Electronic technologies that enables aerospace

This section highlights early electronics milestones that have made significant contributions to aerospace and defense. Today everyone thinks digital, whereas more than 50% of electronic advances since society founding 50 years ago were in the analog or continuous domain. It is too easy to forget that before the 1970s and 1980s analog systems had been the norm. Digital electronics emerged late in WWII, when the US Army contracted with the University of Pennsylvania to compute extensive artillery firing tables. The Cold War substantially accelerated advances in solid state electronics which led to the microelectronics that are so ubiquitous today. Defense and then aerospace programs were symbiotic with electronics in the development and mass production of transistors, integrated circuits, microelectronics, microprocessors, magnetic and then solid state memory. Small, reliable, low power and high performance electronics were the key to aerospace progress. The government backed virtually all these developments out of necessity. The power of computers has increased by over a million since 1972 and is still climbing. The initial enabling technology for advances in military electronics was the almost forgotten vacuum tube. The existence of electrons was first recognized as the “Edison Effect” in 1883. The seminal event in electronics was the audion invented by Lee De Forrest in 1906. The audion appeared just three years after the first Wright brother's flight and four years before the Army purchased their first Wright airplane. Up until the World War I (WWI) radio amateurs were the electronics pioneers, but the war created new demand for radio communications. Electronics expanded from communications into radar, navigation and control systems in World War II (WWII). Both wars brought about dramatic improvements in electronics, which resulted in a surplus of equipment and trained personnel to fuel postwar advances     

Invention of ground control approach radar at the MIT RadiationLaboratories

The use of the XT-1 radar by Dr. Luis Alvarez in 1941, at the newly formed MIT Radiation Laboratory, to provide aircraft approach guidance, and the subsequent development of a new radar concept for ground control approach, are described. Their use during World War II and subsequent adoption for civil aviation are discussed     

高精度全机重心测量方法的探讨

飞机全机质量、重心测量是飞机出厂检验必须的工序。本文系统地介绍了飞机重心测量的原理,定量地分析了飞机姿态对重心测量精度的影响。在此基础上,提出了一种全新的质量、重心测量方法,该方法避开了对飞机进行几何测量的环节,从而减少了导致测量误差的因素。     

遥控小型倾转旋翼机飞行控制系统研究

遥控小型倾转旋翼机飞行控制系统研制中所涉及到的关键技术众多,围绕研制中遇到的问题提出了解决措施和技术方案。本文主要讨论遥控小型倾转旋翼机飞行控制系统的系统的结构与配置,包括飞行控制计算机、传感器系统、电动伺服舵机、基本飞行控制规律等。     

Aerospace High Voltage Development

High voltage has been used for electrical power system generation, transmission, and distribution for over 75 years and manufacturers have been designing x-rays, radios/television transmitters and receivers for many years with excellent success. High voltage usage in aerospace equipment initiated during World War II with the advent of high power communications and radar for airplanes. About 20 years ago the first high voltage components were built for spacecraft systems. This article is to provide some insight into the status of high voltage for aerospace equipment and the differences between terrestial and aerospace system functions and the attendant problems. What are the basic differences between terrestial/commercial and aerospace equipment? The aerospace environment is defined as that significantly above the Earth's surface: From 5000 feet altitude to deep space. The basic differences are the constraints placed on the user vehicle (airplane, missile, or spacecraft). Constraints include: Atmospheric pressure, temperature, lifting capability, electronic requirements, and volume. Early airplanes needed only radios and mechanical pressurization instruments. Today's sophisticted airplanes require transmitters, receivers, controls, displays, and in the military case, special electronics. The addition of electronic devices has increased the electrical power demand from a few watts (for early aircraft) to well over one megawatt for special applications. There is the need for compact packaging to reduce weight and volume. Spacecraft with booster limitations are ever more restrictive of weight and volume then airplanes while they must maintain complete electrical system integrity for mission durations of several months to years.     

