Research Labs & Facilities
Aerospace Computational Design Lab |
Aerospace Controls Laboratory | Communications and Networking Research Group | Complex Systems Research Lab | Embedded Systems Laboratory | Gas Turbine Laboratory | Humans and Automation | International Center for Air Transportation | Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems | Lean Aerospace Initiative | Man Vehicle Laboratory | Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction | Space Propulsion Laboratory | Space Systems Laboratory | Technology Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Structures | Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel
The Aerospace Computational Design Lab's mission
is to improve the design of aerospace systems through the advancement
of computational methods and tools that incorporate multidisciplinary
analysis and optimization, probabilistic and robust design techniques,
and next-generation computational fluid dynamics. The laboratory studies
a broad range of topics that focus on the design of aircraft and aircraft
engines.
(See affiliated faculty)
The Aerospace Controls Laboratory investigates estimation and control
systems for modern aerospace systems, with particular attention to distributed,
multivehicle architectures. Example applications involve cooperating teams
of UAVs or formation-flying spacecraft. The research goal is to increase
the level of autonomy in these systems by incorporating higher-level decisions,
such as vehicle-waypoint assignment and collision avoidance routing, into
feedback control systems. Core competencies include optimal estimation
and control, optimization for both path-planning and operations research,
receding-horizon/model predictive control, and GPS.
(See affiliated faculty)
The primary goal of the Communications and Networking Research Group is the design of network architectures that are cost effective, scalable, and meet emerging needs for high data-rate and reliable communications. The group is working on a wide range of projects in the area of data communication and networks with application to satellite, wireless, and optical networks. An important aspect of the group’s research is the development of architectures and algorithms that are optimized across multiple layers of the protocol stack. To that end, the group’s research crosses disciplinary boundaries by combining techniques from network optimization, queueing theory, graph theory, network protocols and algorithms, hardware design, and physical layer communications. (See affiliated faculty)
Increasing complexity and coupling as well as the introduction of new
digital technology are introducing new challenges for engineering, operations,
and sustainment. The Complex Systems Research Lab designs
system modeling, analysis, and visualization theory and tools to assist
in the design and operation of safer systems with greater capability.
To accomplish these goals, the lab applies a system's approach to
engineering that includes building technical foundations and knowledge
and integrating these with the organizational, political, and cultural
aspects of system construction and operation.
While CSRL's main emphasis is aerospace systems and applications, its research results
are applicable to complex systems in such domains as transportation, energy,
and health. Current research projects include accident modeling and design
for safety; model-based system and software engineering; reusable, component-based
system architectures; interactive visualization; human-centered system
design; system diagnosis and fault tolerance; system sustainment; and
organizational factors in engineering and project management.
(See affiliated faculty)
The Embedded System Laboratory's mission is to provide tools and methodologies to support the design, development, verification and sustainment of mission-critical embedded systems. It does this by leveraging formal methods and system-on-chip methodologies, thereby shaping academic thought and industry outlook through collaborative efforts, technical publications, and education. (See affiliated faculty)
The MIT Gas Turbine Laboratory is the largest university
laboratory of its kind, focusing on all aspects of advanced propulsion
systems and turbomachinery. GTL's mission is to advance the state-of-the-art
in gas turbines for power and propulsion. Several unique experimental
facilities include a blowdown turbine, a blowdown compressor, a shock
tube for reacting flow heat transfer analysis, facilities for designing,
fabricating and testing micro heat engines, and a range of one-of-a-kind
experimental diagnostics. GTL also has unique computational and theoretical
modeling capabilities in the areas of gas turbine fluid mechanics, aircraft
noise, emissions, heat transfer and robust design. Three examples of the
lab's work are the development of Smart Engines, in particular active
control of turbomachine instabilities; the Microengine Project, which
involves extensive collaboration with the Department of Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science-these are shirt-button sized high-power density gas
turbine and rocket engines fabricated using silicon chip manufacturing
technology; and the Silent Aircraft Initiative, an effort to dramatically
reduce aircraft noise with the goal to transform commercial air transportation.
