Recent Headlines:

Defense:

Air Force Slowly Reacting to Reusable Rockets, Cheap Launch – Satellite Today

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a program with a goal of launching 10 times in 10 days to demonstrate aircraft-like operability, cost efficiency and reliability.

F-35As Grounded Due to Faulty Insulation Back in Flight – Inside Defense

The Air Force announced Friday it has completed repairs on 13 F-35As that were under flight restrictions due to faulty insulation in some avionics coolant tubes.

Navy Satellite Claws its Way to Usable Orbit After Main Engine Failure – Spaceflight Now

After four months of drama in space caused by a crippling failure of its main engine, a U.S. Navy’s mobile communications satellite has successfully rescued itself and achieved a usable orbit.

Updated: USS Zumwalt Sidelined in Panama Following New Engineering Casualty – USNI News

USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) is pier side following an engineering casualty the ship suffered transiting the Panama Canal, U.S. Navy officials told USNI News on Monday.

Raytheon to Upgrade Taiwan Missile-defense Surveillance Radar to Mitigate Obsolescence Issues – Military & Aerospace

Missile defense experts at the Raytheon Co. will upgrade a long-range surveillance radar system in Taiwan, which has been in operation since early 2013 to help warn the island country of attacks from neighboring mainland China.

Energy:

U.S. Power Utilities Achieve Improved Reliability Performance for Four Consecutive Years – PA Consulting

PA Consulting Group (PA), announced that the reliability performance of the nation’s power utilities improved for the fourth consecutive year.

Critical Infrastructure Reliability Standards for Electric Utilities – Utilities Technology Council

NERC is charged by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) to draft and enforce reliability standards intended to protect cyber assets of the U.S. Bulk Electric System (BES).

How Much Wind Energy can be Generated in Your Area? Check EMHIRES – PHYS

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) has produced a dataset of wind energy production (EMHIRES) at national, regional and local level across the EU, by the hour for the last 30 years, based on existing wind farms.

A New Source of Clean, Renewable and Reliable Electricity Comes to Alberta – CEO CA

Alberta–based Terrapin Geothermics announces a new innovative technology to generate clean, renewable and reliable power for Alberta.

GE Enhances Digital Power Plant Software and Extends Reliability and Efficiency Apps to Hydropower and the Electricity Grid – GE Newsroom

GE today announced a significant expansion of its suite of Predix*-based software for power producers, grid operators and energy managers.

Rolling Stock:

Wayside Detection of Faults in Railway Axle Bearings Using Time Spectral Kurtosis Analysis on High-frequency Acoustic Emission Signals – SAGE Journals

From the results obtained, it is evident that time spectral kurtosis is capable of distinguishing the axle bearing defects from the random noises produced by different sources such as the wheel–rail interaction, braking and changes in train speed.

Space/Aviation:

The Path to Reliable, Efficient UAS Flight Ops – Skyward

The primary goal of a national regulator such as the FAA (United States), CAA (United Kingdom), or CASA (Australia) is to ensure safety in a way that encourages and enables the legitimate use of airspace. The goal of any business or agency that uses UAS is to provide value to customers or colleagues at a cost that allows a business to make or save money and an agency to operate within budget allowances.

Medical/Health:

Assuring Component Reliability in Medical Electronic Devices – Medical Device Network

While reliability is critical for electronic medical devices, its just as crucial for the components comprising those devices.

Industrial:

High-performance Simmerrings Seals Increase Industrial Gearbox Reliability – Motion Control Tips

According to a comprehensive analysis by WITTENSTEIN, a specialist in mechatronics and drive technology, high-performance Simmerrings seals from Freudenberg Sealing Technologies make a considerable contribution to the reliability of industrial gearboxes.

AspenTech Brings a New Dimension to Asset Optimization and Reliability – Industrial IOT

Last week a significant acquisition in the industrial software markets took place for process manufacturers Oil and Gas and Chemicals producers.

Electronics:

Rugged Switch Ensures Reliability for UGV Onboard Network – Army Technology

All modern, unmanned systems depend on an IP-based network as the backbone for communications between sensors, computers, payloads, radios, and sometimes even the drive-by-wire system.

Bridging the CubeSat Reliability-cost Gap with Rad-hard Anchor Electronics Devices – Intelligent Aerospace

CubeSats are being deployed in increasing numbers from academia, government agencies, and commercial enterprises. Evidence suggests that the success rate is related to the development budget of the project and one of the biggest discussion points among CubeSat developers is how to continue to improve reliability but maintain the project budget at a reasonable level.

How to Improve PCB Reliability – IConnect 007

One of the more referenced reliability studies for the industry was conducted by Telcordia Technologies, titled, “Reliability, Prediction Procedure for Electronic Equipment (SR-332).” Like most other electronics reliability studies, it excludes the PCB.

Integrated Accelerometer and Gyroscope Aims to Improve Reliability and Accuracy of Automotive Safety Systems – Electronics 360

Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) has introduced the ADXC150x series of inertial combo sensors, integrating up to four degrees of freedom in a single device and allowing system designers to reduce the size of the electronic control unit (ECU) required in today’s automotive safety systems.

Software:

Picatinny Engineers Ensure Software Reliability for Precision Airdrop System – U.S. Army

Engineers at Picatinny Arsenal are applying their expertise in software reliability to an advanced precision airdrop system designed to deliver vital supplies to the warfighter on time and in challenging terrain with minimum damage to cargo.

Software Reliability Testing Tools: An Overview and Comparison – International Journal of Engineering and Computer Science

In this paper we will summarize some existing software reliability tools such as CASRE, SMERFS, SOFTREL, SOREL etc. Overall the paper will provide various ways to enhance software reliability.

A Statistical Testing Approach for Quantifying Software Reliability: Application to an Example System – Brookhaven National Laboratory

In this paper, we describe a statistical softwaretesting approach for quantifying software reliability and applied it to the loop-operating control system (LOCS) of an experimental loop of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

Human Factors:

Human Factors in Vechicle Automation – Adaptive

Activities in the European project Adaptive.

Sensors:

Optical Oxygen Measurement Improves Ease of Use and Reliability – IPP&T

Optical measurement technology has significant advantages over amperometric technology. This white paper explains what these advantages are and why optical measurements are replacing amperometric systems.