Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft
February 10, 2023, Online

Keynote Speech
Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan
Takashi AoyamaChairperson
Japan Helicopter Society
Program Director of Aviation Technology
Aviation Technology Directorate
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Outline Introduction of Japan Helicopter Society (JHS) Activities of Manufacturers
••
•
•
•

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI)
SUBARU
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI)
Yamaha Motor
Yamato Transport

 Activities of Universities• Nagoya University• Kanazawa Institute of Technology• Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology

 Activities of Research Institute• Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online1Japan Helicopter Society(JHS) Established in 1989 with the aim of contributing to thecommunity of helicopter and VTOL, from R&D, design, testing,manufacturing to operation
 Approved as the Japan Chapter of the American Helicopter
Society (AHS) since its foundation and evaluated as one of
the most active chapters outside U.S.
 Members: researchers, engineers, pilots, government officials,
journalists, trading company workers, students…
 Main activities: Asian Rotorcraft Forum (ARF)/Heli Japan,
Japan Helicopter Safety Team (JHST), publication of annual
report, research meetings …
Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

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Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Delivery of H145/BK117 D-3

Delivery to National Police Agency

 The latest version of BK117 codeveloped with Airbus
Helicopters 5 bladed, GW=3.8ton, ducted fan, Rotor dia.=10.8m
 T/C by JCAB in 2021
 14 aircraft had been ordered by the end of 2022 in Japan

CRM: Crew Resource Management

CRM training CRM training services using a virtual reality (VR)simulator, intended to foster safer helicopter
operations
 Training is intended to integrate not only the pilot,
but also ground crew and other flight crewfunctioning in various capacities
 The goals include improving team communication,
situational assessment skills and decision-making
skills, which enable safer flight operations.

Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

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SUBARU
SUBARU BELL 412EPXSUBARU BELL 412EPX: Civil version

 The latest version of BELL 412 codeveloped with BELL
Helicopter
 T/C by FAA in 2018
 GW=5.5ton, Rotor dia.=14.02m
 3 aircraft had been ordered by the end of 2022 in Japan

UH-2 for Japan Ground Self Defense Force In 2015, Ministry of Defense selected SUBARU BELL 412EPX
as a platform of UH-2, the successor of UH-1J
 Maiden flight of mass production model and delivery startedin 2022
 26 aircraft were procured by the end of 2022
 Total 150 aircraft will be delivered by 2041
UH-2: Military version
Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online4

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Patrol helicopter XSH-60L

 New helicopter based on the SH-60K for the Japan Maritime
Self Defense Force with improved on-board systems andflight performance
 Maiden flight and delivery of prototype in 2021
©2023 MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
©2023 MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.

CoasTitanTM Networked Security System with
Uncrewed Vehicles

 Provides security solution with networked sensors anduncrewed aerial/surface/underwater vehicles
 UAV demonstrated its stable take off/landing capability onhigh-speed cruising ship in 2021
©2023 MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.

Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

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Yamaha Motor
FAZER R AP: New type of unmanned agricultural helicopter
 Automatic flight application “agFMS-IIH” installed
to reduce workload for novice pilots
to increase efficiency of pesticide/fertilizer spray operation

YMR-II: New type of industrial use multirotor YMR series

 Sales start in 2023 spring, ¥1,859,000
 Automatic flight application “agFMS-IIH” installed GW=24.9kg, Size=L1,970mm W2,157mm H786mm

FAZER R G2 with enhanced transportation capability Larger main rotor Dia.=3.115m ➡ 3.6m
Payload 35kg ➡ 50kg
 For long distance automatic cargo transportation over unmannedarea.
Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

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Yamato Transport

CycloRotors: mid-class cargo eVTOL Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd. + CycloTech GmbH (Austria) have successfully completed ajoint feasibility study on applying a new thrust vectoring propulsion technology
 Key features for urban airborne logistic operations= compact in size
+ precision landing into confined areas (5 m in diameter)+ handling quality of challenging wind conditions+ transporting 45 kg payload over a distance of 40 km
 The unique characteristics of CycloRotors were used to design a mission optimized forunmanned cargo eVTOL.

Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

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Nagoya University
Stability derivative measurement of multirotor Stability characteristics of multirotor on hover conditions are studied
analytically and experimentally.
 Especially, Mu and Mq are measured for analysis validation.
 Mq is measured with respect to q as shown in figure.

xy

Vibration reduction by shifting c.g. position

 Analytical work by CAMRAD II demonstrated the effect without airframe
instability.

