Latest news with #APUs
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
KC-46 Crews Ordered To Drastically Curtail Use Of Jet's Onboard Auxiliary Power Unit
The U.S. Air Force's fleet of KC-46 Pegasus air refueling tanker fleet is experiencing problems with its auxiliary power unit (APU), a small secondary turbine engine at the back of the plane that primarily provides electricity to run systems prior to the startup of the main engines. It is also used to self-start the aircraft on the ground without the need for cumbersome ground support equipment. The problem has gotten so bad, Air Mobility Command (AMC) recently sent out a memo curtailing the use of the KC-46's APU, The War Zone has learned. The APUs are intended to make the KC-46s less reliant on ground crews and equipment prior to takeoff, but the issue is having the opposite effect, the Air Force told us. 'AMC has seen some premature failures of APUs we're working with the (Original Equipment Manufacturer) OEM to resolve,' an AMC spokesperson confirmed to us Monday afternoon. 'This memo ensures our maintenance team uses ground support equipment whenever possible to reduce APU wear-and-tear, giving us the best availability while we work through repairs.' It isn't clear when the problem was discovered or how long the workaround will be in place. Having to rely on ground systems, including power carts for accessory power and huffers carts for engine start, requires a larger logistical footprint and more personnel on the ground. It's also an inconvenience to the crew. Above all else, it diminishes the aircraft's ability to operate in austere conditions, a key component of the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment (ACE) program. ACE currently refers to a set of concepts for distributed and disaggregated operations centered heavily on short notice and otherwise irregular deployments, often to remote, austere, or otherwise non-traditional locales. The APU issue is the latest in a long string of problems for the Pegasus, both systemic and incidental. Last week, we told you about a KC -46 that lost its boom during an incident off the coast of Virginia. The Pegasus had been on a F-22 Raptor fighters refueling mission at the time. You can see images of the aftermath of that mishap below. Posted to the Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page. This is the KC-46 that landed at Seymour-Johnson after the accident the other day. — Steven Fortson (@zaphod58) July 12, 2025 The recent incident is one of several involving KC-46 booms. Last year, another Pegasus lost its boom while refueling an F-15E Strike Eagle off the coast of California last year. The boom and the control system for it have been a source of serious and persistent technical issues for the Pegasus fleet for years now. A fix for the KC-46's particularly troublesome remote vision system (RVS), which boom operators in the tanker's main cabin use to perform their work, is now unlikely to be finished before summer 2027, roughly three years behind schedule, according to Defense News. The APU problems come as the KC-46 fleet has been in heavy use. Last month, they were part of an armada of refuelers, which also included the KC-135 Stratotankers, which took part of the U.S. buildup of forces in the region as tensions with Iran rose to a fever pitch. They helped refuel the B-2 Spirit stealth bombers that struck Iranian nuclear sites during Operation Midnight Hammer last month. The bombers dropped 14 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bombs on Iran's Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities. It marked the first combat use of those weapons. We reached out to Air Mobility Command Monday evening to find more details about the APU curtailment and will update this story with any pertinent information provided. In the meantime, the Air Force is working to fix yet another problem on its newest tanker. Contact the author: howard@
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Israeli Chip Startup Speedata Raises $44M To Challenge Nvidia's AI Dominance With 280x Faster Analytics Processor
Israeli chip startup Speedata has secured a $44 million Series B round, bringing its total funding to $114 million as it prepares to unveil a next-generation processor that may challenge Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) dominance in AI and big data computing, TechCrunch reports. The round was led by existing investors, including Walden Catalyst Ventures, 83North, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Pitango First, and Viola Ventures, according to TechCrunch. Strategic backers include Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who also serves as managing partner at Walden Catalyst, and Eyal Waldman, co-founder of Mellanox Technologies. Don't Miss: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — Wall Street's Missing This AI Surgical Tech — You Don't Have To. At the heart of Speedata's innovation is the analytics processing unit, a dedicated chip designed to accelerate data analytics from the silicon level up, TechCrunch reports. Unlike graphics processing units, which were originally designed for graphics and later adapted for data workloads, Speedata's analytics processing unit was engineered solely for analytics performance. 