The "CanJam" manipulator allows a user to steer satellites using a wheel with three degrees of freedom, tilting forward and backward, swiveling left and right, and pivoting side to side.

Gyroscope-aided bikes and cars may one day rule the road but before the technology reaches the ground, a University at Buffalo research team will test similar equipment in outer space.

The Canfield joint actuation manipulator, nicknamed "CanJam" by the researchers, was selected by NASA to join the first commercial research flight on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.

The tennis-ball sized device was designed by Manoranjan Majji, lead researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

"CanJam" can automatically control a satellite using a Canfield joint, a spherical joint that can point anywhere on a hemisphere, and an automated program that stabilizes the device when disturbed and a wheel.

The manipulator allows a user to steer satellites using a wheel with three degrees of freedom, tilting forward and backward, swiveling left and right and pivoting side to side.

Unlike traditional joints, the device also contains three motors as a failsafe in the chance one motor fails.

Traditional technologies used by NASA and other agencies occasionally don't produce the necessary torque to rotate aircrafts, also known as singularities, which make it difficult to build attitude control systems.

Due to its design, the "CanJam" system doesn't create singularities, simplifying attitude control, says Majji.

If the NASA test flight is successful, the Canfield joint actuation manipulator designed by Manoranjan Majji could be useful in directing the flight of satellites or helicopters by replacing the wheel with propellers. 

Credit: Douglas Levere

The UB project was chosen along with 11 other experiments through NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, which works with commercial companies, universities and government organizations to test innovative space technologies. NASA funded research and development of the designs.

"Projects like this enable us to build the next generation of agile space systems and aircraft," says Majji.

"In addition to aerospace systems, this technology has spill-over effects into the automobile industry. The future generation of cars and bikes are going to have control moment gyroscopes, and we're at the core of fundamental research that enables that sort of technology."

Majji's CanJam design was inspired by use of the Canfield joint in space thrusters. In his device, gyroscopic forces generated when the joint shifts create reaction torques that cause inverted satellite movement.

In the NASA flight test, once the spacecraft reaches microgravity, the device will point to a designated direction and a linear actuator will repeatedly push the manipulator out of place, destabilizing it.

The device will then automatically stabilise itself, correcting the pointing errors. Flight computers will record the accuracy of the manipulator after disturbances.

If successful, the manipulator could be useful for directing the flight of satellites or helicopters by replacing the wheel with propellers. Eventually, the technology will find its way onto cars and bikes, says Majji.

Research conducted through Majji's lab also focuses on designing aerospace vehicle sensors and actuators, and developing autopilot and tracking programs for unmanned aerial vehicles.

NASA to Crash Test Helicopter to Study Safety

Anybody who says NASA researchers don't know how to have a smashing good time has not met a team at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

They are test engineers whose job it is to make aircraft safer by crashing them.

In late August those engineers plan to drop a 45-foot long helicopter fuselage from about 30 feet to test improved seat belts and seats and to collect crash-worthiness data.

NASA is collaborating with the Navy, Army and Federal Aviation Administration on the Transport Rotorcraft Airframe Crash Testbed full-scale crash tests at NASA Langley's Landing and Impact Research (LandIR) Facility.

LandIR, a 240-foot high, 400-foot long gantry, has an almost 50-year history.

It started out as the Lunar Landing Research Facility, where Neil Armstrong and other astronauts learned to land on the moon.

Then it became a crash test facility where engineers could simulate aircraft accidents.

And recently it added a big pool where NASA is testing Orion space capsule mock-ups in anticipation of water landings.

The August drop test is one of the most complicated and ambitious aircraft crash experiments at NASA Langley in recent memory.

"We have instrumented a former Marine helicopter airframe with cameras and accelerometers," said lead test engineer Martin Annett.

"Almost 40 cameras inside and outside of the helicopter will record how 13 crash test dummies react before, during and after impact. Onboard computers will also record more than 350 channels of data."

External cameras will capture images of an unusual looking helicopter. Instead of the usual Marine gray, technicians painted one entire side in black polka dots over a white background.

It is not a fashion statement, but a photographic technique called full field photogrammetry. Each dot represents a data point.

High speed cameras filming at 500 images per second track each dot, so after everything is over, researchers can plot and "see" exactly how the fuselage buckled, bent, cracked or collapsed under crash loads.

NASA Langley is planning to stream the crash test August 28 on the Internet live at about 1 p.m. EDT at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-lrc

NASA crashes helicopter to study safety

NASA researchers will drop a 45-foot-long helicopter fuselage from a height of about 30 feet to test improved seat belts and seats and advance experimental techniques and crashworthiness data.

