Dr. Batill conducts
his research in conjunction with colleagues in the Design
Automation Laboratory and the Hessert
Laboratory for Aerospace Research.
Current Research
Multidisciplinary Design Automation and Optimization
Engineering systems ranging from complete aerospace vehicles to small handheld electronic devices represent complex interactions of many engineering disciplines. In the past, the design of many of these systems was conducted in a "departmentalized and sequential" fashion. Demands for improved performance and economic competitiveness require that the design of systems be conducted in a concurrent and multidisciplinary manner and that the designer consider both the product and the process used to manufacture the product. This research involves the development of automated computer based design methods to address a variety of issues in systems design. Current efforts include the integration of artificial neural networks into non-hierarchical design problems in a variety of disciplines including conceptual flight vehicle design.
Autonomous and Intelligent Systems
Unmanned, remotely or robotically controlled vehicles may provide the safest and most economical systems for a variety of applications. This class of vehicles can include surface and atmospheric flight vehicles. The applications considered are public safety, law enforcement, communications, disaster and search and rescue. Research efforts in this area are directed toward the development of design methodologies and integration of evolving technologies to exploit the capabilities of these systems in a cost efficient manner. This work includes the development of multidisciplinary design techniques suitable for the conceptual design of these systems, development of microprocessor-based control (AI) and actual fabrication of concept vehicles.
Uncertainty: Methodology and Applications in Engineering System DesignMost of the information used to support decisions made in the processes of design, development, or use of engineering systems is approximate in nature. Whether the information has been developed from experiments, analysis or numerical simulation, its accuracy is limited by a variety of assumptions. Characterizing and quantifying the level of approximation and providing the engineer with methods to deal with, this uncertainty is the purpose of this research.
Flight demonstration in student competition.
Selected Recent Publications
Batill, S.M., Sellar, R.S. and Stelmack, M., “A Framework for Multidisciplinary Design Based upon Response-Surface Approximations,” AIAA Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 36, No. 1,pp. 287-297, 1999..
Batill, S.M., Stelmack, M.A., and Yu, X.Q., “Multidisciplinary Design of an Electric-Powered UAV, Aircraft Design, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1-18, 1999.
Stelmack, M., Batill, S., Beck, B., “Design of an Aircraft Brake Component Using an Interactive Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Framework,” ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Vol. 122, No. 1, pp. 70-76, March 2000.
Gu, X., Renaud, J.E., Batill, S.M., Brach, R.M., Budhiraja, A., “Worst Case Propagated Uncertainty of Multidisciplinary Systems in Robust Optimization”, Structural Optimization, Volume 20, Number 3, pp. 190-213, Published by Springer-Verlag, Germany, 2000.
Gu, X., Renaud, J.E., Ashe, L.M., Batill, S.M., Budhiraja, A.S., Krajewski, L.J. , “Decision Based Collaborative Optimization under Uncertainty”, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Volume 124, Number 1, pp. 1- 13, March 2002.
Direct comments, questions, and corrections to amedept@nd.edu