Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Unmanned Aircraft System Propulsion Systems Technology Survey, Christopher Griffis, Timothy Wilson, Jeffrey Schneider, Peter Pierpont

Publications

This technology survey is an investigation of various propulsion systems used in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Discussed are existing and near-future propulsion mechanisms of UAS, such as reciprocating piston engines, Wankel rotary engines, gas turbine engines, rocket-powered systems, electric motors, and battery-based systems. Also discussed are systems that use proton exchange membrane fuel cells, photovoltaics, ultracapacitors, and propellers. Each system is described in reference to a larger conceptual framework, with instances and profiles of existing UAS employing the system being described. Advantages and disadvantages of each type of propulsion system are identified along with associated technical issues and their respective …

Changes In Structural Health Monitoring System Capability Due To Aircraft Environmental Factors, Jeffrey D. Kuhn

Theses and Dissertations

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) promises to decrease the maintenance cost and increase the availability of aging aircraft fleets by fundamentally changing the way structural inspections are performed. But this promise can only be realized through the consistent and predictable performance of a SHM system throughout the entire remaining life of an aircraft. In a sensor-based SHM system, sensor signal changes are analyzed and interpreted to identify structural flaws. But aircraft environmental factors such as temperature fluctuations, cyclic strain and exposure to various aircraft fluids also have the potential to change SHM sensor signals, raising questions about long term SHM system …

Kc-135 Simulator Systems Engineering Case Study, Air Force Center For Systems Engineering, Macaulay-Brown, Inc., Don Chrislaghi, Richard Dyer, Free Jay

AFIT Documents

No abstract provided.

Global Hawk Systems Engineering Case Study, Air Force Center For Systems Engineering, Bill Kinzig

AFIT Documents

No abstract provided.

A Descriptive Study Of The Remote Operation And Automation Of The Vhf/Uhf System For Tracking And Controlling Kysay-1 At Morehead State University, Marc B. Beck

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Science and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Marc B. Beck on July 27, 2009.

An Analytical Framework And Model Formulation For Measuring Risk In Engineering Enterprise Systems: A Capability Portfolio Perspective, Paul Raphael Garvey

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This work formulates an analytical framework and computational model for assessing risk in engineering enterprise systems. It addresses the engineering management problem of how to represent, model, and measure risk in large-scale, complex systems engineered to function in enterprise-wide environments.

The research in this dissertation extends current practice in the management of risk for traditional systems and creates new constructs and protocols for the management of risk in engineering large-scale, complex, and highly networked enterprise systems. This work advances engineering management theory and analytic practice as applied to the measurement and management of risk for enterprise systems engineered within capability …

A Study Of Decision Analysis Methods In Aerospace Technology Assessments, Sharon Monica Jones

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Managers of aerospace technology programs and projects are faced with the challenge of making technology portfolio decisions under conditions of limited data, rapidly changing macro level factors and organizational uncertainties. To help make these technology investment decisions, some aerospace managers and analysts have used techniques from the field of decision analysis. In addition, there have been a limited number of research studies of real decision problems.

This dissertation presents the results of a non-experimental examination of the use of decision analysis methods for the assessment of aerospace technology portfolios. A web-based survey instrument was developed based on the results of …

Reconciling Discontinuities And Disruptions: The Construction Of An Integrated Typology, David Jeffery Kern

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Radical innovations are often characterized by a rapid shift from one dominant design to another. The theories of discontinuous and disruptive innovation present two important and independent explanations for why these shifts occur. This research tests the usefulness of combining these two theories into a single integrated typology. First, a typology is constructed that classifies shifts in dominant designs according to the theories of discontinuous and disruptive innovation. Next, the usefulness of this typology is tested with a taxonomy derived from 100 randomly selected shifts in dominant designs from across a broad range of industries. This research reconciles the theories …

Network Optimization Of Dynamically Complex Systems, Ramez Ahmed Shamseldin

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The aim of this research is to optimize large scale network handling capabilities for large system inventories and to implement strategies for the purpose of reducing capital expenses. As computers become more and more networked, it is easier to share files among storage media. In addition, more bandwidth will be consumed by network flow because customers will be connected through networks which will transfer files and data, such as video files (MPEGn, AVI, WMV, etc.) to be watched at a customer's computer (host). Furthermore, these networks terminals will be used as mini warehouses to save files and data. Selective files …

