ACARE
Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe

Aviation
15 years of Research
and Innovation

Success stories

ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

Contents
It has been almost 15 years since
ACARE came into being. Over this
period significant progress has been
made in European Air Transport to
both, support society’s need for
mobility as well as maintain global
leadership for Aviation as a sector.
Much has changed since ACARE was formed after the
launch of a vision for European aviation ‘Vision 2020’ in 2001.
Successive releases of the Strategic Research Agenda in 2002,
2004 and 2008 served as guidelines for European research.
More challenging goals were established by ‘Flightpath
2050’ in 2011 and in response ACARE developed a new
Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) in 2012 to
enable the aims of the new vision to be achieved.
Thanks to the continuous leadership and support by
successive EU Commissioners, from Philippe Busquin to Siim
Kallas, Aviation in Europe has taken significant steps to not
only define a challenging vision but also to put in place the
necessary instruments to achieve the results sought.
More than 300 companies as well as research centres,
universities, air navigation providers and other stakeholders
helped develop the SRIA roadmap to create social and
economic value for aviation in Europe.
Fundamentally the aim of our work is to maintain and
expand industrial leadership and to meet the ambitious
goals on societal and market needs, to protect the
environment and secure energy supply, ensuring safety and
security levels and improve our research and knowledge
Infrastructure.

Our sector is critically dependent on motivated staff
from all expert areas, including engineers and pilots, with
excellent skills. In addition we need to develop our strategic
research and test infrastructure to accelerate innovation
for technology and solutions that are novel, efficient and
sustainable.
We believe that our strength of collaboration throughout
the entire air transport supply chain will help us to achieve
the goals that have been set. Horizon 2020, the EU
Framework Programme for Research and Innovation is the
European instrument along the journey that requires huge
R&D investments needed to reach our very challenging
goals.
The aviation community is committed to delivering a
globally competitive and innovative Europe. We call on
EU policy-makers to put in place the necessary policy
frameworks and provide long-term support for Aeronautics
and Air Transport to achieve the goals set in Flightpath 2050.

1. Foreword

2

2. Vision - Flightpath 2050 Goals

3

3. Roadmap: SRIA - A phased approach

4

4. Success Stories: Significant progress to date

6

4.1 Mobility

7

4.2 Competitiveness

11

4.3 Environment and energy

15

4.4 Safety and security

20

4.5 Infrastructure and skills

25

5. Advanced technology innovation spill-over effects

28

6. Technology integration and application

30

7. ACARE - Looking forward to the next 15 years

32

This document presents some of the examples of
achievements delivered over the last 15 years.
The momentum and investment generated by all of
the ACARE stakeholders to deliver such significant
innovation needs to continue to enable the vision
for European Aviation for 2050 to be achieved.

Peter Hartman
Vice Chairman Air France KLM,
ACARE Chairman

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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

1. Foreword
Aviation is recognised as one of the top five advanced
technology sectors and makes a major contribution to
European competitiveness. Home to some 450 airlines and
700 airports, it provides close to 9 million skilled jobs directly
and indirectly. The sector contributes around 600 billion
Euros to European GDP.
European Aeronautics and Air Transport have reached their
current position through decades of innovative solutions
and strong Research and Technology. This has enabled the
sector to command global leadership. European aviation
also plays a key role in global safety and security, serving
society’s needs for air transport.
ACARE brings together representatives from the whole
spectrum of stakeholders in the European air transport
community: the aeronautics industry, airlines, airports, air
traffic control service providers, the European Commission,
Member States, research institutes and academia. The top
level objectives are to:
l Meet society’s needs for a more efficient, safer and

environmentally friendly air transport.
l Maintain global leadership for European aeronautics,

with a competitive supply chain, including small and
medium size enterprises.
ACARE’s primary mission has been to establish and deliver
a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) aimed
at influencing all relevant stakeholders in the planning of
aeronautics research programmes, at national, EU and

2. Vision - Flightpath 2050 goals
even private levels. The SRIA is not a research programme,
but rather a roadmap outlining the strategic orientations
which should be taken if Europe is to meet society’s
needs for aviation as a public mode of transport as well as
environmental requirements in a sustainable way.
The SRIA provides a strategic approach including policy
orientations to improve European capability in Aviation
together with proposed solutions to achieve the objectives
outlined in Flightpath 2050.
Since ACARE was formed at the turn of the century, the
Strategic Research goals that it has formulated have had
a clear influence on policy and aeronautical research,
including the European Commission’s current research
framework programme, Horizon 2020. There is strong
momentum in programmes of Aeronautics and Air
Transport research, which is already delivering important
initiatives and benefits for the aviation industry through
programmes including: EU collaborative research in
Aeronautics and Air Transport (EU Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration
activities), Clean Sky, SESAR, National programmes in many
Member States e.g. Lufo, CORAC, Take-off etc, and research
establishment initiatives (EREA Future Sky etc.) as well as
private company programmes.
This document details some notable success stories and
achievements in Aeronautics and Air Transport over the
last 15 years resulting from the orientations on Strategic
Research and Innovation provided by ACARE.

In 2000, the European Commission developed the first
Vision for aviation: “European Aeronautics: A Vision for
2020” with the help of a high-level group including senior
stakeholder representatives. ACARE was set up in 2001, to
develop a Strategic Research Agenda and bring together
relevant stakeholders to deliver the goals set in Vision 2020.
In 2011, the European Commission recognised that a
number of key factors had changed including economic,
security, climate science and technology which prompted
a new vision to be detailed. Once again the Commission
brought together a High-Level Group on Aviation Research
to develop “Flightpath 2050” Europe’s revised vision for
aviation extending to a longer timescale.
The key Flightpath 2050 goals are detailed below:
1. Meeting societal and market needs:
l 90% of travellers within EU able to complete journey

door-to-door within 4hrs.
l A coherent ground infrastructure is developed.
l An air traffic management system is in place that provides

a range of services to handle at least 25 million flights a
year of all types of vehicles.
2. Maintaining and extending industrial leadership:
l The whole European aviation industry is strongly

l CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre have been

reduced by 75%, NOx by 90% and perceived noise
by 65%, all relative to the year 2000.

l Aircraft movements are emissions-free when taxiing.
l Air vehicles are designed and manufactured to

be recyclable.
l Europe is established as a centre of excellence on

sustainable alternative fuels.
l Europe is at the forefront of atmospheric research.

4. Ensuring safety and security:
l Overall, the European Air Transport System has less than

one accident per ten million commercial aircraft flights.
l Weather and other environmental hazards are evaluated

and risks mitigated.
l Air Transport operates seamlessly through networked

systems allowing manned and unmanned air vehicles to
operate safely.
l Efficient boarding and seamless security for global travel.
l The Air Transport System has a fully secured global high-

bandwidth data network.

competitive, delivers the best products and services
worldwide and has a share more than 40% of its global
market.

5. Prioritising research, testing capabilities and
education:

l Europe has retained leading edge design, manufacturing

l Strategic European aerospace test, simulation and

and system integration capability and jobs supported by
high profile strategic, flagship projects which cover the
whole innovation process from basic research to full-scale
demonstrators.
l Streamlined systems of engineering, design,

manufacturing, certification and upgrade processes
have addressed complexity and significantly decreased
development costs.

2

3. Protecting the environment and energy supply:

l A network of multi-disciplinary technology clusters.

development facilities are identified, maintained and
further developed.
l Students are attracted to careers in aviation with courses

offered by European Universities closely matching the
needs of the Aviation Industry.

