Engineering Commons^™

Synthetic Jet Actuator-Based Aircraft Tracking Using A Continuous Robust Nonlinear Control Strategy, N. Ramos-Pedroza, W. Mackunis, M. Reyhanoglu

Publications

A robust nonlinear control law that achieves trajectory tracking control for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with synthetic jet actuators (SJAs) is presented in this paper. A key challenge in the control design is that the dynamic characteristics of SJAs are nonlinear and contain parametric uncertainty. The challenge resulting from the uncertain SJA actuator parameters is mitigated via innovative algebraic manipulation in the tracking error system derivation along with a robust nonlinear control law employing constant SJA parameter estimates. A key contribution of the paper is a rigorous analysis of the range of SJA actuator parameter uncertainty within which asymptotic …

Highly Vented Truss Wall Honeycomb Structures, David J. Sypeck

Publications

A vented honeycomb structure with a plurality of honey­comb cells arranged in a hierarchical order and having a plurality of truss walls, each truss wall including a plurality of members. The vented honeycomb structure is fabricated by joining a plurality of sheets of trusses using any one of an expansion, a corrugation, and a slotting process. Fabri­cation can also occur by deposition, casting, additive, extru­sion, or aligning and joining methods. The honeycomb cells, truss walls, truss wall openings, and truss wall members can be functionally graded.

Highly Vented Truss Wall Honeycomb Structures, David J. Sypeck

Publications

A vented honeycomb structure with a plurality of honey­comb cells arranged in a hierarchical order and having a plurality of truss walls, each truss wall including a plurality of members. The vented honeycomb structure is fabricated by joining a plurality of sheets of trusses using any one of an expansion, a corrugation, and a slotting process. Fabri­cation can also occur by deposition, casting, additive, extru­sion, or aligning and joining methods. The honeycomb cells, truss walls, truss wall openings, and truss wall members can be functionally graded.

Rfid Tags For On- And Off-Metal Applications, Ramiro Augusto Ramirez, Thomas Mccrea Weller, Eduardo Antonio Rojas

Publications

In one embodiment, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag including a substrate having a top surface, bottom surface, opposed end surfaces, and opposed lateral surfaces, a passive RFID integrated circuit (IC) chip mounted to the top surface of the substrate, a monopole antenna that includes a planar radiating arm that extends out from the RFID IC chip along the top surface of the substrate and a matching loop having two grounded matching stubs that surround the chip and a portion of the radiating arm, and a ground plane formed on the bottom surface, an end surface, and the top surface of …

Multiple Content Adaptive Intelligent Watermarking Schemes For The Protection Of Blocks Of A Document Image, Chetan Kr Mr., S Nirmala Dr.

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Most of the documents contain different types of information such as white space, static information and dynamic information or mix of static and dynamic information. In this paper, multiple watermarking schemes are proposed for protection of the information content. The proposed approach comprises of three phases. In Phase-1, the edges of the source document image are extracted and the edge image is decomposed into blocks of uniform size. In Phase-2, GLCM features like energy, homogeneity, contrast and correlation are extracted from each block and the blocks are classified as no-information, static, dynamic and mix of static and dynamic information content …

A Data Hiding Scheme Based On Chaotic Map And Pixel Pairs, Sengul Dogan Sd

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Information security is one of the most common areas of study today. In the literature, there are many algorithms developed in the information security. The Least Significant Bit (LSB) method is the most known of these algorithms. LSB method is easy to apply however it is not effective on providing data privacy and robustness. In spite of all its disadvantages, LSB is the most frequently used algorithm in literature due to providing high visual quality. In this study, an effective data hiding scheme alternative to LSB, 2LSBs, 3LSBs and 4LSBs algorithms (known as xLSBs), is proposed. In this method, random …

A Study On The Control, Dynamics, And Hardware Of Micro Aerial Biomimetic Flapping Wing Vehicles, Siara Hunt

