Overview
The project iSSE aimed at developing a Shared Simulation Environment (SSE) able to simulate the static and dynamic performance of on-board aircraft systems with particular focus on electrical power absorption and thermal energy production.
The SSE thereby had to be designed and implemented as a comprehensive solution that provides means to master all essential aspects of the dimensioning for the energy management properties. Given the novelty in the concept of an AEA and the fact that no ready-to-use market solution for an SSE was available, the research need is evident.
The final scope was to permit the testing and the validation of the logics used by the Energy Management System (EMS), as well as the simulation of the A/C internal environmental condition.
Funding
Results
Executive Summary:
In the iSSE project, TWT had set up an advanced Shared Simulation Environment (SSE) to model the electrical power generation, consumption and regulation within an All-Electric Aircraft (AEA). The SSE architecture developed in iSSE was based on the “TWT co-simulation framework”. This tool is an FMI-compliant (see http://www.modelisar.com/) backbone for the synchronisation and communication between simulation models provided by third parties and running in heterogeneous simulation tools (e.g. Matlab/Simulink, Dymola Modelica) on different machines. It is written in Java using modern, efficient libraries. It included a GUI for control and monitoring as well as Connectors for several common simulation tools. The individual models were provided by their respective suppliers and were made ready for inclusion into the co-simulation by TWT by adding the functional wrappers to them. The software requirements for co-simulation installation and the expected folder structure for successful execution of the software had been documented in the comprehensive user manual. Within the project, the system modeled for flight data, energy management, cabin, environmental control, power generation, ice protection, landing gear and flight control have been integrated into the SSE and can now be co-simulated via GUI and batch operations. Models were easily exchangeable, offering high user value for the system simulation.
The GUI had been specifically designed to meet the requirements of the proponent. It allowed the user to choose available models, model versions, variants, settings, parameter files, values, and sync rates. Moreover, dedicated post-processing routines had been implemented to analyse and visualise co-simulation results. Specifically, the signals exchanged during the co-simulation could be plotted using a ‘Visualizer’ panel. Also, signal communication between different models of the co-simulation could be depicted by way of a Signal Routing Tree Graph.