SBIR-STTR Award

An Advanced Open-Source Aircraft Design Platform for Personal Air Vehicle Geometry, Aerodynamics, and Structures
Award last edited on: 2/1/2023

Sponsored Program
STTR
Awarding Agency
NASA : LaRC
Total Award Amount
$99,978
Award Phase
1
Solicitation Topic Code
T7.01
Principal Investigator
James Gloudemans

Company Information

James R Gloudemans

2309 Clipper Street
San Mateo, CA 94403
   (650) 358-9090
   jrcloud@gmail.com
   N/A

Research Institution

Georgia Tech Research Corporation

Phase I

Contract Number: NNL06AA62P
Start Date: 1/27/2006    Completed: 1/22/2007
Phase I year
2006
Phase I Amount
$99,978
Innovators working to revolutionize air travel through personal aviation pioneers need innovative aircraft design tools. Vehicle Sketch Pad (VSP) is an aircraft geometry tool for rapid evaluation of advanced design concepts. VSP will be extended to include support for the modeling of aircraft structural layout and a modular system for integrating engineering analyses. These modifications will allow VSP to unify geometry, aerodynamics, and structures in the early design of advanced concepts. VSP will be released as open-source; a community for its development will be initiated and fostered. Open distribution will ensure that VSP is available to all, thereby supporting personal aviation innovators, universities, NASA, and the whole aerospace industry. This will enable a new level of fidelity and accuracy in personal aircraft design needed to meet the aggressive goals required for the success of personal air vehicles. An improved and open VSP will catalyze personal aviation by supporting breakthroughs in noise and cost reduction and ease of operations.

Potential NASA Commercial Applications:
(LIMIT 150 WORDS) The proposed improvements to VSP will greatly benefit NASA and will find widespread application. Truly multidisciplinary design of revolutionary concepts will be enabled by the new structural layout and analysis launch pad capabilities. Aerodynamics and structures will be unified by a common geometry engine capable of rapidly generating complex configurations for design. All NASA vehicle design efforts, from personal aviation to space exploration, stand to benefit from this improved tool. While NASA already has access to VSP, NASA will benefit from the open-source release of VSP. The open-source model creates an environment in which every party benefits from the growth of the community. An open geometry platform will allow NASA to collaborate more closely with partners in industry and academia.

Potential NON-NASA Commercial Applications:
(LIMIT 150 WORDS) The proposed improvements to VSP have many applications to the commercial sector. In addition to supporting the personal air vehicle community, VSP will find application with general aviation and the aerospace industry at large. In delivering an open source aircraft design platform, common ground is established for the development and integration of engineering analyses. Small businesses have historically been unable to afford advanced engineering software tools. Recently, industry has demonstrated an unwillingness to develop and maintain software tools over a long period of time. Industrial capability is decaying and the cost to outsource solutions is rising. The open release of an improved VSP will provide commercial entities, small and large, with an advanced software tool. In founding an open community, the longevity of VSP is ensured; so long as the tool is useful to the community, they will persist. Direct commercial opportunities will result from the successful open release of VSP including training, custom development, and consulting services around the open-source platform. NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

Technology Taxonomy Mapping:
Airframe General Public Outreach Human-Computer Interfaces K-12 Outreach Simulation Modeling Environment Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation

Phase II

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Start Date: 00/00/00    Completed: 00/00/00
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