A Model Predictive Control Approach for In-Flight Acoustic Constraint Compliance

Vehicle noise remains one of the major barriers to public acceptance of Urban Air Mobility class aircraft. This work focuses on motion planning for aircraft in noise-sensitive areas. A nonlinear Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) control law is used to generate a finite horizon trajectory that satisfies acoustic level constraints at a set of (three-dimensional) observer locations. The MPPI framework places no restrictions on the class of state-dependent cost functionals that can be employed, making it well-suited for use with sophisticated acoustic models and metrics, in addition to dynamic and mission-relevant constraints. The model predictive control architecture is also suitable for implementation in a real-time application. A simulation example demonstrates the ability of the controller to modify the flight trajectory in order to satisfy acoustic constraints at multiple measurement locations.