SIMPLY SURROUNDED
A home theatre system that produces surround sound with just a single speaker has been unveiled by US electronics company Nirotek.
Surround sound normally requires five or six speakers arranged around the listener to create 3D sound. But the NIRO 1.1 PRO DVD player creates the same effect by packing five small speakers into an ordinary speaker case and using a built-in computer to process the output.
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The computer manipulates the sound waves from the speakers so that they interfere in a way that reproduces the effect of ordinary surround sound in the region around the listener鈥檚 head 鈥� a feat that requires 600 million calculations a second. The system is available in the US for $800.
VOLCANIC ASH WARNING
From next year, a ground-based sensor system that detects and monitors volcanic ash clouds will allow air traffic controllers to re-route aeroplanes around the dangerous plumes. Ash clouds can clog jet engines, causing them to cut out, and send aircraft plummeting towards the ground.
Researchers at CSIRO Atmospheric Research near Melbourne, in conjunction with Australian company Tenix, have developed the Ground-Based Infra-Red Detection System (G-bIRD), which detects silicates and sulphur dioxide in volcanic plumes using the level of infrared light that they emit.
The G-bIRD has been successfully tested in Hawaii and Guam and at the foot of Mount Etna in Sicily, says Fred Prata, who is leading the work. The system will go on sale next June, and airports in Sicily, Iceland, Hawaii and Alaska are keen to adopt it, Prata says.
NOW YOU SEE ME鈥�
If you can鈥檛 see me, you can鈥檛 shoot me. That鈥檚 the concept behind the Smart Laser Dazzler, a nonlethal laser weapon being developed for the US military by the University of New Hampshire and Northeast Photosciences, a research company in Hollis, New Hampshire.
The system, designed to be mounted on a tank, uses an infrared laser to scan its surroundings for the telltale glint from a pair of binoculars, a weapons sight or even ordinary human eyes. A second infrared beam determines the strength of the reflection and the system then fires a short pulse of visible light to 鈥渇lashblind鈥� the target. Human rights groups have long criticised laser weapons, particularly for their potential to permanently damage their victims鈥� vision. But Northeast Photosciences claims the Smart Laser Dazzler emits only safe pulses of light by taking into account factors such as the distance to the target. How long before film stars use similar devices to deter paparazzi?
