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Articles 1 - 30 of 46
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Development Of A Drone-Mounted Wireless Attack Platform, Nathan V. Barker
Development Of A Drone-Mounted Wireless Attack Platform, Nathan V. Barker
Theses and Dissertations
The commercial drone market has grown rapidly due to the increasing utility and capabilities of drones. This new found popularity has made it possible for inexpensive drones capable of impressive carry capacities and flight times to reach the consumer market. These new features also offer an invaluable resource to wireless hackers. Capitalizing on their mobility, a wireless hacker can equip a drone with hacking tools to surpass physical security (e.g. fences) with relative ease and reach wireless networks. This research seeks to experimentally evaluate the ability of a drone-mounted wireless attack platform equipped with a directional antenna to conduct wireless …
Passive Radiolocation Of Ieee 802.11 Emitters Using Directional Antennae, Bradford E. Law
Passive Radiolocation Of Ieee 802.11 Emitters Using Directional Antennae, Bradford E. Law
Theses and Dissertations
Low-cost commodity hardware and cheaper, more capable consumer-grade drones make the threat of home-made, inexpensive drone-mounted wireless attack platforms (DWAPs) greater than ever. Fences and physical security do little to impede a drone from approaching private, commercial, or government wireless access points (WAPs) and conducting wireless attacks. At the same time, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) present a valuable tool for network defenders conducting site surveys and emulating threats. These platforms present near-term dangers and opportunities for corporations and governments. Despite the vast leaps in technology these capabilities represent, UAVs are noisy and consequently difficult to conceal as they approach a …
United States Air Force Applications Of Unmanned Aerial Systems: Modernizing Airfield Damage Assessment, Samuel M. Clark
United States Air Force Applications Of Unmanned Aerial Systems: Modernizing Airfield Damage Assessment, Samuel M. Clark
Theses and Dissertations
Modernizing airfield damage assessment has long been a priority mission at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC). Previously, AFCEC has made advances to expedite unexploded ordnance (UXO) neutralization and pavement repair. Missing from these initiatives is the initial assessment component. This thesis expands the idea of using Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS), applies it to the Air Force mission, and provides SUAS vehicle configuration and sensor recommendations. In this study, 25 civil engineer officers reviewed airfield imagery gathered using two small air vehicles. For the first review, participants attempted to identify UXOs and foreign object debris (FOD) in a …
Design, Manufacturing, And Testing Of A Small Through-Flow Wave For Use Within The Brayton Cycle, Micahel J. Mcclearn
Design, Manufacturing, And Testing Of A Small Through-Flow Wave For Use Within The Brayton Cycle, Micahel J. Mcclearn
Theses and Dissertations
With the ever growing popularity of drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles for military, commercial, and private usage, there is a desire to improve performance in terms of range, altitude, and flight speed. Current technology uses either electric motors or internal combustion engines: both piston and jet engine types. These sorts of engines undergo significant efficiency degradation as their size decreases. While some efficiency may be recovered via intensive design studies, the cycles are approaching the limit to their operating physics. A possible solution to this is to change the operating physics to something more immune to scaling losses; a …
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) Operators’ Workload Reduction: The Effect Of 3d Audio On Operators’ Workload And Performance During Multi-Aircraft Control, Sungbin Kim
Theses and Dissertations
The importance and number of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations are rapidly growing in both military and civilian applications. This growth has produced significant manpower issues, producing a desire that multiple aircraft are controlled by a single operator as opposed to the current model where one aircraft may require multiple operators. A potential issue is the need for an operator to monitor radio traffic for the call signs of multi-aircraft. An investigation of the use of 3D sound was undertaken to investigate whether an automatic parser, which preselected the spatial location of relevant versus irrelevant call signs, could aid UAV …
The Efficacy Of Implementing A Small, Low-Cost, Real Time Kinematic Gps System Into A Small Unmanned Aerial System Architecture, Kevin J. Hendricks
The Efficacy Of Implementing A Small, Low-Cost, Real Time Kinematic Gps System Into A Small Unmanned Aerial System Architecture, Kevin J. Hendricks
Theses and Dissertations
Along with the growing uses for small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) within the Department of Defense (DoD), is the utility of small UAS within the civilian market is also increasing. This has led to significant research and development on small UAS subsystems by the commercial market. The focus of this research is characterizing and investigating the application considerations of a small, low-cost real time kinematic (RTK) GPS receiver system. Work was also accomplished to characterize the accuracy and precision of the commonly used GPS receiver subsystem in small UAS to show the increased utility of the RTK GPS system. The …
