Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Airborne'

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The airborne concept has had a lasting impact on military force structures since its employment on a large scale during World War II. It is puzzling to consider how little airborne organizational structures and employment concepts have changed in the intervening seven decades, considering the great amount of change occurring in warfare. This thesis examines the future potential of airborne concepts by rethinking traditional airborne organizational structures and employment concepts. Using a holistic approach in the areas of organization, doctrine, technology, and strategy as guiding frames of reference, this thesis recommends updating the organizational structures of airborne forces to model a small and many approach over a large and few approach, while incorporating a swarming concept. Utilizing historical and contemporary vignettes to demonstrate airborne utility, this research reveals how a parachute capability displays the unique attributes to complement a swarming concept. Under an updated organizational structure and new employment concept, airborne forces can offer renewed relevancy to the U.S. Department of Defense against modern adversaries in crises and conflict.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1992 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California
The Common Airborne Instrumentation System (CAIS) is designed as a general purpose system for flight test applications into the next century. The system has an open architecture which readily permits the addition of new equipment as the need arises. This paper describes the current complement of airborne hardware as well as the approach to the design of the open architecture. This paper is presented as a companion to the CAIS overview prepared for this conference.

This work tests the validity of using a commercial cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) counter (CCNc) on the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) research aircraft. The CCNc was suitable for aircraft work with sta- ble and repeatable supersaturation, temperature and pressure relationships. The sample architecture of the aircraft fitted CCNc was found to transmit particles with acceptable losses in the diameter range of interest as was a pressure control device designed for airborne work. Rosemount inlets, used to sample aerosol, were found to be sensitive to particle density resulting in disparate aerosol being sam- pled with different efficiencies. In dust dominated aerosol inlet efficiency peaks at 10.24 at an optical diameter of 2.91 μm, with a minimum inlet efficiency between 1.78 and 1.51 at 0.28μm. In less dense aerosol inlets sample representatively below 0.6 μm and comparably below 1.0 μm. The thorough testing of the CCNc, associated sampling architecture and mea- surement strategies, enabled vertical and horizontal CCN to be investigated along with other aerosol and cloud microphysical properties in the Southern Equato- rial Pacific (SEP). The primary source of particulates was the South American continent, with sulphate dominating composition. There were strong gradients in aerosol and gas phase chemistry concentration with distance from the coast and in the cloud microphysics measurements where highest droplet numbers and smallest diameters were close to the coast. These data represent an important validatory and parameterisation data set for models of all scales. CCN data were used to calculate the aerosol hygroscopicity parameter, the mean project value, κ, was 0.21 ± 0.18 . There was no evident variation in hygroscopicity with distance from the Chilean coastline suggesting a single dominant source and a well mixed boundary layer up to 907km to the west. CCN measurements were also com- pared to predictions from multiple models of different composition and mixing state assumptions. The best CCN closure used an external mixture of inorganic and organic aerosol components, with a modelled to observed ratio of 1.37 ± 0.32. It was hypothesised that this large ratio and the relatively low bulk hy- groscopicity was influenced by an external mixture. Incorporating this external mixture is imperative if CCN are to be accurately modelled and any subsequent cloud processes accurately captured.

Mapping is a central and common task in robotics research. Building an accurate map without human assistance provides several applications such as space missions, search and rescue, surveillance and can be used in dangerous areas. One application for robotic mapping is to measure changes in terrain volume. In Sweden there are over a hundred landfills that are regulated by laws that says that the growth of the landfill has to be measured at least once a year.

In this thesis, a preliminary study of methods for measuring terrain volume by the use of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and a Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) sensor is done. Different techniques are tested, including data merging strategies and regression techniques by the use of Gaussian Processes. In the absence of real flight scenario data, an industrial robot has been used fordata acquisition. The result of the experiment was successful in measuring thevolume difference between scenarios in relation to the resolution of the LIDAR. However, for more accurate volume measurements and better evaluation of the algorithms, a better LIDAR is needed.

Kartering är ett centralt och vanligt förekommande problem inom robotik. Att bygga en korrekt karta av en robots omgivning utan mänsklig hjälp har en mängd tänkbara användningsområden. Exempel på sådana är rymduppdrag, räddningsoperationer,övervakning och användning i områden som är farliga för människor. En tillämpning för robotkartering är att mäta volymökning hos terräng över tiden. I Sverige finns det över hundra soptippar, och dessa soptippar är reglerade av lagar som säger att man måste mäta soptippens volymökning minst en gång om året.

I detta exjobb görs en undersökning av möjligheterna att göra dessa volymberäkningarmed hjälp av obemannade helikoptrar utrustade med en Light Detectionand Ranging (LIDAR) sensor. Olika tekniker har testats, både tekniker som slår ihop LIDAR data till en karta och regressionstekniker baserade på Gauss Processer. I avsaknad av data inspelad med riktig helikopter har ett experiment med en industri robot genomförts för att samla in data. Resultaten av volymmätningarnavar goda i förhållande till LIDAR-sensorns upplösning. För att få bättre volymmätningaroch bättre utvärderingar av de olika algoritmerna är en bättre LIDAR-sensor nödvändig.

The airborne application of Passive Bistatic Radar (PBR) is the latest evolution of the now established international interest in passive radar techniques. An airborne passive system is cheaper to construct, easier to cool, lighter and requires less power than a traditional active radar system. These properties make it ideal for installation on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), especially for the next generation of Low Observable (LO) UAVs, complementing the platforms LO design with an inherently Low Probability of Intercept (LPI) air-to-air and air-to-ground sensing capability. A comprehensive literature review identified a lack of practical and theoretical research in airborne passive bistatic radar and a quantitative model was designed in order to un- derstand the theoretical performance achievable using a hypothetical system and FM as the illuminator of opportunity. The results demonstrated a useable surveillance volume, assuming conservative estimates for the receiver parameters and allowed the scoping and specification of an airborne demonstrator system. The demonstrator system was subsequently designed and constructed and flown on airborne experiments to collect data for both air-to-air and air-to-ground operation analysis. Subsequent processing demonstrated the successful detection of air targets which correlated with the actual aircraft positions as recorded by a Mode-S/ADS-B receiver. This is the first time this has been conclusively demonstrated in the literature. Doppler Beam Sharpening was used to create a coarse resolution image allowing the normalised bistatic clutter RCS of the stationary surface clutter to be analysed. This is the first time this technique has been applied to an airborne passive system and has yielded the first quantitive values of normalised bistatic clutter RCS at VHF. This successful demonstration of airborne passive radar techniques provides the proof of concept and identifies the key research areas that need to be addressed in order to fully develop this technology.

Airborne angle-only geolocalization is the localization of objects on ground level from airborne vehicles (AV) using bearing measurements, namely azimuth and elevation. This thesis aims to introduce elevation data of the terrain to the airborne angle-only geolocalization problem and to demonstrate that it could be applicable for localization of jammers. Jammers are often used for deliberate interference with malicious intent which could interfere with the positioning system of a vehicle. It is important to locate the jammers to either avoid them or to remove them.    Three localization methods, i.e. the nonlinear least squares (NLS), the extended Kalman filter (EKF) and the unscented Kalman filter (UKF), are implemented and tested on simulated data. The methods are also compared to the theoretical lower bound, the Cramér-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB), to see if there is an efficient estimator. The simulated data are different scenarios where the number of AVs, the relative flight path of the AVs and the knowledge of the terrain can differ. Using the knowledge of the terrain elevation, the methods give more consistent localization than without it. Without elevation data, the localization relies on good geometry of the problem, i.e. the relative flight path of the AVs, while the geometry is not as critical when elevation data is available. However, the elevation data does not always improve the localization for certain geometries.    There is no method that is clearly better than the others when elevation data is used. The methods’ performances are very similar and they all converge to the CRLB but that could also be an advantage. This makes the usage of elevation data not restricted to a certain method and it leaves more up to the implementer which method they prefer.

