Banquet lecture

List of the keynote lectures

Flight testing the Airbus A380

Jacques Rosay
Vice-president chief test pilot (Airbus)

Abstract

The A380 (Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines version) has made its first flight on the 27th of April 2005, and has been certified jointly by the European Aviation Safety Agency, and the Federal Aviation Administration on the 12th of December 2006. This campaign involved three aircraft and took approximately 2500 flight hours and 750 flights. Since then, additional tests have been conducted in particular to get the CATIII autoland certification. The certification of the A380 equipped with the Engine Alliance GP 7200 is due by the end of 2007. For most of the disciplines of flight testing, like structure, performances, handling qualities, engines, avionics, systems, cabin, etc, this presentation describes the main stages of the flight test campaign, leading from the initial evaluations to the final type certificate, through the development phases. Pictures and movies illustrate many of the salient events of this campaign.

Author

Jacques Rosay

Born in 1949 in Valréas, France, Jacques Rosay obtained an engineering degree at the Ecole de l'Air course before training as a military pilot. Between 1974 and 1981 he was a fighter pilot, flying Mirage IIIE aircraft for the French Air Force prior to completing the test pilot course at l'Ecole du Personnel Navigant d'Essais et de Réception (EPNER).

In 1982 he was employed at the Centre d'Essais en Vol, the French flight test centre in Istres, Southern France, as chief test pilot where he became project pilot for several military aircraft including Mirage 2000 N and Rafale A, and tested more than 150 different models of military and civilian aircraft.

Five years later Jacques Rosay returned to EPNER as chief test pilot. Then, in 1989, he joined the Joint Aviation Authorities as a certification test pilot for various aircraft including Falcon 2000, Jetstream 41, and Airbus' A320, A321, A330 and A340, while also working part-time as an airline pilot for Air France.

He was recruited by Airbus in 1995 as a test pilot, and has been involved in the development and certification of the A319, the A318, the A330-200, the A340-600 and the A340-500.

In 2000 he was appointed as vice president chief test pilot of Airbus' flight test division. Jacques Rosay and has some 10,000 flight hours to his credit, including 7,000 hours of flight tests; he also performed the maiden flights of the A318 and A340-500.

Since the origin of the program, Jacques Rosay is the project pilot for the A380, in which he played a leading part in the cockpit design. On the 27th of April 2005, he was the first pilot to fly this aircraft.

Flexible-wing Micro Air Vehicles

Peter Ifju
Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
231 MAE-A
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-6250
ifju@ufl.edu

Abstract

In 1999 researchers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida initiated a study on the potential of using flexible wings for micro air vehicles. While similar efforts elsewhere concentrated on geometry, UF explored a unique design space to determine how to achieve flight benefit by only modifying the compliance of the wing. This effort led to the development of wings and aircraft with superior longitudinal stability, gust rejection and delayed stall. A comprehensive suite of both experimental and modeling tools were used to study the problem. Additionally, advanced composite fabrication and rapid prototyping methods were established to develop an efficient means to produce MAVs with wingspans ranging from 10 to 100 cm. This paper will present both past and current research related to flexible-wing MAVs.

Author

Peter Ifju

Peter Ifju is a professor (since April 2005) in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida after promotions from assistant (1993-1999) and associate (1999-2005) professor positions. He conducted a post-doc at the NASA Langley Research Center in the Mechanics of Materials Branch (1992-1993). He received his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1992. He is an expert in the areas of micro air vehicles (design, fabrication, system integration, applications, and experimental characterization), experimental stress analysis, optical methods for stress analysis (moiré interferometry, luminescent photoelastic coatings), and composite materials stress analysis and fabrication. Dr Ifju has gained considerable international recognition in experimental mechanics including being selected as the first recipient of the A. J. Durelli Award from the Society for Experimental Mechanics in 2004. AIAA awarded Dr. Ifju with the Abe M. Zarem Award in 2005. He also received the NSF Career award in 1995. His publications have been recognized by "paper of the year awards" in three separate journals, including the Journal of Experimental Techniques, the Journal of Experimental Mechanics and the Journal of the Society for the Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering (SAMPE) the later for the paper entitle "Composite Materials for Micro Air Vehicles". He has received teacher of the year awards on the department and college level at the University of Florida. The University of Florida MAV Team, lead by Dr. Ifju, won first place overall in the International MAV Competition in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2000 Discovery magazine granted Dr. Ifju a Top Ten Technology Innovation Award for Micro Air Vehicle Development. Dr Ifju has coauthored or authored 2 books, 8 book chapters, more than 40 journal papers, and more than 70 conference papers. Professor Ifju published in 2007 a book on Micro Air Vehicles, coauthored with Thomas Mueller from Notre Dame University, Sergey Shkarayev from the University of Arizona, and James Kellogg from the Naval Research Labs. The title of the book is "Design of Fixed Wing Micro Air Vehicles, with Four Case Studies".

