Wright Brothers Wind TunnelAerospace Computational Design Lab The Aerospace Computational Design Lab's mission is to improve the design of aerospace systems through the advancement of computational methods and tools that incorporate multidisciplinary analysis and optimization, probabilistic and robust design techniques, and next-generation computational fluid dynamics. The laboratory studies a broad range of topics that focus on the design of aircraft and aircraft engines. (See affiliated faculty) Aerospace Controls Laboratory The Aerospace Controls Laboratory investigates estimation and control systems for modern aerospace systems, with particular attention to distributed, multivehicle architectures. Example applications involve cooperating teams of UAVs or formation-flying spacecraft. The research goal is to increase the level of autonomy in these systems by incorporating higher-level decisions, such as vehicle-waypoint assignment and collision avoidance routing, into feedback control systems. Core competencies include optimal estimation and control, optimization for both path-planning and operations research, receding-horizon/model predictive control, and GPS. (See affiliated faculty) Communications and Networking Research Group The primary goal of the Communications and Networking Research Group is the design of network architectures that are cost effective, scalable, and meet emerging needs for high data-rate and reliable communications. To meet emerging critical needs for military communications, space exploration, and internet access for remote and mobile users, future aerospace networks will depend upon satellite, wireless and optical components. Satellite networks are essential for providing access to remote locations lacking in communications infrastructure; wireless networks are needed for communication between untethered nodes (such as autonomous air vehicles); and optical networks are critical to the network backbone and in high performance local area networks. The group is working on a wide range of projects in the area of data communication and networks with application to satellite, wireless, and optical networks. Over the past year, the group started work on a new project toward the design of highly robust telecommunication networks that can survive a massive disruption that may result from natural disasters or intentional attack. The project examines the impact of large scale, geographically correlated failures, on network survivability and design. The group has also started work on a new project designing architectures and algorithms for dynamically reconfigurable optical networks. This novel architecture enables the network topology to dynamically change based on changes in traffic patterns; thus significantly increasing the traffic capacity of core optical networks. The group�s research crosses disciplinary boundaries by combining techniques from network optimization, queueing theory, graph theory, network protocols and algorithms, hardware design, and physical layer communications. (See affiliated faculty) Complex Systems Research Lab Increasing complexity and coupling as well as the introduction of new digital technology are introducing new challenges for engineering, operations, and sustainment. The Complex Systems Research Lab designs system modeling, analysis, and visualization theory and tools to assist in the design and operation of safer systems with greater capability. To accomplish these goals, the lab applies a system's approach to engineering that includes building technical foundations and knowledge and integrating these with the organizational, political, and cultural aspects of system construction and operation. While CSRL's main emphasis is aerospace systems and applications, its research results are applicable to complex systems in such domains as transportation, energy, and health. Current research projects include accident modeling and design for safety; model-based system and software engineering; reusable, component-based system architectures; interactive visualization; human-centered system design; system diagnosis and fault tolerance; system sustainment; and organizational factors in engineering and project management. (See affiliated faculty) Gas Turbine Laboratory The MIT Gas Turbine Laboratory is the largest university laboratory of its kind, focusing on all aspects of advanced propulsion systems and turbomachinery. GTL's mission is to advance the state-of-the-art in gas turbines for power and propulsion. Several unique experimental facilities include a blowdown turbine, a blowdown compressor, a shock tube for reacting flow heat transfer analysis, facilities for designing, fabricating and testing micro heat engines, and a range of one-of-a-kind experimental diagnostics. GTL also has unique computational and theoretical modeling capabilities in the areas of gas turbine fluid mechanics, aircraft noise, emissions, heat transfer and robust design. Three examples of the lab's work are the development of Smart Engines, in particular active control of turbomachine instabilities; the Microengine Project, which involves extensive collaboration with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science-these are shirt-button sized high-power density gas turbine and rocket engines fabricated using silicon chip manufacturing technology; and the Silent Aircraft Initiative, an effort to dramatically reduce aircraft noise with the goal to transform commercial air transportation. (See affiliated faculty) Humans and Automation Lab Research in the Humans and Automation Lab focuses on the multifaceted interactions of human and computer decision-making in complex sociotechnical systems. With the explosion of automated technology, the need for humans as supervisors of complex automatic