Balloon-borne optical spectrometer

• Institut für Umweltphysik (IUP), University of Heidelberg, Germany

The research at IUP-Heidelberg addresses the composition, photochemistry, and climate of the lower (troposphere) and middle atmosphere (stratosphere).

A particular focus of research involves the deployment of optical spectrometers on research aircraft, balloons and satellites.

Onboard networks of autonomous underwater vehicles

By Aleksandr Inzartsev and Oleg Lvov

Designing autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is a basic line of activity at the Institute of Marine Technology Problems (IMTP), Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Compact vehicles developed at the IMTP are intended mainly for

1. solving economics problems (servicing of sea oil-gas fields, objects of mariculture, fishing and crabbing regions, etc.),
2. collecting oceanographic data from depths to 2 km (investigation of ocean flows, ocean floor composition and structure, as well as bathymetry and seismology problems),
3. monitoring the condition of underwater communications (pipelines and cables) and environmental water pollution, and
4. carrying out search-and-rescue operations (with an underwater object location accuracy of 5 m).

Automated Rail Flaw Detector

• MEDUSA Ltd -- ADS-02, An Automated Rail Flaw Detector

By Alexander M. Reyman

Rail fractures account for 30% of damages and wrecks in rail track facilities, as the picture shows. To avoid these damages, the rails can be inspected using several methods, all with their own advantages and problems, as shown in the table.