NASA building network cables so fast they can survive supersonic flight - could this finally deliver unbreakable RJ45 latching tabs?
- Reference: 1606287433
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/11/25/nasa_building_network_cables_so/
- Source link:
The cables are needed for a project called “SCHAMROQ” – aka Schlieren, Airborne Measurements, and Range Operations for QueSST.
Keen-minded Reg readers will recall that QueSST is NASA’s attempt to create [1]a new supersonic jetliner , code-named the X-59, that doesn’t make a deafening sonic boom.
SCHAMROQ is the project that will build the instruments used to measure the X-59’s audio output. Those instruments will fly on an F-15 aircraft that follows X-59 test flights so will need to survive supersonic flight and the X-59’s shockwave.
NASA deputy instrumentation lead Matthew Waldersen said part of the testing process requires the usage of a network switch with cables, which NASA has [2]described as “similar to an ethernet network, but for airplanes.”
Concorde without the cacophony: NASA thinks it's cracked quiet supersonic flight [3]READ MORE
Armstrong Flight Research Center in California oversees the X-59, but Kennedy Space Centre in Florida got the job of building the cables.
NASA’s branch chief of testing and design in Kennedy Space Center Engineering, Jeff Crisafulli, said the base has just the right people to build these very fast cables.
“These are highly skilled technicians, with 25-30 years of experience fabricating and designing, the NASA way,” Crisafulli said. “They’re considered part of the team.”
The planes chasing the X-59 will use an instrument called the “Shock Sensing Probe” which NASA says will employ “a schlieren photography technique to visualize the X-59's shockwaves as they distort light through a camera”.
Readers will be aware that many NASA projects have produced spin-offs that have applications outside of the aerospace industry. The Register hopes this one produces unbreakable RJ45 latching tabs – surely a long-overdue innovation! ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2018/04/03/nasa_lockheed_martin_silent_supersonic_plane/
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/teamwork-advances-quiet-supersonic-technology.html
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2017/06/27/concorde_without_the_cacophony_nasa_thinks_its_cracked_quiet_supersonic_flight/
[4] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: No!
Isn't that why they invented that ubiquitous tool, the paperclip?
Not so much a red herring as a pink sprat
"so fast they can survive supersonic flight"
[1] What has data rate ("so fast"?) got to do with surviving the stresses of a sonic boom?
[2] What's special about these cables (apart from a supposition about latching tabs)?
It would be really nice if both these questions were actually answered.
No need to reinvent the wheel
I suspect that we are only talking about manually assembling cables out of COTS parts. There are numerous mil-spec / aviation grade solutions for Ethernet.
The most reliable would probably be to utilize an existing connector syystem with machined pins (which can be reliably hand-crimped. If RJ45 compatibility is required, then there are numerous rugged solutions that maintain pin compatibility. https://www.amphenol-socapex.com/en/products/connectors/rugged-ethernet-usb-display/rugged-ethernet-connectors
Just do not ask what a single connection costs. Prices tend to go beyond eye-watering. However, if a broken off retaining tab can cost you the aircraft, then this is an investment workh considering.
..mine is the one with a de-pinning tool and a wire harness plan in the left pocket..
Re: No need to reinvent the wheel
Yeah, the price ratios are like
bike part : car part : air plane part (and I guess MilSpec is another order of magnitude)
water : whisky : single malt
liquid N2 : He : He3
Re: No need to reinvent the wheel
Airplane part and MilSpec intermingle. Just do not mistake UltraLight part or General Aviation part for "real" aircraft part. Automotive Part is interesting. High part numbers press the part cost down. Quality is often very good. However, purchasing can be difficult (unless you plan to buy 10.000 units), and the part-specific installation tools can be eye-wateringly expensive, non-reusable and unobtainable.
Hand-assembly (crimping etc.) can negate the quality advantage of Automotive Parts.
Re: No need to reinvent the wheel
>> liquid N2 : He : He3 : Printer Ink
Fixed it for you.
What exactly is the problem these special cables need to overcome? I can't make it out from the article. Surely it can't just be a "cable that survives flying at over Mach 1" or one that "survives a sonic boom"?
