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contents zoom in zoom out for navigation instructions please click here search issue next page the magazine of technology insiders spectrum.ieee.org ekso bionics leads a new class of electromechanical gear that will put paraplegics back on their feet powered exoskeleton walking again it s one top tech special report of life-altering game-changing advances that made our 2012 14 contents zoom in zoom out for navigation instructions please click here search issue next page

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® name dr laurel watts job title principal software engineer area of expertise chemical engineering labview helped me control multiple instruments operating in harsh conditions latest project engineer the ultimate storm chaser ni labview labview makes me better because the with hardware is so seamless find out how labview can make you better at ni.com/labview/better 800 453 6202 ©2010 national instruments all rights reserved labview national instruments ni and ni.com are trademarks of national instruments other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies 2807 i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand®

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® volume 49 number 1 north american 1.12 54 special report 28 next year s tech news today in this year s technology issue we present the big stories that are sure to surface in the coming year calling the results when we can and narrowing down the possible outcomes when we can t by philip e ross samuel k moore 30 good-bye wheelchair a new exoskeleton will let paraplegics put on their walking shoes by eliza strickland 41 future vision bionic implants will restore sight to the blind by eliza strickland 54 up up and away this is the year when privately built spacecraft will be put to the test by james oberg 33 ics grow up chips and the transistors on them will enter the third dimension by rachel courtland 42 in search of alien worlds a new instrument will advance the hunt for earth-like planets by rachel courtland 56 state of charge superpowerful dc chargers will help drivers of all-electric cars overcome range anxiety by lawrence ulrich 36 plug-ins proliferate electric cars will finally take to the road in big numbers by david schneider 45 a battery as big as the grid grid-scale batteries will become an attractive alternative to building new power plants by jean kumagai 60 china s homegrown supercomputers finally the country s own processors will power its supercomputing effort by joseph calamia 38 will windows cut it cover gabriela hasbun retouching statik digital this page virgin galactic spectrum.ieee.org microsoft tries to unify the tablet and desktop realms by steven cherry 47 crunch time for euv it s the make-or-break year for a new way of making chips by katie m palmer 63 printing in 3-d one-off manufacturing will start filling the many gaps in our mass-produced world by paul wallich 39 leds for less a prizewinning bulb will give us the light we want by richard stevenson 51 fantastic 4g operators will be building out 4g lte networks around the world by marisa plumb january 2012 · ieee spectrum · na 1 i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand®

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® 6g speeds are fast approaching digital homes super tablets cloud computing and paperless healthcare are just of few of the innovations that promise to change our world realizing that promise requires new innovations to design 6g networks and products how will engineers create the 100 gbps channels of the future what s the secret to designing tomorrow s 6g devices and networks contact ansys to find the answers to your 6g questions white paper the race to 6g read how simulation promises to get you there faster www.ansys.com/electronics 1.866.267.9724 realize your product promisetm i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand®

