PCB007 Magazine

PCB007-Sept2018

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SEPTEMBER 2018 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 77 be done to minimize supply disruption. One thing to look for is a supplier that has multi- ple facilities so that if one is subject to a natu- ral disaster, for example, your product can be temporarily moved to another plant. In some regions of the world, having an independent source of electricity is another critical factor to avoid supply delays. Finally, choose a suppli- er that has a formal business continuity plan in place. The credibility and reputation of your com- pany is based in part on your supply chain and you are only as good as your weakest link. Choose wisely. PCB007 Steve Williams is the president of The Right Approach Consulting. To contact Williams, or read past columns or contact williams, click here. space Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and the UT team leader on the project. "In addition to the techni- cal expertise we bring to this area, we also already have a rig to test new rotor configurations right here on campus." Sirohi is one of the country's leading experts in un- manned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, VTOL aircraft and fixed- and rotary-wing aeroelasticity. He and his team, which includes postdoctoral fellow Christopher Cameron and Charles Tinney from UT's Applied Research Labora- tories, will explore the efficiency and noise signature of stacked co-rotating rotors, or propellers, for VTOL. (Source: The University of Texas at Austin) Researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin will work with the U.S. Army Research Labs (ARL) and Uber Elevate to help devel- op new rotor technology for vehicles to be used in Uber's proposed urban aviation ride-share network—uberAIR. Last year, Uber announced that the first Uber Elevate cities would be Dallas (DFW metroplex) and Los Angeles, with a goal of flight demonstrations in 2020 and plans to make uberAIR commercially available to riders in those cities by 2023. As part of the uberAIR program, the com- pany has entered into partnerships with several major air- craft manufacturers and signed a space act agreement with NASA, which will stimu- late the development of new unmanned traffic manage- ment concepts and aerial safety systems. The design of the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft to be used in the proj- ect specifies that it is a fully electric vehicle with a cruis- ing speed of 150-200 mph, a cruising altitude of 1,000- 2,000 feet and the ability to complete trips of up to 60 miles on a single charge. "UT is uniquely positioned to contribute to this new technology," said Jayant Sirohi, associate professor in UT's Department of Aero- Texas Engineers Work with Uber and Army Research Labs on uberAIR

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