Chicago-based Boeing recently completed a “demo flight” of a 737 MAX 7 narrow-body airliner equipped with updated Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) software.
Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation (UTC), has laid out its plans for what is calling “The Grid” – an 25,000-square-foot advanced electric power systems laboratory for designing and testing next-generation, more-electric aircraft technologies for commercial, military, and business aviation.
Future airspace will be filled with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones, commercial aircraft, helicopters, and more. Several prototypes are currently targeting urban air mobility (UAM) platforms, such as air taxis, and revolutionary aircraft models like next-generation commercial supersonic aircraft. Add to this autonomous swarm technologies, enabling manned-unmanned teaming, and systems for future vertical lift and it’s clear that the technology wave can easily become overwhelming.
Officials at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota Motor Corp. in Tokyo have taken a first step toward collaborating on international space exploration, having agreed to accelerate their ongoing joint study of a manned, pressurized rover powered by fuel cell technologies to enable lunar mobility.
The National Center for Advanced Materials Performance (NCAMP) of Wichita State University (WSU) is partnering with SAE International to develop globally harmonized aerospace material and process specifications for advanced composites and non-metal additive manufacturing (AM) materials in the aerospace and air transport industries.
TIoTA, an open software consortium of over 50 members organized to support the creation of a secure, scalable, interoperable, and trusted IoT ecosystem, began the E-Mobility Challenge to link IoT devices with consumers and stakeholder companies such as operators and service, communication, and payment providers within the preexisting European electric vehicle ecosystem.
Through OFFSET, DARPA envisions swarms of 250 collaborative autonomous systems – including unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) – providing critical capabilities to ground units in urban areas where challenges such as tall buildings, tight spaces, and limited sight lines constrain essential communications, sensing, maneuverability, and autonomous operations.
The researchers at the COE for Assured Autonomy in Contested Environments – all of which histories of innovation for Department of Defense problems of interest – will focus on the availability, integrity, and effective use of information by leveraging its diverse expertise in dynamics, mathematics, control theory, information theory, communications, and computer science.
TuSimple, which specializes in autonomous trucks, will perform five round trips between USPS distribution centers in Phoenix and Dallas over the course of a two-week pilot program. USPS will use the program to assess factors like fuel cost reduction, operational safety, and fleet utilization rates.
Originally proposed at the 2018 Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung (ILA) Berlin Air Show, the systems-of-systems FCAS architecture includes new sixth-generation Next Generation Fighter (NGF) that will serve as a hub or nucleus for multiple cloud-linked UAV or “remote carrier” wingmen.
For ADAS and AV applications, the parameters of safe operation will depend largely on the vehicle’s sensor and processing system’s ability to accurately gather and interpret data about the surrounding environment. Thus, clearly defining a safety feature’s intended ODD also highlights required levels of sensor performance.