适于飞控系统设计的缩比直升机建模

在传统的旋翼、尾桨、机身的气动力模型基础上,引入了缩比直升机的舵机、航向控制系统模型,建立了适合缩比直升机飞行控制系统设计的非线性飞行动力学数学模型。深入探讨了稳定杆对缩比直升机飞行动力学的影响,并进行了仿真计算,结果表明所建立的数学模型能反映缩比直升机的飞行动力学特点,适合其飞行控制系统设计。     

Exploratory and Advanced Development in the U. S. Navy

The relationship of Exploratory and Advanced Development to the overall Navy research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT & E) program is indicated in terms of the proportion of funds allocated. Selected projects and areas of work are named or discussed and the proportionate allocation of funds to Navy bureaus is indicated to present representative pictures of Exploratory Development (exemplified by a Bureau of Ships electronics program) and Advanced Development (exemplified by a Bureau of Naval Weapons electronics program).     

自抗扰控制技术在电动舵系统中的应用

针对无刷直流电机驱动的位置伺服系统,介绍了其自抗扰控制器设计的基本思路与实现过程。通过扩张状态观测器的动态补偿提高了电动舵机的鲁棒性,同时对系统闭环特性进行了分析,并对结果进行了仿真计算与实验研究,最后给出了自抗扰控制技术在快速响应电动舵机中的应用结果。     

Low cost guidance for the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS)artillery rocket

The US Army Aviation and Missile Command has demonstrated the application of advanced technology to significantly improve the accuracy and range of the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) through the Guided MLRS Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD). The addition of a cost-effective guidance and control package to the rocket results in a weapon system that can defeat the target at ranges up to 70 km with significantly fewer rounds. This not only increases the destructive capability of the system but also reduces the cost of the expended ammunition, the cost to transport the ammunition to the combat zone, and the number of launchers required to execute the mission. The guidance kit is housed in the nose of the MLRS and consists of an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), four independent electromechanically actuated canards, a GPS receiver, GPS antennas, a thermal battery, a guidance computer, and power supply electronics. Roll decoupling of the warhead and motor section was required to allow roll control of the guidance section to enable accurate inertial navigation and was accomplished by joining the two sections with a roll bearing. Five flight missiles were built and tested during the ATD. A tightly coupled eight channel GPS receiver was flown on all flights. This paper discusses the ATD development effort and presents flight test results     

Making technology work in World War II

The role played during World War II by small band of airman, hidden from public knowledge in a remote part of China, in bringing about victory over Japan is examined. Their actions represented the first major uses of airborne radar by the United States. The ways in which the group dealt with the challenge of turning the new technology of radar, which had just emerged from the laboratory, into an unusually effective weapon, is described by an officer who was responsible for preparing for the first maintenance of the equipment, implementing the maintenance, and contributing the technical expertise to the planning and evaluation of the operation. The low-altitude radar bombsight, AN/APQ-5 (LAB), designed to provide an electronic analog to the Norden high-altitude optical bombsight, is also described     

Firewire: standard computer industry interconnect for test & measurement

Do you know what Firewire is? If not, you soon will, IEEE 1394, or Firewire, is an up-and-coming electronics industry standard that will soon be in wide use for interconnecting a massive variety of electronic equipment. It will be used for connecting CD-ROMs and scanners to computers, and it will be used for connecting VCRs, DVDs and satellite dishes to digital televisions. How does this affect Test & Measurement? This paper discusses Firewire, along with it's lower-end companion, USE, and how they can and will be utilized in T&M applications to replace T&M specific technologies, such as IEEE 488, and MXI. The advantages-and disadvantages-of these new technologies are discussed along with what the Test & Measurement industry should do to support these new technologies.     

SCR-584 radar and the Mark 56 naval gun fire control system

The pioneering World War II effort of marrying precision radar to antiaircraft fire-control computers is described. The people and organizations involved are discussed, and the new areas of application opened by the research are addressed. The technical problems that had to be solved are examined     

Linear-quadratic and norm-bounded differential game combined guidance strategy against active defense aircraft in three-player engagement

