Systems and certification issues for civil transport aircraft flow control systems

This article is placed here with permission from the Royal Aeronautical Society - Copyright @ 2009 Royal Aeronautical SocietyThe use of flow control (FC) technology on civil transport aircraft is seen as a potential means of providing a step change in aerodynamic performance in the 2020 time frame. There has been extensive research into the flow physics associated with FC. This paper focuses on developing an understanding of the costs and design drivers associated with the systems needed and certification. The research method adopted is based on three research strands: 1. Study of the historical development of other disruptive technologies for civil transport aircraft, 2. Analysis of the impact of legal and commercial requirements, and 3. Technological foresight based on technology trends for aircraft currently under development. Fly by wire and composite materials are identified as two historical examples of successful implementation of disruptive new technology. Both took decades to develop, and were initially developed for military markets. The most widely studied technology similar to FC is identified as laminar flow control. Despite more than six decades of research and arguably successful operational demonstration in the 1990s this has not been successfully transitioned to commercial products. Significant future challenges are identified in cost effective provision of the additional systems required for environmental protection and in service monitoring of FC systems particularly where multiple distributed actuators are envisaged. FC generated noise is also seen as a significant challenge. Additional complexity introduced by FC systems must also be balanced by the commercial imperative of dispatch reliability, which may impose more stringent constraints than legal (certification) requirements. It is proposed that a key driver for future successful application of FC is the likely availability of significant electrical power generation on 787 aircraft forwards. This increases the competitiveness of electrically driven FC systems compared with those using engine bleed air. At the current rate of progress it is unlikely FC will make a contribution to the next generation of single-aisle aircraft due to enter service in 2015. In the longer term, there needs to be significant movement across a broad range of systems technologies before the aerodynamic benefits of FC can be exploited.This work is supported by the EU FP6 AVERT (AerodynamicValidation of Emissions Reducing Technologies) project

Flight Operations and Engineering Documentation Managing and Distribution Supported by Intelligent Transport Systems

Aviation as a multitude of activities is meant to satisfy needs of its customers to overcome distance and time between any departure and arrival point in the world. Airlines and other aircraft operators (governments, armed forces, general aviation, and business aviation) differ in their structure depending on their size and services they provide. Some departments are to be found in larger airlines only. However, core departments, to every airline or aircraft operator, are flight operations department and engineering department. Sophistication and the size of these departments depend on the size of the system they are incorporated in. Business logistics of an airline consist of numerous distinctive activities and functions. These activities have to be planned and completed in synchronisation. The paper presents an overview to intelligent systems for the support to these activities with particular stress on flight operations and maintenance functions in a medium sized airline. Authors show how the approach to documentation management, as a part of logistics in the production of transportation service, has evolved since the early 1990s when aviation has started to recognise the value of digital technical data. In light of this, authors analyse conceptual framework adopted by today's aircraft manufacturers towards their logistics activities supported by Internet as a new means of transferring data. The advent of new sophisticated pilot-machine interfaces and aircraft systems tends to increase the volume of the documentation describing these tools drastically. The paper communicates how operational documentation has to change to move towards a more easy and modern media. Intelligent systems that prove aviation entering a period where the "written book" is going to be complemented if not largely supplemented by the "electronic book" are presented from the early beginnings of digital data application to the most recent achievements

Formal Knowledge Examination Institutions: Chance Or Threat to European Medium Tech-Nology SMEs? A Cognitive and Institutional Perspective