Characterization Of Quad-Copter Positioning Systems And The Effect Of Pose Uncertainties On Field Probe Measurements, James C. Dossett
Characterization Of Quad-Copter Positioning Systems And The Effect Of Pose Uncertainties On Field Probe Measurements, James C. Dossett
Theses and Dissertations
When measuring the Radar Cross Section (RCS) of a test object, many uncertainties must be accounted for, such as the non-homogeneous nature of the medium between the radar test equipment and the platform under test. There are a variety of other error sources, including clutter and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), motivating the development of techniques to measure and model the uncertainties in RCS measurements. The following research, in unison with prior and current efforts, intends to reduce the impact of these uncertainties by utilizing a unique two-way field probe in the form of a geodesic sphere encompassing a commercial quad-copter …
Real-Time Implementation Of Vision-Aided Monocular Navigation For Small Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Systems, Timothy I. Machin
Real-Time Implementation Of Vision-Aided Monocular Navigation For Small Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Systems, Timothy I. Machin
Theses and Dissertations
The goal of this project was to develop and implement algorithms to demonstrate real-time positioning of a UAV using a monocular camera combined with previously collected orthorectified imagery. Unlike previous tests, this project did not utilize a full inertial navigation system (INS) for attitude, but instead had to rely on the attitude obtained by inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) autopilots. The system consisted of primarily COTS components and open-source software, and was own over Camp Atterbury, IN for a sequence of flight tests in Fall 2015. The system obtained valid solutions over much of the flight path, identifying features in the …
An Openeaagles Framework Extension For Hardware-In-The-Loop Swarm Simulation, Derek B. Worth
An Openeaagles Framework Extension For Hardware-In-The-Loop Swarm Simulation, Derek B. Worth
Theses and Dissertations
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarm applications, algorithms, and control strategies have experienced steady growth and development over the past 15 years. Yet, to this day, most swarm development efforts have gone untested and thus unimplemented. Cost of aircraft systems, government imposed airspace restrictions, and the lack of adequate modeling and simulation tools are some of the major inhibitors to successful swarm implementation. This thesis examines how the OpenEaagles simulation framework can be extended to bridge this gap. This research aims to utilize Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation to provide developers a functional capability to develop and test the behaviors of scalable and …
The Cognition Of Multiaircraft Control (Mac): Cognitive Ability Predictors, Working Memory, Interference, And Attention Control In Radio Communication, Kelly M. Amaddio
The Cognition Of Multiaircraft Control (Mac): Cognitive Ability Predictors, Working Memory, Interference, And Attention Control In Radio Communication, Kelly M. Amaddio
Theses and Dissertations
As the number of U.S. Air Force missions requiring UAVs has rapidly increased without commensurate increases in manpower, systems which permit a single operator to supervise and control multiple, highly-automated aircraft are being considered. The operator of such a system may be required to monitor and respond to voice communications for multiple UAVs, each of which can have aircraft specific call signs. The need to monitor this array of call signs may impose excessive requirements on constrained operator attention, working memory, and cognitive processing. The current research investigates the cognitive load (number of aircraft call signs) an individual can handle …
Increasing Reliability Of A Small 2-Stroke Internal Combustion Engine For Dynamically Changing Attitudes, Steven C. Crosbie
Increasing Reliability Of A Small 2-Stroke Internal Combustion Engine For Dynamically Changing Attitudes, Steven C. Crosbie
Theses and Dissertations
Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) typically utilize commercial internal combustion engines (ICE) as their power sources. These engines are designed to run at sea level, but these aircraft are often pressed into service at higher altitudes where the performance characteristics deteriorate. A Brison 95cc two-stroke engine's performance characteristics at altitude are investigated using a test facility that can measure these characteristics over a range of pressures and temperatures. With its stock carburetor at sea level static (SLS) conditions, the engine makes 5.5 peak horsepower (hp) and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) ranged from 1.2-4.0 lb/(hp-hr). At 10,000 feet conditions, the peak …
Streamlining The Change-Over Protocol For The Rpa Mission Intelligence Coordinator By Way Of Situation Awareness Oriented Design And Discrete Event Simulation, John P. Machuca
Theses and Dissertations
Incredible loiter times coupled with the ability to make extremely detailed collections at significant stand-off distances with a relatively expendable platform has made demand for, and diversity of, Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) operations grow at voracious rates. Conversely, financial resources are becoming increasingly constrained. As such, innovators are looking to maximize the effectiveness of existing personnel and assets by considering concepts such as simultaneous Multiple Aircraft Control (MAC) by a single aircrew. Research has identified procedural inefficiencies in current operations as well as substantial impediments to MAC implementation, including dynamic task saturation and communication challenges. An identified inefficiency afflicting both …