A new type of guidance strategy, combining linear quadratic and norm-bounded game theory, is proposed for the scenario of an attacker against active defense aircraft in three-player engagement. The problem involves three players, an attacker, a defender and a target. The differential game theory and the solution of Hamiltonian equation are utilized to obtain the combined guidance strategy for each player with arbitrary-order dynamics. The game process is divided into 4 phases, C1-C4, according to the switching time. The linear quadratic differential game guidance scheme is employed to reduce the fuel cost in the game parts of C1 and C3. The norm-bounded game guidance strategy is adopted to satisfy the constraint of control input in the game stages C2 and C4. Furthermore, zero-effort miss distance is introduced to meet the constraints of game space and defender’s killing radius in the guidance strategy, which guarantees that the attacker is able to avoid the interception of the defender and hit the target with lower fuel cost and maximum acceleration. And it is proved that the proposed guidance strategy satisfies the Nash equilibrium condition. Finally, the feasibility and superiority of combined guidance strategy are respectively illustrated by nonlinear numerical simulation and verified by comparing with linear quadratic and norm-bounded differential game guidance strategies.     

The MESSENGER Spacecraft

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft was designed and constructed to withstand the harsh environments associated with achieving and operating in Mercury orbit. The system can be divided into eight subsystems: structures and mechanisms (e.g., the composite core structure, aluminum launch vehicle adapter, and deployables), propulsion (e.g., the state-of-the-art titanium fuel tanks, thruster modules, and associated plumbing), thermal (e.g., the ceramic-cloth sunshade, heaters, and radiators), power (e.g., solar arrays, battery, and controlling electronics), avionics (e.g., the processors, solid-state recorder, and data handling electronics), software (e.g., processor-supported code that performs commanding, data handling, and spacecraft control), guidance and control (e.g., attitude sensors including star cameras and Sun sensors integrated with controllers including reaction wheels), radio frequency telecommunications (e.g., the spacecraft antenna suites and supporting electronics), and payload (e.g., the science instruments and supporting processors). This system architecture went through an extensive (nearly four-year) development and testing effort that provided the team with confidence that all mission goals will be achieved. Larry E. Mosher passed away during the preparation of this paper.     

The future of head-up guidance

The use of head-up displays in allowing aircraft to operate in low visibility is examined. A head-up guidance system that incorporates modern optics, holographic display, wide field of view, pilot-in-loop, optimized intuitive symbology, high quality sensors including ring laser gyro platforms, and modern electronics is described. The results of online studies are discussed     

Aviation Radio [A century of powered flight 1903-2003]

The following topics are dealt with: electron tubes; World War I efforts; post WWI radio advances; airmail; antenna developments; weather; and WWII and after.     

The story of the MIT Radiation Laboratory

The author relates how the MIT Radiation Laboratory came into existence, how it was run, and the research it did during World War II     

Navigation and landing [A century of powered flight 1903-2003]

Navigation and landing for the first half century of aviation fundamentally relied on radio-based electronic aids. The military began serious investigation of radio navigation during World War I. Up until WW II map reading, dead reckoning, and various means of radio direction finding were the primary methods of determining aircraft position. Since WWII a number of other navigation techniques, such as Doppler radar, radio inertial, pure inertial, aided inertial, and today's integrated GPS inertial, have been developed. Most of the inertial systems evolved from the military ICBM and subsequent space programs.     

Sociotechnical Systems Evolution and International Stability: 1885-2001

A number of evolutionary sociotechnical patterns associated with the intensification of warfare and movement of the international system into a domain far from equilibrium are discussed. Evolution is extended from the past 100 years to the end of the 20th century with the identification of several likely crises precipitatory to World War III. Systems theoretic interpretation of a number of evolutionary developments is made. The use of systems concepts and systems experts in the management of international stability is discussed further.     

LORAN-C in the 21st Century

LORAN, which stands for long range navigation, was first brought into service during World War II. Its earliest form, LORAN-A, served us well up to the time the last station was taken off the air in December 1980. It was succeeded by LORAN-C as part of the Department of Defense's program to develop a new generation of radionavigation aids. LORAN-C not only has a greater range than LORAN-A but also provides better accuracy. With the declining cost of integrated circuits, LORAN-C receivers are becoming more affordable. This, along with good repeatable accuracy and excellent coverage, is increasing the worldwide popularity of navigation with LORAN-C. Fishermen, recreational boaters and the general aviation community make up a good percentage of this dramatic increase (an additional 75,000 marine and 10,000 aviation users the past year alone).