MRO's Archives - Page 59 of 118 - Aviation, Inflight and Aero Connectivity Consultants

Wisk Unveils Its 6th-Generation Autonomous eVTOL Aircraft

Wisk has unveiled the 6th generation of its autonomous eVTOL aircraft. (Photo: Wisk Aero LLC)

Wisk Aero just revealed its 6th-generation air taxi, an autonomous electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The company claims that this vehicle, which is its go-to-market aircraft, is the first autonomous eVTOL to be a candidate for certification by the Federal Aviation Administration. Wisk is headquartered in Mountain View, CA, and is backed by both The Boeing Company and Kitty Hawk Corporation.

The 6th-generation eVTOL aircraft has a proprietary 12-propeller design and boom configuration, according to the company’s announcement, with improved propulsion systems. The vehicles have tilting propulsion units in front of the wings, in addition to fixed-lift units aft of the wings, which are optimized to increase the efficiency of energy management and to improve control of the aircraft.

The aircraft’s autonomous operations leverage “the same technology that accounts for more than 93% of automated pilot functions on today’s commercial flights,” according to Wisk, while depending on multi-vehicle supervisors to ensure human oversight of all flights.

Wisk is backed by Kitty Hawk Corporation, as well as The Boeing Company—which invested $450 million into Wisk at the beginning of 2022. (Photo: Wisk Aero LLC)

This sixth generation version of Wisk’s eVTOL will have a 90-mile range, a cruising speed of 120 knots, and room for four passengers. Wisk is targeting a price of $3 per passenger per mile. The company has also made efforts to ensure accessibility of its aircraft. The design of the entry and exit incorporates needs of individuals with various levels of mobility, and the user interfaces are intended to accommodate those with hearing and visual impairments.

Less than a month ago, Wisk released a concept of operations for urban air mobility (UAM) in partnership with Boeing. The two companies also collaborated with the FAA, NASA, Aurora Flight Sciences, and other industry partners to develop the UAM roadmap. It recommends ensuring that UAM services should be both safe and affordable for all, and it lays out guidelines for safely integrating uncrewed aircraft into civilian airspace.

Wisk has partnered with NASA since 2020 to study autonomous flight operations of eVTOL aircraft. (Photo: Wisk Aero LLC)

Another of the eVTOL developer’s partnerships is with Skyports, a designer and developer of vertiports based in the UK. They have collaborated since this spring, and a spokesperson for Skyports confirmed last month that the teams’ current focus is on flight and vertiport resource coordination. The partners published a concept of operations for autonomous eVTOL aircraft in April.

According to this concept of operations, “While the introduction of commercial autonomous eVTOL aircraft may not be immediate, [we] are focused on developing and testing processes and solutions that will be critical to the advancement of urban air mobility (UAM). This ConOps serves as a basis for discussion as industry and regulators begin to consider the integration of autonomous eVTOL aircraft systems into the national airspace system.”

The eVTOL developer is also partnering with the Council of Mayors South East Queensland in Australia following the signing of an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) in June. Catherine MacGowan, Asia Pacific Region Director for Wisk, shared with Avionics International that they will be collaborating with the Council of Mayors on future business interests in relation to autonomous flight operations.

The post Wisk Unveils Its 6th-Generation Autonomous eVTOL Aircraft appeared first on Avionics International.

—————
Boost Internet Speed–
Free Business Hosting–
Free Email Account–
Dropcatch–
Free Secure Email–
Secure Email–
Cheap VOIP Calls–
Free Hosting–
Boost Inflight Wifi–
Premium Domains–
Free Domains

Commercial Aftermarket Services Will Recover to Pre-Pandemic Levels Next Year, New Airbus Report Says

(Photo provided by Airbus | Photographer: A. Doumenjou)

A new report published by Airbus expects demand for commercial aircraft aftermarket services to return to pre-pandemic 2019 levels by next year.

The annual Airbus Global Services Forecast (GSF) analyzes projected growth rates in demand for new services over a 20-year period and how or what type of services will be needed to accommodate the continued growth of the global in-service passenger carrying fleet. Based on the number of flight cycles already recorded for commercial airliners in 2022, the forecast expects the industry to collectively spend $95 billion on aftermarket services in 2022—which would be a 21% increase from last year.

