The Government of Quebec gave the go-ahead to launch the second phase of the greener aircraft mobilizing project, SA²GE.
Thales Canada will be among the five selected companies who will undertake strategic initiatives for Quebec’s aerospace industry between now and March 2020.
The ever growing demand in air transport calls for additional capacity which results in increased aircraft size and flight frequency. As a consequence, stronger requirements are applied to aircraft design in order to reduce greenhouse gases, increase automation and communication, while maintaining or even improving the level of operational safety.
Beyond environmental benefits and cost reductions, this project strengthens the electronic design industry in Quebec by involving all the economic chain contributors: an aircraft manufacturer, Bombardier Aerospace, an electronic manufacturer, Thales, several Quebec SMEs specialized in electronic design, a research laboratory, and several Quebec universities.
This research project’s objective is to develop a critical controller specifically customized to host all non-avionics systems within a single design. Such a controller reduces by 64% the embedded equipment on-board aircraft for non-avionics systems. Consequently, this controller will reduce aircraft lifecycle cost , thanks to the reduced weight, volume, power consumption, raw materials, including dangerous materials, supply and maintenance.
In addition, as this controller includes redundant channels, it improves the availability of non-redundant systems in current architecture, and in so doing provides a better service to end users.
This new controller will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, it will contribute to sustainable development by reducing the needs for raw materials. One of the main outcomes of this project should be the launch of a new product line designed and developed in Quebec.
It aims to double the revenue generated in Quebec in the first 10 years of sales, to build a team of critical electronic design specialists in Montreal, to hire highly qualified personnel within Thales, and to strengthen employment in the Quebec electronic design industry.
This project also aims to develop the know-how required to design future products thanks to active collaborations between industrials and academics. Finally, Thales forecasts that at least 80% of its sales will be exported.
