Electro-Mechanical Actuators for Safety-Critical Aerospace Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Aircraft electrification is one of the most important and strategic initiatives currently supporting the innovation of the aviation industry. This manifests in the well-known more-electric aircraft concept (with the ultimate aim of achieving the all-electric long-term target), which aims at the gradual replacement of onboard systems based on mechanical, hydraulic, or pneumatic power sources with electrically powered ones, to reduce the weight and costs, optimize the energy, and increase the eco-compatibility and reliability of future aircrafts.

A key technological enabler for pursuing these challenging objectives is electro-mechanical actuation. The applicability of electro-mechanical actuators (EMAs) in aerospace has been proved in terms of dynamic performances, but it still entails several concerns in terms of reliability/safety and operation in a harsh environment. In civil aircrafts, EMAs are often avoided for safety-critical functions (flight controls, brakes, landing gears, and nose wheel steering), essentially because the statistical database on components fault modes is poor.

This Special Issue is thus focused on advancements and innovations in the design, modelling/simulation, architectural definition, reliability/safety analysis, control, condition-monitoring and experimental testing of EMAs developed for safety-critical aerospace applications.

We encourage the submission of research papers on the above subject, as we are strongly interested in works that could contribute to progress toward the objectives of more-electric flights.

Prof. Dr. Gianpietro Di Rito
Guest Editor

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