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Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand Moves Toward Certification on an Autonomous Flight System

Sep 27,2021


Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand Moves Toward Certification on an Autonomous Flight System


飞机在飞行 中度可信度描述已自动生成



Merlin Labs received a certification basis for its autonomous flight system. (Merlin Labs)


The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand has awarded its first certification basis for an autonomous flight system to Merlin Labs marking a key step on the road to certifying autonomous systems, the company announced on Sept. 16.


Merlin Labs has developed a “takeoff to touchdown” autonomy system for aircraft that will perform all the duties of a human pilot. The system uses a “sense, think, act” control loop to complete these tasks, Matthew George, Founder and CEO of Merlin Labs, told Aviation Today. The avionics system uses GPS/INS, air data, and attitude and heading reference system (ADHRS) to update the system with a three-dimensional position of the aircraft and its attitude at all times.


The system uses a flight computer to do the thinking part of the autonomy which can be adjusted for a specific aircraft type.


The thinking is done by our flight Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) computer which has knowledge of the desired flight path and information about airport approach and departure routes,” George said. “The flight plan has to be executed while taking into account regulatory flight rules, as well as aircraft performance limits. In fact, a significant part of our development process is focused on tuning our control system to the detailed flight dynamics of the specific aircraft type to be able to plan and fly trajectories like a pilot would.”


The system then performs actions using actuators connected to the aircraft which are directed by the flight computer.


The flight computer commands a number of actuators that are mechanically connected to the aircraft,” George said. “Thus, the system can 'act,' by causing the physical surfaces of the aircraft to move, just as a pilot would do with the yoke, pedals or throttle levers. In this way, the flight computer can direct the aircraft through its entire flight path. The unique thing about our system is that our computer is sophisticated enough and our actuators are strong enough to fly an aircraft not just up and away (like typical autopilots), but also through all phases of takeoff and landing, stop to stop.”


飞机飞在天空中 描述已自动生成


Merlin Labs has completed 380 flight tests of its autonomous system. (Merlin Labs)


The system is still flying with an onboard safety pilot to function as the legal pilot in command. Merlin Labs has been testing its system for the last two years achieving 53,000 km of autonomous flight.


The Merlin system has flown on four experimental test aircraft for a total of 380 sorties over the last two years, with over 53,000 km of autonomous flying,” George said. “This testing includes up and away patterns, waypoints, loiters as well as autonomous takeoff and landing on the 10 different runways in our FAA-designated test area.”


The certification project is a joint project with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to be able to gain certification for the system in New Zealand and the U.S. concurrently, George said.


Now that we have an issued certification basis, we’ll continue to work with the regulator to validate our approach, culminating in entrance to commercial service,” George said. “There are various engagement points along the way that are agreed to in our certification plan and we will be following those. In parallel, we are continuing our work to advance the next steps toward full autonomy.”


China's civil aviation is in a new stage of historical development, aviation transportation has steadily and rapidly improved in speed, quality and efficiency, its proportion in the national comprehensive transportation system has increased year by year, the total turnover of air transportation has continued to rank second in the world since 2005. With the rapid growth of the domestic civil aviation market and the impact of emerging business models such as online tourism on the company's traditional business, the traditional management and operation methods have been unable to match the company's development requirements. CAAC issued the Implementation Opinions of CAAC on Promoting the Construction of New Infrastructure and Promoting the High-Quality Development of Civil Aviation and the Five-Year Action Plan of CAAC on Promoting the Construction of New Infrastructure, Guided by "digital perception, data decision-making, lean management and meticulous service", with the construction of industry infrastructure base and smart ecology as the core, select key environments and application scenarios, and lay the foundation for accelerating the digital operation of civil aviation industry through concept innovation, mechanism innovation, process innovation and technological innovation.


Under this background, Aviation Digital Operation Technology International Forum 2021 is planned to be held in Xiamen city from November 18 to 19, 2021, the theme of this forum is “Focus on digital empowerment and accelerate the intelligent development and reform of civil aviation in China”, pay attention to the multi-domain and multi-agent digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of airlines, hub airports and operation support units, focus on the main contents of smart travel, smart logistics, smart operation, smart supervision, public services and innovation infrastructure, improve aircraft operation safety, operation efficiency and production organization capacity, and promote the high-quality development of the industry.



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