Future space telescopes will be required to have significantly greater aperture and lower areal density than is currently achievable. Gossamer spacecraft structures have been proposed as a means of achieving this, but the technologies are far from mature. A state-of-the-art review is timely and necessary as new structural paradigms are being considered for the next generation of space telescopes. There is, however, a knowledge gap between the structural engineering community and the additional fields involved in the complete telescope system, leading to the proposal of structures which are unlikely to be launched. It is hoped that, by providing a resource by which structural engineers are made aware of the wider issues in telescope design, this review will serve to overcome this knowledge gap to facilitate productive collaboration.

According to multi-node model, the dynamics equations of conical parachute system for simulating shape deformation process of the flexible canopy in the opening process were established. With the combination of dynamics equations code and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, the fluid-structure interaction investigation of the conical parachute was carried out. Also the change of parachute shape and flow field, inflation time, the rate of descent, the distance of descent, and other relevant data were achieved. This paper has focused on analysing vortex structure of the flow field in the opening process of conical parachute, and laid the foundation for studying mechanics mechanism of flow field variation of conical parachute in future.

The solution to nonlinear structural dynamics problems with time marching schemes can be very expensive, particularly if the desired time-periodic response takes many cycles to form. Two cost reduction methods, which need not be considered separately, are formulated in this work. The first projects the nonlinear system of equations onto a reduced basis defined by a set of modes computed with proper orthogonal decomposition. The second utilises a monolithic time spectral element method, whereby the system of ordinary differential equations is converted into a single algebraic system of equations. The spectral element method can be formulated such that only the time-periodic response is computed. These techniques are implemented for a planar elastic beam, actuated at its base to emulate a flapping motion. Nonlinear elastic terms are computed with a corotational finite element method, while inertial terms are computed with a standard multibody dynamics formulation. For a variety of actuation frequencies and kinematic motions, results are given in terms of POD modes, reduced order model accuracy, and computational cost, for both the time marching and the monolithic time schemes.

The use of flow control (FC) technology on civil transport aircraft is seen as a potential means of providing a step change in aerodynamic performance in the 2020 time frame. There has been extensive research into the flow physics associated with FC. This paper focuses on developing an understanding of the costs and design drivers associated with the systems needed and certification. The research method adopted is based on three research strands:

1. Study of the historical development of other disruptive technologies for civil transport aircraft,

2. Analysis of the impact of legal and commercial requirements, and

3. Technological foresight based on technology trends for aircraft currently under development.

Fly by wire and composite materials are identified as two historical examples of successful implementation of disruptive new technology. Both took decades to develop, and were initially developed for military markets. The most widely studied technology similar to FC is identified as laminar flow control. Despite more than six decades of research and arguably successful operational demonstration in the 1990s this has not been successfully transitioned to commercial products. Significant future challenges are identified in cost effective provision of the additional systems required for environmental protection and in service monitoring of FC systems particularly where multiple distributed actuators are envisaged. FC generated noise is also seen as a significant challenge. Additional complexity introduced by FC systems must also be balanced by the commercial imperative of dispatch reliability, which may impose more stringent constraints than legal (certification) requirements. It is proposed that a key driver for future successful application of FC is the likely availability of significant electrical power generation on 787 aircraft forwards. This increases the competitiveness of electrically driven FC systems compared with those using engine bleed air. At the current rate of progress it is unlikely FC will make a contribution to the next generation of single-aisle aircraft due to enter service in 2015. In the longer term, there needs to be significant movement across a broad range of systems technologies before the aerodynamic benefits of FC can be exploited.