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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

3. Roadmap: SRIA - a phased approach
Since 2001, ACARE has published a number of editions of
the Strategic Research Agenda, the first in 2002 and second
in 2004. This was followed by an Addendum in 2008 with
a new approach in 2012 that led to the publication of the
current Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda. The
SRIA takes a phased approach reflecting a longer timeframe
extending to 2050, consistent with the timeframe covered
by Flightpath 2050. The SRIA challenges are:

l Mobility - sustainable mobility is essential for Europe’s

economic development and social well-being by
providing connectivity required by business, tourism and
leisure. The challenge is to provide a customer-centric
intermodal transportation system providing integrated
and seamless travel.
l Competitiveness - Europe’s industry must remain

innovative and competitive, developing and delivering
high quality products quickly and efficiently meeting
time-critical market demands and serving customers’
needs. The challenge is to provide leading edge design
and manufacturing capability and jobs supported by
strategic projects and programmes which cover the
whole innovation process from basic research to full-scale
demonstration.
l Environment and Energy - the challenge is to

meet continually rising demand while reducing the
environmental impact of manufacturing, operating and
maintaining aircraft.
l Safety and Security - the challenge is to reassure

passengers and society that, even though air traffic
will increase, commercial aviation will not only remain
extremely safe and secure on a global basis, within a
highly diverse and complex system, but the sector will
continue to further reduce the risk of accident.
l Infrastructure and Skills - ensure that we preserve

Europe’s research infrastructure requirements and
encourage a sustained flow of competent, trained and
motivated people

4

Complementing the SRIA, ACARE has identified a number
of policy-related aspects, which are key to the successful
implementation of the SRIA. These include:
Long-term support for Research and Innovation
To ensure the Flightpath 2050 goals for Europe can be
achieved successfully, continued long-term investment
in Aeronautics and Air Transport through appropriate
European and National instruments is a fundamental need.
This should include developing the world’s leading research
infrastructures covering the entire aviation system from
wind tunnels through simulation facilities to test aircraft and
related technologies.

REACH and regulations related to materials
The REACH and ROHS regulations respond to a highlevel priority related to public health, which we support.
Although it has created some administrative constraints to
our sector, it also represents a drive for innovation, to find
environmentally acceptable substitutes.
Further work is needed to simplify the implementation
of REACH, in particular for SMEs who cannot support the
additional administrative burden and could decide to stop
producing some products, inducing a risk to block supply
chains that are critical for European Air Transport.
Aviation is a Global Market

The stability of multi-year funding instruments such as
Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) is also essential and needs
to be failsafe to ensure industry can effectively and securely
address larger, longer term and higher risk investments in
research and infrastructures which are a prerequisite for
innovations.

It is important to stress that the European aviation industry
operates in a global market, with competitors from various
continents all with their own regulations and priorities.
It goes without saying that the European industry could
be disadvantaged by laws and regulations solely applicable
to European companies.

Roadmap for Cross-modal transport infrastructures

European Airlines are committed to a robust emissions
containment policy which decouples growth from
emissions and translates into “Carbon Neutral Growth
in 2020” with a strategy based on four-pillars:

ACARE has identified that infrastructure for co-modality is
an area that needs to be picked up as both the preparation
of the technology and the preparation of the infrastructure
have to be run in parallel to achieve inter-modality between
transport modes. Currently, aviation is the only European
Technology Platform (ETP) really addressing co-modality
issues.
Support to educational issues
In its SRIA, ACARE has laid down the plan to establish a
fully integrated European aviation education system which
will deliver the required high-quality workforce, with the
skills and the motivation to be able to meet the challenges
of the future. This requires a harmonised and balanced
approach covering the entire scope from attracting talents
over primary and secondary education to apprenticeship,
academia and lifelong professional development.
Certification
The current certification regulations are not the same in
Europe and in the USA. EASA does not have equivalent
powers as FAA. Harmonisation of such regulation is required
together with the need to harmonise or to work on the
reciprocal acceptance of rules between various countries.

1. Improved technology, including the deployment
of sustainable low-carbon fuels;
2. More efficient aircraft operations;
3. Infrastructure improvements, including modernised
ATM systems;
4. Market-based measures.
The inclusion of international flights into the EU Emissions
Trading Scheme (ETS) led to international controversy.
However, the scope of the directive was restricted until
2016 to enable the EU to successfully reduce the potential
for retaliatory measures. ICAO is in the process to develop a
global market-based measure (MBM) which could prevent
any potential distortion of competition as well as provide
genuine mitigation of emissions. As the global MBM will
be applicable to all international flights, it should replace
the aviation ETS for intra-EEA flights.
European States should collectively opt to include domestic
flights in the global MBM to ensure a level playing field,
limit administrative burden, and avoid any potential double
counting of emissions in two different systems (the aviation
ETS and the global MBM).

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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4. Success stories: Significant progress to date

4.1 Mobility

This section provides examples
of research projects and
achievements that have been
completed since the formation
of ACARE.

4.1.1 “Total Airport Management Suite” (TAMS) optimises
airport operational decision making.

In recognition that there is complementary research
at a European and National level that ultimately brings
together a complete picture of this effort, examples are
drawn both from European Framework Programmes as
well as national research programmes from Member States.
The examples, categorized in support of the key
challenges, include the following:

4.1 MOBILITY
4.1.1 Total Airport Management Suite (TAMS) optimises
airport operational decision making.
4.1.2 Extended Arrival Management (E-AMAN).
4.1.3 Aeronautic Study on SEamless Transport (ASSET)
4.1.4 Initial four-dimensional trajectory management (i4D).
4.1.5 Remote Tower Services
4.1.6 Airport Operations Centre (APOC).
4.2 COMPETITIVENESS
4.2.1 High-Lift Aerodynamics: A GARTEUR Success Story
4.2.2 TANGO-ALCAS-SARISTU-MAAXIMUS
4.2.3 L ight Helicopter Demonstrator with High Compression
Engine (HCE)
4.2.4 ODICIS-One Display for a Cockpit Interactive Solution
4.3 ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
4.3.1 A
 dvanced Flight Management Systems enabling
environmentally optimised flight paths.
4.3.2 Advanced Low-Pressure Systems (ALPS)
4.3.3 One Piece Barrel (OPB) demonstrator.
4.3.4 Counter-Rotative Open Rotor (CROR)
4.3.5 Tech 800 demonstrator to Arrano engine.
4.3.6 European collaborative efforts on Renewable Jet Fuel
4.4 SAFETY AND SECURITY
4.4.1 Tools for Flight Crews of the Future - The Man4Gen and
SUPRA Projects.
4.4.2 H
 igh Altitude Ice Crystals / High Ice Water Content
International Field Campaign.
4.4.3 F LYSAFE-Airborne Integrated Systems for Safety
Improvements, Flight Hazard Protection and All
Weather Operations
4.4.4 Safer reduction of wake turbulence separation minima
4.4.5 H
 igh Intensity Radiated Field Synthetic Environment
(HIRF SE)
4.4.6 FLY-BAG Blast-resistant textile-based luggage container

Scientific coordination by DLR, a joint 32M€ project with
five partners, co-financed by the German Federal Ministry of
Economics and Technology (BMWi).
The goal of the project was to integrate various airport
operations related planning and optimisation subsystems
into an AirPort Operations Center (APOC) on the basis
of a holistic operational concept to make airports more
competitive and attractive without the need for costintensive infrastructure enhancements. As a result, the
comprehensive, intelligent and profitable use of existing
resources is set to become an increasingly important factor
for airports wishing to remain competitive.
The integration of various air- and landside airport subprocesses into the APOC not only boosts the efficiency
and cost-effectiveness of airport operations, but also helps
to reduce their impact on the environment. The TAMS
validation demonstrated the added value available for air
traffic systems - enhanced process predictability reduces
delays, fuel consumption and the resulting CO2 emissions,
as well as simultaneously increasing passenger convenience.

