Undergraduate Graduate Faculty

21-29 of 29 results

  • Environmental Analysis of Convective Initiation Events in Central Florida using Integrated Mobile Observation

    PI Shawn Milrad

    PI Daniel Halperin

    This research collaboration with the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Office Tampa Bay aims to develop an ingredients-based methodology to help improve forecasts of first-strike cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in summer thunderstorms across Central Florida. Results will be used to construct a new forecast tool that will aid NWS forecasters in protecting the region’s life and property from these dangerous lightning events.

    Lightning is a major hazard to life and property in Florida and annually leads the nation in lightning strikes and fatalities. The proposed research collaboration with the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Office Tampa Bay aims to develop an ingredients-based methodology to help forecast first strike cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in warm-season thunderstorms across Central Florida. A comprehensive environmental analysis of these convective initiation events is being performed using numerous observational datasets, including mobile radar and surface observations from recent ERAU field courses and campaigns. The environmental analysis will examine first-strike events across the eight large-scale flow regimes previously identified by NWS Tampa Bay. A particular focus is placed on events that occurred during four weeks of ERAU field courses/campaigns in 2015 and 2018, allowing for the unique integration of mobile observations. Results are being used to construct a new forecast tool integrated with existing radar- and satellite-based lightning tools, to improve first-strike alert lead times. Also, the proposed project has established a fruitful collaborative research relationship between ERAU and NWS Tampa Bay while providing research experience and training for several ERAU undergraduate meteorology majors. These undergraduate students have completed much of the work on the project and have gotten to interact with NWS Tampa Bay personnel. It is expected that this project will also stimulate future more significant research collaborations between ERAU Meteorology and regional NWS forecast offices.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Deep-Learning-Based Unobtrusive Estimation of Pilot Adverse Interactions and Loss of Energy State Awareness

    PI Hever Moncayo

    ​This project aimed at gaining more insight into the mechanisms of pilot SD and LESA occurrence, capturing their dynamic fingerprint, and developing on-board intelligent schemes capable of predicting and detecting these dangerous phenomena associated to pilot behaviors. 

    Findings: Final report submitted 9/24. Each of the mathematical models showed good capabilities of estimating each of the pilot parameters and represent a promising tool towards the characterization of pilot behavior using learning components. Continuation can be pursued by generalizing or extending the proposed results to other aircraft-pilot dynamics, possibly eVTOLs for AAM.

    Student and Curriculum impact. The simulation and testing tools will be integrated as part of the experiential learning of the course AE623 Guidance, Navigation and Control that will be taught by the PI next Fall 2025. The proposed technique also allowed a master student in Aerospace Engineering to complement and enhance her thesis outcomes.

    Scholarly products: NASA ULI submission, NSF Dynamics Control and Systems

    • Brutch, T. Schill, and H. Moncayo, Machine learning approach to estimation of human-pilot model parameters, in Guidance Navigation and Control Architectures for Autonomous Systems III, AIAA SciTech 2024 Forum, 2024-1200 (AIAA, Orlando, FL, 2024).
    • S. Brutch and H. Moncayo, Performance analysis of machine learning algorithms to humanpilot-model parameter estimation, in IS-30, Human - Automation Interaction, Accepted for presentation in AIAA SciTech 2025 Forum (AIAA, Orlando, FL, 2025).
    • S. Brutch, Rocio. Jado-Puente, and H. Moncayo, A physics-informed deep learning model for estimating human pilot behavior and mitigating adverse interactions, in Guidance Navigation and Control Architectures for Autonomous Systems III, AIAA SciTech 2024 Forum, 2024-1200

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Transfer and Retention of Training in Real and Virtual Spaceflight Environments

    PI Erik Seedhouse

    This research compared how effectively suborbital tasks are learned in an actual NBE compared with a VR-rendered NBE. This study demonstrated the efficacy of NBE-type training as a means to improve the effectiveness of training suborbital SFPs. 



    ​Manned suborbital spaceflights are just around the corner. SpaceShipTwo, operated by Virgin Galactic and New Shepard, operated by Blue Origin, will most likely fly fare-paying passengers sometime in 2020. Each passenger will pay $250,000. And, with just four minutes (240 seconds) of actual microgravity time, that equates to almost $1000/second. For spaceflight participants (SFPs) a category which will include tourists and scientists, the cost of incorrectly performing even simple tasks will be extremely costly.

