This week, preparing for a long flight. This plane can stay up in the air almost indefinitely. How . , in the air almost indefinitely. How . Why . In the air almost indefinitely. How . Why . In the air almost indefinitely. How . , wh . ~. , how . Sunshine. Why . Wait and see. How . Sunshine. Why . Wait and see tracking how . Sunshine. Why . Wait and see. Tracking the how . Sunshine. Why . Wait and see. Tracking the wildlife see. Tracking the wildlife beside the see. Tracking the wildlife beside the tracks, see. Tracking the wildlife beside the tracks, but. See. Tracking the wildlife beside the tracks, but pauls got distracted. I beside the tracks, but pauls got distracted. Beside the tracks, but pauls got distracted. I love a train. Understatement got distracted. I love a train. Understatement of got distracted. I love a train. Understatement of the got distracted. I love a train. L understatement of the century there understatement of the century there. Also, how to keep connected Up A Mountain when things connected Up A Mountain when things go connected Up A Mountain when things go downhill. And connected Up A Mountain when things go downhill. Things go downhill. And the tech thats things go downhill. And the tech thats Keeping Things go downhill. And the tech thats keeping the things go downhill. And the tech thats keeping the refl things go downhill. And the | tech thats keeping the ref in check. ,. ,. , check. Having this Technology Means i can check. Having this Technology Means i can say, check. Having this Technology Means i can say, look, check. Having this Technology Means i can say, look, right. Means i can say, look, right there thats what im talking about. Let me take you up. Up into the air. Up above the clouds, above the weather, above all the aircraft. This is the stratosphere a place yet to be conquered by humankind. Up here, the air is thin and calm. And it is here that youll find the zephyr. This is a strange beast and the fact that it flies this high is the least strange thing about it. See, it only travels at aomph, it only weighs 75kg. Its launched by hand, its completely solar powered and in theory, it may be able to stay up here for months. I was last at zephyr� s base in farnborough in the uk in 2018, when it had just stayed aloft for very nearly 26 days. Since then, its done 64. So, this is how it works. During the day, the sun hits the solar panels, which charge the batteries and power the propellers, and the plane climbs to 75,000 feet. When the sun goes down, the batteries completely take over. The propellers do slow down and the plane does lose altitude. The trick, though, is to make sure youre still above 60,000 feet by the time the sun comes up the next morning and the process can start again. So, will the entire wing be covered with solar cells, every single square centimetre, as much as you can in solar . Actually, the solar array that we use now typically is so efficient that we dont tend to need to do complete coverage. Really . Yeah, we can actually recharge the batteries most normal days by lunchtime. Wow in theory, is it possible to stay up forever in this . Well, i think eventually, well get as close as we can to that. At the moment, our limitation is the number of cycles the batteries can cope with. So, a cycle is a day so a full charge, and then a full discharge, thats one cycle. And were targeting six months in the stratosphere at a time, and thats in line with the Battery Performance that we see coming through. Everything about zephyr has been fine tuned. Every gram counts. Every unit of battery density. The precise curve of those wings. So, look, i get it. I get that this plane can stay up in the air almost indefinitely. You only have to look at it to understand that its something pretty special. The main question i have is why . Why would you want this kind of craft . Who would want this kind of craft . In the 20 years since the idea was first conceived, its almost like this has been a solution looking for a problem. Would it carry cameras . Could it be military . Reconnaissance . Since airbus spun off the new Start Up Company alto in 2023, its now been pitched for Earth Observation and as a flying base station for Mobile Phones. From the stratosphere, at 60 70,000 feet, we can talk directly to a standard mobile phone, so the aircraft will function exactly like the cell tower that you have today, but its high up. And, because its so much higher up than the regular cell tower, it can cover the equivalent of about 200 Base Stations on the ground. So, of course, that replaces notjust the, you know, the equipment on the tower, but it replaces the whole tower. Thats the steel. Thats the backhaul, the fibre, the microwave, very importantly, the power microwave, very importantly, the power the electricity or the power the electricity or the diesel that runs the tower. And in the diesel that runs the tower. And in many cases in the remote and rural and in many cases in the remote and rural areas, thats the most and rural areas, thats the most expensive part of running a terrestrial tower. An Uplink Antenna