(See affiliated faculty)
Research in the Humans and Automation Lab focuses
on the multifaceted interactions of human and computer decision-making
in complex sociotechnical systems. With the explosion of automated technology,
the need for humans as supervisors of complex automatic control systems
has replaced the need for humans in direct manual control. A consequence
of complex, highly automated domains in which the human decision-maker
is more on-the-loop than in-the-loop is that the level of required cognition
has moved from that of well-rehearsed skill execution and rule following,
to higher, more abstract levels of knowledge synthesis, judgment, and
reasoning. Employing human-centered design principles to human supervisory
control problems, and identifying ways in which humans and computers can
leverage the strengths of each other to achieve superior decisions together
is HAL's central focus. Current research projects include collaborative
human-computer decision making for command and control domains, and investigating
human understanding of complex optimization algorithms and visualization
of cost (objective functions); uses of adaptive automation and psychophysiologic
measures in human supervisory control; decision theoretic modelling for
datalink communications; developing metrics for evaluating display complexity;
and display design for autonomous formation flying.
(See affiliated faculty)
The International Center for Air Transportation undertakes
research and educational programs that discover and disseminate the knowledge
and tools underlying a global air transportation industry driven by new
technologies. Global information systems are central to the future operation
of international air transportation. Modern information technology systems
of interest to ICAT include: global communication and positioning; international
air traffic management; scheduling, dispatch and maintenance support;
vehicle management; passenger information and communication; and real-time
vehicle diagnostics. Airline operations are also undergoing major transformations.Airline
management, airport security, air transportation economics, fleet scheduling,
traffic flow management and airport facilities development, represent
areas of great interest to the MIT faculty and are of vital importance
to international air transportation. ICAT is a physical and intellectual
home for these activities. ICAT, and its predecessors, the Aeronautical
Systems Laboratory and Flight Transportation Laboratory, pioneered concepts
in air traffic management and flight deck automation and displays that
are now in common use.
(See affiliated faculty)
The Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems is
an interdepartmental research laboratory. It began in 1939 as the Servomechanisms
Laboratory, an offshoot of the Department of Electrical Engineering. Its
early work, during World War II, focused on gunfire and guided missile
control, radar, and flight trainer technology. Over the years, the scope
of its research broadened.
Today, LIDS' fundamental research goal is to advance the field of systems, communications
and control. In doing this, it recognizes the interdependence of these
fields and the fundamental role that computation plays in this research.
LIDS conducts basic theoretical studies in communication and control and
is committed to advancing the state of knowledge of technologically important
areas such as atmospheric optical communications and multivariable robust
control. Its staff includes faculty members, full-time research scientists,
postdoctoral fellows, graduate research assistants, and support personnel.
Every year several research scientists from various parts of the world
visit the Laboratory to participate in its research program.
(See affiliated faculty)
The Lean Aerospace Initiative was born out of practicality
and necessity as declining defense procurement budgets collided with rising
costs and military industrial overcapacity prompting a new defense acquisition
imperative: affordability rather than performance at any cost. The initiative
was formally launched in 1993 when leaders from the U.S. Air Force, MIT,
labor unions, and defense aerospace businesses forged a partnership to
transform the industry, reinvigorate the workplace, and reinvest in America
using a philosophy called "lean."
During the past nine years, LAI has accelerated lean deployment through identified
best practices, shared communication, common goals, and strategic and
implementation tools. LAI has also promoted collaboration, not competition,
bringing down traditional barriers to improve industry and government
teamwork. Although industry members of LAI are making notable progress in implementing
lean principles and practices in production operations, it is clear that
the greatest benefits of lean can be truly realized when the operating,
technical, business and administrative units of aerospace enterprises
strive for lean performance — a total lean enterprise designed to
deliver value.
(See affiliated faculty)
The Man Vehicle Laboratory optimizes human-vehicle
system safety and effectiveness by improving understanding of human physiological
and cognitive capabilities, and developing appropriate countermeasures
and evidence-based engineering design criteria. Research is interdisciplinary,
and uses techniques from manual and supervisory control, signal processing,
estimation, sensory-motor physiology, sensory and cognitive psychology,
biomechanics, human factor engineering, artificial intelligence, and biostatistics.
MVL has flown experiments on Space Shuttle Spacelab missions and parabolic
flights, and has several flight experiments in development for the International
Space Station. NASA, the National Space Biomedical Institute, and the
FAA sponsor ground-based research. Projects focus on advanced space suit
design and dynamics of astronaut motion, adaptation to rotating artificial
gravity environments, spatial disorientation and navigation, teleoperation,
design of aircraft and spacecraft displays and controls and cockpit human
factors. Annual MVL MIT Independent Activities Period activities include
ski safety research, and an introductory course on Boeing 767 systems
and automation. MVL faculty also teach subjects in human factors engineering,
space systems engineering, space policy, flight simulation, space physiology,
aerospace biomedical and life support engineering, and the physiology
of human spatial orientation.