The introduction of new larger aeroplanes presents the ICAO Instrument Flight Procedures Panel (IFPP) with the need to review the requirements for the Obstacle Free Zone. To support future decisions, the IFPP took the initiative to ask for the development of pilot models which are capable to control the simulated aircraft during the approach — go-around manoeuvre. The aim of this development was to obtain a tool to perform Monte Carlo simulations for the determination of the flight path statistics of the manoeuvre. In 2001, both QinetiQ and the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) were invited to develop pilot models. The two pilot models are based on fundamentally different descriptions of a pilot’s control behaviour. The QinetiQ pilot model is based on a discrete-event representation of pilot control movements and has been developed in the Integrated Performance Modelling Environment (IPME). The NLR pilot model is based on control engineering and is a linear model with visual and motion feedback extended with stochastic disturbances. This development was supported by Boeing, which provided a simulation model of the B747–400 as the representative aircraft model. The integration of the pilot models with the aircraft model was performed by Boeing. Statistical data on the flight path tracking during the approach – go-around manoeuvre and on discrete pilot actions were obtained from simulations performed in a full flight simulator (FFS) at NASA Ames and a fixed-base simulator at Boeing. Both pilot models, the use of the statistical data from the simulations and the integration with the aircraft model are discussed in the paper.

The hypersonic aeroelastic problem of a generic hypersonic vehicle having a lifting-body type fuselage and canted fins is studied using third order piston theory and Euler aerodynamics. Computational aeroelastic response results are used to obtain frequency and damping characteristics, and compared with those from piston theory solutions for a variety of flight conditions. Aeroelastic behavior is studied for the range of 2·5 < M < 28, at altitudes ranging from 10,000ft to 80,000ft. Because of the significant computational resources required, a study on optimal mesh selection was first carried out for use with Euler aerodynamics. The three dimensional flow effects captured using Euler aerodynamics was found to lead to significantly higher flutter boundaries when compared to those based on nonlinear piston theory. The results presented here illustrate some of the more important three dimensional effects that can be encountered in hypersonic aeroelasticity of complex configurations.

The pace at which new technologies are assimilated into society is driven by trends in the regulatory, budgetary, and societal environments in addition to the pace of technology development itself. This study merges trends in these areas to develop an integrated forecast of the levels to which unmanned aviation can be expected to emerge in the military, air cargo, business, general aviation, and airline aviation segments over the coming 40 years. One out of every 80 aircraft on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan over the US are anticipated in this forecast to be unmanned by 2025 and two out of nine (18 of every 80) by 2050. Portions of this study were originally researched in 2005 in support of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) for planning the Next Generation (NextGen) air traffic system and later presented at the 23rd Bristol UAV Systems Conference.

The effect of tip geometry on discharge coefficient and heat transfer is investigated both experimentally and numerically using idealised models of an unshrouded rotor blade. A flat tip was compared with two squealer-type geometries (a cavity and suction-side squealer) under the transonic conditions expected in the gas turbine engine. Heat transfer measurements were performed using a transient liquid crystal technique while a duplicate test section was used for measuring the pressure field. Computations were carried out using an unstructured, fully compressible, three-dimensional RANS (Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes) solver. Initial computations performed using a low Reynolds number k-ε model demonstrated the inability of the model to predict the Nusselt number with reasonable accuracy. Further computations performed using a low Reynolds number k-ω model improved the predictions dramatically. The computed discharge coefficient and the average Nusselt number over the blade tip agreed well with the experiments. Three upstream-total to exit-static pressure ratios were used to create a range of engine-representative Mach numbers. Both experimental and numerical studies at the lower pressure ratio of 1·3 (exit Mach number ~ 0·65) established the cavity geometry as the best performer from an aerodynamic perspective by reducing the discharge through the tip. However, from the heat transfer perspective, both the peak Nusselt number and the average heat transfer to the tip were higher than the flat tip. At the higher pressure ratios of 1·85 and 2·27 (corresponding to exit Mach numbers ~ 0·98 and 1·12) the discharge coefficient and heat transfer to the tip increases. This paper explores the fluid dynamics associated with these flows and shows that the highest heat transfer is caused by reattachment and flow impingement. The fluid dynamic computations provide insight into the experimental measurements and were successfully compared with simple analytical models.