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® volume 49 number 1 north american 1.12 9 spectrum.ieee.org available 1 january video walking again tamara mena has been confined to a wheelchair since a car accident six years ago now ekso legs have allowed her to get back on her feet see mena s ekso system in action in an exclusive video http spectrum.ieee org/ekso0112 update 11 hybrid helicopters the electrification revolution is coming to choppers by david schneider 13 metamaterials miracle 14 meat engineering 16 cotton electronics 18 flat transistors make a comeback departments 4 back story our reporter visits a stateof-the-art planet hunter on the outskirts of geneva 6 contributors tools toys 22 adobe s new suite of tablet apps puts the cloud at the center of your images by sally wiener grotta daniel grotta 24 scrabble gets a social networking makeover in words with friends by mark anderson 25 books the politics of energy have only gotten more complicated since daniel yergin s 1991 the prize by william sweet 26 profile a 28-year-old artist rethinks physics video games and the physics of video games by susan karlin 80 the data is data mining undermining a favorite board game by mark anderson theinstitute.ieee.org available 6 january opinion 8 spectral lines is technological innovation slowing down by philip e ross 27 reflections webcams are one thing but webcams connected to social networks are quite another by robert w lucky clockwise from top left e-volo nick tucker/lur films 2 luciano covolo new book on developing leaders and managers most books on effective leaders focus on ceos presidents and others working at such lofty levels but the important role of the manager is often overlooked a new ieee e-book on management says effective managing cannot exist without some level of leading reducing accidents with smarter cars up to 90 percent of all car crashes caused by driver error could be eliminated with more-intelligent transportation systems according to several ieee members embedded systems sensors and microprocessors are just some of the technologies that could help learn what ieee members are doing in this area ieee aerospace conference the 2012 ieee aerospace conference being held in big sky mont from 3 to 10 march promotes the interdisciplinary understanding of aerospace systems their underlying science and technology and their applications to government and commercial endeavors online webinars resources better simulation of dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators using vorpal planning architecting and executing smart grid transformations fluid structure interaction simulation with comsol requirements management s key role in the nuclear industry electrostatic actuation with comsol multiphysics big demand drives small solutions scalable baseband solutions accelerating development of smart grid power electronics control systems with rcp and hil techniques available at http spectrum.ieee.org/webinar getting more benefits from modeling vacuum electronic devices power system contingency analysis and security constrained optimal power flow in matlab the emerging technology forum series reinventing infrastructure for high-speed rail plasma modeling with comsol multiphysics the ieee emerging technology forum series silicon valley s impact on the automotive industry new product release library http spectrum.ieee.org/static new-product-release-library national instruments resource library http spectrum.ieee org/static/national-instruments resource-library ieee spectrum issn 0018-9235 is published monthly by the institute of electrical and electronics engineers inc all rights reserved © 2012 by the institute of electrical and electronics engineers inc 3 park avenue new york ny 10016-5997 u.s.a the editorial content of ieee spectrum magazine does not represent official positions of the ieee or its organizational units canadian post international publications mail canadian distribution sales agreement no 40013087 return undeliverable canadian addresses to circulation department ieee spectrum box 1051 fort erie on l2a 6c7 cable address itriplee fax +1 212 419 7570 internet spectrum@ieee.org annual subscriptions ieee members $21.40 included in dues libraries institutions $399 postmaster please send address changes to ieee spectrum c/o coding department ieee service center 445 hoes lane box 1331 piscataway nj 08855 periodicals postage paid at new york ny and additional mailing offices canadian gst #125634188 printed at 120 donnelley dr glasgow ky 42141-1060 u.s.a ieee spectrum circulation is audited by bpa worldwide ieee spectrum is a member of american business media the magazine publishers of america and association media publishing ieee prohibits discrimination harassment and bullying for more information visit http www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/whatis/policies/p9-26.html spectrum.ieee.org january 2012 · ieee spectrum · na 3 i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand®

