Light aircraft manufacturer Eclipse Aerospace has begun testing an AI-enhanced visual awareness system designed and manufactured by Daedalean AI, a developer of safety-critical and certifiable artificial intelligence systems for situational awareness and flight control.
Jerry Chambers of Eclipse Aerospace said:
Eclipse Aerospace pioneered the single-pilot very-light jet category, enabled by a high degree of automation and systems integration, designed to significantly reduce pilot workload in a high-performance twin-engine aircraft. We are constantly looking for technology that we can test and integrate to further reduce pilot workload and increase safety. Working with Daedalean will allow us to evaluate AI-enhanced capabilities while testing the system on a certified Part 23 twin-engine jet aircraft.
Eclipse 550-5 jet
© Daedalean
Daedalean offers what the company calls Situational Intelligence: the ability to understand and understand the current environment and situation and to anticipate and respond to potential threats. The visual consciousness system uses a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning, which takes advantage of increased computing power to do more efficiently what until now could only be done by humans.
Dr. Yemaya Bordain, Daedalean’s Chief Commercial Officer and President of the Americas in Phoenix, said:
Daedalean’s visual awareness system offers several AI-enhanced features such as landing guidance, cooperative and non-cooperative traffic detection, and navigation in GPS denied environments. These functions rely solely on aircraft-mounted cameras that send real-time visual information to an onboard computer to send alerts to the pilot, adding a layer of safety to common equipment such as radars and transponders.
Daedalean’s landing guidance testing interface on a tablet screen in the cockpit of Eclipse’s aircraft
© Daedalean
To evaluate the Daedalean systems, Eclipse has equipped its 550 test platform with two Daedalean cameras and is conducting test flights in the skies above its headquarters in Albuquerque, NM. The focus is on evaluating Daedalean’s system capabilities for detection and avoidance at critical phases of flight and providing the pilot with the information needed to capture, identify and deconflict both cooperative and non-cooperative traffic .
Installation of Daedalean’s camera at the nose of Eclipse’s aircraft
© Daedalean
Fergus Flanagan from Eclipse Aerospace said:
Business airlines are often called upon to take passengers to small, uncontrolled airports. We look at how Daedalean’s systems can reduce the workload of pilots at more remote airports to maintain the highest levels of safety. We are primarily concerned with proper identification of the runway, traffic awareness, landing guidance and the ability to identify runway incursions.
The business aviation community has recently noted growing interest in the safety benefits offered by AI-enhanced systems. The industry’s largest gathering, the NBAA-BACE convention in Las Vegas this week, featured several panel discussions on the topic of AI. Dr. Daedalean’s Bordain participated in panel discussions exploring the use of AI by early adopters and how it extends beyond flight and into other areas of operations.
Dr. Bordain said:
Daedalean is a pioneer in the development of AI systems that not only offer unprecedented new possibilities, but also do so within the strict guidelines of the regulators. We have conducted projects with the FAA and EASA examining machine learning safety assurance methods. And now we are undergoing their rigorous certification processes. We are confident that our systems are ready to be the first to be certified for safety-critical applications. We look forward to delivering certifiable AI-enhanced systems to business aviation customers and across the aviation world.
This article was originally published by Daedalean.
