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the future. “All the new autonomy algorithms desire to go to single pilot operations,” Avritch said. “It is going to
that are going to be coming in the future, to happen sooner than people think. There are companies out there
be able to do use Artificial Intelligence to fly that are aiming for cargo flights with no pilots; they are already
around buildings and to pick your spots; that demonstrating the technology. In order to do that, the computer has
will require huge amount of processing horse- to have enough horsepower to take the place of the human brain.
power,” Avritch said. “We have gone with “On the civil side, there is still the requirement for all that extra
multicore processors running at greater than horsepower capability to do the single pilot operation and eventu-
1 Gigahertz; that is about more than 20 times ally the no pilot operations,” Avritch added. “The computer needs to
the power of today’s computers that are flying do all the things the pilot would do; make decisions, communicate
on the most modern recently fielded birds.” with ATC, and land the airplane. All of that is possible if you have
In April, Collins Aerospace announced that decision making capability inside the computer. Initially, companies
Perigon would be the first certified avia- will look for certification with the system being the third pilot; the
tion solution to use the Intel Atom x6400E system will be doing the work of one of the pilots, but as a backup.
processor. The company believes that the Once the regulatory authorities and the public become comfortable
under-development computer will have a range with it, single pilot operations will become a reality.”
of potential uses, including air transport, aerial
firefighting, autonomous systems, the Army’s Development on Schedule
Future Vertical Lift (FVL) rotorcraft to reduce Development work on Perigon started in 2018, with Collins
pilot workload in degraded visual environments, Aerospace making the news public at the Farnborough Airshow.
and sixth generation fighter aircraft. Perigon’s In July last year, Collins Aerospace officially announced the launch
high computing power will allow customers of the computer and hopes to get Perigon flight certified by the
to load it with a variety of complex software Federal Aviation Administration in the near future.
applications, including autonomous and fly-
by-wire flight control, cybersecurity, vehicle “WE ARE MOVING TOWARD QUALIFICATION
management and predictive health mainte- TESTING THIS YEAR” Avritch said. “WE WILL HAVE
nance. Certification is expected in about two
years, and the company is currently working DIFFERENT VARIANTS; IF YOU WANT A SMALLER
with customers to be part of the certifications. COMPUTER, WE WILL BE ABLE TO DELIVER THAT AS
IT IS SCALABLE WITHOUT SOFTWARE CHANGES.
Single Pilot Operations IT IS EASILY RE-CONFIGURABLE IF YOU HAVE AN
Computers such as Perigon open up a world
of possibilities. In a 2014 study on single-pilot OPERATION THAT IS NOT SAFETY CRITICAL, WE CAN
operations, NASA noted that while “the tran- TAKE ONE OR TWO OF THE PROCESSORS OUT, THUS
sition from a two-pilot cockpit to a single-pilot SAVING THE CUSTOMER WEIGHT AND COSTS. THE
cockpit will be significantly more challenging COMPUTER IS DESIGNED IN SUCH A WAY THAT WE
than the transitions from a five-person cockpit
to a two-person cockpit, such a move could CAN SCALE THE NUMBER OF PROCESSORS AND
“provide operating cost savings while maintain- THE NUMBER OF CARDS IN IT WITHOUT HAVING
ing a level of safety no less than conventional TO GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD WITH EACH
two-pilot commercial operations.” One of the CUSTOMER.”
ways to achieve the goal of single pilot oper-
ations is to greatly increase automation in the
cockpit and devote more tasks to computers. Instant Success
With cockpit technology evolving, the possi- On the defence side, Lockheed Martin Sikorsky-Boeing has
bilities seem endless. While Airbus is eyeing selected Perigon for the Defiant X advanced utility helicopter,
the A350 Freighter as a potential candidate which is a finalist for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault
for single pilot flying, carriers are pushing for Aircraft (FLRAA) competition. Collins Aerospace will also provide
single pilot operations to counter the looming all three seating platforms for the aircraft. A decision on FLRAA is
shortage of pilots. expected in September.

Innovators are already thinking beyond single “Perigon’s enhanced processing power will allow it to integrate
pilot operations; last year, U.S.-based Merlin numerous Defiant X functions, including flight control, utility man-
Labs announced a collaborative effort with agement, prognostic health and advanced flight modes such as
Dynamic Aviation to develop a 55-aricraft fleet autonomy,” says Kim Kinsley, vice president and general manager,
capable of autonomous flight. Merlin’s on-board Environmental and Airframe Control Systems for Collins Aerospace.
autonomy platform is “aircraft-agnostic,” and “By using a single computer to support a multitude of functions,
built to reduce crew in larger cargo aircraft Perigon will help reduce the number of computers onboard the air-
for public and private use. “In the commercial craft thus reducing weight, volume and power consumption across
world, everything is two pilots, but there is a the platform while enabling enhanced performance.”
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