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Aeronautics

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INSIDER: Automotive

The automotive and aeronautic industries often rely on shape optimization, an approach that uses modeling to create a framework for making devices as smooth and efficient as possible....

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Briefs: Aerospace
Station/Orbiter Multibody Berthing/Docking Analysis Tool (SOMBAT)

The main objective of this work was to develop a high-fidelity, nonlinear simulation of complex flexible structures with active control systems. A multibody system can consist of several flexible articulating components. The system can also have multiple control systems. The main...

Briefs: Aerospace
Flight Deck Predicted Weather Display and Decision Support Interface

This innovation is a suite of three methods built into a prototype flight deck navigation display interface that supports the display of predicted weather and weather avoidance decision-making. Currently, the interface uses weather objects derived from various convective...

Briefs: Aerospace
Timed Injection of Simulation Data via Redundant Network Ports in Time Triggered Ethernet (TTE) Systems

Vehicle-scale integration and test requires closed-loop simulation using full-scale avionics systems or even entire vehicles. Incorporation of simulation data into real systems is problematic because real system sensors report the real...

Briefs: Aerospace
Method of Performing Computational Aeroelastic Analyses

When designing aerodynamic structures, it is important to understand if, and under what aerodynamic conditions, the structure will be stable and unstable. This is especially true if a structure is inherently flexible, such as a wing, where unstable response leads to oscillations of the...

Briefs: Aerospace
Graphical Acoustic Liner Design and Analysis Tool

The Interactive Liner Impedance Analysis and Design (ILIAD) tool is a software package used to design the composite surface impedance of an acoustic liner using resonant channels. ILIAD’s graphical user interface allows the acoustic channel geometry to be drawn in the liner volume while the...

Briefs: Aerospace
Open Vehicle Sketch Pad

The conceptual aircraft designer is faced with a dilemma on how to strike the best balance between productivity and fidelity. Attempts have been made to use computer-aided design packages to fill this void, but their cost and steep learning curve have made them unwieldy at best. Open Vehicle Sketch Pad (OpenVSP.org) has...

Articles: Aerospace

Top prizes in the 2015 Create the Future Design Contest were awarded on November 6 in New York City. The Grand Prize winner, and winners in seven categories, took home awards for...

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INSIDER: Aerospace

Tow tractors, pushback tractors, tankers, luggage carts, air cargo, and catering vehicles crowd airport aprons. Poor weather conditions impede work on the apron even more. Researchers at the...

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Who's Who: Aerospace

Al Bowers is the program manager of Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Lower Drag, or Prandtl-d. The project’s researchers validated elements of a...

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Briefs: Aerospace
Shuttle Orbiter Entry Aero Reconstruction Tool

A new tool calculates vehicle aerodynamic flight parameters from observed flight trajectory. These flight-observed parameters are then compared to the expected aerodynamic parameters for a nominal vehicle flying the same trajectory. The differences in the observed versus expected aerodynamic...

Briefs: Aerospace
C++ Aerospace Vehicle Modeling Software

This collection of C++ classes allows users to create and simulate aerospace vehicle models that are needed to test prototyped display software. A software model of the Apollo LEM spacecraft was developed on a Windows-based PC, and was used for initial testing and research of cockpit displays. The model...

Briefs: Aerospace
Autonomous Quadrotor Safety System

Autonomous operations of small unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs (quadrotors), require safety modules to alert a human operator of a critical system state, or even take over control of the vehicle entirely to initiate a pre-defined safety maneuver during an emergency (e.g. an emergency landing when a radio link...

Briefs: Aerospace

The Spot and Runway Departure Advisor, or SARDA, is NASA’s contribution to improving the efficiency of airport surface operations. It is the centerpiece of a partnership among airlines, airports,...

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Briefs: Aerospace
Two-Phase Airborne Security Search

This innovation is an airborne area security search system and method that features a two-phase search from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using a novel combination of sensor technologies not previously employed. Its key strength is a wide-area search at high resolution for reliable identification of objects....