What exactly is the problem these special cables need to overcome?
Lack of newsworthyness? :-)
I've built items used in the International Space Station - one factor that is important in that environment is to demonstrate that the materials used in the cables, moldings, and connectors do not release any toxic chemicals under the unique conditions that may be encountered up there.
Noise meassurements from an F15
Pah, who are they trying to kid.
I got buzzed by a couple of pairs of F15s up in the Lakes a month or so ago. The noise sort of hits you like a sledge hammer and these ones weren't trying to go supersonic. The chance of hearing anything in the vicinity seems unlikely. Or maybe that's the point. This way they can claim the new toy is silent because they couldn't hear a thing.
Re: Noise meassurements from an F15
Unlike the 'hogs, which are scarily silent. Saw them much earlier than I heard them (caught the movement when they came over some trees) - ouf course I would have been deader than dead by then if I were a tank, but usually they do not prey on hikers...
They still were rather loud when they passed, though.
Re: Noise meassurements from an F15
I've had the experience of not hearing fast jets until they're on top of you many times, or sometimes even before they are underneath you, which is much more fun. This was at the western end of Wast Water so not on the Mach loop. and at close to sea level so they were going over head for us, but they came up the valley well below the top of Yewbarrow and Middle Fell. Again it's not unusual to see military jets there, but this is the first time I've seen F15s and they seemed much louder than anything else 'veI heard there. Hearing them before they arrive might be down the sound being reflected around the valley as they were subsonic. The noise level goes up massively once you're behind them, but they were loud before.
Re: Noise meassurements from an F15
Fast jet low flying training...
[1]https://machloop.co.uk/
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_Loop
[3]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INcWJYFvSkQ
[4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-7zHlOi4T4
"Star Wars Canyon" - Death Valley
[5]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiAW6u4Yt1w
The view from inside the cockpit...
[6]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT7qrYi8R_M
[1] https://machloop.co.uk/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_Loop
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INcWJYFvSkQ
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-7zHlOi4T4
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiAW6u4Yt1w
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT7qrYi8R_M
Don't understand
Speed doesn't have any impact on a cable's performance. Acceleration does, but the shock of dropping a bunch of cables on the floor before starting an install will probably be more stressful than the acceleration to Mach whatever. As someone above points out, there are already plenty of specs for military applications which would cover this. From my experience, anything that can survive the UK navy's gunfire shock and vibration specs can probably survive anything a supersonic jet can chuck at it.
Re: Don't understand
Are they implying that one end is still attached to the ground station so that the cable is very long and has to pay out at super sonic speed?
Re: Don't understand
The toughest grade for equipment I've ever heard of is "toddler-proof". Do Fisher-Price do consultancy work?
Re: Do Fisher-Price do consuting?
Yeah, but under the brand names Serco and Capita.
Re: Don't understand
Have things changed in the last 50 years? MIL-SPEC used to mean individually tested to destruction and unlikely to survive 10 minutes in the field.
So about the pilot then, or the passengers?
So the cable needs to survive supersonic flight - seem to recall lots of people "survived" supersonic flight while drinking Champagne from actual glasses?
Ethercon
Would seem to be a complete solution to the problem of vibration affecting the physical connector.
Else hot glue...
I would be more concerned that the little springs in the network switch which make contact might get bounced off their contacts for a moment, but again, a small plastic shim would likely suffice.
It is soooo 20th century...
What about 5G ?
Slow day in the NASA public affairs office
See title.
Want to be retentive? A dab of 3M DP-420 epoxy will do ya. AFTER you make sure the connection actually works. Don't forget that part... Almost sailor proof.
No!
Breakable latching tabs are the best invention.
Break it where the narrow part widens then the wankers cant remove them. Reduced the number of times a thousand fold when I had to go out and patch back in IP phones (despite them having a pass through port with attached cable), projectors, conference phones, digital displays, av equipment and on and on.
Apparently breaking tabs was a good idea, but breaking the fingers of those that kept unpatching this was not an acceptable, although preferred, option