would connect the mobile network to zephyr, and then zephyr could serve an area of 7,500 square kilometres, in theory, for months at a time. This is a real proposition. Or in the event of, say, a natural disaster, a plane could be flown to an area that had suddenly become cut off from the grid. Mobile operators have something called Cell On Wheels Cow Which is usually a truck that has some equipment. We have a cell on wings, a flying cow, which is flying cell on wings. These cows er, planes will fly autonomously. There are no joysticks involved. The pilots send the planes coordinates and flight plans but theyre mainly interested in how much energy its using, and making adjustments to keep its batteries fully charged. So this is the ground, and this is 80,000 feet. And all this colourful stuff, thats wind you dont want to be in that but if you can keep the zephyr above it, from about 60,000 feet and up, its pretty plain sailing. The problem is, youve got to get to 60,000 feet in the first place something that can take ten hours from that weird hand launched take off. Trying to get it up into the air is probably the trickiest point. Theres a lot more weather down on the surface than there is up in the stratosphere, sojust than there is up in the stratosphere, so just trying to get the right relations to get through that weather, thats probably the hardest part. Weve spent a lot of time and effort studying meteorology in the tropopause, so that we can understand how to transit through it as safely as possible with this aircraft. And weve now done a global study of where all the weather is, and all the different Weather Conditions around the world, and weve found some of the best locations in the world to start launching and landing these from regularly. So, where the air is nice and clear, all the way up. All the way through, yeah, and once were in the stratosphere, were away. In fact, zephyr� s Parent Company has Just Announced kenya as the location of its first planned permanent launch site. But we have seen these kind of ventures before. For example, googles loon project was also based in kenya, and its balloon based Mobile Cell Tower Project failed to stay afloat. And what about satellites . These days, very small cubesats can be put into orbit at much lower cost than their bigger siblings and they stay up automatically, no power involved. Although, unlike zephyr, you cant bring them down and swap out their payloads. With satellite, if you want to talk to a handset, its very difficult. And if you manage with low earth orbit satellites, you can talk to a handset, but it would be very limited. You know, its sms, maybe a few kilobits per second, you cannot do full 56. Youre not mimicking what a terrestrial station does. And if you have satellites that are really big enough that can do Something Like this, the economics are so expensive and then, youre spreading them across the whole planet, youre not getting the efficiencies, you cannot scale. So thats on the connectivity side. 0n the Earth Observation side, satellites are great because they can view anywhere on the planet, but not persistently. Because they take an image, come back after a period of time. With High Altitude Platform Stations, you can do that persistently, so you can see the change over time. And there is competition in the stratosphere itself. Similar aircraft are being developed by several Companies Including this one by bae systems. Whatever the final use for these so called High Altitude Platform Stations haps there does seem to be both the appetite and now the technology to fly high and stay high. Birdsong. Zephyr can stay above the weather. But if youre going rock climbing, the conditions need to be good. Rock climbing, the conditions need to be good. Sudden changes in the weather need to be good. Sudden changes in the weather can need to be good. Sudden changes in the weather can create in the weather can create Serious Problems for climbers and when things do wrong on the hillside, rescue teams are called and they often need expensive Helicopter Operations and combined Emergency Services. And combined Emergency Services and combined Emergency Services. , , services. One company is using 56 and drones services. One company is using 56 and drones to services. One company is using 56 and drones to take services. One company is using 56 and drones to take search. Services. One company is using| 56 and drones to take search to another level, though, as laura good win has been finding out. For most people, paper maps are a thing of the past and instead our Mobile Phones have become our Mobile Phones have become our pocket navigators, where data and google maps get us from a to b. But hiking is so much more thanjust from a to b. But hiking is so much more than just putting from a to b. But hiking is so much more thanjust putting one footin much more thanjust putting one foot in front of the other and travelling across remote routes can make the job travelling across remote routes can make thejob of Mountain Rescue Teams extremely difficult. A sunny day in scotlands hills can be