Science and Technology Opportunities for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Dr. Virginia Young, (Suzy)
Executive Director, Aviation Technology
Research, Development & Engineering Center
U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command
Redstone Arsenal, AL

Abstract

Efforts in Aviation Technology support many aspects of unmanned systems development. As the primary developmental activity (AMRDEC), specific science and technology efforts are identified that present a challenge to the effective operation of unmanned platforms for Army use. Unique opportunities exist that capitalize on teaming, payload integration, communications, navigation, and progressive development of autonomous capabilities. Real world scenarios are rapidly driving the requirements for more unmanned systems development and fielding. Effective unmanned systems integration into DoD operations is the ultimate goal of these developmental activities.

Author

Virginia Young

Dr. Young has over 28 years of experience as an Engineer, including 6 years experience in industry and 24 years working as a civilian for the U.S. Army. Dr. Young has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Memphis, a Masters of Business Administration from Florida Technical Institute, a Masters of Science in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, and a PhD in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University. She is a also a graduate of the Defense Systems Management College, Ft Belvoir, VA, Program Management Course, and has taught courses and seminar classes at numerous Universities. She is presently an Adjunct Professor in the Computer and Electrical Engineering Department at Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Young's industrial experience includes engineering and engineering management at General Telephone and Electronics (GTE), Triad MicroSystems, and as General Regional Manager for Textron Aerostructures. Her work in robotics and unmanned systems began in 1982 as an engineer for the U.S. Army Missile Command. As Program Manager for the first anti-armor robot, she successfully completed the initial development and test phases for the first military armed robot for the U.S. Army Infantry School, Ft Benning, GA. Presently, she serves as the Executive Director for Aviation Technology. Her leadership in this group includes managing basic, applied and development activities for all Army aviation platforms. Dr. Young has numerous commendations and over 20 published works. Dr. Young is considered a leader in the field of missile, aviation and unmanned systems and is recognized for her expertise in both national and international domains.

Perspectives on (multi-)UAV Operations : Autonomy & Security Issues

Patrick Fabiani
Director of the Systems Control and Flight Dynamics Department
ONERA
Toulouse, France

Abstract

Operational experiments and research programs are conducted in Europe in order to test in flight and improve the operations of multiple UAVs in co-ordination with other platforms. Such an operational context is now proven to require higher levels of UAV autonomy, either for network centric warfare operations, or for homeland security or risks management applications within the civil airspace. The safety and security issues about UAV operations appear to be crucial. On-board UAV integrated functions for autonomy on the one hand, and ground UAV mission planning tools on the other hand have been developed in recent years in a number of European and US laboratories and industries. However, despite these embedded systems and decision aid tools, the management of security issues via ground operated fail safe procedures is still prone to lead to undesired mission interruptions. Situation awareness problems may lead the security operators to react in inappropriate or delayed ways, or to immediately apply unnecessary drastic measures (false fault detection, temporary loss of control data link, Ä). The system requires immediate and local reactions, while the operators need more flexibility and time for analysis, which in turn requires safe and efficient capabilities of on-board fault detection, identification and autonomous reconfiguration. After an overview of salient developments in these matters, we propose a discussion of these issues on the basis of the experience gathered in the ReSSAC project : our rotorcraft control and supervision architecture is justified by dependability concerns and performs embedded perception and decision. Flight experiments and testing of its autonomy capabilities have been conducted on the basis of a search and rescue scenario and have leaded to improve the robustness of the system with respect to autonomous navigation, take-off, landing and exploration of partially known areas for landing, opening ways towards co-operative multi-UAV operations.

Author

Patrick Fabiani

Patrick Fabiani is the Director of the Systems Control and Flight Dynamics Department (DCSD) of ONERA. He has been the manager of the ReSSAC autonomous helicopter project since 2002. His research and teaching activity is related to models, methods, algorithms and tools for sequential decision making and planning under uncertainty. His work is applied to autonomous aircraft mission management systems. Patrick Fabiani graduated from Ecole Polytechnique Paris in 1990 and from SupAero in Toulouse in 1992 with a MSc in Automatic Control. He completed his PhD in Artificial Intelligence in 1996 at SupAero. He has been a research scientist at ONERA since 1993 in the Control and Decision Research Group. He was a Visiting Scholar in the Computer Science Department Robotics Laboratory at Stanford University between 1997 and 1999.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS): The Global Perspective

Peter van Blyenburgh
UVS International Paris, France

Abstract

This presentation will give a wide and richly illustrated overview of the current UAS situation in the world. It will highlight the problems being encountered and the required international co-ordination & co-operation relative to the necessary steps to insert UAS into non-segregated airspace.
The framework of the presentation will be as follows:
  • Introduction
  • UAS Referenced Worldwide & Producing Countries
  • UAS Categories & Review By Category
  • UAS: Out-of-country Military Deployments
  • The Problems Regarding Access to Non-Segregated Airspace & Starting To Resolve Them
  • Overview of the European UAS & Aviation Stakeholders
  • European Institutional UAS Airspace Access Activities
  • Non- European Institutional UAS Airspace Access Activities
  • The USEP Study Results: UAS for Security & Environmental Purposes -- The implications for micro & mini UAS EUROCAE WG73 & ICAO - Update
  • The Global Access Initiative
  • Conclusion.

