Leonardo – NGCTR project – Italsystem s.r.l.

NGCTR project

Italsystem Collaborates with Leonardo on the Development of the Next Generation Civil Tiltrotor (NGCTR)

NGCTR is Leonardo's research and innovation project for the definition and development of an advanced concept of a new generation Convertiplane (Tiltrotor). The project leads to the definition of new technologies and a new aircraft architecture, main systems and enabling technologies to increase performance and operational capabilities compared to current Convertiplane configurations.

With cruising speeds in the order of 280 knots (over 500 km/h), which is twice the speed of a typical helicopter and close to that of a turboprop aircraft, and with a range of around 1,000 nautical miles (1850 km), the NGCTR allows a substantial increase in productivity and operational capabilities in various civil and utility missions.
The aircraft will have dimensions comparable to those of a helicopter and will be able to operate in all weather conditions (‘all weather’ characteristics) and with comfort similar to those of a commercial airplane. This will allow for the expansion of mobility opportunities for people and goods, reaching geographical areas that are currently difficult to reach by helicopters and airplanes, minimizing the environmental impact through reduced emissions (CO2, noise), and without the need to build large and expensive ground infrastructures.

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Cruising speed of the order of 280 knots (over 500 km/h), autonomy of approximately 1000 nautical miles (1850 km)

NGCTR enables a substantial increase in productivity and operational capabilities in various civil and public utility missions.

Dimensions comparable to those of a helicopter and comfort similar to those of an airliner.

This will allow to expand the mobility opportunities of people and goods, minimizing the environmental impact through reduced emissions (CO2, noise), and without the need to build large and expensive ground infrastructures.

Realization of various technological demonstrators of the main systems and of a complete full-scale technological demonstrator

These activities are carried out within the Clean Sky 2 initiative within the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Framework Programme.

Italsystem Contributions to the NGCTR Project

Italsystem plays a crucial role in the NGCTR project, developing and managing the software for a Flight Control Computer (FCC) based on real time operating systems. The FCC performs several crucial functions for flight control and aircraft safety, such as:

Reading pilot inputs and sensors installed on the aircraft;
Flight control control, managing the implementation of the commands provided by the pilot through a Fly-By-Wire system;
Emergency Management by implementing corrective measures in case of emergency situations;

Italsystem's work in the NGCTR project starts with the analysis and integration of system requirements, continues with software development and hardware integration, and culminates with a rigorous Verification and Validation (V&V) process of all software components, based on the requirements.

All activities are carried out in compliance with the DO178/C (DAL A) and DO331 regulations, ensuring the highest standards of safety and reliability.

Thanks to an in-depth knowledge of the aerospace engineering sector and regulatory constraints, Italsystem supports the NGCTR project for the following activities:

SW and V&V Development

System requirements analysis and SW requirements development
Software design and development according to a MBD approach
Automated code generation
HW/SW integration
Static code analysis

Verification and Validation

Writing with test independence
Verification of MIL, SIL and HIL tests
Development and maintenance of test environments