BYLINE: Tina M. Johnson

Newswise — Gevo, an advanced biofuels company based in Colorado, has licensed two patented catalyst technologies from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for use in the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

“This partnership will streamline the transition of ORNL’s catalyst technologies from lab scale to pilot-scale reactors,” said Andrew Sutton, senior scientist in the Manufacturing Science Division at ORNL. “By demonstrating industrial viability, our goal is to accelerate the commercialization of this technology in the U.S., boosting global competitiveness and domestic production of aviation fuel.”

SAF is an alternative fuel made from plant- or waste-based feedstocks. The International Air Transport Association, representing more than 80% of global air traffic, is interested in SAF. Many air carriers have agreed to buy the fuel at scale, but production efficiencies remain an issue.

To meet the challenge, researchers at ORNL developed catalysts that enable a single-step conversion of ethanol to olefins (ETO), which can then be used to produce SAF. A catalyst accelerates chemical reactions and enhances the efficiency of the fuel production process.

In addition to SAF, olefins serve as key building blocks for a wide range of products, including plastics, solvents and surfactants. The global plastics market is poised for continued growth, with forecasts predicting a market worth more than $1.3 trillion by 2033.

Ethanol, commonly derived from agricultural or cellulosic feedstocks, often serves as the basis for SAF production through its conversion to olefins — key intermediates that simplify and reduce the cost of large-scale fuel manufacturing. Building on this foundation, ORNL’s novel conversion process not only achieves high carbon efficiency but does so at equal or lower cost compared with conventional methods.

Through the DOE Technology Commercialization Fund, the partnership was awarded support for a three-year cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) to advance this technology for pilot-scale operation and industrial commercialization. Gevo will guide the overall process model and provide industry know-how for successful implementation in the company’s pilot reactor.

“Gevo’s collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory focuses on evaluating a novel catalytic process that converts ethanol into valuable fuel precursors and alternative chemicals like butadiene,” said Andrew Ingram, Gevo’s director of process chemistry and catalysis. “This work complements our broader ethanol conversion portfolio but is distinct from both our commercial deployment of Axens’ alcohol-to-jet process and our next-generation ETO platform. If the economics prove out, this pathway could provide a flexible, cost-effective option to scale U.S. bio-based solutions, driven by American innovation that creates new markets and demand for farmers producing feedstocks for energy and materials.”

ORNL provides extensive scale-up expertise, employing advanced characterization capabilities at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which was used to provide deeper insight into catalytic processes in larger chemical reactors.

Under the CRADA, ORNL will develop catalyst pellets and test their performance in an advanced chemical reactor. Researchers will develop a computational model based on the testing data generated that can accurately predict how the process will behave at scale to clear the way for industrial use. 

Global demand for jet fuel is expected to increase from 106 billion gallons in 2019 to 230 billion gallons by 2050. Expanding SAF use could help the aviation industry meet this demand while advancing U.S. energy independence and security.

This project was supported by DOE’s Alternative Fuels and Feedstocks Office, formerly known as the Bioenergy Technologies Office, through the Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy (ChemCatBio), a multi-laboratory consortium focused on accelerating the development of catalytic technologies that convert biomass and waste resources into bio-based fuels and chemicals. Initial program funding was provided by ORNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development and Technology Innovation programs.

In addition to Sutton, Stephen Purdy, Meijun Li, Michael Cordon and Hunter Jacobs are currently contributing to the CRADA project. Inventors of the patented technologies include ORNL’s Li and Brian Davison, former ORNL researcher Zhenglong Li and the University of Maryland’s Junyan Zhang. Jennifer Caldwell within Technology Transfer at ORNL negotiated the terms of the licensing agreement. Browse available chemical technologies for licensing.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit https://energy.gov/science. — Tina M. Johnson

The research could help develop methods for reducing intense noise that threatens aircraft and ground crews

Newswise — Researchers from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the Florida Center for Advanced Aero-Propulsion, or FCAAP, are helping to solve a safety challenge in military aviation: the extreme noise generated by supersonic jets during takeoff and landing.

The research, published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, demonstrates a new model for understanding how supersonic jets of air collide with the ground or other structures to create a resonant feedback loop that produces extreme noise that can reach dangerous volume levels.

