AE Seminar
ft.
Chams Eddine Mballo
Thursday, February 6
11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Guggenheim 442
About the Seminar:
The advent of aircraft flight revolutionized global connectivity. However, modern challenges—such as environmental sustainability, urban congestion, and the need for broader access to advanced mobility—are driving a second phase of aviation. This new phase focuses on developing zero-operational-emission aircraft that are safer, more intelligent, more versatile, and more affordable. Realizing these objectives requires overcoming inherent challenges in safety, human factors, sustainable energy solutions, and operational costs.
My research addresses these challenges by ensuring safety, reducing operational costs, and pursuing energy autonomy in current and future aircraft—all while maintaining both performance and pilot effectiveness. As part of this work, I will present a solution to one of the most significant challenges in rotorcraft technology: rotor load estimation. Specifically, I will introduce the development of a “virtual sensor” that provides real-time estimates of rotor component dynamic loads. Building on this sensor data, I will demonstrate how a new human-machine interface (HMI) offers pilots immediate feedback on how their flight maneuvers affect critical rotor system components. This insight enables pilots to adapt their maneuvers in real time in ways that minimize rotor loads, which in turn enhances safety and reduces operational costs.
Beyond rotor load estimation, I will introduce a novel framework with theoretical safety guarantees based on Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) reachability analysis. This framework ensures goal satisfaction under external disturbances (e.g., strong winds during landing), maintains strict constraints (e.g., collision avoidance), and accommodates the softer constraints typical of emerging power sources (e.g., batteries) to extend operational longevity. Finally, I will discuss ongoing work on electric aircraft safety—among them how machine learning plays a pivotal role in catalyzing this second phase of aviation—and outline future directions that explore the expanding role of intelligence in next-generation aircraft.
About the Speaker:
Chams Eddine Mballo received his bachelor's degree with a dual major in aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering in 2015 from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. He joined the Georgia Institute of Technology in August 2016. He holds three master's degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology: aerospace engineering (2019); electrical and computer engineering (2020); and mathematics (2021). He completed his doctoral studies in 2022 as a Marcus Dash Fellow in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. Chams is presently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) department. He has been honored with several awards, including the Chancellor Award for Student Excellence, the Robert Wolfe Fellowship, the Rising Star in Aerospace Engineering awarded by MIT, and the University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship