The IMASAT consortium has developed a smaller, lighter on-board computer with great computing capacity compared to current systems on the market
The international engineering company specializing in technologies applied to aeronautics Aertec has led the European project IMASAT (Integrated Modular Avionics for Small Air Transport) for the last four years, with the company Clue Technologies as a partner. This research has focused on the development of more efficient technologies in the area of systems for aircraft between 6 and 19 passengers (SAT, Small Air Transport), a market that the Clean Sky 2 initiative wants to promote in the face of to the future.
Specifically, a smaller, lighter on-board computer has been developed with great computing capacity, designed for all types of interfaces required by a small transport aircraft, thereby improving the concept of integrated modular avionics. (IMA, Integrated Modular Avionics).
The research work of the project has focused on the design, manufacture, verification and validation of the new computer node, so that it can be used as a flight control element in this SAT segment, providing a new approach to architecture, design, software , production and certification of a new concept of integrated modular avionics.
The Spanish engineering company has been in charge of both the design of the equipment at the hardware level, as well as the on-board software, and is now in the last phase of environmental tests. To carry out the IMASAT project, Aertec has relied on company from Malaga Clue Technologies, a specialist in the manufacture of electronic systems for the aerospace industry.
“We have achieved a significant reduction in size, weight and costs in the on-board computer with respect to the systems currently on the market,” says Rafael Ortiz, Head of the Aerospace and Defense Systems Area at Aertec “This technology intends that the European aeronautical industry can adopt fly-by-wire (FBW) systems to reduce the weight of avionics systems, reduce maintenance operations and increase aircraft safety by also improving the human-machine interface, reducing the workload for pilots.
According to Jon González, from Clue Technologies, “Clue’s research and development efforts throughout IMASAT have allowed us to evolve our WittyBox family Cuchillo architecture, resulting in a fully operational demonstrator under laboratory conditions and in an simulated operational environment. The result is a flexible, secure, small and affordable computing platform suitable for use as an innovative flight control computer for small aircraft thanks to significantly increased processing capabilities and high-speed interfaces.”
They are precisely working with the Italian manufacturer Piaggio Aerospace to implement this new technology in their aircraft. And it is that thanks to IMASAT the European SAT industry has the opportunity to develop the first avionics system that is completely based on European technologies, which would have important strategic advantages.
All the information of the project, in www.imasat.eu
