Cadets get capstone help from local TACPs

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Heather Stanton
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Eleven cadets went to Ft. Carson Sept. 10 to discuss challenges for the battlefield Airmen community for help with the design of their capstone projects.

The cadets met with Air Force Tactical Air Control Party members, assigned to the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron, to conduct a customer needs analysis, and understand their environment, equipment and challenges they may face in current and future operations.

The team of cadets represented two capstone projects underway to help battlefield Airmen. The cooling system project has cadet designing a lightweight, personal cooling system as part of an annual Air Force Research Laboratory Service Academy Challenge. The other team is investigating multi-modal sensory wearable technology for battlefield Airmen to enhance their information awareness and processing developed by the Battlefield Air Targeting, Man-Aided kNowledge, or BATMAN, program office.

"Talking with the TACP members gave us insight into the struggle they are facing against heat and heat-related injuries," said Cadet 1st Class Matthew Leslie, a Mechanical Engineering major working on a personal cooling system for the SAC.

"They described their typical missions as well as their typical loadouts so we can design a system that can function in conjunction with the gear they already have," Leslie said. "The question and answer approach we took on the visit was crucial for identifying their needs as customers and opening an avenue for future testing."

The idea to have the cadets' talk with the battlefield Airmen came from Maj. Cory Cooper, a division chief and assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Mechanics, as well as the instructor for the capstone course.

"Dr. Dan Jensen and I have found that direct interaction with the user early on in system design helps accelerate understanding of the key problems," he said. "The information will help in several ways. First, and most directly, they have a more complete picture of the customer requirements for their design projects. They also have a richer understanding of those requirements because they experienced some of the constraints during the visit. There is also the additional benefit of meeting the people counting on the cadets to come through with successful designs. This exposure to the customer adds an additional intrinsic motivation for the cadets to do well."

Both cadets and TACP Airmen said they enjoyed working with each other.

"My reaction to the TACP members was a positive one," Leslie said. "I was really surprised to see how excited these guys were about our ideas and it was cool to know that what we are working on could significantly help the warfighter. They were receptive of us and our ideas and we began constructive dialogue that I hope will help us design the best product for them."

Each of the projects began in August with the beginning of the academic year, and will be complete by May. Each of the product outcomes have a chance to be used by battlefield Airmen in the future.

"For SAC in the past, AFRL evaluated the prototypes and demonstration systems at the competition and took immediate steps to develop the winning concepts further," Cooper said. "It is a similar case for the BATMAN-supported project. AFRL has found in the past that undergraduate engineering students have great freedom of thought when it comes to developing innovative solutions to problems.They've recognized this and support the cadets in tackling the front-end conceptual design work. Then, they'll take the ideas the additional steps necessary to accomplish formal (Defense Department) acquisition and take it out to the operators for future use."

Though the projects could be used in real life, the most rewarding aspect for Cooper is watching the cadets grow and develop as officers throughout the process.

"It's very rewarding for me to be an advisor with these efforts," he said. "Not only are they aimed at solving tough problems for our current force, but it is great to see the cadets develop as officers, engineers and design practitioners."