FUTPRINT50 addresses the need to accelerate disruptive technologies in aviation to ensure Carbon Neutral growth commitment from FlightPath2050. It will develop tools, technologies and aircraft level analysis for key hybrid-electric technologies supporting the entry into service of a 50 seat class aircraft by 2035/2040. This type is at the locus of convergence of timeframe and technology, promising to open with improved costs new routes for point 2 point connection of smaller, interior cities and villages at lower infrastructure costs than rail or road transportation, fulfilling aviation’s higher goal of connecting people for the creation of wealth and societal good. FUTPRINT50 will focus on energy storage, energy harvesting and thermal management. Besides advancing the state of the art of these technologies, it will research and develop MDO design methodologies whilst considering uncertainty, models and tools to evaluate new configurations and integration at system and aircraft level. To attain the ambitious vision of an entry into service aircraft by 2035/2040, FUTPRINT50 will develop roadmaps to align future research on technology development but also the regulatory side, striving for market, technology and legal readiness for entry into service. For this FUTPRINT50 will use research developed within the project but also extend itself to other complementary projects and initiatives, besides engaging the main stakeholders in comprehensive workshops. Furthermore, open-source aircraft design tools, hybrid-electric aircraft designs, and reference data sets will be generated and shared openly with the community to accelerate the development of future hybrid-electric aircraft. Finally, FUTPRINT50 will be developed by an international consortium of diverse and highly competent partners, abridging the EU with USA and Brazil and supported by an Advisory Board including EASA and ensuring connection with Canada.

Currently, both maritime and aviation sectors are lacking a systematic approach to collect and assess Human Factors information in normal and emergency conditions. There is also a lack of agreed methodology to assess human-related risks with the aim of influencing design and operation of aircraft and ships. Therefore, the research question being addressed in this project is “How to fully capture human elements and their interaction with the other system elements to enhance safety in maritime and aviation operations?” It is important to address Human Factors aspects in relation to risk-based design of system and operations in a measurable manner by taking the variation in human behaviour over time and the non-flexibility of machines into consideration. The main aim of SAFEMODE project is to develop a novel HUman Risk Informed Design (HURID) framework in order to identify, collect and assess Human Factors data to inform risk-based design of systems and operation. These aims have not been achieved previously at a desirable level due to the unavailability of systematically collected data and lack of cooperation between different transport modes. The focus will be to reduce risks for safety critical situations, (e.g. mid-air collisions, grounding, evacuation, runway excursions etc.) through the enhancement of human performance. This will be achieved through investigation of past accidents, incidents, near-misses, reports, data from everyday operations, including previously unknown uncertainties such as increasing levels of automation and increased number of drones in transportation. This information will be incorporated the HURID framework and tools and into SHIELD, the open data repository and the living database, that will be maintained and continuously updated.

Nearly 15 years after the last commercial supersonic flight, the quick evolution of technology combined with the emergence of ambitious industrial projects indicate that a second era for environmentally friendly supersonic commercial flights is about to happen. One of the main obstacles remaining on the path to sustainable supersonic commercial flight is the issue of noise, specifically the loud and sudden sonic boom felt by the populations overflown during the entire cruise. The high level of sonic boom produced by supersonic aircraft at the time led to a complete ban of civilian supersonic flights over land in the United States and several other countries. Since then “low boom” technologies have emerged, opening the door to regulatory evolutions. RUMBLE is dedicated to the production of the scientific evidence requested by national, European and international regulation authorities to determine the acceptable level of overland sonic booms and the appropriate ways to comply with it. RUMBLE will not aim at producing a low boom aircraft design but rather the quantified evidence needed to support new regulations. To this end, RUMBLE will associate the leading organizations in supersonic aviation in Europe and Russia, combining scientific excellence, world-class research infrastructures and industrial leadership bearing the heritage from Concorde and Tu-144, with strong involvement in the regulatory bodies. RUMBLE will develop and assess sonic boom prediction tools, study the human response to sonic boom and validate its findings using wind-tunnel experiments and actual flight tests. Extensive dissemination and regulatory activities will ensure that the European considerations are taken into account in the evolution of the international regulation affecting civilian supersonic flights. RUMBLE will also pave the way for a future low boom flying demonstrator.

To meet the goal of a carbon neutral growth of commercial aviation, the top level objective of IMOTHEP is to achieve a key step in assessing the potential offered by hybrid electric propulsion (HEP) and, ultimately, to build the corresponding aviation sector-wide roadmap for the maturation of the technology. The core of IMOTHEP is an integrated end-to-end investigation of hybrid-electric power trains for commercial aircraft, performed in close connexion with the propulsion system and aircraft architecture. Aircraft configurations will be selected based on their potential for fuel burn reduction and their representativeness of a variety of credible concepts, with a focus on regional and short-to-medium range missions. From the preliminary design of aircraft, target specifications will be defined for the architecture and components of the hybrid propulsion chain. Technological solutions and associated models will then be investigated with a twenty year timeframe perspective. In order to identify key technological enablers and technology gaps, the integrated performance of the electric components and power chain will be synthesized by assessing the fuel burn of the selected aircraft configurations, compared to conventional technologies extrapolated to 2035. The project will also address the infrastructures and tools required for HEP development, as well as the need for technology demonstrations or regulatory evolutions. Eventually, all these elements will feed the research and technology roadmap of HEP, which will constitute the final synthesis of the project. To achieve these ambitious goals, the 54-month project is supported by 7 R&D institutes, 11 industries (from aviation and electric systems), a service SME and 7 universities from 9 EU countries, plus 2 RTD organisations from Canada. The requested EU grant is 10 392 845 Euros.