A mathematical model which estimates spatial infection risk as a function of pulmonary rate and deposition region has been developed based on the does-response model. It is specifically designed for enclosed space with consideration of pathogen bio-properties, such as viability and infectivity. Firstly, eleven cases of Tuberculosis (TB) outbreaks in aircraft are studied to develop the optimal parameters set. It is then used to perform model validation and investigation of sample inpatient room spatial infection risk. Secondly, infection risk for eleven TB outbreaks are compared with modeling and Wells-Riley estimations. As a result, modeling results are within the calculated range of Wells-Riley prediction. To determine the importance of viability and ventilation rate regarding HVAC system design for health facilities, infection risks are calculated at different viability and ventilation rates. Based on the observation, ventilation rate or particle concentration in the space dominate the infection risk distribution, except when viability decays extreme rapidly. Thirdly, the spatial infection risk is investigated for TB in a typical 60 m³ inpatient room with displacement and well-mixed ventilation systems. Two room settings, a nurse standing close to the patient’s bed versus a visitor standing far away from the bed, and two coughing directions, horizontal versus vertical, are studied. The results show that for coughing horizontally, when the nurse stands beside the patient's bed, his/her breathing zone is the highest risk zone for displacement ventilation. Under displacement ventilation, the infection risk is lower when visitor stands away from the bed compared to stand close to the bed if the visitor is the only person present in the room besides the patient. The infection risk of the breathing zones in the two cases with horizontal coughing are both higher than 25%. However, when a patient coughs vertically, the displacement ventilation significantly reduces the infection risk. With 24 hours exposure, the infection risk for the nurse and the visitor are both less than 5%.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-72).
The purpose of this thesis to evaluate the opportunity for service provider entry and of the airborne internet, to analyze the disruptive impact technology used by AirCell and AeroSat has had on the development of an airborne internet, and to identify various stake holders and their value propitiation. The airborne internet has the potential to change the way we fly and spend time when sitting in the plane. In the last fifty years, there has not been much technological advancement in the air traffic control system. Airplane operation still depends on current ground control and radar systems that are very expensive and very difficult to scale. These technologies are also heavily dependant on humans. There have been many technological advancements out side of the aviation industry. Establishing an airborne internet is a tremendous opportunity for everyone. With the help of an airborne Internet, each plane can transmit its identity, location, and also direct video footage that will help Homeland security fight against terrorism. The airborne internet has the ability to connect airplanes not just via a computer on the ground (or via satellite) but directly with each other, relaying information from other planes in an Internet-like fashion. The airborne internet is strongly supported by the Pentagon, FAA and NASA. The U.S. Air Force and FAA are working on defining the architecture of an airborne network and hope to begin actively developing and testing the network itself between 2008 and 2012. According to the FAA, in 2005 there were 10 million flights carrying a total of 660 million passengers in the United States. For the FAA there are a number of merits to working with an airborne internet service provider to continue tests and validate the technical and economic feasibility of an airborne internet.
(cont.) First, there appears to be a substantial market -- in the range of $1b -- for services that require internet connectivity on the air for the commercial airline, air cargo, business jet, and general aviation sector. Second, current alternatives such as satellite solutions and existing air-to-ground solutions fail to meet all the needs of the mass market. Satellite solutions provided by companies such as Inmarsat, Iridium, and Globalstar are priced at a premium and carry an expensive cost structure from the maintenance and investment in orbiting satellites. Airborne Internet service can be offered through three different technologies first, a satellite solution offered by Boeing; second, air-to-ground systems provided by companies such as AirCell; and third, a network of airplane ground -to - air system like AeroSat, all of which are compatible with the planned FAA architecture. Boeing's model is prohibitively expensive; a business model for an airborne internet solution based on a South West Airlines type low cost approach may make an airbome internet more feasible The model would rely on low service fees to promote greater consumer usage, high capacity utilization of ground stations to promote margins, low aircraft equipment costs to help cash flows, and risk/reward sharing with airlines to promote aircraft operator adoption. Assuming that a service provider relied on revenue from non-FAA related services, it could still generate ample margins to support other general FAA applications behind the scenes. The FAA can demonstrate overall support for an airborne internet vision, help attract key players to the ecosystem needed to implement the system, promote usage, and drive required airline ROI. The FAA could also drive the implementation of industry standards required to eventually ensure globally consistent services.
(cont.) However, even with these clear benefits, there are a few key risks that need to be considered and further evaluated. First, this analysis evaluated the economic feasibility of an airborne internet. It does not take into consideration testing or validating the potential network performance from AeroSat's innovative mesh approach in an actual pilot test. Second, more extensive demonstrations will be required to further validate performance and the related cost for the supporting infrastructure. Some key economics like the number of antennae required on aircraft as the network grows should be explored in greater detail after initial simulations. Finally, uncertainty over potential developments of spectrum-free solutions, evolutes of ultra-wideband with potentially disruptive cost structures, could slow the market from adopting a spectrum-based solution. Although this is unlikely given the FAA's current stance on the use of UWB, the issue is worth further research and conversations with the FAA. Accordingly, continued testing, development, and analysis to test feasibility and clarify the key unknowns is recommended. There are a few areas that deserve special attention. First, the target customer composition required to drive the business model should be finalized. The reliability and performance of the mesh-approach is partly dependent on the density of airtraffic in relation to the location of installed ground stations. Second, spectrum requirement issues, including the cost of acquisition and regulatory compliance, need clarification as they strongly impact the business model. Third, the potential magnitude and variability of assumed revenue sources, as well as the timing of cash collections across key customer segments, should be explored.
(cont.) Both of these impact the assumed free-cash-flows generated by the potential business model. Finally the potential terms of airline risk/reward sharing contracts required to equip aircraft with different quantities and types of antennae, need further exploration. Air carriers seem to be moving away from models where they absorb all of the equipment/certification costs - the economic feasiblity of a potential service provider depend on the service provider's ability to offer airlines this service at a reasonably good rate.
by Anand Bhadouria.
S.M.

ITC/USA 2006 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Second Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 23-26, 2006 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California
In a quest to provide networked communication to test assets at all of the Major Range and Test Facility Bases (MRTFB), the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) Program was formed. A study was accomplished outlining five environments that encompass the work of these MRTFBs. The first of these environments to be advanced towards networked communication is the Aeronautical Environment. In order to develop these technologies, a test platform is proposed, realized, and tested. This airborne test platform will be used for concept and product testing and validation of the three portions of the Telemetry Network System (TmNS); the vehicle network, vNET, the radio frequency network (RF), rfNET, and the interface to the ground network, gNET. This paper will present the baseline system configuration, describe its operation, and detail RF link testing results.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / November 04-07, 1991 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
In March, 1991 the Naval Air Test Center awarded a design, development and limited production contract to SCI Technology, Inc. for a Department of Defense (DoD) Common Airborne Instrumentation System (CAIS). This system is being developed to meet the flight test needs of the Air Force, Army and Navy into the 21 century. st The CAIS will be a time-division multiplexed data acquisition system comprised of a standard modular complement of hardware and software. These systems will be used on both existing and future aircraft. CAIS will not be airframe or weapon system dependent nor will its use be restricted to any Test and Evaluation activity. This paper describes the CAIS system as specified and proposed for implementation.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1985 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
After a brief glimpse of the composition of a modern airborne transmitter, a reminder is given of how the choice of a servoed carrier scheme after frequency division on a quartz crystal reference, favoring transmissions at high data speed, has opened up the way to a whole generation of frequency synthesis transmitters covering the 2.1 - 2.7 GHz band in sub-bands of 150 MHz with a pitch of 0.5 MHz. The advantages of frequency synthesis from the quadruple aspect of maintenance, availability “on the shelf”, flexible use in a congested frequency plan and discretion, are then commented on. Finally, in a last section - more theoretical than the previous ones - the technical difficulties which arise from the “spirit” of frequency synthesis are referred to.

