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FAA Awards $19 Million to Universities for Researching Aviation Noise Reduction

The FAA will grant $19 million to universities across the U.S. to conduct research on ways to reduce aviation noise. These research projects will be carried out as part of the Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT). (Photo: ASCENT)

The Federal Aviation Administration recently shared news of $19 million in awards to universities in the U.S. to research ways to reduce aviation noise.

The research projects will be conducted as part of the Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT), a cooperative aviation research organization founded in 2014. Washington State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology lead ASCENT, which is funded by the FAA and NASA as well as the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Transport Canada. The FAA has now invested more than $35 million for research through the ASCENT program in the past 12 months.

Georgia Institute of Technology received $300,000 to analyze how an over-wing jet engine design could potentially achieve noise reductions. The university received an additional $300,000 award to evaluate the noise exposure resulting from the operation of many uncrewed aircraft in the airspace. Pennsylvania State University received an award of $220,000 for a sonic boom simulation project to help with establishing noise certification standards for low-boom supersonic aircraft in the future.

Four universities received an $850,000 award to collaborate on the development of more accurate methods of noise prediction for supersonic aircraft. Along with Georgia Institute of Technology and Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University and University of Illinois were included in this award.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology team received $315,000 to develop noise models for various aircraft that fall into the advanced air mobility category. Pennsylvania State University received one award for acoustic modeling for urban air mobility (UAM) aircraft, and one for using computer modeling to create noise abatement procedures for helicopters.

Two of the largest awards were related to community impact. Nearly $2 million was given to Boston University’s team to determine the relationship between aircraft noise, sleep, mental health, and cardiovascular health. Similarly, the University of Pennsylvania team was awarded $1,077,621 to study how noise from aircraft affects sleep.

Laurence Wildgoose, FAA Assistant Administrator for Policy, International Affairs, and Environment, commented on the research awards, saying, “The university teams are creating a new path for the aviation industry and our investments in the research are paying dividends today.”

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Boeing and CAE to Enhance P-8 Training Solutions

Boeing and CAE agreed to collaborate to enhance P-8 training solutions for Canada, Germany, and Norway. (Photo: Wikimedia)

Boeing and CAE have signed teaming agreements to expand multi-mission platform collaboration for the P-8 Poseidon program in Canada, Norway, and Germany. This partnership will capitalize on the strengths of each company to better manage training in a cost-effective manner.

Boeing has developed several successful aircraft programs designed for a variety of industry segments, including commercial aviation and defense. Boeing’s development of commercial aircraft has aided it in creating newer aircraft for various branches of the armed forces, such as the P-8 Poseidon.

This aircraft, which is a modified design of both Boeing’s 737-800 and 737-900 aircraft, provides armed forces across the world with resources to help preserve and protect national security through the addition of several features to the original air frame. For example, the aircraft is equipped with a bomb bay that can carry weapons like free-fall bombs and Raytheon Mark 54 torpedoes. It also features an advanced surveillance radar from Raytheon in its nose fairing.

The P-8 excels specifically in anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, surveillance and search and rescue missions. With a maximum cruising altitude of 41,000 feet and maximum cruising speed of 491 knots, the aircraft can be used in a variety of situations with better performance and reliability than its predecessors. The model has flown over 500,000 flight-hours in countries across the world, and 155 P-8 aircraft are currently in service.

Pictured above, from left to right: Daniel Gelston, CAE Defense & Security president; Torbjorn Sjogren, Boeing vice president and general manager, Government Services; and Marc-Olivier Sabourin, CAE Defense & Security Global vice president and general manager. (Photo: Boeing/CAE)

The P-8 has two different variants. The Indian Navy operates the P-8I, while the more popular P-8A is utilized by the U.S. Navy, the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom, the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Norwegian Air Force, and Royal New Zealand Air Force. Agencies like this will benefit from Boeing’s collaboration with CAE.

With this partnership, the two companies will provide teacher training, ground school, and pilot/team training, which will help improve mission readiness for customers. As a strong provider of simulation and in-flight training, CAE will develop a network of simulation and in-service support solutions to assist various defense agencies across the world.

