Engineering Innovation Podcast and Radio Series By Topic:

NASA in the Middle East
Listen	Last week, NASA astronauts made a visit to the Middle East to encourage students there to pursue science, math, and engineering. The space agency’s head recently spoke about international outreach at a meeting of students and engineers in Washington. 02/28/2010
	Randy Atkins: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Jr. says, through such things as education programs, his agency is actively forging more relationships with other countries. Charles Bolden: In addition to the nations that most of you usually hear about when you think about the international space station, we now have expanded our efforts to reach out to what I call non-traditional partners. Randy Atkins: Bolden calls NASA’s work “inherently international” and wants to help countries who might not be able to do space experiments on their own. Charles Bolden: I am incredibly excited about President Obama’s giving us the opportunity to expand the level of our international cooperation, particularly the part where he’s asking us to reach out to Muslim nations. Randy Atkins: With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103-point-5 F-M and WTOP-dot-com.
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Roboseed
Listen	*The twirling, meandering descent of maple tree seeds are fascinating to watch…and are now the model for a new flying machine with many potential applications.* 11/15/2009
	Randy Atkins: The lingering fall of the single propeller maple seed… Evan Ulrich: One of the most simple systems in nature which is able to fly without any moving parts. Randy Atkins: …inspired University of Maryland engineering student Evan Ulrich to make an unmanned aircraft. Problem is, the seed’s descent is erratic. His challenge… Evan Ulrich: To be able to control the flight of a maple seed. To steer it from point A to point B. Randy Atkins: Ulrich created a maple seed mimic the size of a large bird that takes off and flies! It’s silent and almost invisible. Evan Ulrich: At about 100 feet all you see is the center of rotation, a half-dollar sized black disc. Randy Atkins: Uses might range from spying to weather monitoring. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103-point-5 F-M and WTOP-dot-com.
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Space Debris
Listen	*As the Space Station and Shuttle orbit today, so do millions of pieces of man-made debris. How do we clean up space?* 07/19/2009
	Randy Atkins: Even a small object, racing through space at many miles a second, is a big danger. Jim Hollopeter, an engineer at G-I-T Satellite, says putting the brakes on such debris would make it fall from the sky…and harmlessly burn up in the atmosphere. Jim Hollopeter: The very small objects don’t take much to slow them down, but there’s nothing in orbit to slow them down at this point. Randy Atkins: Hollopeter proposes launching rockets with payloads of water that can be blasted, shotgun style, to knock back lots of oncoming debris. Jim Hollopeter: It will then re-enter the atmosphere. All of it will, including the water that we would disperse. Randy Atkins: Hollopeter says old ballistic missiles could be used relatively inexpensively. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103 point 5 F-M and WTOP-dot-com.
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Air Energy Aircraft
Listen	*Local engineers are working on a remotely-controlled aircraft that may fly for weeks, even years, without fuel.* 02/08/2009
	Randy Atkins: The unmanned plane would take advantage of rising warm air to get lift. Just like birds which… James Hubbard: …turn in the direction where they experience that lift and actually center themselves in the heat plume and then just float. Minimum energy flying. Randy Atkins: James Hubbard, a University of Maryland aerospace engineer, says laser radar could find such updrafts. The sky surfing plane would maneuver using wings made with smart materials that feel the motion in waves of air. James Hubbard: You want something that stays up like satellites do and doesn’t really need to be attended to or require much maintenance. Randy Atkins: Uses range from surveillance to atmospheric monitoring. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103 point 5 F-M and WTOP-dot-com.
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Water for Darfur, Part 2
Listen	*Last week, we told you that space-based radar has revealed a massive ancient lake under the parched sands of Africa’s water-starved Darfur region.* 04/20/2008
	Randy Atkins: Major climate changes apparently dried the huge ancient lake in Darfur. But Farouk El-Baz, of Boston University, says the water likely seeped into the ground below, and engineering can bring it back. He discovered a similar lake structure beneath arid Egyptian land two decades ago. Farouk El-Baz: We have now like 500 wells in it, and there is 150,000 acres of land that is good enough for agriculture, and they are profitably producing wheat, chick peas, beans, and all kinds of things. Randy Atkins: He's hoping for a thousand wells in Darfur. Farouk El-Baz: Since science and technology has uncovered this potential, we should follow it through and if it is going to resolve a humanitarian crisis let's do it. Randy Atkins: With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103.5 FM, WTOP Radio.
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Water for Darfur
Listen	*The 5-year-old civil war in Darfur is partly a conflict over scarce water. Images from satellites and the space shuttle are now leading the way to underground water, and hope.* 04/13/2008
	Randy Atkins: Help for the water-deprived people of Darfur may come from an ancient sand-covered lake and modern technology. Farouk El-Baz, of Boston University, says radar images from space show the lake's outline and depths, revealing… Farouk El-Baz: …how big it was, how much water was there, how long it stayed… Randy Atkins: It was as big as Lake Erie, and El-Baz is confident its water seeped through the ground below. Farouk El-Baz: You know where the lowest part is and you drill in the middle and you don't miss. Randy Atkins: El-Baz says wells could meet drinking needs and create fertile farmland. Logistical, technical, and monetary issues remain, but he quotes the governor of Darfur as saying… Farouk El-Baz: You know what is important this whole story? Only hope! Do you know what the meaning of hope? I have seen people in Darfur smile. And that is enough for me. Randy Atkins: With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103.5 FM, WTOP Radio.