For most SME in incumbent medium-technology sectors, international business is only possi-ble, if additional support by specified institutions is provided. These additional services in-clude information on foreign markets – regulation, market partners, sales potential – as well as coordination – for trade fairs, common international recruitment and qualification strategies – and capabilities like access to financial markets or international public funding for interna-tionalisation or cutting-edge technological knowledge. For many of these services, private provision is possible, as exclusive use and rivalry in consumption are given. For other ser-vices, however, network characteristics restrict a completely private provision. The proposed paper analyses institutional arrangements particularly designed on regional, national or European level to support linkages between organisations and networks in differ-ent European regions. The investigation is based on information collected within the frame-work of the “IKINET project – International Knowledge and Innovation Network†(EU FP6, N° CIT2-CT-2004-506242). The specific challenge of the institutions investigated within this paper refers to linkages between organisations and networks with different institutional de-signs, e.g. the role of public and/or private supply, the characteristics and subjects of services, organisational structures and modes of coordination. These institutions attempt to bridge the gap between SME and organisations in different regions, but also to ease the access to EU funding for transnational (transregional) cooperation between SME. The paper will analyse their products, organisational structure, funding and codes of interaction. This investigation will be used to identify general and regionally specific prerequisites for effective interregional boundary spanning institutions. Secondly, the connectivity between the institutions will be analysed to reveal necessary standards or institutional arrangements to secure interregional trust in cooperation. These standards can range from rather informal, for example on the basis of business norms in trade fairs, to completely formal arrangements, for example in the case of contractual agreements on intellectual property rights and licenses. The assessment of these institutional arrangements uses an integrative methodological framework based on institu-tional analysis to overcome information asymmetries in cooperative innovative processes, sociological and cognitive psychological models of organisational and cognitive proximity and management models for SME as learning organisations. As a result, insights are expected for the European Union, which institutional arrangements are necessary for technology plat-forms on a regional level to secure interregional knowledge interactions.

Strategy for Innovation and Knowledge Creation in the Aeronautical Industrial Cluster in Campania Region.

This empirical study is a part of a large theoretical and empirical research project, “IKINET – International Knowledge and Innovation Network†(EU FP6, N° CIT2-CT-2004-506242), coordinated by University of Roma “Tor Vergataâ€, on the international/interregional dimension of existing knowledge and innovation networks, where not only information or codified knowledge, as in the collaboration between RTD institutions, but also tacit knowledge, know-how and competencies circulate. With particular focus on how to decrease the “organisational and institutional distance†between the various regions at the international/interregional level, since tacit knowledge and innovation capabilities often are embodied in human capital and individual organisations and institutions. The aim of the paper is to identify the key barriers to an efficient operation of knowledge creation and transfer and innovation networks in the Aeronautical Industrial Cluster in Campania Region, in the south of Italy. In Campania there is a long tradition in this sector and today there are about sixty enterprise that work in the sector, we use, like sample of the regional industrial, fifteen enterprise subdivide in large primer contractor and suppliers of first and second range. Information and data on the selected sample are colleted, and also by suitable questionnaires, and interviews, that the authors have submitted to the entrepreneurs and to the top managers of either the enterprises. We focalize our analysis on firm recent performance and related factor of competitiveness; organizational characteristics of the firms, competencies and management of human resources; innovation history and knowledge creation and transfer processes within the firms; finally we analyze from qualitative point of view relevance of enterprise in the cluster like technological crux. Examined sample give back a realty extremely composed with strategy really different but with some common aim and operative behaviourism that let us to deduce some homogenous group.

Study of the AFC technology development: a case study application in the aeronautical industry

The world is going through a constant evolution, where the objectives are much more ambitious than before thanks to the new technologies. However, the focus is no longer on only improving existing services without considering anything else; nowadays, the benefit provided is just as important as the way in which it is achieved, and the main efforts currently are focused on achieving a sustainable world, in which life continues to be as we know it and climatic catastrophes are eradicated, at least those in which human activity is the main cause. That is why this thesis is focused on the implementation in the aeronautical industry of a promising technology called Active Flow Control (AFC). To that end, an exhaustive state-of-the-art is conducted in which the AFC technology is described in general, to then deep dive in its aeronautical applications. Next, the technology required so as to implement the AFC in an aircraft is described, covering the main elements needed to influence the flow around the aircraft together with the power supply architectures necessary to feed the actuators. On the other hand, and based on the information previously gathered, a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is defined, in which AFC technology is to be implemented in an Airbus A-320 aircraft. In the MVP, both the technological elements that need to be installed together with the system infrastructure are established, thus defining the architecture of the product. In order to ensure the viability and profitability of the MVP, a feasibility study is conducted, analysing the installation of the product from an airline perspective considering three different casuistic: an aircraft that flies only at national level in Spain, an aircraft that flies at international level in Europe and a complete fleet of Airbus A-320 that flies at international level in Europe. The preliminary economic analysis covers the three cases mentioned, and the complete economic figures are presented for the third case, the one with more practical interest. On the other hand, the regulatory emissions framework currently in place in Europe is described, assessing whether the installation of the MVP in a European airline could influence the overall company strategy towards the 2050 zero net goal achievement. Due to the current situation, in which the global awareness of contaminant gases emissions has increased considerably, all the projects aiming to reduce this type of emissions have a great impact in the industry, and the AFC technology investigations are a good opportunity to improve aeronautical industry contaminant footprint in the world

