Endoacustica Europe's Blog

Lately, producers of data storage supports seem to be busy in a constant race towards the highest possible level of security for their USB drive products.
In all this, consumers are indeed reaping the benefit of this constant improvement, especially if they need to make sure that their data is travelling in the safest possible way.

Under the security point of view, the new Kanguru Defender Elite USB drive seems to be pushing forward the limits in this particular field, as it is compatible with the extremely high standards set by the US Department of Defense, and even exceeds them in some aspects.

Furthermore, it has been awarded with the FIPS 140-2 certification, thanks to its 256-bit AES-type hardware encryption, compatible with hi security standards such as HIPAA and Sarbanes Oxley. The FIPS 140-2 certification, assigned by the National Institute of Standards and Certification, is the minimum requisite to apply for tenders to become suppliers of the US Government institutions.

In fact, recently the Department of Defense had banned its employees from using USB drives for data transfers, as deemed not completely secure; this ban has been partially lifted for some products, including Defender Elite.

Among its several features and functions, we can list the limited number of password attempts, the possibility to have access limited only to certain IP addresses, and an advanced antivirus and antimalware protection.

Available in formats ranging from 1 to 128 Gb, its price can reach up to 600 dollars, certainly a high price, but certainly reasonable when it comes to national security issues.

The latest novelty in the clean energy field comes, needless to say, from the Far East, where Japanese firm Iwatani has just presented its hydrogen bicycle, which uses a fuel cell to generate approximately 60 Watts of power.

The fuel used to power it is liquid hydrogen, which is in turn used to charge a Li-ion battery, responsible for supplying the necessary energy to generate motion. At the current stage, the bicycle is being tested within the Osaka Kansai airport, where it is used by staff to move from one terminal to the other of the huge Japanese airport, famous for being built on an artificial island.

On a full battery, the bicycle can travel for around 45 kilometers, roughly the equivalent of approximately 3 hours of operation. Charging is started by inserting a liquid hydrogen cartridge, with a 0.25 liter capacity, in its slot placed above the bicycle’s rear wheel.

A valve would then reduce the pressure generated by liquid hydrogen, to optimize its flow towards the PEFC fuel cell, which generates a current of approximately 30-35V, which in turn is reduced by a converter until it reaches 26V, necessary to charge the Li-ion battery.

Currently, its creators are studying solutions to increase the engine’s output power, which may not be enough in case of particularly difficult conditions such as a long uphill road or so.

For this reason, at the moment a public release date has not been planned yet, and the bicycle might hit our roads only when the problem is satisfactorily solved, allowing us to face the traffic without polluting the air, saving energy and also attracting curious or envious looks from fellow car drivers stuck in a queue!

In our times, being always connected, always available and always traceable has become a modern need. The problem is that often, we may not be aware that even while we are offline, the net is always around us, as well as other surveillance and detection systems, mobile phones and Bluetooth connections.

To respond to this need, Richard Etter has created AwareFashion, the first clothing line made up of shirts which inform you about the presence of wireless networks, mobile phones or transmission systems around you.

By using a shirt from the AwareFashion line, it is for example possible to make sure that, inside a meeting or conference room, all mobile phones are duly switched off, or that no one is transmitting any confidential information to an outside receiver. The shirt is equipped with some sort of external pocket, with the same design as the shirt, which is attached on the shirt’s front or sleeve by means of buttons.

Inside this pocket, you can find a small lightweight antenna, which in turn is connected to thin optical fiber cables. When the antenna detects a transmission source, the end of the optical cable, placed on the shirt’s sleeve, will discreetly glow, informing its wearer that a source of transmission is nearby.

Optical fiber cables are sawn and inside the shirt’s stitches, making them look like an element of design and fashion rather than an electronic device, and the color of the glowing light can also be chosen by its wearer in order to add one further touch of style. Furthermore, the cables can easily be washed along with shirt and detachable pocket (but not with the antenna!).

The price of this techno-fashion wonder has not been disclosed yet, but quite sure, fashion or tech victims will anxiously be waiting to get one!

At Virginia Tech University, a group of researchers is at work on designing an unmanned helicopter which, due to its characteristics, is one that its creators hope that they will never have the chance to use.

In fact, it is designed to be used for reconnaissance missions in areas hit by a nuclear strike or a dirty bomb, which combines conventional explosive and radioactive material, supporting investigators to detect radioactivity levels and gather intelligence data and images to assess the damage suffered.

The micro helicopter, approximately 6 foot long and with a weight around 200 pounds, is a Yamaha RMAX UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) which has been engineered by adding a software which, among other things, would have it head automatically towards a radioactivity source, if it is detected by the sensors mounted on the vehicle.

On top of that, it can carry, along with photo and video equipment, a mini robot, which is connected to a retractable wire and dropped on the affected area, where thanks to a small “vacuum cleaner” it can be used to gather evidence and debris, which is then analyzed to evaluate the level of radioactive contamination.

Thanks to its high maneuverability, this robot can reach the crater where an explosion took place, take pictures and measurements; furthermore, researchers are working to make it waterproof, in order to be able to use it in the difficult environmental conditions that follow an explosion, with broken water pipes, puddles and the like.

They are also studying the possibility of adding a range of devices to take 3D images of the ground, in order to better analyze characteristics of the blast and optimize rescue operations.
The project is being financed by the US Department of Defense, and should see the light before the end of the year although, for obvious reasons, we all hope that it is never used for applications for which it was designed.