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Project Oculus is an in-flight deployable mechanical arm/pod system that will accommodate 500 pounds of sensor payload, developed for a C-130 military aircraft. The system is designed for use in counter narco-terrorism and surveillance applications by the Department of Defense and the National Guard [1]. A prototype of the system has been built and is in the testing/analysis phase. The purpose of this study was to analyze the actual stresses and strains in the critical areas found using previous Finite Element (FE) simulations and to ensure that acceptable safety requirements have been met. The system components tested will be redesigned, tested, and reconstructed in the case of unacceptable safety factors or if more reliable methods can be implemented. The system was built to be deployed and retracted in flight, to avoid causing any problems in take off and landing.

In this analysis the structural integrity of the rotational system of a standardized roll-on, roll-off sensor pallet system was authenticated. The driving force behind this analysis was to ensure the structural integrity of the system and to locate the areas with optimization potential. This process will ideally lead to the weight reduction of individual components thereby allowing for the transportation of greater cargo during flight. Scaling down of these excessive areas will also allow for a reduced production cost and an increase in efficiency of the system. The study was comprised of the failure susceptibility of the individual components of the system. The major results include the optimization potential of individual components, as well as strategically rating and categorizing the failure capability of the components.

The development of a standardized roll-on, roll-off (RoRo) sensor pallet system for a C-130 aircraft was conceived by the National Guard and the Counter Narco-Terrorism Technology Development Office to assist in counterdrug reconnaissance activities within the United States and surveillance and reconnaissance missions worldwide. West Virginia University was contracted to perform the design and development of this system because of their innovative design ideas. Before development, the design parameters were established by these two DoD agencies, their mission requirements and by the limitations of the C-130 aircraft. These limitations include using Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) and Government off the Shelf (GOTS) items when developing the system that must be universal on all C-130 aircrafts variants B thru H. Further design criteria are by the limitations of the C-130 aircraft and its existing mission requirements.

During structural engineering design two of the most overlooked design facets of a finished product is understanding the behavior characteristics of how the product will react when resonated at its natural frequencies and actually defining and understanding the overall vibration profile responsible for the excitation of the structure. A C-130 mechanical arm/pod system has been developed to accommodate 1,000-pounds of sensor payload deployable in flight from a C-130 Hercules military aircraft (variants B thru J). The mechanical arm/pod system will be subjected to a profile of vibration from numerous sources during deployment and while in the final operating position. A general vibration profile for the mechanical arm/pod will be compiled from the plane’s four T-56-A-15 turboprop engines, the atmospheric turbulence and random gust loads.

This paper discusses the 1984 SAE Mini-Baja East Student Engineering Design Competition that was held in Morgantown, West Virginia on May 11 and 12, 1984. The competition consisted of 45 teams of engineering students from the Eastern United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Each team designs and builds an all-terrain vehicle based on rules and regulations issued by the host college or university. The two days of events included: design of safety judging, acceleration, speed and braking runs, power pull, land and water maneuverability, hill climb and the endurance run. The team with the highest accumulated point total wins the competition.

A detailed analytical study of a wheeled double-articulated skidder is performed. Also experimental verification of the stability analysis is made using a scale model of the vehicle. The double articulation joint allows both halves to rotate vertically as well as hinge horizontally. Equations locating the centers of gravity of each section of the vehicle are developed for the three basic modes of stability. The three basic modes of static stability are front section tipping, rear section tipping and the entire vehicle tipping as a unit. The problem is complicated by including the cable winch load on the rear section of the skidder. This load varies in magnitude and direction. The results are presented as stability curves in terms of hill slope, steering angle, vehicle orientation angle, articulation angle and cable force. The analytical model and experimental model were in agreement.