© sebastien lebrigand
© sebastien lebrigand

EIT Digital and Milan develop aircraft technology

As part of EIT Digital’s Advanced Connectivity Platform for Vertical Segments (ACTIVE), the Polytechnic University of Milan (UPM), Italy, has developed a technology to help reduce wire harnesses and pins entering the fuselage and other compartments in aircraft.

Avionic systems manufacturers seeking more efficient ways to collate and transmit flight-critical data could now turn to UPM for its existing data transmission technologies, sensors and data concentrators-based solution.

Maurizio Magarini, assistant professor at UPM, said: “Our goal was to create a generic connectivity and middleware platform to support application developers for different key sectors without having to construct a new set of software layers for each new application. This means that developers can then focus their efforts on developing their applications to the benefit of their chosen sector.

“The technologies we’re applying to avionics systems promise to dramatically reduce the number of wires, cable harnesses, connectors and pins in the fuselage and elsewhere in the aircraft, which makes the system more efficient and reduces costs. This work has benefited tremendously from the ACTIVE programme, which provided the perfect environment to turn our concept into a workable application.”

The aim of the ACTIVE project is to create a connectivity platform where sensor systems are integrated into the general cellular network, creating an engine-to-engine (E2E) network that could be applied to a range of different sectors including healthcare and transport.

The university is now working with an aircraft manufacturer to commercially implement the technology.

The EIT contributes to the objectives of Horizon 2020 by addressing societal challenges in a manner that is complementary to other initiatives in these areas.