The team examined jets like those found in a type of aircraft known as Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing jets, or STOVL. The ability to operate without a traditional runway gives these aircraft, such as the F-35B Lightning II, critical tactical advantages.

But as they descend toward the ground, their exhaust plumes interact with landing surfaces and generate intense noise, often exceeding 140 decibels, posing serious dangers to both aircraft structure and nearby personnel.

“Only a tiny fraction of the jet’s energy is transformed into sound, but this small fraction has a major impact,” said Farrukh S. Alvi, professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and former founding director of the Institute for Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Research, and Education, or InSPIRE, and founding director of FCAAP. “The intense noise produced by jet engines can cause structural damage to the aircraft and damage the hearing of personnel on the ground. We are trying to understand the physics behind these supersonic jets and the noise they produce so that we can develop tools that can reduce their impacts. In fact, we have already had some success in developing techniques that can reduce jet noise.”

Why it matters

When the high-speed air coming from jet engines mixes with the ambient air, it creates large-scale disturbances that hit the ground, producing strong sound waves that propagate back toward the jet engine. This establishes a repeating, back‑and‑forth interaction and creates resonance, an example of a feedback loop, causing loud and repeating noise. For aircraft, these resonant vibrations accelerate structural fatigue and can generate hazardous low-pressure zones that can pull the aircraft toward the ground.

For crewmembers on the ground, sustained exposure to sound levels over 140 decibels can cause permanent hearing damage, even when wearing protective equipment. At peak intensities, extreme acoustic pressure can even cause organ damage.

An animation showing an aircraft using supersonic jets for a vertical landing. As it descends toward the ground, exhaust plumes interact with landing surfaces to generate intense noise, often exceeding 140 decibels, posing serious dangers to both aircraft structure and nearby personnel. (Courtesy of Myungjun Song)

A new approach to modeling jet resonance

The research team tested a supersonic, Mach 1.5 jet — 1.5 times the speed of sound — and adjusted nozzle pressure and the jet’s distance from the ground to simulate take-off/landing and make a range of measurements.

To see the airflow, they used a high‑speed camera and a specialized visualization technique called schlieren imaging that allowed them to ‘see’ the jet flow — including its large-scale disturbances and the sound waves generated in real time. At the same time, a highly sensitive microphone also recorded the sound produced by the jet.

When the jet is loud, the jet flow and the sound waves repeat at a regular rhythm, which is a characteristic of a resonant cycle. By matching images to a specific point in the cycle, the researchers developed a clear picture of the airflow and measured how fast large-scale disturbances in air moved and how sound waves traveled back toward the nozzle.

The researchers found that for many cases, the pitch — how the human brain perceives the frequency of sound waves — of the noise was primarily governed by acoustic standing waves, which appear stationary in space between the body of the plane and the ground. The findings reveal that the pitch is not primarily governed by disturbance velocity, thereby offering another perspective on the existing understanding of the resonance feedback. They also found that slower disturbances tend to be larger, consequently creating louder noise.

“That was surprising,” said postdoctoral researcher Myungjun Song, the study’s lead author. “We found that these acoustic standing waves are much more important in determining the pitch, while the size and speed of the disturbances decide the level or ‘loudness’ of the noise produced.”

The discovery offered the research team an insight. Because the disturbance speed has little effect on pitch, information about acoustic standing waves would be enough to predict the noise pitch.

The new model enables engineers to predict noise frequencies more easily during aircraft and landing pad design, a critical step toward protecting both aircraft structures and personnel from acoustic trauma.

World-class research facilities drive discovery

The experiments were conducted at FCAAP’s specialized research facilities, designed for advanced high-speed aerodynamic studies at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.

Researchers used the FCAAP’s STOVL facility, which offers cutting-edge flow diagnostic capabilities, and the hot jet facility, which can generate high-temperature, high-speed airflow in an anechoic chamber to allow for highly accurate acoustic measurements under realistic jet conditions.

“While jet propulsion is an important focus of our work, our research is not limited to it,” Alvi said. “The university and the college, through FCAAP, operates a polysonic wind tunnel that simulates supersonic flows up to Mach 6 — supersonic to hypersonic conditions. We also use our anechoic wind tunnel and subsonic wind tunnels for numerous other aerospace related research projects. Together, these facilities and the expertise of our researchers create a one-of-a-kind ecosystem for conducting leading-edge research in aerospace and aviation.”

