We describe a new approach to measuring the masses of individual macroions. The method employs a pulsed acceleration tube located between two sensitive image charge detectors. The charge and velocity of the macroion are recorded with the first image charge detector. The ion is pulse accelerated through a known voltage drop, and then the charge and velocity are remeasured using the second image ...

3D techniques are increasingly used in aerospace industry to improve quality and performance of aircrafts. This paper presents a 3D imaging technique for studying the aerodynamic shape and flight performance of micro air vehicles. 3D stereoscopic vision, based upon stroboscopic imaging, was utilized to obtain the 3D information of the aircraft’s flexible aerodynamic surface. The aircraft models...

Insect wings are deformable structures that change shape passively and dynamically owing to inertial and aerodynamic forces during flight. It is still unclear how the three-dimensional and passive change of wing kinematics owing to inherent wing flexibility contributes to unsteady aerodynamics and energetics in insect flapping flight. Here, we perform a systematic fluid-structure interaction ba...

The paper presents the modeling of nonlinear longitudinal aerodynamics using flight data of Hansa-3 aircraft at high angles of attack near stall. The Kirchhoff’s quasi-steady stall model has been used to incorporate nonlinear aerodynamic effects in the aerodynamic model used to estimate the parameters, thereby, making the aerodynamic model nonlinear. The Maximum Likelihood method has been appli...

Turning is crucial for animals, particularly during predator-prey interactions and to avoid obstacles. For flying animals, turning consists of changes in (i) flight trajectory, or path of travel, and (ii) body orientation, or 3D angular position. Changes in flight trajectory can only be achieved by modulating aerodynamic forces relative to gravity. How birds coordinate aerodynamic force product...

Conventional quaternion based methods have been extensively employed for spacecraft attitude control where the aerodynamic forces can be neglected. In the presence of aerodynamic forces, the flight attitude control is more complicated due to aerodynamic moments and inertia uncertainties. In this paper, a robust nero-adaptive quat...

An aerodynamic shape optimization method that treats the design of complex aircraft configurations subject to high fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD), geometric constraints and multiple design points is described. The design process will be greatly accelerated through the use of both control theory and distributed memory computer architectures. Control theory is employed to derive the ...

This project investigates aerodynamic system identification. An airfoil produces time varying loads based on the current and past boundary conditions; this project seeks to identify the lift loads resulting from pitch motion. The first part discusses some unsteady aerodynamic theory. The second part discusses the identification process. The final part discusses conclusions and observations. Aer...

This paper describes how the Functional Mock-up Interface (FMI) standard for model-based systems engineering can be used to expand capabilities of aerodynamic multicopter analysis tools perform integrated design electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) systems. The proposed eVTOL system, which consists a drivetrain battery, was developed using Modelica exported MATLAB/SIMULINK model excha...

Considering the challenges of short product life cycles and growing variant diversity, cost minimization and manufacturing flexibility increasingly gain importance to maintain a competitive edge in today’s global and dynamic markets. In this context, an aerodynamic part feeding system for high-speed industrial assembly applications has been developed at the Institute of Production Systems and L...