All posts by Drummer

Spearhead-class Joint High-speed Vessel (JHSV) Provides the Navy with an Express Delivery Service

All Posts, Marine Technology, Military technology, Naval ships & systems, , , , , , ,

Peter Lobner

Updated 4 September 2015 and 16 February 2016

Along San Diego Bay, you’ll see a great variety of military and civilian vessels. The San Diego Port District has posted a chart on Shelter Island to help tourists and locals identify the more common types of Navy ships that are based here. Occasionally, you might be treated to the sight of an uncommon vessel, such as the catamaran USNS Minninocket (JHSV-3), shown below. This ship is owned and operated for the Navy by the Military Sealift Command.

JHSV-3 pic 1 Source: Author photo

JHSV-3 pic 2 Source: Author photo

JHSV ships are fast, modest-sized, non-combatant vessels designed to transport about 600 tons troops and equipment. Their modular design enables rapid reconfiguration of the 20,000-ft2 cargo bay to support various missions. For example, a JHSV vessel can accommodate an Army or Marine Corps company-sized unit (typically 80 – 250 troops) and vehicles, or be reconfigured to transport up to 312 troops.

The vessel has a length of 338′ (103 m), a beam of 93’ 6” (28.5 m), and a draft of 12’ 7” (3.83 m), and a displacement of about 2,400 tons. The catamaran design of the hull and the location of the large cargo deck are evident in the following pictures:

JHSV hull Source: U.S. Navy

JHSV multi view Source: U.S. Navy

Ship propulsion is provided by four 12,200 hp (9.1 MW) diesel engines in the catamaran pods driving waterjets that deliver a maximum speed of about 43 kts. Range is about 1,200 miles at 35 kts. The ship has facilities for one helicopter. As of the FY 2015 budget, 11 JHSVs have been funded.

You can read a summary of this Navy ship program, including the status of resolving FY 2013 and FY 2014 recommendations for improvement and new FY 2015 recommendations, at the following link:

http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2015/pdf/navy/2015jhsv.pdf

You can watch a short video on this intriguing vessel at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWRNIXNGGjA

In 2016, the Navy plans to conduct shipboard tests of the BAE Systems prototype electromagnetic railgun aboard USNS Trenton (JHSV-5), including live firing GPS-guided hyper-velocity projectiles (HVP) at targets 20 miles or more away. While the JHSV is a non-combatant, it was chosen for this test program because of the availability of adequate space in the cargo hold and topside for the prototype weapon system. An artist rendering of the planned railgun installation is shown below.

JHSV railgun Source: U.S. Navy

4 September 2015 update:  Joint High-speed Vessel (JHSV) redesigned Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) 

Now there’s a new root designator for U.S. Navy vessels: “E” for “expeditionary support.”

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and  Adm. Jon Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations,  changed the designations of three kinds of ships to the new expeditionary support category.  The JHSV joint high-speed vessels will become EPF, for expeditionary fast transport.

16 Feb 2016 Update: EPFs require structural upgrades to cope with heavy seas; operational suitability in question

The Navy has contracted for 10 of the shallow-draft Expeditionary Fast Transports (EPFs) from Austal USA, which constructs these ships at its Mobile, AL shipyard. Five EPFs have been delivered and have made deployments to Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. The 6th ship, USNS Brunswick, was just delivered to the Navy on 14 January 2016. Four more ships (EPF-7 to EPF-10) remain to be delivered under the current contract. EPF-11 and -12 have been funded by Congress in the 2015 and 2016 omnibus appropriations bills, but contracts with the Navy remain to be finalized.

Operating as part of the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command, EPFs are intended primarily for use in littoral waters. However, they are expected to be able to make fast open ocean transits and operate with other Navy units in the open ocean.

The lead ship, USNS Spearhead, was damaged in moderate seas while transiting the Atlantic en route to Europe in September 2014. The ship took a significant pounding from wave slamming onto the “forepeak”, which is the bottom of the foremost part of the flat hull section spanning the two catamaran hulls. Repairs to the ship cost about $511,000. The repairs included structural reinforcement of the bow, which added 1,736 pounds to the ship’s weight and displaced about 250 gallons of fuel.

EPF forepeak Source:  U.S. Navy

On 22 September 2015, Michael Gilmore, Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, issued the following report to the Secretary of Defense: “Follow-on Operational Test and Evaluation (FOT&E) Report on the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV).”

