a device will link up with another. Hampton says that M87’s recommended settings would mean that on average devices expended 10 percent or less of their battery helping others in a given day. The company also recommends that carriers offer a way for people to opt out of their device participating. M87’s software is currently only available for Android devices.

Pan Hui, a computer science professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, says the technology looks feasible but will come with challenges. One is ensuring that one person’s data remains secure as it passes through other devices, something M87 says it can do using encryption.

Another perhaps bigger challenge is making people comfortable with the idea of their personal device being recruited to help out their service provider and its other customers. People may ask themselves, “Why would I spend my battery and bandwidth to relay your traffic?” says Hui.

Hampton acknowledges that users will have to adjust, but says mobile carriers who adopt the technology will be strongly motivated to find ways to make the technology appealing to their customers, whether through marketing or perhaps offering benefits to people that stay opted in.

Lighter, Cheaper Radio Wave Device Could Transform Telecommunications

As reported by Phys.org: Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have achieved a milestone in modern wireless and cellular telecommunications, creating a radically smaller, more efficient radio wave circulator that could be used in cellphones and other wireless devices, as reported in the latest issue of Nature Physics. 

The new circulator has the potential to double the useful bandwidth in wireless communications by enabling full-duplex functionality, meaning devices can transmit and receive signals on the same frequency band at the same time.

The key innovation is the creation of a magnetic-free radio wave circulator.

Since the advent of wireless technology 60 years ago, magnetic-based circulators have been in principle able to provide two-way communications on the same frequency channel, but they are not widely adopted because of the large size, weight and cost associated with using magnets and magnetic materials.

Freed from a reliance on magnetic effects, the new circulator has a much smaller footprint while also using less expensive and more common materials. These cost and size efficiencies could lead to the integration of circulators within cellphones and other microelectronic systems, resulting in substantially faster downloads, fewer dropped calls and significantly clearer communications.

The team of researchers, led by Associate Professor Andrea Alu, has developed a prototype circulator that is 2 centimeters in size—more than 75 times smaller than the wavelength of operation. The circulator may be further scaled down to as small as a few microns, according to the researchers. The design is based on materials widely used in integrated circuits such as gold, copper and silicon, making it easier to integrate in the circuit boards of modern communication devices.

"We are changing the paradigm with which isolation and two-way transmission on the same frequency channel can be achieved. We have built a circulator that does not need magnets or magnetic materials," Alu said.

The researchers' device works by mimicking the way magnetic materials break the symmetry in wave transmission between two points in space, a critical function that allows magnetic circulators to selectively route radio waves. With the new circulator, the researchers accomplish the same effect, but they replace the magnetic bias with a traveling wave spinning around the device.

Another unique feature is that the new circulator can be tuned in real time over a broad range of frequencies, a major advantage over conventional circulators.

"With this technology, we can incorporate tunable nonreciprocal components in mobile platforms," said Nicholas Estep, lead researcher and a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "In doing so, we may pave the way to simultaneous two-way communication in the same frequency band, which can free up chunks of bandwidth for more effective use."

For telecommunications companies, which pay for licenses to use frequencies allotted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, a more efficient use of the limited available bandwidth means significant cost advantages.

Additionally, because the design of the circulator is scalable and capable of circuit integration, it can potentially be placed in wireless devices.

"We envision micron-sized circulators embedded in cellphone technology. When you consider cellphone traffic during high demand events such as a football game or a concert, there are enormous implications opened by our technology, including fewer dropped calls and clearer communications," Estep said.

The circulator also could benefit other industries that currently use magnetic-based circulators. For instance, circulators used in phased arrays and radar systems for aircraft, ships and satellites can be extremely heavy and large, so minimizing the size of these systems could provide significant savings.

"We are also bringing this paradigm to other areas of science and technology," Alu said. "Our research team is working on using this concept to protect lasers and to create integrated nano-photonic circuits that route light signals instead of radio waves in preferred directions."

Elon Musk’s Next Mission: Internet Satellites

As reported by the Wall Street Journal: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk shook up the automotive and aerospace industries with electric cars and cheap rockets. Now, he is focused on satellites, looking at ways to make smaller, less-expensive models that can deliver Internet access across the globe, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Musk is working with Greg Wyler, a satellite-industry veteran and former Google Inc. executive, these people said. Mr. Wyler founded WorldVu Satellites Ltd., which controls a large block of radio spectrum.

In talks with industry executives, Messrs. Musk and Wyler have discussed launching around 700 satellites, each weighing less than 250 pounds, the people said. That is about half the size of the smallest communications satellites now in commercial use. The satellite constellation would be 10 times the size of the largest current fleet, managed by Iridium Communications Inc.