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® back story editorial editor in chief susan hassler s.hassler@ieee.org glenn zorpette g.zorpette@ieee.org harry goldstein h.goldstein@ieee.org elizabeth a bretz e.bretz@ieee.org executive editor b a planet like our own editorial director digital reakthroughs in astronomy frequently begin with an unbelievably faint glimmer or murmur from space plucked improbably from the sky by a telescope on a barren mountaintop in a remote high desert or in orbit around earth and yet this past october there was associate editor rachel courtland riding through lush sun-dappled roads on the outskirts of geneva on her way to see one of the newest and most advanced tools for hunting planets beyond our solar system the high accuracy radial velocity planet searcher­north harps-n as it is known will soon be shipped off to a remote location on la palma one of the canary islands but when courtland saw the instrument it was being assembled in an old citing articles in ieee spectrum telescope building not far from the geneva observatory s main offices in sauverny switzerland she found an odd mix of quaint and high-tech some of the harps-n s key components were housed near displays of antique brass scopes not much different from the ones used to discover neptune to get into the clean room where the instrument was being assembled courtland s guide astronomer francesco pepe simply fished a shiny metal key off the lintel of the vestibule door to get from one side of the cramped clean room to the other courtland had to negotiate a narrow and rickety wooden bridge sans handrail built over the instrument itself falling in was not an option but it seemed like a very distinct possibility she says her fears of losing her balance and becoming infamous as the journalist who wreaked havoc on harps-n proved unfounded courtland was soon transfixed by the sophistication and scientific promise of the technology which will help characterize some of the most earth-like environments outside our own solar system the device may even play a role in the first conclusive identification of another planet capable of supporting life as we know it that would be a momentous achievement indeed for more on this remarkable instrument see courtland s report in search of alien worlds in this issue managing editor senior editors jean kumagai samuel k j.kumagai@ieee.org moore news tekla s perry s.k.moore@ieee.org t.perry ieee.org philip e ross david schneider p.ross@ieee.org d.a.schneider@ieee.org senior associate editors steven cherry resources erico guizzo e.guizzo@ieee.org s.cherry@ieee.org rachel courtland r.courtland@ieee.org marisa plumb joshua j romero online m.plumb@ieee.org j.j.romero@ieee.org e.strickland@ieee.org eliza strickland associate editors assistant editor willie d jones w.jones@ieee.org joseph n levine j.levine@ieee.org alan gardner a.gardner@ieee.org sharon basco francesco ferorelli senior copy editor copy editor michele kogon m.kogon@ieee.org editorial researcher executive producer spectrum radio assistant producer spectrum radio f.ferorelli@ieee.org administrative assistants ramona foster r.foster@ieee.org nancy t hantman n.hantman@ieee.org intern katie m palmer palmer.k@ieee.org contributing editors john blau robert n charette peter fairley david kushner robert w lucky paul mcfedries prachi patel carl selinger seema singh william sweet john voelcker art production senior art director deputy art director mark montgomery angela howard brandon palacio randi silberman klett peter tuohy associate art director photo multimedia editor director periodicals production services editorial web production manager senior electronic layout specialist web production coordinator roy carubia bonnie nani jacqueline l parker michael spector multimedia production specialist editorial advisory board susan hassler chair gerard a alphonse marc t apter francine d berman jan brown raffaello d andrea j roberto b de marca hiromichi fujisawa kenneth y goldberg susan hackwood bin he erik heijne charles h house christopher j james ruby b lee john p lewis tak ming mak carmen s menoni david a mindell c mohan fritz morgan andrew m odlyzko larry l smarr harry l tredennick iii sergio verdú jeffrey m voas william weihl kazuo yano editorial correspondence ieee spectrum 3 park ave 17th floor new york ny 10016-5997 attn editorial dept tel +1 212 419 7555 fax +1 212 419 7570 bureau palo alto calif tekla s perry +1 650 328 7570 responsibility for the substance of articles rests upon the authors not ieee or its members articles published do not represent official positions of ieee letters to the editor may be excerpted for publication advertising correspondence ieee spectrum 3 park ave 17th floor new york ny 10016-5997 attn advertising dept +1 212 419 7760 the publisher reserves the right to reject any advertising reprint permission may be photocopied for private use of patrons a per-copy fee must be paid to the copyright clearance center 29 congress st salem ma 01970 for other copying or republication contact business manager ieee spectrum francesco pepe copyrights and trademarks ieee libraries articles ieee spectrum publishes two editions in the international edition the abbreviation int appears at the foot of each page the north american edition is identified with the letters na both have the same editorial content but because of differences in advertising page numbers may differ in citations you should include the issue designation for example the data is in ieee spectrum vol 49 no 1 int january 2012 p 64 or in ieee spectrum vol 49 no 1 na january 2012 p 80 spectrum is a registered trademark owned by the institute of electrical and electronics engineers inc careers ees tools toys ev watch progress reflections spectral lines and technically speaking are trademarks of ieee 4 na · ieee spectrum · january 2012 spectrum.ieee.org i s 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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand®

