Courses tagged with "Vectors" (67)

This course introduces the fundamental Lean Six Sigma principles that underlay modern continuous improvement approaches for industry, government and other organizations. Lean emerged from the Japanese automotive industry, particularly Toyota, and is focused on the creation of value through the relentless elimination of waste. Six Sigma is a quality system developed at Motorola which focuses on elimination of variation from all processes. The basic principles have been applied to a wide range of organizations and sectors to improve quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, time-to-market and financial performance.

This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.

16.885J offers a holistic view of the aircraft as a system, covering: basic systems engineering; cost and weight estimation; basic aircraft performance; safety and reliability; lifecycle topics; aircraft subsystems; risk analysis and management; and system realization. Small student teams retrospectively analyze an existing aircraft covering: key design drivers and decisions; aircraft attributes and subsystems; and operational experience. Oral and written versions of the case study are delivered. For the Fall 2005 term, the class focuses on a systems engineering analysis of the Space Shuttle. It offers study of both design and operations of the shuttle, with frequent lectures by outside experts. Students choose specific shuttle systems for detailed analysis and develop new subsystem designs using state of the art technology.

This course meets weekly to discuss recent aerospace history and current events, in order to understand how they are responsible for the state of the aerospace industry. With invited subject matter experts participating in nearly every session, students have an opportunity to hone their insight through truly informed discussion. The aim of the course is to prepare junior and senior level students for their first industry experiences.

This is a reading and discussion subject on issues in the engineering of software systems and software development project design. It includes the present state of software engineering, what has been tried in the past, what worked, what did not, and why. Topics may differ in each offering, but will be chosen from: the software process and lifecycle; requirements and specifications; design principles; testing, formal analysis, and reviews; quality management and assessment; product and process metrics; COTS and reuse; evolution and maintenance; team organization and people management; and software engineering aspects of programming languages.

This course is taught in four main parts. The first is a review of fundamental thermodynamic concepts (e.g. energy exchange in propulsion and power processes), and is followed by the second law (e.g. reversibility and irreversibility, lost work). Next are applications of thermodynamics to engineering systems (e.g. propulsion and power cycles, thermo chemistry), and the course concludes with fundamentals of heat transfer (e.g. heat exchange in aerospace devices).

This undergraduate course builds upon the dynamics content of Unified Engineering, a sophomore course taught in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. Vector kinematics are applied to translation and rotation of rigid bodies. Newtonian and Lagrangian methods are used to formulate and solve equations of motion. Additional numerical methods are presented for solving rigid body dynamics problems. Examples and problems describe applications to aircraft flight dynamics and spacecraft attitude dynamics.

This course provides an overview of airline management decision processes with a focus on economic issues and their relationship to operations planning models and decision support tools. It emphasizes the application of economic models of demand, pricing, costs, and supply to airline markets and networks, and it examines industry practice and emerging methods for fleet planning, route network design, scheduling, pricing and revenue management.

The major focus of 16.13 is on boundary layers, and boundary layer theory subject to various flow assumptions, such as compressibility, turbulence, dimensionality, and heat transfer. Parameters influencing aerodynamic flows and transition and influence of boundary layers on outer potential flow are presented, along with associated stall and drag mechanisms. Numerical solution techniques and exercises are included.

The Experimental Project Lab in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics is a two-semester course sequence: 16.621 Experimental Projects I and 16.622 Experimental Projects II (this course). Students in 16.622 gain practical insight and improved understanding of engineering experimentation through design and execution of "project" experiments. Building upon work in course 16.621, students construct and test equipment, make systematic experimental measurements of phenomena, analyze data, and compare theoretical predictions with results. Deliverables comprise a written final project report and formal oral presentations. Instructions on oral presentations and multi-section reporting are given. Experimental Projects I and II provide a valuable link between theory (16.621) and practice (16.622).

This course will cover fundamentals of digital communications and networking. We will study the basics of information theory, sampling and quantization, coding, modulation, signal detection and system performance in the presence of noise. The study of data networking will include multiple access, reliable packet transmission, routing and protocols of the internet. The concepts taught in class will be discussed in the context of aerospace communication systems: aircraft communications, satellite communications, and deep space communications.

The major themes of this course are estimation and control of dynamic systems. Preliminary topics begin with reviews of probability and random variables. Next, classical and state-space descriptions of random processes and their propagation through linear systems are introduced, followed by frequency domain design of filters and compensators. From there, the Kalman filter is employed to estimate the states of dynamic systems. Concluding topics include conditions for stability of the filter equations.

This course studies basic optimization and the principles of optimal control. It considers deterministic and stochastic problems for both discrete and continuous systems. The course covers solution methods including numerical search algorithms, model predictive control, dynamic programming, variational calculus, and approaches based on Pontryagin's maximum principle, and it includes many examples and applications of the theory.

