World’s most complex 2D laser beam created

Researchers, including one of Indian origin, have demonstrated the most complex 2-D optical phased array ever that can generate high-resolution beam patterns.

The new 2-D optical phased array technology will enable advanced Light Detection And Ranging (LADAR) and other defence applications.

LADAR provides a more detailed level of information that can be used for applications such as rapid 3-D mapping.

The array, which has dimensions of only 576 micro metre x 576 micro metre, roughly the size of the head of a pin, is composed of 4,096 (64 x 64) nanoantennas integrated onto a silicon chip.

Key to this breakthrough was developing a design that is scalable to a large number of nanoantennas, developing new micro-fabrication techniques, and integrating the electronic and photonic components onto a single chip.

“Integrating all the components of an optical phased array into a miniature 2-D chip configuration may lead to new capabilities for sensing and imaging,” said Sanjay Raman, program manager for DARPA’s Diverse Accessible Heterogeneous Integration (DAHI) program.

“By bringing such functionality to a chip-scale form factor, this array can generate high-resolution beam patterns -- a capability that researchers have long tried to create with optical phased arrays.

“This chip is truly an enabling technology for a host of systems and may one day revolutionise LADAR in much the same way that ESAs revolutionised RADAR. Beyond LADAR, this chip may have applications for biomedical imaging, 3D holographic displays and ultra-high-data-rate communications,” said Raman.

Radio frequency (RF) waves travel through the atmosphere, reflect off of a target, and return to the RADAR system to be processed.

The amount of time it takes to return correlates to the object’s distance. In recent decades, this technology has been revolutionised by electronically scanned arrays (ESAs), which transmit the RF waves in a particular direction without mechanical movement.

Each emitter varies its phase and amplitude to form a RADAR beam in a particular direction through constructive and destructive interference with other emitters.

Similar to RADAR, laser detection and ranging, or LADAR, scans a field of view to determine distance and other information, but it uses optical beams instead of RF waves.

India Affected By the Cyber Spying Campaign Called Red October

Kaspersky Lab, the Russian cyber security firm on 14 January 2013 revealed that India is one among various nations which are hit by the cyber spying which has been targeting governmental, diplomatic and scientific research organisations for around 5 years. The cyber spying campaign is termed Red October or Rocra by the Kaspersky Lab.

Rocra significantly affected countries like Kazakhstan, Russia, India, Belgium and Azerbaijan apart from other countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Soviet republics. Rocra infected hundreds of the computers across the world in categories such as research institutions, government, diplomatic/embassies, nuclear/energy research, trade and commerce, aerospace and military as well as oil and gas companies.

Kaspersky Lab declared that the cyber spying campaign was functional since 2007 and at present too it is active. Depending upon the Kaspersky Security Network, the number of infections that affected Russia was maximum (35). It was followed by Kazakhstan (21). India, Azerbaijan and Belgium had 15 infections each.

Other affected nations included Armenia (10), Afghanistan (10), Turkmenistan (7), Iran (7), US (6), Vietnam (6), Ukraine (6), Pakistan (5) and Brazil (4).

Astronomers discovered Magnetic Ropes in Venus’s Upper Atmosphere

Astronomers found flux ropes in Venus’s ionosphere (upper atmosphere), above the poles in the second week of January 2013.  The flux ropes are magnetic entities stretching for hundreds of kilometers in size. Astronomers were boarding the European Space Agency’s Venus Express Spacecraft. Flux ropes have been seen before around other planets, including Earth. They transport superheated plasma gas from one end of the rope to the other.

Flux ropes are formed on Earth near the face of the planet opposite the Sun. The stream of charged particles known as the solar wind flows around the planet and thus a magnetotail of charged particles on the other side is created. Unlike most other planets in the Solar system, Venus has no magnetic field. The ionosphere (or upper atmosphere) of Venus acts as an obstacle to the solar wind.

The ionosphere of Venus remains unmagnetised most of the time, but when the solar wind reaches a higher pressure than the surrounding atmosphere it gets magnetised. In these conditions, relatively small flux ropes can form because of the higher speed of the solar wind blowing over the slower ionosphere.

In fact, the flux ropes on Venus form from solar particles on the side of the planet facing away from the Sun, in the magnetotail. Earlier, the giant flux ropes were also found in the atmosphere of Mars. Mars does not have a magnetic field like Venus.

Largest-known spiral galaxy discovered

Scientists have discovered that a barred spiral galaxy located 212 million light-years from the Earth is the largest-known spiral, measuring five times the size of our Milky Way galaxy.