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® ieee media staff director publisher ieee spectrum james a vick j.vick@ieee.org associate publisher sales advertising director marion delaney m.delaney@ieee.org recruitment sales development manager michael buryk m.buryk@ieee.org business manager robert t ross ieee media/spectrum group marketing manager joseph calamia is a freelance writer based in new haven conn despite the geographic disadvantage he was the natural choice to write china s homegrown supercomputers [p 60 because he d reported on the development of the key microprocessors involved less than a year ago a frequent contributor to ieee spectrum and an alumnus of the mit graduate program in science writing calamia has also written for discover and popular mechanics sally wiener grotta and daniel grotta are a husbandand-wife team who have been writing about digital imaging photography and printing since the early 1990s they make their spectrum debut with a review of adobe s new creative cloud and touch apps suite [p 22 over the course of three days sally tore into the six cloud-based apps testing every aspect of the programs with her own digital art i m a fine arts photographer she says so instead of using the test images i just pulled images from my vast library of people scenes and animals even a snapshot of her husband that she morphed into a pirate james oberg who wrote up up and away [p 54 which looks at recent progress in the private spaceflight industry worked as an aerospace engineer at nasa for 22 years he switched to journalism in the late 1990s and now makes his living reporting on space for such outlets as popular science nbc news and of course spectrum 6 na · ieee spectrum · january 2012 richard stevenson who wrote leds for less [p 39 on the coming revolution in lighting is himself an expert on the raw materials that go into such devices compound semiconductors he got a ph.d at the university of cambridge studying these materials then he went into industry and made them now as a freelance journalist based in wales he writes about them his previous feature for spectrum however was on good old silicon a driver s sixth sense october 2011 lawrence ulrich set out from san francisco to drive 180 fumefree kilometers in an all-electric nissan leaf without succumbing to range anxiety he recounts the logistics of the journey in state of charge [p 56 the native detroiter worked in the 1980s as a rock musician playing keyboard as far afield as europe before becoming a writer specializing first in business then in cars he lives in brooklyn n.y and regularly writes for the new york times and automobile paul wallich when not reporting on oddball technologies takes to his shop to make small household parts by casting carving forming filing sawing drilling riveting tapping soldering gluing sanding and polishing he has been following digital 3-d printing since its early hobbyist days in taking shape [p 63 he shows how it s now changing manufacturing interactive marketing manager blanche mcgurr b.mcgurr@ieee.org ruchika anand r.t.anand@ieee.org list sales recruitment services product/marketing manager ilia rodriguez i.rodriguez@ieee.org reprint sales +1 212 221 9595 ext 319 marketing promotion specialist recruitment sales advisor faith h jeanty f.jeanty@ieee.org liza reich +1 212 419 7578 felicia spagnoli nicole evans gyimah anthony durniak advertising sales +1 212 705 8939 advertising production manager senior advertising production coordinator advertising production +1 732 562 6334 ieee staff executive publications ieee board of directors president ceo gordon w day +1 732 562 3928 fax +1 732 465 6444 president-elect president@ieee.org peter w staecker treasurer harold flescher secretary celia desmond past president moshe kam vice presidents michael lightner educational activities david a hodges publication services products howard e michel member geographic activities steve m mills president standards association donna l hudson technical activities ronald g jensen president ieee-usa division directors hiroshi iwai i j keith nelson ii nim k cheung iii peter n clout iv michael r williams v jeffrey m voas vi enrique a tejera m vii susan k land viii alfred o hero iii ix vincenzo piuri x region directors charles p rubenstein 1 ralph m ford 2 clarence l stogner 3 james n riess 4 sandra l robinson 5 edward g perkins 6 om p malik 7 marko delimar 8 tania l quiel 9 wai-choong wong 10 directors emeritus eric herz theodore w hissey ieee staff executive director coo james prendergast +1 732 502 5400 james.prendergast@ieee.org publications anthony durniak +1 732 562 3998 a.durniak@ieee.org educational activities douglas gorham +1 732 562 5483 d.g.gorham@ieee.org standards activities judith gorman +1 732 562 3820 j.gorman@ieee.org member geographic activities cecelia +1 732 562 5504 c.jankowski@ieee.org jankowski eileen lach general counsel and chief compliance officer +1 212 705 8990 e.m.lach@ieee.org corporate strategy communications +1 732 562 5320 m.loeb@ieee.org matthew loeb cae chief marketing officer patrick d mahoney +1 732 562 5596 p.mahoney@ieee.org chief information officer alexander +1 732 562 6017 a.pasik@ieee.org chief financial officer thomas r +1 732 562 6843 t.siegert@ieee.org j pasik ph.d siegert technical activities mary ward-callan +1 732 562 3850 m.ward-callan@ieee.org managing director ieee-usa chris brantley +1 202 530 8349 c.brantley@ieee.org ieee publication services products board david a hodges chair tayfun akgul john baillieul silvio e barbin karen bartleson maja e bystrom celia l desmond tariq s durrani mohamed e el-hawary david a grier lajos hanzo elizabeth t johnston hulya kirkici russell j lefevre michael r lightner carmen s menoni pradeep misra william w moses jose m.f moura edward a rezek jon g rokne gianluca setti curtis a siller ravi m todi robert j trew karl r varian timothy t wong daniel s yeung jacek m zurada ieee operations center 445 hoes lane box 1331 piscataway nj 08854-1331 u.s.a tel +1 732 981 0060 fax +1 732 981 1721 spectrum.ieee.org i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® clockwise from top left chris carley randi silberman klett 2 julie robichaux james oberg human resources betsy davis sphr +1 732 465 6434 e.davis@ieee.org