NASA is collaborating with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and Federal Aviation Administration on the Transport Rotorcraft Airframe Crash Test Bed full-scale crash tests at Langley's Landing and Impact Research Facility.

"We have instrumented a former Marine helicopter airframe with cameras and accelerometers," said lead test engineer Martin Annett.

Martin Annett

"Almost 40 cameras inside and outside the helicopter will record how 13 crash test dummies react before, during and after impact."

During the test, onboard computers will record more than 350 channels of data as the helicopter is swung by cables, like a pendulum, into a bed of soil.

Just before impact, pyrotechnic devices release the suspension cables from the helicopter to allow free flight.

The helicopter will hit the ground at about 30 mph. The impact condition represents a severe but survivable condition under both civilian and military requirements.

For the first time ever in any test, technicians installed a video game motion sensor in the helicopter. "We want to see if it is useful as an additional way to track the movements of the dummies," said test engineer Justin Littell.

The outside of the fuselage also is new for this test. Technicians painted one entire side in black polka dots over a white background—a photographic technique called full field photogrammetry. Each dot represents a data point.

High-speed cameras filming at 500 images per second track each dot, so after over the drop researchers can plot and see exactly how the fuselage buckled, bent, cracked or collapsed under crash loads.

Another crash test of a similar helicopter equipped with additional technology, including composite airframe retrofits, is planned for next year.

Both tests are part of the Rotary Wing Project in the Fundamental Aeronautics Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

The US Navy provided the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter fuselages, seats, crash test dummies and other experiments for the test.

The Army contributed a litter experiment with a crash test dummy.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provided a side-facing specialized crash test dummy and part of the data acquisition system.

Cobham Life Support-St. Petersburg, a division of CONAX Florida Corporation, also contributed an active restraint system for the cockpit.

NASA will use the results of both tests in efforts to improve rotorcraft performance and efficiency, in part by assessing the reliability of high performance, lightweight composite materials.

Researchers also want to increase industry knowledge and create more complete computer models that can be used to design better helicopters.

The ultimate goal of NASA rotary wing research is to help make helicopters and other vertical take-off and landing vehicles more serviceable—able to carry more passengers and cargo—quicker, quieter, safer and greener. Improved designs might allow helicopters to be used more extensively in the airspace system.

Worlds smallest One-man Helicopter GEN H-4 - YouTube video

Meet 75-year-old Gennai Yanagisawa, who runs an electronics equipment company in Matsumoto, central Japan, has created a 75kg (165-pound) one-man aircraft which sets the world record for the smallest helicopter.

The Super Sky Cycle

The Super Sky Cycle, which has been designed by inventor Larry Neal, can fly at 35 mph and has a top speed of 65mph on the ground.

According to Neal he has been developing the aircraft for several years.

The biggest issue he had to overcome was just what do with the wings when the vehicle was on the ground.

However, he cracked that thanks to an ingenious system that allows the rotor to be neatly folded away.

This means the unusual vehicle can not only be flown but also used like a normal tricycle on the road. The Super Sky Cycle can reach an altitude of 2,100m (7,000ft) and cruise for 240km (150 miles) before needing to refuel.

Picture: Unimedia Images / Rex Features

D-Dalus: Radical new flying machine may replace helicopters?

It can take off vertically, hover, rotate on a dime, fly in reverse and thrust down to nail a landing a moving target and, it can do all of this at jet-like speed and without any loud chopping noise.

What’s surprising is that the D-Dalus doesn’t have fixed wings or a standard rotor engine and more closely resembles a lawn mower than an aircraft.

It hovers using an innovative flight technology that may someday allow it supplant helicopters as the ultimate in aerial maneuverability.

Helicopters have long been deployed in a wide range of military and police operations. Yet, for just as long, they’ve been beset with a fair number of drawbacks. The same design principles that allows them to hover also limits their forward flying speed. The loud rotor engines also makes them impractical for reconnaissance missions.

IAT21, the Austrian Innovative Aeronautical Technology research company which developed the D-Dalus, claims their invention is a potential game-changer because it’s designed to rectify all these concerns. It’s ultra-quiet, works swimmingly in harsh weather conditions and requires much less maintenance.

The aircraft can enter buildings through windows and comes equipped with a sense-and-avoid system, which means it can navigate within tight spots and close to walls. Such versatility makes it ideal for search-and-rescue operations or as a surveillance drone.

The aircraft’s differs in that it generates propulsion using four contra-rotating turbines spinning at speeds upwards of 2,200 rpm. But the key to its incredibly nimble maneuvering is the turbines ability to be adjusted to generate thrust at different angles around the three axes.

