AROUND THE WORLD FROM SEVEN GROUPS All you need to know about this round-the-world crewed sailing race – what is the event about, when it takes place, where it goes, who is taking part and what is that fancy boat you’ve seen in photos.
What is the Volvo Ocean Race?It’s the leading round-the-world sailing race for teams, with a series of stops that give fans the chance to experience the In-Port Race series. It began life in 1973 and was then known as the Whitbread. Today it is sailing's biggest offshore race and one of the most coveted prizes in the sport. It lasts for nearly nine months - it’s the longest sport event in the world.
For more information on the history of the race, check out our Memories section.
When is the next edition?The 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race will start from Alicante, Spain on October 4, 2014. The race will finish in Gothenburg, Sweden with a final in-port race on June 27, 2015. Check out our easy-to-read table with exact dates.
Where can I learn about the sailors?Seven teams will cross the start line in October in Alicante:
Team SCA, the first all-female team to compete in the race since 2001-02.
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, back for a second race with British skipper Ian Walker.
Dongfeng Race Team from China, skippered by Frenchman Charles Caudrelier.
Team Brunel from the Netherlands, skippered by race veteran Bouwe Bekking.
Team Alvimedica with a double flag Turkey/USA, skippered by American youngster Charlie Enright.
A Spanish team, whose main title sponsor has yet to be revealed, skippered by Iker Martínez.
Team Vestas Wind from Denmark, skippered by Australian sailor Chris Nicholson.
Tell me about the boat:The new one-design Volvo Ocean 65 is the boat that will be used for the next two editions of the Volvo Ocean Race. There is a whole section about this radical, high-performance, world-class, tough, affordable boat here.
This is great, but where can I find the rules?You can find the official Notice of Race and Class Rule for the Volvo Ocean 65 on the Race Noticeboard.
How do I contact the Volvo Ocean Race?Whatever your needs, try contacting one of the people in this list.
NOW YOU SEE IS WHAT THESE GROUPS WITH THE FIRST AMAZONES
1) TEAM SCA
All-female sailing team could be a game changer in round-the-world race
Team SCA is focused on succeeding in the competition, but the members also hope to encourage more mixed-race crews
An all-female sailing crew will set out on a grueling round-the-world race on Saturday, and although the team is focused simply on the competition, its success could open the door for more women to join Volvo Ocean Race crews, which have generally been all male.
The team, named SCA for its Swedish sponsor, is the fifth all-female boat in the quadrennial contest’s 41-year history. This year all crews will be sailing identical boats: 65-foot monohulls. Modifications are not allowed, so architecture and materials won’t determine victory; athletes will.
The women of Team SCA see this as the best chance an all-female team has had at succeeding, and they hope that if they do, it will encourage more mixed-gender teams in future races.
“In my eyes, this is the first time an all-female team has been given all it takes to go out and try to win,” said Liz Wardley, 34, of Papua New Guinea.
The seven teams competing in the Volvo Ocean Race will leave from the eastern coast of Spain to navigate fierce Mediterranean storms, piracy threats, fishing nets, icebergs, the brutal Southern Ocean and the complicated waters where Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is believed to have disappeared in March. The race covers 38,739 nautical miles — nearly twice the earth’s circumference.
“It’s a very, very, very physical operation. It’s not just pure strength but endurance,” said Neal McDonald, a veteran of five Volvo races whose wife, Lisa, skippered the last all-female team, in 2001–02. Its boat broke a mast between Baltimore and La Rochelle, France; it rejoined the race and finished last.
Tacking the boat, or changing direction, which could happen 10 times a day, requires moving two to three tons of gear by hand while the boat’s platform is bouncing around the ocean. That means lifting 40,000 to 60,000 pounds per day on six hours of sleep or less.
Team SCA in the Round Britain Island Race in August 2014.Corinna Halloran / Team SCA
To compensate for inherent strength differences, the women’s crew is allowed 11 sailors on board at once. All-male crews are limited to eight.
McDonald, who now works for rival crew Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, said, “There are some very good sailors on SCA, and they’ve got more of them. They should be a force to be reckoned with, but we won’t know till the end.”