This paper focuses on the three dimensional flight path planning for a UAV on a low altitude terrain following/terrain avoidance mission. Using an approximate grid-based discretisation scheme, we transform the continuous optimisation problem into a search problem over a finite network, and apply a variant of the shortest-path algorithm to this problem. In other words using the three dimensional terrain information, three dimensional flight path from a starting point to an end point, minimising a cost function and regarding the kinematics constraints of the UAV is calculated. A network flow model is constructed based on the digital terrain elevation data (DTED) and a layered network is obtained. The cost function for each arc is defined as the length of the arc, then a constrained shortest path algorithm which considers the kinematics and the altitude constraints of the UAV is used to obtain the best route. Moreover the important performance parameters of the UAV are discussed. Finally a new algorithm is proposed to smooth the path in order to reduce the workload of the autopilot and control system of the UAV. The numeric results are presented to verify the capability of the procedure to generate admissible route in minimum possible time in comparison to the previous procedures. So this algorithm is potentially suited for using in online systems.

This paper presents a methodology for studying the feasibility of stratosphere airship for high altitude long endurance missions and arriving at the baseline specifications of conventional configuration of stratosphere airship, given the performance and operational requirements. Based on this methodology, the AODAP platform (Airship Optimisation Design and Analysis Platform) was developed. Some innovative concepts used in AODAP that are different from previous methods and codes are presented. The shape optimisation of airship was introduced into the design process, and several optimum objectives can be selected including minimum drag, minimum weight and composite objective based on MDO (Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation). The methodology was validated for other design concepts previously developed for similar missions and also was compared to a low altitude vehicle. The baseline specifications of stratosphere airships designed for various shapes using this methodology are presented. The results of sensitivity analyses for a specified airship are discussed, and the sensitivity of airship length with some critical parameters including area density of envelope fabric, area density of solar cell, efficiency of solar cell and efficiency of fuel cell for the specified shape is also provided.

Recent developments in the field of Mini-UAVs lead to successful designs in both hovering rotorcraft and fixed wing aircraft. However, a polyvalent MAV capable of stable hovering and fast forward flight is still expected. A promising candidate for such versatile missions consists of a tilt-body tail-sitter configuration. That concept is studied in this paper both from the flight mechanics and control points of view. Developments are based on an existing prototype called Vertigo. It consists of a tail sitter fixed-wing mini-UAV equipped with a contra-rotating pair of propellers in tractor configuration.

A wind-tunnel campaign was carried out to extract experimental results from the Vertigo aerodynamic characteristics. A 6-component sting balance was fitted in the powered model enabling excursion in angles of attack and sideslip angles up to 90°. Thus, a detailed understanding of the transition mechanism could be obtained. An analytical model including propwash effects was derived from experimental results.

The analytical model was used to compute stability modes for specific flight conditions. This allowed an appropriate design of the autopilot capable of stabilisation and control over the whole flight envelope. A gain sequencing technique was chosen to ensure stability while minimising control loop execution time. A MATLAB-based flight simulator including an analytical model for the propeller slipstream has been developed in order to test the validity of airborne control loops.

Simulation results are presented in the paper including hover flight, forward flight and transitions. Flight tests lead to successful inbound and outbound transitions of the Vertigo.

With both theoretical analysis and measurement data, it has been identified previously that there exists a robust sound emission from a pair of counter-rotating aircraft wake vortices at the frequency of unsteady vortex core rotation. In a vortex system with multiple vortices, the sound emission frequency can be subjected to change because of interactions among the vortices. The behaviour of the influence, indicated by the ratio between the core size and the distance of the vortices and the underlining vortex core dynamic mechanisms, is investigated in this study. A vortex particle method is used to simulate the vortex core dynamics in two-dimensional, inviscid and incompressible flow. The flow field, in the form of vorticity, is employed as the source in the far-field acoustic calculation using a vortex sound formula. Cases of co-rotating vortices and a multiple-vortex system composed of two counter-rotating vortex pairs are studied for applications to aircraft wake vortex sound. The study shows, without vortex merging, individual frequencies can be clearly identified that are due each to core rotation (self induction) and co-rotating motion of a vortex centre around the other (mutual induction). The ratio of the core size and the distance between vortices does not seem to significantly influence the frequency of vortex core rotation. With vortex merging, a single frequency due to the merged vortex core is generated.

