A Survey of UAS Industry Professionals to Guide Program Improvement

Transcription

1 A Survey of Industry Professionals to Guide Program Improvement Saeed M. Khan Kansas State University, Polytechnic Campus Abstract The engineering technology unmanned systems option (ET-US) of K-State polytechnic campus is one of the first bachelor programs for unmanned aircraft systems design and integration. As a pioneering interdisciplinary program, it was felt that the curricular design had to be substantially driven by the needs of this exponentially growing industry. The program has relied on the expertise of an established unmanned aircraft systems () operations program in the college; the expertise from a growing research program associated with the laboratory and the engineering technology department; and government and private sector literature relating to this industry. In the spirit of trying to stay current, relevant, and industry focused, an attempt was made to see how a group consisting of mostly industry professionals felt about the curriculum and where it was going through an electronic survey. A discussion of the implications of the survey forms the basis of this paper. Keywords Unmanned aircraft systems (), engineering technology, curriculum Background The following excerpt taken from curriculum proposal for the bachelor of engineering technology with unmanned systems option (BETB-US) and briefly describes the curriculum design. Education needs of the industry consistently fall into one of two categories, Operations and Engineering. The common core of the BETB-US program is focused on an applied engineering background that combines computer science, electronic engineering, and mechanical engineering skills that are fundamental to designing and implementing systems. Students in the BETB-US program will expand technical knowledge and applied research skills through a required capstone experience and advanced elective coursework. More specifically, graduates from this program will provide the industry with the skilled manpower that it needs to develop and implement technologies for interoperability, autonomy, airspace integration, propulsion & power, and communications purposes; the importance of focusing on the technologies mentioned can be found in the Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap FY publication by the Department of Defense,2.

2 Figure Initial design of BETB-US Curriculum In addition to the above statement, graduates of this program are provided with the fundamentals of Operations through various courses from the Department of Aviation. According to a listing of drone programs ( there are only two other non-pilot degree programs in that focus on design and integration. Both these programs exist in the form of a bachelor and a master degree at Emery-Riddle Aeronautical University. This shortage had made the initial curriculum design rather challenging, especially considering the fact that the Emery-Riddle bachelor degree was not in place at the time of initial design. Figure shows the sources that were pivotal in the initial design phase of curriculum. As a pioneering program reliance was placed mostly on government literature and college personnel with related academic and research experience. Based on the proposal, continually responding to the needs of industry is an aspiration of this program and it is also a challenge. An attempt has been made here to survey a broad range of industry personnel for guidance leading to feedback in the following areas:. Validation of curriculum; 2. Identifying industry applied research priorities; 3. Setting curriculum update priorities; 2

3 Survey Design With the exception of the first question of the survey (total of 5) all questions were answerable on a 0-00 sliding scale. This was done to quickly solicit gut responses while keeping time required in responding to a minimum. The first question was designed to discover any or all relationships that respondents had with the industry. The second and third question concerned the growth potential of the industry and whether or not they agreed that both operations and engineering were the two areas of training needs for the industry. The fourth focused on the relative importance of technologies that are front and center in R&D efforts. The final question was designed to solicit the level of importance to the core curriculum elements of the BETB-US program. Following is a list of questions in the survey (they have also been inserted below the data tables just below the table numbers for convenience):. What is your relationship to the unmanned aircraft systems industry? Check all that apply! 2. Indicate your level of agreement with the following state---- " is an exponentially growing industry." 3. Indicate your level of agreement with the following statement using the slider. -- "It is possible to think of the training needs of the industry to consist of two components that go hand in hand, Operations and Engineering." 4. The core curriculum of the Bachelor degree in Engineering Technology (BETB-US) program includes the following elements. Rate the importance of these elements in percentage. 5. Assign the level of importance to the following technologies in the industry in percentage. (For additional elements in questions 4 & 5 please refer to tables 4 & 5) Respondents Based on Table it appears that the group has solid ties to the industry. Among the 22 responses that selected other comments (not provided here) seem to indicate that these individuals are from support industries who are clearly interested in branching out to group. Table also indicates occupational diversity of the respondents and accounts for a larger standard deviation in responses. Most of the respondents taking the survey are individuals that are affiliated with a company that participated in the 205 annual conference hosted by the association for unmanned vehicle systems international (AUVSI). Also, by answering at an 84.73% level of agreement with the 3

4 statement is an exponentially growing industry, the group has indicated its optimistic outlook for the industry (Table 2). A noteworthy result indicates a 7% level of agreement that operations and engineering are the two components are the two major components for training needs in the industry (Table 3). A higher level of agreement could have been hoped for here since this was a key assumption made by the designers of the BETB-US program. One possible explanation for 70%+ agreement as opposed to an 80%+ level might be that maintenance training has been left out. The group developing the proposal thought this was not necessary since the focus was on small (s). In the case of large, one can see how maintenance might become an essential component. Based on conversations industrial advisory members who deal in large the course Avionics Repair (AVT327) has been added to the mix. Table What is your relationship to the unmanned aircraft systems industry? Check all that apply! # Answer Response % Professional 2 38% 2 owner 8 4% Engineering Innovator Operations 7 30% 5 27% 9 6% 6 Educator 9 6% 7 Other (comment) 22 39% 4