Key points in this report related to the weak bow are:

  • There is a serious problem with the bow structure related to the ship’s Safe Operating Envelope (SOE), which is designed to limit wave impact loads on the bow structure.
    • The Navy accepted compromises in the bow structure during construction of these ships.
    • Multiple ships of the class have suffered damage to the bow structure, and repairs/reinforcements are in progress class-wide.
  • Operating the ship outside of the SOE or encountering a rogue wave that is outside of the current sea state limits can result in sea slam events that cause structural damage to the bow structure of the ship.
  • The SOE operational restrictions are major limitation that must be accounted for in all missions assigned to these ships. The following limits apply:
    • At Sea State 3 or less (significant wave height up to 1.25 meters), the ship may operate up to its maximum speed
    • At Sea State 4 (significant wave height up to 2.5 meters) the ship must slow to 15 knots.
    • At Sea State 5 (significant wave height up to 4 meters) the ship must slow to 5 knots.
    • Above Sea State 5, the ship can only hold position and await calmer seas.
  • The Navy has spent almost $2.4 million strengthening the bows of the first four vessels delivered since late 2012.
    • The 5th operating ship, the USNS Trenton, will be modified during its next planned shipyard visit.
    • Later EPFs will be modified during construction, before delivery to the Navy.
  • There has been no heavy weather testing yet to verify if the fixes are sufficient.

In addition to the bow structural problems, Michael Gilmore’s report noted that the EPFs have the following significant problems:

  • The EPF cannot effectively inter-operate with a Mobile Landing Platform in the open ocean.
  • Unplanned limitations exist on launching a SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) and associated support boats in the open ocean
  • Operational availability is limited primarily by the poor reliability of the Ship Service Diesel Generators, waterjets, and the Ride Control System (RCS).

You can download Michael Gilmore’s complete report at the following link:

http://news.usni.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/9-22-15-Follow-On-Operational-Test-and-Evaluation-FOTE-Report-on-the-….pdf

Short summary articles on these matters are available at the following links to Bloomberg Business and Seapower:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-14/navy-s-fast-sealift-ships-can-t-stand-buffeting-from-high-seas

and

http://www.seapowermagazine.org/stories/20151019-epf.html

Severe ship damage from very high sea states and rogue waves is always a possibility for ships operating in the open ocean. However, the bow damage experienced by the EPFs operating in the open ocean points to underlying design and operational issues for this type of ship.

For additional commentary on problems associated with bow damage to vessels operating in the open ocean, I refer you to the short video at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-QNAwUdHUQ

It’s As Simple As Riding A Bicycle

All Posts, Neuroscience,

Thanks to Mike Spaeth for sending me a very interesting video that demonstratres the great difficulty a person encounters trying to ride a bicycle that has one significant modification as shown below: gears were inserted to reverse the mechanical connection between the handlebars and the front wheel.

Modified bike 1

Turn the handlebars right and the front wheel turns left.

Modified bike 3

Turn the handlebars left and the front wheel turns right.

Modified bike 2

Image source: see web link below

This sounds simple enough because the mechanics of the modifications are easily understandable, but remarkably, the modified bicycle proved to be unrideable. The point of the video is that the brain has developed an understanding of how to control a conventional bicycle and the process of learning how to control the modified bicycle is much more difficult than you might expect. The adult author of the video said it took him 8 months of practice to be able to ride the modified bicycle successfully, initially with a great deal of concentration. It took his young son only 2 weeks to accomplish the same thing, perhaps demonstrating the neuroplasticity of a child’s brain.

After becoming proficient on the modified bicycle, going back and riding a conventional bicycle also proved to be difficult for the adult author. The understanding of the applicable control laws for the conventional bicycle was temporarily lost, but finally “clicked” back into place after a bit of practice. This experiment demonstrated that the brain does not make the transition between very different control laws like flipping a switch, at least in the case of this bicycle modification. This also may explain how I wound up on the wrong side of the road in Australia.

