Amit Oza

What Price Supersonic Speed? - A Design Anatomy of Supersonic Transportation - Part 1

The first generation of supersonic commercial transportation has seen three serious attempts to arrive at an economically and environmentally viable aircraft. The US B2707-200/300 design was cancelled early before a prototype could emerge; the Russian Tu-144 design succeeded to become the first supersonic transport but spanned only a few years of restricted airline service; the Anglo-French Concorde endured more than 27 glamorous airline service years until the last of its species was retired on 30 August 2003. This first generation was followed by a second generation of supersonic commercial transport projects in the time period between 1986 until about 1999, designs which did not proceed towards the production hardware stage. This study critically examines the anatomy of two generations of supersonic commercial transport design failures and successes in order to arrive at lessons learned free of ‘wishful thinking’. The design conditions leading to the identification of the product ‘solution space’ for an economically and environmentally acceptable supersonic commercial transport are discussed. Having assembled an understanding of the product metrics valid for supersonic commercial transports, the paper then provides an outlook for the first generation of supersonic corporate and cargo jet projects. This first generation of supersonic business jet (SSBJ) and supersonic cargo jet (SSCJ) projects spans a period of nearly two decades of development, starting from 1988 until today. The present study identifies that the product development metrics of this class of aircraft is radically different compared to the metrics valid for supersonic commercial transports. The challenges in VIP transportation and dedicated freight transportation at supersonic speeds are portrayed leading to two principal trains of thought targeting the development of the first supersonic business jet and/or supersonic cargo jet hardware: the development based on a new airframe, and alternatively the development based on an existing airframe.

Strategic forecasting in uncertain environments: hypersonic cruise vehicle research and development case study

The exponentially increasing amount of information accumulated from past to current engineering projects has created an environment where repurposing existing data to support new projects is paramount to sustainable success. Strategic planning and early design decisions, specifically, occur in decision-making environments that require information support capabilities that lie outside of traditional engineering analyses. In order to advance towards a more complete planning environment, a pragmatic methodology has been developed for modern aerospace data and information collection, categorisation, and utilisation with a focus on current efforts in hypersonic vehicle research and development. The main thrust has been to provide insights into financial and technical trends that support objective programmatic and planning decision-making. The end-product is a suite of graphical decision-making interfaces, linked through a unified hypersonic database. The graphical interfaces are capable of highlighting the key project drivers along varying levels of categorisation and refinement. Aided by these newly developed data and information support interfaces covering past and present hypersonic efforts, the planner’s forecasting assessment of present and future hypersonic research and development efforts is pragmatically enriched towards a more complete managerial program-planning framework.

The Future of Electric Aircraft

The automotive industry has already begun creating electric vehicles. Now it is time for the aerospace industry to produce a viable contender in the midst of the fossil fuel dominated industry. With this in mind, the goal is to identify the constraints and forecast which technologies need to be developed to allow electric powered aircraft to have a range capable of intra-continental travel. To complete this mission the project was divided into two distinct e orts: airframe development and the electric powertrain. Although designing an optimal airframe is important, the plane will not y without the energy storage and generation capabilities. The main focus was the research of the electric powertrain. The application of metal-air batteries was evaluated and was concluded to be a dead-end. Other energy storage solutions were explored such as structural batteries and the employment of hydrogen fuel cells. Innovative generation techniques were explored and their feasibility were analyzed to determine which technologies will buy their way into future electric aircrafts. With these technologies electric aircrafts have a ghting chance against the fossil fuel contenders. When the optimized aircraft and the electric powertrain were merged the nal product was produced. This project is driven by future technologies and environmental awareness. The goal was to simplify the whole aircraft to its essentials that play a vital role in the performance and viability of the aircraft. This aircraft is bound to cement the standards of the current aviation industry. It addresses the fuel prices and the environmental concern while taking into consideration FAA regulations. The vehicle was designed to demonstrate technology but also applies to a diverse market.

Technology and operational sensitivity assessment for hypersonic endurance flight vehicles

In an effort to increase the air-breathing endurance capability of current hypersonic research aircraft (i.e. X-43, 7 seconds; X-51, 5 minutes), the authors have explored the technical and operational solution space for a 30 minute cruise endurance demonstrator operating in the Mach 6 to Mach 8 speed regime. The focus of this activity has been on exploration of the available solution space through a unique screening process to assess the implication and interplay between the (a) mission, (b) baseline vehicle, and (c) operational scenarios. This study concludes that an air-launched, liquid hydrogen fuelled, 30 minute duration Mach 6 demonstrator (with 10 min Mach 8 capability) provides the largest feasible solution space of the trades examined (i.e. largest design margins, lowest technical risk) when compared to a kerosene-powered equivalent.