Heli-One, a leading provider of helicopter maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services, is developing a Doppler replacement solution for the Airbus AS332L/L1, with auto-hover function.
The current Doppler system in auto-hover situations is inconsistent over homogeneous surfaces; Heli-One’s solution utilizes an altitude and heading reference system (AHRS) and a converter to improve reliability and safety, in addition to increasing the aircraft’s capability and lifespan. This solution is also designed to increase accuracy in auto-hover situations, improve situational awareness, be less costly to maintain, and reduce the avionics system’s weight by approximately 10 kilograms.
The current Doppler system in the AS332 is unstable over homogeneous surfaces such as calm sea states, and it cannot provide consistent radar return. This unreliability is both unsafe for crew and is detrimental for mission success. In addition, the system is heavy and increasingly expensive to maintain.
Heli-One’s renowned design team is developing a solution that will help improve reliability across a variety of conditions, designed to result in increased situational awareness and enhanced safety. The modernization of this system will result in a decrease in weight of 10 kg while also making it cheaper to maintain.
“Our Design team has come up with a solution that is designed to address a variety of challenges that our customers face — safety, operational benefit, obsolescence, and cost,” said Eddie Lane, president of Heli-One. “This solution will help give operators greater reliability to perform their missions with enhanced safety and situational awareness. We continue to develop modifications for the AS332 to expand capability and longevity for operators to ensure they are utilizing their aircraft to its full potential.”
The new system, comprised of an AHRS and an ARINC 429 converter, will feed into the flight director coupler and hover meter with both lateral and longitudinal ground speed. The AHRS will be augmented with GPS data from the aircraft’s flight management system.
Heli-One has more than 100 major and minor modifications available for the AS332 series. Heli-One has been providing design services for over 40 years; it has teams of designers around the world with proven expertise on a wide variety of platforms, including Airbus, Sikorsky, Bell and Leonardo. The design teams in Norway and Canada design, certify, and install innovative and practical solutions in nearly any airworthiness jurisdiction in the world.
