Aviation Commons^™

Hot Surface Ignition, Yerbatyr Tursyn, Vikrant Goyal, Alicia Benhidjeb-Carayon, Richard Simmons, Scott Meyer, Jay P. Gore

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Undesirable hot surface ignition of flammable liquids is one of the hazards in ground and air transportation vehicles, which primarily occurs in the engine compartment. In order to evaluate the safety and sustainability of candidate replacement fuels with respect to hot surface ignition, a baseline low lead fuel (Avgas 100 LL) and four experimental unleaded aviation fuels recommended for reciprocating aviation engines were considered. In addition, hot surface ignition properties of the gas turbine fuels Jet-A, JP-8, and JP-5 were measured. A test apparatus capable of providing reproducible data was designed and fabricated to experimentally investigate the hot surface ignition …

Atmospheric Weather Balloon For Near Space Research, Francisco F. Pastrana, Devonte Grantham, Shane M. Williams, Jessy Law, Jennifer Nason, Janet Marrnane

Aviation / Aeronautics / Aerospace International Research Conference

Atmospheric Weather Balloon for Near Space Research

The Society for S.P.A.C.E. has been working on the development of a weather balloon that will reach a height of 80 to 100 thousand feet and will collect data from the atmosphere. The weather balloon is attached to a Styrofoam box that contains an Arduino board controlling a set of sensors that will measure: temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction.

The data will be collected and transmitted through an Xbee antenna that will provide us with remote monitoring capabilities. The data and images gathered will aid understanding of the characteristics and …

Unlocking The Mysteries Of Flight: From The Top Down, Juan Merkt

Aviation / Aeronautics / Aerospace International Research Conference

Traditionally, principles of flight are taught from the bottom-up. That is, we start by examining underlying causes (properties of air) and later move up to top consequences (aircraft performance). This traditional approach is analogous to that used by airplane designers and is most obvious in theory of flight textbooks for pilots. The problem with a bottom-up approach is that it introduces basic concepts as isolated “parts” without providing a “big picture” context. This can lead to poor understanding among student pilots. I suggest an opposite approach. Rather than starting with the underlying causes of flight, we can unravel basic principles …

Microcontrollers In The Aviation Classroom, Padraig Houlahan

Aviation / Aeronautics / Aerospace International Research Conference

Modern commercial aircraft are increasingly dependent on digital technologies that detect sensor data and pilot control movements, interpret them, and then issue appropriate control signals to remote motors that move control surfaces. Because such technologies are innately complex, it would appear there is an unacceptably large academic burden on introducing them into the undergraduate pilot's curriculum .

However, in recent years there has been an explosion of interest in using micro-controllers in academic teaching (high-school and undergraduate levels) and in hobby applications, resulting in a large, online, freely available knowledgebase of techniques and solutions. Here, I demonstrate how easy it …

Low Fidelity Flight Simulation In Collegiate Aviation, Vladimir N. Risukhin

Aviation / Aeronautics / Aerospace International Research Conference

Aviation college pilot training programs, lessons and exercises contain portions that do not require training in sophisticated and highly expensive full flight simulators and flight training devices (FTD) with high fidelity of simulation, or in real aircraft flights. Relatively inexpensive personal-computer-based flight simulation facilities named low fidelity simulators (LFS) can boost development of aircraft pilots’ cognitive and behavioral skills. The paper attempts to reveal how the LFS can support aviation college flight training and research activities. In the Western Michigan University College of Aviation, peer mentoring technique proven to be helpful in higher education institutions has been applied to flight …

Thinking Rather Than Panicking About The Current Drone Threat, Tom Foley, Tyrone Groh

Aviation / Aeronautics / Aerospace International Research Conference

Originally titled "UAS Threats in Sport Venues," the authors opted to expand their focus to better to all threats from UASs, and to encourage better preparation for and responses to such threats. Foley and Groh discuss different strategies.

Human Factors Considerations In Autonomous Lethal Unmanned Aerial Systems, Kristine Kiernan

Aviation / Aeronautics / Aerospace International Research Conference

The United States military is committed to the development of complete autonomy in unmanned vehicles, including armed unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The design and deployment of autonomous lethal UAS raises ethical issues that have implications for human factors. System design, procedures, and training will be impacted by the advent of autonomous lethal UAS. This paper will define relevant vocabulary, review the literature on robot ethics as it applies to the military setting, discuss various perspectives in the research community, address levels of UAS autonomy, and discuss implications for operator training, responsibility, and human-machine interaction. Familiarity with these ethical issues and …