System and method for efficiently determining a phase shift in a propulsion system

A propulsion system comprising:

• at least two propulsors, the at least two propulsors each comprising a fan having a plurality of fan blades;
• and
• a controller including memory and one or more processors, the memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the system to perform the following:
• determine a pairwise phase difference between one propulsor of the at least two propulsors and another propulsor of the at least two propulsors;
• generate a reference phase angle that is different than the pairwise phase difference;
• determine a target phase shift for each propulsor of the at least two propulsors at least partially based on the reference phase angle and the pairwise phase difference, wherein the target phase shift is a minimum angle adjustment for each propulsor of the at least two propulsors to collectively achieve the reference phase angle;
• and
• adjust a speed of each propulsor of the at least two propulsors based on the target phase shift until the pairwise phase difference is equal to the reference phase angle.