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The strategic planning and tactical execution of Air Traffic Control (ATC) provided by Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP) are often not aligned and lead to inefficiencies in the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. This paper proposes an analytical framework for the air traffic control system based on a system-of-systems paradigm, with a hierarchy of nested and cascaded feedback control loops—one or more for each type of control service. The framework is then used to assess the stability and response to random variables, such as poor weather and equipment failures. The performance of each control loop is then described qualitatively and validates the framework for investigating the benefit of new policies and technologies.

Propulsion engine low-emission combustion technology evolution of the last 30 years is described with a special emphasis on the most recent development, namely Twin Annular Premixing Swirler, TAPS. TAPS mixer technology has been developed for potential application in Single and Dual Annular Combustors, SAC and DAC. Both SAC and DAC TAPS technology development efforts have gone through full-scale annular combustor demonstration for emissions, pressure and airflow distribution, combustor exit temperature quality, structure temperature levels and gradients, lean blowout and ignition characteristics. The SAC TAPS technology demonstration effort involved full-scale engine testing including sea-level emissions, performance, cyclic durability, operability in regard to ignition, acceleration and snap decel (throttle burst-chop transient) and operation under inclement weather conditions.

This Department of Energy funded study represents the first significant investigation of polyimide flex as a substrate material for high temperature (>200°C) electronics packaging for downhole oil and gas exploration. This program examined at three key areas of package development: conductor adhesion to flex, through hole via reliability in flex, and high temperature interconnect methods for passive devices on flex. High temperature storage testing of different adhesion layers to flex was performed at 200 and 250°C in air and nitrogen for as long as 1000 hrs. Multiple adhesion materials and thicknesses were evaluated by measuring the peel strength of copper traces to polyimide. A Cr adhesion layer was selected due to its ability to maintain high peel strength during the high temperature storage testing. Thermal cycling of through hole vias between room temperature and 250°C for greater than 1200 cycles showed little degradation.

A prototype 270 Vdc to 36 Vdc, 6 kW power converter with a power density of 120 W/in3 and excellent pulsed load characteristics is particularly suitable for electronic warfare (EW) loads. This converter was developed and built under a Navy Dual Use and Science Technology (DUST) program. As a building block for distributed power, the core power technology exceeds the DoD's Level II requirements for size and weight. This can significantly reduce weight and volume for current and future more electric aircraft (MEA) platforms.

This paper describes a physics-based icing tool for aircraft engines, which have small components compared to the wing geometry of an aircraft. The tool consists of an icing code, viscous CFD software and mesh generator to build ice shapes incrementally to form the final shape. This multi-layered process was developed to predict ice shapes in components with high-pressure gradient flows as found inside engine flow passages. Good agreement was found between experimental and predicted ice shapes for engine inlet guide vanes and different wing geometries.

The study of Supercooled Large Droplets (SLD) has received greater attention in the Aviation industry since the ATR-72 accident in 1994, which was attributed to SLD. This type of icing cloud usually consists of droplets of up to a millimeter in diameter and mean volumetric diameter (MVD) greater than 40 microns1. The analyses of the ice accretion process with SLD have focused mainly on the wing and stabilizers, particularly on the leading edges where accretion can occur beyond the ice protected areas. There are several numerical and empirical models to predict the mass and shapes of ice accreted from SLD, but there are few published papers that focus on SLD accretion within aircraft turbofan engines2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. SLD droplets have higher inertia than conventional icing droplets, which leads to their trajectories being less influenced by the aerodynamic forces. However, large droplets are more likely to breakup than smaller droplets when subjected to highly shear flows.

A Distributed Engine Control Working Group (DECWG) consisting of the Department of Defense (DoD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)- Glenn Research Center (GRC) and industry has been formed to examine the current and future requirements of propulsion engine systems. The scope of this study will include an assessment of the paradigm shift from centralized engine control architecture to an architecture based on distributed control utilizing open system standards. Included will be a description of the work begun in the 1990's, which continues today, followed by the identification of the remaining technical challenges which present barriers to on-engine distributed control.

This paper identifies critical and relevant variable/adaptive cycle turbine engine and propulsion subsystem technologies for future next generation aviation systems. A comprehensive evaluation of key technology drivers associated with the development and demonstration of advanced Adaptive Power and Thermal Management System (APTMS) technologies applicable to next generation platforms is addressed. Specifically, the paper explores energy optimization through dynamic mission based simulations of an advanced hybrid air cycle / vapor cycle APTMS architecture combining multiple traditionally federated subsystem functions including auxiliary power, environmental control, emergency power, and engine start.

To obtain a system level, integrated perspective on vehicle energy management, the traditional methods for conducting preliminary design, gauging independent requirements, must be abandoned. This method does not capture critical interactions between the various aircraft subsystems. Instead, a more global appreciation for interactions across boundaries needs to be realized with a mosaic scheme, where models are integrated and co-simulated. The advantage of this approach is to enhance the preliminary design stage by predicting integration issues early in the development process. Legacy design practice involved gathering data from multiple vendors in order to produce design iterations. The ability to link models directly is extremely beneficial, as requirements no longer have to be executed independently. This approach reduces cumbersome iterations between model owners and accelerates trade studies.

