Formation Flying for Satellites and UAVs

A formation monitoring and control system was developed utilizing mesh networking and decentralized control. Highlights of this system include low latency, seamless addition and removal of vehicles, network relay functionality, and the ability to run on a variety of hardware

Solving Concurrent and Nonconcurrent Coplanar Force Systems: Balancing Theory and Practice in the Technology and Engineering Education Classroom

The basic concepts inherent to statics, including unbalanced and balanced forces and instability and stability of physical systems, have traditionally been covered in middle and high school physical science courses (Physical Science as indicated in Next Generation Science Standards). Yet, these concepts are covered using a physical science approach that has minor but significant differences in terminology, structure, and focus when compared with an engineering approach. Since a robust understanding of statics is considered an essential component for most engineering disciplines, Technology and Engineering Education’s (T&EE) implementation of statics with an engineering approach could promote students’ ability to transfer learning from scientific theory into conceptualized practical application within an engineering design problem. During the utilitarian period of our discipline (i.e., Manual Training [Arts] and Industrial Arts), scientific theories were applied to practical static problems like tree stands, dirt-bike stands, can crushers, wall brackets for hanging objects, scissor lifts, log splitters, dumb trailers, furniture, and other similar projects and mechanisms. Moving away from a more utilitarian rationale and towards an academic one, Technology Education and now T&EE needs to find the balance between theoretical and practical learning. The intention of this article is to provide the reader with a better understanding of an engineering approach to statics involving the terminology, structure, and focus aligned with applying theory to practical hands-on learning activities

Transforming Technology & Engineering Educator Inputs Into Desired Student Outputs Through Mechanism Analysis and Synthesis

The intention of this article is to provide middle and high school Technology and Engineering Educators (T&EEs) with a more thorough understanding of an engineering approach to the teaching and learning of mechanics. During the teaching and learning of engineering content, in this case mechanics, the educator should attempt to align pedagogical content knowledge with engineering content knowledge and practices. T&EEs will also need to focus on terminology, structure, and applying theory to practical hands-on learning activities inside and outside of the classroom. T&EEs have the potential to foster middle and high school students’ mechanical knowledge and the ability to apply this knowledge during engineering design experiences. As a robust understanding of mechanics is considered a requirement in college-level engineering programs, especially mechanical engineering, T&EEs should consider the development of students’ engineering knowledge and ability to apply this knowledge paramount. T&EEs are always looking for new standards-based content focused on improving students’ STEM-based skills and hands-on capabilities

Analyzing Concrete Beam Design: Verifying Predictions in T&EE Classrooms

Design is often accepted as a fundamental aspect of engineering (Dym, et al., 2005). The design process is frequently portrayed as a set of steps. However, the design process is more complex than just a set of steps in a relatively fixed process. The complex nature of design, design thinking, questioning, and decision-making is exactly what technology and engineering classrooms are well suited to address. When addressing the question—“Why is technology and engineering education (T&EE) so important?”—the authors believe T&EE’s importance relates to our discipline’s ability to solve complex problems by balancing theory and practice in engaging hands-on learning scenarios like designing, fabricating, and testing a concrete beam

Concrete Beam Design: Pouring the Foundation to Engineering in T&E Classrooms

Ask a middle or high school student if they could design a concrete beam that weighs only 20 pounds and is 36” long but must hold 600 pounds without failing. What is the student likely to say? What if the student was told that, with some optimized decision making based on relatively straightforward mathematics, their beam could hold 2400 pounds or more? The focus of this article is not on concrete beam design, it is rather an introduction to engineering principles in beam design using a lab activity. The concepts and skills learned in this article will lead students into concrete beam and form design and fabrication as well as the ability to precisely predict the amount of weight a concrete beam will hold during testing. An integral process of producing a concrete beam with a precisely predicted load causing failure is the emphasis of this and a subsequent article through a technical, hands-on activity involving the application of math, science, and engineering principles in the design, fabrication, and testing

Mechanism Design and Analysis: Developing an Understanding of Mechanism Motion Through Graphical Modeling

The intention of this article is to provide Technology and Engineering Educators with foundational knowledge of mechanism design and analysis and the ability to develop middle and high school students\u27 mechanism knowledge during practical hands-on learning activities in the STEM classroom. Technology and Engineering Educators\u27 implementation of mechanism design and analysis could promote students\u27 increased depth of mechanical knowledge and ability to apply this knowledge during engineering design challenges. In this article, the authors present an introduction to four-bar mechanism design and analysis using CAD software to produce graphical representations. After designing mechanisms graphical, students should be allowed to produce their mechanisms using tools like 3D printers

Method of Joints: Theory and Practice of Designing, Building, and Testing Trusses

The authors of this article, like many of us, are proponents of engineering education but are also proponents of shop skills, craftsmanship, technological literacy, and the tacit knowledge and skills developed through applying sound theories during practical hands-on learning. The authors believe that engineering is an important aspect of our discipline, but so are the application of thinking, tool skills, measurement, geometric construction, manufacturing, instrumentation, testing and analysis, mathematical and scientific theories, and many other hands-on, minds-on skillsets that all need to maintain association with our discipline. As the authors are proponents for engineering education that is done well, they have provided an explanation of truss design using the Method of Joints that combines the application of practical hands-on learning with sound mathematical and scientific theory. The Method of Joints is a static principle stating that all joints in a truss must be in equilibrium. This means that forces on truss members of each joint must combine at the joint to equal zero for all joints. The Method of Joints will allow students to design trusses to meet specified criteria using mathematical models. The process of designing a truss to meet specific requirements involves students applying the Method of Joints to create and apply computational models. In the activity students will be able to design and predict the amount of weight causing truss failure, then test their truss to validate their predictions’ accuracy. If students minimize possible errors by building their trusses exactly as designed and calculated, most trusses will fail within 5% of the calculated amount. In two previous articles, component force systems were covered to help with the understanding of forces systems involved in truss design and the Method of Sections was also presented as another method for solving for forces in a truss (Huges & Merrill, ITEEA 2020, pp. 16-22). For a more thorough understanding of truss design, it is recommended that the reader review these two previous articles

Privacy through uncertainty in location-based services

Location-Based Services (LBS) are becoming more prevalent. While there are many benefits, there are also real privacy risks. People are unwilling to give up the benefits - but can we reduce privacy risks without giving up on LBS entirely? This paper explores the possibility of introducing uncertainty into location information when using an LBS, so as to reduce privacy risk while maintaining good quality of service. This paper also explores the current uses of uncertainty information in a selection of mobile applications

Sawflies (Hymenoptera, Symphyta) Newly Recorded from Washington State

Examination of museum specimens, unpublished collection data, and field surveys conducted between 2010 and 2014 resulted in records for 22 species of sawflies new to Washington State, seven of which are likely to be pest problems in ornamental landscapes. These data highlight the continued range expansion of exotic species across North America. These new records also indicate that our collective knowledge of Pacific Northwest arthropod biodiversity and biogeography is underdeveloped, even for a relatively well known and species-poor group of insects. Notable gaps in the knowledge of Washington State’s Symphyta remain for the Olympic Peninsula, the Cascade Mountain Range, and the arid interior of the state. Washington’s shrub-steppe appears to be particularly poorly surveyed for sawflies