List all Tracks

ABSTRACT

Military Metrology for AeroSpace is organized by AFCEA Naples Chapter and University of Sannio. Military Metrology for AeroSpace is a parallel event of the 7th IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for AeroSpace.

PRESENTER

Unregistered User
None

ABSTRACT

Military Metrology for AeroSpace is organized by AFCEA Naples Chapter and University of Sannio. Military Metrology for AeroSpace is a parallel event of the 7th IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for AeroSpace.

PRESENTER

Unregistered User
None

ABSTRACT

In-depth understanding of leading-edge technologies and safety requirements is requested in developing high-performance avionics solutions. The lecture will discuss the evolution of aircraft cockpit instrumentation to highlight main trends and technologies adopted. Solutions and system architectures for sensors and systems will be discussed considering several important features, such as avionics requirements, certification issues, operative constraints, and safety concerns. The evolution of cockpit layout will be discussed starting from traditional “basic T” to current advanced configurations related to Integrated Modular Avionics. The impact of enabling technologies on the development of new functions and capabilities is discussed. In particular, the lecture will highlight the concept of complex systems realized by integrating several sub-systems, such as ADS-B, TCAS and GPWS. The use of embedded electronic solutions will be discussed by presenting the different data bus solutions and architectures. Main issues related to hardware and software qualification process of embedded avionics systems will be examined. This is an important point to provide integration with components developed for different fields of application, such as ground and maritime transport or Internet of Things. Use of common solution will be useful to reduce costs and increase reliability due to scale testing.

PRESENTER

Domenico Accardo
University of Naples Federico II, Italy

ABSTRACT

Modern surveillance networks are able to provide trajectories of all kinds for aircrafts and vessels worldwide or at least in extended areas of the airspace or earth surface. Best known are Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) and (Satellite-) Automatic Identification System (AIS) used in air and maritime surveillance. Both of them are cooperative systems. Besides these sources, sensors based on ground installations or mounted on airborne and space-based platforms deliver object trajectories independent of any transponders. This is done by advanced tracking and fusion algorithms generating trajectories out of sensor measurements. Besides the trajectory generation, the challenge will be to place them into the right context and to provide situational awareness. This includes the estimation of the intents of the tracked objects, activity-based intelligence, and the determination of patterns of life. Otherwise, even modern surveillance systems are not able to take a real advantage of the gathered data.

PRESENTER

Felix Opitz
Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Germany

ABSTRACT

Closing and Award Ceremony

PRESENTER

Unregistered User
None

ABSTRACT

Imaging instruments play an important role in science and in scientific space missions. They are used for detection, characterization and study of remote objects e.g. planets, their moons, small bodies of our solar system and beyond. However, many researchers and engineers have only a very limited understanding about the architecture, the key-parameters, design-options and their impact on performance and implementation. Therefore, this short tutorial will provide some insight into the basics of imaging systems with emphasis to VIS/NIR scientific cameras.

PRESENTER

Harald Michaelis
DLR, Institute of Planetary Research - Germany

ABSTRACT

Integrated data analysis (IDA) methods first became widely used in the frame of nuclear fusion research, thanks to the capacity to combine data from different origins, together with expert knowledge, in order to perform optimal inferences in the presence of uncertainty. In the last few years, as a result of the growth in available computational power, IDA methodologies spread to aerospace and other fields, where it has showed its praise in the study of complex phenomena. The present tutorial will introduce the topic and show an application to measurements and inference in the frame of space electric propulsion research. It is important to note that the applications of the presented concepts are not limited to the study of plasma devices, as these methodologies can be extended to other areas of interest of the aerospace community, as has been occurring in the last few years, with applications in aerodynamics, structural damage analysis and multidisciplinary design, among others.

PRESENTER

Manuel Martin Saravia
Università di Pisa, Italy

ABSTRACT

Infrared thermography, as a remote and non-contact measurement methodology, is extremely useful in all applications where temperature is an important parameter also for the purpose of understanding related phenomena. Often those who could reap the benefits do not know of its existence or are not adequately informed about its applications. Therefore, providing the basics (what is, for what it can be used, where it can be applied) can serve to convey, in the world of research and / or industry, the information necessary for a more suitable use of technology.

PRESENTER

Carosena Meola
University of Naples 'Federico II', Italy

ABSTRACT

Terrain assessment is a key aspect for autonomous exploration rovers, surrounding environment recognition is required for multiple purposes, such as optimal trajectory planning and autonomous target identification. In this work we present a technique to generate accurate three-dimensional semantic maps for Martian environment. The algorithm uses as input a stereo image acquired by a camera mounted on a rover. Firstly, images are labeled with DeepLabv3+, which is an encoder-decoder Convolutional Neural Networl (CNN). Then, the labels obtained by the semantic segmentation are combined to stereo depth-maps in a Voxel representation. We evaluate our approach on the ESA Katwijk Beach Planetary Rover Dataset.

PRESENTER

Sebastiano Chiodini
University of Padua, Italy

ABSTRACT

The capability to perform Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) from SAR images has great importance for both civilian and military applications. However, this task becomes challenging when the quality and quantity of target information is not sufficient to reliably discriminate the targets. This is particularly important when dealing with marine targets, where features such as scattering intensities and shapes are common to many different targets. This paper investigates the possibility to enhance classification capabilities of marine targets in SAR images by exploiting the micro-motion information. This characterizing source of information, is extracted by applying Doppler sub-apertures and pixel tracking on SAR images containing the target of interest. The proposed approach is validated on real COSMO-SkyMed SAR data demonstrating the effectiveness to discriminate ships through their unique Doppler fingerprint.

PRESENTER

Davide Armenise
University of Naples

ABSTRACT

Payloads left in space at the end of life create debris. A high number of space debris surround our planet and within a few years, experts argue, it will no longer be possible to send payloads safely into space. Our studies strive to demonstrate the ability to bring a payload back to Earth without the use of active propulsion system in close proximity of the ISS. The use of a classical chemical propulsion system near sensitive and inhabited space areas can generate risks and cause contamination due to the fuel ejection. Consequently, the design of a passive but controlled vehicle, that satisfies safety and freepollution requirements, needs a new propulsive technology. A possible solution is using a Tether Subsystem, mounted an onboard a re-entry capsule, employed to execute the first part of the release/deployment maneuver. The tether deployment trajectory must be controlled in order to provide a high libration angle of about 40° and a radial velocity near zero at the end of tether deployment. The control algorithm adopted is based on reliable and easy to measure dynamics parameters: the deployed length and length rate are the inputs of the control loop that forces the tethered capsule to follow a pre-determine reference trajectory. Relevant details of the IR sensors (photocells) that are planned for the measuring the input parameters are also presented. The aim of our study is to propose a safe and pollution-free solution for deorbiting a controlled space vehicle from the ISS, preventing hazards and minimizing external contamination.

PRESENTER

Andrea Valmorbida
Dept. of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Italy

ABSTRACT

En-route hazardous weather or traffic congestion can cause to civil aviation problems in terms of delays caused by necessary digressions, compelling to change the standard reference trajectories and generating an increase in fuel consumption. The effect is a consequent increase in pollution, due to larger emission of CO2, NOx and water vapor and the noise in proximity of the airports. In this paper a mitigation to this problem is proposed based on multi-object trajectory optimization by using graphs of feasible aircraft trajectories to which are applied genetic and pareto front algorithms to select the best one in terms of different parameters optimization (i.e. delays, fuel consumption, emissions, noise). The proposed method can be integrated both on-ground in a global missionsystem and on-board the aircraft, since it can run in real time. An application of the method has been proposed and implemented in Clean Sky European Project for generating trajectories optimized for weather avoidance and emission reduction, while saving aircraft safety margins, and then customized for automatic graph of trajectory generation. Quantitative results in terms of fuel consumption reduction and pollution decrease are provided, compared to the standard nonoptimized trajectories, and a suitable implementation on an electronic flight bag tested on different flight simulators is shown.

PRESENTER

Alberto Lupidi
CNIT - RaSS, Italy

ABSTRACT

Inertial sensors are main measurement transducer of the attitude measurement and inertial navigation. The accuracy is crucial to measure accurately, also in the environment of the changeful temperature. Thermal compensation decreases sensitivity of the temperature but it is limited, because the sensor response on temperature is not a mathematical function. Thermal hysteresis is main subject of the paper. As a result of the study, it was found that in addition to the typical hysteresis loop, there may appear effects of a breakthrough and this effect is repetitive for transducer specimen. In this study there is described a methodology of data processing to obtain sensor response on changing temperature as a vector field and preliminary model of this phenomena is proposed.

PRESENTER

Jacek Pieniazek
Rzeszow University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

In the game of pursuit and evasion in outer space, it is of utmost importance for the evader to make appropriate maneuver to survive this challenge. In previous publications, the common approach of guidance behavior recognition and counteracting evasion approach is based on model matching or multi-model matching. In that genre, due to the limitation of approximation from model matching and imperfection of state information, it is very difficult for the evader to take optimal maneuver when the pursuer uses unknown tracking algorithms. To solve this problem, in this article, deep neural network and reinforced learning are applied in counteractive maneuver. In the proposed approach, two networks are applied. Guidance recognition network is a pre-trained deep network able to estimate guidance behavior of pursuer vehicle, and the maneuver control network is trained by deep reinforced learning to perform counteract evading maneuver control. Exploring the policy space with Monte Carlo method, the maneuver controller deep neural network evolved to make optimal control acceleration and succeed in the evasion. Digital simulations confirmed that in the game of pursuit and evasion, deep reinforced learning with Monte Carlo method has the ability to guide the evader during the interception with improved chance of survival.

PRESENTER

Runle Du
National Key Laboratory, China

ABSTRACT

Celestial Geolocalization using a star tracker is a promising method to expand on the abilities of sun sensor based celestial navigation systems used by planetary rovers. Realizing this improvement requires developing methods to improve inclinometer accuracy, in this paper we examine methods for characterizing and calibration biaxial inclinometers with the goal of reaching an accuracy of 0.004 over a wide range of motion. We examine electrolytic and MEMS inclinometers and test a number of models found in literature that describe the relationship between the measurements and the inclinometer frame gravity vector. We compare these models to our own formulation and were able to successfully validate our projection model to better than the desired accuracy.

PRESENTER

Ilija Jovanovic
Ryerson Univeristy - Aerospace Engineering, Canada

ABSTRACT

The Optical Particle Counter "MicroMED" will be part of the ExoMars 2022 mission. Its design is conceived to optimize the performances in Martian environment. However, tests in terrestrial deserts during dust storms would be very important to the verification of the functioning of the instrument’s electronics and software in such critical conditions. In order to perform such tests, the instrument design has to be adapted to Earth conditions to guarantee an efficient sampling of the dust grains. In this framework, a CFD analysis was performed in order to understand how to properly adapt the instrument design to Earth conditions in the most efficient way.

PRESENTER

Giuseppe Mongelluzzo
INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Italy

ABSTRACT

PRESENTER

Paolo Marzioli
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

ABSTRACT

In terahertz radar systems, the beam characteristics of terahertz sources are the key factors affecting the imaging quality, and the divergence Angle of terahertz beam is one of the parameters that must be measured before designing terahertz radar and other systems. The transmission characteristics of ideal terahertz beam are studied by numerical simulation, and a three-dimensional scanning platform is built to study the beam characteristics of 100GHz terahertz wave source, and the divergence Angle of terahertz beam is obtained, which has important reference value for terahertz radar systems.

