Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 100

This bibliography lists 295 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System in August 1978

Shuttle Ground Operations Efficiencies/Technologies (SGOE/T) study. Volume 2: Ground Operations evaluation

The Ground Operations Evaluation describes the breath and depth of the various study elements selected as a result of an operational analysis conducted during the early part of the study. Analysis techniques used for the evaluation are described in detail. Elements selected for further evaluation are identified; the results of the analysis documented; and a follow-on course of action recommended. The background and rationale for developing recommendations for the current Shuttle or for future programs is presented

A study of the use of remote sensing data in hydrologic engineering models

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

The efficiency of reverse engineering in the design of the ORCA XI autonomous underwater vehicle by Rachel E. Sharples.

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 40).Reverse engineering is the process of determining how a system works to aid duplication, maintenance, or redesign. Applications of reverse engineering include mechanical, electrical, software, and process systems. Although it has been known for centuries in the vernacular as tinkering with things to see how they work, reverse engineering has only recently been recognized as a systematic process valid for study. Reverse engineering can be applied to both simple and complex systems. The MIT ORCA team applied reverse engineering to build ORCA XI, the first autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to issue forth from the ORCA Project in several years. In addition to college-level systems, reverse engineering can be applied to navies, aiding in the prototyping of individual vessels as well as the manufacturing of entire fleets. There is evidence that China is using reverse engineering in this manner to develop a regionally-capable navy. The effectiveness of reverse engineering on the ORCA Project is compared to that of the Chinese navy to determine how a reverse engineering method could be expected to scale from a simple system to a more complex one. To quantify the relationship between the complexity of the system and how effective reverse engineering that system is, a reverse engineering efficiency based on the time necessary to complete a project with reverse engineering and the time necessary to complete the same project without reverse engineering was used. The efficiency values obtained from this comparison show that applying reverse engineering to an AUV can be just as effective as applying reverse engineering to a naval vessel, but that designing the production line necessary to manufacture a fleet of vessels decreases the efficiency of reverse engineering. These results suggest that new reverse engineering methodologies can be tested for efficiency on simple prototypes before being applied to time-consuming, complex projects.S.B

Extended performance solar electric propulsion thrust system study. Volume 1: Executive summary

Several thrust system design concepts were evaluated and compared using the specifications of the most advanced 30 cm engineering model thruster as the technology base. The extensions in thruster performance required for the Halley's comet mission were defined and alternative thrust system concepts were designed. Confirmation testing and analysis of thruster and power-processing components were performed, and the feasibility of satisfying extended performance requirements was verified. A baseline design was selected from the alternatives considered, and the design analysis and documentation were refined. A program development plan was formulated that outlines the work structure considered necessary for developing, qualifying, and fabricating the flight hardware for the baseline thrust system within the time frame of a project to rendezvous with Halley's comet. An assessment was made of the costs and risks associated with a baseline thrust system as provided to the mission project under this plan. Critical procurements and interfaces were identified and defined. Results are presented

An efficient coding system for deep space probes with specific application to Pioneer missions

One-half rate convolutional encoding with sequential decoding for deep space probe telemetry links with application to Pioneer mission

Exploratory Meeting on Airborne Doppler Lidar Wind Velocity Measurements

The scientific interests and applications of the Airborne Doppler Lidar Wind Velocity Measurement System to severe storms and local weather are discussed. The main areas include convective phenomena, local circulation, atmospheric boundary layer, atmospheric dispersion, and industrial aerodynamics

Paper Session III-A - Artificial Expertise in Systems Engineering

As technology development and engineering problems have grown in complexity, technical systems have evolved to meet these challenges. This evolution has occurred within a foundation of traditional engineering analysis and work processes originating prior to current computer technology. These processes were designed to improvise and compensate for ambiguous design or analysis information. Systems engineering optimization of computer technology applications can eliminate or redesign engineering processes such that the unified system function focuses on innovation, flexibility, speed, and quality. Artificial Expertise for systems engineering refers to the application of artificial intelligence expert systems and shared data bases to promote the integration of cross-functional engineering groups through technical interchange and control mechanisms. This paper presents some conceptual applications and examples for implementing artificial expertise in system development

A Survey of the Spacecraft Line-Of-Sight Jitter Problem

Predicting, managing, controlling, and testing spacecraft Line-of-Sight (LoS) jit- ter due to on-board internal disturbance sources is a challenging multi- disciplinary systems engineering problem, especially for those observatories hosting extremely sensitive optical sensor payloads with stringent requirements on allowable LoS jitter. Some specific spacecraft jitter engineering challenges will be introduced and described in this survey paper. Illustrative examples of missions where dynamic interactions have to be addressed to satisfy demanding payload instrument LoS jitter requirements will be provided. Some lessons learned and a set of recommended rules of thumb are also presented to provide guidance for analysts on where to initiate and how to approach a new spacecraft jitter design problem. These experience-based spacecraft jitter lessons learned and rules of thumb are provided in the hope they can be leveraged on new space system development projects to help overcome unfamiliarity with previously identified jitter technical pitfalls and challenges