TAMS goes beyond Airport Collaborative Decision Making
(A-CDM) in three respects: first, it takes a balanced approach
to both landside and airside processes; second, it is more
pro-active than reactive and extends the time horizon of
A-CDM planning to a pre-tactical range of several hours; and
thirdly it has also introduced new concept elements such as
an Airport Operations Plan (AOP) and an Airport Operations
Center.
TAMS uses a range of visualisation technologies to display
the information required by airport operators, local air traffic
managers, airline operators, ground handling companies
and security companies, generates forecasts, provides
optimisation suggestions and supports the various airport
process owners. Employees can use smart phones, desktop
computers and large video walls to obtain up-to-date
information on operations, general conditions, such as the
closure of terminal areas, expected weather conditions or
predictions regarding future operations.

TAMS enable stakeholders to make well-informed decisions
in a pro-active coordinated way, based on a joint picture of
the operational situation and its anticipated development.

4.5 INFRASTRUCTURE AND SKILLS
4.5.1 MOOC Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering
4.5.2 Design Synthesis Exercise: an engine for innovation
4.5.3 D
 LR School Labs - Best Practice for Attracting Young
People to Research & Science
4.5.4 M
 obility project for apprentices in the aviation industry
led by MTU Aero Engines GmbH.
4.5.5 Composites FielLab

6

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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4.1 Mobility
4.1.2 Extended Arrival
Management (E-AMAN)
Today, arriving airport traffic is managed and sequenced
in the airspace close to the airport. Faced with increasing
traffic, airports are looking for ways to overcome congestion
and reduce the need for holding.
The SESAR Solution Extended Arrival Management
(E-AMAN) allows for the sequencing of arrival traffic much
earlier than is currently the case, by extending the AMAN
horizon from the airspace around the airport to further
upstream.
Controllers in the upstream and cross-border sectors
including those in neighbouring functional air blocks
(FABs) can instruct pilots to adjust the aircraft speed before
beginning descent, thereby reducing the need for holding.
The results from SESAR flight trials show that this solution
offer valuable reductions in fuel consumption and CO2
emissions.
Validation exercises in Italy have highlighted the efficiency
gains and environmental benefits that can be achieved
with Extended AMAN. Concretely, up to 84 kg of fuel per
flight and a related reduction of 268 kg of CO2 can be
saved. Meanwhile, exercises in Heathrow have shown
that a reduction of up to a minute in holding times can
be achieved, saving airlines around €1.25 million in fuel
and 5,000 tonnes of CO2, as well as reducing noise for
communities.
E-AMAN is planned for synchronised deployment at
24 European airports in accordance with Commission
Implementing Regulation (EU) No 716/2014 on the
establishment of the Pilot Common Project (PCP).

8

4.1.3 Aeronautic Study on
SEamless Transport (ASSET)
This project, led by DLR involved 12 participants with a total
budget of 3.6M€.
ASSET was one of the first EU projects to deal with
airport landside improvements and to tackle the ACARE
punctuality goal.
Aim of ASSET was to develop and assess solutions for airport
process improvements in terms of time efficiency regarding
both, passenger transfer and aircraft turnaround in an
integrated approach. Therefore, representatives of nearly all
directly or indirectly involved stakeholders (airports, airlines,
aircraft manufacturers, technological suppliers, security
service providers etc.) gathered to work conjoined on
this project.
Elaboration of potential solutions comprised compilation of
currently discussed solution approaches (e.g. Collaborative
Decision Making, Total Airport Management etc.) as well as
development of new opportunities focussing on three main
process chains:
l Passenger processes
l Baggage processes
l Aircraft turnaround processes

Achievement was a ranking list specifying promising
solutions as basis for future development, reference airport
models as well as a systematic scheme for future
airport assessments.

4.1.4 Initial four-Dimensional Trajectory Management (i4D)
Initial four dimensional trajectory management (i4D) makes
use of the flight management system and communication
capabilities of the aircraft and ground systems in order to
share and integrate data, and optimise the aircraft trajectory
in all four dimensions. This enables more efficient and
predictable handling of flights.
Thanks to i4D, controller workload can be optimised since
conflicts between trajectories in the en route phase can be
resolved automatically. During arrival planning, i4D provides
greater predictability to ATC since, once they receive their

allotted arrival time, aircraft can manage their arrivals to
great precision. This also allows the aircraft to better manage
their speed profile, which leads to fuel savings and
fewer emissions.
Flight trials have demonstrated the maturity and robustness
of i4D in real traffic conditions, confirming the important
efficiency and environmental gains as well as increased
flight predictability. I4D is planned for synchronised
deployment in accordance with Commission Implementing
Regulation (EU) No 716/2014.

4.1.5 Remote Tower Services
Small or local airports are life-lines to local and regional
economies, generating mobility of goods, services and
people. But keeping these airports open with air traffic
services is a challenge given the costs involved in running
them compared to the number of flights they handle.

traffic and aeronautical flight information services in real
time. Like at onsite manned control towers, controllers at
their remote workstations have access to information from
supplementary sensors and controller tools to ensure that
flights take off and land safely and smoothly.

SESAR’s Remote Tower Services offers new possibilities for
places where it is too expensive to build, maintain and staff
conventional tower facilities and services, or at airports
where such services are currently unavailable.

Validation exercises in Norway, Sweden and Germany
have shown that Remote Tower Air Traffic Services are safe
and cost-effective, enabling smaller airports to ensure a
continuity of operations and provide services on-demand
at single airports. In 2014, the world’s first RTS in Sundsvall
opened for business, serving Örnsköldsvik airport over
150 km away.

Using high-definition video cameras together with
supporting zoom and infrared cameras, panoramic high
resolution screens give traffic controllers a 360-degree
view of an airport, allowing them to remotely provide air

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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4.1 Mobility

4.2 Competitiveness

4.1.6 Airport Operations Centre
(APOC)

4.2.1 High-Lift Aerodynamics: A GARTEUR success story

SESAR is developing a number of solutions within the
Airport-Collaborative Decision-making framework to
improve information sharing at airports, thereby improving
efficiency and predictability of flights. One such solution
is the Airport Operations Centre (APOC), which brings
together the main airport stakeholders to become a
platform for stakeholder communication and coordination,
based on shared knowledge.
Instead of islands of potentially conflicting decision-making,
the APOC provides a coordinated capability, supported by
technology and processes, which balances the business
priorities and strategies of all airport stakeholders. APOC
keeps the airport flowing by matching resources and
facilities to changes in demand or schedule.

This project, led by GARTEUR involves 7 partners with a budget of circa 2.1M€ (from year 2000)
GARTEUR is an independent organisation for Research
Collaboration in Europe in the field of aeronautics
and involves seven nations with major research and test
capabilities in aeronautics (France, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom).
A number of EU-projects are quoted as important
contributors to the wing design on modern European
aircraft types such as Airbus A380 and Dassault Falcon 7X.
GARTEUR activities on High Lift Aerodynamics were
carried out within six Action Groups from 1981 to 2014
with participation of Research Establishments and industries.

