NICENAV Navigation-grade ITAR-free Certifiable Equipment for the Navigation of manned and unmanned Air Vehicle, based on FOG technology

Project Information

NICENAV

Grant agreement ID: 682337

DOI

10.3030/682337

Project closed

EC signature date 12 June 2015

Start date 1 June 2015

End date 30 September 2015

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

CIVITANAVI SYSTEMS SPA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NICENAV (NICENAV Navigation-grade ITAR-free Certifiable Equipment for the Navigation of manned and unmanned Air Vehicle, based on FOG technology)

Reporting period: 2015-06-01 to 2015-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The ITAR “International Traffic in Arms Regulation” export constraint regulated by the US government for military or dual use products, is particularly relevant in the market of Inertial Navigation Systems for civil airborne applications: in fact 85% of production is concentrated in US, while 50% of end user market is outside US (40% Europe and 10% Asia). This confirms that opportunity exists for EU producers to cover the portion of EU and Asian market presently covered by US production, that is subject to ITAR regulation. Even American key clients (Boeing and Garmin) are willing to avoid all ITAR products to enlarge market in Asia. For this reason market reports expect a negative impact on the traditional players in commercial aerospace (e.g. Honeywell, NG) while newcomers in Europe benefit from this opportunity.
NICENAV aims to be the first ITAR free and DO certified FOG based Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), specifically designed and targeted to high end navigation for civil airborne applications (performance precision < 1 NM/h). The ambition of CIVITANAVI is to become the preferred provider of INS/ADIRS for civil aircrafts manufacturers. The technology at the basis of NICENAV (FOG) is predicted to substitute obsolete RLG technology, on which all current competitors in the civil airborne sector are based, presenting lower investment costs (20-30%), higher time before failure (50%), lower maintenance needs and higher scalability

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The feasibility study carried out identified the business opportunities and operational plan for the development of the high performance Inertial Navigation System (INS) tailored to commercial airborne application, starting from the platform developed and commercialised by the company Civitanavi since 2012 for other target applications. The objective of the business and product development strategy defined in this study is to move to a navigation grade INS for airborne applications, opening new markets for the company. From the operational point of view, the development of the navigation grade INS requires addressing several aspects, which include re-engineering of the system from the HW, SW and mechanical point to view to address the architectural, safety and performance requirements of the application, as well as the strict airborne design standards imposed by the DO certification procedures.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

CIVITANAVI aims to become European leader in the navigation grade Inertial Navigation Solutions (INS) and position in the top 10 manufacturer globally. The ambition of CIVITANAVI is to become the preferred provider of INS/ADIRS for civil aircrafts manufacturers, targeting business jet and single aisle commercial aircrafts market, where a strong request exists of cheaper and ITAR free INS solutions.

Airborne Inertial Navigation System not certified for civil applications: sensors stabilization