What is IMOCAS?
The Innovative Manufacturing, Operations, and Certification of Advanced Structures (IMOCAS) project develops a comprehensive framework to address the structural, operational, and certification challenges of civil vertical lift vehicles. By integrating computational modeling with experimental validation, the team evaluates safety, risk, maintenance, and lifecycle cost to support informed design and operational decisions. The approach enables predictive maintenance and efficient repair through low-cost, operation-specific monitoring, while ensuring that advanced materials and complex configurations meet stringent safety and certification requirements for widespread civilian use.
System Benefits
Safety & Cost Efficiency
The IMOCAS Outcomes focus on an integrated operational framework enabling simultaneous optimization of safety, performance, and cost, supporting viable AAM operations without compromising risk:
- Coupled safety, cost, and performance modeling in a single framework
- Route and environment specific risk assessment
- Lifecycle cost modeling including repair, labor, and downtime
- Decision support for operators and fleet planners
- Scalable to different cities, vehicles, and missions
Adaptive Maintenance
A shift to condition-based, data-driven maintenance reduces unnecessary inspections while maintaining or improving safety margins. This project therefore included:
- In-flight sensing and structural health monitoring
- Digital twin integration for real-time decision support
- Predictive maintenance based on actual usage and damage
- Lightweight, low-cost sensing systems
- Reduced downtime and optimized maintenance intervals
Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
New repair technologies for advanced materials were developed alongside practical sustainment strategies, a step on the way to scalable and certifiable advanced structures:
- Evaluation of high-performance composite systems
- Automated and robotic repair techniques
- Integration of manufacturing defects into design understanding
- Repair methods linked to cost, performance, and certification
- Transition from lab-scale concepts to field-relevant processes
Operational Reliability
A modular analysis framework developed in this project links environment, vehicle behavior, and lifecycle effects to actively manage reliability in real-world operations:
- Mission- and route-specific fatigue and load analysis
- Integrated modeling of environment, performance, and lifecycle
- Battery degradation and usage-aware performance tracking
- Monte Carlo and lifecycle-based reliability assessment
- Pre-flight go/no-go decision support
Workforce Development
A vertically integrated education and research ecosystem prepared a workforce capable of supporting AAM design, manufacturing, and operations, through:
- Hands-on training in testing, repair, and operations
- Cross-institution collaboration with industry involvement
- Student participation in full lifecycle engineering tasks
- Integration of research, lab work, and field experience
- Direct pathways to aerospace employment
Broadening Participation
Targeted outreach and partnerships across the team expand access to aerospace education and careers, strengthening the future AAM workforce.
- Engagement from K–12 through postgraduate levels
- Focus on underrepresented and rural communities
- Partnerships with HBCUs and minority-serving institutions
- Paid undergraduate and graduate research as well as internship opportunities
- Early exposure to AAM concepts through hand-on programs
USC McNAIR ULI Contribution
The University of South Carolina, through the McNAIR Aerospace Center, contributes to the IMOCAS ULI by leading research in materials, fabrication, testing, and maintenance & repair. As part of Task 2, McNAIR focuses on advancing composite manufacturing processes, validating structural performance, and developing strategies to support durability and long-term serviceability.
