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Air Force Institute of Technology

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Articles 331 - 360 of 2678

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Optical Study Of 2-D Detonation Wave Stability, Eulaine T. Grodner Mar 2021

Optical Study Of 2-D Detonation Wave Stability, Eulaine T. Grodner

Theses and Dissertations

Fundamental optical detonation study of detonations constricted to a 2-d plane propagation, and detonations propagating around a curve. All images were processed using modern image processing techniques. The optical techniques used were shadowgraph, Schlieren, and chemiluminescence. In the 2-Dstraight channels, it was determined wave stability was a factor of cell size. It was also determined the detonation wave thickness (area between the combustion and shockwave) was a factor of how much heat available for the detonation. For the detonations propagating around a curve, it was determined the three main classifications of wave stability were stable, unstable, and detonation wave restart. …

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A Cyber Threat Taxonomy And A Viability Analysis For False Injections In The Tcas, John W. Hannah Mar 2021

A Cyber Threat Taxonomy And A Viability Analysis For False Injections In The Tcas, John W. Hannah

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provided background information on the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). Additionally, the thesis developed a threat taxonomy for TCAS, resulting in the determination that a false injection attack presents the most comprehensive risk. Moreover, the thesis presents the development of a program to determine what ranges, altitudes, and relative bearings are most vulnerable to a false injection attack. The program includes test for all requirements of a successful false injection. Furthermore, the thesis presents an analysis of results and creates threat maps as situational awareness tools. Lastly, the thesis discusses potential solutions to the false injection attack, covers …

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Identifying Four Year Average Cloud Field Regimes From World Wide Merged Cloud Analysis Dataset By Way Of K-Means Clustering, Stewart G. Almeida Mar 2021

Identifying Four Year Average Cloud Field Regimes From World Wide Merged Cloud Analysis Dataset By Way Of K-Means Clustering, Stewart G. Almeida

Theses and Dissertations

Joint histograms of cloud top height (CTH) and optical depth (OD) are created using the World-Wide Merged Cloud Analysis (WWMCA) dataset over a four year period (2014-2017) to identify average cloud field regimes and assess the application of utilizing the WWMCA dataset with the AFIT Sensor and Scene Emulation Tool (ASSET). Two selected regions encompassing the Florida peninsula and a portion of the Pacific Ocean off the west-central coast of South America are examined over the months of January and July. Cloud field regimes are identified by running generated hourly OD-CTH histograms through k-means clustering, with optimal cluster number ( …

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The Effect Of Amino Acids And Molar Peroxide Ratio On The Oxidation Of 2,4 Dinitroanisole In An Ultraviolet Light Emitting Diode/H2O2 Advanced Oxidation Process, Jeffry P. Hart Mar 2021

The Effect Of Amino Acids And Molar Peroxide Ratio On The Oxidation Of 2,4 Dinitroanisole In An Ultraviolet Light Emitting Diode/H2O2 Advanced Oxidation Process, Jeffry P. Hart

Theses and Dissertations

2,4 Dinitroanisole (DNAN) is an organic insensitive munition that is a likely candidate to replace trinitrotoluene (TNT) for a variety of purposes. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) are a promising method that have the potential to reduce a variety of persistent chemicals, however, the performance of these systems may be degraded by co-contaminants in the influent. In this contribution, DNAN, with casamino acids as a co-contaminant, was oxidized with Ultraviolet (UV) Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in an AOP in a laboratory. The UV/ H2O2 AOP was capable of degrading DNAN …

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Examination Of A Lenseless Setup For Reflective Inverse Diffusion Of Light, John Nguyen Mar 2021

Examination Of A Lenseless Setup For Reflective Inverse Diffusion Of Light, John Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

Reflective inverse diffusion uses spatial light modulators to shape an incident wavefront so that when the wavefront interacts with some diffuse scattering sample, the reflected light will constructively interfere at a single focus. This thesisexamines the efficacy of using a lensless setup against a focal plane setup in achieving reflective inverse diffusion while simultaneously beamsteering. The lensless setup outperformed its counterpart by being able to focus more energy in a region, but failed to achieve the same beamsteering capabilities as the focal plane system. Understanding the flaws behind the lensless setup will be instrumental in creating a setup that can …

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Synthetic Lightning Generation Employing Autoregressive-Moving-Average (Arma) Models, Seth R. Powers Mar 2021

Synthetic Lightning Generation Employing Autoregressive-Moving-Average (Arma) Models, Seth R. Powers

