• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.117-144
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• 2019

High Altitude and Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft are capable of providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities over vast geographic areas when equipped with advanced sensor packages. As their use becomes more widespread, the demand for additional range, endurance and payload capability will increase and designers are exploring non-conventional configurations to meet the increasing demands. One such configuration is the joined-wing concept. A joined-wing aircraft is one that typically connects a front and aft wings in a diamond shaped planform. One such example is the Boeing SensorCraft configuration. While the joined-wing configuration offers potential benefits regarding aerodynamic efficiency, structural weight, and sensing capabilities, structural design requires careful consideration of elastic buckling resulting from the aft wing supporting, in compression, part of the forward wing structural loading. It has been shown already that this is a nonlinear phenomenon, involving geometric nonlinearities and follower forces that tend to flatten the entire configuration, leading to structural overload due to the loss of the aft wing's ability to support the forward wing load. Severe gusts are likely to be the critical design condition, with flight control system interaction in the form of Gust Load Alleviation (GLA) playing a key role in minimizing the structural loads. The University of Victoria Center for Aerospace Research (UVic-CfAR) has built a 3-meter span scaled and flexible wing UAV based on the Boeing SensorCraft design. The goal is to validate the nonlinear structural behavior in flight. The main objective of this research work is to perform Ground Vibration Tests (GVT) to characterize the dynamic properties of the scaled flight vehicle. Results from the experimental tests are used to characterize the modal dynamics of the aircraft, and to validate the numerical models. The GVT results are an important step towards a safe flight test program.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.239-256
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• 2019

This study develops a dual purpose: i) evaluating the effects of two different Mars atmosphere models (NASA Glenn and GRAM-2001) on aerodynamics of a capsule (Pathfinder) entering the Mars atmosphere, ii) verifying the feasibility of evaluating the ambient density and pressure by means of the methods by McLaughlin and Cassanto, respectively and therefore to re-build the values provided by the models. The method by McLaughlin relies on the evaluation of the capsule drag coefficient, the method by Cassanto relies on the measurement of pressure at a point on the capsule surface in aerodynamic shadow. The study has been carried out computationally by means of: i) a code integrating the equations of dynamics of the capsule for the computation of the entry trajectory, ii) a DSMC code for the solution of the flow field around the capsule in the altitude interval 50-100 km. The models show consistent differences at altitudes higher than about 40 km. It seems that the GRAM-2001 model is more reliable than the NASA Glenn model. In fact, the NASA Glenn model produces, at high altitude, temperatures that seem to be too low compared with those from the GRAM-2001 model and correspondingly very different aerodynamic conditions in terms of Mach, Reynolds and Knudsen numbers. This produces pretty different capsule drag coefficients by the two models as well as pressure on its surface, making not feasible neither the method by McLaughlin nor that by Cassanto, until a single, reliable model of the Mars atmosphere is not established. The present study verified that the implementation of the Cassanto method in Mars atmosphere should rely (such as it is currently) on pressure obtained experimentally in ground facilities.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.145-158
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• 2022

The dynamics of the outer zone radiation belt has received a lot of attention mainly due to the correlation between the occurrence of enhancing relativistic electron flux and spacecraft operation anomalies or even failures (e.g., Baker et al. 1994). Relativistic electron events are often observed during great storms associated with ultra low frequency (ULF) waves. For example, a large buildup of relativistic electrons was observed during the great storm of March 24, 1991 (e.g., Li et al. 1993; Hudson et al. 1995; Mann et al. 2013). However, the dominant processes which accelerate magnetospheric radiation belt electrons to MeV energies are not well understood. In this paper, we present observations of Pc5 ULF waves in the recovery phase of the Bastille day storm of July 16, 2000 and electron and proton flux simultaneously oscillating with the same frequencies as the waves. The mechanism for the observed electron and proton flux modulations is examined using ground-based and satellite observations. During this storm time, multiple packets of discrete frequency Pc5 ULF waves appeared associated with energetic particle flux oscillations. We model the drift paths of electrons and protons to determine if the particles drift through the ULF wave to understand why some particle fluxes are modulated by the ULF waves and others are not. We also analyze the flux oscillations of electrons and protons as a function of energy to determine if the particle modulations are caused by a ULF wave drift resonance or advection of a particle density gradient. We suggest that the energetic electron and proton modulations by Pc5 ULF waves provide further evidence in support of the important role that ULF waves play in outer radiation belt dyanamics during storm times.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.117-126
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• 2022

