ElectroMagnetic Analysis of the Smart and Connected Aircraft

Important results from the project

The project has aimed to develop an easy-to-use, robust and computationally efficient tool for simulating installed antennas in aircraft. The main challenge is the scale difference, i.e. to achieve a sufficient level of detail for modeling a small, complex antenna and at the same time be able to simulate the entire aircraft. In the project, this is solved by a hybrid method where the main part of the computational domain uses a structured mesh and an efficient, explicit solver and only a local volume around the antenna is modeled with a conformal implicit method.

Expected long term effects

Overall, the project has succeeded in developing a well-functioning prototype for a new type of simulation tool which enables efficient analysis of antennas integrated on large platforms such as aircraft. After the end of the project, in a next step, the developed prototype will be exposed to industrial end users for further validation, development and commercialization.

Approach and implementation

The project has been carried out as an international collaboration between ESI Nordics in Sweden and ITI in England with ESI as project manager. Meetings have been held continuously every two weeks in digital form, but also three physical meetings have been held, kick-off and M12 meetings at ESI in Uppsala and M6 meeting at ITI in Cambridge. The collaboration within the project has been very good and the execution has essentially followed the original project plan. The contact with the respective public authority is also perceived as good and efficient.