    In spaceflight, even for highly trained astronauts, the tactile-kinesthetic and vestibular systems are affected by weightlessness. Of course, astronauts traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) have plenty of time to adapt, but SFPs will have no time at all – the time from rocket ignition to microgravity is less than 5 minutes. Compounding this lack of adaptation is the fact that suborbital SFPs will generally only have 3 days of training (compared with many years of training for an astronaut headed to the ISS).  To overcome the aforementioned difficulties this study evaluated two spaceflight analogous training systems specific to suborbital spaceflight: one that will take place in an actual neutral buoyancy environment (NBE) and one that will take place in a virtual reality (VR) NBE. 

    To date, there have no studies that have evaluated the effectiveness of VR as a means of training suborbital SFPs. Nor have there been any studies that evaluate the utility of NBE-type training for suborbital SFPs. Not only did this study assess the effectiveness of each of these methods of training. It also developed a training tool for the commercial suborbital spaceflight industry. To that end, this study sought to achieve three objectives:  

    1. Measure the effectiveness of neutral buoyancy dive training while wearing the EasyDive system as a means to train suborbital SFPs in a swimming pool 
    2. Measure the effectiveness of neutral buoyancy dive training in an underwater-simulated VR environment as a means of improving maneuvering and performance of tasks in microgravity.  
    3. Based on the results of objectives #1 and #2 a training program for SFPs will be devised. 

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Big Data Analytics for Injury Data

    PI Dothang Truong

    This project leverages big data analytics tools for the exploration and transformation of injury data for a major Part 121 carrier with the goal of predictive modeling. This project offers graduate students an opportunity to work with a substantial airline dataset under the supervision of a faculty member. The outcomes have the potential to lead to more extensive future projects in the realm of big data analytics. (This project is under strict NDA).


    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Small UAS (sUAS) Mid-Air Collision (MAC) Likelihood

    PI Ryan Wallace

    CO-I Dothang Truong

    CO-I Scott Winter

    CO-I David Cross

    This research focuses on sUAS MAC likelihood analysis with general aviation (GA) and commercial aircraft. Because severity research varies based on where a collision occurred on a manned aircraft, this likelihood research will not only look at the probability of a MAC, but also the likelihood of colliding with different parts of a manned aircraft.

    Complete Mid-Air Collision (MAC) risk assessments require estimates of both collision severity and collision likelihood. This research focuses on sUAS MAC likelihood analysis with General Aviation (GA) and commercial aircraft. Because severity research varies based on where a collision occurred on a manned aircraft, this likelihood research will not only look at the probability of MAC but also the likelihood of colliding with different parts of a manned aircraft.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Usability of Urban Air Mobility: Quantitative and Qualitative Assessments of Usage in Emergency Situations

    PI Scott Winter

    CO-I Stephen Rice

    CO-I Sean Crouse

    ​The purpose of these studies is to determine the usability of urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles in the emergency response to natural disasters and the ideal locations for their take-off and landing sites to occur, consistent with the Center's Theme 2. UAM involves aerial vehicles, mostly operated autonomously, which can complete short flights around urban areas, although their applications are expanding to rural operations as well. While initially designed to support advanced transportation mobility, these vehicles could offer numerous advantages in the emergency response to natural disasters. Through a series of four studies with over 2,000 total participants, quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to identify UAM vehicles' usability in response to natural disasters. The studies will examine the types of natural disasters and types of missions where UAM could be considered usable, along with the creation of a valid scale to determine vertiport usability. Interviews will also be conducted to provide qualitative insights to complement the quantitative findings.

    ​In this proposed series of four studies, our overall purpose will be to determine the usability of urban air mobility in the emergency response to natural disasters. As the concepts of urban air mobility move closer to reality, these mostly autonomous aerial vehicles may provide valuable contributions to our response after natural disasters. However, little prior research has examined the types of natural disasters, types of missions, or locations where UAM could be deployed in the emergency response. The first objective of this research will be to assess the usability of UAM based on the type of natural disaster and type of mission. Following this, the research will develop a valid scale to measure possible locations where UAM operations could be conducted following a natural disaster, such as city parks, building rooftops, or existing helipads. The final objective of this study will be to gather qualitative data through interviews to complement the quantitative findings and offer more significant insights and explanations as to the usability of UAM in response to natural disasters.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Fabrication of Copper Lithium-ion Battery Case with Integrated Cooling Channels Using Binder Jetting Additive Manufacturing

    PI Yue Zhou

    CO-I Wenhao Zhang

    CO-I Heer Patel

    CO-I Henil Patel

    CO-I Sirish Namilae

    This project leveraged binder jetting processes to directly fabricate metallic battery cases integrated with various cooling channels, paving the way for the additive fabrication of metallic thermal management devices applied in the aerospace field.



