Senior Aerospace Engineer

Suneal Guptaa

Email Address: *******@******************.***

Contact Phone Number: 443-***-****, http://www.GuptaaUnmannedAero.com

Career History

Owner, President

Guptaa Unmanned Aero, LLC October 2017 - Present

Senior Aerospace Engineer (Aerospace Engineer IV) July 2011 – October 2017

Air Vehicle Design and Development Group, AAI Corporation

Aerospace Engineer III June 2008 – July 2011

Air Vehicle Design and Development Group, AAI Corporation

Aerospace Engineer II January 2006 – June 2008

Air Vehicle Design and Development Group, AAI Corporation

Top 3 Aircraft Highlights

-Shadow 200 Main Wing OML Design [RQ7Bv2 Lead Aerospace Engineer] 2008 - 2009

oLead Aerospace Engineer responsible for Shadow 200 Main Wing OML Design from concept to production [rapid development cycle] with objectives of increasing aircraft endurance, operational ceiling, TOGW, useful payload weight, fuel capacity, and internal hardware storage while maintaining compliance with all system and subsystem requirements.

oSized Theoretical Main Wing Planform using a Multi-Dimensional Optimization algorithm incorporating linear, quadratic (Newton), and advanced Genetic Algorithms to capture Pareto front of sizing domain space in under 1 months with full-wing concept to production/fielding in 18 months.

oCoded an autonomous MDO sizing approach to rapidly locate global planform optimums to size Wing Area, Wingspan, Aspect Ratio, and critical hardware dimensions based upon 100 + behavior and side constraints with multiple objective functions in a multi-physics analysis environment. Design constraints included aircraft component layout, geometric, transport, aerodynamic, performance, electrical, transport, mass, and storage).

oDesigned and optimized the subsonic, incompressible airfoils through direct and inverse airfoil methods to maximize endurance parameter, maximum lift coefficient, maximum volume to bending inertia ratio, and minimize pitching-moment coefficient in contribution to trim-drag reduction.

oCreated an autonomous MATLAB routine to auto-code and execute potential code, panel, and vortex lattice methods in conjunction with airfoil optimization and design, structural and mass property modeling, power modeling (alternator), stability and control, automatic launch and aircraft performance.

oLocated locus of most feasible design solutions, finalized linear wing twist distribution to place onset of incipient stall and boundary layer separation.

oDesigned and placed slotted flap for optimum maximum lift augmentation during ballistic phase of automatic launch and ground-effect contributions of automatic recovery.

oPerformed all Aircraft Performance, linearized aerodynamic modeling (and HILSIM/SILSIM modeling), stability and control analysis, center of gravity placement, ballast design, lift-curve and drag-polar modeling, aircraft modal analysis (short period, Phugoid, Dutch Roll), loads development (using classical and RANS techniques), fuel-system design and analysis, propulsion analysis, automatic launch and automatic recovery design and analysis, acceptance test procedure generation, technical manual generation, rapid prototyping and design for manufacturing, and subcontractor management of flight controller contractors (Rockwell Collins for Flight Controller and Sierra Nevada Corporation for Tactical Automated Landing System), as well as HILSIM modeling and updates.

oSupported Wing Load Testing to destruction, verifying structural design to FAR Part 23.

oPrepared and led both flight test series, including qualification flight certification, generating all contract deliverable reports on airframe performance, flight acceptance testing, and flight test data analysis. This culminated in an ECP and a contracted system upgrade of the currently deployed Shadow 200 fleet, enabling new EO/IR technologies, external stores, and increased flight envelopes and mission CONOPS.

oPrepared and presented technical and programmatic briefs internally and externally and leveraged this technology going forward as part of our design work for future product upgrades.

oContinue to present, guide, and interface regularly with our U.S. Army and U.S. Marine customers on the fielded Shadow 200 TUAS (Tactical Unmanned Aerial System) as a lead Air Vehicle SME on multiple production and RDT&E programs (Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation).

oContinue to lead programs, product upgrades, new technology insertions, and airframe enhancement programs while preparing technical and programmatic briefs for internal and external customers, as well as international and commercial customers.

oAs part of the IR&D effort preceding contract award for this effort, I developed an innovative fuel-system design to maximize fuel delivery while precluding air and fuel-vapor ingestion.

oReference Article on Design Methodology:

“Out of the Shadows”, Guterres, Michael Ph.D. Aerospace Testing International, June 2010. Pg 40 – 42. http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/17fdb9ec#/17fdb9ec/44

-Aerosonde Mk 4.7 Design [Lead Aerospace Engineer] 2010 - 2012

oLead Aerospace Engineer responsible for Fuselage, Wing, and Empennage OML Design, all aircraft performance and analysis, HILSIM, SILSIM, and airframe proposal technical content.

oDesigned Main Wing OML of Mk 4.7 airframes using composites of potential and viscous methods ranging from vortex lattice methods to Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes.

oDesigned Fuselage OML via aircraft component layout practices, aerodynamic optimization of pressure recovery issues on suction surface, and placement of fuel-variable center of gravity location.

oModified Empennage (cathedral tail) to meet rigorous automatic recovery requirements during Sea State IV capture events onboard moving targets with optimum control distribution between longitudinal and directional Cartesian components with tactical requirements.

oCreated all Aircraft Performance analyses, stability and control, initial mass models, Wing and Tail planforms, component layout, and test procedures.

oDeveloped SILSIM and HILSIM environment with flight controller hardware [Piccolo, CloudCap]

oDeveloped initial autopilot gains and initial flight controller tuning for airframe.

oDeveloped and performed the Wing, Tail, Engine-Bulkhead, and Fuselage load tests.

oWrote Air Vehicle technical portion of Navy proposal for currently issued contracts.

oTrained new engineer to become transition to lead engineering role over the course of 5 years.

-Battlehawk Airframe [Lead Aerospace Engineer, Project Engineer] 2012 - 2014

oProject Engineer and Lead Aerospace Engineer at AAI responsible for total airframe design.

oJoint effort between Textron subsidiaries Textron Defense Systems and AAI Corporation.

oLed a focused, highly skilled team of Aerospace, Systems, Mechanical, Electrical, Avionics, and Test Engineers in developing a new airframe to meet the LMAMS (Lethal Miniature Aerial Munition System) requirements in a design-from-scratch airframe effort.

oLed the 5 lb airframe development from requirements definition to prototype and flight test in under 8 months to deliver a miniature, fully electric, 5 lb class airframe capable of autonomous tracking and navigation to deliver a precise munitions package on target.

oWorked closely with our munitions SMEs to integrate their weapons and advanced avionics package in the initial component layout phase while absorbing their system and subsystem requirements to drive fuselage, wing, and empennage design. Driving constraints included a 200+ g launch acceleration, rapid transition from pneumatic launch to cruising flight, large flight envelope, and precision terminal engagement. I designed an innovative wing concept (with my talented mechanical lead) that provided the necessary aerodynamic performance while remaining flexible enough to fold for storage and CONOPS. I sized and designed all OML components, sized and selected the electric motor, batteries, electronic speed controllers, and actuators, generated and analyzed load cases, developed all aircraft performance, launch, and engagement analyses, supported flight test events, and interfaced with our internal customer as the Project Engineer.

oThis program culminated in a series of technology integrations with rigorous flight testing and a response to the LMAMS solicitation with Army and SOCOM demonstrations ongoing.

Lead Aerospace Engineer on:

In my tenure at AAI, I have designed the OMLs and performed many primary aircraft design and multi-disciplinary analysis roles for the following:

-Shadow 200 Main Wing Design [IR&D, Production, Contract]

-Shadow 200 VTOL Design [IR&D]

-Aerosonde Mk 4.7 OML Design [IR&D, Production, Contract]

-Battlehawk Airframe [IR&D, LMAMS]

-Shadow M2 Main Wing Design [IR&D, Production]

-Shadow Under-Wing Stores, Multiple Programs [Production, Contract]

-10+ Airframe Upgrade Programs to the Shadow 200 TUAS [Production, Contract]

-FCS Class III Airframe [IR&D]

-Shadow 200i Sizing and Design [IR&D]

-SUAS Mark V [IR&D]

-Shadow 100 (Electric Shadow) [IR&D]

-Shadow 200i (Long duration UAV) [IR&D]

-Shadow Ornithopter (Flapping wing electric UAV) [IR&D]

-Shadow Future Tactical UAS [IR&D]

-Group 1 – Group 3 VTOL Aircraft [IR&D]

