Airtificial shares its conclusions from the ROSSI programme with technical professionals from the aeronautical industry
- The programme, supported with European funds from Horizon 2020, focuses on the development of a fully automated and robotised systems test bed for the new active inceptors.
- Designed entirely at Airtificial’s plant in Seville, the robotic cell of the test bench allows to optimize the fine-tuning of the active flight sticks with haptic behaviour during their development phase.
- The new active inceptors, or active flight control sticks, give haptics inputs in the form or vibrations, resistance, or such, for the crew to have a better flight feedback from the aircraft.
- The Aerospace & Defence division, coordinator of the European project, held a workshop on November 8th, in which the preliminary conclusions of the project were shared with technical professionals from the aeronautical industry.
Seville, 22nd December 2022. Airtificial, a well-known company for its expertise in the development of flight control sticks, shared its preliminary conclusions of the ROSSI (Robotic Test System for Active Inceptors) project to technical professionals from the aeronautical industry the 8th of November. In a workshop organised in Seville by the Aerospace & Defence division, in charge of the European programme, the Airtificial division made a presentation of this new concept of robotic cell for testing active inceptors, focusing on the haptic performance of the flight control sticks.
The new active inceptors (flight control sticks) bring new functionalities but, above all, haptic behaviour that improves the flight experience and pilot coordination. This translates in pilots feeling their sense of touch stimulated through resistance in form of vibrations or good feedback in flight. With this technology, the crew beneficiate from an upgrade level of feedback from the aircraft, as it’s communicating through the flight stick.
The new robotic cell of the test bench allows for a better tuning of the active inceptors by removing the inherent risk of error carried out by human intervention. However, automatic test guarantees the execution of the test sequence exactly as programmed, excluding the possibility of misunderstandings or forgetfulness. Besides, the fact of registering test results automatically removes all possibilities of intentional distortion. All of these address to a more reliable product.
Airtificial showed its preliminary findings on this new concept of robotic cell for testing active inceptors to industry professionals from companies & institutions such as Airbus Defence & Space, the Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies (CATEC), or the University of Seville. These new flight control sticks is an area in which Airtificial Aerospace & Defence has a proven track record.
These sticks require new means of testing and validation. The objective of the ROSSI programme is to cover five critical parameters for the optimal design and development of flight control sticks:
- Simulate the pilot’s hands in flight. The robotic cell will program countless movements simulating the behaviour of the pilot´s hand, generating different profiles (flying/autopilot mode, coupled/decoupled mode), regardless the platform type (A/C and H/C).
- Measuring and validating the haptic performance of the flight control sticks. The system will also be equipped with the capacity to characterize the feedback resulting from the application of the pilot action. This feedback information will be compared with the one expected, according to the applied action and the flight data, to evaluate the haptic performance.
- Being able to test the inceptor(s) under different environmental conditions: temperature and humidity.
- Maximizing the tests execution speed.
- Human resources optimization.
- Reliability of the measurement and repeatability of the results.
The ROSSI project is part of Europe’s ambitious Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking, the consortium of the aeronautics industry and the European Union to develop research activities to drive the next generation of transport modes, ensure sustainable manufacturing of innovative systems and equipment, and pave the way for future transport solutions. From the use of new technologies, concepts, and designs; through intelligent control systems and interoperable standards, to efficient production processes, among other utilities.
This project has received funding from the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 884426. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Clean Sky 2 JU members other than the Union.
