Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Air Force Institute of Technology

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 751 - 780 of 1073

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Air Force Institute Of Technology Research Report 2003, Office Of The Associate Dean For Research And Consulting, Graduate School Of Engineering And Management, Afit Apr 2004

Air Force Institute Of Technology Research Report 2003, Office Of The Associate Dean For Research And Consulting, 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 and Engineering Management, Operational Sciences, and Engineering Physics.

Go to article

Empowering Marine Corps System Administrators: Taxonomy Of Training, Brian K. Hamilton Mar 2004

Empowering Marine Corps System Administrators: Taxonomy Of Training, Brian K. Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations

Organizations cannot protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of information in today's highly networked systems environment without ensuring that System Administrators are properly trained and meet a minimum standard that is enforced enterprise-wide. Only with this ubiquitous benchmark training, will the System Administrators roles and responsibilities become synchronous to achieving Defense in Depth in the IT realm. The goal of this research is to analyze Marine Corps training methods to identify viable solutions that will produce consistent skill sets and meet requirements set forth in mandates from DoD.

Go to article

Analysis And Forecasting Of U.S. Navy Operating And Support (O&S) Costs For Rotary Aircraft, Christopher J. Wilkes Mar 2004

Analysis And Forecasting Of U.S. Navy Operating And Support (O&S) Costs For Rotary Aircraft, Christopher J. Wilkes

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores forecasting techniques to estimate the Cost per Flying Hour (CPFH) for Navy rotary aircraft. Three separate forecasting techniques were evaluated to better predict the CPFH for better estimating and budgeting by the U.S. Navy. The process begins by empirically analyzing Operating & Support cost categories for each helicopter. Trends were examined in CPFH. For forecasting purposes, actual CPFH figures were compiled from 1997 to 2003 for the CH-46D, the CH-53D, the MH-53E, the SH-60F, the UH-1N, and the UH-3H helicopters. The forecasting techniques explored were the 3-year moving average, the single exponential smoothing method, and Holt's linear …

Go to article

An Analysis Of Factors That Have Influenced The Evolution Of Information Assurance From World War I Through Vietnam To The Present, Kelvin B. Scott Mar 2004

An Analysis Of Factors That Have Influenced The Evolution Of Information Assurance From World War I Through Vietnam To The Present, Kelvin B. Scott

Theses and Dissertations

This study is an exploratory historical analysis of the factors that have influenced the evolution of military Information Assurance (IA) programs from World War I to the present. Although the term IA has recently been widely used throughout the Information Resource Management field (IRM), evidence indicates that information and information systems protection mechanisms were used during every U.S. Military conflict. This research proposes to increase the body of knowledge within the information systems management field by exploring the areas related to Information Assurance (IA) and the ultimate goal of U. S. Defensive Information Warfare. I found that significant events related …

Go to article

Experimental Investigation Into The Aerodynamic Performance Of Both Rigid And Flexible Wing Structured Micro-Air-Vehicles, Anthony M. Deluca Mar 2004

Experimental Investigation Into The Aerodynamic Performance Of Both Rigid And Flexible Wing Structured Micro-Air-Vehicles, Anthony M. Deluca

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force Research Lab, Munitions Directorate, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida has designed a man-portable carbon-fiber Micro-Air-Vehicle (MA V) used for on-the-spot surveillance by Special Operations Forces (SOF) for enemy reconnaissance as well as post-strike Battle Damage Assessment (BDA).The main goals of this experiment are: 1) characterize the flow quality of the new AFIT 3' x 3' wind tunnel and 2) determine the aerodynamic performance characteristics of the 24" span, 6" chord flexible and rigid wing MA V s. The turbulent intensity of the wind tunnel was approximately 2%. Both MA Vs had an average lift slope within 3.5% …

Go to article

Coming Full Circle With Boyd's Ooda Loop Ideas: An Analysis Of Innovation Diffusion And Evolution, William S. Angerman Mar 2004

Coming Full Circle With Boyd's Ooda Loop Ideas: An Analysis Of Innovation Diffusion And Evolution, William S. Angerman

Theses and Dissertations

The Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) Loop ideas of Air Force Colonel John Boyd have impacted the Department of Defense (DoD), influenced military thought, paved the way for operational change, and helped to shape fighting doctrines. A wide variety of OODA Loop ideas and interpretations exist in the literature, but are unorganized and have not undergone holistic study to determine how Boyd's ideas have spread or changed over time. As such, this research analyzed a quarter century (1976-2003) sample of the OODA Loop literature to examine the diffusion and evolution of OODA Loop ideas since Boyd's original conceptualizations. This research used qualitative data …