'Our APU is purpose-built for data processing and a single APU can replace racks of servers, delivering dramatically better performance,' Speedata CEO Adi Gelvan told TechCrunch. 'We aim at becoming the standard processor for data processing — just as GPUs became the default for AI training, we want APUs to be the default for data analytics across every database and analytics platform,' he added. In one pharmaceutical test case, Speedata's APU completed a complex data workload in just 19 minutes, compared to 90 hours using conventional hardware. That represents a 280x speed improvement, highlighting the chip's potential to redefine industry benchmarks, TechCrunch says. Trending: Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. The APU currently supports Apache Spark, with a product roadmap that includes integration across major analytics platforms. According to TechCrunch, Speedata aims to position its APU as the industry standard for processing analytics data, similar to how Nvidia's GPUs became essential in AI training. Speedata was founded in 2019 by six engineers, including early researchers of multi-threaded coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture, a breakthrough in programmable chip technology, TechCrunch reports. The founding team collaborated with application-specific integrated circuit specialists to design the chip from the ground up to solve analytics bottlenecks. Since its last funding round, Speedata has finalized the design and manufacturing of its first APU, moving from prototype simulations to production hardware in late 2024. The company is growing a pipeline of several large enterprise customers, although names have not been disclosed, TechCrunch plans to showcase its APU publicly for the first time at the Databricks' Data & AI Summit currently underway, according to TechCrunch. The startup is now expanding its go-to-market operations and growing its pipeline of enterprise clients eager to transition to faster and more efficient data processing, TechCrunch says. With $114 million in total funding, Speedata enters the race with both the hardware and investor backing to compete on a global scale. As data workloads continue to grow, Speedata's APU could reshape how businesses process information, potentially giving Nvidia its first serious competitor in data-specific chip architecture. Read Next: Here's what Americans think you need to be considered wealthy. Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? INTEL (INTC): Free Stock Analysis Report NVIDIA (NVDA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Israeli Chip Startup Speedata Raises $44M To Challenge Nvidia's AI Dominance With 280x Faster Analytics Processor originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia and MediaTek may unveil jointly developed 'N1' Arm chips for Windows PCs at Computex
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Nvidia and MediaTek are expected to introduce their jointly developed Arm-based processors for PCs at Computex 2025, according to ComputerBase. The upcoming chips — N1X and N1 — are aimed at desktops and laptops and mark Nvidia's deeper entry into the Windows-on-Arm ecosystem. But retail availability may be delayed until 2026 due to unresolved technical hurdles, reports German news site Heise, citing SemiAccurate. CEOs of both companies — Jensen Huang from Nvidia and Rick Tsai from MediaTek — are scheduled to deliver back-to-back presentations at the Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 19 and May 20, respectively. One likely announcement is a new family of processors combining MediaTek's Arm-based CPU with Nvidia's Blackwell GPU. The collaborative products will rely on the companies' technologies to build the GB10 platform for compact AI workstations. Through its partnership with MediaTek, Nvidia hopes to address markets that are currently served by AMD's APUs with high-performance Radeon graphics as well as Arm-based Snapdragon X processors. Nvidia's discrete Blackwell GPUs promise to offer higher performance and better compatibility with games than AMD's Radeon and Qualcomm's Adreno, so without any doubt, it will attract the attention of gamers. According to early reports, the N1X and N1 processors are expected to feature up to 10 Cortex-X925 high-performance cores and up to 10 Cortex-A725 cores, though less powerful CPU configurations will likely be introduced to address markets currently underserved by Qualcomm and its Snapdragon X processors as well as AMD's Ryzen APUs with built-in Radeon graphics processors. To support the production of an unknown high-volume product, MediaTek has reportedly secured a large amount of packaging capacity for flip chip ball grid array (FCBGA) chips, which implies their use in PCs rather than mobile devices. According to DigiTimes, this capacity reservation occurred around the end of 2024 and was unusually large. However, it remains unclear if the packaging timeline aligns with the initial production of processors jointly designed by MediaTek and Nvidia. Despite the enthusiasm surrounding processors by MediaTek and Nvidia, the actual launch timeline remains uncertain. Multiple sources reported that development issues could significantly postpone the commercial rollout of systems based on the new processors. Some projections suggest that these delays could push the release into 2026, but for now, there is no confirmation on those rumors.
