News
- University launches MCubed, a bold, new way to fund research
- Aero Students Win AIAA SDM Paper Competitions
- UM SGT wins 2012 Sigma Gamma Tau Undergraduate Award
- 2012 NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Winner, Benjamin Brelje
- Jessica Arlas, 1st Place Paper
- Duncan Miller: The Rising Star
- AIAA Tours Skunk Works
- Michigan Space Grant Consortium Awards
- Aerospace 2012 Student Award Winners
- Dr. Tim Smith
- Mercury Messenger Stamp
- Prof. Gallimore
- Vibration Powered Pacemakers
- Prof. Waas
- Prof. Cesnik
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Professor Mark Burns (Professor and Chair of Chemical Engineering) spearheaded this effort along with professors Alec Gallimore (Aerospace) and Thomas Zurbuchen (AOSS), both associate deans in the College of Engineering (CoE). Read University Record article or visit the MCubed web site to learn more.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Aero Students Win AIAA SDM Paper Competition
Congratulations to Professor Anthony Wass' students, Vincent Wang Jie (visitor from SJTU) and Evan Pineda (UM Aero) for winning two of the four AIAA SDM Best Paper Awards. Jie Wang wins the ASC Composites Award for his paper "Experimental Study on Low-velocity Impact Behavior of Foam-cored Sandwich Panels." Evan Pineda wins the Hilton--Structures Award for his paper "A Thermodynamically-Based Mesh Objective Work Potential Theory for Predicting Intralaminar Progressive Damage and Failure in Fiber-Reinforced Laminates"
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
UM SGT wins 2012 Sigma Gamma Tau Undergraduate Award
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
2012 NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Winner Benjamin Brelje
Aerospace Engineering congratulates Benjamin Brelje, who was awarded a scholarship under the NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program.
From a competitive field of over 200 applicants, approximately 20 awards were made.
The NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program is managed by NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) works with NASA to administer the Program.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Levin: Robotics technology 'is our ticket to an awful lot of good'
More than 400 people attended the event, which showcased cutting-edge robotics research going on at U-M, at other Michigan universities and in government and industry.
"The growth in robotics here is astounding," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. "The size of this conference is twice the size it was just last year."
Levin looked to history to convey the excitement of the field's future. He recalled he French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, who was struck in the mid-19th century by the freedom to create that he witnessed in America.
"He used the word 'innovate' repeatedly. He saw the determination in America to get things done and to overcome problems and get around obstacles," Levin said. "That spirit remains here. It's contagious again. Tech is our ticket to an awful lot of good."
Advances in robotics could improve unmanned vehicles to keep soldiers out of harm's way. Self-driving cars could potentially make highways safer and alleviate parking congestion. They could lead to new mobility options for the disabled, and help humans overcome laborious tasks, among many other applications.
Anchored by the College of Engineering, the Detroit automotive base, the Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, as well as the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, southeast Michigan will play a major role in moving these technologies forward.
"Michigan has an emerging robotics ecosystem that requires collaboration of academic research institutions, private industry, our schools, and a cooperative state and local government," said Rick Jarman, president and CEO of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. "All of those things are present today."
Among the technologies U-M researchers and students showcased are: a next-generation wheelchair that is being designed to avoid obstacles and travel programmed routes; an autonomous quadrotor aircraft that will compete this summer to stealthily descend into an arena, retrieve a thumbdrive and leave a decoy in its place; and CARL (short for Car Lab), a brand new SUV testbed for autonomous systems in passenger vehicles.
"I’m proud of the role academic institutions are playing in contributing to the growth of robotics," said David Munson, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering. "Universities offer long-term horizons, resources that can be employed with significant independence, the tradition of exchanging ideas with peer institutions, and a commitment to education — all factors that can enhance the progress of robotics development."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Designing An Autonomous Flying Robot
April 9, 2012, Meaghan Ziemba, Associate Editor, PD&D
"Until the mission is successful, it repeats year after year," explains Danny Ellis, founder and president of the University of Michigan team, Michigan Autonomous Aerial Vehicles (MAAV). "So far there have only been five successful missions, and this is the third year of the sixth mission."
Ellis founded MAAV back in the fall of 2009 as part of a senior design project with fellow classmates. They entered the IARC as a way to gain funding and sponsorship for their aerial robotic designs. "For this year’s mission, all we are allowed to do is hit start, so the robot can perform the task on its own, and then hit the kill switch if we need to," says Ellis.
