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Morphing aircraft design - the design of aircraft capable of macroscale shape change for drastic in-flight performance variation - is an extremely broad and underdefined field. Two primary means of developing new concepts in morphing exist at Cornell University: design of broad test platforms with generalized motions that can provide future insight into targeted ideas, and specifically adapted aircraft and shape change mechanisms attempting to accomplish a particular task, or hybridize two existing aircraft platforms. Working with both schools of thought, Cornell research has developed a number of useful concepts that are currently under independent analysis and experimentation, including three devices capable of drastically modifying wing structure on a testbed aircraft. Additional concerns that have arisen include the desire to implement ornithological concepts such as perching and wingtip control, as well as the necessity for a compliant aerodynamic skin for producing flight-worthy structural mechanisms.

In the last decade smart technologies have become enablers that cut across traditional boundaries in materials science and engineering. Here we define smart to mean embedded actuation, sensing, and control logic in a tightly coupled feedback loop. While multiple successes have been achieved in the laboratory, we have yet to see the general applicability of smart devices to real aircraft systems. The NASA Aircraft Morphing program is an attempt to couple research across a wide range of disciplines to integrate smart technologies into high payoff aircraft applications. The program bridges research in seven individual disciplines and combines the effort into activities in three primary program thrusts. System studies are used to assess the highest-payoff program objectives, and specific research activities are defined to address the technologies required for development of smart aircraft systems. In this paper we address the overall program goals and programmatic structure, and discuss the challenges associated with bringing the technologies to fruition.

In the last decade smart technologies have become enablers that cut across traditional boundaries in materials science and engineering. Here we define smart to mean embedded actuation, sensing, and control logic in a tightly coupled feedback loop. While multiple successes have been achieved in the laboratory, we have yet to see the general applicability of smart devices to real aircraft systems. The NASA Aircraft Morphing program is an attempt to couple research across a wide range of disciplines to integrate smart technologies into high payoff aircraft applications. The program bridges research in seven individual disciplines and combines the effort into activities in three primary program thrusts. System studies are used to assess the highest- payoff program objectives, and specific research activities are defined to address the technologies required for development of smart aircraft systems. In this paper we address the overall program goals and programmatic structure, and discuss the challenges associated with bringing the technologies to fruition.