As Torbjorn Sjogren, Boeing’s vice president and general manager of Government Services, explained, “These agreements aim to advance mission readiness for defense customers operating Boeing P-8 aircraft. Working together, Boeing and CAE can deliver outcome-based pilot and aircrew training, maintenance ground school, in-service support, and instructor training at the point of need.”

Given Boeing’s and CAE’s extensive experience in developing reliable defense products and the necessary training infrastructure to support them, the companies are optimistic that their partnership will create value and improved reliability for their customers.

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OPINION: How the Aviation Industry Can Tap Into Blockchain Technology Benefits

Mesbah Sabur, the founder of circular economy startup Circularise, describes the benefits of analyzing aircraft conditions with blockchain technology, ways that blockchain can reduce waste and emissions in aviation, and how traceability in aviation can support more sustainable practices. (Photo: IFS Labs)

It is estimated that the aviation blockchain market will grow around 22% between 2019 and 2025. There is increasing interest from the aviation industry in blockchain technology to enable traceability and transparency in operations, reduce supply chain complexity, digitize business processes, and improve passenger experience and communications. Blockchain and traceability can support the aviation industry at all stages of the supply chain to enable more sustainable practices.

By tracing the complex upstream supply chain, the industry can get more detailed insights into the sourcing and composition of materials and components, the certified amounts of recycled content in parts or bio-based content in sustainable aviation fuels, and the environmental impacts of each step of the production process. This enables all members of the supply chain—from raw material suppliers to part producers to OEMs and airlines—to make more sustainable design decisions for exterior and interior components in the aircraft cabin to reduce waste and emissions. As a result, the industry will be able to optimize its supply chain, reducing complexity and risk in the production process.

Blockchain traceability can also support activities in maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) in the aviation industry. It creates a record of the composition and sourcing of parts and components upstream in the form of digital product passports, and could include elements such as disassembly manuals or instructions. As a result, companies can extend product lifetimes and track the second or third life of parts and components, enabling more circular business models in the future.

What’s more, tracing the supply chain using blockchain allows companies in the aviation industry to better communicate their activities to the consumer. For instance, airline passengers can scan QR codes in their seats and other areas of the cabin to see how the aviation industry is incorporating sustainability into their operations. This can enable all the parties in the aviation industry to engage with passengers and raise awareness of how the industry is contributing to positive environmental impact.

Mesbah Sabur is the founder of Circularise, a circular economy startup.

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BAE Systems and Heart Aerospace Collaborate on Battery for Electric Aircraft

BAE Systems and Heart Aerospace will be collaborating to create a battery system for Heart Aerospace’s regional electric airplane, the ES-30. (Photo: Heart Aerospace/BAE Systems)

BAE Systems and Heart Aerospace will be collaborating to create a battery system for Heart Aerospace’s regional electric airplane, the ES-30. This partnership will allow two of the world’s leading aviation technology companies to combine resources in an attempt to make flying more efficient, greener, and more sustainable.

BAE Systems offers a variety of products to customers across the world, including in industry segments such as defense and security. With over 89,600 employees, BAE’s products have applications to air, land, sea and space operations. Meanwhile, Heart Aerospace also works on the cutting edge to further improve technology available to the aviation industry. The company’s mission to make aviation the world’s most accessible and sustainable mode of transportation has led it to the intense development of electric aircraft. The company’s latest prototype, the ES-30, aims to make electric flying in regional markets a reality.

The product of this collaboration will be a first-of-its-kind battery that will be installed on Heart’s electric conventional take-off and landing (eCTOL) aircraft, the ES-30. If successful, this regional jet will fly and operate efficiently with no carbon emissions and noise levels significantly lower than current regional aircraft in operation.

“BAE Systems’ extensive experience in developing batteries for heavy-duty ground applications, and their experience in developing safety critical control systems for aerospace, make them an ideal partner in this important next step for the ES-30 and for the aviation industry.” – Sofia Graflund, chief operating officer at Heart Aerospace (Photo: Heart Aerospace/BAE Systems)

The experience BAE Systems and Heart Aerospace have will enable them to develop technology reliable and safe enough for practical application to today’s regional jet market. Ehtisham Siddiqui, vice president and general manager of Controls and Avionics Solutions at BAE Systems believes that the company’s ”industry-leading solution builds on decades of expertise delivering technologies and systems needed to progress sustainable transportation. We are delighted to collaborate with Heart Aerospace on the innovative battery system for its electric airplane.”

Few aviation companies are as accomplished as BAE Systems, especially in the practice of electrically powering large aircraft. Over the past 25 years, the company has built and sold over 15,000 power and propulsion systems to customers across the world. Development for this particular program will occur mainly at BAE’s facility in Endicott, New York.

Development of a functional battery will be vital to the success of the ES-30 program. This aircraft will be powered by four electric motors while boasting a range of over 120 miles. Furthermore, the aircraft’s hybrid range is almost 250 miles when carrying 30 passengers, and almost 500 with 25 passengers. The ES-30 already has 230 orders and 100 options, along with letters of intent for 108 additional aircraft. As the program gains traction and the attention of potential customers across the world, ensuring the aircraft will have a reliable battery is an important step BAE Systems and Heart Aerospace hope to achieve together.

The post BAE Systems and Heart Aerospace Collaborate on Battery for Electric Aircraft appeared first on Avionics International.

Shift5 Unveils New Module to Leverage Onboard Data and Automate Regulatory Compliance

Shift5 has introduced a new module for commercial air operators that leverages onboard data to automate compliance with Aircraft Network Security Program (ANSP) requirements. (Photo: Shift5)

On Monday, Shift5 introduced a new module for commercial air operators that leverages onboard data to automate compliance with Aircraft Network Security Program (ANSP) requirements. The company’s focus is onboard operational technology (OT) systems, data acquisition, cybersecurity, and automation of maintenance.

The goal, according to Shift5 CTO Egon Rinderer, is to conduct full data acquisition on all of the OT systems and use that data to improve overall platform security. This includes “automating out very human-intensive things that today are very much clipboard-and-pencil exercises,” he told Avionics in a recent interview. They then automate the resulting reporting and compliance. Historically, this has been done with cybersecurity and maintenance in mind.

Egon Rinderer, Shift5’s CTO (Photo: Shift5)

“We have a cybersecurity module and a maintenance module,” Rinderer explained. “We’re now introducing a new concept which is a compliance module that automates the compliance data acquisition, analysis, [and] also the reporting piece.” This automation saves customers significant amounts of time, from the aviation and rail industries to the Department of Defense.

“Everybody has compliance mandates that they have to meet,” he said, adding that meeting these requirements is extremely resource-intensive.

Although the new module is vertical agnostic, Shift5’s team has initially focused heavily on the commercial aviation industry because of the maturity of the federal government’s mandates and requirements.

The process involves taking data produced onboard an aircraft and running it through deterministic analysis. For this analysis, Rinderer said, “we’re focused on things that can be articulated as rules—thousands and thousands of rules—and determining whether or not you’re in compliance with those rules, then automating the ability to report not only the compliance with those rules but the collection and retention of that data.”

In the future, they will shift into non-deterministic analysis that involves understanding behavioral attributes of the platform, he noted. To this end, Shift5 is working with partner customers in the commercial and defense industries today.

Bobby Anderson, Vice President/General Manager for Commercial Aviation at Shift5, also participated in an interview with Avionics to discuss the new module. “Modern aircraft are generating a vast amount of data that’s occurring on those aircraft. All those systems are communicating to one another,” he said.

Bobby Anderson, Vice President/General Manager for Commercial Aviation at Shift5 (Photo: Shift5)

Two challenges for airlines, Anderson remarked, are “managing the requirements and the guidelines that have been set out by the FAA and understanding the security logs associated with all of that traffic occurring on that aircraft.”

The compliance module enables airlines to automate the difficult process of managing security logs according to the guidelines of the FAA’s Advisory Circular 119-1.

“Our ANSP compliance modules, which is what we’re talking about here for aviation specifically, allow the automation of that ingestion and that analysis back to the operators,” Anderson explained. “Most of the airlines have resource constrained teams. They need to find a way to do it much more efficiently.”

“One aspect of it is how the security logs are being managed and visualized,” he added. “We allow them to retain the security logs and to conduct continuous analysis of the logs to detect anomalies. They can verify compliance and focus on the insights that we provide them in our visualization solution instead of trying to focus on sorting through data, which is essentially billions of messages within the security logs across an aircraft fleet.”

