<title>SAMPSON smart inlet design overview and wind tunnel test: I. Design overview</title>

Abstract

The Smart Aircraft and Marine System Projects Demonstration (SAMPSON) program was a DARPA funded effort conducted by the Boeing Company, General Dynamics - Electric Boat Division, and the Pennsylvania State University. NASA Langley Research Center (NASA LaRC) was technical monitor for the aircraft demonstration, while the Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) was technical monitor for the marine demonstration. Dr. Ephrahim Garcia, DARPA/DSO, acted as the DARPA program manager for SAMPSON. The SAMPSON program objectives were to demonstrate smart structures based systems on large/full scale structures in realistic environments. The SAMPSON aircraft demonstration was the wind tunnel testing of a full scale F-15 aircraft inlet that was capable of in-flight structural variations accomplished using smart materials, called the 'SAMPSON Smart Inlet'. The SAMPSON Smart Inlet was removed from an F-15E airframe and structurally modified to interface with the NASA LaRC 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel model support system. This is Part I of two works documenting the SAMPSON Smart Inlet design and testing. A discussion of the design aspects and constraints will be presented here in Part I. The ground and wind tunnel testing of the Smart Inlet is presented in a separate work, Part II.