Safe Adaptive Dependable Aerospace Systems (SADAS)

SADAS – Affording safe, highly reliable and affordable automation for aerospace systems

In Aerospace applications specific challenges relate to extreme systems dynamics and to highest safety requirements. A key research topic therefore concerns innovative methods of resolution satisfying adaptive as well as real-time capabilities in order to achieve progress, e.g. with respect to networked formations of vehicles. Within this Focus Group the automation approaches addressing robust, reliable and affordable solutions at all modular integration levels that will be emphasized ranging from human assistance for a single vehicle up to highly automating control of distributed, decentralized, networked, self-organizing multi-vehicle systems. This comprises adaptive control and envelope protection as well as coordinated mission planning strategies. Due to the expertise in the team, the application range extends from vehicles via aircraft to space systems, and will offer interesting hardware demonstrators to assess and exhibit the achieved performance.

Progress in vehicle automation leads to application visions from Google’s self-driving cars to Amazon’s air vehicle-based fast delivery services. Despite first demonstrators are available, there is still significant research to be performed to achieve safe, highly reliable and affordable systems which satisfy the rigid requirements which are mandatory in the transportation business. Techniques for distributed, decentralized and networked control have been applied for different land, water, air up to space vehicles to achieve survivable, robust, modular and reconfigurable (multi-)vehicle systems in several precursor research projects. The Focus Group SADAS integrates the different complementary fields of competence in mechanical engineering, aerodynamics, flight system dynamics, control and embedded computers to achieve innovative results at aerospace system level in order to bridge the gap between theory and real flight applications.

At TUM-IAS this research area extends and synergizes results from the former Focus Groups Aircraft Stability and Control as well as Diesel Reloaded expanded by inclusion of the multi-vehicle systems topic.

The group leaders (key partners) were:

Dr. Matthias Heller was Expert Advisor “Flight Mechanics” of Airbus Defence & Space and as a Rudolf Diesel Industry Fellow of the IAS he had conducted the Focus Group Aircraft Stability and Control (2010 – 2013), where he had investigated new techniques in the field of Dynamics, Performance, Stability and Control of Innovative Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).

Prof. Florian Holzapfel is a professor for Flight System Dynamics at TUM and hosted the Focus Group Aircraft Stability and Control (2010 – 2013); now he is hosting the current (new) Focus Group “Safe Adaptive Dependable Aerospace Systems (SADAS)”.

Prof. Naira Hovakimyan is a professor for Aerospace, Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at University of Illinois. In 2014 she was selected as Alexander von Humboldt Research Awardee and is thus a Honorary Hans Fischer Senior Fellow of the TUM-IAS.

Prof. Klaus Schilling is a professor for Robotics and Telematics at the University Würzburg as well as a TUM-IAS Visiting Fellow. He currently holds an ERC Advanced Grant.

Prof. Gernot Spiegelberg works with Siemens Corporate Technology. As a Rudolf Diesel Industry Fellow of the TUM-IAS he developed the Diesel Reloaded Innotruck concept with Drive-by-Wire capability within the associated Focus Group (2010 – 2013).

TUM-IAS funded doctoral candidate:
Markus Geiser, Flight System Dynamics