Artificial Intelligence (AI) Based Sensor Fusion and Sensor Management Software for Distributed Engine Control Systems

The next generation of aircraft propulsion systems will require complex systems that produce massive amounts of raw data for real-time decision making. However, the current strategy of centralized computation fails to account for fast changes in the system, resulting in declining operating performance, i.e., reliability suffers, maintenance cost rise, and spare parts become harder and more expensive to source. To overcome these issues and challenges, we will require the integration of software components that come together to build, manage, and process data into valuable information on edge devices (Smart senor nodes) in real-time.  As such, Spectral Energies, LLC (SE) and Tennessee State University (TSU) propose to develop smart sensing nodes for turbine engines’ distributed control using digital engineering through implementation of AI technology at the Edge devices. To accomplish this, the team will modify and then implement the Artificial Intelligence (AI) software on SE’s existing high-temperature Smart Node.