NASA’s initial depiction of sonic boom footprint integrated with real-time, local-area moving map. NASA has awarded Rockwell Collins a ...
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| NASA’s initial depiction of sonic boom footprint integrated with real-time, local-area moving map. |
The program is aimed to reintroduce the supersonic commercial flights with the development of a new generation of supersonic civil transport aircraft. Currently reducing the sonic booms - shock waves caused by an aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound -- is the most significant hurdle to reintroducing commercial supersonic flight.
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center will lead the research, working with Rockwell Collins’ Advanced Technology Center.
“In order for supersonic travel over land to happen, pilots will need an intuitive display interface that tells them where the aircraft’s sonic boom is occurring,” said John Borghese, vice president, Advanced Technology Center for Rockwell Collins. “Our team of experts will investigate how best to show this to pilots in the cockpit and develop guidance to most effectively modify the aircraft’s flight path to avoid populated areas or prevent sonic booms.”
Rockwell Collins will leverage its proven avionics display technologies and advanced human factors research team to develop the sonic boom cockpit display, incorporating a number of variables such as the aircraft’s movement relative to the ground and the influence of weather on shock waves. Both ground-based and aircraft-measured weather information will be explored and integrated into the sonic boom display’s software to compute best flight path.
NASA and industry engineers say they believe supersonic research has progressed to the point where the design of a practical low-boom supersonic jet is within reach.
