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Air Force Institute of Technology

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Full-Text Articles in Aerospace Engineering

Application Of Machine Learning To Discover Dynamical Structures In 4d Poincaré Maps In The Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem, Kevin M. Trigg, Daniel J. Broyles, Robert A. Bettinger, Tyler J. Kapolka Sep 2026

Application Of Machine Learning To Discover Dynamical Structures In 4d Poincaré Maps In The Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem, Kevin M. Trigg, Daniel J. Broyles, Robert A. Bettinger, Tyler J. Kapolka

Faculty Publications

The spatial Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP) produces complex orbital dynamics that are difficult to classify at scale using traditional, manual Poincaré map analysis. A Poincaré map simplifies continuous orbital motion by recording the points where a trajectory intersects a chosen surface in phase space, converting a continuous path into a discrete set of crossings that reveal underlying topological structure. These crossings make it easier to characterize trajectory behavior, but interpreting them visually becomes impractical for large datasets and as Poincaré maps evolve from two into four dimensions. To address this challenge, an unsupervised clustering pipeline for discovering dynamical structures …


The Evolution Of Reliability Methods For Nondestructive Evaluation (Nde): From Probability Of Detection (Pod) Conception To Contemporary Practices, Christine E. Knott, Jennifer Brown, John Aldrin, Christine M. Schubert Kabban Sep 2026

The Evolution Of Reliability Methods For Nondestructive Evaluation (Nde): From Probability Of Detection (Pod) Conception To Contemporary Practices, Christine E. Knott, Jennifer Brown, John Aldrin, Christine M. Schubert Kabban

Faculty Publications

Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods are powerful tools for detecting and characterizing flaws in structural components, but their reliability must be evaluated before they can be used in critical applications. For more than 50 years, probabilistic and statistical methods have been used effectively to estimate reliability by describing an NDE system’s Probability of Detection (POD) for flaws of realistic sizes. The POD methods used by the USAF and NASA, like Hit/Miss, Signal-Response (â vs. a), and Point Estimate method (PEM, a.k.a. 29/29) have evolved, alongside newer approaches like Limited Sample POD (LS-POD) method, and Model Assisted Probability of Detection …


Evaluating The Suitability Of Commercial Off-The-Shelf Software Radio Peripheral Front-Ends For High-Fidelity Satnav Monitoring Applications, Mark J. Carroll, Sanjeev Gunawardena, Timothy I. Machin, Christine M. Schubert Kabban, Joseph J. Rushanan Jul 2026

Evaluating The Suitability Of Commercial Off-The-Shelf Software Radio Peripheral Front-Ends For High-Fidelity Satnav Monitoring Applications, Mark J. Carroll, Sanjeev Gunawardena, Timothy I. Machin, Christine M. Schubert Kabban, Joseph J. Rushanan

Faculty Publications

Signal quality monitoring is an essential portion of the Global Positioning System (GPS) enterprise. Through monitoring, accuracy and normality are achieved for each satellite and signal. GPS users rely on this information from monitoring stations to ensure safe and successful operation. Traditional monitoring has been performed with hardware receivers or custom radio frequency front-ends. These receivers have known and measured impacts on the distortions of the received signal. This research aims to elucidate and quantify the amount of distortion introduced by the front-ends of general-purpose commercial off-the-shelf software-defined radio (SDR) peripherals. Monitoring stations outfitted with SDRs are more flexible and …


Atomistic Simulations Of Crystallographic Anisotropy And Defects In Shock Loading, Benjamin P. Helman, Andre Archer, Logan Nagy, Samuel C. Wagers, Douglas E. Spearot, Adib J. Samin Jun 2026

Atomistic Simulations Of Crystallographic Anisotropy And Defects In Shock Loading, Benjamin P. Helman, Andre Archer, Logan Nagy, Samuel C. Wagers, Douglas E. Spearot, Adib J. Samin

