Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

A Data-Driven Koopman Framework For Station-Keeping On Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit, Anusha Sharma Malladi

Theses and Dissertations

Cislunar missions have gained significant attention in recent decades, motivating the need for efficient modeling and reliable control. In this work a Koopman operator based framework is developed for approximating the error dynamics around a reference Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) in the Earth-Moon Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP). A decoder free neural network is used to learn a lifted linear representation of the nonlinear CR3BP dynamics and a residual based approach is used to identify the corresponding control input matrix. The model is then implemented in a receding-horizon target point controller and compared with uncontrolled propagation and a State …

Developing Imitation Learning Policies By Exploring Diffusion Framework For Quadcopters, Likith Swamireddy

Theses and Dissertations

Imitation learning offers a promising approach in developing near-optimal onboard policies for nonlinear systems, by learning from computationally expensive trajectory planners during offline training. Existing State-of-the-art methods commonly learn deterministic mappings from observations to actions by training fast neural networks to mimic the expert demonstrations, which can limit their ability to capture the action distribution, when the policy is trained on multiple possible expert commands to reach the same target, and this may lead to unsafe scenarios in the obstacle environments. To address these challenges, this study explores Diffusion Models (DMs) as a feedback controller for quadcopters that learns the …

Adaptive Artificial Potential Field Guidance And Control For Autonomous Docking With Uncooperative And Unknown Spacecraft, Steven Holmberg

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing demand for on-orbit servicing (OOS), active debris removal (ADR), and space domain awareness (SDA) missions has increased the need for autonomous spacecraft rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) with uncooperative and unknown targets. Traditional guidance and control methods are typically designed for cooperative systems with known geometry and state information. This work builds on previous research to develop and evaluate an artificial potential field (APF)-based control framework capable of autonomous operation with minimal prior target knowledge and applicability to both relatively static and tumbling spacecraft.

The proposed APF formulation incorporates established safety constructs from cooperative docking systems, including an …

Range Extension Of Electric Propulsion General Aviation Aircraft Using Solar Technology, Mary Kathryn Shultz

Theses and Dissertations

Alternative propulsion technologies in aviation have been a long-time topic of interest as operators aim to bypass growing fuel prices and meet environmental sustainability requirements set globally. Research regarding alternative propulsion technologies is primarily centered around marginally improving efficiency of combustion systems or large-scale implementation of novel technologies. This research evaluates the feasibility of implementing solar-integrated propulsion for general aviation aircraft to extend range through a comparison of full-electric, hybrid solar, and internal combustion engine propulsion systems. This evaluation of existing technology by range analysis indicates that hybrid solar‑electric propulsion is viable primarily for short‑range training and recreational aircraft, rather …

Aircraft Fault Detection Via Weight And Bias Analysis Of A Custom First Neural Network Layer, George Harrison Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Fault detection in aircraft is traditionally handled through redundant hardware and comparison algorithms to detect failures. Alternatives like model-based residual generation and data-driven approaches such as supervised fault classification and unsupervised anomaly detection have been explored, but they suffer from practical limitations; model-based methods require accurate system models, and data-driven methods have large constraints on the data limiting scalability and adaptability. This work presents a purely data-driven neural network architecture featuring a custom first layer designed for real-time fault detection where the weights and biases of this layer are used to detect faults. The network requires zero supervision and complements …

Manned Exploration Of Satellites Of The Outer Planets: An Analysis Of Current Technologies And A Discussion Of Advancements Required, Joshua Carson Meador

Theses and Dissertations

The Solar System’s outer planets have many satellites, some of which are known to be the most likely places to find extraterrestrial life in our celestial backyard. Multiple scientific missions have been sent to glean information from these satellites, yet the possibility of a manned expedition has long been exclusive to science fiction stories. This paper intends to collect and analyze the current state of space travel technology to explore the feasibility of such a mission with modern technology and to discuss which future advancements should be the focal point for making such missions a reality. To begin, data on …

Hybrid Aerospace Winged Kit (Hawk), Michael Brannock, Diego Robles Cortes, Aidan Harrison, Kale Bronder, Dillon Nobles, Cameron Monast, Nathan Panek, Joseph Ficorilli

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

The HAWK project is focused on creating a compact unmanned aerial system that can perform both vertical takeoff and forward flight. HAWK uses a blade-tip-mounted propulsion system allowing the craft to maintain vertical and horizontal flight.

Radm-S (Rocket Assisted Drone Mission Start), Connor Fitzpatrick, Jacob Minsky, Karl Leonard, Anthony De Sapio, Samuel Johnston, Andrew Smith, Mateo Tolosa, Reuben Kohn, Aaron Conley, Charles Amoury, Matteo Romeo

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

Design a system capable of delivering a fixed-wing drone into the air via a solidpropellent rocket. Manufacture both a drone and a rocket, each optimized for their mission objectives. Execute qualitative and quantitative tests to verify the performance of the integrated system. Analyze overall system performance to validate design requirements.