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Biological flight encapsulates 400 million years of evolutionary ingenuity and thus is the most efficient way to fly. If an engineering pursuit is not adhering to biomimetic inspiration, then it is probably not the most efficient design. An aircraft that is inspired by bird or other biological modes of flight is called an ornithopter and is the original design of the first airplanes. Flapping wings hold much engineering promise with the potential to produce lift and thrust simultaneously. In this research, modeling and simulation of a flapping wing vehicle is generated. The purpose of this research is to develop a …

Aerodynamic Analysis Of Low Speed Wing Design Using Taguchi L9 Orthogonal Array, Kenneth Witcher, Ian Mcandrew, Elena Vishnevskaya

Publications

The study of aerodynamics has been preoccupied with understanding flight at increasing speeds and ultimately supersonic. Today, this pursuit has advanced the science for both Hypersonic and Transonic flight to near Mach 1 supporting economical commercial flight operations. This research presents the data from a Taguchi array on low speed with twin wing designs to establish the design parameters for their use in low speed and high altitude. Also presented is how aerodynamic advantages can be achieved through understanding the interactions of parameters and their use. This is compared to operational effectiveness when applied to remotely piloted aircraft that are …

Mechanical And Electrical Characterization Of Carbon Fiber/Bucky Paper/Zinc Oxide Hybrid Composites, Suma Ayyagari

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The quest for multifunctional carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRPs) expedited the use of several nano reinforcements such as zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Zinc oxide is semi-conductor with good piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties. These properties could be transmitted to CFRPs when a nanophase of ZnO is embedded within CFRPs. In lieu of ZnO nanorods, Bucky paper comprising mat of multiwall-carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) could be sandwiched in-between laminae to construct a functionally graded composite with elevated electrical and thermal conductivities. In this study, a low temperature ( 90_C) hydrothermal synthesis method was utilized to grow ZnO nanorods on …

Low-Cost Wearable Head-Up Display For Flight General Aviation, Pavan K. Chinta

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A low-cost wearable Commercial-off-The-Shelf (COTS) Augmented Reality (AR) Head-Up Display (HUD) system is designed, successfully reduced to practice, and flight tested. The system is developed based on the need for a technology that improves loss-of-control (LOC) safety in the General Aviation (GA) sector. The accuracy of the flight-path based system is determined to be within a degree of the truth source. The repeatability of the data from the COTS system is excellent. A complementary filter is proposed for air data flow angles and successfully flight tested for straight and level flight, dynamic maneuvering, and atmospheric turbulence, provided that a reasonably …

Aviation Propulsive Lithium-Ion Battery Packs State-Of-Charge And State-Of-Health Estimations And Propulsive Battery System Weight Analysis, Jingsi Lilly

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Aviation propulsive battery pack research is in high demand with the development of electric and hybrid aircraft. Accurate inflight state-of-charge and state-of-health estimations of aviation battery packs still remain challenging. This thesis puts efforts on estimating the state-of-charge, state-of-health, and remaining energy of a lithium- ion propulsive battery pack with a recursive least squares based adaptive estimator. By reading the system measurements (discharging currents and terminal voltages) with persistent excitation, the proposed estimator can determine the present internal parameters of the battery cells and further interpolate them into state-of-charge, state-of-health, and the remaining energy information. The validation results indicate that …

Computational Investigation Of The Biomechanics Of Babywearing In Regards To Developmental Dysplasia Of The Hip, Gaurav Girish

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH) is a congenital condition where an infant’s hip socket is either loose or otherwise unstable. DDH causes a joint instability where the femoral head is not properly situated inside the acetabulum. Etiology of the condition is in part congenital and developmental, with a difference of DDH prevalence between ethnicities. Incidence of DDH is also in some part dependent on cultural practices and activities of the mother and child. The exact nature of this cultural incidence is not clearly understood. A computational approach is hypothesized to identify the impact of babywearing position on the healthy …

Design Of Flight Control Laws For A Novel Stratospheric Dual-Aircraft Platform, Cindy Nshuti