An associated initiative, InSPIRE is an FSU-led effort to establish a new aerospace and advanced manufacturing hub in Bay County, Florida. The program builds on FCAAP’s foundation to develop complementary facilities for larger hypersonic wind tunnels that can handle a wider range of conditions for applied, industry-relevant research.

“In partnership with industry, InSPIRE is also integrating advanced manufacturing capabilities that will allow much more efficient test and evaluation and assist our industry partners to innovate manufacturing processes in a realistic factory-modeled setting,” said Alvi, the former director of InSPIRE. “Working with industry partners allows our researchers to use their expertise to solve the pressing and difficult problems that are directly relevant for industry.”

Research team and support

The project was a collaborative effort involving Song, the study’s lead author; Alvi; and graduate student Serdar Seçkin.

Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research, with additional support from the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, FCAAP, the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the Don Fuqua Eminent Scholar Fund.

Newswise — While long airport security lines have inconvenienced thousands of travelers, there is one group profiting: Clear. In the past month, the Clear app has been downloaded nearly 290,000 times, 3 times more downloads from this time last year. Additionally, Clear’s stock has risen by 60%. 

For expert context, consider a conversation with Jungho Suh, teaching assistant professor of management in the Department of Management at the George Washington University School of Business. Suh is available to discuss the advantages Clear provides in the current travel environment and why their model has proven successful in a time of turbulence.. 

If you would like to schedule an interview with Professor Suh, please contact Senior Media Relations Specialist Claire Sabin (claire.sabin@gwu.edu).

– GW –

BYLINE: Kitta MacPherson

Newswise — A bird banking in a crosswind doesn’t rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment.

Engineers at Rutgers University have taken a major step toward building bird-like drones that move the same way, flapping their wings like real birds, using electricity-driven materials instead of conventional electromagnetic motors to power them.

In a study published in Aerospace Science and Technology, aerospace researchers Xin Shan and Onur Bilgen describe a “solid state” bird-like drone, typically referred to as an ornithopter, whose flexible wings flap and twist without motors, gears or mechanical linkages. Instead, the system relies on the piezoelectric effect, special materials that change shape when voltage is applied.

“We apply electricity to the piezoelectric materials, and they move the surface directly, without extra joints, extra linkages or motors,” said Bilgen, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the Rutgers School of Engineering. “The wing is a composite including a piezoelectric material layer and a carbon-fiber layer. Apply voltage to the piezoelectric layer, and the whole composite flexes.”

With their bird-like design, ornithopters offer a level of flexibility that makes such drones well suited for future tasks such as search and rescue, environmental monitoring, inspection of hard-to-reach places, and urban package delivery, where aircraft must navigate around buildings, wires, people, and so much more.

The research team also developed a powerful computer model that connects all the important physics involved in flight at once: wing and body motion, aerodynamics, electrical dynamics, and the control architecture. That allows engineers to test and optimize designs virtually before building physical prototypes, saving time and money while speeding development.

“We’ve scientifically demonstrated that this type of ornithopter can be possible when we make certain material assumptions,” he said. “We can show the feasibility of designs that are not yet physically possible.”

For now, the primary obstacle is the performance of the piezoelectric material.

“Today’s piezoelectric materials are not capable enough,” Bilgen said. “However, our mathematical model allows us to look into the future with reasonable assumptions.”

Bilgen first encountered ornithopters in 2007 while he was a graduate student, but he said his interest deepened in 2013, when he began seriously exploring how flapping-wing flight might be reimagined using smart materials. Various companies have built experimental bird-like drones, but most existing designs rely on motors, gears and conventional actuators to drive wing motion.

Those systems, Bilgen said, struggle to match the performance of natural wings, which flex and respond continuously to changing air.

Bilgen says nature offers powerful lessons for engineers.

“Things that need to move fast must be lightweight,” he said. “That’s why bird wings are delicate structures, and aircraft wings mimic bird wings.”

While birds and insects provide inspiration for the work, Bilgen’s goal isn’t simple imitation.

