Search Results

The autonomous collision avoidance problem for multi-trailer vehicle maneuvering is investigated in this paper. Different from conventional vehicle systems that contain one single moving part or multi-parts that can be considered as one rigid body, the interconnection between the tractor and each trailer, and interactions between trailers in the multi-trailer system introduce a high dimensional and highly complex dynamic system for the controller design. The external disturbance and parametric uncertainties further increase the difficulty in system identification and state space formulation. To implement a real time control system for various scenarios where the locations and states of the obstacles are not known beforehand, a supervisory algorithm is designed to convert the control problem to a discrete event system. The model predictive control (MPC) using limited lookahead policy is employed in the proposed algorithm.

Differential equations play a prominent role in aerospace engineering by modeling aerospace structures, describing important phenomena, and simulating mathematical behavior of aerospace dynamical systems. Presently, aerospace systems have become more complex, space vehicle missions require more hours of simulation time to complete a maneuver, and high-performance missiles require more logical decisions in there phases of flight. Because of these conditions, a computationally efficient algorithm for solving these differential equations is highly demanded to significantly reduce the computing time. This paper presents an efficient method for solving the differential equations by using variational iteration method, which can be implemented into software package to dramatically reduce the computing time for simulating the aerospace systems thereby significantly improving computer's performance in real-time design and simulation of aircrafts, spacecrafts, and other aerospace vehicles.

This paper presents the design of two cleaning systems following systems engineering design approach. An in situ cleaning system was designed for removing engine oil stains and metal swarf and shavings that adhere to rollers of conveying lines which convey cylinder head as well as other heavy engine components. The other system was to clear and collect metal debris accumulated in the grooves of an engine block internal assembly line. Prototypes were fabricated for the designed cleaning equipment for further testing and assessment. In the system engineering design process, preliminary, intermediate, and detailed design were conducted following an identification of the design problem, within that process a sequence of tasks such as synthesis, analysis, prototyping, and assessment were completed.

A dynamic modeling framework was established to predict status (position, displacement, velocity, acceleration, and shape) of a towed vehicle system with different driver inputs. This framework consists of three components: (1) a state space model to decide position and velocity for the vehicle system based on Newton’s second law; (2) an angular acceleration transferring model, which leads to a hypothesis that the each towed unit follows the same path as the towing vehicle; and (3) a polygon model to draw instantaneous polygons to envelop the entire system at any time point. Input parameters of this model include initial conditions of the system, real-time locations of a reference point (e.g. front center of the towing vehicle) that can be determined from a beacon and radar system, and instantaneous accelerations of this system, which come from driver maneuvers (accelerating, braking, steering, etc.) can be read from a data acquisition system installed on the towing vehicle.

A cost effective, portable particulate management system was developed, prototyped, and evaluated for further application and commercialization, which could remove and dispose particulate matter suspended in air efficiently and safely. A prototype of the present system was built for experimental assessment and validation. The experimental data showed that the developed particulate management system can effectively clean the air by capturing the particles inside it. Effects of viscosity of filter medium on the performance of the developed system were also discussed. The present system is very flexible, whose size and shape can be scaled and changed to be fit for different applications. Its manufacturing cost is less than $10. Based on the experimental validation results, it was found that the present system can be further developed, commercialized, and applied for a variety of industries.

A robot mining system was developed by the State Space Robotic undergraduate student design team from Mississippi State University (MSU) for the 2016 NASA Robotic Mining Competition. The mining robot was designed to traverse the Martian chaotic terrain, excavate a minimum of 10 kg of Martian regolith and deposit the regolith into a collector bin within 10 minutes as part of the competition. A Systems Engineering approach was followed in proceeding with this design project. The designed mining robot consisted of two major components: (1) mechanical system and (2) control system. This paper mainly focuses on the design and assessment process of the mechanical system but will also briefly mention the control system so as to evaluate the designed robotic system in its entirety. The final designed robot consisted of an aluminum frame driven by four motors and wheels. It utilized a scoop and lifting arm subsystem for collecting and depositing Martian regolith.