{"678808":{"#nid":"678808","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Proposal by Thomas Hamilton","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThomas Hamilton\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cem\u003E[Advisor: Prof. Brian German]\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ewill propose a doctoral thesis entitled,\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EComparing and Improving VTOL Aircraft Designs with Model Predictive Control\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EOn\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFriday, December 13 at 9:00 a.m.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWeber 200\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/l\/meetup-join\/19%3Ameeting_NTQ2N2NiYWUtMjM4My00OWU0LTkzYTMtMjY4NGJjZGJiZjVk@thread.v2\/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3A%22482198bb-ae7b-4b25-8b7a-6d7f32faa083%22%2C%22Oid%22%3A%2254bc5551-a8cf-44db-acb3-0fed93ba7944%22%7d\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETeams Link\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; VTOL aircraft are complex, difficult to control, and push the limits of energy and propulsion technology.\u0026nbsp; Their CONcepts of OperationS (CONOPS) are also among the most demanding in terms of performance, control, and safety.\u0026nbsp; A variety of vehicle concept designs and control topologies offer diverse advantages to cope with these challenges.\u0026nbsp; It is important to choose the best concept design and control topology for any particular CONOPS, but it is difficult to establish a fair basis of comparison.\u0026nbsp; For example, is a vehicle with more rotors safer?\u0026nbsp; The answer depends in part on whether the vehicle is still sufficiently controllable after losing one rotor.\u0026nbsp; If so, then it is arguably safer in terms of controllability.\u0026nbsp; If not, then it \u003Ca\u003Emay be\u003C\/a\u003E less safe due to the additional single points of failure.\u0026nbsp; What if an aircraft could be made lighter by changing certain actuators\u2019 type, size, or location?\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Any such design change would be valid only if control performance is still sufficient after the change.\u0026nbsp; To answer such questions, a VTOL design process demands a means for evaluating control performance.\u0026nbsp; The analysis must optimize the control for each case to enable different vehicle concept designs and control topologies to compete fairly.\u0026nbsp; Furthermore, this control optimization must consider extreme operating points, since these conditions are what typically size actuators.\u0026nbsp;Classical control sizing strategies do not include control optimization and do not consider certain important control performance metrics.\u0026nbsp; Newer methodologies include control optimization but do not incorporate constraints to account for extreme operating points.\u0026nbsp; This thesis proposes a framework leveraging Model Predictive Control (MPC) as an ideal control architecture to enable control performance analysis within the VTOL aircraft design process.\u0026nbsp; The research will also explore actuator prioritization and mixing within the MPC framework to answer certain practical \u003Ca\u003Econcerns such\u003C\/a\u003E as upset recovery and computational resource consumption.\u0026nbsp; The thesis will also explore the sensitivity of control performance to control optimization objective functions such as energy usage, ride quality, and community noise.\u0026nbsp; The framework will be applied to RAVEN, an innovative multi-tiltrotor electric VTOL (eVTOL) aircraft, to demonstrate feasibility of the framework for systems of such complexity. \u003Ca\u003EDifferent control\u003C\/a\u003E architectures for RAVEN will be implemented and compared in the hover condition to demonstrate control analysis via MPC in the VTOL design process.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EProf. Jonathan Rogers \u2013 School of Aerospace Engineering\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EProf. Juergen Rauleder \u2013 School of Aerospace Engineering\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EDr. Jason Welstead \u2013 NASA Deputy Lead, Emerging Applications and Technologies\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EDr. Benjamin Simmons \u2013 NASA Research Aerospace Engineer\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EComparing and Improving VTOL Aircraft Designs with Model Predictive Control\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Comparing and Improving VTOL Aircraft Designs with Model Predictive Control"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2024-12-10 20:18:41","changed_gmt":"2024-12-10 20:19:18","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2024-12-13T09:00:00-05:00","event_time_end":"2024-12-13T11:00:00-05:00","event_time_end_last":"2024-12-13T11:00:00-05:00","gmt_time_start":"2024-12-13 14:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2024-12-13 16:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2024-12-13 16:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Weber 200","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"102851","name":"Phd proposal"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}