Living quarters would be tight for eight and even tighter for 11 people. It’s cramped, damp and stuffy and jokingly referred to as the carbon coffin. Every meal is freeze-dried and prepared in a sink and stove in a galley that is smaller than an office cubicle. Sleep shifts never exceed four hours, and sailors belt themselves into their bunks to avoid being violently ejected while the vessel tilts, creaks and whines to a roar. One change of clothes is allowed — never mind bathing.
The boats will stop in 11 countries on five continents, including one U.S. stop in Newport, Rhode Island, in May. After nine offshore legs — long races from country to country — and 10 in-port races — one-day races held in each port — whoever reaches Gothenburg, Sweden, by June 27 with the fewest points is the winner.
More than 400 women applied when SCA’s recruitment began in the fall of 2012.
“There were no obvious choices,” said Joca Signorini, SCA’s Brazilian coach. “It’s not like you were putting together a male team and would perhaps try to find some of the guys who had done the last race.”
SCA’s sailors hail from five nations. Three are Olympians; three competed in the last all-female Volvo team, in 2001–02; one is a sailmaker by trade; one has an engineering degree from Cambridge University; and another was a rower who helped Cambridge beat Oxford in the women’s version of the annual Boat Race on the River Thames. Two are sisters. Three have children. A few, like Dee Caffari, have circumnavigated the globe several times nonstop single-handedly.
In fact, Caffari, 41, is the only woman in history to have sailed solo around the globe in both directions. The “wrong” way took 178 days, she said of her 2006 westward voyage. The eastward route took half the time. But the Volvo Ocean Race lasts nine months.
“This is easier,” Caffari said of the Volvo race, because sailors get a break on shore between stages. But the intensity is higher.
“Volvo is three-week sprints,” she said. “The nonstop is a marathon. [In Volvo] you can’t miss anything. It’s all or nothing for three weeks, get to the finish line, sort out all the problems, have a rest, then do it again.”
U.S. Olympian Sally Barkow, 34, has had to make the opposite adjustment. The Wisconsin native has focused on in-shore racing for the past 10 years. “What I’d been doing was 20-minute match races or even one-to-two-hour races,” she said. “This is a totally different concept.”
And Annie Lush, 34, the Cambridge rower and an Olympic sailor, was used to12-minute races. “It was like stadium racing, basically. Now I’m in the middle of the ocean with a whale to shout at you.” The biggest adjustment she found on the trans-Atlantic crossing was that “while you’re sleeping, someone else is working. I’d feel kind of guilty to rest in my off time if someone else was doing something.”
Abby Ehler during the 2014 Round Britain Island Race.Corinna Halloran / Team SCA
As with Tour de France teams, each crew is backed by a sponsor, which provides a $9 million to $14 million investment over two years, according to the race’s CEO, Knut Frostad. SCA was the first to sign on, specifically looking to create an all-female team because 80 percent of its retail customers are women.
The early investment meant that this spring, while most teams were still choosing crew members and some didn’t even have a boat, Team SCA already had its three coaches, 12 sailors and the chance to test equipment and team dynamics on an ocean crossing.
“We’ve got no excuses this time,” Wardley said. “We’ve got the best resources, the best coaches.”
Despite some gender parity in high-stakes sailing events, including Olympic sailing and the America’s Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race is still male-dominated. The last time a woman participated in the Volvo race was in 2005, when Adrienne Cahalan navigated on Brasil 1 for the first leg of the race.
Crew member Abby Ehler, 41, said, “It comes down to opportunity. You would almost never get a chance to do this with a mixed team because [some think] there are just not the girls with the experience or physical strength to be worth a spot on a men’s boat. Since the opportunity hasn’t been there for so many years, it kind of has to be an all-female team. And it has to be run properly to ensure that we can prove ourselves and be competitive.”
Ehler’s hope is that the team will prove a strong competitor — even if it’s not at the top of the results board — and will be taken seriously. “It’s just a relief, from a sailor’s point of view, that we’re not just there as media tokens,” she said.
Caffari said, “I think this is the first step toward mixed teams being the norm.”
