Professor Ali Abedi of University of Maine

Air leaks in pressurized structures such as space vehicles or habitats due to micrometeorite impacts or structural aging and failure are inevitable. Due to the large pressure differential between interior of the module and space outside, the escaping air emits an ultrasonic wave inside the module that may be detected using ultrasonic sensors. This presentation describes hardware, software, and algorithmic challenges for localizing leaks using an array of ultrasonic sensors. A major challenge with leak localization is inaccuracy due to reflections and noise. With the use of Kalman filtering, tree-search algorithm, and a hyperbolic angle of arrival algorithm, we can eliminate many of these inaccuracies. Design considerations for a standalone device with its own battery power source, on-board processing, crew interfaces, signal- conditioning circuitry, and a custom 3-D printed box are discussed in this presentation. Three devices were built, flight certified and scheduled to deploy to the ISS for data collection during the Fall of 2016. This project was funded through a three year NASA EPSCoR grant in collaboration with the Office of ISS Technology Demonstration Programs.

Biography:

Giakos C. Giakos

The goal of this presentation is to introduce the technical challenges associated with the design and operational capabilities of drone vision systems, then introduce sensing principles and techniques, borrowed from biological sensory response systems, overcoming these challenges. Although unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)s have established an impressive performance track during the course of the modern conflicts, operation of UAVs in urban settings for combat or commercial applications is not practical, and limited by their competing design requirements. Specifically, existing small UAVs (SUAV)s and micro air vehicles (MAV)s, although exhibiting high intrinsic value in terms of information-surveillance- reconnaissance (ISR) assets, they are not agile enough to operate in the confined, obstacle cluttered environments of city streets. A number of coexisting issues such as limited ability to operate in close proximity to terrain, structures, and other vehicles; limited ability to land on stationary or moving objects; communication latency and drop-out; and sufficient autonomy for reasonable operator workload, introduce severe limitations in current drone technologies. Given the dynamic nature of urban settings, operation in those scenarios introduces significant uncertainties and risks. While the human eye can practically cope only with two aspects of light, brightness and color, many insects use polarization as a further source of visual information. In fact, the polarization pattern of the blue sky serves as an important reference for spatial orientation in insects. Polarization sensitivity differs according to insect species: for instance crickets use blue receptors in polarization vision while honeybees, desert ants and flies use UV-receptors. Insects possess compound eyes. The enhanced polarization vision capabilities of insects, combined with a wide field-of- view, multi-functional eye structure, and good tracking offers enhanced structural, geometrical, chemical, and metabolic information, as wells as unique tracking, guidance, and object discrimination capabilities.

Biography:

George C. Giakos is Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Manhattan College, NY. In addition, he is the Director of the Graduate Program. Prior joining Manhattan College, he has been a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, for the last 20 years, at the University of Akron, OH, USA.

He has been the Director of the US AFRL Multifunctional Imaging Surveillance platform, designed under an US AFRL research contract. He has been recognized for "his leadership efforts in advancing the professional goals of IEEE" by receiving the 2014 IEEE-USA Professional Achievement Award, "in recognition of his efforts in strengthening links between industry, government and academia". He has been elected an IEEE Fellow based on his "Contributions to Efficient Imaging Devices, Systems and Techniques". He is a Distinguished Faculty fellow for the Office of Naval Research.

In addition, he served for several years as faculty Fellow at NASA and Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL). Professor Giakos received his Laurea in Physics from the University of Turin (Italy), a Post Graduate Diploma in Nuclear Instrumentation from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), an MS Degree in Physics from Ohio University. He received his Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering, from Marquette University, following Post-Doctoral Training in Medical Imaging, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee.

His research group was the first in the US to pioneer the characterization of the detection and imaging characteristics of Cadmium Zinc Telluride semiconductor substrates for flat-panel digital radiography applications.

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