control systems has replaced the need for humans in direct manual control. A consequence of complex, highly automated domains in which the human decision-maker is more on-the-loop than in-the-loop is that the level of required cognition has moved from that of well-rehearsed skill execution and rule following, to higher, more abstract levels of knowledge synthesis, judgment, and reasoning. Employing human-centered design principles to human supervisory control problems, and identifying ways in which humans and computers can leverage the strengths of each other to achieve superior decisions together is HAL's central focus. Current research projects include collaborative human-computer decision making for command and control domains, and investigating human understanding of complex optimization algorithms and visualization of cost (objective functions); uses of adaptive automation and psychophysiologic measures in human supervisory control; decision theoretic modelling for datalink communications; developing metrics for evaluating display complexity; and display design for autonomous formation flying. (See affiliated faculty) International Center for Air Transportation The International Center for Air Transportation undertakes research and educational programs that discover and disseminate the knowledge and tools underlying a global air transportation industry driven by new technologies. Global information systems are central to the future operation of international air transportation. Modern information technology systems of interest to ICAT include: global communication and positioning; international air traffic management; scheduling, dispatch and maintenance support; vehicle management; passenger information and communication; and real-time vehicle diagnostics. Airline operations are also undergoing major transformations.Airline management, airport security, air transportation economics, fleet scheduling, traffic flow management and airport facilities development, represent areas of great interest to the MIT faculty and are of vital importance to international air transportation. ICAT is a physical and intellectual home for these activities. ICAT, and its predecessors, the Aeronautical Systems Laboratory and Flight Transportation Laboratory, pioneered concepts in air traffic management and flight deck automation and displays that are now in common use. (See affiliated faculty) Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems The Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems is an interdepartmental research laboratory. It began in 1939 as the Servomechanisms Laboratory, an offshoot of the Department of Electrical Engineering. Its early work, during World War II, focused on gunfire and guided missile control, radar, and flight trainer technology. Over the years, the scope of its research broadened. Today, LIDS' fundamental research goal is to advance the field of systems, communications and control. In doing this, it recognizes the interdependence of these fields and the fundamental role that computation plays in this research. LIDS conducts basic theoretical studies in communication and control and is committed to advancing the state of knowledge of technologically important areas such as atmospheric optical communications and multivariable robust control. Its staff includes faculty members, full-time research scientists, postdoctoral fellows, graduate research assistants, and support personnel. Every year several research scientists from various parts of the world visit the Laboratory to participate in its research program. (See affiliated faculty) Lean Advancement Initiative The Lean Advancement Initiative is a unique learning and research consortium focused on enterprise transformation, and its members include key stakeholders from industry, government, and academia. LAI is headquartered in AeroAstro, works in close collaboration with the Sloan School of Management, and is managed under the auspices of the Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development, an MIT-wide interdisciplinary research center. LAI began in 1993 as the Lean Aircraft Initiative when leaders from the U.S. Air Force, MIT, labor unions, and defense aerospace businesses created a partnership to transform the U.S. aerospace industry using an operational philosophy known as �lean.� LAI is now in its fifth and most important phase and has moved beyond a focus on business-unit level change toward a holistic approach to transforming entire enterprises across a variety of industries. Through collaborative stakeholder engagement, along with the development and promulgation of knowledge, practices, and tools, LAI enables enterprises to effectively, efficiently, and reliably create value in complex and rapidly changing environments. Consortium members work collaboratively through the neutral LAI forum toward enterprise excellence, and the results are radical improvements, lifecycle cost savings, and increased stakeholder value. LAI’s Educational Network includes some 50 educational institutions in the United States, England, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico and provides LAI members with unmatched educational outreach and training capabilities. (See affiliated faculty) Man Vehicle Laboratory The Man Vehicle Laboratory optimizes human-vehicle system safety and effectiveness by improving understanding of human physiological and cognitive capabilities, and developing appropriate countermeasures and evidence-based engineering design criteria. Research is interdisciplinary, and uses techniques from manual and supervisory control, signal processing, estimation, sensory-motor physiology, sensory and cognitive psychology, biomechanics, human factor engineering, artificial intelligence, and biostatistics. MVL has flown