As part of the security log analysis, Shift5 is providing its own assessment of rules established by either the manufacturer of the aircraft or the operator. “We’ve been able to apply the MITRE ATT&CK framework to those established rule sets,” explained Anderson. “It enables the airline to—through our ANSP compliance solution—focus on what is the most important thing, from a security perspective, based off that MITRE ATT&CK framework.”

Rinderer commented that their efforts are designed to leverage the principles of applied data observability to solve a problem with disparate and unique data sources. “From a technical perspective, we have this challenge of being able to understand the data and get it into a curated state where it can be put to work,” he said.

This week, Shift5 also announced a partnership with JetBlue “to bring cybersecurity and data observability of onboard avionics to commercial aircraft,” according to the company. JetBlue Ventures is also investing into Shift5 for the development of new platform capabilities to increase efficiency and safety for commercial air transportation.

Josh Lospinoso, CEO and co-founder of Shift5, explained, “We demystify exactly what happens aboard aircraft from before takeoff to after landing, allowing maintenance, repair, operations, and cybersecurity teams the ability to make data-informed decisions.”

Steven Taub, Managing Director, Investments at JetBlue Ventures, remarked, “Their technology has the potential to revolutionize aviation cybersecurity.”

The post Shift5 Unveils New Module to Leverage Onboard Data and Automate Regulatory Compliance appeared first on Avionics International.

FAA To Award $20 Million in Funding to Smaller Airports

The FAA will award $20M from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to 29 airport-owned traffic control towers in the U.S. Pictured above is Phoenix Sky Harbor’s Air Traffic Control Tower and TRACON. (Photo: Jacobs)

On Friday, March 31, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it will be providing $20 million through a new bipartisan infrastructure law to help smaller airports across the country modernize their operations. The funding aims to support local economies by helping nearby airports improve safety and lower costs.

29 airports across the United States will receive funding from this new investment in infrastructure. The main purpose of the funding will be to help airports either upgrade or replace their aging control towers. Now with the needed monetary resources, airports will repair, modernize, or even replace existing air traffic control towers. Investment in better air traffic control infrastructure will help a variety of industry segments—including commercial services, flight training, and agricultural aviation—to grow and thrive, especially following unprecedented challenges caused by the pandemic.

Airports, though often seen as relevant only to the travel industry, actually play a vital role in the nation’s economy. This is especially true on a local level. As Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg explains, “Airports aren’t just travel hubs, they are important job centers and economic engines—especially in smaller communities. We’re proud to deliver these investments, which will help us improve safety at airports and support local economies for decades to come.”

The largest recipients of funding from the FAA are concentrated in the midwestern United States. Columbus Municipal Airport (BAK) in Indiana received the largest amount of funding, with over $1.5 million. The airport does not have any commercial service, but it is one of the fastest-growing general aviation airports in the state. While it provides necessary aviation infrastructure to southern Indiana, it is in great need of improvements. The airport’s control tower, which is 68 years old, struggles with Line of Sight challenges, can only be accessed through outdoor stairs, and fails to meet a variety of regulatory requirements that ensure safety. A new 100-foot tower will be built as a replacement using the funding.

A data visualization of the airports receiving funding (Photo: FAA)

Located in Tyler, Texas, Tyler Pounds Regional Airport (TYR) will also receive a notable proportion of the subsidies. The airport will use the $1.1 million it has been awarded to plan and create a preliminary design to relocate its existing FAA Contract Tower (FTC). A recent extension of the main runway has led to serious Line of Sight issues. Because the current facility is 75 years old, it also does not meet many Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety standards. Among other additions, the new facility will have an elevator, making it more compliant with standards from the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Tyler Pounds Regional Airport also hosts three daily American Airlines flights to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, meaning that these improvements will also assist the city in ensuring smooth passenger operations.

Another major recipient of funding is Joplin Regional Airport (JLN) in Joplin, Missouri. The airport received over $800,000 to improve its current infrastructure. About $500,000 of the funding will be put toward modernizing aging equipment in the control tower. The rest of the funding will be put toward replacing the airport’s dated lighting system. In addition to providing a variety of resources for general aviation activities, the airport also has commercial service made possible by the United States’ Essential Air Service program. This program provides subsidies to airlines to fly to smaller, otherwise unprofitable destinations. Joplin’s EAS contract was awarded to Skywest Airlines (flown under the United Airlines Brand), which operates flights to both Denver International Airport (DEN) and Chicago-O’Hare International Airport (ORD). Improvements like this will help enhance the flying experience for commercial passengers.

While size was a consideration, the funding was provided to airports most in need of it. Many small airports are receiving the most funding, but some recipients of these subsidies are busier airports with more commercial traffic. For example, Eagle County Regional Airport, which sees larger passenger volumes and therefore mainline, narrow-body jets during the winter ski season, will also receive money from the government to improve its control tower. Other funding recipients that receive mainline passenger jets include Bozeman-Yellowstone International Airport, Jackson Hole Airport and Trenton-Mercer Airport.

The aviation industry has proven to be resilient despite setbacks in recent years. Across most industry segments, air traffic is returning to pre-pandemic levels. Investments in important infrastructure is critical to maintaining safety, and the FAA believes funding smaller airports with less monetary resources is a good way to support the industry during its time of recovery.

The post FAA To Award $20 Million in Funding to Smaller Airports appeared first on Avionics International.

USAF Plans Sensor Testing for Autonomous F-16s

The Air Force will put six autonomous F-16s in the air, equip them with rapidly upgradable software, execute test flights, and then have pilots fly the aircraft to monitor the functioning of the artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled autonomy. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)

The U.S. Air Force plans to integrate and test sensors, including advanced electronically scanned array radar, on autonomous F-16 fighters to feed the service’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.

The Air Force’s $2.3 billion fiscal 2024 request for NGAD includes $392 million associated with Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA)—figures that indicate that almost 17% of the NGAD fiscal 2024 request is for CCA (Defense Daily, March 14).

The Air Force’s March 13 fiscal 2024 budget overview lists a request of $522 million for CCA. Most of the remaining $130 million for CCA outside of NGAD looks to be for the service’s “autonomous collaborative platforms” (ACP) research and development effort, begun last year, which was a continuation of work under the Skyborg Vanguard program. ACP has focused on moving mature autonomous drones, including the Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie, into the prototype phase.

The Air Force requested nearly $119 million for ACP in fiscal 2024, a $67 million increase from last year’s appropriated amount.

The nearly $119 million for ACP is entirely taken up by two proposed new start programs—nearly $69 million for an Experimental Operations Unit to reduce CCA program risk by exploring how CCAs could function most effectively with crewed aircraft in future Air Force squadrons; and nearly $50 million for the Viper Experimentation and Next-gen Operations Mode (VENOM).

Under VENOM, the Air Force is to put six autonomous F-16s in the air, equip them with rapidly upgradable software, execute test flights, and then have pilots fly the aircraft to monitor the functioning of the artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled autonomy.

Last month, Air Force Materiel Command said that the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Air Force Test Center (AFTC), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) held 12 AI-driven flight tests last December at Edwards AFB, Calif., of the X-62A Variable Stability In-Flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA), a modified Block 30 F-16D in service since 1992 (Defense Daily, Feb. 14).

AFRL said that its Autonomous Air Combat Operations’ and DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) AI algorithms permitted the X-62A to execute advanced fighter maneuvers in the tests last Dec. 1-16.

In a March 27 Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ virtual forum on NGAD, Air Force Maj. Gen. Evan “Weed” Dertien, the AFTC commander, said that VISTA has not had many sensors but that the VENOM F-16s will have an AESA radar and electronic warning.

“You have all those things where now you can expand your autonomy algorithm to react to the inputs that it’s getting to make decisions for yourself,” Dertien said. “It’s kind of the next evolution into scaling up what autonomy can do, and that’s what those VENOM aircraft will help us do.”

This article was originally published by Defense Daily, a sister publication of Avionics International. It has been edited. Read the original version here >>

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Panasonic Announces New Software Engineering Center in India

Panasonic Avionics recently introduced a rapidly growing set of software development capabilities based in Pune, India. (Photo: Panasonic)

Panasonic Avionics, one of the aviation industry’s leaders in providing in-flight entertainment and connectivity systems, has announced a new global software development center in Pune, India. First entering the Indian market in 1972, the company hopes to expand its presence in south Asia.

