SESSION-6 @ SOAR BY AVEMBSYS...

Hi friends!!

The recent session at SOAR took us through the various phases of SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) and highlighted the importance of each one in realism.

The various phases can be summarized as

1)Analysis (10%):

         This is initial phase where the actual problem is identified from that specified by the client. Here feasibility of the solution is also checked in terms of both technical i.e., whether the solution is technically possible or not, and commercial feasibility i.e., neither the solution should not be too costly for implementation nor it should be costlier than its alternatives already available. Then the problem is sub-divided into smaller problems.

The output of the analysis stage is termed as Software Requirement Specification Document or SRSD. The SRSD is sent to the client for approval.

After sending the SRSD the model is identified before designing.

2)Design (20%):

         This is the stage which utilizes more mental work. It consists of two levels, top level design and low level design. The top level design consists of algorithm, flow chart and basic planning and formation of the design. Its output is HDD (High level Design Document). Low level design consists of data structures, logic, functions etc. This level consists of each block implementation the output of this level is LDD or Detailed Design Document

3)Development/Implementation (20%):

             This phase is implementing the design formulated above this includes the coding as per the standards specified such as airbus code, C coding. The code should be flexible and reusable for implementing any RFC (Request for Change).

4)Testing (50%):

This is final phase in software development which involves testing the code/design for any errors. This is the most time consuming stage.

With this the 6th session ended.

Have a good day.

SESSION-5 @ SOAR BY AVEMBSYS...

Hi friends!!

The fifth session at SOAR, which started with a brief explanation by one of our friend about the C concepts like branching, looping and operators, emphasized on the role of avionics in aircrafts.

Avionics is basically a combination of all electronics and electromechanical system and subsystems installed in an aircraft or attached to it. Though the avionics system is the central integrating technology but it cannot work on all it’s on. The various requirements of the avionics can be summarized into

      Safety of the flight

      Mission of the aircraft

      Life cycle cost/cost of ownership

      Certification for flying from their respective regulatory and advisory agencies

We then saw the avionic systems implemented on a multipurpose aircraft and listed out few of them as

      GPS : Global Positioning Satellite

      IFF : Identifying Friend or Foe ( it generates a specific code to differentiate between a civil or a fighter A/C

      MLS : Microwave Landing System

      Weather RADAR

      Glideslope : Part of an ILS system

      DME: Distance Measuring Equipment for giving the pilot an approx measurement of the slant distance from the runway.

      Marker beacon: Mostly installed at both the ends of the runway, provides information to the pilot about the height, distance etc during final approach in low visibility (outer marker), during missed approach (middle marker) and during arrival at the runway beginning (inner marker).

      VHF: Very High Frequency

      ATC transponder: A transmitter responder that interacts with RADAR frequency on ground giving the details about the A/C  positions.

      TCAS

      Radio altimeter: Tells the height of the plane.

      Military VHF

      Line TV

      ADF: Automatic Direction Finder

      VHF satcom, C-band satcom etc.

Some of the important systems apart from the above mentioned avionic systems that were discussed include:

      Various navigation systems used, like  

¨      Absolute navigation system

¨      Dead reckoning navigation system used during Visual Flight Rules.

¨       Mapping navigation system

      Flight control: consists of all the necessary mechanisms to control the direction of the A/C.

      Engine control

      FMS: Flight Management System stores the coordinates of en route way points and calculates the steering signals using GPS or INS to fly towards them. It can guide a plane in autopilot mode along the route and also can control the engine thrust.

      Subsystem monitoring and control

      Collision avoidance: The two important systems under these are TCAS and EGPWS.

      Weather detection using weather RADAR, lightening detection system.

      ELT: Emergency Location Transmitter gives an alarm either automatically or manually on experiencing a high-gravity impact on collision to ground or crashing. It is tuned to 121.5 (emergency frequency),243 and 406 MHz

      Target sensors

      Weapon management, ECMs, mission planning and formation flight.

We then got an idea about the various regulatory and advisory agencies in operation across the globe. Some of them being FAA, ICAO, FCC, RTCA, ARINC, DO-178A, DO-160D, SAE, IEEE, JAA, DGCA UK, DGAC France, DGCA India etc. After that we got an insight into anti collision system

•  EGPWS (Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System) which provides information about the surrounding terrain. We were also told about the seven modes of EGPWS i.e., excessive descent rate, excessive close to the terrain, altitude loss after take off, unsafe terrain clearance, excessive Glideslope deviation, bank angle and wind shear alerting. 
•  TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) which consists of traffic advisories (TAs) and resolution advisories (RAs).

