Aircraft hybrid electric propulsion and attitude controller

A hybrid electrical propulsion (HEP) propulsion and attitude control system included in an aircraft, the HEP propulsion and attitude control system comprising:

• a propulsion system configured to generate at least one of thrust or lift for operation of the aircraft, the propulsion system comprising at least one propulsor and at least one electric motor configured to drive the at least one propulsor;
• an electrical system configured to deliver a first amount of power to the at least one electric motor and a second amount of power to a plurality of electrical loads;
• and
• a HEP controller in signal communication with the electrical system and the propulsion system, the HEP controller configured to determine at least one attitude goal of the aircraft, and control the electrical system to adjust at least one of the thrust or lift to achieve the at least one attitude goal,
• wherein controlling the electrical system includes:
• generating first changing dynamic goal data (Vf) based on the at least one attitude goal and second changing dynamic goal data (Vs) based on at least one airframe sub-system goal;
• inputting the first changing dynamic goal data (Vf) into a first Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm and inputting the second changing dynamic goal data (Vs) into a second Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm different from the first MPC algorithm;
• outputting aircraft response data (Uf) from the first MPC algorithm and outputting system settings data (Us) from the second MPC algorithm;
• inputting the aircraft response data (Uf) into and the system settings data (Us) into each of a first aircraft dynamics model and a second aircraft dynamics model different from the first aircraft dynamics model;
• outputting airframe setting controls (Xs) from the first aircraft dynamics model which are fed back to the second MPC algorithm to optimize control airframe sub-systems of the aircraft, and outputting attitude control data (Xf) which is fed back to the first MPC algorithm to optimize attitude controls of the aircraft;
• and
• controlling the at least one electric motor based on the aircraft response data (Uf) to divert thrust from at least one propulsor so as to adjust the at least one of the thrust or lift and achieve the at least one attitude goal while balancing the first amount of power associated with the at least one electric motor.