While systems and equipment account for a small part of the aircraft weight they play a central role in aircraft operation, flight optimisation, and air transport safety, cost and environmental performance at different levels:
• Direct contributions to environmental objectives: optimised green trajectories, electrical taxiing, more electrical aircraft architectures, new alleviated composite structures which have a direct impact on CO2 emissions, fuel consumption, perceived noise, air quality, weight.
• Enablers for other innovations: for example, “bleedless” power generation and, actuators, are necessary steps for the implementation of innovative engines or new aircraft configurations.
• Enablers for air transport system optimisation: many of the major improvements identified in SESAR, NextGen and Clean Sky for greening, improved mobility or ATS efficiency can only be reached through the development and the integration of on-board systems such as data link, advanced weather systems, trajectory negotiation, and flight management predictive capabilities.
• Smart answers to market demands: systems and equipment have to increase their intrinsic performance to meet new aircraft needs without a corresponding increase in weight and volume: kW/kg, flux/dm3 are key indicators of systems innovation.
The Systems ITD in Clean Sky 2 addressed these challenges by working on specific topics to design and develop individual equipment and systems, demonstrate them in local test benches and integrated demonstrators up to TRL5/6.
The main technological domains : [1] cockpit environment and mission management, [2] aircraft communication platform and networks, [3] innovative wing systems (WIPS, sensors, and actuators), [4] landing gears, [5] the full chain of electrical power generation, distribution and usage and [6] Cabin and Cargo systems technologies.
The outcomes are demonstrated system architectures ready to be customized and integrated in larger settings. An important part of this work was to identify potential synergies between future aircraft at an early stage to reduce duplication.
• Hand-over of individual technologies or systems to the IADPs for customisation, integration and maturation in large scale demonstrators. This enabled fully integrated demonstrations in IADPs and the assessment of benefits in representative conditions, including the progress towards the CS2 high-level goals to be monitored through the Technology Evaluator.
• Transverse actions were also defined to mature processes and technologies with potential impact on all systems, either during development or operational use. Examples of these transverse actions are development tools and simulation, eco-design etc.
The SYSTEMS GAM successfully closed its activities by delivering most of its demonstrators. The pending ones - Nose Landing Gear, Primary in-Flight Ice Detection System and Electrothermal Wing Ice Protection System – have committed to complete their activities after the project’s closure. These demonstrators significantly contribute to the High Level Objectives of the programme.