Faculty Publications

The impact of crystallographic orientation, select grain boundaries, and vacancies on the shock response of aluminum was investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. Shock loading in the [001], [011], and [111] directions was explored, revealing anisotropic behavior in shock speed, generated dislocation density, and melting. The Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL) in the [100], [110], and [111] directions were calculated as 18.7 GPa, 17.8 GPa, and 22.5 GPa, respectively. These results were found to be an order of magnitude larger than the uniaxial compressive yield strengths computed at high strain rate using an affine loading scheme. Metastable melting in the [011] and …


Boiling Flow Estimation For Aero-Optic Phase Screen Generation, Jeffrey W. Utley, Gregery T. Buzzard, Charles A. Bouman, Matthew R. Kemnetz Jun 2026

Boiling Flow Estimation For Aero-Optic Phase Screen Generation, Jeffrey W. Utley, Gregery T. Buzzard, Charles A. Bouman, Matthew R. Kemnetz

Faculty Publications

Aero-optic effects due to turbulence can reduce the effectiveness of transmitting light waves to a distant target. Methods to compensate for turbulence typically rely on realistic turbulence data, which can be generated by i) experiment, ii) high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD), iii) low-fidelity CFD, and iv) autoregressive methods. However, each of these methods has significant drawbacks, including monetary and/or computational expense, limited quantity, inaccurate statistics, and overall complexity. By contrast, the boiling flow algorithm is a simple, computationally efficient model that can generate atmospheric phase screen data with only a handful of parameters. However, boiling flow has not been widely …


Winddensity-Mbir: Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction For Wind Tunnel 3d Density Estimation, Karl J. Weisenburger, Gregery T. Buzzard, Charles A. Bouman, Matthew R. Kemnetz Jun 2026

Winddensity-Mbir: Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction For Wind Tunnel 3d Density Estimation, Karl J. Weisenburger, Gregery T. Buzzard, Charles A. Bouman, Matthew R. Kemnetz

Faculty Publications

Experimentalists often use wind tunnels to study aerodynamic turbulence, but most wind tunnel imaging techniques are limited in their ability to take non-invasive three-dimensional (3D) density measurements of turbulence. Wavefront tomography is a technique that uses multiple wavefront measurements from various viewing angles to non-invasively measure the 3D density field of a turbulent medium. Existing methods make strong assumptions, such as a spline basis representation, to address the ill-conditioned nature of this problem. We formulate this problem as a Bayesian, sparse-view tomographic reconstruction problem and develop a model-based iterative reconstruction algorithm for measuring the volumetric 3D density field inside a …


The Impact Of Dispatch Weight Restrictions On Derivative Aircraft Propulsion Technology Evaluation, Timothy T. Takahashi May 2026

The Impact Of Dispatch Weight Restrictions On Derivative Aircraft Propulsion Technology Evaluation, Timothy T. Takahashi

Faculty Publications

This paper arises from an ARPA-E-sponsored project seeking design opportunities to retrofit existing aircraft with hybrid electric propulsion systems. Engineers typically configure aircraft to fly a given payload over a long range, which is subject to field performance constraints. In practice, operators fly transport aircraft (civilian and military) in a manner where dispatch consciously trades payload and/or range to enable safe operations to and from short runways. This work describes a simple yet novel analytical process suitable for inclusion in conceptual design or technology portfolio trade study evaluations to assess the impacts of weight-restricted dispatch upon usable payloads. We find …


Measurements And Scaling Of Ion Propulsion Impulse During Driven Magnetic Reconnection, Fatima Ebrahimi, Nicholas A. O'Gorman, Kush Maheshwari, Jongsoo Yoo, Alexandre Sainterme, Hantao Ji May 2026

Measurements And Scaling Of Ion Propulsion Impulse During Driven Magnetic Reconnection, Fatima Ebrahimi, Nicholas A. O'Gorman, Kush Maheshwari, Jongsoo Yoo, Alexandre Sainterme, Hantao Ji

Faculty Publications

Impulse scaling during magnetic reconnection, the magnetic energy conversion to kinetic energy, via direct Mach probe measurements in Magnetic Reconnection Experiment is examined. Ion exhaust velocity and impulse scalings with reconnecting magnetic field during the push phase of driven reconnection are presented. The outflows and impulse measurements are compared with global MHD simulations. Both measurements and simulations reveal a favorable scaling, greater than linear, of impulse with reconnecting field. These scaling results establish that magnetic reconnection could be utilized for plasma propulsion.