The goals for this year’s mission include the robot autonomously navigating through an unknown building, finding a target room that possesses a flash drive; retrieving that flash drive, and dropping off the decoy, in less than 10 minutes. Teams gain extra points if their vehicle can recognize Arabic signs, which provide navigational instructions.
The MAAV team has been improving their design for this particular mission over the past two years.
"I’ve been working on CAD software ever since I was a sophomore in high school," says Ellis. "When I was a freshman in college, I really wanted an input way to manipulate my model that wasn’t using a mouse, and that’s when I stumbled upon 3Dconnexion."
Ellis introduced the Space Navigator 3D mouse from 3Dconnexion to the student shop. While working on the quadrotor for the IARC, the students noticed how the 3D mouse allowed more opportunities for movement compared to a standard joystick. "We now use the mouse for controlling the flight of our vehicle," says Ellis. "Although we are restricted from using it during this year’s mission, it is extremely beneficial during our test flights, because it makes flying more intuitive."
3Dconnexion provided all the source code needed to incorporate the mouse as the control system for the aerial robot. According to Ellis, it was very easy to interface, and the integration took less than a day.
The mouse was also beneficial during the re-design process as MAAV worked to incorporate the necessary components while staying under the 1.5 kg mass limit. The vehicle design, and many subsequent redesigns, started out as CAD models. Instead of creating multiple prototype iterations, the team was able to go straight from the CAD file into production. The mouse also helped Ellis to train new team members on how to use CAD software. "The 3D SpaceBall makes it easy to use and navigate through the CATIA software program we use during the design process," explains Ellis. With twelve programmable buttons and an optical/non-wearing measuring system, the 3D SpaceBall creates a comfortable and efficient work environment by eliminating repetitive steps that put unnecessary stress on users’ mouse hand.
During the design process, the MAAV team has faced a variety of challenges that forced them to constantly improve their design. "We’re on the fourth iteration, and we have gone through three full re-designs, but that’s engineering," says Ellis.
MAAV has the quadrotor flying manually, but the main challenge the team currently faces is autonomous flight. "We have two on-board laser scanners that scan the entire environment and return all the points that they see," says Ellis. "Our greatest difficulty is getting the vehicle to learn and respond to its environment on its own, and making its own decisions within that environment."
"When it comes to controlling the vehicle, the 3D mouse produces smoother movements for the pilot," says Ellis. "It also allows us to handle multiple types of input." All of the buttons on the mouse have been programmed to control different things, such as start up, kill, and incorporating some kind of a disturbance to the vehicle. "That way we don’t have to go up to the robot and hit it ourselves," explains Ellis. "We can push a button, create a disturbance, and observe how the vehicle reacts to it."
According to Ellis, the 3D mouse is the smoothest device that he has used. The shortcut keys decrease the amount of time he uses the keyboard, and he appreciates the ability to lock and unlock each access of the short-cut keys. "Being able to lock the app keys has been very beneficial, because it allows us to change certain movements of the robots without having to reprogram anything."
Ellis and the MAAV team enjoy the IARC and similar competitions, because they see them as segues that help gain support from both corporations and the university to continue the team’s research. Ellis also claims that the IARC helps engineers on the team maintain a competitive edge that isn’t found during their class and career schedules.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Jessica Arlas Wins AIAA Student Conference Paper Competition
Congratulations to Jessica Arlas from the Aero Department's Michigan Exploration Lab (MXL), whose paper, "GPS Results and Position Accuracy of RAX Mission," won first place in the undergraduate student category of the AIAA Student Conference.
To learn more about MXL, please visit its website: http://exploration.engin.umich.edu/ or facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Michigan.Exploration
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Duncan Miller: The Rising Star
By Zach Bergson, Online Editor, Published March 20, 2012, The Michigan Daily
Though he’s too modest to admit it, Engineering junior Duncan Miller is a rising star in the field of aerospace engineering.
Miller, who said he was “bitten by the space bug at an early age,” has a résumé that any aerospace engineer would appreciate.
In his three years at the University, Miller has interned for Lockheed Martin Space Systems, the NASA Langley Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory and earned a flawless 4.0 grade point average with 18 A-pluses.