To be sure, the venture would face large financial, technical and regulatory hurdles, and industry officials estimate that it would cost $1 billion or more to develop the project. The people familiar with the matter cautioned the venture is in its formative stages, and Mr. Musk’s participation isn’t certain.

Messrs. Musk and Wyler are considering building a factory to make satellites, the people said. One of the people said initial talks have been held with state officials in Florida and Colorado about locating the factory.

In addition to Mr. Musk, WorldVu is seeking a satellite industry partner to lend expertise to the project, this person said.

Mr. Musk’s closely held Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, likely would launch the satellites, those people said, though no agreement is in place. SpaceX has launched a dozen of its Falcon 9 rockets in the past five years and plans more than four dozen launches through 2018. In September, the company won a $2.6 billion NASA contract to develop, test and fly space taxis to carry U.S. astronauts into orbit.

Building a plant and testing satellites is a lengthy process, and WorldVu needs to clear the use of spectrum with other operators. SpaceX may not have capacity to launch the satellites until the end of the decade, by which time WorldVu risks losing its spectrum.

A previous satellite Internet startup founded by Mr. Wyler, O3b Networks, has faced technical problems with the first four satellites it launched, which likely will shorten their lifespans. Today, O3b serves large areas on either side of the equator with a constellation of eight satellites and is planning to launch four more by the end of the year. Mr. Wyler has left the company, though he remains a significant shareholder.

One indicator of the challenge: Mr. Wyler brought a similar plan to Google, which prides itself on tackling big problems. Yet he stayed only about a year before leaving to work with Mr. Musk.

Two people familiar with the matter said Mr. Wyler’s relationship with Google soured in part because he wasn’t sure the search giant had sufficient manufacturing expertise.

Google declined to comment.

If Messrs. Musk and Wyler choose to build the satellites, they would face competition from other makers of small satellites, such as Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. and Britain’s Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.

Messrs. Musk and Wyler share an interest in reducing the cost of satellites.

WorldVu needs a lot of satellites, and could be the anchor customer for a high-volume, low-cost satellite maker. Mr. Musk changed the economics of launching rockets by simplifying designs while building engines and other components in-house.

The smallest communications satellites now weigh under 500 pounds and cost several million dollars each. WorldVu hopes to bring the cost of manufacturing smaller models under $1 million, according to two people familiar with its plans.

High costs and limited users have hobbled past efforts to deliver telephone and Internet service from space. Iridium filed for bankruptcy protection nine months after it launched in 1998, after attracting few users willing to pay $3,000 for a phone and up to $7 a minute for calls. Rival Globalstar Inc. sought bankruptcy protection in 2002. Both re-emerged as mobile-data providers.

Messrs. Musk and Wyler also may also be able to find willing investors among technology giants. Both Google and FacebookInc. are working to extend Internet access to unwired parts of the globe, through drones, balloons and other means.

How New Transportation Technologies Will Change Everything

As reported by Government Technology: The transportation systems around which the modern world has been built are on the verge of a significant transformation. Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are making driving and traffic management better and safer for everyone. 

Transportation typifies the FutureStructure framework. (FutureStructure is a sister publication of Governmet Technology.) Soft infrastructure — the realm of concepts, policies and legislation — is rapidly evolving to accommodate the demand for global investment in hard transportation infrastructure. Technology is bridging the two as vehicles and the infrastructure on which they operate become increasingly connected.

Traffic and population growth create demand for more transportation infrastructure, but many jurisdictions don’t have sufficient money or space to build more roads and rail.

Despite cities lacking funds population growth will continue — the World Health Organization expects 7 out of 10 people on the planet will live in cities by mid-century. Coupled with climate change concerns, cities leaders must start rethinking the very nature of existing transportation systems.

New transportation technologies are emerging to meet these challenges, including connected and autonomous vehicles, alternative fuels, keyless fleet management and traffic analytics, as well as local zoning and planning policies that support transit-oriented development. New technology for on-road communications will dramatically change how vehicles operate and provide information and capabilities for better, real-time traffic management — if the necessary network infrastructure is in place.

ITS is poised to transform transportation into a connected, dynamic component of the city-as-a-system. Perhaps more importantly, the greater ease in moving about will have a positive impact on quality of life and commerce for residents, visitors and local businesses.

The Promise of ITS

“Cities are struggling with transportation today and will struggle even more in the future,” said Bill Ford, Jr., executive chairman of the Ford Motor Company, while addressing the ITS World Congress in Detroit in September 2014. “We need to redefine what mobility is for the coming century.”

