Certification challenges for emerging technologies in aviation

Abstract

Over the last decade the aerospace industry has seen a shift in traditional architectures of an aircraft. The desire for aircraft to be lighter, more efficient, quieter, faster, and cheaper has driven trends across the industry. These trends look for ways to accomplish what many other industries such as automotive have done which is a complete transformation of the "normal." The shift has created an advanced architecture for aircraft and therefore requires a new view on certification. The traditional approach for certification is pretty straightforward since majority of aircraft have been the same over several years with minor changes in sub level aircraft systems. Aircraft manufacturers in combination with suppliers develop concepts for new or improved aircraft, requirements are outlined and implemented based on aviation authority regulations, and eventually the aircraft receives a certificate declaring the safety of the aircraft design and production. In fairness, the traditional standard approach to aircraft certification has worked. Aircraft are safer than ever and data shows a sharp decline in aviation accidents over the years. However, with changes in technology what use to be the "normal" architecture is changing significantly and the desire for the industry to be more agile both play a role in the need to view certification slightly different. The main objective of certification has been, is, and will always be safety. This thesis proposes a framework on how to approach certification of new technologies. Perhaps the two most important elements in the framework are the proposal of a threshold utilizing the technology infusion effort equation to gage the significance of a change in architecture and the proactive safety analysis utilizing a new kind of technique called STPA. The framework is developed based on an in-depth outline of the traditional certification process and a review of the historical development of safety regulations. Two parts of the proposed framework are then applied and analyzed based on the more electric aircraft concept.