A series of built-in computer algorithms take the guesswork out of how to reposition the blades so that in-air tricks, like glue-down landings, can be easily executed using a joystick.

Currently, the D-Dalus is marketed as a spy-drone. But the company plans to scale up the technology so that it can handle heavier payloads and so that it can someday be commissioned as a passenger vehicle.

According to the company website: “In trials to date D-DALUS has met the performance criteria placed upon it and appears to be scalable, becoming more efficient and less complex as it increases in size.”

Right now, the biggest version can only lift a payload of 70kg, although IAT21 is now working with the UK's Cranfield University on a larger, more powerful version.

Photo: IAT21

EADS Eurocopter X3 Hybrid Helicopter demo Video at Paris Air show

The speedy new X3 helicopter made its public debut this week at the Paris Air Show, flying a demonstration routine in front of the aerospace industry crowd.

Developed by EADS Eurocopter, the X3 (pronounced ‘x-cubed’) has already flown more than 260 miles per hour, though the company says extreme top speed is not the only goal.

Unlike Sikorsky’s X2 helicopter, which is an entirely new design, the X3 is built around an existing airframe.

Starting with its Dauphin helicopter, Eurocopter removed the tail rotor and added a pair of propellers mounted on short wings. These propellers are used to counter the torque of the main rotor like a tail rotor, and are also used to provide thrust to push the X3 beyond typical helicopter speeds.

The new helicopter uses twin engines like the standard Dauphin, but the engines are much more powerful and are used to power both the side propellers and main rotor.

Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling said in a statement the hybrid design will not only be fast, but it will also be affordable to customers.

“Future helicopters incorporating the X3 configuration will offer our customers about 50 percent more cruise speed and range at very affordable costs.”

During the week in Paris, Eurocopter has been reinforcing this message saying the other helicopters may be faster, but the X3 is aimed at developing a technology that is easily adaptable. The company says the speedy technology will add less than 25 percent to the cost of a comparable traditional helicopter.

Sikorsky’s X2 helicopter is a technology demonstrator developed over the past several years.

The company has already begun development of its S-97 helicopter, which will be a larger aircraft aimed at military customers using the pusher propeller and co-axial rotor design of the X2. At the Paris Air Show Sikorsky said the S-97 will make its first flight within the next three and a half years, according to Rotor&Wing magazine.

Both companies see a wide-ranging market for the faster helicopters. In addition to military applications, the extra speed and range is attractive for search-and-rescue operations, law enforcement, offshore oil rig transportation and as private transportation.

In other words, just about any application where helicopters are currently used as transportation would likely opt for more speed and range.

Eurocopter X3 hybrid helicopter hits 232 knots

After undergoing a planned upgrade to its gearbox that enabled it to operate at full engine power, Eurocopter's X3 hybrid helicopter demonstrator has surpassed its original speed target of 220 knots (407 km/h or 253 mph).

In a flight on May 12, the X3 maintained a true airspeed of 232 knots (430 km/h or 267 mph) for several minutes during stable, level flight.

Equipped with two turboshaft engines powering a five-blade main rotor system and two propellers on short-span fixed wings, the X3 demonstrator combines the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and hover capabilities of a helicopter with the fast cruise speeds of a turboprop-powered aircraft.

Flight testing of the X3 demonstrator began in September 2010, with the aircraft achieving its initial true airspeed goal of 180 knots (333 km/h or 207 mph) in November when operating at a reduced level of engine power.

After an upgrade that integrated its definitive gearboxes to enable it to operate at full power, the aircraft returned to flight testing last week at the DGA Flight Test Center in Istres, France, and achieved the 232 knot milestone on only its third mission.

"We were impressed by the ease at which this speed objective was attained," said flight test engineer Daniel Semioli and test pilot Hervé Jammayrac, who were aboard the aircraft for the May 12 flight. "The X3 handles extremely well, demonstrating remarkable stability at high speed - even with the autopilot off."

In the latest flight tests conducted at full engine power, Eurocopter says the X3 demonstrated "impressive climb and descent rates, as well as excellent maneuverability, while also confirming the hybrid propulsion system's outstanding capabilities for acceleration and deceleration."

Eurocopter X3 hybrid helicopter hits 232 knots

Cavalon gyrocopter

The newest addition to the gyrocopter genre arrived at Aero Friedrichshafen this week in the form of a side-by-side, fully-enclosed, composite construction Cavalon gyrocopter.

