NEW - AEROSP 740 - Complex Systems Design & Integration

Course Description: This course immerses you in advanced design methodologies applied to complex aerospace systems, with a special focus on innovative concepts in aircraft and propulsion design for sustainable aviation. You’ll explore and tackle the pressing challenges of reducing aviation’s environmental impact through cutting-edge methods. The theoretical component emphasizes the analysis, design, and integration of aerospace vehicle systems. The practical aspect guides you through designing a hybrid-electric propulsion aircraft, addressing sustainability challenges. You’ll master design space exploration techniques to perform trade-off studies, sensitivity analysis, and optimize system designs across high-dimensional problem spaces. Engage with real-world problems in sustainable aviation, applying advanced methods to develop innovative, efficient, and environmentally responsible systems.

Topics covered:

Future Flight Concepts:

• Environmental sustainability in aviation
• Novel propulsion technologies (electrification, batteries, hydrogen, etc.)
• Safety and certification considerations
• Aircraft and propulsion system sizing & synthesis
• Design considerations for complex systems; subsystem and system level analysis
• Operational considerations; energy and power management strategies in hybrid systems
• Flight mission performance analysis, economic and life-cycle considerations

Advanced Design Methods:

• Basic introduction to probability and statistics
• Design of Experiments (Full/fractional factorials, Latin hypercube sampling, space-filling, etc.)
• Surrogate modeling (polynomial regression, kriging, radial basis functions, artificial neural networks)
• Model adequacy checks, validation, testing
• System-level assessments: trade-off studies using prediction profiles, sensitivity analysis, and decision-making

Coursework: Regular assignments to apply theoretical concepts. Final Project: Choose a topic from a set of complex system problems or define your own within sustainable aviation systems. Apply methods learned throughout the semester. The project includes checkpoints (reviews), a final presentation, and a final report.

Course outcomes: A comprehensive understanding of advanced design methods and their application in sustainable aviation. You’ll be equipped with the skills demanded by the rapidly evolving aerospace industry, preparing you to contribute effectively to the development of innovative, efficient, and environmentally responsible aerospace systems.

Course requirements: Examples will be provided in tools like JMP, Python, and MATLAB. You’re welcome to utilize your own coding or modeling solutions to fulfill project needs. While advantageous, a background in statistics, aircraft or propulsion system design, is not required. The course is accessible to students from various backgrounds.