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Project Oculus is an in-flight deployable mechanical arm/pod system that will accommodate 500 pounds of sensor payload, developed for a C-130 military aircraft. The system is designed for use in counter narco-terrorism and surveillance applications by the Department of Defense and the National Guard [1]. A prototype of the system has been built and is in the testing/analysis phase. The purpose of this study was to analyze the actual stresses and strains in the critical areas found using previous Finite Element (FE) simulations and to ensure that acceptable safety requirements have been met. The system components tested will be redesigned, tested, and reconstructed in the case of unacceptable safety factors or if more reliable methods can be implemented. The system was built to be deployed and retracted in flight, to avoid causing any problems in take off and landing.

Project Oculus, an experimental configurable sensor platform for deploying airborne sensors on a C-130 aircraft, is currently in its pre-flight testing phase. The electronics driving the platform are available commercially off the shelf (COTS) and as such are not automatically rated to comply with stringent military electromagnetic standards as defined in MIL-STD-461. These COTS electronics include efficient switching power converters, variable frequency motor drives (VFD), and microprocessor based equipment, all of which can present electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues. Even in a design where EMI issues were not considered up front, it is often possible to bring the overall configuration into compliance. Switching and digital clock signals produce both conducted and radiated noise emissions. Long cable runs and enclosure apertures become noise transmitting antennas. Large switching currents place noise on the power lines causing interference with other equipment.

The commercially available RNG k-e turbulence model with enhanced wall treatment found in Fluent 6.1 was used to solve the flow over a V-22 Osprey wing equipped with blowing slots. The solutions were then compared to experimental data. Good correlation between the computational and experimental data was found. Download on the wing from the rotors while the aircraft is operating in vertical take-off and landing mode was found to be reduced by the blowing slots.

The development of a standardized roll-on, roll-off (RoRo) sensor pallet system for a C-130 aircraft was conceived by the National Guard and the Counter Narco-Terrorism Technology Development Office to assist in counterdrug reconnaissance activities within the United States and surveillance and reconnaissance missions worldwide. West Virginia University was contracted to perform the design and development of this system because of their innovative design ideas. Before development, the design parameters were established by these two DoD agencies, their mission requirements and by the limitations of the C-130 aircraft. These limitations include using Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) and Government off the Shelf (GOTS) items when developing the system that must be universal on all C-130 aircrafts variants B thru H. Further design criteria are by the limitations of the C-130 aircraft and its existing mission requirements.

During structural engineering design two of the most overlooked design facets of a finished product is understanding the behavior characteristics of how the product will react when resonated at its natural frequencies and actually defining and understanding the overall vibration profile responsible for the excitation of the structure. A C-130 mechanical arm/pod system has been developed to accommodate 1,000-pounds of sensor payload deployable in flight from a C-130 Hercules military aircraft (variants B thru J). The mechanical arm/pod system will be subjected to a profile of vibration from numerous sources during deployment and while in the final operating position. A general vibration profile for the mechanical arm/pod will be compiled from the plane’s four T-56-A-15 turboprop engines, the atmospheric turbulence and random gust loads.