Current Projects
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PI: Dilmurat Azimov
Project 1:
Project title: Hawai’i’s Engaged STEM Pathways (HESTEMP)
Principal Investigator: Dilmurat Azimov, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor.
Funding: $499,535.00
Sponsor: NASA
Host: Department of Mechanical Engineering, UH-Manoa
Website for reference: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/hestemp/
Summary: We propose to initiate and develop STEM-centered activities in order to create and establish engaged and sustainable educational pathways for Hawai’i’s underrepresented and underserved students from their high school to pursuing and achieving their advanced degrees in STEM fields. To accomplish this, we will target the underrepresented and underserved student populations of Hawai’i in selected high schools, community college and universities. These student populations include Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Micronesians and Filipinos. The proposed effort will use a project-focused approach to the development and implementation of three NASA-prioritized key projects along with project-specific learning modules over 3 years, and each of the projects will progressively increase in complexity. These projects address topics of atmospheric aerosols, ocean color and small satellite technology. The project activities will be conducted in Oahu and Hawai’i Island. The proposed activities will be performed in partnerships with Waiakea High School (Hawai’i), Moanalua High School (Oahu), Kapiolani Community College (Oahu), University of Hawai’i (UH) – Hilo (Hawai’i), Hawai’i Space Grant Consortium, Hawai’i Space Flight Laboratory of UH-Manoa and NASA Ames Research Center. The UH colleges will work closely together with the high schools located on their respective islands. These schools have been selected as they represent those with the highest percentages of underrepresented students, the lowest
retention and graduation rates of the targeted student populations compared to their peer schools. Three of the four Co-STEM Priorities given in NRA are addressed by the key projects, project-specific learning modules-classes, annual summer school programs and annual mini-conferences for the high school students, the university undergraduate students of the 1st and 2nd years, and graduating senior students. We also plan to involve industrial and other partners to leverage NASA’s financial support for the project term and beyond to develop and grow the proposed educational pathways. The proposed project is given the acronym HESTEMP (Hawai’i’s Engaged STEM Pathways), for ease of referral.
Project 2:
Project title: Autonomous Control Technology for Unmanned Aerial Systems with Agricultural and Environmental Applications in Central Pacific Islands (ACTUAS)
Principal Investigator: Dilmurat Azimov, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor.
Funding: $680,154.21
Sponsor: NASA
Host: Department of Mechanical Engineering, UH-Manoa
Website for reference: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/actuas/
Summary: We propose to create a real-time and autonomous control technology for unmanned aerial systems with agricultural and environmental applications in Central Pacific Islands. To achieve this goal, the objectives are (1) to create and validate integrated targeting, guidance, navigation and control (TGNC) framework and software algorithms for an onboard implementation, (2) to develop and disseminate educational courses and outreach activities in the design and development of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) in the Central Pacific Islands, and 3) to test and implement the proposed TGNC schemes for specific agricultural and environmental applications in these Islands. The proposed objectives are accomplished by the following research and educational tasks: 1) Demonstrate and simulate new analytical and/or numerical trajectory and attitude solutions, and an autonomous and target-relative guidance scheme utilizing the instantaneous screw motion (ISM) invariants; 2) Establish a new, high- fidelity computational framework of a hierarchical mixture of experts (HME) utilizing a new sensor data fusion technology to obtain real-time navigation solutions; 3) Integrate TGNC framework and software algorithms for agricultural and environmental applications in the Central Pacific Islands, namely the Hawaiian Islands, including Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai and Kauai, and in Marshall Islands and Guam; and 4) Develop and disseminate educational curriculums for courses in flight dynamics and control, and in UAS design and development for the Earth sciences applications, including the proposed agricultural and environmental applications. The proposed project is given the acronym ACTUAS (Autonomous Control Technology for Unmanned Aerial Systems) for ease of referral.