The optimal integration of vehicle subsystems is of critical importance in the design of future energy efficient fighter aircraft. The INVENT (INtegrated Vehicle ENergy Technology) program has been dedicated to this endeavor through modeling/simulation of thermal management, power generation & distribution, & actuation subsystems. Achieving dual cooling & power generation capability from a single subsystem would be consistent with current efforts in system integration optimization. In this paper, we present a reconfiguration of an archetypal closed-loop air cycle system for a modern fighter as an open-loop gas generator cycle operating interchangeably between refrigeration and auxiliary power modes. A numerical model was developed within NPSS to assess maximum power extraction capabilities of a system originally designed for cooling purposes under different operating conditions.

Recent emphasis on optimization of engine technologies with ancillary subsystems such as power and thermal management has created a need for integrated system modeling. These systems are coupled such that federated design methods may not lead to the most synergetic solution. Obtaining an optimal design is often contingent on developing an integrated model. Integrated models, however, can involve combining complex simulation platforms into a single system of systems, which can present many challenges. Model organization and configuration control become increasingly important when orchestrating various models into a single simulation. Additionally, it is important to understand such details as the interface between models and signal routing to ensure the integrated behavior is not contaminated or biased. This paper will present some key learnings for model integration to help alleviate some of the challenges with system-based modeling.

It is typical in aircraft engine design to explore new configurations in a constant effort to achieve greater efficiency with respect to various considerations. An integral component of this process requires a complete and robust simulation of rotor dynamics. Tuning the design with results of rotor dynamics simulations can be made possible with a tool that has adequate modeling techniques to capture the physics associated with engine behavior under various operating conditions accurately.

System design continues to trend toward increasing complexity as more functionality is added to aviation systems and the level of automation is increased. Since exhaustive validation and verification of this functionality becomes increasingly difficult, reliance on development assurance is needed to provide confidence that errors in requirements, design and implementation have been identified and corrected. To address this need for increased development assurance, GE is introducing a tool called ASSERT™ (Analysis of Semantic Specifications and Efficient generation of Requirements-based Tests). The system developer uses this tool to capture requirements in an unambiguous way with built-in semantic error checking.

An important part of future air vehicle design will be the development of a transient integrated aircraft system model. DC electric power system modeling poses particular challenges because they are highly dynamic and employ short time constant line replaceable units [1, 2, 3]. This paper describes an approach to modeling an aircraft's electric power system that uses simplified non-physics based models of the line replaceable units that are part of future 270VDC aircraft power systems. The model is an alternative to physics based models and is particularly useful for the initial phases of aircraft development before hardware development has occurred. A 270VDC aircraft power system model is constructed as an example using the unit models. Selected results will be presented.

There is a continuing need to simulate power electronic circuits that include magnetic components. It is necessary to determine the interaction of the magnetic component with the rest of the power electronic system so that a dynamic circuit model of the magnetic components including material saturation and iron losses is required. Also, the magnetic component model must be valid when the magnetic component's excitation is not sinusoidal. A dynamic magnetic circuit model derived from Maxwell's equations along with useful theorems for building circuit models from the structure of the magnetic device is reviewed. The developed circuit models are general including magnetic saturation and iron losses. Simulation results for a DC/DC converter employing a conventional gapped inductor and a gapped coupled inductor are presented.

Current industry trends demonstrate aircraft electrification will be part of future platforms in order to achieve higher levels of efficiency in various vehicle level sub-systems. However, electrification requires a substantial change in aircraft design that is not suitable for re-winged or re-engined applications as some aircraft manufacturers are opting for today. Thermal limits arise as engine cores progressively get smaller and hotter to improve overall engine efficiency, while legacy systems still demand a substantial amount of pneumatic, hydraulic and electric power extraction. The environmental control system (ECS) provides pressurization, ventilation and air conditioning in commercial aircraft, making it the main heat sink for all aircraft loads with exception of the engine fuel thermal management system.

This article attempts to provide a big picture of systems engineering in both philosophy and engineering perspectives, discusses current status and issues, trends of systems engineering development, future directions and challenges, followed by certain examples.

A number of alternative capacitor technologies have been studied and high-temperature extruded polymer film capacitors hold the promise to meet the critical needs for temperature, energy density, reliability, cost and availability. Polymer resins capable of continuous use up to 200°C can be extruded into very thin films thereby permitting higher capacitor operating temperatures, higher energy density and improved cost structure compared to films manufactured by solvent casting processes. Studies of polymeric resins have shown that high-engineered polyetherimides show great promise for use as dielectric capacitor films. Polyetherimides can be melt extruded into thin films providing a low cost, environmentally friendly dielectric material. Discussions of the results of melt extrusion, metallization, and winding into electrostatic polyetherimide film capacitors will be given comparing and contrasting the results to other electrostatic film capacitor designs.