Using archival data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission, scientists found that measuring tip-to-tip across its two outsized spiral arms, NGC 6872 spans more than 522,000 light-years, making it more than five times the size of our Milky Way galaxy.

“Without GALEX’s ability to detect the ultraviolet light of the youngest, hottest stars, we would never have recognised the full extent of this intriguing system,” lead scientist Rafael Eufrasio, a research assistant at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt said in a statement.

The galaxy’s unusual size and appearance stem from its interaction with a much smaller disk galaxy named IC 4970, which has only about one-fifth the mass of NGC 6872.

The odd couple is located 212 million light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Pavo.

Astronomers think large galaxies, including our own, grew through mergers and acquisitions. Intriguingly, the gravitational interaction of NGC 6872 and IC 4970 may have done the opposite, spawning what may develop into a new small galaxy.

“The north-eastern arm of NGC 6872 is the most disturbed and is rippling with star formation, but at its far end, visible only in the ultraviolet, is an object that appears to be a tidal dwarf galaxy similar to those seen in other interacting systems,” said team member Duilia de Mello.

Indian Institute of Astrophysics to Develop World’s Largest Solar Telescope

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore in the first week of January 2013 informed about its decision to come up with world’s largest solar telescope in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. The project would commence by the end of year 2013 and the telescope is likely to be placed at Hanle or Merak village near Pangong Lake in Ladakh. The telescope would be a 2-metre class, state-of-the-art National Large Solar Telescope (NLST). It’s expected that the project would complete by 2017. The project has been planned with a budget of 300 crore rupees and after installation, it would help the astrophysicists capable of practicing day and night astronomy. This telescope would help the researchers to understand the process of creation and decay of sunspots along with other fundamental processes that takes place on the surface of sun. This telescope would also help in filling the longitudinal gap between Europe and Japan. The telescope with its innovative design and backend instruments would also provide crucial information on nature of magnetic fields due to its unprecedented spatial resolution.

Internet emits 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide

Internet and other components of information communication and technology (ICT) industry annually produces more than 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, and is expected to double by 2020, a new study has found.

Researchers from the Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET) and Bell Labs explain that the information communications and technology (ICT) industry, which delivers Internet, video, voice and other cloud services, produces about 2 per cent of global CO2 emissions — the same proportion as the aviation industry produces.

In the report published in journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers said their projections suggest that ICT sector’s share in greenhouse gas emission is expected to double by 2020.

They have also found new models of emissions and energy consumption that could help reduce their carbon footprint.

The study said that controlling those emissions requires more accurate but still feasible models, which take into account the data traffic, energy use and CO2 production in networks and other elements of the ICT industry.

Existing assessment models are inaccurate, so they set out to develop new approaches that better account for variations in equipment and other factors in the ICT industry.

They describe development and testing of two new models that better estimate the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of Internet and telecommunications services.

The researchers suggest, based on their models, that more efficient power usage of facilities, more efficient use of energy-efficient equipment and renewable energy sources are three keys to reducing ICT emissions of CO2.

Technology events that made headlines in 2012

The year 2012 was by no means a year of quantum leaps in the world of technology. Yet, technology news consistently hit headlines — be it globally where tech policy debates in the U.S. Senate pitted big entertainment companies, and their lobbies, against Internet users, or closer home, where Internet service providers arbitrarily cut access to simple video-sharing sites and the streets swelled in protests against the perceived affront to ‘free speech’ online by a draconian law.

As we bid adieu to this eventful year, we bring you a selection of technology news that we read through the year, updates on some of them and some perspective on the way forward. By no means exhaustive, the list is a mix of news both Indian and global, of gadgets and technologies and praxis and policy. The list is not ranked in any particular order.

Free speech on the Web

The IT Act, a legislation that governs all things Internet in India, was in the news for all the wrong reasons. The low point indeed was the arrest of two young girls in Mumbai, for their innocuous status update about a bandh enforced by the Shiv Sena, following the death of Sena chief Bal Thackeray. Earlier this year, a Jadavpur University professor was arrested for merely sharing on email a cartoon with a satirical take on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee's style of functioning; cartoonist Aseem Trivedi's website was shut down and he was arrested; and more recently, a Twitter user was arrested in Puducherry for making corruption allegations against Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s son, Karthi, in a tweet. Following the Mumbai arrests, netizens and rights activists took to the streets to protest the arbitrary use of the legislation.

