An artist’s concept of the X-66 aircraft, which Boeing will develop through NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project. This aircraft, designed to validate the concept of more aerodynamic, fuel-efficient transonic truss-braced wings, exemplifies the type of project that will benefit from model-based systems analysis and engineering. Credit: Boeing. Aeronautical
As NASA continues its cutting-edge aeronautics research, the agency is ensuring that the benefits from these diverse technologies are more significant when combined.
To address this challenge, NASA is employing Model-Based Systems Analysis and Engineering (MBSAE). This approach digitally simulates how multiple technologies can optimally work together as a single, complex system, using advanced digital tools and computing programs.
Optimizing Next-Gen Aviation Technology
“MBSAE provides a way to envision how all these technologies, being developed separately, can fit together in the end,” said Eric Hendricks, who leads MBSAE integration efforts for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Through this digital engineering method, NASA’s aeronautical innovators gain a better understanding of how research in one area (such as ultra-efficient airliners) can best complement and work alongside research in another area (like future airspace safety).
Detailed, customizable digital models allow researchers to simulate these complex systems with high accuracy and identify how to achieve the greatest benefits.
“As we move toward these advanced systems, MBSAE can connect different disciplines and determine how to eke out the best performance,” Hendricks added.
This process feeds back into the research itself, significantly improving aviation’s sustainability and other goals.
Enhanced System Integration and Optimization
MBSAE not only integrates complex systems but also optimizes each system individually using MBSAE tools.
“Before the technology is even fully developed, we can run highly accurate digital simulations that inform the research itself,” Hendricks said. “A digital flight test is a lot simpler and less costly than a real flight test.”
For example, NASA’s new MBSAE tool, Aviary, includes the ability to consider gradients. This means Aviary can efficiently optimize a given technology.
Suppose a researcher needs to determine which type of battery is required to power an airplane during a specific maneuver. By inputting information about the airplane, the maneuver, and battery technologies into Aviary, the tool can run digital flight tests and identify the best battery type.
Digital flight tests like this can be applied to various areas, ranging from an aircraft’s overall shape to the size of its engine core and electrical systems. These tests then help determine how to combine these systems most effectively.
Scaling Up Aeronautical Transformations
MBSAE is also valuable for handling the scale of aviation transformations.
With the demand for single-aisle airliners expected to rise dramatically in the coming decades, measuring the emissions reductions from a certain wing design, for example, would not just apply to one aircraft but an entire fleet.
“We’ll be able to take what we learn from our sustainable aviation projects and simulate the technology entering the fleet at certain points,” said Rich Wahls, NASA’s mission integration manager for the Sustainable Flight National Partnership at NASA Headquarters. “We can model the fleet itself to see how much more sustainable these technologies are across the board.”
Ultimately, MBSAE signifies a new era in aeronautical innovation, both at NASA and within the aviation industry. NASA is working closely with the industry to ensure MBSAE efforts are cross-compatible on an open-source platform.
“The MBSAE team has lots of early-to-mid-career folks,” Hendricks said. “It’s great to see the younger generation get involved and even take the lead, especially since these digital efforts can facilitate knowledge transfer as well.
