The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has awarded Aurora Flight Sciences and its partner the Georgia Institute of Technology a contract to continue research and development of next-generation distributed controllers for turbine engines. Aurora is developing future engine control systems based on adaptive 'smart' subsystems which process their own control algorithms. Such a system would have potential for groundbreaking improvements in reliability, modularity, and reduced engine weight.

According to the project's manager, George Kiwada, "Distributed control of gas turbines is an emerging technology that improves the engine's performance in all the right metrics: weight, fuel burn, and cost. Aurora and Georgia Tech's Distributed Adaptive Engine Control (DAEC) approach is more robust than other distributed control approaches and enables unique controller architectures. By physically quantifying the benefits of our controller in Phase 2, we will move distributed controllers closer to implementation on production engines."

Aurora will be working with Prof. Eric Feron of Georgia Tech to build on the team's successful Phase 1 demonstration of the feasibility of the Distributed Adaptive approach. The Phase 2 program will refine the control theoretic architecture and develop and demonstrate a prototype controller with physical engine testing.