You can see this interesting video at the following link:

http://viewpure.com/MFzDaBzBlL0?ref=bkmk

DARPA Maximum Mobility & Manipulation (M3) Program is Showing Impressive New Results with the Boston Dynamics / MIT Cheetah

All Posts, Robotics, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Peter Lobner

The two primary goals of the M3 program are:

  • Create a significantly improved scientific framework for the rapid design and fabrication of robot systems and greatly enhance robot mobility and manipulation in natural environments.
  • Significantly improve robot capabilities through fundamentally new approaches to the engineering of better design tools and fabrication methods.

More details on the M3 program are presented on the following DARPA website:

http://www.darpa.mil/our_work/dso/programs/maximum_mobility_and_manipulation_(m3).aspx

In September 2012, the DARPA / Boston Dynamics / MIT Cheetah 4-legged robot, being developed under the M3 program, reached a top speed of over 29 mph in a tethered test on a treadmill, exceeding the fastest speed ever run by a human, Usain Bolt, at 27.78 mph in a 20-meter sprint. You can see a video of this tethered test of the Cheetah at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqpO58x7vuE

In May 2015, the Cheetah demonstrated it’s ability to hurdle obstacles up to 18”tall in both tethered treadmill and untethered indoor track tests while running at an average speed of about 5 mph.

MIT-Jumping-Cheetah-1  Source: MIT

You can read the article and see a video of this test at the following link:

https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/cheetah-robot-lands-running-jump-0529

As described in this article:

“To get a running jump, the robot plans out its path, much like a human runner: As it detects an approaching obstacle, it estimates that object’s height and distance. The robot gauges the best position from which to jump, and adjusts its stride to land just short of the obstacle, before exerting enough force to push up and over. Based on the obstacle’s height, the robot then applies a certain amount of force to land safely, before resuming its initial pace.”

 On the treadmill, the Cheetah only had about a meter in which to detect the obstacle and then plan and execute the jump. Nonetheless, the Cheetah cleared the obstacles about 70% of the time. I can only imagine that a human runner on that same treadmill might not have performed much better. In the untethered tests on an indoor track, the Cheetah cleared the obstacles about 90% of the time. Future tests will explore the ability of the Cheetah to clear hurdles on softer terrain.

You can see more high-mobility robots being developed by Boston Dynamics at the following link:

http://www.bostondynamics.com/index.html

These robots include:

  • Atlas: a high mobility, humanoid (bipedal) robot designed to negotiate outdoor, rough terrain. Atlas will be one of the competitors in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals that will take place on 5 – 6 June 2015 at Fairplex in Pomona, California. See my 23 March 2015 post for more information on the DRC Finals.
  • LS3: a rough-terrain quadruped robot designed to go anywhere soldiers go on foot, helping carry their load.
  • PETMAN: an anthropomorphic (bipedal) robot designed for testing chemical protection clothing.
  • BigDog: a rough-terrain quadruped robot that walks, runs, climbs and carries heavy loads.
  • Sand Flea: a small robot that drives like an remote-controlled car on flat terrain, but can jump 30 ft. into the air to overcome obstacles
  • RHex: a six-legged, high mobility robot designed to climb in rock fields, mud, sand, vegetation, fallen telephone poles, railroad tracks, and up slopes and stairways.
  • RiSE: a robot that uses micro-claws to climb vertical terrain such as walls, trees and fences.
  • LittleDog: a quadruped robot designed for research on learning locomotion.

Dr. Seuss Explains Why Computers Sometimes Crash

All Posts, Computer Technology, Humor,

Thanks to Dave Groce for bringing the following  bit of Dr. Seuss wisdom to our attention. You also can find it the following link:

http://bomb-diggity.com/dr_seuss.htm

Dr Seuss & computers  Source: bob-diggity.com

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,

And the bus is interrupted at a very last resort,

And the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,

Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,

and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash;

and your data is corrupted cuz the index doesn’t hash,

then your situation’s hopeless and your system’s gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house

Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,

But your packets want to tunnel to another protocol,

That’s repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,

So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse;

Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,

‘Cuz sure as I’m a poet, the sucker’s gonna hang!

When the copy of your floppy’s getting sloppy in the disk

And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk,

Then you’ll have to flash the memory and you’ll want to RAM your ROM.

Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom.