Theses and Dissertations

This work explores the question as to whether lightning data can be generated synthetically using vector autoregressive-moving-average (VARMA) models. Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) data is used as the basis for the study. Lightning climatology is examined and compared to previous research to gain insight into the targeted areas. Individual lightning ashes are analyzed to inspect how well the process works on a smaller scale. Then, entire regions are evaluated to simulate lightning creation in a larger setting. Results suggest that the VARMA process employed is sufficient in generating synthetic lightning observations, largely dependent on the time and location of lightning …

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Water Security At United States Air Force Installations, John D. Pollock Mar 2021

Water Security At United States Air Force Installations, John D. Pollock

Theses and Dissertations

Global water security is a growing concern that poses unique challenges that stem from geopolitical arrangement, regional location, and local climate conditions. United States national defense relies on an uninterrupted water supply to sustain operations to carry out its readiness mission. Accurate water security assessments are necessary for adapting to climate factors and to provide essential information to meet the changing needs of human water demand. This research presents how different water metrics are applied at various United States Air Force locations to measure water scarcity. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software is used to conduct spatial correlation across the United …

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A Fixed-Point Method For Computing Steady-State 2d Laser-Fluid Interactions, Jeremiah S. Lane Mar 2021

A Fixed-Point Method For Computing Steady-State 2d Laser-Fluid Interactions, Jeremiah S. Lane

Theses and Dissertations

This research introduces a fixed-point numerical approach for solving the steady-state Navier-Stokes (NS) equations on a finite two-dimensional (2D) domain. The steady-state interaction between a high energy laser beam and its surrounding fluid medium is important to researchers in the field of high energy laser beam propagation. The solutions to the steady-state Navier-Stokes equations provide a model for uncovering the steady-state behavior of the fluid medium, which is useful for the modeling of thermal blooming in laser beam propagation. Numerical solutions remain the only tenable option for solving the NS equations, wherein numerical speed and fidelity beget the utility of …

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Ccsfs/Ksc Total Lightning Warning Radii Optimization For Merlin Using Preexisting Lightning Areas, Kimberly G. Holland Mar 2021

Ccsfs/Ksc Total Lightning Warning Radii Optimization For Merlin Using Preexisting Lightning Areas, Kimberly G. Holland

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to optimize lightning warning radii specifications for the 45th Space Wing (45 SW), thus reducing the number of unnecessary warnings that delay ground processing needed for space launch execution at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This thesis sought to answer two key research questions addressing: 1) What radius reduction effectively balances both safety and operations and do reduction recommendations from previous research align with results from the new detection system? 2) What insights can be gained from comparing measurement results for seasonal lightning events as well as lightning types? This …

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Unsupervised Clustering Of Rf-Fingerprinting Features Derived From Deep Learning Based Recognition Models, Christian T. Potts Mar 2021

Unsupervised Clustering Of Rf-Fingerprinting Features Derived From Deep Learning Based Recognition Models, Christian T. Potts

Theses and Dissertations

RF-Fingerprinting is focus of machine learning research which aims to characterize wireless communication devices based on their physical hardware characteristics. It is a promising avenue for improving wireless communication security in the PHY layer. The bulk of research presented to date in this field is focused on the development of features and classifiers using both traditional supervised machine learning models as well as deep learning. This research aims to expand on existing RF-Fingerprinting work by approaching the problem through the lens of an unsupervised clustering problem. To that end this research proposes a deep learning model and training methodology to …

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An Analysis Of The Effects Of Technology Readiness Levels On Cost Growth, Christopher R. Bissing Mar 2021

An Analysis Of The Effects Of Technology Readiness Levels On Cost Growth, Christopher R. Bissing

Theses and Dissertations

This research seeks to evaluate the effects of Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) on Cost Growth. It makes use of data from Technology Readiness Assessments (TRA) and Selected Acquisition Reports (SAR) to explore relationships between TRLs at Milestone B and cost growth in Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP) and Major Automated Information Systems (MAIS). Programs using higher proportions of critical technologies rated below TRL 7 tend to experience greater cost growth than programs that use more mature technologies. Current DoD doctrine requires TRL 6 to enter Milestone B. The results of this research seek to evaluate the merit of this requirement. …

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Display Design To Avoid And Mitigate Limit Cycle Oscillations (Lco) On The F-16c, David J. Feibus Mar 2021

Display Design To Avoid And Mitigate Limit Cycle Oscillations (Lco) On The F-16c, David J. Feibus