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Kalman Filter
Listen	*On Tuesday, the half-million dollar Draper Prize will be awarded in D.C. for an engineering achievement you probably haven't heard of. But your next flight will depend on it.* 02/17/2008
	Randy Atkins: Rudolf Kalman invented the Kalman Filter to get more information about rapidly changing conditions –- like precise location of an aircraft – than sensors can actually measure. Robert Bass: You can estimate all the things that normally would require a big suite of instruments, and you don’t need them anymore. Randy Atkins: Robert Bass is an engineer who worked with Kalman on the filter. It isn’t a physical filter, but a series of mathematical steps called an algorithm. Robert Bass: A modern digital computer can do it so fast that a human being thinks it’s happening instantaneously, as far as we’re concerned it’s happening in real time. Randy Atkins: And that's vital for applications like auto-piloting our airplanes. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103 point 5 F-M, WTOP Radio.
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Floating Wind Turbines
Listen	*Wind is generally stronger and more consistent well above the ground. So engineers are devising energy-generating wind turbines that float in the air.* 01/13/2008
	Pierre Rivard: There's perhaps less than 15% of the land mass that would have sufficient wind quality at the ground level, but when you raise the altitude you virtually have access to 100% of the land mass with usable wind energy. Randy Atkins: Pierre Rivard heads Magenn Power. Engineers there are building blimp-like turbines that float about a thousand feet in the air using helium. Winds spin it on a horizontal axis, generating electricity that’s sent to the ground through a tether. And he says it's safer for birds. Pierre Rivard: They could fly through the blades of a conventional windmill, but with us they see it ahead of them and just fly around it. Randy Atkins: Rivard says initial uses could be in developing areas and for rapid deployment for emergencies. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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Flapping-Winged Flying Toy
Listen	*Throughout history, inventors -- including Leonardo DaVinci -- have tried to make flapping-winged flying machines. A high school invention has now led to the first one on the market.* 12/23/2007
	Randy Atkins: The remote-controlled FlyTech toy is based on the flight mechanics of a dragonfly. Sean Frawley: It's the very first flying toy that uses flapping wings to fly. Randy Atkins: That's Sean Frawley. He invented the concept, which uses two sets of wings, when he was in high school. Sean Frawley: The upward flapping wings are creating thrust, and the downward flapping wings are creating lift. And so it's able to move forward and up at the same time. Randy Atkins: Now, at twenty-three, Frawley's project engineer at a Hong Kong-based company mass producing his invention. Sean Frawley: It's a hybrid of all sorts of technologies that make it workable. Randy Atkins: Including an ultra-light battery and materials that allow crashes without damage or injury. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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Air Energy
Listen	*Local engineers are working on a remotely-controlled aircraft that may fly for weeks, even years, without fuel.* 06/24/2007
	Randy Atkins: The unmanned plane would take advantage of rising warm air to get lift. Just like birds which… James Hubbard: …turn in the direction where they experience that lift and actually center themselves in the heat plume and then just float. Minimum energy flying. Randy Atkins: James Hubbard, a University of Maryland aerospace engineer, says laser radar could find such updrafts. The sky-surfing plane would maneuver using wings made with smart materials that feel the motion in waves of air. James Hubbard: You want something that stays up like satellites do and doesn’t really need to be attended to or require much maintenance. Randy Atkins: Uses range from surveillance to atmospheric monitoring. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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Presidential Helicopter
Listen	*Test versions of a new Presidential helicopter are rolling off the assembly line, gearing up for a new era of South Lawn photo-ops in a few years.* 05/07/2006
	Randy Atkins: The new chopper will be bigger, faster, and able to go further, says Greg Caires, spokeman for the Lockheed Martin-led team that will also be engineering in… Greg Caires: …Air Force One-like capability in terms of communications command-and-control, but on the much smaller helicopter platform. Randy Atkins: Caires says three enhanced-power engines will drive blades engineered to reduce noise while improving aerodynamics and efficiency. Greg Caires: We have this unique geometry in the blade tips which allows the blades to be shorter and yet produce more lift. Randy Atkins: It will also be built for comfort, including a taller door to prevent bumped Presidential heads. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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Forecasting the Path of a Hurricane
Listen	*It’s costly to evacuate a city. So scientists and engineers are working on new tools to better predict a hurricane’s path and strength.* 09/30/2005
	The key weather data used in hurricane prediction models is gathered only every six hours by instruments dropped from planes piloted into the storm's eye. But Sandy MacDonald, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's forecasting lab, says conditions might be monitored continuously using unmanned planes flying above the hurricane. Even higher up, satellites are already detecting tiny rises in sea surface height that indicate warmer water. Such bumps ramped both Katrina and Rita up to Category 5. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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The Heat Is On
Listen	*As the space shuttle Discovery returns to Earth, attention will be focused on very high-tech materials with low-tech names: tiles and gap fillers.* 08/05/2005
