STONewsArchive: 2021 STO Awards

Title: 2021 STO Awards
Start_Publishing: 09/08/2021
Panel_Page: STO
Page_ID: 3833
Main_Body_Multi: STO Awards – Overview 

Every year, the NATO Science & Technology Board (STB) recognizes outstanding achievements in the international collaboration on Science & Technology (S&T) within the NATO framework. In order to motivate individuals and teams alike to continue providing exceptional contributions to the benefit of the STO community and the Alliance writ large, the STB presents to types of awards: the Von Kármán Medal and the STO Excellence Awards. The Von Kármán Medal is awarded to highly accomplished individuals with a life-time dedication to international S&T collaboration in NATO. Through exemplary service, recipients repeatedly delivered significant contributions to STO activities over a long period of time. They combine an internationally recognized career in S&T with leadership and vision to advance the S&T collaboration among the Allied nations. Typically, the STB awards only one Von Kármán Medal per year. The STO Excellence Award recognizes exceptional accomplishments in recent STO activities, conducted and completed during the last four years. Recipients delivered high-quality original work of considerable military relevance and benefit, while achieving a significant degree of international collaboration. The STO Excellence Awards can be granted to teams and to individuals. The STB typically presents several such awards every year.

 
2021 Recipients of STO Awards

In spring 2021, the STB decided to award the 2021 Von Kármán Medal to:


 
 Professor Afzal Suleman (PRT).
 

The 2021 STO Excellence Awards were granted to the following two teams and one individual:

 
“Littoral Continuous Active Sonar

Multinational – Joint Research Project” [CMRE-LCAS];
“Innovative Control Effectors for Manoeuvring

of Air Vehicles, and Demonstration” [AVT-239/AVT-295];
Mr. Bharatkumar Patel (MSG, GBR).
 

The STB warmly congratulates all 2021 Award winners whose contributions have brought extraordinary value to NATO and honour to our S&T community.


The citations for each recipient are summarized hereunder.





2021 Von Kármán Medal
Professor Afzal Suleman (PRT).



For over 20 years, Professor Suleman has delivered an exemplary service representing Portugal in the NATO Science & Technology Organization. He has made outstanding contributions to research and development in the fields of aeronautics, with a particular focus on unmanned air systems, aero-elasticity and morphing wing technologies. Throughout his career, he has championed the education of the next generation of aerospace engineers, designing courses at the University of Victoria and the University of Lisbon Instituto Superior Técnico to enable experiential learning for both undergraduate and graduate students. He has been critical in exposing young scientists to NATO S&T activities and over the course of his career, has supervised 35 PhD and 80 MSc theses.

Within the NATO community, Professor Suleman has represented Portugal at the Applied Vehicle Technology (AVT) Panel with exceptional dedication, including as a Panel Mentor and the Chair of a range of activities. His excellent work within the STO is demonstrated in his receipt of two AVT Panel Excellence Awards for his valuable scientific contributions to the Panel, and for his successful lecture series on the Structure Health Monitoring of Military Vehicles. Professor Suleman has exemplified the spirit of trans-Atlantic collaboration, making significant contributions to the technological cooperation between Portugal and Canada through the AVT Panel Support Programme. He has developed synergies between the University of Lisbon Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Victoria, and the Portuguese Air Force and has also fostered exchange student programmes between Portugal and Canada.

Professor Suleman has demonstrated a history of high-quality and dedicated authorship. He has authored/co-authored over 120 scientific journal publications and over 350 conference papers in diverse areas such as the modelling of coupled fluid-structure problems and the application of smart structures concepts to active aeroelastic control of composite airframes. He has also published over 500 technical papers and several patents.

Professor Suleman has served NATO S&T with excellence and professional integrity.