Earlier in June, another spate of protests were held, led by the online hackers collective Anonymous, following a John Doe order by the Madras High Court over a piracy complaint leading several Internet service providers to block online content and video-sharing sites. An annulment motion was introduced in Parliament, following which the government promised a review of the law and the Intermediaries Guidelines (2011). Internet firms too supported this call after Union IT and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal used these guidelines to lay the onus of “pre-screening” posts and messages for “offensive and hurtful” content.

Most recently, the government, in a bid to increase awareness among law enforcement authorities, has issued guidelines on registering complaints under the controversial section.

The flip side: misinformation

All along, the government argued that the internet must be regulated, like all other media, because it too could be misused to spread misinformation or hate. Them, and other advocates of tighter controls on the Web, were somewhat vindicated when the near-mass exodus of northeast Indians from cities such as Bangalore and Pune was attributed to misinformation and false rumours spread via SMS and social networks. Messages and false rumours on a communal backlash triggered wide-spread panic, leading thousands to pack up, leaving behind their jobs and livelihoods, and head home. Though some arrests were made for sending out these SMSs and rumour mongering on the web, the jury is still out on whether technology was the culprit, or it merely exacerbated existing fears and insecurities on the ground.

And 'Clicktivism'

2012 also proved that social media had arrived as a means to build public opinion, gather support and actually organise mass protests and gatherings. Most recently, Twitter and Facebook were used effectively to coordinate protests in Delhi over the gang-rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student. Other campaigns such as Kony2012 proved that ‘clicktivism’ — a term used moWstly in the pejorative to talk about movements that revolve around the click of a mouse — was here to stay. And whether it’s your neighbourhood pothole or weightier concerns such as female foeticide or rape laws, online petitions have become the norm.

The SOPA opera

This story, about a U.S. policy decision to crack down on copyrighted content, proved two things: one, the Internet is truly global in nature, and two, the controls of the Internet are indeed with the U.S. That the proposed legislations — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act — equipped the U.S. government to act against any website hosting content that it believes infringes copyrights, even those hosted overseas, made it a global issue. It pitted big entertainment businesses against the internet user across the world. Further, the fact that this action could involve the domain name system, which lies at the technological core of the internet, also had huge implications for the stability of the web.

Both legislations were repealed after Internet users — led by major internet corporations, giving it a 'entertainment/media houses vs web business' angle — rose in protest. Several Internet services, most notably Wikipedia, blacked out their sites and services to protest the clampdown.

Around the same time, the U.S. government also shut down the popular file-sharing site MegaUpload, again in an attempt to stop alleged copyright violations, rekindling the debate on IP and piracy.

IP wars in courtrooms

The buzz around ‘smart’ devices this year was less about innovation and more about courtroom battles. Most notably, tech major Apple and Korean electronics giant Samsung were locked in over 50 patent lawsuits in 10 countries. Some of these lawsuits were over features as trivial as the shape of the screen, an interface layout or even the unlock feature. Though Apple — which sued Samsung for infringing both design and utility patents — won a major round with Samsung having to pay over $ 1 billion in damages, Samsung managed to dodge a ban on the sales of its products. Samsung too has been suing Apple, among other mobile players, with its wireless patents (on 3G/4GLTE).

The loser, of course, at the end of the day is the consumer who can only hope that companies throw their weight behind innovation, a key product of which could also be affordability.

iHits and iFlops

No tech wrap-ups can be complete without the glitzy Apple releases. Minus showman Steve Jobs, Apple’s launches lost their sheen. However, the iPhone 5 did managed to impress with its sleeker body and slicker interfaces. Later, the iPad Mini, the much-awaited compact version of the iPad that aims at capturing the low-end market, also created a buzz.

But by far, the most-talked-about tech dud of the year was the iOS6, which did away with Google Maps. Apple’s own maps were buggy and all over the place, so much so that entire websites were dedicated to recording the faux pas the Maps threw up. Deserts located in towns, cities mapped in the ocean and so on; the quick and untested release irked Apple users, so much so that many refused to upgrade until a Google Maps app was released earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Google released turn-by-turn navigation and traffic updates in 15 major cities in India, reinforcing its position as the top choice as far as internet maps go.

Facebook's IPO/Instagram outrage

Social media giant Facebook finally went public this year. Months within it hitting the one billion user mark — making it the third most populous country, after India and China — Facebook’s shares opened at $38. The shares have reportedly fallen by a fourth over the last six months.

In another fiasco, weeks within acquiring the hugely popular photo application Instagram, Facebook announced a tweak in its ‘Terms of Service’. Its declaration that the company could monetise user content by selling user’s photographs to advertisers created quite a stir among Instagram users. The wide outrage online led Facebook to revoke this policy and tender an apology of sorts.

