Illinois Tech chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) presents Hypersonics at Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane including networking and recruiting on Friday, October 1.

• 9:30 am – 12 p.m – John Bings, a Naval Surface Warfare Center Recruiter will be in RE Southside Entrance to answer any questions, network with engineering students, and schedule job interviews. Students are recommended to bring their resumes!
• 12:45pm – 1:45 p.m. – David Stuart will be giving his talk on hypersonics in RE 104, the Auditorium.
• 1:45pm – 3:45 p.m. – Bings and Stuart will interview students for potential job offers in RE 119.

Abstract:

Hypersonics, in-atmosphere vehicles travelling Mach 5+, present a rapid area of aerospace development with unique capabilities and engineering challenges. This seminar will introduce both hypersonic concepts and overview a system in development by the U.S. Navy, Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS). The Boost-Glide trajectory of the system will be presented, drawing distinction from pure ballistic systems. The ability to perform fast missions in contested environments owing to speed, low altitude, and maneuverability will be discussed. Being a conventional/non-nuclear system, a tight Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) solution is required, and additional challenges in thermal and structural loading will be explored. Finally two projects at Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane will be presented- Modelling & Simulation of the optimization problems for trajectory and navigation, and Hardware-In-The-Loop Testing (HWIL) of select avionics under mission conditions. Students (U.S. Citizens only) anticipating graduation this year are invited to bring resumes for discussions of Navy careers following the seminar.

Biography:

David Stuart is an Integrated Systems Lead at Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane (NSWC Crane) supporting the Navy Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) Program. In this role David takes a keen interest in the unique Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) problems posed by hypersonic vehicles. An IIT alumnus, he obtained his M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, with research work in the Space Weather Lab under Prof. Datta-Barua.

His thesis work used auroral images during GPS signal interference to measure root ionosphere irregularities, and was presented to the American Geophysical Union Fall 2019 Meeting. As an undergraduate David performed gusting flow airfoil experiments under Prof. Williams in the Andrew Fejer Unsteady Flow Wind Tunnel.