This project involves enhancement of the Flight Controls Design Laboratory (CONLAB) to facilitate undergraduate experiments related to flight control design and testing in the general area of aeronautical engineering. The flight control design is for a small hovercraft and consists of integrating motion sensors and propulsive control with a computer so that the hovercraft is capable of autonomous flight. The first experiment will stabilize the hovercraft using a gyro, the second will give the hovercraft directional control in heading, and the third will provide navigation capability via satellite positioning. The satellite positioning will be provided by Global Positioning System sensors which are now available at low cost to universities. The grant is for the acquisition of major instrumentation : sensors, interface hardware, and systems software required for simulation and test. Emphasis in the experiments is on systems design and integration. The hardware interface and software algorithms required are open- ended, iterative design tasks. Students will work in teams and observe the differences between system simulation on a computer and system test using a prototype vehicle. The purpose of the experiments is to apply the theory in a team oriented fashion allowing considerable creativity in the process. This also will give the students exposure to the systems integration problems that they will meet in industry.