“You almost need to make this huge impact so in the next edition everyone maybe considers a mixed team because we proved we can do it. I think the shock tactic is going to help.”
2) ABU DHABI
Ian Walker is back at the helm of Azzam - Arabic for ‘determination'. The Emirati syndicate has the experience, talent and drive to succeed this time around. A strong contender.
Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing crew for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 is a potent blend of experience and exciting new talent which includes several familiar faces from the last campaign as well as some newcomers.
New race rules have reduced the number of sailors from 11 down to just eight this time around. However, just like last time the teams will have an on board reporter to keep our fans up to date with everything that goes on while Azzam is at sea.
Donning Abu Dhabi crew uniforms for the second consecutive time are under-30 helmsman and trimmer Adil Khalid (United Arab Emirates), navigator and helmsman Simon Fisher (Great Britain) and bowman Justin Slattery (Ireland).
Making their first appearances in ADOR colours are helmsman and trimmer Phil Harmer (Australia), pitman & boat captain Daryl Wislang (New Zealand) and under-30 bowman and helmsman Luke Parkinson (Australia).
Completing Walker’s lineup is Spanish sailing legend and five-time Volvo Ocean Race veteran Roberto Bermudez de Castro. Better known as ‘Chuny’, the Spaniard has and amazing pedigree in the race, having finished outside the top three on only one occasion in his five campaigns.
The team’s second under-30 sailor is Australia’s Luke Parkinson whose track record includes a an Olympic 49er campaign and representing his country at the 2014 Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in San Francisco. In contrast to his crewmates, this will be Parkinson’s first ever Volvo Ocean Race.
Backing up the sailing team in a non-sailing coaching capacity is ADOR Performance Manager Neal McDonald, one of the most highly respected round the world sailors who has five Volvo Ocean Races to his name.
3) DONGFENG
Dongfeng means “the eastern wind” and this ambitious Chinese team, skippered by Frenchman Charles Caudrelier, is represented by a crew that is half Chinese, half international.
RACE TEAM
It takes strong men to be able to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race and there is no doubt that, thanks to these men, the heart of Dongfeng Race Team beats strongly. "We know we're not in the same league as our competitors yet. We don't expect to be. But I believe our team has a fire within, a quiet determination that will show itself gradually as the race progresses. The gap will close and I hope our team will be the team that constantly surprises throughout." - Charles Caudrelier.
Most of the time our sailors are miles from anyone and anywhere and they would love to hear from you. Sometimes those small messages of support mean the world of difference during a tough day at sea! See below the individual email addresses or send a general message of support to the team by emailing: messageofsupport@dongfengraceteam.com
This bike seat with a bit of bite is surely the coolest thing you can sit on while you ride.
The Predator look-alike is appropriately named ‘Bite It’, and was created from plastic-cast taxidermy parts by Canadian designer Clem Chen for the ‘Saddle-Up!’ art show in Vancouver.
When you get over the fact that it’s incredibly creepy, this seat is pretty awesome, and there were plenty of other sick seats on show at the Canadian art show as well… Here are ten of the best:
Read more at http://mpora.com/articles/predator-look-alike-craziest-bike-seat-ever#XuTfh6XE2W4l8E8l.99
ISIS threatens to crucify Lebanon’s Christians as the Islamic State prepares to cross Syria border
Christians in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley have begun arming themselves in preparation for an ISIS (now known as the Islamic State) offensive as it seeks to expand its territorial control outside of Syria. For Christians, who comprise 20% of Lebanon’s population, it will be fight or flight.
IB Times Up to 3,000 militants from the Islamic State and other jihadists occupy the mountain range between Lebanon and Syria near the Sunni town of Arsal.
A woman reacts during a sit-in organized by families of the Lebanese soldiers who were captured by Islamist militants in Arsal, demanding their release in the Lebanese town of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley
As ISIS seeks to grab land outside of the mountain caves and farms they currently control, Christian volunteers have now created village defence forces to protect against the Sunni militants who have taken up to 21 Lebanese soldiers and policemen hostage.
