Digital Commons Network^™

A Risk Assessment Methodology For Divesting Military Capabilities To Allied Nations, Jason A. Gastelum

Theses and Dissertations

The United States spent over $400 billion dollars on national defense in 2005. Even with support for the war on terrorism still strong, it is doubtful that the U.S. can sustain such a level of defense investment. One strategy to offset the increasing burden of defense spending is to divest the procurement and/or sustainment of individual defense capabilities to allied nations. The decision to divest any capability, however, introduces risk. This thesis presents a methodology to quantify the risk of the decision to divest a military capability to an allied nation, where risk is defined as the set of risk …

Review Of The Joint Capability Integration And Development System (Jcids) And The National Security Space Acquisition Process (Nssap), Joyce A. Gamache

Theses and Dissertations

Space systems are a critical enabler of the net-centric operation warfare (NCOW) needed to achieve victory in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The effective acquisition of affordable systems is vital to our National Security Strategy. Space systems play an important role throughout a wide spectrum of military and civil operations. Several challenging factors unique to space systems development are the high level of technological complexity, a broad joint user base, and the reliance on seamless interoperable systems to achieve superior capabilities for US warfighters. This research examines the interaction between the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) and …

Performance Analysis Of A Cooperative Search Algorithm For Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Under Limited Communication Conditions, Kevin M. Morris

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the impacts of realistic wireless communications upon a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) utilizing a distributed search algorithm. The UAVs are used to survey an area for mobile targets and they require communication to cooperatively locate the targets. The mobile targets do not continually radiate energy, which exacerbates the search effort; a UAV could fly directly over a target and not detect it. A simulation of cooperative UAVs is implemented using the OPNET Modeler network simulation tool. The search performance of a group of UAVs is observed when communication range, data rate, and the number of …

An Epidemiological Approach To Terrorism, Kjirstin A. Bentson

Theses and Dissertations

There are many types of models for counterterrorism, explaining different problems that the military faces in the fight against terrorism. This thesis proposes that one of the fundamental assumptions underlying existing models of counterterrorism is that the struggle with terrorists can be understood as a war in the traditional sense of the term. We propose to rethink the struggle against terrorism as a fight against an infection. The epidemic of terrorist ideology within part of the world is a result, from this perspective, of the infectiousness of that ideology. Using the insights of the field of the epidemiology of ideas, …

A Minimum Effort Control Approach To Guided Munition Path Planning, Jeffrey M. Borkowski

Theses and Dissertations

An advance in the development of smart munitions entails autonomously modifying target selection during flight to maximize the value of the target being destroyed. Target identification and classification provides a basis for target value, which is used in conjunction with multi-target tracks to determine an optimal aim point for the munition. A unique guidance law can be constructed that exploits attribute and kinematic data from an onboard video sensor. This thesis develops an innovative path planning algorithm that provides an obstacle avoidance function while navigating the munition toward the highest value target. The foundation of this path planning method is …

A Study Of Near Field Data Transformed To The Far Field For A Canonical Pec Scatterer, E. Matthew Cady

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to analyze the error associated with the Image Based Near Field to Far Field Transformation (IB NFFFT) for a canonical perfectly electrically conductive (PEC) scatterer. This research compares two groups of data: far field RCS predicted by the IB NFFFT and far field RCS predicted by X-Patch. The IB NFFFT requires a complete set of calibrated monostatic near field scattering data of the object. A detailed description is given of the configuration of the measurement facilities and procedures that were required to obtain the calibrated near field scattering data, as well as the process …

Wright State University College Of Engineering And Computer Science Bits And Pcs Newsletter, Volume 22, Number 5, February 2006, College Of Engineering And Computer Science, Wright State University

BITs and PCs Newsletter

A six page newsletter created by the Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science that addresses the current affairs of the college.

Interview No. 1655, Newton P. Matthews

Combined Interviews

Newton P. Matthews was born in North Carolina, in January of 1941; grew up in Goldsboro, NC, site of Seymour Johnson Air Base; he graduated college at Wake Forest University in Winston- Salem, NC in 1962; he describes the cold war tension in the early 1960s, he joined the U.S. Air Force to avoid being drafted into the Army; he says he was selected for Officer Training School as a navigator, he wanted to be a pilot but at the time needed 20/20 vision; he mentions being in training during the Cuban Missile Crisis; he recalls navigator bombardier training and …

Wright State University College Of Engineering And Computer Science Bits And Pcs Newsletter, Volume 22, Number 4, January 2006, College Of Engineering And Computer Science, Wright State University

BITs and PCs Newsletter

A ten page newsletter created by the Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science that addresses the current affairs of the college.

