Engineering Commons^™

Aircraft Detection And Tracking Using Uav-Mounted Vision System, Yan Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

For unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to operate safely in the national airspace where non-collaborating flying objects, such as general aviation (GA) aircraft without automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), exist, the UAVs' capability of “seeing" these objects is especially important. This “seeing", or sensing, can be implemented via various means, such as Radar or Lidar. Here we consider using cameras mounted on UAVs only, which has the advantage of light weight and low power. For the visual system to work well, it is required that the camera-based sensing capability should be at the level equal to or exceeding that of human pilots. …

Software-And Hardware-In-The-Loop Verification Of Flight Dynamics Model And Flight Control Simulation Of A Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Calvin Coopmans, Michal Podhradsk, Nathan V. Hoffer

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Unmanned aerial system (UAS) use is ever-increasing. In this paper, it is shown that even with low-cost hardware and open-source software, simple numerical testing practices (software- and hardware-in-the-loop) can prove the accuracy and usefulness of an aeronautical flight model, as well as provide valuable pre-flight testing of many situations typically only encountered in flight: high winds, hardware failure, etc. Software and hardware simulation results are compared with actual flight testing results to show that these modeling and testing techniques are accurate and provide a useful testing platform for a small unmanned aerial vehicle. Source code used in simulation is open …

Propulsion And P.I Control Systems For Sae Aircraft, Ervin Meneses

Honors Theses

This thesis analyzes the integration and performance of a P.I control system within the SAE Aero Design Competition aircraft. This year the Union College Aero Design team will be competing in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design “Regular Class” Competition, which encompasses the design and production of a large‐scale remote controlled aircraft that must meet predetermined power and size constraints. The overall objective of the competition is to have the designed aircraft carry a maximum amount weight within a 200 feet runway while staying below a 1000W power limit. Each competitor must integrate a power limiter into their …

Electric Commuter Multicopter, Marley Hunter Miller, Blake Sperry, Ike Sheppard, Olliver Fredrick Kunz, Sam Juday, Alex O'Hearn, Kyle Seth Kruse, Arthur Norwood, Jarrell Washington

Mechanical Engineering

This document describes the design, analysis, and overall goals of the Electric Commuter Multicopter (ECM) Senior Project. It was presented by Bob Addis and Bill Burner to the senior mechanical engineering class of 2015 at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. The progress and development of the project are described in detail and to an extent that an individual or group with similar aspirations can construct their own multicopter or expand upon this one. The goal of this project is to create an Ultralight, as defined by FAA Part 103, commuter multicopter vehicle capable of transporting an individual to and from …

Measuring The Effectiveness Of Photoresponsive Nanocomposite Coatings On Aircraft Windshields To Mitigate Laser Intensity, Ryan S. Phillips, Hubert K. Bilan, Zachary X. Widel, Randal J. Demik, Samantha J. Brain, Matthew Moy, Charles Crowder, Stanley L. Harriman, James T. O'Malley Iii, Joseph E. Burlas, Steven F. Emmert, Jason J. Keleher

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

In 2004, pilots reported 46 laser illumination events to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with the number increasing to approximately 3,600 in 2011. Since that time, the number of reported laser incidents has ranged from 3,500 to 4,000. Previous studies indicate the potential for flight crewmember distraction from bright laser light being introduced to the cockpit. Compositional variations of the photoresponsive nanocomposite coatings were applied to an aircraft windscreen using a modified liquid dispersion/heating curing process. The attenuating effects of the deposited films on laser light intensity were evaluated using an optical power meter and the resultant laser intensity data …

A Collaborative Conceptual Aircraft Design Environment For The Design Of Small-Scale Uavs In A Multi-University Setting, Joseph Samuel Becar

Theses and Dissertations

In today's competitive global market, there is an ever-increasing demand for highly skilled engineers equipped to perform in teams dispersed over several time-zones by geography. Aerospace Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering (AerosPACE) is a senior design capstone program co-developed by academia and industry to help students develop the necessary skills to excel in the aerospace industry by challenging them to design, build, and fly an unique unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Students with little to no experience designing UAVs are put together in teams with their peers from geographically dispersed universities. This presents a significant challenge for the students …

The Design For Manufacturing And Assembly Analysis And Redesign Of An Aircraft Refueling Door Hinge Utilizing Additive Manufacturing, Kurt A. Schwarz

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In this thesis, an aircraft door hinge assembly provided by Gulfstream Aerospace was analyzed following an established process called DFMA. The hinge was then redesigned to be additively manufactured, which is uncommon currently in industry for load bearing components. It was shown that the Design for Manufacturing (DFM) guidelines were inadequate when applied to the new technology of additive manufacturing (AM). This was primarily due to AM's unique and unprecedented manufacturing capabilities.

A conservative redesign approach was followed due to a limitation in current AM material properties and time available for analysis. Despite this, a significant improvement in weight reduction …

Arff Wg's Response To The Ntsb's Recommendations, Rita "Rene" Herron

Publications

This piece is the final installment in a series of articles discussing research in connection to the four applied research projects the ARFF Working Group and Federal Aviation Administration are conducting concerning the National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations from the report of findings on the crash of Asiana Flight 214.

Aircraft De-Icing System Using Thermal Conductive Fibers, Min Soon Park

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The accumulation of ice on the leading edges of aircraft wing poses complications for flight control as drag is increased with a tendency for higher relative turbulence over the wing. Pre-emptive and reactive ice removal techniques have been employed in the past by electromechanical, thermal, chemical and pneumatic methods. In this thesis, a carbon fiber fabric is utilized as a heating de-icer for composites aircraft wing surface structures. Two prototypes are constructed, tested to generate temperature profiles, and an appropriate heating voltage is selected for effective de-icing via distinct avenues of heating system configurations. The heat transfer efficiency of the …

Radio Controlled Aircraft, Michael Johnson, Dakota Macgill, Robert Peake, Ryan Wydler

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Building an R/C aircraft isn’t exactly a project intent on breaking ground in the field of aerospace engineering, rather it is an opportunity to apply fluid dynamics in a practical manner to gain experience in aeronautical engineering. An aerospace engineer is one who designs and builds aircraft and spacecraft and are often tasked with deeming an aircraft flight worthy or not. We will attempt to predict the feasibility of our custom plane designs using aircraft engineering techniques found through research and through texts provided by our advisor, Dr. Jayasimha. The goal of this design is to design and fabricate a …

Methods For Determining Grease Service Levels In An Ah-64d Intermediate Gearbox Using On-Board Sensors, Travis Steven Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

The intermediate gearbox (IGB) on the AH-64D was chosen as the subject for this study based on the persistent grease leaks that require grounding aircraft. The aircraft is not currently equipped with a method of detecting grease loss during flight, so techniques for analyzing the usefulness of old metrics and possible new techniques can be tested. The main objective of this study is to use the aircraft’s on-board sensors to develop a method of determining the lubrication level of the IGB. Currently, the most reliable method for detecting a fault on the aircraft is through the use of vibration-based condition …