Advancing technologies for safety-critical applications
By Timothy Etherington, Sherry Yang and Bernd Korn|December 2024
The Digital Avionics Technical Committee advances the development and application of communications, navigation and surveillance systems used by military and commercial aircraft.
The global community of avionics suppliers is leading the application of the latest technologies for real-time, safety-critical embedded systems, as evidenced by several industry-changing innovations this year.
In May, Boeing and AOSense of California completed the world’s first flight test of quantum sensor technology for navigating independent of GPS. The four-hour flight from Lambert International Airport in St. Louis demonstrated that the quantum sensors performed as required during takeoff, landing and flight maneuvers. With a six-axis quantum inertial measurement unit, or IMU, researchers mechanized a strap-down inertial navigation system on a Beechcraft 1900D. The IMU consists of three quantum inertial sensors that measure the accelerations and rotations about each axis of the airplane. A quantum sensing technique called atom interferometry detects rotation and acceleration, resulting in unparalleled accuracy without a GPS reference. AOSense designed and built the IMU in collaboration with Boeing, and Boeing integrated the IMU with other sensors and signal processing electronics to create this first-of-its-kind quantum navigation sensor. The flight demonstrated the potential for quantum sensors to provide reliable navigation in GPS-denied environments.
In June, testing was completed with airline transport pilots in-the-loop for NASA’s Subsonic Single Aft Engine Electrofan flight deck. With the SUSAN concept, NASA is assessing the means of reducing carbon emissions by 50% while retaining the size, range and speed capabilities of large regional aircraft. SUSAN is a 180-passenger aircraft design with a single aft-turbine and 16 electric engines, eight on each wing. For the flight deck, designed by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, there is a single throttle and reliable full-authority autothrottle, since a throttle for each engine would be unwieldy. Automation with pilot concurrence is used to manage engine failures. Electronic engine controllers ensure turbine-engine limit protection and recommend engine shutdown as required. Thrust is managed according to a single performance target to enable a single throttle and thrust dial during normal operations, with digital indications of turbine fan speed and exhaust gas temperature. Secondary engine parameters are displayed to indicate abnormalities. Core speed and oil pressure and temperature are displayed for the turbine engine, and thrust bars with color and shape codes are displayed to indicate electric engine failures. An electric engine synoptic page provides visual continuity between the engine-display secondary parameters and the power generation and distribution of the thrust produced by each electric engine.
The German Aerospace Center, or DLR, continued to study technologies for improving the efficiency and safety of commercial aircraft. In April, professional pilots tested DLR’s remote co-pilot, an intelligent station with which pilots and other personnel on the ground monitor flight data, help potential operational issues and provide real-time support to pilots in the air. RCP, created under the Next Generation Intelligent Cockpit research project, was designed to make single-pilot operations possible by reducing the workload of a midflight pilot and ensuring continuity in operations during emergencies. With the RCP workstation, up to eight aircraft can be monitored simultaneously, with emphasis on ensuring immediate, one-to-one support in emergency situations. The rigorous testing by pilots showed the potential for such technologies to improve aviation safety, and the international research community recognized the value of the research in November by conferring this year’s Red Dot Design Award to the design of the RCP user interface.
Contributor: Mark Darnell
