Propulsion assembly

A system comprising:

• a flight controller for an aircraft that includes an electric motor that drives blades with a variable pitch, wherein the flight controller receives a command to change a flight characteristic of the aircraft and creates a torque command and a revolutions per minute (RPM) command;
• and
• a propulsion assembly, wherein the propulsion assembly:
• creates a current command based at least in part on the torque command and the RPM command;
• creates a blade pitch command based at least in part on the torque command and the RPM command;
• communicates the current command to the electric motor to change a mechanical output of the electric motor;
• communicates the blade pitch command to blade actuators to control a pitch of the blades;
• creates a motor torque command at least partially based on the torque command,
• wherein the current command is at least partially based on the motor torque command;
• wherein a lead/lag filter receives the torque command and applies forward path shaping to tailor a bandwidth and a crossover frequency of the torque command;
• and
• wherein the current command and the blade pitch command cause the blades to rotate at a predetermined revolutions per minute (RPM).

A rotorcraft comprising:

• at least one electric motor;
• blades with a variable pitch;
• a flight controller configured to receive a command to change a flight characteristic of the rotorcraft and create a torque command and a revolutions per minute (RPM) command;
• and
• a propulsion assembly, wherein the propulsion assembly is configured to:
• create a current command based at least in part on the torque command and the RPM command;
• create a blade pitch command based at least in part on the torque command and the RPM command;
• communicate the current command to the at least one electric motor to change a mechanical output of the at least one electric motor;
• communicate the blade pitch command to blade actuators to control a pitch of the blades;
• create a motor torque command at least partially based on the torque command,
• wherein the current command is at least partially based on the motor torque command;
• wherein a lead/lag filter receives the torque command and applies forward path shaping to tailor a bandwidth and a crossover frequency of the torque command;
• and
• wherein the current command and the blade pitch command cause the blades to rotate at a predetermined revolutions per minute (RPM).