Investigating The Relationship Between An It Project Manager's Emotional Intelligence And The Customer's Perception Of Success, William Jacob Lamarsh Ii

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This research focuses on the intersections of Project Management, Information Technology (IT), and Emotional Intelligence. The Project Management Institute (PMI) created the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, which is one of the most highly regarded and sought after professional certifications (Project Management Institute 2005, p. 15-18). This certification acknowledges the holder as a knowledgeable practitioner in Project Management. The purpose behind Project Management is to obtain requirements, sometimes fluid at best, and develop solutions that are traceable by schedule and cost controls. This approach allows a Project Manager to monitor and control the project through successful completion. However, the PMI …

Towards The Quantitative Analysis Of The Connectivity Value Of Networked Operations, Dean Deller

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

While the nature of and the approach to command and control is evolving in order to meet the challenges of Information Age warfare, the essential functions that must be accomplished remain constant. One of those essential functions is the arrangement of the assets within a combat force. Certainly, the many different ways to arrange a given set of assets will have different impacts on the combat effectiveness of the force. Some arrangements will enable self-synchronization, while other arrangements will impede it. How then, should an Information Age combat force be organized in order to optimize its effectiveness?

The concept of …

On The Role Of Assertions For Conceptual Modeling As Enablers Of Composable Simulation Solutions, Robert Dennis King

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This research provides a much needed systematic review of the roles that assertions play in model composability and simulation interoperability. In doing so, this research contributes a partial solution to one of the problems of model composability and simulation interoperability—namely, why do simulation systems fail to achieve the maximum level of interoperability possible? It demonstrates the importance of the assertions that are made during model development and simulation implementation, particularly as they reflect the unique viewpoint of each developer or user. It hypothesizes that it is possible to detect composability conflicts by means of a four-step process developed by the …

Application Of Reliability And Linear Regression To Enterprise Architecture In Support Of The Us Air Force's Capability Review And Risk Assessment, Peter C. Mastro, Richard L. Orcutt

Theses and Dissertations

This research explored the use of modeling and enterprise architecture in the analysis of Air Force Capabilities. The Air Force accomplishes this through the Capability Review and Risk Assessment (CRRA). The CRRA is currently performed by building architectures which contain Process Sequence Models (PSMs). PSMs are scored by Subject Matter Experts to determine the probability of successfully completing the mission they model and ultimately to determine the risk associated to Air Force capabilities. Two findings were identified. The first is that creating additional architectural viewpoints, some of which are currently being proposed for version 2.0 of the DoD Architecture Framework, …

A Tailored Systems Engineering Framework For Science And Technology Projects, Stephen M. Behm, J. Bradford Pitzer, Jane F. White

Theses and Dissertations

As government and industry becomes subject to a wider range of technology initiatives, science and technology (S&T) research project leadership recognizes the need to incorporate more systems engineering (SE) rigor into their projects. The objective of this research is to develop a tailorable systems engineering framework for S&T project planning, execution, assessment and transition. The key deliverable is an Excel-based tool instantiating the SE framework for a wide range of S&T projects in technology development organizations. It includes a report with tailored methods based on programmatic discriminants.
To develop this framework, a comprehensive understanding of SE principles is applied to …

Value-Driven Enterprise Architecture Score: Evaluation Applied To Joint Force Protection Future State Design, Larry D. Cotton, Gary A. Haase

Theses and Dissertations

This research presents a methodology to evaluate the quality of a system's architecture using principles drawn from Value-Focused Thinking (VFT) and resulting in a Value-Driven Enterprise Architecture Score (VDEA-Score). This is an overall numerical architecture quality score useful to a system's management team to identify the advantages and disadvantages of a system design and associated architecture documentation or to track its quality across discrete evaluation epochs. This effort determined which aspects of the architecture are most valuable to the stakeholder in the areas of (1) the system effectiveness values (quality of the instantiated system being represented and its ability to …

The Hybrid Counterinsurgency Strategy: System Dynamics Employed To Develop A Behavioral Model Of Joint Strategy, Ferdinand Maldonado

Theses and Dissertations

Since the recent focus on the Global War on Terror, both military and civilian theorists have begun to “relearn” the intricacies of counterinsurgency warfare. We face difficult challenges when confronting non-state actors that tend to attack in the time between conventional battles and the establishment of stable governments. This research compares and contrasts current counterinsurgency strategies (Hearts and Minds and Cost Benefit Theory) by applying System Dynamics to provide insight into the influences and emergent behavior patterns of counterinsurgency systems. The information gained from the development of the models and from their simulation behaviors is used to construct a System …

