Tag: Tubitak

  • KAAN project sub- chain companies

    KAAN project sub- chain companies

    Turkey’s developed 5th generation fighter aircraft, KAAN, took off from the runway, meeting the sky as it lifted its wheels off the ground. The flight, which held the breath of all Turkey, also made a great impact worldwide. Taking its first flight on February 21, 2024, at 08:50, KAAN remained airborne for 13 minutes, reaching an altitude of 8000 feet and a speed of 230 knots.

    KAAN provides superior air dominance with its High Performance and Integrated Avionics System, which includes Extended Air-to-Air Combat Range with New Weapons, Precision and Full Hit from Internal Weapon Bays at High/Supersonic Speeds, Artificial Intelligence, and Heterogeneous Computing support.

    During KAAN’s first flight, the Central Management Computer developed by TÜBİTAK, Avionics Interface Units, Deterministic Network, Multi-Core Real-Time Operating System, and Middleware Software were used.

    The main control computers were designed and manufactured by TÜBİTAK BİLGEM.

    The computer system, referred to as KAAN’s brain, was successfully developed by TÜBİTAK BİLGEM and delivered to TUSAŞ ahead of the planned date in 2022.

    The avionics computer system has safety-critical and high-performance processor modules with deterministic and high-speed communication infrastructures. This computer performs data processing and management functions for Mission (Communication, Navigation, AESA Radar, Electronic Warfare, Electro-Optical Targeting and Weapon) Systems along with critical aircraft management functions such as engine system management, flight system management, etc. The mission computers reduce the pilot’s workload and also generate displays for the instruments and helmet-mounted display.

    The Multi-Core National Real-Time Operating System was developed by TÜBİTAK BİLGEM.

    The Real-Time Operating System (GzIS), developed by TÜBİTAK BİLGEM, was made multi-core to meet KAAN’s high computing needs and was used on the Main Management Computers during KAAN’s first flight.

    When the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft KAAN project is completed, it will become unique with TÜBİTAK’s critical technologies.

    turk havacilik uzay sanayi kaan

    Systems developed by TÜBİTAK BİLGEM for KAAN:

    Flight Control and Aircraft Management Computers

    These are computers that manage engines, flight control surfaces (flaps), and other aircraft systems. They were used in KAAN’s first flight.

    Central Management Computers

    These are 5th Generation Integrated Modular Avionics computers that manage the aircraft’s main systems and weapon systems, generate images for avionics displays and helmet-mounted displays, and ensure the aircraft’s cyber security. They were used in KAAN’s first flight.

    Mission Management Computers

    These are computers that process and manage data from communication, navigation, electro-optical targeting, radar, and electronic warfare systems. They were used in KAAN’s first flight.

    Avionics Interface Units

    These units convert aircraft sensor and actuator signals and facilitate communication with legacy interface systems. They were used in KAAN’s first flight.

    Deterministic Network

    It is a high-speed optical network that ensures the transportation of data with different criticality levels without affecting each other. It was used in KAAN’s first flight.

    High-Speed Network

    It is an optical network that enables the transportation of a large amount of sensor data to management computers at very high speeds. It was used in KAAN’s first flight.

    Multi-Core Real-Time Operating System

    These are operating systems that allow different applications of varying criticality levels to run on all of KAAN’s computers without affecting each other and with high performance. They were used in KAAN’s first flight.

    Middleware Software

    These are middleware software that enable communication between KAAN’s sensors and each other, perform protocol conversion for interfaces, generate display graphics for indicator displays, and run artificial intelligence applications. They were used in KAAN’s first flight.

    EMC Test System

    It is a system that measures and analyzes the compatibility of all electronic systems on KAAN with each other.

    Antenna Test System (NFRTF)

    It is a system that determines the geometry of KAAN and ensures the low radar cross-section for the 5th Generation stealth aircraft.

    Systems to be developed by TÜBİTAK MAM for KAAN:

    Life Support System

    Life Support Systems are being developed to enable Fighter Aircraft pilots to sustain basic vital functions under conditions requiring high physical endurance.

    Explosion Prevention System

    [probably a Fuel Tank Inerting System]

    Explosion Prevention Systems are being developed to prevent explosion and fuel boiling in fuel tanks of Fighter Aircraft, taking into account the variable conditions of the aircraft.

