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Air Force Institute of Technology

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An Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Air Force Risk Management Practices In Program Acquisition Using Survey Instrument Analysis, Michael J. Maroney Jr. Jun 2015

An Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Air Force Risk Management Practices In Program Acquisition Using Survey Instrument Analysis, Michael J. Maroney Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force acquisition programs invest a large amount of resources to develop and field systems. Many of these resources go to risk management in order to help ensure those programs finish successfully with respect to cost, schedule, and technical performance goals. The question arises as to whether this is a sound investment. Although risk management has been shown to be effective in industry, scant empirical evidence exists for its effectiveness within the Air Force. Correlation and regression analysis of survey data show that a positive relationship does exist between specific risk practices and project success. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that …


A Methodology For The Optimization Of Disaggregated Space System Conceptual Designs, Robert E. Thompson Jun 2015

A Methodology For The Optimization Of Disaggregated Space System Conceptual Designs, Robert E. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

Optimal design techniques have proven to be an effective systems engineering tool. Using systems architecture as the foundation, this research explores the use of mixed variable optimization models for synthesizing and evaluating disaggregated space system concepts. Model-based conceptual design techniques are used to identify and assess system architectures based upon estimated system cost, performance trades, and cost risk. The Disaggregated Integral System Concept Optimization (DISCO) methodology is introduced, and then applied to representative space-based missions. Several results are obtained that indicate significant cost effectiveness gains from the optimization of multi-orbit and multi-function/multi-orbit disaggregated space systems. The general methodology has broad …


Modal Characterization Of A Piezoelectric Shaker Table, Randall J. Hodkin Jun 2015

Modal Characterization Of A Piezoelectric Shaker Table, Randall J. Hodkin

Theses and Dissertations

Piezoelectric actuated shaker tables are often used for high frequency fatigue testing. Since natural frequencies can appear in the operating range of these shaker tables, it is necessary to conduct modal characterization of the system before testing. This thesis describes the design and experimental validation of a mechanical model used for modal analysis of a piezoelectric shaker table. A commercially available three-dimensional scanning device was used to produce a point cloud model of the surface geometry, which was converted to a solid model and imported into a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) package for modal analysis. Using a laser vibrometer to …


Simulation Of Metal Particulates In High Energetic Materials, Eduardo Nieto Jun 2015

Simulation Of Metal Particulates In High Energetic Materials, Eduardo Nieto

Theses and Dissertations

This research focused on analyzing the effects of aluminum in high explosives such as PBX9501 using the MPEXS computational simulation code for a wide range of metalized explosive cases. The varying parameters are aluminum particle diameter and mass fraction of aluminum. The addition of metal particulates in explosive mixtures increases the density of the shock wave, causing a higher pressure in the shock. It was concluded that pressure and density steadily increases as the Al particle diameter increases, and pressure and density decreases when Al mass fraction increases. The concentrated pressures will dissipate quickly due to the high density, providing …


Orbit Estimation Of Non-Cooperative Maneuvering Spacecraft, Gary M. Goff Jun 2015

Orbit Estimation Of Non-Cooperative Maneuvering Spacecraft, Gary M. Goff

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the ever increasing congestion of the space environment, there is an increased demand for real-time situation awareness of all objects in space. An unknown spacecraft maneuver changes the predicted orbit, complicates tracking, and degrades estimate accuracies. Traditional orbit estimation routines are implemented, tested, and compared to a multiple model format that adaptively handles unknown maneuvers. Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation is implemented in an original way to track a non-cooperative satellite by covariance inflation and filtering-through a maneuver. Parameters for successful instantaneous maneuver reconstruction are analyzed. Variable State Dimension estimation of a continuously maneuvering spacecraft is investigated. A requirements …


