NASA awards $30 million to university teams for aeronautics research

NASA has announced roughly $30 million in funding for four university aeronautics research projects, the agency said. The awards fall under its University Leadership Initiative, a program pairing academic researchers with industry and government partners.

A Stanford University team led by researcher Somil Bansal will spend four years developing avionics that use machine learning to manage aircraft communications, navigation and other electronics while continuously checking for safety during operation. NASA said the work could help form a framework for eventually bringing AI-enabled avionics into the national airspace system.

A separate Stanford team will build detailed simulations aimed at planning quieter flight paths for small aircraft operating over cities. The University of Minnesota received funding to spend four years developing a propulsion system that would run as a conventional turbofan during takeoff and subsonic flight, then switch to ramjet operation. NASA said the design could theoretically cruise at Mach 4.

Virginia Tech was awarded a three-year grant to study aircraft design and certification. The work combines systems engineering methods, multidisciplinary design tools and uncertainty modeling. NASA said the goal is to factor certification requirements into aircraft development earlier, reducing the likelihood of expensive redesigns later on.

According to NASA's Andrew Provenza, a project manager at the Glenn Research Center, the four new awards match the agency's aeronautics mission priorities. This is the ninth round of funding issued under the University Leadership Initiative.