2021 STO Excellence Awards
“Littoral Continuous Active Sonar  Multinational – Joint Research Project” [CMRE-LCAS]


In the Littoral Continuous Active Sonar (LCAS) Multinational-Joint Research Project, five NATO and two partner nations joined together with NATO STO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) to study how continuous active sonars could be exploited for submarine target detection and tracking in littoral environments. Activities included the design and execution of four sea trials over a six-year period, including two with live submarine targets. The scientific approach was based on the simultaneous collection of data for both continuous active and traditional sonar waveforms under the constraints of equal energy and bandwidth, for identical environmental conditions and geometries, enabling the meaningful comparison of results. The collection of much supporting environmental information allowed for the validation of new theories generated within the project for the purpose of explaining the sensitivities of the results observed to measurable parameters.

These theories and associated models enabled the project to generate guidance as to how existing CAS sonar sets should be used in the littorals and how these sonar sets may be further improved in future to maximize performance in confined, brown, and coastal waters. This effort directly informs both the operational and capability development communities within NATO and the LCAS partner nations.


“Innovative Control Effectors for Manoeuvring  of Air Vehicles, and Demonstration” [AVT-239/AVT-295]

The NATO STO AVT-239 Research Task Group (RTG) and the following NATO STO AVT-295 RTG for a Cooperative Demonstration of Technology (CDT) came together to investigate the application of novel flight control technologies for aircraft manoeuvring.

Candidate technologies were identified, developed, and assessed against key vehicle performance and vehicle integration criteria (e.g. complexity, maintainability, reliability) in order to minimize the reliance on conventional control surfaces during portions of the vehicle mission profiles. The assessment was enhanced by combined experimental and high-fidelity numerical simulations as part of the group achievements. The aerodynamic data was then incorporated into flight dynamics simulations where flow control technologies were used to provide flight control in lieu of conventional control surface deflections.

The group demonstrated two active flow control approaches, namely tangential blowing on the trailing edge and yaw fluidic thrust vectoring, that when applied in tandem yielded sufficient yaw and pitch control at acceptable levels of engine bleed to provide vehicle control during the ingress mission for two different configurations. This was an outstanding example of multidisciplinary teaming of academia, government, and industry collaborating to find solutions to complex problems to help the defence of NATO nations.


Mr. Bharatkumar Patel (MSG, GBR)

Mr Bharatkumar Patel has actively led and conducted excellent collaborative and innovative research in the area of modelling, simulation and synthetic environments on behalf of the United Kingdom for over 25 years. As UK National Member in NATO’s STO Modelling and Simulation Group, as well as in the Systems Concept and Integration (SCI) Panel, he has taken on many leadership roles in the STO including Chair, Panel mentor, program committee member, and technical team member in numerous NATO technical activities.

Over the last two decades, he has significantly contributed to the development of NATO’s S&T capabilities, whilst maximizing the potential for exploitation into military capability through outreach and demonstrating benefit across the Alliance. He has championed the Command and Control to Simulation Interoperability (C2SIM) research in UK and NATO and has evaluated the underpinning technology and standard that are now ready for exploitation into military capabilities across the Alliance, including leading the transfer of C2SIM knowledge to stakeholders and the supplier base.

Mr Patel was part of the original NATO team that pioneered the original Modeling & Simulation as a Service (MSaaS) concept. He has been instrumental in moving the concept towards a sustainable and an affordable secure M&S ecosystem driven by a viable business model as well as leading the outreach programme to educate the Alliance on the benefits and challenges to changing to an ecosystem approach.

Mr Patel continues to provide cross-cutting leadership and links to exploiting M&S into the SCI and the other STO Panels.

Page_Intro: Every year, the NATO Science & Technology Board (STB) recognizes outstanding achievements in the international collaboration on Science & Technology (S&T) within the NATO framework. In order to motivate individuals and teams alike to continue providing exceptional contributions to the benefit of the STO community and the Alliance writ large, the STB presents to types of awards: the Von Kármán Medal and the STO Excellence Awards. The Von Kármán Medal is awarded to highly accomplished individuals with a life-time dedication to international S&T collaboration in NATO. Through exemplary service, recipients repeatedly delivered significant contributions to STO activities over a long period of time. They combine an internationally recognized career in S&T with leadership and vision to advance the S&T collaboration among the Allied nations. Typically, the STB awards only one Von Kármán Medal per year. The STO Excellence Award recognizes exceptional accomplishments in recent STO activities, conducted and completed during the last four years. Recipients delivered high-quality original work of considerable military relevance and benefit, while achieving a significant degree of international collaboration. The STO Excellence Awards can be granted to teams and to individuals. The STB typically presents several such awards every year.