The joint European knowledge in High Lift Aerodynamics,
applied on modern European aircraft types, has been
built up over the past decades through national efforts
coordinated via GARTEUR Action Groups and continued
in European projects funded via Framework Programmes
(EUROLIFT, DESIREH, SADE, ATAAC and GO4HYBRID projects).
This illustrates coordinated efforts between GARTEUR
nations, strong connections between GARTEUR and EU
activities, long time scales from basic research to application
and the impact of lower TRL research on future projects.

SESAR validations have shown how APOC can improve
efficiency at both regional and large airports and, in 2014,
initial APOCs were opened by SESAR European Airports
Commission (SEAC) members at Heathrow and
Charles de Gaulle airport.

Advanced simulation of the flow dynamics around a three-element airfoil thanks to the ZDES technique developed by ONERA (adapted from
Deck & Laraufie, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol 723, pp 401-444, 2013)

10

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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4.2 Competitiveness
4.2.2 TANGO-ALCAS-SARISTU-MAAXIMUS
The introduction of advanced composites in primary civil aerostructures has a long history in Europe that goes back more
than 30 years. The experience gained, allowed their gradual increase as a percentage of the structural weight from 5% to
53% (cf. Fig. 1 and 2).

FP7-SARISTU - a 64 strong European partnership
commenced in 2011 and finished on-time in 2015 with a
total budget of 51M€ and EU contribution of 32M€. FP7SARISTU focused on smart intelligent aircraft structure
concepts. SARISTU has ten application scenarios and
investigated:
l Conformal morphing leading-edge device, including the

integration of lightning strike protection;
l The integration of trailing-edge devices for cruise

optimisation
l Wingtip active trailing-edge devices for load alleviation,

integration and minimized maintenance;
l The structural integration of fibre-optic monitoring

devices for a multitude of applications

FP7-MAAXIMUS - a 57 strong European partnership
commenced in 2008 and is still ongoing with a total
budget of 67M€ and EU contribution of 40M€. The aim is
to demonstrate the fast development and ‘right first time’
validation of a highly optimised composite airframe.
This will be achieved through a physical platform
as well as a virtual development one. FP7-MAAXIMUS
delivers:
l A set of physical tests at coupon, structural detail and

panel level;
l A generic composite barrel section manufactured and

tested under quasi-static load;
l A set of advanced optimisation and analysis methods

integrated in a demonstrator framework.

l The integration of guided wave ultrasonic monitoring for

rapid damage detection and assessment;
l Pitch-catch ultrasonic monitoring for the same purpose

on typical fuselage structures;
Fig. 1

Fig. 2

l Ultrasonic and fibre-optic techniques to enable the full

monitoring for multi-site damage detection;
Composites offer higher stiffness to weight ratio and
integration advantages, compared to metals. A string of
successful research projects - industrial, national as well as
European collaborative ones - contributed to this success
story. In this brochure, a cluster of four European integrated
research projects (FP5-TANGO, FP6-ALCAS, FP7-SARISTU
and FP7-MAAXIMUS) is presented. They all aimed towards
maintaining and enhancing the competitive position of
the European Aerospace industry, in the face of significant
challenges from strong global competition.
They contributed to reducing further the operating
costs, through the cost effective application of carbon
fibre composites to aircraft primary structures, taking
into account systems integration.

FP5-TANGO - a 32 strong European partnership commenced
in 2000 and finished in 2006 with a total budget of 84M€
and EU contribution of 42M€. FP5-TANGO delivered four
structurally tested platforms (lateral wing-box, centre wingbox, metallic fuselage and composite fuselage), including a
full suite of design, manufacture and test reports including
recommendations for future technology applications.

l Passive SHM techniques focusing on damage-indicating

coatings;
l The manufacturing challenges associated with

nanoparticle-reinforced structures;
l The use of nanoparticles in CFRP towards enhanced

electrical capabilities;

FP6-ALCAS - a 32 strong European partnership commenced
in 2005 and finished in 2012 with a total budget of 101M€
and EU contribution of 53M€. It was organized into four
technical platforms:
l Airliner Wing - design, manufacture and test of an inner

wing and centre box of a large civil airliner
l Airliner Fuselage - key fuselage challenges and complex

design features, including large cut-outs and large
damages in curved panels, keel beam and landing gear
load introduction, tyre impact damage, post-buckling and
elementary crash analysis
l Business Jet Wing - cost reduction by combining parts

into an integrated wing structure
l Business Jet Fuselage - double curved rear fuselage

with sandwich shell concept and VTP/HTP and engine
integration
12

SARISTU - IS12 - Wind tunnel demonstrator

TANGO - AMF test in Hamburg

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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4.2 Competitiveness
4.2.3 Light Helicopter
Demonstrator with High
Compression Engine (HCE)
Helicopters. The engine underwent already successfully
ground testing on Iron Bird and a H120 helicopter. Flight
testing is planned for the second half of 2015.
The advantages of the High Compression Engine compared
to turbo shaft are:
l Lower CO2 emission and fuel consumption between 30%

and 50% depending on mission,

l Lower operating costs for operators by 30%,
l Improved performances in hot and high conditions,
l Increased range with same amount of fuel (roughly

double in certain missions).
The helicopter used for the Demonstrator is a serial H120
modified to accommodate with this new engine, as shown
on the picture below.
The successful completion of the project will pave the way
towards competitive single engine light helicopters
in Europe.

4.3 Environment and Energy
4.2.4 ODICIS - One display for
a cockpit interactive solution
Scientists initiated the EU-funded project ‘One display
for a cockpit interactive solution’ (ODICIS) to develop a
single-display cockpit and test its functionality. The focus
was on flexibility of the system architecture, optimisation
of useful surface area and continuity of information. Taken
together, achievement of these objectives was proposed
to increase operational safety and efficiency while reducing
development cost.
The ODICIS consortium, led by Thales, successfully
developed the single display mock-up consisting of a
seamless interface with a curved surface that was presented
for the first time at the 2011 Paris Air Show. From an original
351 user-defined requirements, scientists came up with
a suitable graphics generator and image management
algorithms integrated into the projection solution. They
employed a human-machine interface (HMI) with a tactile
system and a display suited to the requirements for each
fundamental format (flight display, navigation display,
system pages, etc.). Technical and operational evaluations
addressed aspects related to the ability of the projection
system to maintain image integrity at wide viewing angles.
The ODICIS cockpit display is expected to set the standards
for a new generation of cockpit design rules. The curved,
touch-screen projection display affords an optimal
combination of space used and information displayed to
enhance the efficiency and safety of aircraft operation.

4.3.1 Advanced Flight Management Systems enabling environmentally
optimised flight paths
This Clean Sky project, led by Thales involves 30 participants including leaders and partners with a budget of 35M€
(17.5M€ EC funding)

Flight Management Systems - used on commercial aircraft
to automatically execute the flight plan - have been
enhanced to contribute to aircraft trajectories optimisation
in all mission phases. Automatic adjustments of speed,
altitude, thrust, lead to gains in perceived noise, fuel
consumption and CO2 emissions. The FMS, supported by
open-world tools, performs real-time multi-parameter
optimisation and proposes the best trade-off to the crew.
These new capabilities will drive the performance of the
next generations of aircraft. Importantly: they can also be
implemented on the existing fleet for an immediate and
global effect on the environment.
As an example, the Multi Criteria Departure Procedure
(MCDP) takes into account individual aircraft parameters
(type, take-off weight, thrust mode) and weather
conditions (temperature, humidity) to compute in real
time an optimal take-off profile reducing noise, fuel
consumption, as well as CO2 and other emissions. These
parameters are inserted in the Flight Management System
and flown automatically, thereby giving a benefit in crew
workload and optimising the noise and emissions for the
local situation.

H120 HCE Demonstrator during Ground run

14

15

ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4.3 Environment and Energy
4.3.2 Advanced Low-Pressure System (ALPS)

4.3.3 One Piece Barrel (OPB) Demonstrator

This project, led by Rolls-Royce involves some 50 participants including Clean Sky leaders with a budget of 86M€
(45M€ EC funding)

This project, led by Alenia involves 5 participants including Clean Sky leaders and partners with a total budget of 10.5M€

The Advanced Low Pressure System engine, which is funded
through the SAGE 3 ITD of Clean Sky, has demonstrated
the CTi (Carbon and titanium) fan blade and associated
composite engine casings– to deliver a weight saving of
over 680kg on a twin engine aircraft, the equivalent of seven
or eight passengers travelling “weight free”. Composite
panels containing electrical harnesses and pipework fit
around the fancase, and will further reduce weight and
simplify maintenance. The focus is on delivering a reduction
in CO2 emissions and some reduction in noise through the
composite fan system.
It is just one technology that will help future Rolls-Royce
engines such as the Advance engine design deliver a
20% fuel efficiency improvement. This will be stretched
to 25% improvement for UltraFan™, compared to the first
generation of Trent engines. Both Advance and UltraFan™
are being funded by the EU as part of the Clean Sky 2
programme.
The ALPS programme has already delivered 3 full scale
ground demonstrators and 1 flight demonstration
campaign that involved a total of six flights that took place
in October 2014. Rolls-Royce plans two further ground
demonstrations in 2015, including testing of a modified
low pressure turbine, at this point the ALPS programme will
finish its journey with Clean Sky.
The results to date have shown that the environmental
targets set within Clean Sky will be achieved. The
programme will make it possible to design and build better
aircraft and achieve sustainable mobility and connectivity
and will also contribute to the improvement of the entire
sector. With innovative, tangible results such as ALPS,
Clean Sky places Europe at the forefront of the greening
of aviation.

16

Alenia Aermacchi’s composite fuselage One Piece Barrel
Demonstrator is a source of pride for the Clean Sky Joint
Technology Initiative. The ‘barrel’ is a wholly integrated
structure, representative of the section of the fuselage of a
regional turboprop aircraft. Such a technology makes the
construction process cheaper and quicker, and furthermore
the aircraft considerably lighter.

The barrel integrates multiple technologies into a single
unit:
l Innovative multi-functional layer and multi-layer

architectures, ensuring electric conductivity and lightning
resistance;
l Embedded damping veil for vibrations and related

acoustics;
l Hail impact performance technologies;
l Sensor technologies to monitor the status of the structure

and accurately report any degradation of its mechanical
properties.

Pre-Production Manufacturing

One Piece Barrel (OPB)

The One Piece Barrel Demonstrator will allow the
relevant Green Regional Aircraft ITD Demonstration to
be performed starting in November 2015 and ending by
March 2016.

4.3.4 Counter-Rotative Open Rotor (CROR)
This project, led by Safran involves some 50 participants including Clean Sky leaders and partners with a budget of 127M€
(67M€ EC funding)
One flagship of Clean Sky is the Counter-Rotative Open
Rotor: This new propulsion concept is expected to enable
reductions of over 35% in fuel burn and CO2 emissions per
passenger-km compared to the relevant Year 2000 reference
aircraft. This is the most far-reaching step towards the
overall ACARE 2020 Goal of -50% CO2 to date, and involves
highly complex technological development underway, and
full-scale demonstrations to be performed in Clean Sky,
both on the engine and on the installation. Several critical
issues have been successfully addressed so far. In particular,
aero-acoustic wind-tunnel tests performed in 2012 have
shown very encouraging results: CROR powered aircraft
can be expected to produce noise levels similar to those of
most recent turbofans currently under development. This
is already an outstanding achievement made possible only

through the concerted efforts made under Clean Sky.
Safran plans a ground demonstration of a full Open Rotor
at the beginning of 2016.

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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4.3 Environment and Energy
4.3.5 From TECH800 demonstrator to Arrano engine
This project, led by Turbomeca involves 33 participants including Clean Sky leaders and partners with a total industry
and EC funding budget of 40M€.
Turbomeca in the scope of Clean Sky designed a whole new
demonstrator aiming at reducing fuel consumption by 15%
with respect to Year 2000 baseline.
This was made possible thanks to results of several European
and National research projects launched in the past years
such as Newac, Dream, Crescendo enabling to improve
modelling tools and focus on promising technology up to
TRL3 to 4.
First target for the Clean sky demonstrator called Tech800
was to push thermodynamic cycles by increasing pressure
ratio and temperature and design an innovative mechanical
architecture in order to minimising overall weight with
respect to maintenance and reliability needs. A large
partnership across 10 countries has been set up thanks to
various calls for proposals.

The Arrano engine program (1100 to 1300 shp engine)
was launched in 2012. The more mature technology
concepts developed in Cleansky have been introduced in
the design of this new turboshaft engine. Thanks to these
technology insertions, ARRANO proposes a double digit
benefit on fuel consumption compared to the previous
generation of engines. ARRANO has recently been selected
by Airbus Helicopter as the sole source for the newly
unveiled H160. This concretisation is the results of the huge
effort performed in years of Research projects that lead to
breakthrough performance and competitiveness.

4.3.6 European collaborative efforts on Renewable Jet Fuel
Renewable jet fuel is foreseen to significantly contribute to
the operators’ ambition to reduce their CO2 footprint. Since
the first non-fossil jet fuel was certified for use in commercial
aviation in 2009, collaborative R&D efforts and industrial
initiatives have diversified the landscape of feedstocks
and conversion technologies, started to increase volumes
produced and support the certification of new production
pathways.

ACARE’s focus on renewable fuels contributed to the
launch of six EU-funded projects as well as national
initiatives, ranging from initial proofs of concept for novel
technologies, e.g. the solar-thermochemical fuel production
from CO2 and water in SOLAR-JET, to demonstration of
production technologies at pre-commercial scale, e.g. the
recently initiated project BioReFly. Motivated by the lesson
learned that successful commercial deployment requires
more than technological developments, the EU supports
the collaborative project ITAKA, involving all value chain
stakeholders, from feedstock supplier via refinery operator
to end users. This concept is also applied in the Air France
“Lab-Line for the Future” initiative, the German burnFAIR
project or in the Dutch initiative BioPort Holland, which aims
at the establishment of continuous production and logistics
integrated into the European pipeline system.

The first run was performed in first quarter 2012 in
an intermediate configuration allowing testing most
components such as compressor, combustor, HP and
LP turbine. The final configuration at high Turbine Entry
Temperature was successfully tested in mid-2013 and is
going on for a completion at the end of 2015.

TECH800 3D Mock up

18

TECH800 demonstrator after test

19

ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4.4 Safety and Security
4.4.1 Tools for Flight Crews of the Future - The Man4Gen and SUPRA Projects

4.4.2 High Altitude Ice Crystals/High Ice Water Content International
Field Campaign

Man4Gen (Manual Flying Skills for 4th Generation Airliners):
This project involves 9 partners with a total budget of 4.7M€.

Led by Airbus: “Icing Phenomena & Protection Systems” High Altitude Ice Crystals (HAIC) is a 4-year large-scale integrated
project with 34 partners from 11 European countries and 5 International partners from Australia, Canada and the USA with
a budget of 22.8M€.

