Suspended Load Swing Stabilization

This research proposes an interdisciplinary collaboration to improve hoist stabilization for medical evacuation and successful rescues. This paper would include the collaborative efforts from a diverse range of fields to include Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, and the Special Collections & Archives Division of the United States Military Academy Library. The research objective of this effort is to create an algorithm which could limit the displacement angle of a suspended individual below a helicopter. This would be accomplished by changing the relative length of the cable at different points within the swing of the slung mass. This could all be done while reeling in the hoisted individual to the helicopter by changing the rate at which the hoist is lessening its cable. Elements of the mathematical principles that this research is built on are illustrated through Edgar Allen Poe's application of the pendulum in his short story “The Pit and the Pendulum”. Poe was an individual who attended, but did not graduate from, USMA; however, his education at the Military Academy and his subsequent writings are the birthplace of this research endeavor. It is a multi-semester goal, and this paper will present an initial proof of concept.

Background

In helicopter rescue situations, minutes, and even seconds matter, especially when dealing with combat casualties that need to be evacuated as soon as possible. The ultimate goal of our research project is to create an algorithm which could limit the displacement angle of a suspended individual below a helicopter. What this research could do is revolutionize the way that the United States Army evacuates their casualties from the battlefield [1–4].