Rapid Ascent Payload Integrated Drone (Rapid), M. Babe, B. Degraw, E. Green, K. Lucas, K. Mobley, S. Ribeiro, I. Shah, G. Thierry, K. Walker, S. Zimmerman

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

The Rapid Ascent Payload Integrated Drone (RAPID) Project is an unmanned aerial vehicle that can be launched from a compressed air launch system. This project demonstrates a quick, theoretical payload delivery without the need for a large takeoff area or for total flight time during ascent to support disaster response efforts.

Aeris - Autonomous Experimental Rendezvous And Inspection System, Delaney Ahr, Ashton Clark, Sandro Gardella, Ava Nieburg, Keoni Power, Lindsey Reilly, Joshua Sundet, Ryan Wehe

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

Project AERIS is focused on developing a realistic test environment and an autonomous platform to support and validate advanced satellite inspection technologies, rendezvous, and proximity operations (RPO). The system integrates four main elements: - A drone-based chaser vehicle - A visually-accurate satellite model mounted on a one-degree-of-freedom (1 DOF) test stand - A space-like ground environment

Silent Skies, N. Sawhney, J. Strank, A. Brownie, A. Bakhouch, T. Vogt, J. Lane, D. Kramer

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

Aircraft noise remains a key challenge in aviation due to its environmental and regulatory impacts. • Project Silent Skies investigates noise reduction through passive serrated trailing edges and an active feedforward ANC system integrated into a modular RC aircraft. • The goal is to achieve ≥ 3 dBA noise reduction while maintaining aerodynamic performance.

Argos (Advanced Robotic Gimbal And Orbital Simulator), Sophia Cherry, Tyler Davis, Seth Busche, Dj Benefield, Priyansh Dholakia, Nathan Scott, Jonathan Feliz

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

System Overview ARGOS is a 6-actuator Stewart Platform with an added rotary component. Objectives: • The test stand shall provide at least three rotational DOF. • The satellite model shall be capable of a continuous 360° yaw rotation. • The platform shall rotate about the roll axis to at least 35°. • The platform shall rotate about the pitch axis to at least 35°. • The satellite model’s main body shall have at least one dimension of 460 mm or greater. • When operated inside a space simulation environment, the test stand shall not create bias within the computer vision

Frost (Free-Fall Responsive Operator For Simulating Thermofluid), Whitney Salpietro, Titus Janshon, Jackson Jones, Daniel Ofenbakh, Nathan Halmans, Gavin Devaney, Alessandro Leita, Isabella Valencia Zamora

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

Fluid movement in spacecraft fuel tanks poses dangers such as overpressure and vapor ingestion into rocket engines and is difficult to simulate using CFD. By replicating microgravity conditions and recording simulant fluid slosh, areas for refining CFD analyses can be identified, ultimately improving how spacecraft fuel tanks are developed.

Cryoslosh, K. Barrett, J. Dembinskischeif, C. Gonzalez, A. Hardesty, I. Johnson, R. Niebuhr, M. Page, B. Shaw, M. Tristan

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

A lack of experimental data on cryogenic fluid behavior in space limits the design of safe, efficient systems for space missions. The team is tasked with producing accurate data to validate current CFD simulations regarding the slosh of cryogenic fluids in reduced gravity effects.

Saber – Stability Analysis Through Bipropellant Engine Research, S. Conley, R. Gaulin, E. Lucas, A. Ramirez, N. Reese, W. Reinkoester, J. Sadler, W. Tinelli, B. Varozza

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

Stability Analysis through Bipropellant Engine Research (SABER) is a small-scale, compressed air and propane bipropellant rocket engine designed as the test subject of a combustion instability analysis. Through various static fires at varying combustion chamber lengths, the project demonstrates that less combustion instabilities are experienced at smaller characteristic lengths.

Panther Lunabotics, N. Vidales, A. Pomerleau, M. Gerster, I. Weisbrod, S. Hemingway, H. Elattari, G. Maccoy, G. Nehma

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

The NASA Lunabotics Competition is a NASA sponsored challenged with the purpose of creating a rover to perform a task in a simulated lunar environment. This year the challenge involves traversing a course, collecting regolith, and using said regolith to build berms at specified locations.

