Systems Engineering Principles - Assignment Example

Land-To-Air Vehicle Design by [student name] [Course] Tutor: [Tutor’s name] [Institution] [Date] Introduction An Amphibian Vehicle is an automobile that can move on both land and water as deemed necessary during the maneuver (Tran et al 2007). Often, disciplined forces for the purpose of attack use such vehicles (The Star 2009). Military use the forms of vehicles to enable movement of various forces in different attack lines such as marshy areas, rivers, across lakes among others (Gonzales et. al 2007). There are many forms of these types of vehicles. These vehicles can be classified into two broad categories as air-cushion vehicles and non-air-cushion vehicles (UATM 2007). Air cushion vehicles are vehicles that mainly travel on air such as hovercraft. The non-air-cushion vehicles are the ones that do not use air cushion and travel mainly on the ground. The example of such vehicles includes Amphibious Trucks, All Terrain Vehicles, Armored Personnel Carriers and Air Deployable Tankers. Amphibious Trucks are mainly used to carry a large number of soldiers to lines of attack. This is often in short distances. The Armored Personnel Carriers are used to transport mainly high profile soldiers to attack lines. All-Terrain Vehicles are used to transverse various extreme conditions. These include marshy areas, rugged terrain and water bodies such as lakes and seas. Air Deployable Tankers are used for Land-To-Air Attacks and other massive land attacks. This report intends to explain a novel Land-To-Air Vehicle, (LTAV) that will be used in Australian Department of Defense. The vehicle will be light for fast movement, strong and durable enough to resist large attacks and low power consumption through efficient and effective powerful engine technology. The vehicle shall be used for all terrain purposes, as it shall be able to travel on dry land, marshes and water bodies. New Technology Land-To-Air Vehicle is an armored all-terrain vehicle that is meant for Australian Defense Forces. LTAV is a modification of various technologies of amphibious vehicles to develop a powerful at the same time light vehicle. This vehicle is intended to enforce effective assaults in lines of attacks. It can move effectively and efficiently on dry land, rough terrain, marshy areas, ponds, rivers, and lakes too (Davis & Cornwell 2005). This makes it possible to move in any line of attack and at the same time launch an effective assault. The reason for using modified technology is to use inexpensive inventions to develop a new powerful vehicle. The existing vehicles have various strengths and weaknesses. Through careful analysis of these strengths and weaknesses, one is able to identify the weaknesses in them. Armed with strengths of each individual invention, we combine these strengths to provide an optimum all-terrain vehicle (Bryham 2008; Hewitt & Ketchikan 2011). Land-To-Air Vehicle combines various achievements of developed Tanker vehicles. Through a careful combination of these Tanker vehicles, we are able to develop a powerful, easy to use and efficient amphibious vehicle. Developing a Tanker from the scratch is both a cumbersome and tedious activity. However, through sharing of knowledge from existing inventions, we are able to identify possible weaknesses in existing inventions. Through these weaknesses, we solicit the problems that our invention will address and then we embark on solving those problems (Nassiraei & Ishii 2007). Mode of Operation Land-To-Air Vehicle 113 is controlled both by the soldiers on the ground and the control personnel in the military base. The crew inside it manages the movement of the vehicle. The vehicle has caterpillar tracks that aid its movement (Encyclopedia Britannica 2010). These tracks are located on both sides of the vehicle. An internal combustion diesel engine powers these tracks to aid movement. Braking is effected through a combination of gears that halt the movement of the tracks. This ensures emergency braking as well. In events of turning, a combination of gears is used which turns the tracks at a specified location (Bräunl 2008). This makes the vehicle make U-turns, move round the bend or move around. Further, the gear combinations aid the vehicle to reverse or move forward at various speed definitions (Mott 2006). The vehicle has a Global Positioning System and radar, which enables communication between the crew and the control personnel at the command base. The control personnel directs the maneuver of the vehicle in events of unclear sight. Further, the control personnel provides direction and optimum direction to be used by the vehicle. In events where the crew may not be familiar with the terrain, the control personnel shall provide directions as well as guidance. Through the radar and Global Positioning System, the crew can communicate with control personnel in real time ensuring quick movement during the military expedition (Chan et. al. 2010). This minimizes losses that may result from communication overhead. The crew through Missile Launching System installed in the dashboard launches the missiles. This ensures quick and efficient deployment of the missiles. Further, the firing by the Grenade Launchers and 105mm Gun is done from the dashboard. The 105mm Gun can fire up to 100 rounds a minute while the Grenade Launchers can fire up to 20 rounds a minute. The machine guns on the front and behind the of the vehicle are controlled from the dashboard. These can fire up to 1000 rounds a minute. Inside the crew room, the crew is fully armed with military equipment that can be used in events of close combat attack. Technical Specifications The technical requirements are usually meant for the system developers (Crookshanks 2015). These enable the developers to create the system as per the expectations. Often, the technical specifications dictate the outline of the intended system. The technical specifications of Land-To-Air Vehicle will help various groups of engineers develop the vehicles as stipulated. These requirements are formulated to help harmonize the development process and produce a quality product. Land-To-Air Vehicle uses the basic structure of M113 Tanker. The body is made of aluminum instead of steel. This is because aluminum is lighter, stiffer and provides more internal room. Being lighter, the vehicle is able to move efficiently in water and marshy areas. Due to its stiffness, there is no steel bracing needed. This makes it have a lower outline and thus making it more difficult to target or hit. This makes it blend with surprise attacks against enemy lines as it's not easily picked by enemy radars. Sometimes, the crew may face High Explosives attacks. Such attacks