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The thesis research examines the emergence of wireless technology as a pragmatic baseline supporting the goals of the Department of Defense developing towards Network Centric Forces. Increased international attention to the field of surveillance has developed parallel to the desire to interconnect all possible friendly forces in military operations and the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Ubiquitous surveillance is accomplished by prototyping a network node that is then integrated on board of a military type unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Although the commercial off the shelf network solution itself is broadly deployed, little is known so far how to operate and manage an airborne surveillance network node. The author shows that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for networking purposes is not only possible but also manageable, even with remote operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The documented experiments over three generations of prototypes give insight about possibilities of how network infrastructure independence for the purpose of surveillance can be reached.
Kapitänleutnant, Federal German Navy

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contaminate every compartment of the environment including sediments, water, and air. Although their production has ceased, PCBs continue to contaminate the environment. The properties that make PCBs useful in industrial applications are the same properties that cause them to persistent in the environment. Phytoremediation has been proposed as an in situ treatment option for the remediation of these contaminants. Phytoremediation is the use of green plants to mitigate environmental pollution without excavation or treatment of the contaminated material. Hybrid poplar trees may be a feasible treatment candidate for scavenging airborne PCBs from nearby sources. PCBs are scavenged onto the leaves where a majority of the mass remains.

I address the geometric problem of the pendulum-like swinging of towed birds for AEM platforms. I establish a link between actual observed bird swing and its effect on survey data for two different systems and explain the link by a model that compares actual survey data to the calculated mutual inductance coupling of a dipole pair over an infinitely conductive half space, which pair is permitted arbitrary pitch, roll and altitude changes. I develop a non-linear filter that removes bird swing effects from survey data which successfully corrected data from 3 different AEM surveys. Calibration of several different time domain AEM systems is attempted using an accurately laid out and surveyed, closed, multi-turn loop of known resistance and self-inductance that is placed on - but insulated from - resistive ground. I derive a rigourous mathematical model that predicts airborne receiver's response to the coupling to the transmitter current waveform and total system geometry. The method was proven to be successful over resistive ground, with significant system problems identified such as: altimetry error, spatial averaging of data during postprocessing, error in the predicted horizontal position of the AEM platform, receiver windowing and timing errors and bird swing. I show that, although we can calibrate a time domain AEM system for a single flyover, it is impossible to calibrate an AEM system for geometry. As an intermediate step in the calibration process, I show that by monitoring the current induced in the ground loop we can obtain the waveform of the AEM transmitter current throu gh deconvolution in the Fourier domain. Simple and cost effective methods for the improvement of quantitative AEM data are presented in this thesis. However, until the geometry problem of AEM platforms is solved, full system calibration will not be obtained and filters will need to be applied to the data. I recommend the use of: GPS antennas mounted on all towed birds, able to be post-processed for accurate position recovery, reliable bird-mounted scanning altimeters that do not rely on range-finding technology but instead employ a shortest path algorithm, pitch and roll sensors mounted on the trailed bird and the measurement of airspeed of both the towed bird and the aircraft during surveys.

The major problem encountered by an airborne bistatic radar is the suppression of bistatic clutter. Unlike clutter echoes for a sidelooking airborne monostatic radar, bistatic clutter echoes are range dependent. Using training data from nearby range gates will result in widening of the clutter notch of STAP (space-time adaptive processing) processor. This will cause target returns from slow relative velocity aircraft to be suppressed or even go undetected. Some means of Doppler compensation for mitigating the clutter range dependency must be carried out. This thesis investigates the nature of the clutter echoes with different radar configurations. A novel Doppler compensation method using Doppler interpolation in the angle-Doppler domain and power correction for a JDL (joint domain localized) processor is proposed. Performing Doppler compensation in the Doppler domain, allows several different Doppler compensations to be carried out at the same time, using separate Doppler bins compensation. When using a JDL processor, a 2-D Fourier transformation is required to transform space-time domain training data into angular-Doppler domain. Performing Doppler compensation in the spacetime domain requires Fourier transformations of the Doppler compensated training data to be carried out for every training range gate. The whole process is then repeated for every range gate under test. On the other hand, Fourier transformations of the training data are required only once for all range gates under test, when using Doppler interpolation. Before carrying out any Doppler compensation, the peak clutter Doppler frequency difference between the training range gate and the range gate under test, needs to be determined. A novel way of calculating the Doppler frequency difference that is robust to error in pre-known parameters is also proposed. Reducing the computational cost of the STAP processor has always been the desire of any reduced dimension processors such as the JDL processor. Two methods of further reducing the computational cost of the JDL processor are proposed. A tuned DFT algorithm allow the size of the clutter sample covariance matrix of the JDL processor to be reduced by a factor proportional to the number of array elements, without losses in processor performance. Using alternate Doppler bins selection allows computational cost reduction, but with performance loss outside the clutter notch region. Different systems parameters are also used to evaluate the performance of the Doppler interpolation process and the JDL processor. Both clutter range and Doppler ambiguity exist in radar systems operating in medium pulse repetitive frequency mode. When suppressing range ambiguous clutter echoes, performing Doppler compensation for the clutter echoes arriving from the nearest ambiguous range alone, appear to be sufficient. Clutter sample covariance matrix is estimated using training data from the range or time or both dimension. Investigations on the number of range and time training data required for the estimation process in both space-time and angular-Doppler domain are carried out. Due to error in the Doppler compensation process, a method of using the minimum amount of range training data is proposed. The number of training data required for different clutter sample covariance matrix sizes is also evaluated. For Doppler interpolation and power correction JDL processor, the number of Doppler bins used can be increased, to reduce the amount of training data required, while maintaining certain desirable processor performance characteristics.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis presents the development of a state estimation system for use in an Autonomous Airborne Refueling (AAR) operation through the simulated implementation of GPS, monocular and stereoscopic vision, inertial measurement sensors and boom parameter measurement in combination with the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF). A set of functional criteria for the estimation system was developed through an analysis of the control system input requirements and associated constraints. The estimation system is further developed by integrating the sensor configurations into the estimation algorithm structures through the derivation of the applicable mathematical models. Final sensor configurations are set based on a sensitivity analysis in which the effect of parameters such as sensor noise, placement and quantity are related to the accuracy with which the states are estimated. Uncertainty in the process noise, which is typically approximated, is overcome by adding an adaptive element to the estimation algorithms in which the current process noise is estimated allowing compensation for unmodeled process noise uncertainty. Finally twelve practical sensor configurations are established utilising unique combinations of the five sensors. Each configuration is simulated using both estimation algorithms after which all results are evaluated with respect to one another as well as to the minimum state accuracy criteria. Conclusions are presented based on the evaluation of the results followed by recommendation for future development.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMINGS: Die ontwikkeling van ’n toestandafskattingstelsel, spesifiek toegepas op outonome brandstofhervulling, word voorgelê in hierdie tesis. Hierdie ontwikkeling behels die implementering van GPS, monukulêre- en stereo-visie sensors, inersiële sensor eenhede en verbindingsarmsensors wat gebruik word in ’n Uitgebruide Kalman Filter (Extended Kalman Filter) en Geurlose Kalman Filter (Unscented Kalman Filter). ’n Volledige ontleding van die beheerstelsel se toevoervereistes en geassosieerde beperkings is gebruik om ’n stel beoordelingsmaatstawwe vir die toestandafskatting-stelsel te bepaal. Die stelsel is verder ontwikkel deur verskillende sensorkonfigurasies met die afskattingsalgoritmes te kombineer deur die afleiding van toepaslike wiskundinge modelle. Hierdie konfigurasies is verfyn deur ’n sensitiwiteitsanalise, waar die verwantskap tussen die effekte van sensorruis, sensorligging, hoeveelheid sensors ondersoek is met betrekking tot afskattingsakkuraatheid. Onsekerheid in die stelsel se prosesruis is deur ’n aanpassings substelsel hanteer, wat kompensasie vir ongemodeleerde onsekerheid moontlik maak. Twaalf praktiese sensorkonfigurasies is opgestel vanuit unieke kombinasies van die vyf sensore behartig in die projek. Hierdie konfigurasies is deur beide afskattingsalgoritmes gebruik om sodoende die akkuraatheid van die konfigurasies asook die afskattingsalgoritmes te evalueer met betrekking tot mekaar en aan die hand van die beoordelingsmaatstawwe vir die beheerstelsel. Die tesis is afgesluit deur gevolgtrekkings asook aanbevelings vir toekomstige navorsing.

ITC/USA 2011 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Seventh Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2011 / Bally's Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
New developments in miniaturized integrated film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) filters and low noise amplifiers have resulted in the possibility of extremely small integrated antenna, filter, and low noise amplifier subsystems for use in airborne telemetry (TM) systems. This paper gives examples of a new development in airborne GPS antennas using an integrated band pass FBAR filter and low noise amplifier. Data is also included on the example antenna in a GPS/TM system.

ITC/USA 2006 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Second Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 23-26, 2006 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California
Adding an instrumentation / telemetry system to a test vehicle has historically required an intrusive installation for wiring and powering all elements of the system from the sensor to the telemetry transmitter. In some applications there is need for a flexible and modular instrumentation and telemetry system that can be installed with minimal intrusiveness on an aircraft without the need for permanent modifications. Such an application may benefit from the use of a miniaturized, inexpensive network of wireless sensors. This network will communicate its data to a central unit installed within the aircraft. This paper describes recent efforts associated with the Advanced Subminiature Telemetry System (ASMT) Initial Test Capability Project. It discusses the challenges in developing a wireless sensor network system for use in an airborne environment. These include selection of frequencies, COTS wireless devices, batteries, system synchronization, data bandwidth calculations, and mechanical structure for external installation. The paper will also describe the wireless network architecture as well as the architecture of the wireless sensor and the central control unit.

ITC/USA 2006 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Second Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 23-26, 2006 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California
The Central Test and Evaluation Investment Program (CTEIP) Integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) program is currently testing a wireless local area networking (WLAN) in an L-band telemetry (TM) channel to evaluate the feasibility and capabilities of enhancing traditional TM methods in a seamless wide area network (WAN). Several advantages of networking are real-time command and control of instrumentation formats, quick-look acquisition, data retransmission and recovery (gapless TM) and test point real-time verification. These networking functions, and all others, need to be tested and evaluated. The iNET team is developing a WLAN based on 802.x technologies to test the feasibility of the enhanced telemetry implementation for flight testing.

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Adding an instrumentation / telemetry system to a test article has historically required an intrusive installation. Power, wiring, and available space typically present significant challenges. There has been a long-standing need in the test and training community for a non-intrusive, flexible and modular instrumentation and telemetry system that can be installed on an aircraft or other test article without the need for permanent modifications. In addition, as available space in aircraft weapon bays, small weapons, and unmanned vehicles becomes a premium, the miniaturization of remote sensors and telemetry units becomes critical. This paper describes the current status of the Advanced Subminiature Telemetry System (ASMT) Initial Test Capability Project. It discusses the challenges that have been overcome in developing a wireless sensor network system for use in an airborne test environment. These include wireless sensor packaging design, selection of operating frequencies, COTS wireless devices, batteries, system synchronization and data bandwidth calculations. The paper will also document the progress to date including preliminary test results.

ITC/USA 2008 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fourth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 27-30, 2008 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California
Adding an instrumentation / telemetry system to a test article has historically required an intrusive installation. Power, wiring, and available space typically present significant challenges. There has been a long-standing need in the test and training community for a non-intrusive, flexible and modular instrumentation and telemetry system that can be installed on an aircraft or other test article without the need for permanent modifications. In addition, as available space in aircraft weapon bays, small weapons, and unmanned vehicles becomes a premium, the miniaturization of remote sensors and telemetry units becomes critical. This paper describes the current status of the Advanced Subminiature Telemetry System (ASMT) Initial Test Capability Project. It discusses the progress to date in fielding an operational, wireless sensor system that may be installed on the aircraft skin using an Electro-Cleavable adhesive as an alternative to conventional mounting methods. The wireless sensor utilizes the Wireless Communications Standard for Wireless Personal Area Network™ (WPAN™) IEEE 802.15 Working Group standard (commonly referred to as Bluetooth) to establish communication between the sensor and controller modules. Results of aircraft ground testing for EMI compatibility with aircraft systems will be presented. It is also expected that actual flight test results will be available by the time the paper goes to publication.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 17-20, 1994 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California
Veda Incorporated has developed an airborne instrumentation recorder for a major commercial aircraft manufacturer. The recorder was developed for use in the aircraft company's Portable Airborne Digital Data System (PADDS), a small scale data acquisition and monitor system used for flight testing. The recorder is designed around an off-the-shelf 8mm tape drive, the Exabyte 8505. It records asynchronous, variable-rate data in a proprietary 24-bit recording format, and allows the data to be played back in real time. Its RS-422 control interface is designed to imitate the recorder used in the company's large scale data acquisition system, the Ampex DCRSi-II. Special provisions allow it to withstand the environment of an airplane's EE bay.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / November 04-07, 1991 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
This paper describes the design considerations and methodology applied to solve the practical problems posed in the creation of a high bit rate telemetry relay system and specifically the techniques implemented to enhance signal to noise performance under adverse operational conditions.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / November 04-07, 1991 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
The testing and integration of modern avionic systems is facing us with new dimensions of complexity and sophistication. A smaller, faster avionic distributed processing system and small airborne spaces are demanding a new, innovative way to handle the telemetry requirements. The various types of data, ranging from analog values like temperature, vibrations, pressure and bi-level signals, up to the contents of fast buses like the MIL-STD-1553B and/or distributed multi-processor systems (performing calculations of a distributed nature) challenge the telemetry engineer coping with this task in the most efficient way.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / November 04-07, 1991 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
The Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), 6545th Test Group, is the Air Force center of expertise for Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) test and evaluation (T&E). To facilitate this mission, the 6545th Test Group developed three NC-130 Surrogate Carrier Launch Platform (SCLP) aircraft for UAV test support. The SCLP aircraft support various test functions including avionics testing, captive-carriage, and launch of UAVs and missiles. The system can support concept validation and early Developmental Test and Evaluation (DT&E) without requiring the operational launch platform, freeing these critical assets from test support. The SCLP aircraft use a palletized “roll-on/roll-off” approach to increase test support flexibility and decrease test costs. Capabilities include airborne command and control, flight termination, telemetry tracking, recording, relay of in-flight test vehicle data, and engineering test stations for airborne data analysis and test control. The SCLP can captive-carry, launch, and operate a test article out of line of sight of range ground stations. SCLP can display engineering data and relay the data to a Mission Control Center (MCC). Additionally, the SCLP permits autonomous operation on undeveloped airspace or supplements capabilities at existing facilities. Early SCLP configurations were used during concept validation of the air-launched Tacit Rainbow missile, while later variations supported several efforts, including classified programs. This paper describes the telemetry-tracking and relay capabilities of the SCLP using the Airborne Data Acquisition and Relay System (ADARS) station. The ADARS uses a combination of tracking and omni-directional antennas to acquire, track, record, and retransmit telemetry data. The combination of two directional tracking antennas and diversity combining of the received signals enables the system to reliably acquire test vehicle data at relatively low signal levels or with high fade rates. The system proved very versatile and was modified to support various special project requirements. The system is currently configured to receive and retransmit telemetry data up to a rate of 1.92 Megabits per second (Mbps).

