Database on Hypersonic Transportation Systems: a versatile support for the Technology Roadmap generation and Conceptual Design Activities

摘要

This paper aims at describing HyDat, the Database on Hypersonic Transportation Sysyems developed in a collaboration between the Politecnico di Torino and the European Space Agency. The main purpose of HyDat is to collect the highest possible number of information about past and currently under-development programmes, projects or activities dealing with hypersonic transportation systems. The paper presents two different ways to exploit HyDat. On the one side, it is proposed as a tool in support to the Technology Roadmap generation process and in view of this usage, the paper highlights how the internal structure of the database mirrors the results of the technology roadmap elements derivation process. On the other side, HyDat can play a fundamental role in supporting the very first conceptual design activities of a new hypersonic transportation system. In view of this fact, HyDat is provided with proper interfaces to allow the data exchange with the technology roadmap generation tool and with a Model Based tool-chain envisaged to assist the conceptual design activities. In addition, the paper presents a case-study aimed at exploiting the Database to support the generation of a technology roadmap to suggest the rational incremental path that is necessary to enhance the technology readiness levels of a set of critical technologies, which were identified at the beginning of the 2000s, when the Intermediate experimental Vehicle programme was initiated.