Event Date
Speaker
Dr. Kevin P.T. Haughn, DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory
Abstract
Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) are integral to advancing society towards smart cities and improved disaster response, but the dynamic environments above and within urban and naturally dense settings are dangerous for autonomous flight. Although quadcopter designs offer superior maneuverability over small, fixed-wing vehicles, their range and endurance is greatly limited due to their power hungry nature. For this reason, engineers are exploring avian-informed designs to improve UAS maneuverability and resilience to external perturbations. Birds change the shape of their wings to react to dynamic environments, adopting similar characteristics may be the key to adaptive UAS design. The increased complexity offered by these new designs, often incorporating smart materials or greater degrees of freedom, necessitate greater intelligence in overall system design. This intelligence may take the form of increased sophistication in controller design, incorporating data-driven methods for active response to environmental changes. On the other hand, drawing inspiration from natural mechanisms can inform structural designs for a more passive mechanical response. Exploring the balance between active and passive intelligence in UAS design can push capability into mission spaces previously inoperable for fixed wing aircraft.
Biosketch
Dr. Kevin Haughn is a Mechanical Engineering Researcher at DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. He earned his PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan researching the intersection between smart materials and machine learning for intelligent, autonomic morphing aircraft. His focus has since broadened towards novel bio-informed control and design to improve small aircraft dynamics and resilience in complex environments.