The Evolution of Music Consumption: How We Got Here

All Posts, Music / Audio, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Peter Lobner

There is an good survey article on this subject at the following link; tracing the evolution of consumer-oriented media platforms for recorded music from early phonographs through the latest on-line outlets for streaming audio and music videos:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-evolution-of-music-consumption-how-we-got-here/

33-45-cd-640x438

The timeline addressed in the above article starts in 1877 with the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison. A significantly expanded timeline is presented below

Year Music Media Milestone
1877 Thomas Edison introduced the first machine that could both record music and play it back, the phonograph, which initially used a metal foil covered cylinder as the media.
1878 Patent granted for Edison’s phonograph.
1886 Patents awarded to Chicester Bell (cousin of Alexander Graham Bell) and Charles Tainter for an improved phonograph, called the graphophone, which used a hard wax cylinder as the media.
1887 & 1888 Patents granted to Emile Berliner for the gramophone, which played a stamped disc record initially made of “Vulcanite” (hard rubber), holding about 2 minutes of music on a disc typically playing at 72 – 86 rpm
1889 Pre-recorded wax cylinders hit the market, initially running at about 120 rpm, holding 2 – 3 minutes of music.
1890 Shellac flat-disc records introduced, initially 5” diameter, then 7”, 10” and 12”. At 78 rpm, the 10” records held about 3 minutes of music and the 12” records held 4 – 5 minutes of music. The 10” 78 rpm disc became an industry standard in the early 1900s.
1904 Valdemar Poulsen presented a paper on the “arc set” transmitter, which produced continuous sinusoidal wave signals that could be used with analog amplitude modulation (AM) for audio transmissions.
1906 Victor Talking Machine Company introduced the first “Victrola” 78 rpm disc record player.
1906 Lee de Forest invented the three-element (triode) “grid Audion”, which provided the foundation for the development of vacuum tube technology.
1908 U.S. patent granted for the grid Audion.
1908 Pre-recorded wax cylinders with finer grooves introduced, holding 4 minutes of music.
1912 – 1913 Columbia and other manufacturers abandoned the cylinder media format, favoring the disc format. Edison continued manufacturing cylinders until 1929.
1912 – 1917 First amateur broadcasts of music radio at a college radio station in San Jose, CA.
1919 First commercial radio station 1XE, Medford MA, broadcast music.
Early 1920s George O. Squier granted patents for a system for transmission and distribution of signals over electrical lines. This technology became the basis for Muzak, a service for streaming continuous music to commercial customers without the use radio.
1927 First selective jukebox, capable of selecting and playing more than one record, introduced by Automated Musical Instrument Company, later known as AMI.
1928 Fritz Pflumer (Germany) invented magnetic tape for making audio recordings, using paper tape, based on magnetic wire audio recording technology developed in the late 1880s.
1929 Last cylinder-playing phonographs and wax cylinder records manufactured by Edison’s Entertainment Phonograph Division.
Early 1030s Vinyl records introduced, primarily for use by music radio stations. Shellac remained the standard media for retail record albums.
1931 Columbia created the first “long-playing” (LP) 33-1/3 rpm record with features similar to the commercial LP records introduced more than a decade later.
1930s German firms BASF and AEG developed improved magnetic tape and reel-to-reel machine technologies, resulting in the Magnetophon
1933 UK patent issued to Alan Blumlein for stereophonic sound recording and reproduction.
1933 Analog frequency modulation (FM) radio patented.
1936 First concert recorded on magnetic tape: London Philharmonic Orchestra playing in Ludwigshafen, Germany, hometown of the magnetic tape manufacturer BASF.
Late 1930s First analog FM radio stations begin broadcasting, including W8HK (Buffalo, NY); W1XOJ/WGTR (Paxton, MA).
1944 Ampex Electric and Manufacturing Company founded; acquired German Magnetophon reel-to-reel recorders and BASF magnetic tape.
1947 The Bing Crosby Show was the first pre-recorded TV show, using AMPEX Model 200 tape recorders, setting the stage for widespread use of magnetic tape technology for recording and delayed broadcasting by TV & radio stations
1947 Transistor invented; enabled later transistor radios and a host of other music delivery platforms.
1948 Columbia Records introduced commercial 12” 33-1/3 rpm “micro-groove” vinyl LP records holding about 22 minutes of music, which soon became the standard for albums.
1949 RCA introduced the 7” 45 rpm “micro-groove” vinyl record holding 8 minutes of music, which soon became the standard for singles.
1949 First pre-recorded music albums on ¼” reel-to-reel magnetic tape introduced in the U.S.
1950 Seeberg Corporation introduced the first jukebox for 45 rpm vinyl records.
Early 1950s RCA Victor and EMI (UK) start selling pre-recorded music albums on ¼” reel-to-reel magnetic tape.
1952 – 1954 New York City’s WQXR initiated its first stereophonic broadcasts in October 1952, and by 1954, was broadcasting all of its live music programs in stereo, using its AM and FM stations for the two audio channels (and requiring the listener to have two radios).
1954 First commercially-produced transistor radio, the Regency TR-1, introduced by Texas Instruments and Industrial Development Engineering Associates.
1955 First transistor car radio, Chrysler Mopar 914HR.
1955 Last commercial-volume 78 rpm records produced.
1957 Audio Fidelity Records released the first mass-produced stereophonic record. Side 1: Dukes of Dixieland; Side 2 railroad and other stereo sound effects.
1958 Mass-produced stereo record albums released by many record companies. Affordable magnetic pickup cartridges for stereo phonographs also became available (price dropped by a factor of almost 10).
1958 RCA introduced a short-lived, not-so-compact (5” x 7”) cassette tape cartridge and player, which disappeared from the market in 1964 when a smaller tape cassette format was introduced.
