An Energy Efficient Optimal Control Framework for General Purpose Flight Management Systems

The amount of emissions to the atmosphere is currently an important environmental concern as policy makers and Heads of State are starting to demonstrate a strong interest in energy efficient transportation, in particular energy efficient aircraft. The task of energy optimization is typically left to a flight management system (FMS). However, many smaller commercial aircraft, especially turboprop aircraft, still do not have an FMS due to the high cost of such a system. Furthermore, the algorithms inside a commercially available FMS are not known due to proprietary reasons. Therefore, it would be of utmost importance to develop a general purpose, open source FMS that could be installed in the iPad of pilots and used for training in the next generation flight simulators, including turboprop simulators. Developing such a general purpose, open source FMS based on optimal control techniques is the main objective of the research being proposed in this grant.

Faculty Supervisor:

Luis Rodrigues

Student:

Partner:

TRU Simulation + Training Canada Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Concordia University

Program: