Reachability-Based Design Optimization for Aircraft Maneuverability

TL;DR

This paper introduces a reachability-based method for aircraft design optimization that enhances maneuverability by incorporating control capabilities into the design process, demonstrated on a blended-wing-body aircraft.

Contribution

It develops a computationally efficient approach to include reachable sets of linear dynamics in aircraft design optimization, accounting for asymmetric input bounds and trim points.

Findings

Achieved up to 30% reduction in tracking error for angle of attack.

Demonstrated improved controlled performance in optimized aircraft.

Validated the method on a blended-wing-body aircraft model.

Abstract

This paper presents a method for incorporating control analysis into design optimization for highly-maneuverable aircraft. By studying reachable sets for aircraft dynamics, we ensure that the optimizer will take the aircraft's controlled capabilities into account. We compute reachable sets of linear dynamics for computational efficiency, and account for aircraft trim points to factor in asymmetric magnitude bounds on the input signals. We demonstrate the proposed method in design optimization of a blended-wing-body aircraft. Considering its wing half-span and center half-span as design variables, we optimize the aircraft based on its longitudinal dynamics' reachable sets to yield improvements in its controlled performance. When designing a reference tracking controller, we find up to 30\% less tracking error for angle of attack of the optimized model's nonlinear dynamics.