The Silent Aircraft initiative

The Cambridge-MIT Institute has begun a fascinating initiative that brings together leading academics from Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with leaders in the civil aerospace and aviation industry to develop the design for a plane that is radically quieter than current passenger aircraft. CMI’s ‘Silent Aircraft’ project has a bold aim: to discover ways to reduce aircraft noise dramatically, to the point where it would be virtually unnoticeable to people outside the airport perimeter. This initiative is bringing together leading academics from Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with representatives from all parts of the civil aerospace/aviation industry. This unique community will be working together, sharing knowledge and developing the design for an aircraft whose noise emissions would barely be heard above the background noise level in a typical built-up area.

Partners already include BAA, British Airways, the Civil Aviation Authority, Lochard, Marshall Aerospace, National Air Traffic Services, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and Rolls-Royce.

Partners in the project include Boeing, British Airways, the Civil Aviation Authority, Lochard, Marshall Aerospace, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and National Air Traffic Services. They also include Rolls-Royce, which has made available its multi-million pound suite of design and analysis tools to help the research. Additionally, the project team plans to include representatives of community groups opposed to aircraft noise.

Professor Ann Dowling, from Cambridge University’s Department of Engineering, is one of the project’s leaders.

“The civil aviation industry is already introducing small, incremental decreases in aircraft noise”, she says. “But we are aiming for a radical change in noise levels - so that beyond the perimeter of the airport, the noise of aircraft flying would be imperceptible to the public.”

Both in the United States and Europe, aircraft noise has been one of the major factors holding back the growth of air transport. Airports that have tried to expand to increase capacity and ease delays have met resistance from local groups, worried about the impact of increased aircraft noise.

The leaders of CMI’s ‘Silent Aircraft’ initiative claim that designing silent aircraft will help overcome this problem, as well as providing a major boost to the UK aerospace industry, and helping UK airlines operate more productively.

Professor Ed Greitzer is the project’s leader at MIT. He says: “Although there have been a number of improvements in aircraft design, the overall shape of passenger aircraft has in general not altered a great deal over the last 40 years. A new departure in this project is to start with the idea of having a major decrease in noise as a primary design variable. With this, we envisage consequent major changes in aircraft configuration and operations. ‘Silent’ aircraft would help meet passenger demand for more flights, by creating opportunities for new airports, and allowing increased operations at existing airports.”

CMI’s ‘Silent Aircraft’ initiative is one of four new Knowledge Integration Communities (KICs) that CMI has set up. These KICs aim to find new ways in which academia and industry can work together and exchange knowledge to push forward research in areas where UK industry has a demonstrable competitive position - like aerospace. The Silent Aircraft KIC also aims to enhance this position by engaging with youngsters of all ages to enthuse them about aviation, and thus help ensure a continuing supply of talented individuals into the industry in years to come.

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