More Impact Tomorrow
Just how far can AI go in aviation? That depends on two factors: the capabilities of this technology, and the degree to which humans will turn over control to computers.
“As we learn about AI, and how to test and verify its performance, it is conceivable that we will trust AI more and more, “ said Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations (Sikorsky is a Lockheed Martin company). “As such, we will hand over some flying tasks to the machine. In that sense, we can see AI becoming a digital copilot. Today, we have made good progress in that direction. For example, Sikorsky in partnership with DARPA has developed a digital copilot system that can even pilot the aircraft if needed.”
Bell Textron takes a similarly bullish view of AI’s role in aircraft operations. “AI is a critical part of achieving aircraft autonomy,” Bristow said. “It enables an aircraft to perform tasks without human intervention and limited supervision.”
Aurora Flight Sciences’ Church agreed with Bristow’s assessment, and describes how autonomy will play a growing role across military and commercial applications. “For example, autonomy technology is being developed for self-flying air taxis that can take off, cruise, and land with oversight from multi-vehicle supervisors on the ground,” he said. “Autonomy software will manage real- world conditions, including navigating around other air traffic and redirecting the air taxi’s flight path if an issue arises. As well, AI can provide predictable performance in non-collaborative aircraft situations and add an element of analytic redundancy.”
Based on the research underway at Bell Textron, AI will be able to play a major part in flight planning before takeoff, and situational awareness/decision-making once in flight.
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On the ground, “AI can help aircraft operators evaluate plans and strategies for achieving their goals while also adapting to changing conditions and uncertainties, while considering various factors such as safety constraints, airspace restrictions and performance limitations,” said Bristow. Up in the air, this technology “can process and fuse the sensor data to create a comprehensive representation of the perceived environment including obstacles, hazards, weather, terrain and other aircraft. AI can also help aircraft respond to emergencies or contingencies such as system failures and malfunctions. AI-enabled systems can provide warnings, recommendations, or corrective actions to ensure the safety of the aircraft.”
AI can also reduce pilot workloads, said Kyriakos Vamvoudakis, Dutton-Ducoffe Endowed Professor at the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering within the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). “With AI, autopilot technology has evolved from simple devices that maintain an aircraft’s altitude and heading to fully autonomous flight control systems capable of performing gate-to-gate operations without any human input,” he noted.
This future is closer than one might think. “At Leonardo, we are introducing pilot safety solutions such as automatic landing spot detection and cable awareness, getting that extra layer of margin coming from data and information we were collecting but not using,” said Cavanna.
Then there’s aircraft maintenance and air traffic management. “AI algorithms can process and analyze vast amounts of data to identify potential safety issues and provide real-time monitoring of aircraft systems to help reduce maintenance costs,” Jaunt’s Briceno said. “AI-powered collision avoidance systems are being introduced into new aircraft to help air traffic controllers manage traffic efficiently and prevent collisions, enhancing safety. Meanwhile, the use of AI algorithms in air traffic management helps
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