U-2 Spy Plane With AI Equipped ARTUµ Co-Pilot

New technology emerged to tackle the need to have a co-pilot on U-2 Spy Plane. Before this any U-2 spy plane needs to have 2 man operating it. One's is piloting it while the others will manage all the electronics and reconnaissance services.

Now.. things have changes.

The United States Air Force just hit a major milestone involving the intersection of artificial intelligence and human-controlled flight. A mission yesterday with a U-2 spy plane out of California saw an onboard AI system working together with a pilot. 

The Air Force said in a statement that this partnership represents the very first moment that AI has served as “a working aircrew member onboard a military aircraft.” The AI system, which the Air Force calls ARTUµ, handled the operation of a sensor, while the pilot did other duties. “During this flight, ARTUµ was responsible for sensor employment and tactical navigation, while the pilot flew the aircraft and coordinated with the AI on sensor operation,” the Air Force said. 

The military notes that the AI that controlled the sensor had trained by learning from data that represented more than 500,000 “simulated training iterations.” Its goal was to look for missile launchers using the radar.

U-2 spy planes are known as complex crafts to fly—the aviators within them must wear spacesuits—and if the AI performed well, it would mean that a busy pilot would have fewer tasks to do while operating the high-altitude, intelligence-gathering aircraft.

What Is WiFi 6E

Hey guys.... Have you heard about WiFi 6E? 

Back in 2019, WiFi 6 debuted, promising faster, more reliable connections, especially when it comes to multiple devices sucking up lots of bandwidth on the same network. 

The new 6E encompasses the same basic technology as WiFi 6, but it gets a lot more space in which it can move data, which leads to less interference and fewer traffic jams.

“In the 2.4 Ghz band, you’d typically use 20 MHz channels which are relatively small and there were really only three non-overlapping channels that you had to share with your neighbors and people in your condos,”. 

“Contrast that to 6 Ghz, where you have seven non-overlapping 160 megahertz channels and you have channels that are eight times larger and you have more than double the number.” The 5 GHz channel also handles essential functions for utilities like weather satellites, which requires safeguards to prevent interference. In some regions, that causes even more restrictions on the bands available for our devices.

Because of the short wavelengths, 6 GHz should excel in allowing devices to communicate with one another at high speeds over short distances. So, two devices in the same room should feel a real speed bump from the move to 6E.

Yes, New technology need new equipment to accommodate its function. Same goes to WiFi 6E. 

Of course, accessing this new part of the spectrum does require compatible hardware and, because the 6 GHz space wasn’t available when WiFi 6 originally showed up in 2019, it wasn’t part of the overall plan. So, while WiFi 6E routers are starting to roll out including the massive Asus ROG Rapture GT0AXE110000 pictured above, this year, it’s unlikely your phone or computer could take advantage of the extra speed.

Going into 2021, however, expect to see it popping up a lot more as WiFi Alliance will start certifying devices to work with WiFi 6E. Qualcomm’s powerful Snapdragon 865 Plus system on a chip which powers some high-end Android phones supports it natively. Qualcomm’s newest chip, the Snapdragon 888, also supports WiFi 6E and will likely show up in many of the flagship Android devices next year.

What If Apple Running Their Own Search Engine?

What do you think when Apple started running their own search engine? Yes. I know it will not be easy for Apple to compete with Google Search but with many people around the world are using Apple product (MacBook, iPhone, iPad and others), surely it can capture the market with ease.

Small corners of the internet are ablaze with the news that Apple has significantly ramped up its search bot activity. Search bots typically scan websites in order to rank and index them for search engine results. When you look for something on a search engine, the results that appear are ordered by “ranking”, meaning that the result that is most accurate to what you are looking for appears at the top. 

This increase in activity also appears alongside pressure from the UK competition commission to break up Apple’s multi-billion dollar sweetheart deal with Google. The deal ensures that Google is the default search engine for Apple’s iOS devices. Many are now anticipating that Apple is on track to launch its own search engine soon.

I'm sure this will bring much fanfare to all Apple user who are frustrated with the things running behind when using Google Search. Most people that I know already feel suspicious about Google and their technology. They feel that Google are watching all their track and feed them to the third party.

Apple’s search engine will have a different future if rumors about its business model are true. Apple has been focusing heavily on user privacy recently, including but not limited to, publicly refusing to give secret access to its devices to the FBI. It will be very much in line with this “privacy-first” position that Apple chooses not to make money from advertising, which involves exposing customer usage data to third parties. 

Instead, it could simply sell more of its highly profitable devices and subscriptions to privacy-conscious customers. By not following Google’s footsteps, Apple does not have to engage with the search giant on its terms.

With its latest iOS 14 update, Apple has already started swapping out Google search results in favor of its own. Most iOS users have barely noticed the change for all the reasons given above. But this silent swapping does not come without its own set of challenges. By defaulting to its search engine instead of Google on its devices, Apple will open itself to monopoly criticism from competition commissions in a variety of markets. It is also likely to upset the advertising industry who could lose their reach to Apple customers. The Apple customer base is a coveted one thanks to its better than average buying power, and by making it easier for users to avoid search ads, Apple might just create a tectonic shift in the advertising industry as a whole. 

Google’s dominance on internet search will not come to an end with Apple’s entry into the foray, but it would definitely weaken in the face of increasing consumer preference for privacy. Given that Google’s business model differs dramatically from Apple’s, it is likely that the search giant would have to learn to uncomfortably live with its rival’s search engine instead of pivoting to compete with it head-on.