Latest news with #NipponTelegraphandTelephone
Gulf Today
16-05-2025
- Science
- Gulf Today
Japan develops drones capable of intercepting lightning strikes mid-air
Japanese researchers have developed innovative drones that can act as in-flight lightning arrestors, capable of intercepting lightning strikes directly in mid-air. According to researchers from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, these drones use electric field oscillations to attract lightning, and when the electric field gets stronger, the drone is launched to cause a lightning discharge at a specific location. Testing confirmed that the cage could endure extreme currents up to 150kA. This number is around five times stronger than standard lightning. On top of that, it covered 98% of the drone's surface. This resulted in the drone staying steady in flight even after taking a direct hit. Following the success of the tests, the researchers noted, a network of drones is planned to be deployed in cities and around key facilities to minimise lightning damage and increase public safety. Lightning in Japan causes an estimated $702 million to $1.4 billion in damage each year, and these new technologies could greatly reduce that risk. WAM
Business Times
08-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Japan's NTT plans to take NTT Data private for US$16.4 billion
[TOKYO] Japanese telecoms firm Nippon Telegraph and Telephone announced plans on Thursday (May 8) to take its subsidiary NTT Data private by purchasing the shares it does not already own for US$16.4 billion. NTT said in a statement it would launch a tender offer for NTT Data at 4,000 yen (S$35.91) per share, representing a 34 per cent premium from Wednesday's closing price. NTT Data's shares were untraded on Thursday due to a glut of buy orders, ending at the daily-limit high of 3,492 yen, following a Nikkei newspaper report about the plan. NTT currently owns 57.7 per cent of NTT Data, an information technology services provider with a market capitalisation of US$29.5 billion at the close of trade on Wednesday. NTT, a former state monopoly still part government-owned, took mobile carrier NTT Docomo private in a 4 trillion yen deal in 2020. The telecoms company has partnered Toyota Motor to develop a mobility platform and is also developing next-generation light-based communications technology. NTT is also a major operator of data centres. Management buyouts and corporate acquisitions have surged in Japan in recent years. With the NTT deal, a transaction would conclude a prominent parent-child listing – a structure that remains common in Japan. Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda has proposed acquiring supplier Toyota Industries in a potential 6 trillion yen deal, media reported last month. The founding family of Seven & i Holdings attempted a buyout of the 7-Eleven convenience store owner but failed to secure funding. Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard has offered US$47 billion for the retailer. REUTERS
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
World First: Japan Claims New Drone Can Induce Lightning Strikes
A Tokyo-based tech giant claims to have created the first drone in the world to induce and guide lightning strikes. Like Zeus on his winged chariot, or – more realistically – a flying lightning rod, the drone can trigger bolts of electricity from underneath thunderclouds, absorbing their incredible energy while taking little damage, and staying airborne throughout the experience, according to the company. These claims are not peer-reviewed, but if the drone can do what the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) group claims, the technology could theoretically protect cities and infrastructure from lightning damage the world over. Each and every minute, about 6,000 lightning bolts strike the ground around the world. The power of a single lightning strike can set forests ablaze, split concrete, trigger steam explosions in trees, and cause power surges that can trigger widespread outages, melt electrical wiring, or fry electronic systems and devices beyond repair. While putting lightning rods on buildings offer some protection, the NTT group has been working for years now on a better solution to protect their communications equipment. Their drone might not look like much, but the company claims to have tested an iteration this winter in the Northern Hemisphere under an actual thundercloud. As a storm approached a mountainous area of Japan's Shimane prefecture on December 13, 2024, the company's drone allegedly flew to an altitude of 300 meters (984 feet), carrying a conductive wire with it. This wire attached the drone to a switch on the ground, and when flicked, this switch caused a surge of electrical energy through the wire, grounding the drone electrically. As a result, this supposedly increased the strength of the drone's surrounding electric field, triggering and attracting a lightning strike. According to the NTT group, the drone survived the lightning strike and kept flying, although its protective covering did somewhat melt. This isn't the first time that scientists have used something other than a lightning rod to trigger and attract an electric bolt from the skies. Recently, some other scientists figured out that they could guide lightning bolts away from critical infrastructure if they shot lasers into the sky. This laser 'decoy' was first proposed way back in 1974, and it took decades of lab work and several failed attempts with real lightning to get it to work. Unlike a laser, however, a drone that attracts lightning must be protected from the electrical damage it absorbs. To get around that problem, the NTT group encased its device in a metal Faraday cage, which guides electricity around the device, reducing electromagnetic interference. In lab tests, the drone was mostly protected by this cage, even when scientists at NTT say they hit it with artificial lightning that was five times more powerful than natural lightning. "NTT aims to protect cities and people from lightning damage by flying drones – designed to withstand direct lightning strikes – to accurately predict lightning-prone locations, actively trigger strikes, and safely guide them away," reads a translation of a recent company press release on the drone technology. Nations in the tropics tend to experience more lightning strikes than other parts of the world, but recent studies suggest pollution and climate change may also increase the risk of lightning damage in the years to come. New technologies to reduce the harm of lightning storms are more than welcome, however, the NTT group goes a step further and says it is looking at ways to harness lightning energy, directed to the ground by their drones. That sounds like a great idea, but at this point, it is entirely theoretical. The batteries to catch such vast amounts of energy and slowly release them into our current energy systems do not yet exist. In the past, some scientists have called the whole concept of harvesting energy from lightning "hopeless". It remains to be seen whether the NTT group's new drone announcements stand up to scientific scrutiny. World's First 'T. Rex Leather' Is Claimed to Come From Dino DNA. Is This For Real? Scientists 'Tattoo' Tardigrades in Nanotechnology Breakthrough A Strange Phrase Keeps Turning Up in Scientific Papers, But Why?