According to the forecast, aircraft maintenance and training are the two specific services that are most in demand.

“Major business opportunities for aftermarket players are being created due to operators seeking more resilience and flexibility in contractual conditions, prioritising fuel efficiency solutions, looking to ease maintenance bottlenecks constrained by current capacity and reinforced connectivity enablement,” Airbus writes in the report.

The GSF estimates that there are currently 23,500 aircraft—with 100 seats or more—in service globally. By 2041, that number is expected to more than double to nearly 47,000, with 39,000 new aircraft deliveries expected to occur during that time.

The projected growth rate of the in-service fleet will need an associated growth rate in personnel operating and maintaining those aircraft, including: 585,000 new pilots, 875,000 new cabin crew, and 640,000 new technicians, according to the report. Airbus estimates that there are currently 11 million professionals that work in aircraft aftermarket services.

Additionally, the report predicts that by 2041 there will be “four times more aircraft with in-flight connectivity for passengers” than there are in-service today.

“Accelerated digitalisation of operations and maintenance as well as a higher proportion of latest generation aircraft in service will lead to a massive requirement for new skills and job creation, leveraging new tools and ways of working in order to further increase our sector’s efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and emissions,” Philippe Mhun, Airbus EVP Programmes and Services, said in a statement.

The post Commercial Aftermarket Services Will Recover to Pre-Pandemic Levels Next Year, New Airbus Report Says appeared first on Avionics International.

L3Harris Mission Management Processors Added to Open-Systems Design of Boeing T-7A

The new mission management processor that L3Harris is developing for the Boeing T-7A Red Hawk jet trainer (Photo: L3Harris)

L3Harris Technologies is supplying its mission-management processors to Boeing for the T-7A Red Hawk under a recently announced $91.5 million contract.

The processors will be added to the open systems embedded computing network of the first new jet trainer being developed for the U.S. Air Force in 60 years. Boeing is developing the T-7A RedHawk as the new Air Force jet trainer and with a name and livery that will pay tribute to famed African American Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, known as the Red Tails.

“The processor collates data from on-board data networks, external data links and embedded software and sends data to the cockpit displays to provide the student and instructor with real time information needed to support training objectives,” David Zack, president of mission avionics, L3Harris told Avionics International in an emailed statement.

Designed for future growth opportunities, the processors include extra payload slots to expand “mission capabilities,” according to L3Harris. The T-7A is the latest military aircraft or jet trainer that L3Harris has been selected to provide its mission management processors for. The company also provides its processors for the F-35, F/A-18, and the U.S. Navy’s new MQ-25 unmanned tanker aircraft.

Boeing rolled the T-7A Red Hawk jet out of its hangar in St. Louis back in April for the new jet trainer’s first public unveiling. (Photo: Boeing)

In his emailed statements, Zack said the processors that L3Harris provides for the MQ-25 and F/A-18 share common design elements, thermal capabilities, and form factors to the one they’re providing for the T-7. However, the processor being developed for the T-7 is being custom-developed for the specific needs of the new jet trainer.

“The T-7 MMP provides performance scalability, technology insertion and functional growth capability via an open-system architecture design that reduces overall aircraft operating costs with a more affordable high-speed, cyber-hardened computing infrastructure,” he said. “Open-system design is accomplished in hardware by using commercial interface standards and commercially available processing modules. Open-system design is accomplished in software by compatibility with commercial off-the-shelf real time operating systems and other defined interfaces.”

The new T-7 processors have completed development and are now entering production, according to Zack. Boeing expects the T-7A to be operational by 2024.

The post L3Harris Mission Management Processors Added to Open-Systems Design of Boeing T-7A appeared first on Avionics International.

UK Regulatory Authority Says Viasat/Inmarsat Merger Could Hurt In-flight Connectivity Competition

(Photo: Nick Morrish/British Airways)

The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority(CMA) could soon refer Viasat’s pending Inmarsat acquisition to a deeper investigation due to how it might lessen competitiveness in the in-flight connectivity (IFC) market in the U.K. The CMA released results of its phase one investigation on Thursday.