Prediction And Allocation Of Live To Virtual Communication Bridging Resources, Stephanie Lackey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This document summarizes a research effort focused on improving live-to-virtual (L-V) communication systems. The purpose of this work is to address a significant challenge facing the tactical communications training community through the development of the Live-to-Virtual Relay Radio Prediction Algorithm and implementation of the algorithm into an Integrated Live-to-Virtual Communications Server prototype device. The motivation for the work and the challenges of integrating live and virtual communications are presented. Details surrounding the formulation of the prediction algorithm and a description of the prototype system, hardware, and software architectures are shared. Experimental results from discrete event simulation analysis and prototype functionality …

A Common Component-Based Software Architecture For Military And Commercial Pc-Based Virtual Simulation, Joshua Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Commercially available military-themed virtual simulations have been developed and sold for entertainment since the beginning of the personal computing era. There exists an intense interest by various branches of the military to leverage the technological advances of the personal computing and video game industries to provide low cost military training. By nature of the content of the commercial military-themed virtual simulations, a large overlap has grown between the interests, resources, standards, and technology of the computer entertainment industry and military training branches. This research attempts to identify these commonalities with the purpose of systematically designing and evaluating a common component-based …

Demonstrating Reflectarray Behavior At Infrared, James Ginn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reflectarrays are traditionally passive, planar microstrip antenna devices designed for reflected phase manipulation at each individual antenna element making up the array. By varying the phase response across the surface with the antenna elements, reflectarrays allows a planar surface to exhibit electromagnetically an arbitrary geometry, such as a spherical surface. Initially proposed as a low-cost replacement for bulky parabolic reflectors, reflectarrays have been successfully developed and utilized at both RF and millimeter-wave frequencies. From the standpoint of an optical systems designer, adapting low-frequency reflectarray technology to develop a sub-millimeter and infrared reflectarray (SMIR) would provide a highly desirable alternative to …

Cognitive Training Transfer Using A Personal Computer-Based Game:A Close Quarters Battle Case Study, Michael Woodman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Developers of Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) gaming software are making remarkable strides in increasing the realism of their software. This realism has caught the attention of the training community, which has traditionally sought system and operational replication in training systems such as flight simulators. Since games are designed and marketed for entertainment and not designed for training of tasks, questions exist about the effectiveness of games as a training system in achieving the desired transfer of skills to the actual environment. Numerous studies over the past ten years have documented that PC-based simulation training environments can offer effective training …

Modeling Autonomous Agents In Military Simulations, Varol Kaptan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Simulation is an important tool for prediction and assessment of the behavior of complex systems and situations. The importance of simulation has increased tremendously during the last few decades, mainly because the rapid pace of development in the field of electronics has turned the computer from a costly and obscure piece of equipment to a cheap ubiquitous tool which is now an integral part of our daily lives. While such technological improvements make it easier to analyze well-understood deterministic systems, increase in speed and storage capacity alone are not enough when simulating situations where human beings and their behavior are …

A Low Noise Amplifier For An Ultra Wideband Receiver, Tomasz Waliwander

Theses

The Ultra Wideband Technology, although derives from the early works on time-domain electromagnetics, only recently attracted the attention of the research and industrial institutions, mainly thanks to establishing a proper frequency mask by Federal Communication Commission. The FCC regulations allocate the immense 3.1 - 10.6 GHz microwave band that has never been accessible in a one segment before.

The intrinsic features of the UWB radio such as low power, immunity to multipath fading and eavesdropping, high 3D resolution capability and ability of'seeing' through the solid obstacles with addition to achievable very high data rates, makes it very attractive for many …

Completely Explosive Autonomous High-Voltage Pulsed-Power System Based On Shockwave Ferromagnetic Primary Power Source And Spiral Vector Inversion Generator, Sergey I. Shkuratov, Evgueni F. Talantsev, Jason Baird, Millard F. Rose, Zachary Shotts, Z. Roberts, Allen H. Stults, Larry L. Altgilbers