experiments on Space Shuttle Spacelab missions and parabolic flights, and has several flight experiments in development for the International Space Station. NASA, the National Space Biomedical Institute, and the FAA sponsor ground-based research. Projects focus on advanced space suit design and dynamics of astronaut motion, adaptation to rotating artificial gravity environments, spatial disorientation and navigation, teleoperation, design of aircraft and spacecraft displays and controls and cockpit human factors. Annual MVL MIT Independent Activities Period activities include ski safety research, and an introductory course on Boeing 767 systems and automation. MVL faculty also teach subjects in human factors engineering, space systems engineering, space policy, flight simulation, space physiology, aerospace biomedical and life support engineering, and the physiology of human spatial orientation. (See affiliated faculty) Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Research The Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction is a unique, leading aviation cooperative research organization, which fosters breakthrough technological, operational, policy, and workforce advances for the betterment of mobility, economy, national security, and the environment. PARTNER is an FAA/NASA/Transport Canada-sponsored Center of Excellence. The organization's operational headquarters is at MIT Aero-Astro. PARTNER comprises 9 universities, and more than 50 advisory board members. Its collaborating members include aerospace manufacturers; airlines; airports; national, state, and local government; professional and trade associations; non-governmental organizations; and community groups. As an incentive to collaboration, equal matches are required for federal dollars granted to PARTNER. The universities provide some of these matching funds, but most are obtained from the organizations represented on the advisory board. This collaborative process has fueled unique research efforts involving a wide spectrum of participants. PARTNER research and activities have included an aviation and environment report to the U.S. Congress proposing a national vision statement and recommended actions; successfully testing alternate descent patterns as a no/low-cost means to reduce aircraft noise, fuel consumption, and pollutant emissions; assessing aircraft particulate matter formation; studying noise acceptability of overland supersonic flight; and examining alternative fuels for aircraft. (See affiliated faculty) Systems Engineering Advancement Research Initiative The Systems Engineering Advancement Research Initiative (SEAri) advances the theories, methods, and effective practice of systems engineering applied to complex socio-technical systems through collaborative research. Four key areas of research are: 1) Socio-Technical Decision Making, which seeks to develop multi-disciplinary representations, analysis methods, and techniques for improving decision making for socio-technical systems; 2) Designing for Value Robustness, which seeks to develop methods for concept exploration, architecting and design using a dynamic perspective for the purpose of realizing systems, products, and services that deliver sustained value to stakeholders in a changing world; 3) Systems Engineering Economics, which seeks to develop an economics view of systems engineering to achieve measurable and predictable outcomes while delivering value to stakeholders; 4) Systems Engineering in the Enterprise, which involves empirical studies and case-based research for the purpose of understanding how to achieve more effective systems engineering practice taking into account the nature of the system being developed, external context, and the characteristics of the associated enterprise. The research group has a strong foundation in the aerospace system design and architecture domain, with more recent work branching into the transportation and infrastructure systems domains. While these domains represent past work and ongoing areas for case study analysis, the methods and practices developed by SEAri aim for cross-domain applicability. (See affiliated faculty) Space Propulsion Laboratory The Space Propulsion Laboratory, part of the Space Systems Lab, studies and develops systems for increasing performance and reducing costs of space propulsion. A major area of interest to lab is electric propulsion, in which the electrical, rather than chemical energy propels spacecraft. The benefits are numerous and very important, that is the reason why many communication satellites and scientific missions are turning to electric propulsion systems. In the future these plasma engines will allow people to do such things as explore in more detail the structure of the universe, increase the lifetime of commercial payloads or look for signs of life in far away places. Other areas of research include microfabrication; numerical simulation, arcjet thrusters; numerical simulation, hall thrusters; space tethers; orbit optimization; and pacecraft-thruster interaction. (See affiliated faculty) Space Systems Laboratory The Space Systems Laboratory engages in cutting-edge research projects with the goal of directly contributing to the current and future exploration and development of space. SSL's mission is to explore innovative concepts for the integration of future space systems and to train a generation of researchers and engineers conversant in this field. Specific tasks include developing the technology and systems analysis associated with small spacecraft, precision optical systems, and International Space Station technology research and development. The laboratory encompasses expertise in structural dynamics, control, thermal, space power, propulsion, microelectromechanical systems, software