SUPRA (Simulation of Upset Recovery in Aviation): This
project involves 9 partners with a total budget of 4.9M€.

Man4Gen (2012 - 2015) is developing procedural, training
and flight deck features that enable the flight crews of
highly automated and complex airliners of the future and
today to stay on top of things when it matters most: in
unexpected and challenging situations.
As a continuation of the highly successful project SUPRA
(2009 - 2012, targeting prevention of Loss of Control In-flight
events) which developed simulation technologies for flight
simulation outside the normal aerodynamic envelope for
flight training and research, the Man4Gen project is going
further up the chain of events by developing technology
and methods to support flight crew Situation Awareness.
The goal is to avoid having to recover the airplane from
an unusual or undesired state. An important result for
the industry are the developed training tools allowing for
quantification of core flight crew competencies as well
as design of customised training focusing on the right
competencies.

Commercial aircraft have been experiencing in-service
events while flying in the vicinity of deep convective clouds
since at least the early 1990s. Heated probes and engines
are the areas of aircraft most prone to mixed phase and
glaciated icing threat.
In anticipation of regulation changes according to glaciated
and mixed phase icing conditions, the HAIC project will
characterise the high ice water content environment and
will provide the necessary Acceptable Means of Compliance
(numerical tools and test capabilities) and appropriate
ice particle detection and awareness technologies to the
European Aeronautics industry for use on-board commercial
aircraft. HAIC will also develop international cooperation
and collaboration.

During the field campaign, the SAFIRE Falcon 20 research
aircraft carried out 23 flights representing a total of
76 flight hours on-site. The collected dataset will be a
unique resource for fundamental research, new industrial
developments of detection and/or awareness technologies
and for the regulation makers to assess the glaciated and
mixed phase icing conditions envelope as defined in
the regulation.

The first HAIC and High Ice Water Content (HIWC)
International field campaign took place in Darwin, Australia,
in early 2014. The aim was to provide the first modern
extensive data set of the core areas of deep convection
in order to characterise the 99th percentile of total water
content statistics as a function of distance scale. The field
campaign was the result of an international collaboration
between the HAIC, EASA-HIWC and US-led projects, with EC
funding support which brought together expertise in a wide
range of skills including: airframers, engine manufacturers,
equipment & systems suppliers, research institutes and
academics, meteorological services and SME’s able to
provide knowledge, service, or support in specific areas,
with the main stakeholders based in Europe, North America,
Australia and Japan.

Man4Gen Simulator experiment in DLR AVES simulator

20

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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4.4 Safety and Security
4.4.3 FLYSAFE - Airborne Integrated Systems for Safety Improvement,
Flight Hazard Protection and All Weather Operations

4.4.4 Safe reduction of wake
turbulence separation minima

4.4.5 High Intensity Radiated Field
Synthetic Environment (HIRF SE)

Wake turbulence is the turbulence observed behind an
aircraft as a natural consequence of the lift generated by
wing surfaces. This phenomenon (also called wake vortex)
poses a significant safety hazard for aviation in the takeoff
or landing phases as the spacing between consecutive
aircraft is reduced. With the sustained growth of air traffic
observed at a number of international airports, the current
wake turbulence standard separation minima applied by
Air Traffic Control defined in the 1970’s need to be revisited.
Since the 1990’s significant research efforts in US and Europe
have been dedicated to gain a sufficient understanding so
as to improve the evaluation of the safety risks associated to
wake turbulence and to identify optimum aircraft separation
in the context of airport operations. Under FP5, FP6 and FP7
the main following directions for research were as follows:

HIRF SE was an FP7 European project, started on the
1/12/2008 and finished on the 31/05/2013, with a total
budget of about 26.5M€ (17.8M€ EC funding).

Led by Thales and involved 36 partners.
The project ‘Airborne integrated systems for safety
improvement, flight hazard protection and all weather
operations’ (FLYSAFE) focused particularly on the areas
identified as the main types of accidents around the world:
loss of control, controlled flight into terrain, and approach
and landing accidents. It has addressed three types of
threats including adverse weather conditions, traffic hazards
and terrain hazards. For each of them it has developed
new systems and functions, notably: improved situation
awareness, advance warning, alert prioritisation, and
enhanced human-machine interface.

FLYSAFE has also developed solutions to enable aircraft to
retrieve timely, dedicated, improved weather information,
by means of a set of ‘Weather information management
systems’ (WIMS). These WIMS are able to gather, format and
send to the aircraft all essential atmospheric data, as relevant
for the safety and efficiency of their flight. This uplinked data
has been presented in an innovative and consistent way
to the crew. Innovative prediction capabilities have been
deployed, both on board of the aircraft and on the ground,
to provide warnings which are optimised with respect to
the simultaneous constraints of safety and airspace capacity.

l Characterisation of wake vortex behaviour, its monitoring

and development of prediction model
l Alleviation of wake through aircraft design
l Safety assessment for reduction of aircraft separations
l Improving airport operations - new operational concepts

to improve runway capacity
As key result from these projects the deployment of 2 new
aircraft separation schemes has been initiated at 2 major
European airports (London Heathrow and Paris CDG) for
entry in service in 2015. The main related benefits from
these deployments are the reduction of flight delays (up
to 50% of delays generated by adverse weather) or the
increase of runway
throughput (in the
order of 5%) without
compromising on the
safety levels for these
operations.

Wake Vortex

22

The HIRF SE consortium led by Alenia Aermacchi, consisted
of 43 partners with a strong background in computational
EMC, electromagnetic modelling, EMC aircraft testing/
certification and software development.
The HIRF Synthetic Environment research project had the
goal to provide the aeronautic industry with a numerical
modelling computer framework which could be used
during both the development phase, in order to ensure
adequate electromagnetic performance, and during the
certification/qualification testing phase on air vehicle.
Novel air vehicles concepts, like fly by wire technology, had
led to a high increase of the electromagnetic testing time,
in order to ensure compatibility of new technologies with
existing and future regulations. In this view, availability of
new HIRF Synthetic Environment framework become more
and more significant to cope with competing requirements
of new designs, with the related increase of tests in number
and complexity, and of costs and time reductions.
The correct operating of the numerical framework was
verified and validated by comparison with data from
real testing on small and medium air vehicles and preexisting data for large air vehicles. The validation process
demonstrated on several real aircraft that the Framework is
able to predict electromagnetic response of complex test
objects in various test configurations.

Weather Information Management Systems

EMC testing campaign
on rotorcraft (Agusta
Westland, AW139)

Clear Air Turbulence

Electromagnetic Testing
and Simulation on fixed
wing aircraft (Piaggio P180)

Icing

Thunderstorm

23

ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4.4 Safety and Security

4.5 Infrastructure and Skills

4.4.6 FLY-BAG Blast-resistant textile-based luggage container

4.5.1 MOOC Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering

FLY-BAG Blast-resistant textile-based luggage container
for narrow-body passenger airplanes, and FLY-BAG2 Advanced technologies for bomb-proof cargo containers
and blast containment units for the retrofitting of passenger
airplanes.

In 2014 the faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft
launched the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course)
Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering. This free online
course provided an overview of and introduction to basic
knowledge of aeronautics. More than 20.000 participants
worldwide learnt to make all the essential calculations for
every aircraft.

