Validation of Nature-Inspired Mode Sensing Principles for UAS

The current aircraft design methodology integrates sensing and feedback control at a late stage of the process, leading to sub-optimal maneuverability, efficiency, and closed loop performance. In order increase mission effectiveness, the Air Force requires design methodologies that allow for the integration and optimization of sensing, actuation and platform dynamics at the earliest stage of concept selection. This gap is particularly relevant to recent trends in platform design that include bio-informed sensorimotor architectures. The overall objective of this project is to validate the hypothesis that closed loop performance of flight vehicles can be improved by jointly optimizing sensing, flight dynamics and actuation characteristics of the open loop system. Validation of this hypothesis requires the design of novel processes to fabricate airframes with embedded strain sensor arrays, the development of a mathematical framework for joint optimization of fight vehicle characteristics, and the execution of extensive indoor flight experiments. To provide a first demonstration of the effectiveness of bio-informed approaches, the team will focus on the problem of closed loop disturbance rejection on multirotor platforms with distributed strain sensors while executing hover, forward flight and trajectory tracking maneuvers.