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Dual-aircraft platform (DAP) is a novel concept that features two glider-like unmanned aerial systems (UAS) tethered via a thin adjustable cable allowing them to sail back-and-forth, without propulsion, using vertical wind shear. DAP offers the potential of a low-cost atmospheric satellite. This thesis presents the results of an initiative to demonstrate this novel flight concept through modeling, simulation, and flight testing at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). A realistic simulation environment, described herein, was developed to support the development and testing of flight control systems. This environment includes nonlinear aerodynamic models for the aircraft, a multi-element cable dynamics model, propeller-motor thrust …

Optimized Thruster Allocation Utilizing Dual Quaternions For The Asteroid Sample Return Mission (Osiris-Rex), Asher Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

As spacecraft require higher positional accuracy from the attitude control systems, new algorithm developments, along with sensor and actuator resolution and range improvements are necessary to achieve the desired science accuracies. For agile 6-Degrees of freedom (6-DOF) spacecraft with redundancy, the actuators are usually oversized or overpopulated to meet the desired slew requirements. Currently, most spacecraft utilize an over-actuated thruster system to produce 6-DOF control. This thesis presents a simulation of the OSIRIS-REx mission during the descent phase to the asteroid Bennu, with a focus on utilizing dual quaternion dynamics and a newly developed thruster allocation method. The dual quaternion …

Aerodynamic And Performance Analysis Of A Morphing Helicopter Rotor System, Vinay Gopal Krishnan

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of rotor morphing, specifically variable rotor speed and variable blade twist, on various parameters such as the distribution of angle of attack, lift, power, thrust and/or other metrics describing the performance of a helicopter rotor. A MATLAB based blade element theory model was developed and executed for different flight conditions. The model was validated against the flight test data of a UH-60. Effects on power, lift to drag ratio and rotor drag from variations in blade twist, rotor speed, rotor radius and blade chord was analyzed. Morphing cases were applied …

Implementation And Verification Of A Synthetic Eddy Method (Sem) In The Eagle3d Compressible Flow Solver, Patrick Kopper

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The objective of this thesis is to implement and evaluate a Synthetic Eddy Method (SEM) into the Eagle3D compressible ow solver. Both the ability of Eagle3D to resolve unsteady turbulent ow field and capability of the SEM to reproduce given Reynolds stress profiles to start realistic turbulent behavior are verified using common academic cases. Eagle3D is a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver using a novel combination of a Bounded Central Differencing (BCD) scheme with Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillatory (WENO) approximation to reduce numerical dissipation. SEM is a modern synthetic turbulence method able to reproduce an arbitrary Reynolds stresses specification on discretionary …

Development Of A Remotely-Piloted Vehicle Platform To Support Implementation, Verification, And Validation Of Pilot Control Systems, Sean O’Toole

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This thesis presents the development of a research test bed and the use of a set of metrics for evaluating handling qualities with pilot in the loop configuration. The main objective of this study is to provide software and hardware tools to support performance evaluation of control systems designed to compensate for Pilot Induced Oscillations (PIOs). A remotely-piloted vehicle presented in this thesis consists of an RC aircraft modified to be flown from a ground station cockpit. The unmanned aerial system has a high-speed on-board processing system capable of simulating different conditions during flight such as injecting actuator failures and …

Maritime Object Detection, Tracking, And Classification Using Lidar And Vision-Based Sensor Fusion, David John Thompson

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Autonomous Surface Vehicles have the capability of replacing dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs in the maritime field. However, few successful ASV systems exist today, as there is a need for greater sensing capabilities. Furthermore, a successful ASV system requires object detection and recognition capabilities to enable autonomous navigation and situational awareness. This thesis demonstrates an application of LiDAR sensors in maritime environments for object detection, classification, and camera sensor fusion. This is accomplished through the integration of a high-fidelity GPS/INS system, 3D LiDAR sensors, and a pair of cameras. After rotating LiDAR returns into a global reference frame, they are …

Mid-Air Retrieval (Mar) Of Cruise Missiles, Rpv’S And A Historical Overview Of Aerial Recovery, Walter R. Blackwell