a glorious thing, the chance to get away from everything. But when things go wrong, a lack of connectivity can become a real problem. Ill can become a real problem. Ill take can become a real problem. I� ll take control. Can become a real problem. L� ll take control. We have located the casualty. Stand by for grid. L the casualty. Stand by for rid. , the casualty. Stand by for i rid. , the casualty. Stand by for rid. ,. , grid. I can see the grid as well. Instead of wen. Instead of sending a team into potentially dangerous situations, these drones can be deployed across remote areas. Using a pop up sg deployed across remote areas. Using a pop up 56 network, the drone can send back crucial information to base. We are here on a information to base. We are here on a very information to base. We are here on a very blustery information to base. We are i here on a very blustery angus hill. This is an area that doesnt have great connectivity, but have you a 56 Network Operating from this desk. Its got an entire Mobile Phone Network in a box. Thats connected to the antenna and forecasting sg connected to the antenna and forecasting 56 across the field. The 56 antenna goes back to a base states. Weve got a control room here. Each of these boxes can talk to other mobile phone Base Stations so we can move around and create a pp� up we can move around and create a Pop Up Network in no time. What popup network in no time. What are the challenges popup network in no time. What are the challenges around are the challenges around connectivity when youre sending up teams or drones. fist sending up teams or drones. Git the moment, they can find people but havent got the data back at their control room. One of the things you find with a limited amount of signal is thats all the network can cope with at that point. Its enabled phones and First Responders to have Access Straightaway to connectivity. Youve got your phone on a network. I have no signal. Loads of 56. Its brilliant. The 56 boxes can be mounted onto the drones, which can act like a flying sg onto the drones, which can act like a flying 56 network. It can even drop off a 56 box to an injured mountaineer or send their location back to base. Within mountain rescue, drones are getting used more than they were before. Times past, we would have had to send a team into the gully to search for t it could be dangerous. We are in a large area of search. We can search a large area relatively quickly. We can give them more information as a search towards progressing. Mountain rescue millions are not the only scenario with this type of technology where this kind of technology can popup. This kind of technology can ou. , popup. Looking at Disaster Relief and popup. Looking at Disaster Relief and humanitarian relief and humanitarian efforts, there are challenges around pop up connectivity. Its where local networks are not fit for purpose once you have the efforts going on or massive movements of people. 0ther massive movements of people. Other things weve been seeing also around sometimes when theres a hurricane or disaster and fixed fibre and those instances are down, we can provide connectivity in those spaces. With 56 opening up new opportunities to achieve better connectivity, bad signal has the potential to be a thing of the potential to be a thing of the past. The potential to be a thing of the ast. ,. ,. , the past. Time for a look at this weeks the past. Time for a look at this weeks tech the past. Time for a look at this weeks tech news. The past. Time for a look at this weeks tech news. At l the past. Time for a look at this weeks tech news. At a live launch demonstration, 0penai has unveiled the latest version of the tech which underpins its ai chatbot, chatgpt, along with key changes to its user interface. The new version can read and discuss images, translate languages and identify emotions with visual expressions. Its faster than earlier models and has been programmed to sound more chatty, perhaps even flirty. Tourist body visit wales has created an immersive virtual experience with the aim of showcasing some of waless best attractions. Visitors can take part in quests and build a virtual interactive itinerary for when they visit wales in person. Organisers say for when they visit wales in person. 0rganisers say they believe wales is the first european nation to use this approach to market itself as a tourist destination. A robot designed to mimic the motion of a snail has been developed by researchers at the university of bristol. The team fitted the robot with a sliding Suction Mechanism enabling the device to slide on water, a substitute for a snail� s mucous, which also acts as an adhesive. The Discovery Acts as the potential for robots to climb difficult surfaces such as the blades of Wind Turbines or the hulls of a ship. This is touch. Its a bit like rugby but instead of a tackle, players are touched to get control of the ball. If the defenders have not intersected the ball after six touches, they get to be the attackers. Its fast and the ref has to be, well, everywhere at once and deal with things