Faculty — Aerospace Systems

Aerospace Systems Lab Facilities

B. Caldwell

None

W. A. Crossley

Professor Crossley's current research interests are in the area of design methodologies and multidisciplinary design optimization, with emphasis for aerospace engineering systems design problems.

D. DeLaurentis

Dr. DeLaurentis’ research is motivated by the need for understanding the significant change in the structure and behavior of system design problems being faced by the aerospace community (and beyond), in particular where complex, interdisciplinary challenges persist. Many problems are increasingly recognized as being of “system-of-systems” type, consisting of multiple, heterogeneous, complex systems that are operate independently but have consequential interactions. The air transportation system is one example, as are numerous examples within the aerospace sector (and beyond). Such challenges require more than just the synthesis, design and fielding of new aerospace vehicles; they require the synthesis of capability networks that can adapt to evolving requirements and be robust to a variety of uncertainties. Thus, Dr. DeLaurentis has explored the use of network science, agent-based modeling, uncertainty representation and other approaches to address these multi-disciplinary, multi-system problems. In particular, the area of complex network theory is presently being explored to better account for interconnections among components and dynamic processes in designing future system-of-systems. The ultimate goal is to better define individual system requirements by understanding the context in which they will operate and to ensure that such operation will be robust over a wide range of plausible futures. This requires attention to dynamics in engineered systems, economics, policy, and operations dimensions. Through recent sponsored research from NASA, FAA, and private industry, Dr. DeLaurentis has developed and applied emerging research results, especially in air transportation and space exploration / transportation settings.

Dr. DeLaurentis seeks to build a community of researchers in these areas via active participation in professional societies. He is a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the incoming Chairman of its Air Transportation Systems Technical Committee (TC) and a past-member of the Institute’s Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) TC. He is also a member of the IEEE, recently served as the Technical Program Co-Chair for the 2007 IEEE International Conference on System-of-Systems Engineering held in San Antonio TX, and is the new Co-Chair of Technical Committee on System of Systems for IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics society.

I. Hwang

Dr. Hwang's research has been strongly motivated by difficult and interesting practical problems such as controlling multiple-vehicle systems. Controlling multiple-vehicle systems is one of the most important and challenging aspects of modern system theory and practice. Control of such systems involves the analysis of multiple dynamical systems which have inherently decentralized structures. The motions of vehicles have to be coordinated in such a way that the vehicles achieve their goals without conflicts between them. This requires path planning (computing optimal trajectories of vehicles from starting positions to destinations) and conflict detection and resolution. Path planning and conflict detection and resolution require information about individual vehicles, and therefore communication between vehicles for sharing this information is important. Multiple-vehicle systems encompass a variety of applications, including groups of mobile robots (e.g., UAS), ad-hoc sensor networks, and air traffic control. In addition, Dr. Hwang's research interests include control theory for hybrid and nonlinear systems, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, safety and security of Cyber-Physical Systems (e.g., aircraft, spacecraft, Air Traffic Control systems, and UAS), and space applications.

K. Marais

My research is multi-disciplinary in nature, spanning traditional engineering disciplines such as reliability, maintainability, and risk analysis, and extending to engineering economics (e.g., environmental impact of aviation and policy choices and implications) and organizational behavior (in particular in regard to system safety). The fundamental aim of my research is to guide better engineering decisions in system design and operation. To that end I perform research in three general areas:

System Safety and Risk Analysis
In this work, I investigate new ways of addressing the safety and risk challenges posed by complex systems. I am currently investigating the application of techniques from control theory and digital signal processing to risk analysis.

Systems Engineering Education
In this work, I investigate new ways of teaching systems engineering, from the sophomore to graduate student level.

Value-Centric System Design and Operation
In this work, I investigate system design and operation from the perspective of design impact on value. For example, recently my co-authors and I investigated the impact of reliability on system value and used our analysis to develop a method to identify optimal reliability levels that maximize system value delivery over time. I am now extending this perspective to system maintenance (an area with significant growth potential) and adapting this work to the civil aviation industry.

Civil Aviation Policy
In this work, I investigate various aspects of civil aviation policy. I focus on two areas. First, technology is seen as one of the primary enablers of increased air traffic over the next two decades. However, airlines and general aviation users are often reluctant to adopt new technologies. Using a value-centric approach I developed a framework that can be used to identify and address the causes of adoption reluctance and so increase the likelihood of successful technology transitions.

Second, the impact of aviation on the environment is receiving increasing attention. However, aviation environmental policies are usually evaluated in isolation or on a cost-effectiveness basis. Such evaluations do not take into account the complex interdependencies between aviation environmental effects (e.g., quieter engines may be heavier and therefore increase fuel consumption). Here, again, a value-centric perspective that takes into account both the benefits and costs of aviation can allow better policy decisions.

D. Sun

Autonomy and Control Aerospace Systems