“This is an evolving market, but the merging companies are currently two of the key players – and it remains uncertain whether the next generation of satellite operators will be able to compete against them effectively,” commented CMA Senior Director Colin Raftery. “Ultimately, airlines could be faced with a worse deal because of this merger, which could have knock-on effects for U.K. consumers as in-flight connectivity becomes more widespread.”

Viasat and Inmarsat have five working days to submit proposals to address the authority’s concerns. The CMA will then decide whether to move to an in-depth phase two investigation.

CMA’s phase one investigation focused on the competitive landscape of IFC services to commercial airlines flying from/to and within Europe, which are most likely to impact U.K. consumers. Viasat and Inmarsat participated in the investigation, which also included public comments and information from third parties.

CMA’s assessment was that Viasat and Inmarsat are the strongest IFC providers at this point and would be strong competitors without the merger. The operators have different areas of coverage with their satellites but soon will both have near-global coverage.

The authority had a stark assessment of the current IFC competition: “Panasonic … is in decline, due to its reliance on capacity from third-party satellite network operators and airlines’ perception that it is expensive and offers old technology. Anuvu competes only for short-haul flights and is considered a weak option by airlines; and Intelsat occupies a modest position in the market and it is uncertain how it will develop in the future.”

The report was also critical of the potential for new Non-Geostationary (NGSO) competitors like OneWeb and SpaceX, which recently announced a deal to serve Hawaiian Airlines with Starlink. The U.K. government is a shareholder OneWeb, which is in the midst of its own deal to combine with GEO operator Eutelsat, a deal the U.K. government supports.

It will take time for NGSOs to be able to compete with Viasat and Inmarsat on IFC, CMA argued, with hurdles like obtaining aircraft model certification and national licenses, and scaling technology and support networks. A combined Viasat and Inmarsat company could lock in much of the customer base with technology installed on aircraft before NGSOs are competitive.

“NGSOs still face many financial, operational, technical, regulatory, and commercial barriers before they can supply IFC services on board aircraft. Although NGSOs have significant financial backing, a number of the barriers to entry are complex technical and regulatory requirements that cannot be overcome through financing alone,” the report said.

Viasat and Inmarsat responded to the report in a statement, and said a phase two review is not unexpected. Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg noted that IFC revenue represents less than 10% of the revenues of the combined company.

“This is still a nascent, dynamic, and rapidly evolving business, with existing providers and extremely well-financed new entrants bringing new technologies and new business models to increase adoption among airlines, passengers, and aircraft types. We intend to work closely with the CMA to show that our transaction will benefit customers by improving efficiencies, lowering costs, and increasing IFC availability around the world,” Dankberg said.

Inmarsat CEO Rajeev Suri commented that there is no shortage of competition in the IFC market and new LEO players are “aggressively and successfully targeting aviation.”

Vista and Inmarsat said they remain committed to working with the CMA. The proposed transaction recently received approval from the U.K. government in terms of the National Security and Investment Act.

This article was first published by Via Satellite, a sister publication to Avionics International, click here to view the original version.>>

The post UK Regulatory Authority Says Viasat/Inmarsat Merger Could Hurt In-flight Connectivity Competition appeared first on Avionics International.

EasyJet Starts In-Flight AirFi Trial, Adds Descent Profile Optimization to A320 Fleet

EasyJet is adding software upgrades to the flight management systems on its A320 fleet to enable the use of enable the use of “Descent Profile Optimisation” (DPO) and “Continuous Descent Approach” (CDA) for its pilots. (Photo: Airbus, S.A.S., by H. Gousse/master films)

EasyJet, the second largest U.K.-based low-cost airline, will modify its fleet of in-service Airbus A320 jets with a Flight Management System (FMS) software upgrade that will help its pilots reduce fuel burn, noise, and emissions during the approach phase into airports. The budget is also ready to trial AirFi’s in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) technology onboard a select fleet of its Switzerland-based A320s as well.

Here’s a look at the A320 upgrades and IFEC trial EasyJet has committed to, based on several recent announcements.