CNN
23-04-2025
- CNN
Meet the Welsh puppies that are stopping wildlife poachers in Africa
Fresh warthog carcass in tow, a poacher speeds away from Zimbabwe's Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservancy. Blood spatters, footprints and tire marks are the only traces of the crime he has just committed, but a trace is all it takes for the hunter to become the hunted. His arrest comes a short while later, courtesy of Shinga, a Belgian Malinois that perfectly retraced the poacher's 2.8-mile (4.5-kilometer) route home, leading an anti-poaching team to his door. Last October's pursuit ultimately began much further afield, in the sleepy Welsh town of Carmarthen, where Shinga was born and raised. It's home to the kennels of Dogs4Wildlife, a non-profit organization that trains dogs to support anti-poaching units (APUs) in their efforts to protect endangered wildlife across southern Africa. It's run by professional dog trainers Darren Priddle and Jacqui Law, who decided to blend their career experiences of developing working dogs for police, security, and military operations with their love of wildlife, after seeing photos of a poached African rhino on social media in 2015. 'It was quite a horrific image. We sat down and we said, 'Okay, that's really affected us,'' Priddle told CNN. 'We can deploy dogs in the UK to track people … to look for drugs, firearms and explosives, so why could we not look at developing the dogs that we were training for conservation efforts?' The duo has since sent 15 dogs to five sub-Saharan African countries, including Mozambique and Tanzania, each one bred by them in southwest Wales. They usually breed one or two litters each year. Dutch shepherds and Belgian Malinois are two of the most common breeds for tracking, while labradors and spaniels are typically the detection (sniffer) dogs of choice. Training begins from as early as two days old. Priddle acknowledges that sounds young, but he believes early imprinting programs can provide a strong foundation for the formal training that commences around six weeks later. 'There's a lot of scientific study out there that's been documented on exposing puppies to touch, different temperatures, different surfaces and textures, as well as different odors that we put into the whelping box when they're very young,' he explained 'It just helps their brain and (helps) their synapses to fire. We see a lot of advancement in those puppies.' The curriculum closely follows that of the typical police or security dog, focusing on obedience, tracking, and scent detection – a skill used to sniff out rhino horn, elephant ivory and bushmeat. The only key difference to the training process is acclimating dogs to the sights, sounds and smells of lions, giraffes and the myriad other species they will help protect. With rhino and elephant numbers severely lacking in the wetlands of Carmarthenshire, trips to local zoos are organized to desensitize the puppies to African wildlife. Typically, after 16 to 18 months, dogs are ready for assignment. Even though Priddle accompanies each one on the long flight to their new home, spending the first month with the anti-poaching unit to provide field and animal welfare training to rangers, goodbyes never get easier. 'The transition from spending every waking moment with that dog, having a very strong relationship, to then letting that go is challenging and difficult,' Law said. 'But as much as it breaks my heart when they go, I know they're going for the greater good.' Easing the pain are WhatsApp group chats set up for Priddle and Law to keep in touch with and advise APUs across the various reserves and conservancies. They are particularly active forums, especially given that the organization also provides training and consultancy to teams with existing dog units, such as the Akashinga Rangers, Africa's first armed all-female anti-poaching squad, who watch over Zimbabwe's vast Phundundu Wildlife Area. Naturally, updates of success are a source of immense personal pride for the pair back in Wales. Shinga's tracking triumph in October followed the achievements of fellow Belgian Malinois Dan, which in 2013 alerted his team to a rhino calf that had been caught in a snare trap in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Such victories demonstrate the 'game-changing' value such dogs can have when incorporated into conservation efforts, argue the duo, even through their mere presence. 'When these reserves bring a specialist dog onto a wildlife reserve … the word spreads very quickly that the APUs now have the capability to actually catch these poachers on a more efficient and successful basis,' Priddle said. 'Some of the smaller wildlife reserves almost eradicate poaching in all types completely, just because of the deterrent value that dog brings to the party.' As park manager and head of anti-poaching operations at Zimbabwe's 10,000-acre Imire conservancy, Reilly Travers has had a front row seat for the last seven years to the impact of Shinga and also Murwi, a Dutch shepherd whose training was paid for by the fundraising efforts of pupils of the local Harare International school. Capable of covering as much as 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) an hour when tracking, even in darkness, dogs allow rangers to 'own the night,' Travers explained, adding an invaluable level of versatility and unpredictability to their arsenal. And on numerous occasions Shinga and Murwi have alerted units to potentially mortal threats – be it from poachers or predators – through body language alone. 