Apart from this domain knowledge we were shown some professional coding which derived its variables from the airbus coding standards.

The session concluded with a description about the indigenous LCA-Tejas by our TL.

Have a good day ahead!!  

SESSION-4 @ SOAR BY AVEMBSYS...

The 4^th session on 7^th Jan 2011 was a half learning and half thinking one.

First we explored the evolution of airplanes starting from the time when people tied bird’s wings to their hands and attempted to fly. Though it didn’t work out but it clearly showed the enthusiasm they had towards flying. Some of the further attempts and ideas on flying included orthinopter by Leonardo da Vinci, airplane by George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal’s glider though it were the Wright brothers who came up with the first airplanes with engines!

Next we saw the various categories, in which the aircrafts are classified, namely,

1)      Based on the space they operate in: Usually aircrafts fly up to tropopause with heights going till 11km for commercial planes, there are planes which can go up to 35km.

We were given an insight about the basic difference between an aircraft and a spacecraft. An aircraft flies within the planet wit a height being a constrain whereas a spacecraft is deigned to fly out of the planet with special ability to withstand adverse temperature, atmospheric conditions and a great escape velocity unlike aircrafts. Space shuttles are reusable launch system and orbital spacecrafts developed for human spaceflight missions. They are launched like spacecrafts and land like planes.

2)      Based on propulsion: This is sub categorized into

i)        Propelled: Those which operate with the help of an engine. Eg. Airplanes.

ii)      Unpropelled: Those driven by wind. These include airships and gliders.

3)      Based on crew: Aircrafts can be manned or unmanned depending on the application they have to perform. Airplanes are the manned aircrafts whereas UAVs are the various unmanned vehicles or aircrafts.

4)      Based on wings: The design of the wings differentiate the way the aircrafts performs operations like take off and landing. Like the rotary wing of the helicopter enables it for vertical take offs unlike the airplanes with fixed wings.

5)      Based on the number of wings: These are sub categorized into

        a)      Monoplane
        b)      Biplane
        c)      Tri-plane

6)      Based on landing mode: The different methods of landing that are presently adopted are landing on sea, on land and amphibian landing

7)      Based on engines: The various categories under this are

       a)       Propeller
       b)      Turbofan
       c)      Turbo pop

8)      Based on the number of engines used i.e., single, dual or multiple.

9)      Based on function: The aircrafts are made or designed to perform a specific task more efficiently and on the basis of what type of operation they have to perform, they are categories into fighter, bomber and transport planes. The weights, purpose, type of operation, radius of operation along with the amount of weapons they carry are some of the various parameters that define these aircrafts uniquely.

Apart from these we also saw some of the special type of aircrafts like reconnaissance, AWACCS, VTOLS, stealth, micro planes and planes that can perform air-to-air refueling.

We were then told in brief about fly cars, Bermuda triangle and nuclear powered aircrafts.

Then there was a thinking session where we saw the video of the crash of Avianca flight 52 that took place on 25^th Jan 1990 into a village 24kms away from JFK airport. The Boeing was on its flight from Bogotá to NY’s JFK airport. Though the investigation of that crash which left 85 injured and 73 dead says fuel exhaustion and pilot error but after analyzing the complete scenario it is difficult to shift the entire blame unto the pilots or the plane which had sufficient fuel.

On a personal point of view, I believe few  things that could have avoided such a crash are

·         Avoidance of flight operations during bad whether and it should be considered that safety comes before economy.

·         Recording the conversation between the pilots and the ATC and all the operators guiding the pilots made aware of the entire scenario.

·         Improvement of the ILS system as in this case the pilots had a difficulty in locating the runway.

·         An efficient GPS system in the cockpit that could have directly gave the pilots the idea about the Boston airport rather than wasting a precious 40mins which went in waiting for a response from the ATC operator.

      Each crash imparts an experience though a sad one but only till when it is not repeated.

Have a good day ahead!!

SESSION-3 AT SOAR BY AVEMBSYS…

HI FRIENDS!!

The much awaited 3^rd session resumed after a month long gap on 5^th Jan 2011.

The class started with a learning cum discussion on the basics of programming using C language by one of our friends that was followed by a bit of domain knowledge imparted by the expert.

As the technologies are advancing each moment of everyday, the changes are felt almost everywhere. Henceforth the electronic warfare is emerging very rapidly. It was quite interesting to know about the use of EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) for generation of damaging current and surge in the nuclear field.

