Aviation Commons^™

Implementation Of Path Planning Methods To Detect And Avoid Gps Signal Degradation In Urban Environments, Ayush Raminedi

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In the modern world, various missions are being carried out under the assistance of autonomous flight vehicles due to their ability to operate in a wide range of flight conditions. Regardless, these autonomous vehicles are prone to GPS signal loss in urban environments due to obstructions that cause scintillation, multi-path, and shadowing. These effects that decrease the GPS functionality can deteriorate the accuracy of GPS positioning causing losses in signal tracking leading to a decrease in navigation performance. These effects are modeled into the simulation environment and are used as part of the path planning algorithm to provide better navigation …

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Operator Workload And Situation Awareness Utilizing First Person View Techniques, Ross Lucas Stephenson Jr

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) sector within the aviation industry is experiencing unprecedented growth. However, the regulatory guidance for the safe integration of sUAS into the National Airspace System (NAS) has not kept pace with this technological growth within the market. Current regulatory limitations of line-of-sight operations may have an impact on the establishment of an equivalent level of safety for sUAS operations as maintained by manned aircraft. The focal point of the discussion of line-of-sight operations has been the ability of the sUAS pilot to see and avoid all obstacles and other aircraft in a safe and timely …

Loss Of Control In-Flight (Loc-I): A Mixed Methods Study Of Voluntary Versus Mandatory Reports From The United States Of America, Roger Lee

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Loss of control in flight (LOC-I) is one of modern aviation’s three most prominent fatal accidents. In the United States, air accidents are mandatorily reported to and investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Established in 1976, the Air Safety Reporting System (ASRS) is a voluntary safety reporting (VSR) system administered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Over 1.7 million ASRS reports have been processed to date. While the NTSB system handles LOC-I accidents, less severe incidents may have been reported voluntarily through the ASRS.

Safety reporting has been deemed the most valuable activity and the centerpiece …

The Effects Of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Command And Control Latency During Within-Visual-Range Air-To-Air Combat, David Thirtyacre

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The type of military missions conducted by remotely piloted aircraft continues to expand into all facets of operations including air-to-air combat. While future within-visual-range air-to-air combat will be piloted by artificial intelligence, remotely piloted aircraft will likely first see combat. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effect of latency on one-versus-one, within-visual-range air-to-air combat success during both high-speed and low-speed engagements. The research employed a repeated-measures experimental design to test the various hypothesis associated with command and control latency. Participants experienced in air-to-air combat were subjected to various latency inputs during one-versus-one simulated combat using a virtual-reality …

The Effects Of Rewards On The Ability Of An Autonomous Uav Controlled By A Reinforcement Learning Agent To Accomplish A Target Localization Task, Hemali Dinesh Virani

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The need for Unmanned Aerial System (UASs) is increasing in the fields of science, security, military and others. With an increasing number of challenges faced by mankind the need for system with advance autonomous and intelligent capabilities is growing rapidly. The required intelligent behavior can be achieved in an unmanned system with machine learning methods such as Reinforcement Learning (RL) theory. This theory presents algorithms which have the capability to learn how to adapt to its environment. Using RL methods, autonomous systems have the ability to use past experiences to improve future mission performance. In this research, the effects of …

Guidance, Navigation And Control Of A Fly-By-Wire Transport Category Airship Designed For Hover Cargo Delivery, Harshad H. Lalan

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The purpose of this thesis is to develop fly-by-wire pilot controls for a transport category airship propelled with six thrust vectoring engines, and to develop control laws to maintain position, heading, and attitude during hover and cargo operations. Owing to the large body area, most airships require that they be pointed into the wind to maintain their position. This research aims at controlling an airship attitude and position during hover cargo delivery, irrespective of the wind direction.

Control laws were developed for two primary modes of the airship: Flight (High Speed Mode) and Hover (Cargo Delivery Mode). Different sets of …

Improving The Capability Of Preliminary Aircraft Design Methodology By Incorporating Numerical Methods Into Segments Of A Proven Statistical Method, Igor Lebovic

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The purpose of this study was to identify any potential limitations of Roskam’s statistical aircraft flight performance estimation method, and to provide processes capable of improving those limitations. This project was conducted in collaboration with Diamond Aircraft Industries, and as any other general aviation manufacturer with limited time, manpower, and financial resources, Diamond wants the new process to be time and cost-effective. Presented in this study is a computational alternative that combines the speed and accuracy of low-order panel methods with the fully-coupled viscous/inviscid interaction method from the ISES code that was developed by Drela and Giles. Its benefit is …

Application Of Active Noise Control To Reduce Cabin Noise In Single Engine General Aviation Aircraft, Jeroen Hendrik Dolmans

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The application of active noise control to reduce cabin noise in single engine, general aviation aircraft is investigated through the use of the 'filtered x' least mean square algorithm and a simple acoustic feedforward method to generate a reference signal is tested. The system is designed to utilize one reference signal and up to two feedback signals and two audio speakers. The feedforward system consists of a microphone placed in close proximity to the front windshield and isolated from the cabin noise. Cabin noise and reference signals are recorded during flight in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, a Piper Cherokee 140 …

A Direct Synthesis Method For The Conceptual Design Of Transport Aircraft, Pierre Andre Fruytier

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The problem of synthesizing a transport aircraft at the conceptual design level is considered. A direct sizing algorithm that does not require iteration is developed. Such direct synthesis methods can be used as important building blocks in an aircraft optimization process. New statistical equations based on current aircraft are derived for approximating the widths and lengths of the cabin and fuselage. A more accurate static thrust over gross weight, which is based on the equations of motion specified by the FAR part 25 climb requirements, is presented. A cruise at constant altitude with optional step-climb is taken into account. The …