HAI Heli-Expo visitors will get a fresh look at Thales’s vision of the future of rotorcraft cockpit technology, a development project which is building enough momentum to be scheduled for possible certification in 2020.
The concept builds on the company’s “Avionics 2020” hardware and software, first shown at the 2013 Paris air show and already flying on Airbus and other fixed-wing aircraft. A taste of what was to come for rotorcraft was revealed at Heli-Expo 2014, in Los Angeles, but since then Thales has been busy with full-blown development.
For this year’s exhibition in Dallas, Thales is to show the rotary-wing technology with a customized human-machine interface (HMI). And, according to Eloi Leonhardt, business development and sales director at Thales Helicopter Avionics, the company has signed up an as-yet-undisclosed customer and is aiming for certification of a new generation cockpit family for helicopters from 2020. Flight-testing on a customer platform will begin in 2018.
In a preview showing at Thales’s avionics facility at Vergiate, near Milan, Leonhardt explains that the 2020 concept comes from a Thales-driven network of research partnerships that aims “to refine understanding in the field of human-machine interface”.
He adds: “The result is a cockpit founded on the principles of natural and direct hands-on interaction using full touchscreen functionalities with interfaces structured to be task-oriented in order to ease flightcrew operations. It’s perfectly suited to the needs of both civil and governmental helicopter operators. It can fulfil a range of missions.”
The helicopter system is based on the Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architecture already supplied to Airbus and Boeing for fixed-wing programmes. The architecture makes it possible to reduce the number of separate pieces of equipment, by working through a smaller number of common processing and I/O modules (CPIOM) hosting the various software applications. According to Thales, the Avionics 2020 cockpit family is unique in allowing third-party systems or functions to be fully integrated; it also stands alone in enabling “total” customisation. As demonstrated at Vergiate, the new cockpit is design-agnostic, scalable with two, three or four touchscreen multifunction displays, and based on an open, modular architecture.
Thale's vision of helicopter avionics is to give the crew both flight-critical and mission-centric information in one clean interface
Lockheed Martin
“Thanks to its integrated architecture, it has 30-40% of the weight and power consumption of comparable suites, with the number of LRUs reduced by a factor of five”, says Leonhardt.
“The new cockpit has been conceived around three key principles: crew-centric, mission-centric and customisable. The difference lies in the human-machine interface developments, which were inserted into the touchscreen displays at the heart of the new cockpit. They allow the systems to mirror the human brain’s decision-making process.” The systems also merge data coming from different sources, including secure avionics and external or “open” channels. The system was also designed from the start for a helmet-mounted display.
Moreover, he says, the 2020 system integrates an electronic flightbag showing data on the display and hence eliminating “uncomfortable” solutions such as the pilot’s knees.
“We have been testing the new technology, especially the HMI, since 2015 on a six-axis ground platform,” Leonhardt says. The test programme has involved civil and military operational and test pilots, and regulatory agencies. Thales has also been flying one new-cockpit display on an experimental helicopter platform to verify differences with the current generation. Crew familiarity with the new system, he says, has been achieved “in a few minutes”.
The next step will be to fly the full cockpit on board the first customer rotary-wing platform, in 2018, with the aim of certification by 2020.
CONNECTIVITY
The Avionics 2020 system is also designed to integrate with operational functions beyond the helicopter itself; medical evacuation or search-and-rescue missions could benefit from, say, live transmission of patient telemetry data or live information on an accident zone. Thales is aiming to reduce pilot workload and increase crew efficiency, safety and security, but also targets reduced maintenance and operating costs, and enhanced fleet efficiency.
In October 2016, Thales acquired Belgian start-up AvioVision, specialised in digitalisation of aircraft operation processes; its Aviobook electronic flightbag is used by 25 airlines on 900 aircraft. As Leonhardt puts it, this facility with both secure and “open world” functions connecting a dedicated ground infrastructure with data collection, storage and sharing between operators, can be brought into the rotary wing market.
That function is imminent; Iridium’s NEXT satellite constellation is expected to begin initial service in 2018 – ultimately, 75 satellites in low-Earth orbit will provide constant coverage, enough bandwidth for real-time video transmission and, significantly, support that volume of data with a small onboard equipment footprint and network security. ThalesAlenia Space is the prime contractor for the spacecraft.
Open world information to be displayed in the cockpit should be certified for flight operations, adds Leonhardt. He says: “We are currently involved in a development and evaluation programme with flight authorities to present open-source information on one display, but in separate windows from secure flight information, on board some Airbus aircraft during 2017.”
HELMET-MOUNTED DISPLAY
Another key feature of Avionics 2020 is integration with a helmet-mounted display suitable for civil helicopter pilots. Drawing on Thales’s TopOwl and Scorpion military systems, the “Eyes-Out” solution for civil helicopters is a full-colour head-up display for day and night operations, compatible with all types of helmets and head-worn equipment. Pascal Point, business development and marketing director for visors and helmets, describes the helmet-mounted display as “mainly dedicated to greatly enhancing levels of safety for helicopter crew and decreasing stress during critical flights”. That is, better mission situational awareness and “increased trajectory safety” by putting flight data directly in the pilot’s view.
The system adds just 400g to existing headgear, Point adds.
COMPACT AUTOPILOT
Pilots may be most thankful for a new autopilot, compact enough for light and medium helicopters. Thales is clearly eyeing the US market, where such machines are widely used by police, security, medical and rescue services – often on low-level flights in adverse weather. “Thanks to its innovative architecture which is based on the latest generation of Thales smart actuators, which eliminates the need for a flight control computer and features software embedded in the actuators, the overall system weight is significantly reduced, allowing easy integration in both line fit or as retrofit on existing platforms,” Leonhardt says.
Thales’s compact autopilot architecture is based on two sets of three Smart+ actuators, providing a redundant dual autopilot and available in a three- or four-axis configuration with the capability to include hover and departure modes, as a software option. The four-axis configuration is available by adding a collective trim actuator.
The autopilot, adds Leonhardt, is an intuitive automatic flight control system that provides stability augmentation, attitude retention and flight director modes such as altitude or heading hold. Thales’s in-line actuators provide continuous stability augmentation without any cyclic stick displacement, both hands-on and hands-off.
And, he says, unlike many other solutions, helicopter dynamics “are seamlessly improved, from take-off to landing. Simulated flight tests have shown that pilots are immediately comfortable and make full use of it without any training.
“Pilots of light helicopters will have the same control and autopilot characteristics as in larger more complex helicopters.”
Source: FlightGlobal.com
