ARDB Centre of Excellence for Aerospace Systems Design

AR&DB Centre of Excellence for Aerospace Systems Design & Engineering (CASDE), IIT Bombay Presentation to the Meeting of Round Table on Systems Engineering February 08 th 2003

Overall Objectives CASDE was set up at IIT Bombay in August 1998 for the following tasks. • Educational Programme • Awareness Creation • Transport Aircraft Studies • Integrated Modeling & Simulation Laboratory • System Level Studies

Educational Programme • Focus was M. Tech. Specialization. • Existing syllabus abroad was Studied. • Aero. professionals, including Stuart Kramer of AFIT (Edu. Advisor of INCOSE), gave inputs. • Two batches of students have already passed out. • Projects are tailored towards problems of interest to industry. • Third Batch is to enter in July 2003. • Life Cycle Cost Model • MDO of AEW System • Maneuvre Load Control • Brake Management System • Hydraulic System Model

Awareness Creation • Mandate was to expose to Aero. industry, various activities of CASDE , through workshops, seminars, CEPs etc. • CASDE has conducted a large number of workshops and meetings in areas of SE education, Modelling & Simulation, MDO and MAV. • A number of invited lectures and CEPs in special areas e. g. Mechatronics, have also been given.

Transport Aircraft Studies • CASDE invited industry professionals to decide on an area, in which it could play a significant role. • The strong design background available at IITB was considered an ideal input to take up MDO as its main focus. • Aeroelastic design optimization of aircraft wings. • Design optimization of a 3 -d duct. • Formal framework for MDO studies.

Integrated Modelling/Simulation • Integrated Modelling & Simulation was stressed by experts as a backbone of System level studies. • CASDE focused on providing hardware, software & interface tools to enable real-time simulations of aerospace systems. • IMS Lab. of CASDE is equipped to carry out simulations requiring sensors, actuators, controllers & software. • A number of setups provide training in creating simulations.

System Level Studies • CASDE selected Mini Aerial Vehicle to understand system level synthesis and integration issues. • This activity has also coincided with national effort on MAVs. • The focus was to characterize interactions and interfaces. • An instrumented aircraft of 3. 5 Kg. class and a videography platform of 1. 0 Kg. class have been successfully made. • Solar powered aircraft is developed for concept verification.

Current Status & Future Plans • CASDE is nearing completion of its Phase-I. • A proposal requesting additional funds for continuing it (in Phase-II) has been submitted to ARDB and a decision is awaited. • Continuation of M. Tech. specialization, with suitable revisions. • Pursuing of MDO with increased vigour, as an enabling design technology. • Development of Mini Autonomous Flying Vehicle as a model SE exercise.

Concluding Remarks • All activities of CASDE are student oriented, who are its main strength also. Further, focus has been on training and addressing specific research issues related to system design. • CASDE has opened a number of informal channels for interaction with people working (or interested) in various activities. (e. g. SIG-MDO). • CASDE has not addressed many other aspects of SE (e. g. IPPD, Concurrent Engg. etc. ) and welcomes the present initiative by NIAS. • CASDE would be happy to complement other efforts in this important area of Systems Engineering.