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® we re making waves with the world s most advanced em and rf simulation software and measurement systems it s no wonder we re getting noticed from concept to design to fielded solutions delcross has the tools to help you ride the wave of success our savant software rapidly solves installed antenna problems that other electromagnetic solvers cannot address with gpu acceleration in savant the power of a cluster can be realized for the price of a video card using our emit software and ams measurement system you can extend your analysis beyond the antenna ports to tackle your toughest cosite interference and link margin analysis problems we provide unique solutions that get you ahead www.delcross.com 217.363.3396 mqmqmqis previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags the world s newsstand®

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® spectral lines taking innovation for granted t here s a theory making the rounds that technological innovation is slowing down and thus can no longer support the economic growth we ve come to expect it s not normally the sort of thing ieee spectrum would cover we write about innovation rather than its absence and indeed as we cast about for examples of promising tech developments that will make news in 2012 the only problem we faced was in deciding which ideas not to include in the issue but the possibility of a tech slowdown that rattles the global economy can t be dismissed look for instance at the dearth of fundamentally new drugs coming down the development pipeline or consider that the speeds at which we travel are no better and are in some cases worse than they were in the 1960s the basic argument was set out two years ago in an e-book called the great stagnation by tyler cowen an economist at george mason university in fairfax va he contends that our innovations increasingly consist of refinements to established technologies most of them hatched decades or even lifetimes ago electric power radio automobiles airplanes rockets hybrid crops antibiotics in cowen s phrase we have plucked the lowhanging fruit and must strain ever harder to get anything delectable from the aging tree 8 interestingly cowen makes a grudging exception for electronics and information technology which continue to barrel ahead and as we assembled this issue we found support for the idea that not only is electronics robust but that it continues to nurture innovation in plenty of other fields in the pages that follow you ll learn how 4g lte is pushing the fusion of computing and communications to new heights and how efficient electric-drive cars are going mainstream you ll read about improvements in led lamps medical applications of robotics and the realization of one-off manufacturing via 3-d printing we also note that researchers seem to be closing in on one of the most awe-inspiring goals in all of science finding an extrasolar goldilocks planet one that s not too hot and not too cold to support life but even in electronics there are unsettling developments the evidence too is in this issue moore s law the backbone of the it revolution now faces by far the most onerous obstacles in its long history and measures to keep it going are getting ever more heroic this month we cover two measures 3-d chips and extreme ultraviolet lithography that had long been resisted because of their great expense now the industry is betting heavily on them mostly because other options smack more of desperation than of heroism so taken for granted is technical innovation that any interruption in its progress is treated as an aberration but breakneck progress is hardly the norm as the economic historian gregory clark pointed out in his 2007 book a farewell to alms the average standard of living in the world was the same in 1790 as in the neolithic age when he looked past the laceand-velvet portraits of the long-dead rich to examine the food consumption of the average peon he found that it hadn t risen from adam to adam smith clark argues that although technology did advance in every age the advances came too slowly to stop people from breeding themselves back into poverty for eons he says we dangled at that level of subsistence that ecologists call the malthusian limit the industrial revolution broke through that limit with a string of technologies of such power that any one of them would be big news today together they fell on our forebears like an avalanche philip e ross spectrum.ieee.org na · ieee spectrum · january 2012 i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® dave bradley/getty images increasing their productivity so fast that try as they might and try they did they couldn t make babies fast enough to stay poor just why that revolution came where and when it did is still not clearly understood whether it can go on forever is by no means assured true nobody now speaks of actually going backward for one thing population growth appears to be slowing for another countries long outside the circle of progress are at last catching up for them the low-hanging fruit still lies within reach but if we don t get innovation back to what we would like to regard as normal levels we will have to change our way of thinking if our prosperity depends on rapid technical progress and such progress does not come then all our economic calculations must be revised downward we are not as rich as we thought we were concludes cowen it is the challenge of the entire research community to change the trend line and prove him wrong.

