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(UA.AI Aperture): Aperture will fuse information from sensors to display optical and ADS-B targets with graphical depiction of air traffic control instructions.
Universal Avionics is developing an enhanced runway collision avoidance system that builds on ADS-B In positioning reporting with artificial intelligence (AI)-infused video content analysis and voice recognition.
Furthering its expertise in enhanced vision systems (EVS)—the Elbit Systems subsidiary says it supplies nine out of 10 EVS cameras used by business aviation and cargo aircraft—Universal is advancing a system called Aperture that will fuse optical, voice and ADS-B sensor inputs, analyze content using AI to provide logic, and display a composite image to pilots via head-wearable and panel displays for enhanced situational awareness.
Tucson, Arizona-based Universal obtained FAA technical standard order authorization to build the first version of Aperture, an advanced video management system, in early 2022. Contained in a 3.3-lb. box, the system processes up to eight video inputs from wingtip, nosewheel or other cameras and supports up to four video outputs “with near zero” latency, the avionics manufacturer says.
Aperture “stitches and blends” inputs from the distributed sensors to produce a composite image that can be viewed through Universal’s SkyLens head-wearable display. By “digitally panning” across the composite image, a given field-of-view can be presented to pilots to improve their situational awareness in high-workload situations such as ground operations during limited visibility conditions.
The manufacturer is certifying a second version of the system that incorporates AI in the video content analysis to recognize objects such as vehicles, pedestrians and wildlife and provide logic for collision avoidance. The second version, for which there is a business jet OEM customer in waiting, could be certified within two years, initially as an advisory capability, says Universal Avionics CEO Dror Yahav.
Plans also call for introducing an AI-refined voice-recognition algorithm that listens to controller instructions and the pilot’s read-back of those instructions, synthesizes the communications, and presents the information graphically to the pilot on an iPad or superimposed on the video shown on displays as a “line to follow over video,” Yahav says.
“Since everything is so innovative, there are no standards out there to follow,” Yahav tells BCA. “We are following FAA guidance in terms of how you incorporate AI in your electronics—your LRUs (line replaceable units). We are presenting information to the pilot, the pilot will do a read-back, the read-back will confirm, and then you need to confirm positively that that was the instruction you [received],” he explains.
“Once you approve [the instruction], it goes into your flight management system or the iPad and it becomes a magenta line to follow,” Yahav adds. “The process ensures the likelihood for a mistake to happen is lower than errors that pilots are making today.”
Optical and voice inputs will be fused with ADS-In—the display in the cockpit of nearby aircraft broadcasting their positions. Aperture will provide pilots with more robust situational awareness than runway collision avoidance systems based on ADS-B In signals presented on synthetic vision displays of the surrounding environment, Yahav says.
“Runway incursion is a big issue for the industry,” he says. “Other systems use databases and ADS-B In, none of which are actually based on what’s happening out there. If a pedestrian or a car or wildlife or an airplane that is not transmitting [by ADS-B Out] is moving your way, there’s no way you will be able to get an alert.
But when you fuse it with a camera, you see everything you need to know.”
Other Developments
Alongside the Aperture system at NBAA-BACE, Universal Avionics will promote the current capability of its ClearVision EVS-5000/4000 multispectral cameras to depict LED runway lights, which are increasingly replacing incandescent lights at U.S. airports. Most of the EVS cameras now deployed on aircraft are older-generation thermal imagers optimized for the heat signature of incandescent lights but not the lower thermal signature of “cold” LED lighting.
According to the FAA: “Pilots using Enhanced Flight Vision Systems with IR-based sensors on approaches to runways with LED approach lights may have a decreased sensor performance.” In August, the agency published a list of 17 airports with operational LED runway lights to alert pilots. It said numerous FAA offices are collaborating to keep track of airfields where LED lighting has been installed.
“The EVS 5000 was designed specifically to depict LED runway lights,” Yahav says. “We want to highlight that to the market. We are working on a solution with customers to retrofit legacy EVS cameras.”
Universal Avionics and partner MROs and manufacturers in the last year have completed several supplemental type certification (STC) projects to install Universal’s InSight integrated flight display system on business jets.
InSight has STCs for installation on the Cessna Citation VII; the Dassault Falcon 900B, 2000/EX, 50 and 20; the Hawker 800/A/B/XP; and the Gulfstream III. DeHavilland Canada was developing STCs to install the system on the CL-215 T2 and CL-415 amphibious firefighting aircraft.
