The International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition challenges universities to design and build an AUV capable of navigating realistic underwater missions. August 11, 2008 The University of Maryland has won the 11th Annual International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition, in San Diego California. The event is organized by theAssociation for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and the Office of Naval Research, and challenges universities to design and build an AUV capable of navigating realistic underwater missions.

Twenty-five teams from the US, India, Canada and Japan participated in the AUV competition, which involved dead reckoning approximately 50 feet through the starting gate, pipeline following, buoy docking, tracking and hovering over an acoustic pinger, grabbing an object and surfacing with the object to a floating ring.

Coming second in the competition was the University of Texas at Dallas, followed by École de technologie supérieure. A full list of the placings can be found here. The competition also gave out several special awards: the University of Colorado at Boulder won Best New Entry; the Delhi College of Engineering won Most Improved; the University of Wisconsin won the Tupperware Use Award; the University of Ottawa won Persistence in Adversity; and Norwich University won the Innovation Award.

On August 8, the AUVSI and ONR also held its first International Autonomous Surface Vehicle Student Competition, at San Diego’s 40 foot deep Transducer Evaluation Center Pool. The craft will have to face challenges including passing through a starting gate and steering a steady course, navigating between buoys, detecting and eliminating shore bound threats, docking and recovering a victim. Embry-Riddle University, Florida Atlantic University, École de technologie supérieure, the University of Central Florida, the University of Michigan, and Villanova University are competing.

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International has over 1,400 member companies and organizations from 50 countries, making it the world’s largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to advancing the unmanned systems community.

The first U.S. Navy Littoral Combat Ship, Freedom (LCS 1), the inaugural ship in an entirely new class of U.S. Navy surface warships, is seen conducting a speed run during Builders Trials.

Image Gallery ( 8 images ) August 13, 2008 The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is an entirely new class of warship designed to enable the U.S. Navy to operate in shallow waters for the many close-to-shore challenges it forsees in the coming years. The LCS is very fast, highly manoeuvrable, fully networked and quickly reconfigurable via 24 hour-installable mission modules to enable it to defeat threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast attack surface craft. There are two variants of the LCS, one a high-speed semi-planing monohull, the other a trimaran, and the first to begin trails is the monohull version from the Lockheed Martin team. Freedom (LCS 1) is currently undergoing “builder trials” on Lake Michigan, testing the ship’s propulsion, communications, navigation and mission systems.

The two variants are quite different, though both achieve the Navy’s requirements of being able to operate at full load with a draft of just 10 feet, a range of 1500 nautical miles at a sprint speed of 40+ knots, and a range of 4300 nautical miles at a speed of 20 knots.

One of the most interesting aspects of the LCS design is its ability to change the specific mission modules (Mine Warfare, Anti-Submarine Warfare and Anti-Surface Warfare) and have them fully tested and working WITHIN 24 HOURS.

After the completion of builder trials, the Freedom crew will begin preparing for acceptance trials.

If you ever wanted your own small plane, to take it for a ride ever once in a while, and escape from the daily routine, than this is your chance. This model was designed by a former Air Force F15 pilot, probably from his desire to own a small ‘iron bird’ to remind him of the good old days, and he decided to release it to the market, as the construction costs weren’t so high.

The Icon A5 can take off and land on water or dry land, and has controls resembling more the ones from a car, rather than a plane. A proof of its simplicity when it comes to flying is the 20 hours of flight training you are required to spend before lifting it up.

Its wings can be fold, so you can put it behind your car, and has a 32-foot wingspan. This kind of aircraft is restricted to fly above 10,000 feet in daylight, with a top speed of 140mph. The first line of Icon A5 is planned for release in 2010, and will be available for only $139,000.

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