Welcome to Dr. Adam Huang’s Home Page
I’m currently an Assistant Professor at the Mechanical Engineering
Department
of the
Soon, I’ll be updating this page with information on my current
research,
students, curriculum, and other
academic activities. (update
2007_Sept)
I was a Ph.D.
student (2003-2006) at the UCLA Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Department.
I am also a
Member of the Technical Staff (MTS) at The Aerospace Corporation.
This page
is for my research done at The Aerospace Corporation.
For my research at Professor Chih-Ming Ho’s
Lab.
I have been an aircraft
enthusiast ever since childhood.
Strangely enough I never dream of becoming a pilot like most people who
love airplanes. I finally found out why
during my undergraduate years at UCLA. I
love flying machines for the complexity and human ingenuity it represent. During my sophomore year at UCLA, I began to
frequent Dr. Chih-Ming Ho’s Aero MEMS Laboratory (will work for knowledge 
) to help out
on his innovative MEMS
delta wing project. This is when
MEMS really captured my imagination. Due
to its pedigree from IC technology, MEMS allows large scale and complex
integration of devices. In addition,
MEMS allows interaction with the real world in forms other than electrons as
evidenced by the MEMS delta wing project.
As I started to envision
applications of MEMS in the field of aerospace engineering during the early
years of my graduate study under Dr. Ho, I’ve took notice of Dr. Siegfried
Janson and Dr. Henry Helvajian’s work at The
Aerospace Corporation (managed under Dr. Seymour Feuerstein’s
Center for Microtechnology). They pioneered the concept of nano- and pico- satellites
(10-0.1kg satellites) that can be better and/or cheaper than today’s satellite,
or enabling totally new capabilities altogether. During the summer of 2000, I started to work
as a part-time employee at The Aerospace Corporation with Dr. Janson and Dr.
Helvajian on a specific nanosatellite application
called Co-Orbiting Satellite Assistant (COSA).
The picture above demonstrates a small constellation of COSAs that provides external diagnostics in the
electro-magnetic spectrum on the mother satellite. For example, it can scan in the visual
spectrum for surface damages/anomalies, in the infra-red spectrum for thermal
mismanagement, and in the RF spectrum for antenna tests without the need for
synchronizing with the ground station.
The figures above show
the layers of the terrestrial COSA test prototype. By using photostructurable
glass/ceramic (PSGC) materials, in this case Schott Foturan®
glass, high aspect-ratio micro-patterned structural layers (right figure) are
fabricated in a mass producible fashion.
In fact, the key to the future success of nano-
and pico-satellites lies in the ability to mass
produce them cheaply and rapidly. This
is reasoned by the almost synonymous usage of large arrays (rather than singly)
of these satellites to match and/or exceed the capabilities of existing
expensive, bulky, and heavy satellites.
My contributions to this project are primarily on the electronics
control board, all associated software, and the closed loop control experiments
on an air table with the COSA prototype.
Please see the COSA.wmv
movie (this will be available as soon as it is cleared) for a brief
demonstration of a commanded cold gas thrusting of 90 degrees in roll with the
onboard MEMS rate gyro.
For additional info, please see http://www.aero.org/news/newsitems/glasssatellites-012505.html
I will add a lot more of this work in subsequent
pages in the near future.
Still under construction