Topology Optimization Of An Aircraft Wing, David L. Walker Jun 2015

Topology Optimization Of An Aircraft Wing, David L. Walker

Theses and Dissertations

A Topology Optimization (TO) was conducted on an aircraft wing in order to mathematically determine an ideal structural case for future aircraft. TO generally involves iteratively reducing individual elemental density until the desired mass or volume constraint is met. Two different TO styles where approached: a global three-dimensional concept and a more traditional two-dimensional rib and spar optimization which more closely mimics the baseline model. All optimizations were compared against a baseline wing for von-Mises stress, displacement, and buckling. The objective of this research was to develop a design procedure maintaining the baseline structural integrity of the wing while reducing …


Coupling Nuclear Induced Phonon Propagation With Conversion Electron Mössbauer Spectroscopy, Michael J. Parker Jun 2015

Coupling Nuclear Induced Phonon Propagation With Conversion Electron Mössbauer Spectroscopy, Michael J. Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Mössbauer spectroscopy is a very sensitive measurement technique (10-8 eV) which prompted motivation for the experiment described in this thesis. Namely, can a sensitive detection system be developed to detect nuclear recoils on the order of 10 to 100 of eVs? The hypothesis that this thesis tests is: Nuclear induced phonon bursts caused by Rutherford scattered alphas, decayed from 241Am, in a type-310 stainless steel material can couple with 7.3 keV conversion electron Mössbauer events at the other end of the material which will have a statistically significant effect on a Mössbauer spectrum. The phonon bursts produced by …


Auto-Concealment Of Supersymmetry In Extra Dimensions, Savas Dimopoulos, Kiel Howe, John March-Russell, James A. Scoville Jun 2015

Auto-Concealment Of Supersymmetry In Extra Dimensions, Savas Dimopoulos, Kiel Howe, John March-Russell, James A. Scoville

Faculty Publications

In supersymmetric (SUSY) theories with extra dimensions the visible energy in sparticle decays can be significantly reduced and its energy distribution broadened, thus significantly weakening the present collider limits on SUSY. The mechanism applies when the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is a bulk state — e.g. a bulk modulino, axino, or gravitino — the size of the extra dimensions ≳ 10−14 cm, and for a broad variety of visible sparticle spectra. In such cases the lightest ordinary supersymmetric particle (LOSP), necessarily a brane-localised state, decays to the Kaluza-Klein (KK) discretuum of the LSP. This dynamically realises the compression mechanism …


Impact Of Prognostic Uncertainty In System Health Monitoring, Robert M. Vandawaker, David R. Jacques, Jason K. Freels May 2015

Impact Of Prognostic Uncertainty In System Health Monitoring, Robert M. Vandawaker, David R. Jacques, Jason K. Freels

Faculty Publications

Across many industries, systems are exceeding their intended design lives, whether they are ships, bridges or military aircraft. As a result failure rates can increase and unanticipated wear or failure conditions can arise. Health monitoring research and application has the potential to more safely lengthen the service life of a range of systems through utilization of sensor data and knowledge of failure mechanisms to predict component life remaining. A further benefit of health monitoring when combined across an entire platform is system health management. System health management is an enabler of condition based maintenance, which allows repair or replacement based …


A Boost For The Ew Susy Hunt: Monojet-Like Search For Compressed Sleptons At Lhc14 With 100 Fb-1, Alan Barr, James A. Scoville Apr 2015

A Boost For The Ew Susy Hunt: Monojet-Like Search For Compressed Sleptons At Lhc14 With 100 Fb-1, Alan Barr, James A. Scoville