Designing Space-Based Architectures To Discover And Track Hazardous Asteroids Using Mo-Mcts, Adam P. Wilmer, Michael J. Klonowski, Marcus J. Holzinger, Robert A. Bettinger Apr 2026

Designing Space-Based Architectures To Discover And Track Hazardous Asteroids Using Mo-Mcts, Adam P. Wilmer, Michael J. Klonowski, Marcus J. Holzinger, Robert A. Bettinger

Faculty Publications

The discovery and tracking of near-Earth objects (NEOs), such as asteroids and comets, form the foundation of any effective planetary defense mitigation strategy—that is, the process of reducing or eliminating the threat these objects pose to humanity. Establishing sufficient warning time prior to a potential Earth impact is a critical outcome of this capability, as it enables informed decision-making and the selection of viable mitigation options. This study investigates how to optimally pre-position a fleet of NEO discovery and tracking (D&T) spacecraft within the Sun-Earth system. Candidate architectures—one or more pre-positioned spacecraft—are designed using Multi-Objective Monte Carlo Tree Search (MO-MCTS). …


Rapid-Response Reconnaissance Architecture Design For Planetary Defense With Nested Trajectory Optimization, Adam P. Wilmer, Justin A. Atchison, Marcus J. Holzinger, Robert A. Bettinger Feb 2026

Rapid-Response Reconnaissance Architecture Design For Planetary Defense With Nested Trajectory Optimization, Adam P. Wilmer, Justin A. Atchison, Marcus J. Holzinger, Robert A. Bettinger

Faculty Publications

Reconnaissance is a vital component in a comprehensive planetary defense mitigation strategy—aimed at preventing or reducing the impact threat posed by celestial objects on close-approach trajectories to Earth. It provides decision-makers with critical information on the physical and orbital properties of a near-Earth object (NEO), enabling better assessment of size, composition, and trajectory. This study investigates how to optimally pre-position a fleet of reconnaissance spacecraft prior to the discovery of a specific hazardous NEO. It evaluates response timelines and mission success rates for combinations of spacecraft launched from Earth and those maneuvering from pre-deployed locations within the Sun-Earth system. A …


Discovery Of Dynamical Structures Mapping Chaotic Transport Pathways In The Earth–Moon Cr3bp, Tyler J. Kapolka, Christina E. Paljug, Robert A. Bettinger, Rachel Oliver, Bruce A. Cox, Jeremiah A. Specht Feb 2026

Discovery Of Dynamical Structures Mapping Chaotic Transport Pathways In The Earth–Moon Cr3bp, Tyler J. Kapolka, Christina E. Paljug, Robert A. Bettinger, Rachel Oliver, Bruce A. Cox, Jeremiah A. Specht

Faculty Publications

Chaos; Deterministic chaos; Earth–Moon system; Poincaré map; Quasi-chaotic; Surface of section /// For the Circular Restricted 3-Body Problem (CR3BP), the topologies present within a Poincaré map enable the extraction of useful information regarding periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic trajectory behavior. Aside from the prominent topologies that follow distinct concentric patterns around fixed points, indicative of the periodic and quasi-periodic motion that is often the central focus of CR3BP research, there are also many “dusty” regions on the Poincaré map that appear random without an apparent structure and are indicative of chaotic motion. This paper, for the first time in literature, identifies …


Spline-Based Factor-Graph Optimization With High-Grade Inertial Sensors, Kyle Leland, Clark N. Taylor, David Woodburn, Randal Beard Jan 2026

Spline-Based Factor-Graph Optimization With High-Grade Inertial Sensors, Kyle Leland, Clark N. Taylor, David Woodburn, Randal Beard

