The feasible constant speed helical trajectories for propeller driven airplanes

Labonte, Gilles Techno-Press 2017 Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science Vol.4 No.4

The motion of propeller driven airplanes, flying at constant speed on ascending or descending helical trajectories is analyzed. The dynamical abilities of the airplane are shown to result in restrictions on the ranges of the geometrical parameters of the helical path. The physical quantities taken into account are the variation of air density with altitude, the airplane mass change due to fuel consumption, its load factor, its lift coefficient, and the thrust its engine can produce. Formulas are provided for determining all the airplane dynamical parameters on the trajectory. A procedure is proposed for the construction of tables from which the flyability of trajectories at a given angle of inclination and radius can be read, with the corresponding minimum and maximum speeds allowed, the final altitude reached and the amount of fuel burned. Sample calculations are shown for the Cessna 182, a Silver Fox like unmanned aerial vehicle, and the C-130 Hercules.

How airplanes fly at power-off and full-power on rectilinear trajectories

Labonte, Gilles Techno-Press 2020 Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science Vol.7 No.1

Automatic trajectory planning is an important task that will have to be performed by truly autonomous vehicles. The main method proposed, for unmanned airplanes to do this, consists in concatenating elementary segments of trajectories such as rectilinear, circular and helical segments. It is argued here that because these cannot be expected to all be flyable at a same constant speed, it is necessary to consider segments on which the airplane accelerates or decelerates. In order to preserve the planning advantages that result from having the speed constant, it is proposed to do all speed changes at maximum deceleration or acceleration, so that they are as brief as possible. The constraints on the load factor, the lift and the power required for the motion are derived. The equation of motion for such accelerated motions is solved numerically. New results are obtained concerning the value of the angle and the speed for which the longest distance and the longest duration glides happen, and then for which the steepest, the fastest and the most fuel economical climbs happen. The values obtained differ from those found in most airplane dynamics textbooks. Example of tables are produced that show how general speed changes can be effected efficiently; showing the time required for the changes, the horizontal distance traveled and the amount of fuel required. The results obtained apply to all internal combustion engine-propeller driven airplanes.

Constant speed, variable ascension rate, helical trajectories for airplanes

Labonte, Gilles Techno-Press 2018 Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science Vol.5 No.1

A particular type of constant speed helical trajectory, with variable ascension rate, is proposed. Such trajectories are candidates of choice as motion primitives in automatic airplane trajectory planning; they can also be used by airplanes taking off or landing in limited space. The equations of motion for airplanes flying on such trajectories are exactly solvable. Their solution is presented, together with an analysis of the restrictions imposed on the geometrical parameters of the helical paths by the dynamical abilities of an airplane. The physical quantities taken into account are the airplane load factor, its lift coefficient, and the thrust its engines can produce. Formulas are provided for determining all the parameters of trajectories that would be flyable by a particular airplane, the final altitude reached, and the duration of the trajectory. It is shown how to construct speed interval tables, which would appreciably reduce the calculations to be done on board the airplane. Trajectories are characterized by their angle of inclination, their radius, and the rate of change of their inclination. Sample calculations are shown for the Cessna 182, a Silver Fox like unmanned aerial vehicle, and the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Airplanes at constant speeds on inclined circular trajectories

Labonte, Gilles Techno-Press 2016 Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science Vol.3 No.4

The dynamical requirements are obtained for airplanes to travel on inclined circular trajectories. Formulas are provided for determining the load factor, the bank angle, the lift coefficient and the thrust or power required for the motion. The dynamical properties of the airplane are taken into account, for both, airplanes with internal combustion engines and propellers, and airplanes with jet engines. A procedure is presented for the construction of tables from which the flyability of trajectories at a given angle of inclination can be read, together with the corresponding minimum and maximum radii allowed. Sample calculations are shown for the Cessna 182, a Silver Fox like unmanned aerial vehicle, and a F-16 jet airplane.

Low thrust inclined circular trajectories for airplanes

Labonte, Gilles Techno-Press 2017 Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science Vol.4 No.3

Automatic trajectory re-planning is an integral part of unmanned aerial vehicle mission planning. In order to be able to perform this task, it is necessary to dispose of formulas or tables to assess the flyability of various typical flight segments. Notwithstanding their importance, there exist such data only for some particularly simple segments such as rectilinear and circular sub-trajectories. This article presents an analysis of a new, very efficient, way for an airplane to fly on an inclined circular trajectory. When it flies this way, the only thrust required is that which cancels the drag. It is shown that, then, much more inclined trajectories are possible than when they fly at constant speed. The corresponding equations of motion are solved exactly for the position, the speed, the load factor, the bank angle, the lift coefficient and the thrust and power required for the motion. The results obtained apply to both types of airplanes: those with internal combustion engines and propellers, and those with jet engines. Conditions on the trajectory parameters are derived, which guarantee its flyability according to the dynamical properties of a given airplane. An analytical procedure is described that ensures that all these conditions are satisfied, and which can serve for producing tables from which the trajectory flyability can be read. Sample calculations are shown for the Cessna 182, a Silver Fox like unmanned aerial vehicle, and an F-16 jet airplane.

