| West Virginia University's Center for Industrial Research Applications (CIRA) was sponsored by the United States Army National Guard (USANG) and the Department of Defense (DOD) to design a standardized, articulating sensor platform for the C-130 Hercules military aircraft. This sensor platform was to be capable of in-flight deployment and capable of facilitating a diverse spectrum of sensor configurations in order to aid in surveillance and reconnaissance for counter narco-terrorism efforts. Two complete sensor pallet prototypes have been developed. The current platform configuration consists of four aluminum arms that are connected to a rotational shaft via a cylindrical hub. For the construction of the third prototype of the sensor platform, an optimization of the rotational arm-hub connection was performed. The goal of the new design was to allow for easier system assembly, maintenance, and the ability to carry a larger sensor payload. The following work describes the complete design and development of the new arm-hub connection through the use of both analytical and finite element analysis (FEA) using Pro-Engineer and Pro-Mechanica solid modeling software. |