“We are a minority and we are under threat by the jihadists,” Rifaat Nasrallah, a commander of the volunteer guards in the Greek Catholic town of Ras Baalbek, said. “It wasn’t the idea of anyone in particular,” Nasrallah says of the formation of defence units. “The whole village felt in danger so we all agreed it was necessary.”
“We don’t shoot if we see someone or something moving in the mountains,” said one of the watchmen. “We just call the Army and they investigate.” Ras Baalbek has a population of 15,000 and is separated from the flashpoint town of Arsal by a range of hills.
“Imagine if Islamic State makes it into Ras Baalbek and they crucify a Christian. It will set Lebanon alight,” a western diplomat in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Times. There are approximately 2.4m Chrisitans in Lebanon, 20% of the total population.
The terror group has continued to crack down on religious freedom since the announcement of its Islamic “caliphate”, straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border. The Sunni jihadists have taken over Iraq’s largest Christian town of Qaraqosh causing thousands of residents to flee towards Kurdistan region.
They also issued an ultimatum to Christians in the city of Mosul to convert to their radical form of Islam or be forced to either pay a tax, leave the city or be harmed for refusal to convert.
The city is now reportedly empty of Christians as hundreds of families fled following the ultimatum of death or a historic contract ‒ known as “dhimma”‒ where non-Muslims can receive protection if they pay a fee known as a “jizya.”
ISIS has now beheaded it’s second of the nineteen hostages taken during the brief occupation of the North Lebanon border town of Arsal.
ΤΟ ΤΕΛΕΥΤΑΙΟ ΒΙΝΤΕΟ ΚΑΛΥΤΕΡΑ ΝΑ ΜΗΝ ΤΟ ΔΕΙΤΕ ΔΙΟΤΙ ΑΥΤΟ ΠΟΥ ΘΑ ΔΕΙΤΕ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΝΑ ΚΟΒΟΥΝΕ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΙ ΕΝΟΣ ΑΝΔΡΑ!! ΜΕ ΟΛΗ ΤΗΝ ΣΗΜΑΣΙΑ ΛΙΓΟ ΛΙΓΟ ΚΑΤΙ ΑΝΑΝΔΡΑ ΣΚΟΥΛΙΚΙΑ.
Ο ΘΕΟΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΓΑΠΑΗ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΚΛΕΦΤΗ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΝΟΙΚΟΚΥΡΗ.
ΕΧΟΥΜΕ ΓΝΩΡΙΣΗ ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΤΩΡΑ ΤΕΤΟΙΕΣ ΒΙΑΙΟΤΗΤΕΣ ΕΔΩ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΜΕ ΤΟΥΣ ΒΑΡΒΑΡΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΣΠΑΡΑΖΗ Η ΚΑΡΔΙΑ ΜΑΣ ΜΟΛΙΣ ΒΛΕΠΟΥΜΕ ΤΕΤΟΙΑ ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΑ. ΕΛΕΟΣ!
NASA satellite data of the marine environment will be used in prototype marine biodiversity observation networks to be established in four U.S. locations, including the Florida Keys, pictured here.
Image Credit:
USF/WHOI/MBARI/NASA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA are funding three demonstration projects that will lay the foundation for the first national network to monitor marine biodiversity at scales ranging from microbes to whales. The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) also plans to contribute.
The projects, funded at approximately $17 million during the next five years, subject to the availability of funds, will demonstrate how a national operational marine biodiversity observation network could be developed. Such a network would serve as a marine resource management tool to conserve existing biodiversity and enhance U.S. biosecurity against threats such as invasive species and infectious agents.
The three demonstration marine biological observation networks will be established in four locations: the Florida Keys; Monterey Bay and the Santa Barbara Channel in California; and on the continental shelf in the Chukchi Sea in Alaska.
Marine biodiversity is a key indicator of ocean health and critical to sustaining natural resources such as fisheries. The three projects, selected from 19 proposals, will be established in different marine environments in U.S. waters to integrate existing observations ranging from satellite observations to DNA sampling and fill data gaps with new observations.