Descent Profile Optimization

EasyJet’s A320 family fleet will receive FMS software upgrades to enable the use of “Descent Profile Optimisation” (DPO) and “Continuous Descent Approach” (CDA). Both capabilities are enabled by a software upgrade to the performance database featured on the A320’s flight management computer, according to Airbus.

The two applications are provided by NavBlue, the navigation services division of Airbus. NavBlue enables the use of DPO on the A320 by reducing the margins used by the FMS to calculate and execute descent models. The use of DPO by A320 pilots can enable a longer cruise level and reduce the amount of deceleration needed during level-off, according to Airbus.

When used in combination with the DPO software upgrade, the use of CDA allows pilots to descend from cruise altitude using only idle engine thrust. Using DPO and CDA simultaneously can also maximize an airliner’s time spent at a fuel-efficient cruise level by not starting the descent too early.

Both software upgrades also improve the fuel efficiency of the descent profile by removing the “level-off” stage at the bottom of the descent when the aircraft’s engines generate thrust to maintain level flight in dense air prior to final landing approach.

“While our ultimate ambition is to achieve zero carbon emission flying, we must continue our focus on reducing the carbon emissions in our operation each and every day,” Captain David Morgan, easyJet’s interim COO, said in a press release. “That’s why this multi-million-pound investment is an important step in achieving a permanent reduction in the short-term which will see us operating the largest fleet of DPO and CDA enabled aircraft in the world. But one crucial element to reduce carbon emissions right now cannot be achieved by the industry alone, and so we are also calling on governments to introduce airspace modernisation right now, including finally implementing the Single European Sky.”

Based on where EasyJet operates within Europe and the number of flights they operate annually, Airbus estimates the airline could save more than 98,000 kg of fuel per year per aircraft across its network in Europe.

“This would subsequently reduce CO2 emissions by over 311 tons per year per aircraft, or 88,600 tons of CO2 each year for the entire A320 Family fleet,” according to Airbus.

Airbus expects to finish the upgrade of EasyJet’s FMS software to enable the use of DPO and CDA by the end of 2023.

AirFi Trial

EasyJet is doing a trial of the AirFi box on its Swiss fleet of Airbus A320s. (Photo: AirFi)

On the passenger-facing side of the EasyJet Airbus A320 fleet, the airline will start an initial trial of AirFi’s portable streaming technology, the AirFi box. The 2-kilogram box has an embedded server, ARM processor, and mass storage device that run off aircraft power to autonomously deliver wireless IFEC content to passenger mobile devices.

The trial will occur on a fleet of 27 total A320s that EasyJet has flying routes in Switzerland, between Geneva and Basel. AirFi CEO Job Heimerikx recently explained in a Connected Aviation Intelligence Podcast interview how his company’s technology is enabling a “mall in the sky” concept of operations for airlines that invest in it.

“We selected AirFi to work with us having been impressed by their overall capabilities and the flexibility of their systems and platforms,” Simon Cox, director of in-flight retail at EasyJet, said in a statement. “We are confident they are the right partners to support us in realising our ambitions to deliver an industry-leading, digital onboard experience for our customers across Europe.”

The post EasyJet Starts In-Flight AirFi Trial, Adds Descent Profile Optimization to A320 Fleet appeared first on Avionics International.

Drone Delivery Trials Begin at Scotland’s First Drone Port

Mercury Drone Ports, Scotland’s first drone port, is trialing a new on-demand drone delivery service in Scotland in collaboration with NHS Tayside. The company Skyports Drone Services is operating the drone flights. (Photo: Angus Council)

Unmanned drones are now performing collection and delivery services in a new series of trials at Scotland’s first drone port. The drones will be transporting medicine, medical equipment, and samples between healthcare facilities beyond a visual line of sight (BVLOS). UK-based Skyports Drone Services is operating the drone flights in partnership with Mercury Drone Ports and National Health Service (NHS) Tayside.

With this new drone delivery service, collected samples can be analyzed at a laboratory more quickly and reliably than other methods. The trials are taking place over an eight-week period in Angus, Scotland, and include routes between Angus and Dundee, a city about 20 miles away.