FLY-BAG was an FP7 Project running between 2008 and
2010, with a total budget of 3.057M€ (2.18M€ EC funding)
and 7 partners, and was followed by FLY-BAG2, running
between 2012 and 2015, with a total budget of 5.68M€
(44.4M€ funded by EC), and 13 partners.
The threat of attacks to passenger airplanes with explosives
hidden in luggage loaded in the cargo holds or taken
on board is dramatically evident from terrorist events
in the past years. Currently available security scans are
necessary, but cannot guarantee a 100% detection rate:
complementary passive countermeasures are needed in
order to protect aircrafts, crew and passengers in case an
explosive device is smuggled on board.

The FLY-BAG project developed and demonstrated a blastresistant textile-based luggage container for narrow-body
passenger airplanes. The aim of FLY-BAG2 was to develop
new devices for both cabin (addressing the Least Risk Bomb
Location requirements) and cargo environments, and to
enlarge the experimental validation of the new concepts
including full scale tests on retired aircraft. The technology
developed has been shown to be effective in neutralising
certain sizes of bomb material threat. The devices can be
used for low-cost carriers as well as flagship airlines.

The history of aviation is the leitmotiv for the online course,
with examples from the very early days (the Montgolfier
brothers’ balloon in 1783 and the first aeroplane flown by
the Wright brothers in 1903) through to today’s Airbus A380
and aircraft of the future. The course is intended for future
aeronautics students, professionals in the aviation sector who
do not have an engineering background, and anyone with
an interest in aviation. TU Delft offers this course as one of the
first MOOCs.

TU Delft organised the first two MOOCs in autumn 2014. The
number of students who successfully passed these MOOCs
was many times more than the annual number of on-campus
students.
In two runs the MOOC Aeronautical Engineering attracted
over 22,000 students in 2014.
Wherever a person is in the world, the MOOCs give them free
access to TU Delft’s knowledge. Those taking part view video
material, read, carry out assignments, hold discussions on
the forum, and can conclude the course with a participation
certificate.

A MOOC on the EdX platform

24

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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

4.5 Infrastructure and Skills
4.5.2 Design Synthesis Exercise: an engine for innovation
TU Delft has a unique educational programme on new
designs in aeronautics and astronautics: the Design
Synthesis Exercise (DSE). The DSE regularly leads to spin-off
companies and is therefore a true engine of innovation.
ATMOS UAV is such a spin-off company which designs and
manufactures high quality, highly safe and reliable drones
that inspect infrastructures: coastlines, pipelines, harbour
quays etc. In a trial to start in spring 2015 the ATMOS drone
will be used by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the
Environment to inspect river overflow areas.
The DSE programme forms the closing piece of the
third year of the Bachelor degree course in aerospace
engineering at TU Delft. In this exercise students work in
groups of ten, for a period of ten weeks full time on the
design of a (part of an) aircraft, spacecraft, space mission of
wind turbine. Of course a major goal is also to improve the
students’ design and soft skills while working in teams with
their fellow students. All teams present their designs to a
jury consisting of aerospace professionals from the industry.

4.5.4 Mobility project for apprentices in the aviation industry
led by MTU Aero Engines GmbH
Between 2011 and 2013, MTU Aero Engines, organised a
mobility project for apprentices funded by the European
Commission. To gain new know-how, intercultural and
further key-competences, 12 learners in the technical and
commercial vocational field were sent on internships at
Rolls-Royce and BAe Systems Operations in Great Britain.
All project goals were met. The apprentices gained relevant
expertise as well as foreign language and cross-cultural
competences. In a global labour market, such qualifications
are extremely valuable for the apprentices themselves and for
MTU requiring highly qualified employees. The cooperation
between all project partners, including Cassidian Air Systems
as a regional partner of MTU, was likewise successful. It led to
a long-term and productive collaboration for more mobility
activities for apprentices in the aviation industry.

ATMOS UAV inspecting a flood area, courtesy of ATMOS UAV

4.5.5 Composites FielLab
A public-private partnership between NLR and Fokker Landing Gear where a national research centre shares its research
infrastructure with industry in order to, together, achieve new innovations in lightweight materials.

4.5.3 DLR School Labs - Best Practice for Attracting Young People
to Research and Science

This project, led by DLR involves 3 partners with a total budget of 11M€.

26

In order to attract young people’s interest to the Aeronautics
and Air Transport sector, several activities have been
successfully implemented on the basis of Vision 2020/
Flightpath 2050. Initially DLR developed and implemented
the concept of school_labs, offering hands-on experiments
where pupils perform research projects on small scale
similar to the actual research projects in the DLR labs. This
close to reality research work has proven to convince young
boys and girls to start a career in natural sciences and/or
engineering. On the basis of the very positive experiences
at DLR the EU Project RESTARTS (Raising European Student’s
Awareness in Aeronautical Research Through School-Labs)
fostered the development of school labs in Europe by
developing demonstration and experiment materials for
schools and allowing European school teams to experience
a visit at one of the DLR School_Labs providing direct
contact between pupils and DLR researchers.

This unique research facility within the Dutch aerospace
sector focuses on the industrialisation and follow-on
development of automated manufacturing technologies for
composite components.
This joint endeavor has led to a remarkable achievement:
a Pilot Plant for composite components, or so called
Automated Composite Manufacturing (ACM) Field Lab.
The entire focus is on the further development of
automated manufacturing processes for composites,
manufactured by means of resin transfer molding (RTM)
injections. The project also seeks to optimise the production
process, to increase quality and affordability of the products.

This is unique in the (Dutch) aerospace sector and also of
interest for high tech - high spec companies outside of the
aerospace sector.
Ultra-modern equipment has been purchased for this new
facility, including a braiding machine for composites, which
is one of the largest in Europe. NLR already possessed some
of the required equipment in its ACM Technology Centre,
where the focus is on TRLs 3 to 6. The ACM Pilot Plant will
focus on TRLs 7 and 8.

The first work undertaken in the ACM Pilot Plant will involve
research into automated manufacturing technologies
according to the Robot Based Composite Manufacturing’
concept, which Fokker Landing Gear and NLR jointly
developed in recent years.
The ACM Field Lab also allows other companies to conduct
research at high Technology Readiness Levels (TRL).
27

ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

5. Advanced technology innovation spill-over effects

Air Transport has important “multiplier” effects meaning that
its overall contribution to employment and GDP is much
larger than its direct impact alone.
Indirect benefits of Air Transport include employment
and activities of suppliers e.g. fuel suppliers, infrastructure
construction companies, suppliers of sub-components as
well as a wide variety of business service activities such as
IT. There were close to 9 million direct and indirect skilled
jobs from Air Transport in Europe and the sector contributed
around 600 billion Euro to European GDP in 2010.
Wider spin-off benefits from aviation affect industries
across a whole spectrum of economic activity including:
l Air Transport is indispensable for tourism, a major engine

of economic growth globally.
l Air Transport facilitates world trade, helping countries

participate in international markets and allowing
globalisation of production.
l Increasing countries connectivity and helping to raise

productivity by encouraging investment in innovation as
well as improving business operations and efficiency and
allowing companies to attract high-quality employees.
l A focus on Research and Innovation helping to enhance

research capacity at Universities and research institutes.
Every Euro 90 million of investment in research eventually
generates an additional around Euro 65 million in GDP
year-after-year.

l Automation, robotics and advanced materials including

manufacturing technologies and processes (e.g. Additive
Layer Manufacturing), precision tools, manufacturing
robots, advanced welding techniques, innovative
materials and composites.
l Measurement methods and sensing technologies

developed for aviation benefit to various domains
(advanced sensors and probes, temperature, pressure
measurements, non-destructive testing processes, etc.)
l Sports, home and leisure have also benefited from

technology eminating from aeronautics with applications
including composites sport equipments and gears, breakproof and scratch-proof lenses for optics,
Aviation’s unique safety and certification standards warrant
complex methodologies and processes to introduce aeroinnovations to the market. Applications of such techniques
including the modelling of risk management and mitigation,
fault-proofing for complex systems can be read across to
other sectors.
Beyond the direct catalytic effect for technology, aviation
also has indirect benefits to other sectors allowing fast and
safe mobility and exchanges in Europe thus contributing to
the growth of the European economy as a whole.