“We don’t want to just mimic nature,” he said. “We want to exceed what nature does.”

So far, most prototypes of robotic birds rely on mechanisms that imitate bones and muscles. Bilgen’s team is taking a simpler path.

“We want to achieve flapping flight without bone-like structures or muscle-like actuators, flapping in a much simpler way,” he said.

Instead of motors acting as muscles, thin strips called Macro Fiber Composites (MFCs) are glued directly on their models onto flexible wings. When electricity flows through them, the wings flap, twist and morph.

“The carbon fiber acts like feathers and bone, and the surface-mounted MFCs act like muscles and nerves,” Bilgen explained.

Because the system has no gears or joints, the researchers call it a mechanism-free or solid state ornithopter.

Flapping wings offer advantages that spinning propellers found on conventional drones cannot, especially at small scales. “When flapping wings come in contact with the environment, they’re less destructive to themselves and to what they contact,” Bilgen said.

The use of piezoelectric materials or other smart materials could also improve renewable energy systems.

“A turbine blade is basically a rotating wing,” Bilgen said. “We’ve been looking at applying piezoelectric materials to turbine blades to see if there are aerodynamic benefits.”

By subtly changing blade shape in real time, engineers may be able to influence how air flows across the blade surface. That could lead to more efficient wind turbines, he said.

Explore more of the ways Rutgers research is shaping the future.

BYLINE: Russ Nelson

Newswise — The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, will host the Southeast Aerial Drone Competition (ADC) Regional Championship April 17–18 at Spragins Hall on the UAH campus. The event will bring middle and high school students from across the Southeast to Huntsville to compete in a series of team-based aerial drone challenges designed to test their technical knowledge, piloting skills and problem-solving abilities. Participants will apply science, technology, engineering and mathematics principles in real-world scenarios, demonstrating both engineering design and flight operations expertise.

The regional event is hosted by UAH’s Rotorcraft Systems Engineering and Simulation Center (RSESC), a research center focused on advancing innovation in aerospace systems and autonomous technologies. By serving as the site of the Southeast Regional Championship, UAH continues to strengthen its role as a leader in STEM education and workforce development, while connecting university research and expertise with K-12 outreach initiatives.

“At RSESC, we view the Southeast Aerial Drone Competition as an investment in the future of uncrewed systems, robotics and the STEM workforce,” says Justin Kumor, a principal research engineer at RSESC and UAH lead organizer of the competition. “Hosting this event reflects our commitment to developing talent, expanding opportunity and strengthening the partnerships that drive innovation.”

The championship is sanctioned by the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation (RECF), the governing body for the Aerial Drone Competition. The public is encouraged to attend and watch the competition, and admission is free.

Student teams must qualify at a REC Foundation–sanctioned qualifying event during the 2025–2026 season in order to compete. Participating teams represent middle and high schools from across the Southeast region, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The ADC is a STEM-focused, hands-on experience in which student teams compete in four distinct missions designed to assess technical proficiency, teamwork and problem-solving skills:

• Teamwork Mission: Two teams work together in a timed match to score points collaboratively on a field designed for strategic drone operations.
• Piloting Skills Mission: An individual team pilots a drone through an obstacle course, scoring points for precision, timing and execution.
• Autonomous Flight Skills Mission: Teams program their drones to fly autonomously, completing tasks without manual control and earning points for successful autonomous operations.
• Communications Mission: Teams interview with judges and explain their work, design decisions, programming logic and logbook documentation — demonstrating both technical understanding and communication skills.

Volunteers needed

UAH is seeking volunteers to assist with the event. Volunteers play an essential role in the success of the Aerial Drone Competition, with several opportunities available for individuals of all experience levels. Field Reset volunteers support match operations by accurately resetting the competition field after each round and assisting the Field Manager or Head Referee as needed. This high-energy, physically active role is ideal for enthusiastic participants who can follow field diagrams, move efficiently and respond to direction.

Inspectors help ensure fair play by verifying that drones meet competition rules and specifications using a provided checklist. This moderate-activity role requires attention to detail, teamwork and the ability to follow established guidelines. No prior experience is required for either position, and training will be provided prior to the event.

