Engine: 1 x LHTEC T800 turboshaft, driving both the coaxial rotor and the six-bladed pusher propeller Power 1000 – 1250 kW (1300 – 1680 shp)
Performance: Max. cruise speed (max.): 460 km/h (250 kts) Range 1300 km These may have changed.
Blades: Eagle Aviation Technologies is to provide the blades. http://www.eagleaviationtech.com/
Propeller: Aero Composites, Inc. will build the six-bladed propulsor. http://www.aerocomposites.com/
Fly-by-Wire: These technologies include an integrated Fly-by-Wire system that allows the engine/rotor/propulsor system to operate efficiently, with full control of rotor rpm throughout the flight envelope, I.e. Variable speed rotors.
The Sikorsky X2 TECHNOLOGY™ demonstrator aircraft will incorporate several new technologies and demonstrate them in a flight environment. These technologies include an integrated Fly-by-Wire system that allows the engine/rotor/propulsor system to operate efficiently, with full control of rotor rpm throughout the flight envelope, high lift-to-drag rigid blades, low drag hub fairings, and Active Vibration Control. In addition, the aircraft will be used as a ‘flying wind tunnel’ to determine the main rotor to propulsor aerodynamic interaction, shaft angle optimization for performance, and blade tip clearance for a range of maneuvers. This will allow optimization of the X2 TECHNOLOGY™ suite for future products.
Sikorsky Aircraft reports that it has successfully ground tested the drive and pitch control for the six-bladed pusher propeller behind its high-speed X2 advancing blade concept (ABC) technology demonstrator.The 23 January ground test follows three flight tests in which Sikorsky expanded the compound helicopter’s flight envelop to 30kt forward speed with the propulsor disconnected. First flight of the LHTEC T800-801-powered helicopter occurred on 27 August.
Does your robot seem to be acting a bit neurotic? Maybe it’s just their personality. Recently, a team of researchers has designed computer-coded genomes for artificial creatures in which a specific personality is encoded. The ability to give artificial life forms their own individual personalities could not only improve the natural interactions between humans and artificial creatures, but also initiate the study of “The Origin of Artificial Species,” the researchers suggest.
The first artificial creature to receive the genomic personality is Rity, a dog-like software character that lives in a virtual 3D world in a PC. Rity’s genome is composed of 14 chromosomes, which together are composed of a total of 1,764 genes, each with its own value. Rather than manually assign the gene values, which would be difficult and time-consuming, the researchers proposed an evolutionary process that generates a genome with a specific personality desired by a user. The process is described in a recent study by authors Jong-Hwan Kim of KAIST in Daejeon, Korea; Chi-Ho Lee of the Samsung Economic Research Institute in Seoul, Korea; and Kang-Hee Lee of Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd., in Suwon-si, Korea.
“This is the first time that an artificial creature like a robot or software agent has been given a genome with a personality,” Kim told PhysOrg.com. “I proposed a new concept of an artificial chromosome as the essence to define the personality of an artificial creature and to pass on its traits to the next generation, like a genetic inheritance. It is critical to provide an impression that the robot is a living creature. With this respect, having emotions enhances natural human-robot interaction for human-robot symbiosis in the coming years.”
China has developed more secure operating software for its tens of millions of computers and is already installing it on government and military systems, hoping to make Beijing’s networks impenetrable to U.S. military and intelligence agencies.
The secure operating system, known as Kylin, was disclosed to Congress during recent hearings that provided new details on how China’s government is preparing to wage cyberwarfare with the United States.
“We are in the early stages of a cyber arms race and need to respond accordingly,” said Kevin G. Coleman, a private security specialist who advises the government on cybersecurity. He discussed Kylin during a hearing of the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission on April 30.
The deployment of Kylin is significant, Mr. Coleman said, because the system has “hardened” key Chinese servers. U.S. offensive cyberwar capabilities have been focused on getting into Chinese government and military computers outfitted with less secure operating systems like those made by Microsoft Corp.
“This action also made our offensive cybercapabilities ineffective against them, given the cyberweapons were designed to be used against Linux, UNIX and Windows,” he said.
The secure operating system was disclosed as computer hackers in China – some of them sponsored by the communist government and military – are engaged in aggressive attacks against the United States, said officials and experts who disclosed new details of what was described as a growing war in cyberspace.
Today Zeevex announced its intent to launch the first-ever “open virtual currency platform,” essentially a virtual currency that’s convertible into other virtual currencies from Zeevex’s partner games. The virtual currency would be loaded into an online “Digital Locker” created when a user purchased a Zeevex prepaid card and went to the Zeevex website to redeem it. The prepaid cards will be handled by InComm, a partner in the new venture.
“The open aspect of the Zeevex Virtual Currency will allow even non-game operator partners to offer content for which gamers can use their Zeev Tokens. This creates multiple revenue streams for online game operators from their existing gamers that will always flow through our brick-and-mortar retail partners. Zeevex is a really exciting development in the prepaid card space,” Dave Etling, VP of Product Development at InComm, said in a statement.
The Zeevex currency, called Zeev Tokens, can be spent in increments as low as $.5 and can be spent on subscription fees and one-time purchases in addition to in-game microtransactions. The Zeev Token’s value is fixed to the value of the US dollar (1 Zeev Token to $.01) to prevent inflation, which combines with Zeevex’s retail-only model to also try to prevent fraud and gold selling.
Zeevex notes that trusted partners would be able to access the lockers as well, in order to deposit virtual items and currency as part of giveaways and loyalty reward programs. In addition, gamers can trade Zeev Tokens to each other through the Zeevex Gamer-2-Gamer service.