PRESENTER

Xiaoqiang Gao
Beijing Aerospace Institute for Metrology and Measurement Technology, China

ABSTRACT

Frequency-modulated continuous-wave FMCW laser detection and ranging technology is very suitable for absolute distance measurement of large-scale, non-cooperative targets with high resolution, and precision. However, the precision of ranging often decreased because of the frequency modulation nonlinearity of FMCW laser. In order to solve this problem, we propose a method for eliminating the nonlinearity by real-time measurement of the relative frequency of the FMCW laser with an optical frequency comb. The scanning range of the FMCW laser spans from 1556 nm to 1562 nm with a scanning speed of 2000 nm/s. The measurement resolution of the ranging system is about 220 μm, and the repeatability is below 100 nm.

PRESENTER

Yang Xie
Beijing Aerospace Institute for Metrology and Measurement Technology, China

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes a novel measurement method for multiple Radio Frequency (RF) emitters localization, which relies on RF sensors exploiting Non Uniform Sampling (NUS) and Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA) measurements. The observed RF emitters signals are reconstructed from the compressed samples by means of Multiple Measurement Vectors (MMV) based Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) algorithm. The method has been tested in simulation for assessing the improvement in the signal reconstruction quality and position measurement errors in terms of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The obtained results were compared against a method already available in literature. The proposed method exhibits a RMSE in the order of 1m for the localization of two RF emitters by using four RF sensors performing NUS with a compression ratio up to 30.

PRESENTER

Francesco Picariello
University of Sannio, Italy

ABSTRACT

The laser scanner gives the data which makes possible to localize moving vehicles in the environment. Concept of algorithms and its tests by simulation and using real time data are are main subjects of the paper. Although there are many algorithms in this application huge amount of data and iterative operation requires high computing power. The presentation is concerned on searching a methods to decrease number of iterations necessary to find vehicle position and direction of its body in the reference to surroundings. The scan to scan analysis results in estimation or rotation velocity and angle. This method is proposed as initialization stage of ICP or feature points method. The reduction of the computation time is proved by experiments.

PRESENTER

Jacek Pieniazek
Rzeszow University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

In this paper we present a simulation framework for the evaluation of the navigation and localization metrological performances of a robotic platform. The simulator, based on ROS (Robot Operating System) Gazebo, is targeted to a planetarylike research vehicle which allows to test various perception and navigation approaches for specific environment conditions. The possibility of simulating arbitrary sensor setups comprising cameras, LiDARs (Light Detection and Ranging) and IMUs makes Gazebo an excellent resource for rapid prototyping. In this work we evaluate a variety of open-source visual and LiDAR SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) algorithms in a simulated Martian environment. Datasets are captured by driving the rover and recording sensors outputs as well as the ground truth for a precise performance evaluation.

PRESENTER

Riccardo Giubilato
DLR, Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, Germany

ABSTRACT

Multirotor vehicles propulsion systems are based on the assembly of a (usually fixed pitch) propeller with an electric motor, powered by a battery pack. Resulting endurance and range performance of the vehicle are thus heavily constrained by the capacity of the battery pack. This study aims at providing a set of accurate measurements of propeller performance, together with a reliable estimate of power consumption in different operating conditions. A test bench was developed to measure propeller thrust and torque and all relevant electrical parameters. The results obtained from the measurements are then used to validate elementary models of the propeller, providing the premises for estimating propeller aerodynamic parameters, fundamental for physically consistent vehicle sizing at a preliminary design phase.

PRESENTER

Donato Stigliano
Politecnico di Bari, Italy

ABSTRACT

The systems and control theory was developed since before the 19th century and provides the necessary mathematics for the analysis of dynamic measurement uncertainty, which is a new concept needed for the development of the future technology. The knowledge of the theory of systems and control is based on disciplines such as mathematics, statistics and signal processing. The purpose of the present study is to compile this technical knowledge to develop methods for the metrological reliability of dynamic quantities through uncertainty analysis and, as a complement, to unify the concepts with the measurement science.

PRESENTER

Claudio Fogaca Truyts
Institute of Aeronautics and Space, Brasil

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, the space debris issue is on top of the list of all space agency in the world. Even more so with the advent of the new space economy which will increase even more the number of objects around the Earth and consequently impact risk between operative satellite and space debris. S5Lab has developed several tools in order to identify, classify and monitor object in orbit. Measurements acquisition occurs by means of a network of telescope around the Earth surface. In this paper will be shown all S5Lab’s activities starting from image and measurements acquisition until attitude determination retrieved from the light-curve, passing for orbit determination and measure calibration. Moreover, a TLEs improvement procedure will be exposed.

PRESENTER

Lorenzo Mariani
Sapienza University of Rome

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, the pollutant emissions reduction and the increase in the renewable energy share are key points for a sustainable development. In addition to the industrial and civil sectors, transportation has a crucial role still representing around 25% of the whole green-house gas emission. Despite the electrification of the automotive sector is increasing, several challenges need to be overtaken in order to extend the use of electric sources to the aviation sector, thus requiring investigation on both electrical and mechanical behavior of energy storage devices. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the state of health (SoH) for 3Ah lithium battery cells operating in vibration stress conditions. The effect of different shaking frequencies applied to the radial and the longitudinal battery axes are investigated. Moreover, both short-term and long-term (aging) tests are conducted. The results showed that no significant effect on capacity fade can be observed. However, a slightly different capacity, calculated for charge and discharge processes, was observed under vibrating tests, thus suggesting that mechanical vibrations can possibly interact with the ion-transfer mechanism.

PRESENTER

Gianluca Caposciutti
University of Pisa, Italy

ABSTRACT

Advanced physical technologies developed in the research laboratories of the Moldova State University (MSU) are used in the monitoring of environmental factors with the application of UVS (Unmanned Vehicle Systems). The aim of this research is development of an integrated mobile system for the exact monitoring and computational modeling of environmental factors. This paper deals with the first advisable stage related to a drone-dedicated system for the observation and support of the air analysis for pollution, chemical and radiological contaminations. The exact data can then be used in modeling of the impact of biotic and abiotic factors during the real-time environmental monitoring process.

PRESENTER

Florentin Paladi
Moldova State University, Moldova

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with the theoretical and experimental development of model-based health-monitoring algorithms for a jamming-tolerant electromechanical actuator for flight control applications. A nonlinear dynamic model of the actuator, which includes two motors coupled with differential ball screws in speed-summing arrangement, is experimentally validated with reference to the different operation modes of the system (i.e. with active/active or active/stand-by motors). The validated model is then used to design the health-monitoring algorithms, with a special focus on the characterisation of the failure transient related to the detection, the isolation and the compensation of jamming faults, which imply a control laws switching to engage the appropriate operation mode.

PRESENTER

Gianpietro Di Rito
Università di Pisa, Italy

ABSTRACT

Electron impact ionization (EI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer (MS) is very suitable for real time detection of in-situ gas composition in space because of its fast response speed. In this paper, the design and experiment evaluation of a miniature reflectron TOF MS with EI source developed in our lab, is described in detail. The working conditions of the instrument, such as pressure, pulse frequency, electrical parameters including gas ionization chamber voltage, detector voltage and acceleration voltage, were optimized during the experiment. Furthermore, other performances of the TOF MS, including detection limits, mass accuracy and mass stability, were obtained. Herein, a compact instrument for space applications has been developed and its performance has been evaluated. The mass of the TOF MS is 13.4kg, with dimension of 300 mm × 200 mm × 200 mm, and the power consumption is 25 W.

PRESENTER

Unregistered User
None

ABSTRACT

In order to meet the mass and center of mass measurement requirement in the assembly process of rocket cabins, a new method is proposed based on the moment balance principle and alternative mechanism. While the reference of force transducers cannot be measured directly on the assembly platform, the principle of calculating the attitude by laser tracker is presented, and an alternative measurement mechanism of mass center is designed to realize the combination of assembly and measurement. The actual maximum error of the equipment is less than 0.1%, which is validated by an experiment of measuring a standard sample. At last, the sources of measurement error are analyzed to improve the accuracy. The results show that this measurement system can measure the mass and center of mass in the process of assembly, and fulfill the accuracy requirement of rocket cabins

PRESENTER

Wenhao Dong
Beijing Aerospace Institute for Metrology and Measurement Technology, China

ABSTRACT

The trends for achieving optimized electrical transportation systems, as hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, trains, and More Electrical Aircrafts (MEA), look promising, with the development of a large number of technological concepts dedicated to embedded-closed volume. With the increasing constraints on efficiency, reliability and compactness of these embedded electrical systems, the electromagnetic integrity becomes a main priority for designers but also for operators. Electromagnetic compatibility and materials’ stresses induced by the highly constrained systems are issues which need to be rightfully monitored to achieve optimal design and operation. This paper details the integration process of a set of electromagnetic sensors (H-field probes) in a representative and dedicated SiC power converter environment, with the aim of addressing the real-time extraction difficulties of specific electromagnetic behaviors in an embedded electrical system. The development of such a process was supported by a custom testbench around a dedicated power converter feeding an electric motor. The integrated probes allow constant monitoring the electromagnetic signature at any operational point. Some preliminary results of the integration process are presented, with measured data of the converter in real operating conditions

PRESENTER

Jean-Marie Larbaig
SIAME laboratory - PHT team, France

ABSTRACT

Avio-launched micro satellites with re-entry capability are useful to acquire data which can be used in future space operations to safely accommodate payloads into the cargo compartment. A deployable aero-brake and a thermal-shield with a detachable payload capsule are expected to protect the satellite and allow the recovery phase. This paper presents the contribution to the preliminary project of payload sensor network to perform anomaly detection and direct measure of relevant flight quantities. In particular, during its operation the satellite needs to estimate temperature, pressure, velocity variations, atmospheric drag, position and consumptions. The possibility of a direct measurement by means of an heterogeneous sensor network would improve this estimations. A survey on hardware technologies available is among the objectives of this work, and it will constitute the basis for further investigations on appropriate data fusion techniques.

PRESENTER

Antonio Del Giudice
ENEA, Italy

ABSTRACT

Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) are today widespread in several contexts as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), navigation and transportation, automotive and self driving vehicles, cellular phones, human motion, and robotics, to cite a few. In most cases, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are adopted for implementing IMUs, and these kinds of devices are often interested in extreme operating conditions when employed in aeronautical applications. Moreover, the measurement data collected by IMUs often feed algorithms involved in positioning systems and trim controlling strategies as well as for fault diagnosis purposes. As a consequence, it becomes essential to analyze the performance of such systems under all working conditions admissible by their nominal operating range. In this framework, the paper reports an experimental activity aimed at studying the effects of temperature variations on a very popular MEMS-based IMU for aircraft applications. In more detail, suitably designed and controlled temperature cycles (falling in the device under test nominal operating range) have been realized, and the achieved results have proved how the temperature excursions can significantly affect the measurements performed by all sensors involved (i.e., gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer).

PRESENTER

Marco Carratù
University of Salerno, Italy

ABSTRACT

Industrial x-ray computed tomography (CT) is a very promising method for non-destructive analysis and inspection of complex parts. CT technique allows to measure internal geometries, which are inaccessible by conventional measurement systems like laser scanner or CMM. Most industrial CT scanners technologies can be split in two categories, each using a fan or cone beam of X-rays. With cone beam CT is possible to decrease the scanning time compared to fan beam CT but scattered radiation can affect the image quality. The aim of this paper is to present the advantages of GE’s scatter correct to obtain high quality images of complex parts with reduced scanning time. The analysis of the reconstructed volume allows dimensional quality control of components with internal cavities, in particular for the measurement of novel additive manufactured (AM) parts, because of the inherent ability of AM to produce parts with complex internal geometries. Other fields of application for CT scan are reverse engineering and failure analysis.