Oh, and did we mention he’s one of the lead engineers for the Cubesat Investigating Atmospheric Density Response to Extreme Driving, a state of the art satellite, which will orbit around the Earth?
But the Dearborn, Mich. native plays all of this down when you speak to him. He says he’s gotten to where he is today through tireless work and a lot of help from his peers and mentors.
“I didn’t do all of this myself,” Miller said. “I get to work with some of the smartest (University students).”
Miller added that the CADRE project has been consuming most of his free time lately. He said the satellite project is one of the biggest student-led projects at the University.
“CADRE will study the thermosphere in low earth orbit by sampling the ion winds. Ultimately, this will improve orbital tracking of objects to help minimize collisions in orbit,” he said.
Though he downplays his level of importance to CADRE’s success, Miller is the only undergraduate leader of the project — the rest of the team leaders are graduate students.
Miller said it’s difficult to balance his CADRE work and his rigorous engineering curriculum — he spends more than 20 hours a week designing the satellite. He added that his peers are integral to his success juggling responsibilities.
“The great thing about being on a student project is that there are a bunch of other kids who have the same dream, who are really motivated to make it happen,” Miller said. “What usually happens is, if it’s my midterm week, it’s going to be someone else’s midterm week next week, so if they pick up the slack for me this week and I cover for them next week … we have each others’ back.”
This summer Miller will intern at SpaceX, a private aerospace company that develops space vehicles, and his long-term plans include attending graduate school for aerospace engineering.
Miller said he owes all of his successes — from the internships to his prestigious position on the CADRE project — to the lessons he’s learned from this University.
“All of my experiences at Michigan have shown me the merits of hard work and having strong morals and motivation, and that those things are the key to success,” Miller said. “You can’t pick the lock.”
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
University of Michigan AIAA Students Embark on “Aerospace Engineer’s Dream Tour”
During Spring Break 2012, the University of Michigan (U-M) branch of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA) had 16 aerospace engineering students embark on an epic journey around Southern California to tour some of the most impressive aerospace facilities in the world. The trip was an extremely valuable professional development tool that gave the students a thorough understanding of the significant breadth and depth of the aerospace industry. Read more…
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Michigan Space Grant Consortium Awards
Congratulations on your 2012-2013 Graduate Fellowship Award Sara Lu (Mentor, Professor Nadine Sarter, Industrial and Operations Engineering), Kimberly Trent (Mentor, Professor Alec Gallimore, Aerospace Engineering), Christopher Berry (Mentor, Professor Mona Jarrahi, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science), and Catherine Walker (Mentor, Professor Jeremy Bassis, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences).
We would also like to congratulate our very own MSGC K-12 Outreach Program Administrator, Bonnie Bryant, for winning the Pre-College Education, Public Outreach, and Augmentation Award.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
2012 Student Leaders and Honors Awards
Please join me in congratulating Ethan Eagle and Daniel Kiefer, winners of the Distinguished Leadership Award; Abhishek Kumar winner of the Achievement Award; and Kyle McDevitt winner of the Distinguished Academic Achievement Award. These awards will be given out at the annual Student Leaders and Honors Brunch on Sunday, March 18, 2012.
Congratulations to Ethan, Daniel, Abhishek and Kyle. ~Prof. Daniel J. Inman, Chair
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
The Mercury MESSENGER spacecraft (containing Michigan Engineering hardware--FIPS) has been honored on a postage stamp.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS
Fidkowski Caught Doing Good
Professor Chris Fidkowski helped raise money for the Run for Life Program, during the annual Society of Women Engineers (SWE) conference in April, 2012. See more photos of this event. Read more about Professor Fidkowski.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Sigma Gamma Tau Silver Shaft Award
Aerospace engineering chair Daniel Inman is proud to announce that Dr. Tim Smith has been awarded this year’s Sigma Gamma Tau Silver Shaft Award.
The award is an honor presented by SGT that recognizes excellence in aerospace student teaching. At the beginning of the semester the SGT active body to nominated eligible candidates and then asked the entire aerospace student body (graduate and undergraduate) to vote on who they felt was most deserving.
Congratulations, Dr. Smith!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Northrop Grumman Tapped by NASA to Develop Solar Electric Propulsion Flight Concepts for Future Space Missions
REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Jan 31, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation NOC +0.04% was recently awarded a contract to study high-power solar electric propulsion flight system technology for NASA deep space and human exploration missions.
