Momentum - October 2020 - 15

BRIEFS
NSF CREATES NEW ENGINEERING
RESEARCH CENTERS

Teaching the model using multiple modalities reinforces a robust
representation of the drone's experience.

CMU RESEARCH BRIDGES
THE SIMULATION-TO-REALITY
GAP OF DRONES
A novel method developed by Carnegie Mellon University
researchers allows drones to learn perception and action
separately. The two-stage approach overcomes the
"simulation-to-reality gap," and creates a way to safely deploy
drones trained entirely on simulated data into real-world
course navigation. "Typically drones trained on even the best
photorealistic simulated data will fail in the real world because
the lighting, colors, and textures are still too different to
translate," said Rogerio Bonatti, a doctoral student in the
School of Computer Science's Robotics Institute. "Our
perception module is trained with two modalities to increase
robustness against environmental variabilities."

WHACKING THE HACKING
AT UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

iStock

Ironpatch is a
fundamental shift
from the types of
software patches
that are common
on widely used
computer
systems like PCs.
Even the most advanced cars and other vehicles hide a rat's
nest of electronics-hundreds of processors and millions of
lines of code that were designed separately but now must work
together under the hood for years at a time. Keeping such a
hodge-podge of systems updated and free of security
vulnerabilities is the goal of a research project at the University
of Michigan, which is being aided by a $1.8 million grant from
DARPA to fix the problem with a system called Ironpatch. Part
of DARPA's $50 million Assured Micropatching Program, the
four-year project aims to develop a self-contained patching
system to solve the growing problem of security vulnerabilities
in cars and large vehicles such as trucks and spacecraft.

MOMENTUM

Two of four new
engineering research
centers funded by the U.S.
National Science
Foundation (NSF) will focus
on mobility matters. NSF
Engineering Research
Center for Advancing
Sustainability through
Powered Infrastructure for
Roadway
Electrification seeks to
create sustainable,
Utah State University (UTU) professor
equitable, and widespread
electrification of vehicles by Regan Zane is a pioneer in power
electronics and electrified roadway
creating low-cost,
technology. The university has been
ubiquitous, and worry-free
awarded a five-year, $26 million grant
charging. The center
by the U.S. National Science
involves four partner
Foundation to continue work on
universities: Utah State
electrified roadways.
University (lead), Purdue
University, University of
Colorado, and University of Texas at El Paso. NSF Engineering
Research Center for the Internet of Things for Precision
Agriculture seeks to ensure food, energy, and water security
with new systems to increase crop production while minimizing
energy and water use and environmental impacts of
agricultural practices. The center involves four partner
universities: University of Pennsylvania (lead); Purdue
University; University of California - Merced; and University of
Florida. NSF is investing $104 million in the four new centers
over the next five years.

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
ADVANCES AT AUBURN UNIVERSITY
Thanks to a recent $3 million grant from the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), the National Center for Additive
Manufacturing Excellence (NCAME) at Auburn University will
soon initiate a two-year project focused on improving
commercial air travel through the use of 3D-printed (or
additively manufactured) metal components. The project
involves fabricating metal parts from multiple industrial-scale
metal 3D printers. It aims to specifically address issues related
to understanding the variability in performance of the same
parts made on different machines, as well as issues related to
understanding how microscopic features in the 3D-printed
metal affect overall fatigue and fracture properties. Both are
key areas in the development of additive manufacturing (AM)
specifications that the FAA wants to eventually apply in
commercial airlines.  

October 2020 15
Momentum - October 2020

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