PRESENTER

Nicola Tognetti
Pontlab s.r.l.

ABSTRACT

Recently, the requirements regarding the improvement of reliability parameters, extending the durability period, and shortening the period of downtime are very significant and are still growing. Incorrectly used machines/devices can, as a result, lead to notable losses for the enterprise. M-346 aircraft used in the Polish Air Force, which is relatively young construction, is being operated based on an unclear and underdeveloped maintenance program. This program has been designed exclusively for PLAF, and it is adapted to a specific maintenance structure, different from other aircraft users. Due to this fact, the program is hard to plan and conduct maintenance activities effectively. Such actions result in increasing organizational delays, which in turn leads to more extended preventative maintenance. This paper aims to propose a universal solution based on mathematical models and mobile applications, how to examine, evaluate, and optimize the maintenance program of military aircraft.

PRESENTER

Konrad Wojtowicz
Military University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

This paper deals with constant modulus waveform in spectrally dense environments assuming a discrete phase code alphabet. The goal is to optimize the radar detection performance while rigorously controlling the injected interference energy within each shared band and enforcing a similarity constraint to manage some relevant signal features.

PRESENTER

Jing Yang
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

ABSTRACT

Assuming unknown knowledge of target impulse response (TIR), we discuss the robust optimization problem of the radar code sequence and filter bank configuration for detection of range spread target in the additive Gaussian noise and clutter jamming environment. In order to improve the capability of range spread target detection, we cope with transmit-receive system design to optimize the worst-case signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) gained by a bank of filters. The problem is formulated in terms of a non-convex max-min quadratic fractional optimization program. Relying on an appropriate reformulation, we present an alternate optimization technique which monotonically increases the SINR value and then converges to the limit value. All iterations in the procedure, involve a hidden convex as well as a max-min quadratic non-convex problem that is solved resorting to the generalized Dinkelbach (GD) process. The effectiveness of the alternate optimization procedure is demonstrated by numerical simulation results, highlighting the capability enhancement offered by the robust joint optimization technique.

PRESENTER

Yu Yao
East China Jiaotong University, China

ABSTRACT

This paper deals with the problem of adaptive detectors design for a frequency diverse array multiple-input multipleoutput (FDA-MIMO) radar. At the design stage, adaptive detectors are devised according to the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) criterion, where the target range is assumed unknown within the radar cell. In this respect, the maximum likelihood (ML) estimate of the target range under the H1 hypothesis is approximated either assuming a discrete grid of the possible values or resorting to a Newton-based optimization procedure. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the devised detectors.

PRESENTER

Lan Lan
Xidian University

ABSTRACT

The paper is devoted to the development of an phased array feed for a parabolic reflector antenna. The aim of the work is to choose array element, and to develop an effective design of the phased-array feed for communication dish. The wavefront recovery method was used as a tool for antenna design. The idea of the method is to reproduce defocused image of plane wave incident on parabolic reflector at the plane of first dark Poisson diffraction spot next to the dish surface. Electromagnetic field must be reconstructed with feed system made of spatially distributed array elements. According to simulation results the phased-array feed antenna is more effective than traditional prime focus dish of the same size.

PRESENTER

Vladimir Saetchnikov
Belarusian State University, Belarus

ABSTRACT

The achievable sensitivity of continuous emission (CE) radars may be strongly influenced by the isolation between the transmitter and receiver. Therefore, this parameter needs to be evaluated when a radar is calibrated. This work describes an on-site method for an isolation determination in which the influences of the radar platform are fully taken into account whereas environmental influences are mainly mitigated. Experimental results are presented with a CE noise radar mounted on a moving platform that elegantly separates the isolation effects in the receiver from close-in echoes of the environment.

PRESENTER

Christoph Wasserzier
Fraunhofer FHR, Germany

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines a conceptual and functional digression on a novel Spaceborne Radar (SBR) payload architecture for augmenting space-based measurements and monitoring capabilities for near-Earth Space Situational Awarness (SSA). Taking into account state-of-the art spacequalified technologies in both digital and Radio Frequency (RF) domains, feasible onboard processing subsytems are identified as high level conceptual block schemes allowing for Bayesian inference on small-size debris dynamic states and ancillary scattering signatures. A description of a bespoke Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) based Pulse Doppler Radar in the Ka Band is illustrated from a functional perspective built upon a digital modular archetype, along with programmable temporal hierarchies for acquiring a complex data hyper-cube. Operative modes are also addressed including the novel Low Pulse Repetion Frequency (Low-PRF) Range & Range-Rate Search (RRRS) in cascade with a Pause While Scan (PWS) strategy for Bayesian Multiple Target Tracking (MTT).

PRESENTER

Marco Maffei
University of Napoli Federico II

ABSTRACT

Modern radars are more and more often programmable devices that pose greater challenges to researchers testing their real parameters [1]. The authors describe methods of determining the angular and range resolution for radars, using real aircrafts flights. The systems, developed by the authors that support pilots in the maintenance of a set position of aircraft in the airspace, as well as the resolution research results of modern precise radars using these tools, is presented.

PRESENTER

Mariusz Pakowski
Air Force Institute of Technology - ITWL, Poland

ABSTRACT

In this work, temporal series of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data are used to estimate water elevations. The proposed method is based on a Sub-Pixel Offset Tracking (technique) to retrieve the displacement of the double-bounce scattering effect of man made structures located in the proximity of the water surface. The experimental setup is focused on the cases of the Mosul dam in Iraq and the Missouri river in Kansas city. The proposed approach is applied to real data from the COSMO-SkyMed program. Results validated with in-situ and satellite radar altimeter measurements prove the effectiveness of the proposed method in measuring the water levels.

PRESENTER

Filippo Biondi
University of L’Aquila, Italy

ABSTRACT

The exploitation of the main advantages of Noise Radar Technology (NRT) and the possible solution of relevant problems are considered in this paper, with special attention to Continuous-Emission Noise-Radar (CE NR) architecture and to the waveforms design/selection.

PRESENTER

Gabriele Pavan
Tor Vergata University of Rome , Italy

ABSTRACT

Thanks to the availability of a significant amount of inexpensive commercial Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave Radar sensors, designed primarily for the automotive domain, it is interesting to understand if they can be used in alternative applications. Radars designed for automotive applications, in fact, thanks to their high transmission frequency, large bandwidth and very short chirp signals, are able to provide sub-millimeter resolution and a large detection bandwidth, to the point that it is here proposed to implement a vibrational analysis of a target and evaluate what information on the vibrations can be extracted, and the performance obtainable. In the present work the use of a commercial Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave radar is described, and the performances achieved in terms of target’s displacement and frequency measurement are compared with the measurement results obtained through a laser vibrometer, considered as the reference instrument.

PRESENTER

Gianluca Ciattaglia
Università Politecnica delle Marche - DII, Italy

ABSTRACT

In this paper, a two-step model is proposed, to design an optimal radar waveform to improve the detection of point like targets over a glistening surface. In this respect, a non adaptive waveform is first transmitted and a constrained Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test (GLRT) detector is used at the receiver, which exploits multipath returns in the range cell under test, by modelling the target echo as a superposition of the direct plus the multipath returns. Besides, the clutter returns are assumed to be compound-Gaussian. The Fixed Point Estimate (FPE) algorithm is used in order to estimate the clutter in the range cell under test through the secondary data collected from the out-of-bin cells. The clutter estimates are used to design an adaptive waveform for the next transmission, in order to suppress the clutter coming from adjacent cells. The proposed GLRT is also used at the end of the second transmission for the final decision. The performance analysis results show that the proposed algorithm increases the Signal-to-Clutter Ratio (SCR) of the received signal.

PRESENTER

Seden Hazal Gulen Yilmaz
Tubitak Bilgem Advanced Technologies Research Institute, Turkey

ABSTRACT

The capability of human identification in specific scenarios and in a quickly and accurately manner, is a critical aspect in various surveillance applications. In particular, in this context, classical survaillance systems are based on videocameras, requiring high computational/storing resources, which are very sensitive to light and weather conditions. In this paper, an efficient classifier based on deep learning is used for the purpose of identifying individuals features by resorting to the micro- Doppler data extracted from low-power frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar measurements. Results obtained through the application of a deep temporal convolutional neural networks confirms the applicability of deep learning to the problem at hand. Best obtained identification accuracy is 0.949 with an Fmeasure of 0.88 using a temporal window of four seconds.

PRESENTER

Pia Addabbo
Università Telematica Giustino Fortunato, Italy

ABSTRACT

The X-ray film digitization of aerospace products and the automatic detection of weld defects are of great importance for information storage and management. In this paper, we design a system for digitization and automatic detection. By automatically selecting the image with best exposure time among the images with different exposure time which are captured from an X-ray film, we can get the best digital image after homomorphic filtering of it. Then we design a network on the basis of YOLOv3 for defect detection. The digitization and detection results show that our system is of good effect.

PRESENTER

Unregistered User
None

ABSTRACT

Adhesive joints of bonded metal to composite materials are a recent development and in a high interest in automotive and aerospace industry. Current industrial progress substitutes metal components by carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) in a load bearing structures due to reduction of weight and energy saving. However, not all metal components can be replaced by CFRP. In this case, combination of metal and CFRP gives improved enhancement of the structure. It is challenging to detect disbonding type defects in bonding area between dissimilar joints due to different properties of metal and composite materials and multilayered structure. Though extensive work was done to evaluate interface bonding in similar material joints yet not enough attention was paid to dissimilar joints. This work presents high quality nondestructive testing (NDT) process which includes quantitative evaluation, experimental study and model assisted probability of detection (MAPOD) evaluation. Ultrasonic pulse echo technique was used for inspection of adhesively bonded aluminum to CFRP in order to detect disbonds which occur between dissimilar layers. Computer modelling was performed in order to learn behavior of ultrasonic wave transmitted and reflected in the case of dissimilar joints. To verify modelling results experimental study was performed using 10MHz focused transducer in immersion pulse echo mode. Sensitivity analysis of parameters that can influence the measurement was performed as well as MAPOD assessment.

PRESENTER

Damira Smagulova
Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

ABSTRACT

The work presents a SHM electronic system with real-time acquisition and processing for the determination of impact location on an aerospace structure. The novelty of this work is the quantitative evaluation of impact location errors using the Lamb wave guided mode S0, captured and processed in real time by up to eight piezoelectric sensors. The differential arrival times are used to minimize an error function for the position estimation. The results show quantitively the trade-off between the number of sensors used for the impact positioning and the error. The generated S0 mode signals propagated into a 1.4mm thick aluminum at the velocity of 5150m/s at the corresponding frequency of 650kHz, provide an error that is always less than on wavelength using eight sensors covering a 500mm x 500mm plate surface.

PRESENTER

Andrea Bulletti
University of Firenze, Italy

ABSTRACT

Composite structures show a very complex mechanics and requires to pass trough a very strict design and challenging maintenance tasks. To relax design and maintenance constraints, structural health monitoring and load monitoring have been increasingly investigating for decades. Nonetheless, there is still a gap between scientific results and industry deployment due to different aspects such as sensors’ equipment costs, manufacturing costs, durability and reliability of the integrated structure. This paper deals with the integration of commercially available strain gauges within coposite structures in view of low cost system for continuous load monitoring. The manufacturing process has been controlled opportunely to succesfully embed sensors among different plies. Several tests have been carried out to investigate the effect of the insert on the durability of components and the reliability of the monitoring system approaching linear and non-linear behaviour of structures. The results shows that integrating sensors in composite specimen could even benefit the stiffness of the overall section. However, the thoughness of the material is affected negatively, compromising the durability. Nonetheless, the changes respect to pristine configuration are compensated by the benefit of integrating sensors within the structure. In addition data can be stored to fatigue record and may also be used to warn the occurrence of a damage whether due to the insert induced discontiuity or to the excessive load achieved.

