raeng year in industry program 1995

,

Royal Academy of Engineering Undergraduate Programme

Royal Academy of EngineeringEric Masaba

Imperial College - Aeronautics

London • New York· Atlanta • Huntsville • Orlando .San Francisco • Los Angeles· London

)\\'\:1! JuIJ!'21 st • August 13th 1995

The Role of Computers In Transportation TechnologyAn account of the experiences of Eric Masaba during the travel project bursary

undertaken in the summer of 1995.

The Role of Computers in Transportation Technology

Contents

Profile 3

Objectives 3

Introduction 4-5Planning 4Initial Challenges 5

Travel Diary 6-8

Review 9

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Profile

I am a 21 year old undergraduate studying for a MEng degree in Aeronautical Engineering at ImperialCollege of Science Technology and Medicine. I will graduate in 1998. The third year of my course willbe spent in a French Institution as an exchange student.

At school I attained 9 GCSEs and 6 A levels. I enjoy both practical work and abstract topics, especiallyall aspects of language learning, this being manifest in my interest in computer programming. Thiscoupled with a native aptitude for engineering related subjects steered me towards the general premiseof engineering as a degree course. However, even at school I felt I needed more personal and practicaldevelopment to round me as a person and an effective multidisciplinary teamworker. This is where theRoyal Academy of Engineering has been so precious to me.

I have participated in all of the stages of the Engineering Education Continuum so far, beginning in 6th

form with the Engineering Education Scheme where I undertook a project sponsored by the Ford MotorCompany. I followed up this experience with a Year in Industry with the National Grid Corporation inthe South Eastern region.

I feel that tomorrow' s engineers are going to require a lot more than just academic prowess to trulymake an impact on the global scene and face up to a wide variety of new and exciting engineering andbusiness challenges. With this in mind I have resolved to make the most of my education experienceand undertake personal development initiatives from the invaluable courses on offer from the RoyalAcademy of Engineering.

My Year In Industry prior to the commencement of my degree course was such an extraordinaryexperience, enabling me to develop both professionally and personally. This occurred only due to thepositive and fresh outlook I gained while on the Engineering Education Scheme.

I have been involved with the Academy since 1990 and I can say that it has turned out to be the mostfulfilling membership I ever have had.

Objectives

My plan for the summer of 1995 was to visit some of the technological sites in the continental USA. Iwanted to see how transport systems are planned and managed in the States. Furthermore I had had nocultural exposure to America and felt that I needed to experience some time in that country to become amore culturally aware and balanced person. This trip promised to be a great chance to put myorganisational skills into practice, learn a lot about managing myself and give me a grounding intostriking out on my own. I had managed to secure a summer placement within an investment bank butwas still able to take 3 weeks leave to complete my travel bursary.

At the time of planning, I could not have realised just how well all these objectives would be met in thecourse of my trip.

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Introduction

Perhaps by far the single biggest change to engineering and manufacturing technology has come fromthe application of computers to projects. These rapid information processing tools can handle millionsof tasks per second, relegating previously impractical process undertakings to routine. Maybe nowherehas this been felt more than in transportation technology. Today we have intelligent control systems inour airliners, cars and ships with processors governing the fuel management systems in the enginespowering them. Computers are involved at every stage of the life cycle of a complex transport system,enabling more people to be moved further, faster and more efficiently. Whether it is at the design,simulation testing, or feasibility study stage computers now play an invaluable role in shaping ourengineering products.

Travel bookings can be taken automatically, demand models can be produced and scheduling organisedto maximise resources . The processing power of the computing machines we use is increasing at anunbelievable rate and accompanying this exponential development come more opportunities toimplement the technology in more ways. This incredible expansion of computing processing power, ifanalogised to aviation development, would be akin to producing the Fll7 stealth fighter in 1930. In factsome of our more advanced aircraft could simply not fly if it was not for the application of computingprocessing power to aid in-flight stability.

The scope computers allow for organisation of transport and execution of effective transport regimes isvast at the present time and is certain to exceed expectation in the near future.

With this in mind I felt challenged to find out more about this interesting fusion of Processor and theProcessed; machines moving man and controlling the infrastructure. This interest was to take me acrossthe continental USA, visiting 2 NASA bases, 4 transport control facilities and 6 cities en route.