The volunteer registration deadline is April 12. Students, faculty staff and community members are encouraged to participate. Those interested may register by filling out the ADC Volunteer Registration Form.

Newswise — Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) transmit extremely weak signals that are vulnerable to interference and intentional jamming. Flex power technology allows ground controllers to redistribute signal energy, strengthening specific transmissions without increasing total satellite power. While this improves anti-interference capability, it also alters signal characteristics and introduces unexpected errors into high-precision positioning processes. Variations in signal strength can affect parameters such as code bias, satellite clock offset, and ionospheric corrections, potentially degrading positioning accuracy. Existing detection approaches remain limited, especially for the rapidly evolving BDS, and conventional processing models struggle to adapt to dynamic signal behavior. Based on these challenges, in-depth research is needed to understand and mitigate the impacts of flex power on satellite navigation performance.

Researchers from Space Engineering University, the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications Technology, the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Henan Polytechnic University, Shandong University of Science and Technology, and Wuhan University reported the findings (DOI: 10.1186/s43020-026-00190-3) in Satellite Navigation (2026) a comprehensive investigation into flex power operations in the GPS and the BDS. The study analyzed operational modes, developed a new detection method combining signal-to-noise measurements with hardware delay indicators, and evaluated impacts across positioning algorithms. Published in 2026, the work presents an integrated framework designed to maintain resilient PNT services under dynamically changing satellite signal conditions.

The team first examined how flex power redistributes signal energy across satellite channels. Unlike normal operations, flex power produces step-like variations in carrier-to-noise ratios, creating detectable signatures in observation data. Building on this insight, researchers proposed a dual-indicator detection approach combining carrier-to-noise density (C/N₀) measurements with hardware delay variations. This method significantly reduces false alarms while enabling accurate detection across both GPS and BDS.

The study then evaluated how flex power influences multiple components of high-precision navigation. Results showed that GPS signals remain relatively stable, whereas BDS satellites exhibit stronger sensitivity, with noticeable changes in code bias and observation consistency. To address these disruptions, the researchers introduced “resilient” estimation strategies that dynamically adjust processing models in response to flex power events.

New algorithms were developed for code bias correction, satellite clock offset estimation, and phase bias modeling, allowing navigation systems to switch seamlessly between normal and flex-power states. The framework also improves ionospheric modeling accuracy by compensating for signal fluctuations that traditional models treat as constant. Validation experiments demonstrated improved continuity and stability in Precise Point Positioning (PPP), confirming that navigation accuracy can be preserved even during active signal power redistribution.

According to the researchers, resilient positioning is becoming essential as satellite systems adopt more adaptive signal strategies. Flex power enhances anti-jamming capability but fundamentally changes signal behavior, meaning traditional static models are no longer sufficient. The team emphasized that detecting flex power in real time and adapting processing algorithms accordingly represents a key step toward next-generation integrated PNT systems. By linking signal monitoring with adaptive estimation, the approach ensures that navigation services remain reliable for both civilian and scientific users operating in challenging electromagnetic environments.

The proposed framework has broad implications for aviation navigation, autonomous transportation, disaster monitoring, and precision timing infrastructure. As GNSS systems increasingly employ adaptive transmission strategies to counter interference, resilient processing methods will be critical for maintaining uninterrupted services. The study’s detection and correction strategies could be integrated into global monitoring networks and next-generation GNSS receivers, improving robustness without requiring hardware changes. Beyond GPS and BDS, the methodology may also support future multi-constellation navigation systems, contributing to more secure and dependable global positioning services. Ultimately, the work advances the transition from static navigation models toward adaptive, interference-resilient satellite navigation architectures.

###

References

DOI

10.1186/s43020-026-00190-3

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1186/s43020-026-00190-3

Funding information

This research was funded by Scientific Research Key Laboratory Fund (Grant No. SYS-ZX02-2024-01).

About Satellite Navigation

Satellite Navigation (E-ISSN: 2662-1363; ISSN: 2662-9291) is the official journal of Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The journal aims to report innovative ideas, new results or progress on the theoretical techniques and applications of satellite navigation. The journal welcomes original articles, reviews and commentaries.

Newswise — Adelaide University researchers have initiated the development of a world-first cybersecurity system designed to protect drones from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.