PRESENTER

Vittorio Memmolo
University of Naples FEDERICO II, Italy

ABSTRACT

In order to prevent ice formation, different strategies may be adopted: passive coatings, active power consuming systems, or their combination. Several categories of coatings with ice-phobic behavior have been developed in the last decade, having as a common strategy the creation of rough and hydrophobic surfaces. The goal of the coating application is to repel water droplets, delay ice nucleation and significantly reduce ice adhesion. However, coatings alone are not sufficient to guarantee icing protection in a wide range of humidity and temperature conditions; rather, they should be considered as a complementary option to traditional and power consuming protection methods, such as mechanical ones, for reducing power consumption and the ecological footprint of active system. This work concerns with the early development stage of a low energy consumption system, based on ice-phobic coatings (passive technique) and ultrasounds (active technique), for detecting and removing ice build ups on treated surfaces. The capability of guided waves excited by a piezoelectric element, to remove ice accreted on a coated surface is investigated experimentally.

PRESENTER

Leandro Maio
University of Naples, Italy

ABSTRACT

Renewable energy sources have gained much attention due to the urge to get clean energy. Among the main options being studied, wind energy is a strong contender because of its reliability thanks to the maturity of the technology and relative cost competitiveness. In order to harvest wind energy more efficiently and to improve safety considerations, the wind turbines blades must be monitored regularly to ensure that they are in good condition. This is even truer in cold climate areas where, because of sub-zero temperatures and humid environment for larger periods of the year, icing represents a significant threat to the performance and durability of wind turbines. Therefore, a structural health monitoring (SHM) system is of primary importance. Recently, there has been a significant interest in employing high frequency radar imagery for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE). The main motivations for using this technology are: it allows penetration of most non-metal and nonpolarized materials, it provides the ability for in-depth information, and the millimeter waves pose no health risk to the operator. The main goal of this research is to check the ability of a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar in performing real-time ice detection onto a glass fibre plate when it works in the frequency band from 57-64 GHz. The technology effectiveness to achieve the aforesaid task is proved in a climatic chamber under controlled humidity and thermal conditions.

PRESENTER

Leandro Maio
University of Naples, Italy

ABSTRACT

Due to the multiple obstacles, false signals and complex terrain, it is difficult to provide real-time, high-precision and high reliable navigation information for the aircraft. Therefore, the trustworthiness evaluation technology of aircraft intelligent navigation system is studied in this paper. Firstly, the trustworthiness definition and application value of the intelligent navigation system are studied. Next, the trustworthiness metric index, evaluation standard and dynamic credibility assessment technology are researched, to standardize the reliability design of the system. Finally, the credibility data of aircraft intelligent navigation system are mined and analyzed from different perspectives. Then based on the reliability and validity minds of big data, the construction technology of credibility measurement data set for aircraft intelligent navigation system is established, to provide reliable calculation results for intelligent navigation system and promote the technological innovation of intelligent equipment.

PRESENTER

Jing Sun
Beijing Aerospace Institute for Metrology and Measurement Technology, China

ABSTRACT

This paper relates to the separation of single channel source signals from a single mixed signal by means of independent component analysis (ICA). The proposed idea lies in a time-frequency representation of the mixed signal. Statistically independent time-frequency domain (TFD) components of the mixed signal obtained by ICA are grouped by hierarchical clustering and k-mean partitional clustering. The distance between TFD components is measured with the classical Euclidean distance and the β distance of Gaussian distribution. The proposed method was used to separate source signals from single audio mixes of two- and three-component signals. The separation was performed using algorithms written by the authors in Matlab. The best separation results were obtained with the use of the ? distance of Gaussian distribution, a distance measure based on the knowledge of the probabilistic nature of spectra of original constituent signals of the mixed signal.

PRESENTER

Jerzy Jozwik
Lublin University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

Spacecrafts and space missions require in-depth testing during verification and integration phases. These are accomplished through very specific test equipment that effectively allow investigating any test scenario for which the satellite has been designed. All test equipment and tools designed for this scope represent the Electric Ground Segment Equipment of a mission. In this paper complete test equipment for the most widespread On-Board Data Handling protocols is presented: the SpaceWire/SpaceFibre Analyser Real-Time (SpaceART). SpaceART provides serial link communication interfaces for present and future spacecraft On-Board Data Handling: the State-Of-The-Art SpaceWire technology, the non-standardized solution usually adopted for Gigabit communication WizardLink and the newly released standard SpaceFibre protocol. SpaceART is an innovative instrument easy to customize upon user requirements, regardless of the peculiarity of desired test scenarios. After a brief introduction to the currently available SpaceFibre compliant test-equipment, the paper provides an overview of SpaceART architecture. Finally, two of the most relevant real use cases are reported as proof of the instrument’s effectiveness.

PRESENTER

Antonino Marino
University of Pisa, Italy

ABSTRACT

The article is concerned with the assessment of the electromagnetic field produced by the devices that aircrafts are equipped with. Three different types of training aircrafts were selected for the analysis. The airplanes utilised in the research differed in terms of wings and stabilator systems. The following machines were compared: Top Decker Cessna C172, low Decker Aero AT-3 and helicopter Robinson R44. The values of electromagnetic field intensification obtained that can affect the pilot were compared with the limit and normative ones. The maximum values taken with the ESM-100 meter within the frequency ranging from 5Hz to 400kHz were registered for the Robinson R44 in the pilot cockpit during the machine operation. The highest value of electric component intensification obtained was E=0.88 kV/m and magnetic induction was B=6219nT for the Robinson R44 avionics.

PRESENTER

Joanna Michalowska
The State School of Higher Education in Chelm, Poland

ABSTRACT

Artificial Neural Networks are one of the tools used to predict tool wear or surface roughness in machining. Model development is applicable when regression models do not give satisfactory results. In this work, Multilayer Perceptron networks were used to predict the tool flank wear and tool corner wear during milling of Aluminium Matrix Composite with 10% of SiC content. The signals of vibration acceleration and cutting forces were selected as input to the network and the tests were carried out with three cutting speeds. Based on the analysis of the developed models, the models with the best efficiency were selected and the quality of wear prediction was assessed.

PRESENTER

Martyna Wiciak-Pikuła
Poznan University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

The objective of the article is to indicate a tool that allows finding the relationship between cutting forces and surface roughness and variable cutting parameters and cutting tool wear. The tests were carried out on a workpiece of Inconel 718, machined with cemented carbide milling cutters. The article compares artificial neural networks and multiple regression. Multi-layer Perceptron networks with backward error propagation were used. Based on the conducted research, it was found that in the case of Inconel 718 machining, multiple regression is not a suitable tool for testing the relation analyzed in this article. The correlation (R2) for multiple regression is about 0.6 for forces and 0.25 for roughness. Neural networks have a correlation coefficient (R2) higher than 0,9.

PRESENTER

Agata Katarzyna Felusiak
Poznan University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the following article was to conduct an analysis of the surface topography illustrating the wear of the mold socket made via the additive technique as part of the production process of wax molding patterns of blades. The form has been made of RGD720 material via the application of the PolyJet printing method. Subsequently, a measurement has been taken via a contact method and the surface topography of the socket has been measured before and after completing 30 blade castings with the application of the TalyScan 150 3D profilometer. The Sa and Sz parameters have been generated via the application of the MautainsMap software. Based on the obtained results, one may conclude that a form made with the PolyJet method may, in the future, become an alternative to injection molds made of aluminum alloy in the process of the production of short blade casting series.

PRESENTER

Paweł Turek
Rzeszów University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the design study developed to realize an innovative mission management system that can be installed onboard different unmanned vehicles. The main aim of the project is the standardization of system processes by employing a modular architecture, that can be adopted for several mission profiles. The activity focus is set on the system components design in order to assess specific processing applications. So, after the identification of common processes among platforms, traditional onboard functions can be implemented, such as Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C). This innovative system architecture is characterized by a “core” section, that includes the processing units, and a “custom” section, that involves specific vehicle devices, such as sensors, antennas, and actuators. Considering the modular approach, the optimized design must be selected for each of these units, allowing easier onboard installation and systems exchange. Assessing the specific inputs and combining the “core” processes it is possible to realize synthetic functions that reconstruct the traditional functions outputs. The main advantages of the proposed solution are the increase of the mission management system reliability level and the reduction of costs, thanks to the adoption of same “core” section for different kinds of transport platforms and the employment of Micro Electro-Mechanical System devices.

PRESENTER

Claudia Conte
Università degli Studi di Bergamo / Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy

ABSTRACT

In this paper it is proposed a methodology to automatically produce an adaptive graph of aircraft feasible trajectories based on which it is possible to determine the better trajectory in terms of fuel consumption, weather avoidance and emission reduction. In this contest the aircraft flight is modeled by a finite state automaton where the state is a vector describing the aircraft position, the airspeed and heading; the outputs is the fuel consumption. In the described framework, the aircraft path planning problem is formulated as the search for an optimal transition state path of the automaton which minimizes fuel consumption. The aircraft flight model is formalized, then the graph generation method is described and finally some results for different phase of flight of real aircraft are reported and compared with real flight emissions. This methodology was proposed and developed during in my PHD thesis.

PRESENTER

Gabriella Serafino
Leonardo s.p.a., Italy

ABSTRACT

A possible application of the dispersed optical microresonator based sensor in aerospace-related tasks is discussed. Configuration of the proposed sensor as a set of spherical glass microparticles together with its working principle is discussed. Sensing capabilities have been verified on examples of detection of temperature variations together with monitoring of the small microparticles adsorption. Thermal sensitivity is determined on the level of 8.6 pm/C. The possibility for detection of the adsorption of polesterene microparticles (0.9 and 3.27 m size) in frequency sweeping and spectrally unresolved illumination schemes have been shown.

PRESENTER

Anton Saetchnikov
Belarusian State University, Belarus

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an original approach for hazard detection and landing site selection, exploiting LIDAR measurements, to be used in the framework of autonomous planetary exploration scenarios. The proposed algorithm is designed aiming to reduce the computational effort typically required to process highly dense LIDAR point cloud data for the generation of a hazard map. In this respect, the proposed logic consists in selecting the safest landing region by diving the hazard detection process in two phases. First, a coarse hazard map is generated to discard most of the dangerous regions of terrain from the selection process. Second, a fine hazard map is generated over the safe areas to identify the best landing spot. The level of hazard is measured taking the local surface slope, height, and roughness into account. Preliminary performance assessment of the proposed technique is carried out using point clouds acquired imaging a mockup of the Lunar terrain with the RVS3000-3D® scanning LIDAR (developed by Jena Optronik GmbH). In addition, the algorithm is tested processing a highdensity terrestrial DEM, available through the Open Topography website, to evaluate its performance against a realistic landing terrain scenario.

PRESENTER

Roberto Opromolla
University of Naples "Federico II", Italy

ABSTRACT

The concepts of On-Orbit Servicing and Active Debris Removal have been introduced to increase the operating life of active satellites and as a debris remediation measure, respectively. For these operations, a servicing spacecraft (chaser) must orbit safely and autonomously in close proximity to a target that is typically known, but non-cooperative. So, advanced guidance, navigation and control functions are required to carry out these missions. This work focuses on the problem of estimating the target-chaser relative state and the target inertia properties exploiting measurements from a LIDAR during the different phases of a close-range rendezvous maneuver. Specifically, the relative trajectory is designed to provide both safety and optimal observation conditions. To this aim, it is composed of multiple safety ellipses for monitoring purposes, in which the target-chaser relative distance is of the order of tens of meters, followed by a R-bar trajectory for the final approach. In this scenario, the LIDAR-based relative navigation solution is a multi-step processing architecture, which exploits pose determination techniques, unscented Kalman filtering and a linear least squares solver. The performance of this approach is evaluated by means of numerical simulations.