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, ITS improves transportation safety and mobility by integrating advanced, wireless communications technologies into transportation infrastructure and vehicles. The purpose of ITS is to process and share information that can prevent vehicle collisions, keep traffic moving and reduce environmental impacts.

Coordinating traffic signals, giving signal priority to transit lanes, electronic information signs and variable speed limit signs are all part of the burgeoning ITS industry. Also part of ITS is the ability to automatically distribute real-time traffic data to websites, social media feeds, mobile apps, and local TV and radio stations.

“Instead of a bunch of independent systems on the local, national or even global level, ITS creates a transportation network that works like the Internet, where everything is connected, but also open for standards-based communication, which reduces costs and creates value for everyone involved in managing traffic,” said David Pickeral, who leads the Industry Smarter Solutions Team for Transportation at IBM.

Autonomous and Connected Vehicles

Perhaps the most anticipated element of ITS is the connected vehicle. The imminent arrival of connected vehicles is one reason for new visions of transportation within a metro area.

Connected technology focuses on wireless communication: vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), collectively referred to as V2X. Intended primarily to improve safety, V2V technology allows cars to continually communicate to the vehicles around them so each are aware of the others’ speed, heading and direction. 

Connected vehicles also help in recognizing and alerting drivers to dangerous situations. By adding communication points in hazardous road areas and intersections, V2I technology extends crash-reduction capabilities by allowing automatic control of signal timing, speed management, and operation of transit and commercial vehicles.

“The connected vehicle technologies are ready,” said Suzanne Murtha, senior program manager for intelligent transportation initiatives at Atkins Global. “Now it’s a matter of governments capturing and sharing data about real-time, on-the-street traffic conditions so drivers can make better choices.”

A different but related technology is that of autonomous vehicles, perhaps the most famous example of which is the Google self-driving car. Autonomous cars use a combination of LIDAR (similar to sonar but with laser light), GPS, optical cameras and big-time processing power to analyze millions of possible roadway scenarios and then take the appropriate action. The ultimate goal for autonomous vehicle technology is to make the vehicle so intelligent that no driver input is needed. However, truly autonomous vehicles, wherein the driver can give up complete control to the car, remain on the distant horizon. According to Ford, it is incremental technological advancement that will one day lead to driverless cars.  

“By the time we get to full autonomy, the last step won’t seem like such a big deal,” he said. “Even as we put in a lot of these features the driver still has to be vigilant and in control.”

Malcolm Dougherty, director of the California Department of Transportation, agreed. At the ITS World Congress he said that while he believed “the development of autonomous vehicle technology is going to accelerate … for the time being the motorist will always be responsible for the vehicle.”

If you buy a new car today, you’re getting a preview of how driving will change as we move into the era of autonomous, connected vehicles. Features that help you park the car in a tight spot, automatically adjust cruise control speeds and sound an alert when the car drifts out of its lane are examples of technology now offered by automakers. Several states have already passed laws that allow autonomous vehicles to operate on public roads.

In September, California approved three permits for Volkswagen, Mercedes and Google to start autonomous vehicle testing under Senate Bill 1298, which requires the state to adopt formal autonomous vehicle testing rules by 2015.

“When SB 1298 was working its way through, everyone thought that the technology was quite a number of years away — and we were all very surprised as we met with the car manufacturers and industry, about how far along the technology really is,” California Department of Motor Vehicles CIO Bernard Soriano told FutureStructure’s sister publication Techwire. “Getting a chance to see the technology up close and being able to experience it is mind-boggling. It’s exciting to be working on this because we’re on the cusp of societal change. I’m not one to use hyperbole, but this one is a game-changer. It will change the way we function as a society, for the better.”

California State Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), who introduced SB 1298 two years ago, shared in the excitement, saying in a statement that “this technology takes a bold step forward. Driverless vehicles will revolutionize transportation, reduce traffic accidents and save lives. Establishing safety standards for these vehicles is an essential step in that process.”

Terry D. Bennett, senior industry program manager, civil engineering and planning at Autodesk, said while the autonomous vehicle concept is compelling, focusing on V2I and V2V makes more practical sense in cities.

“I think [autonomous cars] more than anything create a lot of space for people to think differently,” he said. “But with Detroit and other cities looking at dedicated roads for vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, you’re starting to see the point that having infrastructure that’s intelligent, has sensors and can communicate, is a much better long term approach than trying to automate a single car.”

Indeed, the U. S. Department of Transportation estimates that V2V technology may eliminate or reduce the impact of up to 80 percent of crashes involving unimpaired drivers. In a Governing Institute survey, 62 percent of local officials agreed that autonomous and connected vehicles will mean fewer crashes. Fifty-one percent also foresee improved mobility and reduced congestion as more intelligent vehicles take to the road.

