ü From 8–11 December 2025 (4 Days, 4 Classes, 20 Hours)
ü From 11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (UTC-4) (all classes will be recorded and available for replay; course notes and student software for hands-on exercises will be available for download)
ü All students will also receive an e-book copy of the instructor’s AIAA textbook Aircraft and Rotorcraft System Identification: Engineering Methods With Flight Test Examples, 2nd Edition.
ü All students will receive an AIAA Certificate of Completion at the end of the course
OVERVIEW
This comprehensive course will review the fundamental methods of Manned and UAV aircraft and rotorcraft system identification for determining flight dynamics and control models from test data with Hands-on Training using CIFER®. The course illustrates the benefits of the broad application of system identification throughout the flight vehicle development process and provides the attendees with an intensive hands-on training of the CIFER® interactive system identification software suite using flight-test data and extensive Lab exercises. Each lecture reviews the next step in the system identification process, covering key principles, flight-test methods and typical flight-test results. Then, the student uses the intuitive CIFER® software to conduct this step in a structured Lab Exercise using flight-test data. By the end of the 4-day course, the student will have completed the entire identification process of extracting and verifying a flight dynamics model of a rotorcraft or fixed-wing aircraft from flight-test data using CIFER®. New lecture material covers special considerations and typical system identification results for multi-copters, eVTOL/UAM configurations, how system identification results can be used to validate and update physics-based flight simulation models, and “model stitching” that combines identified point models and trim data into an accurate continuous full-flight envelope simulation. Students receive access to on-line course notes, a copy of the course text authored by the instructor, and access to the CIFER® software. Many presented examples from recent manned and UAV aircraft programs illustrate the effectiveness of this technology for rapidly solving difficult integration problems. The course will review key methods and computational tools but will not be overly mathematical in content.
The key objectives of this course are to: (1) review the fundamental methods of Manned and UAV aircraft and rotorcraft frequency-domain system identification methods and illustrate the benefits of the broad application of this system ID approach throughout the flight vehicle development process; (2) present many case studies and results for a range of aircraft and eVTOL configurations; (3) provide the attendees with comprehensive hands-on training of the CIFER® system identification software using flight test data, 10 Lab exercises that cover the entire process, and a demo copy of the CIFER® software. This requires the student to have a PC laptop running either Windows 10 or Windows 11, or a Mac laptop running macOS 10.14 (Mojave), macOS 10.15 (Catalina), macOS 11 (Big Sur), macOS 12 (Monterey), or macOS 13 (Ventura).
KEY TOPICS
- Overview of system identification methods and applications
- Flight testing and instrumentation for handling-qualities and manned/unmanned control system development
- System ID of manned and UAV aircraft and rotorcraft dynamics and control from flight test data
- Special aspects for system ID of multi-copter eVTOL/UAM configurations
- Model stitching to build an accurate continuous full flight envelope nonlinear model from system ID point models
- Use of system identification results for physics-based simulation model fidelity analysis and improvement
- Many case studies of system identification for a wide range of aircraft and rotorcraft
- Hands-on training in system identification training using CIFER®
- Over the 4-day course students work 10 comprehensive labs on model identification and verification using flight-test data
- See detailed outline below
The course is intended for practicing engineers and students interested in learning the principles and applications of system identification for manned and unmanned aircraft and rotorcraft. The course assumes some basic knowledge of the concepts of dynamics, frequency-responses, transfer functions, and state-space representations. The course is not highly mathematical and no experience with other tools is a prerequisite.
COURSE FEES (Sign-In To Register)
- AIAA Member Price: $995 USD
- Non-Member Price: $1195 USD
- AIAA Student Member Price: $595 USD
Students should register no later than November 17 to ensure enough time for the software administrator to distribute the CIFER® software and for the student to install and validate it. To receive the 2-month trial of CIFER® Pro version software, students will need to register with an institutional email address (e.g., company, research lab, academic) and not a personal email. Please note that access to the software is at the discretion of the software distributor, and may be subject to international release limitations.
· Overview of system identification methods and applications:
o What is system identification and what are the advantages of frequency-domain methods?
o What are the key payoffs of incorporating system ID in the development cycle
§ “How will it help and what will it do for your program?”
o Frequency-response identification
o Transfer-function and Multi-input/multi-output (state-space) aircraft dynamic models
· Key elements of system identification (each topic will have a student lab exercise using CIFER®)
· Testing techniques:
o Piloted/UAV flight testing for handling-qualities and control system development
o Dos and don’ts of piloted frequency-sweep testing
o Automated sweeps and other test inputs
o Instrumentation requirements and data consistency analysis
· Frequency-response identification:
o FFTs and Chirp-Z transform
o Use of Coherence function for data evaluation
o Simulation fidelity evaluation and handling-qualities analysis
· Effects of flight control feedback on identification:
o Assessing bias errors introduced under closed-loop test conditions
o Limits on minimum signal-to-noise for closed-loop testing
· Multi-input identification:
o Matrix solution to frequency-response identification
o Post processing for system identification of aircraft with redundant/correlated control surfaces
· Optimal windowing:
o Effect and selection of window size
o Numerical optimization for combining windows
· Transfer function modeling:
o Lower-order equivalent system concepts
o Subsystem identification: actuator and structural dynamics
o Handling-qualities applications
· State-space modeling:
o Physical and canonical models
o Applications to wide variety of aircraft and rotorcraft
o UAV fixed wing aircraft, multi-copters, and large unmanned helicopter results
· Time-domain verification:
o Verifying and assessing the predictive capability of identified models using dissimilar inputs
· Key concepts, example applications, and recent research:
o Manned and unmanned aircraft and rotorcraft
o Small fixed-wing UAVs.
o Multi-copter and eVTOL/UAM configurations
· Higher-order modelling:
o Aircraft structural dynamics
o Rotorcraft flapping/coning/inflow dynamics
· Using system identification results to improve the fidelity of physics-based simulation models:
o 7 methods ranging from simple effective corrections to advanced physics-based improvements
o Case studies from recent multi-national NATO study group
· Model Stitching to build an accurate continuous full flight envelope nonlinear model:
o Model building process using system ID point models and trim data
o Case studies for fixed-wing and rotorcraft
o STITCH software
· Path forward:
o New capabilities coming soon to CIFER®
o How to implement course methods on your aircraft
Classroom hours / CEUs: 20 classroom hours / 2.0 CEU/PDH
- The classes will be held via Zoom meetings.
- Course Materials: All classes will be recorded and available for replay; lecture recordings will be available 1-2 business days after the live lecture occurs. Course notes and student software for hands-on exercises will be available for individual download.
- A 2-month trial of the CIFER® Pro version software will be provided for class use. It is strongly recommended that students register by November 17 to ensure enough time for the software administrator to distribute the CIFER® software and for the student to install and validate. Please note that access to the software is at the discretion of the software distributor, and may be subject to international release limitations.
- All registrants will receive an e-book copy of the instructor’s AIAA textbook Aircraft and Rotorcraft System Identification: Engineering Methods With Flight Test Examples, 2nd Edition.
- All slides will be available for individual download. No part of these materials may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted, unless for course participants. All rights reserved.
Cancellation Policy: A refund less a $50.00 cancellation fee will be assessed for all cancellations made in writing prior to 5 days before the start of the event. After that time, no refunds will be provided.
Contact: Please contact Lisa Le or Customer Service if you have questions about the course or group discounts (for 5+ participants).