WEEK 13. Last lesson. Boohoo :(

It was the last lesson for TWC and my group was supposed to present for our group project, out of 3 groups. We presented on the topic ‘The future of aviation’ with an emphasis on aeroplanes. After 13 gruelling weeks of projects, thesis papers and blog posts, it has finally come to a finale. I would like to thank Prof and the class for a wonderful classroom ambience and an effective discussion on technological issues. This class has expanded my horizons and made me realize how far technology has come in the last decade. A very prominent example will be the iPhone, which changed the consumers’ expectations of a phone and made smartphones the must-have item for every young consumer.

The second group presented on the topic of telecommunications, and they made a very creative and funny video on how telecommunications have evolved since the 18th century. It was an eye-opener for me because I always thought that the telephone came before the telegraph, but the actual reality was that the telegraph came into existence nearly 60 years before the telephone experiment by Alexander Graham Bell. Following that, the fax machine came into use, followed by a giant leap in technology from the Internet. Despite all these improvements, the future remains exciting. In five years’ time, holographic images projected from mobile devices for us to view images, type notes and basically perform all functions available on smartphones may be available.

My group presented on the future of aviation, focusing on 4 aspects, namely fuel efficiency, gravity-powered airplanes, scramjet engines and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Gravity-powered airplanes are still in the theory stage, which means it has not been tested in an actual experiment. It works in the same principle as the Zeppelin which was common during the pre-war years. However, instead of using hydrogen or helium, vacuum is used so as to further reduce the weight of the plane and displace more air for the same volume. As for scramjet engines, it is a futuristic form of engine that provides so much thrust to the plane that it is able to reach speeds of nearly Mach 10, or nearly ten times the speed of sound. This means that the time spent on air travel can be minimized to as little as two hours for a round the world flight. It can also allow for greater fuel efficiencies since it uses hydrogen as fuel. However, one limitation is that it needs a conventional jet engine to boost it to Mach 5 speeds. Further, until now, no prototype of the scramjet engine has survived its test, mainly because at such high speeds, the engine experiences too much friction and its flight pattern becomes very unpredictable. UAVs are a form of planes heavily utilized in the military world, with the Americans and Israelis relying on them heavily for missions in the Middle East. They remove the need for a plane to have a pilot, instead relying on a ground pilot to control the UAV remotely from a safe distance. This reduces the casualty rate, allows smaller planes to be built which can then escape detection by radar more easily and saves fuel since a lighter plane can now be built. In the future, we debated whether these planes can be used in the commercial arena. Even though autopilot is now a standard procedure on commercial flights when the plane is cruising at 12000m above sea level, a switch to totally unmanned flights will possibly face large resistance from passengers due to security risks, safety risks as well as a stigma against totally relying on computers.

All in all, these group presentations had been very informative and had piqued my interest in TWC. Despite this course coming to an end, I believe I will continue to be inspired and amazed by new technologies, and will take an active role in getting exposed to these technologies and learning about the possible limitations and social problems that it may cause. I would like to thank Prof Gurinder Shahi for his very engaging and innovative approach to teaching.