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Airdrop operation has become an important transportation mode due to its mobility and rapidity and mission planning is one of the critical steps in the preparation of an airdrop operation. The purpose of this paper is to propose an efficient mission planning method for airdrop operation using multiple vehicles.

A hierarchical mission planning method is proposed. According to the objectives of the action, the mission planning is divided into three planning levels to form the hierarchical structure and the constraints are distributed among them. By doing so, the proposed approach converts the original mission planning problem to a constrained optimization problem, which is solvable using existing mathematical methods.

On the basis of analysis, the mathematic models of three planning levels are established. Each level has its own optimization objective, taking part of constraints into account. The integrated mission scheme had been obtained step by step.

This paper systematically tackles the complicated multiple vehicles airdrop mission planning problem, and it provides a platform for optimizing the outcomes. The mathematical models established in this paper could apply in a variety of more complex mission scenarios.

This paper fulfils an urgent need to study how the advantages of airdrop operation can be maximized through planning airdrop mission schemes carefully.

During low altitude airdrop operations, the heavy cargo moving inside and the sudden dropping out exert serious threats on the aircraft safety and mission performance. This paper aims to propose an efficient flight control method for the airdrop operations.

A novel controller which combines feedback linearization with nonlinear integral sliding mode control is proposed. The aircraft airdrop model is decoupled and linearized by using the feedback linearization technique. On this basis, an integral sliding mode controller is designed to stabilize the speed and pitch attitude of the aircraft. In the sliding manifold, one class of nonlinear functions with the property of “smaller errors correspond to bigger gains and bigger errors correspond to saturated gains” is introduced to form the integral term; thus, the overcompensation of the integral term to big errors is omitted, and the dynamic response performance is improved. Lyapunov-based stability analysis shows that the controller could completely reject model uncertainties by choosing proper controller parameters.

The flight control system with strong robustness could meet the low altitude airdrop indexes in the maximum weight cargo airdrop task.

This paper fulfils an urgent need to study how to control the aircraft to guarantee mission performance and flight safety during the low altitude airdrop operations.

This paper aims to investigate the addition of airdrop capability to a commuter aircraft and its consequences on the reversible flight control system.

Airdrop was modeled to include its effect on aerodynamics and flight control system. A mathematical model was also developed for the reversible longitudinal flight control system of a regional commuter aircraft using the available geometry, mass property and kinematics. The model was incorporated into a general multi‐body dynamics code and validated using existing manufacturer's data which included recorded data from flight. The airdrop simulation results showed that the flight control system is affected in two steps. In the first step, the movement of the load required a forward force by the pilot. In this step, the elevator power was a key factor and had to be increased to allow the pilot to keep the aircraft in trim position during the airdrop. In the second step, a sudden forward shift of centre of gravity required an abrupt change in the direction of applied force. The maximum allowable force and control column movement had to be checked. In the case under study, they did not impose any difficulty.

The result showed that a special consideration had to be taken into account when an aircraft with reversible flight control system was to be used for airdrop mission.

This paper investigates the behaviour of a reversible flight control system during airdrop operation through analysis and simulation.

This paper aims to further the understanding of planning and carrying out logistics operations in disaster relief.

Topical literature review of academic and practitioner journals.

Creates a framework distinguishing between actors, phases, and logistical processes of disaster relief. Drawing parallels of humanitarian logistics and business logistics, the paper discovers and describes the unique characteristics of humanitarian logistics while recognizing the need of humanitarian logistics to learn from business logistics.

The paper is conceptual in nature; empirical research is needed to support the framework. The framework sets a research agenda for academics.

Useful discussion of the unique characteristics of humanitarian logistics. The framework provides practitioners with a tool for planning and carrying out humanitarian logistics operations.

No overarching framework for humanitarian logistics exists in the logistics literature so far. The field of humanitarian logistics has so far received limited attention by logistics academics.

The Clinton Electronic Communications Project is the successor to the Clinton campaign′s e‐mail program. The object of the work reported here was to determine to which White House material posted to the Internet is more current and comprehensive than information available through more traditional sources.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the design of a solid square canopy of a parachute. The design improvements are brought out by providing minor slits in the canopy area. Proper designing of the parachute was carried out using theoretical investigation coupled with experimentation. This parachute is designed for launch of sonobuoy from fixed wing aircraft.

Literature review was carried out on the design of such parachutes for the launch of a sonobuoy from a high altitude to the water entry. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis provided the value of the coefficient of drag for the slit-cut square canopy parachute, with and without sonobuoy for different lengths of the slit. Besides the theoretical investigation, experimentation was also carried out to validate the design.

The experimentation was carried out on 58 and 75 gsm fabric canopies with the slit edge plain-cut with thermally sealed edges, stitched and strengthened. In the case of plain-cut slits on the canopy made of 75 gsm fabric, no tearing of the slit edge was observed in dynamic and flight tests.

The present work has been carried out considering various assumptions and limited trial data specific to precision drop of 9 kg payload. The work can be adopted for bigger parachute for dropping of higher payloads.

Lab strength test, track dynamic and flight trials were conducted to acquire useful data for the present analysis. Besides the theoretical investigations and CFD analysis inherently based on numerous assumptions, experimentation was carried out as the sonobuoy deployment conditions are full of uncertainty. Dynamic and airdrop tests were conducted for this reason to determine design changes in the slits, both at the material level and on improvisations.

The development of the flight station of the C‐130J variant of the C‐130 military airlift aircraft is discussed. The development effort began with research and development projects in the early 1980s. Following this was a series of related research and technology integration efforts under contract to the US Government in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Finally, detailed design of the C‐130J in a formal development program began in 1992. The technologies that were integrated into the C‐130J flight station that made it possible to reduce the flight station crew from four (pilot, copilot, navigator, and flight engineer) to two (pilot and copilot) are reviewed.