Page 27 - ADT JULY - AUGUST 2022 Online Magazine

designed for both military and civil certifica-
tion,” a company official said. “In the past, there
have generally been two categories of comput-
ers; we are making one computer that can go
into both. We have seen a lot of interest in the
product both from the civil and the military side. [ TECHNOLOGY ]

“BECAUSE OF THE CIVIL
APPLICATIONS, PERIGON IS
DESIGNED FOR COMMON MODE
FAULT TOLERANCE,” he added.
“I do not think there is anybody else in the
market that has a computer that is common
mode fault tolerant with three dissimilar pro-
Unlocking certification without an independent back up. .
cessors, which will allow you to do a civil
Another advantage of Perigon is reconfigurabil-
ity without having to do hardware or software
changes. We made our IO reconfigurable. You
Possibilities just change a simple table.”

Development on Schedule
Development work on Perigon started in 2018,
with Collins Aerospace making the news public
at the Farnborough Airshow. In July last year,
COLLINS AEROSPACE’S PERIGON COMPUTER Collins Aerospace officially announced the
WILL DELIVER 20 TIMES THE PROCESSING launch of the computer and hopes to get
Perigon flight certified by the Federal Aviation
POWER OF THE COMPANY’S EXISTING FLIGHT Administration in the near future.
CONTROL COMPUTERS
“We are moving toward qualification testing this
year” the official said. “We will have different
Arun Sivasankaran variants; if you want a smaller computer, we will
be able to deliver that as it is scalable without
Collins Aerospace is seeing major interest in Perigon, the next software changes. It is easily re-configurable If
generation vehicle management computer that will deliver 20 times you have an operation that is not safety critical,
the processing power of its existing flight control computers and we can take one or two of the processors out,
can be used in a broad range of defence and commercial platforms. thus saving the customer weight and costs.
Lockheed Martin Sikorsky-Boeing has selected Perigon for the The computer is designed in such a way that
Defiant X advanced utility helicopter, which is a finalist for the U.S. we can scale the number of processors and
Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition. the number of cards in it without having to go
Collins Aerospace will also provide all three seating platforms for back to the drawing board with each customer.”
the aircraft. A decision on FLRAA is expected in September. The company believes that the under-develop-
ment computer will have a range of potential
“Perigon’s enhanced processing power will allow it to integrate uses, including air transport, aerial firefight-
numerous Defiant X functions, including flight control, utility man- ing, autonomous systems, the Army’s Future
agement, prognostic health and advanced flight modes such as Vertical Lift (FVL) rotorcraft to reduce pilot
autonomy,” says Kim Kinsley, vice president and general manager, workload in degraded visual environments, and
Environmental and Airframe Control Systems for Collins Aerospace. sixth generation fighter aircraft. Perigon’s high
“By using a single computer to support a multitude of functions, computing power will allow customers to load it
Perigon will help reduce the number of computers onboard the air- with a variety of complex software applications,
craft thus reducing weight, volume and power consumption across including autonomous and fly-by-wire flight
the platform while enabling enhanced performance.” control, cybersecurity, vehicle management and
predictive health maintenance. Certification is
expected in about two years, and the company
Unique Design is currently working with customers to be part
“What makes Perigon stand out from other computers is that it of the certifications.

ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY July/August 2022 | 27