Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Robot Aircraft To Ride Thermal Air Currents
Robot aircraft have a clever new way to conserve fuel - don't use any. Thermal air
currents have been providing lift to flyers since the dawn of time. Research currently
underway at Roke Manor Research in Hampshire, UK, indicates that this sort of sophisticated flight
can be programmed into autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Their plan is to test the idea
first by using it to offer guidance to pilots of gliders.
Here's how it works. An on-board camera takes video of the surrounding sky; software is used to
analyze the video, looking for gray, dome-shaped clouds that are formed by rapidly rising hot air.
The system is also able to integrate real-time weather forecasts and simulations.
When the system is automated, it should enable a UAV to pilot a course that transverses as many
thermal air currents as possible. The resulting fuel savings is not just a way to "green" robot
aircraft; it will enable longer flights by conserving a scarce resource.
The first place I read about this idea was Roger
Zelazny's admirable 1980 science/fantasy novel Changeling. In the story, small, robot
planes called 'tracer-birds' detect and ride air currents:
...they stirred, almost simultaneously, as if shaken by a sudden breeze. They began to flex their
wings.
Soon, one by one, they dropped from the heights, caught the air, rose, found their way, found
their patterns, resumed their journey...
These science-fictional robot planes were also solar-powered.
If the idea of autonomous robot planes making use of thermal air currents intrigues you, take a
look at another ongoing research effort - the Cloud
Swift Autonomous Soaring Project.
The dark birdforms dotted the mountaintops like statues of prehistoric beasts, wings outspread...
(Read more about Roger Zelazny's tracer-birds)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/21/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Surveillance ")
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.' - Pournelle and Niven, 1981.)
Perching Ambush Drones
'On the chest of drawers something was perched.' - Philip K. Dick, 1956.
India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking
'It is necessary... for your own protection.' - Jack Vance, 1954.
LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049
Accompanied by a small selection of similar ideas from science fiction.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Grok And The City Fathers From 'Cities In Flight' By James Blish
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
Why Not Move A Warehouse District?
'Did you never see a moving house before?'
Will An AI Found A New Religion?
'You must decide how you will worship Me.'
Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
I Need An Outdoor Spherical Display
'Usually a spherical display hovered in the centre...'
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.
'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'
Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
Outdoor Video Screens Can Be Arbitrarily Large
The Shape of Things To Come
Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'
What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
RentAHuman App Lets AI Agents Hire Humans
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'