Design Of An 8-Channel Data Acquisition System For Measuring Diode Junction Temperature, Jason Maynard

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The solid state lighting industry is striving to expand the use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) in more applications, particularly in high brightness applications. As the power of LEDs increase, heat removal becomes a critical issue. To improve device lifetime, quantum efficiency, and LED colour, the diode p-n junction temperature (Tj) must be kept to a minimum. Measuring this key parameter is difficult or impossible with direct methods, such as thermocouples and infrared cameras, due to the small size of LEDs. Fortunately, junction temperature can be measured indirectly by using a relationship between the diode forward voltage (Vf) and junction …

Genetic Stigmergy: Framework And Applications, Joshua A. Brandoff

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Stigmergy has long been studied and recognized as an effective system for self-organization among social insects. Through the use of chemical agents known as pheromones, insect colonies are capable of complex collective behavior often beyond the scope of an individual agent. In an effort to develop human-made systems with the same robustness, scientists have created artificial analogues of pheromone-based stigmergy, but these systems often suffer from scalability and complexity issues due to the problems associated with mimicking the physics of pheromone diffusion. In this thesis, an alternative stigmergic framework called 'Genetic Stigmergy' is introduced. Using this framework, agents can indirectly …

Optimization Of Lifeguard Towers, Equipment, And Sign Placement With Human Factors Considerations For The Cal Poly Recreation Center Expansion, Brian J. Henrikson

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Cal Poly’s Recreation Center serves many faculty, students and alumni by providing them with a safe and fun environment to work out and swim. An overwhelming majority of students voted for a Recreation Center expansion to handle the increased usage of the Center over the past few years. The focus of this report is the safe and effective operations of the pool deck and the lifeguard staff. Three surveys were created to see what the lifeguard staff, as well as pool users, thought about the current pool deck and what they would like to see in the new pool deck …

On The Effects Of Small-Scale Fading And Mobility In Mobile Wireless Communication Network, Bandana Paudel

Masters Theses

"In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of mobility on end-to-end performance measures of Mobile Ad Hoc Network is performed by using small-scale fading models. Network simulation is performed in order to study a wide range of phenomena occurring during MANET communication. The effectiveness of three reactive routing protocols against different level of mobility is observed under varying network parameter like the network size, number of nodes and network connectivity. The study reveals that the network sparseness or density favors one or the other routing mechanism under varying mobility. Outcome of the simulation also provides a great deal …

Preventing Chemical Product Failure, Kenneth Ombete

Masters Theses

"The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate a research methodology to prevent chemical product failures. This methodology extends the risk in early design (RED) method for prevention of failure in electromechanical products to include products with chemical subsystems. Inclusion of this domain is demanded by the ever-growing semiconductor and energy industries. The RED method was extended by first identifying principal chemical failure modes and adding them to the failure mode taxonomy. The RED database was then augmented with historical failures of products that included chemical subsystems. Finally, the extension was validated with a case study of a fuel cell"--Abstract, …

Communication Models For Monitoring And Mobility Verification In Mission Critical Wireless Networks, Maheswaran Thiagarajan

Masters Theses

"Recent technological advances have seen wireless sensor networks emerge as an interesting research topic because of its ability to realize mission critical applications like in military or wildfire detection. The first part of the thesis focuses on the development of a novel communication scheme referred here as a distributed wireless critical information-aware maintenance network (DWCIMN), which is presented for preventive maintenance of network-centric dynamic systems. The proposed communication scheme addresses quality of service (QoS) issues by using a combination of a head-of-the-line queuing scheme, efficient bandwidth allocation, weight-based backoff mechanism, and a distributed power control scheme. A thorough analysis of …

Rapid Sensor Technology: A Risk And System Complexity Analyses Of Early Detection Of Influenza-Like-Illnesses, Cesar Ariel Pinto, Ipek Bozkurt

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The development of effective and reliable methods to defend the nation against biological terrorism remains an urgent challenge to researchers in the areas of risk, bio-defense, public health, and emergency medicine. The emerging threat of the avian flu pandemic also highlights the unpreparedness of our nation's health care system to meet a highly contagious and infectious disease outbreak. The implementation of a rapid sensor technology for early detection of influenza-like-illness provides possible opportunities, as well as problems. Bounding and defining such a complex problem is one of the first challenges this research addresses. Approaching this problem from various perspectives such …

