Hangar of the Future Research Laboratory is a research arm of the Aerospace & MRO Technology Innovation Center in the School of Aviation and Transportation Technology at Purdue. The student experience in HOF involves practical research, rapid and innovative solution development and - because we like to lean out "where the light bends" - testing some far out, novel uses of existing technologies applied to the aerospace manufacturing and air transportation operational environment.
Our projects span much of the industry including design, manufacturing, air transport and MRO operators who are all connected within the tightly coupled, Big Data "neuro-net" that is 21st century air transportation.
Our Mission:
Use technology to advance air transportation process Safety, Quality and Reliability outcomes in a rapidly evolving sensor-embedded industry of "smart everything". We also want to save the whales, but one thing at a time.
The lab’s mission reflects the U.S. Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) philosophy of creating a network-enabled environment supporting people working in complex risk-sensitive aerospace and air transportation operations. And to use as many hyphenated word pairs as possible.
Our Vision: Develop Innovative Thought Leaders Who Change The World
Students engineer novel data support systems targeted at delivering assistive technical data on-demand, to the point of manufacture or maintenance. We use popular, mostly low cost devices (smart phones, tablets, pads, or emerging 'smart' apparel). Sounds easy. But students must also address unyielding end-user requirements for any project data system in an industry of hazardous, complex systems:
- -Cost, ROI, scalability, operational safety and efficiency impact assessment
- -Contextually relevant - only the data I need, where I need it, when I need it
- -Secure and version controllable
- -Highly visual and intuitive (lightweight 3D graphics for example), and
- -Human-friendly - leverage technology, not be bound by it.
Hangar of the Future student research design teams working under Professor Ropp have won and placed in FAA’s National Design Competition for Universities twice for innovative project designs impacting safety and efficiency of aviation operations. In 2015 they took first place in Boeing's national IT Case competition for development of software to find manmade objects scattered over terrain using LIDAR data point mapping. Top student researchers routinely present at high profile industry and academic conferences like the Oshkosh EAA Airshow in Oshkosh, WI., American Society of Airport Executives NextGen Conference in Denver CO.
