New Detect and Avoid System to Cope with Uncooperative Aircraft

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New technology will increase the safety of autonomous flights during commercial operations. 

The autopilot and detect and avoid (DAA) system will allow unmanned aircraft to find uncooperative aircraft in their airspace and autonomously take action to avoid them. 

UAV Navigation will use Iris Automation’s Casia DAA software in its VECTOR autopilot systems to enable these operations. 

Operators will be able to automatically command the drone to perform appropriate avoidance maneuvers, resuming their original flight path once completed.

Casia software was recently updated to improve performance, track fusion, and flight data uploads. Casia uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to enable beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight. It has previously been used by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Transport Canada.

VECTOR autopilots allow aircraft to fly autonomously even in the case of lost remote-control datalinks. They can be used in rotary-wing and fixed-wing drones and VTOL aircraft, according to aviationtoday.com. The autopilots carry out advanced functions, such as controlling multiple target drones at 700 km/h, a fully automatic net landing of a drone onto a moving vessel at sea and converting a twin-prop manned aircraft or turbine helicopter into a drone.