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WORK PERFORMED & MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS

The third year of HECATE tackled the last phase of the programme. The different technology bricks completed their Critical Design Reviews, their Technology Readiness Review and were sent for final integration to Safran’s copper bird in Niort’s facilities. To ease the integration phase various technology bricks, such as the secondary power distribution system and the global supervisor unit, were delivered in advance to test bed for early pre-integration and de-risking towards full system testing. The remaining equipment followed in junction with documental packages compromised by Interface Control Documents and component test report to ensure seamless integration. Digital twin activities came to a successful end with the simulated data reviewed and compared against the final testing reports showing minimal differences.

The effort was crystalized in a successful integration at copper bird of a holistic electrical architecture capable of addressing the needs of a future and more electrified aircraft. Final tests were tackled during January and February of 2026 putting the closure to HECATE project.

During the third year, HECATE achieved below milestones:
1. TRL 4 for all power conversion technologies.
2. TRR for Power management and control system, electrical network unit and primary distribution.
3. Digital Twin of the electrical architecture functional and tested for power quality.
4. TRL 5 of the secondary distribution system and power management system.
5. Digital Twin of electrical architecture.
6. Test effort completed at subsystem level.

In terms of results and impact, HECATE major and more relevant result is a fully tested and demonstrated high voltage Electrical Power Distribution Network capable of addressing the needs of future more electrified aircraft. The architecture has not only been tested in a holistically way, but its technologies have gone through a certification gap analysis study granting a certification readiness level 3 by EASA.

HECATE electrical architecture technologies are modular and adaptable towards any aircraft requiring propulsive and non-propulsive electrical distribution, acting as a key and major enabler for the integration of propulsion technologies under development in other Clean Aviation programmes.
In addition, HECATE project has also addressed electromagnetic interference phenomena and develop digital twin technologies for its electrical architecture with the objective of reducing prototyping times, waste and improving future service support to its components.

To maximize impact, the project united key industry players in the aerospace sector, including OEMs, system suppliers, and SMEs. It not only ensures the successful transition of technologies into market-ready products, driving collective progress across the sector, but also promotes the transfer of knowledge into publicly available data and new academic curricula developed by participating universities and research institutes.

The next steps for HECATE project involve transitioning relevant technologies to the next phases of Clean Aviation programme with the primary goal of enabling next-generation of aircraft concepts targeted for an entry into service by 2035.

Figure: Test rig built in Safran facilities to integrate and test HECATE electrical distribution. (©Safran Electrical & Power)

Final Project Overview