Airbus Helicopters’ H130 FlightLab has flown a fully automated, one-hour test flight on a pre-defined route from its flight test facility in Marignane, France. It encompassed all phases of flight from lift-off, taxi, takeoff, cruise, approach, and landing. The flight was enabled by technologies developed by Airbus UpNext including a simplified human-machine interface (HMI) and advanced autonomy features from the Vertex project. The technologies are controlled via touchscreen tablet and are designed to simplify mission preparation and management, reduce helicopter pilot workload, and increase safety.
During the test flight, an onboard pilot monitored the system, which is able to detect unforeseen obstacles and automatically recalculate a safe flight path. Whenever necessary, the pilot can override the controls, gain control of the helicopter through the tablet, and later resume the mission.
“This successful demonstration of a fully autonomous flight from takeoff to landing is a great step towards the reduced pilot workload and simplified HMI that the Airbus urban air mobility team intends to implement on CityAirbus NextGen,” said Michael Augello, CEO of Airbus UpNext. “It could also have immediate applications for helicopters in low level flights close to obstacles thanks to the information provided by the lidars on board.”
Airbus Helicopters is continuing to mature the technologies that comprise Vertex: vision-based sensors and algorithms for situational awareness and obstacle detection; fly-by-wire for enhanced autopilot; an advanced HMI via touchscreen; and a head-worn display for inflight monitoring and control.