development and systems. Major activities in this laboratory are the development of small spacecraft thruster systems (see the Space Propulsion Laboratory) and researching issues associated with the distribution of function among satellites. In addition, technology is being developed for spaceflight validation in support of a new class of space-based telescopes that exploit the physics of interferometry to achieve dramatic breakthroughs in angular resolution. (See affiliated faculty) Technology Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Structures The Technology Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Structures (TELAMS), known since its establishment as TELAC, has been dedicated to providing leadership in the advancement of the knowledge and capabilities of the composites and structures community through education of students, original research, and interaction with the community at large. This leadership continues today at TELAMS, with an emphasis on composite materials, as the research topics span a wide spectrum, from basic understanding of composite materials to their behavior in specific structural configurations, with the ultimate objective of gaining a sufficient understanding of the properties of a composite laminate's basic building block, and how these properties interact to determine properties of laminates and structures made of composite materials. Recently, the focus of the laboratory has broadened into other areas, and thus its renaming. These areas include multi-scale modeling and simulation of the mechanics of advanced materials used in the aerospace industry with emphasis on understanding the influence of micro-structural features of deformation and failure in their effective engineering response, computational modeling in solid mechanics and fluid-structure interaction problems, and design, fabrication, and testing of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), along with their associated materials and processes. (See affiliated faculty) Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel Since its opening in September 1938, The Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel has played a major role in the development of aerospace, civil engineering and architectural systems. In recent years, faculty research interests generated long-range studies of unsteady airfoil flow fields, jet engine inlet-vortex behavior, aeroelastic tests of unducted propeller fans, and panel methods for tunnel wall interaction effects. Industrial testing has ranged over auxiliary propulsion burner units, helicopter antenna pods, and in-flight trailing cables, as well as new concepts for roofing attachments, a variety of stationary and vehicle mounted ground antenna configurations, the aeroelastic dynamics of airport control tower configurations for the Federal Aviation Authority, and the less anticipated live tests in Olympic ski gear, astronauts' space suits for tare evaluations related to underwater simulations of weightless space activity, racing bicycles, subway station entrances, and Olympic rowing shells for oarlock system drag comparisons. (See facility web site)
Aerospace Controls Laboratory The Aerospace Controls Laboratory investigates estimation and control systems for modern aerospace systems, with particular attention to distributed, multivehicle architectures. Example applications involve cooperating teams of UAVs or formation-flying spacecraft. The research goal is to increase the level of autonomy in these systems by incorporating higher-level decisions, such as vehicle-waypoint assignment and collision avoidance routing, into feedback control systems. Core competencies include optimal estimation and control, optimization for both path-planning and operations research, receding-horizon/model predictive control, and GPS. (See affiliated faculty) Communications and Networking Research Group The primary goal of the Communications and Networking Research Group is the design of network architectures that are cost effective, scalable, and meet emerging needs for high data-rate and reliable communications. To meet emerging critical needs for military communications, space exploration, and internet access for remote and mobile users, future aerospace networks will depend upon satellite, wireless and optical components. Satellite networks are essential for providing access to remote locations lacking in communications infrastructure; wireless networks are needed for communication between untethered nodes (such as autonomous air vehicles); and optical networks are critical to the network backbone and in high performance local area networks. The group is working on a wide range of projects in the area of data communication and networks with application to satellite, wireless, and optical networks. Over the past year, the group started work on a new project toward the design of highly robust telecommunication networks that can survive a massive disruption that may result from natural disasters or intentional attack. The project examines the impact of large scale, geographically correlated failures, on network survivability and design. The group has also started work on a new project designing architectures and algorithms for dynamically reconfigurable optical networks. This novel architecture enables the network topology to dynamically change based on changes in traffic patterns; thus significantly increasing the traffic capacity of core optical networks. The group�s research crosses disciplinary boundaries by combining techniques from network optimization, queueing theory, graph theory, network protocols and algorithms, hardware design, and physical layer communications. (See affiliated faculty) Complex Systems Research Lab Increasing complexity and coupling as well as the introduction