j2 and Skai (an Alakai Technologies Company) Supporting Certification Standards for PAV Platforms.

This article follows on from the most recent news article, dated 9 April, 2020 from j2 Aircraft Dynamics, of their collaboration with Skai, an Alakai Technologies Company in the USA, on the development of their PAV/eVTOL aircraft.

j2 has continued to uncover more value return from the use and application of the unique j2 Universal Tool-Kit software.  Engineers have continued to benefit from spending their time on working with model data and running more and more valuable analysis rather than writing code. This work is reinforcing a USP of the j2 software, being able to handle any eVTOL configuration such as Tilt Thrust, Lift and Cruise, and  Multi Rotor designs straight out of the box. Additional advances have been made on development of the flight control system for the 6 rotor configuration.

The FAA launched a research project in 2018 with Systems Technology, Inc. (STI) to bridge the gap between military and civilian certification. The end goal of this research is to develop appropriate means of compliance to civilian rules for aircraft certification purposes and to develop a catalogue of appropriate mission task elements.  Part of this activity is to evaluate piloting of different PAV/eVTOL platforms in the simulator. However, simulator models of different platforms are difficult to come by.  Not so when working with the j2 Universal Tool-Kit.  In partnership with Skai, j2 have provided a direct link from the STI hardware to the j2 Universal Tool-Kit through the j2 Pilot SDK plug-in.  This connection means that any model built in or integrated with the j2 Universal Tool-Kit can be flown on the simulator instantly.  For Skai, they can get valuable feedback from pilot evaluations of the Skai eVTOL as the aircraft and control laws, especially, develop at a pace, ensuring that their PAV aircraft is well on its way to passing certification.

The j2 modelling environment is already able to deliver system/rotor failures into the STI simulator software/hardware providing early stage flight risk assessment and failure mode analysis capabilities right out of the box.

This continuing work in the PAV/eVTOL space builds on the growing reputation of j2 Aircraft Dynamics in high fidelity rotary modelling and analysis.

J2 is a UK SME, based in the North West of England.  J2 develop the commercial off the shelf (COTS) set of software tools, j2 Universal Tool-Kit, to provide a complete Flight Physics analytical suite from Conceptual Design through to Flight Test Support and Aircraft Certification.  The unique approach of separating out the model from the analysis and working directly with data, means that users no longer need to deploy significant resources writing code.

Systems Technology Inc. (STI) is a research, engineering consulting and product development firm based in California, USA. STI is two synergistic businesses providing Engineering services and Simulation products and platforms.

Skai is an Alakai Technologies Company based in Massachusetts, USA focused on “Transforming the Way the World Moves Through Hydrogen Powered Mobility”.