Robert Brodzik

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) play an increasingly important role in civil and military aviation, supporting missions ranging from infrastructure monitoring and parcel delivery to reconnaissance and combat operations. Their widespread use in modern transport systems raises the demand for reliable onboard equipment. Among critical subsystems, the Indicated Airspeed (IAS) sensor provides key information for flight control, stability management, and stall prevention. Failures of the IAS sensor – caused by contamination, icing, mechanical damage, or electronic malfunction – pose a significant safety hazard and may lead to flight instability or operational incidents. This study investigates the reliability of the IAS sensor in UAVs using non-parametric reliability analysis methods. Data collected from the SAMANTA maintenance management system over a four-year observation period (2016-2019) were analyzed to determine the cumulative distribution function, hazard rate, and instantaneous reliability function. The research highlights that IAS-related failures account for the second-largest group of recorded UAV malfunctions, underscoring the importance of proactive maintenance strategies. The results provide insights into the operational reliability of IAS sensors and lay the groundwork for the development of predictive maintenance models, improved component design, and enhanced UAV safety in both civil and military applications.

The article presents selected issues concerning the effects of the spread of certain chemical substances. In the first part of the paper, the authors’ proprietary model of a chemical contamination dispersion forecasting system is presented. Subsequently, simulations of the dispersion of chemical contamination from selected hazardous materials are described. The influence of various factors on the range of specific chemical hazards is shown. The research results are presented both graphically and numerically. The aim of the article is to present the possible consequences that may arise from the uncontrolled release of high-risk hazardous materials, such as chlorine and ammonia, into the environment.

The share of composites in today's aerospace industry is steadily increasing. Layered composites are the most popular in aviation. There are a number of methods of their manufacture, each with specific characteristics. One of the most popular simple methods are the technique using a hydraulic press to apply pressure, the vacuum bag method and the infusion method. They are all widely used and useful in individual and mass production, and allow the same types of composites to be made, but due to the differences, the resulting composites, despite having the same structure, may have different properties. In order to verify this observation, an experimental study of the same carbon fabric-reinforced polymer layered composites made by the methods mentioned above was carried out. The mechanical properties of the composites were studied, with a particular focus on their resistance to low-energy impact loading. The results of the study indicate that the composites produced by the infusion method have the best mechanical properties, and with the selected manufacturing technology parameters, the method using a hydraulic press produced the composite with the lowest surface mass.

Gospodarka Materiałowa i Logistyka nr 4/2020, Gospodarka Materiałowa i Logistyka. Prenumerata roczna 2020 (12 kolejnych numerów)