'They've saved our guys on the ground on several occasions and they've been responsible for apprehending quite a few poachers,' Travers told CNN. 'It's had a massive impact on security for Imire. We've had a drastic reduction in poaching and the K9 unit has a massive role to play in that … It's not the silver bullet but it's a tool that will make a significant difference.' Zimbabwe once boasted thousands of rhinos, yet numbers nosedived to less than 450 by 1992 because of poaching networks, according to conservation charity Save the Rhino. The efforts of Imire, which saw the birth of its 23rd rhino in 2023, helped the country's rhino population climb back over the 1,000-mark in 2022, but statistics continue to make for grim reading across the wider continent. Though the numbers of African rhinos poached annually has dropped steadily since a peak of over 1,300 in 2015, almost 600 kills were still recorded last year, according to Save the Rhino. It contributed to an overall decline in the total African black rhino population in 2023, though white rhino numbers are on the rise. And the impact of each loss extends far beyond statistics, Priddle and Law explain, especially at the smaller reserves that Dogs4Wildlife focuses on, which have markedly less anti-poaching resources than the continent's most renowned parks. Recalling the sight of a de-horned 25-year-old bull rhino and eight-year-old male in Limpopo, both killed by a single poacher, Law stressed the knock-on effect on the wider environment. 'The vegetation they clear, the seeds they disperse, all the other animals that are impacted. You think it's just a rhino that's gone – it's the whole ecosystem that suffers,' Law explained. 'The owners of that reserve had a relationship with that bull for 25 years – we grieve when we lose a dog after 10 to 15 years. For us to experience the impact that losing those two rhinos had on the reserve owner sort of gave us added motivation. 'It was just horrific. I never want to see that again.' As Dogs4Wildlife looks ahead to its long-term goal of one day opening a specialized training and canine school within Africa, mobilizing future generations has become a key part of its overall mission. Its Conservation club, called Siyafunda Ngemvelo – which translates to 'we learn in nature' in IsiZulu – has taken more than 180 South African children into reserves as part of a wildlife education program. Law said that for local people to want to protect rhinos, they must first see the animals' value to the environment. 'We have to start at the fundamental basics, which is children taking responsibility for their own wildlife,' she added. 'Once they get the passion for it, they're going to become future rangers, not future poachers.'
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Meet the Welsh puppies that are stopping wildlife poachers in Africa
Fresh warthog carcass in tow, a poacher speeds away from Zimbabwe's Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservancy. Blood spatters, footprints and tire marks are the only traces of the crime he has just committed, but a trace is all it takes for the hunter to become the hunted. His arrest comes a short while later, courtesy of Shinga, a Belgian Malinois that perfectly retraced the poacher's 2.8-mile (4.5-kilometer) route home, leading an anti-poaching team to his door. Last October's pursuit ultimately began much further afield, in the sleepy Welsh town of Carmarthen, where Shinga was born and raised. It's home to the kennels of Dogs4Wildlife, a non-profit organization that trains dogs to support anti-poaching units (APUs) in their efforts to protect endangered wildlife across southern Africa. It's run by professional dog trainers Darren Priddle and Jacqui Law, who decided to blend their career experiences of developing working dogs for police, security, and military operations with their love of wildlife, after seeing photos of a poached African rhino on social media in 2015. 'It was quite a horrific image. We sat down and we said, 'Okay, that's really affected us,'' Priddle told CNN. 'We can deploy dogs in the UK to track people … to look for drugs, firearms and explosives, so why could we not look at developing the dogs that we were training for conservation efforts?' The duo has since sent 15 dogs to five sub-Saharan African countries, including Mozambique and Tanzania, each one bred by them in southwest Wales. They usually breed one or two litters each year. Dutch shepherds and Belgian Malinois are two of the most common breeds for tracking, while labradors and spaniels are typically the detection (sniffer) dogs of choice. Training begins from as early as two days old. Priddle acknowledges that sounds young, but he believes early imprinting programs can provide a strong foundation for the formal training that commences around six weeks later. 'There's a lot of scientific study out there that's been documented on exposing puppies to touch, different temperatures, different surfaces and textures, as well as different odors that we put into the whelping box when they're very young,' he explained 'It just helps their brain and (helps) their synapses to fire. We see a lot of advancement in those puppies.' The curriculum closely follows that of the typical police or security dog, focusing on obedience, tracking, and scent detection – a skill used to sniff out rhino horn, elephant ivory and bushmeat. The only key difference to the training process is acclimating dogs to the sights, sounds and smells of lions, giraffes and the myriad other species they will help protect. With rhino and elephant numbers severely lacking in the wetlands of Carmarthenshire, trips to local zoos are organized to desensitize the puppies to African wildlife. Typically, after 16 to 18 months, dogs are ready for assignment. Even though Priddle accompanies each one on the long flight to their new home, spending the first month with the anti-poaching unit to provide field and animal welfare training to rangers, goodbyes never get easier. 