The purpose of this project is to provide a structure for developing autonomous air vehicle operations above the city.
“To meet this new challenge, AMAF project partners Thales and Presagis (now TXT) are combining their expertise in digital technologies, AI, critical systems and simulation to design the components needed for the autonomous aerospace of the future,” said a consortium press release.
“Future air mobility is one of CRIAQ’s three strategic pillars, and the growth of this sector has multiple implications in terms of safety and regulatory compliance, and above all in terms of social acceptability. The AMAF project addresses all these issues, and I’m very pleased with the progress it is making and optimistic about the technological breakthroughs it could deliver,” said Alain Aubertin, President and CEO of CRIAQ.
The aim of the Autonomy of Future Air Mobility (AMAF) project is to propose a structured framework for the autonomy of new regional and urban air mobility solutions in Quebec through two complementary approaches. The project partners intend to establish the province’s role as a hub for digital aviation systems. TXT will create a digital twin of the airspace environment to support real-world implementation of innovative perception and navigation functions developed as part of this project, and to provide training for users of these new systems. A virtual test bench will be created to analyse interactions between the real world and an entirely simulated environment. The key innovation goal of the project is to develop and test the solutions needed for an air vehicle to fly safely and fully autonomously along a previously unannounced flight path.
Challenges include real-time flight path optimisation, continuous verification of flight path safety and security, and calculation of all the alternative routes that could be taken should unforeseen circumstances arise.
These capabilities were demonstrated at the Unmanned Aerial System Centre of Excellence (Centre d’Excellence sur les Drones – CED) test facility in Canada during trials conducted in late 2023 with a UAV provided by Thales for the purposes of this project. A new mission planning tool has also been developed to optimise energy use by hybrid aircraft. This type of solution will be crucial for the large-scale rollout of new hybrid and all-electric forms of mobility.
For more information
https://www.thalesgroup.com/sites/default/files/prezly/documents/Thales%2C%20Presagis%2C%20Université%20Laval%20combine%20their%20expertise%20to%20increase%20autonomy%20in%20advanced%20air%20mobility%20solutions.pdf