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons flying characteristics and flight envelope are dynamic and defined by its external weapon stores configuration. The employment of its munitions at certain speeds can put the F-16 into a flutter-like state in which Limit Cycle Oscillations (LCO) are induced. In LCO, a pilots fine motor control might be hindered, and the aircraft may lose combat effectiveness until flight conditions are reduced. The current research attempted to provide pilots with a predictive feedback display to avoid an LCO-susceptible configuration by increasing their situation awareness about the consequences of employing certain munitions to their flight …

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Indoor Navigation Using Convolutional Neural Networks And Floor Plans, Ricky D. Anderson Mar 2021

Indoor Navigation Using Convolutional Neural Networks And Floor Plans, Ricky D. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to evaluate a new indoor navigation technique by incorporating floor plans along with monocular camera images into a CNN as a potential means for identifying camera position. Building floor plans are widely available and provide potential information for localizing within the building. This work sets out to determine if a CNN can learn the architectural features of a floor plan and use that information to determine a location. In this work, a simulated indoor data set is created and used to train two CNNs. A classification CNN, which breaks up the floor plan into …

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Two Published Flight Dynamics Models Rewritten In Rust And Structures As An Ecs, Chad A. Willis Mar 2021

Two Published Flight Dynamics Models Rewritten In Rust And Structures As An Ecs, Chad A. Willis

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores using the Entity-Component System (ECS) architecture to implement a Flight Dynamics Model (FDM) by re-implementing two published versions in the Rust programming language using the Specs Parallel ECS (SPECS) [1] for military simulation advancement. One FDM is based on Grant Palmers published textbook titled Physics for Game Programmers [2], and another is based on David Bourgs textbook titled Physics for Game Developers [3]. Furthermore, this thesis uses these models within an interactive flight simulator.The ECS architecture is based on the Data-Oriented Design (DOD) paradigm, where Components contain the data and the Systems implement the behavior which transforms …

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Analysis Of Functional Responses In Experimental Design, Matthew E. Scherer Mar 2021

Analysis Of Functional Responses In Experimental Design, Matthew E. Scherer

Theses and Dissertations

The growth of sensor streamed data in recent years increases the demand for an analytical technique to properly address data measured continuously. The design and analysis of experiments (DOE) of U.S. Air Force assets are based off of sensor streamed data. Functional data analysis (FDA) is an approach of analyzing data existing over a continuum. This research aids in filling the intersection of FDA and DOE by examining a case study of an experimental design with a functional response in addition to insight on software capabilities in FDA. The case study considers a functional linear model of a whole-plot from …

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A Framework For Autonomous Cooperative Optimal Assignment And Control Of Satellite Formations, Devin E. Saunders Mar 2021

A Framework For Autonomous Cooperative Optimal Assignment And Control Of Satellite Formations, Devin E. Saunders

Theses and Dissertations

A decentralized, cooperative multi-agent optimal control framework is presented to offer a solution to the assignment and control problems associated with performing multi-agent tasks in a proximity operations environment. However, the framework developed may be applied to a variety domains such as air, space, and sea. The solution presented takes advantage of a second price auction assignment algorithm to optimally task each satellite, while model predictive control is implemented to control the agents optimally while adhering to safety and mission constraints. The solution is compared to a pseudospectral collocation method, and a study on tuning parameters is included.

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Evaluation Of Efficient Water Reuse Technologies For Sustainable Forward Operating Bases, Kelsie L. Crouch Mar 2021

Evaluation Of Efficient Water Reuse Technologies For Sustainable Forward Operating Bases, Kelsie L. Crouch

Theses and Dissertations

A secure water source is essential to the resiliency and readiness of military installations and contingency operation locations, especially those located in the dry climates the US military operates in today. There are multiple issues of concern when identifying water sources, such as security, cleanliness, accessibility, and sustainability. Water resources pose a potential vulnerability to mission readiness in a remote, agile environment, such as a forward operating base (FOB). Having a secure water resource helps facilitate mission readiness in the contingency environment, offering the opportunity to be more resilient and cost-effective. Current water treatment technologies present the possibility to perform …

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Error Detection In Quantum Algorithms, Simeon R. Hanks Mar 2021

Error Detection In Quantum Algorithms, Simeon R. Hanks

Theses and Dissertations

Quantum computers need to be able to control highly entangled quantum states in the presence of environmental perturbations that lead to errors in calculations. Progress in superconducting qubits has enabled the development of computers capable of running small quantum circuits. The current era of Noise Intermediate Scale Quantum computing has a high error rate. To alleviate this error rate we apply an encoding scheme that allows us to remove results with known errors improving the quality of our results. The encoding uses multiple qubits as a single logical qubit and balances the natural tendency of state-of-the-art quantum computers to decohere …