An example of spill over is “Embedded intelligence in
underwater drones” developed by ONERA so that the
device can get its bearings and manage its exploration
independently, with limited communication in the absence
of GPS. In 2010, this work enabled the testing of the mission
planning system for the Daurade submarine, performing
missions at sea along the French coast. Its scientists are
already working on the cooperation between aerial, marine
and subsea drones and an operator on the surface.
Another example is a Railway Collision Avoidance System
(RCAS) developed by DLR based on concepts developed
in Aerospace applications. RCAS is a safety overlay system
which can be deployed on top of any existing safety
infrastructure in train networks. It implements a two-stage
Traffic Alert and Braking Command concept: In the first
step a Traffic Alert signal shall warn the train driver in case
of another RCAS unit on an imminent collision course. Thus,
the train driver is prepared to receive a Braking Command in
a second step, when the distance to the potential collision
point is about to become smaller than the braking distance
with some safety margin.
Today, the aeronautics R&D spending in Europe
is close to 12% of turnover (ASD). Spill-over effects
of this investment contribute solutions in wider
industrial sectors that can be applied or adapted
beyond Aerospace.

Aviation technologies are catalysts for innovation,
enabling the fertilisation of developments in many
other fields, sectors and domains. Some examples of the
numerous spill-over effects that aviation’s high technologies
and innovation has had on other domains are listed below:
l Complex systems and information technologies including

Computer Aided Design, Computational Fluid Dynamics,
virtual reality, critical software and systems, microcomputers and vocal command systems.
l Health and medicine, applications of new Titanium alloys

prosthesis, ultra-sound scanners, new laser types, digital
imagery and related data-processing.

The Daurade submarine - @DGA
28

Railway Collision Avoidance System, developed by DLR.
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ACARE - 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS

6. Technology Integration and Application
Focus on new technologies for cleaner,
more efficient and higher-performance rotorcraft
The results of key research programmes, shown in the
attached illustrations, have been applied to the launch of
products demonstrating that both EU and National research
programmes are necessary in an integrated complex system
requiring the participation of entire supply chains.

The aim of Research and Innovation is to provide seamless
technology progression.
In the case of propulsion systems this includes:
1. Initial technology concepts and development through
the Level programmes.
2. Rig testing on viable technologies within Level 2
programmes; before
3. Final system validation in the Level 3 Clean Sky
programmes
As technology reaches a higher level of maturity
(Technology Readiness Level- TRL) it can be exploited within
the latest integrated systems and sub-systems with the aim
of moving closer to the ACARE goals.
Within the Level 1 technology programmes there is a higher
involvement and influence by Universities. As the technology
moves into the validation phases (Levels 2 and 3) then the
larger industrial businesses tend to drive the programmes,
supported by Research Institutions and SMEs.

Such an approach to research is applied to other vehicles
in aviation. The attached illustration shows programmes
applied to the launch of the Falcon 7X.

30

The fruit of several years of National and EU research is the
H160 which started the flight test campaign in June 2015.
This clean sheet design of a 5.5-6 ton class helicopter will help
to keep the European helicopter industry at the helm within
its branch while setting new benchmarks in low noise
VTOL operations.
The most visible H160 technology breakthrough is Airbus
Helicopters’ initial production use of its Blue Edge® main rotor
blades - result of nationally funded research on ERATO blades
jointly designed with ONERA and DLR, which reduce exterior
noise levels by 50 percent (3 dB) and also allow a payload
increase of up to 100 kg when compared to traditional rotor
blades, depending on flight conditions.

The above examples typify the enormous effort that
goes into integrating technology resulting from early
investment in Research and Innovation to ultimately
develop efficient, reliable and safe products to support
the growing needs of Air Transport in Europe.
To continually reduce the duration of the innovation
cycle, aviation requires significant and long term effort
in R&D as well as management of system complexity
executed in programmes that span over multiple years.

The H160 is the first-ever, fully-composite civil helicopter,
resulting in an airframe that is lighter in weight, more
robust, resistant to corrosion and fatigue, while requiring
less maintenance. Airbus Helicopters’ proven Spheriflex
main rotor hub is further enhanced with the application of
innovative composite thermoplastic technology - which
reduces weight and increases damage tolerance. A multitude
of regional, national and EU-funded research programmes on
materials, manufacturing technologies and design techniques
contributed heavily to this outstanding structural design.

31

7. ACARE - looking forward to the next 15 years

ACARE plays a key role in providing strategic advice on
European aviation research and innovation to policy makers
and other stakeholders.

ACARE and its stakeholders will continue to play a pivotal
role in providing strategic advice to Europe which will
include actions in the following areas:

Today Europe is a world leader in aviation: The SRIA
represents a vital contribution to maintaining and
expanding this excellence through European, National and
regional Public and Private programmes that provide the
pathway to research, development and innovation and
policies needed to deliver the Flightpath 2050 vision.

l Strengthening the competitiveness of the European

ACARE has demonstrated the strength of working closely
together across the whole aviation community including
air transport, the manufacturing industry, research
establishments, universities, regulatory authorities, Member
States and the European Commission.

l Monitoring progress and identifying gaps in research

aviation sector consistent with European priorities
l Accelerating the Single European Sky
l Determining the planning priorities for future

Air Transport policy initiatives
areas and proposing steps to accommodate these
in future programmes
l Establishing close links to other transport modes to

achieve Flightpath 2050 goals on mobility
l Supporting international initiatives to address global

ACARE brings together hundreds of stakeholders
EU Commission

Airlines

Member States

Research
Establishments

Air Navigation
Safety
Authorities

ACARE

EASA
EUROCONTROL

Airports

Academia
SMEs

Manufacturers

Regulators

Substantial results have been achieved since the launch of
ACARE. Projects conducted in Aeronautics and Air Transport
across the European community have been wide ranging.
At a European level there are significant programmes
underway as part of Horizon 2020 including Clean Sky
and SESAR that will deliver much needed solutions that
can be integrated into future aircraft and the broader
Air Transport system.

issues for aviation through the work of ICAO
This successful track record for Air Transport in Europe can
progress further provided the level of momentum applied
to Research and Innovation is such that the much needed
innovation continues to be undertaken.
This collaborative framework is essential in developing an
even more successful Air Transport System in Europe and
long term commitment will be required to achieve the
challenging goals set by Flightpath 2050 and the
Roadmap set by the ACARE Strategic Research and
Innovation Agenda.
It is profoundly important to maintain, strengthen and
widen this collaborative framework for aviation to enable
the air transport system in Europe to remain competitive
at a global level. The challenges which the sector is facing
have been and remain huge and long term support and
commitment is required from all stakeholders to work
together so that Europe stays at the helm of global aviation.

Legal notice
The information contained in this document is subject to
change. The views expressed may not in any circumstances
be regarded as stating an official position of ACARE.
Neither ACARE nor any person acting on behalf of ACARE
is responsible for the use which might be made of the
information contained within this document.

32

Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe

www.acare4europe.org

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©ACARE 2015, photos by ACARE Stakeholders. Printed in France. Concept design by Airbus Multi Media Support 20151902

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