PRESENTER

Alessia Nocerino
Università degli studi di Napoli "Federico II", Italy

ABSTRACT

Many European programs aim at studying the introduction of Remote Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) into airspace and commercial airports. Among these, Leonardo Company is involved in the program ERA (Enhanced RPAS Automation) launched by the European Defence Agency (EDA) and an industrial consortium led by Airbus Defence and Space to contribute to the integration of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) into common airspace in Europe. The purpose of ERA is to study the Automation & Emergency recovery (A&ER) system, the Auto-Taxi system and ATOL system for UAS. In particular, two of the tasks performed by Leonardo company are to perform an Auto-Taxi risk assessment for supporting standardization and safety increase and to develop a Human Interface to help the pilot in the automatic taxing, increasing his situation awareness and reducing his workload. This paper will provide a description of the Auto-Taxi HMI developed by Leonardo, which was integrated, with other subsystems developed by partners, in an Auto-Taxi demonstrator composed by a ground control station and a remoted ultralight aircraft.

PRESENTER

Gabriella Serafino
Leonardo s.p.a., Italy

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, Ion propulsion systems are reliable enough to promise future space systems with high operational efficiencies. Conventionally, to control the thrust vector, ion engines are mounted on gimbals and oriented as a whole. To date, several studies and experiments have been conducted mounting compact thrust-vectoring systems within the thruster itself to reduce overall system mass. In this sense, gridded ion thruster is one of the most reliable propulsion systems with comparably higher operational efficiency, which allows for such vectoring techniques. The use of a microelectromechanical system combined with piezoelectric actuators for this process is promising. The paper presents a study for a possible implementation of these actuators in an Ion-Engine thrust vectoring system. A preliminary application is studied, and a proof of concept model is developed. Finite element analyses carried out in the present research show that the feasibility of the proposed design is demonstrated by adopting the piezoelectric actuation coupled with suitable compliant structures or adopting existing actuators as microelectromechanical piezoelectric systems. The proposed design, in theory, can eliminate the use of existing complex gimbal systems and thereby reduce the overall thrust vectoring system mass considerably.

PRESENTER

Arjun Jayaprakash Chaliyath
Università di Pisa, Italy

ABSTRACT

The scope of the present work is to illustrate the main idea and the realization process at the basis of Flying Outfit for Control of Unsafe Seagulls FOCUS project. The project has been realized by a consortium of companies in collaboration with the University of Naples “Federico II” and CeSMA (Centro Servizi Metrologici e Tecnologici Avanzati) center. The main objective of the research is the definition of a process able to provide a supply of services for the management of coexistence problems between human and unsafe seagulls by means of small remotely piloted aircraft. The main purpose is to overheat the seagull eggs in the nest by means of a microwave device so they are no longer fertile. This is considered as an acceptable way to reduce the risk of unsafe interaction among seagulls and humans. The paper describes the different steps needed for the realization of the mission and the small unmanned aircraft used for the monitoring, operating on the nest, and collecting of gull fecal samples. Finally, the software developed for image detection of seagulls nest is presented.

PRESENTER

Domenico Accardo
University of Naples Federico II, Italy

ABSTRACT

Sounding balloons are a fast and cost-effective transport system to lift up scientific payloads to stratospheric altitudes around 30 km, where equipment can be tested in low pressure environments and extreme temperature conditions to simulate space operation or conduct investigations of atmospheric parameters. Furthermore, ascent and descent phases offer fast changing dynamic conditions which can be used to evaluate instrument sensitivity to variation of environmental parameters and to test operation of optical systems on different target areas on ground. Images acquired with changing spatial and time resolution can be correlated with mission altitude and trajectory providing information for the validation of detection algorithms and scene mosaic reconstruction methods. This paper describes two autonomous payloads for stratospheric sounding balloon designed, assembled and tested at University of Padova, one devoted to measurement of light pollution, the other to tracking and automatic identification of targets on ground. They both rely on commercial cameras and comprise all electronic boards for sensor conditioning, data acquisition, compression and storage. Acquired images, position and attitude information are saved into on board non-volatile memory and may be partially transmitted on ground through telemetry depending on available transmission capacity. Energy for at least 4-hour continuous operation is provided by rechargeable lithium battery packs, powering all subsystems through a dedicated distribution unit. Both units have been enclosed in a light weight Styrofoam insulated structure and present a final mass lower than 3 kg, staying into the limits of a “light” balloon according to International Civil Aviation Organization regulations. The payloads have been selected by HEMERA Peer Review Group for a flight in 2019 from CNES base in Aire sur l’Adour but operations have been postponed to 2020 for bad weather conditions in both available launch windows. To speed up the operative testing of the units a joint effort has been started with university of Pisa that will hopefully lead to a first launch from Italy in January 2020. Design, calibration activities, functional and thermomechanical tests conducted in the University lab are presented along with a rationale of the expected scientific goals when operating in the stratospheric mission.

PRESENTER

Carlo Bettanini
University of Padova, Italy

ABSTRACT

PRESENTER

Giorgio de Alteriis
Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Università di Bergamo, Italy

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are considered reliable systems, suitable for several autonomous applications, especially for target detection and tracking. Although significant developments were achieved in object detection systems over the last decades using the deep learning technique known as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), there are still research gaps in this area. In this paper, we present a new object detection-tracking algorithm that can be used on low power consuming processing boards. In particular, we analysed a specific application scenario in which a UAV patrols coastlines and autonomously classifies different kind of marine objects. Current state of the art solutions propose centralised architectures or flying systems with human in the loop, making the whole system poorly efficient and not scalable. On the contrary, applying a Deep Learning detection system that runs on commercial Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) makes UAVs potentially more efficient than humans (especially for dull tasks like coastline patrolling) and the whole system becomes easily scalable because each UAV can fly independently and the Ground Control Station does not represent a bottleneck. To deal with this task, a database consisting of more than 115000 images was created to train and test several CNN architectures. Furthermore, an adaptive detection-tracking algorithm was introduced to make the whole system faster by optimizing the balancing between detecting new objects and tracking existing targets. The proposed solution is based on the measure of the tracking confidence and the frame similarity, by means of the Structural SIMilarity (SSIM) index, computed both globally and locally. Finally, the developed algorithms were tested on a realistic scenario by means of a UAV test-bed.

PRESENTER

Alessandro Panico
Italian Air Force - Flight Test Wing

ABSTRACT

The paper aims at investigating the most adequate strategies to develop efficient Machine Learning solutions for Autonomous Vehicles used for terrestrial, air, and maritime transportation. The development of systems with capabilities of performing some parts or even a full mission by adopting fully autonomous solutions has encouraged the development of new interfaces with human pilots. Standard interfaces are based on traditional systems that require low-level actions, such as the one related to steering and instrument monitoring. Indeed, autonomous transport systems have the capability to develop complex logic solutions to self-generate low-level actions. In this case, the role of the pilot is the development of high-level decisions rather than low-level steering of the vehicle. This condition permits the pilot to focus his workload on the most important issues related to driving the vehicle, thus reducing the risk of distraction determined by low- level steering. Therefore, the type and the layout of the developed interface will exploit recent technologies, such as touchscreens, voice recognition, and synthetic vision. The interaction looks like the one provided when the pilot relates to other humans rather than a machine. This condition is verified if the transport system is provided with Artificial Intelligence solutions based on Machine Learning. The paper discuss proper testing strategies to evaluate the adoption of specific interfaces in replacement of traditional ones. The final goal is to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed testing strategies to select adequate interfaces that improve the quality and the safety of transportation. Four case studies are discussed to highlight efficient prototypical systems to be used in these applications.

PRESENTER

Domenico Accardo
University of Naples Federico II, Italy

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, environmental pollution levels are a worldwide concern due to the risks for people’s health. The demand for cutting-edge technologies to determine the sensible areas where pollutants are present in dangerous concentrations is ever increasing, along with the stringent requirements of avoiding the exposure of human operators to toxic substance. For this reason, the proposed work presents a novel method for the surveillance and monitoring of large areas by means of unmanned aerial vehicles. The work encompasses both hardware and software integration of a low-power multi-sensor platform hosted by the aerial vehicle. The platform comprises a multispectral camera, digital optics sensors and toxic/pollutant gas concentration detectors coupled with low-power computing and wireless communication capabilities. Furthermore, a base station platform is implemented to collect data and to provide the analytical tools that facilitate the responsible authorities in the decision of intervention.

PRESENTER

Giuseppe Caragnano
LINKS FOUNDATION, Italy

ABSTRACT

Pattern recognition is one of the most important tasks in aerospace image processing. Various methods based on convolutional neural networks attain state-of-the-art accuracy; however, their effectiveness on exact images is influenced by the chosen architecture and its training parameters. This work present methods based on convolutional neural networks for pattern recognition on the aerospace images. A possibility for objects segmentation into ten classes is demonstrated on example of the multispectral images from the World View 3 satellite. Four networks with different architectures were built, trained and optimized parametrically based on the auto-encoder neural networks. Segmentation results has been analyzed by means of three parameters: training Jacard Index, testing Jacard Index and weight numbers. The positive impact of the properly selected shearing augmentation on extension of a small marked dataset is discussed. The influence of the nonequilibrium classes on the segmentation accuracy and how to account this feature during training of deep neural networks is pointing out.

PRESENTER

Ivan Saetchnikov
Belarusian State University, Belarus

ABSTRACT

Thanks to their advanced properties, composite materials have found applications in important industrial sectors. In particular, in the last decades, the use of natural reinforcing fibers has gained an increasing attention allowing the development of new materials with the same advantages of conventional composite systems but respecting the environment, too. In this frame, the development and identification of fast and low cost non-destructive tools for their quality control is of fundamental importance. In this work, the Lock-in thermography was tested for the analysis of samples belonging to six different “eco” composite materials on which delamination damage was induced. The results obtained are promising and show how the active thermography technique used is well suited for the detection of this kind of defects allowing also a quantitative characterization of their extension.

PRESENTER

Pietro Russo
Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials - National Research Council, Italy

ABSTRACT

In this work, the evaluation of damaged areas due to low velocity impact tests at different impact energy values on Carbon Fibre (CF) laminates with 3D fabric, made by infusion technology and reinforced with epoxy resin, were investigated by NDI (Non-destructive Investigation) technique based on speckle interferometry. Composites are characterized by several interacting failure modes such as matrix breakage, fibre failure and delaminations, which can be simultaneously induced by low velocity impacts. It can be very difficult to detect by visual inspections of the structures such phenomena. The aim of this study is to evaluate the damaged area due to an impact event. CF composite laminates were impact damaged with four energy levels (5, 10, 20, 30J) at room temperature, by drop weight impact machine. The results showed that ESPI technique was able to identify barely visible low-velocity impact damages.

PRESENTER

Vito Pagliarulo
CNR-ISASI, Italy

ABSTRACT

In this extended abstract, we present a computer vision systems that, using machine learning approaches, is able to inspect both internal and external parts of aerospace components. The problem is divided in two main inspection tasks: (i) modelchecking of avionic components and (ii) duct-inspection for defects detection in cavities.