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

USAF (RET) Lt. Col Walter R. Blackwell entered pilot training in October 1959 and served as an air force command pilot for 26 years. His flying experience includes light and heavy lift helicopters i.e. the H-19, H-21, H-1F, H-1N, HH-3E, and H-53. He has a total of 8,188 hours. His assignments in the Air Force included rescue combat crew commander in South East Asia, chief of flight safety at Aerospace Rescue and Recovery headquarters, and Air Force Systems Command Test Squadron. During his time as the Test Squadron Lt. Col Blackwell flew in support of cruise missile tests and special …

A New Way To Improve Logistics Efficiency And Aircraft-Onground Recovery, Katia Regina Goncalves, Erica Maria Dias Ferreira Cruz Grudzinski, Fabio Pinto, Carlos Alberto De Queiroz, Gilson Macedo Dos Santos

Graduate Student Works

The objective of this project was to bring more efficiency to logistics, improving time of Aircraft-on-Ground (AOG) recovery and developing possible saving for airlines operations. There proposed goal was to develop a system that would allow airlines to easily visualize an available space at the aircraft cargo bay on a desired flight and book its company materials (COMAT) on it, still respecting all appropriate regulation and the final availability of space.

This project was inspired by an existing system called MyIDTravel that allows jointed airline’s personnel to buy available tickets with low fares. The objective was to develop something similar …

From Paper To Digital Maintenance With Electronic Signature, Marcelo Backes, Fernando Miwa, Cesar Okajima, Ari Souza Jr., Daniel Tkacz

Graduate Student Works

This research paper reviewed the impact of the implementation of digital maintenance records replacing paper documents in the commercial aviation through gains in efficiency and cost reduction in airplane transitions. Throughout the lifecycle of a commercial airplane, repairs are incorporated, components are replaced and maintenance tasks are accomplished every day, each of those activities generate records that need to be kept and reconciled. Lessors have strict contract terms that require operators to keep all required maintenance documents stored and available so that asset value is maintained, this process is done today mostly with paper documents and is very costly and …

Security Baggage Process And On Time Performance At Guarulhos International Airport, Begara Diego, Adenil Oliveira, Davi Oliveira, Sabrina Santos, Ana Souza

Graduate Student Works

The study recommended starting the process of screening domestic passengers’ checked baggage at Guarulhos – São Paulo International Airport – for airlines efficiency and security improvement reasons. The aviation industry in Brazil is at risk. Domestic flights, which accounts for over 85% of the airport activity at Guarulhos International Airport, do not have a process in which checked baggage of the boarding passengers are duly screened. That risk is significant to personal welfare and business. This Capstone Project demonstrated that such an issue should be addressed. Not only is there a potential risk involved in not screening baggage of domestic …

Environmental & Economical Solution For São Paulo Congonhas Airport (Iata: Cgh, Icao: Sbsp), Adriana Larcerda, Daniel Fischer P. De Campos, Euler Sousa, Renato Achoa, Renato Carbonieri

Graduate Student Works

The final recommendations of this Capstone Project are to reduce the usage of the aircraft APU, implement noise abatement procedures on departures and landings and use the reverse thrust at idle within São Paulo Congonhas Airport (IATA: CGH, ICAO: SBSP) operations.

The predicted, and conservative outcomes resulting from these recommendations shall impact on reducing noise, carbon emissions and aviation fuel burn, by combining in-flight and on the ground measures.

The noise produced at the airport is estimated to reduce up to 50 dB at a given procedure, which shall improve health, environment and life quality of the population that live …

Twin-Wing Design Options Used For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles To Achieve High Altitudes At Low Speeds, Ian R. Mcandrew, Elena Vishnevskaya, Andrew Carruthers

Publications

The paper addresses the aerodynamic performance of twin‐wing aircraft (biplanes) that are remotely piloted. While twin wing aircraft are acknowledged as to having greater maneuverability than monoplanes, they have inherent disadvantages based on the set position of the upper wing to meet piloting needs which induces significant levels of drag from the struts that link the upper and lower wings together. In this research, the aerodynamics of the wing position in relationship to the lower wing are analyzed with Computational Fluid Mechanics/Dynamics and simulation models. It will show that modern material can eliminate the strut drag and allow for greater …

