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The Boeing Dreamliner is a huge leap in aircraft design. Not surprisingly, the carbon-composite-sheathed 787 is running into the type of severe turbulence that accompanies any major technology change.

What will be the next revolution in aircraft design? How about hydrogen power?

“By using liquid-hydrogen, there is the potential to create aircraft that are capable of the same missions as current aircraft, but use less energy, use less natural resources, have smaller environmental impact, and are as safe as or safer than current aircraft,” says David C. Maniaci, who researched the issue for the Dept. of Aerospace Engineering at Penn State University.

Boeing engineers have stated that hydrogen, if produced via nuclear or solar power, could be a long-term factor as an aviation fuel, and Boeing in fact tested a small, manned plane two years ago.

Assuming production of hydrogen from an environmentally suitable source is a huge given, as previously reported by Design News. Significant design problems also lie in the way. Hydrogen has a high energy density per unit mass, but a low energy density per unit volume compared to currently used jet fuels. Containing hydrogen would require a high-pressure container. It’s likely fuel would have to be stored in the fuselage, not wings, creating further obstacles.
Heat-Resistant Polymer
New work, however, on air-cooled, hydrogen fuel cell membranes using the heat-resistant polymer polybenzimidazole are showing promise. In fact, the membranes may be used in future Airbus A320s to produce electricity for onboard use.

The technology is being demonstrated in Germany where Antares DLR-H2, the world’s first piloted aircraft capable of taking off using only power from fuel cells, made a test flight at the Hamburg airport. The plane has been developed by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR).

Technically, it’s a motorized glider. It has zero carbon dioxide emissions and makes less noise than comparable aircraft.

The Antares DLR-H2 is powered directly by an ultra-efficient fuel cell using membrane technology developed by BASF. “We have improved the performance capabilities and efficiency of the fuel cell to such an extent that a piloted aircraft is now able to take off using it,” says Johann-Dietrich Wörner, chairman of DLR. “This enables us to demonstrate the true potential of this technology, also and perhaps specifically for applications in the aerospace sector.”

Hydrogen is converted into electrical energy in a direct, electrochemical reaction with oxygen in the ambient air, with no combustion. The only by-product is water. In the membrane electrode assembly, or MEA, chemical energy generated by the reaction between oxygen and hydrogen is converted directly into electricity and heat.

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Managing 32 video cameras, videotape machines and a large queue of digital video clips simultaneously when broadcasting live on the air is challenging for any broadcasting company. This can only be done with a powerful production switcher, and it must also be easy to use.

Broadcast Pix Inc. is a leading provider of innovative live video production equipment that is used to create compelling live video. For its new production control board, Broadcast Pix chose NKK Switches’ SmartSwitch™ product to address four design challenges:

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Easy to use interface with a consistent look and feel using multiple devices.
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Manageable size and control panel mobility.
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Flexibility to quickly reconfigure the control panel interface to support specific live shows and events.
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Support multiple languages with a single panel design without customized legends.

SmartSwitch products from NKK combine a push-button switch and programmable OLED or LCD display in one device, allowing engineers to design an interface that provides easy navigation for complex real-time decision making.

Jack Swanton, vice president of Software Engineering at Broadcast Pix, said this new generation of broadcast panels has simplified the job of production operators. “With the push of a button the control panel instantly changes switch displays and panel function from sports, to news or to any other source,” Swanton says. “If a certain video clip is selected with the SmartSwitch, its name is displayed on the switch and it appears also in the source row. The operator can be certain what the video clip is before pushing the button. Operator decisions can be made with certainty without wondering if somebody loaded the clip.”

Broadcast Pix uses NKK’s SmartSwitch because these devices are the smallest off-the-shelf programmable display devices available. With displays about the size of a nickel, NKK’s SmartSwitch products are used to create panels where the function of each key can be reprogrammed instantly to meet the needs of the operator. Icons, graphics and text displayed on the push-button can be updated or changed based on the operator requirements.

The user interface challenges found in the broadcast industry are similar to other industries including medical, military, transportation, security and more. Control panels using NKK’s SmartSwitch products are used in shipboard communication systems, power plant control rooms, flight simulators, medical equipment, restaurant equipment and irrigation systems to name a few applications where the design benefits are achieved.

Description: Live Integrated Production System. The system includes a broadcast quality production switcher, multi-view, HD clip store, Inscriber HD CG, and format and aspect ratio converters.

Customer: Broadcast Pix Inc., Billerica, MA

Lead Design Engineer: Jack Swanton, vice president of Software Engineering

Product Name: Slate G5000 — 2ME Panel

Key Benefits/Features: The Slate G 5000 is unique in that it also includes and integrates all of the functionality of an entire live production control room — switcher, CG, clips store, still store, multi-view monitoring, aspect ratio and format conversion, and video routing. It creates a dramatically more cost-effective price point, which makes powerful live video productions suddenly affordable, in both equipment and staffing.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Microsoft releases Windows 7 to the world on Thursday as the US software giant tries to regain its stride after an embarrassing stumble with the previous generation operating system Vista.

“It’s a big deal for Microsoft” analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley said of the Windows 7 launch. “Windows Vista was a train wreck.”

While computer users may not give much thought to operating systems that serve as the brains of their machines, the programs are at the heart of Microsoft’s global software empire.

Microsoft operating systems run more than 90 percent of the computers on Earth.

Importantly for Microsoft, versions of its popular programs such as Office, Outlook and Excel evolve to work better with successive Windows releases.

Winning users of new Windows systems translates into increased sales of other packaged software for the Redmond, Washington-based company.

Vista’s dismal reception in the market broke Microsoft’s rhythm regarding hooking people on upgraded software.

Computer users held firm to Windows XP, shunning much-maligned Vista.

“Microsoft is still a packaged software company,” Enderle said. “If people don’t buy their updated packages, they feel it.”

Microsoft apparently learned a lesson from Vista and worked closely with computer makers, users and software developers while crafting Windows 7.

More than eight million people have tried spider vein removal los angeles dabbled with Windows 7 since Microsoft began a beta test phase in January, according to Parri Munsell, director of consumer product management for the Windows client group.

Early reviews praise Windows 7 for being everything Vista should have been.
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DUBAI (AFP) – A top Microsoft official expressed hope Sunday that technology will spur economic growth around the world as the US software giant launches its latest operating system.

“There was an economic upset. It’s had an impact around the world,” Steven Guggenheimer told a Dubai technology conference, adding he has been repeatedly asked whether the Windows 7 operating system would fare well amid the economic downturn.

“As an industry, we are focused on innovation and the work we do impacts society… we all have hope that things will continue to move forward and that technology will continue to spur growth,” he said.

Guggenheimer, who is charged with worldwide sales for restylane beverly hills, marketing and licensing of pre-installed Windows systems, said there were one billion people using computers, so the impact would resonate.

The audience got a glimpse of Windows 7, which Microsoft releases for sale in New York on Thursday, in a preview displayed as part of Guggenheimer’s opening keynote address.

Guggenheimer was speaking at Gitex, the Middle East’s largest information technology exhibition which brings together more than 3,000 manufacturers and suppliers of electronics and communications technology.