of new digital technology are introducing new challenges for engineering, operations, and sustainment. The Complex Systems Research Lab designs system modeling, analysis, and visualization theory and tools to assist in the design and operation of safer systems with greater capability. To accomplish these goals, the lab applies a system's approach to engineering that includes building technical foundations and knowledge and integrating these with the organizational, political, and cultural aspects of system construction and operation. While CSRL's main emphasis is aerospace systems and applications, its research results are applicable to complex systems in such domains as transportation, energy, and health. Current research projects include accident modeling and design for safety; model-based system and software engineering; reusable, component-based system architectures; interactive visualization; human-centered system design; system diagnosis and fault tolerance; system sustainment; and organizational factors in engineering and project management. (See affiliated faculty) 
Gas Turbine Laboratory The MIT Gas Turbine Laboratory is the largest university laboratory of its kind, focusing on all aspects of advanced propulsion systems and turbomachinery. GTL's mission is to advance the state-of-the-art in gas turbines for power and propulsion. Several unique experimental facilities include a blowdown turbine, a blowdown compressor, a shock tube for reacting flow heat transfer analysis, facilities for designing, fabricating and testing micro heat engines, and a range of one-of-a-kind experimental diagnostics. GTL also has unique computational and theoretical modeling capabilities in the areas of gas turbine fluid mechanics, aircraft noise, emissions, heat transfer and robust design. Three examples of the lab's work are the development of Smart Engines, in particular active control of turbomachine instabilities; the Microengine Project, which involves extensive collaboration with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science-these are shirt-button sized high-power density gas turbine and rocket engines fabricated using silicon chip manufacturing technology; and the Silent Aircraft Initiative, an effort to dramatically reduce aircraft noise with the goal to transform commercial air transportation. (See affiliated faculty) 
Humans and Automation Lab Research in the Humans and Automation Lab focuses on the multifaceted interactions of human and computer decision-making in complex sociotechnical systems. With the explosion of automated technology, the need for humans as supervisors of complex automatic control systems has replaced the need for humans in direct manual control. A consequence of complex, highly automated domains in which the human decision-maker is more on-the-loop than in-the-loop is that the level of required cognition has moved from that of well-rehearsed skill execution and rule following, to higher, more abstract levels of knowledge synthesis, judgment, and reasoning. Employing human-centered design principles to human supervisory control problems, and identifying ways in which humans and computers can leverage the strengths of each other to achieve superior decisions together is HAL's central focus. Current research projects include collaborative human-computer decision making for command and control domains, and investigating human understanding of complex optimization algorithms and visualization of cost (objective functions); uses of adaptive automation and psychophysiologic measures in human supervisory control; decision theoretic modelling for datalink communications; developing metrics for evaluating display complexity; and display design for autonomous formation flying. (See affiliated faculty) 
International Center for Air Transportation The International Center for Air Transportation undertakes research and educational programs that discover and disseminate the knowledge and tools underlying a global air transportation industry driven by new technologies. Global information systems are central to the future operation of international air transportation. Modern information technology systems of interest to ICAT include: global communication and positioning; international air traffic management; scheduling, dispatch and maintenance support; vehicle management; passenger information and communication; and real-time vehicle diagnostics. Airline operations are also undergoing major transformations.Airline management, airport security, air transportation economics, fleet scheduling, traffic flow management and airport facilities development, represent areas of great interest to the MIT faculty and are of vital importance to international air transportation. ICAT is a physical and intellectual home for these activities. ICAT, and its predecessors, the Aeronautical Systems Laboratory and Flight Transportation Laboratory, pioneered concepts in air traffic management and flight deck automation and displays that are now in common use. (See affiliated faculty) Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems The Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems is an interdepartmental research laboratory. It began in 1939 as the Servomechanisms Laboratory, an offshoot of the Department of Electrical Engineering. Its early work, during World War II, focused on gunfire and guided missile control, radar, and flight trainer technology. Over the years, the scope of its research broadened. Today, LIDS' fundamental research goal is to advance the field of systems, communications and control. In doing this, it recognizes the interdependence of these fields and the fundamental role that computation plays in this research. LIDS conducts basic theoretical studies in communication and control