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This paper describes the development of an advanced membrane/sorption-bed hybrid subsystem to posttreat humidity condensate and phase-change distillate generated during space missions. Discussed are 1) the design and construction of a breadboard hybrid subsystem, and 2) data showing the performance of this subsystem operating for more than 90 days. Conventional posttreatment subsystems developed by NASA rely on a multifiltration technique that uses expendable sorption beds, which work well. The purpose of this program was to reduce the number of sorption beds required by this subsystem by using membranes to concentrate the contaminants. Tests show that a breadboard hybrid subsystem developed by Bend Research, Inc. (BRI), and Umpqua Research Co. (URC) uses 50% fewer sorption beds than a stand-alone multifiltration process.

Monitoring tires working conditions has proved to be very important for best aircraft ground performances. Thus, to prevent safety risks it is necessary to recognize all the parameters really affecting tires dynamic behaviour and study a proper supervising strategy, able to guarantee an easy and effective security action. It will be proved that measuring tire internal gas pressure (even with internal temperature compensation, then measuring the total internal gas mass) it is not possible to monitor accurately the tire dynamic behaviour. In this paper a new approach to design a new generation of tires monitoring system will be presented.

Many components used in the aerospace industry are complex-shaped, without symmetric axes and parallel surfaces. Fabricating and repairing these components often require fixturing system to support manufacturing processes such as drilling, surface finishing, inspections and assembly. Currently available fixturing systems can be divided into dedicated and flexible fixtures. Among these, the flexible fixtures are suitable for rapidly changing fabricating processes and handling several complex-shaped components using same fixturing system. Background research suggested that the pin type fixturing system is the predominant design used in such applications to fix complex-shaped components. In pin type fixturing systems, force is applied to a single point of contact. This increases the pressure applied to the work piece and possibility of damaging these components. Further, conventional pins use rigid designs, which cannot adapt to the shape of the work piece.

One of the most common damages occurred found on commercial airframes are dents and gouges. The usual repair for these damages includes installation of metallic doublers with rivets or with hi-loks. Sometimes these doublers are of complex design, because of multiple angles of the original damaged skin. Many times the damages are in hard to reach areas. In these cases the traditional metallic doubler repairs are not only time consuming and but also expensive. As the numerous holes are be drilled through the original structure, its fatigue life is adversely affected. For airline operators, time is valuable and they cannot afford to lose revenue by spending longer time for repairs. The use of bonded composite doublers offers the airframe manufacturers and aircraft repair facilities an alternative repair process that alleviates the abovementioned concerns.

One of the most common damages occurred found on commercial airframes are dents and gouges. The usual repair for these damages includes installation of metallic doublers with rivets or with hi-loks. Sometimes these doublers are of complex design, because of multiple angles of the original damaged skin. Many times the damages are in hard to reach areas. In these cases the traditional metallic doubler repairs are not only time consuming and but also expensive. As the numerous holes are be drilled through the original structure, its fatigue life is adversely affected. For airline operators, time is valuable and they cannot afford to lose revenue by spending longer time for repairs. The use of bonded composite doublers offers the airframe manufacturers and aircraft repair facilities an alternative repair process that alleviates the above-mentioned concerns.

As electronic components and circuits get smaller the problems of mounting and interconnecting elements into a system become more difficult. This paper indicates how one packaging concept using a carrier-mother board, rack approach, interconnected by wire-wrap techniques solves some of the problems imposed by these small components. Flexibility, cost, reliability and their influence on the selection of the final configuration are investigated. The application of hot gas soldering for mounting flat packs to carriers is described along with the advantages gained by its use.

The composites development team at Bombardier Aerospace has pushed the Integrated Product Development Team to a new level. The team has been created outside the business priorities and was partially funded by a provincial government initiative to create a greener aircraft. A dedicated R&D team can reduce the gap between the different disciplines by encouraging them to work as one entity and rapidly develop high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and high Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) solutions. Additionally, the interactions between the groups create a harmonization of the development philosophy and a sharing of the building block approach. This leads to a significant cost and lead time reduction in the coupon, element and detail testing. The constitution of the team also has a great impact on the level of expertise and the flexibility to adjust to new demands.

The FAA and other Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) plan to share the existing cockpit data radio for NextGen data communication applications. This radio is currently used for supporting airline operations. Sharing this radio, which operates in a relatively open network environment, with mission critical air traffic control communications creates a need to address air-ground security. Most of the data to be shared over air-ground communication is tactical and transient in nature. In addition, secure communication between the controller and the pilot provides situational awareness to all receivers listening on the voice radio channel. In this paper we provide a rationale for securing air-ground communication and explore some of the issues in implementing a secure air-ground communication channel between the controller and the pilot over the shared radio.

A unified approach to cooperative and non-cooperative Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) is a key enabler for Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) to safely and routinely access all classes of airspace. In this paper state-of-the-art cooperative and non-cooperative DAA sensor/system technologies for manned aircraft and RPAS are reviewed and the associated multi-sensor data fusion techniques are discussed. A DAA system architecture is presented based on Boolean Decision Logics (BDL) for selecting non-cooperative and cooperative sensors/systems including both passive and active Forward Looking Sensors (FLS), Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B). After elaborating the DAA system processes, the key mathematical models associated with both non-cooperative and cooperative DAA functions are presented.