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Enumerating And Locating Bluetooth Devices For Casualty Recovery In A First-Responder Environment, Justin M. Durham Mar 2021

Enumerating And Locating Bluetooth Devices For Casualty Recovery In A First-Responder Environment, Justin M. Durham

Theses and Dissertations

It is difficult for first-responders to quickly locate casualties in an emergency environment such as an explosion or natural disaster. In order to provide another tool to locate individuals, this research attempts to identify and estimate the location of devices that would likely be located on or with a person. A variety of devices, such as phones, smartwatches, and Bluetooth-enabled locks, are tested in multiple environments and at various heights to determine the impact that placement and interference played in locating the devices. The hypothesis is that most Bluetooth devices can be successfully enumerated quickly, but cannot be accurately located …

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Lithium Compound Characterization Via Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy And Raman Spectroscopy, James T. Stofel Mar 2021

Lithium Compound Characterization Via Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy And Raman Spectroscopy, James T. Stofel

Theses and Dissertations

Industries such as lithium-ion battery producers and the nuclear industry community seek to produce and store lithium in pure chemical forms. However, these lithium compounds are reactive with the atmosphere and quickly degrade into less desirable forms. Therefore, industry desires a fast and effective quality control approach to quantify the ingrowth of these secondary lithium chemical forms. This research presents a novel approach using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and Raman spectroscopy in tandem to enhance lithium compound characterization beyond what is achieved by either technique alone. The resulting spectral data are aggregated using data fusion and analyzed using chemometrics for …

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Performance Of Various Low-Level Decoder For Surface Codes In The Presence Of Measurement Error, Claire E. Badger Mar 2021

Performance Of Various Low-Level Decoder For Surface Codes In The Presence Of Measurement Error, Claire E. Badger

Theses and Dissertations

Quantum error correction is a research specialty within the area of quantum computing that constructs quantum circuits that correct for errors. Decoding is the process of using measurements from an error correcting code, known as error syndrome, to decide corrective operations to perform on the circuit. High-level decoding is the process of using the error syndrome to perform corrective logical operations, while low-level decoding uses the error syndrome to correct individual data qubits. Research on machine learning-based decoders is increasingly popular, but has not been thoroughly researched for low-level decoders. The type of error correcting code used is called surface …

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Formal Verification For High Assurance Software: A Case Study Using The Spark Auto-Active Verification Toolset, Ryan M. Baity Mar 2021

Formal Verification For High Assurance Software: A Case Study Using The Spark Auto-Active Verification Toolset, Ryan M. Baity

Theses and Dissertations

Software is an increasingly integral and sophisticated part of safety- and mission-critical systems. Poorly written software can lead to information leakage, undetected cyber breaches, and even human injury in cases where the software directly interfaces with components of a physical system. These systems may range from power facilities to remotely piloted aircraft. Software bugs and vulnerabilities can lead to severe economic hardships and loss of life in these domains. As fast as software spreads to automate many facets of our lives, it also grows in complexity. The complexity of software systems combined with the nature of the critical domains dependent …

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Comparison Of Machine Learning Techniques On Trust Detection Using Eeg, James R. Elkins Mar 2021

Comparison Of Machine Learning Techniques On Trust Detection Using Eeg, James R. Elkins

Theses and Dissertations

Trust is a pillar of society and is a fundamental aspect in every relationship. With the use of automated agents in todays workforce exponentially growing, being able to actively monitor an individuals trust level that is working with the automation is becoming increasingly more important. Humans often have miscalibrated trust in automation and therefore are prone to making costly mistakes. Since deciding to trust or distrust has been shown to correlate with specific brain activity, it is thought that there are EEG signals which are associated with this decision. Using both a human-human trust and a human-machine trust EEG dataset …

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Enhanced Space Object Detection Without Prior Knowledge Of The Point Spread Function, Grant F. Graupmann Mar 2021

Enhanced Space Object Detection Without Prior Knowledge Of The Point Spread Function, Grant F. Graupmann

Theses and Dissertations

Since the point detector was created, other detection algorithms have been created that increase the probability of detection, while still keeping the same probability of false alarm. The point detector still has uses, such as when there is no prior knowledge of the point spread function (PSF). The matched filter correlator (MFC) detector is reliant on prior knowledge of the PSF. This has been an issue in cases where the PSF information is potentially inaccurate or unknown. This thesis utilizes MFC detector in a manner that it has never been used before, along with a new detection algorithm, the Pearson's …