Councilor Beth Whiteside, Angus Council leader, remarked on the collaboration with NHS Tayside to introduce sustainable drone delivery services in Angus. “The hope is to demonstrate the benefits this form of transportation can bring, for example, potentially reducing testing times and speeding up diagnoses for patients,” she explained.

“We are delighted to be able to lead the way through using innovative technologies to increase connectivity with our rural facilities, [whilst] reducing our carbon footprint as we begin to tackle the climate emergency with a green infrastructure first approach,” Whiteside added.

Pictured above from left to right: Angus Council Councillor Serena Cowdy; Skyports Flight Operations Manager, Alastair Skitmore; Angus Council Director of Communities, Alison Smith; NHS, Dr. Ellie Dow, Consultant in Biomedical Medicine; and DTLX Director, Richard Stark (Photo: Angus Council)

Skyports Drone Services, the company operating the drones, has conducted several drone delivery projects in Scotland. The Skyports team conducted medical drone deliveries in a three-month-long project last summer, transporting COVID-19 test samples and kits—along with other medical supplies—between four facilities.

Skyports intends to eventually establish permanent drone operations across Scotland with unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. “We’ll be demonstrating a range of drone use cases, including the delivery of medical equipment for NHS Tayside and survey operations for Angus Council,” commented Skyports Flight Operations Manager, Alistair Skitmore, in the announcement.

“Our objective with these flights is to highlight the vast benefits and use cases for drone operations to regulators, government, and local communities.”

Skyports is a drone services provider that offers cargo deliveries as well as survey and surveillance services with expertise in operating long-range autonomous flights. (Photo: Angus Council)

Mercury Drone Ports, Scotland’s first drone port and drone delivery network, is a public-private partnership that has received funding from the UK Government’s Angus Fund. The UK government is investing £26.5 million (nearly $30M USD) into projects in Angus, Scotland.

Mercury Drone Ports provides an area of airspace for drone companies and end-users to conduct flight trials, both onshore and offshore. The drone port will be based within the ZeroFour Hub, a partnership between Angus Council and Crown Estate Scotland.

The team at NHS Tayside hopes to extend phlebotomy testing hours at some facilities in the region, and drone delivery could make that possible by efficiently transporting samples to the main testing lab.

“We believe a drone delivery service will help to improve diagnostic sample transport times across Angus and other rural areas, helping NHS Tayside to provide an equitable level of healthcare, regardless of a patient’s geographical location,” said Chris Hind, Diagnostics Laboratories Interim Quality Manager at NHS Tayside.

The post Drone Delivery Trials Begin at Scotland’s First Drone Port appeared first on Avionics International.

FAA Publishes New Vertiport Design Guidelines

The FAA recently published new standards for vertiport design. (Photo: FAA)

In a recent announcement, the Federal Aviation Administration released new design guidelines for vertiports and vertistops—infrastructure to support electric aircraft that take off and land vertically. The design standards incorporate input from industry partners and the public, and are based on research conducted by the FAA.

The FAA’s Associate Administrator for Airports, Shannetta Griffin, P.E., believes that the U.S. is beginning a new era of aviation. “These vertiport design standards provide the foundation needed to begin safely building infrastructure in this new era,” she remarked in the FAA’s announcement.

The design guidelines cover both public and private vertiports and vertistops that enable electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Additionally, the recommendations listed in the FAA’s associated engineering brief are described as prescriptive and conservative. The FAA notes that the guidance related to vertiport design is likely to evolve in the future to a standard that is performance-based. Therefore, the recently released standards are intended to serve as guidance in the interim.

The design standards include recommendations for design and geometry of the area in a vertiport dedicated to take-off and landing. This includes the touchdown and lift-off area (TLOF), the final approach and take-off area (FATO), and the Safety Area which surrounds the FATO.

The TLOF, according to the FAA’s guidelines, should be on level terrain or on a level structure, and it should be centered within the FATO. The design of the FATO should assume dynamic loads of 150% of the eVTOL’s maximum take-off weight. The FATO and the Safety Area should be the same shape as the TLOF (circular, square, or rectangular).

The FAA also makes recommendations for the approach/departure path under visual flight rule (VFR) operations. The preferred paths for the eVTOL’s approach and departure should be aligned with the predominant wind direction whenever possible. Any additional approach and departure paths should, ideally, be separated from the preferred flight path by at least 135 degrees.