Hutapea et al showed that an actuation system based on shape memory alloy coils could be employed for a wing flap of an aircraft. A continued research and development of these previously demonstrated smart flight control mechanisms was performed with the goal to develop a proof-of-concept shape memory alloy (SMA) actuation system, which utilises SMA springs to control the six degrees of freedom of an aircraft. For this actuation system, the springs are heated via an electric current, causing the spring to contract as the metal’s phase changes from martensite to austenite. The contraction allows the springs to function as linear actuators for the aircraft’s control surfaces, specifically the flaps and ailerons on the wings and horizontal stabilisers and a rudder on the tail. As a significant advancement to the overall actuation system, an air burst-cooling system increases the cooling rate of the coils by means of forced convection. Computer-based finite element model analysis and experimental testing were used to define and optimise SMA spring specifications for each individual control surface design. A onesixth scale proof-of-concept model of a Piper PA-28 Cherokee 160 aircraft was constructed to demonstrate and to verify the final actuation system design.

Helicopter accidents cause many fatalities, and their avoidance is a major area of work for Civil Aviation safety authorities around the World. This paper uses helicopter accident data from the United Kingdom between 1986 and 2005 for 566 accidents and from New Zealand between 1996 and 2006 for 230 accidents to analyse helicopter accidents according to five categories of causes: airworthiness failure (engine); airworthiness failure (non-engine), operational failure, maintenance failure and mixed failure (i.e. operational and airworthiness combined). Factors associated with accidents, e.g. the engine types and weights of the helicopters involved; the nature of the operations and the phase of flight of the helicopter are also analysed. Operational failures were further analysed by Human Factors Analysis and Classification Scheme (HFACS) and airworthiness failures by a logical scheme of helicopter components. The results indicate that operational failures, especially due to unsafe acts, are the major cause of accidents in both countries followed by airworthiness causes. Light single piston helicopters are by far the major group associated with accidents in both countries, with few accidents for twin turbine helicopters. The majority of accidents were in non-public operations with few in public operations and in both countries, the cruise/flight/circuit phase has the largest number of accidents. Further analyses indicated statistically significant associations: type of helicopter and the cause of accidents; type of helicopter and the phase of flight; cause of accidents and nature of flights; cause of accidents and phase of flights; training flights and inadequate supervision; landing and procedural error and cruise and attention failure.

Woven composite specimens with embedded fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensor networks were impacted at low velocities, while global measurements of contact forces and dissipated energies were obtained from drop tower measurements, and local residual, post-impact strain values were obtained from the FBG sensors. Critical damage events were identified in the global data for these specimens and damage signatures in the residual strain data corresponding to these critical damage events were correlated. The results indicate that the full spectral scan information from the sensor network, although obtainable at a lower scan rate, provide more reliable residual lifetime information than average residual strains.

The aim of this paper is to consider the role of air power in the future, within the wider security environment and across the full spectrum of conflict. The key is to make some reasonable assumptions about the future strategic environment for the next ten to fifteen years, extrapolating from our experience since the end of the cold war and our existing knowledge of potential state threats and substate threats and challenges. One of our failings since the end of the cold war has been to focus on the operational level of war at the expense of thinking hard about national strategy. The formulation of national strategy is supposed to be directed by government, but if that government fails to provide strategic direction, as it has done over recent years, the result is short-termist perspectives, and a ‘hand to mouth’ approach to crisis management. This has been reinforced further by financial constraint and the electoral cycle. Ideally, a strategic perspective helps us not only to set our current age in a much wider context, thus preventing or making us less inclined to ‘knee-jerk’ reactions to single events, but it also assists in the making of correct judgements about the nature of a conflict or scenario, thus enabling us to apply the appropriate type of tool (air power or otherwise). History is littered with instances of the inappropriate use of military force, and air power is no exception, and we cannot afford nugatory manpower and material expenditure. The challenge is, therefore, enormous: to meet current commitments, while preparing for future possibilities.

This paper presents a methodology for calculating the operability and performance of split-flow fans with inlet distortion. A one-dimensional stage-by-stage model has been developed to include parallel compressor theory. The model is capable of providing a detailed definition of the circumferential and radial flow fields. The low-pressure fan is divided to three radial divisions, near-hub, near-tip, and mid-span. The characteristics of each radial segment are calculated by using fan radial profiles. The stable and unstable operations of a split-flow fan, with and without inlet distortion, have been investigated in this study. For the clean inflow surge was triggered by the core compressor, whereas the fan spoiled sector was found to cause the compression system to surge for the distorted case.

The Asia-Pacific GNSS Test Bed is a regional collaborative programme that brings together aviation practitioners in the field of satellite navigation within the Asia-Pacific to study the performance of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and to develop a regional plan that will lead to a successful implementation of GNSS in the region. The program is a work program under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation GNSS Implementation Team (APEC GIT), a working group under the APEC. The Test Bed has been in operation since August 2006. The system architecture reflects hybrid architecture between a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) and a ground-based augmentation system (GBAS). Test reference stations (TRSs), consisted of a dual-frequency GPS receiver, a communication interface, and a data archival hardware, have been installed in the participating economies. GPS data collected at the TRSs will be transmitted to the test master station (TMS) in Bangkok, Thailand. SBAS messages will be generated and the messages will be broadcasted through a test VHF station (TVS). A test user platform (TUP) will receive GPS signal and the SBAS messages broadcast from TVS and then calculate and archive the TUP’s positions.

This paper discusses performance analysis and flight test results conducted in Thailand in September 2007. During flight trials, noting that the Test Bed broadcasts SBAS messages through a VHF data link (VDL) similar to that of GBAS, the impacts of VHF broadcast, such as transmitting power, terrain effects, and impacts of different aircraft attitudes and positions are analysed. Preliminary analysis result indicates that, while the GBAS VDL coverage is very good through out the 30nm airport terminal area, during approach, and even during taxi, considerations should be given to levels of transmitting power to eliminate possible intermittent loss of VHF messages received by the aircraft receiver. This intermittent loss of VHF messages results in very strong fluctuation of horizontal protection levels (HPL) and vertical protection levels (VPL) calculated by the TUP. To yield with possible problem, windowing techniques are proposed and analysed.

A new parameter estimation method based upon neural network is proposed. The method proposed here uses feed forward neural networks to establish a neural model that could be used to predict subsequent time histories given the suitable measured initial conditions. The proposed neural model would not represent a generic flight dynamic model. The neural model in this case develops point to point fitting of the input and the output data. Thus, it could at best be referred to as flight dynamic model in restricted sense. Gauss-Newton method is then used to obtain optimal values of the aerodynamic parameters by minimising a suitable defined error cost function. The method has been validated using longitudinal and lateral-directional flight data of various test aircraft. The results thus obtained were compared with those obtained through wind tunnel test, or those obtained using Maximum likelihood and/or Filter error methods. Unlike, most of the parameter estimation methods, the proposed method does not require a prior description of the model. It also bypasses the requirement of solving equations of motion. This feature of the proposed method may have special significance in handling flight data of an unstable aircraft.

Quantitative and qualitative results of a series of experiments conducted on a rotor in ground effect at low forward speeds are presented. The velocity over a wide area of the ground effect wake was measured using particle image velocimetry, and the evolution of the flow is described as the forward speed increases. The formation of a dust cloud leading to so-called helicopter brown-out was simulated through a series of flow visualisation experiments. The technique involved sprinkling a fine dust on the ground below and ahead of the rotor. Larger dust clouds were observed at lower forward speed, and the dust cloud penetrated into the areas of the flow including those where vorticity levels were of low magnitude and occasional velocity fluctuations from the mean were large.