The general goal of the Project is to reach an efficient, modular and lightweight electromagnetic induction based ice protection system, which uniformly heats the wing leading edge surface. One of the main objectives of the induction based ice-protection system is to achieve at least a 95% heating efficiency. In addition to efficiency, ice-protection system speed is essential in order to act on time and accurately without excessive on-board system consumption. Therefore, another one of the objectives of this project is to improve the speed, while providing a precise and targeted control of the generated heat facing the drawbacks of current on-board ice-protection systems. Finally, the weight of the whole solution must be minimized, essential in on-board aircraft systems. The final objective is to reach an ice-protection system with at least the same weight as current on-board ice-protection systems or on the contrary, the sum of its weight and its impact on on-board resources due to its high heating efficiency must be at least equal to current ice-protection solutions.

The objective of this proposal is to overcome the conventional experimental set-up commonly used in structural testing as the proposed for measuring the torsional and bending stiffness of the HLFC Leading Edge configurations by experimental testing. Conventional instrumentation for measuring displacement, like LVDT contact sensing elements; or for stress measuring, like strain gauges or punctual data obtained from fiber Bragg grating, will be replaced for several newfangled solutions in order to develop a new and an innovative monitoring system for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of stress-strain events during structural testing such as overloads, defects appearance or even defect growth. For uniform load application, improved innovative technology will include, a combination of direct uniform load application, with an emerging technology probed successfully for others applications, capable to apply uniform loads for complex tunable elastic strains. This issue will allow control the deformation process as decided for torsion bending of wanted strain case. For the innovative monitoring system, classical punctual and contact strain measurement, will be replaced by a combination of novel SHM (Structural Health Monitoring) sensors in order to qualitative and quantitative assessment of stress-strain during structural testing. Four emerging technologies will be previously proved in laboratory for ensuring a properly performance during the test. These technologies will include elements for the first damage detection; the identification and quantification of stress-strain events, overloads and hot-spot point with non-contact measuring elements; the quick overall deformation measurement for FEM correlations; and the continuous strain measurements for internal areas or areas difficult to be instrumented with other techniques. All of these with the objective of ensuring an efficient, high quality testing that reduces the product development time risk and cost.

A further step towards more light weight airframe parts is the combination of existing materials with new high performance materials. This project aims at qualifying new high performance materials for airframe structures following a bulding block approach. To do so, the three first levels of the building block approach will be covered, including coupons, elements and sub-structural details. State-of-the-art test will be introduced in the qualification test campaign that will provide useful material parameters for damage tolerance analysis. The consortium is formed by experienced partners in composite material testing and design. All the coupons and parts will be manufactured by an experienced manufacturer equipped with the latest manufacturing technologies, with the most demanding quality certifications and currently qualified by Airbus and Airbus Helicopters.

The space domain, as many other engineering sectors, is actively considering novel methods and tools based on artificial intelligence, Digital Twins, virtual design and testing, and other Industry 4.0 concepts, in order to manage the increased complexity of the design of upcoming satellites. Nevertheless, especially from the satellite on-board software engineering point of view, these technologies require a solid ground to be built upon. First of all, the computational power of the hardware platform must meet the needs of the advanced algorithms running on top of it. The software layer too must both allow an efficient use of the hardware resources and at the same time guarantee non-functional properties such as dependability in compliance with ECSS standards. Finally, the design methods need to adapt to the specific challenges posed by both the increased complexity of the hardware/software layers and the Industry 4.0 concepts. The METASAT vision is that a design methodology based on Model-Based engineering jointly with the use of open architecture hardware constitutes that solid ground. To reach its vision, METASAT will leverage existing software virtualisation layers (e.g., hypervisors), that already provide guarantees in terms of standards compliance, on top of high-performance computing platforms based on open hardware architectures. The focus of the project will be on the development of a toolchain to design software modules for this hardware/software layer. Without such measures the time and cost of developing new systems could become prohibitive as system complexity grows, reducing competitiveness, innovation, and potentially dependability across the industry. A high quality and complementary consortium comprising knowledge generators (IKL, BSC and ALES), plus an SME technology integrator (FEN) and an end user from the space sector (OHB), will be able to test in a real scenario the new design toolchain that will enable the runtime deployment of software module

This proposal fits within the framework of aircraft effectiveness constant improvement by reducing fuel and power consumptions. Its ultimate goal is to economically remove ice accreting on aircraft structure critical parts and thus increase reliability and mass saving on the global function. By comparison with the present existing solutions which are based on active pneumatic and electro-thermal means the targeted solutions will enable electrical power consumption, cost and mass reductions and ease the overall integration process. The subject of this proposal is to integrate and test two innovative ice protection systems in aircraft structures. The first system is based on two-phase heat transport and will be tested in a turboprop metallic air intake. The second system is based on electromagnetic induction and will be tested on a wing fixed leading edge and on a flap leading edge.