Another section of the design standards covers charging and electric vertiport infrastructure for battery-powered aircraft. “Electrification of aviation propulsion systems is an evolving area with few industry-specific standards,” the document states. The FAA recommends that those designing charging infrastructure for vertiports should take into account multiple aircraft-specific systems.

The design guidelines refer to a number of considerations for designing charging infrastructure at vertiports. These include airport/vertiport firefighting and safety considerations, such as the 2021 International Fire Code; Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) considerations, such as for storage and handling of lithium batteries; and power quality considerations, including standards from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Guidelines for the design of a vertiport at an airport (Photo: FAA)

The FAA also offers a guide for development of vertiport facilities at airports. The agency notes that separate facilities and procedures for eVTOL aircraft may be necessary once the volume of traffic reaches a certain point to affect the operations of other aircraft at the airport.

The TLOF of a vertiport or vertistop built at an airport, according to the FAA, should be located where access to the airport terminal is readily available. For eVTOL aircraft that can perform a conventional take-off and landing on a runway, the TLOF can be built in a location that gives access to fixed-wing aircraft movement areas.

These design guidelines were published by the FAA in late September. ASTM International, the standards development organization, also published a new standard in August that provides guidance to states and municipalities for the design and development of vertiports and vertistops.

Additionally, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published “Prototype Technical Design Specifications for Vertiports,” a document offering technical guidance and best practices for urban air mobility infrastructure in Europe. These recommendations were released in March 2022, and EASA expects to publish a Notice of Proposed Amendment in the second half of 2023.

The post FAA Publishes New Vertiport Design Guidelines appeared first on Avionics International.

PODCAST: ThinKom VP Talks New IFC Antenna Technologies, Satellite Networks and More

Greg Otto, VP of Sales & Marketing at ThinKom, is the guest on this episode of the podcast.

On this episode of the Connected Aviation Intelligence Podcast, Greg Otto, who is the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for ThinKom, is the guest.

ThinKom’s antenna technology is one among the most widely used on commercial airliners to enable in-flight connectivity (IFC). At the 2022 Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX), their Ka-band antenna was selected by Safran for the new Airbus Airspace Link HBC line-fit connectivity system, one of several major announcements and IFC initiatives they have been part of this year.

Otto discuses the Safran selection, new IFC antenna capabilities they’re developing and IFC-related commercial aviation market trends.

Listen to this episode below, or check it out on iTunes or Google Play. If you like the show, subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get new episodes as soon as they’re released.

The post PODCAST: ThinKom VP Talks New IFC Antenna Technologies, Satellite Networks and More appeared first on Avionics International.

US Army Signs CRADA with Collins to Develop New Airworthiness Certification for Multicore Processors and Modularity

The Collins Aerospace Customer Experience Center in Huntsville, Alabama (Photo: Collins Aerospace)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — The U.S. Army has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Collins Aerospace to develop a new approach to airworthiness certification of multicore processors and safety critical systems modularity. During a Sept. 28 media briefing held at their Customer Experience Center in Huntsville, engineering leadership for Collins Aerospace explained how their work with Army aviators will advance the adoption of Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) across the various manned and unmanned aircraft they operate.

CRADAs are used by the Army and other federal agencies to allow for the exchange of government equipment, facilities, and resources with non-federal entities. During the CEC media briefing, Collins showed prototypes of how the use of MOSA embedded computing form factors can reduce the number of individual computers required to enable communication, navigation, and surveillance applications on the Army’s enduring and future fleet of aircraft.

Computing performance expansion enabled by multicore processors is the result of linking multiple central processing unit (CPU) cores that share the tasks necessary to run an application into a single unit. This allows for the sharing of tasks and resources such as cache memory that would usually be separated out among multiple computers, to be run using the multiple cores of the singular processing unit.

Embedded systems suppliers and avionics manufacturers have been working toward achieving such a safety-critical milestone for many years, as the majority of in-service avionics systems rely on single-core processors. The interference that can occur when multiple processing cores are used to develop a computer system has been a certification challenge in the past, although Collins and other companies have advanced multicore processor-enabled avionics in recent years.