A new study led by the Industrial AI Research Centre and published in the international journal Computers and Industrial Engineering, paves the way for safer and more resilient unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that are less vulnerable to hacking, signal disruption and malicious software.

Senior author Professor Javaan Chahl says the research addresses a growing but often overlooked problem: modern drones are effectively flying computers that can be attacked.

“Today’s drones are used in warfare, for emergency response, infrastructure inspections, agriculture, environmental monitoring, logistics and even medical deliveries,” Prof Chahl says.

“They collect large amounts of data, process it onboard, and communicate continuously with operators or cloud-based systems. While this makes drones powerful and versatile, it also makes them vulnerable.”

To solve this, the team has developed a new onboard security architecture based on Software-Defined Wide Area Networking, or SD-WAN, which acts as a smart traffic controller for internet connections.

“Instead of relying on a single link, the drone can use multiple communication pathways at once – such as mobile networks, Wi-Fi or other radio links – and automatically switch between them if one fails or is attacked.”

According to first author Tom Scully, PhD candidate and cybersecurity expert, if a drone is hacked, the impact is just not digital.

“A cyber-attack can interfere with flight controls, disrupt communications, expose sensitive data, and even cause a physical accident.”

The researchers say that many drones still rely on basic communication methods that lack encryption – the digital equivalent of sending sensitive information on an open radio channel. This means that attackers could intercept data, inject false commands or overwhelm the drone’s systems.

The system also includes a next-generation firewall, which works like an advanced security gate. It monitors incoming and outgoing data in real time, blocks suspicious activity, and ensures that only authorised communications are allowed.

Importantly, this firewall runs directly on the drone, rather than relying on remote systems.

One of the most innovative aspects of the research is the inclusion of malware sandboxing – a technology normally found in large corporate networks – where suspicious files can be opened and examined without risking damage. If malicious behaviour is detected, the system can block it immediately.

The researchers have successfully demonstrated the software on a drone platform, using real-world onboard computing hardware with cloud-based control systems.

The team plans to conduct future trials to further validate the system in real time, potentially supporting its adoption in commercial, emergency and government drone operations.

“Our goal is simple,” Scully says. “As drones become part of everyday life, we need to ensure they are not only smart and autonomous, but also secure, resilient and trustworthy.”

Newswise — Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a deep learning algorithm that analyzes drone, camera and sensor data to reveal unusual vehicle patterns that may indicate illicit activity, including the movement of nuclear materials.

The software monitors routine traffic over time to establish a baseline for “patterns of life,” enabling detection of deviations that could signal something out of place. For example, a surge in overnight truck traffic at a facility which is normally only visited during the day could reveal illegal shipments. 

The research builds on a previous ORNL-developed technology for recognizing specific vehicles from side views. Researchers improved the structure of this software’s deep learning network to provide much broader capabilities than any existing recognition systems, said ORNL’s Sally Ghanem, lead researcher.

“The majority of the current re-identification models require specific views of the car from the same angles. But our model does not have any of these limitations,” Ghanem said. “We can basically put in any view, from any distance, and determine if it is the same vehicle.” That means the top of a truck seen from a drone can be matched with a side view from the ground. 

This precision in recognition was achieved by training the software on hundreds of thousands of publicly available images from surveillance cameras, ground sensors and drones, combined with computer-generated images based on vehicle specifications. ORNL researcher John Holliman built 3D digital models of many car and truck brands, varying the paint jobs, perspectives and lighting conditions to create a wide range of training scenarios. Unlike most vehicle data sets, the ORNL training images also included older vehicle models.

The image set was expanded with footage captured during six data collections around three ORNL campus intersections chosen because vehicles enter and exit by the same route. “We’re using drones to improve the training data because they are very flexible,” Ghanem said. “Drones can circle a vehicle and change their distance to get many angles, so we can simulate images collected from a satellite or at road level.”

To demonstrate that flexibility, ORNL’s Zach Ryan and Jairus Hines piloted a drone hovering 80 feet over the road to ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor, rotating the drone to follow vehicles through turns for multiple perspectives. They also filmed desirable footage of vehicles slightly hidden by tree limbs or traffic lights, and even blurry shots caused by electrical or magnetic interference. 

