Embry‑Riddle partners with private and public entities to assist in developing solutions to today's and tomorrow's aeronautical and aerospace problems. Here at the world's largest aviation-oriented university, our focus on applied research is unique.
Filter by

231-240 of 271 results

  • Research, Curate, Update content and teaching design, SSCP Official Training Course, to meet 2021 best security practices

    PI Michael Wills

    Research, curate, and redevelop all course materials to meet 2021 best cybersecurity practices and certification requirements for (ISC)2 Systems Security Certified Professional program

    Subject matter expert on this project, which fully rewrote all course materials (900+ pgs and other materials) to bring (ISC)2's foundational information systems security certification program up to current (2021) exam certification needs, industry best practice, and current and evolving information security threat. Consulted with technical reviewer and other subject matter experts as I curated findings drawn from over 200 industry, government, and research sources. Redesigned content flow and structure to establish clarity and consistency in scaffolding, voice, presentation, and ease of use.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Usability of Urban Air Mobility: Quantitative and Qualitative Assessments of Usage in Emergency Situations

    PI Scott Winter

    CO-I Stephen Rice

    CO-I Sean Crouse

    ​The purpose of these studies is to determine the usability of urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles in the emergency response to natural disasters and the ideal locations for their take-off and landing sites to occur, consistent with the Center's Theme 2. UAM involves aerial vehicles, mostly operated autonomously, which can complete short flights around urban areas, although their applications are expanding to rural operations as well. While initially designed to support advanced transportation mobility, these vehicles could offer numerous advantages in the emergency response to natural disasters. Through a series of four studies with over 2,000 total participants, quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to identify UAM vehicles' usability in response to natural disasters. The studies will examine the types of natural disasters and types of missions where UAM could be considered usable, along with the creation of a valid scale to determine vertiport usability. Interviews will also be conducted to provide qualitative insights to complement the quantitative findings.

    ​In this proposed series of four studies, our overall purpose will be to determine the usability of urban air mobility in the emergency response to natural disasters. As the concepts of urban air mobility move closer to reality, these mostly autonomous aerial vehicles may provide valuable contributions to our response after natural disasters. However, little prior research has examined the types of natural disasters, types of missions, or locations where UAM could be deployed in the emergency response. The first objective of this research will be to assess the usability of UAM based on the type of natural disaster and type of mission. Following this, the research will develop a valid scale to measure possible locations where UAM operations could be conducted following a natural disaster, such as city parks, building rooftops, or existing helipads. The final objective of this study will be to gather qualitative data through interviews to complement the quantitative findings and offer more significant insights and explanations as to the usability of UAM in response to natural disasters.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Assessing If Motivation Impacts General Aviation Pilots’ Persistence in Varying Weather Conditions

    PI Sabrina Woods

    CO-I Scott Winter

    Continued flight under visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions is the predominant cause for fatal accidents by percentage, for general aviation aircraft operations. It is possible that a pilot’s motivation or reason for flying will override other safer, more logical courses of action when a hazard presents itself. The decision appears to stem from a willingness to persist in a course of action despite factors that indicate an alternate and safer course is warranted. This research addresses what is currently presumed about the decision to continue flying under visual flight rules into instrument conditions and marries those ideas with the extensive studies on how theoretically affects the decision-making process.



    The research used a quantitative factorial experimental design and explored what bearing, if any, does type of motivation, or meteorological condition, or the interaction of the two have on a pilot’s willingness to persist in visual flight rule into instrument meteorological conditions. The researcher applied fundamental motivation theory and aviation regulation in the development of scenarios that were used to assess a pilot’s willingness to persist in unsafe weather conditions, and to determine what role motivation and the weather conditions might have played in that decision. A 3x3 factorial design was followed, and the method of analysis was a two-way mixed analysis of variance.

    The independent variable meteorological condition indicated a significant effect on the dependent variable willingness to persist, and the independent variable motivation did not indicate a significant effect. The interaction between meteorological condition and motivation resulted in a significant effect on the dependent variable, particularly in the marginal weather condition, although with a low effect size. This result suggests that those who are motivated to fly for a specific reason or reasons might be more willing to persist over those who have no real reason to be flying. A recommendation for future research is that the experiment be replicated in a direct observation experimental design in either a full or partial motion simulator.

    Further defining how motivation and meteorological conditions influence aeronautical decision-making can change the way aviation safety advocates, academics, regulators, and industry approach the issue. The results of this research could help determine what part of aeronautical decision making is objective and what is more subject to a person’s base desires.