    Findings: Developed heat transfer model for the geometrical design of cooling channels, created files for experimental design and optimized printing & sintering settings, created scale-down prototypes for battery cases with integrated cooling channels.

    Scholarly products: Abstract submitted to SciTech, preparing article for publication. Preparing grant application.​

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • NASA/ZeroG Microgravity Research

    CO-I Pedro LLanos

    CO-I Sathya Gangadharan

    Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Carthage College proposed a technology demonstration that has several advantages over passive slosh control. Relative to slosh baffles, the proposed MAPMD technology has a lower total mass, a much higher degree of surface wave suppression, and less volumetric intrusion into the tank. The MAPMD concept also is optimized for cylindrical tanks (unlike elastomeric diaphragms, which work only in spherical pressure vessels), and currently requires no structural design changes to existing cylindrical propellant tanks.

    The objective of the current research project under PI Kevin Crosby (Carthage College and University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio) is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a low-gravity active-damping diaphragm in reducing the gauging uncertainty of the Modal Propellant Gauging (MPG) technology during propellant slosh. The active damping system relies on a cross-woven mesh of magnetic alloy film embedded in a polymer matrix and formed into a thin circular membrane that floats freely (in 1-g) on the surface of the propellant. The alloy has a large magnetic permeability and demonstrates strong magnetostriction (expansion) under a static applied magnetic field. When formed into a mesh, the alloy is a “smart material” that experiences dramatic changes in structural properties under an applied magnetic field, expanding and stiffening from a pliable mesh to a more rigid structure. A secondary effect of the interaction of the alloy with an applied magnetic field is that the mesh can be induced to accelerate along magnetic field gradients, generating forces on the liquid that can further damp slosh waves. It is the enhanced rigidity and the restorative damping force of the membrane that we exploit in this technology to suppress surface waves and to localize propellant during slosh. The active damping technology used in this technology demonstration has been under development for several years at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. We refer to the mesh alloy embedded in the polymer matrix as a “Magnetoactive Propellant Management Device” (MAPMD). The MAPMD was developed by one of the authors of this proposal who, in partnership with Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, holds the patent for its application to slosh control (Sivasubramanian, et al., 2016). MAPMD has been demonstrated to suppress slosh in 1-g laboratory testing at the ERAU slosh facility with an effective reduction in slosh amplitudes of up to 50% for the low-mode rocking slosh commonly seen in low-gravity propellant slosh (Santhanam, et al., 2015).

    Internal tank diaphragms have long been used in propellant management to control slosh. The diaphragm concept has evolved from elastomers with fixed boundaries on the inside walls of the tank to floating “micro-baffles” that move with the propellant to damp surface oscillations (Paul, 2016). While floating micro-baffles offer reliable slosh suppression in normal (1-g) gravity, the absence of a buoyant force in zero-g precludes their use in most space applications.

    We proposed to test a hybrid of the existing MAPMD diaphragm in which an external magnetic field is used to position the free diaphragm near the top surface of the liquid in low gravity (where buoyant forces are not active). By adjusting the gradient of the magnetic field, the position of the diaphragm can be manipulated with high resolution, while the strength of the magnetic field determines the restorative forces applied to the sloshing liquid. The “Field Gradient Control” method of positioning a free-floating diaphragm is a new approach to propellant slosh mitigation that is both minimally invasive to the propellant tank (requiring only the free-float diaphragm inside the tank) and is scalable to large tank systems. The proposed test had three key objectives:

    Objective 1: Demonstrate the ability to position the MAPMD diaphragm at the free surface of the liquid using field gradient positioning

    Objective 2: Measure the reduction in slosh amplitude of low-gravity propellant simulant slosh when the MAPMD is activated (relative to passive diaphragm slosh suppression), and

    Objective 3: Correlate the reduction in slosh amplitude with enhanced low-gravity gauging resolution of the MPG technology. The reduction in slosh amplitude will be measured relative to a free-floating but unactuated MAPMD.

    Image below: Parabolic flight November 2019

    Image below: Parabolic flight November 2020

    Image below: Accompanied with Carthage College and ERAU students

    ​

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Integrating Expanded and Non-Segregated UAS Operations into the NAS: Impact on Traffic Trends and Safety

    CO-I Dothang Truong

    CO-I Ryan Wallace

    This research led by Richard Stansbury (PI) will provide further insight into the safe integration of sUAS through the forecasting of expanded and non-segregated sUAS operations. The ASSURE research team will collect data to inform the FAA on risk-based methodologies to develop and apply safety rules, regulations, and revised Safety Management System (SMS) protocols based on forecasted UAS operational needs and performance characteristics.


    Categories: Faculty-Staff

21-29 of 29 results