Faculty Publications

Current Large Hadron Collider (LHC) analyses are blind to compressed supersymmetry (SUSY) models with sleptons near the lightest super partner (LSP) in mass: {m}_{\tilde{l}}-{m}_{{\tilde{\chi}}_1^0} ≡ Δm ≲ 60 GeV. We present a search sensitive to the very compressed range 1 3 GeV < Δm < 24 GeV using the channel pp\to {\tilde{l}}^{+}{\tilde{l}}^{-} + jet → {l}^{+}{l}^{-}{\tilde{\chi}}_1^0{\tilde{\chi}}_1^0 + jet with soft same-flavor leptons and one hard jet from initial state radiation (pJT > 100 GeV). The sleptons recoil against the jet boosting them and their decay products, making the leptons detectable and providing substantial missing transverse momentum. We use the kinematic variable mT2 along with a different-flavor control region to reduce the large standard model backgrounds and control systematic uncertainty. We find the analysis should allow LHC14 with 100 …


Interstitial Silicon Ions In Rutile Tio2 Crystals, Eric M. Golden, Nancy C. Giles, Shan Yang, Larry E. Halliburton Apr 2015

Interstitial Silicon Ions In Rutile Tio2 Crystals, Eric M. Golden, Nancy C. Giles, Shan Yang, Larry E. Halliburton

Faculty Publications

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) is used to identify a new and unique photoactive silicon-related point defect in single crystals of rutile TiO2. The importance of this defect lies in its assignment to interstitial silicon ions and the unexpected establishment of silicon impurities as a major hole trap in TiO2. Principal g values of this new S=1/2 center are 1.9159, 1.9377, and 1.9668 with principal axes along the [¯110],[001], and [110] directions, respectively. Hyperfine structure in the EPR spectrum shows the unpaired spin interacting equally with two Ti nuclei and unequally with two Si nuclei. These silicon …


Air Force Institute Of Technology Research Report 2014, Office Of Research And Sponsored Programs, Graduate School Of Engineering And Management, Afit Mar 2015

Air Force Institute Of Technology Research Report 2014, Office Of Research And Sponsored Programs, Graduate School Of Engineering And Management, Afit

AFIT Documents

This report summarizes the research activities of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management. It describes research interests and faculty expertise; lists student theses/dissertations; identifies research sponsors and contributions; and outlines the procedures for contacting the school. Included in the report are: faculty publications, conference presentations, consultations, and funded research projects. Research was conducted in the areas of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electro-Optics, Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Systems Engineering and Management, Operational Sciences, Mathematics, Statistics and Engineering Physics.


Unified Behavior Framework For Discrete Event Simulation Systems, Alexander J. Kamrud Mar 2015

Unified Behavior Framework For Discrete Event Simulation Systems, Alexander J. Kamrud

Theses and Dissertations

Intelligent agents provide simulations a means to add lifelike behavior in place of manned entities. Generally when developed, a single intelligent agent model is chosen, such as rule based, behavior trees, etc. This choice introduces restrictions into what behaviors agents can manifest, and can require significant testing in edge cases. This thesis presents the use of the UBF in the AFSIM environment. The UBF provides the flexibility to implement any and all intelligent agent models, allowing the developer to choose the model he/she feels best fits the experiment at hand. Furthermore, the UBF demonstrates several key software engineering principles through …


Git As An Encrypted Distributed Version Control System, Russell G. Shirey Mar 2015

Git As An Encrypted Distributed Version Control System, Russell G. Shirey

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis develops and presents a secure Git implementation, Git Virtual Vault (GV2), for users of Git to work on sensitive projects with repositories located in unsecure distributed environments, such as in cloud computing. This scenario is common within the Department of Defense, as much work is of a sensitive nature. In order to provide security to Git, additional functionality is added for confidentiality and integrity protection. This thesis examines existing Git encryption implementations and baselines their performance compared to unencrypted Git. Real-world Git repositories are examined to characterize typical Git usage and determine if the existing Git encryption implementations …


Optimization Of Turkish Air Force Sar Units’ Forward Deployment Points For A Central Based Sar Force Structure, Mustafa Acar Mar 2015

Optimization Of Turkish Air Force Sar Units’ Forward Deployment Points For A Central Based Sar Force Structure, Mustafa Acar

