Patrick Durrant | Avalon & Sydney
Last week at the Avalon Airshow, the Aerospace Australia Industry Innovation Awards were presented to defence companies TAE, BAE Systems Australia and Thomas Global, as well as to the Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group and the CSIRO.
TAE won the Civil Industry Innovation award for fountx, its new wearable reality technology, which it developed in tandem with the CSIRO.
The product will be offered first to the aviation, aerospace and defence industries worldwide and is basically a tool that allows an onsite technician to collaborate with an expert many miles away – or across the globe – in an assisted reality environment that mirrors natural interaction.
With fountx, the expert and technician share the same view, helping technicians with a range of skill levels to perform maintenance tasks quickly and safely.
TAE CEO Andrew Sanderson said that fountx could have significant benefits for airlines, OEMs, MROs and military operators, including: fewer flight delays; increases in time on wing; a reduced need to send FSRs or specialists to site for low-level issues; and a reduced need to remove engines or components in the deployed or transit environment. He said the product’s usefulness was not limited to maintenance tasks, but could also be life-saving.
“Other uses for fountx include support for community enterprises, like the Flying Doctors' services where doctors could quickly connect with specialists to speed up diagnosis and treatment without waiting for the specialist to see the patient in person,” he said.
The DST Group and BAE Systems Australia won the Defence Industry National Innovation Award for developing new technology to predict corrosion in aircraft structures through self-diagnosis.
“Aircraft corrosion costs the Australian Defence Force an estimated $245 million a year and this new predictive system can significantly reduce that cost,” Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne said.
“It also helps Defence aircraft spend more time flying missions and less time on the ground for maintenance.”
The environmental degradation monitoring and prognostics system anticipates future corrosion status for prompt preventative action to be taken, instead of the traditional inefficient practice of prescribed maintenance at fixed intervals.
The technology has been successfully demonstrated on RAAF Hawk aircraft and is currently being deployed on RAN Seahawk helicopters. It would also be a key Australian contribution to the corrosion management system for the global F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fleet.
BAE Systems Australia CEO Glynn Phillips said the work reinforced the ability of Defence research to be a catalyst for greater productivity, performance and cost savings.
“This ground breaking innovation has enormous potential for Defence and non-defence applications. We want Australia to be known as having leading-edge technical knowledge and expertise, and a reputation of creating products, systems, platforms and technologies that deliver economic growth domestically, and careers for our people.”
Regents Park advanced manufacturing company Thomas Global Systems was recognised for its TFD-8601 Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) - an active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) cockpit display to replace ageing cathode ray tube (CRT) cockpit display systems in airplanes.
“The TFD-8601 is a game changing ‘plug and play’ AMLCD aircraft cockpit display that replaces legacy cathode ray tube electronic flight instrument systems on a range of regional and corporate aircraft including Saab 340B, Embraer EMB 120, Dassault Falcon 20/50, Hawker 800 and others,” Air Marshal (Ret) John Harvey, who awarded the Civil SME Innovation Grant, said.
“This new system is being exported around the world to upgrade aircraft cockpits and help them remain compliant with airworthiness requirements. Congratulations to Thomas Global Systems, a NSW pioneer in innovative electronic systems solutions for aerospace and defence.”
According to Thomas Global Systems CEO Angus Hutchinson, operators can install the TFD-8601 AMLCD displays almost instantly with no changes needed to cockpit panels or wiring or crew retraining.
“This new system uses less power, generates less heat, is nearly 50% lighter, costs less to operate and increases system reliability.”
The TFD-8601 LCD display was developed in partnership with Regional Express (Rex), one of the world’s leading regional airlines and the world’s largest operator of Saab 340 aircraft. In September 2016, it was also granted an FAA STC for fitment on Embraer EMB 120 aircraft.