Briefs: Aerospace
Blended Cutout Flap for Reduction of Jet-Flap Interaction Noise

An aircraft trailing edge device, coupled with an aircraft wing, provides a reduction in jet-flap interaction noise while preserving the aerodynamic load capacity of the trailing edge. Embodiments of the present invention provide a trailing edge flap device that includes a center...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-Power, Solid-State Power Amplifier System

The purpose of the invention was to increase the operational power levels of solid-state power amplifiers using state-ofthe- art power amplifier design and combining methodology. Using 1-kW RF modules and proper RF combining techniques, a system was built that generated 16 kW of RF power for use in...

INSIDER: Test & Measurement
NASA Tests New 'Twist' on Wing Design

Putting a literal and metaphorical twist on conventional designs, researchers at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and Langley Research Center investigated a new aircraft aerodynamic wing scheme.

INSIDER: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Compressor disks for aircraft turbines are milled from a single piece of material. During processing, the blades begin to vibrate. Now, a novel clamping system boosts...

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Briefs: Aerospace

This invention relates to the design of optimal shapes of airfoils, such as turbine blades, operating in subsonic flow regimes. An airfoil, such as a propeller blade or a turbine vane or blade...

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Briefs: Aerospace
Merging and Spacing Software in the ACES Simulation

Merging and Spacing (M&S) in ACES is a software product written in the Java programming language that adds scheduling and management of flights into and out of an airport for the Airspace Concepts Evaluation System (ACES) simulation. ACES is a systems-level simulation that portrays NAS-wide...

Briefs: Aerospace
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Integration into the National Airspace System

NASA and other organizations have invested heavily in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research. UAVs can be flown in the National Airspace System (NAS) today, but only with special permission from the Federal Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Integration into the National...

Briefs: Aerospace
Data Server for Real-Time Display Interface

The purpose of this software is to decouple display and data interface functions by developing a central data server. By using the centralized data server, flight displays can be easily transferred between simulators and research airplanes without having to reprogram flight display graphics. Therefore,...

Briefs: Aerospace
Aircraft Wing Flap Noise-Reducing Fins

Two different modifications have been developed for the edges of aircraft wing flaps to reduce noise. Reactive Orthotropic Lattice Diffuser (ROLD) is a modification that consists of a honeycomb-like, interconnected structure added to the region of the flap that experiences the highest degree of...

Briefs: Aerospace
Direct Multiple Shooting Optimization with Variable Problem Parameters

Solving complex trajectory problems optimally is of vital importance to the success of future aerospace programs. Trajectory optimization research has been divided into two main categories: indirect methods and direct methods. Both methodologies have been tested and...

Briefs: Aerospace
Constructing Composite Response Surfaces for Aircraft

The design of aerodynamic components of aircraft, such as wings or engines, involves a process of obtaining the optimal component shape that can deliver the desired level of component performance, subject to various constraints, e.g., total weight or cost. Aerodynamic design can be formulated...

Briefs: Aerospace
Digitally Steered Phased Antenna Array for GPS Applications

GPS signals are sparse and weak at high altitudes above the GPS constellation; this includes GEO and HEO orbit regimes. Spacecraft operating here need a high-sensitivity receiver capable of acquiring and tracking these weak signals throughout their orbits. Most space GPS receivers are...

Briefs: Aerospace
Robust, Low-Density Parity- Check Decoder Design to Mitigate Pulsed Radio Frequency Interference

Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes are a class of forward error correction (FEC) linear block codes that provide near-capacity performance for power-efficient communications. Optimum decoding requires accurate combining ratio estimation to scale...

Briefs: Communications
Broadband Circularly Polarized Antenna Array for Mars Rover Direct-to-Earth Communications

Mars rovers and other landers typically use UHF relay to return their science and engineering data to Earth. Direct-To-Earth (DTE) communications are typically used for commanding. If future UHF relay capability becomes diminished, Mars landers may be...

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