Electric Vehicles

Oregon is gaining both environmental and economic development benefits from its infrastructure and program investments to support electric vehicles (EVs). The most visible of these investments is the West Coast Electric Highway, which includes charging stations along Interstate 5 in Oregon, Washington and eventually California. Based on positive public response, Oregon is installing EV charging stations along other key highways and encouraging private businesses to install stations as well.

Travel Oregon, the state’s tourism office, runs a targeted EV tourism program, “Oregon Electric Byways,” with suggested itineraries and a partnership with Enterprise Rent-a-Car for EV rental.

“It’s hard to separate the infrastructure from economic development because the infrastructure starts the conversation about EVs, especially outside of major cities,” said Ashley Horvat, Oregon’s chief electric vehicle officer and the first person in the public sector to hold this role. “By placing charging stations around the state, we went into communities that had never seen EVs, which really increased adoption and created a positive perception for Oregon within the EV industry.”

In September, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1275, which sets a goal for the state to put 1 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2023. The bill also authorizes the state to provide financial incentives for consumers to purchase such vehicles, part of the governor’s effort to make electric cars affordable for lower-income workers.

“I’m excited that California is charging ahead with plans to have electric vehicles in every zip code across the state,” the bill’s author, California State Sen. Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles) said in a statement. “We’re going to lead the way in the fight against climate change by putting a million EVs on the roads, which means making them affordable to all drivers, not just the wealthy.”

Driving Data

Intelligent infrastructure generates data that helps civic leadership make better decisions. For local transportation managers, connected vehicles and connected infrastructure will be tools for traffic data collection and analytics.

Better traffic flow is achievable in part with better systems for collecting and analyzing real-time traffic data. In this arena, transportation managers can learn from the technologies and practices deployed by private companies, especially those with large fleets.

For instance, some keen-eyed observers know that the familiar brown UPS trucks rarely make a left turn. The reason is that for decades UPS has worked to optimize routes. The UPS On-Road Integrated Optimization Navigation (ORION) software, which provides analytics for routing the company’s delivery trucks, is the latest in route optimization. The system combines daily data on package delivery commitments and historical route tracking to identify the optimal path (out of hundreds of thousands of possibilities) for each UPS driver to follow that day. UPS expects the ORION system to significantly reduce fuel consumption and miles driven in its trucks. Public transportation departments will benefit from using similar analytics tools said Tom Madrecki, strategic communications manager at UPS.

“It’s really about diving into the data and, based on where people need to go, determining how to make the transportation system the best it can be, then investing in the needed technology to realize those improvements,” Madrecki said.  
           

ITS and the Path to Smart Cities

No matter how promising the new technology, local transportation officials are caught in a classic funding bind — it’s impossible to reduce costs without making investments, but funding for infrastructure investments is scarce or nonexistent. In a recent Governing Institute survey, 78 percent of respondents indicated lack of funding was the key barrier to developing ITS, well ahead of the 45 percent who cited an aging infrastructure as the key barrier.

“We need to create a framework for private entrepreneurship to lead the way,” argued Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad during a panel at the ITS World Congress. “Legislation at the state and federal level needs to be loosened up.”

In many cases, public-private partnerships will have a larger role in financing new transportation projects. “Many state and local governments don’t have the staff and other resources to implement projects on this large scale,” said Nicholas Fluehr, a managing director at Wells Fargo. “Although municipal bond financing is still a viable option, partnering with the private sector can be a good option from both a cost and efficiency standpoint.”

As traffic volumes continue to grow in the coming decades, the public sector will need to consider every possible opportunity to better manage all transportation systems and infrastructure.

“For state and local governments, the question is which investments will allow them to more effectively and efficiently utilize the existing transportation infrastructure,” said Murtha. “You can spend billions on new roads and light rail or you can make a much smaller investment in the communications technology that will allow more vehicles to operate intelligently on current streets and highways.”

One of the recurring themes of the ITS World Congress was that we’re on the cusp of an extraordinary revolution in transportation, one that may save government billions of dollars by facilitating far better utilization of existing transportation infrastructure.

“Investing in last century’s infrastructure is cheaper in the short run but more costly in the long run,” said Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell C. McAdam in a keynote address at the ITS World Congress.

That’s why the smart cities of the future will be those that embrace and integrate intelligent transportation systems. While driverless cars may be a long way off, vehicle connectivity is not.

“A smart, connected infrastructure will improve the quality of all our lives,” McAdam said. “Job No.1 in achieving this potential is bringing connectivity to every car.”