1961 GE and Zenith FM stereophonic broadcasting systems (theoretically identical) were formally approved by the FCC as the standard stereo FM broadcasting method in the U.S.
1963 Phillips introduced the compact cassette tape, which they licensed free of charge.
1964 Compact cassette tape players / recorders, including some portable models, started becoming commonplace, eventually with about 85 manufacturers worldwide.
1964 Bill Lear introduced the 8-track tape cartridge and player for home audio and automotive use.
early-1970s Sales of music on ¼” reel-to-reel tape media rapidly declined after introduction of smaller tape cassette / cartridge formats.
1979 Sony introduced the Walkman compact portable compact cassette tape player.
1980 Digital compact disc (CD) format standardized.
1981 First popular album released on CD: ABBA, The Visitors.
1981 Video channel MTV (originally an initalism for Music Television) launched in the U.S.
1984 Sony introduced the Walkman compact portable CD player.
1984 Columbia House final release of music on ¼” reel-to-reel tape media. Low-volume audiophile market for recordings in this media continued.
Late 1980s Standards for digital radio transmission defined.
1991 Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standard for digital audio (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III) finalized.
1991 File extension .mp3 introduced for digital audio files.
1992 Sony introduced the short-lived MiniDisc (later supplanted by mp3 players).
Early 1990s 2G digital cellular phone services introduced, including the ability to access media content on mobile phones.
Early 1990s Two digital audio tape formats, Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) and Digital Audio Tape (DAT) were introduced, but failed to sell in large quantities and never replaced analog cassette tapes.
1993 First band to perform live in the internet: Severe Tire Damage, playing at Xerox PARC.
1995 DVD and DVD-ROM introduced.
1995 Microsoft introduced a media player application that allowed streaming on personal computers (PCs), but only in a proprietary digital file format.
1996 – 1997 First portable mp3 players were released, capable of holding a relatively small number of songs (6 – 12 songs in the early mp3 players).
1997 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format standardized; intended as a replacement for mp3.
1998 Improved digital format, MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, standardized.
1998 Digital Media Copyright Act (DCMA) signed into law.
1998 The first downloadable content sold to 2G mobile phones was the ring tone.
1998 The firm Compact Disc Data Base (CDDB) was formed to maintain and license an Internet-accessible database containing information about the contents of audio CDs and vinyl records. The digital track identification service also supports mp3 files.
1999 Microsoft and Apple introduced streaming digital media player applications (Microsoft Media Player for PCs, and Apple QuickTime initially for Macs) capable of handling several standard digital file formats.
2000 Pandora internet streaming digital radio service introduced and also started the Music Genome Project to support customization of the user’s music experience with Pandora.
2000 The firm Compact Disc Data Base (CDDB) was renamed Gracenote. Apple, Sony, and others use Gracenote Track ID services.
Early 2000 Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing web sites, such as Napster, proliferated, and many raised digital copyright issues that led to digital piracy lawsuits from the music industry.
2001 Apple introduced iTunes and the iPod, with a 5 GB hard drive capable of holding about 1,000 songs.
2001 First commercial 3G digital cellular phone services introduced (in Japan); included better support for streaming.
2001 XM satellite digital radio service began in the U.S.
2002 FCC selected the digital radio transmission standard for the U.S.: HD Radio, which is a trademarked term for a proprietary in-band-on-channel (IBOC) digital technology that can be used by AM and FM radio stations.
2002 Sirius satellite digital radio service began in the U.S. (4 months after XM).
2003 Apple opened the iTunes Store (originally iTunes Music Store), which is an on-line digital music retail outlet integrated with the iTunes application. This was Apple’s entry into the music sales business and offering a new music sales paradigm: complete albums or individual tracks of an album, all in AAC format.
2007 Apple introduced the iPhone, starting a smart phone revolution and increasing the popularity of streaming and applications on mobile devices.
2007 Merger of satellite digital radio service providers formed SiriusXM.
2008 Pandora Mobile introduced to deliver personalized digital internet radio service to mobile devices.
Around 2009 4G digital cellular phone services introduced, including greatly improved media streaming capability.
2012 Apple reported 350 million iPods sold thru September 2012, but sales were slowing due to the availability of similar music capabilities on smart phones and other mobile devices.
2013 MySXM debuted, providing a personalized interactive online satellite digital radio experience.
Now Customizable streaming media sites are increasing in popularity and streaming surpasses digital music sales, which have been in decline for several years. Pandora, iHeartRadio, iTunes Radio, and Spotify currently are the top four music streaming sites in the U.S.
Now A great percentage of Americans still listen to AM / FM radio (91% in 2013), which allows an easy listening experience without having to create (i.e., no music libraries, playlists, or user preference customization).
2017 Norway plans to be the first nation to end analog FM radio broadcasts. It will transition to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) as a national standard.
Future Possible “Zero User Interaction (Zero-UI)” music players that can deliver a customized, varied music listening experience based sensing current activities and other parameters, none of which require user interaction. This won’t be for everyone.
Future There will still by music aficionados who will choose their own music delivery platform, content, and venue for their own unique music experience.

