Flying High and Collecting Data in the Sky
Acubed is expanding its Flight Lab with a new experimental aircraft, giving teams convenient and efficient access to flight testing and the ability to quickly test and mature new concepts. The new, larger aircraft supports this approach with more advanced data collection tools, increased space and flexibility and flight capabilities more similar to commercial airliners.
Proven Concept
Acubed’s current Flight Lab is a modified, twin-engine Beechcraft Baron 58. The camera- and sensor-equipped Baron has helped validate the lab’s function, allowing researchers to develop applications that can be applied to more sophisticated commercial aircraft.
To date, the Baron has supported Acubed’s data collection campaign by gathering data from nearly 200 airports across the United States to enable groundbreaking autonomous flight technologies. Gathering airport and runway imagery from a variety of locations has created a diverse data pool integral to developing machine learning solutions for vision-based autonomous flight.
The Baron has also helped teams explore navigational alternatives for aviation. In response to the global rise in incidents of jamming or spoofing – interrupting an aircraft’s ability to receive global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) signals or deceiving an aircraft with false signals – teams are researching navigational alternatives with quantum sensing. Using advanced sensors, researchers are exploring quantum sensing’s ability to detect variations in magnetic fields as a means of navigation.
New Aircraft
To further support the development of these and other applications, Acubed has recently acquired a Beechcraft King Air C90. The twin-turboprop King Air is a more robust, adaptable aircraft used in both the public and private sectors in a range of configurations.
As a larger aircraft, it gives teams greater flexibility to work with improved avionics and more advanced test equipment during flight. It flies faster, farther and higher – more like a commercial airliner – but with operational costs and agility similar to that of the smaller Baron.
“We’re more nimble than a big airplane,” Paul Smith, Acubed’s director of Flight Test and Operations, said. “We can get more patterns, but still interface with the larger airplanes.”
Modifications
The King Air is being overhauled throughout – from landing gear to engines – and receiving all-new avionics, inertial navigation system (INS) and server rack with improved electronics and cooling. In addition to the updated systems, it will be equipped with cameras and sensors on the nose cone, wings and tail to enable improved data collection from all points. Notably, the tip of the King Air’s tail is roughly 14-feet off the ground – about the same height as the belly of the A320 – so mounted tail cameras will collect images and data from the same vantage point as a commercial airliner.
“This aircraft is going to enable more function-based developments,” Eric Euteneuer, Acubed’s principal systems engineer, said. “The increased payload and power allows for more representative avionics, while the aircraft dimensions and new recording capabilities allow for more data collection in the core of the functional Operational Design Domains (ODD).”
Data-Driven Development
Expanding the Flight Lab with the King Air supports Acubed’s agile approach to data-driven product development. This approach involves teams collecting data via the Flight Lab, depositing it in a data lake, evaluating data and updating concepts and returning to the Flight Lab for further collection and testing. The Flight Lab enables experts to efficiently install equipment onboard, capture data, assess the data’s impact and determine new data collection needs with the appropriate tools and conditions to rapidly develop concepts – no matter where the Flight Lab operates.
“The advantage of us is we’re experimental,” Smith said. “We can do things very quickly without having to go through a long approval process.”
Euteneuer added: “Whatever the new technology or application we’re supporting... we’re able to collect a lot of diverse data to accommodate quick and agile development.”
While this data-driven product development cycle isn’t unique to Acubed – it’s informed by AI and ML techniques – its efficacy is evident.
“We’re able to prove concepts, mature technology quickly and robustly accelerate TRL development,” Euteneuer said.
Technology readiness levels – or TRL – are a scale used to assess the maturity of developing technologies. Originally developed by NASA, the scale tracks progress from TRL 1, where basic principles are observed, to TRL 9, where the technology is proven in operational environments. To achieve TRL 9, the technology must meet established standards of maturity — proof of concept, lab validation, prototype demonstration in an operational environment, etc.
Acubed’s agile data collection campaign has enabled teams to advance the project from concept to validating elements of its autonomous flight systems in both simulation and relevant environments in only a few years’ time.
Faster, Farther, Higher
Teams are expected to finish updating the King Air’s systems shortly. Once complete, it will be ready for camera and sensor modifications. With cameras and sensors in place, the new test aircraft will be ready for use.
“The faster you can collect data, the faster you’re able to develop,” Euteneuer said. “It’s key to autonomy research. We’re excited to start flying in the King Air!”
If you’re interested in joining our team and building the future of flight, do reach out via our open roles here.