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 13-16, 1986 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
The Experimental Flight Test organization of the Boeing Commercial Airplane Company has an onboard data reduction system known as the Airborne Data Analysis/Monitor System or ADAMS. ADAMS has evolved over the last 11 years from a system built around a single minicomputer to a system using two minicomputers to a distributed processing system based on microprocessors. The system is built around two buses. One bus is used for passing setup and control information between elements of the system. This is burst type data. The second bus is used for passing periodic data between the units. This data originates in the sensors installed by Flight Test or in the Black Boxes on the airplane. These buses interconnect a number of different processors. The Application Processor is the primary data analysis processor in the system. It runs the application programs and drives the display devices. A number of Application Processors may be installed. The File Processor handles the mass storage devices and such common peripheral devices as the printer. The Acquisition Interface Assembly is the entry point for data into ADAMS. It accepts serial PCM data from either the data acquisition system or the tape recorder. This data is then concatenated, converted to engineering units, and passed to the rest of the system for further processing and display. Over 70 programs have been written to support activities on the airplane. Programs exist to aid the instrumentation engineer in preparing the system for flight and to minimize the amount of paper which must be dealt with. Additional programs are used by the analysis engineer to evaluate the aircraft performance in real time. These programs cover the tests from takeoff through cruise testing and aircraft maneuvers to landing. They are used to analyze everything from brake performance to fuel consumption. Using these programs has reduced the amount of data reduction done on the ground and in many cases eliminated it completely.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1985 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
The Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft (ARIA) is an airborne platform designed to receive, record, process, and retransmit telemetry data. This paper will provide a brief overview of ARIA capabilities and focus on a specially modified ARIA – the Cruise Missile Mission Control Aircraft (CMMCA). Currently utilized in cruise missile testing, CMMCA features on-board real-time display of telemetry data as well as remote command and control of the test missile.

Due to the enhanced level of national security currently required due to the possibility of terrorist attack, monitoring devices for trace levels of explosive materials are now of the upmost importance. One such method that offers a possible route towards the development of a system for the detection of such analytes is via an electrochemical regime, coupled to the use of disposable sensor technology. Within this study, the use of modified carbon screen-printed sensors for the detection and analysis of such analytes of importance has been investigated. The modification of the base carbon substrate has been undertaken in a two-fold manner; firstly the incorporation of an enhanced electroactive mediator (Cobalt Phthalocyanine) has been investigated as an aid to facilitate the signal response and secondly the use of a novel surface modification technique to produce microelectrode arrays upon the carbon has also been employed. Microelectrodes hold intrinsic advantages over planar electrodes, such as stir independence, low detection limits and increased sensitivity due to their hemispherical diffusional profile. An array of microelectrodes can retain these properties whilst including the added advantage of enhancing the current response. The integration of these two approaches, the microelectrode array coupled with the mediated electrodes, has been developed with the ultimate objective to develop an accurate and sensitive detection system for trace quantities of explosives, namely 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). This thesis describes work focussed towards the optimisation of each of the individual components involved in the formation of a sensing device for the detection and measurement of trace levels of explosive materials. In particular, factors and techniques that may facilitate the enhanced sensitivity of the measurement device are described. At every stage, each modification step was also undertaken with a suitable redox probe, ferrocenemonocarboxylic acid to allow for a quantitative assessment to be made. The use of unmediated and mediated carbon ink has been assessed in terms of suitability as a host material for the detection of TNT, with concentrations of 400 nM being measured on these base substrates. Further to this, microelectrode arrays were then formed upon these planar carbon surfaces via insulation with poly(phenylenediamine) coating and subsequent ultrasonic ablation. These thin film microelectrode arrays (~40 nm, pore population ~7.0 x 104 cm- 2 ) were also investigated in terms of response to TNT and were seen to offer an enhanced response in terms of signal differentiation. A final stage was then applied where the microelectrode array was further modified to incorporate a conductively grown polymer from the pore areas. Within this conductive growth, an enzyme/co-factor matrix specific to TNT was deposited which was seen to further increase signal responses, although displaying a lack of sensitivity at lower concentrations. As a final step the developed sensor methodologies were then used in conjunction with an airsampling system, the Coriolis®µ cyclone, to mimic the use of the sensors in realistic environments for practical employment. The sensors were used to successfully measure TNT samples from a concentrated stock sample of 4.4 mM collected via the cyclone technique.

Radar altimeter experiments have shown the need for expanding the downward-looking, single-beam system into a multiple beam radar altimeter employing off-nadir altimetry so that information from a wider swath can be obtained from a single overflight. Problems associated with off-nadir altimetry include the effects of pointing angle errors on the return information and difficulty in performing accurate range tracking. In order to understand these problems, investigation of the sensitivity of the average return waveforms to pointing errors is necessary. These waveforms are computed using a convolutional model, including the effects of asymmetric antenna patterns, which is representative of NASA’s Multimode Airborne Radar Altimeter. The necessary convolutions are most efficiently performed by a method that uses the fast Fourier transform. The modeled waveforms are then used to devise a method that provides an estimate the pointing angle.
Master of Science

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Automação e Sistemas, Florianópolis, 2016.
Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-21T04:37:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 344130.pdf: 4016793 bytes, checksum: cf47b999d21f2e9b5ccc1999f40c9231 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016
Abstract : Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) is an emerging field of technology that investigates wind power devices capable of remaining airborne either through aerostatic or aerodynamic forces. Consequently, the heavy and expensive tower of conventional horizontal-axis wind turbines is no longer needed, allowing the AWE device to operate at higher altitudes, where the wind tends to be steadier and stronger and, therefore, more power is available. Another claimed advantage is the reduction on overall costs, especially regarding transportation and installation, due to the absence of the tower to withstand the torque caused by the rotating turbine, thus also requiring a simpler foundation. Several AWE concepts have been proposed, among which the pumping kite stands out as one of the simplest and cheapest, essentially comprising a ground winch where energy is generated, and a tethered wing that can be either flexible or rigid. This dissertation contributes to the field of AWE by addressing the pumping kite in four different aspects. The goal is to serve both as a manuscript for the lay reader with some background on physics, aerodynamics, dynamic systems, classic control and optimization techniques, as well as by specialists in either of these areas who intend to carry out deeper investigations. The first contribution is to revisit in detail important models in the literature used to simulate the flight dynamics, to design and to validate control laws. Namely, the 3D two-tether point-mass wing (to which modifications are proposed), the massless wing in dynamic equilibrium, the course angle dynamics and the logarithmic wind shear model are addressed. The second contribution is a comparative study of flight controllers whose references are computed separately from the ground winch control, in a decentralized topology. A two-loop approach is considered, where the outer loop defines a reference trajectory and generates a reference for the course angle, which is then tracked in the inner loop by manipulating the steering input of the tethered wing. A third contribution is the formulation of an optimization problem to choose the operating parameters of the traction and retraction phases that yield the maximum cycle power. One of the main findings is that, by reeling out at a lower speed than the value that maximizes the traction power, the duty cycle increases and, thereby, also the cycle power. The last major contribution is to reinterpret Loyd?s lift (the pumping kite traction phase) and drag modes as particular cases of the actuator disc considered in the derivation of the Betz limit for power extraction from the wind. The expression for the lift mode power coefficient is formulated using blade element momentum theory.

