Additive Manufacturing of Simulator Parts

The DARPA Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program aims to develop custom, tailorable kits that can be implemented into existing aircraft to provide autonomous and optionally piloted vehicle capabilities. In support of this program, Sikorsky Aircraft has developed kits for both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. During the development of ALIAS kits, Sikorsky used Additive Manufacturing for prototyping and to meet critical program milestones. Additive Manufacturing was shown to be a viable solution for producing simulator and demonstrator parts required for various aspects of the program. Additively manufactured parts were used for integration demonstrations, cockpit controls evaluations, system simulation, and flight demonstrations. This paper summarizes how Sikorsky used Additive Manufacturing to support the completion of DARPA ALIAS Program milestones.