Airbus

About: Airbus is a company organization based out in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Fuselage & Signal. The organization has 10633 authors who have published 13089 publications receiving 88354 citations. The organization is also known as: Airbus Commercial Aircraft.

GNSS Transpolar Earth Reflectometry exploriNg System (G-TERN): Mission Concept

Abstract: The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) Transpolar Earth Reflectometry exploriNg system (G-TERN) was proposed in response to ESA’s Earth Explorer 9 revised call by a team of 33 multi-disciplinary scientists. The primary objective of the mission is to quantify at high spatio-temporal resolution crucial characteristics, processes and interactions between sea ice, and other Earth system components in order to advance the understanding and prediction of climate change and its impacts on the environment and society. The objective is articulated through three key questions. 1) In a rapidly changing Arctic regime and under the resilient Antarctic sea ice trend, how will highly dynamic forcings and couplings between the various components of the ocean, atmosphere, and cryosphere modify or influence the processes governing the characteristics of the sea ice cover (ice production, growth, deformation, and melt)? 2) What are the impacts of extreme events and feedback mechanisms on sea ice evolution? 3) What are the effects of the cryosphere behaviors, either rapidly changing or resiliently stable, on the global oceanic and atmospheric circulation and mid-latitude extreme events? To contribute answering these questions, G-TERN will measure key parameters of the sea ice, the oceans, and the atmosphere with frequent and dense coverage over polar areas, becoming a “dynamic mapper” of the ice conditions, the ice production, and the loss in multiple time and space scales, and surrounding environment. Over polar areas, the G-TERN will measure sea ice surface elevation (<10 cm precision), roughness, and polarimetry aspects at 30-km resolution and 3-days full coverage. G-TERN will implement the interferometric GNSS reflectometry concept, from a single satellite in near-polar orbit with capability for 12 simultaneous observations. Unlike currently orbiting GNSS reflectometry missions, the G-TERN uses the full GNSS available bandwidth to improve its ranging measurements. The lifetime would be 2025–2030 or optimally 2025–2035, covering key stages of the transition toward a nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in summer. This paper describes the mission objectives, it reviews its measurement techniques, summarizes the suggested implementation, and finally, it estimates the expected performance.

Airborne Lidar for Automatic Feedforward Control of Turbulent In-Flight Phenomena

Abstract: Design, development, installation, and flight test of a novel airborne forward-looking lidar sensor are presented, aiming at accurately and remotely measuring the airspeed in front of the aircraft for automatic control of turbulence in-flight phenomena. The development is driven by the stringent requirements of the capability of measuring airspeed at cruise altitude, in clear air, and at all weather environments with the required precision. The sensor was installed in an A340-300 testbed for flight testing, inside a dedicated fairing in a forward-looking configuration. The flight-test measurements proved that the direct-detection Rayleigh/Mie lidar is capable of detecting the wind speed under flight-test conditions up to 39,000 ft in clear air, rain, dense clouds, and ice rain. A measurement range of 50 m is achieved for the ultraviolet lidar at a 60 Hz update rate and at a standard deviation of line-of-sight speed as low as 1.0―1.5 m/s. Those parameters, as required for forward-looking automatic control sensors, are a unique basis for the usage of such a remote sensor for automatic turbulence control.

Ice Crystal Sizes in High Ice Water Content Clouds. Part II: Statistics of Mass Diameter Percentiles in Tropical Convection Observed during the HAIC/HIWC Project

Abstract: High ice water content (IWC) regions in Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) are a potential threat to commercial aviation as they are suspected to cause in-service engine power-loss events and air data probe malfunctions. To investigate this, the High Altitude Ice Crystals (HAIC) / High Ice Water Content (HIWC) projects set up a first field campaign in Darwin (Australia) in 2014. The airborne instrumentation was selected to provide the most accurate measurements of both the bulk total water content (TWC), using a specially developed isokinetic evaporator, and the individual ice crystals properties using particle imaging probes. This study focuses on determining the size ranges of ice crystals responsible for the mass in high IWC regions, defined here as cloud regions with IWC greater than 1.5gm -3 . It is shown that for high IWC areas in most of the encountered MCS systems, median mass diameters (MMDs) of ice crystals range from 250 to 500μm and decrease with increasing TWC and decreasing temperature. At the same time, the mass contribution of the smallest crystals (below 100μm) remains generally low (below 15%). In contrast, data from two flight missions in a long-lasting quasi-stationary tropical storm reveal that high IWC values can also be associated with MMDs in the range 400-800 μm and peak values of up to 2mm. Ice crystal images suggest a major growth contribution by vapor deposition (columns, capped columns) even for such larger MMDs values.

System for extinguishing and suppressing fire in an enclosed space in an aircraft

Abstract: A system for extinguishing and suppressing a fire in an enclosed space includes a Halon storage container and a nitrogen generator that are both connected by a duct system to extinguishing nozzles arranged in the enclosed space. Halon is supplied as a first extinguishing agent from the container to achieve a rapid initial extinguishing of the fire. Nitrogen enriched air is supplied as a second extinguishing agent from the nitrogen generator to achieve a continuous long-term fire suppression, commencing simultaneously with or after the introduction of the Halon. The nitrogen generator may include a molecular sieve to continuously generate the nitrogen enriched air from an inlet flow of environmental air.

Autonomous robotic system for tunnel structural inspection and assessment

Abstract: This paper presents a robotic platform, capable of autonomous tunnel inspection, developed under ROBO-SPECT European union funded research project. The robotic vehicle consists of a robotized production boom lift, a high precision robotic arm, advanced computer vision systems, a 3D laser scanner and an ultrasonic sensor. The autonomous inspection of tunnels requires advanced capabilities of the robotic vehicle and the computer vision sub-system. The robot localization in underground spaces and on long linear paths is a challenging task, as well as the mm accurate positioning of a robotic tip installed on a five-ton crane vehicle. Moreover, the 2D and 3D vision tasks, which support the inspection process, should tackle with poor and variable lighting conditions, low textured lining surfaces and the need for high accuracy. This contribution describes the final robotic vehicle and the developments as designed for concrete lining tunnel inspection. Results from the validation and benchmarking of the system are also included following the final tests at the operating Egnatia Motorway tunnels in northern Greece.