Panasonic Avionics Corporation is a leading supplier of a variety of aviation products, focused mainly on providing reliable in-flight entertainment and communication systems to its customers. Many of the world’s leading airlines have equipped their fleet with Panasonic’s IFE systems, with over 15,000 commercial aircraft having been installed with its technology. With approximately 70% of the world’s IFE-equipped aircraft being powered by Panasonic, the company hopes to further assist airline clients earn more customer loyalty and ancillary revenue through its products.

Panasonic Avionics’ growth in India will allow it to better serve its customers. As Satyen Yadav, the Chief Technology Officer of Panasonic Avionics Corporation explained, “It’s an incredibly exciting time in our industry as our airline partners are looking to enhance the travel journey in new and exciting ways. As a trusted partner to the world’s leading airlines, our goal is to unlock the potential of IFEC with solutions that give airlines the same flexibility they enjoy with their web and mobile solutions so that they can maximize their net promoter score (NPS), increase customer loyalty, drive revenue, and optimize their operational efficiencies.”

The new infrastructure this software development center provides will foster innovation and play a pivotal role in finding better solutions to offer customers. Panasonic Avionics will invest in state-of-the-art labs that will be capable of testing new passenger experiences for a variety of aircraft, ranging from narrow-body to wide-body aircraft. Additionally, the company will create replica, full-scale cabins of single-aisle and twin-aisle aircraft that will enable researchers to test IFE software that can help improve an airline’s products. Panasonic’s new investment will also assist it in improving time to market for its offerings.

In addition to better serving customers, Yadav also believes the new edition will support existing locations and teams. He notes the excitement he has for the company’s Pune operation to “complement the excellent work of our US-based teams with the development and growth of our new capabilities in India. This combined group of skilled engineers is enabling us to grow and future-proof our software development capabilities and ensure the highest levels of reliability in our systems. This new expertise in India is already delivering a wide range of software-related services—everything from new OS platforms, mobile apps, interactive software, cloud and data engineering to automation and software architecture design.”

With competition in the airline industry intensifying, many have already begun improving their own on-board product to entice customers. Panasonic believes its new facility in Pune will help it better serve its customers as they look for new solutions to in-flight entertainment and connectivity.

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Universal Hydrogen and Hartzell Propeller Test Cleaner Technologies

Universal Hydrogen Co. flew a 40-passenger regional airliner using hydrogen fuel cell propulsion during a demonstration in early March. (Photo: Business Wire)

Recently, Universal Hydrogen and Hartzell Propeller showed significant progress toward hydrogen fuel cell-powered flight. The two companies collaborated to alter a De Havilland Dash 8 testbed, allowing it to be powered by both hydrogen fuel cells and traditional aviation fuel. With a successful first flight on March 2, 2023, the two companies’ collaboration has made promising steps toward making air travel cleaner and more sustainable.

Headquartered in the Los Angeles area, Universal Hydrogen has a mission to decarbonize the aviation industry while keeping flying affordable for passengers and operators. While it was founded in early 2020, the company has already reached some impressive milestones—namely the first flight of its partly hydrogen fuel cell-powered testbed aircraft earlier this month. The flight, which lasted for approximately 15 minutes, used hydrogen fuel cell propulsion and demonstrated the viability of clean fuel sources in the industry.

While this flight was operated under an FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate, the company hopes that the testing stage will last two years and that its new technology could enter into commercial service as early as 2025 with launch customers Connect Airlines and Amelia. Universal Hydrogen’s recent success has inspired confidence across the industry, as the company already has an order book for 247 aircraft conversions from 16 customers in different regions of the world.

The success of the Dash 8 testbed’s first flight was largely thanks to technology developed by Hartzell Propeller. As a part of Hartzell Aviation, Hartzell Propeller designs and manufactures propellers for aircraft in a variety of industry segments. Developed by Hartzell, the five-bladed propeller provided to support the testbed (dubbed “Lightning McClean” by Universal Hydrogen) has a 91-inch diameter and is made of carbon fiber. While it is smaller than the standard propeller that a Dash 8 is equipped with, it successfully provided the thrust necessary to keep the aircraft airborne after the jet fuel-powered engine was throttled back.