Sensitivity Analysis Framework For Large And Complex Simulation Models, Ghaith Rabadi, Shannon Bowling, Charles Keating, Resit Unal

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, a framework for conducting Sensitivity Analysis (SA) on large and complex simulation models is introduced. The framework consists of components that are designed to make the SA a systematic process that is easy to manage and follow by simulation analysts and practitioners. Unlike local SA (one-variable-at-a-time SA), the method presented here is variance-based and it is rooted in the field of Design of Experiments (DoE) where Input Variables are varied and Output Variables are measured. Based on the DoE results, a risk scoring system is developed to identify the sensitivity of the Input Variables, and as a …

Implementing A Functional Iso 9001 Quality Management System In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Andres Sousa-Poza, Mert Altinkilinc, Cory Searcy

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This conceptual paper provides guidance for the implementation of a functional ISO 9001 quality management system (QMS) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To help a SME understand its starting point, four initial states for QMS implementation are defined. Five paths for moving the QMS from the initial state to the desired state are described. To support the transition from the initial to the desired state, some key considerations in implementing a QMS in SMEs are discussed. The paper is based on site visits and implementation assistance the authors have provided to several SMEs. It is anticipated the paper will …

Developing Sustainable Spacecraft Water Management Systems, Evan A. Thomas, David M. Klaus

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

It is well recognized that water handling systems used in a spacecraft are prone to failure caused by biofouling and mineral scaling, which can clog mechanical systems and degrade the performance of capillary-based technologies. Long duration spaceflight applications, such as extended stays at a Lunar Outpost or during a Mars transit mission, will increasingly benefit from hardware that is generally more robust and operationally sustainable overtime. This paper presents potential design and testing considerations for improving the reliability of water handling technologies for exploration spacecraft. Our application of interest is to devise a spacecraft wastewater management system wherein fouling can …

Engineering Management Framework In Support Of Modeling & Simulation Application For Domain Specific Procurement, Thomas Guy Litwin

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A strategic process is desirable for project-based organizations in order for them to be efficient and effective when developing Modeling & Simulation (M&S) systems. This thesis proposes an overarching process that combines traditional M&S and Engineering Management methodologies in a new framework to support M&S organizations during the procurement process.

This thesis proposes both a Strategic Project Management Process (SPMP) and a systems engineering process for M&S federation development projects. The systems engineering process utilizes the artifacts of Model Driven Architecture (MDA) to support building M&S federations driven by operational requirements. Detailed research of this systems engineering process revealed a …

Network-Centric Localization In Manets Based On Particle Swarm Optimization, Raghavendra V. Kulkarni, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ann K. Miller, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

There exist several application scenarios of mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) in which the nodes need to locate a target or surround it. Severe resource constraints in MANETs call for energy efficient target localization and collaborative navigation. Centralized control of MANET nodes is not an attractive solution due to its high network utilization that can result in congestions and delays. In nature, many colonies of biological species (such as a flock of birds) can achieve effective collaborative navigation without any centralized control. Particle swarm optimization (PSO), a popular swarm intelligence approach that models social dynamics of a biological swarm is …

Sr-2: A Hybrid Algorithm For The Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem, Angel A. Juan, Javier Faulin, Josep Jorba, Barry Barrios, Scott Erwin Grasman

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

During the last decades a lot of work has been devoted to develop algorithms that can provide near-optimal solutions for the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). Most of these algorithms are designed to minimize an objective function, subject to a set of constraints, which typically represents aprioristic costs. This approach provides adequate theoretical solutions, but they do not always fit real-life needs since there are some important costs and some routing constraints or desirable properties that cannot be easily modeled. In this paper, we present a new approach which combines the use of Monte Carlo simulation and parallel and grid …

Etsu Gearup: The Design And Development Of An Alternative Energy Greenhouse., Garth Ross Ghearing

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

East Tennessee State has partnered with David Crockett High School through the Federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. This year's project is an alternative energy greenhouse, which incorporates solar panels and a wind turbine. The focus is on familiarizing students with control systems including programmable logic controllers and power management. There is also an emphasis on the importance of green engineering.

The high school's students have been involved in the design and development of every aspect of the system. The development of the system is ongoing and will be further integrated into classes in the fall semester. …