Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MAGYCO (Mems based Appliance for GYro Compassing in general aviation and unmanned aircraft applications)

Teaser

Aviation is of paramount importance for the European economy and it is expected a positive trend in air transport growth over the coming years. Therefore, it is urgent to put into place conditions for European citizens to continue using this mean of transport at affordable...

Summary

Aviation is of paramount importance for the European economy and it is expected a positive trend in air transport growth over the coming years. Therefore, it is urgent to put into place conditions for European citizens to continue using this mean of transport at affordable costs, in complete safety, easily, quickly and sustainably.
In its vision for 2050, the European aeronautics community commits to two parallel objectives: (1) maintaining the position of its aeronautics industry and (2) satisfying citizens needs with an effective, reliable and sustainable air transport system.
In the near future, the demand for air traffic services will not only increase but also will likely shift from scheduled operations towards more unscheduled operations for air taxi, charter, fractional ownership, and on-demand small low-cost aircraft (A/C), with satellite airports around major hubs providing a wide range of flight options for people to fly between their homes and places of business or pleasure. In this perspective, many players of the aviation community are planning to make significant investments in the specific Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) systems improvements over the next years, to enhance efficiency, safety, capacity and security.
The core of the business plan are Inertial Systems that represent a core component of CNS systems. As mentioned in the introduction, the existing commercial solutions do not present high performances.
Recently, the development of miniaturized vibratory gyros, such as Micro Electro Mechanical Sensors – MEMS, allowed to attain similar level of bias of state of the art systems with reduced cost and resources. Last generation vibrating gyros are adequate to measure the Earth Rate because they can attain bias instability levels better than 1°/hour. However, this limit does not ensure that initial heading is determined with accuracy in the range 1°-0.1° (1σ). This level is needed to perform safe initialization of heading for aircraft.
MAGYCO project addresses the challenges described above and aims at the development of an innovative aerospace grade Inertial Unit based on miniaturized vibratory gyros with autonomous northfinding capabilities that can be used to improve the overall navigation capabilities of General Aviation (GA) aircraft and Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAV) at affordable costs for the manufacturers.

Work performed

The objective of this feasibility study was two-fold:
• to assess the technical feasibility through final layout, product and prototypes experimental set up definition, assessment of requirements scenario and certification basis;
• to capture inputs and validate assumptions that underpin a robust business plan to move to Phase II funding application.
All the envisaged objectives have been achieved with positive results and, therefore GMA is committed to continue with the project. The strategic vision of the company with respect to MAGYCO project has been enhanced by the results of the feasibility study.
The objective of the initial project application remained the same: to develop and commercialize an innovative aerospace grade inertial system based on miniaturized vibratory gyros with autonomous northfinding capabilities that can be used to improve the overall navigation capabilities of General Aviation (GA) aircraft and Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAV) at affordable costs for the manufacturers.
The impact assessment has been improved through a more detailed analysis of the users segments and their needs. The market trends have been analyzed into detail from different prospective (type of market, segments, geographical, manufacturers etc.). A detailed route-to-market for different targets has been explored.
The inputs from the technology feasibility allowed to underpin a technology roadmap which has identified the key partners, key activities, and key resources to deliver the technology, operational and commercial strategies. Thus, the business model has been detailed through the application of the business model Canvas and integrated with the risk assessment.
The financial projections are based on prudent market assumptions. With respect to the estimations in the initial application, the growth impact of the company is much more relevant in terms of turnover and employment, thus, confirming the financial sustainability and economic feasibility of the MAGYCO project.
The financial needs to implement the ambitious project proposed by GMA derives mainly from the cost of R&D activities necessary to achieve TRL 9 of MAGYCO and to finalize the process of industrialization, which will consent to launch the product on the market.

Final results

State-of-art attitude measurement systems for GA and UAV applications are usually realized by integrating inertial sensors, i.e. gyros and accelerometers, GPS, magnetometers, and air data.
MAGYCO eliminates the need of magnetometer since it can to autonomously determine initial heading by exploiting its high accuracy vibratory gyros. This configuration produces a twofold benefit. First, the total number of sensors for performing navigation is reduced, since magnetometer is no longer needed. Moreover, the accuracy in the measurement of initial heading is significantly improved. This level of accuracy allows for better coverage of GPS missing measurement that can be frequent when aircraft is on ground. An overall increase in reliability is produced because of the intrinsic high reliability of vibratory gyros and the reduced number of overall system to be installed onboard. Thus, MAGYCO will contribute to enhance efficiency, safety, capacity and security of GA A/C and UAV.
The “unique selling point” of MAGYCO is related to the fact that it has been realized specifically to fit the needs of GA A/C and UAV, in terms of cost and capability to be installed onboard.
The feasibility study confirmed that MAGYCO project will have a relevant growth impact on the company in terms of turnover and employment.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.gmagroup.it/en/progetto-magyco/.