and is committed to advancing the state of knowledge of technologically important areas such as atmospheric optical communications and multivariable robust control. Its staff includes faculty members, full-time research scientists, postdoctoral fellows, graduate research assistants, and support personnel. Every year several research scientists from various parts of the world visit the Laboratory to participate in its research program. (See affiliated faculty) Lean Advancement Initiative The Lean Advancement Initiative is a unique learning and research consortium focused on enterprise transformation, and its members include key stakeholders from industry, government, and academia. LAI is headquartered in AeroAstro, works in close collaboration with the Sloan School of Management, and is managed under the auspices of the Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development, an MIT-wide interdisciplinary research center. LAI began in 1993 as the Lean Aircraft Initiative when leaders from the U.S. Air Force, MIT, labor unions, and defense aerospace businesses created a partnership to transform the U.S. aerospace industry using an operational philosophy known as �lean.� LAI is now in its fifth and most important phase and has moved beyond a focus on business-unit level change toward a holistic approach to transforming entire enterprises across a variety of industries. Through collaborative stakeholder engagement, along with the development and promulgation of knowledge, practices, and tools, LAI enables enterprises to effectively, efficiently, and reliably create value in complex and rapidly changing environments. Consortium members work collaboratively through the neutral LAI forum toward enterprise excellence, and the results are radical improvements, lifecycle cost savings, and increased stakeholder value. LAI’s Educational Network includes some 50 educational institutions in the United States, England, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico and provides LAI members with unmatched educational outreach and training capabilities. (See affiliated faculty) 
Man Vehicle Laboratory The Man Vehicle Laboratory optimizes human-vehicle system safety and effectiveness by improving understanding of human physiological and cognitive capabilities, and developing appropriate countermeasures and evidence-based engineering design criteria. Research is interdisciplinary, and uses techniques from manual and supervisory control, signal processing, estimation, sensory-motor physiology, sensory and cognitive psychology, biomechanics, human factor engineering, artificial intelligence, and biostatistics. MVL has flown experiments on Space Shuttle Spacelab missions and parabolic flights, and has several flight experiments in development for the International Space Station. NASA, the National Space Biomedical Institute, and the FAA sponsor ground-based research. Projects focus on advanced space suit design and dynamics of astronaut motion, adaptation to rotating artificial gravity environments, spatial disorientation and navigation, teleoperation, design of aircraft and spacecraft displays and controls and cockpit human factors. Annual MVL MIT Independent Activities Period activities include ski safety research, and an introductory course on Boeing 767 systems and automation. MVL faculty also teach subjects in human factors engineering, space systems engineering, space policy, flight simulation, space physiology, aerospace biomedical and life support engineering, and the physiology of human spatial orientation. (See affiliated faculty) Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Research The Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction is a unique, leading aviation cooperative research organization, which fosters breakthrough technological, operational, policy, and workforce advances for the betterment of mobility, economy, national security, and the environment. PARTNER is an FAA/NASA/Transport Canada-sponsored Center of Excellence. The organization's operational headquarters is at MIT Aero-Astro. PARTNER comprises 9 universities, and more than 50 advisory board members. Its collaborating members include aerospace manufacturers; airlines; airports; national, state, and local government; professional and trade associations; non-governmental organizations; and community groups. As an incentive to collaboration, equal matches are required for federal dollars granted to PARTNER. The universities provide some of these matching funds, but most are obtained from the organizations represented on the advisory board. This collaborative process has fueled unique research efforts involving a wide spectrum of participants. PARTNER research and activities have included an aviation and environment report to the U.S. Congress proposing a national vision statement and recommended actions; successfully testing alternate descent patterns as a no/low-cost means to reduce aircraft noise, fuel consumption, and pollutant emissions; assessing aircraft particulate matter formation; studying noise acceptability of overland supersonic flight; and examining alternative fuels for aircraft. (See affiliated faculty) Systems Engineering Advancement Research Initiative The Systems Engineering Advancement Research Initiative (SEAri) advances the theories, methods, and effective practice of systems engineering applied to complex socio-technical systems through collaborative research. Four key areas of research are: 1) Socio-Technical Decision Making, which seeks to develop multi-disciplinary representations, analysis methods, and techniques for improving decision making for socio-technical systems; 2) Designing for Value Robustness, which seeks to develop methods for concept exploration, architecting and design using a dynamic perspective