This joint effort supports the U.S. National Ocean Policy to "protect, maintain, and restore the health and biological diversity of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources." An integrated picture of what is happening to marine biodiversity enhances the ability of policymakers and natural resource managers to devise effective strategies to address ecosystem threats from pollution and climate change.
The pilot research program is sponsored under the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, which facilitates joint funding of projects of mutual interest to different institutions in an effort to avoid duplication of research efforts.
"We now have large amounts of biologically relevant information on marine ecosystems, including global observations of ocean color and sea surface temperature from space," said Woody Turner, manager of NASA's Biodiversity Research Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "But we need a more effective way of combining different types of information to get a better picture of how marine ecosystems are changing if we are to sustain these important ecosystem resources."
The networks will integrate data on large-scale sea surface conditions observed by NASA, NOAA, and U.S. Geological Survey satellites with observations made in the ocean and the laboratory. They will build partnerships with existing long-term biodiversity monitoring efforts, explore innovative uses of new in situ observations and genomic techniques, and improve access to integrated biodiversity data.
“BOEM is pleased to continue its long history of monitoring offshore areas as part of its mission to assess environmental risk and develop mitigation measures to protect coastal and marine ecosystems,” said BOEM acting director Walter Cruickshank in Washington. BOEM plans to contribute financially to the Santa Barbara Channel and Alaska projects.
Biodiversity within two NOAA national marine sanctuaries in Florida and California is the focus of the project led by Frank Muller-Karger of the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg and Francisco Chavez of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. The Florida Keys and Monterey Bay national marine sanctuaries encompass a wide range of marine environments, including deep sea, continental shelves, estuaries, and coral reefs.
The third sanctuary in the project, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, which surrounds California's Channel Islands off the Santa Barbara coast, is the focus of the project led by Robert Miller of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Channel Islands are one of the most monitored marine areas in the world.
“NOAA’s marine sanctuaries are an ideal setting to test and evaluate a biodiversity network prototype,” said NOAA’s Zdenka Willis, director of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, Silver Spring, Md. “These areas encompass a wide range of marine environments as well as nearby coastal communities that depend on the ocean for business and recreation. By linking federal and non-federal partners, we hope this network will help us better understand these ecosystems and serve to inform emergency response systems for environmental threats such as invasive species.”
The U.S. Arctic continental shelf off the northwest coast of Alaska is the focus of the project lead by Katrin Iken, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The Arctic is experiencing the most dramatic temperature increases taking place in the ocean, leading to significant changes in marine ecosystem structure and function. This Arctic marine biodiversity observing network will continue recent efforts to extend much-needed long-term monitoring data and fill gaps in coverage. The partnership also includes funding from the Shell Oil Company for some of the Alaska research.
NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land, air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based observation campaigns. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. The agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community and works with institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet.
NASA's Biodiversity Research Program utilizes satellite observations and computer models to improve our understanding of biodiversity -- the variety of life at all levels ranging from genes to species and ecosystems -- and the role of life in the Earth system.
ΤΕΛΕΤΗ ΚΑΘΕΛΚΥΣΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΥΠΟΒΡΥΧΙΟΥ ΠΙΠΙΝΟΣ ΤΟ ΟΠΟΙΟΝ ΘΑ ΑΠΟΤΕΛΕΣΗ ΜΟΧΛΟ ΑΝΑΠΤΥΞΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΑΘΕΡΟΤΗΤΟΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΕΡΙΟΧΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΙΓΑΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΓΕΝΙΚΟΤΕΡΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΕΡΙΟΧΗ ΤΗΣ ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟΥ ΜΑΖΙ ΜΕ ΤΑ ΑΛΛΑ ΥΠΟΒΡΥΧΙΑ ΕΓΙΝΕ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΟ ΕΘΝΙΚΗΣ ΑΜΥΝΑΣ ΤΟΝ ΠΡΩΘΥΠΟΥΡΓΟ ΤΟΝ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΛΗ ΤΗΣ ΣΤΡΙΑΤΩΤΙΚΗΣ ΗΓΕΣΙΑΣ.