often explode on impact with external skin of the vehicle. After exploding, they send a shockwave through the external covering that blows off a section of the internal covering of the vehicle. This affects the crew as they are injured in the process. However, LTAV has a spall lining which protects against such adverse results of attacks. LTAV has strong mats comprising hardened materials like Kevlar further cover the aluminum body. These materials are attached inside of the external covering of the vehicle. They catch the blown off section and prevents it from affecting the crew and thus ensuring the safety of the crew. Land-To-Air Vehicle has a powerful Caterpillar C7 350 high power diesel engine . This type of engine consumes less power and is fast enough with an estimated speed of 62 mph. This type of engine has vast benefits. First, the cost of diesel is lower than that of petrol hence reduced costs of fuel. Further, the engine requires lesser parts and produces more torque. This makes it efficient to turn the drive sprocket with much lower cycles. Finally, the diesel fuel takes much time to ignite. In the event of High Explosive attack that might affect the fuel tanks, the vehicle may not light up instantly. If it fails to light up completely, the vehicle is protected. However if the attack was extreme, the crew will have time to evacuate the vehicle as diesel takes the time to burn. This protects the crew who are essential in the military expedition. LATV can carry up to five heavily armed soldiers. This is made possible by a spacious crew room. This number of soldiers is handy in heavy fighting. Through the division of tasks, many defense activities can run concurrently and thus increasing chances of winning the war. The crew can effectively utilize the weapons loaded on the vehicle. These include six Grenade Launchers on each side of the vehicle, two Low Range Missile Launchers and the two machine guns in the front and rear of the vehicle. At the top of the vehicle is a 105 mm Gun with an elevation of +20° and a depression of -10° through a frontal 270° arc. Turret traverse is 360°. Therefore, the 105 mm Machine Gun can rotate in a circle and shoot in from any angle. Further, the inclination can be controlled. This means that it can be raised or lowered. This makes it effective in shooting oncoming hovercraft. Land-To-Air Vehicle is a powerful all-terrain vehicle. The vehicle can attack from a range of 300 miles. It is 8.97 m long, 2.69 m wide and 2.55 m high. Further, it has a weight of 18 tons when with standard armor, 21 tons when with level 2 armor and 24 tons when with level 3 armor. It can comfortably travel on roads and rugged terrain. With a powerful engine and tracks, it is able to maintain a speed of 62 mph. This speed is efficient for attacking in rugged enemy lines. In marshy areas, it is able to maintain the same speed. The tracks are powerful at the same time light thus able to make the vehicle move fast. In ponds, rivers and other water bodies, the incorporated floaters enable the vehicle to float. This is enhanced by use of light body made of aluminum. The rear propeller propels the vehicle forward in deep waters and thus maintaining a speed of 20 mph (Helvacioglu et. al. 2011). While on water, the vehicle can launch attacks as though it was on land. This property enables it to attack from any point in a fighting front. New Technology’s Design (LTAV) The figure below shows the sketch of Land-To-Air Vehicle. This sketch is the one to be used to build this vehicle, as is the closest estimation of the vehicle’s outlook.   Land-To-Air Vehicle is 8.97 m long, 2.69 m wide and 2.55 m high. At the bottom, it has two caterpillar tracks, each on its lateral sides. These tracks are made of aluminum as is lighter and stiffer as compared to steel. These act like wheels through which the vehicle is able to move across various surfaces and terrains. These propellers are fixed with floaters in their upper region. These are used for buoyancy. This enables the vehicle to move across water surfaces as though it is moving on land (Flom 2009). At the rear end, a propeller is used while the vehicle is moving across water surfaces. This propeller provides the thrust that moves the vehicle. With the movement of the tracks and the propeller, the vehicle is able to wade across water bodies effortlessly (Carlton 2007). Above the tracks is the main body of the vehicle that is in the form of a rectangular frustum. This body is made up of aluminum as it provides more internal room. This more room is due to the idea that fewer layers of aluminum are needed to make the vehicle as strong as its steel body counterpart due to the stiffness of aluminum. The lateral sides of the body have six Grenade Launchers, which are controlled by the crew in the dashboard. These Grenade Launchers are used to deploy medium range grenades against enemy lines. Further, there are two pairs of Land-To-Air Missile Launchers that are also controlled by the crew from the dashboard in the crew room. These are used to deploy long-range land-to-air missile attacks against enemy defenses. At the rear and front parts of the body, there are machine guns. At the top of the body, there is a 105 mm machine gun, which can rotate almost at any angle. This is used for land-to-air attacks as well as land attacks. Inside the body, is a spacious five-member crew room. The front of the crew room has a dashboard. The dashboard holds various systems of the vehicle. These include Six-Gear System, Land-T-Air Missile Launching System, and an Automated Machine Gun Controlling System (Lacroix et al. 2002). These systems are used for launching various attacks against the enemy. Further, it has Radar System, The Global Positioning System, and a Military Communication System, which are used to ensure real-time communication and positioning of the vehicle. Control personnel at the control bases use these systems to locate and communicate with the crew. There is also Thermal Imaging and Night Vision System, Laser Range Locator and an automated fire control. Finally, there is an Automated Vehicle Control System, which is useful in extreme causalities where the crew is all injured. This makes the vehicle be able to move on its own and return to the base through various controls provided by the control personnel. Conclusion Defense is a massive investment process. To realize optimum vehicles for military personnel, a review of the existing ones need to be carried out to combine their strengths and reduce their weaknesses. Land-To-Air Vehicle combines the strengths of various tankers to realize an optimum security vehicle which is all-terrain and efficient. 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