A*STAR showcases innovations for sustainable aviation

SINGAPORE – The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) will share its latest R&D initiatives for sustainable aviation at the Singapore Airshow 2014 at Changi Exhibition Centre, Booth D35 until 16th February.

The innovations on display will focus on four key areas: aviation remanufacturing technology; analytics; aviation communications; and Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) for composites and structures.

The focus on R&D comes at a crucial juncture when there is a need to cope with the industry's demands. With approximately 3.3 billion people expected to fly commercially by 2014, and 38 million tonnes of cargo to be carried the same year[1], these research developments in manufacturing efficiencies and maintenance processes will be critical for safe and sustainable air travel and cargo services, and big data technologies will be key for more efficient operations and handling passenger movement.

Showcase of new research capabilities
The A*STAR showcase at the Airshow provides highlights of the multi-disciplinary capabilities available across the Science and Engineering research institutes, which the Aerospace Programme leverages on to address broad and complex range of interests of its Research Consortium members for a sustainable future.

The cutting-edge innovations on display will focus on improving manufacturing, maintenance and communication for sustainable aviation and for the growth of global aerospace and aviation industry. Two of the highlights that will be showcased at the Airshow are:

   ?   Laser aided additive manufacturing (LAAM) This additive manufacturing process, also known as 3D printing, uses high energy laser beams to melt additive materials to repair damaged parts or fabricate fully dense components. The process can help shorten manufacturing time and reduce material waste significantly.

   ?   Data Analytics A*STAR will showcase its award-winning flight prediction algorithm which, in a recent international competition, utilised data analytics to estimate flight arrivals nearly 40 percent better than the current industry estimates. This can result in greater efficiency for airlines, with huge potential savings in fuel and crew costs and improved convenience for passengers. Other data analytics innovations from A*STAR include a cutting-edge sensor network system and analytics platform that can accurately predict equipment failure; and a video analytics system with real-time human crowd detection, cross-camera tracking, event detection and semantic mining system for information discoveries.

Mr Tay Kok Khiang, chairman of the A*STAR Aerospace Programme, said, "We are honoured to have many of the leading Original Equipment Manufacturers and Services companies in aviation within our Consortium. Over the years, since the Aerospace Programme was formed in 2007, our researchers within SERC have proven that they have the knowledge and capabilities to help our Consortium members better understand their areas of interests and come up with innovative solutions that enable our members to do more for their current and future products. We hope that our contributions to the aviation industry will benefit our members, many of whom have companies in Singapore, and further enhance the potential of Singapore as an important aviation.”

Multi-disciplinary research by the A*Nike Air Max 97