An Integrated Configuration and Control Analysis Technique for Hypersonic Vehicles

This paper describes a design analysis methodology for hypersonic vehicles that treats the vehicle configuration and trajectory simultaneously. Vehicle geometry, dynamic discontinuities, and time-dependent control variables are all treated as optimization parameters with respect to a single performance measure. A generalized first order gradient method is used to affect changes in the optimization variables to minimize a performance or cost measure. This is done while maintaining prescribed two-point boundary conditions and any path constraints imposed on the problem. The current research status and projected benefits of these activities are discussed.