Joseph F. Horn

Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering

Penn State University

         233H Hammond Building                                                      Phone: (814) 865-6434

            Department of Aerospace Engineering                               Fax: (814) 865-7092

            The Pennsylvania State University                                      Email: joehorn@psu.edu

            University Park, PA 16802                                                   http://www.personal.psu.edu/jfh19

 

                                                                        For more details see my Curriculum Vitae             

 

Research Interests:

My research interests are primarily in the areas of flight control design, flight dynamics, modeling and simulation, and handling qualities, with specific emphasis on rotorcraft applications.  Many of my research projects are affiliated with the Penn State Vertical Lift Research Center of excellence.

 

Current or recent research topics:

·       Modeling and simulation and flight control design for shipbourne rotorcraft and rotorcraft operating in turbulent environments

·       Flight control design and optimization for compound rotorcraft and rotorcraft with variable RPM.

·       Path planning for optimal search and surveillance on autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

·       Autonomous autorotation for UAV Rotorcraft

·       Modeling and simulation and control design for ducted fan aircraft.

·       Design of control systems and cueing systems for carefree maneuvering and damage mitigation.

Some future research topics:

·       Autonomous Multi-lift Systems

·       Advanced Response Types and Cueing Systems for Naval Operations

·       Control Augmentation of Helicopters with External Loads Using Cable Angle Feedback

 

Research sponsors include: National Rotorcraft Technology Center and Vertical Lift Consortium (U.S. Army), NASA, Office of Naval Research.  I have also teamed with several companies on government funded research programs including: Sikorsky Aircraft, Boeing Helicopters Division, Piasecki Aircraft Corporation, Continuum Dynamics Incorporated, and Barron Associates.

 

Teaching:

My teaching focus has been in the areas of flight dynamics, stability and control, and automatic control systems.  Recently I have also taught the Helicopter Design course. Courses that I have taught at Penn State include the following:

AERSP 413 Aircraft Stability and Control: 2000-2007, 2009, 2010.

AERSP 518 Dynamics and Control of Aerospace Vehicles: 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011.

AERSP 597B (formerly AERSP 597J) Helicopter Stability and Control:  2002, 2003, 2008, and 2010.

AERSP 402A/B, Section 2: Preliminary/Detailed Design of Helicopters: 2009-2011.

AERSP 460 (formerly AERSP 497G) Aerospace Control Systems: 2001-2005.

AERSP 304 Dynamics and Control of Aerospace Systems: 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2008.

AERSP 306 Aeronautics: 2006

 

Education:

Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, June 1999.

M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, August 1992.

B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, May 1990.

 

Experience:

Associate Professor, Penn State University, July 2006 to present.

Associate Director of the Penn State Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE), July 2006 to present.

Assistant Professor, Penn State University, July 2000 to June 2006.

Senior Engineer, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Electronic Flight Controls/Simulation, Handling Qualities Group, Stratford, CT. July 1999 to July 2000.

Graduate Research Assistant, Georgia Tech., School of Aerospace, September 1996 to June 1999.

Project Engineer, Piasecki Aircraft Corporation, Essington, PA. August 1992 to August 1996.

 

Affiliations:

American Helicopter Society (AHS):

Technical Chair of the 68th American Helicopter Society Annual Forum to be held in Fort Worth, Texas, May 2012 (Call for papers for AHS Forum 68)

Member of the Handling Qualities Technical Committee since 2004, Chair 2009-2010, Session Chair 2008-2009, Deputy Session Chair 2007-2008

Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Helicopter Society, since 2010

Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

 

Facilities:

VLRCOE Rotorcraft Simulation Facility

·       Uses original XV-15 cab donated to PSU by Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.

·       3-Channel 180 deg Field of View  Display

·       FlightLab and GENHEL Models

 

 

ARL-PSU UAV Lab

·       Super Flyin’ King and Sig Kadet Aircraft

·       Piccolo Autopilot Systems

·       Single Board PC for Research Controllers

 

Coming Soon! Rotary-Wing UAV’s

·       Autonomous Autorotation

·       Multi-Lift Demo

 

Recent Publications:

Articles in Archival Journals (since 2006)

Horn, J.F., Schmidt, E.M., Geiger, B.R., and Deangelo, M.P., “Neural Network Based Trajectory Optimization for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics. In press 2011.

Geiger, B.R., Horn, J.F., Sinsley, G.L., Ross, J.A., and Long, L.N., “Flight Testing a Real Time Implementation of a UAV Path Planner Using Direct Collocation,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 31, (6), November-December 2008, pp.1575-1586.

Yasar, M., Ray, A., and Horn, J.F., “A Comprehensive Control Strategy for Integrated Flight/Propulsion Systems,” Journal of Aerospace Engineering – Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers Part G, Vol. 222, (6), June 2008, pp. 843-859.

Miller, J.A., Minear, P.D., Neissner, A.F., DeLullo, A.M., Geiger, B.R., Long, L.N., and Horn, J.F., “Intelligent Unmanned Air Vehicle Flight Systems,” AIAA Journal of Computing, Information, and Communications, Vol. 4, May 2007.

Sahani, N. A., Horn, J. F., Jeram, G. J., and Prasad, J. V. R., “A Hub Moment Limit Protection System Using Neural Network Prediction,” Journal of the American Helicopter Society, Vol. 51, (4), October 2006, pp. 331-340.

