Navigation, Guidance, Control and Dynamics Commons^™

Instrumented Control Column For Optionally Piloted Aircraft, Andrew J. Klein

Electrical Engineering

Natilus, an aerospace company that is rapid-prototyping optionally piloted aircraft (OPA) for the shipping industry, needs a system that retrieves control column position data in order to manipulate flight simulator parameters in software. At present, a universally compatible system for all aircraft does not exist. Typically, established aerospace companies will sink significant time and money into developing proprietary systems for control column data retrieval as every aircraft is unique in its layout and linkage design. However, as a startup developing their first aircraft, Natilus does not have the privilege of modifying an existing sensor system to work with their HIL …

Activsense Sidestick: A Force Sensing And Force Feedback Joystick, Kobbe Farwick

Electrical Engineering

As aircraft systems continue to become more integrated and fully electronic, hence fly-by-wire, the pilot is slowly losing the physical cues that were once relied upon for the safe operation of the aircraft. Many commercial airliners, such as Airbus, use passive sidesticks that integrate with the electronic flight controls system. These sidesticks move much like a gaming joystick which results in the pilot not having any “feel” for the aerodynamic forces present on the control surfaces. Without the force feedback of a mechanically linked control system the pilot could inadvertently stall the aircraft or place it into an unstable flight …

Imu Integration To The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator Power System, Wayland Chan

Electrical Engineering

The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator mimics the rotation dynamics of a spacecraft in orbit and acts as a test bed for spacecraft attitude control system development and demonstration. Prior to this project, the simulator measured its attitude dynamics from a total of seven sensors mounted on to the platform, including three micro-electromechanical system (MEMs) gyroscopes, and four motor encoders. This project entails the installation of an LN-200 high performance gyroscope, which will provide a greater measure of accuracy. The goal of this project is to design a power circuit that will integrate the LN-200 inertial measurement unit onto …

Aether, Thomas Cameron, Kristine Colton, Daren Childers

Electrical Engineering

Aether is a RC-style autonomous air vehicle that utilizes GPS positioning along with a wireless communication system to achieve a computer-controlled flight.

This report will incorporate the acquisition, design, integration, implementation and testing phases of the UAV development. Furthermore a discussion of troubleshooting as well as improvements for future projects will be included.