Ottawa, Montreal Under Consideration For $25 Million Facility

Canada's National Research Council has narrowed its potential sites for a $25 million facility to develop fly-by-wireless technology to two cities. Ottawa and Montreal are being studied as potential sites for the CANEUS consortium's new research center.

According to its website, CANEUS International "is a unique non-profit organization of professionals involving public/private partnership, serving primarily the needs of aeronautics, space and defense communities by fostering the coordinated, international development of MNT (Micro-Nano- Technologies) for aerospace and defense applications." The group is looking a new technologies that would reduce the need for physical wires and connections in aircraft control and monitoring systems.

The Ottawa Business Journal reports that the NRC is hoping to attract such aerospace giants as Bombardier, Textron, Bell Helicopter, and Pratt & Whitney to a centralized location, which it is expected would become a major player in the development of aerospace projects.

The international consortium was formed in 2002. One of its stated primary goals is to reduce the miles of wire and tens of thousands of connectors needed in modern aircraft. They say that by making those reductions, aggregate wire and connector weight can be reduced by 10-30 percent.

CANEUS will hold a meeting in Ottawa at the NRC's campus there next week. It hopes to have a facility up and running by 2014.

FMI: www.caneus.org