Hardware Podcasts

200. Scared of Flying Boeing? Nature Might Be The Solution

The Next Byte Podcast · 12 Nov 2024 · 24m

What this episode covers

Hosts Daniel and Forbode discuss a Princeton University study on how layered 'covert' feathers on bird wings prevent stalling, and how engineers are mimicking this with passive flaps on airplane wings. They analyze the aerodynamic benefits, including a 45% lift increase and 30% drag reduction, and contrast this bio-inspired solution with the historical Boeing 737 MAX MCAS failures caused by stall-related issues. The hosts also explore potential applications in automotive, marine, and wind energy sectors.

Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Princeton, Boeing, Airbus, Wevolver
Products
Boeing 737 MAX, MCAS

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Oxide and Friends · 1h 29m

    Flying Blind with Peter Robison

    Peter Robison, author of 'Flying Blind', joins Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal to discuss the cultural and engineering failures at Boeing that led to the 737 MAX crashes. Robison contrasts the team-oriented 'working together' culture of the 777 program with the finance-driven, cost-cutting mentality that emerged after the McDonnell Douglas merger, specifically citing the influence of Jack Welch’s management style. The conversation details how the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) was designed with a single Angle of Attack (AOA) sensor, lacked pilot awareness, and was kept out of training manuals to avoid simulator costs for airlines like Southwest. Robison highlights the suppression of dissenting engineers, such as Curtis Eubank, and the lack of technical scrutiny from both Boeing leadership and the FAA, resulting in catastrophic software decisions that prioritized stock price over safety.

    Debugging & failure analysisLeadership, teams & culture
    8 chapters

  • EE Times Current · 15m

    Nvidia’s GTC | Boeing 737 Max | AI Special Projects

    Junko Yoshida, global coeditor of Aspencore Media, discusses the Boeing 737 Max crashes with editor-in-chief Brian Santo, attributing the failures to Boeing's decision to retrofit engines on an existing airframe and the resulting addition of the MCAS software as an afterthought. Rick Merritt reports on Nvidia's GTC conference, noting the absence of a 7nm GPU announcement, and previews an AI special project featuring insights from Dean Caiman of Cayman AI and HPE regarding the challenges of sensor fusion and neural network models. The episode also covers the U.S. Exascale supercomputer contract awarded to Intel and Cray, and a patent infringement verdict in the Qualcomm versus Apple case.

    Embedded firmwareAI & machine learning
    6 chapters

  • Hard Tech Podcast · 41m

    Colby Harvey: Drones for Aircraft Inspections, Boeing, Air Force, Air Safety | Hard Tech Podcast #13

    Colby Harvey, CEO of UltraView, explains how his startup uses autonomous drones equipped with 3D LiDAR and AI to inspect aircraft for defects like stress fractures and lightning strikes. He discusses the company's design process with Hatch Duo, its customers including Boeing and the U.S. Air Force, and the regulatory challenges of FAA approval for outdoor inspections. Harvey also addresses the impact of automation on maintenance jobs, the technical failures behind the Boeing 737 Max crashes, and the future of hardware versus software in the tech industry.

    Robotics & autonomyAI & machine learning
    8 chapters

  • Robot Talk · 18m

    Episode Thirty-Six: Ignazio Maria Viola

    Professor Ignazio Maria Viola from the University of Edinburgh discusses his ERC Consolidator Grant Dandidrone project, which applies bio-inspired fluid mechanics to create unpowered, dandelion-inspired drones for swarm sensing. He explains the aerodynamic challenge of flying at insect scale, highlighting the discovery of a stable 'separated vortex ring' enabled by the seed's porosity. Viola details the structural engineering hurdles, noting that conventional manufacturing produces objects 100 times heavier than the 0.6mg target, requiring collaboration with Heriot-Watt University and biomedical fabrication techniques. The episode covers applications for environmental monitoring, including air quality sampling and crop health assessment, using biodegradable or self-consuming sensors.

    Robotics & autonomyMechanical engineering
    7 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Next Byte Podcast. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.