News Blog

What do you do when some of the biggest names in consumer electronics might be in violation of your patents?

Why, try to take away their right to sell their products in the U.S., of course.

Blu-ray players like this one from Samsung uses technology a former Columbia professor claims she patented.

(Credit: Samsung)

Columbia University Professor Emeritus Gertrude Neumark Rothschild says 30 companies are infringing on her patent for laser and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In response, she wants the U.S. government to ban those companies' imports to the U.S. that are in violation. A lot of companies use LEDs and laser diodes for a variety of reasons--Sony uses blue laser diodes in its Blu-ray players, for example, and LEDs are used as light sources in TV and notebook computer screens.

But the list of 30 companies includes many of the giants of the industry: Sony, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Toshiba, Panasonic, Motorola, Nokia, Pioneer, and Samsung.

Sounds like a bit of an uphill climb, right? (Something she probably knows a bit about--Rothschild was the first woman to be named a chair of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science department at Columbia) Well, the U.S. International Trade Commission gave Rothschild a boost when it recently agreed to investigate all 30 companies over her claim.

She also has a history of standing up to the man: Rothschild sued two companies in 2005 over similar semiconductor patents and settled with them out of court.

Regardless of whether you think the airlines, the airport management companies, and the federal government are doing enough to protect passengers against on-board terrorist threats, there are still threats to a commercial airliner from the outside.

The Jeteye system would sit on the belly of the plane.

(Credit: BAE Systems)

The planes are still vulnerable to, among other things, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, a danger that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is looking to alleviate. Late last week, defense and aerospace contractor BAE Systems said it had won a $29 million contract from the DHS to test a sensors-and-lasers system for air defense against missiles.

The multinational company plans to install its Jeteye aircraft missile defense systems on as many as three American Airlines planes to evaluate its compatibility with daily passenger airline operations. Jeteye uses sensors to pick up and track heat-seeking missiles heading toward the aircraft, and then fires a laser to disrupt a missile's infrared capabilities. BAE says the technology, already in use on military aircraft, is safe, easy to use, and compliant with FAA regulations.

If you've booked travel on American for later this year, don't worry that you'll be in harm's way from errant test missiles; the system won't be tried out on flights carrying passengers, according to an Associated Press story. The airline agreed to the tests--which could involve 1,000-plus flights involving Boeing 767-200 planes, a model typically used on flights between New York and Los Angeles or San Francisco--to get an understanding of the technology but actually opposes the use of antimissile systems on commercial planes, the AP reported.

According to the U.S. State Department, at least 40 civilian aircraft have been hit by shoulder-fired missiles, also known as MANPADS, in the last 30 or so years.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, is working on airplane-based laser weapons designed, someday, to hit either much larger ballistic missiles or, separately, ground targets.

Brother HL-2040 laser printer

(Credit: Brother)

Sometimes good deals come by way of the morning paper. To wit: Wednesday's Staples insert lists the Brother HL-2040 laser printer for $69.99.

That's pretty good, but I wondered if any e-tailer could do better. Sure enough, Newegg.com has the same model for $64.99 shipped, and you don't have to pay that pesky sales tax. (Note: Actually, many states do require you to pay sales tax for Internet purchases, but few people know this and fewer still comply.)

The HL-2040 looks like a fine choice for homes and small businesses, as it can churn out about 16 pages per minute. That's according to CNET's review, which gave the printer a respectable 7.1 out of 10 rating. I wish it had network capabilities, but I can forgive that given the $65 price tag. (Plan on an extra $5 or so for a USB cable, not included.) Even if you already own an inkjet or multifunction printer, you'll love having a laser on hand for fast, cheap, razor-sharp document printing.

The Advanced Tactical Laser aircraft flies over Albuquerque, N.M.

(Credit: Ed Turner, Boeing)

The first ray guns to be used in combat may well be aerial weapons, and not phaserlike side arms in the hands of foot soldiers.

