Measuring Damage Outdoors while Flying (MDOF)
Abstract
This proposal seeks to obtain equipment and instrumentation that will enhance the training of Navyand Marine, Air Force, and Army c adets in outdoor monitoring of structural damage in the contextof Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), structural dynamics, anddynamic non-contact sensing using Unmanned Aerial Vehic ical problems facing in the dynamic outdoor monitoring using UAVs which hasnot been explored to date in a controlled environment. W e will team up with the Navy to increaseknowledge and capabilities of warfighters using non-contact methods in a controlled outdoor environment. More specifically, the capabilities will enable a testbed to benchmark laser-UAVintegration using positioning systems in an outdoor environment. The objective will be collectingdisplacements and other indications of damage from a structure excited by shakers outdoors. Thenew proposed system includes a portable shaker (excitation), laser systems and benchmarkabsolute displace ments, UAVs to collect the non-contact data, and an outdoor positioning systemto benchmark results. The indoor area of the Centenni al Engineering Center will be available forthis outdoor laboratory and it is a unique opportunity to house this equipment, since th e School ofEngineering (SOE) of the University of New Mexico (UNM) has agreed to enable this outdoorarea for this research, at no cost to the Department of Defense (DoD). To date, the UAV control isadvanced and studied with simulations (computer models) and in door laboratories, prior to fieldimplementations. However, there is still a gap to the challenging knowledge in the outdoorenviron and navy applications, laboratory capabilities and results arenot completely useful prior to the field implementation, as marine e nvironments need furtheroutdoors proofing. Measurements conducted by the Navy occur in adverse environments, and theuse of UAVs an measurements of the Navy that need to bebenchmarked outdoors to demonstrate their feasibility for monitoring ships, offshore struc tures,and other critical assets during war accurately and remotely. The new laboratory will benchmarkthe accuracy of those measure ments, before field implementations. Furthermore, this outdoorlaboratory will enable other military missions of interest such as UA V communications, humanmachine interfaces, and Augmented Reality (AR) outdoors, which will be tested in a controlled,motion-capture d environment. Skills related to CPS, SHM and UAVs will be developed and thecadets with these skills will maintain the technical su periority of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corpsand DoD over their adversaries. This project proposal in response to DURIP will enable m ultidisciplinary research and education of cadets and other college students with unique facilities andwill be also available for m ilitary research across the country for their testing and experimentationin UNM. The PIs are currently supported by DoD in related areas including counter UAV defense,human-machine interfaces, AR, and structural dynamics. The Co-PI of this proposal, Rafael Fier rois the PI of the Agile Manufacturing Center established in collaboration with the Air ForceResearch Laboratory (AFRL), establish ed in 2019 and funded until 2023. The PI of this proposalis the PI of the ONR project entitled Engaging University of New Mexico RO TC Cadets inCybersecurity Research, which aims to develop capable and trained workforce with skills todefend against emergent cybe r and electronic warfare threats and to maintain the technicalsuperiority of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and DoD over their adve rsaries. This abstract is publicly releaseable.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 22, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112929
Entities
People
- Fernando Moreu
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of New Mexico