ΚΑΙ ΛΙΓΑ ΛΟΓΙΑ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΟΝΟΜΑ ΠΙΠΙΝΟΣ!
Γεννήθηκε στην Ύδρα. Το έτος 1822 κατόρθωσε μαζί με τον Κωνσταντίνο Κανάρη να μπει νύχτα στο στενό μεταξύ Χίου και Τσεσμέ όπου ήταν αγκυροβολημένος ο εχθρικός στόλος και κατόρθωσαν ο μεν Κανάρης να πυρπολήσει το πρώτο δίκροτο, ο δε Πιπίνος να προσκολλήσει το πυρπολικό του σε ένα δεύτερο πλοίο. Το εχθρικό πλοίο αποσπάστηκε από τον στόλο, καταστράφηκε όμως και έχασε όλο του το πλήρωμα.
Η επιτυχία αυτή ήταν ιστορική και προκάλεσε τρόμο στον εχθρικό στόλο, ο οποίος αναχώρησε για την Κωνσταντινούπολη.
Ο Πιπίνος τιμήθηκε από την Ύδρα με θρησκευτικές παρατάξεις και με στεφάνια. Στην Νέα Σμύρνη ονομάστηκε προς τιμή του η «οδός Πιπίνου».
Στη ναυμαχία στις 8 Σεπτεμβρίου 1822 νίκησε και καταδίωξε τον τουρκικό στόλο, ενώ το 1824 στη Ναυμαχία του Γέροντα ο Πιπίνος κατέκαψε εχθρικό πλοίο, αλλά τραυματίστηκε βαριά. Ανάρρωσε όμως και συνέχισε να πολεμάει. Διορίστηκε από το νεοσύστατο Ελληνικό κράτος αρχηγός της ανατολικής μοίρας, και αποστρατεύτηκε το 1836.
A new animation from NASA shows how a remarkable instrument called the HIWRAP looks into tropical cyclones at wind, rain and ice to analyze storm intensity.
The HIWRAP is the High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler, a "conically scanning" Doppler radar, meaning it scans in a cone-shaped manner. Wind measurements are crucial for understanding and forecasting tropical storms since they are closely tied to the overall dynamics of the storm. The HIWRAP instrument is able to measure line-of-sight (along the radar beam) and because it scans in a cone beneath the aircraft, it gets two looks at most parts of the storm, allowing calculations of the 3-dimensional wind and rain fields. In the absence of rain, it can also measure ocean surface winds.
HIWRAP while flying on board an aircraft is capable of examining storms down to a very small scale.
"HIWRAP allows us to see how strong bursts of thunderstorms contribute to the intensification of the low-level wind field in hurricanes," said Research Meteorologist Scott Braun of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The 2 minute visualization shows how scans from the HIWRAP instrument are done in a cone-like shape over storms, measuring winds within heavy rain throughout.
"What's interesting about the HIWRAP Doppler radar is that it's a dual-frequency and dual-beam radar," said Gerry Heymsfield, Cloud Radar Expert and Research Meteorologist from NASA Goddard. "That means it has two frequencies that measure at two different angles." The instrument scans in a cone shape toward the surface, with the peak of the cone at the HIWRAP radar on the aircraft. "As the plane flies over a particular target—say the eyewall of a storm— scanning it with a cone-shape provides views of the same region from different directions. That's what allows scientists to measure the three-dimensional winds and precipitation within the storm."
The video shows that the HIWRAP sends out about 5,000 pulses a second to get an accurate read on precipitation particles, like rain or ice as the storm and the aircraft are both moving. The signals that bounce back reveal the type, size and distribution of rain or ice particles, as well as how fast the particles are moving. The speed of the particles can help determine the wind and circulation in a storm.
The Inventors of the Wristwatch Drone Share Their Vision of the Future
Nixie is part quadcopter, part smart watch, and could change the way we take photos. Image: Nixie
A drone that can be dispatched with the flick of a wrist feels like an invention likely to fly out from the Batcave, but a Stanford Ph.D. and a Google program manager are close to finalizing a quadcopter that can be worn like a slap bracelet.