Oppa, Gangnam Style!

In July this year, a short music video uploaded in South Korea made headlines for its catchy tune, hilarious video and choreography, and its subversive subtext. Last week, ‘Gangnam Style’, by Korean pop star Psy, became the first video ever to cross the 1 billion views mark on YouTube. Now, whether it's his apologies to the United States for an anti-war song he sang long before he became a viral hit or his controversial appearance in a Japanese Manga comic, Psy himself has become the headline!

Scientists discover 33 new spider species

 

Scientists have discovered 33 new trapdoor spider species in Southwest America belonging to the genus that includes a notable species named after US President Barack Obama.

These newly described species belong to the genus Aptostichus that now contains 40 famous species including Aptostichus barackobamai, named after Obama.

Jason Bond, who is a trapdoor spider expert and director of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History was excited at the prospect of such a remarkable and large find of new species in the US.

“California is known as what is characterised as a biodiversity hotspot. Although this designation is primarily based on plant diversity, the region is clearly very rich in its animal diversity as well. 

Like other trapdoor spider species, individuals are rarely seen because they live their lives in below-ground burrows that are covered by trapdoors, made by the spider using mixtures of soil, sand, or plant material, and silk.

The trapdoor serves to hide the spider when it forages for meals at the burrow entrance, usually at night.

Aptostichus species are found in an amazing number of Californian habitats to include coastal sand dunes, chaparral, desert, oak woodland forests, and at high altitudes in the alpine habitats of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

New version of Internet addresses available in India

Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN) has started issuing next version of Internet addresses ‘IPv6’, which would make it easy for security agencies to identify each Internet user.

The Internet addresses under the present version IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4), are limited and service providers often assign single IP address to many users, making it difficult to identify the end user.

“The number of IPv6 addresses available is enormous. ISPs (Internet Service Providers) can allocate an IP address to their users. People can be easily identified if they are using IPv6,” APNIC Director (Services and Operations) Sanjaya said at the roadshow for new version IPv6.

APNIC, which is one of the five authorised bodies for issuing Internet addresses, has recognised Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN) for issuing IP addresses in India. IRINN has been set-up under the state-run NIXI.

Pranab Mukherjee launches low cost Aakash-2 tablet

The advanced version of low cost tablet Aakash was launched here today by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Coming at a price tag of Rs 1,130 for students, the new version 'Aakash 2', which will be made available to students of engineering colleges and universities to begin with, is now powered by a processor running at 1 GHz, has a 512 MB, a 7 inch capacitative touch screen and a battery working for three hours of normal operations. It has been developed under the aegis of IIT Bombay with the active support of C-DAC. Datawind is rolling out the device.

Setback for first generation biofuels in EU

Biofuels,which is supposed to reduce the amount of greenhouse emissions has suffered a setback in the EU.The European Union (EU) has announced that the amount of biofuels that will be required to make up the transportation energy mix by 2020 has been halved from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.The rollback mostly affects first-generation biofuels, which are produced from food crops such as corn, sugarcane, and potato.
 
A study conducted in 2009-2012 by the EU found that greenhouse gas emissions were on the rise because of conversion of agricultural land for planting first-generation biofuel crops. It also became known that large quantities of carbon stock had been released into the atmosphere because of forest clearance.
The EU is now incentivising second-generation biofuels — manufactured from crop residues such as organic waste, algae, and woody materials — that do not interfere with food-production.There has been widespread protest across the globe against first generation biofuels as it may affect the food production,green carbon sink etc.

RAIL RADAR

Railways launched online application Rail Radar, which can provide exact geographical location of about 9,700 trains on a Google map on real time basis.

• There is a color code method which highlights a train in Blue if it is running on time and Red if it running late or behind schedule.
• The map shows the exact route of a train including all the stoppages and the current location of the train on the real time basis.

Rail Radar is developed by the collaborative efforts of Indian Railways Center for Railways Information System (CRIS) and RailYatri.in.

A Humanoid Robot called Baxter designed in USA

A humanoid robot with common sense, designed to work safely alongside its human co-workers on factory production lines, was unveiled in the US.
Baxter could apply common sense, adapt to its environment and be trained in less than 30 minutes to complete specific tasks. It is capable of superhuman speed and precision.
To teach Baxter a new job, a human guides its arms to simulate the desired task, and presses a button to program in the pattern, the report said. The robot responds with a confused expression, if it does not understand.