(See affiliated faculty)
The Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction is a unique, leading aviation cooperative research organization, which fosters breakthrough technological, operational, policy, and workforce advances for the betterment of mobility, economy, national security, and the environment. PARTNER is an FAA/NASA/Transport Canada-sponsored Center of Excellence. The organization's operational headquarters is at MIT Aero-Astro.
PARTNER comprises 12 universities, and approximately 50 advisory board members. Its collaborating members include aerospace manufacturers; airlines; airports; national, state, and local government; professional and trade associations; non-governmental organizations; and community groups. As an incentive to collaboration, equal matches are required for federal dollars granted to PARTNER. The universities provide some of these matching funds, but most are obtained from the organizations represented on the advisory board. This collaborative process has fueled unique research efforts involving a wide spectrum of participants.
PARTNER research and activities have included an aviation and environment report to the U.S. Congress proposing a national vision statement and recommended actions; successfully testing alternate descent patterns as a no/low-cost means to reduce aircraft noise, fuel consumption, and pollutant emissions; assessing aircraft particulate matter formation; studying noise acceptability of overland supersonic flight; and examining alternative fuels for aircraft. (See affiliated faculty)
The Space Propulsion Laboratory, part of the Space Systems
Lab, studies and develops systems for increasing performance and reducing
costs of space propulsion. A major area of interest to lab is electric
propulsion, in which the electrical, rather than chemical energy propels
spacecraft. The benefits are numerous and very important, that is the
reason why many communication satellites and scientific missions are turning
to electric propulsion systems. In the future these plasma engines will
allow people to do such things as explore in more detail the structure
of the universe, increase the lifetime of commercial payloads or look
for signs of life in far away places. Other areas of research include
microfabrication; numerical simulation, arcjet thrusters; numerical simulation,
hall thrusters; space tethers; orbit optimization; and pacecraft-thruster
interaction.
(See affiliated faculty)
The Space Systems Laboratory engages in cutting-edge
research projects with the goal of directly contributing to the current
and future exploration and development of space. SSL's mission is
to explore innovative concepts for the integration of future space systems
and to train a generation of researchers and engineers conversant in this
field. Specific tasks include developing the technology and systems analysis
associated with small spacecraft, precision optical systems, and International
Space Station technology research and development. The laboratory encompasses
expertise in structural dynamics, control, thermal, space power, propulsion,
microelectromechanical systems, software development and systems. Major
activities in this laboratory are the development of small spacecraft
thruster systems (see the Space Propulsion Laboratory) and researching
issues associated with the distribution of function among satellites.
In addition, technology is being developed for spaceflight validation
in support of a new class of space-based telescopes that exploit the physics
of interferometry to achieve dramatic breakthroughs in angular resolution.
(See affiliated faculty)
The Technology Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Structures (TELAMS),
known since its establishment as TELAC, has been dedicated to providing leadership
in the advancement of the knowledge and capabilities of the composites and
structures community through education of students, original research, and
interaction with the community at large. This leadership continues today at
TELAMS, with an emphasis on composite materials, as the research topics span
a wide spectrum, from basic understanding of composite materials to their behavior
in specific structural configurations, with the ultimate objective of gaining
a sufficient understanding of the properties of a composite laminate's basic
building block, and how these properties interact to determine properties of
laminates and structures made of composite materials. Recently, the focus of
the laboratory has broadened into other areas, and thus its renaming. These
areas include multi-scale modeling and simulation of the mechanics of advanced
materials used in the aerospace industry with emphasis on understanding the
influence of micro-structural features of deformation and failure in their
effective engineering response, computational modeling in solid mechanics and
fluid-structure interaction problems, and design, fabrication, and testing
of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), along with their associated materials
and processes. (See affiliated faculty)
Since its opening in September 1938, The Wright Brothers Wind
Tunnel has played a major role in the development of aerospace,
civil engineering and architectural systems. In recent years, faculty
research interests generated long-range studies of unsteady airfoil flow
fields, jet engine inlet-vortex behavior, aeroelastic tests of unducted
propeller fans, and panel methods for tunnel wall interaction effects.
Industrial testing has ranged over auxiliary propulsion burner units,
helicopter antenna pods, and in-flight trailing cables, as well as new
concepts for roofing attachments, a variety of stationary and vehicle
mounted ground antenna configurations, the aeroelastic dynamics of airport
control tower configurations for the Federal Aviation Authority, and the
less anticipated live tests in Olympic ski gear, astronauts' space
suits for tare evaluations related to underwater simulations of weightless
space activity, racing bicycles, subway station entrances, and Olympic
rowing shells for oarlock system drag comparisons.
(See facility web site)
