Aerial Aquatics: Unmanned Deployment of Submersibles

The main objective of this research is to design, prove, and test the concept of a multi-locomotion capable platform fused aircraft and submersible. Both fixed and rotary winged aerial platforms equipped with a deployable submersible subsystem with a camera installed have been developed firstly and tested. The platform can land on water and take off from it and then maneuver. And then the subsystem could be deployed under the water for searching and monitoring. The submersible subsystem is tethered for video and image data transfer but has a separate power source in it and it can be deployed down to at least 50 feet. Also it has its own actuator for maneuvering under water and ultrasonic sensors for obstacle avoidance. This project has potentials for various applications such as inaccessible area surveillance and habitat monitoring which human or a single locomotion robot can do

T5-A: Introducing the Top-Down-Top Pedagogy: Systems Thinking that Inspires, Engages, and Promotes Persistence

Aircraft detail design capstone course in Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University employs group projects of four to six students and is designed to provide real world experience in structural design process, by designing and analyzing and documenting an aerospace structure. This paper reports on a few innovations in the course to provide industry like experience to students namely (1) Assigning functional engineering roles and (2) Industry style performance evaluations to inform grading. Survey and observations indicate that students found assigning of engineering roles to be helpful in enhancing their experience, but did not benefit much from performance evaluations as implemented