SBIR-STTR Award

Multi-disciplinary optimization has emerged as a key technology required to make increasingly more sophisticated electric and hybrid-electric aircraft that require advanced CONOPS such as urban air mobility and distributed electric propulsion. Current MDO design results may take into account many disciplines in the design resulting in an optimized aircraft, only to be locally re-optimized based on engineering performed post-aircraft configuration lock related to flight control, resulting in less efficient and less capable aircraft. Electric and hybrid-electric aircraft with distributed propulsion provide significant advantages such as significantly reduced stall speeds and dramatically increased power efficiency (>50%) (X-57). Software weighs nothing, so there always a push to move the problem downstream for controllers to manage in software, effectively trading bits for atoms. The net result may be the control system requires faster than available actuation, inadequate control authority, or large feedback gains to stabilize unstable dynamics. These issues are costly to uncover late in the system development, since typically flight controller work takes place after the configuration and outer-mode-line (OML) has been locked. It is essential to the success of hybrid and urban air mobility aircraft to include controllability of the aircraft within the aircraft optimization design. After decades of designing and flying flight controllers for new types of hybrid and distributed propulsion aircraft, our goal is to get add a controllability component to MDO to ensure the aircraft designed make the right trades and adjustments for flight controls. Rather than throw a controller MDO cycle into the middle of the aircraft MDO, the controllability problem is broken down into a series of targeted hierarchical Components that contribute to the monolithic optimization suitable for the nonlinear and linear solvers in OpenMDO. Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): The proposed controllability component has far-reaching benefits, since it will become clear later in the development of new types of aircraft that control’s-related constraints were accounted for. This will accelerate the urban air mobility research and distributed electric thrust by providing new designs that are more capable than ever before. Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): It often takes many years beyond aircraft MDO before the control-related issues become clear and there’s not enough programmatic time or money to compensate. This has the potential to save many companies and programs. Applications include UAM aircraft, STOL distributed propulsion aircraft, and delivery drones more effective and with more stability and maneuver margin. Duration: 6

Multi-disciplinary optimization has emerged as a key technology required to make increasingly more sophisticated electric and hybrid-electric aircraft that require advanced CONOPS such as urban air mobility and cargo delivery. Current MDO design results may take into account many disciplines in the design resulting in an optimized aircraft, only to discover controller limitations post-aircraft configuration lock related, resulting in less efficient, less capable and ultimately less safe aircraft. After decades of designing and flying flight controllers for new and existing types of hybrid and distributed propulsion aircraft, our goal is to get add a controllability component to aircraft multidisciplinary design optimization. Our controllability assessment tools can be used individually or together in an MDO/MDA framework to ensure the airplane is optimized for both aircraft performance and flight control control requirements. We leverage open-source software from OpenMDAO and can import models form OpenVSP and other sources. New UAM and UAS configurations provided significant advantages and are being pursued by the aerospace industry. Our software allows us to partner with aircraft makers to help develop their aircraft and then provide flight control solutions as a secondary output from our controllability assessment tools. Far too often, we’ve seen the aircraft OML locked and much later discovered aircraft flight envelope and CONOPS restrictions due to inability to control the aircraft. By co-designing the aircraft and the flight controller, we optimize both simultaneously, resulting in a design that closes for performance, CONOPS, failure conditions, and controllability within a significantly reduced timeline. Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): RVLT concepts or slight modifications to the current concepts will allow RVLT to provide NASA with additional key critical technical areas to focus on in the future. New concepts can be quickly iterated and evaluated. AAM can use the controllability tools to understand what closed-loop performance is achievable to be able to form new CONOPS and infrastructure plans. ARMD can use the controllability assessment tools to optimizing the use of motors, rotors and propulsion system powertrain with respect to controller use and limitations. Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): UAM and UAS markets have received significant investments on concept aircraft that may not be able to meet the proposed CONOPS or safety requirements. These tools can be used to evaluate designs and pivot into plausible, but inadequate designs. Technical due diligence could use the tools to compare and evaluate concepts for feasibility. Duration: 24