Energia eólica aérea (Airborne Wind Energy (AWE), em inglês) é uma tecnologia de energia renovável que trata de dispositivos que aproveitam a energia cinética do vento e são capazes de se manter no ar através de forças aerostáticas ou forças aerodinâmicas. Este campo de estudos vem atraindo cada vez mais pesquisas devido a duas grandes vantagens previstas sobre a tecnologia convencional de turbinas de eixo horizontal. A primeira vantagem é que a substituição da torre por cabos de comprimento variável permite ao dispositivo operar em altitudes mais elevadas, onde os ventos tendem a soprar mais consistentemente e a uma velocidade maior, caracterizando, portanto, um potencial energético maior. A segunda vantagem é uma redução substancial nos custos do empreendimento, especialmente nos quesitos de transporte e instalação, devido à ausência de uma torre que deva suportar o torque causado pela operação da turbina. Assim, acredita-se que a fundação para o ponto de ancoragem do sistema também se torna mais simples e barata. Os dispositivos de AWE que mantêm-se em voo através de forças aerodinâmicas são denominados de aerofólios cabeados . Várias estruturas com aerofólios cabeados já foram propostas, dentre as quais destaca-se o pumping kite por ser uma das mais simples e de menor custo. O pumping kite consiste, essencialmente, de duas unidades uma de solo e a outra, de voo com possíveis variações quanto ao tipo de aerofólio (rígido ou flexível), número e função dos cabos, atuadores para controle de voo no solo ou junto ao aerofólio, etc. Em uma das configurações mais usuais, tem-se uma máquina elétrica no solo acoplada a um carretel através de uma redução mecânica. À medida em que o aerofólio descreve uma trajetória que visa maximizar a força de tração no cabo, este desenrola-se do carretel, fornecendo potência mecânica à máquina elétrica que, nessa fase, opera como gerador. Quando o comprimento de cabo atinge um valor pré-determinado, encerra-se a fase de tração e inicia-se a fase de recolhimento, durante a qual a máquina elétrica opera como motor para enrolar o cabo até seu comprimento inicial. Para isto o aerofólio é reconfigurado para uma condição de baixa força aerodinâmica, permitindo o recolhimento com um pequeno gasto energético e, assim, aumentando a potência média entregue à rede (potência de ciclo) ao final deste ciclo com duas fases. A unidade de voo é composta essencialmente pelo aerofólio, por um microcomputador embarcado e pelos atuadores de controle de voo. Esta tese visa contribuir à área de AWE em quatro diferentes aspectos. O objetivo é servir tanto como um documento para o leitor leigo interessado no assunto e que tenha conhecimentos em física, aerodinâmica, sistemas dinâmicos, controle clássico e otimização, bem como uma referência para especialistas que estejam buscando avançar em qualquer uma destas frentes. A primeira contribuição é a discussão em detalhes de alguns modelos importantes usados para a simulação, análise e projeto de controladores de voo para aerofólios cabeados. Dentre estes modelos está o aerofólio ponto de massa com dois cabos, cuja construção é explicada passo-a-passo, incluindo a proposição de pequenas modificações relativas ao efeito da massa dos cabos nas equações de movimento. Em seguida também é feita a derivação do modelo que representa a dinâmica do ângulo de curso ( ângulo de giro ) do aerofólio, que é uma variável frequentemente utilizada para o controle de voo. Um terceiro modelo discutido é o modelo logarítmico que descreve a variação da intensidade média do vento de acordo com o coeficiente de rugosidade do solo. Para fins ilustrativos, o modelo foi interpolado para algumas localidades com base em um banco de dados norte-americano aberto ao público. A segunda contribuição desta tese é um estudo comparativo sobre abordagens para controle de voo em uma topologia decentralizada, na qual as leis de controle da unidade de solo e de voo são computadas separadamente. O controle de voo utiliza uma estratégia com duas malhas em cascata. Durante a fase de tração, uma opção é a malha externa utilizar a lemniscata de Bernoulli como referência para a trajetória de oito deitado desejada para o voo do aerofólio. Com base no erro de seguimento da lemniscata, é gerada uma referência para o ângulo de curso, que é repassada à malha interna. Já para a fase de retração, a referência do ângulo de curso é mantida apontando para o zênite, fazendo com que o aerofólio saia da zona de potência (condição de vento cruzado, crosswind) e possa ser recolhido com baixo gasto energético. Uma outra possibilidade discutida, mais simples, é o uso de apenas dois pontos de atração (atratores) como referência de posição do aerofólio na malha externa, com apenas um dos atratores ativo. Assim que o aerofólio cruza a coordenada azimute de um atrator, o outro torna-se o ativo, levando o aerofólio a executar uma curva e, dessa forma, realizar a trajetória desejada de oito deitado. Devido à descontinuidade no erro de seguimento quando chaveia-se entre os atratores, ocorre uma descontinuidade no sinal de controle, razão pela qual esta estratégia é conhecida como bang-bang . É discutido como o bang-bang pode ser vantajoso no caso de aerofólios cabeados com um curto perímetro (comprimento de arco) da trajetória, situação em que o período de amostragem do controle torna-se relativamente grande, o que dificulta a estabilização do controle. Por outro lado, no caso de trajetórias com perímetro maior, a ausência de um percurso bem definido entre os dois atratores pode resultar em uma trajetória aproximadamente geodésica ( reta angular), afastando-se, assim, das trajetórias ótimas de oito deitado sugeridas na literatura. Neste caso, a opção com a lemniscata de Bernoulli pode tornar-se vantajosa. Para a malha interna do controle de voo também foram investigadas algumas alternativas, entre as quais um controlador proporcional. Usando o modelo da dinâmica do ângulo de curso linearizado em alguns pontos principais, é computado o intervalo do ganho proporcional que garante estabilidade em malha fechada, supondo conhecidos os parâmetros do modelo. Também com base no mesmo modelo do ângulo de curso, projetou-se um controlador de realimentação linearizante que impõe uma dinâmica estável de primeira ordem ao erro de rastreamento da malha interna. Tal controlador linearizante requer, em sua lei de controle, o conhecimento da derivada da referência do ângulo de curso. Dado que esta derivada pode ser difícil de se obter, na prática, com baixo ruído, é investigada uma variante do controlador linearizante sem a mencionada derivada. Considerando, para os três controladores, aproximadamente a mesma constante de tempo do sistema em malha fechada, o controlador linearizante completo obteve o melhor desempenho, seguido pelo proporcional, enquanto o linearizante sem derivada da referência do ângulo de curso ficou com o pior desempenho. Uma terceira contribuição ao estudo do pumping kite é a formulação de um problema de otimização para um ciclo de operação, considerando-se a topologia de controle decentralizado. Já que a lei de controle de voo é computada separadamente da unidade de solo, é necessário determinar os valores de alguns parâmetros de operação cuja escolha pode ter um impacto significativo na potência de ciclo. Mostra-se como a potência média durante a fase de tração varia em função do ângulo de ataque médio, e como o ângulo de ataque base pode ser determinado para operar-se no ponto de máxima potência. A fase de tração é parametrizada em termos de um ângulo de ataque base, uma velocidade de desenrolamento, um ângulo polar médio da trajetória, e um comprimento médio do cabo. Já a fase de retração é parametrizada por meio de dois coeficientes que definem a inclinação das rampas de força de tração e ângulo de ataque base, e dois patamares ao final destas rampas. São consideradas restrições no mínimo ângulo de ataque importante no caso de aerofólios flexíveis e na máxima velocidade de enrolamento alcançada pela máquina elétrica. A ideia é reduzir a força de tração e o ângulo de ataque do aerofólio enquanto a velocidade de enrolamento aumenta e, dessa forma, obter-se uma fase de retração eficiente. Para fins ilustrativos, o problema de otimização é resolvido para os valores de patamar através de uma busca em grid, enquanto os coeficientes de inclinação de rampa são definidos de maneira ad hoc. Entre as principais conclusões está que, para o aerofólio do tipo foil (ram-air) kite com 12 m2 de área projetada sujeito a um vento nominal de aproximadamente 10 m/s, ao desenrolar-se o cabo a 2.3 m/s, o que corresponde a uma redução de 25.8 % com relação à velocidade que maximiza a potência na fase de tração, obtém-se um acréscimo de 9.3 % na potência de ciclo. Com base em um método simplificado para cálculo da potência de ciclo, também é obtida a curva de potência do pumping kite, discutindo-se as suas distintas regiões de operação. A última contribuição desta tese refere-se à interpretação dos aerofólios cabeados como um caso específico do disco atuador considerado na derivação do limite de Betz para extração de potência do vento. No caso do disco atuador, a potência extraída é abstraída como o produto entre o empuxo sofrido pelo disco e a velocidade do vento atravessando o disco. No caso da turbina eólica de eixo horizontal, a potência dá-se pelo produto entre o torque no disco e a sua velocidade angular. Já no caso do modo de sustentação de Loyd (a fase de tração do pumping kite), a potência decorre do produto entre o empuxo no disco e a velocidade de translação do disco no sentido do vento (velocidade de desenrolamento ). Finalmente, no caso do modo de arrasto de Loyd (turbina acoplada ao aerofólio cabeado), a potência aproveitada surge do produto entre a velocidade tangencial do disco e a força de arrasto (empuxo) sofrida pela turbina. A tese é concluída com a formulação da expressão do coeficiente de potência para o modo de sustentação de Loyd, evidenciando-se o problema do cálculo dos fatores de indução axial, radial, e o ângulo de ataque parcial para cada anel do disco.

