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In a recent poll commissioned by Rockwell, sponsors of opinion polls on the US civilian space programme for the last 16 years, an increasing percentage of Americans was shown to support the US space station.

At present, more than 100 million undetonated landmines left over from wars remain buried worldwide. These mines kill or injure approximately 3,000 individuals each year (80 persons per day), most of them civilians. They represent a particularly acute problem in developing countries and nations already economically hard hit by war. The problem of unexploded mines has become a serious international issue, with many people striving to find a solution. The purpose of this paper is to examine the requirements of the robotic systems for humanitarian demining purposes. It will discuss a hexapod walking robot developed at the Royal Military Academy of Brussels in collaboration with the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, in the framework of the Humanitarian Demining Project (HUDEM).

Considerations for the design of the walking robot according to the humanitarian demining requirements are discussed in detail.

A successful walking robot design for demining purposes must consider functional requirements relevant to this difficult application. The principal requirements are mentioned in this paper.

This paper is the result of the research of the HUDEM project team and it is of value to engineers and researchers developing robotic systems for humanitarian demining purposes.

A full size model of a Lynx helicopter's cockpit and rear fuselage fitted with a variety of advanced navigation and defence electronics equipment will be the central feature of the Racal Electronics exhibit at the Farnborough Air Show, 5–12 September, 1982 (Stands NN29 and R13).

In acknowledgment of the demands of studying state secrecy, this chapter asks how novel possibilities for knowing can be fashioned. It does so in relation to the place of secrecy within international diplomatic and security negotiations associated with humanitarian disarmament. A conversational account is given regarding how “cluster bombs” become subject to a major international ban in 2008. Tensions, uncertainties, and contradictions associated with knowing and conveying matters that cannot be wholly known or conveyed are worked through. With these moves, a form of writing is sought that sensitizes readers to how absences figure within debates about social problems and the study of those debates, as well as how ignorance born out of secrecy helps secure an understanding of the world. Uncertainties, no-go areas, and blind spots are looked to as analytical and practical resources.

£4.5M. Rediffusion Flight Simulator for Helikopter Service Rediffusion Simulation is to supply an Aerospatial AS 332L Super Puma flight simulator to Helikopter Service A/S of Oslo under the terms of a £4.5 million export deal announced today at the Farnborough Air Show. The simulator will be used to train pilots operating the new helicopter in the hazardous environment of the North Sea oilfields.

Common Aero Vehicles (CAVs) are relatively small‐size, un‐powered, self‐maneuvering vehicles equipped with a variety of weapons and launched from space. One of the major obstacles hampering a full the realization of the CAV concept is a present lack of lightweight, high‐temperature insulation materials which can be used for construction of the CAV’s thermal protection system (TPS). A computational analysis is utilized in the present work to examine the suitability of a carbon‐based, coal‐derived foam for the TPS applications in the CAVs. Toward that end, a model is developed for the high‐temperature effective thermal conductivity of foam‐like materials. In addition, an insulation sizing procedure is devised to determine the minimum insulation thickness needed for thermal protection of the vehicle structure at different sections of a CAV. It is found that the carbon‐based foam material in question can be considered as a suitable TPS insulation material at the leeward side and at selected portions of the windward side of a CAV (specifically the portions which are further away from the vehicle nose).

The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach for finding a minimum-length trajectory for an autonomous unmanned air vehicle or a long-range missile from a release point with specified release conditions to a destination with specified approach conditions. The trajectory has to avoid obstacles and no-fly zones and must take into account the kinematic constraints of the air vehicle.

A discrete routing model is proposed that represents the airspace by a sophisticated network. The problem is then solved by applying standard shortest-path algorithms.

In contrast to the most widely used grids, the generated networks allow arbitrary flight directions and turn angles, as well as maneuvers of different strengths, thus fully exploiting the flight capabilities of the aircraft. Moreover, the networks are resolution-independent and provide high flexibility by the option to adapt density.

As an application, a concept for in-flight replanning of flight paths to changing destinations is proposed. All computationally intensive tasks are performed in a pre-flight planning prior to the launch of the mission. The in-flight planning is based entirely on precalculated data, which are stored in the onboard computer of the air vehicle. In particular, no path finding algorithms with high or unpredictable running time and uncertain outcome have to be applied during flight.

The paper presents a new network-based algorithm for flight path optimization that overcomes weaknesses of grid-based approaches and allows high-quality solutions. The method can be applied for quick in-flight replanning of flight paths.

To present a new special explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) robot designed to operate onboard airplanes.

The design approach adopted is multidisciplinary: mechanical and control architectures are conceived simultaneously. Modularity and lifecycle are considered. Motion and EOD tasks are controlled in tele‐operation.

A new EOD robot was designed in detail and it is ready to be built. A dynamic simulator has been written and set‐up, including a virtual reality module. The simulator is used to define the control logics. Simulation results are satisfactory. The simulator can be used as a training platform for the bomb squads.

The intent to keep the cost of the robot low conditioned the selection of the materials. Only aluminium and standard composites (like carbon fibers composites) have been used. A higher degree of freedom of the arm could increase the usability of the system; to limit the cost, the degree of freedom was limited to seven. A decision support system based on an expert system interfaced with the simulator could improve the performance of the system.

A new EOD robot will be built and commercialised soon by the industrial partner Ansaldo Ricerche.

The EOD robots available for use inside aircrafts are discussed. A new system named AirEOD is presented, including mobile platform, dexterous arm and all related design and control issues.