Aviation Weeks complete Imagining the future technology list

Aviation Weeks complete Imagining the future technology list 4 of the first 5 were different views of quantum computing and quantum related technology.

1. Quantum Revolution – quantum computers and quantum-related technologies will impact everything we do says Pete Rustan, former deputy director for mission support at the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

2. Quantum Sensing – quantum dots will be used extensively during the next 20 years-as optoelectronic devices to accelerate the speed of today’s networks by at least 30%; as photovoltaic devices to increase solar-cell efficiency from 30% to beyond 40%; as light-emitting devices for display sources using little power: and as improved photo-detectors to replace today’s focal-plane arrays with no background electron noise.”

3. Manufacturing the future – additive manufacturing is “a process that provides a net-shape capability where you only make what you need-no more, no less. No more 10:1 ‘buy-to-fly’ ratio of raw material to finished part. A process that allows for unprecedented weight optimization and for complex parts to be rapidly designed, manufactured and qualified

4. Connecting Small and Large

The quantum revolution will continue with the development of detectors able to detect single photons across the spectrum,” Elachi and Zmuidzinas say. “For ultimate sensitivity, we can harness yet another quantum effect, superconductivity.” Superconducting technology can also be used to produce visible and infrared cameras capable of measuring the energies of individual photons.

5. Quantum Innovations

While quantum computers will likely revolutionize computation, Barrett believes yet more powerful machines are possible with physical computing. “The idea behind this is that physical systems may naturally perform extraordinarily complex computations very quickly simply because their states evolve according to the laws of physics.”

6. Clean Energy – Low energy nuclear reaction (LENR)

7. Beyond Rockets – Orbitec is working on vortex and electric propulsion, heating vortex plasmas with microwaves [and] using water vapor as propellant.

8. Power of Light – optical networks that are 10,000 times faster and nanophotonics

9. Navigation on a Chip

10. High-Speed Future – hypersonic aircraft

11. Other Earths

12. Seeking Signs of Life – Exoplanets

13. Interstellar Overdrive – tau zero foundation breakthrough space propulsion

14. Faster, Smarter Control – Among new methods for controlling airflow, plasma aerodynamics-using electrical discharges to modify flow fields and gas properties-is potentially most promising, especially with the trend to “more electric” aircraft, says Sergey Leonov, a professor at the Russian Academy of Science. “Traditional methods are close to saturation in solving problems of flow or flight control, especially in off-design operation. An additional control mechanism is needed, one that is faster, smarter and more effective,” he says. Boundary-layer actuation is at the top of the applications list, and gliders, unmanned aircraft and rotorcraft could be the first to have onboard plasma generators. Most interest is in offset surface dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) actuation. A DBD plasma generator is a thin, flexible sheet that may be applied to any aerodynamic surface. In engines, meanwhile, electrical discharges can also enhance high-speed combustion by providing stable flame-holding and fast mixing, especially in ram/scramjets. “Plasma technology makes sense for the correction of flow fields and support of high-speed combustion under off-design modes,” Leonov says. “More effective, smarter and faster plasma-based controls could enhance aircraft stability, speed, payload and safety.”

15. Unmanned Flight Paths

16. Unnatural Materials – metamaterials

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