Funding and Strategic Alignment Guidance for Infusing Small Business Innovation Research Technology Into Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Projects at NASA Glenn Research Center for 2015

This document is intended to enable the more effective transition of NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) SBIR technologies funded by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program as well as its companion, the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program into NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) projects. Primarily, it is intended to help NASA program and project managers find useful technologies that have undergone extensive research and development (RRD), through Phase II of the SBIR program; however, it can also assist non-NASA agencies and commercial companies in this process. aviation safety, unmanned aircraft, ground and flight test technique, low emissions, quiet performance, rotorcraf

ResearchER Fall 2017

https://commons.erau.edu/researcher-magazine/1001/thumbnail.jp

An End-to-End Platform for Autonomous Dynamic Soaring in Wind Shear

Despite advancements in our understanding of flight in modern times, birds remain unmatched when it comes to maneuverability and energy efficiency in flight; in particular seabirds like the albatross are known to travel vast distances without stopping for food by performing an aerobatic maneuver called dynamic soaring. When the maneuver is executed in the presence of a wind field that varies in strength of direction, the albatross extracts kinetic energy from the field. In this dissertation, we present an end-to-end system designed to exploit wind as the albatross does. The system we designed consists of a gliding platform outfitted with sensors and computational hardware, an on-board software platform that enables autonomy, and a ground platform for monitoring mission performance and issuing commands.We contribute the design of an airframe, the Fox, capable of performing dynamic soaring at low altitudes (~400m above sea level). We validate the airframe against expected stressors (vibration, coefficient of lift, temperature, and communication signal strength), and show in simulation it can complete a dynamic soaring orbit in wind shear that varies in maximum wind speed from 8 to 12 m/s. We show that this airframe can reach speeds exceeding 40 m/s while soaring.We fit the airframe with a commercial off-the-shelf autopilot, as well as a custom on-board-computing (OBC) solution to provide the necessary facilities to enable autonomy. The OBC generates dynamic soaring trajectories that fit a wind-field map that is built as the aircraft is deployed and controls the Fox to follow them by sending commands to the autopilot using a sample-based controller scheme. This process is monitored by human operators on the ground via a portable ground station that is linked to the Fox via a radio antenna. Field tests are presented that validate real-world controller performance against simulated results.Finally, we present a learning controller that learns from and out-performs the sample-based controller in simulation. While not field tested, we believe a self-optimizing controller of this form is necessary to enable autonomy of a soaring aircraft subject to extended mission durations.While dynamic soaring field tests were not pursued in this work, we hope this dissertation will be a blueprint for future researchers to finally achieve autonomous soaring

Guidance and Control of an Autonomous Soaring UAV

Thermals caused by convection in the lower atmosphere are commonly used by birds and glider pilots to extend flight duration, increase cross-country speed, improve range, or simply to conserve energy. Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can also increase performance and reduce energy consumption by exploiting atmospheric convection. An autonomous soaring research project was conducted at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center to evaluate the concept through flight test of an electric-powered motorglider with a wingspan of 4.27 m (14 ft). The UAV's commercial autopilot software was modified to include outer-loop soaring guidance and control. The aircraft total energy state was used to detect and soar within thermals. Estimated thermal size and position were used to calculate guidance commands for soaring flight. Results from a total of 23 thermal encounters show good performance of the guidance and control algorithms to autonomously detect and exploit thermals. The UAV had an average climb of 172 m (567 ft) during these encounters

Intelligent tutoring systems for space applications

Artificial Intelligence has been used in many space applications. Intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) have only recently been developed for assisting training of space operations and skills. An ITS at Southwest Research Institute is described as an example of an ITS application for space operations, specifically, training console operations at mission control. A distinction is made between critical skills and knowledge versus routine skills. Other ITSs for space are also discussed and future training requirements and potential ITS solutions are described

Unmanned Systems Sentinel / 11 January 2016

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