Based on this use of multiple processing cores within the same processor device, most of the communications, navigation, and surveillance applications of an aircraft that used to require an individual computer for each LRU can be enabled from MCPs working from assigned processor slots in a single chassis.

Tom von Eschenbach, program manager for Army Avionics at Collins, said that the certification of modularity and multicore processors remains one of the most challenging areas of the Department of Defense’s aircraft and technologies procurement process. A major goal for the work Collins will perform under the CRADA is to help the Army adopt new technologies faster throughout the life cycle of in-service aircraft.

“Why is MOSA so important? Why is MOSA one of General Rugen’s four lines of effort within the FVL cross-functional? It depends on who you are and what you value, and sometimes your answer is a little different,” von Eschenbach said. “The goal is not to procure an aircraft that had technologies designed in the early 2020s, produced in the 2030s and then to be operated with those same technologies for 20 years. You have to figure out how to introduce new technologies in a continuous process.”

Collins engineers at the CEC are already coming up with prototype designs that aviation program leadership from the Army can evaluate with hands-on simulator and flight testing.

One such MOSA-inspired prototype at the CEC is FlexLink, a technology that Collins describes as an adaptive-connectivity system for aircraft where communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) capabilities can be inserted, removed, upgraded, and re-inserted or replaced as processor cards. FlexLink’s form factor and purpose served as the central processing box on the aircraft is an example of the type of embedded avionics computing configuration that the Army’s MOSA Transformation Office describes as its vision for future open systems architecture.

Mosarc is the MOSA avionics architecture Collins has developed aligned to the open systems architecture the Army seeks to embrace. (Photo: Woodrow Bellamy III)

“We’re flying a FlexLink prototype at this year at Project Convergence,” Chadwick Ford, associate director of the Army JADC2 requirements and demonstrations team for Collins Aerospace, said during the media briefing.

The architecture and purpose served by FlexLink is also aligned to the Army’s CMOSS Mounted Form Factor (CMFF), a standard “plug-and-play” approach explained in a July 2021 post by the Army Program Executive Office (PEO). CMFF uses the C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) confirmation that gives the Army the ability to “insert cards, each embedded with networked capabilities such as Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT), mission command applications, or radio waveforms, into a common ruggedized chassis” inside a tactical aircraft or vehicle, according to Army PEO.

This prototype chassis developed by Collins shows the type of card-based architecture that the Army wants to adopt for current and future aircraft systems. (Photo: Woodrow Bellamy III)

FlexLink also provides the type of form factor and functionality envisioned by the Army’s Aviation Mission Common Server (AMCS) initiative first launched for its helicopter fleet in 2020. A MOSA panel discussion presentation held during the 2022 Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) provides several references to concepts other companies are developing that also focus on providing all of the processing necessary for an aircraft’s individual avionics applications from a single chassis.

Mercury Systems also has a video overview from its AAAA exhibit demonstrating how the AMCS-architected system they have developed consolidates processing managed by multiple boxes on typical in-service Army aircraft into a single chassis.

Collins has also previously demonstrated MOSA avionics concepts in partnership with Army, including a multi-domain operation (MDO) demonstration during the September 2021 Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM). The demonstration, lead by Collins Aerospace, featured software and multiple third-party mission computers—including Parry Labs’ Stellar Relay—integrated into a helicopter flight deck.

The helicopter simulator cockpit at the CEC (Photo: Woodrow Bellamy III)

Harold Tiedman, technical fellow and Collins’ chief engineer for FVL, said the CRADA signed with the Army is also aimed at changing how military aircraft and their mission-specific technologies are acquired, operated, and upgraded.

“With the CRADA and the integration of more systems into these smaller form factors, we’re also really challenging the norms of how procurement is done,” Tiedman said. “Traditionally, the customer or the OEM would buy a computer, you’d buy an environmental control system, a generator, and a health monitoring system, as an example. Those things are all separate systems. But what they all have in common are central processing and control elements. If we can eliminate those individual control elements and integrate them together, now you’re able to reduce the number of boxes and the amount of wire in the aircraft required for each.”

