The German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and its partners are to complete the core design of the Active Control Technology Demonstrator and Flying Helicopter Simulator (ACT/FHS) project by the end of this month.
The aircraft - also known as the Helicopter Simulator for Technology, Operations and Research - will be based on a Eurocopter EC135 airframe. The aircraft is the successor to the DLR's BO105-based Advanced Technology Testing Helicopter System, which crashed in May 1995.
The DM60 million ($32.3 million) programme is being funded 45% by the German defence ministry, 45% from the DLR itself, and about 10% from the industrial partners. The DLR says that funding for the programme is included in the 1998 budget, despite repeated cuts in defence spending.
The design will test and evaluate technology for the next generation of helicopters, particularly all-weather capabilities, optical data transmission ("fly-by-light"), digital actuators, modular computer architecture, active side-sticks, new cockpit avionics, advanced control laws and integrated sensors. The ACT/FHS will also be capable of being used as an in-flight simulator, and will have crew stations for a safety pilot, an evaluation pilot and a flight-test engineer.
The ACT/FHS core system, which replaces the conventional EC135 flight-control system, is being developed by Eurocopter Deutschland in co-operation with Liebherr Aerospace Lindberg. It consists of a fibre-optic fly-by-light system, including an interface computer with four levels of redundancy - interfacing with the aircraft's experimental system - the fibre-optics themselves, and digital actuators.
The DLR is responsible for developing the helicopter's modular experimental system, which consists of flight-control computers, data-acquisition and processing systems, cockpit interfaces, displays and graphics hardware. This system allows the ACT/FHS to simulate the handling characteristics of other helicopters in flight.
Although the experimental system has been designed without redundancy, the safety pilot can take control of the helicopter at any time, if necessary.
This part of the design work will also be completed by the end of November, and the partners will then proceed with the final development and manufacturing stage of the programme.
The first flight is scheduled for mid-1999, and delivery to the DLR's Institute of Flight Mechanics in Braunschweig is planned to take place about six months later.
The DLR says that it expects to operate the helicopter as a technology testbed until about 2020.
Source: Flight International