Go to article

Going To War With Defense Contractors: A Case Study Analysis Of Battlefield Acquisition, Ryan M. Novak Mar 2004

Going To War With Defense Contractors: A Case Study Analysis Of Battlefield Acquisition, Ryan M. Novak

Theses and Dissertations

The escalating use of contractors on the battlefield in highly critical operational areas is a trend that is increasing across the DoD. Contractors have a vital role supporting CONUS missions, but they are also on the battlefield in defense of our nation, supporting the warfighter and their weapon systems. As the use of contractors on the battlefield continues to gain favor within the DoD, and as contractor s roles continue to expand and become more critical, it is imperative to improve the current way that the DoD, and specifically Air Force acquisition professionals, procure such services. This research analyzes inputs …

Go to article

Entrepreneurial Mindset In Department Of Defense (Dod) Organizations: Antecedents And Outcomes, Christopher C. Wood Mar 2004

Entrepreneurial Mindset In Department Of Defense (Dod) Organizations: Antecedents And Outcomes, Christopher C. Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Department of Defense (DoD) and Air Force senior leaders have called for transforming the way the military conducts business. One way to achieve this transformation is by promoting a more entrepreneurial approach. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent an entrepreneurial mindset exists in DoD organizations and to identify key antecedents and outcomes associated with this mindset. The study participants were seven Air Force organizations, most of which were located on Air Force Bases in the United States. An electronic survey was used to gather data from members of these innovative DoD organizations. Descriptive statistics and …

Go to article

Organizing To Exploit The Information Domain: A Content Analysis Of The Transformation Literature, Todd S. Schug Mar 2004

Organizing To Exploit The Information Domain: A Content Analysis Of The Transformation Literature, Todd S. Schug

Theses and Dissertations

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has embarked on an ambitious plan to transform itself. A driving force behind this transformation is a realization that society has moved into an information age and that information age warfare will be significantly different from anything that has gone before it. At the heart of the transformation effort is a concept known as Network Centric Warfare (NCW). Transformation, information age warfare, and NCW all depend heavily on how the DoD handles the information domain. Although there are many organization structure/design issues that will derive from the transformation imperatives, one of central concerns is …

Go to article

Data Sorting And Orbit Determination Of Tethered Satellite Systems, Mark J. Faulstich Mar 2004

Data Sorting And Orbit Determination Of Tethered Satellite Systems, Mark J. Faulstich

Theses and Dissertations

Tethered satellite system end masses do not obey the normal laws of motion developed for determining their orbits. In addition, tethered satellite systems cause unique problems for satellite tracking because there are potentially two or more objects which may be tracked. This thesis provides insight into these issues by developing a method of sorting out observation data of tethered satellite systems into their appropriate end mass and providing an estimate on the center of mass orbit of the tethered satellite system. The method used to accomplish both of these tasks is optimization of an estimated simulated orbit. This orbit estimate …

Go to article

Characterization Of Ultra Wideband Multiple Access Performance Using Time Hopped-Biorthogonal Pulse Position Modulation, Donald J. Clabaugh Mar 2004

Characterization Of Ultra Wideband Multiple Access Performance Using Time Hopped-Biorthogonal Pulse Position Modulation, Donald J. Clabaugh

Theses and Dissertations

The FCC's release of its UWB First Report and Order in April 2002 spawned renewed interest in impulse signaling research. This work combines Time Hopped (TH) multiple access coding with 4-ary UWB Biorthogonal Pulse Position Modulation (TH-BPPM). Multiple access performance is evaluated in a multipath environment for both synchronous and asynchronous networks. Fast time hopping is implemented by replicating and hopping each TH-BPPM symbol NH times. Bit error expressions are derived for biorthogonal TH-BPPM signaling and results compared with previous orthogonal TH-PPM work. Without fast time hopping (NH = 1), the biorthogonal TH-BPPM technique provided gains equivalent to Gray-coded QPSK; …

Go to article

Establishing A Framework For The Oversight Of Major Defense Acquisition Programs - A Historical Analysis, Diane I. K. Kuderik Mar 2004

Establishing A Framework For The Oversight Of Major Defense Acquisition Programs - A Historical Analysis, Diane I. K. Kuderik

Theses and Dissertations

The Department of Defense (DoD) has budgeted over $134.5 billion for Fiscal Year 2004 for Acquisition, yet little is written about the personnel responsible for managing and evaluating Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) -- those who perform Acquisition Oversight (AO). The AO process has not been studied in a disciplined manner during its 40-year history. Congress, past Administrations, and the DoD Inspector General have commissioned several studies on the AO Process. Recommendations were considered and implemented such that the process evolved to where it stands today. Over 40 years separate the first iteration with the latest version. Commission reports, countless …

