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Earlier this month, General Atomics Aeronautical System, Inc. (GA-ASI) completed an entire MQ-9B SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) flight – from takeoff to landing – using a GA-ASI certifiable ground control station (CGCS). At the core of the CGCS is Abaco Systems Inc.’s (Abaco’s) certifiable FORCE2 Open Reference Computing Environment.

As outlined in the contract, Aitech Defense will supply an advanced, customized remote input/output (I/O) interface controller based on the company’s commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) modular, dual-core Ai-RIO remote interface.

“We originally thought solar cells would be standard on the airplane’s wings,” says George E. Bye, founder and CEO of Bye Aerospace Bye. “However, with eFlyer’s primary markets being flight training and air taxi services, it makes more sense to make the price of the airplane as reasonable as possible.”

A General Atomics Aeronautical System, Inc. (GA-ASI) MQ-9B SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) was controlled – from takeoff to landing – by an operator using a GA-ASI certifiable ground control station (CGCS), marking the first time a CGCS was used to control an end-to-end flight and the first step in type-certifying the unit.

As mobility software becomes increasingly complex and connected, so does the risk of human error and system safety. To combat this, New York-based software company AdaCore will work with Nvidia Corporation of Santa Clara, California to apply open-source Ada and SPARK programming languages for select software security firmware elements in highly-complex, safety-critical systems like Nvidia’s DRIVE AGX automated and autonomous vehicle solutions.

Airbus SE and the University of Nottingham have partnered with Air Race E to establish the world’s first electric airplane race. The competition, which aims to drive the development and adoption of cleaner, faster, and more technologically advanced electric engines, will follow a format similar to the popular Air Race 1 series of the sport known as “Formula One Air Racing.”

Some OEMs are finding that the traditional solutions for eliminating EMI/RFI are no longer sufficient given increases in operating circuit frequency, noises of higher frequencies that expand the affected frequency range, and the miniaturization of electronic devices that shrink the distance between source and device. This is leading many OEMs to employ monolithic EMI filters instead of traditional options.

The United States Air Force’s 412th Test Wing’s Emerging Technologies (ET) Combined Test Force (CTF) completed the first flight test of Johns Hopkins University’s Testing of Autonomy in Complex Environments (TACE) system. As “middleware,” TACE serves as an “autonomy watchdog,” monitoring commands sent to an aircraft’s autopilot software from its autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) computer and transmitting autopilot information such as position, speed, and orientation back to the AI.

Orbex, a developer of small satellite (smallsat) launch vehicles based in Forres, Scotland, has unveiled its “Prime” launch vehicle. The rocket utilizes several novel technologies, including the world’s largest metal rocket engine produced as a single piece through additive manufacturing (AM).

Newer, more capable fifth-generation aircraft platforms and systems are outgrowing even the largest U.S. Air Force training ranges – and the service believes modern simulators and virtual reality may be the answer.

Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. of Stans, Switzerland has awarded a long-term multi-year contract to Abu Dhabi-based Rockford Xellerix for the assembly of wire looms and cable harnesses for the Pilatus PC-24 light business jet.

Edited and co-written by Dr. Pascal Thalin, chair of SAE International’s Electric Aircraft Steering Group, Fundamentals of Electric Aircraft provides deep insight into the aircraft electrification paradigm shift currently cutting across various aircraft segments through tangible case studies from general aviation to commercial fleets.

Equipment developers are moving quickly to ensure that military users will have long-term access to boards and modules that provide higher performance, easy replacement, and reduced costs. Board and system designers adopting new technologies are standardizing interconnection layouts to ensure that boards designed by various suppliers can be used to upgrade systems as technology advances.

Subaru Corporation is using tools developed by Pittsburgh-based ANSYS, Inc. to create control systems that deliver unrivaled safety and reliability for their next-generation hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). The automotive OEM is using ANSYS SCADE to automate and expedite the precise design and validation of embedded software in the electronic control units (ECUs) for the company’s new e-Boxer system.

The goal is a zero-emission, all-electric aircraft that must reach or exceed a target speed of 300 miles per hour (480 kilometers per hour) by 2020. The team plans to build, test, and commercialize the aircraft in a market that does not yet exist all within a 24-month span.

Parsons Corporation has created a new series of government collaboration opportunities with its Smart Cities Challenge campaign. Smart Cities Challenge: Transforming Intersections is designed to significantly increase mobility around cities and reduce the amount of time drivers spend idling at red lights. The event’s sponsors and partners include Amazon Web Services and Verizon.

The Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative – a global nonprofit working to create standards in blockchain, distributed ledgers, and related technologies for consumers, smart cities, and mobility – has launched the industry's first vehicle identification (VID) standard incorporating blockchain technology into a digital vehicle identification system.

The aerospace industry is facing immense challenges due to increased design complexity and higher levels of integration, particularly in the electrification of aircraft. These challenges can easily impact program cost and product time to market. System electrification and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) have become critical issues today. In the context of 3D electromagnetics, EMC electromagnetic compatibility ensures the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that radiated emissions from various electronic devices, such as avionics or the entire aircraft for that matter, do not interfere with other electronic products onboard the aircraft.

The company, which specializes in connected and automated vehicle technology in the freight industry, plans on doubling shipping productivity by having human drivers lead a platoon of automated vehicles using SAE International Level 4 “Automated Following” technology.

Houston-based HTX Labs, LLC was awarded with Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II funding to continue adapting its EMPACT Virtual Reality (VR) platform for the United States Air Force’s Pilot Training Next program. The U.S. Air Force intends to use EMPACT to fast-track the creation of highly immersive VR simulations to accelerate pilot training.