Planning

The original idea for this project developed from conversations with a friend who happened to beinterested in computer graphics. This turned out to be a subset of a broader section of computing simulations. My friend 's father was involved at an earlier stage of his career with the Jet PropulsionLaboratory and some people from Industrial Light and Magic, a special effects productioncompany.Since flight simulators are at the leading edge of computer graphics I was naturally intrigued. Thispiqued a curiosity in me and I endeavoured to find out as much as I could about the current and futureplanned uses of microprocessor technology in the field of aviation. I then extended this to transportationin general. I asked my professors at University if they had any colleagues I could visit at facilities in theUnited States. I then cast my enquiry net out farther, into the realms of the computer scientists.

An unexpected lead came from a chance meeting with a presenter of the science and technologyprogram "Tomorrow' s World". I bumped into Kate Bellingham on the Imperial Campus one afternoonwhile planning my trip with my project partner. She was hosting a Science Roadshow for schoolgirls toencourage interest in Science and Technology. In my conversation with her I asked if she had anycontacts I could write to in order to arrange a tour in the States. She told me she could not think of anyjust at that moment but would contact me with more information. She honoured this pledge andprovided me with 2 addresses which I was able to convert into tours. This added content to the final legof the tour.

I collated an extensive and intricate travel plan which was researched over the course of 6 months andwhich involved many false leads and a lot of telephone calls and correspondence. I managed to acquirefunding from another engineering organisation to make the trip happen. I assessed every major cost anddesigned a lean travel programme around this. I even arranged a temporary increase on my credit cardlimit with my credit card company until the November following my return.

The planning stage alone taught me many lessons. I learnt how to manage a process to completion andexperienced the elation of conceiving, developing and executing a plan to a satisfactory conclusion. Iwas able to develop my initiative by thinking laterally and originally in order to find leads, thinking

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quickly and relevantly in order to develop those leads and finally by executing the process cleanly byconverting those leads into tangible results.

Initial Challenges

My original plan to the United States was changed drastically at the last moment. Unfortunately myproject partner dropped out just 2 weeks before we were scheduled to fly out to New York.This was a major setback and I feared that I would not be able to complete the tour as planned. I wasutterly dejected. However, I kept my options open and was able to find a flight out to New York on adifferent airline leaving 3 days earlier than my original plan. I made the reservation and very quicklyput together a new provisional plan.

All the costing changed due to the fact that in the USA, hotel roomscost the same for 1 or 2 persons. Similarly the economy of scaleoriginally envisaged by the use of hire cars could not work now. I hadto think quickly and act rapidly to find alternatives. Firstly I had tocancel and amend a lot of the bookings I had already made.Unfortunately this was only possible by first cancelling and thenrebooking. Due to the queuing system employed by TrailFinders (thetravel agents I used) I lost my own place in the queue and had to waitfor details of new flights to come through. I was fortunate to get aflight scheme on American Airlines which did everything I required.

I had to go through a rather convoluted process to obtain authorisationto visit the NASA bases I had in mind. Firstly I had to procure a"Request For Visit" form from NASA via the Ministry of Defence.This involved faxing the British Ministry of Defence with all mydetails who then faxed me back a form. Then NASA HQ told me theywould only accept typed forms. Not having a typewriter I put myWord 6.0 for Windows skills to good use and produced my ownidentical version of their form. Then I contacted the Ministry ofDefence again who in turn contacted the British Embassy inWashington and then they in turn contacted NASA Headquarters inWashington. I had to wait 3 days to see if I had clearance and I onlyreceived confirmation the day before I departed.

So on Friday July 21 st 1995 I finished work at Swiss Bank Corporation 2 hours earlier than normal andflew to New York. Before I departed I had time to make a cursory reservation at a hotel in New York,recommended to me by a friend. All my other hotel bookings had to be cancelled and so did most of thecars I had booked. I grabbed a bite to eat before boarding the plane and bought some magazines to readon the journey.

About 7 hours later I arrived at John F Kennedy International Airport. This was when the gravity of thesituation was truly impressed upon me. I was in a foreign country with no experience of the territoryand worse still I was by myself. My only route back was to catch a flight at Los Angeles Airport - 3weeks later.

In the queue at immigration I heard some English voices. They belonged to some British guys fromAndersen Consulting. I was able to share a taxi with them to West Side Manhattan saving myself over$30 in cab fare!!. This was to set the spirit of my entire adventure; one of co-operation, inspiration,sharing and meeting people from diverse backgrounds.

The challenge had begun.....

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