Manuel Esperon

I come from Madrid, Spain, and chose the Brunel MSc Aerospace course after researching the different Masters programmes in Aerospace Engineering offered in the UK and the USA. I came to the conclusion that at Brunel I would get the best combination of theoretical knowledge and practical skills, which would give me a very solid ground on which to build a career in the aerospace industry. Having a broad knowledge of aerospace technology is also one of the most valuable assets I got from studying at Brunel. Being able to understand how components of different systems work and interact with each other is a key skill to tackle many problems aerospace engineers encounter nowadays.

The year I spent in Brunel has been one the most rewarding experiences of my life. From an academic point of view, I have had the opportunity of studying very industry oriented subjects and also the theory on which they are based in great depth. With the MSc Aerospace Engineering I have acquired the skills not only to work in the industry applying what I've learnt, but also to push the boundaries of technology.

My dissertation consisted of working on the improvement of a structural model of an AH-64 Apache helicopter. Specifically, I worked on what's called model updating for modal analysis of the Apache's stub-wings. Basically, I worked on improving a structural model of the stub-wings with which the vibrations of the stub-wings under different conditions were studied with more precision. I decided to work on this project because it gave me the opportunity to work on a military helicopter, which for me was always fascinating and challenging. I also had to work on data captured from accelerometers mounted on its structure, which meant that I had the chance to work on real data doing very advanced analyses. On this project I used Patran and Nastran for the modal analysis and used Matlab to work on the data captured by the sensors installed on the stub-wings.

Apart from the wonderful academic experience it has been a great from a personal point of view. I have met incredible people from whom I've learnt as much as I did from the lectures. Working with them on the projects we had throughout this year was, by far, the best part of the Masters course.

In October 2010 (right after submitting my dissertation) I started to work at my new job. I'm currently a Researcher at the IVHM Centre at Cranfield, which is a Centre whose partners are Cranfield University, BAE Systems, Boeing, Rolls Royce, MoD, Meggitt and Thales. I'm also doing my PhD at Cranfield University and the subject title of the PhD is "Integrated Vehicle Health Management into Legacy Toolsets". I'm working closely with BAE Systems to implement IVHM technology on their airplanes. The project I'm working on requires understanding of all systems, and having studied such a broad range of topics at Brunel, my MSc course helped me a lot to get this job. Additionally, the research skills I learnt at Brunel have proved to be especially useful to continue my education to PhD level.