like this. Yes, yes hes had a decision against him which results in a penalty and the player continues the conversation with the referee, resulting in another penalty. The referee, i think, would look back on this and not be particularly happy with the interaction with the player. Referees on Development Courses at edinburghs Napier University can look back at decisions thanks to some familiar looking tech that has been repurposed. Lts familiarlooking tech that has been repurposed. Been repurposed. Its a standard been repurposed. Its a standard 360 been repurposed. Its a standard 360 camera. | been repurposed. Its a| standard 360 camera. It been repurposed. Its a standard 360 camera. It sits on top of the head, straps around the back and then a step underneath. A 360 camera works by using two or more lenses to capture a 360 degree view of everything around it. It will then stitch the shots together to make one spherical image. When displayed in 2d, the viewer can move around all of the space thats been captured. 0nce weve got the footage back, what it gives us is how our decisions are landing, how our interactions are landing with the players. We can see whats going on behind us, perhaps with missed decisions. And you can go right around so youre getting a more immersive experience and learning things about the game as the referee you may not have seenin as the referee you may not have seen in real time. Exactly. So most of our assessments to develop as a referee are taken from people on the sidelines but the referee sees it very differently and we know that looking at things in different angles produces different decisions. When the referees sit down with their coaches after a training session, the tech takes the post match analysis to a new level. As a coach, i cant hear what the ref is saying and seeing their point of view. I can see what theyre seeing, see how theyre speaking to the players and i can use this to pan around and look at what the referee is not seeing and what theyre missing so we can talk about areas of improvement. When you sit down and review it with your when you sit down and review it with your coach, you can look at your with your coach, you can look at your positioning and where you should have been versus where you should have been versus where you were. Where you were. Having the Technology Means where you were. Having the Technology Means i where you were. Having the Technology Means i can where you were. Having the| Technology Means i can say, look, right there, thats what im talking about and thats what we need to change or structure slightly differently. The technology is being used to Coach Referees in the run up to the world Touch Championships taking place injuly. Duncan hopes it could have a lasting impact. Hopes it could have a lasting imact. ~ � hopes it could have a lasting imact. ~ �. , hopes it could have a lasting imact. �. , , hopes it could have a lasting imact. ~ �. ,. , impact. Weve always used Video Technology impact. Weve always used Video Technology and impact. Weve always used Video Technology and selfreflection i technology and Self Reflection to help our professionals but this Technology Allows us to take that another level up. In any refereeing, its the proximity to the try or foul or whatever proximity to the try or foul or whatever it is, the better so getting whatever it is, the better so getting into the positions to make getting into the positions to make the decisions is really important so it will help to do that important so it will help to do that for important so it will help to do that for me. Paul this is the buckthorne cutting nature reserve, home to dozens of species of plants, insects, and animals. Its hard to believe its just a few kilometres from the very centre of london, and a Technology Hot spot. Its a haven of calm and serenity until this happens. Love a train. The area here is based on previously unmanaged network rail land, the body responsible for most of the sprawling Railway Network in Great Britain over 52,000 hectares. Theyre using a mixture of Traditional Technology alongside Machine Learning to identify and monitor wildlife using the space here. The obvious question has to be you think of network rail and what were stood beside, rails and trains. Why are they interested in biodiversity . Weve got a massive estate across the whole of britain. Its 52,000 hectares which, if you squash it all together, is the Isle Of Wight and a half. And that estate, that network goes through every sort of habitat that you can possibly have. And so, weve got that biodiversity on our estate, and we can manage it and work with it whilst were running trains. So i guess, with the kind of information that youre collecting, the research that youre doing, how is that beneficial to network rail as a company . What kind of things can you do with that information that you find out . It helps us monitor the condition of the habitats that weve got, so we can use that when were trying to achieve our biodiversity targets. But it also lets us see what species are using those habitats. And if we