Identify, track, capture
Sandia robotics experts are working on a way to intercept enemy unmanned aircraft systems midflight. They recently completed a successful test using a swarm of four unmanned aircraft systems to intercept a flying target, using a net to trap it in air like an insect caught in a web and safely lower it to the ground.
Four Sandia scientists elected AIAA associate fellows
Sandia scientists Jacqueline Chen, Tucker Lavin, Humberto Silva III and Justin Smith have been elected associate fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. To be selected as an associate fellow, an AIAA senior member must be in good standing, with at least 12 years’ professional experience, and be recommended by a minimum of three other associate fellows.
Quantum Information Edge
The Quantum Information Edge, a nationwide alliance of national laboratories and universities, has launched to maintain U.S. leadership in next-generation information technology and advance the frontiers of quantum computing systems, which have the potential to make calculations that are far beyond the reach of today’s computers.
Sandia teaches undergrads a lesson or two about cybersecurity
Hundreds of cybersecurity professionals and college students gathered around the country Nov. 16 for a day of cyber wargames. The event, DOE’s roughly annual CyberForce Competition, was created to teach and inspire the next generation of cybersecurity professionals by giving them an opportunity to apply their skills against realistic problems. In its second year as host, Sandia worked with 10 teams in this year's event.
State of the Labs
Labs Director Steve Younger gave his annual State of the Labs address on Oct. 30, encouraging Sandians to pause and think about what we’ve accomplished and where Sandia is headed. He described numerous accomplishments and praised Labs employees for taking intellectual leadership in defining the future of nuclear deterrence.
California veterans honored at annual ceremony
Nearly 200 people gathered around the flagpole at the Sandia/California campus on Nov. 11 to honor and respect America’s veterans. The ceremony marking Veterans Day was organized by the Military Support Committee.
Veterans honored at annual New Mexico celebration
Sandia celebrated the 100th anniversary of Veteran’s Day in the Steve Schiff Auditorium on Nov. 7. President Woodrow Wilson first enacted the day honoring veterans one year after the Armistice ending World War One.
R&D 100
The venerable R&D 100 contest, slightly more than 50 years old, has a new owner, and the competition continues. Competing in an international pool of universities, corporations and government labs, Sandia inventions captured four R&D 100 Awards this year, as well as two environmental and one business award.
Fuel property put to the test at Sandia’s CRF
Researchers at Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility are working to understand the fundamentals of phi-sensitivity, a key fuel property that represents how the autoignition reactivity of the fuel varies with the fuel/air equivalence ratio. This will help increase the efficiency and facilitate the development of practical low-temperature gasoline combustion engines.
Exceptional service in the national interest
Two dates are well known to Sandians: the day President Harry Truman wrote a letter calling for “exceptional service in the national interest” and the day Sandia (previously Z Division) separated from its parent, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and became the entity we know it as today.