IN DETAIL: AIR Hub tackles next generation of aero industry challenges

The Aerostructures Innovation and Research Hub, or AIR Hub, hosted by Swinburne University has set itself the task of addressing some significant technical challenges while positioning Australia’s research and industry sectors to tackle the century’s major emerging opportunities. Among these are Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) – essentially, using drones to transport cargo across cities and rural areas and crewed (and eventually uncrewed) aerial taxis to carry human beings.

Gregor Ferguson

The AIR Hub is ambitious but founded on expertise. Hosted by Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, it was established 12 months ago to bring together a blend of R&D and industry players to focus on the big technical issues facing the civil aviation industry in the third and fourth decades of the 21st century.

Most of these issues overlap to some degree but the key ones are:

• Aircraft structures or aerostructures: lighter, stronger structures for both aviation and space applications with reduced part-count and touch labour and increased functionality
• Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), often also referred to as Urban Air Mobility (UAM): novel structures for both cargo- and passenger-carrying air vehicles, both crewed and uncrewed
• Digitalisation: commercialising new aerospace technologies, including digital manufacturing technologies and things like air traffic management, through a focussed aerospace accelerator and incubator
• Clean Propulsion: researching and developing capacity for safe hydrogen storage on aircraft and electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) air vehicles – AIR Hub is working closely on this with another Swinburne-hosted agency, the Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VHH)

Pursuing these issues commercially is both a technology challenge – in many cases the technology doesn’t exist or hasn’t been proven as yet – and a matter of understanding the needs and expectations of the end users. For it’s the end users who will fund production if the sums work out right.

A $12 million grant from the Victorian Government’s Higher Education State Investment Fund (VHESIF) was one of the keys to getting AIR Hub off the ground. The vision is for 30 years of employment, economic and technology growth for Australia generally and Victoria in particular. The Hub builds on Victoria’s history as a leader in the Australian aerospace industry and the aim is to position the State as an R&D and industry leader in the new generation of aerospace technologies. However, the vision is also to become a national champion and eventually, through things like its European and US R&D relationships, a global player.

The Victorian Government’s vision for AAM in particular is quite explicit: “Led by Swinburne, AIR Hub is bringing together the best of Victoria’s aerospace research, design and manufacturing to work with industry on real world design and manufacturing problems for the next generation of air mobility. Already, the AIR Hub is fostering new, highly skilled talent and upskilling the existing workforce to increase job opportunities in the rapidly evolving aerospace and space sectors.”

The AIR Hub is led by Dr Adriano Di Pietro who launched the Hub in October 2021. The AIR Hub team is a multi-disciplinary but highly technical team organised around delivery and not just stand-alone R&D. Its makeup includes Program managers, People Managers, Engineering Managers, engineers, scientists, chemists, designers, technicians, post-graduate research and undergraduate students.

The team has been brought together to work on the new and advanced, inspiring the collective to come together around exciting projects. Notably, the AIR Hub is focusing on applied research and the translation of technology from lab to industry, filling an essential but often ignored gap in the technology lifecycle and, believes Dr Di Pietro, the most difficult part. Low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) fundamental research is of course a key ingredient, but conversion is often where the gap between industry and research is widest. So commercialisation is an important outcome: good R&D is all very well, but without the collaboration that ensures IP is transferred from the laboratory into active service it’s impossible to build a strong, connected industry.

The AIR Hub takes its model from successful commercialisation organisations such as the Frauenhofer Institute in Germany, the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) in the UK and the US National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at the University of Wichita in the USA.

The AIR Hub has five academic partners, including Swinburne University itself: ANSTO, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation; Monash University; the University of Stuttgart in Germany; and, through this university, the ARENA2036 partnership of 54 European mobility, transport and advanced manufacturing companies and R&D specialists which includes the Fraunhofer Institute, Siemens, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, DXC Technology and the German aerospace agency, DLR.

