  A practical online optimization scheme is developed for performance
optimization of an electrical aircraft propulsion system. The goal is to
minimize the power extraction of the propulsion system for any given thrust
value. The online optimizer computes the optimum pitch angle of a variable
pitch propeller by minimizing the power of the system for a command thrust
value. This algorithm is tested on a DC motor driving a variable pitch
propeller; the experimental hardware setup of the DC motor along with its
variable pitch propeller is also described. Experimental results show the
efficiency and practicality of the proposed online optimization scheme.
Outstanding issues are sketched.