know whats there before we come in and do any work, then we can start mitigating for that. We can start doing the work at the right time of year or at the right time of day, so that were less of a disturbance on those species. The monitoring is being carried out by Zoological Society of london or zsl. Theyre using motion sensing camera traps to help identify some of the animals. This is a camera trap, and we use this for monitoring wildlife. Typically things that move, that are kind of larger bodied, and that move along the ground. So well typically put it kind of on a tree, around this height and theres a camera here and theres a sensor. So, if a warm bodied animal moves past, it will trigger a number of photos. Oh, look, thats us hello in the uk, were using it largely for ground dwelling mammals so like, foxes and badgers and squirrels. Theyre commonly captured, especially in these areas. Also hedgehogs which is primarily the focus of the london group. But we the focus of the london group. But we also get birds that will stop but we also get birds that will stop in but we also get birds that will stop in front of them if they are on stop in front of them if they are on the ground and if we use them are on the ground and if we use them in are on the ground and if we use them in special circumstances, we can them in special circumstances, we can get them in special circumstances, we can get smaller things like smaller we can get smaller things like smaller rodents and things. It depends smaller rodents and things. It depends where you place them for what depends where you place them for what youre targeting it for~ for what youre targeting it for~ you for what youre targeting it for. You can put it up in the branches for. You can put it up in the branches if for. You can put it up in the branches if you want something are boral branches if you want something are boral. � ,. , � branches if you want something are boral. � �. ,. , are boral. But youre not going to et are boral. But youre not going to get much are boral. But youre not going to get much foxes are boral. But youre not going to get much foxes up are boral. But youre not going to get much foxes up in are boral. But youre not going to get much foxes up in the to get much foxes up in the trees. , as well as camera traps, the Monitoring Team also use specially designed Acoustic Monitors to capture audio from birds, bats, and rodents. We can listen to all sorts of things we can listen to all sorts of things. So Bats Vocalise in ultrasound. We cant hear it but ultrasound. We cant hear it but we ultrasound. We cant hear it but we can record it on this and but we can record it on this and visualise the sound afterwards. Its very, very cool afterwards. Its very, very cool the afterwards. Its very, very cool. The same with the dormice cool. The same with the dormice. We use it for them as well dormice. We use it for them as well and dormice. We use it for them as well and they also vocalise in ultrasound. Well and they also vocalise in ultrasound. They well and they also vocalise in i ultrasound. They sound ultrasound. Really . They sound like a whiney ultrasound. Really . They sound like a whiney tea ultrasound. Really . They sound like a whiney tea pot. Ultrasound. Really . They sound like a whiney tea pot. Its like a whiney tea pot. Its really. Like a whiney tea pot. Its really, really cool. Its crazy really, really cool. Its cra. � , crazy. And this little thing icks crazy. And this little thing picks no crazy. And this little thing picks no all crazy. And this little thing picks up all that . Crazy. And this little thing picks up all that . This picks up all that . This Microphone Picks up all that . This Microphone Picks picks up all that . This Microphone Picks it i picks up all that . This| Microphone Picks it up picks up all that . This i Microphone Picks it up and picks up all that . This Microphone Picks it up and also we use Microphone Picks it up and also we use it Microphone Picks it up and also we use it for bats. We can hear them we use it for bats. We can hear them now while the method of collecting the data may be relatively low tech, what happens with it afterwards is very much cutting edge. Zsl� s initial Pilot Project captured 35,000 data files or 3,000 hours of audio from just 33 Acoustic Monitors placed across network rail� s estate in south london alone. They needed a way to efficiently analyse such large volumes of data which is where our old friend ai comes in. Zsl worked with google, using Cloud Storage and pre trained Machine Learning models, to identify and map species to the network rail estate. Back at zsl hq, i sat down with lydia to see some of the results of the analysis. In some cases, there are some really good Machine Learning models already trained so for instance, for birds and bats, there are some excellent models out there. And essentially, they use these Spectrogram Images that im showing you here these are really distinctive images they basically learn these images which are associated with these different species. The ultimate aim for this research is