Faculty Publications

Inertial measurement units (IMUs) are central to global navigation satellite system-based and alternative navigation solutions. This paper combines three lines of research to explore a novel methodology for using inertial sensors: factor graphs, spline-based trajectory estimation, and high-grade inertial sensing. Spline-based factor-graph trajectory estimation is increasingly used in the literature, especially for asynchronous or high-rate sensors. However, prior models neglect the impact of the Earth’s rotation, which is significant for high-grade IMUs. We extend spline-based factor graphs to incorporate accelerometer and gyroscope models that account for the Earth’s rotation. We apply this approach to simulated data from high-grade inertial sensors …


Large-Scale Cubesat Chassis, Matthew D. Evans, Robert A. Bettinger Jan 2026

Large-Scale Cubesat Chassis, Matthew D. Evans, Robert A. Bettinger

AFIT Patents

The present invention relates to large-scale CubeSat chassis and methods of making and using same. The disclosed CubeSat comprises specific structural features that can yield up to at least a 27 U CubeSat that has comparable or even better performance and benefits than that of smaller CubeSats. Such volume increase coupled with the structural integrity of Applicants' CubeSats opens up a wide range of CubeSat performance increases including, but not limited to, larger payloads, more diverse payloads and larger CubeSat fuel capacities. Such increased payload capabilities includes, for example, increased focal length capabilities and such improved maneuverability results in, for …


Amp: Single-Shot Ultra-Wide Fisheye-To-Cubemap Pnp Pose Estimation, Ryan M. Raettig, Richard R. Nyquist, Scott L. Nykl, Clark N. Taylor, Christine M. Schubert Kabban Dec 2025

Amp: Single-Shot Ultra-Wide Fisheye-To-Cubemap Pnp Pose Estimation, Ryan M. Raettig, Richard R. Nyquist, Scott L. Nykl, Clark N. Taylor, Christine M. Schubert Kabban

Faculty Publications

Estimating the position and orientation of a rigid object from an image is critical for situational awareness in robotics and autonomous systems. This study explores relative pose estimation using an ultra-wide fisheye camera for unmanned aircraft inspection vehicles. Ultra-wide fisheye lenses introduce radial distortion and capture features beyond the rectilinear image plane, rendering rectilinear Perspective-n-Point (PnP) algorithms inadequate. Designing a bespoke ultra-wide fisheye localization algorithm requires consideration of both the feature detection method and the pose estimator itself. This study proposes a novel method that combines (1) a fisheye-to-cubemap reprojection, (2) a You Only Look Once (YOLO) convolutional neural network …


Articulating Spacecraft Chassis, Christian T. Conkle, Robert A. Bettinger, Philip D. Smith Dec 2025

Articulating Spacecraft Chassis, Christian T. Conkle, Robert A. Bettinger, Philip D. Smith

AFIT Patents

The present invention relates to articulating spacecraft chassis and methods of making and using same. The present invention relates to spacecraft chassis and methods of making and using same. Such spacecraft chassis have a dynamic movement capability that allows the spacecraft to alter its structure while still maintaining industry volumetric launch standards. This capability increases opens up a wide range of achievable volumetric states and increases the ability to meet mission requirements by introducing a new tunable parameter. In addition, the judicious selection of certain dynamic movement parameters can result increased payload capabilities and improved maneuverability.


Investigation Of The Flow Field Morphology Of Film Cooling In Supersonic Flow, Umberto Sandri, Massimiliano Ferro, Alessio Picchi, Antonio Andreini, Bruno Facchini, Marc D. Polanka Dec 2025

Investigation Of The Flow Field Morphology Of Film Cooling In Supersonic Flow, Umberto Sandri, Massimiliano Ferro, Alessio Picchi, Antonio Andreini, Bruno Facchini, Marc D. Polanka

Faculty Publications

Film cooling is widely implemented in highly thermally stressed gas turbine components. Its performance has been extensively investigated for several decades and many results are available in the literature. In conventional gas turbines, regions of supersonic flow are not prevalent and should generally be avoided. For this reason, results relative to film cooling in supersonic flow are limited. Nevertheless, a new interest related to Rotating Detonation Combustors (RDC) and supersonic turbines is growing. The implementation of those engine components in a gas turbine is likely to need film cooling for thermal protection. In this context, it becomes crucial to gain …