Called Nixie, this diminutive drone weighs less than a tenth of a pound, but can capture HD images and sync with a smartphone while its owner is busy scaling an Alp or biking through the Teutoburg forest. “Quadcopters give you a new perspective you can’t get anywhere else,” says Jelena Jovanovic, Nixie’s project manager. “But it’s not really feasible to pilot a drone and keep doing what you’re doing.”
Being able to wear the drone is a cute gimmick, but it’s powerful software packed into a tiny shell could set Nixie apart from bargain Brookstone quadcopters. Expertise in motion-prediction algorithms and sensor fusion will give the wrist-worn whirlybirds an impressive range of functionality. A “Boomerang mode” allows Nixie to travel a fixed distance from its owner, take a photo, then return. “Panorama mode” takes aerial photos in a 360° arc. “Follow me” mode makes Nixie trail its owner and would capture amateur athletes in a perspective typically reserved for Madden all-stars. “Hover mode” gives any filmmaker easy access to impromptu jib shots. Other drones promise similar functionality, but none promise the same level of portability or user friendliness.
“We’re not trying to build a quadcopter, we’re trying to build a personal photographer,” says Jovanovic.
A Changing Perspective on Photography
Jovanovic and her partner Christoph Kohstall, a Stanford postdoc who holds a Ph.D. in quantum physics and a first-author credit in the journal Nature, believe photography is at a tipping point.
Early cameras were bulky, expensive, and difficult to operate. The last hundred years have produced consistently smaller, cheaper, and easier-to-use cameras, but future developments are forking. Google Glass provides the ultimate in portability, but leaves wearers with a fixed perspective. Surveillance drones offer unique vantage points, but are difficult to operate. Nixie attempts to offer the best of both worlds.
Origin of the Species
After receiving a quadcopter for Christmas last year, Kohstall began tinkering and looking for ways to improve the technology. He quickly learned that drones have a tendency to crash and drown in bodies of water, so he built a working prototype that could dive and reemerge from under the surface.
As more of Kohstall and Jovanovic’s friends got the quadcopter bug, common complaints about bulk, weight, and arcane user interfaces popped up. Kohstall experimented with wearable solutions, including hacking a pair of eye glasses with propellors so that they could fly at a moment’s notice, and if equipped with a tiny camera, capture a drone’s-eye-view. This was an interesting UI experiment, but limited the wearer’s ability to see, leading him to focus on designing a soaring smart watch.
Can They Build It?
Nixie will can fly autonomously, but can also be piloted via a smartphone app. Image: Nixie
Nixie is an undeniably impressive concept, and while rough prototypes prove the principle, the question remains if its myriad design challenges can be solved without sacrificing the sleek look.
Jovanovic has previously worked on submersible drones and comes from family where hardware is dinner table conversation—Her mom leads PCB design for Google Glass, her dad heads R&D for a high-end headphone company, and her little brother is in charge of product at quantified car startup Automatic. Nixie team members Michael Niedermayr, Floris Ernst, Stefan Niedermayr, Steven Le, Kris Winer, and Jeremy Swerdlow add expertise in motion prediction algorithms, design, and engineering.
Despite a world-class technical pedigree, Nixie will require near perfect execution of both control algorithms, usability affordances, and industrial design. Current prototypes are light, but lack the durability and polish consumers will require. Concept renderings show a gleaming white future for Nixie, but finding durable, lightweight, and flexible materials to make it a reality is no small task.
“Anything wearable has to beautiful. I heard someone say ‘wearables need to be sensual and need to represent you as a person’ which is a tremendous design challenge,” says Jovanovic. “Fortunately, no one on our team is inspired by small problems.”
One thing that’s settled is the name. “A heavy word like drone wasn’t going to take off for the average consumer,” says Kohstall who also dinged “falcon” because of its aggressive connotations. Inspired by his submersible drone he chose “Nixie” which is a playful German water spirit, like a mermaid. “Nixie, was cute, light, and fun so the name stuck.”
Nixie is one of 10 projects in the running to win $500,000 in seed funding fromIntel’s Make It Wearable competition. Unfortunately, there is no word yet on retail pricing or availability.
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