Sahasrabudhe, V., Horn, J.F., Sahani, N., Faynberg, A., and Spaulding, R. “Simulation Investigation of a Comprehensive Collective-Axis Tactile Cueing System.” Journal of the American Helicopter Society, Vol. 51, (3), July 2006, pp. 215-224.

Tolani, D.K., Ray, A., and Horn, J.F., “Integrated decision and control of human-engineered complex systems,” International Journal of General Systems, Vol. 35, (3), June 2006.

Horn, J.F., Bridges, D.O., Wachspress, D.A, and Rani, S.L., “Implementation of a Free-Vortex Wake Model in Real-Time Simulation of Rotorcraft,” AIAA Journal of Computing, Information, and Communications, Vol. 3, (3), March 2006.

Chen, H.N., Brentner, K.S., Lopes, L.V., and Horn, J.F., “An Initial Analysis of Transient Noise in Rotorcraft Maneuver Flight.” International Journal of Aeroacoustics, Vol. 5, (2), April 2006.

Sahani, N. and Horn, J.F., “Adaptive Model Inversion Control of a Helicopter with Structural Load Limiting.”  AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 29, (2), March-April 2006.

Conference Papers (since 2009)

Cooper, J.C., Horn, J.F., Schierman, J., Yomchinda, T. and O’Neill, E.P., “Handling Qualities Evaluation of an Adaptive Disturbance Compensation System for Ship-based Rotorcraft,” Proceedings of the American Helicopter Society 67th Annual Forum, Virginia Beach, VA, May 3-5, 2011.   Best Paper in Modeling and Simulation Session

Keller, J.D., McKillip, R.M, Horn, J.F., and Yomchinda, T.  “Active Flight Control and Appliqué Inceptor Concepts for Autorotation Performance Enhancement,” Proceedings of the American Helicopter Society 67th Annual Forum, Virginia Beach, VA, May 3-5, 2011.

Geiger, B.R., Piasecki, F.W., Horn, J.F., Schifferle, P., and Lotterio, M., “Challenges of Flight Control in a Compound Helicopter,” Proceedings of the International Powered Lift Conference, Philadelphia, PA, October 5-7, 2010.

Schmidt, E.M., Horn, J.F., Geiger, B.R., “Use of Neural Network Approximation for Trajectory Optimization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Gimbaled Cameras,” Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Toronto, Canada, August 2-5, 2010.

Cooper, J.C., Schierman, J., and Horn, J.F., “Robust Adaptive Disturbance Compensation for Ship-based Rotorcraft,” Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Toronto, Canada, August 2-5, 2010.

Horn, J.F., Guo, W., and Ozdemir, G.T., “Use of Rotor State Feedback to Improve Closed Loop Stability and Handling Qualities,” Proceedings of the American Helicopter Society 66th Annual Forum, Phoenix, AZ, May 11-13, 2010.

Yomchinda, T. and Horn, J.F. “Handling Qualities Assessment of a Model Inversion Controller for a Tiltrotor Aircraft,” Proceedings of the 3rd International Basic Research Conference on Rotorcraft Technology, Nanjing, China, October 14-16, 2009.

Horn. J.F., Guo, W., and Ozdemir, G. “Implementation of Variable RPM in Helicopter Flight Control Laws,” Proceedings of the 3rd International Basic Research Conference on Rotorcraft Technology, Nanjing, China, October 14-16, 2009.

Geiger, B.R., Schmidt, E.M, and Horn, J.F., “Use of Neural Network Approximation in Multiple-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Trajectory Optimization” Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Chicago, IL, August 10-13, 2009.

Ozdemir, G.T., and Horn, J.F. “Control of Ducted Fan Aircraft using Redundant Effectors,” Proceedings of the AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference, Chicago, IL, August 10-13, 2009.

Guo, Wei and Horn, J.F., “Rotor State Feedback Control for Rotorcraft with Variable Rotor Speed,” Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Chicago, IL, August 10-13, 2009.

Yomchinda, T., and Horn, J.F. “Integrated Flight Control Design and Handling Qualities Analysis for a Tilt Rotor Aircraft,” Proceedings of the AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference, Chicago, IL, August 10-13, 2009.

Guo, Wei and Horn, J.F., “Helicopter Flight Control with Variable Rotor Speed and Torque Limiting,” Proceedings of the American Helicopter Society 65th Annual Forum, Grapevine, Texas, May 27-29, 2009.

Horn, J.F., Sparbanie, S.M., Cooper J., and Schierman, J., “On-Line Identification of Ship Airwake Disturbances on Rotorcraft,” Proceedings of the American Helicopter Society 65th Annual Forum, Grapevine, Texas, May 27-29, 2009.

Horn, J.F., Sparbanie, S.M., Geiger, D.H., and Sahasrabudhe, V. “A Stochastic Model of Unsteady Ship Airwake Disturbances on Rotorcraft,” Proceedings of the American Helicopter Society 65th Annual Forum, Grapevine, Texas, May 27-29, 2009.

Horn, J.F., and Geiger, B.R. “Neural Network Based Trajectory Optimization for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,” Proceedings of the AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Orlando, FL, January 2009.