Preliminary Investigation Of Cislunar Disposal Reachability Via Electric Propulsion For Selected L2 Lagrange Point Orbit Families, Ryan M. Sargent, Robert A. Bettinger, Carl R. Hartsfield Nov 2025

Preliminary Investigation Of Cislunar Disposal Reachability Via Electric Propulsion For Selected L2 Lagrange Point Orbit Families, Ryan M. Sargent, Robert A. Bettinger, Carl R. Hartsfield

Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the disposal of end-of-life spacecraft from selected orbit families in the Earth-Moon system, specifically the L2 Lyapunov and Halo families. Rather than focusing on impulsive burns with chemical propulsion systems, this paper examines disposal using continuous thrust generated by Hall thrusters, a form of electric propulsion. Leveraging the Circular Restricted Three Body Problem (CR3BP) as the dynamical framework, various levels of ΔV are evaluated in single-maximum burn and multiple-burn concepts of operation to evaluate the potential for spacecraft minimizing their transit of cislunar space and reaching the Earth’s gravitational sphere of influence in order to enter …


Occulation Observations With Event-Based Vision Sensors [ Poster ], Rachel Oliver, Paul Rickerhauser, Brian Mcreynolds Sep 2025

Occulation Observations With Event-Based Vision Sensors [ Poster ], Rachel Oliver, Paul Rickerhauser, Brian Mcreynolds

Faculty Publications

Event-based vision sensors (EVS) offer exceptional change detection capabilities due to their asynchronous and independent pixels which record binary events with changes in their photocurrent. The resulting address event representation data is a sparse timeseries list.


Event-Based Sensor Noise Modeling For Space-Based Space Domain Awareness, Rachel Oliver, Brian Mcreynolds, Dmitry Savransky Sep 2025

Event-Based Sensor Noise Modeling For Space-Based Space Domain Awareness, Rachel Oliver, Brian Mcreynolds, Dmitry Savransky

Faculty Publications

Building off the foundation of a physics-based end-to-end model for event-based vision sensors (EVS) observing resident space objects (RSOs), we apply new techniques to model realistic low-light sensor noise. While previous approaches simulate memorized current leakage and apply temporal noise models, our methods improve on these approaches and additionally account for current-following noise as an event source. These improvements are key components for accurate event-generating simulators which can advise requirements and concepts of operations for dedicated event-based Space Domain Awareness (SDA) architectures. The EVS pixel’s independent and asynchronous recording of changes in photocurrent produces data with high temporal resolution and …


Electrical Characterization Of Germanium Tin Alloys And Devices For Space Reliability, Kevin K. Choe Sep 2025

Electrical Characterization Of Germanium Tin Alloys And Devices For Space Reliability, Kevin K. Choe

Theses and Dissertations

GeSn (germanium tin) alloys are potentially well suited for near-mid infrared space optoelectronic applications. Alloys of GeSn have similar properties to group III-V and mercury-cadmium-telluride semiconductors and are compatible with cost-effective complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing technology. Recent progress in non-equilibrium remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RPECVD) has enabled the crystalline growth of GeSn with Sn concentrations of up to 10% without Sn surface segregation. Several experimental studies in previous literature report CVD- or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)-grown GeSn alloys achieving a direct bandgap with 6%-9% Sn content. This novel growth technique opens opportunities for a cost-effective, next-generation optical …


Tensile Creep Of A Hybrid Polymer-Matrix/Ceramic-Matrix Composite At Elevated Temperature, Waleed S. Alshehri Sep 2025

Tensile Creep Of A Hybrid Polymer-Matrix/Ceramic-Matrix Composite At Elevated Temperature, Waleed S. Alshehri

Theses and Dissertations

Advanced aerospace systems require structural materials that can perform reliably in high-temperature environments for long durations. The performance of standard polymer matrix composites (PMCs) in these conditions is often limited by their susceptibility to time-dependent deformation, such as creep. The objective of this research is to characterize the high-temperature creep behavior of a novel unitized material system comprising a polymer matrix composite (PMC) and a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) co-cured together. The PMC part consists of the polyimide matrix reinforced with laminated carbon fibers woven in an eight harness satin weave (8HSW). The CMC part consists of a zirconia-based ceramic …


Low-Cost Transfers For Cislunar Liaison Navigation, Ka'eo J. Swartzmiller Sep 2025

Low-Cost Transfers For Cislunar Liaison Navigation, Ka'eo J. Swartzmiller

Theses and Dissertations

CubeSats have an inherent limitation on volume due to their small form factor. Naturally, this extends to the capacity of on-board ΔV, thus limiting the maneuverability of the satellites. This limited maneuverability makes it extremely important to be intentional when planning out mission trajectories. The cislunar region subjects these trajectories to the gravitational forces of both the Earth and the Moon, making it all the more necessary to deliberately plan out maneuvers. The Circular Restricted Three Body Problem (CR3BP) provides a simpler model for estimating the motion of spacecraft within the cislunar region, allowing for the gravitational forces to be …


Multi-Fidelity Machine Learning Modeling For Aerodynamic Response Prediction Of Aerospace Vehicles, Ethan S. Jackman Sep 2025

Multi-Fidelity Machine Learning Modeling For Aerodynamic Response Prediction Of Aerospace Vehicles, Ethan S. Jackman

Theses and Dissertations

Hypersonic vehicle design requires understanding complex aerodynamic phenomena across the full flight regime. This study presents a novel MF surrogate modeling methodology that enables the prediction the full field response across a vehicle’s surface. A Space-Filling Curve (SFC) is used to convert unstructured data into 1D vectors. The a Convolutional Autoencoder is used with transfer learning to reduce the dimensionality of the data. An Emulator-Embedded Neural Network (E2NN) combines multi-fidelity data for fast, accurate predictions. A benchmark analytical example and hypersonic application are used to evaluate the methodology. Using various numbers of samples and sampling strategies it is found that …


Life And Performance Improvement Trenches, Thomas J. Praisner, John R. Farris, Connor Wiese Aug 2025

Life And Performance Improvement Trenches, Thomas J. Praisner, John R. Farris, Connor Wiese

AFIT Patents

A blade outer air seal assembly includes a plurality of seal segments circumferentially disposed about an array of blades rotatable about an axis, each of the plurality of seal segments having a radially inner surface facing a tip of each blade of the array of blades, the radially inner surface having an arrangement of trenches formed therein, and a radially outer surface opposite the radially inner surface. The arrangement of trenches is disposed between 30% and 80% of a chord of a blade of the array of blades as taken at the respective tip, and the arrangement of trenches is …


Identification Of Authentic Gnss Signals In Time-Differenced Carrier-Phase Measurements With A Software-Defined Radio Receiver, Zhen Zhu, Sanjeev Gunawardena, Eric Vinande, Jason Pontious Jul 2025

Identification Of Authentic Gnss Signals In Time-Differenced Carrier-Phase Measurements With A Software-Defined Radio Receiver, Zhen Zhu, Sanjeev Gunawardena, Eric Vinande, Jason Pontious

Faculty Publications

The time-differenced carrier phase can be computed from measurements recorded by a multi-global navigation satellite system software-defined radio receiver such as PyChips, from which the user displacement and receiver clock drift can be solved. PyChips is able to simultaneously track authentic and inauthentic signals in separate channels, which makes it possible to observe both types of measurements with corresponding navigation data. A random sample consensus algorithm has been introduced to assess the consistency between the measurements and data. This algorithm successfully separated authentic channels from inauthentic channels when they are broadcast simultaneously.


