Non-Intrusive Aerodynamic State Sensing for Hypersonic Flight Control

Hypersonic flight conditions are greatly affected by incoming air state, and it is critical to understand incoming air properties to accurately control vehicles under these extreme pressuresĀand temperatures. Hypersonic vehicle flight envelopes cover a wide range of flight conditions, proving challenging to encompass measurements with a single sensing technology. It is necessary to fuse data from sensor locations at various points on a vehicle and develop control algorithms which utilize this collected data along with reference databases to determine an accurate representation of vehicle state across required flight envelopes. The solicitation states: ōThus far, researchers have not identified a single technology capable of producing sufficient accuracy, precision, and bandwidth across the entire flight envelope of a hypersonic weapon, especially for weapons that cover subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic conditions in a single flight.ö Our team seeks to provide a robust solution to this technical challenge, bringing a product to market benefiting hypersonic flight vehicles with more accurate state information across their flight envelopes. Our technical team is comprised of GoHypersonic Inc. (GHI), a small-business concern with extensive expertise in hypersonic vehicle design, analysis, production, and testing, and Dr. Stephen Whitmore of Utah State University (USU), a subject matter expert in Flush Air Data Sensing (FADS) system development with over 40 years of technical expertise in relevant fields. The GHI team has been responsible for multiple hypersonic vehicle detailed design efforts including several executed and planned flight test programs. Dr. Whitmore was a Co-developer of the Space Shuttle FADS and technical lead for the Sierra Nevada Space System's Dream Chaser Spacecraft FADS.Ā In Phase I, the team developed a conceptual FADS system for a hypersonic vehicle currently scheduled for flight tests in 2024 and 2025.Ā The flow theory description, estimation algorithms, analyses toolchains, and measurement technology required to accurately and precisely produce the aerodynamic state of a hypersonic vehicle were also developed.Ā The objective of this proposed work is to design, model, fabricate, characterize, and test a non-intrusive, airdata sensing system capable of producing reference information across a wide range of flight conditions, including hypersonic flight, to enable hypersonic flight control.Ā This work will be performed with the overarching goal of demonstrating a FADS development process adequate for wide applicability to other hypersonic vehicles. The Phase II program will focus on refining the conceptual FADS system developed in Phase I to a detailed FADS system design, including development and refinement of hardware, electronics, state estimation algorithms, and performance modeling required to accurately and precisely produce the aerodynamic state of a hypersonic vehicle at rates sufficient for flight control.