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® simple starts here the navigation and ordering process are easy to work thanks ­ richard newark|element14 customer with improved search capabilities precalculated tax and freight and more newark|element14 is constantly evolving to make your online experience simple and fast here you ll discover a world of electronics products and services all connected to a pulsing community of experts information and tools as the most effective electronics industry brand online trust newark|element14 to deliver all your innovative engineering solutions right from the start it s that simple 2011 heardable online brand benchmark report how may we help you today community element14.com website newark.com phone 1.800.463.9275 learn more newark.com/together i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand®

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® cst studio suite discover what happens 2012 making sense of the real world ­ system level em simulation components don t exist in electromagnetic isolation they influence their neighbors performance they are affected by the enclosure or structure around them they are susceptible to outside influences with system assembly and modeling cst studio suite 2012 helps optimize component as well as system performance get the big picture of what s really going on ensure your product and components perform in the toughest of environments choose cst studio suite 2012 ­ complete technology for 3d em changi ng th e stan dards cst of america® inc to request literature call 508 665 4400 www.cst.com mqmqis previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags m q the world s newsstand®

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® more online at spectrum.ieee.org helicopters go electric electric flight takes on the final frontier t he past six months have seen some remarkable advances in the budding world of electric flight in a realm where until now internalcombustion engines have held firm helicopters three separate demonstrations of an electrically assisted helicopter and two tiny but fully electric choppers suggest that the era of electric whirlybirds can t be far away the first development took place in early july 2011 when pilots at eurocopter the world s spectrum.ieee.org largest helicopter manufacturer based in marignane france testflew a single-engine chopper that had been fitted with lithium-ion batteries and an auxiliary electric motor intended to help out in case of engine failure helicopter pilots deal with such emergencies using a technique called autorotation which requires some deft manipulation of the helicopter s rotor when power first cuts out and again when the helicopter nears the ground according to jean-michel billig executive vice president for r&d at eurocopter the hybrid electric system his group designed provides the brief bursts of power needed at those two critical moments we re not talking about minutes here we re talking about seconds says billig with the new system engine-off landings were extraordinarily comfortable from the pilot s perspective he says eurocopter is not the only helicopter manufacturer experimenting with electric power since 2008 sikorsky aircraft corp has been working to remove the normal piston engine from a small helicopter a sikorsky s-300c and replace it with an electric motor a demonstration project it calls firefly sikorsky batteries included sixteen brushless motors sent thomas senkel flying for the first time this past october photo e-volo january 2012 · ieee spectrum · na 11 i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand®

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® based in stratford conn has been showing its modified s-300c at aircraft exhibitions but so far has not flown it so it came as a surprise to some when another group beat the venerable helicopter company into the air in the year s second stunning development in electric flight solution f a french company that builds racecar engines and associated equipment underwrote the development of what in august became the first manned electric helicopter to take off and land on its own power it was the result of an unlikely collaboration pascal chretien an independent engineering consultant and commercial helicopter pilot began working two years ago for solution f which was then starting to explore the helicopter-engine market chretien floated the idea of designing a hybrid-electric power plant which he viewed as inherently safer than traditional designs for helicopters that sparked discussions of building the world s first all-electric helicopter instead a notion that captivated the imagination of this unlikely team chretien set about designing such a craft in mid-2010 i pretty much did all the work as a volunteer says chretien solution f paid for everything else chretien s design uses two counterrotating rotors one on top of the other spinning around the same axis to avoid the need for a powersapping tail rotor each of 12 the main rotors is driven by a brushed dc motor with a bank of lithium-ion batteries mounted under the pilot s seat the machine has buckets of power says chretien although the maximum flight duration demonstrated so far is just 6 minutes sikorsky was in the race and we thought they would be flying quickly and we really wanted to fly before them says chretien solution f didn t want to be the second one he admits that he took some calculated risks with his design to get it into the air fast and that his prototype liftoff pascal chretien tests this record-setting electric helicopter is far from anything you photo solution f could sell as it turns out explore commercialization enough to carry a person chretien did have some of their design for the after discussing it for three close competition for the ultralight-aircraft market months we said `okay honor of building the first senkel thinks such a vehicle let s do it says senkel manned electric helicopter would cost considerably the design they to fly untethered but not less than a conventional ultimately came up with from sikorsky it came helicopter more in line resembles four radiofrom a german team that with the cost of a car controlled quadrocopters accomplished another most helicopters have a lot flanged together 16 rotors manned electric-helicopter of mechanics that have to in all if you have less flight at the end of october be maintained and could there s not enough the third milestone fail we don t have that redundancy says senkel in electric rotorcraft much stuff he says if you have more it would technology in the span we congratulate be too complex lithiumof just four months [solution f and the e-volo ion batteries and motor work leading up to group for moving the needle controllers are strapped to that flight began in 2009 forward says jonathan the spidery contraption s it was then that thomas hartman who heads aluminum frame near senkel a physicist who sikorsky s firefly project each motor eliminating has worked on various given the head start and the need for heavy cabling electric vehicles stephan resources that hartman s the physical design is wolf a software developer stunningly simple although team had chretien remains and alexander zosel surprised that he was able there s more to it than a businessman started to beat sikorsky into the air meets the eye senkel says thinking about building but he says one thing s their first craft is just an electric quadrocopter for sure the day they start a proof of concept but the like the four-rotor designs flying it ll fly a lot better german trio has formed a that many radio-control than ours david schneider company called e-volo to modelers fly only big spectrum.ieee.org na · ieee spectrum · january 2012 i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand®