for the purpose of realizing systems, products, and services that deliver sustained value to stakeholders in a changing world; 3) Systems Engineering Economics, which seeks to develop an economics view of systems engineering to achieve measurable and predictable outcomes while delivering value to stakeholders; 4) Systems Engineering in the Enterprise, which involves empirical studies and case-based research for the purpose of understanding how to achieve more effective systems engineering practice taking into account the nature of the system being developed, external context, and the characteristics of the associated enterprise. The research group has a strong foundation in the aerospace system design and architecture domain, with more recent work branching into the transportation and infrastructure systems domains. While these domains represent past work and ongoing areas for case study analysis, the methods and practices developed by SEAri aim for cross-domain applicability. (See affiliated faculty) Space Propulsion Laboratory The Space Propulsion Laboratory, part of the Space Systems Lab, studies and develops systems for increasing performance and reducing costs of space propulsion. A major area of interest to lab is electric propulsion, in which the electrical, rather than chemical energy propels spacecraft. The benefits are numerous and very important, that is the reason why many communication satellites and scientific missions are turning to electric propulsion systems. In the future these plasma engines will allow people to do such things as explore in more detail the structure of the universe, increase the lifetime of commercial payloads or look for signs of life in far away places. Other areas of research include microfabrication; numerical simulation, arcjet thrusters; numerical simulation, hall thrusters; space tethers; orbit optimization; and pacecraft-thruster interaction. (See affiliated faculty) 
Space Systems Laboratory The Space Systems Laboratory engages in cutting-edge research projects with the goal of directly contributing to the current and future exploration and development of space. SSL's mission is to explore innovative concepts for the integration of future space systems and to train a generation of researchers and engineers conversant in this field. Specific tasks include developing the technology and systems analysis associated with small spacecraft, precision optical systems, and International Space Station technology research and development. The laboratory encompasses expertise in structural dynamics, control, thermal, space power, propulsion, microelectromechanical systems, software development and systems. Major activities in this laboratory are the development of small spacecraft thruster systems (see the Space Propulsion Laboratory) and researching issues associated with the distribution of function among satellites. In addition, technology is being developed for spaceflight validation in support of a new class of space-based telescopes that exploit the physics of interferometry to achieve dramatic breakthroughs in angular resolution. (See affiliated faculty) Technology Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Structures The Technology Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Structures (TELAMS), known since its establishment as TELAC, has been dedicated to providing leadership in the advancement of the knowledge and capabilities of the composites and structures community through education of students, original research, and interaction with the community at large. This leadership continues today at TELAMS, with an emphasis on composite materials, as the research topics span a wide spectrum, from basic understanding of composite materials to their behavior in specific structural configurations, with the ultimate objective of gaining a sufficient understanding of the properties of a composite laminate's basic building block, and how these properties interact to determine properties of laminates and structures made of composite materials. Recently, the focus of the laboratory has broadened into other areas, and thus its renaming. These areas include multi-scale modeling and simulation of the mechanics of advanced materials used in the aerospace industry with emphasis on understanding the influence of micro-structural features of deformation and failure in their effective engineering response, computational modeling in solid mechanics and fluid-structure interaction problems, and design, fabrication, and testing of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), along with their associated materials and processes. (See affiliated faculty) 
Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel Since its opening in September 1938, The Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel has played a major role in the development of aerospace, civil engineering and architectural systems. In recent years, faculty research interests generated long-range studies of unsteady airfoil flow fields, jet engine inlet-vortex behavior, aeroelastic tests of unducted propeller fans, and panel methods for tunnel wall interaction effects. Industrial testing has ranged over auxiliary propulsion burner units, helicopter antenna pods, and in-flight trailing cables, as well as new concepts for roofing attachments, a variety of stationary and vehicle mounted ground antenna configurations, the aeroelastic dynamics of airport control tower configurations for the Federal Aviation Authority, and the less anticipated live tests in Olympic ski gear, astronauts' space suits for tare evaluations related to underwater simulations of weightless space activity, racing bicycles, subway station entrances, and Olympic rowing shells for oarlock system drag comparisons. (See facility web site)