SMART Fixed Wing Aircraft

The SFWA and the Environment

The Smart Fixed Wing Aircraft (SFWA) ITD aims to develop, integrate and demonstrate technologies that will contribute significantly to achieve the ACARE 2020 Vision.

Today we rely on the air traffic system to transport people and products all over the world. To ensure the welfare of the future, we in Europe have to work together to contribute to the reduction of global warming and other negative environmental effects. The SFWA ITD will be an essential part of this process.

The SFWA ITD will work towards the goal of reducing the medium- and long-range aircraft fuel burn and emissions by around 10% to 20% and noise by 5 to 10dB. Furthermore, it will enhance the comfort and safety of future transport including aircraft agility and flight trajectory flexibility.
With the foreseen increase in air traffic in mind these goals will not be reached without a step change in aircraft technology.

The objective of the SFWA ITD is not to start up new research, but to take existing research much further.  Technologies that have been developed through research, partly funded by the European Commission,  over the last 20 years, will be matured and enhanced to a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) that can be implemented on the next generation of civil aircraft.

The increase in today’s air traffic means that a step change is needed in technology to take us to tomorrow's efficient air traffic system.

Technical objectives

Focus will be put on two major objectives: An innovative “smart wing” design and the integration of novel engine concepts, including the resulting modifications of the aircraft.

An all new “smart wing” design

The SFWA aims to develop and test an all new “smart wing” design that makes use of passive and active flow and load control technologies and will help to reduce the drag of the wing in cruise. This concept will increase overall aircraft fuel efficiency. The architecture of the smart wing will enable the application of the most advanced passive and active loads control strategies, which are reducing the loads in turbulence not only acting on the wing, but also on the entire aircraft. One key exercise in the SFWA will be not to develop the “smart wing” so much as an individual component, but rather to pursue its full optimisation and integration into the overall aircraft concept. This will include all disciplines traditionally involved in aircraft design: flight physics, structure and systems.

New aircraft architecture

Today's "state of the art" engines offer high improvement rates in specific fuel burn, which results in a related potential efficiency increase of the aircraft. The next big step of efficiency improvement is envisaged by developing “Gamechanger” technologies, by taking technologies such as the geared turbofan or the open rotor to a higher level of maturity. It is important to understand that installing these novel engine types may require significant changes to aircraft architecture and finding solutions to a number of as yet unclear technology issues. The most promising new engine concept will be selected by the SFWA and SAGE ITDs. The impact and consequences on aircraft architecture and possible solutions, such as alternative engine positions and a modification to the rear empennage, will then be investigated.