The Concepts of Systems Engineering

as Practiced by the Wright Brothers

Dennis Buede
Stevens Institute of Technology
School of Engineering
Hoboken, NJ 07030
 First in Flight,
First Contract for an Aircraft

• Wright brothers
– Interest moved to initial action in 1899
– Flew a powered, heavier-than-air machine
– In a sustained, controlled flight on December 17, 1903
• Orville was first, traveling 120 feet in 12 seconds
• Wilbur recorded the longest flight that day
– 852 feet
– in 59 seconds

• Successful with first design on first test in 5 years

This was not an accident!!

Dennis Buede, Concepts of SE as Practiced by Wright Brothers, 2

Track 6, Session 2
 Topics

• Brief History of Attempts at Manned Flight

• Systems Engineering Concepts
• Wright Brothers’ 1903 Design
• Wright Brothers’ Design Process
• Summary of SE Concepts Used
• Post 1903
• Conclusions

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Track 6, Session 2
 Brief History
of Attempts at Manned Flight
1490 Ornithopter design by da Vinci
1783 First hot air balloon flight, Joseph & Etienne Montgolfier
1799 First airplane design, Cayley
1804 First flight by model glider, Cayley
1809 Documented foundations of aerodynamics, Cayley
1849 First flight by glider carrying a human (boy), Cayley
1871 Formulation and demonstration of stability, Penaud
1871 First wind tunnel built and used, Wenham
1874 First powered hop, Du Temple
1884 Second wind tunnel built and used, Phillips
1884 Second powered hop, Mozhaiski
1891-6 2500 successful glider flights, Lilienthal
1894 Steam powered movement by airplane on track, Maxim
1896 90 sec. flight by unmanned aerodrome, Langley
1903 2 manned, powered aerodrome crashes into Potomac, Langley
1903 (Dec) First powered flight, Wright brothers

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Track 6, Session 2
 Systems Engineering Concepts
• Operational concept
• System boundary via external systems diagram
• Requirements
– System requirements
– Derived requirements
• Requirements management
• Functional analysis
• Physical architecture and interfaces
• Trade-off decision
• Prototype development and testing
• Test design
• Team activities

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Track 6, Session 2
 Wright Brothers’ 1903 Design
Two propellers (8.5 ft in diameter) mounted
at the back of the wings, rotating in
opposite directions to push the airplane
Control of wing warping by
pilot to achieve lateral
control during flight Vertical stabilizer with
movable surface coordinated
with the wing warping

Wooden structure
moved within fabric
pockets, adding extra
strength and flexibility

Horizontal stabilizer mounted in

the front of the aircraft (called Custom 12 horsepower engine built
a canard) with movable surfaces to the specifications of the Wright
brothers that drove both propellers
Biplane with a wingspan of just over
40 ft, a length of 21 ft, ht. of just
over 9 ft, wt. of 605 lbs (empty) from Smithsonian Institution
Dennis Buede, Concepts of SE as Practiced by Wright Brothers, National Air and Space Museum 6
Track 6, Session 2
 Wright Brothers’ Design Process
• Characterized as “function-space search”
by Bradshaw
– Defined key functions needed to fly
– Prototypes used to isolate a problems, find a solution
– Tests were highly instrumented
• To find problems
• Guide towards solutions
• Others used design-space search
– e.g., Langley, Chanute
– Sampled designs from the millions of possibilities
• Wing numbers and placement
• Wingspan, etc.
– Tried many designs prior to the Wrights

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Track 6, Session 2
 Summary of SE Concepts Used
by the Wright Brothers
SE Concept Wright Brothers Activities
Operational Vision: clear concept of the system they were developing
Concept Mission Requirements: powered flight for substantial time and distance
Scenarios: recognition of a key scenario involving lateral control

System Understood the need for the pilot to be part of the system
Boundary
Objectives Definition of distance and time objectives
System Limited to objectives
Requirements
Derived Horsepower and weight of the engine
Requirements
Thrust of the propellers
Requirements Managed weight requirement of the engine carefully
Management
Functional Understood the functions of the airplane, drove their design process
Analysis Further understood the functions of the propulsion subsystem

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Track 6, Session 2
 Summary of SE Concepts Used
by the Wright Brothers (2 of 2)
SE Concept Wright Brothers Activities
Physical Matched the physical architecture to the functions of the airplane
Architecture Interfaces between the pilot and the control surfaces
& Interfaces Interface between the engine and propellers

Prototypes Built increasingly complex set of gliders before building the airplane
and Testing First airplane was successful, due to the series of gliders and kites
Employed sophisticated testing with each prototype, atypical of others
Trade-off Design favored control of the airplane over stability
Decision
Test System Extensive even during glider tests - problem identification and solving
Created wind tunnel - address discrepancy between test data & literature
Included careful selection of the test site; Included in the first airplane

Verification Best illustrated - testing of the engine, met its requirements

Validation The final test that proved flight was possible
Team Two brothers formed a design-build team
Activities Wilbur – big picture; Orville – detailed design
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 Post 1903
• Improved aircraft in 1904 and 1905
• Wilbur flew the 1905 machine in Ohio
– 39 minutes
– Traveled over 24 miles
• Halted their flight activity; hid their aircraft
• Marketed product
– Signed sales and licensing agreements
• In 1908 and 1909
• In the U.S. and Europe
– First contract
• Signed with U.S. Army Signal Corps in February of 1908
• Succinct acceptance test:
– “capable of carrying two men and sufficient fuel supplies
– for a flight of 125 miles,
– with a speed of at least 40 miles per hour”

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Track 6, Session 2
 Conclusions
• Wright brothers used SE concepts extensively
• “Function-space search”:
– Identified key functions
– Used glider prototypes to test designs and isolate problems
– Glider prototypes increased in complexity with time
– Key function was trained pilot, glider tests produced this
• Test system was highly instrumented
– To find problems
– Guide towards solutions
• Marketed and produced first aircraft product

If only SE was practiced this well today!!!

Dennis Buede, Concepts of SE as Practiced by Wright Brothers, 11

Track 6, Session 2