We were then told about the basics of aerodynamic (fundamentals). In which we learnt different factors like mass, weight, force, momentum, moment, couple, density, temperature, viscosity, and pressure that have to be considered in the operation of the aircraft. We were given an idea about the effect of static,stagnation and gauge pressure. Here we got an idea on the importance of a pitot tube in an aircraft, its working principle (which was experimentally shown), and its use for the measurement of the speed of the aircraft.

The different altitude terminologies such as pressure altitude, true level altitude and absolute altitude were also discussed in brief. We were brushed up with the lower class teachings about gas laws, isothermal process and adiabatic process etc., upon which I still have to revise again. We then learnt about the standard sea level conditions of the different parameters like pressure, temperature, density and speed of sound and also about the aircraft attitude, center of gravity, aerodynamic center and center of pressure. The importance of Mach number (ratio of speed of body to that of the sound) was told.

The next we learnt was ‘how does an aircraft fly?’ we then learnt about the principle on which the working of the engine is based. The working of jet engines by suction of air and then ejecting it after transforming it into a jet was told. Next we learnt about the various parts of the aircraft. How the lift is created, also how rotate, drag, adjust in the lift and the six degrees of freedom were demonstrated with a diagram showing the various parts such as flaps, slats, wings, spoilers, rudder,etc.

We came to know about the angle of attack and how an increase in the angle above 15deg will cause the lift to drop. The cause, pros and cons of stalling was also told. Then on the friends' queries, the expert explained the effects of air pockets, ice and volcanic ash on the aircraft during its flight.

The last and a very interesting topic that was discussed on was about VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing). We were also shown a video regarding it.

The 3^rd session winded with a video of the crash of French airbus A320 in 1988. Even though the airbus was new for the flight, its difficult to blame the plane for the crash. I personally feel that there was more error on human side.

Wish you all a great day ahead!!!

SESSION-2 @ SOAR BY AVEMBSYS...

Hi Friends!!
The second session by Avembsys was one of most interesting one I have experienced till now. The field of investigation into the air crashes has always been enticing me. And I must say that it was lot more interesting than my usual engineering course lectures!
The class started with sir checking out on our blogs posted regarding the previous class in front of the entire class and correcting each one individually which though was appreciable but was least expected! The theme provided for the day was 'almost correct is 100% wrong' which is a very important phrase that should be followed by everyone in the aerospace industry.
First of all we were briefly introduced to embedded system. We were shown a video and were asked to identify the number of embedded systems functioning in it.
After that we were given an insight into the field of missiles. It was quite  interesting to know in detail about the heat seeking missiles and laser guided missiles and also about the counter operations being carried out by the air crafts on being hit by a missile. We also learnt about cruise missile and ICBM. We also learnt about the various systems used for guiding a cruise missile.
Then we learnt about the different types of computer systems, architecture of embedded system and about real time systems. The classification of a task in real time systems into hard real time and soft real time was quite new to me. 
Then came the most interesting part of the session,ie., the aeroplanes! We were shown the 10 most dangerous landings after being told about the various hindrances that come across while landing during wind and strategies to overcome it. Even though I have closely witnessed many landings but crab approach was a completely new technique to me.We were then shown a video where a Boeing 747 missed the approach and performed TOGA before landing safely.   
We were also shown the recent case of a avoided-tragedy where the the pilot used his intelligence and landed the bird-hit US Airways safely into the Hudson river. I applaud the courage and intelligence of that pilot!
The session was winded up with two videos of mid-air head on collision of two planes: one without TCAS and other with TCAS system.
Though the session went a bit out of time( it was dark when we came out of the classroom!) but I enjoyed it a lot.
With a hope to get such interesting and informative sessions in future good bye.
Have a nice festive weekend!!

SESSION-1 @ SOAR BY AVEMBSYS...

HI FRIENDS!!
I would like to share my views of the first session of training activity being conducted by Avembsys. The session was basically an introductory one where we were told about various aspects of the workplace in an industry like how the employees are categorised into various levels of progress based on SMART. We being engineers were told the importance of analysing each problem engineerically ( i mean technically:)!).
The lecturer for the day, Mr.Faizan, brushed up our knowledge with the basics of computer memory..RAM,cache memory, demand paging etc. He also gave us a brief insight into some of the major reasons behind air crash around the globe. The class was a lot interactive when the students were asked to present their ideas regarding the project work. It was interesting to note the various innovative ideas that my friends put forth.
In the end I would like to tell that as a whole it was an interesting and informative session with a hope that we get to witness many such learning sessions in next class. 
Have a good day.