Root Cause Analysis For Troop Construction Schedule Delays And Cost Overruns,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Root Cause Analysis For Troop Construction Schedule Delays And Cost Overruns, Richard H. Wilkens
Theses and Dissertations
Troop construction can be an effective tool when a project is simple enough to execute projects in a timely and cost effective manner. However, underlying variables plague these projects causing them to miss anticipated deadlines which in return could make them more costly. Significant variables that convey impact to cost and schedule are Equipment Operating Issues, Edits During Construction, Design Flaws, Lack of Communication, Poor User Coordination, Improper Documentation, Inaccurate Submittals, Low Quality Control, and Lack of Experience. Project engineers and project managers must provide effective continuity as well as improve their own competence and situational awareness to effectively mitigate …
Training Schedule For The 56th Maintenance Group,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Training Schedule For The 56th Maintenance Group, Samantha K. O'Rourke
Theses and Dissertations
The 56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron (56 EMS) provides equipment maintenance and back shop maintenance for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The squadron executes thousands of sorties and flight hours annually. This operations tempo requires maintenance to prevent equipment failures, minimization of aircraft downtime, insurance of safety and compliance, and training of maintenance personnel. The squadron incorporates periodic training sessions to train maintenance personnel skills needed by airmen. This research investigates the optimization of these training sessions employing mixed integer programming (MIP). A multi-objective MIP model is developed to address the complex needs of various training activities, such as: training regiments, …
3- And 6-Degree-Of-Freedom Investigation Of Aerobraking To Support Cislunar And Planetary Operations,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
3- And 6-Degree-Of-Freedom Investigation Of Aerobraking To Support Cislunar And Planetary Operations, Erica C. Higginbotham
Theses and Dissertations
The first aerobraking experiment occurred in 1991 as part of the Hiten spacecraft’s cislunar survey mission, while the first non-Earth aerobraking experiment occurred in 1993 as part of the Magellan spacecraft’s mission to Venus. Although making only two trans-atmospheric passes to reduce its apogee altitude, the success of Hiten’s experiment led to the implementation of aerobraking by Magellan, reducing its orbit from elliptical to nearly circular over a span of 70 Earth days by leveraging aerodynamic drag to reduce its orbital energy via transiting the upper region of Venus’ atmosphere. The Magellan experiment helped prove the viability of aerobraking for …
Performance Of Humans And Agents In A Systems Modeling Language V2 Task: A User-Centered Evaluation Approach,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Performance Of Humans And Agents In A Systems Modeling Language V2 Task: A User-Centered Evaluation Approach, Allen W. Dukes
Theses and Dissertations
The Department of Defense is adopting Digital Engineering practices for its workforce. Simultaneously, the larger Systems Engineering community strives to modernize and define those Digital Engineering practices. These efforts to move from traditionally document-based approaches to pure digital implementations will require enhanced capabilities to manage and digitally track the lifecycle of a program or product. However, this growth must address tool design through an iterative process focusing on usability for many user types. Many tools and technologies exist but often lack an assessment of usability when engineers design tools for other engineers. Including usability when developing solutions for Digital Engineering …
Human Performance Modeling Architecture With Hc-130j Mission Application,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Human Performance Modeling Architecture With Hc-130j Mission Application, Stephanie G. Slimp
Theses and Dissertations
The DOD emphasizes digital engineering using Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), where MBSE includes SysML-based models of systems. Analysis of system impacts on the human operators and their performance typically occurs through non-MBSE approaches, if at all. One current process, considered the As-Is process for this research, evaluates human performance and workload using IMPRINT, a discrete event simulation (DES) tool. IMPRINT primarily exists as a standalone tool with limited built-in functionality to integrate with an MBSE tool. Using the HC-130J and its crew during a CSAR mission as the system, this research develops a generalizable and updateable human performance modeling architecture …
Rotorcraft Assisted Aircraft Inspection System: Creation And Component Assessment,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Rotorcraft Assisted Aircraft Inspection System: Creation And Component Assessment, Adam J. Warren
Theses and Dissertations
Aircraft require frequent inspections to perform their missions safely. Current visual inspection methods are time-consuming and dangerous for inspection personnel, but they are necessary to spot flaws that could endanger the aircraft during flight. This research explores a set of methods for transforming a set of target inspection criteria into camera specifications that will allow a UAS aircraft inspection system to perform inspections on the top skin of an aircraft. Given the minimum distance for the UAS to fly above the aircraft, minimum flaw size to search for on the aircraft, minimum number of pixels to display that flaw size, …
End-User Device Management In The Air And Space Forces,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
End-User Device Management In The Air And Space Forces, Joshua Bonvissuto
Theses and Dissertations
When achieving technical superiority is a matter a national security, it is critical that the Department of the Air Force (DAF) employs a robust Information Technology Asset Management (ITAM) strategy that maximizes mission effectiveness. Since 2022, the Office of the Chief Information Officer (SAF/CN) has been developing a plan to transform the Air Force’s ITAM strategy, primarily intending to centralize End User Device (EUD) procurement to the DAF level. For this study, a Delphi study was conducted to gather expert opinions on key aspects of SAF/CN’s new ITAM strategy to identify strengths, weaknesses, and implementation challenges. This research provides valuable …