PRESENTER

Carlos Beltran-Gonzalez
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

ABSTRACT

Designing shimming parts in the aircraft manufacturing process is a common task that needs to be solved. In fact, whenever two or more composite parts need to be coupled, a shim could be designed to absorb any assembly tolerance. This process can be effectively improved with an automated analysis of multimodal data (2D and 3D) directly acquired on the field during an assembly process. In this paper, a comparative analysis of SIFT and SURF feature detectors for the automatic registration and subsequent stitching of dense 3D point clouds in the aeronautic field are presented. Results on real data acquired on the field demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach and can be seen as a first step towards the automation of the shimming process.

PRESENTER

Vito Renò
CNR STIIMA, Italy

ABSTRACT

Automated assembly and testing have been key players in the automotive industry in the last few decades, due to the pivotal role of economy of scale possible in that industry. Until now, comparable efforts have not materialized in the civil aerospace industry. A visual inspection methodology for testing of aircraft interiors is presented here. It aims at increasing the level of automation during aircraft testing post-assembly, providing methodologies and technologies for the inspection of both the cabin and the cargo area in single aisle aircrafts. Its expected outcomes are related to a reduction of testing execution time and costs. Additionally, automated testing procedures will increase the level of decisions consistency and reliability, by considering the human factor and addressing the tasks that cause cognitive fatigue after prolonged periods of time. Early experiments validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

PRESENTER

Nicola Mosca
National Research Council of Italy

ABSTRACT

Assembly process of aeronautical skin panels deals with large, thin and compliant components, which are usually joined with rivets. A leading challenge is the control of part-topart gaps prior to riveting operation, which must be maintained below tight design specification limits to avoid excessive pretensions of the rivets which, if exceeded, impair the durability of the whole skin assembly. Gaps are compensated by number of time consuming and costly manual inspection-repair quality loops, which involve measuring gaps, disassembling parts, adding be-spoke shims, re-assembling parts. This paper proposes a novel methodology to support the inspection-repair quality loops with the aim to model and optimise the shape of the shims with the ultimate goal of reducing/eliminating manual and trial-and-error measurements as per today best practice. The methodology will be discussed in two steps: (1) physicsbased variation simulation to model generation and propagation of dimensional and geometrical variations (by using scanning data o morphing mesh model) during multi-stage assembly operations; (2) virtual shimming simulator to model and optimise shimming condition between parts being assembled. The proposed methodology is presented and validated using the assembly process of the vertical stabiliser for commercial aircrafts.

PRESENTER

Salvatore Gerbino
University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli"

ABSTRACT

PRESENTER

Andrea Genovese
University of Naples Federico II, Italy

ABSTRACT

Precise fuel dosage as one of the key factors behind the power supply system can affect the correct course of combustion which in the diesel engine is determined by injection, i.e. injection time and injection angle. This paper presents the research results on a control unit of an aircraft diesel opposite engine. The measured parameters included the mass flow rate of injectors operated by six control channels (3-cylinder engine, 2 injectors per cylinder). Defined by crankshaft speed and injection time, the test conditions corresponded to conditions of take-off power, cruising power and warm up. The examination of the results showed that fuel mass in each of the channels of the control unit is different.

PRESENTER

Lukasz Grabowski
Lublin University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

This paper exposes the preliminary study for the development of an autogyro drone (UAV) which has search and rescue (SAR) tasks. We will illustrate the reasons for choosing the vehicle / autogyro first and then its peculiar architecture.

PRESENTER

Enrico Petritoli
Università Roma Tre, Italy

ABSTRACT

The optimal blade setting angle was determined from the model of the blade, made up of sections. Further, the aerodynamic characteristics were determined for selected sections of the model. The research was carried out in the GUNT HM 170 wind tunnel for specific air flow rates. The maximum lift and drag forces were determined and then converted into dimensionless coefficients. The research object is a prototype rotor blade dedicated for the UAV with a maximum take-off weight of 150 kg. The blade was divided into sections to determine the optimum setting angle along its length and to identify the most suitable angles of attack along the rotor radius. Such an analysis allowed for selecting the optimum angles of attack for the respective blade sections.

PRESENTER

Ksenia Siadkowska
Lublin University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

The paper presents the results of air flow research around the rotorcraft. The studies focused on the measurement of the air flow velocity based on particle image velocimetry. According to the research, the velocity profiles in the symmetry plane of the tested object were determined for the angle of attack at 0° and two velocities in the wind tunnel i.e. v=0 m/s and 12.5 m/s. Identification of velocity values as a coordinate function of the applied reference system also allows for determining the impact range of the pushing rotor and the body of the tested object.

PRESENTER

Ksenia Siadkowska
Lublin University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

Unmanned Aircraft Systems are increasingly used to monitor and sense our cities and the diffusion of UAS will require a Traffic Management System to coordinate UAS in the lowaltitude airspace. In this paper we propose a collision avoidance strategy to be implemented in an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM). The proposed strategy relies on a Cloud-based architecture that monitors and manages the lowaltitude airspace, as well as coordinating the fleet of UAS. The strategy uses a Priority-based Model Predictive Control approach to define the optimal trajectory of the UAS, avoiding obstacles and other UAS with higher priority. The optimal trajectory is shared with other UAS to communicate the own motion track to be avoided by other UAS. The suggested method is implemented and tested in simulations with three UAS with conflicting trajectories. Preliminary results positively support the proposed approach.

PRESENTER

Stefano Primatesta
Politecnico di Torino, Italy

ABSTRACT

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have gained impetus in the last decade from increasing civil, scientific, military, commercial and recreational applications (e.g. urban traffic monitoring, war zone defense and monitoring, archaeological site prospection, inspection of electrical power lines, etc.). Autonomous flight, management and control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are important issues in many professional and research applications. This paper focuses on trajectory measurement and control using two sensors (Angle of Attack, AOA and Angle of Sideslip, AOS) for speed and attitude estimation. The sensors involved in the analysis are a pressure (static and dynamic) sensor and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). Kalman Filtering (KF) has been applied for measurement noise removal and data fusion. The theoretical analysis of the KF shows that global exponential stability of the estimation error is achieved under these conditions. The method has been tested using experimental data from a small quadrotor, with a legacy autopilot to provide basic estimates of UAV velocity and attitude and comparing them with the sensors data. AOA and AOS have been validated via correlation between the AOA estimate and vertical accelerometer measurements, since lift force can be modeled as a linear function of AOA in normal flight. Results from several flight tests confirm the validity of the approach to trajectory determination.

PRESENTER

Gennaro Ariante
University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy

ABSTRACT

In avalanche rescues, quick operations make a real difference between survival or death. Organized search and rescue operations require large intervention time since professionals are not directly present in the distressed area. For this reason, companion rescue is still the most effective option for localizing and extracting people involved in avalanche incidents. In this context autonomous drones equipped with avalanche transceivers can assist ground operations by reducing localization time, therefore increasing the survival rate. In this paper, technologies and strategies for avalanche rescue with autonomous drones are introduced and their performances are assessed with respect to operational scenarios. In particular, avalanche transceivers operability on board of small autonomous vehicles is evaluated and optimal beacon search trajectories are investigated.

PRESENTER

Pietro Iob
Università degli studi di Padova, Italy

ABSTRACT

The research project named "CREATEFORUAS" aims at enhancing "trustable" flight autonomy for small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), by tackling different enabling technologies. The paper briefly describes the main research areas of the project which are relevant to vision-based environment understanding, sense and avoid, robust control, and multi-UAV cooperation. Then, it also provides a snapshot of current developments presenting simulation and experimental results.

PRESENTER

Giancarmine Fasano
Università di Napoli "Federico II" , Italy

ABSTRACT

During an ongoing research project regarding the development of the automatic spatial data acquisition and analysis system that automates the inventory, modeling and volume calculation of mineral resources (AutoInvent), one of the tasks is to improve the accuracy of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) position estimation while photogrammetric photos are taken. It is assumed that position data fusion from real-time kinematic positioning (RTK) and the total station will significantly enhance the precision of UAV position measurements. This paper presents the results of total station verification tests as a precise positioning system for a UAV.

PRESENTER

Bartosz Brzozowski
JSW Innowacje S.A., Poland

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to show possibilities of CAx techniques use in UAV branch. The main aspects contributing to the development of the UAV industry are exposed. Selected problems of CAx systems usage in design and manufacturing of UAV are outlined in this research. The issues which have the influence on the applying of these systems in practice are described. Some of the helpful rules of part and assembly modelling in parametric CAD system for UAV components and airframe are outlined.

PRESENTER

Andrzej Lukaszewicz
Bialystok University of Technology

ABSTRACT

In the presented work the author wants to show some connections of human impact as a subject of the control process of active dynamic systems in the landing an aircraft. In the introduction there are brief definitions of concepts such as active system, entropy, preference, subjective analysis and dynamic system. Some literature items on theoretical considerations on the problem of quantitative assessment of human traits influencing the control of an active dynamic system were also cited. Based on the maximum entropy principle of Edwin Thompson JAYNES, the interpretation of this principle by Vladimir KASYANOV is used to assess the safety of an active dynamic system. Man as an active and essential element of the decision making system in the control process has a major impact on the proper and safe operation of the operational task. Using some of the principles of statistical mechanics, also using the concept of entropy function formulated by Josiah Willard GIBBS, shows the possibility of assessing the influence of the subject on the control process. The final chapter gives an example of one possible interpretation of a catastrophic air incident using subjective analysis. Finally, conclusions were drawn from the modeling of the influence of the human factor in the process of landing of an aircraft including the drone.

PRESENTER

Krzysztof Szafran
Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation, Poland

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the new concept of a transport aircraft, specialized in transport of standard ISO 1A container or two 1C containers. The number of containers transported worldwide and its annual growth shows, that the specialized container aircraft can supplement the fast sea intermodal transport of containerized goods. Since last twenty years, three new classes of heavy container ships appeared, accelerating the transport growth. New container aircraft must fulfill both sea transport and aviation requirements, which are briefly described in this article. Existing concepts focus rather on heavy aircrafts, carrying several containers, while presented concept assumes carrying one standard container only. The main advantage of the new concept is that the structure is adapted to carry heavy but relatively small loads while maintaining low weight of empty aircraft. In order to estimate the size and weight of a new aircraft, the author gives the properties of existing aircraft with similar load capacity, as the new aircraft differs from the existing ones only by its structural design.

PRESENTER

Łukasz Jeziorek
Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation, Poland

ABSTRACT

Empirical large area testing is carried out to define the capability of a multi-static radar network originally presented in [1] for long-distance aircraft tracking. Local signal extraction is based on Doppler-only information from VHF illuminators of opportunity. The Extended Kalman Filter is used to track aircraft speed and position after track initialization. The validity of the tracks is verified with reference data based on Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) information. The system can even detect space-borne tracks.

PRESENTER

Miika Tolonen
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT, Adaptia Solutions, Finland

ABSTRACT

The estimation of the angle of attack and sideslip angle is of fundamental importance for the situational awareness of an aerial vehicle. Historically, several accidents occurred due to failures of the traditional protruding probes applied to measure these two angles. The MIDAS project aims to design and develop a certifiable Air Data System capable of providing the entire set of Air Data, integrating a synthetic estimation of the aerodynamic angles. All operating conditions shall be taken into account, even those related to atmospheric phenomena. The wind effects (both steady and unsteady) represent a very challenging topic when design a synthetic sensor because of its intrinsic nature. In fact, the airflow surrounding the AC can be affected by several phenomena with a very wide range of characteristics (e.g. speed and direction range) that can be hardly simulated during the design stage. It is clear that the atmosphere condition (both steady and unsteady) can affect this particular kind of sensor, and it must be analysed the error in the presence of the wind. The paper shows the estimation error due to the steady wind field and correction to be applied to previous synthetic sensors design in order to be reliable both in still air and in presence of the wind.

