System design for a rapid response autonomous aerial surveillance vehicle
Name
42214353-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
14.55 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
b6913363639c985c6e41b94143573cc5
Author(s)
Bernstein, Joshua I. (Joshua Ian), 1974-
Advisor(s)
Charles Boppe and Stanley I. Weiss.
Date Issued
1997
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The MIT/Draper Technology Development Partnership Project was conceived as a collaborative design and development program between MIT and Draper Laboratory. The overall aims of the two year project were to strengthen ties between the two institutions, to provide students with an opportunity to develop a first-of-a-kind system, and to foster a sense of entrepreneurship in the students working on the project. This first design team consisted of a mix of Master of Engineering and Master of Science students, along with undergraduate research assistants. The team began its work by reviewing the needs of the nation and the capabilities possessed by MIT and Draper which could be leveraged to address those needs. Candidate projects were then developed, and several were further refined through brief market assessments. Based on these assessments, a final project was chosen. The selected project, the Wide Area Surveillance Projectile (WASP), called for the development of a small, unmanned aerial vehicle which could be launched from an artillery gun to provide a rapid-response, time-critical reconnaissance capability for small military units or selected civilian applications. This thesis reviews the first year of work completed on the project. A systems view is used throughout, describing the top-level trades which were made to develop a product which would meet all of the user's needs. Specific attention is given to the interactions between the various subsystems and how these interactions contributed to the design solution developed by the team. In addition to this chronological description of the project, management lessons learned from the author's experience as project manager are presented, along with recommended approaches for future projects of a similar nature. These lessons may also find applications in the broader realm of rapid-prototyping engineering projects, as well as future projects undertaken as part of the MIT/Draper Technology Development Partnership Project.
Description
Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1997.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 145-146).
Subjects
Aeronautics and Astronautics
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Terms of Use
M.I.T. theses are protected by
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