Certainly Boeing is working in that direction. For several years it's been providing regular updates on the (notably slow) progress of its marquee directed-energy effort, the Airborne Laser, to be carried aloft by a heavily modified 747 that's intended to stop ballistic missiles during their launch phase. Now the defense contractor is touting the steps it's taking with a smaller counterpart designed to strike ground targets, the Advanced Tactical Laser.

As of this month, the high-energy chemical laser that is the actual weapons portion of the ATL is now installed in a C-130H airplane, a well-proven design taking on yet another new mission. The 12,000-plus-pound chemical laser system is taking up residence alongside a separate beam control system, installed at an earlier date, that functions as the tracking and targeting apparatus.

This would hardly be the first time that the C-130, primarily a cargo and troop transport aircraft, has functioned as a gunship. The well-armed AC-130 variant saw much action in Vietnam, and has also flown in subsequent conflicts.

An earlier incarnation of the ball turret, in restored B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft flying in 2002.

(Credit: SSGT William Greer, USAF )

The business end of the ATL will be a rotating turret in the belly of the fuselage--reminiscent of the one-squished-man ball turret of the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator planes used in World War II, hauntingly depicted by poet Randall Jarrell in his "Death of the Ball-Turret Gunner." By contrast, the 747-borne Airborne Laser will fire through the nose of the aircraft.

Sometime in 2008, the ATL is expected to demonstrate its prowess in flight, directing the high-energy laser at what Boeing calls "mission-representative ground targets." In tests at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., earlier this year, a surrogate low-power laser hit targets on more than a dozen occasions, and laboratory testing of the high-energy laser wrapped up after more than 50 firings, according to Boeing.

Aerial tests of the bigger, ballistic-missile-minded Airborne Laser are scheduled for 2009.

Boeing doesn't just have its head in the clouds when it comes to directed-energy weapons. It's also working on a more down-to-Earth Humvee-mounted laser shooter.

(Credit: U.S. Army Research Laboratory )

A simple and inexpensive analytical technique has made it possible to detect explosives from up to 60 feet away, a desirable commodity in an age of IEDs and suicide bombers and one that may become commercially available in the near future.

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Maryland has developed a system that detects explosive residues, using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to identify the elemental composition of molecules. Refinement and standardization of this technique would fill a growing security and military need, researchers say.

"Currently there are no proven technologies that can accomplish residue explosives detection at a distance in a real-world scenario," said Jennifer Gottfried, who led the Army research team. And though the technology still needs to be "verified and validated in real-world applications," she is optimistic they will come up with a usable device. "We expect that this technology will be available commercially very soon."

Maybe sooner than expected. There's a race on from other labs to perfect the process.

(Credit: Popular Mechanics)

Boeing has rolled out the marketing for its laser-equipped Humvee by zapping five IED-like targets on a test range at Alabama's Redstone Arsenal (PDF) in what it called "the company's ability to rapidly respond to warfighters' needs."

Dubbed the "Laser Avenger," the unit consists of a 1-kilowatt solid-state laser mounted on an air-defense Humvee. It works by "shooting an invisible beam just a few centimeters in diameter and 20 times hotter than an electric stovetop" into the offending munition until it combusts internally. It then just "pops" or "fizzles" in a low-level detonation.

"Boeing's investment strategy is to move some of its new directed energy weapon systems into field demonstrations, and Laser Avenger is the first one we're rolling out," Boeing's Gary Fitzmire said in a press release.

This application is hardly new. Ten years ago an ordnance disposal unit at Nellis Air Force Base was using an APC-mounted 2KW YAG laser to nix hundreds of unexploded cluster bombs on its bombing range.

In 2003, the U.S. Army deployed a ZEUS-HLONS (HMMWV Laser Ordnance Neutralization System) to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where it popped more than 200 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in six months. It even set a record by "negating" more than 50 UXOs in less than two hours.