PRESENTER

Alberto Brandl
Politecnico di Torino, Italy

ABSTRACT

The work deals with safety assessment for the innovative modular digital air data system developed under the MIDAS project, funded in the Clean Sky 2 frame. The MIDAS's main innovation is based on estimation of aerodynamic angles (angle of attack and sideslip) using synthetic sensors instead of classical vanes (or sensors), whereas pressure and temperature are directly measured with Pitot and temperature probes. As known, air data systems are safety-critical ones that are usually redundant in order to be compliant with the safety requirements of airworthiness regulations. In order to meet safety objectives, a single (simplex) ADS is studied in order evaluate its own safety characteristics starting from reliability known data for any air data system items. These results are then collected in order to provide necessary information to the aircraft integrator that is in charge to define the system redundancy. The present paper introduces the common aeronautical procedures for system safety assessment to be applied to a safety critical system based on synthetic sensors for the first time. Standard procedures are applied to the MIDAS project in order to evaluate its safety characteristics with respect to safety objectives defined at aircraft level in accordance with the aircraft integrator. Results shown in this work provide information on criticality allocated to any air data functionalities that will be used to study the overall ADS redundancy.

PRESENTER

Angelo Lerro
Politecnico di Torino, Italy

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, some alternative methods exist for the replacement of physical vanes (or probes) for aerodynamic angles (angle of attack and sideslip) with synthetic solutions. The results are promising and there is a growing interest for the industry in this particular solution. However, a lack of methods has been observed to estimate their performance and to compare them. The MIDAS project, funded in the Clean Sky 2 frame, will provide the aerospace community with an innovative modular digital air data system (ADS) based on synthetic sensors for aerodynamic angles. To meet the system requirement specifications given by the project leader, a method of uncertainty estimation must be implemented. This paper proposes a method of estimation of the overall uncertainty based on a consolidated metrological procedure. This method holds a certain degree of generality because it can be applied to different kinds of architecture of the synthetic sensor. In this paper, it has been applied to the preliminary design of the synthetic sensor of the MIDAS air data system and the results have been reported as example.

PRESENTER

Alberto Brandl
Politecnico di Torino, Italy

ABSTRACT

The MIDAS project, funded in the Clean Sky 2 frame, will provide the aerospace community with an innovative modular digital air data system. The MIDAS’s main innovation is based on estimation of aerodynamic angles (angle of attack and sideslip) using synthetic sensors instead of classical vanes (or sensors), whereas pressure and temperature are measured with Pitot and temperature probes respectively. Both probes and the electronic unit constitute a single line replaceable unit for the aircraft. There are several approaches to design synthetic sensors (e.g. Kalman filter and neural network) but at the moment there is a lack of metrological standard procedures useful to accomplish a certification process. In fact, the lack of shared procedures to calibrate and validate synthetic sensors, produces a diversity of approaches all over the world that can hardly be compared with each other. Nevertheless, under the MIDAS project, a solid test plan shall be prepared to validate and verify the synthetic sensors from the perspective of certification. Therefore, the MIDAS experience can be used to put the basis of preliminary metrological guidelines. The present work will give an overview of the suitable metrological procedures, in terms of manoeuvres, that shall be further developed and consolidated in the next future.

PRESENTER

Angelo Lerro
Politecnico di Torino, Italy

ABSTRACT

Thanks to its great potential, On–Orbit Servicing (OOS) is rising major interest among the space community and is leading a considerable effort in the development of space technologies. While a growing number of global actors are focusing on OOS especially exploiting small satellites, the capability to simulate close–range operations between two or more agents in laboratory is essential for the validation of enabling technologies, such as guidance algorithms, relative navigation sensors and docking mechanisms. In the framework of proximity operations, miniaturized platforms like CubeSats are often considered as their compactness make them particularly suitable for fly–arounds and inspection tasks. The concept of a laboratory simulation environment composed of complementary facilities is proposed in this work and preliminary testing is presented. The goal of this initial experiment is to test the facility performances and its capability to accurately track a dynamic trajectory with a CubeSat–compatible navigation sensor.

PRESENTER

Francesco Branz
Univ. degli Studi di Padova, Italy

ABSTRACT

The article discusses the methods and algorithms for controlling a promising large interplanetary spacecraft (SC), designed to deliver large-sized cargo to the planets of the solar system. The main attention is paid to the maneuvering process for the spacecraft to withdraw beyond the Earth's orbit. After launching such a spacecraft into orbit, it is necessary to reorient it to large angles several times. The aim of the research is to develop optimal control laws in terms of minimizing the flow of the working fluid by electric rocket ion engines. When designing a spacecraft automatic control system for maneuvering, one should take into account the presence of controlled massive non-rigid solar batteries and heat dissipation elements, which are generated by a powerful power plant. The desire to minimize the weight of the spacecraft leads to significant elastic deformation during maneuvering and to subsequent slowly damping elastic oscillations. A robust vibration damping algorithm is proposed that takes into account the uncertainty of closely spaced natural frequencies. Recommendations are given on the synthesis of an adaptive oscillation damping system with natural frequencies of uncertainty. The results of the study are confirmed by simulation.

PRESENTER

Alexander Panferov
University of Aerospace Instrumentation

ABSTRACT

We research the problems of checking the accuracy of long-term stabilization of information satellites and space robots with an asymmetric structure in geostationary orbit.

PRESENTER

Yevgeny Somov
Samara State Technical University, Russia

ABSTRACT

The problem on providing the most accurate measuring information of an elastic aerospace vehicle (AV) state in real time is discussed. Such elastic AV can be large interplanetary spacecraft, a WIG-craft, or an airplane. For this purpose, it is proposed to place a sufficiently large number of inertial measuring modules along the AV body and perform verification and correction of their parameters during the flight. Such measuring modules should provide the necessary accuracy for a long time interplanetary flights. Micromechanical gyroscopes are used as the main measures. The results of digital modeling confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms for verification of such important parameters of micro gyroscopes as the difference in the natural frequencies of primary and secondary oscillations and their Q-factor.

PRESENTER

Alexander Panferov
University of Aerospace Instrumentation

ABSTRACT

The methods for checking the accuracy of control system for a space robot are presented when the visual inspecting the technical state of a geostationary information satellite.

PRESENTER

Yevgeny Somov
Samara State Technical University, Russia

ABSTRACT

Scientific and educational nanosatellite of CubeSat 2U format launched by Belarusian State University October, 29 2018 is under use as Research/Educational lab for students, researchers and global amateur radio community.

PRESENTER

Vladimir Saetchnikov
Belarusian State University, Belarus

ABSTRACT

The Doppler measurements of the unknown small satellite were carried out using Belarusian State University ground station. Small satellite orbit determination by Doppler measurements of a telemetry signal on several orbits with a limited number of data on one pass was studied using University ground station. Satellite orbital elements were predicted during week to justify the orbit determination model. Small satellite radio signal processing and orbit determination based on the perturbed circular motion model are described. A good agreement with experimental Doppler frequency shift data was achieved.

PRESENTER

Vladimir Saetchnikov
Belarusian State University, Belarus

ABSTRACT

The Sapienza Space Systems and Space Surveillance Laboratory (S5Lab) at Sapienza University of Rome is in the recent years carrying out a multiplicity of University nano-satellite projects, with the design, development, launch and operations of their CubeSats. The development of a satellite is a key-importance chance for University students to gain soft skills, practical knowledge and to follow a complete development cycle of a spaceborne object. Additionally, the development of a cycle with actual scientific objectives besides the educational aim addressed at students allow the involved participants to maximize their educational return by becoming mission specialists on specific scientific branches, when working on all the satellite subsystems. The paper describes the five current and past satellite projects (URSA MAIOR, 1KUNS-PF, LEDSAT, GREENCUBE, WildTrackCube-SIMBA). Every project is briefly described together with the scientific aim of the CubeSat and the main lessons learned related to the project.

PRESENTER

Paolo Marzioli
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

ABSTRACT

The PROPWING denotes a novel propulsion concept for light airplanes, sailplanes and motorgliders, originally proposed by the authors. A number of small electric motors are installed in the wings. The motors with propellers in horizontal position are hidden inside the wing, so in a standup position, no aerodynamic drag is generated by the propulsion system. In the working position, the propellers rotate throughout openings in the wing skin. The paper includes results obtained during a flight test campaign, performed with a radio controlled model, equipped with the PROPWING propulsion.

PRESENTER

Jan Pytka
Military University of Aviation in Deblin

ABSTRACT

The paper presents the measurement methods and results of experimental investigations concerning the analysis of phenomena occurring on the surface of the wing with plasma actuator with two mesh electrodes and an impermeable dielectric placed on the surface of the wing model, with the profile SD 7003. Experimental tests with a plasma actuator were carried out at the State School of Higher Education in Chełm, in the Institute of Technical Sciences and Aviation. All experimental tests were carried out on for different configurations of the angle of attack of α = 15 degrees, and for the air velocity V = 5-15m/s, for the Reynolds number in a range of Re = 87500 – 262500.

PRESENTER

Jarosław Pytka
Lublin University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

The paper discusses issues of developing a special measurement standard intended for the calibration of aircraft mass, mass center coordinates and inertia moments measuring instruments. The mathematical model of a special standard has been developed. It is based on the analytical principles for the determination of the mass center coordinates and inertia moments of homogeneous bodies with a regular geometric shape. The main sources of measurement uncertainty have been identified. Expressions for determining the uncertainty caused by deviations in the shape of the elements of which the measurement standard's modules are composed, and uncertainty caused by heterogeneity of the standard's material were obtained. The technical requirements to special measurement standards, complete with the scheme for the transfer of measurement units using special standards, methods of their calibration have been developed. Special standards have been created. Measuring instruments verification methods using special standards have been developed and approved.

PRESENTER

Olga Dovydenko
TsAGI, Russia

ABSTRACT

The paper presents research conducted in order to assess the impact of soil parameters on an aircraft ground performance. It describes the Cone Index parameter widely used to characterize specific soils as well as a method of measurement using the soil penetrometer. Moreover, paper describes several methods for aircrafts takeoff and landing distance measurements. Finally, it presents mathematical analysis of rolling resistance coefficient impact as well as soil cone index impact on the aircrafts ground roll distance.

PRESENTER

Tomasz Łyszczyk
Lublin University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

The paper presents uncertainty estimation of measuring circuit during cutting forces measurement using the piezoelectric dynamometer. The research results of the influence of the milling direction in relation to the rolling direction and cutting speed vc on the value of cutting force during machining of aviation aluminum alloys (EN AW-2017A T451 and EN AW-2024 T351) are given. The measuring circuit was a Kistler 9257B piezoelectric dynamometer, 5070A amplifier, 5697A DAQ module and Dynoware software. The uncertainty was estimated based on a calibration certificate (A method) and statistical data from measurement results (B method).

PRESENTER

Magdalena Michałowska
Lublin University of Technology, Poland

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we will explain how to model latitude and longitude errors in order to then implement and filter the results. Firstly, we have modelled the series of errors with which the IMU are affected: first those due to the chosen reference, then to the technology of the strapdown platform. Afterwards we have reproduced the process of reworking the position data by inserting the error model. Finally, we evaluated the drift of error over time not only qualitatively but also quantitatively.