Virtual Simulations For Training And Astronautics Research, River Riehle, Ven Smith, Mackenzie Manchester

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

Florida Tech has very robust flight simulation facilities, but primarily in aviation due to the university’s focus on flight training and aeronautics research. This leaves a gap in the ability to adequately simulate space vehicles,which overlooks a key part of astronautics research and training. Spaceflight research is one of the founding goals of FIT, so this gap is educationally and academically hindering. A new-gen Orion spacecraft simulator would bolster the university’s ability to do aerospace and astronautics operations research and allow students to gain experience they would otherwise have very little or no access to.

Advancing Real-World Implementation Of The Well Optimized Linear Finder (Wolf) High-Speed Atmospheric Turbulence Compensation Method, Timothy Evan Coon

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation advances the real-world implementation of the Well Optimized Linear Finder (WOLF) method for high-speed Atmospheric Turbulence Compensation (ATC). Atmospheric turbulence introduces phase aberrations into optical wavefronts and degrades image quality in terrestrial imaging systems. Traditional phase diversity methods are computationally intensive and poorly suited to real-time operation. The WOLF method addresses these limitations through a novel, point-wise formulation of the optical transfer function (OTF) as a structured autocorrelation of the generalized pupil function (GPF). This formulation enables the estimation of phase aberrations at individual spatial coordinates with distributed computational complexity.

The research begins by developing a MATLAB-based simulation …

Implementation Of Unscented Kalman Filter-Based State Estimation For Multiple Spacecraft Using Global Positioning System Measurements, Bala Prenith Reddy Gopu

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents an implementation of state estimation for a drag-based rendezvous mission involving multiple chaser spacecraft and a single target, using Unscented Kalman Filtering (UKF) with Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements. The implemented method combines GPS navigation solutions with UKF to provide real- time state estimates of all spacecraft involved. Nonlinear least squares method is employed to process pseudorange and pseudorange rate measurements to determine receiver states, UKF utilizes these states as measurements to estimate absolute space- craft positions and velocities. This implementation also addresses practical challenges including raw GPS measurement processing, and varying GPS satellite geometries.

Experimental And Theoretical Fracture Analysis Of Additively Manufactured Orthotropic V-Notches, Venkata Siva Sainath Bavapuram

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a comprehensive investigation into the fracture behavior of additively manufactured orthotropic V-notched components made of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) material. The research integrates both theoretical and finite element approaches to evaluate stress intensity factors (SIFs) in Modes-I and II, which are fundamental in characterizing stress field distributions around notches under applied loading conditions. Unlike isotropic materials, where stress fields depend only on geometry of the component, the anisotropic nature of 3D-printed ABS introduces a dependency on material properties that necessitate different approaches to include anisotropy of the material.

Tensile specimens are 3D-printed with specific material orientations to …

Towards Visual Inertial Navigation With Fixed Tetrahedral Targets, Joao Leonardo Silva Cotta

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a robust method for 6DoF position estimation under impaired visual conditions utilizing a minimum 4-point Perspective-n-Point (P4P) solver designed for tetrahedral targets. Using SO(3) × R 3 instead of SE(3), the method uses a Lie group-based formulation to discriminate between rotation and translation, thereby enabling computationally efficient, resource-conscious op- optimization while preserving correct geometric behavior. Designed using the contemporary C++17 library ShomerTarget, the solver is analytically formulated and assessed under pragmatic robotic conditions. Particularly in low-light and high-dynamic environments, experiments on embedded systems, UAVs, and NASA’s Astrobee show that the proposed solver attains enhanced accuracy compared to …

Mixed-Mode Fracture Analysis Of Additively Manufactured Periodic Orthotropic Functionally Graded Microcellular Materials, Behnam Shahbazian

Theses and Dissertations

The quest for safety, efficiency, and innovation in aerospace engineering demands a relentless focus on understanding how materials and structures behave under extreme and complicated loading conditions. Among the many challenges faced by engineers in this field, predicting and preventing structural failure stands out as both a fundamental necessity and a complex problem. Fracture mechanics, the science of how materials fail under stress, is a cornerstone of this effort. Whether it is the fuselage of an aircraft enduring cyclic loading or the lightweight components of a spacecraft resisting impact, the ability to accurately predict fracture behavior directly influences the reliability …

Experimental And Theoretical Fracture Analysis Of Rift Manufactured Carbon Fiber-Vinyl Ester Lamina, Daniel Joseph Longo

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the fracture behavior of unidirectional carbon fiber-vinyl ester (CFVE) laminates manufactured using the Resin Infusion with Flexible Tooling (RIFT) process, a cost-effective alternative to autoclave-based fabrication methods. Composite materials like CFVE are increasingly adopted in high-performance applications due to their high strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance; however, their anisotropic nature presents challenges in predicting crack initiation and propagation. To address this, a comprehensive approach combining experimental testing, finite element modeling (FEM), and classical fracture mechanics was employed. Orthotropic mechanical properties were first determined through tensile and shear tests, providing critical properties for FEM simulations. A series of …