The Ionospheric Anomaly Monitoring by Magnetometer And Plasma-probe (IAMMAP) is one of the scientific instruments for the Compact Advanced Satellite 500-3 (CAS 500-3) which is planned to be launched by Korean Space Launch Vehicle in 2024. The main scientific objective of IAMMAP is to understand the complicated correlation between the equatorial electro-jet (EEJ) and the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) which play important roles in the dynamics of the ionospheric plasma in the dayside equator region. IAMMAP consists of an impedance probe (IP) for precise plasma measurement and magnetometers for EEJ current estimation. The designated sun-synchronous orbit along the quasi-meridional plane makes the instrument suitable for studying the EIA and EEJ. The newly-devised IP is expected to obtain the electron density of the ionosphere with unprecedented precision by measuring the upper-hybrid frequency (f_UHR) of the ionospheric plasma, which is not affected by the satellite geometry, the spacecraft potential, or contamination unlike conventional Langmuir probes. A set of temperature-tolerant precision fluxgate magnetometers, called Adaptive In-phase MAGnetometer, is employed also for studying the complicated current system in the ionosphere and magnetosphere, which is particularly related with the EEJ caused by the potential difference along the zonal direction.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.791-800
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• 2022

The number and locations of force generators and their force directions of Active Vibration Control System(AVCS) are important to maximize the airframe vibration reduction performance of helicopters. The present AVCS simulation using an exhaustive test method attempts to determine the best number and locations of force generators and their force directions for maximization of the airframe vibration reduction performance of UH-60A helicopter at 158 knots. The 4P hub vibratory loads of the UH-60A helicopter are calculated using DYMORE II, a nonlinear multibody dynamics analysis code, and MSC.NASTRAN is used to predict the vibration responses of the UH-60A airframe. The AVCS framework with an exhaustive test method is constructed using MATLAB Simulink. As a result, when applying AVCS with the optimal combination of the force generators, the 4P airframe vibration responses of UH-60A helicopter are reduced by from 19.35% to 98.07% compared to the baseline results without AVCS.

• Journal of Satellite, Information and Communications
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2011

COMS(Chollian) satellite which was launched on June 26, 2010 has three payloads for Ka-band communications, geostationary ocean color imaging and meteorological imaging. In order to make efficient use of the geostationary satellite, a concept of mission operations has been considered from the beginning of the satellite ground control system development. COMS satellite mission operations are classified by daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal operations. Daily satellite operations include mission planning, command planning and transmission, telemetry processing and analysis, ranging and orbit determination, ephemeris and event prediction, and wheel off-loading set point parameter calculation. As a weekly operation, North-South station keeping maneuver and East-West station keeping maneuver should be performed on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. Spacecraft oscillator updating parameter should be calculated and uploaded once a month. Eclipse operations should be performed during a vernal equinox and autumnal equinox season. In this paper, operational validations of the major functions in COMS SGCS are presented for the first three month of in-orbit test operations. All of the major functions have been successfully verified and the COMS SGCS will be used for the mission operations of the COMS satellite for 7 years of mission life time and even more.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.219-229
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• 2018

This paper proposes Kalman Filter-based relative navigation algorithms for proximity tasks such as rendezvous/docking/cluster-operation of spacecraft using PSD Sensors and Infrared Beacon Modules. Numerical simulations are performed for comparative analysis of the performance of each relative-navigation technique. Based on the operation principle and optical modeling of the PSD Sensor and the Infrared Beacon Module used in the relative navigation algorithm, a measurement model for the Kalman filter is constructed. The Extended Kalman Filter(EKF) and the Unscented Kalman Filter(UKF) are used as probabilistic relative navigation based on measurement fusion to utilize kinematics and dynamics information on translational and rotation motions of satellites. Relative position and relative attitude estimation performance of two filters is compared. Especially, through the simulation of various scenarios, performance changes are also investigated depending on the number of PSD Sensors and IR Beacons in target and chaser satellites.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.415-431
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• 2022

Secondary flows have a huge impact on losses generation in modern low pressure gas turbines (LPTs). At design point, the interaction of the blade profile with the end-wall boundary layer is responsible for up to 40% of total losses. Therefore, predicting accurately the end-wall flow field in a LPT is extremely important in the industrial design phase. Since the inlet boundary layer profile is one of the factors which most affects the evolution of secondary flows, the first main objective of the present work is to investigate the impact of two different inlet conditions on the end-wall flow field of the T106A, a well known LPT cascade. The first condition, labeled in the paper as C1, is represented by uniform conditions at the inlet plane and the second, C2, by a flow characterized by a defined inlet boundary layer profile. The code used for the simulations is based on the Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) formulation and solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with the Spalart Allmaras turbulence model. Secondly, this work aims at estimating the influence of viscosity and turbulence on the T106A end-wall flow field. In order to do so, RANS results are compared with those obtained from an inviscid simulation with a prescribed inlet total pressure profile, which mimics a boundary layer. A comparison between C1 and C2 results highlights an influence of secondary flows on the flow field up to a significant distance from the end-wall. In particular, the C2 end-wall flow field appears to be characterized by greater over turning and under turning angles and higher total pressure losses. Furthermore, the C2 simulated flow field shows good agreement with experimental and numerical data available in literature. The C2 and inviscid Euler computed flow fields, although globally comparable, present evident differences. The cascade passage simulated with inviscid flow is mainly dominated by a single large and homogeneous vortex structure, less stretched in the spanwise direction and closer to the end-wall than vortical structures computed by compressible flow simulation. It is reasonable, then, asserting that for the chosen test case a great part of the secondary flows details is strongly dependent on viscous phenomena and turbulence.