Le siècle dernier a été le siècle de la révolution technologique. Les combustibles fossiles ont alimenté cette révolution technologique. Les défis auxquels notre société est confrontée, que ce soit le changement climatique ou la situation énergétique mondiale ou l’épuisement des réserves de combustibles fossiles, sont les défis les plus graves auxquels sont confrontés toutes les générations. L'énergie renouvelable est considérée comme la clé des problèmes énergétiques de notre société. De nombreuses technologies innovantes se font concurrence pour alimenter la prochaine révolution énergétique. Sources d'énergies renouvelables telles que l'énergie solaire, l'énergie éolienne, la biomasse, l'hydroélectricité, l'énergie géothermique, etc. Presque tous sont saisonniers, et sont donc des sources d'énergie discontinues et non uniformes. Ils ont également une limitation en termes de choix des sites de production et, en général, nécessitent de grandes étendues de terre pour les plantes, ce qui conduit à une faible densité de puissance par unité de surface.Néanmoins, l'énergie éolienne et solaire a beaucoup attiré l'attention au cours des dernières décennies. Cependant, pour que le monde passe complètement des énergies fossiles et de l’énergie nucléaire à l’énergie éolienne et solaire, il est nécessaire de développer de nouveaux types de systèmes capables de générer de l’énergie à moindre coût avec moins de contraintes de sélection de sites.Dans la quête de la source d'énergie pérenne. Notre société se tourne vers la communauté scientifique pour des solutions innovantes. Cette thèse est une étape vers la recherche de solutions innovantes à nos problèmes énergétiques. Les systèmes d'énergie éolienne à haute altitude (HAWE) ou plus communément appelés systèmes éoliens aéroportés (AWES) sont considérés comme la réponse aux besoins énergétiques des générations futures. L'énergie éolienne aéroportée (AWE) est un concept innovant visant à utiliser l'énergie des courants de vent à haute altitude, car les courants de vent à haute altitude sont presque uniformes dans le monde entier et AWES peut pratiquement être installé partout dans le monde. De plus, les systèmes AWE proposés nécessitent moins de matériau de structure. Ils devraient donc être beaucoup moins chers que toute autre source d’énergie disponible. AWE est donc une perspective prometteuse dans cette quête pour trouver une solution à nos problèmes énergétiques.Dans ce travail, la faisabilité des systèmes d'énergie éolienne aéroportés basés sur Magnus est explorée. Le travail présente en détail un bref historique des systèmes d'énergie éolienne aéroportés et des concepts de base nécessaires pour développer une compréhension de la technologie AWE. Il examine en détail les systèmes aéroportés basés sur Magnus et donne une perspective historique sur les machines basées sur l’effet Magnus. Il présente en détail les propriétés aérodynamiques de l’effet Magnus et présente un modèle aérodynamique pour ces systèmes. Puisque la modélisation est un aspect important de toute technologie. Ce travail présente un modèle détaillé des systèmes AWE basés sur Magnus ainsi que les algorithmes de contrôle nécessaires au fonctionnement de tels systèmes. Les courbes de puissance sont des outils couramment utilisés pour analyser les systèmes d'énergie éolienne. Ce travail présente une approche pour la conception de courbes de puissance pour les systèmes AWE afin d'analyser les capacités de production d'énergie des systèmes d'énergie éolienne aéroportés
Last century has been the century of the technology revolution. Fossil fuels have fueled this technology revolution. The challenges faced by our society be it the climate change or the world energy situation or the depletion of fossil fuel reserves are the most grievous challenges faced by any generation. Renewable energy is believed to be the key to energy problems of our society. There are many innovative technologies competing against each other to fuel the next energy revolution. Renewables sources of energies such as solar, wind, biomass, hydropower, geothermal etc. Though promising but due to the high economic cost and limited application they are yet to prove their mass scale applicability. Almost all of them are seasonal, hence, are discontinuous and non-uniform sources of energy. They also have a limitation in terms of choice of plant sites, and generally, require large tracts of land for plants which lead to low power density per unit area.Nonetheless, Wind and Solar energy have attracted a lot of attention in the last few decades. However, for the world to fully shift from fossil fuels and nuclear energy to Wind and Solar power, it is necessary to develop new kind of systems which can generate continuous power at a lower cost with fewer site selection constraints.In the quest to find the perennial clean source of energy. Our society is looking towards the scientific community for innovative solutions. This thesis is one such step towards finding innovative solutions to our energy problems. High altitude wind energy systems (HAWE) or more commonly known as Airborne wind energy systems (AWES) are believed to be the answer to the energy needs of the future generations. Airborne wind energy (AWE) is an innovative concept aiming at utilizing the energy of the high altitude wind currents, as high altitude wind currents are almost uniform across the globe, and AWES can be practically set-up anywhere around the world. Also, the proposed AWE systems require less structural material. Thus, they are expected to be much cheaper than any other available energy source. Therefore, AWE is a promising prospect in this quest to find a solution to our energy problems.In this work, the feasibility of Magnus-based airborne wind energy systems is explored. The work presents in detail a brief history of Airborne wind energy systems and the basic concepts needed to develop an understanding about the AWE technology. It discusses in detail Magnus-based airborne systems and gives a historical perspective on the Magnus-effect based machines. It discusses in detail the aerodynamical properties of the Magnus effect and presents an aerodynamic model for such systems. Since modeling is an important aspect of any technology. This work presents a detailed model of the Magnus-based AWE systems along with the control algorithms required for the operation of such systems. A common tool used to analyze wind-based energy systems is power curves. This work presents an approach to design power curves for AWE systems in order to analyze the power producing capabilities of Airborne wind energy systems

Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird ein Konzept entwickelt und umgesetzt, welches eine umfassende Bewertung von Daten flugzeuggetragener hyperspektraler Systeme ermöglicht. Es baut auf mehreren aktuellen Initiativen zur Erfassung der Datenqualität flugzeuggetragener Sensoren auf: Der ''European Facility for Airborne Reseach'', der ''Quality Assessment for Earth Observation Workgroup'' und dem ''Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology''. Bei der Befliegung eines Gebietes mit hyperspektralen Sensorsystemen werden mehrere, teilweise sich überlappende, Flugstreifen aufgenommen. Es wird vorgeschlagen, die Bildinformationen dieser Überlappungsbereiche als redundant anzusehen und so die innere Variabilität der Daten zu erfassen. Die jeweils zwischen zwei Flugstreifen auftretende Variabilität kann (aufgrund unterschiedlicher Blickrichtungen) als ungünstigster anzunehmender Fall (''worst-case'') betrachtet werden und ergänzt daher existierende Ansätze, die sich auf die Auswertung homogener Flächen konzentrieren. Das entwickelte Konzept ist auf unterschiedliche Sensorsysteme anwendbar, somit generisch und kann problemlos in die aktuelle Datenprozessierungskette des Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. integriert werden. Im ersten Abschnitt der Arbeit wird dargelegt, wie korrespondierende Pixelpaare, die in den jeweiligen Streifen an gleicher Geolokation liegen, ermittelt werden können. Darauf aufbauend erfolgt eine Plausibilitätsüberprüfung der erfaßten Pixelpaare unter Verwendung von Zuverlässigkeitsmetriken, die auf Basis höherwertigerer Datenprodukte berechnet werden. In einem weiteren Schritt werden die Ergebnisse genutzt, um die notwendigen Parameter für eine optimierte Bildauswertung - hier im Sinne der Zuverlässigkeit - abzuleiten. Abschließend werden die Pixelpaare benutzt, um die globale Variabilität der Reflektanzwerte abzuschätzen. Insgesamt werden durch diese Arbeit die existierenden Methoden zur Qualitätskontrolle optischer Bilddaten umfassend ergänzt.
This work proposes a methodology for performing a quality assessment on the complete airborne hyperspectral system, thus ranging from data acquisition up to land-product generation. It is compliant with other quality assessment initiatives, such as the European Facility for Airborne Research (EUFAR), the Quality Assessment for Earth observation work-group (QA4EO) and the Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology (JCGM). These are extended into a generic framework allowing for a flexible but reliable quality assessment strategy. Since airborne hyperspectral imagery is usually acquired in several partially overlapping flight-lines, it is proposed to use this information redundancy to retrieve the imagery''s internal variability. The underlying method is generic and can be easily introduced in the German Aerospace Center DLR''s hyperspectral processing chain. The comparison of two overlapping flight-lines is not straightforward, should it only be because the presence of geo-location errors present in the data. A first step consists in retrieving the relative variability of the pixel''s geo-locations, hence providing pairs of pixels imaging the same areas. Subsequently, these pairs of pixels are used to obtain quality indicators accounting for the reproducibility of mapping-products, thus extending the EUFAR''s quality layers up to land-products. The third stage of the analysis consists of using these reliability results to improve the mapping-products: it is proposed to maximise the reliability over the mapping-methods'' parameters. Finally, the repeatability assessment is back propagated to the hyperspectral data itself. As a result, an estimator of the reflectance variability (including model-, and scene-induced uncertainties) is proposed by means of a blind-deconvolution approach. Altogether, this complements and extends the EUFAR quality layers with estimates of the data and products repeatability while providing confidence intervals as recommended by JCGM and QA4EO.

The various elements of a modern target tracking framework are covered. Background theory on pre-processing, modelling and estimation is presented as well as some novel ideas on the topic by the author. In addition, a few applications are posed as target tracking problems for which solutions are gradually constructed as relevant theory is covered. Among considered problems are how to constrain targets to a region, use state-independent measurements to improve estimation in jump Markov models and how to incorporate observations sampled at an uncertain time into a state-space model. A framework is developed for tracking dolphins constrained to a basin using an overhead camera that suffers from occlusions. In this scenario, conventional motion models would suffer from infeasible predictions outside the basin. A motion model is developed for the dolphins where collisions with nearby walls are avoided by turning. The basin is modelled as a polygon where each point along the edge influences the turn rate of the dolphin. The proposed model results in predictions inside the basin, increasing robustness against occlusions. An extension to a Gaussian mixture background model providing a degree of confidence for detections is used to improve tracking in the presence of shadows. A probabilistic data association filter is also modified to estimate the dolphin extension as an ellipse. The proposed framework is able to maintain tracks through occlusions and poor light conditions. A framework is developed for estimating takeoff times and directions of birds in circular cages using an overhead camera. A jump Markov model is used to model the stationary and flight behaviours of the birds. A proposed extension also incorporates state-independent measurements, such as blurriness, to improve mode estimation. Takeoff times and directions are estimated from mode transitions and results are compared to manually annotated data. The cameras are inaccessible in both applications, disallowing proper calibrations. As an alternative, a method is proposed to estimate stationary camera models from available data and known features in the scene. A map of the basin and the funnel dimensions are used respectively. The method estimates a homography and distortion parameters in an invertible mapping function. An extension to the linear Gaussian state-space models is proposed, incorporating an additional observation with an uncertain timestamp. The posterior distribution of the states is derived for the model, which is shown to be a mixture of Gaussians, as well as some estimators for the distribution. The effects of incorporating the observation with an uncertain timestamp into the model are analysed for a one-dimensional scenario. The model is also applied to improve the GPS position of an orienteering sprinter by using the control position as an observation with an uncertain timestamp.
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Light field photography offers a new approach to digitally captured images. These commercially available cameras are able to capture the 4D light field in a single image. This allows for a variety of image processing capabilities that traditional cameras do not offer. For example, the image can be digitally refocused after it is captured and its depth can be estimated. In terms of application, these capabilities could be beneficial on airborne platforms. However, a limitation of currently available light field cameras is that they are not fully functional at medium or long ranges. If these cameras were to capture light fields at longer ranges, they would have a practical application when mounted on low-flying aircrafts. This dissertation takes current light field photography techniques and modifies them so they work better to capture medium-range images. The majority of cameras that capture the 4D light field use a microlens array to modulate the incoming light before it hits the image sensor. Previous work using printed modulation masks garnered the same effect obtained by microlens arrays. This dissertation details the development of a modulation mask that has medium-range applications. A new way of extracting the 4D light field from raw images that uses a digital Fourier transform is presented. This method works for images captured with microlens arrays and printed mask cameras. Two prototype cameras were built and tested to demonstrate some of these concepts. The concepts demonstrated by these cameras could be used in the future designs of light field cameras.

The aircraft currently being used to support the Navy’s mission of Telemetry Reception, Range Safety as well as Range Surveillance/Clearance are reaching the end of their useful life. As a result, there are ongoing efforts to procure a new aircraft and integrate these mission systems in order to continue the support of critical Naval Test Range operations. This paper will detail the current efforts being undertaken to upgrade a Gulfstream 550 to perform Range Support missions for the Multi-service Government Test Ranges.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 13-16, 1986 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
The Airborne Platform Telemetry Relay System (AP/TM) is currently being built for the Gulf Range Instrumentation System. The AP/TM will allow air-to-air missile test and training missions to be conducted beyond the line-of-sight of land-based instrumentation. The AP/TM is comprised of the following subsystems: C a Telemetry Data Relay C a Sea Surveillance Radar and Radar Data Link C a Drone Control Relay C a UHF Radio Relay The Telemetry Data Relay Subsystem will receive telemetry signals from five independent sources and will retransmit them to land based receiving sites. This subsystem contains a 75 square foot, electronically steerable, five beam phased array antenna and uses polarization diversity to eliminate polarization mismatch loss and to improve reception in the presence of multipath propagation. The AP/TM will also have the capability of relaying four channels of voice communications and drone tracking data and to perform sea surveillance of the mission area. The coordinates of targets detected by the radar will be relayed to the range control center over a high frequency (HF) data link. In addition to the airborne equipment, the system also includes a ground support instrumentation van which is used for pre- and post-flight checkout and maintenance.