Education

Masters of Science, Aerospace Engineering 2003 – 2005

University of Maryland, College Park

Bachelors of Science, Aerospace Engineering 1998 – 2003

University of Maryland, College Park

Career Distinctions:

-2011: Patent # 8,011,620

oU.S. Patent for Innovative Fuel Pickup design for bladder fuel storage and fuel-vapor rejection

-2014: Patent # 8,899,515

oInnovative Camber-Line Wing Design

-2012: Chairman's Award for Innovation Winner

oTextron’s highest award given once per year among 40,000 employees, for the Design of the Battlehawk Airframe. I received this award because of the contributions of, and as part of, a talented, highly gifted team comprised of 2 Operating Unit’s finest engineers.

-2010: Volunteered for 2-week visit to OEF Afghanistan.

oDeployed to Bagram AFB and Jalalabad AFB to observe the in-situ performance of the main-wing’s redesign, along with other improvements and product upgrades, deployed in an active war zone, directly interacting with end-users in support of our commitment to the men and women who sacrifice everything so we don't have to. It was an honor and a privilege.

-2012: Featured in "Diversity Careers" article:

-“Aerospace and Defense: Guarding the People in Uniform, and the People They Protect”, Poremba, Sue. Diversity Careers April/May 2012.

-2010: Star Publication

oPublished proprietary Rigid-Body-Motion quantification of installed propeller performance compared with empirically derived test measurements. Star-Global Conference, May 2010.

Patents:

USPO # 8,011,620, Issued Sep 16, 2011: Fuel Pickup with Wicking Material

USPO # 8,899,515, Issued Dec 02, 2014: Folding Configuration for Air Vehicle

Honors and Awards:

-2014: Textron Salutes Award

oFor contributions to the Gear-Reduction-equipped Shadow program

-2013: AAI Outstanding Achievement Award

oFor my contributions on the SAR-payload program

-2012: Textron Chairman's Award for Innovation

oFor the Battlehawk Airframe Design [Internal Customer Nominated]

-2012: AAI Award for Innovation

oFor my contributions on the Shadow M2 Air Vehicle Design

-2012: Textron Defense Systems’ Kantrowitz Award Winner

oFor the Battlehawk Airframe Design [Internal Customer Nominated]

-2012: AAI SPOT Award

oFor my contributions in the Shadow M2 Design, Development, and Support

-2011: AAI SPOT Award

oFor my contributions in a High-Density Altitude Propeller to recover aircraft performance

-2010: AAI President's Award

oFor my part in writing the aircraft technical proposal for Aerosonde SUAS

-2009: AAI Spot Award

oFor designing the aeronautical Launch with Flaps technology now employed on all RQ7B and RQ7B v2 airframes

-2008: AAI Outstanding Achievement Award

oFor my part in the design of the SUAS Mark V aircraft

-2007: AAI Outstanding Achievement Award

oFor pioneering CFD capabilities In-House at AAI Corporation using a suite of commercial codes (CFX, Star-CCM+) with my colleague

Proficiency in Computer Programs:

Exceptional depth in:

-MATLAB and MATHEMATICA

-Star-CCM+

-USAF DATCOM, USAF Digital DATCOM

-ISIGHT (Multi-Dimensional Optimizer)

-Athena Vortex Lattice

-XFOIL, XROTOR

-ICEM CFD, CFX [Mesher]

-C++, QBASIC

-Unigraphics NX

-All Microsoft Products (Excel, Words, PowerPoint, Project, Visio)

-Learning: Eppler code, Multi-Surf, CMARC, FORTRAN, Python

Additionally, I have trained, educated, and enabled my team members through new derivations and approaches to problem solving. I have trained 14 interns and 2 full-time engineers in my expertise while guiding all team-members as they grow. I have experience as a Lead Engineer and Project engineer, routinely participating in, and leading, programs and projects as the lead Aerospace Engineer, internally and externally, across multiple disciplines of engineering from proposals to defense contracts, IR&D, and EVMS programs. As a C.A.M., I’ve also planned schedules, cost estimates, ROMs, BOEs, and BOMs, in addition to supporting all aspects of program planning, execution, and Work Product management.

Professional Affiliations

AIAA, AUVSI, A. James. Clark School Alumni Association; I am a U.S. Citizen with a Current DISCO Clearance.

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