Performance-Based Ice Detection First Results from SENS4ICE European Flight Test Campaign

Abstract

Supercooled large droplets (SLD) icing conditions have been the cause of severe aircraft accidents over the last decades. As existing countermeasures even on modern aircraft are not necessarily effective against the resulting ice formations, the detection of SLD conditions is crucial and required for future transport aircraft certification. The EU funded Horizon 2020 project SENS4ICE focused on new ice detection approaches and innovative sensor hybridization to target a reliable SLD-ice detection. The performance-based (indirect) ice detection methodology is key to this approach and based on the changes of airplane flight characteristics under icing influence. This paper provides a short overview on the development and implementation of the indirect ice detection system (IIDS) algorithms in SENS4ICE. Furthermore, it gives first exemplary results on the IIDS performance during the SENS4ICE European flight test campaign conducted in April 2023 around Toulouse, France. These initial results are discussed and the consequences for the future flight campaign analysis are outlined.