S.A.Hayes and J. Hopley.
Working in the Diamond opens up interesting possibilities
when it comes to teaching, that I am not sure I have seen elsewhere, one of these
is available via individual final year investigative projects. Often individual
student projects are conducted in research groups, but here I don’t have a
research group, so instead I use my teaching equipment within the Flight Simulation
and Propulsion lab. The kit we have is state-of-the-art and we have the
wonderful job of creating new practical experiences that meet the needs of our
students. This continues to expand as we continually strive for the next
development.
One thing I realised is that I could use these final year
project students to develop equipment for their peers. Pedagogically this is
quite interesting, as one student directly contributes their understanding to
the development of other students. It is also interesting, as I can use it to
develop the equipment we need for the next generation of labs, to meet our
future needs. In practice, the student doing the project gives something to the
students who use the equipment, but also the students who use the equipment
validate the project. Facilitating this two-way communication of learning is a
fascinating process, and watching projects grow as students develop can lead the
project in unexpected directions. I will discuss two examples of this, one
being the development of realistic flight control systems, and the other an
instrumented petrol engine.
3 years ago, I started a project to implement force feedback
into our flight simulators, to improve the realism of the simulators. I wanted
to do this as I tutor students who are learning to fly, and enabling them to
practice in realistic flight simulators would be very desirable. This project
has slowly developed until now it is flyable, with the latest student, Josh,
building a cockpit system for improved realism. Here are some of his thoughts
on the process:
During my final year project, I was faced with the
challenge of improving the realism of the current flight simulators in the
Diamonds Flight Simulation and Propulsion Laboratory. After specialising in the
aero propulsion stream, the more avionics focused task posed an exciting
challenge which I was eager to tackle and to expand my knowledge. Through the
project, my extensive levels of research helped me to acquire an in-depth
knowledge of the topic. This coupled with my enthusiasm for the task really
pushed me to take the project as far as I could in the time frame available.
Through my projects development I was able to acquire
knowledge as to how other certified flight simulators function some aspects of
which I was able to introduce into my own system. I was also able to improve
the realism of the prior force feedback device and introduce aircraft controls
such as a trim wheel and throttle plunger which was able to communicate with
the simulator to provide a more realistic flying experience. With the progress
that has been made in the project up to this point, I now envision the
possibility of creating a fully certified yoke device and a full surrounding
cockpit. This could then be developed further by future students who select
this final year project.
Not only has this benefited my knowledge and understanding, but it has made me realise what a fantastic opportunity this project could provide to other students. With room for future development, more knowledge and understanding can be acquired by future students taking this project. In addition, aviation enthusiasts and students, particularly those taking the AER299 Ground and Flight Training module, can use the device to acquire more realistic and immersive flight training and could potentially acquire certified flight hours in the future. As a result, this final year project provides a unique concept like no other, whereby learning is continuous, and a closed loop is formed with both the developer and user benefiting from the projects development.
In addition to this, we have running jet engines for students to use to make measurements as they study aircraft propulsion. We would also like a petrol engine, and again student projects give me the opportunity to develop the equipment that we require. The engine is a small radio-controlled model engine and, in keeping with the aerospace theme of the lab, drives a propeller. Students are developing systems to control the engine and measure thrust, fuel consumption and engine revs, with possible expansion to measuring cylinder pressure in the future. They thus get to work on a real engine, and again focus their work on the learning of their peers.
This process allows me to develop new equipment, much of
which either doesn’t exist, or is prohibitively expensive. It allows me to
teach students the fundamentals of engineering with live, important, and
practical projects, hopefully enthusing them with practical engineering
examples that directly relate to industry. But also, students get to write the
user manual and lab sheet for equipment that they create, receiving feedback
from users quickly for incorporation into future iterations of the work. This
close relationship between different student and year groups, and the resultant
feedback/feedforward dynamic in my view improves learning at all levels.
I find this process really interesting, because the students
take the project that I define, and use their own experiences as students in
earlier years, and conversations with their peers, to educate me as to what
they did and did not know at that time. I can sit and define a project, but
they can more easily relate to it from the perspective of other students. I
would not have developed the cockpit at this stage, being contented with a
force feedback controller, but Josh identified the desire of the students for
added realism and took it forward, exceeding my expectations. Perhaps that is
what I find most enjoyable as an academic, I am constantly surrounded by
enthusiastic students who want to take control of their learning, while I stand
as a facilitator gently guiding as they negotiate the developments, looking
both forward to their future career and backwards to what they wanted when they
were in the lower years.
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