Developing End-To-End Imitation Learning For Asteroid Proximity Operations, Patrick David Quinn

Theses and Dissertations

Asteroid exploration remains a popular topic in the scientific community, however hurdles still exist for controlling spacecraft within the asteroid environment. Communication delays often require the usage of limited onboard computing hardware for navigation. Additionally, long mission timelines must be accommodated with highly efficient fuel use. Considering these issues, it is apparent that any guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system in these spacecraft should emphasize both computational and fuel efficiency in its design. Furthermore, the integration of a robust state estimation system is necessary for the successful deployment of such systems. The development of a controller aiming to address these …

Learning-Based Feature Identification For Rendezvous And Capture Of Non-Cooperative Space Objects, Trupti Mahendrakar

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, On-Orbit Servicing (OOS) and Active Debris Removal (ADR) have attracted increasing interest due to growing concerns about space debris. This debris poses a significant risk to spacecraft, as collisions can catastrophically end missions and potentially trigger a cascading chain reaction of more debris. Space debris ranges from tiny paint chips to large non-functional spacecraft and even launch vehicle components. One way to mitigate the formation of additional space debris is to reduce the total number of large non-cooperative resident space objects present in operational orbits. This can be achieved through two approaches: de-orbiting these objects as part …

Loss Of Control In General Aviation: An Investigation Into The Mooney M20 And The Full Trimming Tail Design, Trenton Neil Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Loss of Control (LOC) in General Aviation (GA) remains one of the leading causes of aviation accidents, with 94% of all accidents in 2022 occurring in this sector, and 42% attributed directly to LOC [2][3]. This thesis focuses on the Full Trimming Tail (FTT) in Mooney aircraft, hypothesizing that the FTT design significantly increases the likelihood of LOC, particularly during go-arounds and touch-and-go landings. Prior studies have shown that certain trim systems can amplify pitch-up moments following rapid configuration changes, leading to stalls or LOC if not adequately managed by the pilot [23][24][25].

This research utilized a combination of logistic …

Improving Robustness Of Learning-Based Approaches In Autonomous Systems And Engineering Education, Godwyll Aikins

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation advances the development of robust learning-based approaches across two complementary domains: engineering education and autonomous systems. Through four studies, this research addresses critical challenges in preparing data-proficient engineers and developing reliable autonomous systems that can operate under uncertainty and incomplete information. The engineering education study examines how mechanical and aerospace engineering undergraduates conceptualize and develop data proficiency skills essential for modern engineering practice. Through interviews with 27 students, the research employs the How People Learn framework to analyze student perspectives on information literacy, data interpretation, and computational thinking. The findings inform pedagogical strategies for developing data proficiency in …

Engine Performance Of An Electric Airplane With Partial Battery Capability, Hannah Yasmine Scrivens

Theses and Dissertations

As electric aircraft are developed and certified, knowledge of electric aircraft performance during complete or partial battery failures can be useful to determine an aircraft’s limitations and capabilities of completing an emergency landing, especially during takeoff and low-altitude climbs, as well as fully characterizing the potential aircraft performance. The results of this research will be useful in developing regulations and procedures pertaining to energy reserves and emergencies. This paper presents the results of a Pipistrel electric airplane climb power ground test that was conducted by the author and Florida Tech faculty. In the test, one of the airplane’s batteries was …

Study On Pilot Response Time To Reject Takeoff With One Engine Inoperative (Oei), Lydia Savitri Scrivens

Theses and Dissertations

The FAA regulation 14 CFR § 25.109 defines accelerate-stop testing for transport-category multiengine aircraft. It specifies that testing must include 2-second distance equivalent at engine failure speed VEF to simulate time taken for pilot to reject takeoff. However, pilot response time is widely debated. The purpose of this study is to determine pilot response time in rejecting a takeoff due to the failure of one engine during the takeoff roll.

Seven multiengine rated pilots participated in this study, which was conducted in a Baron 58 in the X-Plane 12 flight simulator. During the recruiting process, test subject candidates provided their …

An Investigation Into In-Flight Loss Of Control Accidents Due To Horizontal Stabilizer Changes On The Piper Cherokee, Connor John Geran

Theses and Dissertations

Loss of Control (LOC) while in-flight in General Aviation (GA) has been the subject of intense research by academic institutions and regulatory agencies in recent years [4] [9] [11] [19] [20] [21]. This interest is primarily due to a disproportionate number of all aircraft accidents occurring within the GA category of flight, with 94% of accidents in 2022 occurring within GA, caused primarily by pilot LOC, with 42% of accidents having LOC as the listed cause. Research into this subject at FIT yielded the results that many common GA aircraft tend to experience a strong pitch up response after undergoing …