While this and other laser units allow EOD teams to stand off at a safe distance and dispose of an IED, they still need to find it. And when it comes to that, the Avenger is just another target on the road.

The company hedged its bets by cutting up some UAVs during the demonstration in a nod to the anti-aircraft market. But as you see by the video, it's not breaking any ground there either.

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.--So you've finally got your mitts on that 42-inch LCD TV you've been lusting after since last Christmas. Congratulations. The major television manufacturers would like to thank you for your business by finding ways to make your shiny new display look old and out of date very quickly.

SyntaxBrillian is making a 1080p LCD TV for mainstream consumers with the introduction of the Olevia 2 Series. Shown here at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference is the 52-inch version, which will retail for $2,999.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET Networks)

It's nothing personal, of course. But such is the nature of a commoditized and maturing industry like high-definition televisions. There are more than 70 TV brands on retail shelves competing for your dollars and eyeballs, and the only way to differentiate themselves is to keep tweaking the technology.

Lucky for consumers, this drive for innovation not only means better picture quality, thinner displays and lower power consumption, but potentially lower prices too.

OLED (organic light-emitting diodes) TVs are coming very soon. Sony made it official October 1 that its first OLED TV, measuring a mere 3 millimeters thick, will be available in Japan for approximately $1,739. The problem is that's the price for the 11-inch display, the only size available at first. The high price comes from the poor yields of OLED panels, according to Ross Young, president of DisplaySearch.

"With significant improvement in yields, they could get to the $1,000 price point next Christmas," he told attendees here at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference. Because of Sony's leadership, Samsung, LG.Phillips and Toshiba are sure to follow using OLED technology in their televisions. But the market for these new sets won't actually experience real growth until 2009, and by 2011, the largest screen sizes will be hovering close to 32 inches at a price of $1,200, Young added. In contrast, LCDs should be below $500 by then.

Though it lacks a fun acronym like seemingly every other display technology, plasma technology is also making vast improvements. So much is made of high-def LCD sets that it may come as a surprise to some that plasma isn't a dead technology yet.

A plasma set from Panasonic, the world's largest supplier of plasma TVs, showcased at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News.com)

The best resolution available, 1080p, is moving to smaller sizes of plasma sets. The main area of interest in bettering the technology is in luminous efficiency, which is a fancy way of measuring of how much of the light your eye can see that the TV puts out. Right now, plasma sets are at about 2.5 lumens per watt. Eventually the goal is 10 lumens per watt, but 5 lumens is far more likely in the near future.

The benefit of a higher luminous efficiency is that there will be fewer components necessary to build plasma sets, which in turn reduces costs, Young said. It can also reduce power consumption by up to 50 percent and reduce the heat coming off the TV. "Plasma has done a great job cutting costs," and will continue to do so over the next five years, he said.

Another hope for creating better brightness while reducing costs is the use of LED (light-emitting diodes) as light sources. Both Dolby and Texas Instruments are working on the technology to replace the main lamp in HD televisions. LEDs can improve picture contrast because the lights can be individually "dimmed," unlike the single lamp in a standard LCD TV. Darkening individual pixels helps eliminate color bleed and motion blur.

Dolby has several LED-related patents in the area of local dimming technology and high dynamic range. Pictured here is a demo display unit utilizing Dolby Vision (which allows for increased brightness) and Dolby Contrast, featured at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News.com)

Thus far, the challenge of LED TVs has been the brightness factor, said Adam Kunzman, HDTV manager for Texas Instruments.

"We're just now getting to...a bright enough picture. (Brightness in LED TVs) will essentially double next year," said Kunzman. He says right now 15 percent of all TVs sold using TI's DLP (digital light processing) technology use LED as a light source.

Dolby is focusing on using LEDs to create very high contrast ratios, using patented technology called Dolby Contrast. It is a dimming technology that can create very dark blacks and pure whites by turning down individual pixels as needed. As Bharath Rajagopalan, business line director for Dolby put it, "It's not just about black and white, it's about shades of gray," which standard LCD TVs struggle with.

