Imagine being on a flight where, in place of windows, screens lining the cabin project images of the sky outside. New technology that could help reduce the weight of an aircraft could soon see windowless planes take to the air.
Plastic display screens for use in aircraft cabins are one of several applications of printable electronics that are being developed at the Centre for Process Innovation in Sedgefield in northeast England, part of the government’s network of technology centres known as “catapults”.
By using conductive inks, printed electronics – technology that has long promised to enliven products from perfume bottles to food packaging – can incorporate electrical circuits in cardboard and plastic for just a few pence per unit. In pharmaceuticals, smart packaging could tell a patient when to take their medication, for example.
But it is the technology’s potential to help aircraft manufacturers create a windowless plane that is causing most excitement at the CPI for now. By replacing windows with an interactive plastic display screen, the weight of the aircraft would be reduced, helping to lower fuel costs.
“Getting weight out of a plane is a key [goal] for the industry,” says Tom Taylor, who is part of the management team at CPI.
While the windowless plane is not a new concept – freight aircraft and military jets tend not to have windows – commercial aircraft manufacturers have put off the idea until now because of concerns it would be unpopular with passengers.
One US aerospace company has announced plans, though. This year Spike Aerospace said it would include a windowless cabin in its Spike S-512 Supersonic Jet, which is due to launch in 2018.
Vik Kachoria, president of Spike Aerospace, believes the benefits of what he calls the “multiplex digital cabin” will help win over passengers. “They will soon be able to experience a wonderful panoramic view of the outside world,” he says.
However, he says the company plans to include several windows for emergency purposes, which passengers will be able to use for a “quick look” outside.
In the UK, the CPI has been working with companies to develop a UK supply chain for the technology that will benefit British manufacturing. It is also in talks with aircraft manufacturers about the technology. “You could see the first of these coming to market in three to four years,” Mr Taylor says.
Technological developments such these are the purpose of the UK’s network of catapults – technology and innovation centres that aim to develop research to the point where it can be turned into commercially successful projects. The UK has traditionally lagged behind European and US peers in this area.
They were launched by the UK government in 2011, and in March Vince Cable, the business secretary, commissioned a review of their progress from Hermann Hauser, co-founder of Acorn Computer, who proposed the centres in a report for the Labour government.
The government plans to create nine of them over five years with £1.4bn of public and private investment. So far, it has established seven, with two more – focused on energy systems and precision medicine – to open next year. They currently employ about 1,500 scientists and engineers.
Mr Cable has made no secret that he would like to see the network eventually rival overseas examples, such as Germany’s Fraunhofer Society, which was founded in 1949 and employs more than 22,000 people in 67 hubs. Its funding dwarfs that of the UK – the annual research budget is €2bn.
While the centres have been welcomed by industry, many believe they need significantly more funding if they are ever to rival overseas peers.
In a review of advanced manufacturing for the Labour party in June, Mike Wright, executive director of Jaguar Land Rover, warned that the government should not increase the numbers of catapults without increasing funding.
“We need to not spread the jam thinly but put even more resource, more focus and give them time to flourish,” Mr Wright told the Financial Times.