	The materials on the shuttle's black underside will belly flop from ice-cold space into Earth's atmosphere at about 17-thousand miles an hour. It's an extreme shock, as friction with air molecules generates turbulent air flow and temperatures near 3-thousand degrees. But the reinforced carbon tiles protecting Discovery's aluminum airframe are engineered to actually strengthen as temperatures rise. And between each are those humbly-named, but high-tech, gap fillers—tough fibers designed to take the heat. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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Weather Planes
Listen	*Weather researchers have just completed a six-month experiment of a new tool that could dramatically improve forecasts.* 07/22/2005
	It's a lightweight sensor that attaches to the outside of airplanes and constantly measures changing humidity, pressure, temperature, wind speeds, and more. Mark Anderson, President of AirDat, says their device is engineered for easy installation on any existing aircraft. But the primary focus is the swarms of small airplanes that constantly crisscross the sky where weather is developing. Currently, data from those altitudes is mostly limited to twice daily weather balloon readings. Anderson says initial tests showed thousands of real-time measurements can be instantly sent to the ground and assembled into a richer picture of evolving weather. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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Pilot Perception Problems
Listen	Investigators are still trying to determine the exact cause of a deadly helicopter crash into the Potomac. While the cause may not be known for quite some time, pilot disorientation has been a common cause of such crashes in the past. 01/14/2005
	Humans aren't designed to fly, so pilots must often learn to trust aircraft instruments more than their own senses. The visual references that usually tell us up from down, can also confuse when land is distant. And if pilots can't see well, like in night or fog, their dominant sense of orientation comes from motion of fluids in their ears. Charles Lessard, a biomedical engineer at Texas A&M, says flight recorder data can be used to understand precisely how those fluids might have sloshed around a pilot's ears just before a crash, and give a clearer picture of how doomed pilots lose control. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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Quiet Planes
Listen	One way to reduce travel crowds is to build new airports, or expand existing ones. But neighbors worry about the noise. So a trans-Atlantic team of engineers is taking a bold stab at silencing airplanes. 11/26/2004
	Paul Collins, a University of Cambridge engineer, says progress muffling jet engines has stalled. He thinks dramatic noise relief will require a radical new aircraft design. Collins' British colleagues, along with U.S. engineers at MIT, actually propose larger engines that are embedded within the plane's body to cage that deafening roar. Other engineering tweaks include merging wings with the fuselage to reduce noisy air friction. They believe it will take a while to work out kinks but, if all goes well, in a couple of decades you may not notice airplanes unless you look up. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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Kite Engineering
Listen	*Spring breezes will entice many to old-fashioned kite flying fun this weekend. It may be more high-tech than you think.* 03/27/2004
	Kite making has come a long way since its invention about 3,000 years ago. New materials like graphite rods, carbon filaments, and composites are allowing imaginative designs that are bigger, lighter, and stronger, all at the same time. The newest kites range from the power kites that can transport people to stunt kites that perform acrobatics at up to 120 miles an hour. But NASA engineer Tom Benson says the challenge of keeping a kite aloft hasn't changed. It's still dealing with winds that constantly deform a kite's structure. Of course it's also what causes the unpredictable movements that are part of kite flying's charm. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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Taking the Bite Out of an Asteroid
Listen	*For several scary hours last month, while we were worried about terrorists, scientists had their eyes on a possible weapon of mass destruction coming from outer space.* 02/28/2004
	On January 13, scientists spotted a large asteroid seemingly on a collision course with Earth. It was a miscalculation, luckily, because aerospace engineer John Olds says Hollywood's solutions won't work. For example, even if we could nuke an asteroid, it would simply turn a huge cannon ball into a huge shotgun blast. Olds' company, SpaceWorks Engineering, is developing a unique plan for the NASA Institute of Advanced Concepts. Thousands of small spacecraft would orbit near the moon. If a dangerous asteroid is confirmed, they'd be ordered to swarm onto it, then rapidly dig and chuck golfball-sized pieces of the asteroid into space. Like throwing rocks from a boat in still water, Olds says—given enough lead time—the effect could nudge an asteroid's path enough to avoid us. One idea for taking the bite out of dangers from space. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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The Future of Flight
Listen	*This Wednesday is the hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight in North Carolina. But did you know that history was made locally by the brothers?* 12/17/2003
	Six years after the first flight, Wilbur Wright himself began training this country's first military pilots in College Park, Maryland. That airfield, in fact, saw many aviation firsts. Among them: the first U.S. mail flight, the first controlled helicopter flight, and the first completely "blind" flight—using only radio navigation. That pioneering use of electronics led to today's auto-pilot. And it began a continuing revolution in aviation based upon largely invisible technology the Wright brothers probably didn't even dream of. As Northrup Grumman Chairman Kent Kresa says: "It will be mainly the flight of electrons that pushes the envelope of aerospace engineering." With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, WTOP Radio.
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