Theses and Dissertations

Many developed countries that have a combatant Air Force and Search & Rescue (SAR) assets designed for their Air Force's SAR service have been struggling with locating SAR units due to limited SAR assets, constrained budgets, logistic-maintenance problems, and high-risk level of military flights. In recent years, the Turkish Air Force (TUAF) has also been researching methods to gather all SAR units into a central base and deploying the needed number of SAR units to defined Deployment Points (DPs). This research applies three location optimization models to determine the optimum locations for TUAF SAR units. The first model, Set Covering …


Effects Of Data Replication On Data Exfiltration In Mobile Ad Hoc Networks Utilizing Reactive Protocols, Corey T. Willinger Mar 2015

Effects Of Data Replication On Data Exfiltration In Mobile Ad Hoc Networks Utilizing Reactive Protocols, Corey T. Willinger

Theses and Dissertations

A swarm of autonomous UAVs can provide a significant amount of ISR data where current UAV assets may not be feasible or practical. As such, the availability of the data the resides in the swarm is a topic that will benefit from further investigation. This thesis examines the impact of le replication and swarm characteristics such as node mobility, swarm size, and churn rate on data availability utilizing reactive protocols. This document examines the most prominent factors affecting the networking of nodes in a MANET. Factors include network routing protocols and peer-to-peer le protocols. It compares and contrasts several open …


An Application Of Social Network Analysis On Military Strategy, System Networks And The Phases Of War, Thomas S. Furman Mar 2015

An Application Of Social Network Analysis On Military Strategy, System Networks And The Phases Of War, Thomas S. Furman

Theses and Dissertations

The research developed in this study will utilize Social Network and Graph Theory terminology and methodology applied to groups of systems, rather than individuals within a given system, in order to shape strategic level goals. With regard to military operations, Social Network Analysis has been used to show that enemy networks and relationships can be accurately represented using weighted layers with weighted relationships in order to identify the key player(s) that must be influenced and/or removed so that a particular effect on the enemy might be realized. Social Network Analysis is therefore a significant tool concerning tactical level of operations …


Optimal Policies For The Management Of A Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Swap Station, Rebecca S. Widrick Mar 2015

Optimal Policies For The Management Of A Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Swap Station, Rebecca S. Widrick

Theses and Dissertations

Optimizing operations at plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) battery swap stations is internally motivated by the movement to make transportation cleaner and more efficient. A PHEV swap station allows PHEV owners to quickly exchange their depleted PHEV battery for a fully charged battery. The PHEV-Swap Station Management Problem (PHEV-SSMP) is introduced, which models battery charging and discharging operations at a PHEV swap station facing nonstationary, stochastic demand for battery swaps, nonstationary prices for charging depleted batteries, and nonstationary prices for discharging fully charged batteries. Discharging through vehicle-to-grid is beneficial for aiding power load balancing. The objective of the PHEV-SSMP is …


Investigating The Impacts Of Particle Size And Wind Speed On Brownout, Brandy A. Swanson Mar 2015

Investigating The Impacts Of Particle Size And Wind Speed On Brownout, Brandy A. Swanson

Theses and Dissertations

The impact of particle size and wind speed on brownout cloud development was investigated among various rotary aircraft using Continuum Dynamics, Inc. (CDI) Brownout Analysis Tool, a high physical fidelity brownout model that is used by both U.S. Army Aviation and NASA for Rotorwash analysis. Simulations were run over 125 different combinations of particle size, wind speed, and aircraft type then output data was post-processed to determine a transmissivity and ultimately a visibility value that could be used in developing a severity metric for the brownout clouds generated. For most aircraft types evaluated, stronger wind speeds and smaller particle diameters …


Photoluminescence And Optically Stimulated Luminescence Studies Of Lialo2 And Ligao2 Crystals, Ian P. Ferguson Mar 2015

Photoluminescence And Optically Stimulated Luminescence Studies Of Lialo2 And Ligao2 Crystals, Ian P. Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations

