Aeronautical engineering. A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 121, April 1980

This bibliography lists 411 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information system in March 1980

Aeronautical Engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 163

The bibliography lists 387 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in June 1983

Application of advanced technology to space automation

Automated operations in space provide the key to optimized mission design and data acquisition at minimum cost for the future. The results of this study strongly accentuate this statement and should provide further incentive for immediate development of specific automtion technology as defined herein. Essential automation technology requirements were identified for future programs. The study was undertaken to address the future role of automation in the space program, the potential benefits to be derived, and the technology efforts that should be directed toward obtaining these benefits

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 98

This bibliography lists 399 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in June 197

Aeronautical Engineering: A Continuing Bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 426 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in August 1984. Reports are cited in the area of Aeronautical Engineering. The coverage includes documents on the engineering and theoretical aspects of design, construction, evaluation, testing operation and performance of aircraft (including aircraft engines) and associated components, equipment and systems

MSFC Skylab attitude and pointing control system mission evaluation

The results of detailed performance analyses of the attitude and pointing control system in-orbit hardware and software on Skylab are reported. Performance is compared with requirements, test results, and prelaunch predictions. A brief history of the altitude and pointing control system evolution leading to the launch configuration is presented. The report states that the attitude and pointing system satisfied all requirements

Semi-Autonomous Bulldozer Blade Control Using Real-Time Terrain Mapping

This paper considers semi-autonomous excavation done by heavy-duty bulldozers with an onboard front-mounted blade. The goal is to gradually manipulate the blade digging depth to maximize the amount of excavated soil while considering the approaching terrain shape, traction, and the mobile base inclination. With the proposed system, the operator provides the target load on the machine and the blade is controlled semi- autonomously, while the operator can focus on driving the mobile base. To reduce large load variations caused by terrain shape irregularities affecting the blade, our system uses an onboard lidar to generate an elevation map of the terrain, updating it online as the machine moves. From the discrete map, we generate a well- behaved function describing the terrain shape. This provides a nominal blade elevation path that is modified online based on the measured load on the machine to maneuver the blade gradually, avoiding large gradient changes. The resulting Cartesian elevation profile is used as a reference to a blade position controller that counteracts the mobile base inclination. A commercial bulldozer with no modifications to its original hydraulics was used as an experimental platform, and the results verify the efficacy of the proposed methods in challenging outdoor conditions.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Aeronautical engineering, a continuing bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 567 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in January 1984

Fusion of Imaging and Inertial Sensors for Navigation

The motivation of this research is to address the limitations of satellite-based navigation by fusing imaging and inertial systems. The research begins by rigorously describing the imaging and navigation problem and developing practical models of the sensors, then presenting a transformation technique to detect features within an image. Given a set of features, a statistical feature projection technique is developed which utilizes inertial measurements to predict vectors in the feature space between images. This coupling of the imaging and inertial sensors at a deep level is then used to aid the statistical feature matching function. The feature matches and inertial measurements are then used to estimate the navigation trajectory using an extended Kalman filter. After accomplishing a proper calibration, the image-aided inertial navigation algorithm is then tested using a combination of simulation and ground tests using both tactical and consumer- grade inertial sensors. While limitations of the Kalman filter are identified, the experimental results demonstrate a navigation performance improvement of at least two orders of magnitude over the respective inertial-only solutions

Aeronautical Engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 185

This bibliography lists 462 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1985. Aerodynamics, aeronautical engineering, aircraft design, aircraft stability and control, geophysics, social sciences, and space sciences are some of the areas covered