The Development of an Open Source Framework for Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization

Abstract

This paper presents the motivation for the development of an open source framework for performing Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) to aid in the design of unconventional aircraft. While a number of frameworks already exist, critical and desirable requirements are still not satisfactorily met. For developing a new framework, an open source development is the most logical choice, in particular because it provides the means to rapidly develop a community of users who can also contribute enhancements, components, and knowledge to the framework. Presently, the framework development project has finished the requirements gathering stage and has begun prototyping some of the capability in the cross-platform scripting language Python, which already provides many of the basic building blocks needed to create an MDAO framework.