Aircraft continuously send and receive flows of signals and information.
Decyphering this information is the job of Erte Bowen, here at Saclay in the Paris region, which results in systems designed to receive speed sensor measurements, control tower messages, or radar signals, for translation into legible values for pilots.
Specializing initially in speed measurement gauges, since 2004, this SME has diversified by acquiring other companies together with their new know-how.
Juvélino Da Silva, CEO - Erte Bowen
"We started by assembling trades and professions that were a little different, to become, 12 years later, a company that is able to assemble extremely high quality software and technologies in fields such as radio frequency, power electronics and telecommunications."
From their simple sub-contractor beginnings, the company can now design entire systems, and in turn outsource to the more than 400 companies who supply Erte Bowen systems components.
Juvélino Da Silva, CEO - Erte Bowen
"What is happening now, is that the major clients, of what I call systems suppliers, who are Thales, Safran, Zodiac or even Airbus, want companies like ours, and who are able to manage a sub-assembly, to manage a function, which is becoming more and more complex."
This complexity began with the digitization of cockpit instruments, such as radar.
Juvélino Da Silva, CEO - Erte Bowen
"If I see a signal that has a very particular wave form, here, then I am able to reconstruct it numerically, and of course put it on a screen."
Last year, the company produced nearly 10,000 systems and components, achieving a turnover of 10 million euros ; parts which can be found on Airbus helicopters, or the Socata TBM for example, of which over half are exported. One hundred employees share this work at the various company sites located in Saclay and Palaiseau, on the outskirts of Paris, Chartres 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Paris, and Portugal.