The Spectral Response Of Time-Resolved Piv In A Turbulent Boundary Layer, Peter Manovski, Wagih Abu Rowin, Henry Ng, Paul Gulotta, Matteo Giacobello, Charitha De Silva, Nicholas Hutchins, Ivan Marusic Jun 2025

The Spectral Response Of Time-Resolved Piv In A Turbulent Boundary Layer, Peter Manovski, Wagih Abu Rowin, Henry Ng, Paul Gulotta, Matteo Giacobello, Charitha De Silva, Nicholas Hutchins, Ivan Marusic

Student Publications

This study presents the application of time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV) to measure the mean and fluctuating velocity components in a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) over an axisymmetric body of revolution. A narrow wall-normal strip of the flow was captured using a synchronised high-speed laser and camera at a recording frequency of up to 80 kHz. The resulting streamwise and wall-normal velocity TR-PIV data were validated against hot-wire anemometry measurements and direct numerical simulations (DNS) of a flat plate under matched flow conditions. The mean flow results showed good agreement between all methods, while the expected attenuation due to the …


Investigation Of Stability And Control Shortcomings Of The North American X-15, William Lorenzo, Ramana Grandhi, Timothy T. Takahashi Jun 2025

Investigation Of Stability And Control Shortcomings Of The North American X-15, William Lorenzo, Ramana Grandhi, Timothy T. Takahashi

Faculty Publications

There is growing interest in the design of maneuvering high-speed aircraft to fly within or at the edge of the atmosphere. We identify and develop novel quasi-static vehicle screening methodologies, suitable for use during preliminary design, to better predict an incipient loss of control due to the dynamic effects of feedback. We validate these metrics by reverse-engineering Neil Armstrong’s 1962 loss of control and inadvertent atmospheric skip while piloting the X-15. In 1962, then-extant flight dynamics screening methods did not forecast likely troubles. We assemble and refine a collection of predictive metrics which operate upon basic quasi-static aerodynamic data and …


Leveraging Large Language Models (Llms) For Automated Generation Of Sysml V2 State Machines In Guidance, Navigation, And Control (Gnc) Systems, Andrea Louise Ames Jun 2025

Leveraging Large Language Models (Llms) For Automated Generation Of Sysml V2 State Machines In Guidance, Navigation, And Control (Gnc) Systems, Andrea Louise Ames

Theses and Dissertations

Modern defense systems continue to grow in complexity, placing increasing pressure on engineering workflows to be faster and more adaptable. While Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) with the emerging SysML v2 standard provides a framework for capturing system behavior, its practical use is often limited by the expertise and time required for manual modeling. This research investigates whether large language models (LLMs) can help overcome that barrier by automatically generating SysML v2 state machines from Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) textual inputs. Three LLM Flowise-based models were developed and evaluated: the Structured Transformation Model (STM), which uses a structured extraction and …


Modeling And Characterization Of On-Orbit Servicing Architectures For Efficient Mission Planning, Samantha Q. Vi Tang Mar 2025

Modeling And Characterization Of On-Orbit Servicing Architectures For Efficient Mission Planning, Samantha Q. Vi Tang

Theses and Dissertations

As space-based systems become increasingly critical to global infrastructure, efficient satellite maintenance and resource management have become essential to ensuring operational longevity. On-orbit servicing has emerged as a key strategy for extending satellite lifespans, mitigating space debris accumulation, and enhancing the cost effectiveness of space operations. This study presents a comprehensive mixed-integer programming (MIP) model to optimize servicer task assignments and routing while minimizing propellant consumption. The model captures the operational complexities of servicing a network of satellites across multiple orbits by incorporating realistic constraints, such as fuel limitations and task completion time windows. Sensitivity analysis allows mission planners to …


Seal For A Wave Rotor Disk Engine, Christopher Tait, Pejman Abkari, Brian Sell, Marc D. Polanka Mar 2025

Seal For A Wave Rotor Disk Engine, Christopher Tait, Pejman Abkari, Brian Sell, Marc D. Polanka

AFIT Patents

A unique seal for a wave rotor disk engine is disclosed herein. The seal is operable for sealing a region between a rotor and a rotor casing. The seal is spring loaded and will engage with the tip of the rotor to reduce pressure loss within the wave rotor disk engine.