Tiny Sensor Listens For Shots and Identifies What Gun Shot Them (and Where) [Military]

This is the gear that gets our troops excited. Microflown Technologies' tiny sensor listens for the sounds of war by measuring particles in the air. Then it reports what weapon made the sound and where that sound originated.

The sensor uses a technology, developed by Microflown, called acoustic vector sensing. AVS heats two 200-nanometer wide platinum strips to 200 degrees Celsius and measures how passing air particles cool them down. From those cooling patterns, Microflown's proprietary software can determine not only what the sound is but also where it came from.



There are other technologies that can do the same type of thing, but they all have their own unique disadvantages: radar-based solutions are traceable; others require the deployment of large apparatuses, and some need multiple sensors to triangulate sounds.

Microflown's matchstick almost seems too good to be true, but several nations' armies—including the Netherlands, Germany, India, Poland, and Australia—are currently testing out the tech and seeing what they hear.

[Gizmodo via DVICE]

DARPA's Iron Curtain Detects, Explodes RPGs From a Moving Humvee [Military]

DARPA's created what it's calling the Iron Curtain, which is a system that mounts on top of a Humvee and takes out any rockets shot in its direction. It's pretty nuts.
They've been working on these Active Protection Systems for a while now, but this is the first that works on a moving vehicle. It uses radar, optical sensors and some other secret elements to detect projectiles. It then destroys them right before impact, creating an explosion but one that is much less harmful to the vehicle.
But don't take my word for it, check out the bananas video of it in action above.
[Gizmodo via Iron Curtain via Danger Room via BotJunkie]

Sinister Sabre Warrior Drone Will Kill Us All One Day [Airplanes]

This is Lockheed Martin's Sabre Warrior, a next-generation plane that looks like something Batman and Darth Vader would fight over for. Instead, some good-turned-evil computer will get a fleet, as part of a plan to destroy us all. It's impressive.
The Sabre Warrior drone is 46 feet long, with a 36-foot wingspan, capable of taking off with 30,000 pounds of load using a 22,000-pound trust afterburning turbofan engine. It has two modular payload sections, which can be changed by soldiers in the field. Each bay can handle one 2,000 pound or two AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles or 10 smart bombs or sensors, or even fuel for extended range missions—even while this thing is air refuelable.
Its twin nose can also hold multiple sensors, which are interchangeable. And it is designed so there could be a version with a cockpit, so they can send man version as an on-the-scene controller, overlooking over the unmanned versions.
Ah Lockheed Martin's SkunkWorks, always working on making all our nightmares real, you nutty engineers who don't watch apocalyptical movies you. OK people, we may as well burn the office and run to the hills now.
[Gizmodo via Defense Tech]