Rapid Prototype Development Of A Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Powered By A Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System, Michael P. Molesworth, Jacob K. English
Rapid Prototype Development Of A Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Powered By A Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System, Michael P. Molesworth, Jacob K. English
Theses and Dissertations
Remotely-Piloted Aircraft (RPA) provide users with unique mission capabilities, particularly on-demand overhead surveillance. However, a capability gap has been identified between the range and endurance of RPAs powered by internal combustion engines (ICE) and the reduced acoustic signature and smaller logistical footprint associated with electric-powered RPAs. This research, sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, aims at advancing systems engineering education by evaluating the utility of a tailored systems engineering approach. The tailored systems engineering approach used herein focuses on conducting a concept evaluation study on the rapid prototype development of a parallel hybrid-electric RPA (HE-RPA) and its …
Integration, Testing And Validation, Of A Small Hybrid-Electric Remotely-Piloted Aircraft, Joseph K. Ausserer
Integration, Testing And Validation, Of A Small Hybrid-Electric Remotely-Piloted Aircraft, Joseph K. Ausserer
Theses and Dissertations
Parallel hybrid-electric technology offers a wide variety of new mission capabilities including low-observable loiter operations and increased fuel efficiency for small remotely-piloted aircraft. This research focused on the integration, validation, and testing of a hybrid-electric propulsion system consisting of commercially available components to fabricate a small remotely-piloted aircraft capable of extended low-observable operation. Three novel aspects contributed to the success of the design: optimization of the propulsive components to the integrated system, torque control of the components for additive power, and a one-way bearing/ pulley mechanism (patent pending) mechanically linking the hybrid system components. To the knowledge of the author …
Implementing A Quantitative Analysis Design Tool For Future Generation Interfaces, Brandon M. Webster
Implementing A Quantitative Analysis Design Tool For Future Generation Interfaces, Brandon M. Webster
Theses and Dissertations
The implementation of Multi-Aircraft Control (MAC) for use with Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) has resulted in the need of a platform to evaluate interface design. The Vigilant Spirit Control Station (VSCS), developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, addresses this need by permitting the rapid prototyping of different interface concepts for future MAC-enabled systems. A human-computer interaction (HCI) Index, originally applied to multi-function displays was applied to the prototype Vigilant Spirit interface. A modified version of the HCI Index was successfully applied to perform a quantitative analysis of the baseline VSCS interface and two modified interface designs. The modified HCI …
Analysis Of Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System Designs For Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Ryan M. Hiserote
Analysis Of Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System Designs For Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Ryan M. Hiserote
Theses and Dissertations
Currently fielded electric-powered small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) lack the endurance desired by warfighters, while their internal combustion engine (ICE) driven counterparts generate mission compromising acoustic and thermal signatures. Parallel hybrid-electric propulsion systems would meet the military’s needs by combining the advantages of hydrocarbon and electric power systems. Three distinct parallel hybrid-electric system designs, each with three unique battery discharging profiles, were analyzed and compared using a constrained static optimization formulation based upon traditional aircraft design equations. Each system combined an ICE sized for cruise speed with an electric motor sized for endurance speed. The nine hybrid variations were compared …
Cfd Analysis Of Experimental Wing And Winglet For Falconlaunch 8 And The Exfit Program, Benjamin P. Switzer
Cfd Analysis Of Experimental Wing And Winglet For Falconlaunch 8 And The Exfit Program, Benjamin P. Switzer
Theses and Dissertations
Reusable launch vehicles have many benefits over their expendable counterparts. These benefits range from cost reductions to increased functionality of the vehicles. Further research is required in the development of the technology necessary for reusable launch vehicles to come to fruition. The Air Force Institute of Technology’s future involvement in the ExFIT program will entail designing and testing of a new wing tip mounted vertical stabilizer in the hypersonic regime. One proposed venue for experimentation is to utilize the United States Air Force Academy’s FalconLAUNCH Program which annually designs, builds, and launches a sounding rocket capable of reaching hypersonic speeds. …
Precision Navigation Using Pre-Georegistered Map Data, Frederick C. Webber
Precision Navigation Using Pre-Georegistered Map Data, Frederick C. Webber
Theses and Dissertations
