A cartoon shows how the Harbinger system, co-developed by Jiangsu-based Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the US subsidiary of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, separates from the tail section of a plane after a crash. [Photo/comac.cc]

Harbinger, a data storage and transmitting program which contributes to emergency information record-keeping and tracking of planes, was a favorite attraction at the 2017 National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week in Shanghai last month. 

The new design, co-developed by Jiangsu-based Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) and the US subsidiary of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), claims to transcend traditional designs of black box recorders used in commercial aircraft. 

Sun Jianhong, chief designer of Harbinger at NUAA, said Malaysia Airline’s missing flight MH370 has fueled him and his team to come up with a more efficient recorder system that can meet the public’s ever-increasing demands for aviation security. 

The professor led a team of 20 some graduate and doctoral students with expertise in mechanics, structurology, life-saving, and reliability analysis which has completed a series of tests undertaken since 2014 concerning technical feasibility, experimental prototypes, digital simulation, and trial flights.