Smart Skies Ahead

Business aviation continues to perform its traditional role as an incubator for innovative technologies that promise to improve safety, performance, efficiency and sustainability.

Since its birth, the business aviation sector has been a leader in helping to develop, foster and embrace effective and innovative new technologies for civilian aircraft, including GPS navigation, winglets and super strong carbon fibre materials.

Currently, a dynamic developmental environment is raising the capabilities of key industry components such as avionics, power plants and data management systems to new heights. Many of these emerging technologies are already poised to influence flight operations on multiple levels.

IMPROVED AVIONICS CAN SIMPLIFY OPERATIONS

“From my perspective, advanced flight deck technologies which allow us to reduce pilot workload, increase situational awareness and improve communications is a very good thing,” explained Jon Damush, President and CEO of uAvionix Corp. “Today’s technologies are great, but the pace of technology development will never be slower than it is today. What will be available in the next few years will dramatically help us all fly safer.”

Damush said touch screens offer a great example. “You operate it like your smart phone. Fewer knobs and buttons,” said Damush. “Some of the systems are smart enough to use the flight plan information for ATC sectors and frequencies ahead. You wait for the controller to tell you to change frequencies, and it’s done with the push of a button. This automation reduces pilot workload and lets pilots concentrate on flying.”

While most avionics innovations are in the panel, Damush talked about an innovation from uAvionix called Sentry, which has been co-developed with ForeFlight to bring data into the flight deck through ADS-B, as well as provide backup position and attitude information giving pilots some portable redundancy for IFR operations.

“It’s a product we’ve created with ForeFlight, it’s a batterypowered portable unit – about the size of a deck of cards – that has an array of internal sensors – ADS-B, magnetometer, barometer, gyros and GPS – that pilots can connect to their iPads,” Damush said. “For business aviation operators, the Sentry+ also provides g-loading and turbulence data and will soon alert a pilot to potential GPS jamming and spoofing.”

Damush believes that units like Sentry will be the next wave of innovations as aircraft and avionics manufacturers work to add redundancy and increase ease of operation.

“We have to look at ways to simplify things, if for no other reason than to lessen the burden and cost of flight training,” he said. “We can’t keep doing things the same way and expect a different outcome. It has to be easier and faster to qualify pilots without sacrificing safety. New technologies and automation tools provide an option.”

ENGINE INNOVATIONS AIMED AT ENHANCING PERFORMANCE

Just when many people thought current turboprop engines were all they could be, GE Aerospace, in partnership with Italian subsidiary Avio Aero, which led the design and development, took the next step with its Catalyst engine. This past February, Catalyst became the first new centreline, clean-sheet advanced turboprop engine to earn FAA certification in decades.

“We saw the market need for new engine technologies. We started with what GE is good at – big, efficient jet engines – and looked at how to transition that experience into a smaller turboprop engine,” said Paul Corkey, General Manager, Catalyst at Avio Aero. “Today, Catalyst is bringing game-changing performance and efficiency into the turboprop market.”

“WE CAN’T KEEP DOING THINGS THE SAME WAY AND EXPECT A DIFFERENT OUTCOME. IT HAS TO BE EASIER AND FASTER TO QUALIFY PILOTS WITHOUT SACRIFICING SAFETY - NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND AUTOMATION TOOLS PROVIDE AN OPTION.”
—JON DAMUSH PRESIDENT AND CEO OF UAVIONIX CORP.

Corkey explained that the Catalyst team set some very aggressive targets for the engine, including a 15 per cent reduction in fuel burn compared to the industry’s current “best” performance.

“What we achieved is an 18 per cent increase in efficiency,” Corkey said. “Much of that is due to the new compressor design, which raises the high-pressure ratio from 10:1 to 16:1.

“We took our understanding of variable geometries and pressure ratios to optimise the compressor and then used new materials that allow us to run at hotter temperatures, which improve fuel efficiency,” said Corkey. “We also introduced cooled turbine blades into the high-pressure turbine, as well as a threestage, low-pressure turbine.

“We used additive manufacturing for complex designs because it would have been complicated to make them using conventional technologies. We are very proud of what we have accomplished,” Corkey said.

Catalyst is also the first turboprop designed to work with full authority digital engine controls (FADEC). “Our two-channel FADEC automatically optimizes the fuel-flow and propeller pitch schedule,” Corkey said. “It also provides automatic protection for the engine from under-/over-speeds and temperature exceedances.”

The Catalyst will power the new Beechcraft Denali aircraft. Corkey said that GE Aerospace and Avio Aero believe the Catalyst is perfect for emerging markets, such as a hybrid-electric engine architecture.

“For example, the Catalyst can provide a one-megawatt powerplant, which is right in the sweet spot for many of the proposed hybrid solutions,” Corkey said. “We believe Catalyst positions us very well for existing and emerging markets, no matter what future architectures look like.”

AI PROMISES TO SUPERCHARGE DATA MANAGEMENT

Few innovations in recent memory have received as much hyperbole as the emergence of AI. And it hasn’t all been positive. But the fact is, AI is already all around us – we just didn’t know it.

As Robin Riedel, Executive Vice President, Transportation and Future Mobility at Metropolis Technologies, explained, “When aviation people hear AI, they think of autonomous flight and the like, but that’s just a small part of it. I see AI as less of a thing that will suddenly change everything and more like just the natural evolution of the digital world and how we can more efficiently use all the information we have available today.

“Most of us use AI daily and don’t even realise it,” said Riedel. “Look at Siri, Google or Chatbots, and they’re all powered by AI in one form or another.”

Riedel sees flight departments, in particular, benefitting greatly from what AI can deliver. “They will never be a complete replacement for people but will change what people do. For example, right now, an aircraft technician spends less than half of their time turning wrenches. The rest is spent on looking for information or parts and filling out logbooks. AI can massively help with all of that. You complete the task, and AI fills out all the paperwork,” Riedel said.

“Or AI can use available operational data on the aircraft to help with proactive maintenance planning,” said Riedel. “By predicting which parts will need replacing when, AI can do proactive inventory and maintenance planning – all the things a technician is doing today, instead of actually working on the airplane.”

Another example of an AI-enabled tool is machine vision/AI cameras that can autonomously monitor hangars, ramps and other areas to spot dangerous situations before they become accidents. Tools like this are on the cusp of getting implemented, and they can all enhance efficiency and safety through your aircraft operations.

“To me, especially in business aviation – while there may be ‘disruptive’ changes coming that we all love to speculate about – the fact is, AI is here today and comes in 1,000 different flavours,” Riedel said. “Aviation, more than other industries, is well prepared for this. Yes, there will be a feeling that ‘Big Brother is watching,’ but it’s been watching business aviation for years. We’ve developed the just culture to deal with it and not let it become the type of change people fear.”