    Electromagnetic Modeling and Optimization of Radar Absorbing Multilayer Thin Film Surface Coating

    The RASEM software is being developed to give the National Fighter Aircraft invisibility feature, especially in the design processes of the canopy.

    Development of a Surfaces Providing Low Visibility in Intake of National Fighter Aircraft

    For providing a low radar visibility to air intakes of MMU-KAAN, surface designs within the duct will be tested and measured.

    Electromagnetic Modeling and Implementation of Frequency Selective Surfaces for National Fighter Aircraft

    For providing the low radar visibility feature to KAAN, RASEM-RADOM software is being developed for electromagnetic design and optimization of KAAN’s radome with frequency selective characteristics.

    The armament integration of KAAN will be carried out by TÜBİTAK SAGE

    TÜBİTAK SAGE’s SOM A, SOM B1, SOM B2, HGK 82, HGK 83, HGK 84, NEB, GÖKHAN, KGK 82, KGK 83, GÖKDOĞAN, and BOZDOĞAN projects will be integrated into KAAN.

    kaan
  • Turkey’s first local solar tower built in southern city

    Turkey’s first local solar tower built in southern city

    Turkish energy company Greenway has completed the construction of Turkey’s first “concentrated solar power tower plant” (CSP) in the southern province of Mersin, which is located on one of the world’s major Sun Belt areas.

    The first local concentrated solar power tower plant built in Turkish southern province of Mersin has a 5 MW of thermal power capacity. Company photo
    The first local concentrated solar power tower plant built in Turkish southern province of Mersin has a 5 MW of thermal power capacity. Company photo

    The plant, which has been built with an investment of $50 million by Greenway with the support of Turkey’s science watchdog TÜBİTAK and the Technology Development Foundation of Turkey (TTGV), generates 5 MW of thermal power, equivalent to the energy requirement of 1,500 houses.

    “Turkey is located on a major sun belt and is lucky compared to many countries that develop technology in this field,” Co-founder of Greenway and Project Management Director Serdar Erturan said in a statement.

    Erturan noted that major world powers had been placing a special focus on solar power plants as a substantial power generation source in response to the increasing energy demand due to rising technological needs.The plant is used as one of the most efficient methods to convert solar power to electricity across the world. While it’s one of its kind in Turkey, it also marks many firsts in the world.

    There are similar tower type plants in Spain, Israel and the U.S., and the Greenway Mersin CSP stands out for its wireless communication system as well as its lego type design, which enables easy transfer, installation and easy access to the site.

    Competetive price gain

    The plant utilizes only water and solar light, and by focusing solar energy over the tower, it enables reaching high temperatures. Reflective panels consist of unique glass mirrors and system components and energy production processes contain only environment friendly materials. The only output of the system is the high pressure steam.

    “Thanks to hybrid and compact systems that lower costs to competitive levels and are not dependent on external sources in technological terms, it is possible to generate energy from renewable energy sources, at high outputs and competitive prices,” Erturan said.

  • Turkish Science Agency’s Book Selections Prompt Questions

    Turkish Science Agency’s Book Selections Prompt Questions

    Not fit to print? The Turkish translation of Ever Since Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould is one of the books that has disappeared from TÜBİTAK’s inventory.
    Credit: TÜBİTAK

    Virtually all books about evolution—along with more than 100 other titles from other fields—have apparently disappeared in recent months from the selection of popular science books for sale by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), the country’s main science funding agency. The missing books have prompted the latest skirmish in the long-running conflict between the government and parts of the country’s academic community. But TÜBİTAK has denied censoring the books, saying that they are unavailable because of copyright issues.

    Through its popular science book program, TÜBİTAK translates a range of science books into Turkish and sells them to the public, both directly and through bookstores. It used to offer more than 450 titles, including more than a dozen books about evolution such as Darwin and the Beagle by Alan Moorehead, The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, and James Watson’s The Double Helix. A list of books offered until recently (in Turkish) is available on an outdated but still accessible version of TÜBİTAK’s Web site. On the current Web site, the books are no longer listed.