“During the second circuit over the airport, we were comfortable with the performance of the hydrogen powertrain, so we were able to throttle back the fossil fuel turbine engine to demonstrate cruise principally on hydrogen power,” remarked Alex Kroll, a former U.S. Air Force test pilot and the company’s chief test pilot. “The airplane handled beautifully, and the noise and vibrations from the fuel cell powertrain are significantly lower than from the conventional turbine engine.”

Hartzell Propeller is involved in several projects that aim to decarbonize the aviation industry, making this partnership just one of many of its attempts to make flying cleaner. As Hartzell Propeller President JJ Frigge explained, “This project with Universal Hydrogen is one of many programs where Hartzell Propeller is working with and supporting advanced air mobility manufacturers. Hartzell Propeller has been around for over a hundred years, and carbon-free flight can power our next century.”

In addition to providing the propeller, Hartzell also designed a customized governor for Universal Hydrogen. This device, which automatically changes the propeller blade pitch of an aircraft, helps the engine maintain a consistent RPM.

This first flight marks a significant milestone in the industry-wide attempt to make flying cleaner and more sustainable. It featured the largest hydrogen fuel cell-powered aircraft, as well as the largest aircraft to cruise primarily on hydrogen. If all goes according to Universal Hydrogen’s plan, the first ATR 72 to run solely on hydrogen using its technology could be in passenger service by 2025.

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Airbus Sees Big Potential For “Auto’Mate” Technology After Tanker-Drone Test Flights

Airbus Defence & Space and Airbus UpNext achieved in-flight autonomous guidance and control of a drone. (Photo: Airbus)

Demonstrations of an Airbus A310 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) autonomously guiding a drone went “even better than expected” and showed the potential for autonomous air-to-air refueling, according to an Airbus executive involved in directing the trials.

Two 6-hour test flights–conducted March 21 and 23–in which an A310 MRTT flying testbed outfitted with the “Auto’Mate” technology being developed by Airbus UpNext was able to take control of DT-25 drones in-flight and put them in a refueling position around 45 m. from the tanker.

UpNext is the Airbus Defence and Space unit charged with developing future flight technologies. Airbus Defence and Space said the test flights “demonstrate a significant breakthrough for future aerial operations involving manned and unmanned assets.”

The aircraft and the uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) took off from separate spots in Spain and “over the waters of the Gulf of Cadiz, the control of the drone transitioned from a ground station to the A310 MRTT, autonomously guiding the DT-25 to the in-flight refueling position,” according to Airbus.

Manuel Barriopedro, head of the Auto’Mate demonstrator program at Airbus UpNext, told Avionics International in an interview that the demonstrations move Airbus farther down the road toward enabling drones to be refueled in-flight. “The objective is clear: to perform fully autonomous air-to-air refueling operations,” he said.

The Auto’Mate project is focused on “three main technological bricks,” Barriopedro said. These include accurate relative navigation, intraflight communication between platforms and cooperative control algorithms.

“We established communication [between the drone and A310 MRTT] via data link at the moment the drone was launched,” Barriopedro explained. “At the beginning, the drone was controlled by the ground control station manually, but at one point, we decided to pass the control to the MRTT, and from that moment control was performed autonomously. Artificial intelligence algorithms and cooperative control were guiding the drone to different positions.”

At first, the drone was kept at a distance from the MRTT as security and safety parameters were verified. “Then when we were seeing that things were going well, we were approaching [the tanker aircraft with the drone] more and more and more as we moved through the two days of this campaign,” Barriopedro said.

He noted the technology also aims to enable the control of drones in formation flight. Airbus envisions air force operations where “mission aircraft will fly jointly with drone swarms.”

Barriopedro said air-to-air control of drones could have applications well beyond refueling and military operations. “We believe that we have a huge potential using these technologies in different fields in different scenarios,” he explained.

Airbus said it plans additional Auto’Mate flight tests later in 2023, “exploring the use of navigation sensors based on artificial intelligence and enhanced algorithms for autonomous formation flight.”

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