Go to article

Netwars Based Study Of A Joint Stars Link-16 Network, Charlie I. Cruz Mar 2004

Netwars Based Study Of A Joint Stars Link-16 Network, Charlie I. Cruz

Theses and Dissertations

Both secure and anti-jam resistant, the Link-16 is the primary communications channel used by the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) for the exchange of real-time tactical data among various ground, air, and sea platforms of the United States of America and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces. This research explored the effect of increasing network traffic for imagery transfer to the mean delay when operating under different network topologies. Using Network Warfare Simulation (NETWARS), three different missions were simulated to run on five network topologies having a different number of participants, different assigned time slots, and stacked nets. …

Go to article

Machine Learning Techniques For Characterizing Ieee 802.11b Encrypted Data Streams, Michael J. Henson Mar 2004

Machine Learning Techniques For Characterizing Ieee 802.11b Encrypted Data Streams, Michael J. Henson

Theses and Dissertations

As wireless networks become an increasingly common part of the infrastructure in industrialized nations, the vulnerabilities of this technology need to be evaluated. Even though there have been major advancements in encryption technology, security protocols and packet header obfuscation techniques, other distinguishing characteristics do exist in wireless network traffic. These characteristics include packet size, signal strength, channel utilization and others. Using these characteristics, windows of size 11, 31, and 51 packets are collected and machine learning (ML) techniques are trained to classify applications accessing the 802.11b wireless channel. The four applications used for this study included E-Mail, FTP, HTTP, and …

Go to article

Swarm Based Implementation Of A Virtual Distributed Database System In A Sensor Network, Wen C. Lee Mar 2004

Swarm Based Implementation Of A Virtual Distributed Database System In A Sensor Network, Wen C. Lee

Theses and Dissertations

The deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in recent military operations has had success in carrying out surveillance and combat missions in sensitive areas. An area of intense research on UAVs has been on controlling a group of small-sized UAVs to carry out reconnaissance missions normally undertaken by large UAVs such as Predator or Global Hawk. A control strategy for coordinating the UAV movements of such a group of UAVs adopts the bio-inspired swarm model to produce autonomous group behavior. This research proposes establishing a distributed database system on a group of swarming UAVs, providing for data storage during a …

Go to article

Swarming Reconnaissance Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles In A Parallel Discrete Event Simulation, Joshua J. Corner Mar 2004

Swarming Reconnaissance Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles In A Parallel Discrete Event Simulation, Joshua J. Corner

Theses and Dissertations

Current military affairs indicate that future military warfare requires safer, more accurate, and more fault-tolerant weapons systems. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are one answer to this military requirement. Technology in the UAV arena is moving toward smaller and more capable systems and is becoming available at a fraction of the cost. Exploiting the advances in these miniaturized flying vehicles is the aim of this research. How are the UAVs employed for the future military? The concept of operations for a micro-UAV system is adopted from nature from the appearance of flocking birds, movement of a school of fish, and swarming …

Go to article

Prepositioned Trailers For Aircraft Battle Damage Support, Scott M. Murray Mar 2004

Prepositioned Trailers For Aircraft Battle Damage Support, Scott M. Murray

Theses and Dissertations

Air superiority is essential in today's wartime environment. Aircraft that are damaged and not returned to combat can have a considerable impact on the quest for dominance in the air. To maintain operational effectiveness, an organization must have the capability to quickly repair damaged aircraft. The purpose of an Aircraft Battle Damage Repair (ABDR) program is to rapidly and effectively repair damaged aircraft to fly additional operational sorties and further contribute to wartime objectives. This capability must consist of providing the necessary tools and equipment for the rapid repair of aircraft. When an ABDR team deploys in support of an …

Go to article

Location Optimization Of Continental United States Strip Alert Sites Supporting Homeland Defense, Jon A. Eberlan Mar 2004

Location Optimization Of Continental United States Strip Alert Sites Supporting Homeland Defense, Jon A. Eberlan

Theses and Dissertations

With the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the fall of the Soviet Union, the number of alert aircraft dwindled to 14 aircraft located at 7 sites on September 11, 2001. After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon, the United States could not continue to endorse an outward looking air defense strategy. Terrorism completely changed the landscape of the air defense mission. This research develops a location optimization model to optimally locate alert sites post-11 September to cover areas of interest in the CONUS. The model finds the minimum number of alert sites, minimum …

