Aeronautical Vehicles Commons^™

Fatigue Issues And Mitigation Strategies In Collegiate Aviation, Flavio A. C. Mendonca Ph.D., Julius Keller, Erik Levin, Aaron Teo

Publications

The reduction of fatigue-related accidents has been in the NTSB most wanted list since 2016 (NSTB, 2019).

Most research studies have focused on fatigue identification and management within the commercial and/or military aviation environments (Caldwell et al., 2009; Gawron, 2016; Sieberichs & Kluge, 2016).

However, collegiate aviation may be the most challenging in terms of fatigue mitigation. Flight instructors and students often have schedules which may increase the risks for fatigue.

Fuel Efficient Control Design And Constrained Motion Analysis For Spacecraft Coulomb Formation In Elliptic Chief Orbits, Muhammad Wasif Memon

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The use of Coulomb force has been analyzed in recent years to provide propulsion in space for various applications. Coulomb formation can also be utilized to make close formation spacecraft missions fuel efficient. In this study, the Coulomb formation of two craft is studied in elliptic chief orbits for two formation geometries. The first formation requires both spacecraft to be aligned along the nadir (radial) direction and the second formation requires both spacecraft to maintain a constant separation distance relative to each other while each spacecraft rotates freely on the surface of a sphere with the ratio of the radii …

Adaptive Learning Terrain Estimation For Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications, Pedro L. Vergara Garcia

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

For the past decade, terrain mapping research has focused on ground robots using occupancy grids and tree-like data structures, like Octomap and Quadtrees. Since flight vehicles have different constraints, ground-based terrain mapping research may not be directly applicable to the aerospace industry. To address this issue, Adaptive Learning Terrain Estimation algorithms have been developed with an aim towards aerospace applications. This thesis develops and tests Adaptive Learning Terrain Estimation algorithms using a custom test benchmark on representative aerospace cases: autonomous UAV landing and UAV flight through 3D urban environments. The fundamental objective of this thesis is to investigate the use …

Analysis Of A Celestial Icosahedron Shaped Vacuum Lighter Than Air Vehicle, Dustin P. Graves, Kyle D. Moore, Anthony N. Palazotto

Faculty Publications

Excerpt: The celestial icosahedron geometry is considered as a potential design for a vacuum lighter than air vehicle. The goal of this research is ultimately to determine the feasibility of the design and to understand the initial fluid-structure interaction of the vacuum lighter than air vehicle and the surrounding airflow.

Unmanned Aircraft System (Uas) Technology And Applications In Agriculture, Samuel C. Hassler, Fulya Baysal-Gurel

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Numerous sensors have been developed over time for precision agriculture; though, only recently have these sensors been incorporated into the new realm of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). This UAS technology has allowed for a more integrated and optimized approach to various farming tasks such as field mapping, plant stress detection, biomass estimation, weed management, inventory counting, and chemical spraying, among others. These systems can be highly specialized depending on the particular goals of the researcher or farmer, yet many aspects of UAS are similar. All systems require an underlying platform—or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)—and one or more peripherals and sensing …

Risk Mitigation For Low Latitude Ground-Based Augmentation System (Gbas) Precision Approach Operations, Richard Walter Cole

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The ground-based augmentation system (GBAS) is a safety-critical system consisting of the hardware and software that augments the Global Positioning System (GPS) to provide precision approach and landing capability and is one of the navigational cornerstones of the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) global transition to space-based technologies. In low latitude regions, where the space-based augmentation system (SBAS) cannot provide adequate precision approach service due to large system errors induced by ionospheric delays, GBAS is the best option to provide the primary navigation function for the modernized global air traffic system. The purpose of the study was to identify patterns …

Modeling And Testing Powerplant Subsystems Of A Solar Uas, Luke J. Bughman

Master's Theses

In order to accurately conduct the preliminary and detailed design of solar powered Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the systems involved. In particular, it is desirable to have mathematical models and analysis tools describing the energy income and expenditure of the vehicle. Solar energy income models may include available solar irradiance, photovoltaic array power output, and maximum power point tracker efficiency. Energy expenditure models include battery charging and discharging characteristics, propulsion system efficiency, and aerodynamic efficiency. In this thesis, a series of mathematical models were developed that characterize the performance of these …

Design And Development Of An Autonomous Return Vehicle, Sean Widmier, An Nguyen, Colin Oberthur, Sean Mitchell, Fred Snopl

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Simplified 2d Skin Lattice Models For Multi-Axial Camber Morphing Wing Aircraft, Bashir Alsaidi, Woong Yeol Joe, Muhammad Akbar

Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Faculty Research

Conventional fixed wing aircraft require a selection of certain thickness of skin material that guarantees structural strength for aerodynamic loadings in various flight modes. However, skin structures of morphing wings are expected to be flexible as well as stiff to structural and coupled aerodynamic loadings from geometry change. Many works in the design of skin structures for morphing wings consider only geometric compliance. Among many morphing classifications, we consider camber rate change as airfoil morphing that changes its rate of the airfoil that induces warping, twisting, and bending in multi-axial directions, which makes compliant skin design for morphing a challenging …

