This project matures key technologies that will reduce costs to the operator; save fuel; improve
ground operations; simplify manufacturing and simplify maintenance. The Project also defines how
these Technologies will be deployed together on a future Wing/LG configuration for the first time
successfully.
Airbus will work with multiple partners and sub-contractors to mature these technologies, and
prepare a definition of the Future Landing Gear.
Each technology provides one or more benefits: New load/torque sensing technologies coupled
with new ground control algorithms will limit structural loads during braking and save weight in the
wing and the landing gear structure, thereby saving fuel. New composite components if suitably
deployed could further contribute to Landing Gear weight reduction and fuel saving. The new
ground control algorithms will simplify pilot workload on the ground, and ease operation under
failure conditions. New robust sensing technology will improve basic reliability of brake temperature
and tyre pressure sensing and enable a faster return to service in the event of an overload
condition. New sensors and wheel modifications will enable dispatch with hotter brakes and
achieve a shorter aircraft Turn Around Time. New Landing Gear materials which are corrosion
resistant will reduce the cost of major overhaul and increase the time between them whilst the
introduction of new maintenance tools will speed up and improve the servicing of the Shock
Absorber.
The Future Landing Gear project will mature each of these new items so that they can be deployed
as necessary to existing aircraft programmes and also work out how they will be deployed together
on the Landing Gear in a new aircraft application for the first time with minimal risk.
128,000
2012-09-01 to 2014-11-30
Collaborative R&D
AUSTIN will address the need for an Aerospace 'Universal Interrogator' to permit the interfacing of different types of Photonic Sensors within a common Avionics box. This will provide the central element in any optically instrumented Aircraft. It will take known techniques, e.g. the Fibre Bragg Gratings and Fabry Perot, which are yet to be implemented in an Aerospace context, and combine them in a way never before attempted, to produce a versatile and configurable 'Universal Interrogator', capable of interfacing multiple sensor types in a single design. This will allow an optimised solution, with a high utilisation rate of the interfaces provided, regardless of the 'local' sensor types at any zone of the Aircraft.