PRESENTER

Enrico Petritoli
Università Roma Tre, Italy

ABSTRACT

Long-term space exploration requires an affordable and continuous provision of food and nutrients that need to be palatable so as not to upset the psycho-physical balance of the crewmembers. Moreover, a proper diet composed of fresh food enriched with key nutrients such as minerals and vitamins can minimize the detrimental effects due to microgravity in terms of bones weakening; in addition, the absence of direct incident light from the sun due to a safety shielding from cosmic rays can cause a significant reduction of vitamin D production in the skin. Smart greenhouses based on aeroponics or hydroponics technologies can represent a valuable solution to genuine food supply. Nevertheless, these structures require an affordable monitoring system able to detect key parameters such as nutrients concentration in the mist, gaseous products/pollutants together with relative humidity and temperature. Flexible, light and low-cost gas sensors based on laser-annealed zinc oxide nanostructures can be implemented for this specific application, using different morphologies within the same material for discriminating the different gases. Unluckily, this active material generally exhibits memory effects and significant drift. In this work, we propose a simple method to dramatically increase the reliability of nanostructured ZnO sensor response to be used at low working temperature (room temperature). The resulting devices exploit the porosity of disordered nanostructures thus monitoring CO, CO2, NOX and other gases present in the greenhouse.

PRESENTER

Davide Polese
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

ABSTRACT

The paper presents a general purpose new methodology, alternative to classical approaches like Montecarlo, FORM and SORM, making use of nominal values and standard deviation values of physical parameters of any physical process. This new assessment methodology has made it possible the creation of a software tool easy to use and able to simulate and manipulate analytically any time dependent and time independent physical process and is able to manage matrixes both with real and complex parameters. Two case studies are shown.

PRESENTER

Anna Paggi
ItalConsul s.r.l.

ABSTRACT

Carbon dioxide collected from outdoor atmosphere or produced in aerospace cabin, may be recycled to produce methane and water by methanation reaction (Sabatier reaction). This reaction needs a heterogeneous catalyst to decrease the reaction temperature and increase the selectivity. A proper catalyst for in-situ CO2 recycling into methane requires: i) high CO2 conversion with high CH4 selectivity at low operating temperature, ii) high stability towards degradation, being required that catalyst remains highly active during the entire production process. This paper presents a preliminary study of a catalyst based on Ni supported on cerium oxide, prepared by one-pot hydrothermal method, leading to a nanorod morphology with high and uniform nickel dispersion. Morphology and chemical properties of the material were characterized by BET, H2-TPR, XRD and FESEM/EDS. The catalyst was tested in a flow system at atmospheric pressure, using reagents with stoichiometric ratio (CO2:H2=1:4) or enriched in hydrogen. The Ni/r-CeO2 catalyst showed high stability over time on stream, in oxidizing condition and after switch offswitch on test.

PRESENTER

Simonetta Tuti
Università degli studi Roma TRE , Italy

ABSTRACT

Airport security is a very interesting scenario to investigate; in fact, the security in order to avoid accident is important to preserve human lives and to reduce airplane and instrument loss cost. An optical WSN can be proposed to scan the surface, ensuring the non-interference with airplane and airport instruments and security systems; we have identified a suitable sensor, and investigated particularly the best routing algorithm to guarantee the continuity of network's functionality, through Castalia's simulator.

PRESENTER

Mariagrazia Leccisi
Università Roma Tre, Italy

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes a new approach to improve the reproducibility of the additive layer manufacturing parts. The new methodology allows to qualify the process acquiring data from several sensors placed on the printing head and referring the acquired data to a precise area of the handwork. This association will be made correlating the accelerometric information acquired by an IMU with a pattern estimated on the base of the G-CODE of the parts to print. The proposed strategy does not require to interface the printing machine. The acquired data can be stored in a Database and analyzed comparing the data of different printing of the same model, allowing the definition of reproducibility, reliability and degradation.

PRESENTER

Sabino Giarnetti
Roma Tre - University of Rome

ABSTRACT

High quality measurements are of paramount importance to fully investigate complex phenomena in wind tunnel experimentations. This paper outlines the role played by the wind tunnel sensor network for a practical research project where the main goal was to evaluate possible benefits from special coatings on aircraft aerodynamic surfaces. Basically, a wind tunnel model, covered alternatively with a smooth coating and subsequently with a film presenting micro-grooves (riblets), is exposed to flow velocities close to the operational speeds of commercial aircraft to see whether a drag reduction is observed. Drag reduction results in less fuel consumption which makes the technology attractive for airline operators and simultaneously for those involved in the environmental impact of flights. The need of accurate measurements is the key element to demonstrate the technology potential for real applications since even small enhancements, actually, may bring large benefits due to ever growing expansion of the aviation transport.

PRESENTER

Antonio Pagano
CIRA, Italian Aerospace Research Centre, Italy

ABSTRACT

Iodine came up recently as a feasible alternative to xenon and krypton to be used in space electric propulsion applications. Iodine presents good ionization properties and a high atomic mass, which allow it to yield a good propulsive performance. Iodine is stored in a solid state, allowing to achieve higher storage densities, useful in volume-constrained applications. Nevertheless, the condensible nature and the reactivity of iodine prevents the use of propellant management systems and components used in noble gas-based systems. The University of Pisa is developing an iodine feeding system for electric propulsion applications, which controls the mass flow rate through the thermal control of the sublimation process and a thermal throttle. The article presents the main results of an ongoing activity aimed at the development of a laser-based mass flow meter to be used in the feeding system. The device measures the light absorbance of the iodine flow in a region upstream of the thermal throttle. Upon an integral-measurement calibration procedure, the spectrophotometric device allows to infer the mass flow rate instantaneous value. The measurement procedure and the underlying theory are described, as well as the calibration methodology and experimental setup.

PRESENTER

Manuel Martin Saravia
Università di Pisa, Italy

ABSTRACT

Traditional anti-icing/de-icing systems, i.e., thermal and pneumatic, in some cases cannot be employed since they require an additional power consumption not always allowable, most of all in small aircraft. In these cases, the use of passive systems, able to delay the ice formation, or reduce the ice adhesion strength with no additional energy consumption is the most promising solution against the ice formation. This paper deals with the development, characterization and application of a superhydrophobic coating applicable as a common paint on several kind of substrates, usually employed in the aeronautical industry, such as composite, metallic, or sandwich, aiming at guaranteeing the protection of several parts of common aircrafts. The developed superhydrophobic coating is able to reduce the surface free energy and the work of adhesion of the treated substrates, by more than 90%.

PRESENTER

Filomena Piscitelli
CIRA - Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali, Italy

ABSTRACT

For a space mission the re-entry into earth atmosphere is a crucial phase, because of the severe aerothermodynamic conditions. This has always represented a problem of great interest, as it is fundamental to study the behavior of the structures of the spacecraft invested by the atmosphere where very high temperatures are generated. The necessity of testing the models in similar conditions to re-entry phase pushed towards the realization of specific on-ground facilities. In these laboratories one of the main purposes is to reproduce very high heat fluxes onto the models, representative of what happens during the re-entry mission phase. In this scenario, the Plasma Wind Tunnel “SCIROCCO” of the Italian Aerospace Research Center (C.I.R.A. S.C.p.A) in Capua represents the largest and most powerful hypersonic facility in the world. Here it is possible to test models with heat fluxes up to 3000 kW/m. The measure of the heat fluxes in the test facility are performed with Gardon Gauge transducers. Despite the fundamental importance of these sensors, there is currently no possibility to calibrate them for the aforementioned heat flux values. In this work an innovative calibration methodology is proposed, using a pulsed LASER beam which allows to obtain high and repeatable heat flux with low power consumption. The results show the feasibility of the proposed methodology.

PRESENTER

Adolfo Martucci
CIRA Italian Aerospace Research Center, Italy

ABSTRACT

Flow control via Synthetic Jets (SJs) is experimentally studied for a separated flow over a back-facing ramp in wind tunnel tests at height-based Reynolds number of 10700 using planar Particle Image Velocimetry. Two cases, i.e., either without control (baseline) or controlled by means of SJs, have been investigated. The effectiveness of the control is achieved through a momentum addition of = 3.0 × 10-3 at a reduced frequency ?? = 0.34. Under the SJs control, the separated region undergoes a reduction in length of 62% of that observed for the baseline case.

PRESENTER

Giuseppe Ceglia
CIRA, Italy

ABSTRACT

In the aerospace applications the investigation of the physical properties of the materials used as thermal protection systems (TPS) is mandatory. One of the most important material properties involved in the prediction and measurement of the aerothermal loads is the material surface emissivity. At CIRA-PWT laboratory techniques have been developed to perform the investigation of the spectral emissivity by properly using dual colour pyrometers. Those techniques have been applied during tests carried out in the SCIROCCO and GHIBLI facilities on materials candidate for TPS of reentry space vehicles. In the present work those techniques are shown and the kind of results obtained during experiments.

PRESENTER

Carlo Purpura
CIRA (Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali), Italy

ABSTRACT

The simulation of turbulent flows in turbomachinery requires to describe a wide range of scales and non-linear phenomena. Since the cost of scale resolving simulations is prohibitive for several configurations, turbulence closure models are still widely used in the framework of Reynolds-averaged Navier- Stokes (RANS) equations. In order to improve the prediction capability of these models, several machine learning strategies have been proposed. Among them, the field inversion approach allows to find a correction field which can be applied to the source term of the turbulence model in order to match experimental data: the correction field can then be generalised and expressed as a function of some flow features in order to extract modelling knowledge from the data. However, the reference experimental data are affected by uncertainty and this propagates to the correction field and to the final data-augmented model. In this work, the uncertainty propagation from the reference experimental data to the correction field is investigated. In particular, the flow field around a low pressure gas turbine cascade is studied in a challenging working condition characterised by laminar separation and transition to turbulence. The original RANS results are improved by the application of the field inversion algorithm in which the required gradients are computed by means of an adjoint approach. A sensitivity analysis is performed in order to provide a linearised propagation of the uncertainty from the experimental wall isentropic Mach number to the correction field.

PRESENTER

Andrea Ferrero
Politecnico di Torino - DIMEAS, Italy

ABSTRACT

A critical aspect to be addressed through materials engineered for aerospace missions is to provide the protection of space subsystems from the aggressive operative environment, in order to extend the life of such subsystem. Taking this fact into account, carbon-based ceramic composites are ideal candidates for the next development of industrial research in the aerospace field, thanks to the wide range of multi-functional elements obtainable using these materials. For example, ceramic-based hybrid structures can be designed to perform the environmental shielding function as well as to ensure the reusability of the structure itself. In particular, covering the surface of a C/C structure with a protective coating based on nano-particles and metal oxides it would be possible to preserve the functionality of the bulk (i.e. resistance to the critical conditions of the atmospheric re-entry phase) from the dangerous effects due to the LEO space environment where most of the missions takes place (mainly due to outgassing and oxygen erosion/corrosion atomic). In this paper the effects of the Space Environment on self-produced Carbon/Carbon nano coated panels have been evaluated in order to study a possible dual use.

PRESENTER

Andrea Delfini
Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy

ABSTRACT

The in-orbit cultivation of vegetables, fruits, and edible plants is of paramount importance for the development of long-term manned space mission Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) and for the improvement of bioregenerative systems. GreenCube is a 3U CubeSat mission aimed at demonstrating the functionalities of an autonomous cultivation laboratory that stems from a collaboration between the Sapienza University of Rome, the Italian Space Agency, University of Naples “Federico II”, and ENEA. The satellite will cultivate microgreens in a pressurized vessel containing support systems and monitoring instrumentation for the plant growth. This paper describes the GreenCube mission and the instrumentation used for the growth support and monitoring.

PRESENTER

Paolo Marzioli
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy