Methods for configuring aircraft that may be implemented to integrate
aircraft sonic boom constraint requirements with the design process for a
supersonic aircraft, for example, to reconcile a target sonic boom
constraint with the internal layout and balance of the aircraft during
the design phase. The disclosed methods may advantageously be employed in
one embodiment to allow a sonic boom-constrained aircraft design
configuration solution to be reached that incorporates a desired sonic
boom signature with the requirements of an internal configuration layout.
Resulting aircraft configurations may be usefully employed for achieving
sonic boom suppression on any type of supersonic-capable aircraft, for
example, a civil supersonic business aircraft.