At an industry level the AIR Hub has eleven partners at present: Boeing, Cablex, Furnace, Kite Magnetics, Leidos, Marand, Memko, Quickstep, Shoal, Swoop Aero and Textron Systems Australia, though this figure is likely to grow as AIR Hub hits its straps. The partners are focussed on specific R&D and commercialisation projects and as part of this process. Masters by research and Ph.D students work with the Research Fellows, Engineers, Project Managers embedded as project staff to provide deliverables-based research projects for AIR Hub partners. The Hub has an important role in developing future generations of specialist engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs so solid experience working on challenging state-of-the-art projects, and the training aspects of what the AIR Hub is doing, are vital.

The AIR Hub held its first Industry Day in October. This showcased Victoria’s innovative aerospace research and development as well as the Hub’s position as a catalyst for next generation aerospace technology development, helping ensure Australia maintains an internationally competitive position in aerospace manufacturing. Despite the fact it took place on a Monday night, the industry turnout and the general level of interest in what it has set out to achieve was a pointer to the Hub’s success.

The Industry Evening included presentations on the importance of aerospace R&D to advanced manufacturing, emerging future opportunities, and the specific research being undertaken by the AIR Hub and its industry partners covering digitisation and model-based engineering, technology advancement in civil aerostructures and entry into the emerging AAM marketplace

All of the Hub’s in-country partners were represented, along with the projects they are involved in. The event aimed to reinforce a couple of important messages: the first is relevance, to the industry and to the university; and the second is collaboration – the AIR Hub truly acting as a “Hub” for Victorian aerospace. Relevance was underlined by the Masters and PH.D student poster displays: each one included the heading ‘Relevance to Industry’ – all of the work was focussed on real-world needs and problems. The posters described the R&D directions they’re taking, the research questions they’re setting out to answer and why, and the relevance to the industry of their research – everything from improved manufacture of carbon fibre composites to the design of batteries.

Collaboration between industry and academia is vital: it should give a point and purpose to R&D; it should promote commercialisation; and it should teach both industry and academia to acknowledge each other’s drivers and trust each other’s knowledge and expertise. At present, the level of collaboration in Australia between industry and academia is generally low. AIR Hub performs well above the mainstream and is creating the elements and structures underpinning the culture change that will enable collaboration to succeed. This will be essential for Australia to become a significant global player in aviation, space and aerospace in the future.

“The type of expertise needed for aerospace development is often so niche and specialised that no one organisation, especially in new aerospace like AAM, can sustain and maintain that expertise in-house,” says Dr Di Pietro. “The is where the value of the collective expertise of the AIR Hub can support the eco-system on a project-by-project basis.”

The choice of AAM as a research focus isn’t accidental. While AAM people-carrying operations may still be some years away, this technology area represents the next frontier of significant growth for the industry. The first step is Uncrewed Aeronautical Systems, or UASs, carrying cargo from point to point across cities and in remote areas. Some companies like Port Melbourne-based firm Swoop Aero are already doing this successfully in places like Africa as well as the Australian outback. Their low-risk approach builds incrementally on UAS technology that’s currently available, and Swoop Aero is currently going through a world-first joint certification program with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Australia’s own Civil Aviation safety Authority (CASA) of its new aircraft.

This is one important role for AIR Hub: working on incremental improvements such as lighter and stronger structures. Its other role is looking to game-changing technologies such as advanced composites, the development of new engines employing radical new metal alloys – the focus of startup Kite Magnetics’ R&D – or hydrogen fuel cells that hold the promise of greater range and endurance than electric propulsion.

One of the AIR Hub research programs is called SHADE – for Small Hydrogen Aircraft Development and Evolution: a medium-size (3m wingspan) electrically powered UAS which will become a test-bed for new hydrogen propulsion technologies. Instead of a battery, after conversion it will be powered by a fuel cell that generates electricity from hydrogen – its only by-products? Water and heat. This project is the start of a major research program for the AIR Hub: a hydrogen fuel cell will give up to three times the range or endurance of a battery, an aerospace-qualified hydrogen tank won’t significantly affect the weight and balance of the UAS as the hydrogen is consumed and hydrogen offers a sovereign and resilient clean fuel solution for Australia. The AIR Hub’s sister Hub at Swinburne, the Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2), is tackling the economics of producing hydrogen in commercial quantities and the industry wide adoption challenges for industry.

