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The development of the More-Electric Engine (MEE) concept will see an expansion in the power levels, functionality and criticality of electrical systems within engines. However, to date, these more critical electrical systems have not been accounted for in existing engine certification standards. To begin to address this gap, this paper conducts a review of current engine certification standards in order to determine how these standards will impact on the design requirements of More-Electric Engine (MEE) electrical system architectures. The paper focuses on determining two key architectural requirements: the number of individual failures an architecture can accommodate and still remain functional and the rate at which these failures are allowed to occur.

The More Electric Aircraft (MEA) concept coupled with recent advances in power electronics has seen an increasing number of on-board tasks being facilitated by electrical power, as opposed to more conventional hydraulic, mechanical and pneumatic power systems. The migration to a predominantly electrical power system is expected to bring significant cost and performance benefits; however, the devices used to facilitate this change have led to an increasingly complicated electrical power system with heightened levels of system sophistication and interdependence. These developments have the potential to drastically alter the solution space of all feasible aircraft Electrical Power System (EPS) designs. The technological advancements facilitating the MEA progression have allowed for a broader range of design solutions to exist that increase the size of the solution space. Meanwhile increasing system sophistication has led to an increasingly non-linear and complex solution space.

Radical new electrically propelled aircraft are being considered to meet strict future performance goals. One concept design proposed is a Turboelectric Distributed Propulsion (TeDP) aircraft that utilises a number of electrically driven propulsors. Such concepts place a new and significant reliance on an aircraft's electrical system for safe and efficient flight. Accordingly, in addition to providing certainty that supply reliability targets are being met, a contingency analysis, evaluating the probability of component failure within the electrical network and the impact of that failure upon the available thrust must also be undertaken for architecture designs. Solutions that meet specified thrust requirements at a minimum associated weight are desired as these will likely achieve the greatest performance against the proposed emissions targets.

With the diversity of mission capability and the associated requirement for more advanced technologies, designing modern unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems is an especially challenging task. In particular, the increasing reliance on the electrical power system for delivering key aircraft functions, both electrical and mechanical, requires that a systems-approach be employed in their development. A key factor in this process is the use of modeling and simulation to inform upon critical design choices made. However, effective systems-level simulation of complex UAV power systems presents many challenges, which must be addressed to maximize the value of such methods. This paper presents the initial stages of a power system design process for a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV focusing particularly on the development of three full candidate architecture models and associated technologies.