HomePageImage: sessao-academia-das-ciencias-afzal-suleman-1140x641.jpg
HomePageBodyText: STO Awards – Overview 

Every year, the NATO Science & Technology Board (STB) recognizes outstanding achievements in the international collaboration on Science & Technology (S&T) within the NATO framework. In order to motivate individuals and teams alike to continue providing exceptional contributions to the benefit of the STO community and the Alliance writ large, the STB presents to types of awards: the Von Kármán Medal and the STO Excellence Awards. The Von Kármán Medal is awarded to highly accomplished individuals with a life-time dedication to international S&T collaboration in NATO. Through exemplary service, recipients repeatedly delivered significant contributions to STO activities over a long period of time. They combine an internationally recognized career in S&T with leadership and vision to advance the S&T collaboration among the Allied nations. Typically, the STB awards only one Von Kármán Medal per year. The STO Excellence Award recognizes exceptional accomplishments in recent STO activities, conducted and completed during the last four years. Recipients delivered high-quality original work of considerable military relevance and benefit, while achieving a significant degree of international collaboration. The STO Excellence Awards can be granted to teams and to individuals. The STB typically presents several such awards every year.

 
2021 Recipients of STO Awards

In spring 2021, the STB decided to award the 2021 Von Kármán Medal to:


 
 Professor Afzal Suleman (PRT).
 

The 2021 STO Excellence Awards were granted to the following two teams and one individual:

 
“Littoral Continuous Active Sonar

Multinational – Joint Research Project” [CMRE-LCAS];
“Innovative Control Effectors for Manoeuvring

of Air Vehicles, and Demonstration” [AVT-239/AVT-295];
Mr. Bharatkumar Patel (MSG, GBR).
 

The STB warmly congratulates all 2021 Award winners whose contributions have brought extraordinary value to NATO and honour to our S&T community.


The citations for each recipient are summarized hereunder.





2021 Von Kármán Medal
Professor Afzal Suleman (PRT)
 

For over 20 years, Professor Suleman has delivered an exemplary service representing Portugal in the NATO Science & Technology Organization. He has made outstanding contributions to research and development in the fields of aeronautics, with a particular focus on unmanned air systems, aero-elasticity and morphing wing technologies. Throughout his career, he has championed the education of the next generation of aerospace engineers, designing courses at the University of Victoria and the University of Lisbon Instituto Superior Técnico to enable experiential learning for both undergraduate and graduate students. He has been critical in exposing young scientists to NATO S&T activities and over the course of his career, has supervised 35 PhD and 80 MSc theses.

Within the NATO community, Professor Suleman has represented Portugal at the Applied Vehicle Technology (AVT) Panel with exceptional dedication, including as a Panel Mentor and the Chair of a range of activities. His excellent work within the STO is demonstrated in his receipt of two AVT Panel Excellence Awards for his valuable scientific contributions to the Panel, and for his successful lecture series on the Structure Health Monitoring of Military Vehicles. Professor Suleman has exemplified the spirit of trans-Atlantic collaboration, making significant contributions to the technological cooperation between Portugal and Canada through the AVT Panel Support Programme. He has developed synergies between the University of Lisbon Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Victoria, and the Portuguese Air Force and has also fostered exchange student programmes between Portugal and Canada.

Professor Suleman has demonstrated a history of high-quality and dedicated authorship. He has authored/co-authored over 120 scientific journal publications and over 350 conference papers in diverse areas such as the modelling of coupled fluid-structure problems and the application of smart structures concepts to active aeroelastic control of composite airframes. He has also published over 500 technical papers and several patents.

