Aerospace : Innovation + Job News

The third annual Ohio Unmanned Aircraft Systems Conference (UAS) is set to return to the Dayton region next year, from August 26th to the 28th, with events playing out in the Dayton Convention Center and Sinclair Community College. The Dayton Development Coalition (DDC) and the Wright Brothers Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International will host the three-day conference.
 
The 2014 conference will continue the tradition of connecting industry experts with key government officials to discuss the rapidly evolving unmanned aircraft industry. An aircraft without a human pilot is colloquially known as a drone.
 
“We provide the venue to examine issues surrounding development and provide opportunities for further collaboration between all attendees,” explains Maurice McDonald, DDC’s Executive Vice President of Aerospace & Defense. The DDC has hosted the event since 2012 in partnership with various regional organizations and academia.
 
Why Dayton? McDonald says it’s simple. “Aviation as we know it really began in the Dayton region,” he says, noting Charles Kettering’s development of the first unmanned aerial vehicle, the Kettering Bug, in 1918 alongside the area’s favorite aviation heroes, the Wright Brothers. The latter, of course, is now the namesake of the local United States Air Force Base, “which is responsible for the research, development, testing, and acquisition of UAS technologies and the acquisition of new systems for the Air Force.”
 
The event will feature network opportunities and presentations given by senior leaders in the UAS community. “In addition, conference participants will have access to numerous UAS companies attending the conference and those exhibiting their company’s capabilities,” McDonald explains. “The conference also provides the opportunity to choose various break-out sessions where panels of experts discuss various capabilities, issues, technologies, and applications of UAS.”
 
For those looking for continuing education credit, training sessions will be conducted on the last day of the event.

“This conference gives attendees the opportunity to have valuable discussions around an industry that is still being developed,” says McDonald. “The Dayton region and Ohio will be able to showcase its strong assets, such as our world class research and development centers, our manufacturing capability, our significant aerospace supply chain and our public and private university structure.”
 
Source: Maurice McDonald
Writer: Joe Baur

ETI Tech president Mark Sargent carries little nostalgia for the 5,000 square-foot "cracker box" where his small aerospace firm previously manufactured hardware and ground support equipment for a number of high-flying military defense projects. Having suppliers visit for a meeting could even get a bit embarrassing.
 
"We were practically falling over each other," says Sargent.
 
Thanks to a ramp-up of the company's F-35 fighter jet program, ETI Tech is finding itself in expansive new digs, namely a 23,500 square-foot facility in the Dayton suburb of Englewood.
 
The growth process is about 60 to 70 percent complete since a ribbon-cutting ceremony that took place in June. Over the next couple of years, the defense contractor will increase volume of mechanical and electro-mechanical support parts for its F-35 project now its ninth year. Those components could include fiber optics inspection systems or fixtures to hold landing gear. ETI Tech's customers include Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAE Systems and the government.
 
"We'll be gradually adding equipment and more employees," Sargent says of the projected $1 million expansion. "We're going to be introducing capability we've never had before."
 
ETI Tech has augmented its revenue from $3 million to $7 million since Sargent purchased the company from the previous owner in 2010. When full-rate production of F-35 parts begins in a year or two, the firm's owner envisions annual sales reaching $15 million.
 
"We would be ecstatic about that," says Sargent. "There's lots of pride here."

 
Source: Mark Sargent
Writer: Douglas J. Guth

NASA will showcase its best developments in its Space Technology Program November 28-30 at NASA Technology Days, held at Cleveland Public Auditorium. The event will allow the public to see what technological developments come out of NASA Glenn Research Center, many of which could be adopted and implemented in the private sector.
 
NASA Glenn is working with NASA’s Office of Chief Technologies, which conducts ground experiments to further space technology. “Ninety-nine NASA technologies will be showcased,” says Joe Shaw, deputy director of NASA’s Office of Technology Partnerships and Planning. “We want to demonstrate the existing technologies.”
 
Attendees will have the chance to see technologies ready for commercialization, learn about opportunities to partner with NASA on technology development and meet with major research companies.
 
The technologies featured can be transferred into a variety of industries, says Shaw, such as advanced energy, automotive, human health and innovative manufacturing. “These are technology experts showing off their technologies,” says Shaw. “Even though they were developed for space aeronautics, they can be broadly used across many sectors. These industries are extremely important, not just for Northeast Ohio, but for to the Midwest. There are a large number of people in these sectors.”
 
The hope is Technology Days will build partnerships and foster technology transfer between NASA and local businesses. “These technologies can be moved quickly to the commercial sector, which creates economic development, which creates jobs,” says Shaw. This will give companies a chance to learn about the opportunities.”
 
The event is free and open to the public.

 
Source: Joe Shaw
Writer: Karin Connelly

Breathing in space is something astronauts working on the International Space Station can’t take for granted.  So the door seals that close air chambers and keep fresh air intact are taken very seriously.

But the testing for these docking seal materials is an expensive process, involving thousands of hours of time and costly facilities.

Thanks to University of Akron mechanical engineer and researcher, Nicholas Garafolo Ph.D., some of the time and expense may be shaved off this process due to computer prediction models he has designed.

Garafolo is part of a research team testing polymer/metal seals being considered for future advanced docking and berthing systems. The university researchers work with partners in Cleveland at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, which is responsible for developing the main interface seals for the new International Low Impact Docking Systems (iLIDS). Their work is being supported by a multi-million dollar grant from NASA.

NASA has been developing low-impact docking seals for manned missions to the International Space Station, as well as for future exploratory missions. Common to all docking systems, a main interface seal is mated to a metallic flange to provide the gas pressure seal.

“These seals must not allow any more leakage of air per day than that you would find in the top of a filled water bottle,” says Garafolo.  “There are very tight requirements.  This computer modeling enables us to find baseline measurements before any fabrication of the seals so it saves time and money.”

Garafolo says that the design and testing phase of the seal development can take years and testing can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.  “This could potentially cut back on numerous tests, so by doing so it could save tens of thousands of dollars.”


Source: Nicholas Garafolo
Writer: Val Prevish

To grow Ohio’s considerable clout in the aerospace industry, the state’s leaders are looking north to Canada as an important source of trade partnerships.

The Canada-Ohio Aerospace Summit held last month in Cleveland attracted a large number of Canadian and Ohioan aerospace business leaders and government representatives. It was initiated by the Ohio Aerospace Institute to help industry leaders get to know each other better with the hope of nourishing business relationships.

The two countries appear to be a good match for international aerospace trade, which is a $382 billion industry. Canada is the world’s fifth largest aerospace market with sales of roughly $22 billion annually. Ohio is the nation’s leader in propulsion and power technology with more than 1,200 companies 100,000 workers in the field.

“The event gave us the opportunity to highlight the potential for partnerships that could take place between businesses in Ohio and Canada in the aerospace trade,” says Patricia Grospiron, Director of Technology and Innovation Partnerships with OAI.

Grospiron also pointed to up-and-coming companies in Canada such as Bombardier in Montreal, an airplane manufacturer that is growing rapidly and challenging established leaders such as Boeing and France’s Airbus for international aircraft orders.

“Ohio is already a leader in supplying parts to airplane manufacturers such as Airbus,” says Grospiron. “Opportunities with companies such as Bombardier could help expand our businesses here.”

During the one and half day summit, at least 130 one-on-one business meetings took place between companies with synergistic profiles, says Grospiron.


Source: Patricia Grospiron
Writer: Val Prevish