Set-based approach to passenger aircraft family design

Presented is a method for the design of passenger aircraft families. Existing point-based methods found in the literature employ sequential approaches in which a single design solution is selected early and is then iteratively modified until all requirements are satisfied. The challenge with such approaches is that the design is driven toward a solution that, although promising to the optimizer, may be infeasible due to factors not considered by the models. The proposed method generates multiple solutions at the outset. Then, the infeasible solutions are discarded gradually through constraint satisfaction and set intersection. The method has been evaluated through a notional example of a three-member aircraft family design. The conclusion is that point-based design is still seen as preferable for incremental (conventional) designs based on a wealth of validated empirical methods, whereas the proposed approach, although resource-intensive, is seen as more suited to innovative designs

High performance computing simulator for the performance assessment of trajectory based operations

High performance computing (HPC), both at hardware and software level, has demonstrated significant improve- ments in processing large datasets in a timely manner. However, HPC in the field of air traffic management (ATM) can be much more than only a time reducing tool. It could also be used to build an ATM simulator in which distributed scenarios where decentralized elements (airspace users) interact through a centralized manager in order to generate a trajectory-optimized conflict-free scenario. In this work, we introduce an early prototype of an ATM simulator, focusing on air traffic flow management at strategic, pre-tactical and tactical levels, which allows the calculation of safety and efficiency indicators for optimized trajectories, both at individual and network level. The software architecture of the simulator, relying on a HPC cluster of computers, has been preliminary tested with a set of flights whose trajectory vertical profiles have been optimized according to two different concepts of operations: conventional cruise operations (i.e. flying at constant altitudes and according to the flight levels scheme rules) and continuous climb cruise operations (i.e., optimizing the trajectories with no vertical constraints). The novel ATM simulator has been tested to show preliminary benchmarking results between these two concepts of operations. The simulator here presented can contribute as a testbed to evaluate the potential benefits of future Trajectory Based Operations and to understand the complex relationships among the different ATM key performance areasPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Adopting and Implementing AMT: New Data on Key Factors from the Aeronautical Industry.

The objective of this paper is to take a greater in-depth look at which factors might be considered to be key to the performance of investments made in advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT), given their supposed positive effects, and on the influence that the time these factors are taken into account during the adoption and implementation process can have on that relationship. It provides a specially devised empirical analysis in the aeronautical sector in the south of Spain. A survey of the 20 plants in the population was conducted via a postal questionnaire between July 1999 and April 2001, with a structured interview being held at a later date. The testing of hypotheses was performed by applying the t-test to independent samples. The results show that the only factor that has a clear and positive effect on performance is the training of personnel. It can also be seen that a lack of strategic planning contributes to dampening the effects of investments. These results may be of some help to management staff and public administrators in charge of promoting the process of technological innovation, by indicating actions that need to be taken in order to successfully adopt and implement AMT.

Power-by-the-hour: the role of technology in reshaping business strategy at Rolls-Royce

There is a recognised trend of manufacturing companies offering not only products, but services and even complete solutions to business problems. Research has highlighted economic, market demand and competitiveness factors as responsible for the re-shaping of business strategies that this has involved. This study analyses the extent to which another factor, technology, has been a significant factor in the switch from product oriented to service oriented strategies. A case study of the aero engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is used to analyse the impact of technology, which is found to have led manufacturers to re-shape their business strategies. The study finds that developments in one technology in particular, namely digital electronics, have been a powerful enabling factor facilitating the implementation of service strategies. This provided original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like Rolls-Royce with a competitive advantage relative to conventional service providers, by enabling them to acquire new knowledge management capabilities