5 Table 2 Indicate your level of agreement with the following state---- " is an exponentially growing industry." # Answer Min Value Max Value Percentage level of agreement with the above statement Average Value Standard Deviation Responses Table 3 Indicate your level of agreement with the following statement using the slider. -- "It is possible to think of the training needs of the industry to consist of two components that go hand in hand, Operations and Engineering." # Answer Min Value Max Value Percentage level of agreement with above statement Average Value Standard Deviation Responses Validation of Curriculum Table 4 and table 5 together help explain the respondent views of the BETB-US curriculum. First in table 4, where the elements in the core curriculum are being rated the level of importance varies from a low of for Fluid Dynamics to a high of 8.56 for sense and avoid systems. All mechanical engineering related elements have received a lower rating (low to mid 60 s) then the electronic and information technology related elements (low to mid 70 s). A look at table 5 also supports the argument the mechanical aspects of systems receive a lower priority by the fact that the Technologies Associated with Propulsion and Airframe has received the lowest rating among four technology areas listed. These results lead to the following possible implications to the BETB-US program, 5

6 . Preference for electronic and information technology areas among respondents may be due to the fact the most of the R&D work being accomplished at this stage of the revolution are in the areas (Communication Systems, Digital Systems, Control Systems, etc.). From the point of view of those surveyed this would be a logical preference. 2. While item suggests a lower curricular priority for mechanical elements in the curriculum, from the academic perspective, while these items may not be center stage in R&D industry at the moment, they are critical for future growth. As an example, to develop control algorithms for stabilizing s under wind gusts, it will certainly require knowledge of the airframe, materials used, propulsion, and fluid mechanics. 3. The highest sense of priority was associated with the element sense and avoid systems by the respondents. This is an element that was being considered for future incorporation will be pursued in the short run. 4. Other elements, not on the list, suggested for incorporation included inertial navigation systems, I-TAR controlled materials, data management and analysis. These will be kept in mind for future improvements. Identification of Industry Applied Research Priorities The importance of relevant research program that supports the industry and the BETB-US curriculum cannot be overstated. Figure shows one of the three key ingredients to the initial design of the program as being related research being done in the Laboratory and the ET department. It is in many cases the experience of these researchers that has been relied upon to come up with and/or validate program elements in the initial design; this is an essential of the continuous improvement process. Looking at table 5, with the exception of Technologies Associated with Propulsion and Airframe (score 68.7) the respondents seem to assign a fair amount of importance to the three other technologies listed. Through project work in agricultural data gathering; high precision navigation; high precision 3-D printing; and multirotor stability and control, it may be said that the Polytechnic campus has need appropriate research program that covers most of these areas with the possible exception of Technologies Associated with Data Analytics and Data Management where some form of collaborative work is needed. 6

7 Table 4 The core curriculum of the Bachelor degree in Engineering Technology (BETB-US) program includes the following elements. Rate the importance of these elements in percentage. # Answer Min Value Operations Max Value Average Value Standard Deviation Responses Communication Systems Digital Systems Airframes Composites Sensors and Actuators Strength of Materials Networking Control Systems Statics and Dynamics Fluid Dynamics Payload Integration Sense and Avoid Systems

8 Table 5 Assign the level of importance to the following technologies in the industry in percentage # Answer Min Value Max Value Technologies that support airspace integration Average Value Standard Deviation Responses Technologies associated propulsion and airframe Technologies associated with sensors and data gathering Data analytics and data management, Setting Curriculum Update Priorities Input from various levels is involved in setting curriculum update priorities as shown figure 2 where the industry survey is just one component. Based on the analysis of responses in tables - 5; from industrial advisory board members; and faculty associated with the program, the following curriculum update priorities have been suggested/adopted/validated.. From a discussion centering around table 3, it may be inferred that while there is a good level of agreement that the two main components needed for training are operations and engineering. While not explicitly suggested, based on input from industrial advisory members the BETB-US program now includes Avionics Repair (AVT327) as a required course. 2. Based on the discussion from the Validation of Curriculum section the respondents mostly agree about including a Sense and Avoid element into the curriculum and that should be a priority. 3. Also, based on comments associated with table 4, the following elements need to be considered for incorporation in the curriculum: inertial navigation systems, I-TAR 8

9 controlled materials, data management and analysis. These will be kept in mind for future improvements. Figure 2 The BETB-US Continuous Improvement Process 9

10 Conclusion Input on the BETB-US curriculum from industry professionals was obtained through this survey. While the level of importance on key elements in the curriculum varied (Table 4) the overall responses can be seen as a positive sign. Question from table 4 also helped identify some areas such as sense and avoid systems, and avionics repair for immediate adoption; other areas such as ITAR controlled materials will be given consideration for the future. Responses from table 3 help validate an important change that has been made through the adoption of an avionics repair course. The importance of some Technology areas were also validated and identified as broad areas for applied research that will help this program to maintaining its currency. Finally, this industry survey is being used as a tool for continuous improvement. References The economic impact of unmanned aircraft systems integration in the United States, AUVSI, Saeed M. Khan Prof. Saeed Khan holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering specializing in antennas and propagation. He is actively working in high precision GNSS navigation in urban canyons. Has performed research related to issues involving phase center variations and multipath effects on high precision GPS antennas. He has also designed various patches, quadrifilars, dipoles and blade antennas for GPS and wireless applications while working as a consultant for several years in the GPS industry. Prof. Khan has also been teaching communication systems, RF electronics, digital systems, and control systems for several years now. 0