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Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Aerospace Engineering

Magnetic Anomaly Absolute Positioning For Hypersonic Aircraft, Alexander J. Mcneil Mar 2022

Magnetic Anomaly Absolute Positioning For Hypersonic Aircraft, Alexander J. Mcneil

Theses and Dissertations

GPS has proven to be an extremely valuable asset for navigation, and timing. GPS has become the standard navigation system for all applications, but GPS has limitations. GPS is susceptible to jamming, spoofing, and in the case of hypersonic aircraft, is likely unavailable. When an aircraft is traveling at hypersonic speeds, there is a plasma sheath that surrounds the aircraft. This plasma sheath blocks electromagnetic waves, and is therefore responsible for a GPS blackout. GPS unavailability for hypersonic aircraft has prompted the research into the viability of alternate navigation systems for these aircraft. This paper seeks to explore the viability …


Modeling Aircraft Disturbance Fields For Magnetic Navigation Using Dense Anns And The Novel Manntl Architecture, Kyle A. Emery Mar 2021

Modeling Aircraft Disturbance Fields For Magnetic Navigation Using Dense Anns And The Novel Manntl Architecture, Kyle A. Emery

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to use GPS for navigation is becoming increasingly limited in certain areas of the world. Knowing this, the Air Force Research Labs is constantly looking for ways to improve alternate navigation methods such as magnetic navigation. In the interest of making advancements in aircraft disturbance field modelling, Lieutenant Emery recreates models from previous works to prove results. Lieutenant Emery also introduces a novel model architecture that attempts to mix the filtering properties of Tolles-Lawson with the non-linear capabilities of an artificial neural network. The introduction of this model could present better aircraft disturbance field modelling and in turn, …


Real-Time Aerial Magnetic And Vision-Aided Navigation, Daniel J. Clarke Mar 2021

Real-Time Aerial Magnetic And Vision-Aided Navigation, Daniel J. Clarke

Theses and Dissertations

Aerial magnetic navigation has shown to be a viable alternative navigation method that has the potential for world-wide availability, to include over oceans. Obtaining GPS-level accuracy using magnetic navigation alone is challenging, but magnetic navigation can be combined with other alternative navigation methods that are more posed to obtaining GPS-level accuracy in their current state. This research presents an aerial navigation solution combining magnetic navigation and vision-aided navigation to aid an inertial navigation system (INS). The navigation solution was demonstrated in real-time playback using simulated magnetic field measurements and flight-test captured visual imagery. Additionally, the navigation solution was flight-tested on …


Improving Aeromagnetic Calibration Using Artificial Neural Networks, Mitchell C. Hezel Mar 2020

Improving Aeromagnetic Calibration Using Artificial Neural Networks, Mitchell C. Hezel

Theses and Dissertations

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has proven itself to be the single most accurate positioning system available, and no navigation suite is found without a GPS receiver. Even basic GPS receivers found in most smartphones can easily provide high quality positioning information at any time. Even with its superb performance, GPS is prone to jamming and spoofing, and many platforms requiring accurate positioning information are in dire need of other navigation solutions to compensate in the event of an outage, be the cause hostile or natural. Indeed, there has been a large push to achieve an alternative navigation capability which …


Magslam: Aerial Simultaneous Localization And Mapping Using Earth's Magnetic Anomaly Field, Taylor N. Lee, Aaron J. Canciani Jan 2020

Magslam: Aerial Simultaneous Localization And Mapping Using Earth's Magnetic Anomaly Field, Taylor N. Lee, Aaron J. Canciani

Faculty Publications

Instances of spoofing and jamming of global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) have emphasized the need for alternative navigation methods. Aerial navigation by magnetic map matching has been demonstrated as a viable GNSS‐alternative navigation technique. Flight test demonstrations have achieved accuracies of tens of meters over hour‐long flights, but these flights required accurate magnetic maps which are not always available. Magnetic map availability and resolution vary widely around the globe. Removing the dependency on prior survey maps extends the benefits of aerial magnetic navigation methods to small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) at lower altitudes where magnetic maps are especially undersampled or …