The post US Army Signs CRADA with Collins to Develop New Airworthiness Certification for Multicore Processors and Modularity appeared first on Avionics International.

Researchers at the University of Vermont Evaluate Use of Drones for Disaster Response

The University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory team researches the use of drones for emergency response and disaster preparedness. (Photo: UVM Spatial Analysis Lab)

The Federal Aviation Administration’s ASSURE Center of Excellence recently awarded $2.7 million in grants to support research on the use of drones in emergency response situations. This amount included nearly $1.2M that was awarded to the University of Vermont as well as grants to four additional universities. The research targets use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to address both natural and human-made disasters.

The University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory team joined in the efforts of ASSURE, or the Alliance for System Safety of UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) through Research Excellence, at the end of last year. UVM’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory received $1,195,000 in funding in August, according to the FAA.

Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne, Director of the Spatial Analysis Laboratory, spoke about their ongoing research in an interview with Avionics International. “The first phase of the project was much more academic—doing a lot of research on how drones have been used in disaster response,” he explained. “We’re fortunate as part of the research team with ASSURE to actually get out and work with drones.”

Members of the Spatial Analysis Laboratory at the University of Vermont (Photo: UVM SAL)

The research phase of the project included speaking with people across the U.S. that are involved in responding to natural disasters and managing emergencies. The Spatial Analysis Laboratory (SAL) team talked to sheriffs that are deployed during fires in California, O’Neil-Dunne said, as well as members of the U.S. Forest Service who deal with natural fires and other emergencies on a regular basis.

The researchers at the SAL are now progressing through the second phase of this project. “We’re actually going out and doing exercises with first responders and emergency managers to implement the procedures that we’ve developed for this project,” shared O’Neil-Dunne.

One of their objectives is to have so-called “playbooks” for organizations that want to use drone technology. These playbooks would serve as guides for deploying drones in various types of disasters.

“On one hand, drones can be really simple, but on the other hand, there’s a lot of really advanced technology out there,” he noted. “You can easily spend $1,000 on a drone platform or $200,000. What you need to do to operate safely and effectively can change quite rapidly.”

Images taken by drones depict the damage resulting from a disaster and aid in emergency response. (Photos: UVM SAL)

Safety is of utmost importance in operating drones. To ensure that individuals are using the technology in a safe manner, it’s necessary to develop the proper policies, procedures, and checklists for operating UAS.

In the early stages of UVM’s SAL, the researchers became involved in helping communities deal with small-scale flooding events using drones. This demonstrated to the team that UAS technology could offer incredibly helpful tools to first responders and those in emergency management that would enable new levels of situational awareness.

“What we’re seeing now with the FAA and this funding,” O’Neil-Dunne said, “is figuring out how to get this technology into the hands of more people, because it can potentially save lives and speed up recovery.”

He added that part of speeding the recovery process is being able to access verifiable information in order for FEMA to direct the funds to those who need the most help.

One of the main challenges that comes with the increased use of drones is managing the airspace to account for manned and unmanned aircraft. Integrating drones into the same airspace that is already occupied with conventional passenger aircraft—such as helicopters used for medical evacuation, or civil air patrol reconnaissance—is extraordinarily challenging, remarked O’Neil-Dunne.

“We don’t have the centralized control that you do in, for example, a conflict area like Iraq where the airspace is heavily controlled by the military and there’s structure in place,” he explained. “Our emergency services may not be structured like that for these domestic responses.”

In talking to first responders, the Spatial Analysis Laboratory team found that a major impediment to disaster response is a lack of good policies or technology that allows multiple organizations to quickly launch drones in the airspace.

“We’ve seen situations in the past where some of the drones had to be grounded in a disaster until that coordination could be worked out,” O’Neil-Dunne commented.

“The more this technology gets used, the more opportunities it creates for better decisions, and the more challenges we have with respect to the airspace, safe operation, and coordination,” he added. “Our ability to put things up in the air has far surpassed, at least for right now, our ability to coordinate these things flying in the air.”

The post Researchers at the University of Vermont Evaluate Use of Drones for Disaster Response appeared first on Avionics International.

Category Archives: MRO’s