Understanding The Impact Of Trade Policy Effect Uncertainty On Firm-Level Innovation Investment: A Deep Learning Approach,
2024
Baylor University
Understanding The Impact Of Trade Policy Effect Uncertainty On Firm-Level Innovation Investment: A Deep Learning Approach, Daniel Chang, Nan Hu, Peng Liang, Morgan Swink
Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems
Integrating the real options perspective and resource dependence theory, this study examines how firms adjust their innovation investments to trade policy effect uncertainty (TPEU), a less studied type of firm specific, perceived environmental uncertainty in which managers have difficulty predicting how potential policy changes will affect business operations. To develop a text-based, context-dependent, time-varying measure of firm-level perceived TPEU, we apply Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), a state-of-the-art deep learning approach. We apply BERT to analyze the texts of mandatory Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) sections of annual reports for a sample of 22,669 firm-year observations from 3,181 unique …
Cloud One Migration Schedule Drivers And Schedule Growth,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Cloud One Migration Schedule Drivers And Schedule Growth, Ryan J. Jansen
Theses and Dissertations
Cloud One, chartered in 2017 under the guidance of Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) leadership, continues to serve as the USAF’s leading cloud services and hosting platform by providing secure computing environments, application migration assistance, and data management. Prior research has yielded qualitative insights regarding Cloud One’s personnel requirements, application of technical performance, requirements fulfillment, security risks, and various other cost metrics, but schedule improvement recommendations based on the quantitative analysis of migration schedule data has yet to be provided. This research identifies trends within migration sprint schedules and completed schedule data for Cloud One’s completed application migrations. …
Digital Airworthiness: Development Of A Sysml Based Framework For The Usaf Airworthiness Process,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Digital Airworthiness: Development Of A Sysml Based Framework For The Usaf Airworthiness Process, Justin T. Moore
Theses and Dissertations
In 2018 USAF decided to move towards a digital transition for programs and processes. To maximize the impact of initial transition efforts the airworthiness process was identified as a candidate for digital implementation. The airworthiness process is mandated for nearly every system or modification that flies. The airworthiness process identifies specific tasks that must be performed and artifacts that must be produced. This research worked to develop a framework that utilizes SysML to pattern these processes and the required artifacts. A system agnostic, importable library was developed using custom stereotypes and relationships for the purpose of application to digital system …
Assessing Military Parking: A Deep Learning Approach To Evaluating Standards And Impacts,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Assessing Military Parking: A Deep Learning Approach To Evaluating Standards And Impacts, Ryan D. Lalonde
Theses and Dissertations
Current United States Department of Defense (DoD) standards require a minimum amount of parking for each building. This requirement defines how much off-street parking to construct. However, the impact of these requirements remains unclear. This study builds upon the emerging field of overhead imagery analytics by directly tying it to parking on military installations. Specifically, this study leverages a pretrained deep learning car detection model, Car Detection – USA, developed by Esri for use within ArcGIS, and couples it with open-access temporal imagery sourced from Google Earth Pro to assess selected parking lots across Area B, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, …
Navigating Model-Based Systems Engineering (Mbse) Transition In The Department Of Defense (Dod): A Capability-Based Assessment (Cba) Use Case,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Navigating Model-Based Systems Engineering (Mbse) Transition In The Department Of Defense (Dod): A Capability-Based Assessment (Cba) Use Case, Emily M. Tritschler
Theses and Dissertations
The Department of Defense (DOD) wants to implement Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE) to accelerate and improve the acquisition process of increasingly complex systems. However, the department has not provided the necessary guidance on how to fully implement MBSE into our systems. This provided the following research opportunity: select a common DOD process, create an MBSE methodology, generate a model in accordance with that developed method, record the cost of modeling, and interview the model recipients to characterize their opinions on the investment. The research created a twelve-step methodology for application towards the gap analysis and characterization phase of a Capability-Based …
Techniques For Addressing Extreme Class Imbalance For Artificial Neural Networks Training,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Techniques For Addressing Extreme Class Imbalance For Artificial Neural Networks Training, Colin W. Foley
Theses and Dissertations
This research examined the class imbalance problem while training convolutional neural networks (CNN) by applying different techniques to combat this common issue. This research used a modified CIFAR-10 dataset along with a curated aerial image dataset. Methods covered included undersampling, oversampling, synthetic minority oversampling technique, Edited Nearest Neighbors and combinations of the aforementioned methods. This research found that undersampling methods tended to outperform oversampling methods. While undersampling methods showed a decrease in overall accuracy, the increase in minority class prediction performance was promising enough to warrant further investigation.
