The discussion will present the system-level perspective regarding the employment of adaptive geometry for rotary-wing propulsors, such as propellers and rotors. The capability to change configuration during use of a system offers dramatically improved performance by replacing the single static geometry that represents a compromise across use cases left unattended to complete its design life, with a state-changing system capable of a range of geometries each customized for the particular operating condition. The presentation will touch on the complexity added with incorporating active means to control formerly passive components, and the ensuing need for sensing and intelligence.

Applying any new technology to aviation involves a number of technical, financial, cultural and regulatory challenges. Applying to rotary-wing propulsion introduces yet more. The presentation will address the relationship between the push by researchers and developers to insert new technology, the pull required by operators and users, and the variety and impacts of risks on the perspective of each.

The presentation will address the challenges to be overcome for rotary-wing adaptation in aviation, some of them in work and some still ahead, in the context of nature’s aviation examples and the history of manufactured morphing aircraft.

About the Speaker...

Daniel Newman is a Senior Technical Fellow of the Boeing Company in aircraft configuration design and development. He serves as Chief Engineer for the Advanced Vertical Lift organization in Defense, Space, and Security, responsible for the technical integrity of research for a full range of runway independent technologies, products and services including rotorcraft, tiltrotor and powered lift aircraft. He also supports commercial airplane product development focusing on advanced concepts. Mr. Newman previously served as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the Tactical Technologies Office, responsible for a variety of developments in unmanned aircraft, high-fidelity modeling, sensors, airspace network and architecture, and aircraft survivability. Prior to DARPA he was a Technical Fellow of The Boeing Company in a variety of roles on the RAH-66 Comanche Program and in the Advanced Rotorcraft organization. He served as the Technical Director of the Vertical Flight Society (formerly AHS International), the premier global vertical flight technical society. He served as an Adjunct Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and his Masters in Aerospace Engineering from the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center at the University of Maryland.