Will Your Job Be Done By A Machine?

All Posts, Automation & autonomous systems, Computer Technology, ,

Peter Lobner

In September 2013, University of Oxford researchers Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne published a paper entitled, “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerization?”. In this paper, they estimated that 47% of total U.S. jobs have a high probability of being automated and replaced by computers by 2033. Their key results are summarized in the following graphic.

Frey & Osborn key results-2013 paper

You can download their paper for free at the following link:

http://www.futuretech.ox.ac.uk/sites/futuretech.ox.ac.uk/files/The_Future_of_Employment_OMS_Working_Paper_0.pdf

On 5 Feb 2015, Fortune published an article entitled, “5 white-collar jobs robots already have taken.”  This article identifies the affected jobs as:

  • Financial and sports reporters
  • Online marketers
  • Anesthesiologists, surgeons, and diagnosticians
  • E-discovery lawyers and law firm associates
  • Financial analysts and advisors

You can read the complete article at the following link:

http://fortune.com/2015/02/25/5-jobs-that-robots-already-are-taking/

On 21 May 2015, NPR posted an interesting interactive article that provides rough estimates of the likelihood that particular jobs will become automated in the future. The ranking is based on the following factors:

  • Do you need to come up with clever solutions?
  • Are you required to personally help others?
  • Does your job require you to squeeze into small spaces?
  • Does your job require negotiation?

You can try out this interactive site at the following link:

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/05/21/408234543/will-your-job-be-done-by-a-machine?utm_source=howtogeek&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

There is no opportunity to select many technical professions in science or engineering. Nonetheless, the results for the jobs you can select are insightful. Here are a few example screenshots from the above NPR link:

College professor automation

Aircraft mechanic automation.

Bookkeeper automation

Choosing a career is always a complicated process, but these recent studies clearly show that some careers will be marginalized by automation in the relatively near future.

Alpha the Robot Visited San Diego in 1935

All Posts, Engineering, Robotics, , ,

Peter Lobner

Earlier this year, the San Diego U-T newspaper started a series entitled, Balboa Park – 100 Memories, which, on 22 May 2015, presented an article on Alpha the robot, who visited San Diego in 1935 for exhibition during the 1934 – 35 California Pacific International Exposition. Alpha was the creation of British engineering professor Harry May and was first introduced in the U.K in 1932.