    Relations between the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkey’s academic establishment have been rocky since Erdoğan’s party won a large majority in parliament a decade ago. Academics have decried what they say is government meddling in the organization and oversight of both TÜBİTAK and the Turkish Academy of Sciences, which led to one-third of the academy members resigning and forming a new independent Science Academy. Some prominent academics have also been arrested. Evolution has been a flash point before, when TÜBİTAK delayed an article about Darwin in one of its publications. (The article was published after public outcry.) There have also been some apparent attempts to censor evolution-related Web sites.

    A Weekly Chat on the Hottest Topics in Science Thursdays 3 p.m. EDT

    Earlier this month, several Turkish newspapers reported that the evolution-related books were unavailable, and suggested that TÜBİTAK had censored them. A few days later, TÜBİTAK denied censoring the books, saying that the newspaper stories were part of a smear campaign. But Mehmet Ali Alpar, an astrophysicist at Sabanci University in Istanbul and president of the Science Academy, says that, by his count, fewer than 300 titles of the original 455 are currently offered. The selection for adult readers seems hardest hit. The Web site now shows just four biology-related books for adults. One evolution book does remain available, a children’s book by Linda Gamlin, part of a series called Eyewitness Books.

    Alpar is a former member of the TÜBİTAK science board and helped launch the council’s publishing program in 1993. The program has been very popular and has sold more than 12 million books, he says. “Our policy was heterodox in selecting books,” Alpar says. “We had an eclectic selection, spread out over all branches of science.” The TÜBİTAK Web site says that it chooses books to publish based on “context, originality and presentation.”

    Alpar says other publishers in Turkey will likely pick up the dropped titles. “The demand is there” from book buyers, he says, and notes that a private publisher has recently taken over the rights to at least one book by Richard Feynman. (Books by the physicist have also disappeared from TÜBİTAK’s catalog.) However, he says, the TÜBİTAK imprint is well recognized by the general public. Amid the ongoing debate about evolution and creationism, losing that seal of approval on evolution-related books won’t help.

    Science Insider’s questions sent to TÜBİTAK went unanswered. In a 16 January statement (English translation obtained by Science Insider), TÜBİTAK said that it “has no censorship policy and has not censored the writers or the books mentioned in the news,” and that “copyright issues” have kept some books unavailable. One newspaper article quoted a TÜBİTAK source as saying that some books had been dropped because they were outdated. Alpar is not convinced. “Do they consider The Double Helix outdated?” he asks.

    It’s possible, Alpar says, that TÜBİTAK has been failing to renew copyright agreements for some time, which could explain the loss of a quarter of the original titles offered. “That would be serious negligence,” he says, with the end result almost the same as targeted censorship. The lost books are concentrated in the natural sciences; many of the current offerings are mathematics and technology titles. “This seems to be part of a strategy—which I see as misguided—to cut back on basic sciences in favor of technology.” Similar trends can be seen in funding decisions, he says.

    Erol Gelenbe, a computer scientist at Imperial College London, is skeptical about the council’s intentions as well. TÜBİTAK has been moving “step by step” into line with the government’s Islamic-leaning policies, and the disappearance of the books is consistent with that trend, he says. However, he, too, is optimistic that other publishers will step into the gap. “These books will reappear somewhere,” Gelenbe says.

    via Turkish Science Agency’s Book Selections Prompt Questions – ScienceInsider.

  • How to make stuff with less energy – or, how Turkey can import less gas – Leigh Turner

    How to make stuff with less energy – or, how Turkey can import less gas – Leigh Turner

    How to make stuff with less energy – or, how Turkey can import less gas

    January 18, 2013

    photo2This January figures were published showing that Turkish gas imports had hit an all-time high.

    So the timing of the UK-Turkey Knowledge Partnership Conference at the British Consulate General in Istanbul on 17 January to examine Energy and Resource Efficiency in Manufacturing could not have been better.

    photo2Turkey is an increasingly important research and manufacturing hub. Roche, Pfizer, Fiat, Mercedes-Benz, Huawei, Bosch, Siemens, Intel, Microsoft, ST-Ericsson and Nortel already have R&D activities here, while Ford, Fiat, Mercedes and Renault manufacture in Turkey. But dependence on imported energy, and the resulting current account deficit, is a brake on Turkish growth. Meanwhile the UK is a key centre of manufacturing and engineering expertise, including in energy efficiency. UK car manufacture hit a four-year high in 2012 of 1.46m cars, with 80% exported; and British-built energy-efficient wings support 50% of the world’s large aircraft.

