Navigation, Guidance, Control and Dynamics Commons^™

Design And Control Considerations For A Skid-To-Turn Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Tanner Austin Sims

Master's Theses

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are rapidly expanding and taking on new roles in the military. In the area of training and targeting vehicles, control systems are expanding the functionality of UAVs beyond their initially designed purpose. Aeromech Engineering’s NXT UAV is a high speed target drone that is intended to simulate a small aircraft threat. However, in the interest of increasing functionality, enabling NXT to accomplish wings level skidding turns provides the basis for a UAV that can simulate a threat from a missile. Research was conducted to investigate the aerodynamic and performance characteristics of a winged …

Aircraft Landing Operations On Contaminated Runways, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Formation Feedback Control Of Uav Flight, Stephen Stegall

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This thesis is a study of formation control with autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles using the formation as feedback. There is also an investigation of formation methods presenting insight into different algorithms for formations. A rigid formation is achieved using a proportional-derivative virtual structure with a formation feedback controller. There is an emphasis on stick controlled aerodynamics. The rigid formation is verified by a simulation of a longitudinal model. Formation control ideas are presented for rigid formations.

Raising The Dead, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Multivariable Flight Control Design Tool Incorporating Gain And Phase Root Locus, Yong Ki Yoon

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A challenging problem in flight control system design for highly maneuverable aircraft is the coordinated control of the lateral-directional axes. Design goals are based on desired flying qualities giving an indication of whether the response to pilot inputs will be acceptable. Satisfying these closed-loop design objectives employing a computerized flight control system requires multiple feedback and crossfeed paths which operate in a well coordinated fashion. Contemporary control design tools, which close all loops simultaneously, have addressed this problem for several decades. Concerns associated with these strategies are the complicated mathematical relationships between the designer inputs and resulting closed-loop properties, and …

Variable Structure Observer For Control Bias On Unmanned Air Vehicles, Nathan Slegers, Mark Costello

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Probabilistic Methodology For Predicting Satellite Tracking Resources, Matthew Lynn Stubbe

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

This research evaluates a probabilistic methodology for estimating the ability of satellite tracking networks to provide tracking and data acquisition services to large constellations of satellites. This approach, developed by Hagar is evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations of optimal satellite contact scheduling on a tracking network for a certain class of satellites. The actual results of the scheduled Monte Carlo simulations were then compared to the predicted values computed with Hagar's methodology for a range constellation and network sizes. Comparison methods include percent difference, a Wilcoxon signed ranks test and a Mann-Whitney U test.

The Monte Carlo simulations were run …

Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Technique For Unmanned Air Vehicles, Nathan Slegers, Jason Kyle, Mark Costello

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

A nonlinear model predictive control strategy is developed and subsequently specialized to autonomous aircraft that can be adequately modeled with a rigid 6-degrees-of-freedom representation. Whereas the general air vehicle dynamic equations are nonlinear and nonaffine in control, a closed-form solution for the optimal control input is enabled by expanding both the output and control in a truncated Taylor series. The closed-form solution for control is relatively simple to calculate and well suited to the real time embedded computing environment. An interesting feature of this control law is that the number of Taylor series expansion terms can be used to indirectly …

Numerical Integration Strategy For Generating Root Migration Diagrams, Deepak H. Panduranga

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Evans root locus is a graphical method for analyzing or designing the stability and performance of a single channel closed-loop system. The method consists of plotting the locus of closed-loop characteristic equation roots in the complex plane as the loop gain parameter is varied over a wide range of values. Several methods for plotting the root locus graph exist and can be mainly classified into two types: analytical methods and numerical methods. The most common numerical method is based on polynomial factoring or root solving. A less common, alternative method for generating the root locus graph is based on numerical …

Model Predictive Control Of A Parafoil And Payload System, Nathan Slegers, Mark Costello

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

No abstract provided.

Aspects Of Control For A Parafoil And Payload System, Nathan Slegers, Mark Costello

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

A parafoil controlled by parafoil brake deflection offers a lightweight and space-efficient control mechanism for autonomous placement of air-dropped payloads to specified ground coordinates. The work reported here investigates control issues for a parafoil and payload system with left and right parafoil brakes used as the control mechanism. It is shown that parafoil and payload systems can exhibit two basic modes of lateral control, namely,roll and skid steering. These two modes of lateral steering generate lateral response in opposite directions. For example, a roll steer configuration turns left when the right parafoil brake is activated, whereas a skid steer configuration …

Long-Term Aircraft Structural Integrity Prediction Under The Influence Of Feedback Control, Si-Bok Yu

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis investigates the influence of feedback control, and other factors associated with loading characteristics, on fatigue damage reduction and long-term integrity of aircraft structural components. An actively controlled flexible aircraft model and a new state space modeling procedure for crack growth are utilized to uncover important factors which influence airframe crack growth. A matrix of simulation test cases is constructed to cover such variables as open-loop operation, nominal closed-loop operation, perturbed closed-loop operation (i.e., feedback gain variation), nominal maneuver profile, perturbed maneuver profile (including overload strength and frequency), atmospheric gust, and mean stress level. Simulation output data including crack …

Weatherford Air Show And General Thomas P. Stafford Museum Dedication, City Of Weatherford

Programs

This is a program from the 1987 Weatherford Air Show and General Thomas P. Stafford Museum Dedication 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].

Second Annual Great Oklahoma Balloon Race & Airshow Gala Reception, Clarence E. Page Oklahoma Air And Space Museum

Programs

This is the program from the second annual Great Oklahoma Balloon Race & Airshow Gala Reception in honor of Astronaut, Lt. General Thomas P. Stafford. The event was held at the Clarence E. Page Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame and Museum in the Kirkpatrick Center in OKC, OK, on Thursday, August 16th, 1984.

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].

Low Speed Handling Characteristics Of A Supersonic Transport By Eigenstructure Assignment, Michael Peter Lazar

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A synthesis procedure, based upon optimal regulator theory and eigenvalue/eigenvector assignment technique, was used in the design of a low-speed lateral control system for the SCAT-15F supersonic transport. Emphasis was placed on reducing the lateral acceleration at the pilot's station. Control laws were designed to make the aircraft handling characteristics acceptable with the exception of the lateral acceleration. It was found that a compromise between the roll performance requirements and the peak lateral acceleration requirement is needed for a successful SCAT-15F design.

Apollo/Soyuz Tv Guide: "Soyuz, Soyuz, This Is Apollo...", Bob Button

Articles

This is a TV Guide from 1975 that features a story about the televised Apollo/Soyuz mission.