New Form of Spacecraft Propulsion Proposed For Uranus Mission | MIT Technology Review

Interesting concept: an electric sail for spacecraft and probes - New Form of Spacecraft Propulsion Proposed For Uranus Mission | MIT Technology Review

New Courses on MIT's OpenCourseWare

A few new courses available on MIT's OpenCourseWare:

Prediction: Machine Learning and Statistics

Prediction is an important step in science, with the ability to extend a theory to yet-unobserved phenomenon. Over the past decades, this has been extended by machine learning, a generic name to cover all the techniques and algorithms that can make predictions based on a set of data. MIT's 15.097 "Prediction: Machine Learning and Statistics" covers the most important parts of this field of Artificial Intelligence.

Introduction To MATLAB Programming

MATLAB has evolved a lot over the last few years and its domains of applications are limitless: modelization, data processing and visualization and so forth.  MIT's 18.S997 "Introduction to MATLAB Programming" will help those beginning with that software and explains the very basics and progress through a few elementary steps: root finding, plotting and some other computations.

18.781 Theory of Numbers - MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT has released an introduction course to number theory under the 18.781 course.

18.330 Introduction to Numerical Analysis (MIT)

On its http://ocw.mit.edu, the MIT has published the new version of the undergraduate course 18.330 Introduction to Numerical Analysis, dated of Spring 2012.

A good grasp of calculus, differential equations and linear algebra is required to fully enjoy it.

The topics covered are:

• Series expansions: from calculus to computation
• Integrals as sums and derivatives as differences
• Interpolation, splines, and a second look at numerical calculus
• Numerical methods for ODE, initial-value problems
• Root finding, Newton's method, boundary-value problems
• Fourier transform, Fourier series, Shannon sampling theory
• Bandlimited interpolation, spectral methods
• Least-squares approximation
• Principal component analysis

Numerical Analysis is the underpinning of modelisation and simulation ,  at the heart of modern physics and engineering fields.

How to Process, Analyze and Visualize Data

Another great course on MIT OpenCourseWare: How to process, analyze and visualize data. Through different examples, fundamental concepts of data analysis and visualisation are presented in a clear way. My favorite part deals with the analysis of text documents.

All the codes are written in python, and it assumes the reader has a working knowledge of the language plus the ability to install some development libraries. A basic understanding of statistics is also of great help.

Fixed-wing drone from MIT

Only one word: wow!


Autonomous fixed-wing drone threads the needled in a parking garage:


We’ve got something of a love affair going on with quadcopters, but there’s still room for a little something on the side. This fixed-wing drone can pull off some pretty amazing navigation. MIT’s Robust Robotics Group is showing off the work they’ve done with the plane, culminating in a death-defying flight through a parking garage (video after the break). This may not sound like a huge accomplishment, but consider that the wingspan is over two meters and repeated runs at the same circuit brought it within centimeters of clipping support columns.
Unlike the precision quadcopters which depend on stationary high-speed cameras for feedback, this drone is self-contained. It does depend on starting out with a map of its environment, using this in conjunction with a laser rangefinder and inertial sensors to plot its route and adjust as necessary. We think the thing must have to plan a lot further ahead than a quadcopter since it lacks the ability to put on the breaks and hover. This is, however, one of the strengths of the design. Since it uses a fixed-wing approach it can stay in air much longer than a quadcopter with the same battery capacity.



[via Reddit]

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