Research group leader Yin Zhongjie from the Shanghai Institute of Mechanical Engineering and
“If the flight path of a hypersonicthe aircraft was planned using the equations that are written for conventional rocket engines, then it could lose control or even crash, ”said the scientist.
High speeds are needed for hypersonic engines like the Scramjet to compress hot, fast-moving air and ignite fuel in a combustion chamber devoid of moving parts.
As a result, hypersonic aircraft can flyover longer distances and with greater efficiency than rocket-powered rockets. In addition, these aircraft are not subject to the jerks and rolls that rockets experience, which can significantly change the air flow and damage the engine.
To overcome these difficulties, the team createda new algorithm that greatly simplifies the calculation procedure. Computer simulations have shown that the new method makes it possible to construct a flight path that takes longer than usual. However, the calculations were accurate enough to make the necessary maneuver at a distance of 6.8 km.
The work of the research team is greatinfluenced by David Benson, a former graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who proposed a mathematical approach called pseudospectral Gaussian decoding, this method can greatly simplify the flight control of launch vehicles.
Scientists have also claimed to have usedNASA algorithm created for the X-33 hypersonic aircraft. Although the X-33 project was nearly complete, it was abandoned by NASA in 2001 due to technical difficulties.
Meanwhile, technology developmentaeronautical hypersonic aircraft has attracted considerable attention from the Chinese government. Local universities receive funding to build and test-fly prototype aircraft using advanced propulsion systems such as rotary detonation actuators and the hypersonic ramjet (Scramjet).
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