UC Santa Barbara

In recent years, interest has been shown in jump-gliding devices. A few devices have been made that can successfully outperform a ballistic projectile using low Reynolds Number glides.

This thesis presents the attempts to develop a high Reynolds Number jump-glider, using both prototyping means and modeling means. The descriptions of these processes include discussions on testing methods, computational trajectory models, and optimization fundamentals. This research has culminated in the framework of a tool that can be used to design optimal jump-gliders.