License To Launch: The Regulatory Future Of Commercial Ballistic Travel, Jacob Weindling

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Advanced Photogrammetric Modeling Of Dranoc Kullas Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, George Gebert, Liam Griffin, Justin Lawlor, Lauren Davis, Kylee Vander Velde, Sami Ali

Student Works

Small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), also known as drones, offer new capabilities for cultural heritage preservation activities. Student researchers from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University have applied photogrammetric techniques based upon sUAS captured imagery to assist with historical site documentation and cultural heritage preservation in the Republic of Kosovo. Imagery from three locations -- Isniq, Dranoc and Junik -- highlight this work. Student researchers created georectified orthomosaics and 3D virtual objects. At each of these three locations the object of interest was a type of building known as a kulla. These kullas are fortified homes built for protecting large families and are …

Comparative Analysis Of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations Manuals, Stephen M. Cigal

Student Works

With over 100,000 remote pilots in the United States, individuals and companies are rapidly incorporating unmanned aircraft system technologies into their everyday life and businesses models. The companies that use these technologies must comply with federal and state regulations in order to maintain a safe environment to operate. These operations must also be accepted by the general public. Since the FAA regulations for small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) went into effect in 2016, supplemented by additional state and/or local requirements, some companies have generated operations manuals (OM) to ensure consistent, safe flight that meets these requirements. By analyzing the OM’s …

Keeping Your Distance: The Science Of Turns-Around-A-Point And Ground Reference Maneuvers, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

Ground reference maneuvers are more important than you may think. Frequently regarded as unimportant or boring, ground reference maneuver training is often limited to a few minutes of flight instructor demonstration and brief student practice.

Propulsion System Testing For A Long-Endurance Solar-Powered Unmanned Aircraft, D. Dantsker, Robert Deters, Marco Caccamo

Publications

The increase in popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been driven by their use in civilian, education, government, and military applications. However, limited on-board energy storage significantly limits flight time and ultimately usability. The propulsion system plays a critical part in the overall energy consumption of the UAV; therefore, it is necessary to determine the most optimal combination of possible propulsion system components for a given mission profile, i.e. propellers, motors, and electronic speed controllers (ESC). Hundreds of options are available for the different components with little performance specifications available for most of them. In order to determine the …

An Afternoon With General Thomas P. Stafford, Stafford Air & Space Museum

Programs

An Afternoon with General Thomas P. Stafford

Sunday, May 19th, 2019 at 2:00 P.M. at the Weatherford High School Performing Arts Center.

Unless stated otherwise within this repository collection, all materials are shared under the following Creative Commons license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License].

Apollo 10, 50th Anniversary Gala, Stafford Air & Space Museum

Programs

The Apollo 10 50th Anniversary Gala was held on May 18th, 2019 at the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma.

Unless stated otherwise within this repository collection, all materials are shared under the following Creative Commons license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License].

Autonomous Watercraft Simulation And Programming, Nicholas J. Savino

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Automation of various modes of transportation is thought to make travel more safe and efficient. Over the past several decades advances to semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles have led to advanced autopilot systems on planes and boats and an increasing popularity of self-driving cars. We simulated the motion of an autonomous vehicle using computational models. The simulation models the motion of a small-scale watercraft, which can then be built and programmed using an Arduino Microcontroller. We examined different control methods for a simulated rescue craft to reach a target. We also examined the effects of different factors, such as various biases …

Development Of Robust Control Laws For Disturbance Rejection In Rotorcraft Uavs, Johannes Verberne

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Inherent stability inside the flight envelope must be guaranteed in order to safely introduce private and commercial UAV systems into the national airspace. The rejection of unknown external wind disturbances offers a challenging task due to the limited available information about the unpredictable and turbulent characteristics of the wind. This thesis focuses on the design, development and implementation of robust control algorithms for disturbance rejection in rotorcraft UAVs. The main focus is the rejection of external disturbances caused by wind influences. Four control algorithms are developed in an effort to mitigate wind effects: baseline nonlinear dynamic inversion (NLDI), a wind …

Task 1: Silver-Based Microbial Check Valve For Spacecraft Potable Water Systems, Eric Beitle

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

As human space exploration increases, the development of a more efficient potable water treatment system suited for spacecraft becomes crucial. This Waste-management Education Research Consortium (WERC) challenge was designed to explore the viability of microbial control through the utilization of silver ions as a biocide for possible integration into the Tranquility Node 3 water purification system aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Current systems using iodine risk causing hyperthyroidism from overexposure; however, silver can be safely ingested without this side effect. After researching silver delivery methods including electrochemical ion production, controlled release, or a combination of the two, our team …

The Changing Face Of Airmanship And Safety Culture Operating Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Tracy Lamb

Student Works

The notion of using drones for commercial purposes has evolved in the past 5 years from the initial “boom” of excitement around this, somewhat of a novelty and curiosity, to more calculated and sophisticated use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones. In the hands of true professionals, drones can offer highly efficient and profitable solutions for industrial, and commercial inspections and other data capturing tasks. The appetite for safe and efficient collection of data is a changing face of safety cultures and how teams and individuals apply airmanship principles, and how inspection crew and UAS crew interact. UAS are …

Control Failures And How To Deal With It, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

FAA Safety Seminar (GL1591497) held at Minnesota State University, Mankato Wiecking Center Auditorium at 18:00 CST on Thursday, April 18, 2019.