“The more low-resolution images we include, the more robust the model,” Ghanem said. Unclear footage and nighttime images train the software to more accurately identify vehicles even when visibility is poor, as in some satellite images.

To avoid bias, Ghanem weeded out repetitive images of the same angle or vehicle type. She also taught the algorithm with both correct and incorrect matches, making sure the correct pairs represented different perspectives. These methods prevent the algorithm from choosing based only on obvious similarities, such as front views of white sedans. “By retraining the model on challenging pairs, we make it more capable of tricky matches,” Ghanem said. 

After training, the team tested the software against 10,000 image pairs, evenly split between correct and incorrect matches. The system proved more than 97% accurate. 

The software leverages a series of neural networks – computational models that function similarly to the brain – which can be trained to not only match different viewpoints but derive long-term patterns from the results. “The project supports nuclear nonproliferation, enabling us to identify whether shipment activities are happening at a specific place,” Ghanem said. 

But the algorithm is also precise enough to track an individual vehicle with stickers, dents or other distinguishing features across a variety of sensors, flagging repeated visits to the same location even if the vehicle takes different routes each time. Researchers are exploring possibilities for adapting the algorithm to incorporate information from non-visual sensors. It could also be applied to identifying the shipment of dangerous or illegal substances on other forms of transportation, such as ships and airplanes.

ORNL researchers and staff who contributed to the project, which was funded through ORNL’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development program, include Ghanem, John Holliman, Ryan Kerekes, Andrew Duncan, Jairus Hines, Ken Dayman, and former staff member Zach Ryan. The High Flux Isotope Reactor is a DOE Office of Science user facility.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

Newswise — The aviation industry accounts for a significant share of global carbon emissions. In response, the international community is expanding mandatory use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), which is produced from organic waste or biomass and is expected to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional fossil-based jet fuel. However, high production costs remain a major challenge, leading some airlines in Europe and Japan to pass SAF-related costs on to consumers.

Against this backdrop, a research team led by Dr. Yun-Jo Lee at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), in collaboration with EN2CORE Technology Co., Ltd., has successfully demonstrated an integrated process that converts landfill gas generated from organic waste—such as food waste—into aviation fuel.

Currently, the refining industry mainly produces SAF from used cooking oil. However, used cooking oil is limited in supply and is also used for other applications such as biodiesel, making it relatively expensive and difficult to secure in large quantities. In contrast, landfill gas generated from food waste and livestock manure is abundant and inexpensive. This study represents the first domestic demonstration of aviation fuel production using landfill gas as the primary feedstock.

Producing aviation fuel from landfill gas requires overcoming two major challenges: purifying the gas to obtain suitable intermediates and improving the efficiency of converting gaseous intermediates into liquid fuels. The research team addressed these challenges by developing an integrated process encompassing landfill gas pretreatment, syngas production, and catalytic conversion of syngas into liquid fuels.

EN2CORE Technology was responsible for the upstream processes. Landfill gas collected from waste disposal sites is desulfurized and treated using membrane-based separation to reduce excess carbon dioxide. The purified gas is then converted into synthesis gas—containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen—using a proprietary plasma reforming reactor, and subsequently supplied to KRICT.

KRICT applied the Fischer–Tropsch process to convert the gaseous syngas into liquid fuels. In this process, hydrogen and carbon react on a catalyst surface to form hydrocarbon chains. Hydrocarbons of appropriate chain length become liquid fuels, while longer chains form solid byproducts such as wax. By employing zeolite- and cobalt-based catalysts, KRICT significantly improved selectivity toward liquid fuels rather than solid byproducts.

A key innovation of this work is the application of a microchannel reactor. Excessive heat generation during aviation fuel synthesis can damage catalysts and reduce process stability. The microchannel reactor developed by the team features alternating layers of catalyst and coolant channels, enabling rapid heat removal and suppression of thermal runaway. Through integrated and modular design, the reactor volume was reduced by up to one-tenth compared to conventional systems. Production capacity can be expanded simply by adding modules.

For demonstration purposes, the team constructed an integrated pilot facility on a landfill site in Dalseong-gun, Daegu. The facility, approximately 100 square meters in size and comparable to a two-story detached house, successfully produced 100 kg of sustainable aviation fuel per day, achieving a liquid fuel selectivity exceeding 75 percent. The team is currently optimizing long-term operation conditions and further enhancing catalyst and reactor performance.

