Minutes of a Meeting of the

AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems

Technical Committee

19 September 1995

Textron Defense Systems

Wilmington, Massachusetts

The meeting was called to order by committee chairman Dean Jorgensen at 8:15 a.m. 
This was the first regularly scheduled collocated meeting with the National 
Parachute Technology and Dr. Jorgensen welcomed NPTC chairman Dr. Carl Peterson 
and other NPTC members to the ADS TC meeting. David Hirst was appointed secretary 
pro tem. A list of those in attendance is appended (Bottom of page).  It was 
announced, with regrets, that Dick Ericksen and Jim Strickland had tendered their 
resignations owing to the growing problem of decreased corporate financial support.

Minutes of 18 May 1995 Meeting

The minutes of the 18 May Clearwater Beach TC Meeting were accepted as presented.

Treasurer's Report

Treasurer Chris Carlson reported a balance in the committee's checking account 
of $7,147 as of 13 September (Attachment B). The account requires two signatures 
for disbursement: currently the chairman and the treasurer.

TC Organization

The chairmen welcomed freshmen members Richard Benney, Werner Gabriel, David 
Hirst and Jean Potvin to the TC. He then reviewed the current organization of 
the TC and the TC's organizational relationship within the AIAA (Attachment C). 
The TC roster is enclosed as Attachment D [updated since the meeting].

Old Business - Aerospace America Highlights Article

Don Waye's 1995 "Highlights in Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems" article was 
distributed for review. The committee expressed enthusiastic appreciation for 
Don's efforts, noting the high quality of the piece (to be published in the 
December issue of Aerospace America). The article fostered considerable discussion 
on the style and media for disclosing information about ADS technology, 
follow-through to be coordinated by the WWW Home Page, TC Newsletter and TC 
Directory Teams.

Team Reports

TC Directory - Richard Benney

Rich described the type of information to be included in the ADS TC directory: 
member profiles, a calendar of events, awards and procedures for their 
administration, conference information, and general information for new TC 
members. To date, Rich has received about 30% of what he needs to prepare the 
"member profiles" section. He will prepare a fill-in-the-blanks template for 
TC members and distribute it shortly.

WWW Home Page

In the absence of any of the Home Page Team members, Rich Benney led a general 
discussion. Roger Allen is know to be creating a home page for SSE, Inc. He 
will be asked to advise the TC on the mechanics/cost of preparing and maintaining 
a TC home page. It was proposed by the chairman that the TC authorize the WWW 
Home Page Team to spend up to $40 per month in server fees to establish and 
maintain a TC Home Page. The motion was seconded by George Barnard and adopted 
by acclamation. 

A general discussion ensued as to the type of information to be included on a 
home page. Rich Benney wants to include much of the information to be contained 
in the TC Directory. The TC Newsletter should also be included. Links to other 
web sites, including the AIAA and the PIA should be established. NPTC members 
in attendance joined in the discussion. They, too, expect to develop a web site. 
All agreed that close coordination between the ADS TC and the NPTC is wise. 
Carl Peterson reminded the TC of the reluctance he has encountered at a number 
of federal agencies owing to concerns regarding release of sensitive information. 
The chairman cautioned all contributors to be aware of the concern and careful 
to publish only that information which has been approved for public release. 

Rich Benney then led the TC through a display of a prototype page which he had 
coded in HTML. The information was shown on the Netscape web browser.

Database - Cal Kato

Having established the enormity of the team's task, Cal began with a plea for 
more members on his team! The chairman agreed to address the concern.

The Database Team has identified the sources for much of the information to 
be included in a database: DoD (Theo Knacke, Natick Labs, etc.), Sandia Labs, 
NASA, U. Minn., Syracuse U., Dave Gold (estate), Mike Ravnitsky. They have 
also begun to research the types of facilities which might archive a central 
collection and how reports and other material would be released to members of 
the ADS community.

Cal reported that the database team has limited itself to cataloguing unclassified 
information.  They have explored an optical character recognition (OCR) scanning 
facility maintained by NAWC, China Lake. Documents can be scanned at a cost of 
$0.20/page at 300 pages/hour. That amounts to around $2,000 per filing cabinet. 
To store the information costs $0.07/page/year or about $700/year per filing 
cabinet. There is an annual fee of $200 for password-protected access.

Questions generated by Cal's report: Will demand justify the expense? Are there 
any conflicts between the TC's altruistic aims and possible competitive advantages 
to be gained within the for-profit sector of our community? How will we gain 
access to some of the vital data contained in private archives? To what extent 
must we validate the information contained in the database? Who will pay for 
this service and how much will be charged? 

Discussion followed: We are not professional research librarians or C&IS 
managers! The kinds of issues raised point to the need to talk to the experts. 
The Database Team agreed to hold discussions with the AIAA to review our broad 
objectives and to establish how the Institute deals with data retrieval. (It 
was noted that the Institute contracts with Aeroplus for some of these services.)  
In addition, the Database Team will conduct a poll via the TC home page and 
encourage potential users to address many of these issues, e.g.: What is the 
demand? Would a "stripped-down" database of titles-only be of use? Is there a 
strong demand for non-English literature? To what degree should translations 
be made - whole reports? Titles and synopses? If the database were to go on-line, 
would titles-only be adequate or is there a demand for full text? What are you 
willing to spend for any kind of information retrieval?

Ram-Air Design Guide - Jean Potvin

Jean reported on the original goals of the team: to publish an expanded version 
of the lecture material presented by Drs. Steve Lingard and Gary Viviani at the 
2nd ADS Seminar at Clearwater Beach and to develop that publication into a broader 
design guide for ram-air parachutes. Jean then reported on the results of his 
team's research into various avenues for publishing. Chris Hailey communicated 
her interest in adapting this or a related activity to a student project at Utah 
State University. A wide ranging discussion, relating largely to the original 
goals, ensued.

The TC concluded that, in publishing terms, a "micro-market" exists for the 
design information contained in the ram-air parachute design portion of the 
Precision Aerial Delivery Seminar. The database team would consult with AIAA 
and then canvass TC members to reach a decision prior to the next TC meeting 
as to the best way to proceed.

Newsletter

The TC engaged in a general discussion of Newsletter content, style and 
frequency. In general, the newsletter must report on "cutting edge" information, 
not history. It should include short, punchy articles with lots of bold 
graphics (action photos, etc.). The overall goal is to get the newsletter onto 
the desk of the decision maker, not to be just another vehicle for "preaching 
to the choir." The newsletter might start out with two issues a year, six to 
eight pages in length. It could have regular sections: international, technology, 
programs, TC, etc. The editors might consider accepting advertising to offset 
costs.

The Newsletter Team agreed to bring a proof copy of Vol. I, No. 1 to the next 
TC meeting. Dean Jorgensen agreed to extract THE mailing list from Bob Underwood.

Heinrich Short Course - Dean Jorgensen

Dean reported on conversations with Prof. Bill Garrard and Gordon Amundson of 
the University of Minnesota regarding the possibility of the TC taking on a more 
formal role in the operation of the Helmut G. Heinrich Short Course on Decelerator 
Systems Technology. Dean felt that the prudent level of involvement might be 
to develop the course and leave the administration of the course to the 
professionals (much as we do with the biennial technology conference). The TC 
concurred. Dean spoke with Mark Cumm in the AIAA Business Development Office, 
who recommended that the Heinrich Short Course Team prepare a white paper 
describing the history of the course - enrollment, location, subject matter, 
etc., and that this be used as the starting point for the development of a 
marketing plan.

The TC felt that the course should be timed to coincide with the demands of 
major new contracts. In the current market, the demand doesn't exist for a 
course conducted every two years. The curriculum should be tailored to the 
topics of the day, possibly three days on design theory and practice followed 
by two days on specific, relevant technology. Karl Doherr agreed to meet with 
Bill Garrard for further discussions.

New Business

14th ADS Technology Conference and Seminar

The following chairs have been filled: Administrative Chairman, Chris Carlson, 
International Chairman, Daniel Levin. Bill Wailes has resigned as General 
Chairman due to constraints placed on his time by his new employer, William 
Wailes Aerospace. In addition, Technical and Seminar chairs remain vacant. 
Dean Jorgensen will solicit recommendations and will fill all posts before 
the next TC meeting.

The conference will be held in 1997 in the western United States sometime 
between April and June. San Francisco, Lake Tahoe and San Diego are the 
candidate sites. The Lighter-than-Air TC has expressed interest in collocating 
with us in much the same manner as Clearwater Beach. The Balloon TC already 
has other plans so will not meet with us. Dean will work with the Conference 
Committee to develop additional details, including the selection of a seminar 
topic, before the next TC meeting.

TC Membership

The chairman lamented the fact that six members of the TC would be retiring 
in April and that we as a community were not doing enough to maintain "critical 
mass." All TC members were encouraged to suggest one or two individuals to 
the chairman and especially to target the "user" group. The chairman had 
identified several potential candidates and would contact them prior to the 
next TC meeting.

"Outreach"

The chairman reinforced the TC's commitment to open communication with other 
parachute technology groups. Bill Gerrow continues to represent us in the PIA. 
It was noted that the PIA now has a Military Subcommittee. Bill will be asked 
to look into this and advise the TC on how we might usefully support their 
activities. Carl Peterson agreed to provide Dean Jorgensen with a direct 
point of contact within the NPTC for each of the TC's teams.

1996 ADS Award

Nominations for the 1996 ADS Award are due to Dean Jorgensen prior to the 
next TC meeting. He will provide information to all TC members under 
separate cover.

Reed Aeronautics Award

Carl Peterson and John Johnson agreed to act on the TC's behalf in renominating 
Theo Knacke for the Reed Aeronautics Award. Dean Jorgensen will forward the 
existing documentation package to Carl.

TC Chairman-Elect

Nominations for TC Chairman-Elect (for a one-year term as Vice-Chairman 
commencing May 1996 and followed by a two-year term as Chairman) are due to 
Dean Jorgensen prior to the next TC meeting. Nominations should be accompanied 
by a one-page resume. Election by secret ballot will take place at the next 
TC meeting.

Specs and Standards

Time did not permit adequate discussion of the major changes in specs and 
standards resulting from Defense Secretary Perry's initiative and the 
introduction of ISO 9000. A full discussion of this subject will be scheduled 
early in the agenda for the next TC meeting.

Lunch-Time Tour

The committee enjoyed a lunch-time video presentation and tour of Textron's 
Mobile Microwave Landing Systems (MMLS) presented by MMLS Systems Engineer 
Paul Szymanski. Paul described the capabilities of this precision guidance 
approach and landing system, including its ability to simultaneously control 
over 100 aircraft on curved, segmented or straight-in approaches in up to 
Category II degraded weather conditions.

Appreciation

Dr. Peterson spoke for those present in expressing appreciation to Textron 
Defense Systems and Dean Jorgensen for hosting this meeting.

Next Meeting

The next TC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 16 January 1996, at a place to 
be announced. The National Parachute Technology Council will meet the following 
day. Both meetings are open to all members of the ADS TC and the NPTC.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Dean S. Jorgensen
Chairman

TC Meeting Attendance
19 September 1995
Textron Defense Systems
Wilmington, Massachusetts

George Barnard
Richard Benney
Chris Carlson
Karl Doherr
Werner Gabriel
David Hirst
Joe Holder
Dean Jorgensen
Cal Kato
Jean Potvin
Mo Gionfriddo (NPTC)
John Johnson (NPTC)
Carl Peterson (NPTC)