Media: Unmanned Systems Technology Covers FlightHorizon PILOT Detect-And-Avoid Flight Tests
Unmanned Systems Technology recently covered Vigilant Aerospace Systems’ expanded flight testing of FlightHorizon PILOT, the company’s onboard detect-and-avoid (DAA) system for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). The article highlights recent real-world demonstrations of autonomous DAA capabilities, including testing of both civilian and military configurations.
The coverage notes that the flights evaluated a lightweight civilian configuration with a transponder receiver and autopilot integration. It also describes a heavier configuration with onboard radar for detecting aircraft without transponders. These configurations support different beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight environments, including cooperative airspace and airspace where non-cooperative aircraft detection is required.
Unmanned Systems Technology also reported on FlightHorizon PILOT’s onboard processing capabilities, including detection, tracking, target correlation, and standards-compliant avoidance calculations. The article places these developments in the context of emerging FAA Part 108 rulemaking and the need for autonomous safety systems that can support routine BVLOS flight.
Read the full article here.
About Unmanned Systems Technology
Unmanned Systems Technology is an online technical resource covering technologies, suppliers, platforms, and engineering developments across the unmanned systems industry. Its coverage includes uncrewed aircraft systems, ground vehicles, marine systems, robotics, autonomy, sensors, software, and related subsystems for commercial, government, defense, and research audiences.
Vigilant Aerospace is the leading developer of multi-sensor detect-and-avoid and airspace management software for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS or drones). The company’s product, FlightHorizon, is based on two NASA patents and uses data from multiple sources to display a real-time picture of the air traffic around a UAS and to provide automatic avoidance maneuvers to prevent collisions. The software is designed to meet industry technical standards, to provide automatic safety and to allow UAS to safely fly beyond the sight of the pilot. The software has won multiple industry awards and the company has had contracts and users at NASA, the FAA, the U.S. Department of Defense and with a variety of drone development programs. Visit our website at www.VigilantAerospace.com