Author

Peter van Blyenburgh

Peter van Blyenburgh, a Dutch national residing in Paris, France, was born in The Netherlands (Ç48), educated in Canada, the Netherlands Antilles and The Netherlands, studied in Switzerland (Business Administration) and has held various management positions with a number of industrial and service supplying corporations in the USA, Europe and the Middle East.
He has been involved with unmanned systems since 1987 and has supplied advisory services in this field to corporate and/or governmental entities in Europe, the Middle & Far East and North America.
In 1995 he instigated, and in 1997 founded, the European Unmanned Vehicle Systems Association (EURO UVS), which changed its name to UVS International in January 2004; he is currently in his fifth two-year term as president of this internationally operating non-profit association registered in Den Haag, The Netherlands, and which deploys its activities out of offices in Paris, France.
He is Chief Executive Officer of Blyenburgh & Co, a company registered in Paris, France, to which UVS International has entrusted its administration, as well as the organisation of its unmanned vehicle system related conferences, symposia and workshops; he personally chairs all UVS International conferences and he is a regular speaker at international unmanned system-related conferences.
He has created www.uvs-info.com, a generic unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) systems information web site for the benefit of the international UVS community and the worldÇs largest UAS web site library, which was set up to make UAS-related standards, certification, airworthiness, and air traffic management documents and opinion papers available to the international UAS community.
He is the editor of UVS News Flash, a electronic newsletter with information on unmanned vehicle systems (air, ground, naval), which is published once every two weeks for the UVS International members.
He is the editor and publisher of an authoritative yearly publication on UAS systems; the first edition (UAVs: A Vision of the Future) appeared in June 2003. The fifth edition (UAS: The Global Perspective) appears in June 2007 (hardcopy & electronic format) and will be supplied on CD, free-of-charge, for posting on 158 government & international organization intranets. Articles from his pen on unmanned aircraft system-related topics have appeared in numerous international magazines.
He was the co-ordinator of USEP, a pan-European inter-governmental initiative concerning UAS for security and environmental-related purposes, instigated & conducted by the Conseil Général de lÇArmement, a French Ministry of Defence think-tank.
He contributed to the creation of the EUROCAE Working Group 73 on unmanned aircraft systems, which was officially kicked at Eurocontrol headquarters in Brussels on April 20, 2006 under the chairmanship of Eurocontrol and deputy chairmanship of FAA; he chairs the sub-group dealing with terms & definitions.
He was the UVS International representative at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and member of the ICAO-instigated «informal core group» which prepared a guidance document for ICAO concerning the required future work relative unmanned aircraft system standards.
He is married, has two grown children, and has resided in Paris, France since 1977.

USAF Fundamental Research for Micro Air Vehicles

Dr. Thomas P. Russell
Director
Aerospace, Chemical and Material Sciences
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Air Force Research Laboratory

Abstract

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), a component of the Air Force Research Laboratory, leads fundamental research to meet US Air Force requirements in 2025 and beyond. This is done by identifying and investing in key science and technology areas and bringing together the world's leading experts in academia, government and industry. This presentation will briefly describe AFOSRÇs organization and research thrusts and then focus on specific MAV technology investments. This includes research in unsteady, low Reynolds number aerodynamics, navigation and flight control, cooperative control, and novel power sources.

Author

Dr. Thomas P. Russell

Dr. Thomas P. Russell is director of the Aerospace, Chemical and Material Sciences Directorate, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Arlington, Va. He is responsible for the Air Force basic research program in Aerospace, Chemical and Material Sciences, assuring the excellence and relevance of a broad research portfolio encompassing research activities in aerospace, engineering, and materials. At present, the directorate's program managers oversee more than 350 basic research projects. The five major projects in the directorate are solid mechanics and structures, materials, fluid dynamics, chemistry and propulsion. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2006.

Doctor Russell's government career began when he was recruited as a research scientist at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, White Oak Laboratory in White Oak, Md. In 1994, he joined the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). During the period from 1990 to 1996 Doctor Russell also held several other positions. He was a visiting scientist at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), an adjunct professor at the Washington State University Shock Dynamics Laboratory, and a part-time faculty member at Montgomery College.

In 1997, he became the Section Head, High-Energy Materials Section's Chemistry Division of the Naval Research Laboratory. In September 2000, he was appointed Director, Chemistry and Detonics Division, Research Department, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division, and was appointed Department Head, Research and Technology Department of the Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center, April 2001.

From April 2005 until his assignment at AFOSR, Dr. Russell was the Head, Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation Directorate of the Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center. Doctor Russell directed a multidiscipline research, development, testing, and evaluation organization focused on the science, technology, development, testing and technology transition associated with materials, energetic materials, and energetic systems required to support DoD, other government, and foreign military customers.

Doctor Russell's principal fields of interest are energetic materials, decomposition/combustion chemistry, detonation physics/chemistry, high pressure chemistry/physics, and spectroscopy. He has authored more than 100 publications and inventions in these areas.