Analytical And Numerical Approaches On The Stiffness Of Magnetorheological Fluid Filled Spring, Stanislav Sikulskyi

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A solid mechanical spring generally exhibits uniform stiffness. This thesis studies a mechanical spring filled with magnetorheological (MR) fluid to achieve controllable stiffness. The hollow spring filled with MR fluid is subjected to a controlled magnetic field in order to change the viscosity of the MR fluid and thereby to change the overall stiffness of the spring. MR fluid is considered as a Bingham viscoplastic linear material in the mathematical model. The goal of this research is to study the feasibility of such spring system by analytically and numerically computing the effects of MR fluid on the overall spring stiffness. …

Verification, Validation And Application Of Shear Stress Transport Transitional Model To A R/C Aircraft, Jon Willems

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Accurate numerical prediction of transition onset as well as transition extent is crucial when evaluating the performance of many remotely controlled and autonomous aircraft. The four-equation Menter-Langtry Transitional viscous model in ANSYS Fluent is applied to a number of 2D and 3D airfoils and wings operating within the transitional flow regime, to permit comparison to relevant experimental and numerical results for transition onset, extent, and overall aerodynamic performance. The sensitivity to grid topology and fineness is also examined. With sufficient confidence in the numerical approach, the performance of a well-known high performance R/C glider is examined and compared to results …

Development And Characterization Of Piezoresistive Nanocomposites For Sensing Applications, Muhammad Anees

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Carbonnanotube basedhybrid nanocomposites are known to exhibit remarkable electrical and mechanical properties with many potentials in strain and damage sensing applications. In this work, we fabricate hybrid nanocomposites with carbon nanotube (CNT) sheet and graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) as fillers with epoxy matrix. An improvement in both electrical conductivity and piezoresistivity is observed with the combination of CNTs and GNPs, indicating the formation of efficient hybrid conductive networks for strain and electrical transfer in the material. Different matrix materials have been compared to investigate the effect ofmatrixand to choose the one that yields increased strains, flexibility, and electromechanical response. The electromechanical …

Mission Tasking, Path Planning, And System Integration For An Autonomous Surface Vessel, Timothy Zuercher

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This thesis presents the design and development of a fully autonomous surface vessel for use as a research platform for the Office of Naval Research and as a competition entry to the International Maritime RobotX Challenge in 2014 and 2016. The author’s contributions to this include the development of safety systems, power distribution systems, communications software, tasking software, and planning algorithms. The results of these developments include a hardware based safety system, a modular power and health monitoring system, an easy to use autoconfiguring inter-process communications stack, a dynamic tasking engine, and a comparison of two solutions to planning with …

Computer Aided Drafting Virtual Reality Interface, David M. Roach

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) is pervasive in engineering fields today. It has become indispensable for planning, creating, visualizing, troubleshooting, collaborating, and communicating designs before they exist in physical form. From the beginning, CAD was created to be used by means of a mouse, keyboard, and monitor. Along the way, other, more specialized interface devices were created specifically for CAD that allowed for easier and more intuitive navigation within a 3D space, but they were at best stopgap solutions. Virtual Reality (VR) allows users to navigate and interact with digital 3D objects and environments the same way they would in the …

Predicting General Aviation Pilots’ Weather-Related Performance Through A Scenario-Based Assessment, Jessica Cruit, Christina Frederick, Beth Blickensderfer, Joseph Keebler, Thomas Guinn

Publications

Weather-related accidents continue to challenge the general aviation (GA) community and with the development of advanced weather technology, GA pilots need additional education and training on how to effectively use these weather products to ensure flight safety. Currently, the literature on aviation weather suggests that there is a gap in both training and assessment strategy for GA pilots. Furthermore, several studies advocate assessing GA pilots at a deeper level of learning by including weather-based, scenario/application questions on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) written exam for private pilots. After first developing a scenario-based, aviation weather assessment, we used a multiple regression …