Ryan Caverly receives Department of Defense award
The annual grant funds areas relevant to DoD’s the National Defense Strategy
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (05/13/2021) - University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Ryan Caverly received a Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR) award. His project “On‐the‐Fly Flight Test Maneuver Optimization and Nonlinear Modeling of Hypersonic Systems” was among over 150 white papers submitted for the FY2020 competition.
Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics (AEM) Professor Maziar Hemati will serve as co-PI/mentor on the project. The team will receive up to $600,000 over a three-year period of performance to pursue science and engineering research in areas relevant to DoD initiatives supporting the National Defense Strategy.
A hypersonic flight system traveling at speeds higher than Mach 5 requires knowledge of an accurate control-oriented flight model. Numerical simulations can provide insight into the flight model, but ultimately, flight tests are needed to identify the complex dynamics of hypersonic flight. Unfortunately, hypersonic flight test opportunities are limited. Plus, they are typically short in duration and accompanied by substantial risk.
Caverly, joined the AEM department in 2018, and Hemati plan to develop a framework that optimizes flight test maneuvers and extracts nonlinear models relevant for high-precision control of hypersonic systems, while guaranteeing airworthiness during testing. They will make use of mathematical techniques from data-driven dynamical systems and robust control theory to perform nonlinear modeling, uncertainty quantification, and stability analysis.
The University of Minnesota researchers will also investigate an “on the fly” flight testing approach, which will involve recursively refining the flight model with incoming data and re-optimizing the flight test maneuvers during the flight test itself.
“This project brings together the complementary expertise that Maziar’s group has in the areas of data-driven modeling and analysis, and my group's focus on optimal and robust control theory,” Caverly said. “Combining these capabilities will allow us to develop a unified approach to flight test maneuver optimization and modeling.”
DEPSCoR is a congressionally mandated, capacity building program that is designed to strengthen the basic research infrastructure at institutions of higher education in underutilized states and territories. The program is managed by the Directorate of Defense Research and Engineering for Research and Technology within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
The competition was open to tenure and tenure-track faculty members with appointments in 37 eligible states and territories. It introduces potential researchers to the DOD’s unique research challenges and its supportive research ecosystem. Subject-matter experts in the military services selected the final 17 collaborative teams.