Navigation Using Vector And Tensor Measurements Of The Earth's Magnetic Anomaly Field, Lauren A. Mount Mar 2018

Navigation Using Vector And Tensor Measurements Of The Earth's Magnetic Anomaly Field, Lauren A. Mount

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the viability of using a navigation system that relies on measurements of the magnetic anomaly field as an alternative to GPS navigation. Previous research has been conducted on developing a navigation system using the intensity of the Earth's magnetic anomaly field as an alternative signal. This research focuses on using vector and tensor measurements, as opposed to scalar measurements of the anomaly field, as a means of obtaining accurate position and orientation solutions. This paper presents two navigation systems. The first uses an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) with vector measurements of the magnetic anomaly field to aid …


Assessing The Potential For Improved Scramjet Performance Through Application Of Electromagnetic Flow Control, Martin F. Lindsey Mar 2006

Assessing The Potential For Improved Scramjet Performance Through Application Of Electromagnetic Flow Control, Martin F. Lindsey

Theses and Dissertations

Hypersonic flight using scramjet propulsion bridges the gap between turbojets and rockets. Recent efforts focus on magnetogasdynamic (MGD) flow control to mitigate the problems of high thermomechanical loads and low efficiencies associated with scramjets. This research is the first flight-scale, three-dimensional computational analysis of a realistic scramjet to assess how MGD flow control improves scramjet performance. Developing a quasi-one dimensional design tool culminated in the first open source scramjet geometry. This geometry was tested with the Air Force Research Laboratory's electromagnetic computational code. To increase fidelity, an algorithm was developed to incorporate thermochemistry, resulting in the only open-source model of …


Timing Of Increasing Electron Counts From Geosynchronous Orbit To Low Earth Orbit, Kirk M. Olson Mar 2005

Timing Of Increasing Electron Counts From Geosynchronous Orbit To Low Earth Orbit, Kirk M. Olson

Theses and Dissertations

Under certain conditions, high energy electron fluxes can increase over short periods of time in the outer radiation belt and diffuse to low altitudes. Sudden increases of high energy electron densities at low altitudes can drastically damage unsuspecting low-earth-orbit satellites. The progression of electron flux increases from a geosynchronous orbit to low-earth orbit during an electron event is somewhat unknown. If the beginning of electron flux increases at low-earth-orbits could be anticipated, warnings could be issued to space system operators allowing time to take proper measures to protect and minimize satellite damage extending satellite lifetimes and space mission operations. The …


Electromagnetic Scattering From A Gap In A Magneto-Dielectric Coating On An Infinite Ground Plane, George R. Simpson Nov 2002

Electromagnetic Scattering From A Gap In A Magneto-Dielectric Coating On An Infinite Ground Plane, George R. Simpson

Theses and Dissertations

The electromagnetic scattering from a gap in a magneto-dielectric coating on an infinite ground plane is analyzed. In this context, the gap forms a break only in the magneto-dielectric slab coating while the ground plane is continuous and unbroken. Volume equivalence is used to convert the gap region to one containing unknown volumetric equivalent electric and magnetic currents. The equivalent problem then is one of these currents radiating in the presence of an unbroken grounded magneto-dielectric slab. A Green's function for this geometry is developed consisting of two terms: a direct coupling term and correction term to account for the …


Advances In Time-Domain Electromagnetic Simulation Capabilities Through The Use Of Overset Grids And Massively Parallel Computing, Douglas C. Blake Mar 1997

Advances In Time-Domain Electromagnetic Simulation Capabilities Through The Use Of Overset Grids And Massively Parallel Computing, Douglas C. Blake

Theses and Dissertations

A new methodology is presented for conducting numerical simulations of electromagnetic scattering and wave propagation phenomena. Technologies from several scientific disciplines, including computational fluid dynamics, computational electromagnetics, and parallel computing, are uniquely combined to form a simulation capability that is both versatile and practical. In the process of creating this capability, work is accomplished to conduct the first study designed to quantify the effects of domain decomposition on the performance of a class of explicit hyperbolic partial differential equations solvers; to develop a new method of partitioning computational domains comprised of overset grids; and to provide the first detailed assessment …