Go to article

Improving The Estimation Of Military Worth Of The Advanced Tactical Laser Through Simulation Aggregation, Michael T. Cook Mar 2004

Improving The Estimation Of Military Worth Of The Advanced Tactical Laser Through Simulation Aggregation, Michael T. Cook

Theses and Dissertations

Fielding High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon systems presents technological challenges as well as employment and financial challenges. The risk associated with the challenges mandates the development process include computer simulation models capable of predicting weapon system performance from the engineering level to assessing the military worth of employing HEL systems in combat scenarios. This research effort focuses on developing laser performance data at a higher fidelity engagement model and integrating the performance data into a mission level model. The propagation of the laser from the transmitting aperture to the target is modeled at the engagement level through the employment of …

Go to article

Demonstrating Optothermal Actuators For An Autonomous Mems Microrobot, Francis R. Szabo Mar 2004

Demonstrating Optothermal Actuators For An Autonomous Mems Microrobot, Francis R. Szabo

Theses and Dissertations

There are numerous applications for microrobots which are beneficial to the Air Force. However, the microrobotics field is still in its infancy, and will require extensive basic research before these applications can be fielded. The biggest hurdle to be solved, in order to create autonomous microrobots, is generating power for their actuator engines. Most present actuators require orders of magnitude more power than is presently available from micropower sources. To enable smaller microrobots, this research proposed a simplified power concept that eliminates the need for on-board power supplies and control circuitry by using actuators powered wirelessly from the environment. This …

Go to article

Logistic And Multiple Regression: The Two-Step Approach To Estimating Cost Growth, Daniel C. Genest Mar 2004

Logistic And Multiple Regression: The Two-Step Approach To Estimating Cost Growth, Daniel C. Genest

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to predict cost growth in major Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition programs using logistic and multiple regression. In recent years, the use of statistical regression has proven to be successful in predicting the relationships associated with cost growth. This research follows on the work of Sipple (2002) and Bielecki (2003) and further explores the possibilities of using statistical regression to accurately estimate the dollar value associated with risk and uncertainty early in a program's life cycle. In doing so, the author intends to reduce cost growth by increasing the accuracy of the original cost estimates subsequently used …

Go to article

Creating Cost Growth Models For The Engineering And Manufacturing Development Phase Of Acquisition Using Logistic And Multiple Regression, Brandon M. Lucas Mar 2004

Creating Cost Growth Models For The Engineering And Manufacturing Development Phase Of Acquisition Using Logistic And Multiple Regression, Brandon M. Lucas

Theses and Dissertations

Cost growth remains a concern for cost analysts, program managers, senior DoD decision-makers, Congress, and even the American public. All of these people have a vested interest in the cost of DoD programs and most would like to see those costs decrease; as such, we need additional tools to help combat cost growth. Previous research creates the foundation for the use of a two-step methodology to help predict cost growth, which we follow closely. First, utilizing logistic regression we analyze whether specific program characteristics predict cost growth within the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase for combined RDT&E and procurement …

Go to article

Estimating Cost Growth In Engineering And Schedule Cost Categories Using A Two-Pronged Regression Approach, Chris J. Mcdaniel Mar 2004

Estimating Cost Growth In Engineering And Schedule Cost Categories Using A Two-Pronged Regression Approach, Chris J. Mcdaniel

Theses and Dissertations

This research confirms the usefulness of the logistic and multiple regression two-step procedure for assessing cost growth in major DoD weapon systems. We compile programmatic data from the Selected Acquisition Reports (SARs) between 1990 and 2002 for programs covering all defense departments. Our analysis concentrates on cost growth in the procurement appropriations of the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase of acquisitions. We investigate the use of logistic regression in cost growth analysis to predict whether or not cost growth will occur in a program. If applicable, multiple regression is implemented to predict how much cost growth will occur. Our study …

Go to article

Logistic And Multiple Regression: A Two-Pronged Approach To Accurately Estimate Cost Growth In Major Dod Weapon Systems, Matthew B. Rossetti Mar 2004

Logistic And Multiple Regression: A Two-Pronged Approach To Accurately Estimate Cost Growth In Major Dod Weapon Systems, Matthew B. Rossetti

Theses and Dissertations

This research confirms the usefulness of the logistic and multiple regression two-step procedure for assessing cost growth in major DoD weapon systems. We compile programmatic data from the Selected Acquisition Reports (SARs) between 1990 and 2002 for programs covering all defense departments. Our analysis concentrates on cost growth in the procurement appropriations of the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase of acquisitions. We investigate the use of logistic regression in cost growth analysis to predict whether or not cost growth will occur in a program. If applicable, multiple regression is implemented to predict how much cost growth will occur. Our study …

