Aeronautics and Avionics Fundamentals
Enrol
3 weeks online
Online – Self-Paced
Canberra
$2995.00
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Overview
This three week course will provide you with the fundamental understanding of aerospace science and systems and a brief, but complete coverage of modern aerospace avionics principals as they apply to modern miltary aircraft.
The course is divided into two sections of learning - Aeronautics and Avionics - with each section delivered by a specialist in the field.
Course content
Aeronautics
You will begin with the basic principles of flight, including introductions to the aerospace environment and physics. You will discover the six fundamental aspects of aircraft flight including aerodynamics, performance, propulsion, structures, systems, and stability and control. All of these are presented with a focus on their effects on the aircraft design and overall system.
The aerodynamic and propulsion portions of the course focus on the physical mechanisms underpinning lift, drag, and thrust and how the aircraft design and systems can effect these important quantities. These principles are then applied to detailed treatment of aircraft performance, and students evaluate modern military aircraft using mathematical tools. This analysis is limited to conventional aircraft flight regimes, however important current topics, such as hypersonic flight and unmanned aircraft, are discussed in detail qualitatively.
The stability and control, systems, and structures portions of the course are discussed with a focus on the effect of these aspects on the overall aircraft system and design. The stability and control characteristics are addressed with a focus on pilot handling qualities and safety considerations. The structures and systems portion of the course consists introductions to aircraft structures, material properties, and undercarriage integration, as well brief primers on fuel, hydraulic, environmental, and emergency systems
Avionics
This section is designed to provide you with a brief but complete coverage of modern aerospace avionics principles as they apply to modern military aircraft. You will explore critical enablers such as electrical power generation and distribution, typical electronic architectures/digital data buses. The role of digital avionics in modern flight control is introduced and discussed including fly-by-wire considerations.
Navigation systems are described and include dead-reckoning navigation techniques (and associated sensors) and navigation via external navigation aids such as satellite-based navigation. The need to communicate is a critical function within a modern aircraft is described by investigating typical communication systems operating in different electromagnetic bands. Data communication is also discussed by describing example tactical data links, and the need to be identified within a modern air traffic and military context is discussed along with technologies such as Mode S and Mode 5 identification systems.
You will be introduced to mission/tactical technologies including radar and optical sensors and includes an introduction into electronic warfare and armament stores management systems as it applies to modern military aircraft. The course concludes with an overview of the maintenance management of modern military aircraft.
Learning outcomes
During the Aeronautics section of the course you will learn how to:
- Demonstrate and understanding of the principles of the aviation environment and aircraft aerodynamics.
- Describe the fundamental principles underpinning lift, drag, and thrust, and perform calculations of these quantities for sample aircraft.
- Identify aircraft flow regimes ranging from low-speed to hypersonic and explain the important considerations for flight in each regime.
- Explain the physical principles of turbofan/jet and turboprop thrust production and compare and contrast different propulsion systems properties and performance.
- Calculate performance parameters of sample aircraft and illustrate key performance characteristics mathematically and graphically.
- Explain the concepts of static and dynamic stability for aircraft and how each can be influenced by aircraft design and operational configuration.
- Compare aircraft structural material properties and apply this knowledge to the evaluation of aircraft structures.
- Synthesise knowledge of basic aircraft hydraulic, electrical, undercarriage, fuel, environmental and emergency systems and relate this to aircraft configuration.
During the Avionics section of the course you will learn how to:
- Appraise the underlying technology associated with modern digital avionics architectures.
- Describe the fundamentals of aircraft navigation, communication and identification.
- Describe the various options for aircraft electrical power generation on different categories of aircraft.
- Recognise the contributions of digital avionics to traditional aircraft control.
- Perform fundamental assessments of a range of technologies associated with achieving aviation mission success and meeting tactical objectives.
- Identify and describe aircraft systems typically associated with surveillance, electronic warfare, armament and life support functions.
- Review example aircraft management systems used in a typical aviation organisation.
Who should attend
This course is designed for those wanting to gain an beginners level understanding of aerospace and aviation.
Facilitators
Dr Charles M. Hoke
Dr. Charles Hoke is a Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Canberra, at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). He has been teaching at ADFA for 10 years, at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. Up until this year, he taught the Aircraft Design Capstone courses to the ADFA aeronautical engineering majors as well as Aerospace Vehicle Technologies to the Capability Technology Management College (CTMC).
His research while at UNSW has focussed on the aerodynamics of flapping insect wings. Insect wings operate on much smaller scales and lower speeds compared to aircraft or even bird wings, and the aerodynamics that govern their flight are vastly different than those experienced by manned aircraft. His PhD explored the effect that shape-change during the flapping cycle (sometimes called "morphing" wings) can have on the efficiency of a flapping-wing energy harvesting device. He completed my PhD in January of 2021.
Prior to moving to Australia in 2012, he worked as an aeronautical engineer at Raytheon Missile systems in Tucson, Arizona. There he was the aerodynamics lead on the Aegis Ashore program and worked on several other projects. This involved extensive CFD and wind-tunnel modelling of real-world missile systems.
From 2000 - 2008 he was an officer in the United States Air Force, leaving the service with the rank of Captain (O3). In the Air Force he served as an engineering officer in the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in both the Air Vehicles and Space Vehicles directorates. His second assignment was as a military lecturer at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA), where he taught introductory aeronautics courses as well as advanced courses in low and high-speed aerodynamics and computational fluid dynamics.
While he didn't fly for the Air Force, he has several hundred hours of private-pilot flight time in both powered aircraft and gliders. He has recently completed his instrument flight training
Dr Malcolm Tutty
Dr Mal Tutty has served in the Air Force, Public Service and Industry in a multitude of test, operations, engineering, staff, project management, training, educator, history and command roles. This includes being a flight test armament engineer at Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU), an aircraft stores compatibility engineer and section chief while on exchange with the USAF up to and during Gulf War I, the AP-3C Chief Engineer at Tenix Defence Aerospace for over $1b mission systems upgrade integration, a program director for joint US-AS collaboration, a project manager/director for over $760m of guided weapons, Director of both Aircraft Stores Compatibility Engineering Service Design Authority Agency (ASCENG) and the Woomera Test Range, and being launch authority for two hypersonic firings into space.
He is currently serving as a research fellow at the Air and Space Power Centre and Australia’s Air and Space Power with research focused on capability integration, lethal autonomy and doctrine modernisation after completing a tour with Air Force History and Heritage Branch co-writing the Units of the RAAF – the first 100 years.
He is also the Managing Director of Jaime Enterprises Australia Pty Ltd and provides technical advice to Phantom Works International and Australian Space Agency via Shoal Group on aviation R&D initiatives amongst other research activities of interest.
He has a Bachelor in Electronics from RMIT with Distinction majoring in electro-optics, a Masters in System Engineering and a PhD from the University of South Australia on the experimentation of complex, adaptive systems for the profession of arms in the Information/Synthetical Ages. He is a senior lecturer in capability development, systems engineering, avionics / mission systems, lethal autonomy, aerospace and armament test and evaluation at the University of NSW, Canberra.
He has been a Fellow of both the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Institution of Engineers for over two decades and has also been included in the Who’s Who of the World for Engineering and Science since 2003.
Cancellation policy
Courses will be held subject to sufficient registrations. UNSW Canberra reserves the right to cancel a course up to five working days prior to commencement of the course. If a course is cancelled, you will have the opportunity to transfer your registration or be issued a full refund. If registrant cancels within 10 days of course commencement, a 50% registration fee will apply. UNSW Canberra is a registered ACT provider under ESOS Act 2000-CRICOS provider Code 00098G.