This achievement demonstrates the potential to convert everyday waste-derived gases from food waste and sewage sludge into high-value aviation fuel. Moreover, it shows that aviation fuel production—previously limited to large-scale centralized plants—can be realized at local landfills or small waste treatment facilities. The technology is therefore expected to contribute to the establishment of decentralized SAF production systems and strengthen the competitiveness of Korea’s SAF industry.

The research team noted that the work is significant in securing an integrated process technology that converts organic waste into high-value fuels. KRICT President Young-Kuk Lee stated that the technology has strong potential to become a representative solution capable of achieving both carbon neutrality and a circular economy.

The development of two catalysts enabling selective production of liquid fuels was published as an inside cover article in ACS Catalysis (November 2025) and in Fuel (January 2026).

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KRICT is a non-profit research institute funded by the Korean government. Since its foundation in 1976, KRICT has played a leading role in advancing national chemical technologies in the fields of chemistry, material science, environmental science, and chemical engineering. Now, KRICT is moving forward to become a globally leading research institute tackling the most challenging issues in the field of Chemistry and Engineering and will continue to fulfill its role in developing chemical technologies that benefit the entire world and contribute to maintaining a healthy planet. More detailed information on KRICT can be found at https://www.krict.re.kr/eng/

This research was supported by “Development of integrated demonstration process for the production of bio naphtha/lubricant oil from organic waste-derived biogas” (Project No. RS-2022-NR068680) through the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), Republic of Korea.

BYLINE: Melody Warnick

Newswise — Racing through the air at Olympic speeds, athletes at the Winter Olympics in Milan will need more than strength and skill—they’ll need science. In sports like ski jumping, skeleton, and speed skating, aerodynamics can make the difference between getting the gold or going home empty-handed.

And athletes know it. A scandal erupted at the Nordic World Ski Championships recently when Norwegian team coaches illegally enlarged ski jumpers’ suits to enhance aerodynamics, in the hopes the skiers would fly a few extra meters. One former champion called it “doping, just with a different needle.”

Virginia Tech aerodynamics expert Chris Roy explained what athletes are doing to take advantage of the science of aerodynamics. 

Why did Norwegian coaches alter ski jumpers’ suits?

“When trying to fly without propulsion, it comes down to maximizing your lift while minimizing your drag,” Roy said. “One way to do that is by increasing your surface area, which is what the Norwegian coaches were trying to do.”

But that’s not the only way, Roy said. “You can also get higher lift by curving your shape, called camber, or by changing your angle relative to the oncoming wind. Increasing camber or angle both increase lift, but there’s a limit. Too much camber or angle can lead to stall, where lift drops dramatically and drag increases. You don’t want to hit stall during a ski jump.”

For Olympic athletes, how can aerodynamics shave off time?

“Shape is one of the key aspects of aerodynamics,” Roy said. “Low drag requires an aerodynamic shape.”

“That’s why ski jumpers form a V with their skis, turning their body into efficient lift-generating surfaces. A streamlined wing shape can have 10 times less drag than a circular shape of the same thickness,” Roy said.

Aerodynamics shows up in speed skating too, when skaters “draft” behind others. “By skating behind others, you can drastically reduce your aerodynamic drag, in some cases by up to 40 percent, allowing the skaters in the back to significantly reduce their effort.”

How do athletes use engineering research to train for the Winter Olympics? 

“Lots of Winter Olympic sports use wind tunnel testing to improve aerodynamics, equipment, and apparel, including ski jumping, speed skating, bobsled, skeleton, and luge,” Roy explained. “These sports also use computational fluid dynamics to model these effects on the computer.”  

About Roy

Chris Roy is a professor in the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he’s affiliated with the Center for Research and Engineering in Aero/Hydrodynamic Technologies (CREATe). His research expertise centers around computational fluid dynamics, aerodynamics, and the reliability of computer simulations. Read more about him here.

Schedule an interview

To schedule an interview with Chris Roy, contact Mike Allen at mike.allen@vt.edu or 540-400-1700.