to understand the true scale of the biodiversity around network rail� s 20,000km of railway corridor. And advances in Technology Like this make that more achievable. The scale of the entire estate because the scale of the entire estate because its really enormous, theres because its really enormous, theres no because its really enormous, theres no way you could get to theres no way you could get to the whole theres no way you could get to the whole thing sol theres no way you could get to the whole thing so i think its using the whole thing so i think its using a variety of different tools kind of in combination, like satellite remote combination, like satellite Remote Sensing is the most obvious Remote Sensing is the most obvious fully scalable approach for the obvious fully scalable approach for the railway line and they use that for the railway line and they use that to look at habitats and use that to look at habitats and this use that to look at habitats and this is how we can add an additional and this is how we can add an additional layer of information. Additional layer of information. ,. , information. That was paul and thats all weve information. That was paul and thats all weve got information. That was paul and thats all weve got time i information. That was paul and thats all weve got time for. I thats all weve got time for. Thanks for watching and we will see you soon. Thanks for watching and we will see you soon hello, Thanks Forjoining me. Fairly quiet on the Weather Front across most of the uk right now. The storms have also cleared from southwestern england as well as wales. This is what we had during saturday flash floods in places. How about the weather on sunday . Its actually not looking bad at all for most of us. A lot of bright, if not sunny weather on the way. However, some coastal areas, particularly around the north sea, could be grey and chilly. So this is how we start the day. Inland and out towards the west, the weathers looking fine and sunny right from the word go. But these eastern counties, or here, it may take time for that sunshine to break through that layer of gray or that stratus and sea fog that will have rolled in overnight. So the afternoon looking pretty sunny across most of the uk, again, with the exception of some coastal areas. Could be some showers across southwestern parts of scotland, maybe the southwest of england. Inland 22 or 23 celsius in that strong sunshine. But where the low, grey clouds stick around anywhere along the north sea coast, but particularly the further north you are, it will be chilly, maybe no higher than around 12 degrees. We have that on saturday. Could happen again on sunday. So through the course of the evening, you can see that low grey cloud. Once again its going to roll inland out towards the west, its going to stay generally clear. Now, heres monday. Cloudy skies out towards the east, but then the sun comes out and its a repeat performance. A fine day on the way. Again, temperatures in the low 20s inland, closer to the coast closer to around the mid teens. Now, on tuesday, subtle changes. Showers will appear in different areas. We could see some forming across scotland, northern ireland, the Lake District as well. But i think the further south you are, the better the weather will be. Temperatures wont really change an awful lot. In fact, overall, the first half of the week for most of us isnt looking too bad. But, as we head through wednesday and thursday, this low pressure sweeps in out of the east this time. Itll bring quite breezy weather and also a spell of persistent rain, and at times it will be heavy. So a change on the way second half of the week, and thats reflected in the forecast here. Not really bad at all until around about tuesday, bar a few showers here and there. But then wednesday, thursday and friday, its all change and its hello low. Bye bye. Good morning. Welcome to breakfast with ben thompson and luxmy gopal. 0ur Headlines Today a huge increase in demand for Hepatitis C Tests in england after the bbc revealed more than 1,000 people were unknowingly infected with the virus. Defeat for tyson fury the british boxer has failed in his attempt to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years, beaten by ukrainian 0leksandr usyk. I was having a lot of fun actually. I was having a lot of fun actually. I dont know if it looked like, but i dont know if it looked like, but i was playing around, i was enjoying it. The boss of South West Water apologises for the Parasite Contamination in devon as thousands of residents are told they no longer need to boil their drinking water. Good morning. Its gone down to the last day an Incredible Premier League title race will be settled later in manchester or north london. Manchester city are on course to be champions for the fourth year in a row, but a slip up will mean arsenal lift the trophy. A warm sunny conditions that are developed quite widely across the uk today, some fog on the coast in one or two isolated showers. I will have the full aukus details
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