The removal of dissolved ions from waste water is essential for water repurification on long-term human space missions. Lynntech, Inc., has demonstrated a novel electrochemically driven purification method using tubulated bipolar ion exchange membranes for the separation of dissolved inorganic impurities as well as charged organic species from waste water. ...Generally, electrochemical separation methods have limited applications since they can only be applied to the purification of water that has a sufficiently high dissolved ion content to make the water conductive. The novel tubulated bipolar membranes composed of bilayers of oppositely charged ionically conducting polymers can be used to overcome this limitation. ...., has demonstrated a novel electrochemically driven purification method using tubulated bipolar ion exchange membranes for the separation of dissolved inorganic impurities as well as charged organic species from waste water.

A novel aviation infrastructure system by a multilayer ecological & energized module (EEM) system is aiming to create a high safety & security, graceful and comfortable air travel environment, high-quality air, zero energy, zero-water-consumption, and zero-carbon with a 100% greening rate, etc. ...Hot, cold water and steam system without electromagnetic interference in EEM are used for hot waves and snow and ice.

A terrestrial analog device was developed to test the performance of a proposed lunar regolith-based water filtration design. To support this study, the flow behavior of tracer particles passing through a glass bead media filter was evaluated on NASA's reduced gravity aircraft in simulated microgravity and lunar gravity environments. ...The flight results were then compared to tests conducted using a novel application of a clinostat tilted ∼10 degrees from horizontal to simulate a lunar gravity vector fraction (1/6 of Earth's gravity, or 0.17g) acting axially on the fluid system.

The system also disinfects the waste and remaining water, and recovers not only the water content of the waste but also generates additional water that can be utilized by the crew. ...Although each has advantages, no single method has yet been developed that is safe, recovers valuable resources including oxygen and water, and has low energy and space requirements. Thus, the objective of this work is to develop a low temperature oxidation process to convert waste cleanly and rapidly to carbon dioxide and water. ...Thus, the objective of this work is to develop a low temperature oxidation process to convert waste cleanly and rapidly to carbon dioxide and water. Previously, TDA Research, Inc. demonstrated the potential of a low temperature dry oxidation process using ozone in a small laboratory reactor.

Under the minimal assumptions that the geological sample contained nutrients (energy), organisms, and required water to initiate growth, the differential electrochemical measurements would now allow detection of metabolic activity, in addition to the electrochemical characterization of the soil samples in both chambers.

The innovations in the concept include the use of a closed-loop regeneration cycle for the adsorber, which prevents contaminants from reaching the breathable air before they are destroyed, and the use of a humidity-swing desorption cycle, which uses less power than a thermal desorption cycle and requires no venting of air and water to space vacuum or planetary atmosphere. The process would also serve well as a trace contaminant control system for the air in the closed environment.

An approach to the isolation and concentration of volatile organic compounds from a water sample prior to chemical analysis in a microgravity environment has been previously described (Reference 1). ...The Volatile Organics Concentrator (VOC) system was designed to attach to a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) for analysis of volatile organic compounds in water on Space Station Freedom. The VOC utilizes a primary solid sorbent for collection and concentration of the volatile compounds, transfer of the volatiles through a permeation dryer to a secondary solid sorbent, followed by thermal desorption of volatiles from the secondary sorbent onto a GC/MS system. ...The VOC/GC/MS system was evaluated for recovery of volatile organic compounds from water samples. These results were compared to data for these compounds using direct injection/GC/MS and purge and trap/GC/MS procedures.

The photocatalytic oxidation of VOCs was investigated using a novel countercurrent flow reactor designed to enable the treatment of toluene present in the gas and the aqueous phases simultaneously.

The key role of water recovery on board the ISS and the need to supplement the station’s water supply hardware with a system for water reclamation from urine SRV-U is emphasized. ...The key role of water recovery on board the ISS and the need to supplement the station’s water supply hardware with a system for water reclamation from urine SRV-U is emphasized. The prospects of regenerative water supply system development are considered. ...The paper summarizes the experience gained with the ISS water management system during the missions ISS-1 through ISS-10 (since November 2 2000, through November 30, 2004).

FUEL injection offers two main advantages over the carburetor: Low volatile fuels (safety fuel), which reduce the fire hazard, can be used; and the combustion chamber can be scavenged without the loss of fuel by the use of large valve overlap. ...FUEL injection offers two main advantages over the carburetor: Low volatile fuels (safety fuel), which reduce the fire hazard, can be used; and the combustion chamber can be scavenged without the loss of fuel by the use of large valve overlap. ...The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics has investigated the factors influencing the injection of fuel into the engine cylinder. This investigation included the time of start of injection, the length of the injection period, the location of the fuel-injection valve in the cylinder, the rate of fuel injection, the type of fuel spray, and the maximum injection pressure.

The key role of water recovery during space missions and the prospects of regenerative water supply of an interplanetary space station are discussed. ...The aim of this paper is to summarize the water supply experience and to provide recommendations for a perspective water supply integrated system based on water recovery. ...The paper summarizes the six years' experience gained with the ISS water management system during the missions ISS-1 through ISS-14 (since November 2, 2000 through October 31, 2006).