ECE Department Goes Beyond High Tech
by Andrzej Rucinski and Raymond Garbos, Avionics & Space Division, Sanders
Over the last couple of years the Design Automation Laboratory
(DAL) has intensified an effort in the area of collaboration with external
partners, both on and off campus. This strategy has greatly enhanced the
capability of the laboratory, substantially modernized the ECE curriculum, and
most importantly benefited many electrical engineering students. A good example
is an on-going collaboration with the Laboratory for Advanced Small Satellites
(LASS), which is coordinated by Dr. David Forrest, a faculty member of the
Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space (EOS). The activities of
that laboratory are aimed at the development of small satellite technology at
UNH. The CATSAT project, a satellite being built by UNH students, has been
described multiple times in Signals & Noise.
One of the new initiatives, consistent with the formulae of
collaboration, outreach, and emphasis on "real life" problems, is a joint
project with the Avionics and Space Division of Sanders, a Lockheed Martin
Company. The project involves the development of a health monitoring system for
the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Technology Program.
The RLV program is a novel partnership approach initiated by NASA
in cooperation with industry for world leadership in low-cost space
transportation. Several experimental programs have been initiated including the
X-33 program. The objective of the X-33 program is aimed at the development of
technologies for the next generation of reusable space transportation systems,
which will radically reduce the cost of access to space. The X-33 experimental
spacecraft will demonstrate technologies necessary to support the development of
a full-scale reusable spacecraft fleet and launch infrastructure. The SSTO RLV
System will capture the lucrative commercial satellite market and eventually
replace the current NASA Space Shuttle for servicing Space Station Alpha. The
X-33 includes demonstration of advanced technologies necessary to reduce the
risk before transiting into the full-scale production of the SSTO RLV launch
system. The Lockheed Martin SSTO design emphasis is on unique aerodynamic design
using the linear aerospike engine and highly reliable designs with near
maintenance free operations
Technologies critical to SSTO RLV success that are being integrated
and demonstrated by the X-33 program include:
- New lifting body design
- Linear Aerospike BiPropellent propulsion
- Lighter, embedded reusable cryogenic tanks
- Highly automated ground and flight operations techniques
- Advanced open architecture avionics and electronics for both flight and
vehicle health management using state-of-the-art microelectronics, optics, and
packaging.
The un-piloted, autonomous X-33 sub-scale, sub-orbital test
vehicle takes off in a vertical position and utilizes conventional runways to
land horizontally, gliding to the landing site unpowered. Flight tests involve
speeds of up to Mach 15 and altitudes up to approximately 75,800 meters (250,000
feet). Ground operations and servicing are to be minimized using health
management technologies and aircraft-like procedures.
One important system needed for X-33 is the health management
system. The intention is to collect the status of all the vehicle subsystems
including structures, fuselage, etc. by measuring, recording and analyzing data
including pressure, temperature, acceleration, etc. during all ground and flight
tests. This is accomplished by covering the spacecraft with a smart skin, a
collection of sensors which send data to numerous computer nodes called Remote
Health Nodes (RHNs). An advanced concept RHN is being developed at Sanders in
cooperation with UNH. UNH will utilize the "system on a chip" strategy which
should facilitate a stacked multichip module (MCM) implementation through
synthesized high level VHDL modules, realized using known good dies (KGD).
The RHN initiative has a large impact on education in the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UNH. Generally speaking, at
the end of the twentieth century US industry and academia are undergoing a major
and accelerating change caused by two primary factors: the end of the cold war
era and the globalization of the economy. The first factor has resulted in a
drastic reduction of federal spending, particularly in the area of defense
[FUQ97], and the second one eliminated the world technological dominance of the
United States. The first factor affects US industry more than any other segment
of our society through the lack of federal contracts, i.e., the defense
contractor may face many challenges related to the company’s growth. The second
one clearly is a challenge to the educational system in the United States, i.e.,
how do we cultivate a new generation of university graduates ready to compete
with other countries [BAS97]. Surprisingly, a grim picture of more work presents
an opportunity to develop close ties between industry and academia. The lack of
federal funding means less university research sponsored by federal agencies,
but also affects research and development conducted by high-tech industry. As a
result, universities may partially fill the gap by serving as research and
development centers for industry. Moreover, the need for more pragmatic
engineers who understand "real world" problems creates pressure on academia to
become more innovative and flexible in their curricula.
The DAL at UNH and the Avionics and Space Division at Sanders, a
Lockheed Martin Company in Nashua, NH have established a relationship which fits
perfectly as a case study for the era described above. Sanders is vitally
interested in hiring graduates who can contribute as quickly as possible and
have sufficient skills to use state-of-the-art technology. The UNH-Sanders
relationship is driven by a real exciting project such as the design of the RHN
Controller for the experimental X-33 airborne vehicle. The X-33 project, along
with other DAL initiatives, serves as a catalyst to consolidate a new
educational program at UNH in collaborative engineering. The collaborative
engineering concentration involves four UNH partnerships: the ECE Department
(Dr. A. Rucinski), the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space (Dr.
D. Forrest), the Mechanical Engineering Department (Dr. Robert Jerard), and the
Whittemore School of Business and Economics (Dr. L. Sprague). As a result,
several courses have been developed to support the research and industrial
projects and to emphasize teamwork: Introduction to VHDL, Collaborative
Engineering, and Introduction to Business and Management for Engineers.
Since the RHN design is a joint effort of electrical and mechanical
engineers, it is a nice example of interdisciplinary collaboration. Future plans
include offering derivative projects in EE777/ME777 this coming fall.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge the decisive and critical
role of two ECE graduate students in the X-33 RHN project. Their names are
Norbert Valverde and Tamas Visegrady. They are somewhat symbolic of the changing
times: Norbert is from France and Tamas is from Hungary. Without their
contribution the success of this pioneering project would have been impossible.
As a last minute note, Sanders is extending the application domain
of RHN to include the possible upgrade of the current Space Shuttle program to
modernize its electronics.
References:
[BAS97] Basic Research. White Paper, a Supplement to Research & Development
Magazine, a Cahners Publication May 1997.
[FUQ97] D. Fuqua, "Sound policy, not sound bites", Aerospace America, May 1997.