Analysis And Visualization Of Military Convoy And Supply Utilization In Support Of State-Specific Freight Plans,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Analysis And Visualization Of Military Convoy And Supply Utilization In Support Of State-Specific Freight Plans, Madison E. Hofmann
Theses and Dissertations
Researching the United States military’s use of highways and interstates is necessary for the allocation of federal infrastructure spending. As of today, there is no established method, tool, or process routinely utilized by the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command to effectively show a system-wide view of military convoy and supply route usage across CONUS. This research advances this endeavor by providing a by-state characterization of interstates and major highways in 2022, categorized by the volume of military freight they support. Some notable methodologies used to conduct the analyses are the shortest path problem, map matching algorithms, and Global Positioning System …
U.S. Army Cadet Command Branch Prediction Model,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
U.S. Army Cadet Command Branch Prediction Model, Daniel M. Krizan
Theses and Dissertations
The current system for providing US Army ROTC cadets their branches leaves significant uncertainty until the final pronouncement of branch assigned. This uncertainty can be alleviated by providing a prediction model for cadets to input personal data and desired branch to identify likelihood of receiving the request. This thesis produces a machine learning model capable of producing branch prediction for cadets.
An Integer Programming Model To Optimize Us Army Deployment Cycle And Maximize Unit Availability,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
An Integer Programming Model To Optimize Us Army Deployment Cycle And Maximize Unit Availability, Grant R. Engel
Theses and Dissertations
The goal of this paper is to determine an optimal cycle length, in months, that minimizes costs and maximizes availability for deploying units in the United States (US) Army. The US Army must be cost efficient while maintaining the flexibility required to adapt to dynamic mission demand. The current practice is to deploy units for a length between the range of 6 to 12 months; however, this varies from unit to unit and the best policy is not clear. We address these issues by forming a mathematical programming model with unique characteristics that distinguish it from others of similar design. …
Automated Image Registration For Titanium Aircraft Components Via Resolution-Robust Parallel Neural Networks,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Automated Image Registration For Titanium Aircraft Components Via Resolution-Robust Parallel Neural Networks, Paige T. Luebbering
Theses and Dissertations
Titanium alloys are vital to the structural integrity of military and commercial aircraft, comprising numerous critical components. These components are composed of microtexture regions (MTRs) that, at a specific size and orientation, can lead to aircraft failure. Existing MTR testing methods, such as Electron Backscatter Diffraction, often fall short in effectively detecting these MTRs without causing damage to the component. Addressing this gap, this thesis develops a Parallel Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model tailored for multi-resolution image registration of Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM) images to enhance MTR identification in a non-invasive manner. The findings reveal a significant enhancement in the …
A Multi-Objective Approach To Optimal Deployment Policies For Wireless Sensor Networks Using Drop Points,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
A Multi-Objective Approach To Optimal Deployment Policies For Wireless Sensor Networks Using Drop Points, Noah E. Fox
Theses and Dissertations
This research addresses the development of deployment policies for aerially dropped sensors in a wireless sensor network (WSN). Multi-objective genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing meta-heuristic techniques, along with Monte Carlo simulation are used to identify policies with the aim of maximizing coverage and minimizing the number of sensors deployed. The policies developed from these techniques are then compared against uniform sensor distribution, as well as initial deployment policies that focus sensors in the center and edge of the region, as well as evenly deployed over the region. A total of 29 non-dominated policies were identified from the GA and …
Factors Affecting The Retention Of Active Duty Airmen,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
Factors Affecting The Retention Of Active Duty Airmen, Gregory A. Picardi
Theses and Dissertations
This study investigates the factors influencing the early exit of active duty Airmen, particularly in the context of the recruitment challenges faced by the USAF in Fiscal Year 2023. The research highlights the significant impact of the implementation of MHS Genesis, a healthcare administration program, on recruitment processes and the broader issues affecting military recruitment, including physical and emotional trauma concerns among potential recruits. Through a survey conducted at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base involving 251 participants, the study utilizes a Chi-square test to explore the primary and secondary reasons for leaving active duty, with family pressure, stability, and financial reasons …
An Analysis Of China’S Perceived Geographic Locations Of Interest By Use Of Value Informed Facility Location Models,
2024
Air Force Institute of Technology
An Analysis Of China’S Perceived Geographic Locations Of Interest By Use Of Value Informed Facility Location Models, Layton C. Hedge
Theses and Dissertations
This research examines China and derives insights specific to it and the First Island Chain and the Second Island Chain. In doing so, this research demonstrates a methodology to examine other competitors and their geostrategic interests. In the first phase of analysis, it develops a value hierarchy to depict objectives within subregions of the area of interest and considers four alternative weightings of the value hierarchy. In the second phase of analysis, it applies four location-covering models to assess how the competitor would emplace a range of limited resources to deter and/or control points of interest. Results indicate that land-based …
