Stichting Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium NLR. The National Aerospace Laboratory NLR is the central institute for aerospace research in the Netherlands. Since 1937 NLR is an independent non-profit organisation that provides technological support to aerospace industries, to operators of civil and military aircraft, of airports and of ATC systems, to authorities and to international organisations, all over the world. NLR is a customer-oriented research organisation, working under national and international contracts in projects concerning aircraft development, aircraft operations, and space technology. Depending on the project and the customer's preferences, NLR acts as sole contractor or as main contractor or subcontractor collaborating with other institutes or industries. Work under contract totals about 75 per cent of NLR's activities; NLR's programme for basic research and development of research equipment, funded by the government of the Netherlands, amounts to about 25 per cent.

NLR employs a staff of about 855 (at first of January 2003) in two main establishments, one in Amsterdam and one in the Noordoostpolder. Over two-thirds of the staff are graduates from universities or technical colleges. NLR owns several wind tunnels, including a low-speed, a transonic and a supersonic wind tunnel, and two research aircraft, a Fairchild Metro II and a Cessna Citation II. NLR has developed two moving-base research flight simulators, of which the National Simulation Facility (NSF) is equipped with an F-16 cockpit in Mid-Life Update configuration for the testing of air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. NLR's ATC research simulator (NARSIM) and Tower Research Simulator (TRS) enable research to be carried out on Air Traffic Management and Surface Movement Guidance and Control, including human factors issues. NLR has available equipment for testing full-sized structures, specimens and materials including composites, and equipment for the development of spacecraft components. NLR also has available a large set of flight test equipment, a computer system for the development of electronics and avionics, and equipment for calibration and for environmental testing. NLR develops wind tunnel models and a variety of test equipment. NLR's extensive computer network includes a supercomputer (a 64 GFlops NEC SX-5/8), tools for software development and advanced software for computational fluid dynamics and for calculations of aircraft and spacecraft structures. NLR participates, on an equal base together with the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) of Germany, in the Foundation German-Dutch Wind Tunnels (DNW). This foundation operates a Large Low-speed Facility (DNW-LLF) located in the Noordoostpolder along with the other aeronautical wind tunnels of DLR and NLR. On behalf of the Netherlands Government, NLR also takes part in the European Transonic Windtunnel (ETW) in Cologne, together with DLR, the Ministry of Defence of the UK and the Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA) of France.

NLR holds an ISO 9001:2000 / AQAP-110 quality certificate, and various accreditation certificates. NLR's scientific staff is organised in seven divisions specialised in a variety of technical areas. Research and development work is carried out by project groups often consisting of members of several divisions. NLR covers the full range of aerospace research and is currently divided in divisions dealing with specific disciplines: Aerodynamics, Flight, Air Transport, Space, Information and Communication Technology, Avionics, Structures and Materials.

The Flight Division is involved in the ISAWARE-II project. The main facilities operated by this division are the flight simulators: Two pilot stations (generic fighter and helicopter); the moving-base National Simulation Facility (NSF) for full mission F-16 studies and the moving-base Research Flight Simulator for air transport simulations, in 2003 renamed into Generic Research Aircraft Cockpit Environment (GRACE).

This GRACE simulator will be used for ISAWARE-II. The cockpit is a side-by-side full glass airliner cockpit with a layout as in modern aircraft, equipped with six programmable CRTs and three CDUs. Its functionality is dedicated to research projects:

• The fully programmable Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) can be replaced by embedded hardware;

• The Research Flight Management System (RFMS) is an FMS look-alike with full FMS functionality and free play capability.

• A simulated Ground Proximity and Warning System (GPWS) is available with standard GPWS functionality and corresponding aural alerts.

• A traffic manager (TMX) creates realistic surrounding air and ground traffic, which data is available for the out-of-the-window visual scene as well as for the simulated on-board systems.

The following four departments are expected to have major contributions to the project.

• The Flight Mechanics Department is generally involved in the development of control laws for autoflight systems. In the project it will perform the project lead and work on the definition of the foreseen piloted evaluations, and on flight operational issues and flight crew’s Human Machine Interface (HMI) aspects. The department comprises about 12 employees of whom most have an academic degree in technical science.
• The Flight Training Development and Concept Validation Department is responsible for the development, operation and maintenance of the flight simulators. For ISAWARE-II adaptations of the GRACE are foreseen. The ISAS concept under evaluation will be integrated into the simulator environment. All aspects of flight simulation are covered by the staff and employees counting about 25 people, most of them with an academic degree in technical sciences.
• The Human Factors Department is involved in the development of the piloted evaluation scenarios and in the human factors reviews and evaluation of the HMI developed within the project. The department has about 25 employees of whom most have an academic degree in either human behavioural sciences or technical sciences.
• The Flight Testing and Safety Department operates NLR’s two test aircraft. Flight operational and flight technical aspects will be provided to ISAWARE-II by the pilots of this department. The department has about 25 employees, most of them with an academic degree, including four technical pilots of whom two also fly for a commercial airline.



EXPECTED ISAWARE II EXPLOITATION

The utilisation of results by the research organisation NLR will consist of the exploitation of increased knowledge, improved facilities and new innovative methods to study cockpit HMI aspects, pilot-vehicle interaction and future air/ground system concepts.