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Novel explosive and conventional pulsed-power technologies were combined, and a series of explosive-driven high-voltage power supplies was designed, built, and tested. The power supply contained an explosive-driven high-voltage primary power source based on the fundamental physical effect of shockwave demagnetization of Nd₂ Fe₁₄B high-energy ferromagnet and a power-conditioning stage. The volume of the energy-carrying ferromagnetic elements in the shockwave ferromagnetic generators (FMGs) was 8.75 cm³. The power-conditioning stage was based on the spiral vector inversion generator (VIG). The combined FMG-VIG system demonstrated successful operation and good performance. The output-voltage pulse amplitude of the combined FMG-VIG …

Optimal Management Of Beaver Population Using A Reduced-Order Distributed Parameter Model And Single Network Adaptive Critics, Radhakant Padhi, S. N. Balakrishnan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Beavers are often found to be in conflict with human interests by creating nuisances like building dams on flowing water (leading to flooding), blocking irrigation canals, cutting down timbers, etc. At the same time they contribute to raising water tables, increased vegetation, etc. Consequently, maintaining an optimal beaver population is beneficial. Because of their diffusion externality (due to migratory nature), strategies based on lumped parameter models are often ineffective. Using a distributed parameter model for beaver population that accounts for their spatial and temporal behavior, an optimal control (trapping) strategy is presented in this paper that leads to a desired …

United States Air Force Posture Statement 2006, U.S. Air Force

United States Air Force: Publications

Over a century ago, America crossed the threshold of powered flight and gave wings to the world. Soon military leaders realized the implications of this development, and warfare was changed forever. America was fortunate to have "Great Captains" with the vision to imagine the possibilities of air and space power - Airmen like Billy Mitchell, Frank Andrews, Hap Arnold, Ira Eaker, Jimmy Doolittle, Bennie Schriever. They have given us a proud heritage of courage, excellence and innovation. In so doing, they also give us a sense of perspective and a way to understand the Air Force's future.

Using Augmented Reality For Studying Left Turn Maneuver At Un-Signalized Intersection And Horizontal Visibility Blockage, Ghada Moussa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Augmented reality "AR" is a promising paradigm that can provide users with real-time, high-quality visualization of a wide variety of information. In AR, virtual objects are added to the real-world view in a real time. Using the AR technology can offer a very realistic environment for driving enhancement as well as driving performance testing under different scenarios. This can be achieved by adding virtual objects (people, vehicles, hazards, and other objects) to the normal view while driving in a safe controlled environment. In this dissertation, the feasibility of adapting the AR technology into traffic engineering was investigated. Two AR systems; …

Ultrawideband Indoor Location And Tracking System, Qing Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate an indoor intruder location and tracking system with UltraWideBand (UWB) technology and use data compression and Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) techniques to improve the performance of the location system. Reliable and accurate indoor positioning requires a local replacement for GPS systems since satellite signals are not available indoors. UWB systems are particularly suitable for indoor location systems due their inherent capabilities such as low-power, multi-path rejection, and wide bandwidth. In our application, we are using UWB radios as a radar system for tracking targets in indoor locations. We also use Discrete …

A Hybrid Simulation Methodology To Evaluate Network Centricdecision Making Under Extreme Events, Sergio Quijada

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Currently the network centric operation and network centric warfare have generated a new area of research focused on determining how hierarchical organizations composed by human beings and machines make decisions over collaborative environments. One of the most stressful scenarios for these kinds of organizations is the so-called extreme events. This dissertation provides a hybrid simulation methodology based on classical simulation paradigms combined with social network analysis for evaluating and improving the organizational structures and procedures, mainly the incident command systems and plans for facing those extreme events. According to this, we provide a methodology for generating hypotheses and afterwards testing …

System Optimization For Realizing A Miniaturized Gas Chromatograph Sensor For Rapid Chemical Analysis, Abhinav Bhushan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rapid and comprehensive on-site analysis of chemicals in applications ranging from industrial process control to homeland security is of significant importance to improve the environment and save human life. The need for sensors that are fast, reliable, and portable has never been greater. For the challenging task of on-site instrumentation, where power sources can be limited, shrinking the size of the device is the most effective way to conserve power. Although gas chromatography is a mature technique well suited for these applications, current instrumentation has deficiencies that limit its usage. Speed of analysis and non portability are severe hindrances to …

Thermal Management Of Micro Gas Chromatographs, Chetan Ramesh

LSU Master's Theses

Gas chromatography is an analytical technique for separating and analyzing individual components in a gas mixture. Applications of gas chromatographs (GCs) include chemical analysis, environmental maintenance, green house gases monitoring, and forensic analysis when used in conjunction with mass spectrometry. There has been a tremendous interest in miniaturization of gas chromatograph systems because of significantly reduced size, portability, fast response times, low power consumption and low cost. Isothermal analysis is a chromatographic analysis at one column temperature. In temperature programming, a linear increase of column temperature with time is used during the course of the analysis. Temperature programming facilitates separation …

