|
QinetiQ Speakers Nicely Integrated
Owners of top-end airborne barges shall have music wherever they go, without those pesky headphones, with the help of QinetiQ and Lufthansa Technik. QinetiQ has developed new technology for flat-panel speakers that can blend seamlessly into the lining of an aircraft cabin while providing better audio quality for background music, announcements or noise cancellation than conventional speakers.
Flat-panel speakers are well known to audio fans (Magnepans rock.—Ed.), but the QinetiQ technology is different. It's an offshoot of QinetiQ research into noise-reduction systems for helicopter cabins, which unexpectedly showed that stiff, light wall panels could produce high-quality sound when excited electrically into complex, computer-designed resonant wave patterns. The technology was licensed to NXT Plc, which makes speakers for homes and offices, and in turn licensed rights for aerospace applications back to QinetiQ.
Lufthansa Technik has now integrated the QinetiQ speakers into its Nice (networked integrated cabin equipment) entertainment system. They have already been installed on a Boeing BBJ2 and on the upper deck of a 747, and are being fitted to two other aircraft.
—Bill Sweetman
back
to ShowNews home
|