The gyrocopter is to the helicopter what the microlight is to traditional small aircraft.

Invented in 1923 by Spaniard Juan de la Cierva, the gyrocopter uses quite a different layout to the helicopter to give it stability at low speed.

It is cheap to run, takes off and lands on a ridiculously small footprint, and has a powered pusher propeller in addition to an unpowered main rotor.

Certification for the EUR65,000 Cavalon is almost complete in Germany and France, and AutoGyro will assist with certification documentation for other countries. Additionally, there are still ten units up for grabs in this year's production run.

The closest competitor to the Cavalon is the Xenon gyrocopter built in Poland, though the Xenon has the one-axle cyclic control while the Cavalon has a two-stick arrangement and the Cavalon stores its fuel outside the cabin.

Parrot AR drone video: Quadricopter controlled by an iPhone

They’re here and have been for some time. Smaller, commercialised versions of the pilotless drones that US forces and agencies deploy over world hot spots can now be purchased and used by used by consumers for £200 and up.

There are a lot of positives. Deliveries is one potential use of private drones. Equipped with cameras, they may help engineers scope sites, police fight crime, or firefighters save lives. Maybe they could be instrumental in keeping an eye on children or locating those that are lost, or finding lost hikers in the wilderness.

Unfortunately, some people are worried about the privacy and security implications. Celebrities are a prime target using paparazzi drones, but there may be all kinds of issues for the rest of us, privacy and otherwise.

The idea of citizens having their own ‘personal drone’ to ‘keep an eye on things’ may be a worrying sign for some.

The Wall Street Journal’s Siobhan Gorman reports commercial or personal drones will soon be flooding the market. “Several efforts to develop personal drones are scheduled for completion in the next year.” Gorman observes that “an unmanned aircraft that can fly a predetermined route costs a few hundred bucks to build and can be operated by iPhone.”

Consider such offerings as the Parrot AR drone, a quadricopter that can be controlled by an iPhone, iPod or iPad, or the swinglet Cam, a “flying camera” developed and marketed by senseFly in Switzerland.

The swinglet can fly for about 30 minutes up to 12 miles, providing capabilities such as aerial imagery, crop monitoring, land management, environmental monitoring, real estate, traffic monitoring, mapping, archeology, and wildlife monitoring.

Volcanic Ash images

The outflow of volcanic ash has had a devastating effect on the local islanders, trying to sustain a normal life at the base of an erupting volcano.

An Icelandic farmer dressed in protection gear to try and ensure the safety of his livestock.

National Geographic photography team filming close-up shots of the volcano.

Mini Helicopter - Robotic Surveillance Device - Obstacle avoidance system

The helicopter in this video may weigh only 30 grams, but it carries a compass and motion sensors, can change course and warn fellow craft of obstacles it bumps into, and could even carry a small camera. It can also resist what might be called a King Kong attack – if swatted out of the air the tiny craft soon recovers and takes off again.

It was developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley in Moffett Field, California. It would make a great toy, but the team's intentions are deadly serious. They aim to fly squadrons of "Sensorfly" craft that coordinate with each other to explore indoor environments – for instance, to check out buildings after a natural disaster.

The robots are built by adding custom processors, sensors and software to rotors and motors from an off-the-shelf toy helicopter. Each prototype costs only about $200 to build, says Pei Zhang, an electrical engineer working on the project with graduate student Aveek Purohit.

Self-righting Heli-vehicle: Bounce and Fly

This self-righting probe is designed to travel deep into obstacle-ridden spaces such as caves and rubble-laden buildings to video what it finds.

It is being developed for the Army Research Lab in Aberdeen, Maryland, by Eric Beyer and Mark Costello, a pair of robotics engineers at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

The army wants this capability because today's military robots, which run on small tank-style tracks, cannot cope with irregular surfaces and obstacles such as rubble or boulders.

"They usually have trouble and get stuck with even low obstacles and walls a couple of feet high," says Costello. Small helicopters are one alternative, but continuous flying drains the batteries fast.

So their answer - which Costello freely admits is Weeble-inspired - is a rotor-powered, bottom-heavy, self-righting vehicle that spends most of its time on the ground, thus conserving battery power. Instead of flying around, it hops, using a pair of contra-rotating rotors (to avoid the need for a tail rotor) mounted on an aluminium base. All this is encased in a spherical cage made of strong carbon-fibre spars (see diagram).

To steer in flight, the robot swings a weight to tilt in the direction it needs to hop (Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, DOI: 10.2514/1.41331). Whichever way it lands, the weight of the base rights it. Don't take our word for it - Watch the Video!