'The transition from spending every waking moment with that dog, having a very strong relationship, to then letting that go is challenging and difficult,' Law said. 'But as much as it breaks my heart when they go, I know they're going for the greater good.' Easing the pain are WhatsApp group chats set up for Priddle and Law to keep in touch with and advise APUs across the various reserves and conservancies. They are particularly active forums, especially given that the organization also provides training and consultancy to teams with existing dog units, such as the Akashinga Rangers, Africa's first armed all-female anti-poaching squad, who watch over Zimbabwe's vast Phundundu Wildlife Area. Naturally, updates of success are a source of immense personal pride for the pair back in Wales. Shinga's tracking triumph in October followed the achievements of fellow Belgian Malinois Dan, which in 2013 alerted his team to a rhino calf that had been caught in a snare trap in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Such victories demonstrate the 'game-changing' value such dogs can have when incorporated into conservation efforts, argue the duo, even through their mere presence. 'When these reserves bring a specialist dog onto a wildlife reserve … the word spreads very quickly that the APUs now have the capability to actually catch these poachers on a more efficient and successful basis,' Priddle said. 'Some of the smaller wildlife reserves almost eradicate poaching in all types completely, just because of the deterrent value that dog brings to the party.' As park manager and head of anti-poaching operations at Zimbabwe's 10,000-acre Imire conservancy, Reilly Travers has had a front row seat for the last seven years to the impact of Shinga and also Murwi, a Dutch shepherd whose training was paid for by the fundraising efforts of pupils of the local Harare International school. Capable of covering as much as 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) an hour when tracking, even in darkness, dogs allow rangers to 'own the night,' Travers explained, adding an invaluable level of versatility and unpredictability to their arsenal. And on numerous occasions Shinga and Murwi have alerted units to potentially mortal threats – be it from poachers or predators – through body language alone. 'They've saved our guys on the ground on several occasions and they've been responsible for apprehending quite a few poachers,' Travers told CNN. 'It's had a massive impact on security for Imire. We've had a drastic reduction in poaching and the K9 unit has a massive role to play in that … It's not the silver bullet but it's a tool that will make a significant difference.' Zimbabwe once boasted thousands of rhinos, yet numbers nosedived to less than 450 by 1992 because of poaching networks, according to conservation charity Save the Rhino. The efforts of Imire, which saw the birth of its 23rd rhino in 2023, helped the country's rhino population climb back over the 1,000-mark in 2022, but statistics continue to make for grim reading across the wider continent. Though the numbers of African rhinos poached annually has dropped steadily since a peak of over 1,300 in 2015, almost 600 kills were still recorded last year, according to Save the Rhino. It contributed to an overall decline in the total African black rhino population in 2023, though white rhino numbers are on the rise. And the impact of each loss extends far beyond statistics, Priddle and Law explain, especially at the smaller reserves that Dogs4Wildlife focuses on, which have markedly less anti-poaching resources than the continent's most renowned parks. Recalling the sight of a de-horned 25-year-old bull rhino and eight-year-old male in Limpopo, both killed by a single poacher, Law stressed the knock-on effect on the wider environment. 'The vegetation they clear, the seeds they disperse, all the other animals that are impacted. You think it's just a rhino that's gone – it's the whole ecosystem that suffers,' Law explained. 'The owners of that reserve had a relationship with that bull for 25 years – we grieve when we lose a dog after 10 to 15 years. For us to experience the impact that losing those two rhinos had on the reserve owner sort of gave us added motivation. 'It was just horrific. I never want to see that again.' As Dogs4Wildlife looks ahead to its long-term goal of one day opening a specialized training and canine school within Africa, mobilizing future generations has become a key part of its overall mission. Its Conservation club, called Siyafunda Ngemvelo – which translates to 'we learn in nature' in IsiZulu – has taken more than 180 South African children into reserves as part of a wildlife education program. Law said that for local people to want to protect rhinos, they must first see the animals' value to the environment. 'We have to start at the fundamental basics, which is children taking responsibility for their own wildlife,' she added. 'Once they get the passion for it, they're going to become future rangers, not future poachers.'
