Italian Aerospace Research Centre

About: Italian Aerospace Research Centre is a other organization based out in Capua, Campania, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Aerodynamics & Morphing. The organization has 278 authors who have published 400 publications receiving 3563 citations. The organization is also known as: CIRA & Italian Aerospace Research Center.

Innovative Real Time Estimator for Redundancy of Angle of Attack Sensors in Commercial Aircraft

Abstract: The angle of attack is a critical parameter for both General and Commercial Aviation aircraft, whose erroneous measurement could cause the loss of vehicle control. This paper presents an innovative and reliable angle of attack estimator, which does not require any dedicated sensor, neither detailed information about the aerodynamics of the specific aircraft. The algorithm could be used to provide General Aviation pilot with an immediate, accurate, and clear visual display of trend toward stall and stall margin or to generate a redundant independent signal for a fault tolerant measurement system based on classical voting algorithms, applicable to Commercial Aviation aircraft. The estimator demonstrated excellent performance, assessed through a high fidelity General Aviation simulation environment and Monte Carlo analyses. Its exploitation could contribute to reduce the angle of attack related accidents in the air transport system.

Design of SMA-Based Structural Actuators

Abstract: The design and the sizing of an actuation system are performed on the basis of specifications that the actuator itself, as part of an integrated system, has to meet. Among these requirements one recalls the intensity of the forces and of the displacements to be transmitted, the frequency bandwidth, the necessary power supply, the weight, the size, and the cost. The design of a shape memory alloy (SMA)-based actuator requires the adoption of design strategies amenable only partially to traditional approaches. If it is, indeed, true that forces and displacements represent a fundamental requirement, it is also true that their transmission by an SMA actuator to a structure is regulated differently than in the case of a conventional actuator. The intrinsic nonlinear and isteretic nature of the SMAs, in conjunction with their functional dependence on three parameters—deformation, stress, and temperature—necessitate the definition of a design approach able to manage these peculiarities, facilitating at the same time the sizing of the actuation system through commercial structural analysis codes.

A linear time-varying approach for robustness analyses of a re-entry flight technology demonstrator

Abstract: A novel robustness analysis technique is proposed for atmospheric re-entry applications. The problem is stated as a finite time stability (FTS) analysis of linear time-varying (LTV) systems on a compact time domain, subject to bounded variations in initial state and unknown parameters. The FTS property is formulated as the inclusion of all the possible system trajectories into a pre-specified time-varying subset of the state space. Based on assuming the involved sets are polytopes, the proposed approach allows deducing the system FTS from the property verification on a limited number of numerically computed system trajectories. An additional result is presented which allows determination of a conservative estimate of the maximum norm-bound of time-varying perturbations under which the LTV system remains finite time stable. Results of the application of the proposed technique to a re-entry technology demonstrator are presented which demonstrate its effectiveness in complementing conventional linear time in...