A Model-Based System Engineering Approach Towards Aircraft Digital Certification

This article is part of the framework of the DIGACE research project, DIGital Innovative Aircraft CErtification, funded by the Italian University Research Ministry through the PRIN 2022 financing strategy. The DIGACE Project has the objective to provide a new, fully- digital approach towards General Aviation (GA) aircraft certifi cation. A Model- Based System Engineering (MBSE) will be extensively used to develop a Digital Certification Pipeline (DCP), capable of supporting both conventional and innovative, unconventional aircraft configurations to be certified under the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Certification Specification CS- 23, including electric/hybrid propulsion systems (EHPS) and distributed propulsion (DP) configuration. Essentially, the DCP produce all the EASA- required certification artifacts, switching from the past Document- Based paradigm to a more effective, less error- prone, digital certification process; all certification artifacts will be centrally managed, with only minor correction before the final submission to the Certification Agency. The DCP will represent an easy- to- use, effective tool to reduce certification time and costs significantly, enabling air craft manufacturers to introduce new aircraft models with high safety standards and technologically adequate for the future of the GA market