Go to article

Comparative Analysis Of Active And Passive Mapping Techniques In An Internet-Based Local Area Network, James B. Kuntzelman Mar 2004

Comparative Analysis Of Active And Passive Mapping Techniques In An Internet-Based Local Area Network, James B. Kuntzelman

Theses and Dissertations

Network mapping technologies allow quick and easy discovery of computer systems throughout a network. Active mapping methods, such as using nmap, capitalize on the standard stimulus-response of network systems to probe target systems. In doing so, they create extra traffic on the network, both for the initial probe and for the target system's response. Passive mapping methods work opportunistically, listening for network traffic as it transits the system. As such, passive methods generate minimal network traffic overhead. Active methods are still standard methods for network information gathering; passive techniques are not normally used due to the possibility of missing important …

Go to article

Effects Of Uncertainty On Real World Aerospace Mission Data, Steven J. Barosko Mar 2004

Effects Of Uncertainty On Real World Aerospace Mission Data, Steven J. Barosko

Theses and Dissertations

Uncertainty is an age old element of warfare. How does one measure success or failure on the battlefield? This thesis explores the effect of uncertainty on real world aerospace mission data from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Sources of uncertainty are identified during data preparation and the effects of uncertainty are investigated using multivariate analysis techniques. Two distinct cases are analyzed: one case with a low level of uncertainty in predicting whether or not a mission is pre-planned or alert generated, and another case with a high level of uncertainty in predicting whether or not a mission is a success or …

Go to article

Agent Based Simulation Seas Evaluation Of Dodaf Architecture, Gregory V. Destefano Mar 2004

Agent Based Simulation Seas Evaluation Of Dodaf Architecture, Gregory V. Destefano

Theses and Dissertations

With Department of Defense (DoD) weapon systems being deeply rooted in the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) structure, it is necessary for combat models to capture C4ISR effects in order to properly assess military worth. Unlike many DoD legacy combat models, the agent based model System Effectiveness and Analysis Simulation (SEAS) is identified as having C4ISR analysis capabilities. In lieu of requirements for all new DoD C4ISR weapon systems to be placed within a DoD Architectural Framework (DoDAF), investigation of means to export data from the Framework to the combat model SEAS began. Through operational, system, …

Go to article

Enhancing The Instantaneous Dynamic Range Of Electronic Warfare Receivers Using Statistical Signal Processing, Bryan E. Smith Mar 2004

Enhancing The Instantaneous Dynamic Range Of Electronic Warfare Receivers Using Statistical Signal Processing, Bryan E. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Accurately processing multiple, time-coincident signals presents a challenge to Electronic Warfare (EW) receivers, especially if the signals are close in frequency and/or mismatched in amplitude. The metric that quantifies an EW receiver's ability to measure time-coincident signals is the Instantaneous Dynamic Range (IDR), defined for a given frequency estimation accuracy, a given frequency separation and a given SNR as the maximum signal amplitude ratio that can be accommodated. Using a two sinusoid time-series model, this thesis analyzes IDR for ideal intercept and parametric digital EW receivers. In general, the number of signals contained in the EW receiver measurement interval is …

Go to article

Cross-Service Investigation Of Geographical Information Systems, Matthew H. Beverly Mar 2004

Cross-Service Investigation Of Geographical Information Systems, Matthew H. Beverly

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the armed services current uses of GIS, and asked the question whether or not a joint GIS program could benefit the DOD. An information technology implementation model was presented as a framework to implement a joint GIS program. It was found that all four armed services use GIS for forward deployments. The Army has its Combat Terrain Information System (CTIS). The Navy's digital nautical charts are a GIS. The Marine Corps has created their Geographically Linked Information Display Environment (GLIDE) program, which is similar to a map repository. Finally, the Air Force has its GeoBase program for …

Go to article

A Communications Modeling System For Swarm-Based Sensors, Brian A. Kadrovach Sep 2003

A Communications Modeling System For Swarm-Based Sensors, Brian A. Kadrovach

Theses and Dissertations

Today's information age has exploded the amount of data available to decision makers at all levels of the control hierarchy. The miniaturization and proliferation of sensor technology has enabled extensive detection and monitoring and advances in computational capabilities have provided for embedded data analysis and the generation of information from raw data. Additionally, with the miniaturization of mechanical systems it is possible to provide platforms for sensor suites that are capable of mobility and limited autonomy. Swarming or bio-emergent behavior problems, provides a robust scalable mechanism for organizing large numbers of mobile sensor platforms. However, the mobility dynamics of swarm …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last