Dr. Johann Schumann will be an invited plenary speaker at the North American Simulation Technology Conference (NASTEC 2008), to be held at McGill University, Montreal, Canada August 13-15. He will talk on “Verification and Validation of Neuro-adaptive Aircraft Control Systems.”
In his talk, Dr Schumann will briefly introduce adaptive flight control and discuss the specific challenges for the verification and validation (V&V) of such systems. He will then present the Ames-developed Confidence tool, which dynamically estimates the neural network performance and safety envelope using a Bayesian approach, discuss the V&V approach taken with this tool, and show some results of the flight experiments.
BACKGROUND: Traditional fixed-gain control has often proven to be unsuccessful for dealing with complex, strongly nonlinear, or changing systems such as a damaged aircraft. As performance and safety guarantees cannot be provided at development time, novel tools and approaches to support V&V and certification had to be developed. Control systems, which use a neural network that can adapt toward changes in the plant, offer many advantages and have been actively investigated. The Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS) project has implemented and successfully test-flown an online adaptive controller on a manned F-15 aircraft at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.
NASA PROGRAM FUNDING: Next Generation Air Transportation System, ARMD
Contact: Johann Schumann
08/21/2008