Navigation performance in small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is adversely affected by limitations in current sensor technology for small, lightweight sensors. Because most UAVs are equipped with cameras for mission-related purposes, it is advantageous to utilize the camera to improve the navigation solution. This research improves navigation by matching camera images to a priori georegistered image data and combining this update with existing image-aided navigation technology. The georegistration matching is done by projecting the images into the same plane, extracting features using the techniques Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) [5] and Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) [3]. The features are matched …
The Navigation Potential Of Ground Feature Tracking, Guner Mutlu
The Navigation Potential Of Ground Feature Tracking, Guner Mutlu
Theses and Dissertations
This research effort examines the reduction of error in inertial navigation aided by vision. This is part of an effort focused on navigation in a GPS denied environment. The navigation concept examined here consists of two main steps. First, extract the position of a tracked ground object using vision and geo-locate it in 3 dimensional navigation frame. In this first step multiple positions of the UAV are assumed known; think of a synthetic aperture. The only information about the tracked ground objects/features is the unit vector that points to the objects from the center of the camera. Two such vectors …
Uas Collision Avoidance Algorithm That Minimizes The Impact On Route Surveillance, Austin L. Smith
Uas Collision Avoidance Algorithm That Minimizes The Impact On Route Surveillance, Austin L. Smith
Theses and Dissertations
A collision avoidance algorithm is developed and implemented that is applicable to different types of unmanned aerial systems ranging from a single platform with the ability to perform all collision avoidance functions independently to multiple vehicles performing functions as a cooperative group with collision avoidance commands computed at a ground station. The collision avoidance system is exercised and tested using operational hardware and platforms and is demonstrated in representative missions similar to those planned for operational systems. The results presented are the first known flight tests of a global, three-dimensional, geometric collision avoidance system on an unmanned aircraft system. Novel …
Laser Dot Projection Photogrammetry And Force Balance Measurement Techniques For Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles, David H. Curtis
Laser Dot Projection Photogrammetry And Force Balance Measurement Techniques For Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles, David H. Curtis
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this research was to develop testing methods capable of analyzing the performance of a miniature flapping-wing mechanism that can later be adapted to a flapping wing micro air vehicle (MAV). A previously designed and built flapping only mechanism was used for testing, while a previously designed flapping and pitch mechanism was fabricated utilizing an Objet Eden 500V 3-dimensional printer and its operation demonstrated. The flapping mechanism was mounted on a six component force balance. Force and moment data were collected for a variety of wing sets at different flapping frequencies. The testing was conducted using wings composed …
Evaluation Of An Opnet Model For Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Networks, Clifton M. Durham
Evaluation Of An Opnet Model For Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Networks, Clifton M. Durham
Theses and Dissertations
The concept of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) was first used as early as the American Civil War, when the North and the South unsuccessfully attempted to launch balloons with explosive devices. Since the American Civil War, the UAV concept has been used in all subsequent military operations. Over the last few years, there has been an explosion in the use of UAVs in military operations, as well as civilian and commercial applications. UAV Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) are fast becoming essential to conducting Network-Centric Warfare (NCW). As of October 2006, coalition UAVs, exclusive of hand-launched systems, had flown almost …
Micro-Scale Flapping Wings For The Advancement Of Flying Mems, Nicholas R. Coleman
Micro-Scale Flapping Wings For The Advancement Of Flying Mems, Nicholas R. Coleman
Theses and Dissertations
This research effort presents conceptual micro scale air vehicles whose total dimensions are less than one millimeter. The initial effort was to advance the understanding of micro aerial vehicles at sub-millimeter dimensions by fabricating and testing micro scale flapping wings. Fabrication was accomplished using a surface micromachining process called PolyMUMPs™. Both rigid mechanical structures and biomimetic devices were designed and fabricated as part of this effort. The rigid mechanical structures focused on out of plane deflections with solid connections and assembling a multiple hinge wing structure through the aid of residual stress. These devices were actuated by double hot arm …
Surveillance Using Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Christopher E. Booth
Surveillance Using Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Christopher E. Booth
Theses and Dissertations
This study examines the performance and limitations of a heuristic cooperative control (CC) surveillance algorithm for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) under both simulation and demonstration. The algorithm generates Dubin's based paths and provides velocity feedback to accomplish simultaneous arrival onto a surveillance orbit around the target and maintains position while orbiting. The CC algorithm has two modes: one that generates commands to multiple UAVs for simultaneous arrival to a surveillance orbit, and one that maintains equal angular spacing about the orbit. In addition to positional performance metrics, percentage of target in-view time was also measured based on the UAV's …
Combat Identification Using Multiple Tuav Swarm, Younin Kang
Combat Identification Using Multiple Tuav Swarm, Younin Kang
Theses and Dissertations
In modern warfare, Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (TUAVs) are rapidly taking on a leading role in traditional and non-traditional ISR, to include Automatic Target Recognition (ATR). However, additional advancements in processors and sensors on TUAVs are still needed before they can be widely employed as a primary source for positive identification in the Combat Identification (CID) process. Cost is a driving factor for operating an ATR system using multiple TUAVs. The cost of high quality sensors appropriate for a single TUAV can be significantly higher than less sophisticated sensors suitable for deployment on a group, or swarm, of coordinated TUAVs. …
A Static Aeroelastic Analysis Of A Flexible Wing Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Nathan A. Pitcher
A Static Aeroelastic Analysis Of A Flexible Wing Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Nathan A. Pitcher
Theses and Dissertations
The static aeroelastic behavior of the Nighthawk mini unmanned aerial vehicle is examined using a combined experimental and computational approach. Three wings are examined. In order of increasing stiffness they are: a flexible wing, a stiff wing, and a fictitious rigid wing with zero deflection. Photogrammetry is used during wind tunnel testing to measure the average deflected shape of the flexible and stiff wings during flight. The independent variables during wind tunnel tests are angle of attack (ranging from −5.1° through 13.4°) and velocity, which is 20 mph, 30 mph, and 40 mph. Roll angle and yaw angle are control …
Analyzing Carbohydrate-Based Regenerative Fuel Cells As A Power Source For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Olek Wojnar
Analyzing Carbohydrate-Based Regenerative Fuel Cells As A Power Source For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Olek Wojnar
Theses and Dissertations
Based on current capabilities, we examine the feasibility of creating a carbohydrate-based regenerative fuel cell (CRFC) as the primary power source for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for long endurance missions where station keeping is required. A CRFC power system is based on a closed-loop construct where carbohydrates are generated from zooxanthellae, algae that create excess carbohydrates during photosynthesis. The carbohydrates are then fed to a carbohydrate fuel cell where electric power is generated for the UAV’s propulsion, flight control, payload, and accessory systems. The waste products from the fuel cell are used by the zooxanthellae to create more carbohydrates, therefore …
Real-Time Navigation And Flight Path Generation For Tracking Stop-And-Go Targets With Miniature Air Vehicles, Nate A. Terning
Real-Time Navigation And Flight Path Generation For Tracking Stop-And-Go Targets With Miniature Air Vehicles, Nate A. Terning
Theses and Dissertations
This research effort focuses on using a heuristic approach to determine the optimal flight path required to put an Unmanned Aircraft System’s (UAS) sensor on a moving target in the presence of a constant wind field. This thesis builds on past work using dynamic optimization techniques to calculate minimum time to target. The computationally intensive dynamic optimization routines in their current form take a prohibitive amount of time to calculate and ultimately result in erroneous flight path predictions due to inherent execution time latencies. Therefore an iterative, suboptimal heuristic approach was explored to mitigate excessive calculation times and ultimately yield …
Flight Dynamic Response Of Hale Aircraft To Kc-135 Flowfield, Amanda J. Devuono
Flight Dynamic Response Of Hale Aircraft To Kc-135 Flowfield, Amanda J. Devuono
Theses and Dissertations
This research effort examines the static effects of a KC-135 flowfield on a flexible winged Sensorcraft model. The KC-135 flowfield data is generated by a vortex lattice code and integrated into Sensorcraft model for analysis. Building on previous research, a refueling situation was modeled to note the effects of the Sensorcraft at varying locations within the flowfield. The Sensorcraft model was analyzed for both rigid and flexible wings as a means of comparision. Flowfield locations of interest were determined and trimmed conditions were computed for each flowfield location. Utilizing the trimmed condition and flowfield locations, the nonlinear set of EOM's …
Toward A Flying Mems Robot, Nathan E. Glauvitz
Toward A Flying Mems Robot, Nathan E. Glauvitz
Theses and Dissertations
The work in this thesis includes the design, modeling, and testing of motors and rotor blades to be used on a millimeter-scale helicopter style flying micro air vehicle (MAV). Three different types of motor designs were developed and tested, which included circular scratch drives, electrostatic motors, and comb drive resonators. Six different rotor designs were tested; five used residual stress while one design used photoresist to act as a hinge to achieve rotor blade deflection. Two key parameters of performance were used to evaluate the motor and rotor blade designs: the frequency of motor rotation and the angle of deflection …