The use of lasers in rear-projection TVs has been anticipated since Mitsubishi first announced its intention to release a laser-based TV last year. (Though some might not be eager to stare at a device projecting a laser beam, it's not as dangerous as it sounds.)

Mitsubishi's first product likely won't debut until early next year. In the meantime, TI is also working on laser-based TV technology. The benefits will be better color (it shows 171 percent of possible colors that the human eye can detect, according to TI's Kunzman), wider viewing angles and is capable of working with TI's 3D technology for televisions.

This is how the Pentagon envisions the Airborne Laser in action.

(Credit: U.S. Missile Defense Agency)

The Airborne Laser has taken another step forward in its long slog off the drawing board and into the Pentagon's arsenal.

The first-of-its-kind 747-400F this month completed a series of low-power test flights, using onboard infrared sensors to locate "an instrumented target board" on an Air Force NC-135E aircraft. Once the Airborne Laser(ABL) found the target, two solid-state illuminator lasers tracked the target and assessed atmospheric conditions--the later function being key to plotting a path to the target for the weapons laser. Since the high-energy COIL (chemical oxygen iodine laser) weapons system has yet to be installed, a low-power surrogate laser fired at the NC-135E.

The accomplishment, lead contractor Boeing said Friday, is proof positive that the ABL's battle management and beam control/fire control systems can support the plane's ultimate mission: intercepting a ballistic missile and destroying it in flight.

If all goes according to plan, and that's a big if, the ABL with a fully installed and tested high-energy laser will go up against a soaring ballistic missile in a test in 2009.

Many of the ifs are technical, but there are political considerations as well. The ABL program has been an expensive undertaking over the years, dating back to the mid-1990s. According to a report issued this summer by the Congressional Research Service, about $4.3 billion has been spent on the program so far (with $630 million allocated in the current fiscal year), but both the House and the Senate seem set to give the Bush Administration substantially less than it's asking for the upcoming fiscal year.

In time, the government is looking to field as many as seven ABL aircraft.

For the Airborne Laser, Boeing is working with fellow defense contractor Northrop Grumman, which is building the high-energy laser. But when it comes to truck-mounted laser weapons, the two companies are competing.

(Credit: Northrop Grumman )

The chances of your flight being hit by a shoulder-fired, laser-guided missile are good enough that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has spent more than $100 million looking into ways to prevent it.

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman just completed 6,000 hours of in-flight testing on its Guardian directed infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) system, all part of the DHS initiative to adapt existing military technology to protect commercial aircraft from attack by surface-to-air-missiles (SAM) similar to the U.S.-made Stinger.

The DIRCM system works by first detecting the attack, then directing an invisible, eye-safe laser to the homing/seeker device of the incoming missile, disrupting its guidance signals, which ultimately protects the aircraft, according to Northrop Grumman (video here).

Much of the testing has been conducted on FedEx MD-10 and MD-11 cargo jets, using a ground-based electronic missile surrogate to simulate the launch of a SAM at an aircraft during takeoff or landing. The Guardian performed as advertised by automatically detecting the simulated launch and mock missile, according to the company.

More than 40 commercial aircraft have been attacked by Man Portable Air Defense Systems (Manpads) since the 1970s, resulting in the loss of about 400 lives, according to the U.S. State Department.

In a report to Congress, DHS estimated the per-flight cost to be $65 more than it wants to spend, which is $300. That comes to about 70 cents per passenger on cross country flights.The unit itself cost around $1 million, but that's wholesale--orders of 1,000 or more please.

The industry has yet to get on board however. As one airline executive put it in an interview with Aviation Week, "Is this a prudent use of resources?" A plane could just as well be shot down by an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) or a .50-caliber machine gun. "Shouldn't we be doing more to go after the archer rather than trying to catch the arrows?" Then again, this is an industry allegedly too cheap to give its passengers fresh air.