Alpha the Robot 1935 U-T

Image source: San Diego History Center, Electric Ivy

Alpha debuted in the U.S. with an appearance at Macy’s department store in New York City in 1934. The November 5, 1934 issue of Time magazine describes a demonstration of Alpha at Macy’s as follows:

 “Last week Alpha, the robot, made its first public appearance in the U. S. One of the most ingenious automatons ever contrived by man, a grim and gleaming monster 6 ft. 4 in. tall, the robot was brought to Manhattan by its owner-inventor-impresario, Professor Harry May of London, and installed on the fifth floor of R. H. Macy & Co.’s department store. Encased from head to foot in chromium-plated steel armor, Alpha sat on a specially constructed dais with its cumbrous feet securely bolted to the floor, stared impassively over the knot of newshawks and store officials waiting for the first demonstration. The creature had a great sullen slit of a mouth, vast protuberant eyes, shaggy curls of rolled metal. In one mailed fist Alpha clutched a revolver.”

Some details of Alpha’s operation were described in the February, 1934 issue of Practical Mechanics magazine, which you can read at the following link:

http://www.davidbuckley.net/DB/HistoryMakers/Alpha1932_files/PracticalMechanics/PracticalMechanics.htm

Practical Mechanics Feb34 cover

Image source: www/davidbuckley.net, see link above

As discussed in the recent U-T, Balboa Park – 100 Memories article, Alpha the robot was exhibited in the Palace of Science (now the Museum of Man) in Balboa Park. The article goes on to say:

 “The 2,000-pound, 6-foot steel giant stood up, sat down, smoked cigarettes, fired a gun and answered questions. Asked if he loved his wife, according to a Feb. 29, 1936, article in the San Diego Sun, Alpha replied, “I’ve a heart of steel. I don’t love nobody and nobody loves me.”

During the California Pacific International Exposition, a performer in a costume similar to Alpha the robot attempted to kidnap Zorine, Queen of the Nudists, from Zoro Garden, a sunken stone grotto originally designed as a nudist colony attraction for the Exposition, near what is now the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.  Imagine that!

Alpha kidnaps Zorine

You can see a short interview with Alpha the robot at the following link:

http://en.savefrom.net/#url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=a9l9pt_Jzn8&utm_source=youtube.com&utm_medium=short_domains&utm_campaign=www.ssyoutube.com

Alpha the robot must have been very impressive for it’s time. To see what modern robots can do 80 years later, be sure to follow the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals to be held 5-6 June, 2015, at Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., outside of Los Angeles. Refer to my 23 March 2015 post for more information of the DRC Finals.

Sea Change: 2015 – 2025 Decadal Survey of Ocean Sciences

All Posts, Ocean Sciences,

Peter Lobner

A new book by the above title has been published by The National Academies Press (NAP).

NAP Sea Change  Source: NAP

As described in the NAP abstract for this book:

In the United States, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is the primary funder of the basic research which underlies advances in our understanding of the ocean. Sea Change addresses the strategic investments necessary at NSF to ensure a robust ocean scientific enterprise over the next decade. This survey provides guidance from the ocean sciences community on research and facilities priorities for the coming decade and makes recommendations for funding priorities.

If you have set up a MyNAP account as described in my 14 March 2015 post, then you can download a pdf copy of this book for free at the following link:

http://www.nap.edu/search/?rpp=20&ft=1&term=sea+change

Stealth Reconnaissance Drone Developed in San Diego by Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical (TRA) in the Late 1960s

Aeronautical, All Posts, , , , , ,

Peter Lobner

The Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical (TRA) Model 154 Firefly, designated AQM-91 by the U.S. Air Force and codenamed Compass Arrow, was a secret unmanned spy plane that was an early adopter of stealth technology. Ryan won the competition with North American Aviation (now part of Boeing) in June 1966 and Model 154 made its first flight in September 1968. It was unceremoniously revealed to the public after an in-flight failure followed by a parachute landing into a picnic area in in an unrestricted part of Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico in August 1969.