Designing A Data Warehouse For Cyber Crimes, Il-Yeol Song, John D. Maguire, Ki Jung Lee, Namyoun Choi, Xiaohua Hu, Peter Chen

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

One of the greatest challenges facing modern society is the rising tide of cyber crimes. These crimes, since they rarely fit the model of conventional crimes, are difficult to investigate, hard to analyze, and difficult to prosecute. Collecting data in a unified framework is a mandatory step that will assist the investigator in sorting through the mountains of data. In this paper, we explore designing a dimensional model for a data warehouse that can be used in analyzing cyber crime data. We also present some interesting queries and the types of cyber crime analyses that can be performed based on …

Flexible Sigma Delta Time-Interleaved Bandpass Analog-To-Digital Converter, Ryan Edward Mcginnis

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Conversion of analog signals to their digital equivalent earlier in a circuit’s topology facilitates faster and more efficient exploitation of the information contained within. Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) form the link between the analog and digital realms. In high frequency circuits ADCs must often be implemented further downstream after several stages of down-conversion, or through the use of more expensive technologies such as Bi-polar Junction Transistors or Gallium Arsenide. This thesis presents a technique to utilize Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor technology in a parallel time-interleaved architecture. This will reduce circuit complexity and allow the ADC to be placed further upstream reducing …

Cognitively-Engineered Multisensor Data Fusion Systems For Military Applications, Amanda Christine Muller

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The fusion of imagery from multiple sensors is a field of research that has been gaining prominence in the scientific community in recent years. The technical aspects of combining multisensory information have been and are currently being studied extensively. However, the cognitive aspects of multisensor data fusion have not received so much attention. Prior research in the field of cognitive engineering has shown that the cognitive aspects of any human-machine system should be taken into consideration in order to achieve systems that are both safe and useful. The goal of this research was to model how humans interpret multisensory data, …

Characterizing Battlefield Human Decision Making With Value Focused Thinking And Reliability Modeling, Fawaz Al-Karaeen

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Military officers and soldiers in combat are faced with complex, time-critical decision problems. The battlefield, or combat, environment involves decisive operations under unpredictable and rapidly changing conditions. Decisions in battlefields take place under uncertain, time constrained conditions and in a tactical environment. A battlefield decision maker encounters a dynamic information environment. During combat, individuals gather and consider information from a variety of sources to determine what information is reliable and useful, and what information is not. There is a clear correlation between the decision making process and the value of information feeding that process. This research examines a decision making …

Piezoelectromagnetic Waves In A Ceramic Plate Between Two Ceramic Half-Spaces, S. N. Jiang, Q. Jiang, X. F. Li, S. H. Guo, H. G. Zhou, J. S. Chang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

We analyze the propagation of piezoelectromagnetic waves guided by a plate of polarized ceramics between two ceramic half-spaces. An exact dispersion relation is obtained, which reduces to a few known elastic, electromagnetic, and quasistatic piezoelectric wave solutions in the literature as special cases. Numerical solutions to the equation that determines the dispersion relation show the existence of guided waves. The results are useful for acoustic wave and microwave devices.

Thermo-Mechanical Characterization Of Copper Through-Wafer Interconnects, Peter A. Miranda, Amy J. Moll

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Copper through wafer interconnects (TWIs) have become a viable solution to providing interconnectivity between stacked die. In a world where minimizing chip real estate while increasing functionality is the goal for further miniaturization of electronics, TWIs hold a key role as new packaging schemes become critical for overall higher density. Little is known, however, about the impacts of mismatched coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) inherent to the materials used in their construction. CTE differences, if left unresolved, can pose reliability issues during TWI operation. This research focuses on providing insight into the stress levels experienced by TWI materials through finite …

Automated Scenario Generation System In A Simulation, Hajime Tomizawa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Developing training scenarios that induce a trainee to utilize specific skills is one of the facets of simulation-based training that requires significant effort. Simulation-based training systems have become more complex in recent years. Because of this added complexity, the amount of effort required to generate and maintain training scenarios has increased. This thesis describes an investigation into automating the scenario generation process. The Automated Scenario Generation System (ASGS) generates expected action flow as contexts in chronological order from several events and tasks with estimated time for the entire training mission. When the training objectives and conditions are defined, the ASGS …