This course introduces the design of feedback control systems as applied to a variety of air and spacecraft systems. Topics include the properties and advantages of feedback systems, time-domain and frequency-domain performance measures, stability and degree of stability, the Root locus method, Nyquist criterion, frequency-domain design, and state space methods.

This course covers the fundamentals of Newtonian mechanics, including kinematics, motion relative to accelerated reference frames, work and energy, impulse and momentum, 2D and 3D rigid body dynamics. The course pays special attention to applications in aerospace engineering including introductory topics in orbital mechanics, flight dynamics, inertial navigation and attitude dynamics. By the end of the semester, students should be able to construct idealized (particle and rigid body) dynamical models and predict model response to applied forces using Newtonian mechanics.

This course is offered for graduate students who are interested in the interdisciplinary study of bio-inspired structures. The intent is to introduce students to newly inspired modern advanced structures and their applications. It aims to link traditional advanced composites to bio-inspired structures and to discuss their generic properties. A link between materials design, strength and structural behavior at different levels (material, element, structural and system levels) is made. For each level, various concepts will be introduced. The importance of structural, dynamic, thermodynamic and kinetic theories related to such processing is highlighted. The pedagogy is based on active learning and a balance of guest lectures and hands-on activities.

Applies solid mechanics to analysis of high-technology structures. Structural design considerations. Review of three-dimensional elasticity theory; stress, strain, anisotropic materials, and heating effects. Two-dimensional plane stress and plane strain problems. Torsion theory for arbitrary sections. Bending of unsymmetrical section and mixed material beams. Bending, shear, and torsion of thin-wall shell beams. Buckling of columns and stability phenomena. Introduction to structural dynamics. Exercises in the design of general and aerospace structures.

This course provides students with an opportunity to conceive, design and implement a product, using rapid prototyping methods and computer-aid tools. The first of two phases challenges each student team to meet a set of design requirements and constraints for a structural component. A course of iteration, fabrication, and validation completes this manual design cycle. During the second phase, each team conducts design optimization using structural analysis software, with their phase one prototype as a baseline.

Acknowledgements

This course is made possible thanks to a grant by the alumni sponsored Teaching and Education Enhancement Program (Class of '51 Fund for Excellence in Education, Class of '55 Fund for Excellence in Teaching, Class of '72 Fund for Educational Innovation). The instructors gratefully acknowledge the financial support. The course was approved by the Undergraduate Committee of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2003. The instructors thank Prof. Manuel Martinez-Sanchez and the committee members for their support and suggestions.

This class includes a brief review of applied aerodynamics and modern approaches in aircraft stability and control. Topics covered include static stability and trim; stability derivatives and characteristic longitudinal and lateral-directional motions; and physical effects of the wing, fuselage, and tail on aircraft motion. Control methods and systems are discussed, with emphasis on flight vehicle stabilization by classical and modern control techniques; time and frequency domain analysis of control system performance; and human-pilot models and pilot-in-the-loop controls with applications. Other topics covered include V/STOL stability, dynamics, and control during transition from hover to forward flight; parameter sensitivity; and handling quality analysis of aircraft through variable flight conditions. There will be a brief discussion of motion at high angles-of-attack, roll coupling, and other nonlinear flight regimes.

Space Systems Engineering (16.83X) is the astronautical capstone course option in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.  Between Spring 2002 and Spring 2003, the course was offered in a 3-semester format, using a Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate (C-D-I-O) teaching model. 16.83X is shorthand for the three course numbers: 16.83, 16.831, and 16.832. The first semester (16.83) is the Conceive-Design phase of the project, which results in a detailed system design, but precedes assembly.  The second semester (16.831) is the Implement phase, and involves building the students' system.  The final semester (16.832) is the Operate phase, in which the system is tested and readied to perform in its intended environment.

This year's project objective was to demonstrate the feasibility of an electromagnetically controlled array of formation flying satellites.  The project, "EMFFORCE", was an extension of the first C-D-I-O course project, "SPHERES", which ran from Spring 1999 through Spring 2000, and demonstrated satellite formation flying using gas thrusters for station-keeping.  The whole class works on the same project, but divides into smaller subsystem teams, such as power, metrology, and structures, to handle design details.

This class focuses on chemical rocket propulsion systems for launch, orbital, and interplanetary flight. It studies the modeling of solid, liquid-bipropellant, and hybrid rocket engines. Thermochemistry, prediction of specific impulse, and nozzle flows including real gas and kinetic effects will also be covered. Other topics to be covered include structural constraints, propellant feed systems, turbopumps, and combustion processes in solid, liquid, and hybrid rockets.