A Phase II Biomarker-Embedded Study of Lapatinib plus Capecitabine as First-line Therapy in Patients with Advanced or Metastatic Gastric Cancer

LaBonte, Melissa J.,Yang, Dongyun,Zhang, Wu,Wilson, Peter M.,Nagarwala, Yasir M.,Koch, Kevin M.,Briner, Colleen,Kaneko, Tomomi,Rha, Sun-Young,Gladkov, Oleg,Urba, Susan G.,Sakaeva, Dina,Pishvaian, Mich American Association for Cancer Research 2016 Molecular Cancer Therapeutics Vol.15 No.9

<P>An exploratory phase II biomarker-embedded trial (LPT109747; NCT00526669) designed to determine the association of lapatinib-induced fluoropyrimidine gene changes with efficacy of lapatinib plus capecitabine as first-line treatment for advanced gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma-independent of tumor HER2 status. Tumor biopsies obtained before and after 7- day lapatinib (1,250 mg) to analyze changes in gene expression, followed by a 14-day course of capecitabine (1,000 mg/m(2) twice daily, 14/21 days) plus lapatinib 1,250 mg daily. Blood samples were acquired for pharmacokinetic analysis. Primary clinical objectives were response rate (RR) and 5-month progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary objectives were overall survival (OS), PFS, time to response, duration of response, toxicity, and identification of associations between lapatinib pharmacokinetics and biomarker endpoints. Primary biomarker objectives were modulation of 5FU- pathway genes by lapatinib, effects of germline SNPs on treatment outcome, and trough steady-state plasma lapatinib concentrations. Sixty-eight patients were enrolled; (75% gastric cancer, 25% gastroesophageal junction). Twelve patients (17.9%) had confirmed partial response, 31 (46.3%) had stable disease, and 16 (23.9%) had progressive disease. Median PFS and OS were 3.3 and 6.3 months, respectively. Frequent adverse events included diarrhea (45%), decreased appetite (39%), nausea (36%), and fatigue (36%). Lapatinib induced no changes in gene expression from baseline and no significant associations were found for SNPs analyzed. Elevated baseline HER3 mRNA expression was associated with a higher RR (33% vs. 0%; P = 0.008). Lapatinib plus capecitabine was well tolerated, demonstrating modest antitumor activity in patients with advanced gastric cancer. The association of elevated HER3 and RR warrants further investigation as an important player for HER-targeted regimens in combination with capecitabine. (C)2016 AACR.</P>

The Role of Macrophage Polarization in Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases

Labonte, Adam C.,Tosello-Trampont, Annie-Carole,Hahn, Young S. Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology 2014 Molecules and cells Vol.37 No.4

Macrophages, found in circulating blood as well as integrated into several tissues and organs throughout the body, represent an important first line of defense against disease and a necessary component of healthy tissue homeostasis. Additionally, macrophages that arise from the differentiation of monocytes recruited from the blood to inflamed tissues play a central role in regulating local inflammation. Studies of macrophage activation in the last decade or so have revealed that these cells adopt a staggering range of phenotypes that are finely tuned responses to a variety of different stimuli, and that the resulting subsets of activated macrophages play critical roles in both progression and resolution of disease. This review summarizes the current understanding of the contributions of differentially polarized macrophages to various infectious and inflammatory diseases and the ongoing effort to develop novel therapies that target this key aspect of macrophage biology.

Simple formulas for the fuel of climbing propeller driven airplanes

Labonte, Gilles Techno-Press 2015 Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science Vol.2 No.4

Simple solutions are obtained for the fuel required by internal combustion engine airplanes on trajectories with a constant rate of climb or descent. Three modes of flight are considered: constant speed, constant Mach number and constant angle of attack. Starting from the exact solutions of the equations of motion for the modes of motion considered, approximate solutions are obtained that are much easier to compute while still being quite precise. Simpler formulas are derived for the weight of fuel, speed, altitude, horizontal distance, time to climb, and power required. These formulas represent a new important contribution since they are fundamental for the analysis of aircraft dynamics and thus have direct applications for the analysis of aircraft performances and mission planning.

On determining the flyability of airplane rectilinear trajectories at constant velocity

Labonte, Gilles Techno-Press 2018 Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science Vol.5 No.5

This work is concerned with the motion of propeller driven airplanes, flying at constant velocity on ascending or descending rectilinear trajectories. Its purpose is to provide important features of rectilinear flights that are required for airplane trajectory planning but that cannot be found already published. It presents a method for calculating the amount of fuel used, the restrictions on the trajectory parameters, as inclination and speed, which result from the load factor, the lift coefficient, the positivity and upper boundedness of the power available. It presents a complete discussion of both ascending and descending flights, including gliding. Some original remarks are made about the parameters of gliding. It shows how to construct tables of parameters allowing to identify rapidly flyable trajectories. Sample calculations are shown for the Cessna 182 and a Silver Fox like unmanned aerial vehicle.

A method to analyze the flyability of airplane trajectories with specified engine power

Gilles Labonte,Vincent Roberge,Mohammed Tarbouchi Techno-Press 2023 Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science Vol.10 No.5

This article introduces a formalism for the analysis of airplane trajectories on which the motion is determined by specifying the power of the engines. It explains a procedure to solve the equations of motion to obtain the value of the relevant flight parameters. It then enumerates the constraints that the dynamical abilities of the airplane impose on the amount of fuel used, the speed, the load factor, the lift coefficient, the positivity and upper boundedness of the power available. Examples of analysis are provided to illustrate the method proposed, with rectilinear and circular trajectories. Two very different types of airplanes are used in the examples: a Silver Fox-like small UAV and a common Cessna 182 Skylane.