The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has released its annual list of top emerging aerospace technologies, developed by the institute’s Emerging Technologies Committee.
The list comprises the following:
1. “Greener Aviation” technologies, including emission reduction and noise reduction, as used in the Federal Aviation Administration’s Continuous Low Emissions, Energy and Noise (CLEEN) program, and the European Environmentally Friendly Engine (EFE) program and “Clean Sky” Joint Technology Initiative.
2. Alternative fuels, including biofuels, as promoted by the FAA’s Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), and the recent FAA grant to the X Prize Foundation to spur development of renewable aviation fuels and technologies.
3. High-speed flight technologies such as supersonic and hypersonic aerodynamics, sonic boom reduction technology, and thermal management aids.
4. Efficient propulsion technologies including open rotors and geared turbofans.
5. Active flow technologies such as plasma actuators.
6. Advanced materials such as nanotechnology and composites.
7. Active structures such as shape memory alloys, morphing, and flapping.
8. Aircraft health management such as monitoring, prognostics, and self-healing.
9. Remote sensing technologies including unmanned aerial vehicles and satellites, such as those used in NASA’s Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) program.
10. Advanced space propulsion technologies, including plasma-based propulsion such as the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, and solar sail technologies.
Emerging Technologies Committee chairman Dan Jensen stated: “The list provides guidance to AIAA for its institute development strategy, while helping shape the annual input AIAA provides to the United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. The technologies listed represent the aerospace technologies in which research and technology development is most active from a global perspective.”
For information: www.aiaa.org
