Aircraft Control Allocation

Wayne Durham had a full career as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot and test pilot. He is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. After retiring from the Navy he earned a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech, researching model-following control under the guidance of the late Fred Lutze. He remained at Virginia Tech teaching aerospace engineering and researching aircraft control, including seminal studies of control allocation. After earning his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech, Ken Bordignon spent eight years at for Lockheed Martin working on various Advanced Development Projects, including the Joint Strike Fighter Concept Demonstration Aircraft, the X-35. Since 2008 he has taught at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. Roger Beck has worked as a support contractor providing flight mechanics, simulation, guidance, navigation, and control support to NASA for a variety of aerospace projects. As part of his graduate work at Virginia Tech, Dr. Beck studied the extension of control allocation techniques to systems with more than three objectives. Working with NASA, he has supported flight tests of a variety of different vehicles including UAV flight systems, atmospheric tests of launch vehicles, hypersonic vehicles, even earth and planetary re-entry systems. In addition to flight projects, Dr. Beck provides analytical support to a variety of conceptual studies ranging ground test infrastructure to space technology demonstration missions. Currently, Dr. Beck is employed by Dynamic Concepts, Incorporated of Huntsville, Alabama, working as part of the Flight Mechanics team for the SLS launch vehicle at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.