    International collaboration in science, innovation and trade is crucial to tackle global challenges. That’s why the UK-Turkey Knowledge Partnership, signed in 2011 to facilitate collaboration between the universities, research institutions, businesses and governments of the two countries, is so important. At the KP Conference in Istanbul, we were delighted to welcome the Rt Hon Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales as an opening speaker and Professor Dame Julia King, Vice Chancellor of Aston University and the UK’s Low-Carbon Business Ambassador, as our key-note speaker. The Conference, attended by a host of top Turkish and British academics and business people, delivered a concrete expression of practical co-operation on everything from alternative energy systems to low-carbon transport and materials, energy efficiency and manufacturing.

    We look forward to further collaboration between British and Turkish institutions through the Knowledge Partnership and congratulate our Science and Innovation Network, together with their Turkish partners TUBITAK, for making the conference a resounding success. Meanwhile I shall look with interest in the months ahead at future Turkish gas import figures and at plans to increase the share of renewable energy in Turkey from 10% now to 30% in 2023.

    via How to make stuff with less energy – or, how Turkey can import less gas – Leigh Turner.

  • Turkish state science council denies ‘evolution censor’

    Turkish state science council denies ‘evolution censor’

    The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) has strongly denied reports that it has stopped printing books on evolution, saying the claims were “black propaganda” against their institution.

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    “If we aim to censor Evolution Theory we would discontinue publishing any books containing evolutionist approaches, but on the contrary we are publishing the books that are not being published by other publishing houses,” an official from TÜBİTAK told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday in a phone interview.

    A number of reports in daily Sözcü claimed Jan. 14 that TÜBİTAK had put a stop to the publication and sale of all books in its archives that support the theory of evolution.

    The evolutionist books, previously available through TÜBİTAK’s Popular Science Publications’ List, will no longer be provided by the council, the daily had claimed.

    Titles from prominent writers including Richard Dawkins, Alan Moorehead, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Levontin and James Watson were listed as being among those which would no longer be available to Turkish readers.

    However, the official refuted the claims. “There are two books already in our 2012 catalogue regarding evolution, Richard Dawkins’ ‘The Blind Watchmaker’ is one of them … Dawkins’ ‘The Selfish Gene’ is not being published because of a publication rights issue, but this is being manipulated,” the official said.

    He claimed that “some circles” had kicked off a “black propaganda” campaign against TÜBİTAK to “shadow its success,” following the successful mission of Turkey’s first Earth observation satellite, Göktürk-2.

    Göktürk-2 was launched Dec. 18 in China, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan followed the launch at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) campus, which witnessed huge numbers of students protesting the prime minister’s visit.

    Erdoğan had called on the academics who supported the students to resign, but the police’s heavy-handed intervention in the protests also stirred a debate among Turkish universities, with some backing the police and Erdoğan and some opposing.

    TÜBİTAK had previously been the target of evolutionist circles for alleged censorship practices.

    In early 2009 a huge uproar occurred when the cover story of a TÜBİTAK publication was pulled, reportedly because it focused on Darwin’s theory of evolution. The incident led to intense criticism and finger-pointing from various representatives of the publication and its parent institute.

    A few months later, the article in question appeared as the publication’s cover story.

    January/15/2013

    via SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY – Turkish state science council denies ‘evolution censor’.

  • No More Evolution Books in Turkey

    No More Evolution Books in Turkey

    Turkey, allegedly the most secular of all Muslim-majority countries in the world, is home to Adnan Oktar, aka Harun Yahya, a Muslim young earth creationist who has led a crusade against evolution. It appears that he has won a significant victory:

    The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) has put a stop to the publication and sale of all books in its archives that support the theory of evolution, daily Radikal has reported.

    The evolutionist books, previously available through TÜBİTAK’s Popular Science Publications’ List, will no longer be provided by the council…

    Books by Richard Dawkins, Alan Moorehead, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Levontin and James Watson are all included in the list of books that will no longer be available to the Turkish readers.

    I don’t know how things work in Turkey, of course, but I doubt this means that books about evolution are actually illegal to sell or own in that country. But it’s certainly not a good thing.

    via No More Evolution Books in Turkey » Dispatches from the Culture Wars.