The Blade That Would Make Helicopters Almost Silent [Helicopters]

Helicopters make a lot of noise because of a physical phenomenon called blade-vortex interaction. Eurocopter engineers have developed a new kind of rotor blade that attenuates this problem. It's called Blue Edge, and—as you can hear—it works beautifully:

The new blade shape is combined with another technology called Blue Pulse, which adds three flaps to the edge of the rotor blades. These flaps move up and down at 15 to 40 times per second, using piezoelectric motors that also help to reduce the blade-vortex interaction.
[Gizmodo via Autopia]

NASA developing an airbag for helicopters — for the entire 'copter [NASA]

NASA's "deployable energy absorber" may appear to be a couple of oversized sponges attached to the bottom of a helicopter, but you could be looking at a safety system that helps occupants survive a helicopter crash — or even any kind of air-to-ground impact.
It's a bit like an airbag for helicopters, one that NASA aerospace engineer Karen Jackson, one of the driving minds behind the project, said of the technology that she'd 'like to think the research we're doing is going to end up in airframes and will potentially save lives.'

Right now, though, things are still very early. The test you see in the video above is of a helicopter falling rather gently from a height of 35 feet. Even still, the dummies inside didn't look so stressed out after it. Wait — do crash dummies ever show signs of stress?

[DVICE via CNET]

Super-accurate ultra-micro copter is almost like the real thing

The minute we gazed upon this $180 E-flite Blade mSR RTF Electric Mini Helicopter, we wanted one. It's about the same size as those nearly-impossible-to-steer styrofoam model choppers, but its accurate controls set it a world apart. It weighs less than an ounce, and its 4-channel 5-in-1 control unit gives you the ultimate micro-flying experience.

There's nothing to assemble on the Blade mSR RTF (the RTF means ready to fly), and E-flite includes two batteries so you can fly twice as long. The company touts the micro-copter's unique rotor head design, providing 'the perfect balance between the speed and agility of a single rotor heli and the reassuring stability of coaxial rotor heli.'

It's hard to believe how sophisticated these little helicopters have gotten. With a little practice, you could probably fly it upside down. Just thank your lucky stars you're not a miniature human being sitting inside.
[DVICE]

Codenamed Yellow Jacket, This Unmanned Helicopter Sniffs Out Roadside Bombs [Drones]

Roadside bombs are a source of fear for both soldiers as well as their worried families at home. Thankfully the Pentagon is working on projects such as Yellow Jacket, unmanned helicopters which detect electromagnetic emissions from potential IEDs, Improvised Explosive Devices.



As many IEDs are set off using a wireless signal, these drones will be able to survey areas for the electromagnetic emissions associated with receivers and provide an early warning to soldiers. No matter how silly the codename, this is one important project and I hope that it gets put into use as soon as possible.
[Gizmodo via Aviation Week via Pop Sci]

MIT’s Autonomous Helicopter: What if Big Dog Could Fly? [Robots]

The latest Micro Air Vehicle from MIT does an incredible job of balancing itself in-air. Not to mention that the helicopter models it's surroundings so well it could probably fly over to the fridge and make you a sandwich.
By using lasers and 3D cameras, the team built a vision engine that can very accurately define the helicopter's surrounding environment. That's only part of the trick to getting it to fly so well, the other half is some pretty sweet flight path correction. Think of it like a flying Big Dog. Check out what happens when the guy pokes it with a stick.
Hopefully no one sticks a spinning blade on this thing. Wouldn't want that flying through my window at night. [Gizmodo via MIT Tech TV via Engadget]