Autonomous Watercraft Simulation And Programming, Nicholas J. Savino

Student Scholar Showcase

Automation of various modes of transportation is thought to make travel more safe and efficient. Over the past several decades, advances to semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles have led to advanced autopilot systems on planes and boats, and an increasing popularity of self-driving cars. We predicted the motion of an autonomous vehicle using simulations in Python. The simulation models the motion of a small scale watercraft, which can then be built and programmed using an Arduino Microcontroller. We examined different control methods for a simulated rescue craft to reach a target. We also examined the effects of different factors, such as …

Uncover The Power Of Multipath : Detecting Nlos Drones Using Low-Cost Wifi Devices, Ashok Vardhan Raja

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In recent years, consumer UAV technology has seen considerable advances. Consumer UAVs have become an ideal vector for privacy invasions due to their affordability, size, maneuverability, and their ability to stream live high-quality video. There is considerable proliferation of drones in both civil and military domains. Hence it is critical to detect invading unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones in a timely manner for both security and safeguarding privacy. Currently available solutions like active radar, video or acoustic sensors are very expensive (especially for individuals) and have considerable constraints (e.g., requiring visual line of sight).

Recent research on drone detection …

Monocular Visual Odometry For Fixed-Wing Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Kyung M. Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The popularity of small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) has exploded in recent years and seen increasing use in both commercial and military sectors. A key interest area for the military is to develop autonomous capabilities for these systems, of which navigation is a fundamental problem. Current navigation solutions suffer from a heavy reliance on a Global Positioning System (GPS). This dependency presents a significant limitation for military applications since many operations are conducted in environments where GPS signals are degraded or actively denied. Therefore, alternative navigation solutions without GPS must be developed and visual methods are one of the most …

High Resolution Low-Bandwidth Real-Time Reconnaissance Using Structure From Motion With Planar Homography Estimation, Christian M.A. Arnold

Theses and Dissertations

Aerial real-time surveillance exists in a paradigm balancing the constraints of delivering high quality data and transporting data quickly. Typically, to have more of one, sacrifices must be made to the other. This is true of the environment in which an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operates, where real-time communication may be done through a low-bandwidth satellite connection resulting in low-resolution data, and serves as the primary limiting factor in all intelligence operations. Through the use of efficient computer vision techniques, we propose a new Structure from Motion (SfM) method capable of compressing high-resolution data, and delivering that data in real-time. …

Active Control Of A Morphing Wing Aircraft And Failure Analysis For System Reliability, Madison J. Montgomery

Theses and Dissertations

A morphing wing aircraft has the ability to increase the efficiency of an aircraft by better optimizing lift and drag characteristics during a flight. A morphing wing UAV was designed and constructed by AFRL/RQVS and required a means of control and method of characterizing the performance of the aircraft through flight testing. This research presents the design and construction of a control system capable of adjusting the morphing wing shape based on pilot commands and current flight status. The control system was tested and improved following a flight test crash utilizing failure mode analysis.

Comprehensive Study Of Study Of Optimal Synergetic Skip Entries With Dynamic Thrust Vectoring Control, Jeremiah M. Webb

Theses and Dissertations

The atmospheric skip entry has been studied since London's presentation in 1962 describing a more fuel efficient means of altering the orbital inclination of satellites. Since London, research over the decades since has traversed many aspects of this field with varying degrees of success. The present research employs the use of modern optimal control software, complex dynamics with minor simplifications, and thrust vectoring to re-approach the aerocruise atmospheric skip entry. Using the aerodynamics of the X-34, the aerocruise problem is first compared to the un-powered aeroglide where it is shown that the aerocruise is capable of increasing the inclination change …

Rotor Wing Interaction Of The Low Reynolds Numbers, Darnisha Crane, Mingtai Chen

Research Horizons Day Posters

No abstract provided.

Road To Hayabusa2 From Cansat And Cubesat, Yuichi Tsuda

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Yuichi Tsuda titled "Road to Hayabusa2 from CanSat and CubeSat" from February 22, 2019.

Aircraft-Runway Total Energy Measurement, Monitoring, Managing, Safety, And Control System And Method, Nihad E. Daidzic,

Aviation Department Publications

United States Patent, Patent Number US 10,202,204 B1, Date of Patent February 12, 2019.

A total runway safety system (TRSS) and method measures, monitors, manages, and informs flight crew on the progress of takeoffs and landings and of any hazardous runway conditions. In some embodiments, the TRSS measures, monitors, and informs flight crew of longitudinal and lateral runway tracks thus preventing overruns and veer-offs during takeoffs and landings. In some embodiments, backscatter of infrared laser beams emitted by the aircraft is used to evaluate groundspeed and the reflectivity of the runway surface to make estimates of the surface conditions, rough­ness …