What caught your eye this week? (Aircraft, Tariff war, Quantum IMU)

We’re talking unmanned AiRanger aircraft, the USA-China Trade War, prospective quantum IMU components, and Redwire’s Phantom VLEO (Very Low Earth Orbit ) spacecraft…

The Electronics Weekly team share some fingerposts – their picks of the week, in terms of announcements, developments, product releases, quotes or anything else in the wide world of electronics that caught their eye…

Caroline Hayes, editor
My interest was piqued by Unmanned aircraft cleared for commercial flights in California. Launched by catapult, guided by radar, these unmanned aircraft will be able to monitor remote areas from the skies.

David Manners, components editor
What caught my eye this week was the US upping the ante in the USA-China Trade War by slapping a 100% import tariff on Chinese EVs and a 50% tariff on China chips.

Steve Bush, technology editor
As far as anyone can tell, certain physical phenomena are invariant – hence atomic clocks. Physicists have been trying to link accelerometers and gyroscopes to such invariant quantum properties, with the idea of using them in navigational inertial measurement units that maintain absolute accuracy over time. As a step on this long trail, UK researchers have started flight trials on prospective quantum IMU components.

Alun Williams, web editor
What caught my eye was Redwire’s Phantom VLEO (Very Low Earth Orbit ) spacecraft bridging the gap between air and space. Phantom is its European platform for work with the ESA, and SabreSat is its American equivalent.