Copper diffusion in LiAlO2 creates large photoluminescence (PL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) signals that are not present in as-grown samples. The main PL band peaks at 3.45 eV (359 nm) and is excited by a band peaking at 4.54 eV (273 nm). After x-ray irradiation, OSL results from 425-500 nm continuous wave light. An optical absorption band in the same region decays during optical stimulation. Analysis of the wavelength dependence of the OSL emitted light reveals a band that is similar in peak location and width to the PL band suggesting that they occur at the same copper defect. …


Symmetry Groups For Linear Programming Relaxations Of Orthogonal Array Problems, David M. Arquette Mar 2015

Symmetry Groups For Linear Programming Relaxations Of Orthogonal Array Problems, David M. Arquette

Theses and Dissertations

Integer linear programs arise in many situations, and solving such problems can be computationally demanding. One way to solve them more efficiently is by exploiting the symmetry within their formulation. This paper proves that the symmetry group for the linear programming relaxation of 2-level orthogonal array problems of strength 2 is a particular semidirect product.


Accuracy Of Time Phasing Aircraft Development Using The Continuous Distribution Function, Gregory E. Brown Mar 2015

Accuracy Of Time Phasing Aircraft Development Using The Continuous Distribution Function, Gregory E. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Early research on time phasing primarily focuses on the theoretical foundation for applying the continuous distribution function, or S-curve, to model the distribution of development expenditures. Minimal methodology is provided for estimating the S-curve's parameter values. Brown, White, and Gallagher (2002) resolve this shortcoming through regression analysis, but their methodology has not been widely adopted by aircraft cost analysts, as it is judged as overly broad and not specific to aircraft. Instead, analysts commonly apply the 60/40 rule of thumb to aircraft development, assuming 60 percent expenditures at 50 percent schedule. It is currently unknown if the 60/40 heuristic accurately …


Forecasting Dod Mid-Acquisition Space Program Final Costs Using Wbs Level 2 And 3 Data, Rey A. Heron Mar 2015

Forecasting Dod Mid-Acquisition Space Program Final Costs Using Wbs Level 2 And 3 Data, Rey A. Heron

Theses and Dissertations

Predicting Estimates at Complete (EAC) for Department of Defense (DoD) space programs has proven to be a daunting task. Although the use of Earned Value Management (EVM) formulations have been around for several decades, research has validated the need to conduct specific investigations based on commodity type and contract completion percentage. A recent Air Force Cost Analysis Agency (AFCAA) study improved space program EAC accuracy using a Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP) model. This research was conducted based exclusively on program level Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) data. The DoD requires contractors to report lower level WBS data, and current …


Recent Advances In Compressed Sensing: Discrete Uncertainty Principles And Fast Hyperspectral Imaging, Megan E. Lewis Mar 2015

Recent Advances In Compressed Sensing: Discrete Uncertainty Principles And Fast Hyperspectral Imaging, Megan E. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

Compressed sensing is an important field with continuing advances in theory and applications. This thesis provides contributions to both theory and application. Much of the theory behind compressed sensing is based on uncertainty principles, which state that a signal cannot be concentrated in both time and frequency. We develop a new discrete uncertainty principle and use it to demonstrate a fundamental limitation of the demixing problem, and to provide a fast method of detecting sparse signals. The second half of this thesis focuses on a specific application of compressed sensing: hyperspectral imaging. Conventional hyperspectral platforms require long exposure times, which …


Examining The Return On Investment Of Test And Evaluation, Nathan C. Smith Mar 2015

Examining The Return On Investment Of Test And Evaluation, Nathan C. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the return on investment of Department of Defense test and evaluation. The thesis analyzed the return on investment of the cost avoidance achieved if an issue discovered late in the program had been discovered and corrected during developmental test and evaluation. The methodology utilized two case study examples from the Joint Primary Training Aircraft System to calculate the potential cost avoidance and the potential return on investment if the program had discovered and corrected the issues during developmental test and evaluation. The result of one case was a 9,260% return on investment. The other case results ranged …


Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices For The Detection Of Magnetic Flux And Application To Airborne High Frequency Direction Finding, Travis P. Abeita Mar 2015

Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices For The Detection Of Magnetic Flux And Application To Airborne High Frequency Direction Finding, Travis P. Abeita

Theses and Dissertations

Electrically small antennas trade reception performance for physical size reduction. The SQUID maximizes the reception performance; still achieving a physically small size leading to satisfying the demanding antenna requirements of an airborne high frequency direction finding antenna system. High frequency electromagnetic reception for a direct current (DC) superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) is simulated using the resistor-capacitor-shunted-junction (RCSJ) electronic circuit model, producing a set of two-dimensional ordinary differential equations to describe the electrical operating characteristics for the DC SQUID. A time-varying magnetic flux, consisting of frequencies from the HF band, is applied to characterize the voltage response of the DC …


Unique Two-Way Field Probe Concept Utilizing A Geodesic Sphere And Quad-Rotor, Travis A. Albee Mar 2015

Unique Two-Way Field Probe Concept Utilizing A Geodesic Sphere And Quad-Rotor, Travis A. Albee

Theses and Dissertations

Surveying the test volume of a radar range normally involves utilizing an antenna field probe to measure the electromagnetic field in that volume of space. Today, field probes vary in size and shape and can be difficult and time consuming to setup. They also have a limited range of motion due to their support structure and translational mechanism, which also has scattering mechanisms that can perturb the field they are measuring. Field probes are useful, but because of these shortcomings they can provide limited characterization of the field illuminating the measurement area. Leveraging quad-rotor technology, coupled with a two-way probe …


Identifying Image Manipulation Software From Image Features, Devlin T. Boyter Mar 2015

Identifying Image Manipulation Software From Image Features, Devlin T. Boyter

Theses and Dissertations

As technology steadily increases in the field of image manipulation, determining which software was used to manipulate an image becomes increasingly complex for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. To combat this difficult problem, new techniques that examine the artifacts left behind by a specific manipulation are converted to features for classification. This research implemented four preexisting image manipulation detection techniques into a framework of modules: Two-Dimensional Second Derivative, One-Dimensional Zero Crossings, Quantization Matrices Identification, and File Metadata analysis. The intent is the creation of a framework to develop a capability to determine which specific image manipulation software program manipulated an …


Static Scene Statistical Non-Uniformity Correction, Adrian M. Catarius Mar 2015

Static Scene Statistical Non-Uniformity Correction, Adrian M. Catarius

Theses and Dissertations

Non-Uniformity Correction (NUC) is required to normalize imaging detector Focal-Plane Array (FPA) outputs due to differences in the end-to-end photoelectric responses between pixels. Currently, multi-point NUC methods require static, uniform target scenes of a known intensity for calibration. Conversely, scene-based NUC methods do not require a priori knowledge of the target but the target scene must be dynamic. The new Static Scene Statistical Non-Uniformity Correction (S3NUC) algorithm was developed to address an application gap left by current NUC methods. S3NUC requires the use of two data sets of a static scene at different mean intensities but does not require a …


The Theory And Application Of Privacy-Preserving Computation, Michael R. Clark Mar 2015

The Theory And Application Of Privacy-Preserving Computation, Michael R. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

Privacy is a growing concern in the digital world as more information becomes digital every day. Often the implications of how this information could be exploited for nefarious purposes are not explored until after the fact. The public is becoming more concerned about this. This dissertation introduces a new paradigm for tackling the problem, namely, transferable multiparty computation (T-MPC). T-MPC builds upon existing multiparty computation work yet allows some additional flexibility in the set of participants. T-MPC is orders of magnitude more efficient for certain applications. This greatly increases the scalability of the sizes of networks supported for privacy-preserving computation.