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Stereo Camera Calibrations With Optical Flow, Joshua D. Larson Mar 2021

Stereo Camera Calibrations With Optical Flow, Joshua D. Larson

Theses and Dissertations

Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) are currently unable to refuel mid-air due to the large communication delays between their operators and the aircraft. AAR seeks to address this problem by reducing the communication delay to a fast line-of-sight signal between the tanker and the RPA. Current proposals for AAR utilize stereo cameras to estimate where the receiving aircraft is relative to the tanker, but require accurate calibrations for accurate location estimates of the receiver. This paper improves the accuracy of this calibration by improving three components of it: increasing the quantity of intrinsic calibration data with CNN preprocessing, improving the quality …

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Nonlinear Solution Of The Time Eigenvalue Of A Fast Burst Reactor Using The Finite Volume Method, Stephen H. Baxter Mar 2021

Nonlinear Solution Of The Time Eigenvalue Of A Fast Burst Reactor Using The Finite Volume Method, Stephen H. Baxter

Theses and Dissertations

This effort models fast burst reactors using the one dimensional, one group neutron diffusion equation to solve for the time eigenvalue, a method for which an analytical solution exists against which the numerical results can be verified. An existing solution method is enhanced by the addition of a second order accurate finite volume discretization, which is then used to model two separate fast burst reactors. The results of these models are then compared to the results of previous work, the analytical solution, and existing experimental burst width data for each of the two reactors.

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An Examination Of Civilian Retention In The United States Air Force, William F. Wilson Mar 2021

An Examination Of Civilian Retention In The United States Air Force, William F. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

The backbone of the United States Air Force is undoubtedly the large civilian workforce that supplements the great work that is accomplished. Many research studies have been conducted on officer and enlisted personnel to ensure that the career fields are properly developed and managed to meet the ever growing demands of the military's varied missions, but no recent studies have focused on the civilian workforce. Striking a balance between new and experienced employees is paramount to success given the ever-changing economic and political landscapes where we find ourselves. The first part of the research uses logistic regression to determine the …

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Remote Monitoring Of Memory Data Structures For Malware Detection In A Talos Ii Architecture, Robert A. Willburn Mar 2021

Remote Monitoring Of Memory Data Structures For Malware Detection In A Talos Ii Architecture, Robert A. Willburn

Theses and Dissertations

New forms of malware, namely xC;leless malware and rootkits, pose a threat to traditional anti-malware. In particular, Rootkits have the capacity to obscure the present state of memory from the user space of a target machine. If thishappens, anti-malware running in the user space of an axB;ected machine cannot be trusted to operate properly. To combat this threat, this research proposes the remote monitoring of memory from a second, secure processor runningOpenBMC, serving as a baseboard management controller for a POWER9 processor, which is assumed vulnerable to exploitation. The baseboard management controller includes an application called pdbg, used for debugging …

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Cyclic Pursuit, Daniel E. Oke Mar 2021

Cyclic Pursuit, Daniel E. Oke

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes cyclic pursuit with the intent of developing swarm attack strategies for autonomous agents. Research was focused on finding the effects of pursuers capture range, evader speed and size of formation on the probability of escape. The temporal evolution of several polygonal formations was analyzed. The polygons could be regular or arbitrary polygons. The thesis demonstrated that an increased capture range, formation size, reduced evader speed aided capture probability. Irregular n-gon formations reduced to n-1 gon repeatedly, pursuer clusters formed until two clusters remained which eventually came together, so all the n pursuers coalesced until convergence. Regular n-gon …

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Studying The Conditions For Magnetic Reconnection In Solar Flares With And Without Precursor Flares, Seth H. Garland Mar 2021

Studying The Conditions For Magnetic Reconnection In Solar Flares With And Without Precursor Flares, Seth H. Garland

Theses and Dissertations

Forecasting of solar flares remains a challenge due to the limited understanding of the triggering mechanisms associated with magnetic reconnection, the primary physical phenomenon connected to these events. Consequently, methods continue to rely on the climatology of solar flare events as opposed to the underlying physics principles. Models of magnetic reconnection in the solar atmosphere places the null point of the reconnection within the corona. Though as of now the coronal magnetic field cannot be directly measured, the field is tied to the photospheric magnetic field, which can be. This study utilized data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory Helioseismic and …

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