Morphing Aircraft Systems: Historical Perspectives and Future Challenges
Top Cited Papers
- 1 March 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Journal of Aircraft
- Vol. 50 (2), 337-353
- https://doi.org/10.2514/1.c031456
Abstract
The term ‘morphing aircraft’ describes a broad range of air vehicles and vehicle components that adapt to planned and unplanned multipoint mission requirements. Adaptation or morphing requires changing system features including vehicle ‘states,’ such as vehicle shape, during in-flight operation. The term morphing can be applied to almost any activity in which in-flight vehicle features are changed. As such, morphing has become a buzzword loosely applied to a wide variety of activities, some of which are disconnected from air vehicle morphing development. This has led to three myths: 1) morphing shape change is too expensive, 2) morphing aircraft must weigh more than nonmorphing aircraft, and 3) morphing requires exotic materials and complex systems. This paper attempts to dispel these myths by reviewing early morphing aircraft history to identify inventions and innovations that led to both successes and failures. The review also discusses recent government-sponsored activities in the United States: in particular, morphing systems development sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency viewed from the author’s perspective as a former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Program Manager. The review concludes with identification of possible avenues for future morphing aircraft evolution and morphing device development.Keywords
This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit:
- Morphing Winglets for Aircraft Multi-Phase ImprovementPublished by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) ,2007
- Adaptive StructuresPublished by Wiley ,2007
- Initial Thoughts on Weight Penalty Effects in Shape-adaptable SystemsJournal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 2005
- Adaptronics and Smart StructuresPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,1999
- Missile flight control using active flexspar actuatorsSmart Materials and Structures, 1996
- Design and Fabrication of Microelectromechanical SystemsJournal of Mechanical Design, 1994
- Fundamental mechanisms of aeroelastic control with control surface and strain actuationPublished by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) ,1991
- Variable sweep wing designPublished by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) ,1983
- Mission Adaptive Wing System for Tactical AircraftJournal of Aircraft, 1981
- Variable-sweep aircraft - A case history of multiple re-innovationPublished by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) ,1966