A New Model for the Aerospace Design Process Based on a Control System Analogy

A novel approach to the modeling and control of aerospace system design problems is presented. By integrating recent advances in probabilistic robust design and technology assessment methods with a traditional control system feedback architecture, the approach is intended to establish a unified structure for managing complex design problems under uncertainty. The notions of plant, state variables, feedback, and compensation are adapted from the realm of control theory to this new setting. A specific aspect of the paper addresses methods for categorizing and computing the plant’s sensitivity to modeled uncertainty in the feedback system. An example problem is executed and described to illustrate probabilistic sensitivity analysis as well as one possible avenue for arriving at an optimal compensator. Since this topic is in the initial research stages, the near term challenges with regards to refining and improving the approach are identified throughout the paper. Two such challenges include constructing a valid plant model and the optimal selection of a compensator.