    Categories: Graduate

  • Integrated Communication and Environmental Sensing for Safety-Critical Autonomous Systems

    PI Thomas Yang

    PI Siyao Li

    Current communication networks with transmitter/receiver nodes can provide large-scale area coverage and robust interconnection between nodes. This allows for the seamless integration of sensing functions into the existing communication framework, paving the way for Integrated Communication and Sensing (ICAS). Unlike previous generations that treated communication and sensing separately, ICAS eliminates the need for additional hardware, extra transmit power, or dedicated frequency bands, by enabling communication signals to support data transmission and environmental sensing simultaneously. This convergence makes ICAS a key feature of six-generation (6G) communication and enables advanced applications, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) missions, autonomous driving, surveillance, and smart cities, to be powered by a single transmitted signal.

    This project aims to develop a novel ICAS framework tailored specifically for autonomous systems operating in safety-critical environments. The primary focus is enabling environment sensing by systematically analyzing the received information-carrying communication signals, through line-of-sight and/or reflected and scattered paths.



    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Intelligent signal processing for secure mobile wireless communications with spectrum and energy efficiency

    PI Thomas Yang

    In modern wireless communications, scenarios often arise in which the receiver is required to perform detection of multi-user transmissions on the same channel or suppress co-channel interferers. In these scenarios, signal separation techniques based on statistical properties can be highly effective.

    In modern wireless communications, scenarios often arise in which the receiver is required to perform detection of multi-user transmissions on the same channel or suppress co-channel interferers. In these scenarios, signal separation techniques based on statistical properties can be highly effective. However, for wireless systems operating in highly dynamic environments (such as mobile and vehicular communications), the rapidly time-varying channel condition remains a major challenge for block-based signal processing, in which the estimation of statistical properties is performed through averaging over a block of data samples. When the channel parameters change with time, long blocks mean substantial variation of mixing matrices within each block, which inevitably degrades the source separation performance. On the other hand, short blocks render the estimation of signals’ statistical properties inaccurate and biased, thus resulting in poor estimation performance.

    We addresses the above-mentioned challenge via the adoption of signal separation algorithms specifically designed for dynamic channel conditions, and artificial data injection applied to short processing data blocks in wireless receivers. Through theoretical and simulation studies, we concluded that the data injection method has great potential in improving signal detection accuracy and/or processing speed for multi-user detection in wireless receivers under dynamic channel conditions. The physical layer security of these mobile communication systems is also being addressed. The research is supported by Air Force Research Laboratory’s Information Directorate (AFRL/RI).

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Fabrication of Copper Lithium-ion Battery Case with Integrated Cooling Channels Using Binder Jetting Additive Manufacturing

    PI Yue Zhou

    CO-I Wenhao Zhang

    CO-I Heer Patel

    CO-I Henil Patel

    CO-I Sirish Namilae

    This project leveraged binder jetting processes to directly fabricate metallic battery cases integrated with various cooling channels, paving the way for the additive fabrication of metallic thermal management devices applied in the aerospace field.



    Findings: Developed heat transfer model for the geometrical design of cooling channels, created files for experimental design and optimized printing & sintering settings, created scale-down prototypes for battery cases with integrated cooling channels.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Media Literacy and Online Critical Thinking Initiatives

    PI Diane Zorri

    CO-I Ann Phillips

    CO-I Daniel Gressang

    CO-I Matthew Sharp

    CO-I Mihhail Berezovski

    CO-I Rachel Silverman

    CO-I Steven Master

    This project proposes a train-the-trainer professional development program for Volusia county’s secondary school educators to co-opt pedagogical tools and methods that challenge online violence mobilization narratives, increase awareness of violent extremist messaging and recruiting, and increase the capabilities of targeted populations to resist and counter messaging. 

    Participants of Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University’s train-the-trainer seminars will identify problematic online and media messages that could lead to radicalization to violent extremism, critically evaluate the problematic assumptions, data, or logic of those messages, and develop pedagogical strategies for teaching their own students to recognize and critically evaluate those messages. This applicant fulfills the grant program priority to achieve diversity of project type.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Wireless Communication Testbed for Internet-of-Things Research

    Research work to develop Wireless IoT Testbed at ERAU – Prescott campus. The testbed developed currently has three nodes, and is being used for Research and Teaching (EE424-Wireless Communications).

    Sponsor: Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical Univ. (ERAU), Faculty Innovative Research in Science and Tech. (FIRST), grant#13462.

    Budget & Role: $25,000, Principal Investigator

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Microfluidic Chip & Magnetic 3D Bioprinting Research

    Breast and colon cancer are the leading causes of death in developed countries (e.g., U.S.) and are highly associated with numerous risk factors including genetics, diet, obesity, cigarette smoking, hypertension, stress, and spaceflight stressors. Despite advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the mortality rates are still high and the potential mechanisms driving the metastatic potential of the cancer cells are still not well characterized.



    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Flexible Body Control Using Fiber Optic Sensors (FlexFOS)

    ​The objective of this research is to provide a precise measurement and robust control framework using fiber optic strain sensors for the total motion of rigid body and flexible body components.  

    Categories: Graduate

231-240 of 271 results