Author Archives: The Editor

Trimble Launches V 5.0 of Trimble Business Center 


Version 5.0 of Trimble Business Center merges two products, Trimble Business Center and Business Center – HCE, to provide both surveying and civil construction customers with a complete office software solution. Combining both products into one platform provides a larger set of tools and data interoperability between survey and construction workflows. Continue reading

Taliban Claims to Have Shot Down MQ-9 Reaper

An unmanned aircraft suffered a malfunction and crashed in Afghanistan in late October, U.S. military officials say. It then wound up in Taliban propaganda photos, where militants claimed they shot down the drone. Several pictures surfaced on Taliban channels over the past week, allegedly showing the wreckage of an armed U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone with large trucks in the background.

The serial number is legible on the aircraft wreckage, and what appears to be AGM-114 Hellfire missiles are laid out in a row beside the debris.

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Using Diamonds to Recharge Civilian Drones in Flight

A small lab-grown diamond measuring a few millimeters per side could one day enable civilian drones to be recharged in mid-flight through a laser. Thanks to the diamond, the laser beam can remain strong enough over a long distance to recharge photovoltaic cells on the drones’ surface. This system, which poses no threat to human health, is being developed by EPFL spin-off LakeDiamond. Continue reading