Project 3:
Project title: Continuous and Sustainable Workshops and Training in Enhancing Institutional Capacity through Innovative Partnerships between Pacific Minority Serving Institutions (WEICIPPI)
Principal Investigator: Dilmurat Azimov, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor.
Funding: $299,987.42
Sponsor: NASA
Host: Department of Mechanical Engineering, UH-Manoa
Summary. We propose to create continuous and sustainable workshops and training sessions that enhance institutional capacity through innovative partnerships between the Pacific Minority Serving Institutions (MSI). These opportunities will enable the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (UHM) and University of Guam (UOG), the two leading Western-accredited MSIs in the Pacific, with NASA-prioritized capabilities to become competitive in securing NASA funding resources, grants and contracts. The recently NASA-funded Hawai’i’s Engaged STEM Pathways (HESTEMP) Project of UHM in collaboration with UH-Hilo, Kapiolani Community College and several high schools of Oahu and Big Island has initiated and developed several important studies and “key” research projects. The proposed project aims to build critically important capabilities on top of these studies and through innovative partnership of the UHM with the UOG. These capabilities are application-driven and mission-related, and they integrate crosscutting skills and advance emerging NASA mission technologies, thereby enhancing the institutional capacity for securing NASA funds and resources, and ensuring the success and sustainability of the partnership. For easy reference, the project is titled “Workshops to Enhance Institutional Capacity through Innovative Partnerships between Pacific Institutions” or WEICIPPI.
PI: Frances Zhu
Project Title: Artemis CubeSat Kit
Sponsor: NASA
Funding: $500,000
Links: NASA Announcement; Artemis CubeSat Kit
Summary: The university will generate hands-on learning opportunities related to orbital and suborbital CubeSats containing all of the subsystems of a fully functioning passive satellite. Each CubeSat will include onboard computing, communication components, dynamic sensors, an infrared camera and an electrical power system. The hands-on learning opportunities will be supplemented with online learning resources. The grant will also be used to assist CubeSat projects from states that are not yet part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. This team will include undergraduate students from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. A broad network of students from Hawaii and Washington will be included in performing the initial evaluation of the learning products.
PI: Trevor Sorensen (Interstel Technologies Inc.)
Project title: Cooperative Control and Localization of Mulitple Spacecraft using a Multi-Agent Mission Operation System
UH PI: Zhuoyuan Song
Sponsor: NASA STTR/SBIR
Funding: $124,455 (UH Share: $37,356)
Links: NASA Announcement
Funding Opportunities
Collaborations
Coming soon…
Laboratories
Location: HIG 314a
Website
Location: Holmes 306 (inner room). Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Description: Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) Laboratory was established in 2015 to develop research on GNC theory, platform and software algorithms for space operations and missions. This research is conducted by groups of graduate, undergraduate and high school students, and funded by NASA, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company and various student research organizations of the University of Hawaii. The Lab regularly hosts graduate student meetings, produces research papers and participates at local and international conferences. In particular, each year it organizes and hosts Annual HETEMP (Hawaii’s Engaged STEM Pathways) Conferences.
Website
Location: Holmes 306. Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Description: Autonomous Control Technologies for Unmanned Aerial Systems (ACTUAS) Laboratory was established in 2018 to create, test and develop real-time and autonomous control technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with agricultural and environmental applications in Central Pacific Islands. The UAS research and hands-on projects in the Lab are conducted by groups of graduate, undergraduate and high school students, and funded by NASA EPSCoR Project. This Lab is the host of the UH UAV Club, the goal of which is to disseminate knowledge about UAVs by providing instructional and informal classes and sessions on flight mechanics, assembly and testing of various UAV platforms (quadcopters, multicopters and fixed-wing aircraft) and their applications in Hawaii and other Pacific Islands. The Lab regularly hosts seminars, technical and project meetings, produces research papers and participates at local and international conferences.
Website
Location: Holmes Hall 210
Website
Sponsors
