Andrew_ASC
UTC SEDS 2017 3rd/ SEDS 2018 1st
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2017
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Not trying to snark. Really I was blown away at a different method government contractors use. Last week one of the UTC rocket members claimed his govt contractor boss cleared him to put one of the new team's models into Missile Datcom 2011 with the AFRL/NPS updates. Being a mechanical he's only formally trained on the pitching moments and drag coefficients which this program does at high angles of attack. It's finding point forces in places we didn't have the CFD toolsets or research prof Linux hardcode capabilities to do so in the past. It took us three weeks to find a drag force and drag coefficient at some angles of attack after modeling the complete airframe in 3D solidworks then meshing with Inputs last summer. The new Missile DatCom under the limited license does all that and it does it while it's rapidly turning which the CFD goes bizerk on and it takes thirty seconds after user plugs rocket dimensions into a open rocket style Gui. They didn't want the newer nosecones shattering etc.
We aren't using the Matlab controls system pluggins but the defense company that I won't name is using it to develop missile control systems from the basically highly modified and upgraded fortran code with those speciality NPS/AFRL military plugins. We know our university rocket team won't have access to it for long just until end of semester. We just had some point forces done with it in places we couldn't do previously. You can get Missile DatCom 97' I found out from AIAA methodologies for design spacecraft transportation systems if you need the pitching moments or drag coefficients at angles of attack in methods much less tedious than hi resolution meshes and CFD environments to Mach 20+. I don't know how useful that method would be to you. I sorta hit my hand against the wall a bunch of times knowing Missile Datcom just well made struggles like Jim's so much less tedious and they don't open source anything close to it for hobby uses sadly. It really grinds me man. The CFD beats missile DatCom on accuracy. The DatCom beats CFD on controls integration,time to use, and on versitility of turning models. Still in a f--- they can do that state of mind. Controls lecture is going well. I still have respect for hobbyists that do this, because the reality is limited license programs do these systems for defense companies much much quicker. The yaw damper and public aircraft DatCom is the closest you'll see outside of a defense contractor from a Matlab perspective.
The hobbyists that get these active stability systems are doing it the hard way and are true rock stars of rocketry. Lots of tinkering the old school way like before DatCom existed. If they just had a controls variant that would help with active stability or rolling and not do guidance for public or civil space uses... It's a damn shame.
We aren't using the Matlab controls system pluggins but the defense company that I won't name is using it to develop missile control systems from the basically highly modified and upgraded fortran code with those speciality NPS/AFRL military plugins. We know our university rocket team won't have access to it for long just until end of semester. We just had some point forces done with it in places we couldn't do previously. You can get Missile DatCom 97' I found out from AIAA methodologies for design spacecraft transportation systems if you need the pitching moments or drag coefficients at angles of attack in methods much less tedious than hi resolution meshes and CFD environments to Mach 20+. I don't know how useful that method would be to you. I sorta hit my hand against the wall a bunch of times knowing Missile Datcom just well made struggles like Jim's so much less tedious and they don't open source anything close to it for hobby uses sadly. It really grinds me man. The CFD beats missile DatCom on accuracy. The DatCom beats CFD on controls integration,time to use, and on versitility of turning models. Still in a f--- they can do that state of mind. Controls lecture is going well. I still have respect for hobbyists that do this, because the reality is limited license programs do these systems for defense companies much much quicker. The yaw damper and public aircraft DatCom is the closest you'll see outside of a defense contractor from a Matlab perspective.
The hobbyists that get these active stability systems are doing it the hard way and are true rock stars of rocketry. Lots of tinkering the old school way like before DatCom existed. If they just had a controls variant that would help with active stability or rolling and not do guidance for public or civil space uses... It's a damn shame.
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