Airborne radar: its beginnings in World War II

Although not realized at the time, the defeat of the German Air Force in the summer of 1940 was one of the crucial battles of World War II. The narrow margin of victory can be ascribed to Britain's air-warning radar, Chain Home (CH), consisting of the 15-meter CH and the 1.5-meter CHL. The skillful use of this equipment by the Royal Air Force made daylight bombing unsustainable; the Luftwaffe then turned to night attacks, generally called "The Blitz." These were not effective in destroying military and industrial targets and depended on the hope of reducing the population's will to fight. Chain Home was of little use except to observe the attackers arrival, as it had almost no ability to follow the attackers as they proceeded inland. This eventuality was reckoned with before the outbreak of hostilities and had called for radars mounted in night fighters capable of guiding the pilot close enough to the target for him to open fire visually. The electronic techniques used at 1.5-meters were adapted to planes capable of carrying the radar and its operator. But there were three important design constraints: 1) the antennas had to be restricted to sizes that were practical for installation on aircraft, which for meter waves gave them low gain and large side lobes; 2) the set's maximum range was limited by the fighter's altitude as a result of the huge ground returns from the side lobes. British antiaircraft artillery, the stepchild of their arms, was too ineffective to drive the bombers to extreme altitudes; and 3) a minimum range had to be held until the flier could see his target, which strained the pulse techniques of the time.     

The start of the laboratory: the beginnings of the MITInstrumentation Laboratory

The author takes a look at the very early days of the MIT Instruments Laboratory and its successor, the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. The discussion ranges over some of the incidents and events as these early instrument developers groped with problems that others had already failed to solve, and for which current solutions were declared adequate     

新消法 新权益 新责任——民航“3·15”专题座谈会侧记

<正>3月14日,在新版《消费者权益保护法》(简称"新消法")即将正式实施之际,中国民用航空局运输司、华北地区管理局和中国民航消费者事务中心在北京首都国际机场组织了"新消法、新权益、新责任"的专题座谈会。中国残疾人联合会、中国消费者协会、中国质量协会等单位领导,以及国航、东航、南航、海航、首都机场股份公司、中航信、中航协、机场协会等单位负责人以及部分消费者代表出席座谈会。消费者事务中心主任刘玉梅主持了座谈会并向参会代表介     

复合材料补片的胶接修理决策

简要地介绍了复合材料补片胶接修理过程中的所涉及到的可修性、修理方案、修理效率和耐久性寿命等问题,可为损伤金属飞机结构的胶接修理提供评定依据。     

标准程序与情景意识下的决策

标准程序是飞行安全的立足根本,但是在特殊的情况下,情景意识下的决策是保证飞行安全的关键,只遵守标准程序是不够的,要有特殊的判断,做出最恰当的决策。     

Image processing, a new diagnostic tool

The San Antonio Air Logistics Center (SA-ALC) Automatic Test Systems Division's Advanced Diagnostics and Technology Insertion Center (ADTIC) is exploring the addition of a non-intrusive diagnostics capability to existing Automatic Test Systems (ATS) utilizing various sensor technologies. The diagnostic techniques under development are expected to allow for more efficient fault detection and isolation than traditional ATS. This paper summarizes findings to date and discusses the integration of these technologies should they prove viable     

Adept, adapt, adopt: three hurdles for new products

New commercial products based on military technology face a series of hurdles as they progress from customer needs to final product. This article looks at three significant hurdles. How can the company become adept at the technology involved? Can they adapt the technology to market needs? Will the company adopt the new technology into it's culture? From the examples given, we see a need for adding a new product function between research, marketing, and manufacturing     

In space, CDs play a new tune

The development of a prototype instrument for biological tests aboard the International Space Station is reviewed. The instrument will employ specially formatted glass and plastic compact disks to conduct tests on biological samples. Special dyes will indicate the presence of proteins, DNA, and other chemicals. One benefit will be the ability to increase the number of trials in an experiment, lending greater validity to the results.     

做好新机型备件保障 探讨科学订货新思路──记波音777-300ER新机型引进航材首批订货决策方案的制定

如何做出合理的、科学的、完善的首批订货计划,为新飞机引进后的运营提供强有力的保障,是每个航材部门、每个计划人员正在或将要面临的一个主要课题。航材部门应该在目前的市场环境下及时抓住机遇、充分利用自身资源,在实践中不断探索、不断总结。做好首批订货计划,在提高航空公司现有的市场竞争力的同时也为航空公司未来的发展增加竞争优势。     

PBN——民航发展新钥匙

一、不能盈利的民航不是强大的民航,PBN所能带来的强大的盈利能力将使其成为未来民航的标准在一个事物的长期发展和不断壮大的过程中,通常总是会有一些具有重要推动力的标志性技术进步,民航也不例外。例如,DC-3的出现和应用才开启了现代意义上的民航运输,因为它是第