The 5,400 pound Model 154 was designed to be carried under-wing and air-launched from a modified C-130 cargo plane and then fly at subsonic speed at an altitude about 78,000 ft. over a range of more than 2,000 miles. The intended mission of the Model 154 was to provide surveillance deep into China.  For this mission, the aircraft was equipped with an Itek KA-80A Optical Bar Panoramic Camera to provide both broad area coverage and high resolution photography over long distances (coverage of an area 1,720 miles long and 43 miles wide). This same camera is used in the U-2 spy plane, and was the basis for the Apollo Panoramic Camera used to survey the Moon’s surface from lunar orbit in the late 1960s.

Stealth features of the Model 154 included: (1) significant use of plastic composites instead of metal, (2) radar absorbent material (RAM) triangular inserts in the wing and tail leading and trailing edges, (3) location of engine inlet and exhaust on the top of the fuselage to reduce radar and infrared signatures when viewed from below, (4) inward-canted vertical fins to reduce radar reflections and help conceal the engine exhaust stream, (5) hot engine exhaust gas mixed with cool air to reduce infrared signature, and (6) likely use of RAM on the engine inlet structure. You can see several of these features in the following Ryan photo of a sub-scale radar cross-section model.

Ryan Model 154 RCS subscale model - SDASM

Photo source: San Diego Air & Space Museum

A total of 28 Model 154s were built, including 20 production machines. The program was cancelled in 1972 after President Nixon visited China and promised to end aircraft reconnaissance overflights of Chinese territory. All Model 154s were put into storage in 1973 and subsequently were scrapped. Total program cost was almost $2 billion in then-year dollars, or about $65 million per unit. This was an early indicator of the rather high cost of developing and deploying a small fleet of stealth aircraft. In current-year dollars, the cost per unit would be almost seven times higher.

Additional information is available in the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force fact sheet for the AQM-91 (Model 154), which you will find at the following link:

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet_print.asp?fsID=406

One Model 154 is in display in the Cold War gallery of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, hanging high above the main floor, painted black on all visible lower surfaces, and suspended from the black roof structure.  This aircraft is easy to miss during a visit to the museum. Compass Arrow remains a stealthy aircraft, even today.

Compass Arrow Source: P. Lobner photo

You can find even more information on the Model 154 and some other cold war-era reconnaissance drones at the following link:

http://craymond.no-ip.info/awk/twuav4.html

Update on Supercomputer Performance and Development

All Posts, Computer Technology, , , , , , ,

Peter Lobner

The TOP500 project was launched in 1993 to implement an improved statistical process for benchmarking the performance of large general purpose computer systems and maintain a list of the 500 most powerful general purpose computer systems in the world based on benchmark test results. The TOP500 website is at:

http://www.top500.org

The TOP500 list ranks computers by their performance on a LINPAC Benchmark test to solve a dense system of linear equations. While this performance metric does not reflect overall performance of a given system, the systematic application of this benchmark test provides a good measure of peak performance and enables a meaningful relative ranking.

The TOP500 list is updated in June and November each year. Tianhe-2 (Milky Way), a supercomputer developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology has maintained the top position in four consecutive TOP500 lists with a performance of 33.86 petaflops [PFLOPS; 1015  floating-point operations per second (FLOPS)], using 17.8 MW (megawatts) of electric power. The growth in supercomputer performance over the past 20 years is shown in the following chart:

TOP500 Supercomputer Chart Source: TOP500

You can access the November 2014 TOP500 list at the following link:

http://www.top500.org/list/2014/11/

On 9 April 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $200 million investment to deliver a next-generation U.S. supercomputer, known as Aurora, to the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) near Chicago. Read the DOE announcement at the following link:

http://energy.gov/articles/us-department-energy-awards-200-million-next-generation-supercomputer-argonne-national

Intel will work with Cray Inc. as the Aurora system integrator sub-contracted to provide its scalable system expertise together with its proven supercomputing technology and the HPC (Hewlett Packard) software stack. Aurora will be based on a next-generation Cray supercomputer, code-named “Shasta,” a follow-on to the Cray® XC™ series. Aurora is expected to have a peak performance of 180 petaflop/s. When commissioned in 2018, this supercomputer will be open to all scientific users.

Argonne and Intel will also provide an interim system, called Theta, to be delivered in 2016, which will help ALCF users transition their applications to the new technology to be used in Aurora.

DOE earlier announced a $325 million investment to build new, state-of-the-art supercomputers at its Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore laboratories.