Methodology to design multirotor type flying car

 JAXA developed rFlow3D and rNoise are utilized with aerodynamic
performance and noise as evaluation function.

Aerodynamic interaction between rotor and wing when
encountering crosswinds
 Studied by rFlow3D and wind tunnel test.
Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

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Kanazawa Institute of Technology
Aerodynamic interaction between rotor and wing

 Aerodynamic interaction of compound helicopter on hoverand forward flight conditions are studied.
 Experimentally, 1m diameter radio-controlled helicopter withwing equipped with flaps is flight tested as shown in figure.
 It is shown that the flaps have favorable effect to reduce
download during hover at the cost of diminishing roll damping.
 Analytical works are performed by JAXA developed rFlow3D.
1 Pusherpropeller

4 Lift propellers

Flying wing (tailless fixed wing) type drone Prototyped, flight-tested and dynamic model formulated.
 Stable hover capability is demonstrated by flight test.
 Dynamic analysis shows wing aerodynamic effect becomes
favorably dominant to static/dynamic stability along withvelocity increase.

Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

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Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology
Downwash prediction by LMT (Local Momentum Theory)on hover Effective inboard blade plan form of YAMAHA FAZER to generateengine cooling airflow is studied by LMT.
 Analysis by LMT and wind tunnel test result had excellent
agreement.

Optimization of multirotor arrangement by LMT

 Reducing aerodynamic interaction and airframe size is studied by
LMT and validated by a test using rotors of YMR-08

eVTOL prototyping Production design and prototyping for JAXA conceptual
designed QTW Commercial “Pixhawk” is utilized for flight controller
Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

10Organization of JAXA ATD: Activities on Rotorcraft

Overview of High-Speed Compound Research at JAXA, Tanabe, JAXA, APISAT2021, Jeju, Korea & Online

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JAXA: high-speed compound helicopter
Technical challenges for high-speed compound helicopter
Rotor/Wing aerodynamicinteraction

Low aerodynamic dragrotor hubThrust propeller toachieve high speed

Optimized rotor/wing lift
share at high speed
Electrical driven antitorque propellers
Low aerodynamic
drag fuselage

Advanced rotor blades
optimized for high advance
ratio flight

Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

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JAXA: SAVERH
HMD

SAVERH (Situation Awareness and Visual Enhancer for Rescue Helicopter) Guaranteeing low altitude mission under the DVE (Degraded VisualEnvironment).
 JAXA together with Shimadzu Co. has been conducting joint research
project aiming at inventing method of presenting suitable information to
the pilot to support search and rescue missions in DVE.
 An integrated system comprising an HMD (Helmet Mounted Display)
and a variety of image sensors were installed in the JAXA researchhelicopter.
Synthetic-Enhanced Image on HMD“Multi-Camera”
JAXA’s Research Helicopter
in night

Turreted-Camera
Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

Mulit-Camera
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JAXA: D-NET
Disaster Relief Aircraft Management System –Network
 Enables safe and efficient disaster response Connects helicopters and ground operation centers/
headquarters
 Enables information sharing• Flight plans• Telemetry data (positions)• Disaster mission type (rescue, reconnaissance, etc.)

Adopted by the Japan Disaster Relief Agencies
 D-NET is adopted by most disaster relief agencies in Japan.
 D-NET enables intra-agency information sharing which
contributes to efficient large-scale disaster response
Overview on Rotorcraft R&D in Japan, Aoyama, JHS, Japan-Korea Joint Workshop on Rotorcraft, Online

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Unstructured Based CFD Solver for Rotorcraft and its Applications• JAXA has been devoted to developing a fast CFD solver, FaSTAR-Move (Fast AerodynamicRoutine-Move) in order to be applied complex shaped moving objects according toindustrial needs.
• Recently, several rotorcraft simulations have been performed using FaSTAR-Move.

Grid size: 100M cells
Core : 2048 (JSS2)JAXA Multi-purpose Rotor
Test System（JAXA, 2008）

Threetimes
faster

FUN3D（NASA)FaSTAR-Movew/o acceleration

FaSTAR-Movewith acceleration

Overview of High-Speed Compound Research at JAXA, Tanabe, JAXA, APISAT2021, Jeju, Korea & Online

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