Meanwhile, the SHADE UAS is also the vehicle for establishing a ‘Digital Twin’ and for digitising the manufacturing process (including 3D printing) as well as some of the non-critical testing

Another important program is to explore the end-to-end business of employing both cargo UASs and also crewed (and eventually uncrewed) air taxis carrying human beings. For this a range is necessary: somewhere far enough away from large population centres to satisfy regulators, but accessible enough for researchers. A proven VTOL UAS will be necessary for much of this and Textron’s Aerosonde HQ UAS will be the platform for much of this trials work. Funding for some of this work is already committed; the next step is to secure additional funding to ensure the program can hit key future milestones without unnecessary delays.

The range would be used to explore things like Air Traffic Management (ATM), the dynamic relationship between crewed and uncrewed aircraft around an airfield, the mechanics of approach, departure, transition to and from the hover, vertical take-off and landing, the loading and stowage of cargo and the safety measures necessary for both human passengers and nearby residents.

One of the AIR Hub’s secret weapons is its Swinburne-CSIRO National Industry 4.0 Testlab for Composite Additive Manufacturing at CSIRO’s Clayton site in Melbourne’s southeast. This is another collaboration point for the Hub as it enables joint research with both industry and the Australian Manufacturing and Materials Precinct. Its centrepiece is the world’s first industrial-scale 3D printing multilayer approach to near-net composite manufacture. The process has been developed by Swinburne University in partnership with Austrian engineering firms Fill and Langzauner and in consultation with an industry consortium that includes Siemens, Kuka and others. The unique multilayer printing technology enables the Testlab to rapidly manufacture fibre-reinforced composite parts at industrial scale and rate, demonstrating reduced cycle times and cost, with lower waste and improved production quality. And importantly, it can do this without any human touch labour, reducing the potential for inconsistencies as well as cost.

The Testlab creates opportunities for researchers and industry partners to work in the Industry 4.0 space and innovate: to test economically and quickly new lay-ups and industrial processes, test supply chains and to pursue the appropriate blend of performance, cost and sustainability. For example, the Testlab has produced a prototype SATCOM antenna for Airbus, an innovative design made of multiple composite ‘petals’ that, when released in orbit, open up to form a parabolic dish antenna.

And just a week after the successful industry day, the AIR Hub hosted the launch ceremony as Swinburne’s Factory of the Future took delivery of Markforged’s latest FX20 production-scale composite 3D printer. This is designed primarily for high-strength components in the aerospace, defence, automotive and energy industries. It will be Australia’s first and only FX20 printer that’s openly accessible to industry for use in R&D, so will help promote new aerospace industry development and support the continued growth of the sector. Having an advanced manufacturing capability in-house, rather than overseas, will help tackle both production and supply chain problems.

“The FX20 will strengthen local manufacturing capabilities and support reshoring across a wide range of sectors,” said Markforged Senior Director Australia, Richard Elving. “Supply chain issues can be costly and time-sensitive for Australian businesses. The FX20 will provide a competitive advantage to manufacturers by allowing them to react quickly to solve problems right on the manufacturing floor.”

The FX20 prints composite parts up to 525 mm x 400 mm x 400 mm in size and has a heated build chamber capable of maintaining a temperature of 200°C. It can print structures nearly five times larger than its next-largest printer and is up to eight times faster than Markforged’s existing line of composite printers.

So it’s clear the focus of the Testlab, of the FX20 and of AIR Hub more generally, is the development of a robust, sustainable, high-technology space and aerospace manufacturing industry here in Australia. By definition, that means focussing on real-world challenges and includes R&D, innovation and the development of an advanced R&D and manufacturing capability.