Professor Suleman has served NATO S&T with excellence and professional integrity.



2021 STO Excellence Awards
“Littoral Continuous Active Sonar  Multinational – Joint Research Project” [CMRE-LCAS]


In the Littoral Continuous Active Sonar (LCAS) Multinational-Joint Research Project, five NATO and two partner nations joined together with NATO STO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) to study how continuous active sonars could be exploited for submarine target detection and tracking in littoral environments. Activities included the design and execution of four sea trials over a six-year period, including two with live submarine targets. The scientific approach was based on the simultaneous collection of data for both continuous active and traditional sonar waveforms under the constraints of equal energy and bandwidth, for identical environmental conditions and geometries, enabling the meaningful comparison of results. The collection of much supporting environmental information allowed for the validation of new theories generated within the project for the purpose of explaining the sensitivities of the results observed to measurable parameters.

These theories and associated models enabled the project to generate guidance as to how existing CAS sonar sets should be used in the littorals and how these sonar sets may be further improved in future to maximize performance in confined, brown, and coastal waters. This effort directly informs both the operational and capability development communities within NATO and the LCAS partner nations.


“Innovative Control Effectors for Manoeuvring  of Air Vehicles, and Demonstration” [AVT-239/AVT-295]

The NATO STO AVT-239 Research Task Group (RTG) and the following NATO STO AVT-295 RTG for a Cooperative Demonstration of Technology (CDT) came together to investigate the application of novel flight control technologies for aircraft manoeuvring.

Candidate technologies were identified, developed, and assessed against key vehicle performance and vehicle integration criteria (e.g. complexity, maintainability, reliability) in order to minimize the reliance on conventional control surfaces during portions of the vehicle mission profiles. The assessment was enhanced by combined experimental and high-fidelity numerical simulations as part of the group achievements. The aerodynamic data was then incorporated into flight dynamics simulations where flow control technologies were used to provide flight control in lieu of conventional control surface deflections.

The group demonstrated two active flow control approaches, namely tangential blowing on the trailing edge and yaw fluidic thrust vectoring, that when applied in tandem yielded sufficient yaw and pitch control at acceptable levels of engine bleed to provide vehicle control during the ingress mission for two different configurations. This was an outstanding example of multidisciplinary teaming of academia, government, and industry collaborating to find solutions to complex problems to help the defence of NATO nations.

 
Image courtesy of Prof. David R. Williams, Illinois Institute of TechnologyImage courtesy of BAE Systems and University of Manchester

Mr. Bharatkumar Patel (MSG, GBR)

Mr Bharatkumar Patel has actively led and conducted excellent collaborative and innovative research in the area of modelling, simulation and synthetic environments on behalf of the United Kingdom for over 25 years. As UK National Member in NATO’s STO Modelling and Simulation Group, as well as in the Systems Concept and Integration (SCI) Panel, he has taken on many leadership roles in the STO including Chair, Panel mentor, program committee member, and technical team member in numerous NATO technical activities.

Over the last two decades, he has significantly contributed to the development of NATO’s S&T capabilities, whilst maximizing the potential for exploitation into military capability through outreach and demonstrating benefit across the Alliance. He has championed the Command and Control to Simulation Interoperability (C2SIM) research in UK and NATO and has evaluated the underpinning technology and standard that are now ready for exploitation into military capabilities across the Alliance, including leading the transfer of C2SIM knowledge to stakeholders and the supplier base.

Mr Patel was part of the original NATO team that pioneered the original Modeling & Simulation as a Service (MSaaS) concept. He has been instrumental in moving the concept towards a sustainable and an affordable secure M&S ecosystem driven by a viable business model as well as leading the outreach programme to educate the Alliance on the benefits and challenges to changing to an ecosystem approach.

Mr Patel continues to provide cross-cutting leadership and links to exploiting M&S into the SCI and the other STO Panels.


Created at 09/08/2021 17:29 by ad.rodes
Last modified at 16/08/2021 12:09 by ad.rodes
 
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