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i s previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand® 10 x 10 nanometers area of what could be the smallest resistive ram cell ever made researchers at imec in belgium described the device last month at the ieee international electron device meeting metamaterials make for a broadband breakthrough patent house intellectual ventures and others aim at better wireless broadband s ince 2008 frequent fliers have relished the luxury of onboard internet connections today service relies on a fixed antenna that picks up signals from a nationwide network of cell towers but that method offers low bandwidth at sometimes ridiculous prices new antennas based on metamaterials though may soon rescue web-addicted travelers from poor and pricey connections in the air and a group at the patent-licensing firm intellectual ventures iv thinks that it can implement the new technology by 2014 ideally airlines would be able to direct dynamic antennas straight up at satellites which can be done two ways mechanically with a gimbal that points an antenna to the right part of the sky or with a phased array which electronically directs a beam by pulsing individual elements of an array in precise patterns but gimbals are not exactly aerodynamic one example is that massive protuberance on the nose of the predator drone and the many phase shifters needed for phased arrays make them extremely expensive about us $1 million a pop with options like these companies like boeing are itching for a low-cost lowpower electronically scanned array a technology that iv s metamaterials researcher nathan kundtz calls the holy grail of antenna design the group at iv has developed a thin lightweight antenna that takes advantage of metamaterials synthetic substances that are being researched for use in invisibility cloaks among other things while natural substances derive their electromagnetic properties radio row individual metamaterial elements like these can be tuned to dynamically redirect radio waves image intellectual ventures spectrum.ieee.org from their atomic composition metamaterials gain theirs from fine deliberately designed internal structures which although larger than atoms are smaller than the wavelengths of light they manipulate using metasurfaces for antennas is very similar to the concept used in cloaking says ieee fellow stefano maci a professor of electromagnetics at the university of siena in italy who is working on a separate but similar metamaterials-based antenna for the european space agency the subwavelength features of metamaterials produce electromagnetic properties that bend optical and radio waves in ways once thought to be impossible allowing cloaking devices to refract light around an object or antennas to steer beams metamaterials-based antennas are already found in some cellphones and wireless routers which use their small size and range-boosting ability to great effect these antennas are also cheap metamaterial elements can be easily printed using standard lithographic techniques in an antenna a radio wave propagates along a low-loss circuit board material that s printed with hundreds or thousands of individual metamaterial elements each of those elements can be tuned to resonate at a specific frequency and to redirect radiation as the surface wave passes beneath the elements waves of radiation emit from the surface at different angles depending on how each element is tuned interference between those waves of radiation produces a beam in the direction and shape desired today the real problem isn t constructing those antennas instead the most difficult news brief illuminating epidemics researchers led by a princeton university scientist say they ve found a way to track flare-ups of epidemics by measuring the change in nighttime lighting as seen by satellite they observed that measles outbreaks were coincident with an increase in the lighted area around niger s three largest cities agricultural workers gather at the cities during the dry season leading to overcrowding and promoting the spread of disease the data can also be used to predict malaria and meningitis say the researchers i s nasa/gsfc january 2012 · ieee spectrum · na 13 previous page contents zoom in zoom out front cover search issue next page m mq q qmags mqmqmq the world s newsstand®

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