United Technologies Corporation (UTC) is collaborating with its subsidiaries Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace to develop a hybrid-electric X-plane with a hybrid-electric propulsion system efficient enough to make regional flights as practical as bus rides.
Digitalization and electrification are dominant themes in the equipment and technology revealed at this year’s largest trade show for construction and mining.
Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation (UTC), has laid out its plans for what is calling “The Grid” – an 25,000-square-foot advanced electric power systems laboratory for designing and testing next-generation, more-electric aircraft technologies for commercial, military, and business aviation.
The National Center for Advanced Materials Performance (NCAMP) of Wichita State University (WSU) is partnering with SAE International to develop globally harmonized aerospace material and process specifications for advanced composites and non-metal additive manufacturing (AM) materials in the aerospace and air transport industries.
SAE International is partnering with Ford, General Motors (GM), and Toyota to form the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium (AVSC), which will work to help safely advance the testing, precompetitive development, and deployment of SAE Level 4 and 5 automated vehicles. The AVSC will provide a safety framework around which autonomous technology can responsibly evolve in advance of broad deployment, ultimately helping to inform and accelerate the development of industry standards for autonomous vehicles (AVs) and harmonize with efforts of other consortia and standards bodies.
Chicago-based Boeing recently completed a “demo flight” of a 737 MAX 7 narrow-body airliner equipped with updated Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) software.
In contrast to the stiff, rigid wings found on most commercial aircraft, flexible wing technology is considered essential to next generation, fuel efficient aircraft. However, flexible wings are susceptible to “flutter,” or highly destructive aeroelastic instability. To better understand and mitigate flutter, engineers at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) equipped the X-56 with fiber optic sensing (FOS) technology.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will continue to bring about significant changes in aircraft cockpits and help move commercial, military, and general and business aircraft from automated to autonomous systems, affirm subject-matter experts at Wind River in Alameda, California, and Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.