The project, named AS-DISCO, automates operations, reducing the workload of pilots and allowing them to concentrate on tasks where human judgment, experience, and skills are needed.
AERTEC is leading an aeronautical technology research project framed within the concept disruptive cockpit (disruptive aircraft cabins), which is redefining current aircraft design by integrate greater use of technology into cockpits. The project idea revolves around the use of digitalisation as a means to facilitate and secure the tasks of all professionals involved in the flight of an aircraft. This project, named AS-DISCO (Audio Suite for Disruptive Cockpit Demonstrator), is funded by the European aeronautics programme Clean Sky 2, the most ambitious in the European Union.
Its main objective is digitise audio communication management between the flight crew and ground personnel, until now manually executed by the pilots. AERTEC has responded to this technological challenge by designing software for Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) following the ARINC653 standard, which includes all the functionalities necessary for the automation of cockpit procedures through integration into innovative man-machine interfaces (HMI) and a novel software-defined radio (SDR).
This technological solution will reduce the high workload and task overlap experienced by flight crews, enabling pilots to Focus on those tasks where your judgment, experience, and skill are required, by automating voice and data communications, for example, that occur between cabin crew and control towers at airports. According to the head of this project at AERTEC, “AS-DISCO seeks to reduce crew workload, improve pilot situational awareness, and assist them in their operations in the cockpit of the future through process innovation and digitalisation.".
AERTEC is developing a series of models to verify the correct behaviour and response of software in different scenarios using the “Model-Based Systems Engineering” (MBSE) methodology, and applying Test-Based-Model (TBM) and Software-in-the-loop (SIL) to the entire system, which allows engineers to test the application without the need for the real environment and make the relevant modifications iteratively.
AERTEC has already delivered a first version of this software with all the functionalities and will present a second version to the Project's Topic Manager, the leading European aircraft manufacturer, at the end of this year.
The AS-DISCO project joins a significant number of innovations and developments carried out by AERTEC in the avionics sector and the design and manufacture of critical onboard systems for the aerospace industry, where it has extensive experience.
The research that has produced these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme in response to the Clean Sky 2 H2020-CS2-CFP09-2018-02 call for the Joint Technology Initiative for Clean Sky, under project n° [865416].
