The Grainger College of Engineering
Mechanical Science & Engineering

NASA Scientists Visit MechSE Researchers

6/25/2012 By Kathryn L. Heine

Standing (left to right) are Naira Hovakimyan and NASA Langley's Irene Gregory.</p>

Written by By Kathryn L. Heine

Standing (left to right) are Naira Hovakimyan and NASA Langley's Irene Gregory. Seated (left to right) are NASA Dryden's John Burken, doctoral student Enric Xargay and Brian Griffith, also from NASA Dryden.
Standing (left to right) are Naira Hovakimyan and NASA Langley's Irene Gregory. Seated (left to right) are NASA Dryden's John Burken, doctoral student Enric Xargay and Brian Griffith, also from NASA Dryden.
On May 22, researchers from NASA's Aviation Safety Program at Langley Research Center and Dryden Flight Research Center visited Professor Naira Hovakimyan's research group to discuss plans for installing an innovative adaptive control system into NASA's GTM and other research aircraft models, including the F-18 Hornet, the Grumman X-29 and the Boeing X-48B (an experimental blended wing body plane).

The new robust nonlinear approach to adaptive control Hovakimyan's group is taking makes it possible to achieve fast adaptation with guaranteed performance. Control systems based on the theory would allow pilots to maintain or to regain control and to land safely even when the planes they are flying are upset by the failure of a control surface or damage to the airframe. They could also mitigate the risks associated with developing and flight-testing new aircraft with unusual shapes or features that make it difficult to predict the way they will handle.

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This story was published June 25, 2012.