"In collaboration with our partners, we are working on alternatives to the typical solar array approach," said Jim Munger, solar electric propulsion program manager, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "Our concept will be scalable to 300 kilowatts and beyond and have the potential for reducing the cost and complexity of high-power requirements."
The company is partnered with Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Michigan's Department of Aerospace Engineering to create a technology road map for near-term NASA space missions.
NASA's goal is to develop a high-power solar electric propulsion system for a "space tugboat" that can ferry satellites from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO), saving fuel and secondary booster costs. The availability of a solar-powered vehicle would make it possible to launch spacecraft to LEO, then ferry them to GEO, allowing much heavier payloads to reach GEO while still using existing launch vehicles.
The study is designed to develop mission concepts that will be using technology at NASA Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 or greater, which means that a basic prototype has been validated in a relevant environment (simulating space) and includes initial integration at some level with other operational systems.
Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major research and development responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.
The Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., has been recognized as one of the leading departments of its kind in the country. Professor Alec D. Gallimore will lead the department's effort for Northrop Grumman.
NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, will manage the project. In addition to other numerous technology development activities, the Center designs game-changing technology for spaceflight that enables further exploration of the universe.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com
SOURCE: Northrop Grumman Corp.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Heart-powered pacemaker could one day eliminate battery-replacement surgery
Published on Mar 02, 201,Written by Nicole Casal Moore
ANN ARBOR, M
Engineering researchers at the University of Michigan designed a device that harvests energy from the reverberation of heartbeats through the chest and converts it to electricity to run a pacemaker or an implanted defibrillator. These mini-medical machines send electrical signals to the heart to keep it beating in a healthy rhythm. By taking the place of the batteries that power them today, the new energy harvester could save patients from repeated surgeries. That's the only way today to replace the batteries, which last five to 10 years.
"The idea is to use ambient vibrations that are typically wasted and convert them to electrical energy," said Amin Karami, a research fellow in the U-M Department of Aerospace Engineering. "If you put your hand on top of your heart, you can feel these vibrations all over your torso."
The researchers haven't built a prototype yet, but they've made detailed blueprints and run simulations demonstrating that the concept would work. Here's how: A hundredth-of-an-inch thin slice of a special "piezoelectric" ceramic material would essentially catch heartbeat vibrations and briefly expand in response. Piezoelectric materials' claim to fame is that they can convert mechanical stress (which causes them to expand) into an electric voltage.
Karami and his colleague Daniel Inman, chair of Aerospace Engineering at U-M, have precisely engineered the ceramic layer to a shape that can harvest vibrations across a broad range of frequencies. They also incorporated magnets, whose additional force field can drastically boost the electric signal that results from the vibrations.
The new device could generate 10 microwatts of power, which is about eight times the amount a pacemaker needs to operate, Karami said. It always generates more energy than the pacemaker requires, and it performs at heart rates from 7 to 700 beats per minute. That's well below and above the normal range.
Karami and Inman originally designed the harvester for light unmanned airplanes, where it could generate power from wing vibrations.
A paper on the research, titled "Powering pacemakers from heartbeat vibrations using linear and nonlinear energy harvesters," is published in the current print edition of Applied Physics Letters.
The research is funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science at Virginia Tech.
Story also featured in ScienceDaily (Feb. 1, 2012)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Congr
atulations to Professor Anthony M. Waas
The College of Engineering Honors and Awards Committee, has selected Professor Anthony Waas,Felix Pawlowski Collegiate Professor, to receive the Ted Kennedy Family Team Excellence Award for 2011-2012. A Faculty Honors and Awards Dinner Dance will be held on Saturday, March 24, 2012 at the Michigan League for the presentation of this honor. Read more about Prof. Waas
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: top
Congratulations to Professor Carlos E.S. Cesnik, new AIAA Fellow
AIAA Fellows are persons of distinction who have made notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology of aeronautics or astronautics. As part of this honor, Professor Cesnik will receive a certificate and pin at the AIAA Fellows Dinner on May 8, 2012 at the Westin Alexandria, Alexandria, VA, and also to be recognized at the black-tie Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala on May 9, 2012 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington D.C. Read more about Prof. Cesnik.
